Dragon Hermit

Xia Yan gestured with his hand to interrupt Hou Xun’s greeting and signaled him to lie down on the sofa. Hou Xun immediately followed up.

Although Hou Xiaotian was pretty sure this person was Xia Yan, he had no plans to lay this out bare. He stood to the side emotionally in wait and watched Xia Yan proceed with the treatment.

Xia Yan fished the Virus Horcrux from his pocket and placed it on top of Hou Xun’s stomach while hiding it from Hou Xiaotian’s view. Then, he began chanting the treatment spell in a low voice…

The Horcrux absorbed the virus elements once again, and in result, Hou Xun felt his body become even more comfortable. He had not felt this relaxed in ages.

Hou Xiaotian was also pleasantly surprised as the change in his father’s expression had already made it clear to him that the treatment was working. He held his breath in fear that it might influence Xia Yan’s actions.

[This absolutely isn’t a medical skill. Xia Yan is definitely someone with extraordinary abilities!]

The gaze with which Hou Xiaotian looked at Xia Yan not just contained utmost gratefulness, but also a hint of reverence. The favor of having one’s father saved from the throes of death as well as witnessing a formidable and enigmatic power was enough to utterly topple the world view of an ordinary university student.

After the Horcrux had absorbed all the virus elements, Xia Yan withdrew his hand and collected the Horcrux back into his pocket. Then, he nodded at Hou Xiaotian and turned around to leave the residence.

“Thank you! Thank you…” Hou Xun stood with excitement all over his face. He could sense the state of this body, and he didn’t know what else to tell this enigmatic man except for words of gratitude.

“Thank you!” Hou Xiaotian chased after Xia Yan to express his gratitude. He, however, just gestured with his hand for Hou Xiaotian to return.

“You can trust me! I’m willing to become your assistant or even a follower as long as you’re willing!” Hou Xiaotian said after lowering his voice.

Xia Yan stopped walking as he wasn’t expecting Hou Xiaotian to say such words. There were two reasons as to why he had treated Hou Xun, one was for his friendship with Hou Xiaotian, and the other was to test the effects of virus-type undead magic. He had no intention of getting repaid by Hou Xiaotian for it.

Hence, he nodded at Hou Xiaotian, but said nothing, and quickened his pace as he walked over towards the stairs——the stairs of an apartment with an elevator was barren of people as always.

Hou Xiaotian clenched his fists as he watched Xia Yan’s figure disappear. A fervent expression took over his face, “Xia Yan, you’ll certainly need me in the future, and at that time, I will become your most reliable assistant!”

Xia Yan was obviously unaware that he had won a follower because of the ruler’s aura that surrounded him. He descended the stairs cautiously, and fortunately, no one was using the stairs at this time.

After reaching the corner of the district, Xia Yan was about to take off the magician’s robe he had donned, but he stopped when he sensed a dangerous aura behind him. He turned around and saw that a person had appeared five meters away from him before he had even realized it.

As the lighting was too dim, he could only see the outline of this person. However, he was sure this person was not a guard. This did not mean he was afraid, as his body had become much stronger than ordinary humans by now. He had the confidence to bring down the person before him even without using magic.

Xia Yan said nothing, and neither did the other person, so the mood had taken a strange turn. Xia Yan suddenly realized that the person before him was not an ordinary human, so he reached inside his robe to bring the Virus Horcrux out. He was prepared to use magic as long as the person before him showed even the slightest movement.

“Did you use magic at the provincial hospital two days ago?” The person facing him finally spoke. As they had a very neutral-sounding young voice, so it was difficult to determine their gender.

Xia Yan’s heart skipped a beat, and he immediately came to the conclusion that the person before him was none other than the person who was observing him on that day. He answered in a calm voice, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I’m called Yuan Tianlin. I have a store on Fengshui Street,” Xia Yan thought that the person would say some bullshit line like ‘You don’t need to know who I am,’ similar to a character from TV dramas. Hence, hearing such a candid introduction was entirely out of his expectations.

This also meant that the other side had full confidence in their strength and had no fear of revealing their identity. In that split second, Xia Yan felt that his shady appearance really fell short of the noble image portrayed by the other person.

