Have your brains gone bad too?
The process of making these Lucky Charm is indeed much easier than finding dolls.
The "travelers" have been informed of the locations of the materials. They only need to avoid the evil townspeople along the way, and once they reach the designated locations, they can learn how to make the craft from the "craft masters" who are waiting for them there.
There will be no evil spirits in those locations. They only need to pass some non-fatal tests—such as soaking a wooden plaque in their own blood to dye it red, or talking to Female Ghost in a mirror to obtain a strand of her long hair when making a hanging rope tassel, and using her hair as weaving material.
Writing your wishes with ink is simple; you just need to write neatly. However, only sincere wishes can leave ink marks on the blood-red wooden plaque. Otherwise, no matter how thick the ink is poured on it, it won't leave a trace.
Once you've visited all three places, the Lucky Charm will be ready. All you need to do is hang them on the sacred tree at 8 PM; the rest of the time is up to you.
Therefore, those who chose the Lucky Charm returned to Baibao Street early to inquire about information from various merchants and try to obtain Side Quest from them to earn points.
However, as night fell and it got closer to eight o'clock, these people became increasingly uneasy.
The predictor's sixth sense is rarely wrong; their Yugi was completed so easily—and this "ease" is relative to the first day—that the hidden danger will likely be exposed when it comes time to hang the lucky plaque.
Zhang Yu thought the same thing, so when he saw Yu Xing on Baibao Street, he immediately ran up to her and, like a child finding his parent, told Yu Xing in detail about his experience that day, including the feeling of growing increasingly uneasy as the night went on.
So Yu Xing and he sat down at the tea stall early to observe the sacred tree.
Then, the divine tree, which had remained perfectly normal during the day amidst the watchful eyes of many diviners, quietly transformed into this eerie appearance under the cover of night.
The cursed power, mixed with the twisted energy of the Snake Woman, swirled around the divine tree. Others couldn't see it, but Yu Xing could discern it at a glance.
This tree possesses both cursed and twisted power, making it quite impure; even the black mist within it couldn't muster any interest in devouring it.
For the curse of the Ghost Tree, another tree is nothing more than its own nourishment or an unconnected limb. If it encounters another tree, it will either devour or assimilate it. Not only will the black mist surge, but even black patterns will inevitably emerge from under the skin.
But the sacred tree before them was like a dish of delicacies drenched in rotten pus. No matter how appetizing it might be, the moment the pus was poured on it, it became nothing but disgusting waste.
"Captain... so what kind of curse are we going to experience?" Zhang Yu asked anxiously.
This feeling of unease wasn't due to his personal cowardice, but rather it arose naturally as time passed, as if some unseen law was giving them a warning before they were about to hang up the Lucky Charm.
Yu Xing suddenly sighed.
Lan Wu's heart tightened. "W-what's wrong?"
Yu Xing said, "It's nothing, I just feel that your perceptions have been influenced without you even realizing it."
The two younger people at the table slept in a hotel last night and hadn't experienced the cognitive distortion in the townspeople's homes, so they weren't very perceptive about today's Lucky Charm Yugi.
Otherwise, Zhang Yu wouldn't have described the Yugi as simple and easy when he first reported his experience to him.
Although Yu Xing mentioned that they were affected, judging from his tone, it didn't seem too serious. Zhang Yu quietly breathed a sigh of relief, "Captain, I shouldn't have been affected too much, right?"
He himself didn't even feel that anything was different from before.
"You always talk a lot, and you're acting like a complete idiot." Yu Xing glanced at him, making Zhang Yu's heart skip a beat.
Considering that the Snake Woman's distorted perception was an irresistible force for Zhang Yu... and Lan Wu, Yu Xing didn't force them to think of a solution themselves, and instead said:
Where are your Lucky Charm?
The two of them took out the signs they had made from their pockets and placed them on the table, but they were all face down, with the ink-stained side facing down.
Yu Xing glanced over, and Zhang Yu explained, "Although there wasn't any danger in the wish-writing stage, the craftsman added a rule for us."
"Before the Lucky Charm are hung on the sacred tree, no one should know the wishes we wrote down, otherwise we will suffer a backlash and our wishes will turn out the opposite of what we hoped for."
