Before the mirror.
Xu Yuan pulled his eyelid open and slowly rolled his eye.
The white of his eye was perfectly clean.
There were no black shadows.
If not for the call log as evidence, he really would have suspected everything just now had been a hallucination.
Other than that—
There was one more thing that could prove the experience had been real.
That spell.
Xu Yuan’s heart felt heavy.
—He had no idea whether it was friend or foe.
Yet that black shadow had shown him a spell.
Should he learn it?
Xu Yuan recalled it briefly.
The image of the bronze figure being brushed all over by the wind, its twenty-seven holes making “woo, woo” sounds, instantly surfaced in his mind with incomparable clarity.
He couldn’t forget it even if he tried.
…He couldn’t learn it.
I don’t even know what it is.
Ring, ring, ring—
His phone rang.
“Hello, Uncle Yang. You were looking for me?”
“…All right. I’m at the hospital. We can meet at the hospital entrance in a bit.”
Xu Yuan hung up.
The one who had called was Yang Mingfu.
He was Yang Xiaobing’s father, and worked at the archaeological research institute together with Xu Yuan’s father.
Xu Yuan was somewhat baffled, but after checking his predecessor’s memories, he found that at this same time previously, Yang Mingfu had also called.
—Looks like he still had to meet him.
A few minutes later.
Xu Yuan met him at the hospital entrance.
“Here, this is something your dad asked me to bring back. It’s a gift for you.”
Yang Mingfu looked travel-worn as he handed over a box.
No need to think.
Inside was definitely a letter of recommendation.
His father was an expert in ancient artifacts. He had some renown in the field and a wide network of connections.
Whenever various groups went to explore ruins, they all hoped he could accompany the team.
For a cultivator like him who fought on the front lines, he normally had no time at all to handle matters at home, so he could only help his son find cultivation guidance from afar.
In Earth terms, it was a private tutor.
But there was one problem—
“Thank you, Uncle Yang.”
Xu Yuan accepted the box and expressed his thanks.
“No need to be so polite. Come over to my place when you have time.”
“All right, I definitely will.”
The two exchanged a few more pleasantries. Yang Mingfu patted him on the shoulder, then turned and left.
After he was gone.
Xu Yuan stood where he was, opened the box, and pulled out the letter.
—A guidance certificate and contact information from a professor at Yuheng University.
Although Yuheng could not compare to Jiuyao or Luofu, it was still a very famous key university.
With guidance from such a high-level Dao cultivator, generally speaking, a student’s progress would be extremely obvious.
Xu Yuan, however, sneered, tore the guidance certificate to shreds, and tossed it into the trash can beside him.
According to the original body’s memories—
Tomorrow.
That professor from Yuheng University, while observing the monthly exam, would make things difficult for the original body in public.
There was something fishy about this.
Logically speaking.
This world was different from Earth.
Although universities were called universities, in truth, they had far more cohesion and organization than universities on Earth.
For cultivators, attending a university was like having a kind of “lineage.”
A university was an extremely rigorous organization, one that possessed its own internal inheritance.
Xu Yuan even felt—
—That the word “university” could be replaced entirely with “sect.”
His father, Xu Cheng’an, was a disciple of Yuheng University. He had made certain achievements in his own field, and had requested that the “sect” guide his son’s cultivation, hoping that his descendant could also return to serve the “sect.”
This should have been a fine story.
Why had he been targeted?
Was it because the original body had not officially become a Qi Refiner?
But it was only autumn right now.
There was still more than half a year before the college entrance exam!
With the original body’s scores in the nine subjects, if he worked a little harder, there was still a great deal of hope.
But none of that mattered anymore.
As long as he did not want to attend Yuheng University, no one would have any way to make things difficult for him.
Xu Yuan threw the matter to the back of his mind, walked to the bus stop, and took a bus home.
The family housing compound of the archaeological research institute was in the southern part of the city.
By the time he returned home, it was already nine at night.
Xu Yuan turned on the lights, put down his schoolbag, and changed into slippers.
He was starving.
He turned on the gas stove and range hood, then tore open the noodle packaging, skillfully boiled water, put in the noodles, and cracked in an egg.
—Just what was the origin of that bronze figure?
Xu Yuan stared somewhat absentmindedly at the bubbles rising from the boiling water in the pot.
The other party had been able to plant a spell in his eyeball.
It was simply inconceivable.
But Xu Yuan was only an exceedingly ordinary high school student.
To go through so much trouble, using that level of spell, specifically to lead an ordinary high school student into learning a spell?
…It was completely not worth it.
But after the black shadow discovered that he had become a Qi Refiner, it did just that.
He couldn’t figure it out.
Xu Yuan shook his head.
He turned off the heat, served the noodles, sprinkled on seasoning, and brought them to the table.
The noodles carried a faint trace of spiritual power. If eaten for a long time, they could regulate the body’s qi and blood.
—They had been specially made by spiritual plant masters.
Xu Yuan quickly finished eating, washed the bowl, then returned to his bedroom, turned on the light, sat down at his desk, and began doing homework.
On the wall hung a spiritual image that emitted a幽 faint glow.
In the image, peach blossoms danced through the sky.
A woman dressed in rainbow feathered robes held a jade-green flute in her hand, a smile on her face as she gazed toward the viewer.
—This was a spiritual image of the top-tier cultivator Tang Yunyu.
She was a late-stage Golden Core cultivator who cultivated the extremely rare path of music, and was immensely popular among teenagers.
