Crazy

There were three main ways for a Curse Caster's Curse Power to grow.

The first was natural growth.

As long as a Curse Caster possessed Curse Power, it would continue to increase slowly even if they did nothing at all.

The second was consuming Qi-Suppressing Stone powder and entering the Dream Realm.

Within the Dream Realm, a Curse Caster's Curse Power would grow at a greatly accelerated rate, but it carried unpredictable dangers, such as being ambushed by other Curse Casters or encountering unknown fiendish spirits.

Therefore, under normal circumstances, low-rank Curse Casters would not lightly risk entering the Dream Realm.

The third method was killing other Curse Casters.

When a Curse Caster was killed, the Curse Power they possessed would be released from their body. The closer a Curse Caster was to the corpse, the more Curse Power they could absorb.

Thus, slaughter between Curse Casters was often not merely for seizing the other party's Cursed Relics. Sometimes, it might also be for seizing Curse Power.

Hawkins let out a soft breath. What he lacked least was patience.

Though there were three methods, the first required no deliberate use and could be considered a passive ability.

As for the second and third methods, only the second was of any help to him.

Killing other Curse Casters to increase his Curse Power was of little significance to him. After all, he had over three hundred thousand points of Curse Power, while a First-Rank Curse Master like Mark had only a few hundred. Even after killing one, he would have to account for the dispersed Curse Power, and might only gain a few dozen points in the end.

Besides, advancing in rank was not the most important matter right now. What mattered was whether his wish had truly come true.

He looked at the Eternal Sea Chart in his hand. This Sea Chart had been fused from the Magic Sea Chart, Black Knife, and a false eye. Because he had consumed too little Qi-Suppressing Stone powder, he had been expelled back into the real world before completing the trial. Now, he had to consider how to mature the Eternal Sea Chart.

After pondering for a moment, he tried injecting Curse Power into the Sea Chart.

When his immense Curse Power entered the Sea Chart, black mist rose from the single small dot upon it. The mist formed an illusory humanoid figure before him.

"Just as I thought."

In that instant, Hawkins sensed a great deal of new information from the illusory humanoid figure.

This humanoid figure was the Eternal Sea Chart's Curse Spirit. It could also be seen as a projection of his soul, a part of him.

Hawkins silently processed the information transmitted by the Curse Spirit and finally understood the Eternal Sea Chart's current condition.

Because it had absorbed insufficient power in the Dream Realm, most of the Eternal Sea Chart's functions could not be realized. At present, only three abilities could be used.

First: command the Curse Spirit to fight or defend.

Second: use the Curse Spirit to devour other Cursed Relics and continue enhancing the Eternal Sea Chart.

Third: the Curse Spirit's eyes could overlap with his. While overlapped, he could see information about other Cursed Relics.

This ability likely came from that false eye.

After understanding the information provided by the Curse Spirit, Hawkins looked at the wooden box. He then covered his left hand with Curse Power and directly took out the Spider Ring.

He looked at the Curse Spirit and lightly tossed out the Spider Ring in his hand. The Curse Spirit immediately swallowed the Spider Ring in one bite.

Because the Curse Spirit was formed of black smoke, he could vaguely see that after the Spider Ring was swallowed, it rapidly turned into countless tiny black dots within her body before finally merging into the black mist.

"Heaven never seals off every road... so that means I now need to gather as many Cursed Relics as possible?"

Hawkins lowered his head to look at the Meteor Hammer in the wooden box, his heart filled with nothing but delight.

As long as there was a way, that was enough.

He was not afraid of a rugged and difficult road. He feared only that there would be no road ahead.

Alva wore thin silk sleepwear and held a whale-oil lamp as she hurried through the long corridor.

Ever since Jabus had lost interest in her young body, putting shoes on Jabus in the morning had become the most important task of her day.

On Vitalia Island, Jabus was like a god.

He rarely spoke or smiled and was forever full of majesty. Even when carrying out humanity's most important duty of reproduction, he never indulged himself.

Alva knew well how cold and merciless this respected and terrifying master was, so she did not dare delay even a moment.

The sky outside the corridor was blanketed in dark clouds. Thunder occasionally rumbled in the distance, making the stone bricks of Flatwave Fortress tremble faintly.

Several women of status similar to Alva's converged from different corridors. Some dressed Jabus, some washed him, and one young girl was even specifically responsible for drinking Jabus's Returning Dragon Soup.

Jabus liked quiet, so no one dared make a sound at this time, even though Jabus might still be asleep.

A few minutes later, they arrived outside Jabus's bedroom.

The bedroom door was open!

Alva immediately stopped, staring at the door in surprise. The other young women did the same.

This was against the rules.

Flatwave Fortress had many rules.

Other than when entering or leaving, every door in Flatwave Fortress had to remain tightly shut. Whoever violated the rules would receive a whipping at best, or have both hands chopped off and be driven from Flatwave Fortress at worst.

