Vicious curse

"Someone is casting a spell to kill me in the shadows!"

Both the art of fate and the art of destiny can be categorized under Incantation Technique.

In the blink of an eye, this technique can strike targets over extremely long distances.

However, to curse and kill someone of the Empress Dowager's caliber, the Incantation Technique artist's skill level would need to be extremely high, and they would also need to possess something from her body.

The Empress Dowager looked at her long, sharp fingernails and then scanned herself up and down.

Beings like them are extremely careful with their possessions and rarely damage them, so it's not hard to guess where the rest are.

The Empress Dowager couldn't guarantee that she wouldn't lose her hair, so the other party must have used a spell cast through her hair.

The normal methods to break a curse are quite simple: one is to find the opponent's true form and kill them, and the other is to destroy the object used to invoke the curse.

But the curses had already struck her, and the Empress Dowager found it difficult to pinpoint the culprit.

"Hiss!"

When he gasped for air again and cried out in pain, even Daoist Ran Deng noticed the problem.

"Is someone cursing you behind your back?"

His gaze swept over the countless white lotuses and lanterns, then he looked around.

Normally, the Empress Dowager's life would have nothing to do with Daoist Ran Deng, but right now he was the one treating her illness. If the Empress Dowager were cursed to death in Yangling, he would undoubtedly be misunderstood.

Who is it?

"Brahma, are you the one stirring things up behind the scenes?"

"I know you are targeting Buddha, but please don't harm the innocent!"

The Daoist Ran Deng stood up and shouted repeatedly.

However, with thousands of Sha Qi white lotuses under his control and the Netherworld Fire within the coffin lamp, it was indeed difficult for him to be distracted too much.

"Liu An, is the King of Huainan here?"

"Shen Pei, are you secretly targeting me?"

"The Five Devils of Western Yunnan, you five sneaky old geezers, come out!"

"Free and easy?"

"Lonely?"

"Qing Xuzi?"

The Daoist Ran Deng shouted loudly, and the Empress Dowager shouted in unison, urging all those behind the scenes who might be using Incantation Technique to kill.

Cheng Bushi extremely tense.

"Section by three, spread out in military formation to search the imperial tomb. Anyone found unrelated to the search should be immediately killed!"

"Summon the commander of the imperial carriages here... and all those guarding Yangling immediately!"

Cheng Bushi issued military orders one after another.

He stomped his foot, and a gust of wind and waves rose up.

As soon as Cheng Bushi stepped out, he began a rapid survey of the Yangling area.

In an instant, the cavalry guards in Yangling moved in unison, the sounds of armor and weapons sweeping and striking the ground resembling those in a noisy factory workshop.

The expanded search also revealed the traps that Kong Zhong and his team had previously set up.

Many cavalrymen only triggered the traps after their weapons had swept across the battlefield; if not for their thick armor, some of these traps would undoubtedly have caused considerable damage.

"No, no, no one at all, there's no one here, how could someone cast a spell from afar?"

Cheng Bushi a great hurry.

He looked at the sky illuminated by the lantern and found it difficult to discern whether it was the work of the Daoist Ran Deng or someone else involved in the charade.

Each white lotus, guided by a lantern, is a cluster of bewitching and terrifying creatures.

Finding any trickery within the vast array of Technique Method employed by the Daoist Ran Deng is undoubtedly extremely difficult.

If we were to stop the Daoist priest, it would affect the Empress Dowager's health.

However, without allowing Daoist Ran Deng to stop, Cheng Bushi found it difficult to rule out any possibilities.

This put him in a dilemma.

"Your Majesty, no one set up an altar or performed any rituals at Yangling," Cheng Bushi. "The rituals performed by the other party must have taken place outside Yangling."

"Not in Yangling..."

The Empress Dowager's face was gloomy.

In her pain, she couldn't help but recall the new emperor's earlier speculations.

The King of Huainan's magical abilities are extremely high; the opponent may have cast a spell on her from a distance.

