Chapter 178: The Visitation Hall’s Third Opening
“Ghost Child, we’ve barely been living all these years because of the symbiosis, and because of the backlash. All of us have a lot of enemies and no matter how great your cultivation level is, you can’t take them on alone. You might not be aware but Old Turtle and I have been shielding you from tons of disasters all this while. Would you really be so heartless and watch from the sidelines as we die?” There were hints of plea in Coffin Man’s tone.
Madam Ghost Child stayed quiet. Coffin Man said nothing more either. He merely stood there watching, waiting, hoping.
At last, Coffin Man let out a sigh before turning to leave.
Just as he was about to reach the door, Madam Ghost Child finally said, “Old Coffin, wait here. When the door opens, I’ll see if I can take you with me.”
Coffin Man was stunned.
He was surprised, delighted because Madam Ghost Child was willing to help him. The fact that she called him ‘Old Coffin’ assured Coffin Man that she still remembered their good ol’ days, and that was enough for him.
For the sake of his pet beast, just like Madam Ghost Child, Coffin Man could only keep it alive through symbiosis. But this was gradual suicide, destined to lead to the inevitable.
Hence, when he realized how Madam Ghost Child had severed the symbiosis but her pet beast was still alive, he knew she had found a solution.
They had been searching, wishing for too long. Now that there was a ray of hope, how could he not be excited?
However, Coffin Man was confused.
Door?
What door?
“Ghost Child, this door you mentioned…” Coffin Man asked quietly. Before he could finish, Ghost Child interrupted him. “Don’t ask. I don’t know how to explain it either and I’m not sure if I can take you in there with me.”
Sure enough, Coffin Man stopped asking. He merely looked around curiously.
According to Madam Ghost Child, the door should be opening around here. Otherwise, she would not have been here waiting.
But there was no door here.
“Right, give me some of your and your zombie Cthulhu’s blood,” Madam Ghost Child said.
Although confused, Coffin Man still took some of his blood and put it in a ceramic bowl.
“With the symbiosis method, my blood has become one with my zombie Cthulhu’s. Will this bowl be enough? Coffin Man asked.
Madam Ghost Child nodded. “If you can’t go in later, wait for me here. I’ll help you inquire about it.”
“Ask who?” Coffin Man noticed the key question.
An expert was helping Ghost Child after all.
“The curator!” As soon as Madam Ghost Child uttered those words, she suddenly felt a wave of fluctuation before her. The next instant, a portal opened up out of thin air.
However, this portal was much more stable compared to the last. She felt no pull from the portal either.
Madam Ghost Child quickly stood up, looking excited.
“Curator?” Coffin Man was stunned. He obviously couldn’t see the portal.
Madam Ghost Child noticed this fact as well.
“You don’t see anything?” Mada Ghost Child probed. Startled, Coffin Man asked back, “What should I see?”
“It’s nothing!” Madam Ghost Child didn’t explain. Perhaps only she who possessed a visitor’s token could enter the mysterious Visitation Hall.
Other people couldn’t even see it so they couldn’t possibly sneak in.
In hindsight, the idea of bringing Coffin Man along with her was too naive. She should have given up on it earlier.
Knowing that she had to enter as soon as possible, Madam Ghost Child cast a spell, levitating the herb-filled wooden boxes and the bowl with Coffin Man’s blood into the portal. She said to Coffin Man, “Wait here.”
Having said that, she walked into the portal.
Meanwhile, from Coffin Man’s perspective, Madam Ghost Child had disappeared into thin air.
It wasn’t an illusion, nor an invisible spell. She was genuinely gone, along with her aura.
Just like a transportation spell.
Coffin Man was dumbstruck.
Despite living for a hundred years and possessing a comparable amount of experience, he had never seen anything like this.
“The curator. Interesting. This is interesting!”
***
At the Visitation Hall.
The visitors entered successively without wasting time, including visitor number eight, the tyrannosaurus old man who addressed himself as Old Tian.
After scanning the room, He Qing greeted Black Crow, Jiang Ziqi, and Ye Yuzhou, the few people whom she felt familiar with.
As for tyrannosaurus old man, Old Tian, He Qing didn’t like him because of his volatile temper. And she didn’t dare to provoke visitor number nine, Madam Ghost Child.
She felt intimidated from just looking at her so He Qing chose not to interact with her if she could help it.
“Curator isn’t here yet!” He Qing exclaimed, noticing the tightly closed metal door on the second floor.
She was clenching the crystal bottle in her hand tightly, evidently anxious.
“What a peculiar individual, this curator is! I’ve tried investigating him after going back but no such expert exists in this world,” Old Tian suddenly commented.
He was different from when he last came here. Old Tian was no longer as arrogant as he had been initially.
He was no fool either after realizing how capable these people here were.
Especially the Curator. After careful thought, Old Tian came to realize how terrifying the man’s existence was. He had also been investigating Madam Ghost Child only to find out how infamous she was. She was an expert highly ranked in the underground community, someone he should not have been provoking at all.
However, with Old Tian’s intelligence, he immediately recognized this as an opportunity.
And what opportunity was that?
The opportunity to expand his network.
The Visitation Hall’s visitors were all prominent individuals so if he could get acquainted with them, there were surely benefits to reap.
And so, Old Tian switched his strategy. He put up a humble act and initiated conversations. He hoped that by starting a topic, everyone would eventually get along following his lead.
