Very quickly, Evan Yang finished repairing the formation. With a broad smile, he said, "All done."
"You're really something, kid." Lance Blue praised.
"Just picked up a bit of the basics," Evan said modestly.
"Don't be so modest. I heard from others that you're not just good at formations—you excel at alchemy and artifact forging too." Lance felt Evan was a rare talent, and had a hunch he'd become someone important. That's why he didn't want to make enemies with him; as soon as he left, he had the Blue Clan stop all grudges with Evan.
"That was thanks to some seniors I met early on. They taught me a lot. Without them, I wouldn't be where I am today." Evan attributed his achievements to those old mentors.
The old beggar hiding in the shadows chuckled smugly, "Not bad, not bad. He's not arrogant, still remembers me."
Impressed by Evan's presence, Lance casually took out a black object from his robe—it looked like a pill. "Here, use this to blow it up."
"An Explosive Pill?" Evan saw the pill was packed with energy. Once triggered, it would detonate.
"That's right. Since you've repaired the formation, once we transmit through it, we need to destroy this place to keep others from following." Lance explained.
"What? If we do that, doesn't it mean we'll never be able to return?" Evan was startled. He hadn't expected Lance to think so far ahead. Once this place opened, it really could attract powerful outsiders, throwing the continent back into chaos.
"Maybe that's true, but it's still better than letting the continent fall into danger." Lance had already made up his mind not to return, so he decided to detonate the formation immediately after activation—this way, they'd transmit away and the array would be destroyed.
Evan thought for a moment, then sighed, "But that's too short. What if it explodes right away and affects the formation?"
"Don't worry, I have two of these pills. I once gave one to an alchemist for detonation. After it's triggered, it takes five breaths before it self-destructs," Lance said with a smile.
"So that's how it works." Evan looked at the black pill in his hand and nodded in understanding.
"No point in delaying. Let's go, don't overthink it. Leave this place to them. Someday, they'll have the strength to come here too." Lance glanced at the formation, then at Evan.
Evan nodded. From now on, everything outside depended on them, while he had to walk his own path to the peak. With that thought, he followed Lance inside.
Evan found the formation inside was more complex than those on the continent, and couldn't be activated with ordinary spirit crystals. So, he took out the violet-black stone.
"You have those too?" Lance was surprised to see the violet-black stone in Evan's hand.
"I happened to get some in the Death Crystal Field. Its energy is stronger than top-grade spirit crystals, and ordinary ones can't activate this. Since I don't have any top-grade crystals left, I'll use this instead," Evan said with a smile.
"Yeah, that's true. Give it a try," Lance replied with a smile.
Then Evan took out the black pill and placed it in an outer foundation block of the formation. With a thought, he triggered the pill to explode. Next, he tapped a location inside the formation—there was only one option, so Evan selected it.
Moments later, Evan and Lance's vision brightened, then everything around them went pitch-black.
Just as they triggered the formation on the second breath, the old beggar rushed over, stepped inside, tapped the same location, and as darkness fell, he muttered, "Good thing I made it in time. Seriously, don't you know that with a star-spanning teleportation array, four or five breaths is nowhere near enough for transmission?"
Sure enough, on the fifth breath, Evan and Lance felt their surroundings shift. Chaotic scenes flashed before their eyes, and to their shock, they began separating from each other.
"What's going on?" Evan was stunned to see Lance drifting away, until he found himself all alone.
Lance didn't know what was happening either. He could only see Evan's anxious expression, unable to move. When Evan vanished, he realized the pill's explosion might have interfered with the transmission.
The old beggar experienced the same, but he'd expected it. He sighed, "Lost track of that kid. From now on, he'll have to rely on himself."
Evan hadn't expected the old beggar to follow, nor that this formation would be so different from his own. His array transmitted instantly, but this one still hadn't finished after five breaths—and the pill's explosion caused further complications.
At last, Evan understood what was happening. For safety, he carefully watched the changes around him, ready for any new danger.
Finally, once the chaotic visuals stabilized, Evan felt the ground vanish beneath him. Some force flung him out, and he tumbled through the air like a rolling boulder.
He heard several screams—"Ah!"
Once Evan regained his balance and stood upright, he realized something was off. In front of him stood an injured young man, staring at Evan in shock, while three other men lay behind him.
