Time Curse

Tan Xinghe was burly, his skin a deep bronze, his muscles appearing well-defined and powerful.

At this moment, he had taken off his shirt, and a bright red number appeared on his chest.

His expression was grim. "Ever since the Monster anomaly appeared, this number has been on my chest. At first, it was just a red halo, but starting last night, whenever I fell asleep, I'd hear a knocking sound. From that moment on, the number appeared on my chest.

It started at one, but with every knock, the number increased by one."

He continued, "I strongly suspect this is some kind of curse, but I can't be sure.

Until the number on my chest reached one hundred, I suddenly had an intuitive understanding. When the number on my chest reaches three hundred, I will die."

"Even though this feeling has no basis, I believe it with all my heart."

After speaking, he cupped his fists towards Ning Gongdao. "My martial arts cultivation has already reached the peak of the Body Refining realm, only one step away from the Body Refining Realm. I couldn't even withstand four moves from the Monster anomaly, so I suspect this Monster anomaly is Blood Sha, or at the very least, Severe Sha."

A blood-red number on his chest, three hundred counts to claim his life.

Jiang Yan's heart tightened. Monster anomalies were diverse, and curses varied, making them difficult to guard against.

In Tan Xinghe's situation, unless one remained constantly awake, the knocking sound would occur during sleep.

This knocking sound was more like something heard from within the heart, from the spirit.

There were only two ways to break this curse.

First, kill the Monster anomaly. If the Monster anomaly died, the curse would naturally be lifted.

Second, use the legendary Exorcism Talisman to forcibly remove all negative forces.

The Exorcism Talisman was out of the question. Now, the only way for him to save himself was to kill the Monster anomaly.

Seeing the glaring, large blood-red number on Tan Xinghe's chest, Ning Gongdao stood up, his expression serious, and promised him, "Leader Tan, rest assured. If that Monster anomaly hadn't been so fast and slipped away earlier, I could have directly held it back when the Body Refining Realm warrior was repelled, and then killed it."

"Now, we need time for the Talisman Soldiers to gather strength. Afterwards, we'll use the anomaly-detecting talisman to find it. With the power of the Talisman Soldiers' talismans, we can restrict the Monster anomaly.

As long as we can limit its speed, I will personally take action, and it won't be able to escape!"

"It takes time for the Talisman Soldiers to gather strength, so please wait."

After saying this, he looked at the crowd. "While the Talisman Soldiers are gathering strength, our defensive power will be insufficient. Monster anomalies might take the opportunity to cause trouble in the village. Your duty is to kill any Monster anomalies that appear and prevent too many casualties within the village."

"Each patrol team will be led by their original leaders. Qingshan Village will be responsible for the southeast directions of the village, Yuyang Village for the west, and Xiaoqiu Village for the north. The three teams will support each other."

"Tan Xinghe, you are more familiar with Qingshan Village, so stay and assist me!"

In an instant, Ning Gongdao arranged the village's defense tasks.

"We're responsible for the west side of Qingshan Village. Lucky us."

To the south of Qingshan Village lay a vast expanse of reeds, where Monster anomalies and Fierce Beasts often emerged, posing a threat to Qingshan Village's safety.

The west side, however, was much safer. Outside the village were gravel plains, offering extremely wide visibility.

Of course, this time they didn't need to patrol around the Village Boundary. They only needed to protect the residential areas of the village, greatly reducing the patrol range and difficulty.

"But, what exactly is the defense mechanism of the Talisman Soldiers?"

Do they have standby, power-saving, and high-performance modes?

The Talisman Soldiers need to suppress high-level Monster anomalies, and then their power runs low, requiring patrol members to provide light and heat?

Jiang Yan and the others, along with Ren Yuan and Tang Long, walked out of the house, having eaten a quick meal.

Looking up, the Talisman Soldiers of Qingshan Village were currently emitting a gentle glow.

Unlike the plain, dark Big Carp Talisman Soldier of Yuyang Village, the large Talisman Soldier of Qingshan Village was a tree.

A willow tree.

