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

Chapter 170 Shocking Change

Haibara Yu didn't stop. He unleashed his full power, shooting a beam of light straight towards the spot where the Tengu was falling. With his full power, the beam covered most of the Tengu's body.

Its skin was instantly covered with charred burns, and the remaining wings on its back shattered and disappeared under the continuous hits!

But the tengu did not die!

Its body struggled on the ground for a moment, using its right arm to block the beam of light aimed at it, and it stood up with its body like a skinned frog, with only exposed, slowly contracting muscle tissue remaining. It began to walk forward towards the beam of light!

With each step it took, the beam of light caused damage, and the right hand, which was pressed against its face, had already exposed its muscles and finger bones!

Moreover, as it moved forward, its entire forearm was sliced ​​off by the beam of light!

But it did not stop, and continued to approach Haibara Yu at a slow but steady pace!

Haibara Yu's face was pale. His magical power was almost depleted. If he could not deal with the tengu that had advanced to within five meters of him before his last bit of magical power was exhausted, the consequences would be unimaginable!

Tengu took another big step forward, and at that very moment, the beam of light that had been continuously outputting suddenly weakened considerably, and the light in the head's eye sockets dimmed as well!

Tengu lunged forward, his remaining left arm knocking off the head, and then he grabbed Haibara Yu!

An immense grip came over him, and Haibara felt as if he were being clamped by a pair of iron pincers! He also had a cursed dagger stuck in his calf, but with his body gripped, he couldn't bend down to get it!

A sharp pain shot through his upper body, which was being gripped, and all the bones in his body seemed to be groaning. If it weren't for the last bit of magical power protecting him, they would have broken at any moment!

Haibara gritted his teeth and slammed his left fist into the wrist of Tengu's only remaining hand, but the force of his fist had almost no effect on that strong muscle tissue. Tengu did not let go, but instead tightened his grip even more!

From afar came Nanami Kento's anxious shouts: "Haibara!"

However, the two on this side were entangled in a new round of attacks from Inugami and could not break free. Hiromi Higurashi tried to move to the side to provide support, but Inugami obviously would not let him do so. As long as Hiromi Higurashi changed direction slightly, those sharp claws would slash from the side.

Haibara felt his shoulder joint making an ominous, almost unbearable sound as it pushed him to his limit, and a cruel glint appeared in the Tengu's dark yellow eyes!

It wanted to crush the little insect in its hand to death!

Then, a figure descended from the sky.

The black college uniform unfurled in the air, its hem fluttering in the wind. The moment it landed, a blade flashed from the side, slicing into the elbow joint of Tengu's only remaining left arm. The trajectory of the blade was precise and decisive, cutting into the weak spot on the inside of Tengu's elbow and exiting from the outside. The entire arm was instantly separated from the body, the severed muscles and bones with smooth cut surfaces.

Tengu lost his balance and tilted to the side. The hand that was tightly gripping Haibara Yu finally lost its strength and loosened its grip.

Haibara Yu's body lurched downwards, and he stumbled back two steps, clutching his right shoulder with his left hand, gasping for breath. He looked up at the figure that had landed in front of him and blurted out instinctively, "Senior Tenyan?!"

The person turned their head, revealing half of their face. Their black, shoulder-length hair swayed slightly in the wind, and their bun and signature long bangs hung down in front of their forehead.

The corners of his mouth curved slightly, a smile carrying an ambiguous meaning: "You thought I was Zen Temple Tianyan?"

"Unfortunately, no."

He withdrew his gaze, and the blade flashed again. Even after losing its arms, the Tengu showed no intention of ceasing its attack. Its head, with its exposed muscle fibers, lunged forward, its jaws agape, revealing two rows of bare teeth without lips, and it lunged to bite at Xia Youjie's neck.

Xia Youjie's body didn't even move. The tip of the knife rose from the bottom and precisely cut into the connection between the Tengu's jaw and skull. The blade went across and cut the already disfigured head off the body.

The tengu's torso froze for half a second, then began to disintegrate from the broken ends, with grayish-white dust and black mist rising up like ashes blown by the wind.

