Lan Jing Forest (11)

"Tan Yan.

"Tan Yan.

"Tan Yan."

His name was spoken with such intense hatred that Elder Yan felt shivers down his spine.

And as if all the other spirits inside reacted to that name, they started to chant it as well.

"Tan Yan! Tan Yan!

"Die! Die!

"Kill him! Kill Tan Yan!"

Crack! Crack!

The trap built out of dirt was starting to fall apart as dust and pieces of it scattered. 

"I can't hold it much longer," Shin Minji stated.

And even with his name called out over and over, Elder Yan somehow was still persistent in denying.

"It's not me! How could you do this to your own brother! What if I was framed? What if there are others involved? How are you so quick to decide that I am in the wrong?!"

The sect leader reached out from his sleeves and pulled out several paper talismans. He activated them and stuck them to Elder Yan's back. They were binding spells.

Then he flicked his finger again, and Elder Yan flopped to the ground without any resistance as he couldn't move due to the binding talismans.

The sect leader spoke coldly, "The details are matters we can solve later. Now, everyone, prepare to start the fourth path of exorcism!"

Crack! Crack!

Shin Minji conjured more and more dirt to coat the trap, and shifted them slightly to position the possessed body.

Everyone else circled around it and prepared their stance.

Putting aside Elder Yan and the injured mage, there were a total of seven mages capable of performing the exorcism. Shin Minji, the sect leader, two elders, and three children.

Once everything seemed to be in place, Shin Minji declared.

"Listen! Start the exorcism right after I release the trap!

Three!

Two!

One!"

Shriiing!!!

The bells started ringing again as the exorcism started.

Seven mages poured out as much spiritual energy into the possessed body, exterminating the spiritual remains inside without harming the mortal body.

Although the body itself wouldn't be hurt, they could hear the shrieks of the spirits as they dissipated.

It took about five minutes until the body stopped moving and slumped down on the ground as if it was just an empty puppet. At that point, the children simultaneously collapsed as well due to exhaustion, and even the adults were catching their breaths.

Shin Minji walked over to Kou's body to make sure no more spirits remained.

His skin had returned to its colors, and the bark ridges had disappeared. Shin Minji checked the body's pulse to make sure it was still alive, and she found that it still had its warmth and could even sweat.

She changed the fabric wrapped around the arms and tended to the wound properly before dragging it back to the center of the array. Its hands and feet were tied, and she enhanced it with land magic.

Zhou Xin watched as she followed her.

For now, it didn't seem like Shin Minji was going to harm Kou. However, it was likely that Kou would be held captive once he woke up.

Zhou Xin frowned when she looked at the array again.

The blood used to draw it had long dried, leaving an unsightly mark on the ground. Judging from the size of the array, it was enough blood to make a person pass out. No wonder Kou had become so pale by the time they got here.

And as if voicing her thoughts, Zhou Xin heard Chen Liang speak from behind.

"I-is that real blood? How is he still alive?"

Zhou Xin turned to see Tan Ren and Chen Liang approaching. It seemed that the elders sent them here as they were going to discuss something that only concerns the elders.

Despite performing the same process of exorcism, Shin Minji looked as though she had regained all of her strength and was sitting elegantly right outside of the array.

Zhou Xin noticed that when Shin Minji was not being stern, she looked very kind.

Shin Minji replied to Chen Liang, "You'd be surprised at what lengths it would take to kill this pirate."

Hearing that, Zhou Xin shot a glare towards her, to which Shin Minji responded back with a smirk.

"Don't worry, he won't die," she stated.

Tan Ren seemed nervous at Zhou Xin's attitude towards the highly regarded mage. He carefully asked with a respectful tone.

"Clan Head Shin Minji, umm, you know this pirate?"

To live in the Southern Peninsula, Tan Ren naturally knew of the famous Lone Pirate. Other than his mischievous acts of piracy, he was also known to be one of the best rogue mages out there.

But as far as Tan Ren's knowledge of this thief, Kou never really hurt anyone other than causing trouble to merchants. There were rumors that he even helped the survivors of the sea mage purge to escape the Peninsula.

He also knew that the thief didn't really venture out to the far seas, not even to the neighboring Western Valleys. Though, that is during the time he was already well-known. Tan Ren never heard of what Kou did before his years of theft, or what he could possibly have done to make Shin Minji claim a clan branding on him.

Zhou Xin was also curious about this. She remembered that Kou seemed to be awfully familiar with Shin Minji and spoke highly of her. From his stories, it almost sounded like they were good friends.

Shin Minji answered simply.

"We've known each other for a while."

Zhou Xin couldn't exactly read her expression. But it wasn't a lie.

If she guessed correctly, Kou might be a few years younger than Shin Minji. However, Zhou Xin didn't know Kou's exact age. If they had known each other longer than Kou had been a thief, it was possibly when Kou was a teenager and Shin Minji had just become an adult.