Therefore, they trusted Yu Xing and readily took it out, but they still dared not let Yu Xing see the front of the Lucky Charm.
Yu Xing lowered her eyes and smiled enigmatically, "I see."
He reached out and picked up the Lan Wu, but instead of looking at the hidden wish, he rubbed the back of the card with his thumb for a while and fiddled with the tassel a couple of times.
A smooth, supple texture ran through his fingertips. He put down the sign, his expression calm. "If it weren't for your distorted perception, would you really think something made from Female Ghost's hair and your blood would be usable?"
"Blood is the best medium for many curses. Female Ghost are of the yin element, and hair is also a yin element. In other simulation scenarios, you would never offer your own blood, much less allow the Female Ghost's hair to become intertwined with your own blood."
This is equivalent to knowingly handing over the murder weapon to a ghost that wants to kill you.
His voice wasn't loud, but a flash of blood appeared on the tip of his tongue, instantly piercing the balloon that had enveloped Zhang Yu and Lan Wu, who were completely unaware of his presence.
A loud bang seemed to ring in my head.
Zhang Yu Yutong shrank back, as if waking from a dream. His mind cleared, and when he looked at the Lucky Charm again, he felt a cold sweat break out on his back.
Yes, how could he not realize that what he was doing was inappropriate?
Even if making the Lucky Charm was a necessary task, he didn't have the ability to confuse the issue by substituting other people's blood for his own. But he shouldn't have been so oblivious after doing all that, thinking that making Lucky Charm was "simple"!
"At that time... it was the craftsman who kept talking in my ear." Lan Wu shook his head, getting goosebumps all over. He recalled carefully, which attracted Yu Xing's attention.
"Back then, every time we went to a new place, we would meet different craftsmen. The one who taught us to soak wooden plaques in blood was a middle-aged man, the one who wove hanging ropes and tassels was a woman, and the one who wrote our wishes in ink was an old man."
"They only offer one-on-one instruction. While someone is studying in the room, the others can only wait outside and can't hear anything coming from inside."
Lan Wu pressed his temples. "When I went in, every craftsman was very close to me. I was initially wary of them, but somehow I gradually lost all sense of caution and let them teach me how to do it almost right next to my ear."
"And then, no matter what they say, you think it's all perfectly reasonable and not a big deal?" Yu Xing tilted her head.
"... Hmm." Lan Wu nodded. "Actually, I know it's wrong to do this, but I can't muster the interest to resist. It's like a voice inside me is saying, 'It's wrong, it's not a big deal.'"
A hint of humiliation flashed across Zhang Yu's face. "I feel like that kind of idiot in a mystery novel who gets hypnotized by a few words from the villain and then becomes a time bomb for the protagonist's team."
Lan Wu: "..."Thank you, then I must be a fool too.
"Let's talk about the Female Ghost in the mirror. I heard you say that the craftsman has a mirror, and you need to get a lock of hair from the Female Ghost in the mirror before you can start making the hanging rope tassels." Yu Xing tapped the table. "The Female Ghost has a strange temper; she's always inexplicably angry, happy, or sad, but she's generally easy to talk to. After some time, she'll give you the hair."
"Now tell me, what is she after?"
Lan Wu silent.
"A Female Ghost, who didn't even attack, and even when she was angry, she just didn't want to give me her hair. Ha, she's really a benevolent ghost." Yu Xing scoffed. "There's an even more outrageous factor: Zhang Yu."
The person whose name was called shuddered.
"Tell me, what's the most strange thing about the Female Ghost?"
Zhang Yu quickly recalled the entire conversation he had with the Female Ghost.
The Female Ghost's reflection in the mirror was so small that only her head and part of her neck were visible. Her face was covered by her long, glossy black braid, which was braided at her chin and the ends of her hair fell over her shoulders, thus revealing her neck.
The Female Ghost asked him where he came from, and he only said from afar.
The Female Ghost asked him what he wanted, and he honestly replied that he wanted a lock of her hair.
The Female Ghost asked him what his wishes were, and he mentioned many unimportant little wishes, such as making dumplings with Ranran next time; buying a complete set of the Yuan Shang's Edition books; and getting Ranran to wear a maid outfit this year...
