"Hahaha, what a joke! You're just an Immortal Lord—how long will it take you to reach Immortal Sovereign strength? And do you think an Immortal Sovereign's soul is so easy to destroy? Even the Protectors here, which one dares claim they can annihilate me? Aren't they all just planning to seal me away?" Eldon Liu laughed loudly at Evan Yang's words.
Evan Yang said, "There is no one who lives forever—it's only that their opponents haven't been strong enough. So as long as you keep doing these things, your death is inevitable!"
"Kid, you're way too arrogant, but you don't scare me. Just wait. And to everyone here—I'm Eldon Liu, and I'll be back." Eldon Liu sneered, then jumped straight in.
Evan Yang hadn't expected Eldon Liu to leap so decisively. He then turned to the crowd and said, "I'm leaving as well."
Although these Protectors weren't very familiar with Evan Yang, he possessed purple light and had cultivated the Temple's divine art, so he was already considered one of them. As a result, they felt somewhat reluctant to see him go.
At that moment, the Holy Saintess spoke: "Eldon Liu is ultimately a major threat. I plan to leave as well—I'll leave things here to you all."
Evan Yang was surprised by the Holy Saintess's words. He knew her leaving couldn't possibly be just about Eldon Liu.
Protector Tanner and the others frowned at her words, especially Protector Tanner, who said, "So, Holy Saintess, have you really decided?"
The Holy Saintess nodded. "That's right. As long as Eldon Liu's problem isn't resolved, I can't rest easy."
Everyone knew the Holy Saintess had made up her mind, so they said no more. They watched as Evan Yang and the Holy Saintess walked to the entrance together.
"Have you really decided?" Evan Yang asked the Holy Saintess.
The Holy Saintess smiled, "Mm, what? Not welcoming me?" "No, of course you're welcome. Let's go." Evan Yang smiled, then he and the Holy Saintess stepped inside together. As they entered, they found themselves drifting away from the entrance, and not only that, they began to float and even separate. Without hesitation, Evan Yang grabbed the Holy Saintess's hand and said, "This way, we won't lose each other."
"Mm." The Holy Saintess nodded.
This was the first time Hannah Nangong, now fully merged with the Holy Saintess, had held Evan Yang's hand since returning to her true self, so she couldn't help feeling a bit excited. Evan Yang looked at this woman stronger than himself, who had even saved his life, and felt deep gratitude—along with lingering affection for Hannah Nangong from years ago.
The two drifted together in darkness until a bright light appeared ahead. Evan Yang and the Holy Saintess gripped each other tightly, and at the instant they touched the light, Evan Yang blacked out. When he regained consciousness, it seemed like he was holding something in his hand.
He slowly opened his eyes and saw two people looking at him. What he was holding, of course, was Hannah Nangong's hand.
And those two people were, of course, Lora Luo and Zach.
"You're finally awake," Lora Luo said with delight.
"What happened to me?" Evan Yang felt a sharp headache, as if he'd just had a long dream. When he tried to lift his hand, he realized he was holding Hannah Nangong's hand. He looked surprised and tried to recall, then muttered suspiciously, "Could it have not been a dream?"
"What are you talking about?" Lora Luo asked.
"It's nothing. I just ran into some strange things," Evan Yang said.
"Don't talk about it now. You and Hannah have been back for a long time, but you've both been unconscious. Hurry and check how she's doing," Lora Luo urged.
Evan Yang nodded, then looked at Hannah Nangong and checked her condition. He found nothing seriously wrong—she was just a bit unconscious. So Evan Yang infused Heaven-Cold energy to help her wake up slowly.
When Hannah Nangong finally woke up and opened her eyes, her first feeling upon seeing Evan Yang and the others was that she was still alive.
"I'm still alive?" Hannah Nangong said.
"Of course you're alive! Hannah, where did you go?" Lora Luo asked excitedly.
"Where? I only saw a patch of green light, and then I blacked out," Hannah Nangong replied.
Standing nearby, Evan Yang sensed that Hannah Nangong had changed—she no longer had the aura of the Holy Saintess but had reverted to the cultivation and presence she had when she left years ago. Faced with this, Evan Yang tried probing her memories and found that she had no recollection at all after the green light.
"Could it be because of her own nature? Maybe only a fragment of her soul came here?" Evan Yang wondered to himself.
Seeing Evan Yang deep in thought—and since he was the one who brought Hannah Nangong back—Lora Luo asked curiously, "What exactly happened here?"
"It's a long story, but I'll explain everything," Evan Yang said.
Hannah Nangong and Lora Luo both looked at Evan Yang curiously, hoping he would explain clearly.
So Evan Yang explained the strange place he'd been to. When everyone heard about Hannah Nangong's true identity, they all looked surprised. Hannah herself was shocked and said, "I never expected I was an orphan for this reason."