Haibara Yu clutched his right shoulder, staring at the figure in front of him who was wearing a high school uniform but whose expression and aura were completely unfamiliar. It took him two or three seconds to match this image with the Xia Youjie in his memory.

He opened his mouth, his voice still carrying the lingering breaths from being gripped tightly: "...Senior Natsuyou, why are you here?! And why did you save me?"

"It was just a coincidence."

Xia Youjie's voice was calm: "Saving you wasn't my choice, but since we've run into each other, I can't just watch you get crushed."

Xia Youjie turned his head and glanced at Nanami and Higurashi fighting on the other side of the street. Then, he scanned Haibara Yu with his own eyes to make sure that he was not in immediate danger. "To answer your first question, Zenin Tenen should be very busy right now. I lured him to a good opponent."

Haibara Yu was stunned for a moment: "Yin? What did you do?"

"Who knows?"

Xia Youjie did not answer, but smiled and turned around, facing the direction of Qi Hai and Ri Che. He held the spell tool without any defense, as if he was completely immersed in watching the battle.

Looking at him like this, Haibara Yu felt a sense of trust, as if he was certain that he would not make a move, even though they were already enemies!

On the other side of the battlefield, after Nanami Kento's short sword and Inugami's claws clashed for the last time, both were thrown backward. Inugami's body drew an arc on the ground, its back slamming into a crumbling lamppost, stopping it, but its slender white body began to split open from the middle.

The wound that Nanami had previously inflicted had reached a critical point under the combined suppression of Hiromi and Higurashi. Cracks extended along its waist to the upper and lower sides, growing larger and larger. Then, the body broke in two, rolled twice on the ground, and began to dissipate as black mist.

Nanami Kento shook off the dark liquid remaining on the blade. His breathing was rapid, and blood was still seeping from the claw mark on his shoulder, but he did not rush to treat the wound. Instead, he turned warily to the figure that had just appeared.

Hiromi Higurashi also withdrew his gavel, his gaze sweeping back and forth between Nanami and the man in the high school uniform.

Xia Youjie's gaze fell on Riche Kuanjian, from his judge's hammer to his posture, from the still unstable layer of cursed power covering him to the light in his eyes that had not yet fully settled.

The corners of his mouth curved slightly, the smile becoming more pronounced than before: "It's always delightful to see a new sorcerer born!"

Hiromi Hinoki frowned slightly and looked at Kento Nanami: "Is he from your vocational school?"

Nanami Kento didn't fully retract his sword. He took half a step forward, using his body to block Hiromi Higurashi by half a body length: "Former comrade."

His voice was steady, but his tone was a bit more tense than usual: "It's hard to say now."

Xia Youjie didn't refute, nor did he show any sign of being offended. He simply stood there, letting Qi Hai maintain that semi-guarded posture. His voice wasn't loud, but it was enough for everyone to hear: "Indeed, I'm not exactly your companion now, after all..."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over Nanami and Higurashi, then over the guards still standing in the distance with their guns slightly raised: "Osaka is in this state largely because of me."

The guards almost simultaneously raised their guns, pointing them in Xia Youjie's direction. The middle-aged man in the lead had a livid face and his voice was strained: "What did you say? You did it?!"

Xia Youjie didn't look at them or make any defensive stance, as if those gun barrels didn't exist at all.

He raised a hand and waved it gently toward the guards, as if soothing a flock of easily startled pigeons: "Don't get agitated, I'm not here to continue causing trouble."

His gaze became more serious again: "When I was told by the Punisher, this barrier was meant to foster new sorcerers. I thought it would be a reasonable path for talented people to awaken and gain the power to protect themselves."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the remaining remnants of the cursed spirits on the ground: "But judging from the current situation, even if someone awakens, the probability of them surviving in this environment is too low."

He withdrew his gaze: "So what I'm doing now is the same as you, cleaning up the cursed spirits in this city, except..."

'

His tone wasn't deliberately emphasized, but the atmosphere froze the moment he said those words: "I have no liking for non-sorcerers. I wouldn't feel any guilt killing you, so don't give me a reason to kill you!"

"Put down your guns. Don't make unnecessary sacrifices."

