Arc 9: Chapter 3
All of a sudden, the ominous sounds of drums rang through the air.
Lin Yuan almost leapt in fright like a kitten: “What is that sound?!”
Xie Daolan’s gaze lingered on the youth for a moment, and then calmly pulled out a phone from his sleeve and said faintly: “My phone.”
Lin Yuan breathed a huge sigh of relief. He complained in his head that exorcists had strange tastes.
Xie Daolan answered the call and a middle-aged man’s scruffy voice boomed: “Uncle, where are you right now? I’ll bring people over at once!”
The “uncle” replied expressionlessly: “I’ll send you the address.”
“Yes, uncle!”
Xie Daolan ended the call and drew the sharp and clear sword out of its scabbard.
Lin Yuan watched the man trace a complicated symbol in the air, and then it shot northward at lightning speed.
Lin Yuan’s jaw dropped in awe.
In the plot, there were four great exorcist families: Xie, Ye, Xiao, and Fang.
The Xie family specialized in swordsmanship, the Ye family excelled at feng shui and arrays, the Xiao family commanded ghosts, and the Fang family honed talismans.
Across all four families, there was no one like Xie Daolan. He was so powerful he could use his sword to create talismans without paper or cinnabar. In the plot, he even was able to glimpse the true Heavenly Way with his soul. Unfortunately his end was that the memories from his past life pulled him down into darkness and self-destruction.
Xie Daolan noticed the boy staring at him. He said coldly: “What do you want to say?”
Lin Yuan scratched his messy hair in distress: “Sir, my brother was taken by the ghost kings. Will he… be eaten? Can you help me save him? And… what exactly is an extreme Yin body?”
In the plot, Lin Yuan’s original body had almost fainted from fear after this ordeal and begged Xie Daolan to save his brother Lin Wang. It was hard for Lin Yuan to act so desperately, but he still had to try.
The man’s eyes fell on the jade hanging against Lin Yuan’s collarbone: “You know the situation earlier, there’s nothing that can be done now. If he is devoured by the ghost kings, it is fate. I can’t save him.”
Tears welled in Lin Yuan’s round eyes, and he began to cry pitifully: “I’m so miserable… my brother is too tragic wuuu… Little brother, I’m sorry, I won’t live past eighteen anyway and come down to accompany you wuuuu…”
Lin Yuan sniffled and looked up at Xie Daolan with watery eyes and his cheeks were flushed from crying: “Sir, are you sure I can’t spend my eighteenth birthday with you? Wouldn’t that also count as my fate?”
Xie Daolan looked at the delicate teenager in front of him, with soft, lovely eyes and exuding a pure aura. If the teenager wasn’t an extreme Yin body, Xie Daolan would have been more willing to save him.
But he had already meddled seventeen years ago by giving them the jade. The major obstacle that Heaven had decided for them at eighteen could only be determined by fate itself.
His lips moved slightly. In the midsummer wind, his voice carried a chill: “I said, whether you survive depends on your fate.”
Lin Yuan stammered: “B-But, if I spend that day with you, wouldn't that also count as fate?”
Xie Daolan shook his head: “No, that is forcibly altering fate. The Heavenly Way won’t allow it, and you can’t bear the consequences.”
Lin Yuan became nervous hearing this and hesitantly asked: “What would happen if fate is forcibly altered?”
Lin Yuan almost thought he saw the always indifferent man smile for a second. The other’s beautiful, dark eyes lifted slightly and his handsome face seemed to become even more dazzling and captivating. But then in the next second, Xie Daolan was still as expressionless as before.
The man said lightly: “Forcibly altering fate will turn a life-and-death situation with a sliver of hope into a complete dead end. If before you would’ve only been devoured by one ghost, after forcibly altering fate, there would instead be hundreds of ghosts appearing to tear you apart the next day.”
Lin Yuan: O.O
Alright, fine. No altering!
Lin Yuan huffed and pouted at Xie Daolan in frustration: “Then, Sir, I won’t ask you to accompany me. Could you at least give me a sword?”
With his experience in swordsmanship from his past mission, he could easily retrain and fight ghosts himself.
Xie Daolan was silent for a second, surprised at the teenager's request. When Lin Yuan thought that Xie Daolan would reject him again, the man handed over the sword in his hand.
At this time, the rest of the Xie family arrived. Dozens of luxury cars lined the road. From the lead car, a tall middle-aged man stepped out, accompanied by several younger people.
They respectfully called out: “Uncle!”
Xie Daolan told the family head, who was the tall, middle-aged man: “Have someone take this child back. Don’t let anyone notice his whereabouts.”
The family head noticed the sword in Lin Yuan’s hands. He asked puzzledly: “Yuqing sword? Uncle, it looks like yours…”
Xie Daolan said normally: “I gave it to him.”
Some youths in the Xie family looked at Lin Yuan with envy, while Lin Yuan looked at the sword in his hand with surprise.
In the cultivation world, his husband, Xie Hanzhou’s sword was also called Yuqing. Could they be the same?
But Lin Yuan couldn’t sense the sword’s aura without spiritual energy, and the scabbard and hilt were different from his memory.
Xie Daolan turned and began to walk away. Lin Yuan hurried after him: “Sir, if I survive my eighteenth birthday, can I follow you?”
Who knows when the next time he could meet Xie Daolan again?!
The Xie family head was displeased. This child was speaking too directly to Uncle, did he understand how many people were lining up to meet with Xie Daolan every day?
Actually, Xie Daolan was originally planning to secretly observe the child’s birthday. If the child survived, then he would bring Lin Yuan to the Xie family. That way the Xie family could protect him from ghosts and people who coveted his extreme Yin energy.
Xie Daolan looked into the teenager’s expectant eyes and nodded slightly: “Fine. If you survive, you can follow me.”
Some people in the background ground their teeth in jealousy.
The family head personally escorted Lin Yuan back home, giving him a blue tassel for the sword: “Attach this tassel to the Yuqing sword, then ordinary people won’t notice it.”
Lin Yuan obediently tied the tassel to the sword and headed inside his house, ignoring the floating cucumbers along the way.
Suddenly, a cold gust of wind brushed the back of his neck, and a sorrowful female voice called out: “Um… hello…”
Lin Yuan immediately pedaled his legs and ran inside, screaming even more sorrowfully: “Ahhhh! Why do I have to encounter ghosts the moment I get out of the car?!”
521 answered loudly: “Senior, you’re like a big piece of braised pork to these ghosts! Ahhh, that cucumber is half your height!!”
Lin Yuan quickly locked the front door behind him, but before he could even catch his breath, a cucumber appeared right in front of him.
Wuuu, how hateful that ghosts could go through walls.