Dragon Hermit

Zhao Qiang and Qin Jian could only sigh towards Hou Xiaotian’s circumstances. They were unable to help him as he didn’t lack money, but this was not a case that can be solved with money.

Xia Yan felt enthused for a moment and caressed the Soul Storage Horcrux on his chest subconsciously, but he shook his head right after. [I don’t have such skills right now!]

The mood turned heavy after the topic was brought up, and they had all lost interest in chatting. After idling there for half-an-hour, the trio paid the bill and left.

After they left, two malicious gazes from a few tables away withdrew from Xia Yan’s body. If Xia Yan had seen these two people, he would have recognized them. They were the two thieves he had run into on the bus this morning.

Since Xia Yan had left, there was neither a victim nor any evidence, so the police didn’t hold these two behind and released them after giving them a warning. The two of them felt gloomy and came to have a midnight snack after getting treated at the hospital, disregarding the doctor’s advice about not eating any spicy food while recovering.

These two just happened to pass by Sihe University’s southern gate and recognized Xia Yan.

“Fatty Wang, what should we do?” The punk asked in a low, vile voice.

“This kid is a bit strange. We aren’t his opponent!” Fear welled up on Fatty Wang’s face. Even he didn’t know why he had stabbed the punk before stabbing himself today noon. He tried to recall the incident, but it seemed like his memory of the entire event was missing, and this terrified him.

“Shall we ask Brother Bao’s help to deal with this kid?” The punk probed.

“Are you crazy?!” Fatty Wang scolded him, “It’s impossible to invite Brother Bao without spending a few thousand for a meal, do you have that much money?”

“We can’t just let it go, right?” The punk stated gloomily.

“When a nobleman takes revenge, 10 years is not too late!” Although Fatty Wang had no clue what the nobleman in the idiom meant, he stated in a deep voice, “Anyways, we know he’s a student at Sihe University. We’ll keep an eye on him later. I’m sure we’ll find a chance to take revenge!”

“Mhm!” The punk nodded, “If he has a girlfriend, we’ll make trouble for her. When the time comes… Hehe…”

“Since he has offended us brothers, we can’t let him have a good end!”

When the trio returned to the dorm, Hou Xiaotian was still lying down on the bed. Though they didn’t know whether he was asleep, the trio didn’t disturb him and went to bed after taking a bath.

After Zhao Qiang and Qin Jiang had fallen asleep, blue light flickered in the sockets of the skull on Xia Yan’s chest under the comforter.

The dense undead elements he had absorbed into the Soul Storage Horcrux last night were still inside it. Xia Yan wanted to slowly convert them into magic power.

These undead elements were life-threatening existences like phantoms to others. But to Xia Yan, they were the best supplement that could be used to raise his magic power.

Sometime after Xia Yan had returned to the school, chaos ensued within the Liu family’s villa.

Going back a few hours ago.

Since Elder Liu was a serviceman that had experienced the battlefield of blood and steel, he didn’t believe in the supernatural. He had severely lashed out at Xia Yan because he thought he was in the right. Moreover, he felt that he could talk some sense into Xia Yan and set him on the right path.

But unfortunately, Xia Yan showed no indications of showing repentance, and this made Elder Liu feel frustrated.

Whenever he felt like this, Elder Liu liked to fiddle with his favorite item to relax. And his favorite thing these past two years was a toad carved from ebony.

This ebony toad wasn’t that valuable a treasure in Elder Liu’s collection. Still, he had obtained it luckily after having his eye on it for a long time. Therefore, he felt extremely proud of it and was biased towards it.

This ebony toad was placed on a shelf at the southeast corner of the drawing-room. But since Elder Liu held prejudice towards Xia Yan, he didn’t take Xia Yan’s words seriously. He went to pick up the ebony toad. As he caressed it in his hands and felt the smooth, glossy surface, his mind calmed down and he closed his eyes.

After her grandfather had made her return the things she had bought from Xia Yan, Liu Xue’er’s mood had turned sour. After seeing that her grandfather did not listen to Xia Yan’s advice and directly went to the southeast corner, she felt even worse. Moreover, she also felt a little restless. Almost as if something was about to occur.

This feeling made her give up her thoughts of listening to music upstairs. After walking a few steps, she decided to advise her grandfather again. This time, she saw her grandfather stop caressing the ebony toad. Not only that, but he also didn’t move an inch and stared ahead with a blank gaze.

“Grandpa…” Liu Xue’er had a bad premonition and quickly rushed ahead to call out to him.

At this moment, the ebony toad slipped from Elder Liu’s hands and fell onto the thick carpet. A wisp of black smoke invisible to the naked eye drilled out of the toad’s needle-sized mouth and accurately rushed inside Elder Liu’s body through his nostrils.

After that, a peal of strange laughter came from Elder Liu’s throat before he dropped to the floor.

The moment the ebony toad fell to the carpet, Liu Xue’er knew something terrible had happened. She rushed forth to support Elder Liu. But a girl like her didn’t possess much strength, so she helplessly laid her grandfather down on the carpet.

