So, to prevent the household staff from noticing anything unusual, the two of them huffed and puffed, moving the frozen-in-place Xu Rusu and You Yuan into a room and hiding them thoroughly. They didn’t seem to realize the absurdity of what they were doing, almost as if they had a natural talent for, well… covering things up.
After stashing the two “ice sculptures,” Mother Xu quickly urged Xu Yin, “Hurry, go! Don’t worry about us.”
Inwardly, Xu Yin thought: ‘If I told her that Xu Rusu and You Yuan would be back to normal soon…’
018: “She’d be disappointed, no doubt about it!”
Xu Yin: “…”
So, he smiled faintly at his parents. “Well then, I’ll head out.”
Xu Father and Xu Mother nodded eagerly, giving him a little wave.
Taking a deep breath, Xu Yin glanced around the dimly lit surroundings, then calmly turned and left the strange little house.
On the way out, 018 was still puzzling: “Is that it? Is this really all there is?”
Just like Xu Yin, 018 had suspected that the timing of the Xu family’s summons was too coincidental, like something was amiss. But so far, aside from Xu Rusu’s unexpected outburst, there seemed to be nothing more.
Xu Yin narrowed his eyes and murmured, “No, this trip isn’t over yet.”
In his mind, he went over the situation once more, clarifying his thoughts.
When he had been removing that strange energy strand from Jun Yuzhou’s body, it had struggled, almost as if trying to escape. But on reflection, Xu Yin now believed this reaction was simply natural.
Energy, after all, wasn’t a living thing. Once extracted and transferred into someone else’s body, it likely wouldn’t remain under the original illusionist’s control.
Thus, the mysterious illusionist likely had no idea that Xu Yin had already cleared out the foreign energy from Jun Yuzhou’s body.
However—that person did know that Jun Yuzhou was rapidly recovering.
So Xu Rushu summoning him home tonight was no coincidence.
That person wanted to take advantage of the time before Jun Yuzhou fully recovered, aiming to eliminate Xu Yin, the only person capable of healing him.
Which played perfectly into Xu Yin’s hands.
He had known something was wrong but had come back anyway, deliberately waiting for the other side to make their move.
…
With an indifferent expression, Xu Yin walked along the winding corridor, passed through the shadowy courtyard, and made his way past room after room…
The night was cool, a gentle breeze rustling, with the faint scent of flowers floating through the air.
Xu Yin had just taken a couple of steps out of the residence when suddenly his arm was grabbed from behind—
He stopped, turned around, and raised an eyebrow slightly.
“Yo, Xu Ge.”
The person who had grabbed him looked somewhat similar to You Yuan, but unlike You Yuan’s theatrical manner, a cold smirk constantly lingered on his face. This was You Yuan’s two-year-younger brother, You Ran.
You Ran was different from You Yuan—he was an illusionist, without illusionist abilities. He had always been lazy and uninterested in studying, with a bad temperament.
However, because Xu Rusu favored You Yuan, he treated You Ran with a similar affection and occasionally allowed him to stay at the Xu household for periods of time.
These past few days, You Ran had been staying there. Just before heading back to his room, he had overheard that Xu Rusu had called Xu Yin back to the house, planning to have his brother take his place in the palace.
After a little thought, You Ran had quietly observed the situation from his room, waiting for any signs. But after some time passed and nothing happened, he saw Xu Yin calmly walking out.
That was when You Ran grew impatient. Was the old man unable to keep him here, or what?
He grabbed Xu Yin’s arm and grinned. “Why are you leaving so soon, Xu Ge? Not going to stay a bit longer?”
Xu Yin glanced at the arm holding him, then at You Ran, his expression a half-smile, neither amused nor annoyed.
You Ran didn’t sense anything unusual at first. He secretly exerted more force, giving a sly grin and saying, “This isn’t good. Did Grandpa let you leave? You think you can just go?”
Xu Yin moved slightly, easily breaking free from his grip. You Ran froze for a moment, swore under his breath, and tried to grab Xu Yin by the neck. However, Xu Yin swiftly sidestepped and grabbed his hand, locking it in place so tightly that You Ran couldn’t move!
You Ran was stunned—where did this weakling get all this strength from?
He struggled, but couldn’t break free. Fuming, he raised his fist.
Across the street, the palace guards, who had been waiting for a long time, saw the situation and frowned, calling out, “Young Master Xu!”
At that moment, something unexpected happened.
Just as You Ran was about to swing his fist, it froze mid-air. He groaned in pain, his face turning a deep purple, blood vessels bursting in his eyes. His body seemed to inflate like a balloon.
It appeared that he hadn’t expected this to happen either. He twisted his head in agony but quickly fell unconscious, his eyes rolling back.
“Young Master Xu!” The guard noticed something was wrong and cursed under his breath.
“Don’t come closer!” Xu Yin shouted just as You Ran exploded!
It was a real explosion—there was a loud bang, and the shockwave sent Xu Yin flying several meters back. At the same time, two octopus-like tentacles shot out toward him, aiming to ensnare him!
Xu Yin used the force of the blast to spring off a nearby streetlight pole, narrowly dodging the attack. Dozens of tentacles flailed wildly, chasing after him with incredible speed!
In just a few seconds, the walls along the street and the entrance of the Xu residence were battered by the octopus tentacles, creating several deep cracks. Parts of the walls even collapsed, producing loud crashing sounds in the dead of night.
Xu Yin moved with incredible speed, dodging and weaving as the tentacles smashed into the surroundings.
018 remarked: “This is the real show.”
Xu Yin quickly assessed the situation: “Still an energy outbreak.”
