Chapter 713: Weirdly Lucky

[Hammer of Damnation] has now become [Hammer of the Dearly Departed].

Abilities:

Demonic Craftsmanship IV: Death Focused

Crafter’s Trance.

Curse Flame manipulation (Innate flame required).

Enhanced [Chaos] manipulation.

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<Well, I’ll be damned.>

=Huh...I can honestly say that I didn’t see that coming.=

When Zhen Liu had asked them on how he could deal with the cursed treasure’s...innate issues...they had simply relayed to him what a previous kaijin lord had done in a similar situation, i.e., make use of the fact that curses were similar enough to [desire cores] that they could still be somewhat manipulated in the same manner. Granted, they were a bit more finicky and a touch more fragile.

For his part though, Zhen Liu was surprised that Logos and Pathos were surprised.

’Wait a minute, what? You two were the ones who taught me how to do the thing that led to do this.’

<Yeah, but we figured you’d use this trick to... incorporate the curse’s power as your own.>

’Dafuq you mean by incorporate the curse’s power as my...hold up. Were you expecting me to try and swallow the curse like it was a desire core?!’

<=Kind of, yeah.=>

’...I already have one Parasinner sitting in the library in a special cafe, I don’t need another one yet.’

<Yet?>

=I don’t think swallowing a curse would lead to that again, unless you pick up another [Chaos] UMA...=

’Still, rather not risk it. Also, this thing just gave me the rundown on how it got here and who was in charge of it. By any chance, can you guys detect whether or not we’re being watched inside this thing?’

<=Give us a few seconds, feel free to talk to your cousins in the mean time.=>

’That was my plan, anyways.’

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At this point in time, the branch clan scions had become used to seeing weird and borderline miraculous shit occurring whenever Zhen Liu got himself involved in a situation. Although, they had no idea whether to attribute this stuff occurring due to his mysterious master giving him some sort of weird blessing, an innate gift given to him due to having come back from the dead, or it was just his general fortune. Either way, just like the times before now, Zhen Liu had gone and done something that made them question their eyes...again.

"Hey...wasn’t that hammer significantly more rusty looking like...a second ago?," Zhen Xing commented.

"It looked like it was covered in blood rust, yes," Zhen Tai added.

"Okay...so why does it look like that now?," Zhen Feng reiterated.

"I don’t know...but...I don’t feel anymore curse aether coming off it..."

"It’s because I, uh...changed the curse a bit," Zhen Liu answered his whispering cousins.

"...fucking how?"

"Trade secret, just know that I can’t dispell cursed treasure for y’all in the same manner, because they’d be bonded to me the moment I do."

"Ah...dammit."

Moments ago, the hammer in Zhen Liu’s hand looked rusty, dingy and was sentient enough to try and smash in their heads while it used their peacock looking cousin, Zhen Guo as a meat puppet in order to do so.

But now, while it still looked a bit rusty, the hammer now had this strange... melancholic dead vibe to it. That vibe could’ve easily been attributed to the skull design on the hammer’s side and the weird blue gem that was socketed into the skull’s forehead, but...it was something beyond the physical that gave off this feeling as well.

While the branch clan scions still had questions as to how this occured, their questions in regards to whether they could also get decursed treasures in the same manner already dead in the water, they could at least agree that a treasure like this suited Zhen Liu quite well. Then again, they might’ve been a bias in this thinking due to Zhen Liu’s other aether treasure being some kind of freaky bone club.

The image of Zhen Liu becoming some kind of necromantic cultivator in the future briefly flashed through the heads, but that image was quickly dismissed when the groan of a person regaining their consciousness caught their attention.

"Ugh...my head...why does it feel like I just drank from Zhen Feng’s mead stash again? Hold up, am I bleeding? Why is there so much blood on-My clothes!"

"Xiao Guo! You’re okay!"

"Wait, how’d you know about my stash?," Zhen Feng asked. "What do you mean by again?!"

Ignoring their chubby cousin’s line of questioning, the rest of the branch clan scions went about to make sure their recent other cousin was doing okay both physically and mentally. While he did look a bit worst for wear, and he was currently panicking over his nice clothes being covered in his own blood, he at least wasn’t bleeding as much anymore.