Zhou Xin pictured Kou to be a rebellious, troublemaking teenager. It was hard to imagine him being a friend to someone so proper and elegant like Shin Minji.

Then again, Zhou Xin believed that Kou was a good person at heart.

She turned to look at him in the middle of the array.

Zhou Xin was sure that he got possessed not because of some kind of mistake, he must have done it for a reason. After a while of thinking, it wasn't hard to conclude that he did it so that all the evil spirits gathered in one spot, and that the mages could exterminate it at once.

She wondered if he had been planning that from the beginning.

She didn't know the details of the plan, so she could only make assumptions. And based on how Kou had made her go to the academy, it was likely to ensure that she wouldn't have to see him spill out so much blood for the array.

He seemed to suffer so much, and for what?

Why did he have to be so kind?

In the end, he did manage to find the culprit.

Having said that, Zhou Xin still wondered who sent the request.

On the other hand, the interrogation didn't seem to go smoothly, and the sect leader was walking over to Shin Minji.

The elegant mage stood up to greet him.

"Sect leader. How did it go?"

"Hmm… Not too well. Could you tell us about the curse you found on Tan Ming's body?"

Shin Minji seemed to think for a bit before she nodded and followed the sect leader.

Zhou Xin also followed, but then stopped at a considerable distance, just enough to eavesdrop. Tan Ren and Chen Liang stood on her left and right side with confusion.

Chen Liang asked, "Are you trying to eavesdrop?"

"I can't hear anything from here," Tan Ren said.

"Should we go a little closer? Or are you just trying to watch?"

Maybe it was because of her experience as a thief that she could hear better, so Zhou Xin was perfectly fine with where she was standing. She didn't say anything to the two disciples and focused on trying to listen.

The sect leader spoke to the elders.

"Shin Minji here is an expert on curses."

That statement alone made them pay attention to what Shin Minji had to say, despite her being the youngest mage out of all the elders there.

As she was talking to those older than her, Shin Minji bowed once out of respect.

"I have to say, I'm an expert specifically on curses based on land magic."

There are many types of curses based on which spirits were absorbed to cast it. And Shin Minji came from the Western Valleys, where mage clans were mostly known for their land magic.

One of the mages replied.

"Clan Head Shin Minji, with all due respect, I think this matter revolves around curses based on sea magic."

It seemed that the interrogation had at least resulted in some information.

Since Elder Yan couldn't refute his involvement in the matter, he claimed that he had been manipulated to participate in the purge by the Chen Clan.

Therefore, he acted as if he wanted to cooperate and explained that the spirits buried in the forest were sea mages. And that the Chen Clan forced him to bury the corpses in the forest with the purpose to make the future southern mages stronger, referring to the disciples.

The story was quite believable, and it would make sense to come to the conclusion that the curses would be based on sea magic because the dead spirits were 'sea mages'.

However…

"I didn't say that I'm not knowledgeable in sea magic curses," Shin Minji said. "And I found two different curses on Tan Ming's corpse."

The look on the elders' face showed that none of them had expected it.

Shin Minji continued.

"One of them, as you guessed, is the curse that ended his life. It was a regular curse, casted by a non-magic user. This proved that the spirits were not sea mages, or even exposed to magic at all. This also explained why students in your academy had only been falling ill despite the high concentration of resentful energy in your forest."

Non-magic users can still cast a curse even though they can't draw power from spirits. However, it will only be effective if the curse is casted right before death, because spiritual energy can only be manipulated once the soul dies. When the soul casts a curse before they die, their spirit will become resentful.

The more powerful the resentment, the more powerful the curse. And the more specific the curse, the more effective the damage.

If the spirits didn't know the identity of their target, they would curse based on what they know. For example, which clan, and what they looked like. And the resentment that remained would target the curse based on that.

The students of the academy became vulnerable targets because they didn't have enough resistance against dark energy, and they were considered as part of the Tan Clan.

But then, there are spirits who curse with specific targets, such as Jiajia cursing Tan Yan right before her death. If there were other spirits like her, then Tan Yan should have received the most damage from the curse.

"Then how did Tan Ming die? And why did he die instead of him?" One of the elders asked, pointing at Tan Yan.

As Tan Yan was restricted with powerful talismans, he couldn't move anything more than his face muscles. He was sweating and glaring, seemingly nervous with how the discussion was progressing.

Shin Minji observed him as she gave an answer.

"As I said, there was another curse. It was based on land magic. But the curse wasn't drawn from resentful spirits, so it is not considered dark magic.

"The curse itself doesn't cause harm, but it can transfer anything between the caster and the target, or between two targets. Meaning, it could even switch their fate or divert a curse from one person to another." 

To spare a soul at the expense of another one.

The target could even be considered as some kind of sacrificial object.

And yet, the curse wasn't even considered dark magic. It meant that the curse demanded a rather complicated spell.