Evan Yang found the nearest interstellar teleportation array and ended up spending ten thousand pieces of lower-grade Immortal Source. He muttered to himself, "That’s pretty steep."
Evan realized that the Spirit Crystal Ore he had recently exchanged was almost gone. Helpless, he decided to head to the Earth-Immortal Newcomer Star System to check things out before making any further plans.
The interstellar teleportation array activated, and after a while, Evan found himself in a bustling marketplace. All around was chaos—just one word: messy. Even the area near the teleportation array was crowded with street stalls, many displaying Immortal artifacts.
"Hey, selling Immortal artifacts here! Immortal artifacts for sale!" someone called out.
"Hey, want to buy an Immortal artifact?" As Evan walked out, a cultivator immediately pressed him.
Evan glanced around and saw that they really were Immortal artifacts, similar to those he'd seen in the Human World before. But what puzzled him was the sheer quantity—there were piles and piles of them, and the prices were unbelievably low.
"Are you sure it's only ten thousand Immortal Source?" Evan exclaimed.
"That's right, it's already very cheap. You should buy some, especially since you're an Earth-Immortal—better stock up for self-defense." The vendor was quite persuasive; after a quick scan, he noticed Evan was an Earth-Immortal second tier and grinned.
In fact, even Evan himself didn’t know he’d already reached Earth-Immortal second tier—he thought he’d only just entered the realm.
"For self-defense?" Evan was worried these Immortal artifacts might be fake, but after squatting down and inspecting them, he found they were genuine—not fake at all. Still, the price was hard to believe.
"Brother, I'm not lying to you—guaranteed genuine. Everyone knows I never sell fake Immortal artifacts, and these are decent quality. They're third-tier Immortal artifacts, good enough for use," the vendor said.
"Immortal artifacts have different tiers?" Evan asked suspiciously.
Hearing this, the vendor realized he was dealing with a newbie—prime time to scam some Immortal Source. He explained, "That's right, Immortal artifacts are divided into nine tiers. Look closely: if an artifact emits one color of light, that's first-tier; two colors means second-tier, and this one has three colors, so it's at least third-tier."
"That's how you tell?" Evan looked carefully and saw that the artifact did emit several colors of light, but back in the Human World, he'd only ever seen one color—or sometimes none at all.
He wasn't sure what tier the colorless ones were, but now he understood: in the Human World, people lived and died for Immortal artifacts, but here, those same artifacts were just first-tier. If third-tier cost only ten thousand Immortal Source, then first-tier must be even cheaper. Thinking about this, Evan couldn't help but compare the past and present.
Seeing Evan lost in thought, the vendor continued, "Kid, these really are third-tier Immortal artifacts. If you don't believe me, you can ask anyone here."
Evan gave an awkward smile. "Sorry, I'm not planning to buy any Immortal artifacts right now."
"Seriously? Not even at this price?" the vendor exclaimed.
Evan was helpless—even if he wanted to buy some, he barely had any Immortal Source left and simply couldn't afford it.
Seeing Evan about to leave, the vendor grew anxious. "Brother, you can't just walk away—at least buy one, won't you?"
"Whether you call me brother or kid, sorry—I'm just not interested in these right now," Evan said with a smile.
Then he walked away. The vendor watched Evan’s back and muttered to himself, "A newbie? I refuse to believe I can’t get any Immortal Source out of you."
With a wave over his stall, all the Immortal artifacts vanished. He hurriedly followed after Evan.
Evan naturally noticed him and thought, "Why is he following me?"
Being followed by a stranger made Evan uncomfortable, especially since he had no idea about the man's strength.
After walking for quite a while, Evan finally couldn’t help but stop and ask, "Why are you following me?"
"Brother, this road is so wide and big, and this city—does it belong to you?" the man chuckled.
"Shameless," Evan muttered to himself, picking up his pace. But the man sped up as well and, when Evan wasn’t paying attention, suddenly darted past him.
"What’s he up to now?" Evan wondered as he watched the man walk away.
Only after the man had gone some distance did Evan realize something was missing—his gauntlets?
Yang Han was shocked. Those gauntlets were his attack-boosting Immortal artifact—not the most powerful kind, but he couldn't do without them.
Because those gauntlets also contained other things, like soul fragments. "Damn it, he stole my stuff!" Yang Han realized that guy must have swiped them when he wasn't paying attention.
He spread out his divine sense, but the area was crowded and the thief had vanished as if into thin air. Yang Han grew anxious, but quickly calmed down, remembering his faint connection to the soul fragments. He started searching.
Sure enough, after a while, he sensed that connection again. Turns out the thief hadn’t left but was just hiding somewhere Yang Han hadn’t noticed.
Yang Han immediately chased after him. He finally spotted the guy in a tavern, drinking and eating, with a smug grin on his face.
