Dragon Hermit

Xia Yan arrived at Sihe University’s north gate along with a denim backpack filled to the brim. A T-shirt worth ¥15, ¥35 denim shorts, and a pair of Warrior shoes made up his attire.

He had a card loaded with ¥10,000 inside in his breast pocket, out of which the villagers had gathered ¥3000 while his master gave the rest ¥7000.

His mother had passed away from giving a difficult birth while his father was on the brink of death when they brought him back from his part-time job at a construction site in Chengdu City. The construction company had just given a mere ¥100K as a treatment fee.

After struggling for a month on the sickbed, his father had also left. That ¥100K and the household’s meager savings were long spent into oblivion.

His backpack also contained a sealed nonwoven fabric bag that had 20 uncarved seal stones given by his master. However, these stones weren’t the premium grade Shoushan Stones or Qingtian Stones, also known as Pagodite and Serpentine Stones. They were just ordinary seal stones priced at around ¥20 apiece.

“If you run short on money, engrave two seal pieces. Your craftsmanship is already better than mine, so you won’t have any issues to make enough to afford a few bites of porridge.”

“Also, the boss of the Antique Collectibles Store at Songxian Bridge, Yao Shigu, is my junior brother. If you need anything, you can go to him for help.”

“There’s also another person you can look for if you have the time. I saved his life once. If you find him, ask him whether he’ll uphold the words he had spoken once.”

“What did he say?”

“He said he wished to marry his daughter to my disciple.”

“…”

Xia Yan began learning to carve from his master ever since he was eight years old. His master’s hair had already greyed out, and he nagged more often now. Yesterday, he had pulled Xia Yan aside and went on for four to five hours.

There was someone at the train station to welcome new students, but Xia Yan bought a map and rode the bus to arrive here. It was his first time coming to a metro city. Naturally, he looked on with curiosity as he walked. As an 18-year-old teen, he didn’t need others to guide him.

Xia Yan’s dress, shoes, and backpack altogether summed up to ¥100. No one on the streets wore clothes more wretched than him except or beggars. He also had tanned skin. One look was enough to determine that he hailed from a village.

However, his appearance was unexpectedly passable. A height of 180 cm and somewhat handsome looks. His tan added a bit of manliness to him. And he wore a necklace made of a quail egg-sized lustrous black skull and a red cord around his neck.

That lifelike skull was the only highlight on Xia Yan’s body. Other men wore a Guanyin necklace while women wore a Buddha necklace or a Christian cross, yet he wore a skull. That striking indie feeling made people immediately label him as an idiot poisoned heavily by gangster movies.

At this moment, Xia Yan gathered the most looks outside the north gate. The students passing by all gave him derisive looks.

“Chengdu is so big, there are tons of people here! That gal’s clothes are so revealing, they don’t even cover all her backside… That man… Wait a sec, is he a man or a woman?” Xia Yan seemed to not notice the looks he was getting. He observed the passersby with a gaze full of curiosity. He had discovered many new things that he had never seen before.

After observing for a while, Xia Yan wiped off his drool and entered the campus.

“Hey there, do you know where the history freshmans are to register?”

“Turn right over there, and you’ll find it.”

“Thanks!”

Half-an-hour later, Xia Yan finished registering his courses. After handing over the tuition and miscellaneous fees along with the dorm lodging fees, only ¥3000 remained in the card.

After spending another ¥300 to purchase a set of bedding and daily necessities, Xia Yan felt his heart bleed.

Xia Yan wasn’t a beautiful woman, so no one vied to help him carry his luggage to the dorm. He had to do it himself.

Boys Dorm C, Room 402. Xia Yan was the first to check-in. He found an old broom and a pair of worn-out cleaning rags. After spending half-an-hour to clean up thoroughly, the kennel-like dorm room had finally become habitable.

The dorm’s amenities were all right since it was the best university in Sihe province.

It was a quad room with bunk beds with a desk underneath. Each person had a decent-sized cabinet to themselves. They had to buy locks for it. There was also a tiny balcony with the bathroom nearby. The balcony also had a hand basin.

