FIMA Ch62: The Follower [Arc 4]

Gu Siyuan felt like he had slept for a long, long time until a familiar needle-like pain invaded his mind.

He slowly opened his eyes. Various messy lights flickered, and chaotic sounds echoed in his ears. This was probably a bar or dance hall.

He propped himself up on the sofa, asked a waiter for the exit, and started walking out.

Just as he reached the corner of the exit, he heard a burst of loud laughter and cursing. A group of people surrounded a thin figure and started arguing nearby.

Gu Siyuan pretended not to hear and continued walking forward.

At this moment, the thin figure being surrounded stumbled out of the crowd.

However, the group of people seemed to have a deep grudge against him and continued to chase after him.

Someone pushed, and the thin figure crashed straight into Gu Siyuan without deviation.

Gu Siyuan frowned, impatiently lowering his head, preparing to push the person away directly.

At the moment he met the person’s delicate face, a sense of familiarity surged in his heart. The next moment, as if out of habit, he curled his fingers and instinctively supported the person.

A cold mechanical voice echoed in his foggy mind: “This is the mission target of this world—Xie Xuanxing.”

Gu Siyuan sneered. So it was the mission target.

The young men who chased up saw Gu Siyuan’s face and couldn’t help but exclaim, “Damn, it’s Second Young Master Gu. This… this guy, why is he here?”

Someone let out a laugh.

“I heard this guy is never picky about men or women. Actually, Xie Xuanxing looks pretty good…”

“You mean…”

“Hahaha… this is going to be fun.”

Xie Xuanxing, in a daze, saw someone holding him tightly, with a cold and frightening expression.

He couldn’t help but struggle forcefully.

Gu Siyuan lowered his head and gave the person in his arms a cold look, then picked him up horizontally and turned to leave.

As soon as he walked out, a burly man in a suit came up, respectfully saying, “Second Young Master.”

Gu Siyuan said indifferently, “Go back.”

The burly man nodded and first opened the back door.

When Gu Siyuan put the person down, the driver, under the thin moonlight, saw Xie Xuanxing’s ethereal face and couldn’t help but take a breath. Second Young Master really had good luck.

Gu Siyuan ignored the different reaction of his driver and bodyguard, sat down expressionlessly, and casually closed the back door.

This was a world of modern mysticism.

All skills are inferior, only cultivation is supreme.

In the country where the original body was located, everyone knew about mysticism. From the state to the populace, it was not avoided at all. TV stations even broadcast mysticism programs, and those with profound mystical skills were more popular than the most famous celebrities.

Of course, practicing mysticism required bloodline talent. Among their country’s over a billion people, those who could cultivate were almost one in a million.

However, if both parents were mystics, the probability of their children having cultivation talent would greatly increase.

Thus, small and large mystic families formed, with the most powerful ones being called clans.

The protagonist of this world was named Xie Yuchen, born into the ordinary mystic family Xie in S City, where his father Xie Hao was the head of the family.

The Xie family had a special talent for talisman making and lived off this skill.

However, Xie Yuchen, due to his mother being severely injured during pregnancy, was born with damaged bloodline and unable to cultivate, and naturally had no talent for talisman making.

But Xie Hao loved this son very much. Not only did he give all his cultivation resources to his son, but he also used his authority as family head to embezzle family property extensively, seeking medicine everywhere to heal his son’s bloodline.

The Xie family was just an ordinary mystic family with very limited cultivation resources. Xie Hao’s actions over time caused great dissatisfaction among the family elders.

Leading this dissent was the third elder, Xie Cang. Xie Cang was the second-best talisman maker in the family, next only to Xie Hao. His only grandson, Xie Xuanxing, was undoubtedly the number one talisman-making genius among the younger generation in the Xie family, and even ranked very high among his peers nationwide in talisman-making talent.

If not for Xie Hao diverting a large amount of family resources to heal Xie Yuchen, causing Xie Xuanxing to lack sufficient resources for practice, he should have progressed much further given his talent.

So, two months before the S City Youth Talisman Competition, Xie Cang proposed that if Xie Yuchen still could not represent the Xie family this year, he would no longer be eligible for family support, and Xie Hao should step down.

This proposal was widely supported by other family members.