Then the Female Ghost was both angry and sad, saying that even after she died, she still had to hear people talk about love, and questioned him, "Don't you have any more important or greater wishes?"
Zhang Yu's final answer was that his greater wish was...
Marry Ranran.
The Female Ghost was utterly speechless. Even the eeriness emanating from that thick, shiny black braid seemed to dissipate considerably. Then, in an impatient tone, she simply said, "Here's your hair. Get lost. I hate it to even say another word to you."
While communicating with the Female Ghost, everything around me turned white, and the presence of the house I was in completely disappeared. All that remained in my consciousness was the mirror and the wooden chair I was sitting on.
After the Female Ghost told him to get lost, everything returned to normal. The craftsman was standing next to the mirror, and in front of the mirror, there was a long strand of hair. Only his own reflection was left in the mirror.
"I know!" Zhang Yu had a sudden inspiration. "The most strange thing is the existence of the Female Ghost itself!"
Lan Wu surprised, and Zhang Yu continued:
"From the moment we entered Nanshui Town, the ghosts we encountered were either monsters from the townspeople, strange things like the Ceramic Waiter, shadows from the Old Affairs Remnants, or ritual robes and bloody ghosts that were inexplicably connected to our lives."
There has never been Female Ghost without a physical form!
"Not to mention a ghost in a mirror, her existence is too abrupt, it doesn't connect with anything." After Zhang Yu finished speaking, he hesitated and looked at Yu Xing, "Captain, did I... did I get it right?"
Yu Xing laughed and said, "Alright, you still have some brain left."
"Let's put the Female Ghost issue aside for now and look at the part about writing down wishes."
"Knowing that you have provided blood and established a connection with the Female Ghost's hair, you must write down your true wishes."
Do you know what's going to happen?
"Cursed." Zhang Yu dryly copied the answer that Yu Xing had already published.
Yu Xing chuckled. Well, this kid's pretty good at finding loopholes.
He smirked. "... First of all, you made the Lucky Charm by hand from beginning to end, which means you 'voluntarily' offered your blood to the sacred tree to ask for your wishes to be fulfilled."
"This act is not a simple prayer for blessings, but rather akin to self-sacrifice. The more difficult the wish is to be fulfilled, the more you need to sacrifice. As long as you hang up the 'blessing' plaque, the curse will take effect."
"And then there's the power of this cognitive distortion..."
"I think that when you are alone at night, the Divine Tree will deceive your perception, making your brains believe that your wishes have been fulfilled, and adding a memory to your lives out of thin air."
"Of course you'll feel something's wrong. In fact, it's quite simple to find a loophole in a forced memory. You might be able to expose this lie in just half an hour."
"But in the half hour before this exposure, your consciousness is acquiescing to the wish being fulfilled. During this period, the divine tree can use the rules of the curse to absorb your life as its nourishment."
"It won't take half an hour to drain a person dry."
Whether it was Zhang Yu, Lan Wu, or the Witch Doctor and others at the next table who had somehow started listening, they were all chilled to the bone by that last sentence.
If that's the case, then the real test of choosing Lucky Charm is whether the diviner can realize as quickly as possible that the memory of the wish being fulfilled is false. As long as the brain recalls that "the wish was not fulfilled," it can stop the sacred tree from absorbing their life force under the guise of taking a reward.
But this is not easy either.
Moreover, even if the tree drains your life force, it will still take away some of your vitality during the time it takes to die. Whether you can stand up or stay conscious and not fall into a coma at that point is hard to say.
"How could you guess so precisely?" At that moment, even the Witch Doctor at the next table couldn't help but ask, her hoarse voice adding an eerie touch to the night.
Yu Xing knew that the people at the next table were eavesdropping, but since he still spoke up, it meant he didn't mind others gaining some benefit as well.
"Specifically? That's because I know it too well." Yu Xing grinned, giving a chilling smile to the person at the next table.
If he had only encountered the power of the Qianjie a few times and found it troublesome and troublesome, then the power of the curse had been with him for a hundred years. From initially figuring it out haphazardly on his own, to gradually understanding it after becoming a diviner, he now had a thorough grasp of the power of the curse.
Making wishes and casting curses—these are things that Ghost Tree can do.
But the Ghost Tree won't grant wishes; once it lures someone close, it will devour everything with its curse without any reason.
