After the three of them had changed and returned to the living room, Omari had the nagging feeling that there was a hidden secret between them. Cheyenne glared angrily at Layne, while the latter cast a cold glance at Iker. The standoff between the three of them was quite unusual.
Omari glanced at Cheyenne, then fixed his gaze on Iker, whose complexion was different from usual. He adjusted the golden wire-framed glasses on the bridge of his nose, sitting upright before speaking, "To confess is wise, well, speak up, what have you two... done?"
Layne withdrew his gaze, his eyes feeling dry as he blinked and changed the topic, "Nothing much. By the way, I found what Master Iker is afflicted with. It's not poison; it's toxin produced by venomous snakes."
As Layne's words fell, the room fell into complete silence. After about half a minute, Tanner broke into a cold sweat and nervously said, "Is it... the kind of curse we've heard of, old Mr. Edwards? I can't believe this... it's too unbelievable."
There had long been rumors of poisonous magic, but it had remained mostly folklore, only discussed as a topic of conversation.
No one had expected that such a magic truly existed in the world.
Layne, stroking his gray beard, nodded and laid out the information he had gathered in front of everyone. "It's recorded that the magic as initially used to treat ulcers, but over time, it was utilized by unscrupulous men and became something evil and dreadful."
"The magic that has befallen Master Iker is one of the three renowned magics called Serpent Magic."
The way of creating Serpent Magic was exceedingly difficult. One had to capture a hundred venomous snakes every May 5th, place them in a container, and let them devour each other. The venomous snake that survived would be called the Serpent.
The Serpent was then burned to ashes, and its bone powder was mixed with sulfur, Datura flower leaves, and other poisonous substances, forming the Serpent Magic.
While in a dormant state, the Serpent Magic appeared lifeless; however, once it entered a human body, it would gradually come to life, eventually growing into a small snake that survived by sucking the essence from the human body.
After maturing, the Serpent Magic would cause a drastic change in the host's appearance.
After the Serpent Magic had completely devoured the human body, it would crawl out through one of the orifices, leading to the death of the host.
Despite its power and treacherous nature, the Serpent Magic had a fatal flaw - it grew slowly.
From reanimation as a dead body to becoming a fully developed living snake, it would take at least ten years.
He estimated that Iker had been cursed for about three years, and this was just the initial stage of the Serpent Magic's revival. In other words, there were countless snake eggs attached to his blood, awaiting hatching. Once they hatched, Iker's body would become a "nest," and thousands of poisonous snakes would continuously feed on his essence, flesh, and blood, leaving only an empty husk.
The mere thought was hair-raising, and Cheyenne had come across this account in the past, but she had merely skimmed it during her youth and hadn't paid it much attention.
Iker was twenty-seven years old, in the prime of his life. It would be a tremendous waste if he were to meet such a gruesome end.
"Grandpa, is there any way to dispel this magic?"
Their Edwards family had limited knowledge of this kind of poisonous magic. Cheyenne could heal his leg, but she couldn't rid his body of the curse. Even if Iker were to recover and stand up again, he wouldn't live past seven years.
It was cruel!
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Nice story...