Dragon Hermit

“F••k the police station, you bastards!” The fatty whipped out a knife and waved it at Xia Yan, “Driver, open the door!”

“We haven’t reached the stop yet!” The driver struggled. He hated thieves too, but he was more afraid of trouble falling upon him. These thieves committed crimes on this route for so long that all the drivers recognized them. Even if someone took them to the police station, these two would get out in just a few days since it was considered as a petty crime. They would then take revenge on the driver.

“Shut your trap and open the damn door right now!” The fatty responded fiercely.

The bus door opened immediately.

“Kid, let’s get down and settle this!” The fatty shouted while the punk also strived to get off the bus.

Xia Yan looked at the others that showed no intention of coming out to help him. It looked like they were hoping to see all three of them get off the bus as soon as possible.

“Lil’ Bro, why don’t you settle it outside the bus? We still have things to do this afternoon and can’t delay it by going to the police station!” A white-haired old woman advised.

“Yeah, I still have to meet a client!”

“I have to reach the train station!”

“Settle it off the bus!”

The passengers voiced out their opinion in succession after one had taken the lead. All of them wished for Xia Yan and the other two to get down from the bus. None of them uttered a word about calling the police.

“Haha!” Xia Yan chuckled. He thought that he hadn’t seen all the facets of society as he was a countryside brat. So, he felt some awkwardness these past two days after coming to Chengdu. But after looking at these people, he understood.

No matter where, whether the countryside or the modernized cities, the weak remained weak. They only looked after their hides and cooped up inside their tortoise shells, afraid of letting their heads out. However, their shells were fragile and easy to break.

“You’re afraid of these two thieves and think I’m easier to bully, right?” Xia Yan swept his gaze across the crowd. He didn’t find it worth his time to take offense at these weaklings, but that didn’t mean he would follow their orders. [You really think you have the upper hand just cause of your numbers?]

“As a student, how can you say something like that?” A pot-bellied middle-aged man came out and criticized him, “Everyone has work to do, we can’t let your matter affect all the people on the bus!”

“Yeah!”

“Exactly! Settle your matter after getting down the bus, we all have things to do!”

The fatty and the punk felt complacent. The punk claimed, “Everybody, I have stolen nothing. My hand accidentally came across his pocket as the bus got too crowded, that’s all. But he slandered me by calling me a thief. This is too much!”

“We aren’t that easy to bully!” The fatty also stated loudly.

“Hehe!” Xia Yan didn’t feel like putting up a pointless argument and strengthened his grip. The punk instantly felt like his wrist would break and screamed out, “Release my hand! Let it go! Now!”

Xia Yan slapped his face, and he went down like a sack of potatoes, screaming all the while. His tooth flew out and perfectly landed inside the shirt pocket of the pot-bellied middle-aged man. This man turned pale and shut his mouth, not letting out even a squeak.

The noisy bus fell silent as Xia Yan’s sudden slap had stupefied everyone.

[How can this boorish student just slap like that?]

[Didn’t he want to go to the police station?]

[We have the upper hand, right?]

[Can you send that man’s tooth flying with a slap?]

“F••k!” The dazed fatty stabbed the knife at Xia Yan’s waist, “M•therf••ker! You dare?!”

“Aaaahhh!” A few women shrieked after watching him brandish the knife. Everyone forced their way aside out of fear of getting injured accidentally.

Xia Yan dodged to the side, and a black wisp invisible to the ordinary eye rose from his chest and drilled into the fatty’s nostrils. That fatty’s movements stopped, and his eyes glazed over. He then leaned over and suddenly stabbed the punk’s thigh, making him scream. “Argh! Fatty Wang, why the heck did you stab me?!”

The fatty didn’t respond and flipped the knife backward, stabbing his own thigh before dropping like a rock in the water.

This unexpected scene shocked everyone. [What’s going on? Why did he harm himself?]

Blood sprayed from their legs and splashed on a few passersby. The passengers that had called out for Xia Yan to get down a moment ago kept quiet out of fear now. Terror filled their eyes.

“I think you can go to the police station now.” Xia Yan chuckled before walking over the fatty and alighting from the bus.

The driver reacted instantaneously and closed the bus door before taking out his cell phone.

“Open the door! Why have you locked us in the bus?” A few passengers shouted.

“The police will need witnesses when they arrive…” The driver replied.

“What? I don’t want to do that, open the door quickly!”

The driver and the passengers began quarreling. Soon after, two passengers got hold of the safety hammer and smashed the window open. The people on the bus jumped out in a whoosh, leaving no trace behind. Even the elderly that needed others to give up their seats were no exception to this. The driver that got left behind choked up as he looked at the broken window and the two thieves.

Xia Yan heaved a sigh after getting down from the bus. That black wisp contained the tainted undead element he had stored in the Soul Storage Horcrux. He had secretly used it to deal with the two petty thieves.

Even if the police arrived and saw the footage from the bus, they would only see the fatty stab at the other person, and this had no relation to Xia Yan.

After getting on another bus, in 20 minutes, Xia Yan arrived at Songxian Bridge Antique Market.

Songxian Bridge Antique Market was just beside Huanhua Brook. Its scale wasn’t that big and had very few visitors right now since it was the warmest time of the day. The peddlers idled listlessly at their stalls and didn’t even hawk because of the heat.

