535 Guardian

"Why have you infiltrated the headquarters of the Tantai family?"

The Tantai clan leader had loosened up slightly upon discovering that Fang Yuan was human. He signalled for the other Tantai elders to retreat.

'Hmm? Seems like this person isn't as ignorant as I thought...right, a leader would not be as reckless as to challenge a formidable stranger to a deathmatch, even if that stranger had offended him…'

Fang Yuan shook off the spell that gave him his ghostly appearance and was human again.

"Sss…!"

The Tantai elders sucked in a collective breath of cold air.

"This sort of magic...looks like it is based on sealing up spirits on the body and forcing them to do one's bidding... marvellous! Truly marvellous!"

An old man stared at Fang Yuan with his mouth agape and bowed deeply to him.

"My name is Tantai Feng. Thank you for your demonstration. If I am able to advance my skills in the future, it will be thanks to you!"

'Tantai Feng? Isn't he the creator of the 'Ghost Channelling' taboo spell?

Fang Yuan rolled his eyes and muttered to himself.

'So I was his inspiration? Wait, I still can't be sure if this place belongs to my timeline. Or is it part of the multiverse? Or even a world that was created by the curse?'

"Alright, you may take your leave, Elder Feng!"

The Tantai clan leader had spoken again.

"My friend, what is your purpose in coming here?"

"To be honest, it was a coincidence. I had not intended to come here at all. You may all call me Fang Yuan!"

Fang Yuan introduced himself in a booming voice.

"Now that I am here, I would like to find out more about two things! Firstly, about the origin of the curse regarding that unspeakable name. Secondly, about the man with the unspeakable name and what he did to sully the name of the Tantai family."

"My friend...you seem to know quite a bit about the Tantai family!"

The Tantai clan leader was bemused.

"So...which branch of the Tantai family are you from? Why have I not seen you before?"

There was no way to fake the blood of the Tantai family and the special curse. There was also a sensory method to identify Tantai family members, and there was no way to hide.

"Can you tell?"

Fang Yuan scratched his head. He knew that they probably would not believe his story of having shuttled through different timelines.

"I'm from one of the minor branches. I just want to know the origin of the 20-year cycle."

"The origin?"

The Tantai clan leader forced a laugh.

"To be honest, Ghost Sealing Village is the place where everything began!"

"So that means…"

Fang Yuan's eyes lit up.

"That 'Door'. Did it appear here too?"

"You...really know a lot!"

The Tantai elder sighed and spoke.

"Since we are family, I won't beat around the bush. You're right! That door used to be here, and the Tantai family has been it's 'Guardian' for generations. It's been more than a thousand years since we took up the responsibility!"

"Guardian?"

Fang Yuan was astonished.

"A cursed door needed protection for a thousand years...wait, this isn't right!"

"Who told you...that it was a cursed door?"

The Tantai clan leader said with a hint of amusement.

"Hmm?"

Fang Yuan shuddered.

"Is that Green Bronze Ghost Door the reason how this world got cursed?"

"Of course not…"

The Tantai clan leader had a strange look on his face and asked on.

"Do you know about the netherworld?"

"Yes. When people die, their souls go there. In my opinion, because it coexists with the human world, one on the outside and one on the inside, it can be known as the 'Inner World'!"

Fang Yuan replied and sensed that the clan leader was about to reveal a great secret.

"'Inner World'? Well said...between Heaven and Earth, everything goes through a cycle. The netherworld might be where darkness gathers, but it was never evil in nature, and was where souls achieved reincarnation...only by passing through the 'Door' that the Tantai family guards can souls be reborn…"

The Tantai clan leader continued.

"Protecting the netherworld and reincarnation is the duty of everyone with the Tantai bloodline! We guardians would never dream of passing through the 'Door' while we are alive, unless we are in a hurry to die!"

"I see!"

Fang Yuan lowered his head.

From this perspective, the original 'Door', with its responsibilities of receiving souls and facilitating the process of reincarnation, was a good thing to the worldly cycles.

Of course, everything changed when that person had went on to do something wrong.

"Then...something would have gone wrong over the course of a thousand-year duty, am I right?"

"Yes...everything changed after that one ancestor with the unspeakable name was born! His great talent was apparent from a young age and was said to be wise beyond his years. At the age of eighteen, his abilities had exceeded everyone else in the Tantai family, and the rest saw him as the future leader and hope of the clan!"

The Tantai clan leader's revelation of the tale then took on an ominous tone.

"Later, for unknown reasons, he committed a huge mistake... He had opened that 'Door' with his human hands! The netherworld was changed forever and the human world was ravaged by calamities. The spirits came... and the curses as well!"

