AKMEM chapter 48

An Qiao raised his icy blue eyes and looked at the four fierce-looking people blocking his path.

He had been following a trace of magical energy for a short while when these four people suddenly appeared and stopped him as he passed through an abandoned alley.

The old, abandoned alleyway had cracked, uneven flagstones and was adorned with cascading green vines and clusters of vibrant, golden-red firecracker flowers, creating a serene, timeless atmosphere under the bright sunlight.

—If it weren’t for the thugs blocking his way.

The four men didn’t waste any words. After blocking his path and preventing his escape, they exchanged glances, and one of them took out a bottle of colorless liquid.

An Qiao recognized the liquid; An Yu Chun had tried to use it on him in the Star Beast Forest assessment area. It was likely meant to counteract the energy shield bracelet on his wrist.

And indeed, that was the case.

This colorless liquid, newly developed in an illegal underground laboratory, hadn’t leaked out yet. It was designed to counteract energy shields. It was extremely difficult and expensive to produce, but its effects were astonishing. Even a tiny amount could disable an energy shield for a period of time. Its power was so immense that it could even disable a 2S-level energy shield.

The four men’s plan was to use the liquid to counteract An Qiao’s shield and quickly eliminate him.

After all, besides his 2S-level energy shield, he possessed several S-level energy shields, which made a quick defeat impossible. If they couldn’t eliminate him quickly, there was a high probability that reinforcements would arrive.

“Honestly, dealing with a weakling who failed to awaken, like a parasitic vine, actually required the effort of several of us S-rank beastmen.” The person holding the colorless liquid bottle was about to use their mental power to manipulate the liquid and spray it onto An Qiao’s energy shield bracelet.

Perhaps feeling confident that everything was foolproof, the usually vigilant person relaxed.

Another person chimed in, “There’s no other way…” “Who told that person to offer such a high price? This mission only requires dealing with such trash. Isn’t it great to get paid for nothing?”

“You guys are still happy! High rewards also mean high risks. This assassination mission may be simple, but the follow-up risks are considerable. If that killer, Chu Heng, finds out that we killed his crown princess, we’ll be in for a world of trouble!”

“That’s true. We were lucky. We just happened to run into this useless parasitic vine going out alone without bodyguards. I don’t know if he’s stupid or if Chu Heng is overconfident, actually letting this weakling with poor combat skills go out alone.”

After accepting their employer’s mission, the four of them came to Blue Star City on Water Blue Star to wait for an opportunity to hunt down their “prey.”

However, they hadn’t had the chance yet. Their target, An Qiao, was almost always accompanied by Chu Heng, which made it impossible to act.

“All right, enough talk. Just kill him! We finally have a chance to kill him while he’s alone. Don’t dawdle; it’ll be bad if we wait for someone to come rescue us!”

The person holding the bottle of colorless liquid still didn’t seem to feel much urgency. “What are you afraid of?”

Before he could finish the word, the man suddenly screamed, “Ah—!” He rolled on the ground, clutching his head. His face was contorted in extreme pain and grotesque agony.

“Who?!” The other three were shocked and huddled together warily, looking around.

They hadn’t considered An Qiao as the culprit. They simply assumed someone was hiding nearby.

At that moment, An Qiao casually stretched out his hand, and the colorless bottle of liquid that countered the energy shield flew steadily into his hand under the control of a wisp of mental energy.

His long, curled eyelashes drooped slightly as he examined the peculiar liquid curiously.

He had studied the principles of the energy shield bracelet for some time and had gained an understanding of it.

He was quite interested in the principle behind this liquid that could disable energy shields for a period of time.

“You…?” The three people’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets in disbelief.

“How is this possible?” The three of them couldn’t help but roar internally at that moment.

Hadn’t they heard that Crown Princess An Qiao was just a weak elf with a perfect face and an extremely pure elven bloodline who failed to awaken?

Who is this elf before them whose mental strength seems far superior to theirs and whose manipulation and attack of mental power are unparalleled?

Even Jun Yiran, the S-rank elf and medic of the Second Army, hailed as the Empire’s most skilled at controlling mental power, whose battlefield prowess rivals that of beastmen of the same level, is inferior to this elf!

Could it be that An Qiao has been playing dumb all along?

Could Chu Heng, with his cunning mind, have conspired with the Crown Princess to deceive the entire Empire? Could he have deliberately had him feign weakness and fragility to lure those with ulterior motives into a trap?

No wonder… No wonder Chu Heng, who had always been indifferent to matters of the heart, suddenly changed his tune. Not only did he accept the matchmaking provided by the brain system, he also showered An Qiao, his “Crown Princess,” with tenderness and deep affection—

It was all an act! A deliberate trap!

The more the three of them thought about it, the more convinced they became of the truth. They could not have imagined that Chu Heng, who relied on force and disdained underhanded schemes, could be so treacherous and cunning.

They had so eagerly taken the bait in their foolishness! Chu Heng, who suddenly sneezed nearby, thought, “…”

Could Qiao Qiao be thinking about me?

—Chu Heng was clearly overthinking it.

Qiao Qiao didn’t have time to think about him right now.

With a light flick of his slender, fair hand, his spiritual energy instantly split into four strands and transformed into colorless, transparent, cone-shaped spikes. They hurtled toward the four people’s mental seas at an invisible speed.