The dorm’s amenities had satisfied Xia Yan. His senior high school dorm was an eight-person room without a bathroom or a faucet. There were only two public bathrooms on each floor, and one had to carry water up from downstairs if they wanted to bathe. The corridors also stank badly.

Since there was no one to scramble for the beds, Xia Yan had decisively chosen the one closest to the balcony. He didn’t need to get up to open the door at midnight from here, and the ventilation was excellent too. He could also see the brassiere drying at the balcony of the Girls Dorm on the opposite side. It was really the best position.

After shoving the backpack inside the cabinet and taking a cold bath, Xia Yan changed in a pair of clean clothes. He climbed up and listened to the noises from the corridor and room next-door. Then he closed his eyes and relaxed his heart. Soon after, he had entered a wonderful state – Meditation.

Two months ago, a fireball from outer space had hit Xia Yan’s head. This was the remnant soul fire of a necromancer from another world that had cultivated to the rank of a Lich. This soul fire contained the Lich’s entire memory, yet it didn’t have the Lich’s consciousness.

The soul fire had ignited Xiao Yan’s own soul fire, and soon after it had passed on all the information, it had stopped burning.

In these two months before the term began, Xia Yan had already formed the pagoda base and the first floor of the magic tower with the blue fire. He was now a magic apprentice of the lowest tier and could use magic.

Earth’s population was over 70 billion now. It was unknown how many million died each day. The cumulative count was a very frightening number!

This was the golden age for a necromancer.

The key went inside the keyhole and turned before the door opened.

Xia Yan opened his eyes; blue flames flashed inside his pupils before disappearing.

“Huh? Someone’s inside? Brother, why the heck did ya close the door in such broad daylight? You aren’t building up a strong right arm, right?” A 190 cm tall, muscular man had entered the room. There wasn’t much to comment about his build, but his face wasn’t that pleasing to the eyes. Although he had a square-shaped face and regular facial features, the acne across his face destroyed everything.

“I was sleeping.” Xia Yan jumped down from above then said, “Xia Yan from Sihe.”

“Zhao Qiang from the capital.”

Since they were youths, they had become acquainted after chatting a bit. Zhao Qiang arranged his things first and then went to take a shower too. The heat spell during autumn was damning, and the moist weather in the southwest made people’s skin feel sticky all day long, giving them the itch to take a bath.

It wasn’t proper for Xia Yan to continue meditating since someone had arrived. He felt an itch when he saw the laptop Zhao Qiang had placed on the table, so he called out to him, “Zhao Qian, can your laptop access the internet?”

“It can. I have a network card. We should get a Wi-Fi router later so we can use the campus Wi-Fi!” Zhao Qiang shouted back from the bathroom.

“Can I use your laptop?”

“Use as you like. Right! There’s a hidden folder inside the study materials in D drive. Look for it if you want to see some stuff. There’re 300 gigs of it. You understand, right?” Zhao Qian chucked from within the bathroom.

Xia Yan wiped the cold sweat off his brows. [300 gigs… no wonder your face is full of pimples!]

From this, it was easy to make out that Zhao Qiang had a frank and straightforward personality. Many people were unwilling to let others touch their laptops, let alone a stranger who they had met just five minutes ago.

Zhao Qian used a Fruit Laptop worth at least ¥18000. While it was booting up, Xia Yan thought that he ought to get a laptop too, but after he recalled he only had around ¥3000 left in his card, he became unsure.

[Should I follow master’s advice and engrave things to make money?]

For the time being, Xia Yan had no plans to rely on help from others. His master also hadn’t mentioned his uncle-master over the past decade, it was proof that there was some issue between them. Since this was the case, he had no reason to freeload while taking cues from them.

[As for looking for the other person, Xia Yan didn’t even have the slightest intention of doing that. An engagement set down in passing 15 years ago. Stop kidding me! It will be a wonder if they don’t smack me for dropping in. Also, what if that person’s daughter looks ugly? I’d be losing out if she’s hellbent on marrying me!]

[With skills like mine, I have no fear of going anywhere in the world.]