"Alva, go take a look. See whether Master has risen," the woman beside Alva whispered.

Alva glanced at Nai'er Nai beside her. Not daring to disobey Nai'er Nai's order, she carefully stepped forward.

"Where has Butler Cook gone?"

As Alva walked forward, she muttered inwardly.

Under normal circumstances, Cook, as Jabus's personal butler, would always wait outside the bedroom, ready at any time to answer Jabus's summons.

Yet Butler Cook was nowhere to be seen, and the bedroom door had been left open like this.

Trembling with fear, Alva walked to the edge of the doorway and cautiously peered into the bedroom. In the next instant, her eyes flew wide open. She hurriedly covered her mouth with her left hand to keep herself from screaming.

The bedroom was dimly lit. Blood stained the floor, and a foul stench rushed into her nostrils.

Butler Cook's lower half lay beside the bookshelf, while his upper half had been torn into chunks of flesh. His head had been ripped into three pieces, his eyes bulging wide in death, unwilling to close.

There was also the maidservant who had recently gained Jabus's favor. She no longer retained any recognizable shape. Only fragments of female organs could faintly be seen in the pool of blood.

Alva could not stop herself from wanting to vomit. She quickly staggered several steps back, but when she turned around, her face went deathly pale and her body began to shake uncontrollably.

The maidservants who had just been walking with her had all become mangled flesh. Their beautiful white silk sleepwear had absorbed enough blood to turn dark red.

Rumble!

Jabus stood in the pool of blood, his body shrouded in shadow. The instant lightning scattered the darkness, his savage, crazed, twisted face became clearly visible.

His eyes gleamed with bloodthirsty ferocity.

"Ah!!!!"

Alva slowly raised her head. When she saw Jabus's eyes, she finally could not endure it any longer and let out a scream of terror at its utmost limit.

"Ah!!!"

Jennie let out a terrified scream and jolted upright in bed.

She was drenched in sweat, gasping heavily as her whole body trembled.

A moment later, an old woman entered carrying a whale-oil lamp and asked with concern, "Miss Jennie, did you have another nightmare?"

"Quick, bring Qiao Si in. I want to leave this place. Uncle... Uncle has gone mad." Only upon seeing the old woman did Jennie come back to herself. She hurriedly climbed out of bed.

The old woman knew Jennie's ability well. Her eyes immediately widened as she asked in an eerie tone, "Master... You mean... Master..."

"For some reason, Uncle killed Butler Cook, and many others too. He's gone mad. I want to leave this place. Hurry and bring Qiao Si here." Jennie grabbed the old woman's hand and said shakily.

The old woman gripped Jennie's hand tightly, delight entering her voice. Looking at Jennie, she smiled. "Jabus has gone mad. Hahaha, Jabus has finally had this day too. Miss Jennie, you truly are a fine treasure, bringing me such wonderful news."

"Mary, what's wrong with you?" Jennie suddenly found the old woman before her terribly unfamiliar and could not help asking in fear.

The old woman smiled. "Mary? No, I am Thomas's mother. My name is Dulisa."

"Wait, wasn't Thomas's mother already dead long ago?" Jennie asked in horror.

The old woman nodded. "That's right. Because of one of your dreams, my dear elder sister Mary died in my place, and my husband was sent to the gallows. How do you think I should repay you, my Miss Jennie?"

"That wasn't my fault. Thomas stole Uncle's treasure. He should have been punished in the first place. I merely identified the culprit." Jennie struggled to pull free from the old woman's hand, but it was like an iron vise. The more she struggled, the more her hand hurt.

The old woman looked at Jennie, her face gradually twisting as she said coldly, "My child merely wanted to cure my illness. He originally intended to secretly take it away, then secretly return it. But you exposed him. No matter how you try to argue, the death of my pitiful child has everything to do with you."

She suddenly exerted force with both hands. Jennie immediately let out a scream as her fingers were snapped.

But just as the old woman released Jennie's hand and picked up the table lamp to kill her, a dagger suddenly flew in from outside the door and instantly pierced through the old woman's neck.

A woman with a scar on her face rushed in. Jennie cried out tearfully in delight, "Qiao Si!"

"Miss, Master has gone mad. We need to leave Flatwave Fortress at once!" Qiao Si quickly stepped forward, kicked aside the old woman's corpse, grabbed Jennie's arm, and explained rapidly.

Jennie hurriedly nodded. Enduring the pain in her fingers, she quickly followed Qiao Si out of the room.

At Flatwave Fortress, the slaughter continued.

Jabus moved through the fortress like a beast, cleanly killing every living person he encountered. He even tore the plants in the courtyard into pieces with his bare hands.

After every living thing in Flatwave Fortress had been killed, he smashed through the fortress gates and plunged headfirst into the moat. Gradually, the moat water turned red and flowed through tributaries toward the village nearest Flatwave Fortress...