The Magus Era

“Uncle Wen Ming, Ji Hao is suffering, why don’t we just let this bitter wood take a look at him?”

[TL note: Ku Mu’s name means bitter wood in Chinese]

A while later Man Man finally broke the weird silence in the room, then looked at Si Wen Ming while blinking her eyes, seeming very innocent.

Si Wen Ming smiled slightly, took a step backwards, then pointed at Ji Hao, who had been lying on the bed, and said, “It’s good if you can take a look at him. Ku Mu, my brother, you have such a warm heart, you must be a kind person. Hmmm, Ku Mu, my brother, I am just wondering which kind of magical medical skill you have been practicing?”

Before Ku Mu could respond, Si Wen Ming continued, “Insects? Plants? Animals? Spirits? Ghosts? The underworld? The magical medical skills are so protean, so are curses that correspond with each kind of skill. Hmmm, I have no idea what or who did this to Hao.”

Ku Mu rolled up his rag-like dirty sleeves, sat calmly down beside Ji Hao, then pressed three of his fingers onto Ji Hao’s wrist. His fingers slightly shook according with Ji Hao’s pulses. In the meanwhile, Ku Mu blandly said, “I am no one but a disciplinant, traveling around the world. What I have been practicing is a special kind of magical medical skill that most people never have heard off.”

Ku Mu then raised his head, looked at Si Wen Ming in the eyes and continued, “I have never met this young man before, neither do I have anything against him. I am only curious about the magic curse on him, so I came to take a look. Why do you, such a noble man, embarrass a poor and humble person like me?”

Si Wen Ming let out a smile, then shook his head.

Nobleman? Poor and humble person?

Ku Mu’s words were pretty aggressive. Man Man couldn’t tell, but Si Wen Ming was not like Man Man. In Si Wen Ming’s eyes, humankind was a single unit, every single person was equal; however, Ku Mu had just forcibly put nobleman and humble person as two opposite statuses; he must have an unknown intention, which couldn’t be good!

Ji Hao lied on the bed, carefully controlling all of his spiritual power, without letting even a slight strand of spirit power out of his body.

One of the specialties of the [Mantra Dan with Nine Secret Words] was that it could help a person to develop his or her own potentials, and manipulate the universal power. By practicing with the [Mantra Dan with Nine Secret Words] for over ten years, Ji Hao could now freely manipulate the most subtle power, which allowed him to carve patterns even on a pinpoint. He was now also controlling his own blood and bloodline power, making his body look horrible. However, before he could attract the people who had earlier tried to murder him, an unexpected greedy guest had shown up.

At the moment that Ji Hao was attacked by the blood-red spell symbol, although he didn’t perceive anything from the power of the blood-red spell symbol by himself, his two contracted magic fiery snakes clearly told him that they had smelled the tiny three-eyed monkey from the blood-red spell symbol.

This meant that the endless group of animals, which was attacking the caravan, were also driven by the three-eyed tiny monkey. Ji Hao pretended to be harmed badly and attempted to draw the people who had planned all this, out with Si Wen Ming’s cooperation. He didn’t think that Ku Mu would show up before the three-eyed monkey and its owner appeared.

Once Ku Mu pressed his fingers on Ji Hao’s wrist, Ji Hao silently controlled his vital energy and blood, and made them randomly and violently gush around inside his body. His blood seemed to have turned into a naughty monkey, quickly flowing both ways, with the current and against the current. Soon, countless swirls had appeared inside his large blood vessels, and the small blood vessels were all tangled into a mess.

Only people like Ji Hao, who had the most precise control over their own body, were able to control their own vital energy and blood, and make such big changes to their body.

In the Southern Wasteland, even Magus Kings would only pay most of their attention on methods involving physical attacks, and almost none of them had the patience to practice control of their own bodies. Therefore, none of them could achieve what Ji Hao was doing right now.

Ku Mu’s fingers were cold and dry, and were releasing a cold and subtle power sense, like a top-quality jade piece. Sharp strands of cold power gushed out of his fingertips, into Ji Hao’s body, and quickly touched all of Ji Hao’s blood vessels, after which, Ku Mu’s facial expression showed that he was shocked pretty badly.

He had never seen a person with blood and vital energy gushing around, and their entire body in such a chaos.