In the end, Xie Cang did not succeed, of course.

Because on the night of Xie Cang’s proposal, Xie Yuchen hit his head on an ancestor statue in the ancestral hall, thereby receiving the inheritance left by his ancestors. Not only did this cleanse and refine him, completely repairing his bloodline, but he also obtained a highly advanced talisman-making manual, the “Nine Mystical Talisman Techniques.”

The current talisman-making method of the Xie family was a simplified version of the first chapter of this manual.

With this talisman-making manual, Xie Yuchen’s talisman-making skills improved greatly in just two months. In the subsequent S City Talisman Competition, he advanced all the way to the finals to face Xie Xuanxing.

In the end, with a unique method and technique from the “Nine Mystical Talisman Techniques,” he created an extremely unconventional talisman and won by a very small margin, defeating the highly favored Xie Xuanxing.

From then on, Xie Yuchen became the number one genius in the Xie family.

Xie Xuanxing, on the other hand, became the object of ridicule. His ten-plus years of talisman-making experience couldn’t compare to Xie Yuchen’s two months. How could he still call himself a genius?

Due to his excellent performance in the Talisman Competition, Xie Yuchen also attracted the interest of the main protagonist, Han Mingye, who was on a mission in S City.

The Han family, to which Han Mingye belonged, was one of the four great mystic families in the country, far stronger than the Xie family.

Han Mingye proposed to take Xie Yuchen to the capital, where there were more abundant resources and more advanced talisman masters, beneficial for his future development.

Naturally, Xie Yuchen gladly agreed.

On the day Xie Yuchen left S City, Xie Xuanxing came to challenge him again.

Unsurprisingly, Xie Xuanxing lost to Xie Yuchen once more and left dejectedly.

But this result alarmed Xie Yuchen.

Because Xie Xuanxing still lost to him by a subtle margin.

It should be known that he had the “Nine Mystical Talisman Techniques,” far superior to current talisman techniques, and in recent days, Han Mingye had provided him with numerous cultivation resources. Logically, he should have long surpassed Xie Xuanxing by a great distance.

Unexpectedly, Xie Xuanxing was also continuously updating his talisman-making skills, with techniques and methods several times more refined than during the Talisman Competition. With such talent and perseverance, if not for the “Nine Mystical Talisman Techniques,” he might really have…

Later, when meeting Han Mingye, Han Mingye immediately noticed Xie Yuchen’s unsettled mood and asked if there was anything troubling him that he could help resolve before leaving.

To prevent him from worrying about home after going to the capital, hindering his full devotion to cultivation.

Xie Yuchen hesitated for a moment, then tactfully mentioned the conflict between his family and the grandfather-grandson duo, Xie Cang and Xie Xuanxing, only expressing concern that after he left, his father Xie Hao would struggle alone to handle the trouble from the duo.

Han Mingye sneered, saying it was a minor issue and he should not worry.

In his eyes, a small talisman maker in a small city, even with some talent, was no different from squashing an ant.

Han Mingye found a local dark cultivator group, revealed his identity as the eldest son of the Han family, and instructed them to create an accident to deal with Xie Xuanxing.

Coincidentally, that night, due to another loss to Xie Yuchen, Xie Xuanxing was in a bad mood and went to a bar to drink.

The dark cultivators seized this opportunity and disabled Xie Xuanxing’s cultivation talent.

On the night Xie Xuanxing was crippled, his grandfather Xie Cang was also inexplicably expelled from the Xie family for disrespecting the family head.

The grandfather and grandson could only set up a small stall under the bridge, making a living by telling fortunes, selling talismans, and sometimes taking on exorcism commissions.

They thought their lives would continue peacefully like this.

However, half a year later, when the protagonists returned to S City to search for a certain treasure, they accidentally caused a disturbance by an evil entity, and Xie Xuanxing and his grandfather were unfortunately caught up and killed.

“This mission: Change Xie Xuanxing’s fate and let him find happiness.

Reward for Success: One lottery opportunity.

Penalty for Failure: No reward.

Gu Siyuan glanced indifferently at the person who had repeatedly fallen onto his lap due to an improper sleeping posture.

It seemed that he had accidentally saved the mission target.

