Chapter 8: The Curse

Baishui City, Suburbs, Horticulture Garden.

Li Xuan suddenly opened his eyes, instinctively reaching back to touch his spine. He found it perfectly smooth; his skin was entirely unblemished, and even the clothes that had been shredded by the female ghost were completely intact. He found himself sitting on a small garden stool in the same posture he had held before transmigrating, with a small mound of dirt on the ground before him, from which a tender sprout was emerging.

This sprout possessed only a single, tiny leaf-core, radiating a faint green light. Looking closer, one could see four tiny characters inscribed upon it: "Minxiong Haunted House."

Huh?

Li Xuan tentatively reached out his index finger to touch the tiny leaf on the sprout.

The green light flashed violently, and green text manifested on the ground: [You have successfully obtained the reward "Fengdu Certification" from this world. Possessing this certification allows for the use of legitimate Fengdu incantations. Additionally, you have been granted a seal, which enables the activation of "Fengyue Sect" talismans...]

*Click!*

A mobile phone camera flash!

Li Xuan felt a sudden clarity in his mind; even his breathing felt fresher. He immediately checked the contents of his phone. The photograph contained no green text, nor did the sprout exist within the image. In other words, only he could see these things.

Li Xuan: "..."

Just then, his hand sank as a small, square seal appeared in his palm. It felt like wood, yet it was surprisingly heavy. Flipping it over, he saw the characters "Fengdu Precious Seal" carved into the base. A single glance was enough to instill an indescribable sense of profound weight.

The seal was real.

This meant he had truly transmigrated into the world of the film *Minxiong Haunted House*. He had not expected transmigration to be real, nor had he anticipated that upon completing his mission and returning to the real world, the injuries he sustained in that other realm would be completely reset and healed.

Li Xuan stretched his limbs.

Whenever he transmigrated into a film, the sprout would grow a leaf. Given its botanical nature, it meant it would grow just like a plant. As he continued to enter film worlds, this sprout would likely keep growing leaves with the completion of each mission, eventually becoming a large tree.

Completing missions also seemed to bring him benefits, such as rewards.

Li Xuan felt something hard in his pocket. He pulled it out and was pleasantly surprised to find the booklet he had brought back from the "Beiyin Temple," the *Supreme Cave Abyss Northern Emperor Tianpeng Protective Life and Home-Cleansing Divine Incantation Scripture*. Did this count as a personal achievement rather than a mission reward?

He hurriedly searched his pockets, only to feel a slight pang of regret.

The more than three hundred thousand yuan in his Taiwan bank account hadn't followed him back, and the black notebook used to issue the missions had vanished without a trace...

Li Xuan did not know how long the interval between missions would be. Since he didn't know, he stopped overthinking it.

After tending to the garden, he returned to the villa he had built in the village and opened his computer to search for everything related to the "Great Northern Emperor."

The Fengyue Sect, the Great Northern Emperor, the Great Ziwei Emperor, the Great Dongyue Emperor, the Three Realms and Nine Grades, the eighteen levels of hell, the ten Yama Kings, the various underworld marshals, and the seventy-two departments—one legend after another about the netherworld popped up.

The more he read, the more shocked he became.

The Great Northern Emperor was primarily worshipped by the Fengyue Sect. This sect had very high standards; although one did not have to strictly adhere to the "Black Laws" from the very beginning, it maintained strict control over the conduct of its Taoist priests. To summarize: if the person is upright, their shadow is upright; one must never do anything to harm good people.

Li Xuan felt his scalp tingle.

Taoist culture had a long history, with various sects and differing traditions. The Fengyue Sect had been passed down since the Southern Song Dynasty. Beyond worshipping the three Great Emperors, it also revered the Thirtieth Celestial Master, the True Lord Xu Jing Zhang, as its founder.

Li Xuan remained silent, mindlessly scrolling through web pages, absorbing the cultural impact of the Fengyue Sect.

Honestly, after reading through all this information, he truly admired those who practiced the Northern Emperor's methods. One had to realize that since the Southern Song Dynasty, countless years had passed, and various Taoist concepts had been influenced by major historical events, constantly splitting and merging into new sects. Some deities had been divided into several, while others, responsible for similar duties, had been fused into one.

However... the ultimate supreme gods remained the Three Pure Ones.

Li Xuan rested his chin on his right hand, deep in thought. He had worshipped the Great Northern Emperor in the *Minxiong Haunted House* world and could use the Tianpeng Incantation. Now, returning from his mission, he had gained the "Fengdu Precious Seal," a reward that bypassed many procedures and placed him in the position of an unofficial "Fengdu Judge."

He considered that he should seek out someone from the Fengyue Sect for consultation. However, not knowing when his next transmigration would occur was a bit troublesome.

He stood on the balcony, looking toward the garden, and chuckled to himself. Surely it couldn't be like "Open Sesame," where he just had to shout at the sprout, "I want to transmigrate," and it would begin?

"I want to transmigrate!"

Once an idea takes root, one always wants to try it. Li Xuan, being a bit cheeky, actually said it.

In the direction of the garden, a green light flashed, and Li Xuan felt a ray of green light drill into the center of his forehead. Immediately, the air around him twisted, and the black notebook appeared in his hands. The pages flipped open automatically, and on the second page, a new mission appeared:

[Please put an end to the disaster in Chen Family Village and terminate the spread of the Mother of Buddha's curse.]

Uh...

Shouting that out really worked?

Where was this Chen Family Village? The Mother of Buddha?

Hmm?

Li Xuan's eyes widened; he remembered.

The name "Mother of Buddha" came from the film *Incantation*. It told the story of a female protagonist who, while filming a spirit-hunting program, accidentally stumbled into a village and offended an evil deity. All her companions died, and she was marked by the evil deity, the Mother of Buddha, becoming a new source of the curse, spreading it everywhere so more people would be influenced by the evil deity.

She had a daughter and hoped the child wouldn't be implicated. But years later, as the curse intensified and danger loomed, she chose to sacrifice her daughter to save her own life. The entire plot followed her process of recording videos on the internet to spread the curse, as well as the tragic deaths of the friends and family who tried to help her.

Most tragic of all were the elderly Taoist couple who, knowing their opponent was an evil deity, still accepted the protagonist's plea for help. The old couple set up an altar to bestow divine protection upon the daughter; if she could survive seven days without eating or drinking, the curse would be broken. But the mother secretly fed her daughter water, causing the protection to shatter. The old couple then met a gruesome end in their home temple.

In the end, the protagonist brought offerings, intending to negotiate with the Mother of Buddha, and entered Chen Family Village alone to face the statue of the evil deity. Unfortunately, she overestimated herself and underestimated the deity, falling completely into its trap.

Because the film was quite famous and used the gimmick of a "found footage" style, it had fooled many people. As a result, Li Xuan had joined the crowd and watched the movie.

Having been "cursed face-to-face" by the protagonist through the screen, he felt indescribable after finishing it—a sensation reminiscent of his youth, when he would open a chat group only to suddenly see a malicious and boring chain letter that read, "If you don't forward this, your whole family will die."

He knew it wasn't real, but it still ruined his mood.

He hadn't expected to enter this world.

Li Xuan clenched his fists, looked at the black notebook, and said calmly, "Fine, let's get started. I absolutely love working..."