The Tantai clan leader sighed.

"The 'Door' fell away completely into the netherworld and the Tantai family was cursed for betraying our duty!"

"What about...the reason?"

Fang Yuan enquired.

"Why did he do that?"

"Some say he did it because of his ambition, and others say he did it to revive a woman…"

The Tantai clan leader smiled bitterly and shook his head.

"Whatever it is, the Tantai family was burdened with the curse ever since that person and the 'Door' disappeared. Recently, I've even realised that the ancestor's name has become a part of the curse! I do not know what this represents but it makes me fearful."

To have his name become a curse would mean that either Tantai Moye has become a very powerful source of the curse, or...that he has gotten what he wanted and has ascended to a higher plane of existence.

In layman terms, he would have joined the ranks of Buddhas, gods and demon lords!

"Is this the case? Sounds logical to me…"

Fang Yuan nodded.

"But…I don't believe you!"

"What? You are accusing me of lying to you!?"

The Tantai clan leader was stunned.

"You don't have any reason to lie, but people are easily tricked and cannot be trusted even if they see things with their own eyes or hear it with their own ears."

Fang Yuan replied blandly.

He was, in fact, cursing to himself.

'Although I now have the facts and proof, the most important piece of the puzzle is still missing! I still need to find out about the effects of the Demonic Heart Realm!"

In truth, even if the Tantai family had failed in their duty and brought disaster upon the world, there would definitely be a solution to this problem.

The 'Door' was probably not the only door of its kind in this world. There must be other portals to the netherworld, or the Tantai family would never be able to deal with the overwhelming stream of souls passing through the 'Door'!

Also, it was not like Fang Yuan had never seen the common ghost before. Some of the other worlds were more in touch with the Dao and any random daoist on the streets could help spirits gain salvation. However, things were different in this world. Even the Imperial Advisor would not know what to in this case.

'So...the netherworld has been altered? What exactly did Tantai Moye do?'

Fang Yuan thought to himself, then waved a hand at the Tantai clan leader.

"Alright, I'll be off. We will meet again!"

Fang Yuan knew that he had learnt everything that the Tantai family could tell him, and did not want to stay any longer.

"Wait!"

The Tantai clan leader had turned livid.

He had shared everything he knew with Fang Yuan because he had taken him for his word that he was a Tantai, and seemed like he did not know the true extent of his power. He had hoped to keep Fang Yuan by his side to aid the Tantai cause.

But now, Fang Yuan was throwing them off after getting the information that he wanted? What a joke!

"Lad, you dare defy the orders of the clan leader?"

The surrounding Tantai elders were infuriated as well.

"How impudent!"

"Psh!"

Fang Yuan could not be bothered by the commotion and rushed off like a bullet.

"Prepare the magical equipment!"

"No, he is human! The magical equipment only works on ghosts!"

"Ah! Such powerful skills. I have practised my Iron Sand Palm technique for 30 years and have not yet met my match. Today, I'll use it on you, haha. Take this….Ah! My hand!!!"

"Don't hit my face!"

....

Fang Yuan had forced his way out of the village by virtue of his superior skills in martial arts and did not even need to activate the spirits sealed up in his body.

As Fang Yuan rushed into the fog, his smile widened.

"The power of the curse feels so familiar... every time you open a new timeline for me, you give me an opportunity to understand you better so that I can break you eventually!"

Fang Yuan readied himself.

"Double curses! Superposition!"

Boom!

A strange fluctuation had begun to spread outwards. The fog had cleared up.

The surrounding space undulated and the ground became nothingness.

In this nothingness, Fang Yuan saw an 'origin' that was not supposed to exist.

"Indeed, it is hidden inside the spacetime gap…"

Fang Yuan stretched out both of his arms and traced the singular locus as if he was grabbing at his destiny.

"Seal it!"

A swirl emerged from Fang Yuan's chest and sucked the existence of the space-time gap into his body.

"Oh!"

In a blink, other than the explosiveness of the spacetime curse's power, sporadic pieces of memories were rushing at Fang Yuan's consciousness.

"Is this...the final recoil?"

Fang Yuan gritted his teeth and laughed coldly. Given his physical state, the explosion of this Strange level curse could not harm him at all.

What had troubled him was the information he had gleaned from the origin.

It was a purplish-black Green Bronze Door, and there were two ferocious ghosts guarding it. The image of a deadly spirit was embossed on it.

A man had walked up to the door with a look of determination on his face, and proceeded to push it open slowly…

Fang Yuan had watched this memory play in this head when he had first descended upon this world!