In Jiang Yan's opinion, apart from its luminescence, it was a living willow tree.

Its slender branches swayed in the wind, and its trunk, which only one person could embrace, was dark. If transplanted elsewhere, it would be a living, large willow tree.

"Great Leader," Jiang Yan asked, "Since the Talisman Soldiers are so miraculous, what are the materials used to make them?"

Ren Yuan, leading the group towards the outskirts of the village, heard Jiang Yan's important question and replied without turning back, "I also asked this question and received an answer I'm not entirely sure about."

He turned back and smiled. "Don't be surprised, but I heard from others that the materials used to make the Talisman Soldiers are very likely the corpses of some special Monster anomalies."

Talisman Soldiers?

Monster anomaly corpses?

Jiang Yan was stunned to hear such an answer.

"It is indeed a bit hard to believe."

The Talisman Soldiers that protected humanity were possibly made from the corpses of Monster anomalies.

The night was vast and dark.

This time, the patrol team did not hold back. The wooden staffs they held aloft were all affixed with Brightness Gathering Talismans, illuminating the path ahead.

The team spread out.

Jiang Yan remained at the very back of the team.

He carefully observed his surroundings and quietly approached Shan Renhu.

"Brother Shan," Jiang Yan called out softly, "You're on night watch tonight. Stay close to me."

Like many patrol teams, he had never encountered a situation where the defense of the Talisman Soldiers was insufficient.

But judging by the defenses of Yuyang Village's Big Carp Talisman Soldiers, either the protective shield's strength had weakened, allowing monsters to break through, or some areas of defense had vanished, letting monsters enter directly.

Regardless of which scenario it was, the chance of encountering monsters tonight was extremely high.

He took out a Blazing Flames Talisman from his pocket. Under the illumination of a Brightness Gathering Talisman, the tadpole-like runes on the Blazing Flames Talisman had almost disappeared.

"Your Blazing Flames Talisman's talismanic power is almost depleted. After this patrol, you must get a new one. Without talismanic power, we won't be able to kill any monsters."

Shan Renhu saw the dim Blazing Flames Talisman in Jiang Yan's hand and reminded him patiently.

"Yeah! Alright, I'll get a new one when we get back."

Although he still had a mid-grade Blazing Flames Talisman and an Ice Talisman, no one ever had too many talismans.

He was no exception.

"By the way, did the adults from the Patrol Mountain Hall mention what level of monster this is?"

Shan Renhu asked curiously.

"They did," Jiang Yan said seriously to Shan Renhu. "But they couldn't determine exactly what kind of monster it was, only its approximate strength."

"It's likely a monster of the Severe Sha level."

"The Hall Master Ning from the mining area seems capable of dealing with this monster. He's very confident."

Jiang Yan patiently described some of the characteristics of the high-level monster to Shan Renhu. He concluded, "That high-level monster seems to be an stealth-type curse monster. It injured the leader of the North Village patrol team and a Body Refining martial artist, but strangely, it didn't kill them. Instead, it cast a curse on them."

"So, I guess this monster relies on curses to kill humans to gain more power. We don't necessarily have to be killed immediately upon encountering it."

Meanwhile, in a small house near the Qingshan Village square, Xia Fengshe lay weakly on the bed, his face a little pale.

He looked at the red halo on his chest, his gaze somewhat unfocused.

"Here, drink some water."

Ou Yanling, using some unknown method, borrowed hot water from a villager and prepared to give it to Xia Fengshe.

He was her guarantee for returning to Guihua City.

"Thank you."

Perhaps due to his weakness, Xia Fengshe's temper had softened. He took the water, said thank you, and slowly drank it.

After he finished drinking, Ou Yanling took the bowl. Her peripheral vision subtly glanced at Xia Fengshe's chest, where a faint red light was emanating.

She took the bowl, preparing to return it to the villager.

"Looking at the red halo on Brother Xia's chest, it seems to be some kind of curse."

Could it be a Time Curse monster!?

PS: I heard from readers that they read this book just to complain about my typos ╥﹏╥