He didn’t suspect Ji Hao for doing this by himself, after all, Ji Hao’s [Mantra Dan with Nine Secret Words] was a mysterious thing that went beyond all kinds of knowledge systems of this world. Ku Mu could never even imagine that a Southern Wasteland Junior Magus could precisely manipulate his own blood and vital energy and do something like this.

Therefore, Ku Mu believed that Ji Hao was indeed suffering from a certain kind of vicious blood curse.

The problem was, what kind of blood curse could turn Ji Hao’s body into such a mess?

Even more puzzling, what on earth was this strange blood curse, which had turned Ji Hao’s entire body into a mess, but still kept him alive, lingering on, in a steadily worsening condition? A stream of greedy light flashed across Ku Mu’s pupils - Was Ji Hao carrying some treasure that saved his life?

Ku Mu’s fingers still pressed onto Ji Hao’s chest. He then looked down, and stared at the small storage bag tied around Ji Hao’s waist, letting out a smile, then said, “Young man, this storage bag of your is quite exquisite and lovely.”

Si Wen Ming narrowed his eyes, let out a smile as well, and remained silent. The chubby pigeon standing on his head cooed abruptly.

Man Man squatted beside the bed, looking worried at Ji Hao, sighed and said, “This small bag? Ji Hao killed a few stupid robbers and grabbed this from them. Oy, bitter wood! Don’t just look around, do something and cure Ji Hao!”

Ku Mu smiled, then slowly nodded and responded, “Hm, I already have a rough understanding of the magic curse on this young man, let me try my [Midget Liberating Spell], and see if I can neutralize this vicious magic curse for him.”

While speaking, Ku Mu locked his fingers together and stretched all of his fingers, making his hands look like a lotus, then narrowed his eyes and began incanting a weird spell. The buzzing spell-incanting sound wormed into Ji Hao’s ear, making Ji Hao suddenly feel dizzy, and his eyes numbed, nearly passing out.

Fortunately, the Golden Dan was rotating rapidly; Ji Hao’s soul was steadily hiding inside the Golden Dan, which prevented him from being hypnotized by the spell. He paused briefly, then hurriedly incanted the [Mantra Dan with Nine Secret Words] in his mind, and his hands slowly gestured a corresponding motions, silently fighting against Ku Mu’s spell.

Ku Mu slightly opened his closed eyes, and stared at Ji Hao’s eyes, which had been closed all this time.

Ji Hao suddenly felt that his eyesight was lit up; although his eyes were closed, he still could see Ku Mu. Ku Mu was wrapped up by a layer of white light, and slowly walked towards him; with every step closer, Ku Mu’s silhouette became bigger and clearer. Ku My walked into Ji Hao’s spiritual space, step by step. Inside Ji Hao’s spiritual space, Ku Mu’s body was six-zhang tall, and shone with bright white light, just like that of a god that had descended to the human world.

Ku My opened his mouth and began talking, light-lotuses were spewing out from his mouth, one after another.

“Little kid, the small bag tied around your waist, did you get it from the disciples of my sect, who were killed by you?” said Ku Mu with a resonating voice.

Ji Hao didn’t respond, only stared coldly at Ku Mu.

Don’t getting an answer from Ji Hao, Ku Mu paused for a second and shook his head, then said with a deep voice, “Barbarians in the Southern Wasteland are all stupid and stubborn. They only practice their physical strength and never pay attention to their soul. All of their souls can only grow stronger, by relying on their physical strength and bloodline power, but the way they manipulate their spiritual and soul powers is no better than how animals do it.”

“Hm, I was wrong to use this [Midget Dream Release Magic] on this kid, he is cursed by some vicious dark magic, I’m afraid that his soul is already been damaged...I have to gather all of the fragments of his damaged soul, then interrogate him to know exactly which of junior brother’s disciples has been killed by this little bastard.”

While Ku Mu was murmuring to himself, Ji Hao silently activated all of the powers contained in his Golden Dan. Massive power suddenly gushed out of the Golden Dan, transformed into a thousand-zhang tall and zhangs thick lightning bolt that was wrapped around by streams of purple mist. Along with a thunderous boom, the lightning bolt struck hard right onto Ku Mu’s head in the very next moment.

Struck by the lightning bolt, the six-zhang tall silhouette of Ku Mu instantly shattered.