According to the original storyline, Xie Yuchen was supposed to leave S City today, and after Xie Xuanxing left the bar, he would encounter the dark cultivators and then be crippled.

But now, due to bumping into him and being carried out by him, he avoided this fate.

Gu Siyuan squinted his eyes, recalling that when he got into the car earlier, he did sense some prying gazes, which were likely from those dark cultivators.

And the reason the dark cultivators were intimidated and didn’t dare to act against him was because the original body’s elder brother was a big shot.

Currently, although mystic cultivators mainly formed factions based on sects and families, the state would naturally not allow them to grow unchecked. A special bureau was established for managing them, divided into two sections. Section One recruited freelance cultivators to maintain social stability, while Section Two used technological means to study special spiritual energies and phenomena.

The original body’s elder brother, named Gu Beilin, nicknamed “Northern Sky Wolf,” was a famous demon hunter in Section One of the special bureau. No dark cultivator or supernatural entity targeted by him ever survived.

In fact, the original body also had cultivation talent, but during his first exorcism with his brother, he was so scared by the scene that he almost cried out loud.

He then resolutely decided to become a loafer, returning to his hometown in S City to live a life of drunken stupor and waste.

Gu Siyuan frowned. In such a mystic and supernatural world, to change Xie Xuanxing’s fate, he had to pick up his cultivation skills again and pave a new path combining cultivation with technology.

While thinking, the person on his lap suddenly moved, rubbing his fair face against Gu Siyuan’s waist and abdomen.

Gu Siyuan looked down at him with an indifferent expression.

But the person in his arms quickly realized something was wrong, sitting up as if chased by a ghost.

Xie Xuanxing looked warily at the tall man beside him, his beautiful brows furrowed: “…Who are you?”

Gu Siyuan loosened his tie, speaking nonchalantly: “The person who saved your life.”

“…” Xie Xuanxing frowned.

What was this person talking about?

Gu Siyuan hated trouble, so he explained briefly: “You were targeted by dark cultivators after leaving the bar. I saved you, understand?”

Xie Xuanxing’s expression stiffened: “Dark cultivators?”

Why would he attract dark cultivators?

However, he did sense some vague malice in the bar, which was why he insisted on leaving despite the people trying to stop him.

This person could deter dark cultivators, so he must be someone significant.

Xie Xuanxing looked at him again, asking politely: “May I know who you are?”

Gu Siyuan replied indifferently: “Gu Siyuan.”

Xie Xuanxing blinked, seemingly not recognizing the name.

Gu Siyuan sneered and continued explaining: “My elder brother is Gu Beilin.”

“…” Xie Xuanxing raised his eyebrows.

Gu Beilin was renowned in S City and even the entire northern region. His younger brother was also quite famous, but only for being notorious, a good-for-nothing who relied on his brother.

But this person’s demeanor and aura were completely different from what he imagined.

“Do you believe me now?” Gu Siyuan leaned back in his seat, speaking lazily.

Xie Xuanxing squinted his eyes.

Although it was their first meeting, he felt a strange sense of trust towards this person.

Not because he was Gu Beilin’s brother, but just because of the person in front of him.

“Thank you.”

“Mm,” Gu Siyuan responded lowly.

His voice was unusually husky and magnetic, sounding somewhat sad and lonely in the dim car light, making Xie Xuanxing’s mind wander.

However, the next moment, this feeling was completely shattered.

“So, are you ready to accept my terms?” Gu Siyuan suddenly reached out, pinching his delicate chin to force him to turn his head, looking directly into his eyes.

So focused, his dark and deep gaze seemed to draw him in.

“Mr. Gu…?” Xie Xuanxing murmured, his clear, moist eyes looking a bit lively due to slight confusion.

“Mm, I’m here.”

Gu Siyuan responded indifferently.

Xie Xuanxing felt his heart beating a bit fast, as if he was being tempted.

He licked his lips and said softly: “Please, tell me first. If I can, I’ll try to do it.”

Gu Siyuan lazily lifted his eyelids, sneering, letting go of the soft skin in his hand, speaking calmly: “Be my follower for two years.”

“Ah? Oh…”

Xie Xuanxing responded lightly.

His tone was unfinished.

Why… did he feel a bit disappointed?