This one was even more violent than the black bear incident, likely comparable to the level of energy in Jun Yuzhou’s body.
However, You Ran wasn’t in the beast cage anymore.
He was rampaging wildly and recklessly, causing chaos.
One of the Xu family’s servants, startled awake, rushed out and saw the rampaging octopus. He was so terrified that he immediately turned and fled!
A palace guard drew his gun and fired, but the bullets were deflected by the octopus tentacles, rendering them completely ineffective.
The guard gritted his teeth. Ignoring Xu Yin’s earlier warning, he transformed into a leopard and joined the battle—his duty was to protect Xu Yin, and there was no way he would just stand by and watch.
In an instant, the quiet, deserted street was transformed into a battleground.
Xu Yin didn’t intend to let this chaos drag on for too long. He silently released all of his ice-type abilities, freezing several of the octopus tentacles. Then, pulling a knife from his spatial pocket, he quickly grabbed it in reverse, slicing through two of the tentacles with astounding speed as he ran forward!
Another tentacle, still able to move, swung toward him. Xu Yin swiftly flipped over to avoid it. Landing gracefully, he increased his speed, crouching low as he charged forward. With a quick swipe, he severed the fourth tentacle that had come for him, stored the knife in his spatial pouch, and pressed his hand firmly against the octopus’s head. He then shoved the massive creature into the Xu residence’s main door, slamming it forcefully against the hall’s wall!
With a loud “bang,” the entire house seemed to shake. The octopus’s head was driven into the wall, embedding it deeply and creating a large crater, causing several cracks to spiderweb across the surface. All of its tentacles immediately froze in place!
The palace guard, a leopard now, rushed in and froze, staring in astonishment at the seemingly frail yet immensely powerful young man.
Xu Yin closed his eyes, quickly probing into You Ran’s energy veins, rapidly locating the same anomalous energy segment he had dealt with in Jun Yuzhou’s body.
It was the same technique, the same energy wave.
This whole scene had indeed been set up by “that person.”
However, what “that person” didn’t realize was that his scheme had been completely uncovered, and he had vastly, vastly underestimated Xu Yin’s abilities.
In a flash, Xu Yin wrapped the anomalous energy segment and crushed it with brutal force.
The octopus trembled violently before suddenly going limp.
“Ha…”
Having successfully completed his swift takedown, Xu Yin exhaled a deep breath and calmly withdrew his hand.
The octopus, motionless, was lodged in the wall. A couple of seconds later, it reverted to its human form.
You Ran was lying unconscious, his naked body sprawled in a “big” shape against the wall, eyes rolled back, completely knocked out.
Xu Yin turned around without even glancing at him and gave the leopard a subtle look.
The leopard snapped back to his senses, nodded quickly, then turned and rushed back to the car. He intended to revert to his human form, put on his clothes, and then escort You Ran away.
Xu Yin took a deep breath, heading toward the Xu family’s door. Just as he was about to step outside, a sudden sense of danger washed over him. He quickly lifted his gaze, peering into the distance. Through the thick night, his eyes locked on a high-rise building’s rooftop. His eyes narrowed.
Someone else was there?
Ah, quite a show indeed. One wave after another.
Cold air began to leak from his body, causing the moisture in the air to crystallize into a chilling mist. However, just as Xu Yin was preparing to freeze whatever came at him next, something unexpected happened on that rooftop.
Xu Yin couldn’t see clearly, but his sharp instincts honed through years of experience in multiple worlds told him that the threat from that rooftop had been neutralized.
At the same time, he sensed… more presences gradually appearing around them.
They weren’t enemies.
It seemed someone had arranged a group to encircle and guard this area.
The thought lingered in his mind as Xu Yin relaxed his stance slightly and shifted his gaze to the right.
The black car screeched to a halt at the street corner, and the rear door swung open. A tall figure stepped out of the car, his expression calm as he glanced briefly at the high-rise building before turning his head to look at Xu Yin, locking eyes with him.
Xu Yin stood frozen, caught off guard.
At that moment, the palace guard, who had just finished getting dressed and was stepping out of the car, saw the newcomer and exclaimed in shock, “Your Highness, you’re awake?!”
The street fell silent for a moment, the only sound being the muffled crash of debris falling from the walls that You Ran’s tentacles had smashed.
In the dim light, the man’s gaze fixed on Xu Yin as if he was carefully studying his appearance.
Then, he began walking toward him.
Step by step, the man approached the front steps of the Xu family’s home. Stopping just below them, he looked up slightly at Xu Yin and extended his hand toward him.
With a stern expression, handsome features, and eyes as dark as night, his gaze clearly reflected Xu Yin’s figure.
The two locked eyes for a moment, and Xu Yin suddenly smiled.
He reached out and took the man’s hand, stepping down from the steps, one step, then another.
The man tightened his grip, pulling Xu Yin closer and softly asking, “…Are you alright?”
His deep, soothing voice was exactly as Xu Yin remembered it.
Xu Yin gave him a sidelong glance and smirked, “Do I look like something’s wrong? Is that all you wanted to say?”
The man paused, his gaze growing even more intense.
Then, with a subtle shift, he pulled Xu Yin into an embrace.
The familiar scent of jasmine lingered in the air, surrounding them.
The man’s body tensed slightly.
He nuzzled against Xu Yin’s cheek, lowering his gaze before speaking in a low, husky voice, “…Can I call you Yin Yin?”
Xu Yin smiled. “Jun Yuzhou, during that confusing time of yours, you didn’t seem this polite.”
Back then, he’d gone straight for the kiss.
Jun Yuzhou’s ears turned slightly red.
With a gentle yet serious tone, he called out, “Yin Yin.”