Those three men immediately jumped up in fury. The leader cursed, "Kid, are you trying to get yourself killed? How dare you block us!"
Evan turned around and smiled, "I have no idea what's going on."
The three looked fierce, especially the leader, who growled, "Kid, are you messing with us on purpose? Don't you know who we are?"
"I don't know," Evan answered honestly. He really didn't recognize these people.
The leader grew even angrier, sizing Evan up. He looked like a beggar, but his aura wasn't weak—definitely not an ordinary beggar. The leader cursed again, "Stinking beggar, do you realize you nearly crushed the three of us just now? Hand over all your valuables, then leave. Otherwise, you won't take a single step today."
"Crushed you?" Evan asked doubtfully. He recalled that the formation had gone haywire, and he did land on something soft, but his own body showed no trace of injury.
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Seeing Evan's clueless expression after crushing them, the leader snorted coldly, "Looks like he's pretending to be dumb. Everyone, get him—kill him!"
The other two grunted in agreement, and the three moved in to surround Evan, ready to make their move.
Evan's first thought was that they were trying to rob and kill him—but he saw that all three were pretty strong, at least Spirit-Wandering Great Perfection. Bandits of this caliber, and working as a group, puzzled Evan. Still, since they were about to attack, he wasn't going to sit and wait.
Dodging nimbly, Evan engaged the three in battle, explaining as he fought, "You really misunderstood—just now was an accident."
"Misunderstood? If it was, why are you dodging? If you have guts, stop right now!" After a few rounds, the leader found Evan's speed astonishing and shouted angrily.
"You want to kill me, and you expect me not to dodge? Do you think I'm an idiot?" Evan saw they had no intention of stopping, so he didn't stop either.
"We'll see how long you can hold out." The leader, irritated, continued to tangle with Evan alongside the other two.
Eventually, Evan lost patience and said, "Don't push me."
"So what if we do? You're just late-stage Spirit-Wandering—what, you think you can fly to the heavens?" the leader sneered.
Evan had enough. He targeted the leader and launched a furious attack, unleashing twenty times his normal power. The leader was sent flying a long distance, his whole body limp as if he'd been smashed by something. The other two were shocked and hurried over to help him.
Struggling to his feet, the leader's eyes gleamed with greed. "He has a treasure—a power-amplifying artifact! We're going to strike it rich this time."
The other two realized it as well—Evan's attack had clearly gotten stronger in an instant. They fully believed in the power-amplifying artifact, and all three showed greedy expressions.
"These three are really greedy," Evan thought. That was his deepest impression of them so far, and he felt no goodwill toward them—especially since he'd explained multiple times, but none of them listened.
So Evan couldn't hold back anymore. Before they could get close, he launched several swift attacks, targeting another one of them.
That man experienced the pain firsthand. The last one hurried over to help the other two, saying, "What do we do? He seems to have a lot of treasures."
"This guy is loaded with treasures. We have to take him down today," the leader said.
"How?" the seriously injured one asked, frustrated.
"Use that artifact from earlier," the leader said, eyes fixed ahead.
The other two nodded. The leader took out a disk and tossed it into the air, aiming straight for Evan's head.
The injured young man on the ground was alarmed and shouted, "Run!"
Before Evan could react, a beam of light shot down from above. He suddenly felt immobilized, and the three bandits seized the chance to surround him, pouring spiritual power into the disk.
"Kid, you can't move unless you surpass the Spirit-Wandering realm!" the leader laughed, now holding the advantage.
"What kind of artifact is this?" Evan asked, surprised as he stared at the disk above his head.
"This? It's the famous Immobilizing Disk. We just got it today—never thought it'd come in handy so soon," the leader said with a grin.
"Just got it?" Evan glanced doubtfully at the injured young man lying there. The young man helplessly sent a message, "I was about to warn you, but it was too late."
Evan didn't blame him after hearing the explanation—he just hadn't dodged in time. Now, he was thinking about how to escape.
"Can't talk now, huh? Then hand over all your artifacts, or you'll never leave from under this disk," the leader said, smiling when Evan stayed silent.
After thinking for a moment, Evan smiled, "I'm completely immobilized—how am I supposed to give you my artifacts?"
The three exchanged glances, realizing he had a point. If he couldn't move, how could he hand over his treasures? But if they let him go, what if he escaped?