This celestial master cultivates both physical and magical arts; why did you provoke him?

The crowd automatically parted to make way.

Xia En walked in, still wearing the same gray hoodie, with a lollipop in his mouth.

He crouched down and looked at the hand.

The hands were women's hands, their skin pale, but they had begun to rot, emitting a faint stench.

Most importantly, there is a faint mark on my wrist.

One eye.

Xia En squinted.

He stood up and looked around.

The sun was shining brightly, and people were coming and going on campus.

But he could sense that something was lurking in the shadows, watching them.

"Master Xia?" a voice rang out.

Xia En turned around and saw Liu Ruyan squeezing into the crowd, her face full of surprise.

"Why are you here?"

"Just passing by," Shane said. "I happened to see it."

Liu Ruyan looked at the hand, her face paled, and she quickly looked away.

"What...what is this?"

Xia En didn't answer, but instead took out her phone and sent a message to Chen Guodong.

Then, he looked up into the distance.

That direction is east.

The direction of that nameless, desolate mountain.

"Interesting," he muttered to himself.

Looking at him, Liu Ruyan suddenly felt a sense of relief.

Although this person looks carefree and irresponsible, standing next to him makes you feel like you have nothing to fear.

She hesitated for a moment, then asked softly, "Um... have you had lunch? Shall I treat you?"

Xia En looked away and glanced at her.

"No need," he said. "I've already eaten."

Liu Ruyan was a little disappointed.

But Xia En's next words stunned her again.

"However," he said, "if you have time, you could take me on a tour of your school."

Liu Ruyan's eyes lit up: "Where do you want to go?"

Xia En looked at the hand, then looked into the distance.

"Go to a place with yin energy."

An hour later, at the back hill of Jiangzhou University.

It's called the back hill, but it's really just a small earthen slope overgrown with trees and weeds. Few people come here usually; only some students on dates sneak up here.

Liu Ruyan led Xia En through a secluded path and finally stopped in front of a grove of trees.

"This is it," she said. "I heard from older students that something happened in this wood before."

"What is it?"

"It seems like many years ago, a girl hanged herself here."

Liu Ruyan lowered her voice, "Later, people started saying that this place was haunted, and that white shadows could be seen floating around at night. The school was closed off several times, but people always sneaked up here."

Xia En didn't say anything, but simply walked into the woods.

The woods weren't large, only a few hundred square meters. The trees grew so densely that they blocked out the sun, making it as dark as dusk even though it was afternoon.

The yin energy is indeed very strong.

But it wasn't the malevolent aura of evil spirits; it was more like some kind of lingering resentment.

He walked around and finally stopped under an old locust tree.

There was a deep mark on the tree trunk.

This is it.

"What's the girl's name?" he asked.

Liu Ruyan thought for a moment: "It seems her surname is Zhou, and her given name is Zhou something... Zhou Xiaowen? It's been too long, I'm not sure."

Xia En nodded, took out three talismans from his pocket, and stuck them on the tree trunk.

Then he stepped back and formed a hand seal.

"Thunder Magic - Purification".

A tiny bolt of lightning shot from his fingertip and disappeared into the tree trunk.

The tree trunk trembled slightly.

then.

A wisp of smoke drifted out from the tree, condensing in the air into a blurry human figure.

She was a girl in her early twenties, wearing an old-fashioned school uniform, with long hair flowing down her shoulders.

Her face was pale, but her expression was calm, without resentment or ferocity.

She glanced at Xia En and bowed slightly.

Then, her figure gradually faded and finally disappeared into the air.

Liu Ruyan watched in stunned silence.

"Is that all?"

"It's over." Shane clapped his hands. "She's been trapped here for too long. I've freed her."

Liu Ruyan was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly asked, "She... is she the girl who hanged herself?"

"Um."

Why would she hang herself?

Xia En glanced at her: "You want to know?"

Liu Ruyan nodded.