"Don't think too much about it. One day, you'll recover your memories," Evan Yang said. He didn't know if it was possible, but he believed that since the Holy Saintess had chosen to emerge, there must be some connection in her memories—it's just unclear for now.
"I hope so. But this is good—I don't feel burdened," Hannah Nangong said with a smile.
"That's right. Now you're just Miss Nangong. Don't worry about those things anymore," Evan Yang said.
"Great! We're together again," Lora Luo said happily.
"Mm, now that you're all here, I feel at ease. Now I need to find a way out," Evan Yang said.
"A way out?" Hannah Nangong didn't understand what Evan Yang meant, so Lora Luo explained to her that Evan had been attacked by people from Ethereal Sanctuary and forced into a spatial rift, which is why they're still inside it now.
Evan Yang released his spiritual sense to check the situation outside. He found that all the previous lights had vanished, and once again, darkness filled his view.
One day, Evan Yang spotted a swarm of Shard Bugs ahead devouring spatial cracks. Overjoyed, he realized he could finally seize the chance to escape. He slipped through the cracks and emerged outside, only to find a group of people capturing these Shard Bugs.
Evan Yang concealed himself and stepped outside, then stored away his Strange Spiral Shell. With so many Shard Bugs around, no one could spot the shell, so he easily slipped by unnoticed. Listening to their conversation and observing their actions, Evan deduced these people belonged to Ethereal Sanctuary.
"Why are they capturing Shard Bugs? Aren't they supposed to kill them?" Evan Yang wondered, watching their every move. They used special artifacts to capture the Shard Bugs and lock them in cages.
Soon, the swarm of Shard Bugs was subdued. The group cheered and took the captured bugs away. Evan Yang, of course, followed behind, wanting to see what Ethereal Sanctuary was up to.
None of them noticed Evan Yang's presence, and he easily slipped by. They entered a castle, where the group handed the cages of Shard Bugs to another person.
That person took the Shard Bugs and left, with Evan Yang quietly following after.
Eventually, they arrived at a secret chamber inside the castle. The chamber was huge, but filled with all sorts of foul odors—like the corrosive fluids of Shard Bugs.
When Evan Yang entered, he immediately felt uncomfortable and held his breath, ignoring the smell. But as he took in the scene before him, he was stunned.
He saw that the Shard Bugs were being abused, slaughtered, and even dissected.
"What are they doing to the Shard Bugs?" Evan Yang muttered suspiciously.
At that moment, someone entered, glanced at the situation, and said, "Hurry up! Palace Lord Nolan and the others need more of that Shard Bug stuff. Get it ready and send it over immediately."
"Alright, we're on it," replied the workers handling the Shard Bug bodies.
Soon, piles of Shard Bug tails were processed, packed with special materials, and carried away. Evan Yang was determined to figure out what Ethereal Sanctuary was doing with the Shard Bugs.
After a while, they arrived at another secret chamber. Inside were many water vats, each holding a person. These people seemed normal, but as soon as the workers brought in the Shard Bug tails, they dumped them into the vats.
Immediately, the people in the vats began to howl as if driven mad, yet they endured the pain and refused to die.
Watching their crazed expressions, Evan Yang was puzzled. What effect did the Shard Bug tails have to make them react like this? Curious, he used his divine sense to inspect the vats.
Inside the vats were various materials, seemingly designed to stimulate the Shard Bug tails, causing them to expand and pierce through the subjects' bodies.
"What are they really doing?" Evan Yang murmured, unsettled by the bizarre scene.
Soon, the Shard Bug tails gradually dissolved, and the subjects, exhausted, lay down to rest, their faces showing relief.
Looking again, Evan Yang saw that each person now had a tail—the same kind only Shard Bugs possessed—fused into their bodies.
"Shard Bugs? Fused with humans?" The more Evan Yang thought about it, the stranger it seemed. He also recalled the unique abilities used by Immortal Lord Lin and the other Emperor-realm experts.
"So that's how they gained the power to tear open space," Evan Yang exclaimed in shock.
Everything became clear: the source of their space-rending abilities was this brutal process. Evan Yang quickly realized the danger—if all these people gained such power, the consequences would be unimaginable. He also wondered if there were any hidden drawbacks.
Thinking of this, Evan Yang wanted to find out what Palace Lord Nolan and the others were really after. Did they not fear death?
Evan Yang began searching the castle for Immortal Lord Lin and Palace Lord Nolan, determined to learn why they were creating so many strange hybrids.
Palace Lord Nolan and Immortal Lord Lin had long assumed Evan Yang was lost in the spatial cracks, reduced to dust—there was no way he could still be alive. Little did they know, inside the cracks, Evan Yang could move freely. In fact, he had to thank them for catching the Shard Bugs, which allowed him to escape today.
Immortal Lord Lin's body had already reached saturation with Shard Bug essence. At that moment, he paced inside a hall, obsessed with finding a way to further increase his absorption capacity.