Her grandfather’s complexion had turned into a shocking ashen color already.

“Xia Yan was right! Something did happen!” Liu Xue’er recalled Xia Yan’s advice once again.

An hour later, her father and mother had hurried to the hospital from the company, followed by Elder Liu’s other two sons and daughter, as well as their families.

Although Elder Liu had retired, he still held a lot of influence. Even the top bureaucrats of Sihe Province would greet him as junior, and the Liu family had developed to this scale thanks to Elder Liu’s contacts. If something happened to Elder Liu, it would give a heavy blow to the Liu family. Perhaps, the Liu family would even begin to decline, so all of them felt very nervous.

“Xue’er, how did your grandfather become like this? Wasn’t he doing well when I left today morning?” Liu Shan felt very worried as he looked at all the equipment preserving his father’s life within the ICU, but he still talked to his daughter in a mild tone.

“Grandpa was fiddling around with the ebony toad and suddenly became like that. Only, Dad, I doubt…” Liu Xue’er wished to say something but hesitated.

“What is it?” Liu Shan asked while raising his brows.

“I doubt Grandpa is possessed. You know he’s suffering from nightmares recently… I ran into a person at Songxian Bridge today… but Grandpa drove him out… He warned Grandpa not to go near the southeast corner of the drawing-room, but Grandpa didn’t heed the advice and became like this!”

Liu Xue’er explained the entire course of events to Liu Shan, right from her encounter with Xia Yan to her grandfather becoming unconscious. Liu Shan’s expression turned solemn after hearing it and furrowed his brows.

“You’re saying that student, Xia Yan, warned your grandfather to not go near the southeast corner of the drawing-room?” Liu Shan asked again.

“Yes, he told it very clearly, but Grandpa didn’t listen to it.”

“Maybe he played some trick here?” At this time, a 20-year old youth to the side interjected.

“Second Cousin, how can you malign someone like that?” Liu Xue’er frowned at the young man that she didn’t have a good impression of. He was her paternal aunt’s son, Dong Quan, a typical Silkpants.

“Didn’t he say if you want to buy his… Soul Ataraxia Stone or whatever, it won’t cost just ¥5000? It’s possible he did something and waited for grandfather to fall prey to it. Now, we would have no other choice but to give him whatever amount he desires!”

His words made sense. Even Liu Shan nodded slightly in affirmation.

“That’s unlikely!” Liu Xue’er didn’t know why but her intuition told her Xia Yan wasn’t that kind of person. She pondered for a moment before saying, “Second Cousin, you think all this is Xia Yan’s intentional scheme, right?”

“Yeah. He surely knew our Liu family had a lot of wealth and came to find you intentionally. Everything that happened later is part of his scheme!” Dong Quan stated with utmost certainty. After seeing that his uncle approved of his conjecture, he naturally had to put up a good show. This would be beneficial for him when he vied for a managerial position in the Liu Group.

“Dong Quan, that’s enough!” Liu Xue’er burst into a fit of anger and didn’t even address him as her second cousin.

“Xia Yan only had a stall at Songxian Bridge. I was the one who stopped in front of his booth. Neither did anyone mention his name to me, nor did they tell me I can find that Soul Ataraxia Stone there. It was a completely coincidental meeting. Tell me, Dong Quan, who can set up such an elaborate scheme?” Liu Xue’er was already in a bad mood and was now angered. She raised her voice, not even giving any face to Dong Quan.

Dong Quan felt dumbstruck as he saw his cousin rage out. Even he didn’t dare to offend this princess loved by the Liu family the most.

“After receiving the money, Xia Yan was planning to leave, but I insisted on making him accompany me…”

“Maybe he was playing hard to get…” Dong Quan tried to defend himself.

“Okay. Stop quarreling. Let’s hear what the doctor has to say. If someone has really played a trick here, this Xia Yan is the biggest suspect!” Liu Shan interrupted their argument in a nervous mood. In the beginning, he had also judged that someone had schemed to rip off the Liu family’s wealth, but after listening to his daughter’s words, this didn’t seem to be the case. Even he felt puzzled now.

After waiting for a long time, an old doctor finally opened the door of the ICU and came out. The members of the Liu family went to meet him. Liu Shan asked anxiously, “Doctor Wang, how is my father?”

“Old Liu’s circumstances are a bit strange…” Doctor Wang wiped his sweat as he made a pause.

“Please say it frankly if there’s anything, Doctor Wang!” Liu Shan tensed up after seeing this.

“There’s a shadow in Old Liu’s brain…” Doctor Wang pacified his mood and began speaking.

“Is it a tumor?” Liu Shan asked promptly. [If it’s a tumor, then father is in danger.]

“That’s the strange thing. This shadow is alive!” Doctor Wang lowered his voice and spoke words which even he found hard to believe.

“W-What do you mean?” His words had stupefied Liu Shan.