Xia En paused for two seconds and said, "Heartbroken. My boyfriend dumped me, and I can't think straight."

Liu Ruyan was stunned.

That's...that's it?

"Just because of that?" she couldn't help but ask.

"That's why," Shane said. "Many things that seem like a huge deal to the living are not that important to the dead."

He turned and walked out.

"She's been trapped here for so many years, she no longer hates anyone. She just doesn't know where she should go, so she's stayed."

Liu Ruyan stood there, looking at the old locust tree, and a feeling she couldn't quite describe suddenly welled up inside her.

She caught up with him and walked side by side with Xia En.

"Master Xia."

"Um?"

"Do you Taoist priests often witness things like this?"

"fine."

"Then...do you feel very sad?"

Xia En stopped and turned to look at her.

There was a pure concern in Liu Ruyan's eyes that was hard to ignore.

Xia En was silent for a few seconds, then said, "Sorry, I'm used to it."

Then he continued walking forward.

Liu Ruyan stood there, watching his back.

Sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting dappled shadows on him.

That figure looked somewhat lonely.

She suddenly remembered what he had just said.

"Many things that seem like a huge deal to the living are not that important to the dead."

Did he also go through something?

she does not know.

But suddenly she really wanted to know more about this person.

"Master Xia!" she called after him. "Are you free tonight? I'd like to treat you to dinner!"

Xia En glanced at her: "Again?"

"This time it's a real favor!" Liu Ruyan said with a smile. "Thank you for helping my roommate, and thank you for helping that...that girl too."

Xia En thought for a moment and nodded.

"OK."

Liu Ruyan's eyes lit up.

The two walked out of the back mountain and headed downhill.

As the sun sets, it bathes the entire campus in gold.

The sound of the school bell rang in the distance, and students poured out of the school building, chatting and laughing, full of vitality.

As Liu Ruyan walked beside Xia En, she suddenly felt that today had been a bit strange.

I was worried about my roommate this morning, and this afternoon I witnessed someone striking an evil spirit with lightning, and then went to the back mountain to perform a ritual to release a female ghost that had been dead for many years.

And this person is standing right next to her, wearing a faded hoodie, with a lollipop in his mouth, looking just like an ordinary college student.

"Master Xia."

"Um?"

"Are you usually like this?"

"What?"

"Well..." Liu Ruyan carefully chose her words, "He seems carefree and nonchalant, but he's incredibly skilled when he gets into a fight."

Xia En thought for a moment and answered seriously, "My master said the same thing."

Liu Ruyan burst out laughing.

This person is quite interesting.

It was 7 p.m. at a small restaurant near the school.

Liu Ruyan ordered a few dishes and handed the menu to Xia En.

"What else would you like to eat?"

Xia En took the menu, glanced at it, and then handed it back.

That's enough.

Liu Ruyan handed the menu to the waiter, then rested her chin on her hand and looked at him.

"Master Xia, may I ask you a question?"

"ask."

"Have you been a Taoist priest since you were a child?"

"Um."

Why?

Xia En paused for two seconds before saying, "When my master found me, I was still an infant."

Liu Ruyan was stunned.

"You...you're an orphan?"

"Um."

She suddenly realized she had asked a question she shouldn't have.

"I'm sorry, I..."

"It's nothing," Xia En interrupted her. "I'm used to it."

Liu Ruyan looked at him, feeling a little sad.

This person seems indifferent to everything, but it turns out they have their own story.

"So..." she changed the subject, "besides catching ghosts, what else do you do?"

"Practice martial arts, chant scriptures, eat, sleep."

"Don't you have any other hobbies?"

Xia En thought for a moment: "I'll watch movies occasionally."

Liu Ruyan's eyes lit up: "You like watching movies? What kind?"

"Watch them all."

"Then I'll treat you to a movie next time!" As soon as she said it, her face turned red.

This sounds a bit like a date, doesn't it?