[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-cursed-blade-s-walk":3,"chapter-the-cursed-blade-s-walk-the-cursed-blade-s-walk-chapter-780":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Cursed Blade's Walk",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2263085,4415,"Chapter 780: The Demon Rises a Foot Higher","the-cursed-blade-s-walk-chapter-780",780,"\u003Cp>“Lei Yin?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Upon hearing the name, Li Yan’s eyes narrowed, his expression turning cold.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He knew it well.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When he killed the Ghost Emperor of Mangshan in Luoyang, he extracted three names from its mouth. “Ran Du” and “Zhao Qingxu” had both been executed; the remaining one was “Lei Yin.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The opponent was mysterious; Li Yan only knew she was a female cultivator and the leader of some heretical sect, stirring chaos in Jiangnan, with recent events all tied to her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But her true origins remained unknown to all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Judging by Zhang Tiankui’s demeanor, he seemed to know something…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thinking of this, Li Yan took the letter and glanced at it, not lifting his head, speaking casually: “May I ask, Elder, where did you hear this name?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was no wonder he was cautious—he had seen Jianmu’s methods firsthand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These creatures were most terrifying in their ability to lay traps and corrupt hearts; immortality was their chain, yet it also granted them too many advantages.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Who knew if the Zhang family was one of them?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The letter’s content was simple: Lei Yin had written to this “Gutter Snake Lord,” instructing him to protect this ghost opera troupe and assist them in completing their mission if necessary.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The mission had already failed; it held no further value.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What drew Li Yan’s attention, however, was Zhang Tiankui’s account.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This demon is our Zhang family’s greatest enemy!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Tiankui made no attempt to hide it, his expression complex as he recounted a past event.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This grudge has festered for three hundred years…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“During the Southern Song’s Duanping era, in Linghu Town, Huzhou. One of our Zhang ancestors, Zhang Wenyuan, was then a wealthy landowner who controlled thirty percent of Jiangnan’s silk market, yet still craved more.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That year, silkworm farming failed; mulberry fields were struck by plague. To secure the auspicious omen of ‘Twenty-Four Silkworm Flowers,’ he believed the words of a demon cultist and performed the ‘Live Cocoon Sacrifice!’”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What is the ‘Live Cocoon Sacrifice’?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Select the most skilled silkworm girl, bind her hands and feet, stuff her mouth with mulberry leaves, then wrap her body layer by layer in raw silk… and bury her alive beneath the family’s mulberry grove!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he spoke, the night wind surged violently; the withered trees around them wailed like weeping spirits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hehe~”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sha Lifei, who had just regained consciousness, couldn’t help sneering: “Human sacrifice? So this calamity was your Zhang family’s doing?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Tiankui fell silent, offering no rebuttal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That silkworm girl’s name was Su’e.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He continued: “According to ancestral records, after her death, her resentment did not dissipate. Instead, she devoured the souls of all past murdered silkworm girls, and through some unknown method, stole the incense offerings of folk deities like ‘Horse-Head Lady’ and ‘Silkworm Flower Lady,’ using them to stir up trouble among the common folk alongside the demon cult.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Back then, in the Southern Song silk trade, ‘large scales in, small scales out’ was common practice. My ancestor used this deceitful trick to exploit silkworm farmers, and with human sacrifice, amassed mountains of blood debt—he deserved to die, and I dare not speak further.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But the branch that carried out this act died out long ago; even our distant relatives have suffered, with descendants often dying suddenly from cursed spells.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This curse hangs over our Zhang family like a sword suspended by a thread. Generations have traveled far and wide, seeking out masters, yet never found this demon.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So that’s how it is…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yan pondered, “Do you have any leads?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Tiankui took a deep breath and sighed heavily:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“My eldest son… has been cursed.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…………\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At dawn, the Yangzhou docks buzzed with noise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As a vital node on Jiangnan’s waterway network and a major storage hub for salt and grain, the damage from that night had been repaired within days.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Great victory! Great victory!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hooves thundered as a junior officer from the Regional Military Commissioner’s office, flag on his back, galloped along the docks and through Yangzhou’s alleys, shouting:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“All remaining Japanese pirates  have been exterminated!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“All accompanying demons have been slain!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With his cries, joy spread through the crowd.