Afraid that someone would discover the strange floating seal next to his calf, He Yan could only quickly pick up the small seal and stuff it into his pocket while squatting down to tie his shoelaces.

The seal seemed to have been completely extinguished by the black shadow's previous attack. When He Yan held it in his hand, except for feeling a bit cold, he didn't sense any discomfort.

However, the seal had sharp edges and angles, and summer clothes are very thin. When exiting the subway, He Yan was squeezed by the crowd and inevitably got jabbed a few times on his leg, causing him to gasp in pain.

Angered, after leaving the subway exit, he raised his foot and stomped on the tentacle that was still twisting around his ankle a couple of times.

The black shadow didn't care at all, or rather its limited consciousness made it completely unable to recognize the meaning behind He Yan's action. After He Yan raised his foot to break free, it immediately coiled back up again. He Yan could only helplessly roll his eyes, carrying a heavy and stupid guardian spirit on his back as he quickly left the bustling subway exit.

Because he had something of unknown origin in his pocket, he didn't dare return directly to his rental room. Instead, he circled a few streets and arrived at a nearby small park with a not-so-great view. It was now 2:30 in the afternoon, the sun blazing fiercely. Hardly anyone would go out to play at this time, and one could barely see a single person in the park even after a long while.

He Yan had a blob of self-cooling black shadow stuck to his body, so he couldn't feel the scorching heat of summer at all. With an unperturbed expression, he found a secluded bench under the burning sun and took out the seal that had been jabbing him the whole way.

Although at first glance this thing looked like a cube shape, upon careful examination, he found that it actually had seven faces. The largest face was engraved with a dark red seal script character. He Yan searched through Han Ziyu's memories for a long time before recognizing that it was the character "sha".

Black seal body, dark red seal script - just looking at this seal made one feel an unshakable sense of evil aura. The expert that Yan Xixi found probably wasn't practicing any righteous methods either.

Indeed, someone who could propose such a vicious method of finding a scapegoat for Yan Xixi, one would know they wouldn't be a good person even without thinking about it.

He Yan stared at the seal quietly lying on the bench for a while, then cautiously extended a thread of spiritual power to probe towards it.

Although this seal now appeared to pose no threat, that was only how it looked. Who knew if it was secretly charging up some ultimate move?

He still only had bits and pieces of knowledge regarding ghosts and metaphysics, so it was best to be careful.

He Yan used his spiritual power to examine it inside and out. Other than the aura left by the black shadow and the dense yin energy, he didn't discover anything abnormal. No matter how he looked at it, this was nothing more than a seal with a somewhat eerie appearance. It seemed as if the ferocious manner in which it had emitted black qi to attack him in the alley earlier was just an illusion.

He Yan was certain his spiritual power could observe the supernatural existences in this world. Furthermore, based on the full-of-holes barrier above that courtyard, he inferred that although the expert Yan Xixi found had some skill, their strength definitely wouldn't be especially high. So this seal... was it really extinguished by their family's black shadow with that one hit?

He Yan felt a bit uncertain in his heart. He thoroughly inspected it several more times before finally finding a faint trace of someone else's spiritual power in one of the pointed corners. However, under the domineering aura of their family's black shadow, that trace appeared very faint, which was why it took him so long to discover it.

Without hesitation, He Yan used his spiritual power to completely erase this trace!

Those metaphysical practitioners, in order to drive a magic tool to work for them, all had to establish a connection with the magic tool through various means. Although the methods differed, if one looked at it from the perspective of spiritual power, the core step to establish a connection with a magic tool was none other than leaving a spiritual imprint on it in order to construct a spiritual link.

If he guessed correctly, that trace from earlier should be the spiritual link between the expert and this seal. After completely erasing it, the seal's original owner would no longer be able to control it.

Only after thoroughly removing the traces on the seal did He Yan finally put his mind at ease and ponder how to deal with it.

The texture of this seal felt like some kind of jade, but it was unknown what evil techniques had been used to treat it, turning it into an ominous black color. Its original type could no longer be discerned.

However, since it could be made into a magic tool, it showed that the yin energy in this jade was indeed much greater than ordinary jade. His earlier probing also confirmed this fact.

For He Yan, who had searched the entire antique street without being able to find a piece of jade with sufficient yin energy, having such a seal emitting dense yin energy placed before him, it was impossible for him not to be tempted.

However, after looking at the seal's eerie color, he still gave up on this idea.

Who knew how much of the yin energy in this seal was transformed from the resentment of vicious ghosts? The resentment on their family's black shadow was already heavy to begin with. If it was stimulated by the yin energy in this seal and its already not-so-bright mind (if it had one) was completely messed up, what would he do then?