As for the wish, it's just an excuse.
The divine tree is only this big now, and it's clear that even the Snake Woman couldn't cultivate it properly. She even added the power of the Qianjie to it, so the finished product naturally doesn't have the same domineering power of a curse. However, the method of exploiting loopholes through cognition has become feasible.
If he were this tree, he would also choose this direction of growth, so as not to become a useless piece of trash.
"Then what do we do?"
Over there, after a moment of hesitation, a voice asked this question.
Yu Xing asked in surprise, "Have you all lost your minds?"
Everyone: "..."
Maybe a little, my mind feels blank.
"There are only two solutions: one is to combat cognitive distortion, and the other is to combat the curse." Yu Xing raised an eyebrow. "Nanshui Town is the main arena for cognitive distortion. If you're not confident you can stop the divine tree within the timeframe that allows you to accept the consequences, then of course you have to start with the curse."
Compared to cognitive distortion, the deducer has a much deeper understanding of the curse.
To give a simple example, if Carlos were here, he could hang up Lucky Charm without any worries. When the curse descends, he could throw out so many paper dolls to take the fall, and the divine tree would be powerless against him.
Cognitive distortion is located to each person through the blood on the Lucky Charm. However, the cognitive distortion of the Divine Tree is based on the curse. The paper dolls may not be able to transfer cognitive distortion, but as long as they can transfer the curse, the cognitive distortion will naturally become ineffective.
The Divine Tree was, after all, something planted by the Snake Woman. She probably stole a core branch from the Ghost Tree, planted it in the soil, and then used people as fertilizer to grow it into what it is today. It's too young. In fact, it's nothing compared to this group of diviners with extremely strong average abilities.
Which deducer doesn't have some kind of damage transfer ability?
Yu Xing paused.
Oh, except for Zhang Yu.
Even the talisman given to Lan Wu by Medusa might be able to withstand the devouring effect of the curse. In other words, in Nanshui Town, the most terrifying thing is cognitive damage; the curse is nothing compared to that.
As long as we stay clear-headed and don't all turn into lazy fools like we do now, the Divine Tree is nothing to fear.
Oh, except for Zhang Yu.
However, this is also the difficulty that comes after Yu Xing spoke clearly. If no one present understands the Ghost Tree, they naturally cannot determine what methods this divine tree will use to harm people, making it difficult to deal with it in advance. And the characteristic of cognitive distortion is that it is silent.
They were already so engrossed in their dream of their wishes coming true that they probably hadn't even thought about dealing with the curse.
The people sitting at the next table were Witch Doctor, Gu Xing, and a demon.
The demon's choice was to find the doll, hanging the lucky plaque had nothing to do with her, and she was too afraid to talk to Yu Xing for the time being, so she just stayed put and pretended to be dead.
Both the Witch Doctor and Gu Xing expressed their gratitude to Yu Xing.
Only Zhang Yu was completely numb.
But he didn't panic. In this situation, his captain wouldn't abandon him. So he looked at Yu Xing and asked, "Captain, what should I do?"
A playful glint flashed in Yu Xing's eyes, and she was about to speak—
Zhang Yu hurriedly said, "I know I was wrong to let my thinking go because my cognition was affected."
"Others may lose their brains, but they still have the ability to protect themselves and fight, and they can still survive. I only have a brain, yet I was still so careless. Moreover, my special ability is more resistant to cognitive distortion, but I didn't utilize it. If it weren't for the captain, I would be dead. I should remember this lesson."
"I've learned my lesson this time, I'll definitely be more careful next time! My life is my own, and since I've chosen this path where I have no fighting ability, I should be even more cautious!"
This lightning-fast self-reflection stunned everyone around him.
Zhang Yu curled himself up into a ball, looking utterly cowardly, trying to cheer Yu Xing up with this comical gesture.
Through his observation, he had already figured out that Yu Xing was quite susceptible to feigning weakness!
Yu Xing has a very assertive personality and likes to tease people for fun in trivial matters. When you want to make him realize where he went wrong, you will usually "humiliate" him severely to teach him a lesson.
If you want to skip the humiliation phase and get help directly, you should proactively admit your mistakes and take the initiative to speak up.