Chapter 242: Dispelling the Curse
Taking advantage of the situation, Aldrian focused his senses on the curse. He comprehended every aspect of it: the laws inside it, how it worked, and how it was shaped. He sought to understand it fully. He didn’t want to inject his energy into it, fearing that doing so might affect the curse itself. After all, his golden energy was the purest form of holy energy. If the curse were destroyed because of his energy, he would have to wait for another opportunity like this to arise.
Emperor Durand waited for Aldrian’s assessment results. However, after a minute of waiting, Aldrian remained completely still, not moving at all. His eyes were still closed, and he appeared like a statue. Yet, Emperor Durand could feel Aldrian’s senses focused on a particular part of his body, causing a stinging sensation at certain points along his meridian and dantian.
Only after another minute did Aldrian finally open his eyes, a smile spreading across his face. He had finally grasped how the curse worked and how to create it. With his understanding of the curse’s intricacies, he also knew several ways to dispel it. Of course, he could simply use his golden energy, but his comprehension extended beyond that. He knew that the curse could also be dispelled using some of his comprehension of the laws, such as karma laws.
The curse was tightly connected to karma, one of Aldrian’s specialties. Severing its karmic ties could weaken or even dispel the curse. Even more remarkably, he could track the curse’s caster through it. This was one of the weaknesses of techniques that had karmic properties.
However, he had not reached that point yet. When he tried to track the karma, it blurred after a certain distance, leading him to conclude that the caster was either too far away or possessed something that concealed his karmic traces. For now, he had to be satisfied with this and decided to focus on dispelling the curse within Emperor Durand.
"Your Majesty, you are not afflicted with a disease, but cursed instead," Aldrian said with a calm expression.
Hearing Aldrian’s assessment, the three others were stunned, but Emperor Durand frowned.
"Curse? At one point, I also thought this was a curse, so I visited the main Heavenly Direction Church in their territory to check. At first, I wanted to see the saintess, but in the end, I had one of their archbishops, whom I’ve known for a long time, examine me. He said my body didn’t have any curse, and because I trusted him, I dismissed the idea of it being a curse."
Aldrian looked confused.
"He already visited the main church and met their archbishop? No, something is not right. If the man who checked Emperor Durand was already at the archbishop level, he should have detected this curse. What is he—" Suddenly, Aldrian thought of something and smiled.
"Your Majesty, who is the archbishop you visited at that time?"