He was looking for jade in order to nourish the black shadow's soul, so that it could recover its senses as soon as possible, not to make it even more foolish...

So although this seal was a good item, it couldn't be repurposed for his use.

Since it couldn't be used by him, it was best for such an evil object to disappear from this world as soon as possible. If it fell into someone else's hands, it would also be a disaster.

He Yan regretfully looked at the seal, retracted his spiritual power threads, and stood up, preparing to go to the small path nearby to pick up a brick and see if he could smash it to pieces.

Although picking up a brick sounded embarrassingly awkward, as a powerless male college student, He Yan really couldn't think of any other simple and feasible methods.

As a result, he had just stood up when the black shadow, which had been behaving extremely docilely, suddenly moved. From its foggy black body, it extended equally black spiritual power threads that fiercely coiled around his half-retracted spiritual power threads and began to eagerly rub against them.

He Yan's body trembled. With his hands gripping the back of the bench, he could barely steady himself.

Spiritual power threads were an extremely sensitive existence. Without any mental preparation, even if "attacked" by a familiar partner, one would still receive a great shock.

It wasn't exactly pain, but rather an unbearable and stimulating feeling intertwined, making one feel a bit ashamed...

He Yan warningly lashed the dark shadow with a thread of spiritual power, frowning and scolding: "Don't mess around."

The dark shadow's spiritual power was extremely high, and it seemed to be very thick-skinned. Even after being whipped, it just nonchalantly shook the spiritual power thread, and immediately clung back on like a lingering ghost.

Actually, as a resentful evil creature, the dark shadow had behaved exceptionally obediently these past two days, but because its consciousness was unclear, it often did things that made people very helpless, such as recklessly ruining his plan today, and inappropriately clinging to him intimately like right now.

Having been together for three lifetimes, He Yan wouldn't be coy about such matters. He didn't mind returning to the rental house and having a good, in-depth "exchange" with the dark shadow; it's just that they were still outside now. Although there were hardly any people in the park, He Yan still couldn't allow himself to lose face in this kind of public place.

The friction between the spiritual power threads brought an irresistible pleasant sensation. A hint of color surfaced on He Yan's pale face, and the panting from his mouth gradually became heavier. Finally, just as his body was about to be incited to react, he forced himself to fiercely shove the dark shadow's spiritual power threads and, enduring the discomfort in his spiritual sea, spoke with a hint of anger: "Scram!"

The dark shadow seemed to sense his unhappy aura. After being shoved, the entire mass of black mist froze. The pitch-black spiritual power threads stiffened in the air for a while, then hesitantly retracted.

He Yan withdrew his own spiritual power threads and stood in place to catch his breath for a moment, before turning to look for a brick.

The dark shadow followed behind him like a deflated balloon, its entire volume shrinking by half. For some reason, it didn't pounce on him like usual, only extending a tentacle to circle his wrist, with quite a bit of caution.

He Yan glanced down at his wrist without acknowledging it.

This park hadn't been renovated for several years, and many of the bricks on the path were loose. He Yan quickly picked one up and returned, placing the square seal on the ground before starting to strike it with the brick.

In theory, ordinary jade items are very fragile and can easily shatter from an accidental bump. However, this square seal had become extremely hard after being refined. He Yan smashed it for a long time without causing the slightest damage, instead breaking the brick and nearly cutting his own wrist.

If not for the tentacle circling his wrist swiftly knocking away the sharp brick fragments the instant they flew out, He Yan's hand would definitely be bleeding by now.

Although He Yan was a bit peeved by the dark shadow's earlier actions, he didn't intend to hold a grudge. So he stroked the tentacle resting on his wrist, his tone much softer: "Thank you."

He couldn't help thinking, if only their family lump could be so considerate and well-behaved every day, he wouldn't have to be upset two or three times a day.

The black, soft tentacle perked up after being caressed by him, elongating to circle his index finger and rubbing it with small movements.

It tickled a bit...

He Yan reflexively curled his finger back, and that extremely flexible tentacle also stretched itself to follow his movement, as if sticking to him.

Perhaps He Yan's moe point was a bit crooked, but he felt the tentacle's appearance was indescribably cute. He couldn't help gently pinching it.

The tentacle swayed left and right as if drunk from his pinch, limply flopping onto his index finger when he let go, really a bit clingy.

He Yan couldn't help laughing.

However... seeing the dark shadow's somewhat ingratiating behavior, He Yan suddenly realized a problem.

Its consciousness, was it starting to recover?

Author's note: Pitch-black lump: pretending to be calm.jpg
(Actually panicking inside _(:з」∠)_ )

The unnamed square seal about to die: Still have to eat dog food before death