This spiritual image was also something the original body had gone to tremendous effort to obtain, purchasing an authentic copy online at several times the original price.
A total of 9,999 copies of this spiritual image had been released, and they had sold out the moment they went on the market.
It was said that one of them contained a special voice transmission array.
Before the next livestreamed ruin exploration began, the array would quietly activate, and then Tang Yunyu would personally teach a cultivation method through the voice transmission array.
That was Tang Yunyu’s exclusive cultivation method!
—Who wouldn’t go crazy for it?
Xu Yuan looked at it for a while and couldn’t help shaking his head.
This was far too wondrous.
If celebrities on Earth all had exclusive cultivation methods, their fans would probably be even crazier than the people in this world.
All right.
No need to think about these things anymore.
It was time to study.
No matter what dangerous or terrifying things he encountered, and no matter what would happen tomorrow—
Homework would always be there.
Xu Yuan began working on problems.
A few minutes later.
He suddenly heard a burst of noise from downstairs in the unit building.
Xu Yuan thought for a moment, then remembered.
That night.
The Investigation Bureau and the police bureau carried out a joint operation, conducting surprise inspections of old and dangerous buildings.
They claimed that winter was approaching, and they needed to search for cases of illegal use of array disks to generate electricity and heat, in order to prevent spiritual power from running wild, causing spell backlash, and setting buildings on fire.
Xu Yuan continued doing problems.
Before long.
Footsteps sounded in the corridor outside.
The neighbor’s door was knocked on first.
Several gentle and approachable voices rang out, patiently explaining the necessity of the inspection.
The neighbor did not say much and let them in.
Xu Yuan turned a page and continued writing.
In a few more minutes.
Those police officers and investigators would come over and knock on his door.
It was merely a routine inspection.
That was how it had been in his memories.
Suddenly—
Xu Yuan threw down his pen, sprang up from his chair, and rushed to the window like a gust of wind, looking down below.
One, two, three…
Police cars and Investigation Bureau vehicles—a total of seventeen had come.
Too many.
And it was already almost ten at night!
This kind of inspection was usually done during the day, or before seven in the evening.
They didn’t work during the day, but insisted on waiting until night to work overtime?
This was a closed housing compound for institute employees.
It wasn’t as if there were any prostitution-related cases here.
—The demonesses of the Hehuan Sect had not come to Jiangbei in a long time.
So.
The police had no reason to come disturb people this late.
Something was wrong…
Xu Yuan fell silent for a breath, turned around, and quickly walked into his parents’ bedroom.
The bedroom was extremely minimalist, with nothing unnecessary placed inside. There were only two meditation cushions.
When his mother was not ill, she would meditate and cultivate in the room.
As for his father, he carried a storage pouch with him.
When he wanted to sleep, he would take out a bed himself.
Xu Yuan grabbed one of the meditation cushions.
—There was nothing underneath it.
Safe!
He rushed out, turned, and entered his own room.
Perhaps because he had been influenced by his mother.
“Xu Yuan” did not own many things either, and they were arranged very neatly.
His hands swiftly rummaged through his belongings, checking each item one by one, going through everything.
There were no problems!
Had he overthought things?
He returned to the living room and checked everything there again.
Footsteps sounded once more in the corridor outside.
Xu Yuan had already checked every room. Just as he let out a breath of relief, he placed both hands on the coffee table and slowly sat down on the sofa.
He had overthought it.
It should be fine.
Knock, knock, knock—
There was a knock at the door.
Come in.
Xu Yuan was just about to speak when he suddenly shut his mouth again.
There was one more place he had forgotten to check.
The sofa.
He crouched down, lay on the floor, and turned his head to look into the gap beneath the sofa.
There, on the floor beneath the sofa, lay a person.
No—
Not a person.
Judging by its condition, it should be a dried corpse.
The dried corpse’s eyes had been sewn shut with red thread. Its entire body was covered in incantations written in blood, and its hands and feet were locked in shackles.
Knock, knock, knock—
The knocking sounded again.
Xu Yuan looked at the dried corpse and only felt that time had become incomparably long.
The police were knocking outside.
And I’ve discovered a dried corpse inside the house that is obviously not right.
What am I supposed to do?
A thought flashed through Xu Yuan’s mind like lightning.
That’s right.
If “Xu Yuan” was identified as a dangerous evil cultivator, then him taking that sword strike three days later would make sense.
So this dried corpse had come for him?
“Is anyone there?”
“Open the door.”
“Routine inspection.”
The police outside shouted.
Xu Yuan slowly lifted the sofa, dragged the dried corpse out, and placed it on the living room floor.
He stared at the dried corpse in distress.
—How could he hide it?
He couldn’t!
Those police officers were all professionals. There was definitely someone at the Foundation Establishment level among them.
If not for the array disks his mother had placed in the living room to prevent spying, resist interference, counterattack instantly, and sound an alarm, they would probably have already detected that someone was inside the room!
What should he do?
Beads of cold sweat appeared on Xu Yuan’s forehead, but he could not think of any solution.
Burn the dried corpse?
The spell fluctuations of pill fire would be detected immediately, right?
Eat it?
Xu Yuan sized up the dried corpse.
There was too much of it.
Besides, he wasn’t European.
The voices outside stopped.
A stronger, more forceful voice rang out:
“Work can’t be delayed.”
“How about this. You few prepare to break the array on this door and go in for a look. Once you’re done, repair the array on the door for them.”
“Yes!” several people responded.
—They were definitely coming in!
They were breaking down the door!