However, this thought flitted past in the next moment as it was impossible for him to change his core principle of hiding his identity. He didn’t need to be able to do something that others were capable of doing.

“The possession incident at the underground parking lot of the Computer Plaza, you were behind that too, right?” Yuan Tianlin questioned once again. Although his tone was quite flat, Xia Yan could already feel that danger had arrived at his doorsteps.

“Did the Wen family hire you?” Xia Yan asked calmly, but the air around him had already become suffused with the scent of gunpowder.

“I cured Wen Yiping, but… F•ck!”

After hearing Yuan Tianlin admit that he cured Wen Yipin and adding on the fact that he had come to find Xia Yan so late into the night, Xia Yan had logically categorized him as the enemy.

This was unlike the duel with the student, Liu Mo, from his university, but instead a real threat. If he were to get caught by this Yuan Tianlin and have his identity revealed, Xia Yan would definitely have to face the crazy retaliation of the Wen family. As the Wen family held a lot of authority, it would be easy for them to place criminal charges on Xia Yan and have him thrown into prison. They could do whatever they wanted to with him then and may even harm his master and fellow villagers.

Xia Yan couldn’t allow such a thing to happen, so head to nip this threat in the bud.

Taking down Yuan Tianlin and eliminating his memory using Lingering Spirits was the optimal plan in his mind. However, in case he could not accomplish this successfully… a decisive glimmer flashed past Xia Yan’s eyes as he gripped the Horcrux that had absorbed virus elements just recently. After supplying it with some magic power, he pointed it at Yuan Tianlin, and a blue wisp of flame shot out from the Horcrux’s mouth towards him.

Yuan Tianlin cursed out loud in the middle of speaking and dodged the blue wisp of flame with lightning-quick movements before shouting at Xia Yan, “What the hell are you doing? Stop attacking, I… F•ck! What kind of magic did you use?!”

He turned around and watched as the trunk of the small tree that got hit by the blue wisp of flame turned into a shade of grey, losing all hints of vitality.

That unremarkable blue wisp of flame was releasing a terrifying aura right now, and Yuan Tianlin could feel that a terrible thing would have happened if he had got hit by it.

Xia Yan simply didn’t give him a chance to speak and flung another wisp of flame at him. He also began to chant silently at the same time, resulting in the undead element gathering around him from the surroundings. An evil wind suddenly blew across the district’s corner where they were standing.

“Such a potent Yin energy!” Yuan Tianlin’s eyes lit up, “It’s really the same power that remained Wen Yiping’s body!”

After dodging the blue wisp of flame, Yuan Tianlin grasped with his wrist, and a foot-long wooden sword appeared in his grip. He also began chanting a spell simultaneously.

[This guy is so agile!]

Xia Yan felt astonished when he saw Yuan Tianlin dodge those extremely fast wisps with so much ease.

If the wisp had hit Yuan Tianlin, his body’s condition would have debilitated, and that would have made it easier for Xia Yan to subdue him. He would not have been that much of a threat since Xia Yan would have had full control over his life and death.

Xia Yan naturally had no intention of really infecting Yuan Tianlin with cancer. He would have withdrawn the virus element after giving Yuan Tianlin a taste of it.

This wasn’t truly a magic spell and was merely the simplest use of virus elements. Although it wasn’t that lethal, it was an excellent method to control an opponent.

Xia Yan felt even more startled after seeing Yuan Tianlin summon a wooden sword in his hand. [Peachwood Sword? Is this guy a Daoist from Mt. Mao or what? Would his magic be as formidable as the Daoists from the movies?]

The two feared each other and hence hastened to complete their spells.

“Lingering Spirits!” Another wooden skull had appeared in Xia Yan’s hand at some point in time, and it was linked together with the Soul Storage Horcrux. After he finished the spell, a white shadow emerged out from the wooden skull and pounced towards Yuan Tianlin.

“Bzzt!” The dim street lights kept flickering, and this made the mood even eerier.

“Lightning Strike!” Yuan Tianlin also finished his spell and pointed his wooden sword towards the sky; the tip of the blade also crackled with lightning. The street lights flickered even faster and exploded into pieces suddenly, which caused the corner to sink into darkness.

