Xia Ya's Visit

Adam returned to the Boku Family before curfew.

After not seeing Adam for a day, Lina ran over and hugged his leg the instant she saw him.

Adam scooped her up in one motion.

"Adam, when you weren't home, the hair Maggie did for me didn't look nice at all." Lina nuzzled her head against Adam as she whined, then messed up her own hair.

"So you only remember your Brother Adam now, is that it?" Maggie's voice drifted out from the back kitchen, making Lina stick out her tongue.

"Alright, alright, I'll fix it for you right away." Adam smiled and set Lina down on a stool.

What surprised Adam was that, after the sky had darkened outside, there came a knock at the door.

Adam's expression stiffened. He had not sensed anyone approaching at all, but he still gathered himself and opened the door.

Standing outside were the chief priest and Raven, who was supporting him.

"I happened to be passing through, so I came by to take a look." Xia Ya smiled. "What, am I not welcome, Adam?"

"Of course you're welcome, Chief Priest." Adam immediately ushered the two inside. Only when he heard their footsteps did Adam realize what had happened.

"Did you use divine arts earlier?" Before Xia Ya had knocked, Adam had detected no sign of anyone at all. Only afterward did he sense the two men's breathing and heartbeats.

Thinking of this, Adam could not help marveling at his own good fortune. If he had encountered a priest on Chief Priest Xia Ya's level during his earlier night excursions, he would likely be nothing but a pile of ash by now.

Maggie and Yalis were somewhat reserved around Xia Ya's arrival, but Xia Ya was exceedingly kind, and gradually, the two of them began joining in the conversation as well.

"You've made swift progress." Xia Ya saw the spellbook Adam had left on the table. A trace of nostalgia appeared on his wrinkled face before he praised Adam.

"You flatter me." Adam did his best to appear natural. From the information he knew, he could roughly guess that Xia Ya had nothing to do with the immortality medicine from back then, and likely still did not know Anthony was alive.

If that fact were exposed, his study of spellcraft would probably run into serious trouble.

Beyond that, Adam had other worries. For instance, would Jin come over? Would the chief priest discover him?

Besides, Adam had asked Jin last night to leave a mark at Number Seventeen South River Road. The gathering of aberrants was being held again tonight, and if the chief priest stayed here the whole time, Adam would have no way to leave.

This gathering might well end with him standing those aberrants up.

"That would damage Mister Riges's credibility, which would be detrimental to the organization's future operations." Adam kept his anxiousness from showing and honestly remained there, listening to the chief priest speak.

"Alright, Adam, I'll be leaving first. If you run into any difficulties, you can come find me at the church." Xia Ya smiled kindly. "And don't be too impatient with your spellcaster training. I'll have Alva keep an eye on you."

"Thank you, Chief Priest." Adam hurriedly expressed his gratitude, then asked curiously, "Where is Priest Fula? I haven't seen him in quite some time."

"Him? He's no longer in Roa. His teacher at the Divine Academy had some business with him, so he asked me for a month-long leave."

Xia Ya was quite pleased to hear Adam ask about him. It showed that Adam still knew how to repay kindness.

"Priest Fula's teacher is an ascetic monk, right? Back at the academy, I kept hearing that his teacher intended to recommend him to a powerful ascetic monk." Raven added from the side. He and Fula had come from the same Holy Radiance Divine Academy and were close in age, so he knew a little about Fula.

"I won't disturb you any longer." Xia Ya rose to his feet, then took a bag of nuts from his robe and placed it in the hands of Lina, who was sitting nearby and beginning to nod off.

The little girl instantly perked up and hurriedly cried, "Thank you, Grandpa! Take care, Grandpa! Come again next time!"

Then Maggie gave her a tap on the head.

Adam forced a smile as he saw Xia Ya and Raven off. The boisterous family did not notice that Adam's expression had turned strange. "An ascetic monk."

"This can't be a coincidence." Adam recalled the perception he had touched during his bloodline awakening.