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some citizens spat in anger, others wept with relief, still others whispered among themselves—but all, in whatever way, finally felt the heavy stone lifted from their chests.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was naturally the work of Commander Zhou.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He needed achievements to stabilize public morale; he had originally intended to publicize the defeat of the Twelve Zodiacs, but Li Yan refused, so he released only the news of the Japanese pirates ’s annihilation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even so, the entire city of Yangzhou had erupted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet at the Zhang family’s estate on the high ground north of the Canal River, the scene was entirely different.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the martial leader of this region, the Zhang family’s grand mansion stood proudly, backed by the foothills of Shugang and facing a tributary of the Canal River, built in a fengshui layout of “backing mountains, facing water,” subtly mirroring the constellation of the Big Dipper.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But as soon as Li Yan entered, he noticed many oddities.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The foundation was compacted with blue stone and glutinous rice mortar; iron weight stones were buried in the corners; twin dragon-patterned hitching posts stood at the gate; the central stage of the front courtyard was embedded with seven bronze nails arranged in the shape of the Big Dipper; the central courtyard connecting front and rear halls featured seven moon-shaped gates arranged according to the Big Dipper’s positions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This structure was called the “Seven Stars Corridor”; Li Yan had heard of it from Wang Daoxuan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All these arrangements were meant to ward off evil spirits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing Li Yan’s gaze, Zhang Tiankui sighed and said gravely: “Forgive us for this spectacle—we cannot prevent the curse, so we do all we can.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With that, he led them to the rear quarters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Inside a secluded side room, a young man lay on the bed, wrapped in cotton quilts, breathing evenly—as if already fast asleep.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Tiankui wasted no words; he tore open the youth’s collar, exposing his neck.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The skin was covered in fine, pale white hairs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone stared, curious.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Long Yan’s brows furrowed. “Looks a bit like corpse-hair.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Not quite.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yan shook his head, his eyes slightly surprised. “No corpse-qi—instead, there’s a faint herbal fragrance. I’ve never seen this kind of curse.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This is ‘Silkworm Stiffness.’”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Tiankui stared at the youth on the bed, his eyes filled with sorrow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Any male descendant of the Zhang bloodline may fall victim. Once cursed, these hairs grow, the five viscera gradually turn into silk, and finally, the body forms a cocoon—drying up like a dead silkworm!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The main branch in Huzhou has already been wiped out by this! Our Yangzhou branch, far from the mulberry fields and protected by Daoist artifacts, has barely survived…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Silkworm Stiffness?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Long Yan grew interested, stepping forward and raising her palm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hummm~\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A strange insect, resembling half a centipede with wings, flew out, fluttering its scaled wings and landing on the youth’s chest. It bit off several white hairs and swallowed them, then returned to Long Yan’s palm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She placed the insect on the wooden table, then took a small leather drum from her waist. As she tapped it, she chanted in a southwestern dialect no one understood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No one understood Gushu ; they watched in silence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Suddenly, the insect began to struggle, then stiffened, motionless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Long Yan frowned but kept chanting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dong! Dong! Dong!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the drum beat, white silk began growing from the insect’s body. Time seemed accelerated; within moments, a white cocoon formed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Long Yan stopped drumming, stepped forward grimly, and tore open the cocoon. Seeing the charred, shriveled insect inside, she gasped: “What a powerful curse!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She burned the insect first, then explained to the others: “This curse is extremely vicious. ‘Silkworm Stiffness’ isn’t merely surface hair—it’s a spell rooted in the bloodline, feeding on essence and vitality, then spinning silk and forming a cocoon.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“As the saying goes: ‘The silkworm dies only when its silk is spent.’ When the human cocoon is complete, life is extinguished.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Tiankui clenched his fists, knuckles white, watching his son’s suffering, his heart like a knife piercing him—he cried out: “Miss Long, do you have a cure? If there’s even a glimmer of hope, I will sell every last possession!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No need to sell everything.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Long Yan shook her head. “This curse forces the victim to mimic the silkworm’s silk-spinning. The white silk is pure human essence—no evil qi at all. Thus, ordinary medicines and Gangsha artifacts cannot dispel it.”\u003C\u002Fp>",1429,"2026-06-19T18:28:35.913Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","bcca411be212d6cbae6da69855f4fe7c61cd5fdbd06375291fa90acbfbaa5b98","the-cursed-blade-s-walk-chapter-781","the-cursed-blade-s-walk-chapter-779",801,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-cursed-blade-s-walk-cover.jpg"]