Xia Yan didn’t understand antiques much as he had only learned to craft from his master. He strolled around in the antique market once. Finally, he spotted the Antique Collectibles Store his master had told him about. Although, it looked like they weren’t open for business as they had locked the entrance.

Xia Yan did not let that bother him. Once he had grasped the market prices, he sat down beside an antique coin stall that provided the perfect shade from the sunlight.

He took out the seal stones and the carving knife from his hemp bag, pondered for a moment, and then began carving.

“Hey there, young man. Are you carving a seal?” The antique coin seller, an uncle with a flattop, voiced out his curiosity since he felt idle.

“Mhm.” Xia Yan affirmed.

“You can’t earn that much from carving seals. Don’t you feel that it is a waste to sit there working so hard under the hot sun?” The flattop uncle asked.

“Every little bit helps.” Xia Yan raised his head to smile at him and asked, “Uncle, what’s your name?”

“My surname is Hu, so you can just call me Brother Hu.”

“I’m surnamed Xia, so you can just call me Little Xia. Brother Hu, it’s my first time here. Does anyone here come to collect management fees?” Xia Yan queried.

“They do. But will you willingly give it to them?” Brother Hu questioned back.

“I surely won’t. At worst, I’ll grab my things and set up shop at another place.” Xia Yan chuckled.

“Bullseye.” Brother Hu also chuckled.

After chatting for a while, Xia Yan bowed his head and focused on carving. Brother Hu fanned his palm-leaf fan while looking at this, astonishment surfacing on his face.

After a moment, he couldn’t help but ask a question again, “Little Xia, you aren’t carving a seal, right?”

“No.” Xia Yan replied without lifting his head.

“I knew it. Seals have letters carved only at the bottom and are very simple while you’ve cut all faces of the stone. You have also carved designs and a skull, what are you making?” Brother Hu felt curious.

“This is a Soul Ataraxia Stone.”

“What’s its use?”

“Warding off evil, placating the mind, and freeing the soul.”

“Is it effective?”

“Will you believe it if I say so?” Xia Yan raised his head and questioned back with a smile.

“Hehe, a sincere heart can indeed work wonders.” Brother Hu smiled. He obviously didn’t believe it, but Xia Yan didn’t mind and continued carving. Brother Hu stopped speaking and observed the process with rapt attention.

Xia Yan’s hands were fast and efficient. He didn’t even switch knives and used just the carving knife to carve all kinds of designs perfectly with ease.

Half-an-hour later, Xia Yan finished the first piece and nodded with satisfaction. He had carved an undead magic spell – Soul Ataraxia Spell.

A simple magic spell. It was neither an attack spell nor a defense spell and just something convenient necromancers used to prevent free undead elements in the void from interfering in their experiments.

In simple words, this spell could disperse the free undead elements within a specific range.

Because of the seal stone’s tiny size, the spell’s effect was weaker. It could roughly disperse the undead elements in a one-meter radius, just perfect to use as an amulet.

If An Xiaoru had this Soul Ataraxia Stone on her last night, she wouldn’t have got possessed. Naturally, due to the effect of the stone, they would have failed in the divination ceremony.

Xia Yan drilled a hole through the Soul Ataraxia Stone and asked, “Brother Hu, do you have a red thread? Can I buy two of them?”

“I do.” People also wore antique coins as amulets, so he didn’t lack red strings. Brother Hu took out around a dozen strings in passing and handed them over to Xia Yan.

“Here’s the money.” Xia Yan took out ¥5.

“No need for that just for these, consider them as a gift!” Brother Hu waved his hand.

“Thanks then, Brother Hu!” Xia Yan didn’t act pretentious and placed the money back. He passed the thread through the Soul Ataraxia Stone and made a knot. After that, he opened up his bad and placed the Soul Ataraxia Stone on it.

Brother Hu shook his head as he didn’t believe Xia Yan would find success in selling it.

Xia Yan went to the convenience store and bought two water bottles, handing one over to Brother Hu while he drank half of the other bottle. He wiped his mouth and took out another seal stone to continue carving.

He finished carving the second seal rather quickly. It was the same Soul Ataraxia Stone. Xia Yan placed it into his hemp bag as well. Doing the same thing as before. He then got up and drank the remaining water in the half-full bottle in one go before stretching his limbs. While wiping the sweat off by raising his T-shirt, he unintentionally revealed the Soul Storage Horcrux outside.

Brother Hu’s eyes lit up after seeing the Soul Storage Horcrux. When he noticed that Xia Yan was about to put the skull pendant back inside his clothes, he interjected, “Little Xia, wait a minute!”

“What is it?” Xia Yan paused his movements.

“Little Xia, this pendant of yours is an ebony carving, right?” Brother Hu asked after leaning closer.

“Yes.” Xia Yan nodded. This quail egg-sized ebony would cost a few hundred at most, so he didn’t feel concerned that it would invite trouble.

“The carvings is excellent. Even an amateur like me could tell!” Brother Hu gave it a few careful looks and praised it.

“Hehe, it’s just a small thing, that’s all.” Xia Yan smiled.

“Can I see it?” Brother Hu asked.

“I’m sorry, Brother Hu. This is an amulet that I cannot take off.” Xia Yan apologized.

“Never mind then, I was just curious and wanted to look at it!” Brother Hu stated promptly.

Xia Yan placed the pendant back inside. At this moment, two people stopped before him. The girl wearing sunglasses and a sun hat pointed at the Soul Ataraxia Stone and asked, “What is this?”

“Hmm?”