Now that he thought about it, that person definitely possessed extraordinary senses. Even if he had only roughly sensed the direction, if he could not come personally, he would swiftly gather others.

"Was Fula one of those summoned? And he's seen me before." Adam had fought Fula in his white wolf form. Though the other party had not clearly seen his face, white wolves were rare enough that those people would quickly narrow their search to Roa.

"Do I need to move faster?" Without saying much to Maggie and the others, Adam went upstairs.

To Adam's surprise, Jin was sitting on the bed, admiring Adam's first wood-slice painting.

Adam had tried to salvage that painting, but he had still failed. Everything in it had warped out of shape, and countless cracks had appeared. The good news was that at least it had not peeled away from the wood.

"Relax. It's nighttime now—my home ground." Seemingly noticing Adam's questioning gaze, Jin reassured him. "If that old man activated God Is With Us mode, I'd roll as far away as I could. But it's night, and he isn't in a combat state, so he can't detect me."

"Are you really at the Refinement stage?" Adam could not help doubting him.

"I told you, concealment is my specialty." Jin teased a bird outside the window and smiled. "How are you planning to get there tonight? Want my help?"

"Of course. It's not yet time to borrow the Rom Family's influence." Adam nodded. Although Anthony had told him about the immortality medicine and he knew Alva would no longer make it, Adam had no intention of abandoning his previous plan.

"No matter what, I need to produce an 'immortality medicine.'" With Jin, an expert on bloodlines, at hand, Adam only needed to learn more about ordinary methods of longevity, then concoct a convincing "immortality medicine" and continually borrow the Rom Family's power throughout the process.

But Adam recalled the aura he had sensed in the carriage today. It had been in the building not far away. If he was not mistaken, Matt was there, and as expected, he soon smelled Doug and the others. It seemed they had gone to judge Doug's biological son.

Doug could abandon even his own son for the immortality medicine. If he failed to get the goods in the end, he would only vent his fury.

Adam himself could flee without consequence, but...

Listening to the sounds downstairs, Adam closed his eyes. To survive, a person had to be ruthless—and an aberrant like him had to be even more ruthless.

"Let's go. First, we'll get the disguise." Adam opened his eyes and spoke to Jin.

From the moment he had taken the identity of the previous "Adam," Adam had understood that whether he succeeded or failed, he would drag the Boku Family down with him. In that case, he might as well get away sooner.

"It would be best if they were defined as victims." Adam understood this clearly. If they were defined as victims, there might be some gossip, but it would not affect their lives too greatly. If they were defined as accomplices, however, there would be a place for them on the stake.

Casting those thoughts from his mind, Adam swiftly composed his emotions. No one knew how the future would unfold; all he could do was try his best to ensure the Boku Family would be defined as victims.

As black smoke curled around Adam's body, he swiftly transformed into a white wolf, leaping from the attic window and racing toward the place where he had hidden the mysterious renegade priest outfit.

The black smoke coiling around him not only blocked Adam's aura, concealing him almost completely within the darkness, but also provided a surge of strength that supported him, making him faster and stronger.

After silently putting on his disguise and evading every inspection, Adam appeared once more on the second floor of Number Seventeen.

The black smoke then completely gathered together, turning into a wolf-head tattoo imprinted on Adam's back.

"Can you hear me?" Jin's voice traveled through Adam's body and reached his senses.

After Adam gave an affirmative reply, Jin continued, "Although aberrants have banded together for warmth all these years, they are still divided into many different kinds. There is no way there can be no conflict between them. So tonight's lesson will be about aberrants."

"Every aberrant you encounter tonight, I'll tell you their race, weaknesses, and methods for dealing with them."

Adam nodded without speaking.

"Also, Nesser." Jin spoke again. "I can't maintain this state for very long. Study carefully. You may only get one chance at this kind of lesson."

His voice was unusually calm, without the slightest trace of emotion.