Seven… Seven curses?
Liu Yu thought she had seen a lot by now.
But this kind of situation?
She really hadn’t encountered it before.
Even her gaze toward Hua Qi’an held a hint of reverence.
Liu Ran glanced at her with a look of disdain, as if scolding her for overreacting.
But if one looked closely at the corner of Liu Ran’s mouth, there was a slight tremble.
Clearly, Hua Qi’an was also shaken by this number.
“Seven curses…?”
Liu Ran nodded but still explained.
“Although it’s seven curses, six of them are relatively easy to deal with.”
She had some understanding of curses. “Those six are probably based on your hair, nails—parts of your body like your skin.”
“Relatively mild.”
Liu Ran paused, her expression growing serious.
“But…”
“One of them must have taken your Eight Characters of Birth Time.”
“Judging from their form, those six curses and this one weren’t cast by the same person.”
The Eight Characters of Birth Time—ordinary people might not pay much attention to them.
But when it came to metaphysical practitioners, it was different.
The effect was especially potent.
“Logically speaking, you should, over time, inevitably fall deeply in love with someone…”
Liu Ran flipped through a few pages of her notes, pondering.
“Did you have a crush on anyone in high school?”
She looked up at Hua Qi’an.
Hua Qi’an lowered her eyes.
Her expression darkened.
“……”
She frowned and skipped the topic directly.
“You just said my current weakness is related to curses…”
“Is it because of this Binding Love Curse?”
Hua Qi’an had already accepted the existence of curses, but she wasn’t keen on exposing her emotional history to outsiders.
At least, up until now, she hadn’t had anyone she loved so deeply as to lose herself.
If what Liu Ran said was true, then maybe this curse could be considered “ineffective.”
Liu Ran wasn’t surprised by Hua Qi’an’s stiff deflection.
“Besides the Binding Love Curse, you have another purely malevolent curse on you… that one is the real culprit behind your frailty and illness.”
“The reason I asked about your feelings earlier is that I noticed both curses were cast by people from the same sect, but the latter is obviously stronger… maybe you have some clues.”
Hua Qi’an listened silently to Liu Ran’s words, neither confirming nor denying.
She silently reviewed her memories of high school.
Though she played the ‘bright side’ back then, she still considered school scholarships a goal and spent most of her time studying—no time for love affairs.
But did she have a crush?
Actually, yes.
Only… Hua Qi’an didn’t want to recall that person’s name at a time like this.
Earlier mention of the Eight Characters of Birth Time… Hua Qi’an was certain she hadn’t told anyone.
After all, she didn’t even know her own Eight Characters; how could anyone else?
So this matter had a strange aura about it.
“But, it’s both fortunate and unfortunate.”
Liu Ran continued.
“Though those two curses came from the same sect, their attributes are opposite, so they restrain and weaken each other.”
“Originally, they were directly aimed at taking your life… but after being weakened, it’s the current situation you know.”
Though difficult, Hua Qi’an was still alive.
But unlike before, she furrowed her brows again.
She thought she was just an ordinary student, so who hated her enough to want her dead?
In her memories, she hadn’t made any enemies.
“This is troublesome…”
Liu Ran muttered.
She looked at Liu Yu, who had been silent since earlier.
“…Ask your junior sister if she has a way to contact her master.”
Suddenly called out, Liu Yu snapped back from her imagined drama of love and hatred, “Ah…”
She awkwardly scratched the back of her head.
“Master Uncle is always elusive…”
But she obediently pulled out her phone. “I’ll message her now.”
Liu Ran looked back at Hua Qi’an.
“I do know a little about curses, but yours obviously exceeds my capability.”
“My junior sister is better at dealing with these problems…”
“The trouble is, even I don’t know where she is.”
She sighed.
Though called junior sister, their relationship wasn’t very close.
After her junior sister took a small disciple, it was as if she washed her hands of it, leaving the kid to Liu Ran’s care, while she herself often disappeared without a trace…
“But I can help suppress it temporarily. If you want a permanent cure, my junior sister will have to come back.”
Hua Qi’an nodded in understanding and gratitude.
Just finding out her chronic illness was “man-made” was already a big gain for her.
She didn’t expect to wipe out years of troubles in one day.
After all, she had lived with this body for so many years; enduring a while longer was no problem.
For now, she decided to put the curses aside.
But the matter of the Eight Characters still puzzled her.
Hua Qi’an hadn’t forgotten the main reason she came to the temple.
Knowing about “curses” was purely a lucky discovery.
“Ms. Liu, why don’t we talk about what you’re good at?”
She smiled at Liu Ran.
Then glanced at Liu Yu, who was still editing a message, head bowed looking at her phone.
Liu Ran was the person Blank Account found to help solve her nightmare problem—so she should be capable in that area, right?
“A few days ago, I went to a… sinister place.”
“Since then, I’ve been having frequent nightmares.”
Hua Qi’an hesitated. “I think… I mentioned my situation to you already?”
She hadn’t forgotten Blank Account had sent her information to Liu Ran.
Liu Ran nodded.
“What I learned beforehand was about the content of your nightmares.”
“After meeting you… I was certain your nightmares are indeed related to the things attached to you.”
Liu Ran had noticed this the very first time she met Hua Qi’an.
But Hua Qi’an had so many problems that she started from the most glaring—the seven Binding Love Curses.
“And what you said is inaccurate.”
Liu Ran calmly analyzed, “You probably visited more than one sinister place.”
“Because you have two very heavy ghost auras.”
Such heavy ghost auras felt like Vengeful Ghost level.
Thinking of this, Liu Ran was quietly exhausted inside.
Luckily, it was only ghost aura, not an actual ghost body attached to her.
Otherwise, even Liu Ran would be at a loss.
“…If it were an ordinary person, their condition would be worse than yours.”
“They can directly interfere with your dreams, and the characters who harm you in your nightmares are probably their projections.”
The reason Hua Qi’an was fine was because of her special fate.
And this was something “the Company” woman told her.
Liu Ran didn’t know how that woman knew so much…
Since it seemed Hua Qi’an herself wasn’t even aware.
So after carefully examining Hua Qi’an’s situation, she couldn’t help but marvel.
It was like raising poisonous bugs.
“…Two?”
Hua Qi’an recalled the “people” who appeared in her nightmares.
So according to Liu Ran, her nightmares were caused by ghosts?
But she only went to one sinister place—the haunted house—recently. Why two ghost auras?
“…That’s strange.”
Hua Qi’an murmured, frowning.
She originally thought those were just nightmares.
Dreams didn’t need logic.
But if ghosts were involved, that was odd.
Though ghosts probably didn’t need logic either…
Seeing Hua Qi’an’s serious look, Liu Ran asked with concern, “What’s wrong?”
Hua Qi’an was replaying the words spoken by the “people” in her dreams.
After this reflection, she realized the feelings were actually two different kinds.
The last nightmare she had felt different from the previous ones.
She hadn’t shared such dialogue details with Blank Account, so Liu Ran probably didn’t know either.
But Liu Ran was a professional at handling these matters, so maybe it was okay to ask her.
“It’s just that if my nightmares are caused by the two ghost auras attached to me…”
Hua Qi’an pressed her lips, hesitating, slightly tilting her head as if recalling.
“Then why do they grope me, kiss me, say they hate me for forgetting them—”
“And one says she misses me, loves me, wants me to be with her—”
Confusion and distress appeared on her face. “Do they really know me—?”
After she finished speaking, the air inexplicably grew silent.
“……”
Liu Ran and Liu Yu stared at her in silence.