While I was chanting a curse, the system said I was Xiao Yan?

In the hotel room, Xia Youjie suddenly opened his eyes.

His connection with the cursed spirit disappeared.

The spirits absorbed and subdued by the Spirit Manipulation Technique will not rebel, nor will they disappear without a reason. But now, in Xia Youjie's perception, the spirit responsible for guarding him has suddenly lost contact with him.

There is only one possibility.

A sorcerer exorcised his cursed spirit!

Xia Youjie stood up from the sofa and quickly walked to the window.

"What's wrong, Natsume?" Riko's voice came from behind, sounding groggy from just waking up.

Xia Youjie didn't turn around. His gaze fell on the window, on the grove of trees, and then on the two figures on the ground.

Haibara Yu and Nanami Takehito.

His pupils contracted slightly.

"Kuroi".

Xia Youjie spoke, his voice still calm, but his pace was a bit faster than usual, "Take Riko away from here."

"Don't take the elevator, take the stairs. Once you get to the first floor, exit through the back door."

Misato Kuroi paused for a moment, then her expression changed. She didn't ask why, but quickly walked to Riko Tennen's side and took her hand.

"Riko, let's go."

"Huh? Wait, what happened...?"

"Walk."

Xia Youjie's voice wasn't loud, but it carried an unquestionable tone.

Riko opened her mouth as if to say something, but Misato Kuroi had already pulled her toward the door.

She stopped when she reached the door.

"Mr. Xia You." Her voice was soft, but clear.

Xia Youjie turned his head and glanced at her.

"Be careful," she said.

Xia Youjie nodded.

He stood by the window, watching the figure walking towards the hotel on the beach, his right hand reaching out of his pocket.

Black mist surged from his palm, condensing and taking shape in the air. A massive bird-like spirit emerged from the mist, its wings spread, emitting a low cry.

Xia Youjie flipped over and leaped onto the back of the cursed spirit, flying out of the hotel.

He was so fast that he left only a blur in the air, but the other man was even faster.

Xia Youjie hadn't even flown out of the hotel's perimeter when the man arrived.

He kicked the floor-to-ceiling window in the hotel corridor, shattering it, and walked in through the broken glass.

Just as Riko Tennen and Misato Kuroi reached the corner of the corridor, they heard a loud crash of shattering glass behind them. Misato Kuroi froze, instinctively shielding Riko Tennen behind her before turning around.

The man stood at the other end of the corridor, backlit, with the setting sun shining in from behind him, bathing him and the cursed spirits clinging to him in a warm glow.

His expression was unclear, but you could see the scar on the corner of his mouth curving slightly in the sunlight, as if he were smiling.

"Yo."

His voice was deep and husky, with a lazy nonchalance: "I've found you."

Riko's expression changed. She opened her mouth to shout, but Natsumi was faster than her.

The bird-like spirit swooped down from the window, its sharp claws aimed straight for the man's head, moving so fast that it left a sharp whistling sound in the air.

The man didn't dodge; he merely shifted his body slightly, and the sharp claw, capable of tearing through steel, grazed past his shoulder.

"Spirit Manipulation Technique?"

His voice carried a hint of certainty: "You are Xia Youjie."

Xia Youjie jumped off the back of the cursed spirit and landed in front of Tian Lizi and Hei Jingmei, shielding them behind him.

"Walk."

Xia Youjie turned to the two of them and said in a low voice, "It's going to be very chaotic here. You two stay away first, I'll take care of him."

Without hesitation, Misato Kuroi grabbed Riko Tennen and ran towards the other end of the corridor.

The footsteps grew fainter and fainter.

Xia Youjie stood there, looking at the man: "A curse master?"

"Didn't you receive the notification that the bounty is gone? If you want to make money, you're a little too slow."

Shen'er's expression was calm, even lazy. He stood there with his hands in his pockets, his flip-flops making a 'crunching' sound on the broken glass.

Upon hearing the words "curse master," he shrugged, his expression noncommittal. Then, his gaze fell on Xia Youjie's face, scrutinizing him from head to toe, before a slight smile curved his lips.

"There's more than one way to make money."

Xia Youjie raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, instantly considering several possibilities: "Is it a private commission?"

"Would you mind telling me who the client is?"

Shen Er chuckled: "What assassin would casually reveal their employer's information?"

"You're being a bit naive."

"Just trying it out. If they actually tell me, that would be great, saving me the trouble of..."

Xia Youjie raised his right hand, and black mist surged from his palm, rapidly expanding and condensing in the air: "...Interrogate him!"

"Rainbow Dragon!"

A dragon's roar echoed through the corridor.

A shimmering white dragon emerged from the black mist. It was seven or eight meters long and covered with layers of hard scales that shimmered with rainbow colors under the dim light of the corridor.

Its body appeared somewhat crowded in the narrow corridor, but its movements remained fluid, like a snake swimming in water.

Xia Youjie pointed his finger forward, and the Rainbow Dragon opened its huge mouth and rushed straight at Shen Er.

Shen Er watched the dragon charging towards him, his expression unchanged.

"Is this the Rainbow Dragon?"

He repeated the name, his tone casual: "The so-called most defensive cursed spirit?"

He raised his right hand, and at the opportune moment, a knife hilt emerged from the mouth of the cursed spirit wrapped around him. He grasped it and drew it out, revealing a snow-white cleaver in his hand.

Cursed implements?

Xia Youjie's pupils contracted, and his brain went on alert in that instant.

He had never seen that knife before, but he could sense that something attached to it was dangerous.

"pity."

The man's voice came from within the flash of the blade: "For me, it's just a matter of one strike."

He brandished his knife.

The angle, timing, and force of that slash were all extremely precise. There were no superfluous movements or fancy techniques; it was just a simple, direct upward slash.

A flash of light appeared.

The rainbow dragon's head was split in half, the cut as smooth as if it had been laser-cut.

The dragon's roar turned into a scream, and purplish-black liquid gushed out, splattering black marks on the corridor walls. The rainbow dragon's body twitched twice.

Then, like a piece of cloth that had been cut, it ripped open in the middle and crashed to the ground with a 'boom,' kicking up a cloud of dust.

Its two halves fell to the ground, twitched twice, and then began to dissipate.

Black mist rose from the wreckage and slowly spread through the air.

Xia Youjie's expression did not change, but his breathing became rapid for a moment. He was secretly shocked. He did not expect that the hardest Rainbow Dragon in his hands would be split in two like tofu in that person's hands!