It was because of Fang Yu that
"The monster's power must be connected to memory. With the aid of the shrine and the curse, he's gained some kind of enhancement." Chen Ge had identified the crux of the problem. "Every curse in this room is surging toward the Red High Heels. He clearly knows his ability barely affects the Red High Heels. Then why are the Red High Heels immune to his power? Could it be that his ability is itself a curse?"
Regardless of the reason, Chen Ge knew he couldn't afford to wait any longer.
The enemy was doing everything in his power to protect the shrine. If Chen Ge wanted to break the deadlock, he needed to make the shrine his target.
"
Hearing Chen Ge's voice, the pain in Xu Yin's eyes grew even more visible. He forced himself to grasp the edge of the shrine, but the moment he touched it, something none of them could have anticipated happened.
The clay figurine inside the shrine — the one that looked as if a child had molded it carelessly by hand — suddenly opened its eyes.
Blood began to seep from the death characters carved into the inner walls of the shrine, and a thin crack appeared across the figurine's chest, right where the name "Fang Yu" was written.
The moment the clay figurine opened its eyes, every Red-clothed spirit in the room except the Red High Heels grew even more agonized. They seemed to be reliving the tragedies of their past lives, experiencing that suffocating despair all over again.
Wounds burst open across Xu Yin's red garment, as though an invisible blade were trying to split him apart from the inside.
The Headless Woman pressed both hands against her neck, as if an invisible wound ran across her throat.
The worst of it was the Stench. The boy's body kept swelling, his eyes brimming with dark, reddish blood.
The condition of the three Red-clothed spirits was deteriorating rapidly, far beyond what Chen Ge had anticipated.
"Erasing the memories of three Red-clothed spirits simultaneously — only a Vicious God could pull that off. This guy's ability is intrinsically linked to memory. He must have used the clay figurine in the shrine to wipe their memories in such a short time."
Even now, Chen Ge remained remarkably calm. "This erasure is most likely temporary. Once he stops using his ability, or the clay figurine in the shrine is destroyed, the Red-clothed spirits' memories will return."
Memory erasure might be temporary, but even brief amnesia would put Chen Ge in an incredibly dangerous situation.
A Red-clothed spirit driven by hatred and despair could very well kill him on the spot!
"This monster's ability is still growing stronger. Xu Yin and the others are getting worse."
Two choices lay before Chen Ge. The first was to hold his ground and do nothing. Cracks were already spreading across the clay figurine in the shrine — using this ability was clearly taking a toll on it.
Once the figurine shattered, the monster's ability would dissipate on its own.
This option essentially meant leaving his life in someone else's hands, and Chen Ge didn't like that one bit. So he chose the second method: figure out a way to get the clay figurine out of the shrine himself.
"I really regret not bringing the Skull-Crushing Hammer. Things have been calm for just a few days and I've already gotten this careless. I need to remember this lesson."
The second method was extremely dangerous, but Chen Ge decided to take the risk.
Whether it was Xu Yin, the Stench, or the Headless Woman — they were all Chen Ge's family. Seeing that look of anguish on his family's faces, Chen Ge knew he had to do something.
"I went through all that trouble to show them the light of the living world, and you want to make them forget?" Chen Ge refused to let the Red-clothed spirits around him relive the despair of their former lives. Using his Yin Eyes, he traced the black threads saturated with curses. "All the curses are biased toward the Red High Heels' side. Almost no curses appear in the space between the Stench and Xu Yin. And the monster is pinned flat on the ground — he shouldn't be able to reach me."
"The inner walls of the shrine are covered with death characters, and the figurine is stained with black blood — I can't touch any of that." Chen Ge looked toward the small door of the shrine. "I'll have to ram the outer wall from the side and see if I can knock the shrine off that monster, or at least knock the figurine out of the shrine."
If he kept stalling and any one of the three Red-clothed spirits went berserk, Chen Ge could easily get caught in the crossfire. He had no choice but to take his chance while their memories hadn't been completely erased.