He was too lazy to ask who these people were or who had hired them to assassinate him. It was easier to just search their mental sea memories.

The four people felt a crushing, overwhelming spiritual force engulf them. They tried to escape and scream for help, but an invisible, terrifying pressure held them captive and rendered them completely immobile. They could only watch helplessly as the spiritual force approached.

The proud, beautiful, silver-haired elf stood ramrod straight with a cold, indifferent expression. His pale, sickly beauty eclipsed everything, even the stars.

However, to them at that moment, he appeared like a demon.

Just then, as An Qiao’s spiritual force was about to pierce their spiritual seas, that familiar yet repulsive demonic aura faintly reappeared.

A sharp pain shot from his heart to his limbs, causing him to furrow his brow unconsciously in weariness. A familiar metallic taste rose in his throat.

—The Demon King’s Curse within him had suddenly activated.

…So this somewhat familiar yet repulsive aura was the Demon King’s demonic energy, which he had already slain.

But hadn’t he already killed the Demon King who invaded elven territory, sacrificing himself in the process? Because of the Demon King’s death, he was filled with resentment and used his own body as a sacrifice to place a forbidden curse upon An Qiao—the Demon King’s Curse.

Before An Qiao could process how the demonic aura of the supposedly slain Demon King could reappear, he coughed up blood.

Crimson blood stained his alabaster lips.

Seeing the four of them try to escape, his eyes turned cold.

His body ached terribly, and he couldn’t waste time searching their memories. He manipulated his four strands of spiritual energy, attacking their mental seas simultaneously and brutally.

A terrified, piercing scream shattered the silence.

In an instant, the four collapsed to the ground, their faces contorted in pain and their eyes wide with horror. They were no longer breathing.

“Qiaoqiao?!” Chu Heng, who had been following An Qiao from a distance, sensed something was wrong after hearing the scream. He caught up only to find his beloved injured, despite having been perfectly fine before leaving!

The sight of blood on An Qiao’s lips brought tears to his eyes.

The usually aloof, disdainful, silver-haired youth was still standing ramrod straight. However, his slightly furrowed brows betrayed his weariness, and his snow-white lips were stained crimson with blood.

He hurried forward, his hands trembling slightly as he supported An Qiao.

“Who is it?!”

“Who hurt you?”

“I killed him!”

“It’s just an old injury flaring up,” An Qiao said half-jokingly.

Then, he glanced at him listlessly. “Didn’t I tell you not to follow?”

Chu Heng: “…I was just passing by.”

“Were these guys on the ground who hurt you?”

An Qiao: “… ”

Just passing by? Who are you trying to fool?

“Do you think these guys have the ability to hurt me?”

It was the Demon King’s curse that hurt him.

Usually, the curse activated randomly, but this time, the Demon King’s magic controlled it.

An Qiao never expected that, even after slaying the Demon King, his magical aura would still linger in this world.

Could the Demon King not actually be dead?

He had witnessed the Demon King’s death firsthand, even seeing him use his own body as a sacrifice in his final moments of intense resentment to cast a forbidden, dark curse upon An Qiao.

—If the Demon King hadn’t died, the curse couldn’t have succeeded.

After much contemplation, An Qiao surmised that the Demon King was dead—but only his demonic body had died. His remnant soul had somehow crossed over to this world.

The demon realm possessed many forbidden and dark magics, and the undead existed there as well.

Without its physical body, the Demon King’s remnant soul was probably in dire straits. Therefore, he could only influence him at close range through the curse on his body. Afterward, he would disappear and dare not confront him directly. Even when he was off guard and using his mental power to deal with the four assassins, he would manipulate the curse unexpectedly to influence him.

However, although he was not as strong as before because he no longer had a demonic body, he was much harder to find because he was only a remnant of the Demon King’s soul.

As he was deep in thought, he suddenly felt a warm touch on his face.

Chu Heng gently wiped the bloodstains from the corners of An Qiao’s lips with his fingertips. The bright red blood stained his cold, white fingers crimson.

An Qiao’s eyelashes trembled slightly, like butterfly wings. He was stunned for a moment.

“Your healing abilities can’t heal old wounds?”

“Not very effective.” An Qiao shook his head.

The curse of the dark and evil demon king is incompatible with the light attribute. It was inflicted by an equally powerful demon king on his deathbed who sacrificed his demonic body. It’s an extremely powerful, evil, forbidden curse. Even at his peak, he couldn’t easily remove it.

Currently, An Qiao has only recovered about 60% of his magic power and can only use light-attribute magic to alleviate the pain when the curse flares up.

It seems he needs to recover his strength as soon as possible!

During this time, he was reluctant to absorb large quantities of energy crystals at once, fearing that it would hinder his absorption and transformation and force him to remain in his elf form, as he had in the Star Beast Forest assessment area. Therefore, he absorbed energy crystals at a leisurely pace. Moreover, his recovery speed would decrease over time.

“Is there really no other way to heal and recover?” Chu Heng asked, frowning.

An Qiao carefully recalled the descriptions of forbidden curses, such as the Demon King’s Curse, from the books he had read. They seemed to briefly mention that dragons with high-level bloodlines could break the curse if they were willing to pay a certain price.

But it was only mentioned briefly, without much further explanation.

“Not yet.” He lowered his eyelashes. “But I can resolve it once my strength recovers.”

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