A willow branch-like thin lightning bolt dropped from the sky and struck the crown of Xia Yan’s head accurately.

“Argh, f•cker!” This lightning bolt interrupted Xia Yan from finishing his second magic spell and followed by his body shivering uncontrollably, his short hair spiked outwards, just like needles.

On the other side, the moment Yuan Tianlin finished his pose of pointing his sword towards the Heavens, he saw a white shadow right before his face and turned pale in fright immediately. He struck down with his sword, but this white shadow coiled around his sword and dodged the hit like a living entity and squeezed into his head.

From then on, Yuan Tianlin kept flailing his sword to strike at the non-existent thing.

The two of them had finished their spells at the same moment and ended up striking each other simultaneously too. As a result, they had both become incapacitated.

Xia Yan felt an unbearable pain all over his body. Even the uncontrollable jerking of his body was nothing compared to that fact that the lightning bolt had used his body as a conductor and eliminated all the virus elements he had gathered inside the Virus Horcrux that he had absorbed from Hou Xiaotian’s father. This lightning was the nemesis of the virus element, and also restrained the undead element within Xia Yan’s body. It had even almost charged inside the magic tower within his mind.

[F•ck! This Mt. Mao Daoist couldn’t be my nemesis, right?] Xia Yan grumbled internally.

On the other side, Yuan Tianlin’s condition wasn’t any better. He had struck the wall with his sword under the influence of the illusion, and his Peachwood Sword ended up breaking into two pieces.

At the same time, Yuan Tianlin realized his situation and stopped moving. He chanted a spell as fast as he could and slapped the leather pouch at his waist, following which a golden light flew out from within and circled around his body to guard him. He then touched his forehead with his finger and sent a spark of lightning into his mind to kill the spirit.

[F•ck! This guy really has too many tricks!]

Xia Yan’s lips twitched as he watched Yuan Tianlin. The golden light circling around his body had really shocked Xia Yan. [This thing isn’t some mystic creature he’s raising, right? He has a magic artifact, a mystic creature, and can even use lightning. Why the hell are you so strong?]

[Fortunately, my recovery speed is faster than his. I just need to buff myself up with the Vampiric Curse, and I wouldn’t need to be afraid of losing to him!]

“Who’s there?” Just when Xia Yan was about to recover to his normal state, a beam of light flashed over towards his direction. The night guard of the neighborhood had come over after hearing the noise.

Xia Yan gave Yuan Tianlin, who still had his eyes closed as he struggled to eliminate the spirit inside his mind one last look before turning around to climb up a tree beside the wall. He leaped over the wall covered with barbs and landed on the other side before disappearing into the depths of the alley.

The golden light circled around Yuan Tianlin twice after Xia Yan left and returned inside the leather pouch, leaving behind Yuan Tianlin alone in the place with his finger still pointed at his forehead, still unable to relax his guard.

“Hey, you. What are you doing here?” The night guard flashed the light over and approached Yuan Tianlin cautiously. He was taken aback when he saw a pretty, long-haired young man dressed in ancient robes standing there in a weird posture. He screamed in horror and ran away.

Anyone would have been frightened out of their wits if they saw a long-haired man dressed in ancient robes standing alone in the darkness while adopting a weird posture. If it weren’t for the fact that Yuan Tianlin’s hand was secured flat to the side, the night guard would have perhaps assumed he was a hopping zombie from the legends.

“Phew!” Yuan Tianlin finally opened his eyes after the night guard had run away to call for help. His long eyelashes fluttered, and his eyes rolled all around as doubt overcame him.

“Where is this, and why am I here?”

He looked around, and after pondering for a moment, his expression changed significantly, “I’ve lost my memories of the past two days… Was it done by the person who cursed Wen Yipin?”

If Xia Yan had seen this scene, he would have sighed in relief. Although Yuan Tianlin had eliminated the spirit in time, the magic spell had still erased his memories of the past two days.

“I’ll go into seclusion and recover the lost memories first. And then, I’ll look for that guy again to settle things!”