Nanami Kento pressed down on the middle-aged man's gun. He knew how badly the three of them were in their condition and that they had no chance against Xia Youjie. Modern weapons were basically useless against a sorcerer of this level. So, for the sake of their lives that had been saved with great difficulty, he ordered the guards to put down their weapons.

Seeing that the gun was no longer pointed at him, Xia Youjie didn't say anything more. He turned around and walked towards the other side of the street, quickly disappearing from sight completely.

Haibara Yu stood there, his right shoulder still throbbing. He looked in the direction where Xia Youjie had disappeared, opened his mouth, and finally only whispered, "...He was still wearing the college uniform."

Nanami Kento walked over to him, checked the injury on his shoulder, and then said, "Changing clothes doesn't necessarily mean your heart has changed. If your heart has changed, whether you change your clothes or not is actually unimportant."

Hiromi Hinoki carefully put away the gavel and remained silent for a moment: "The person he mentioned earlier... is he the one who caused all of this?"

"Yes."

Nanami Kenji did not shy away from the question: "But we don't have enough information yet, so let's deal with the immediate issues first."

Haibara Yu moved around a bit; thankfully, there were no fractures, just severe muscle damage. He bent down to pick up the short sword still attached to the cursed spirit's head, checked that the connection was still secure, and then stood up. "He said he'd introduced a good opponent to Senior Tenyan," he said. "It must be Nurarihyon, right? ...I hope Senior Tenyan will be alright?"

Nanami was silent for a moment. The two Tengu and Inugami, who were obviously Nurarihyon's underlings, had already put the three of them in a tough fight. If it weren't for Natsumi's sudden appearance, the situation would have been really bad. So what kind of strength Nurarihyon, who was above them, really was unknown.

"We'll find out about that senior's situation once he's finished fighting. What we need to do now is make sure we can hold out until then."

Tianyan pulled the bone blade from the chest cavity of the last level-two cursed spirit. Dark purple liquid dripped from the tip of the blade onto the scorched ground. The cursed spirit's body tilted and fell, turning into black mist and dissipating before it even fully touched the ground.

He flexed his wrists, glanced around, and confirmed that most of the cursed spirits that had previously attacked him in this area were dead.

Then his gaze fell on the ground not far away.

The bone spike he had thrown earlier was still embedded in the asphalt road, piercing through a cursed spirit that looked like an inflated toad. The toad cursed spirit was not completely dead yet; its body twitched slightly beneath the bone spike, and dark purple liquid seeped from the wound, pooling into a small puddle on the ground.

Just as Tianyan was about to walk over and finish off the enemy, a short figure suddenly appeared at the edge of his field of vision.

The thing trotted out from the side alley, its hands tucked into its sleeves, its body hunched, its head large, and its earlobes drooping down, almost touching its shoulders.

Its face looked like a crumpled old newspaper, its skin was grayish-brown and covered with lines of varying depths, like an old man.

It ran to the nailed toad spirit, crouched down, and gently pressed its hand against the toad's bleeding wound. Then, in a sorrowful voice, as if there were gritty particles in its throat, it said, "How could this happen..."

'

Tianyan stood still, his self-light locking onto the newly appeared figure. Judging from the fluctuations in his curse power, it was at around level one, not weak, but its behavior was indeed a bit strange.

It didn't attack, didn't stand guard, and even squatted there with its back to Tianyan, which was completely unlike the behavior of a cursed spirit with a fighting spirit.

Its emotional expression seemed excessive. Tianyan had seen many high-level cursed spirits that could talk and were intelligent, but this was the first time he had encountered a cursed spirit that "crouched next to the corpse of its companion and showed grief".

However, this did not affect his judgment. No matter what form it took or what emotions it displayed, a cursed spirit was a cursed spirit, and he would not put down his knife just because the other party put on a harmless posture.

One second you're a cursed spirit, the next you're a cursed spirit!

Tianyan took a step forward, his right hand slicing across the side. The bone blade gleamed with a thin, cold light in the dim light, precisely slicing into the waist and abdomen of the little old man's cursed spirit.

The blade cut in from its left side and out from its right, severing the short body in two at the waist. The upper body leaned to one side, while the lower body remained in a squatting position, like a terracotta figurine cut in half!

Based on past experience, this level of cutting is enough to completely dissipate a level one cursed spirit within seconds!