"Wait...what happened to that freaky cursed hammer? Did it get destroyed? Am I allowed to have another go at picking an aether treasure?"

"You’ll get a chance to do that, don’t worry. As for what happened, well..."

The branch clan scions let out a collective sigh of relief, having survived what could’ve been a devastating tragedy in the making. Of course, now they had questions as to how this happened in the first place.

They were warned beforehand on the way over here that the vault they were using had a few cursed treasures locked inside, but that all of them were under incredibly powerful seals that were under constant watch.

A part of them thought that maybe this was all a trap, but they were fairly certain the Zhen Clan’s matriarch wasn’t the type to do a sneaky trap like this. She seemed more like the type to punch someone’s lights out at the drop of a hat, like Zhen Hai. In fact, the parallels of behavior between Zhen Hai and Zhen Xun Tian were surprisingly high. Regardless, while they could at least assume someone was trying to sabotage them, they had no idea of knowing who.

Well, most of them had no way of knowing who.

"Hey, Zhen Liu? Why are you staring off into space like that?"

"No reason just...gonna try and see how well the hammer fits me before we move on."

"Okay..."

As Zhen Liu continued to stare off into the distance, he began to concentrate [Chaos] into his brand new(?) hammer.

’Now then, I believe it works like this...’

Exclusive to his eyes only, a ballista bolt made of [Chaos] began to form.

’Now all I have to do is aim it and...’

________________Meanwhile__________________

<<Elder Zhen Tinh...was that supposed to happen?>>

<<No. No it was not.>>

<<Uh oh...>>

When Elder Zhen Tinh released the [Hammer of Damnation] from it’s seal, he had some expectations of how things were going to play out based on what had happened when the hammer was first sealed away.

At the time, the [Hammer of Damnation] was in the hands of a rogue warrior, who was using the damn thing to create even more cursed/demonic weapons.

During that whole subjugation ordeal, two Aether Grandmasters,six Aether Masters and two dozen Acolytes lost their lives due to the hammer wielder at the time, using their bodies as a mean to create a whole slew of cursed weapons that mostly broke upon usage, but still had a few standouts that made things miserable for the surviving warriors.

It wasn’t until the Zhen Clan matriarch, back when she had yet to earn that title, got involved that the Zhen Clan managed to subdue and seal away the damn thing.

While it was true that cursed treasures had tendency to lose power after being sealed for long periods of time, the [Hammer of Damnation] should’ve had enough power to kill six measley Aether Masters and a single Grandmaster, especially when those aforementioned warriors were a bunch of children and that Grandmaster was technically a cripple.

But lo and behold, that wasn’t the case. Instead, that weird cripple turned puppet master had somehow subdued the cursed hammer and had changed it into a form that seemed significantly more manageable than before. In essence, Zhen Tinh’s aim to sabotage the branch clan had been thwarted and he had accidentally given them a boon instead.

As feelings of rage and resentment began to fester in Zhen Tinh’s stomach and grow, Zhen Jun Yao brought the man out of his seething to make a... somewhat worrying question.

<<Elder Zhen Tinh...it should be impossible for the people inside the vault to notice when they’re being watched...right?>>

<<That’s a weird thing to ask, but yes. The scrying mirror make use a one way channel formation that is camouflaged. There’s no possible way for the branch clan scions to know that we’re watching.>>

<<Okay...then why does it look like that kid who subdued the cursed hammer is staring directly at us?>>

<<...I’m sorry, what?>>

Zhen Jun Yao simply gestured to the scrying mirror in question allowing the elder to see for himself the truth of the matter.

However, just as the elder was about to confirm the truth with his own eyes...

*BAM!*

<<GAH!>>

<<ELDER!>>

A massive burst of energy fired out of the mirror and slammed Elder Zhen Tinh in the face.

Needless to say, everyone in the room was shocked.

Well, one person was shocked. The other was possibly dead or at least unconscious.

<<Fucking...how?!>>