The man hadn't expected anyone to be in this secluded alley in the dead of night.
Panic flickered in his eyes as he tightened his grip on the woman and turned toward Ye Xing, brandishing the knife with a menacing snarl.
"Take one more step, and I'll kill her!"
Ye Xing shrugged and casually dropped a bombshell neither the thief nor the woman saw coming.
"What's that got to do with me?"
"Wha—"
The thief froze.
The young woman gaped for a second before stammering out a plea.
"P-please... save me."
"Nope."
Ye Xing's reply was as straightforward as ever, his face wearing a kindly smile as he spoke slowly.
"Whether you live or die has nothing to do with me. I'm just here for him."
For some reason, the thief could tell from Ye Xing's expression that he wasn't lying.
This handsome young man dressed in black truly didn't care whether the young woman lived or died.
"Damn it..."
Gritting his teeth, the thief violently shoved the young woman forward before turning to flee deeper into the alley.
He had realised that robbing someone wasn't worth taking such a huge risk.
He could always just find another target.
Speaking of which...
Why had he suddenly wanted to kill that woman earlier?
As the young woman came stumbling toward him, Ye Xing merely sidestepped slightly with an extremely graceful motion, letting her fall face-first onto the ground in an undignified heap.
Watching the thief's retreating figure, what appeared in Ye Xing's vision—invisible to ordinary people—was the thick black Qi emanating from the man's body.
"At this stage, he's already beyond saving."
With that, Ye Xing leisurely followed the direction the thief had fled.
If he remembered correctly...
That was a dead end.
...
Meanwhile.
"Damn it, damn it!"
The thief stared at the wall blocking his path, teeth clenched so hard his gums bled, eyes webbed with dense red veins, his face twisted into something barely human in its ferocity.
Hearing footsteps approaching from behind, he turned around with gnashed teeth to see Ye Xing walking toward him slowly. That inexplicable voice echoed in his mind once more.
'Kill him!'
"Kill... kill you..."
The thief's bloodshot eyes fixed unblinkingly on Ye Xing's face, radiating intense murderous intent.
"Kill you!"
Gripping his dagger tightly, he charged at Ye Xing and stabbed with all his might toward the other's abdomen!
Clang!
The sound that rang in the thief's ears at the moment of impact wasn't the expected noise of flesh being pierced.
Instead, it was the crisp metallic clang of striking an iron plate.
"You trying to make me laugh?"
Ye Xing shook his head with a dissatisfied expression.
"I'm a proper exorcist, you know. What's with this lousy fruit knife? Who are you trying to fool? No respect at all."
The thief looked at the tip of his dagger in disbelief—it hadn't pierced Ye Xing's abdomen but had been completely blocked by a strange black mist.
"This... this can't be..."
He staggered back two steps before suddenly throwing the dagger aside and dropping to his knees, weeping and begging for mercy.
"I—I lost my mind for a moment. Please, spare me!"
From frenzied violence to grovelling for mercy.
The speed of this thief's attitude shift would have put even Han Xin to shame.
Ye Xing gazed down at the kneeling, sobbing thief without a trace of pity in his eyes. He merely shook his head and spoke softly.
"How utterly disgusting."
The moment his words fell, the surroundings fell completely silent.
The thief remained frozen in his kneeling position, his body seemingly petrified. Only after a long while did he finally lift his head.
His eyes were no longer filled with crimson blood vessels but had turned completely black.
His body began to swell unnaturally, twisting into a grotesque form as his skin gradually took on a sickening, nauseating shade of deep purple.
Faced with this horrifying sight—one that would have made an ordinary person faint from fear—Ye Xing remained calm, merely chuckling softly.
"Wouldn't it have been better to show your true self from the start? Why bother pretending?"
There was one thing he hadn't mentioned to Miko Yotsuya during his explanation earlier.
The moment a person's actions were controlled by an evil spirit, though they could still think independently and move freely most of the time, they were already dead—nothing more than a walking corpse.
The most disgusting part?
Even knowing the person was beyond saving, not everyone could bring themselves to act when faced with their pleas and cries for mercy.
Of course, Ye Xing was among the rare few who could.
Staring at the evil spirit, whose body had swollen to nearly three meters tall, its arms now covered in dozens of razor-sharp blades, its face twisted into a monstrous visage, he uttered just three simple words.
"Time to eat."
...
Ten minutes later.
"Done."
Ye Xing dusted himself off and swiftly left the secluded alley.
As expected.
The young woman who had been robbed earlier was long gone.
The knife-wielding thief aside, even Ye Xing didn't exactly look like a normal person. At past one in the morning, it would've been strange if she'd stayed.
"Another long night."
After devouring the evil spirit, Ye Xing didn't stop. He continued searching for other prey.
His reason for hunting evil spirits was simple: to grow stronger.
After consuming hundreds of them, he had not only enhanced his physical abilities but also gained the power to manipulate that eerie black mist—using it for offence or defence—as well as the demonic hand that followed him, invisible even to Miko.
If evil spirits existed in this world, who knew what other dangers lurked in the shadows?
It was always better to be prepared.
There was a difference between having a sword and choosing not to use it, and not having a sword at all.
...
The next morning, in Class 1-A of Sobu High.
"Good morning, Ye Xing."
"Yeah, morning."
Ye Xing had just settled into his seat when Miko Yotsuya came over to greet him.
From the obvious dark circles under her eyes, he could guess that Miko must have tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep.
Of course, it wasn't due to some adolescent romantic stirrings—her worldview had been severely shaken.
Miko glanced around, making sure none of the other students were paying attention to them, then cautiously lowered her voice and asked,
"Ye Xing, after school today…?"
"Don't be so impatient."
Ye Xing chuckled.
"Do you know about 2.5 Gojo? If you rush too much, you might end up as 2.5 Miko in a fight against evil spirits."