While the thief wasn’t paying attention, Yang Han tapped him on the shoulder. The guy never expected Yang Han to find him in a tavern, especially since it blocked divine sense.
"You." The thief jumped in surprise.
"Give it back," Yang Han said.
"Give you what?" The guy looked suspicious but was shocked inside: "How did he find me?"
"Give back my gauntlets!" Yang Han demanded.
"Gauntlets? What gauntlets? I don’t know what you’re talking about." The thief feigned confusion, drawing the attention of nearby patrons.
"Still pretending? You bumped into me and stole my gauntlets," Yang Han said.
The thief refused to admit it. "You say I stole it, so I did? Really? Boss, here’s the money—I’m leaving."
He quickly slipped away. Yang Han tried to grab him but missed, so he kept chasing by sensing the soul fragments. After half a day, they reached the outskirts, where he saw other Earth-Immortals fighting.
These battles seemed calmer than the ones he’d seen before. Up ahead, the thief appeared to be deliberately luring Yang Han. In a patch of woods, he finally stopped, and Yang Han caught up.
"Didn’t expect you really had a connection to this thing," the thief said, pulling out the gauntlets.
"Give them back," Yang Han said.
"Give them back? Now that they’re mine, why would I? I don’t know if it’s a fake Immortal artifact or a top-tier one, but it should fetch some Immortal Source at least," the thief grinned.
"You! Are all those things stolen?" Yang Han exclaimed.
"That’s right, most of them are stolen. So what?" The thief chuckled.
"You’re despicable," Yang Han said.
"Don’t say that. I’m actually pretty reasonable. Now it’s mine, but you can buy it back with Immortal Source. Let’s say it’s a third-tier Immortal artifact—ten thousand lower-grade Immortal Source, a bargain," the thief offered.
"Shameless!" Yang Han couldn’t believe the guy would not only steal his stuff, but try to sell it back to him. Did he think Yang Han was an idiot?
"Everyone says that about me. Heh, so what? If you don’t buy, I’ll sell to someone else. No pressure," the thief laughed.
Yang Han wanted to buy it, but he had no Immortal Source. Still, it was his own artifact—he wouldn’t pay for it. Besides, the gauntlets held soul fragments and essence stones.
"I want them," Yang Han said.
"Oh? Finally figured it out? Come on, ten thousand lower-grade Immortal Source—money for goods," the thief smirked.
"I said I want them back—not to buy!" Yang Han waved his hand, and the gauntlets flew right back to him.
The thief was stunned. These weren’t ordinary Immortal artifacts—a first to third-tier artifact, even if refined, couldn’t return to its owner if controlled by someone else. But fourth-tier and above were different: they had spirit and could communicate with their master.
He now realized Yang Han had tracked him via the gauntlets’ connection. In truth, Yang Han hadn’t thought much about it; he’d simply followed the soul fragments.
"Trying to leave? Not a chance!" Seeing Yang Han about to go, the thief snorted coldly.
He attacked Yang Han. Yang Han said, "Your cultivation is higher than mine—but not by much!"
"I didn’t expect you to hide your strength so well. I’m a fourth-tier Earth-Immortal, but I’m weaker than you!" The thief was shocked at Yang Han’s superior power.
"Fourth-tier Earth-Immortal?" Yang Han muttered, but he knew he could always fight above his level, so it made sense.
He ramped up his attacks, quickly forcing the thief to retreat. The thief panicked, "Enough, I’m done playing."
"Trying to escape?" Now that Yang Han knew he could subdue him, he was determined to teach the thief a lesson for daring to steal from him. He followed closely and found the thief’s speed was impressive.
"Damn, how are you so fast?" The thief sent a transmission as Yang Han kept up.
"I refuse to believe I can’t catch you!" Yang Han said.
And so, one chased the other, both flashing around, until after half a day, the thief finally stopped, annoyed. "Alright, I’m done playing. What do you want?"
"What do I want? Didn’t you try to sell me my own artifact? Then I’ll do the same—give me all your artifacts, and I’ll sell them back to you," Yang Han teased.
"Screw you, you’re even worse than me! I just wanted one, you want them all!" the thief protested.
"When you run with the crowd, you always pay the price. Who knows how many you’ve tricked before—but today, you get a lesson," Yang Han snorted.
The thief hadn’t expected to meet such a tough opponent. He’d thought Yang Han was just a second-tier Earth-Immortal, but his strength was on par with fourth-tier. The thief’s face darkened as he grew anxious. "Brother, we’re both out here hustling, right? Sorry for earlier, won’t happen again," he pleaded.
"Do you think I’m stupid?" Yang Han snorted.
Seeing Yang Han wasn’t falling for it, the thief gritted his teeth. "Brother, don’t push me. If you force me, I’ll transform!"
— END OF CHAPTER —