But it was a pity no one responded to him.
It was awkward.
Ye Yuzhou glanced at Madam Ghost Child, and then Black Crow.
Both of them were the strongest visitors in the hall apart from himself. Madam Ghost Child was particularly famous in her villainous community, though obviously in a bad way.
‘Better stay away from them,’ Ye Yuzhou thought.
This time, everyone seemed to have a request for the curator, especially Ye Yuzhou. Although he had obtained an evaluation report with specific instructions for evolving his soaring cloud flood dragon, there were a few parts he didn’t understand so he required the curator’s help to clarify.
The person who shared the same idea was Black Crow. He too wanted to promote his Rank 4 pet beast to Rank 5 so he had just as many questions.
Only Jiang Ziqi seemed to be at ease among them. He wasn’t the least bit flustered and was the calmest of all the visitors.
Then, He Qing noticed one thing.
There had been no new visitors this time around.
Only visitors from the first and second openings were here, but she didn’t give it too much thought. This was perhaps the curator’s arrangement.
After a long while, the metal door above was pushed open.
Everyone perked up immediately, straightening their backs to give their greetings.
The curator had arrived.
Lin Jin was in the same appearance as before, wearing a mask and exuding a domineering aura.
Unbeknownst to them, Lin Jin was just as excited as his visitors.
He looked forward to two things. One was to see if his visitors had collected the treasures he requested for as it concerned Xiao Huo’s perfect evolution process.
That, and pranking Old Ye.
Since the man was troubling him in the Friar Association, he would teach him a lesson.
For no reason other than to vent his frustrations.
Lin Jin glanced around and realized there were no new visitors too. He didn’t think too much about it either as he didn’t know when the Visitation Hall would assign new visitors, despite him being the curator.
“Curator, you’re finally here.” Again, it was He Qing who spoke first.
She was the Visitation Hall’s first guest and had a cheerful demeanor. As she had urgent matters, He Qing was also fairly impatient this time around.
As she spoke, He Qing wiggled the crystal bottle in her hand. “Curator, you mentioned last time that to diagnose if a bestial soul curse could be removed, a blood sample is required. Here, I brought it today.”
Lin Jin nodded. He extended an arm and the crystal bottle flew toward him.
This crystal bottle itself was clearly a valuable item that no average person could easily obtain. The blood inside was still as fresh as when it was drawn. Opening the bottle, Lin Jin poked a finger into the blood.
His expression immediately turned funny.
The Museum of Deadly Beast could record various information on beasts including bestial soul curses. After all, these curses originated from highly ranked beasts.
The blood specimen He Qing gave contained a powerful bestial soul curse. However, Lin Jin was familiar with this particular curse.
The museum had a record of it.
It was the cross-dressing woman’s curse.
The exact same individual.
Was it the same curse on a different person? Or was this the same target?
Lin Jin began contemplating.
Seeing how unusually quiet the curator had become, He Qing grew anxious.
She put her faith in the curator because He Qing believed him to be invincible. That was why she tried to have him rescue her sister, He Yu.
But what if the curator couldn’t solve it too?
He Qing dared not imagine the outcome.
Perhaps it was just as her sister said, that this curse was unbreakable and her death was inevitable.
This had to be the case. Otherwise, the curator wouldn’t remain silent for such a long time. It must be an irreversible curse.
At the thought of this, He Qing felt devastated. Tears of despair came trickling down her face.
“What are you crying for?” Lin Jin asked, audibly confused after noticing her tears.
She had just been energetic as a bunny earlier so why was she crying now?
A woman’s heart was difficult to understand.
He Qing asked in a saddened voice, “Curator, is my sister’s curse unbreakable?”
Her voice was barely audible, clearly overwhelmed by her sorrow.
Lin Jin was increasingly convinced that He Qing’s sister was the cross-dressing chap.
But he never said there was no cure so why was she crying?
“Since when did I say it’s unbreakable?” Lin Jin didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
This time, it was He Qing who was startled. After careful consideration, the curator never actually confirmed it. It had all been in her mind.
“Then, Curator, this…” He Qing stammered as a ray of hope surfaced in her heart.
Lin Jin said, “This will be very tricky but it’s curable.”
This one sentenced calmed her down instantly. He Qing immediately turned tears into laughter. For some reason, she was easily persuaded by the curator, so if he mentioned it was curable, it would be.
“However, to cure her, I’d need to visit your sister in person.” Lin Jin was being honest. This bestial soul curse was too unique. Even the museum’s solution was incredibly complex and required the usage of the pulse-seeking technique. Lin Jin was probably the only person in this world who knew the technique so he had to treat the patient personally.
He Qing figured it wouldn’t be that easy. After all, her sister He Yu couldn’t enter the Visitation Hall.
“You need not be anxious about this. From my observation, your sister should be fine for the time being. She might even get better in the near future.”
Lin Jin wasn’t bluffing.
Lu Bin had come to invite him to Jade Dragon City as a guest but Lin Jin didn’t have the time so he delayed the invitation. However, once this hustle period was over and the Friar Association’s disciple tournament concluded, he would probably make a trip over so Lin Jin could just cure her while he was at it.
Hence why he said her sister’s condition would turn better after some time. It was because he would personally tend to it.
He Qing was naturally oblivious to all this. She simply had faith in the curator. Since he said things would be fine for now, He Qing could rest easy.