Dragon Hermit

Xia Yan hadn’t lied to Liu Xue’er. The Soul Ataraxia Stone could disperse the free undead elements but only the free ones. Since Elder Liu had lost consciousness, it proved that the undead elements had already invaded his brain and weren’t ‘free’ anymore. The Soul Ataraxia Stone would have no effect now, so other methods were required.

“It’s useless?” Liu Xue’er felt shocked before anger took over her, making her shout, “How about for ¥50K then?!”

[What the heck?] Xia Yan blanked out momentarily, but he recovered quickly. [She must be thinking I’m trying to profit by hiking up the price!]

“If you want to buy it, I won’t shy away, but let me warn you that even if you spend ¥5M to buy it, it will remain useless!” Xia Yan stated in a displeased tone.

After hearing his words, Liu Xue’er realized that he must be telling her the truth. She pleaded in a bleak voice suddenly, “I already apologized to you, what else do you want? Are you just going to look on as my grandfather…?”

She couldn’t even finish her words and began wailing after laying her head on the table.

“Don’t cry! Listen to me!” Xia Yan panicked as he wasn’t expecting things to develop in this manner.

Grief engulfed Liu Xue’er as she wept, and as a result, the two bodyguards standing on either side of the table glared at Xia Yan.

Xia Yan wanted to console her but also felt embarrassed about it. Just when he felt perplexed, a voice filled with righteousness echoed in his ears, “Hey, man. What’s wrong with you? Why are you bullying this girl?”

Xia Yan felt gloomier after hearing this voice and turned his head helplessly. It was none other than An Xiaoru. This short-haired girl stood on the side with a hand on her hips as she criticized Xia Yan with indignation. Beside her, Anna gazed at Xia Yan with contempt. Xiaoyu didn’t say anything, but she hid behind An Xiaoru shyly, making Xia Yan feel as if he were a heinous scoundrel.

“What are you looking at, huh?!” An Xiaoru glared back at him, her bosom rising up and down from the anger. This made Xia Yan give it another look or two.

“I didn’t bully her!” Xia Yan explained grudgingly.

Liu Xue’er sobbed a bit louder, which in turn made An Xiaoru infuriated, “Why would she cry with so much grief if you haven’t bullied her?”

Xia Yan felt wronged. But Liu Xue’er still didn’t say anything and just kept crying louder and louder, clearing indicating that Xia Yan was in the wrong here. Obviously, this alone was enough for others to fill in the blanks with melodramatic storylines.

“Kid, you knocked her up and want to shirk on the responsibility now?” An Xiaoru had indeed envisioned a startling plot that shocked Xia Yan to the core. Even Liu Xue’er’s shoulders trembled slightly as An Xiaoru’s imagination had stunned her too.

“No! I really didn’t!” Faced with the increasing number of scornful gazes, Xia Yan immediately denied the allegation. [I have to deny it, or else it will be the end of my social life at Sihe University!]

“Did you two-time then?” An Xiaoru continued to fantasize.

“It’s not that!” Xia Yan had to hand it to her.

“It’s useless to deny it, you must have two-timed!” An Xiaoru appeared determined as she berated him, “You peeped at my boobs with those perverted eyes of yours just now, so you definitely aren’t someone decent. It’s normal for someone like you to be two-timer, aren’t I right?”

Her question at the end was aimed at her two roommates. Anna and Xiaoyu nodded firmly, and Anna even supplemented, “When we arrived here, he also peeked at Xiaoyu’s butt!”

“Hyah!” Xiaoyu exclaimed as her face blushed.

“Oi, if you still remain silent, I’ll just leave!” Xia Yan’s face flushed up. He believed that the person who created the trouble had the responsibility to see things through, so he poked Liu Xue’er arms and threatened in a soft voice.

Liu Xue’er raised her head instantly, and though tears had marred her face, she definitely didn’t look that grieved. Xia Yan couldn’t help but sigh at the skills of this fine actress.

“Sisters, it really isn’t as you have imagined…” Liu Xue’er glanced at Xia Yan. He nodded at her with a steady face, expressing that he would go to the hospital with her. So, she explained the matter to the trio, “My grandfather got hospitalized, that’s why I cried…”

This explanation had finally cleared Xia Yan’s name as an unfaithful lover.

An Xiaoru still held some doubt, so she arrived in front of Xia Yan and asked with a raised chin, “Hey, are you a freshman?”

“Yes, what is it?”

“What’s your name?” An Xiaoru continued questioning him unreasonably.

“Why should I tell you that?”

“He’s Xia Yan, from the History Department.” Liu Xue’er rolled her eyes and sold him out.

“Xia Yan, I’ll remember you!” An Xiaoru patted Xia Yan’s shoulder with a heroic tone. After that, she returned to her seat and continued having breakfast.

Xia Yan soliloquized internally that he had already burned her entire body into his memory. Naturally, he didn’t speak this out. His breakfast time was ruined now, so he stared at Liu Xue’er while she stared back at him.

“Let’s go to the hospital.” Xia Yan sighed.

After leaving the dining hall, Xia Yan asked in a miffed tone, “Why did you tell her my name?”

“Since you promised to save my grandfather, I was repaying you!”

“That’s how you repay me?” Xia Yan looked at her with astonishment.

“Don’t you feel good hearing a pretty woman tell you that she’ll remember you?” Liu Xue’er glanced at him with disdain, “Don’t you tell me that you didn’t feel she’s beautiful.”