Considering the recent large-scale reshuffling of court officials, the Empress Dowager couldn't help but feel extremely suspicious.

"Piao'er is overseeing things for me at Anle Palace, using her Yang Soul to patrol the area near the imperial Chang'an City. If the King of Huainan sets up an altar and performs rituals in such a short time, she should have found out and come knocking on his door!"

The Empress Dowager made swift judgments even in her pain.

The King of Huainan had both the means and the motive to commit the crime, but the other party lacked a suitable location in Chang'an City.

As a key target of surveillance, any unusual activity by the King of Huainan would inevitably be investigated.

Moreover, since the current imperial throne was not decided by the Empress Dowager, the other party lacks a sense of righteousness and it is difficult for him to rightfully enter Weiyang Palace.

The Empress Dowager quickly eliminated this capable but difficult target, and then moved on to the next one.

"Shen Pei, grieving the loss of his student, sought refuge in seclusion. Could he be the one pulling the strings behind the scenes?"

"Confucian School cultivation is complex and may involve esoteric Incantation Technique, but the Confucian School realm emphasizes compatibility, and its Technique Method strength is inferior to others. Unless he cast the spell right under my nose, he couldn't possibly unleash such power with his curse!"

The Empress Dowager quickly settled on a second target.

"A thorough search must be conducted within a five-mile radius; any location involving aerial or underground concealment must be investigated!"

The Empress Dowager clutched her chest, her face pale, and gave the order.

The remaining leaders of the various schools of thought have limited power. If these people could execute the curse to kill her as soon as she left Chang'an City, they could have stormed the palace long ago.

A thorough search by the cavalry would be enough to rule out the possibility that these people were the perpetrators.

One by one, suspected targets were searched and investigated, but the Empress Dowager's expression never eased.

She stared in horror at the gray-brown spots that were gradually appearing on her once fair arms, and quickly touched her face.

A sense of withered skin gradually losing its luster washed over her; the Empress Dowager had already grasped the scope of the Incantation Technique.

"This evil curse is draining my life force!" the Empress Dowager said. "Li Fu, bring me my Life-Creating Pill!"

The Empress Dowager gave a shout, and an old eunuch quickly boarded the carriage and stepped down carrying a brocade box.

The brocade box was opened after being pressed nine times, revealing a golden porcelain bottle inside.

The Empress Dowager removed the seal from the porcelain bottle, took out a red pill, and put it in her mouth.

A surge of vitality rushed through her, and as she watched the grayish-brown spots on her arm stop growing and gradually fade, she felt much more at ease.

"I am not in good condition right now, and I hope the Daoist priest can help me see who is making the move and from which direction. He is likely within a three-mile radius!"

The Empress Dowager earnestly requested permission from Daoist Ran Deng, to which Daoist Ran Deng nodded in agreement.

The white lotuses and red lanterns, swirling in the air, were then drawn away by the coffin lanterns and drifted into the distance.

"I will use the coffin lamp as a guide to draw the Sha Qi away from this tomb by three miles. If you are able to walk, I suggest you quickly take a carriage and leave Yangling," suggested Daoist Ran Deng.

"We must find his true identity," the Empress Dowager said. "The range of his Incantation Technique is too long. If I'm close, I might be able to kill him, but once I'm far away, I'll be trapped in endless torment until the moment I die."

Moving away from the caster can reduce the power of the spell; if one can travel thousands or tens of thousands of miles, the power of the spell will be weakened to the point of having no effect.

However, this requires creating distance in a short period of time; if the cursed person relentlessly pursues you, you will also be affected by the Incantation Technique.

There are ways to ward off Incantation Technique, but none of them are suitable for the current situation.

The Empress Dowager was extremely fierce and clearly decided to use the effects of the Life-Creating Pill to buy time and forcefully break the curse.

If the person behind the curse is found anywhere, both in the heavens and on earth, and is killed, the curse will be broken.

She firmly believed that given the ferocious power of the current Incantation Technique, the opponent must be lurking within a radius of several miles.