Nine Star Hegemon Body Arts

Chapter 5306 Curse Art

Long Chen stood in the air, his eyes closed as he absorbed the new technique he had just learned. Across from him, a green parrot glared at him with pure hatred. If looks could kill, Long Chen would have been minced to pieces by now.

The parrot trembled with rage. In all its life, it had never been so blatantly robbed. But despite its fury, it was powerless to do anything to Long Chen.

After a long while, Long Chen opened his eyes, a satisfied smile playing on his lips. With the Earth Cauldron’s assistance, he had grasped the basics of this curse art. It was unlike anything he had ever seen. In comparison, the curse arts Long Chen had encountered were crude and violent. But the parrot’s technique was on a different level, capable of integrating formations, rebirth, control, condensation, and more.

The difference was like night and day. The curse arts Long Chen had known were like earth to this technique’s heaven. Due to its intricacy, even with the Earth Cauldron’s help, Long Chen had only mastered ten to twenty percent of the curse art. Yet, even that fraction opened up a vast new world for him.

Turning to the seething parrot, Long Chen stifled a laugh and said solemnly, “Our enmity ends here. After splitting the spoils, we’ll be even.”

Long Chen then prepared to take six of the thirteen Silver Wing Heaven Devil corpses they had defeated. It seemed fair—splitting them evenly would give each of them six, with one leftover. Since Long Chen had benefited enough, he was ready to leave the extra one behind. However, the Earth Cauldron surprised Long Chen by telling him to take ten. Confused but trusting the Earth Cauldron, he did as instructed.

With a series of hand seals and the newly learned curse art, Long Chen caused ten of the corpses to tremble. Their heads lit up, and then they vanished, reappearing in his mind-sea. He couldn’t move them into the primal chaos space due to the faint trace of life qi lingering in them, but thanks to the Earth Cauldron, he managed to store them in his spiritual space.

When the parrot saw Long Chen take ten corpses, its rage boiled over. “What do you think you’re doing?! Didn’t we agree to split them equally? Why did you take so many?!”

The Earth Cauldron’s voice echoed in Long Chen’s mind, instructing him on what to say next.

“Tell me, how many Silver Wing Heaven Devils were there?” Long Chen asked.

“Six!” squawked the parrot without hesitation.

“And what’s half of six?”

“Three!”

“Then count how many are left,” Long Chen said, trying to contain his amusement.

“One, two, three—eh? What’s going on?” The parrot was baffled.

Long Chen was just as perplexed, having merely repeated the Earth Cauldron’s words. Seeing the parrot’s expression, Long Chen also had no idea what was going on.

“Something feels off. Let me count again. One, two, three… it’s not wrong!” exclaimed the parrot, rubbing its head in confusion.

Long Chen asked, “Senior, what’s going on? Is it stupid?”

The Earth Cauldron responded, “It’s not, but it can only count to six.”

“It can only count to six?” repeated Long Chen. Could there really be such a prodigy in this world?

Long Chen stared at the parrot. The latter kept counting the three corpses, clearly sensing something was off but unable to figure out what.

“Are you dumb? What are you even thinking? There were six corpses, and we split them evenly. So how many should you have?” Long Chen pressed.

“I should have three? But!”

“Alright, then that’s all. Do you want the rest or not? If you don’t, I’ll take them as well,” said Long Chen, forming hand seals again.

As a result, the parrot jumped in fright and spread its wings, causing those three corpses to vanish.

“Little fellow, although I don’t know what’s wrong here, I can tell you’re no good person!” the parrot squawked menacingly.

“Tch, you’re also no good bird. Just looking at you disgusts me,” retorted Long Chen, not one to take insults lying down.

After that, the parrot spread its wings and flew into the sky, but it didn’t forget to curse Long Chen one final time. “Don’t think you’ve taken advantage of me! With my karma on you, you’ll face retribution sooner or later!”

“The same to you. Beware of the heavens striking you down for your wicked deeds!” Long Chen called after it.

The parrot muttered something inaudible as it disappeared into the distance. Because it was too far, Long Chen didn’t know what it said, but he was sure it wasn’t anything pleasant.

“What was that all about?” Long Chen wondered, watching it fly off.

This parrot… To call it smart, well, it could only count to six. And yet, it was crafty enough to nearly fool him if not for the Earth Cauldron. It was his first time encountering such an interesting lifeform.

“One day, you’ll learn its identity,” said the Earth Cauldron. “But even mastering a sliver of its curse art will benefit you greatly.”

The Earth Cauldron didn’t say much about the parrot, but it seemed to know a lot about it.

Hearing this, Long Chen chose not to dwell on the parrot’s strangeness. Instead, he turned his attention to the primal chaos space.

“Fuck!”

What Long Chen saw there shocked him. All the life energy inside had been drained, and even the Moon Trees and Fusang Trees were withering.

The mysterious vine in the primal chaos space had shown signs of life, drawing in every drop of life energy for itself, as if clinging to a lifeline. But despite absorbing so much energy, it hadn’t sprouted roots or germinated yet.

“The amount of life energy it needs to undergo nirvanic rebirth is unimaginable. The primal chaos space’s energy alone isn’t enough,” muttered Long Chen. This mysterious vine was even more terrifying than he had expected.

If it kept absorbing life energy, it would dry up the Moon Trees and Fusang Trees, which Huo Linger relied on to cultivate and awaken the Tianyu Sword. They were both in a critical phase.

I need to move quickly, Long Chen thought.

Long Chen had planned to wait for the sword to awaken before confronting the Gold Lion and Stone Spirit races. But now, he would have to accelerate his plan.

Lightning wings sprouted from Long Chen’s back as he sped toward Tianyu City. However, when he got close, he could hear the rumbling sounds of battle in the air.

“Damn it, they’ve made the first move!” Long Chen cursed, fury blazing in his heart. He could see the endless tide of Stone Spirits and Gold Lions charging toward Tianyu City.