“She’s beautiful, but…”

“You don’t want such a beautiful girlfriend?”

“I do, but isn’t her first impression of me poor now?” Xia Yan questioned modestly.

“She already knows she accused you wrongly. You just need to put in some effort to get closer to her now, and you’ll easily reverse her impression of you. Moreover, she will also feel guilty due to her prior actions, and subconsciously become friendlier to you!” Liu Xue’er stated.

“That does sound a bit reasonable. Did you study Psychology?” Xia Yan asked after nodding.

“No, but I am a woman too.” Liu Xue’er replied.

☠ ☠ ☠

Liu Shan’s face filled with exhaustion in the provincial hospital. He had a busy schedule and usually didn’t sleep well. He hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep ever since he arrived at the hospital last night. He felt infuriated when his daughter called him at midnight to tell that Xia Yan refused to come and guessed that this student was planning to get back the face he lost in double.

Liu Shan sighed as he looked at his unconscious father within the ICU. [If that student wants face, so be it.]

Liu Shan picked up his phone when he heard it ring.

“Dad, Xia Yan will arrive in 20 minutes.” Liu Shan ended the call and spoke to everyone from the Liu family nearby, “Don’t offend that young man when he arrives. We shall deal with everything once he has inspected father!”

“All right!” Although everyone from the Liu family didn’t approve of bringing in this Xia Yan, since Liu Shan had already declared his command, none of them dared to defy it.

Twenty minutes later, an expensive car with a double R logo at the front neared the entrance of the provincial hospital. Xia Yan and Liu Xue’er were seated in the back seat of it.

“Pull up!” Xia Yan shouted suddenly.

The car stopped, and Liu Xue’er got down after Xia Yan, asking with doubt, “Xia Yan, what happened?”

“Nothing, I just want to walk.” Xia Yan drew in a deep breath. He had felt the sudden increase of undead elements just now. The concentration of undead elements around a radius of 20 m from the hospital was a notch higher than the other regions.

Liu Xue’er naturally couldn’t sense it, but although she felt puzzled, she still followed after Xia Yan patiently.

As he walked closer to the hospital, the concentration of undead elements also became higher. Xia Yan knew that this was because someone died in the hospital almost every day. The provincial hospital had a history of 70 years, so the density of undead elements had reached a shocking degree after accumulating over a long time.

However, it differed from Ouija divination and the ebony toad at the Liu family. The undead elements in the hospital were free in nature and hadn’t taken form. If such a massive amount of undead element were to take on a form, it would be a terrifying scene.

[But why haven’t these dense undead elements taken form?] A doubt rose up in Xia Yan’s mind. Just a casual Ouija divination from An Xiaoru and the other girls had led to a supernatural event like possession, so the probability of something happening at the hospital was exponential.

After taking a turn, Xia Yan discovered that the undead elements were being pacified under the influence of some power. More accurately, this power was purifying the undead elements! And also restricting the undead elements from going past 20 m from the hospital.

[What power is this?] [The hospital doesn’t enshrine any Gods or Buddhas, so it’s not spiritual power. Is the location just that auspicious? That’s impossible. Geomancers didn’t dare to show up in the era of revolution when the provincial hospital was built.]

Xia Yan carefully probed for the source of this power. He then raised his head to look at the summit of the outpatient building that faced the hospital’s entrance. A huge red cross stood there.

[So, it was due to this thing!]

Xia Yan felt surprised. [ To think that this universal symbol used everywhere in the world can purify undead elements just like a holy artifact from the legends. Did I wake up on the wrong side of the bed today and have begun to hallucinate?]

Liu Xue’er noticed that Xia Yan had stopped in front of the outpatient building with his eyes closed. Still, she didn’t say anything after pondering on it and just watched him curiously.

Xia Yan closed his eyes and tried to meditate. He wanted to check whether he could convert these undead elements into his magic power.

A torrent of undead elements rushed towards him when he began meditating, just like how water poured down when the sluice gates of a dam opened. However, in the next instant, Xia Yan felt like a blade had split open his head. He couldn’t endure the pain and screamed while clutching his head, “ARGH!”

These semi-purified undead elements weren’t very pure, and while this didn’t matter much to an ordinary person, they were no different from poison to a necromancer.

“Are you okay?” Liu Xue’er freaked out, and even the passersby were startled too. They detoured around Xia Yan and kept a distance.

“… I’m fine.” Xia Yan shook his head. Although it hurt a bit, he had fortunately stopped meditating just in time. Else he would have suffered from a grave unrecoverable injury after absorbing these impure undead elements.

“You’re bleeding from your mouth!” Liu Xue’er pointed out with lingering fears.

Xia Yan checked and found that he had just bit his tongue accidentally, “It’s nothing, let’s go!”

“Are you really fine?” Liu Xue’er asked anxiously.

“I am, it won’t delay your grandfather’s treatment.” Xia Yan stated.

“It’s not that, I’m just worried about you…” Liu Xue’er explained hastily.

“I told you I’m fine already.” Xia Yan interrupted her and increased his pace, forcing Liu Xue’er to catch up with him.

Although Xia Yan appeared calm on the surface, his heart was beating crazily. [F••k! I better come less to these hospitals later on. This place is a bane to necromancers. Fortunately, as long as I don’t meditate, that holy cross won’t purify me!]