After realizing that Sect Master Cyrus Xie was also worried, Heaven Leaf asked no further. Matters like this were best left to the seniors; as a junior, there was no need for him to overthink it.
As for Evan Yang, he was currently lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling and muttering, "Who knows how many years this trip will take... sigh."
Lying there, Evan wondered if he would really meet Grandmaster Adrian Zuo and Grandmaster Marcus Po on this trip. These two could be considered his indirect masters; no matter what, he had to meet them in person at least once.
With this bit of hope, Evan lay there until the next day, when Sect Master Cyrus Xie came to take him away. Cyrus led him to the entrance of a teleportation array and said, "This leads directly to the main base outside the rift. Let's go."
Evan nodded and followed Cyrus in. After a moment, they reappeared in a dark place, with only a flickering point of light ahead in the distance.
Seeing Evan looking at the light, Cyrus explained, "That's the array at the rift, flickering. Let's go sit on the other side—there are quite a few other seniors there as well."
Evan nodded. "Okay."
Cyrus brought Evan to a nearby base camp—a small world‑realm. Inside, several planets floated in space. Cyrus took Evan to one of them, and after they landed, he saw several mountains shrouded in formations.
"This is the place. Let's go in," Cyrus said, leading Evan into the formation. Soon, they saw buildings on several mountain peaks, one of which was especially prominent—a palace taller and grander than the others.
Inscribed above were the words: Skyvault Immortal Hall.
"Skyvault Immortal Hall?" Evan muttered. After entering, he felt unusually invigorated. Looking around carefully, he noticed many strengthening arrays woven throughout the area.
Meanwhile, various sounds echoed from inside as a group of elders of different appearances emerged. One white‑bearded elder smiled and said, "Cyrus, you brought him?"
"Yes, it's him," Cyrus said, pointing at Evan with a smile.
Everyone looked at Evan. The white‑bearded elder asked, "You can use Heaven's Eye Sight and understand how to break formations with formations?"
"Yes, I understand," Evan replied.
The white‑bearded elder laughed, "I'm Elder Whiteshade. If you want everyone to be convinced, you'll have to pass this test. It's a matter of great importance, so I hope you understand."
Evan understood what he meant and smiled, "So, what do you need me to do?"
"It's simple. On this planet, we've placed ten items, each protected by a formation—ten formations in total. If you can break all of them and retrieve the items within a single day, we'll fully acknowledge you," Elder Whiteshade said with a smile.
Evan smiled, "Oh? What kind of formations are these ten?"
"These ten formations are each our strongest and most specialized—some are trapping arrays, some killing arrays, some maze arrays. You'll have to experience them yourself," Elder Whiteshade said to Evan.
Evan smiled, "Alright, I'll go now."
Cyrus frowned, "Everyone, isn't one day a bit too short? If any of us tried to break those formations alone, it would take at least a day each. You're asking him to break ten in one day—that's pretty tough."
"Because we can't use Heaven's Eye Sight or break formations with formations. If he really can, forget one day—even half a day would be enough," Elder Whiteshade said bluntly.
Cyrus was stunned, unsure what to say. Evan smiled, "I'll start right now."
Elder Whiteshade laughed, "Good, you've got guts. Let's go."
So Elder Whiteshade led Evan to the site. Sure enough, ten formations were lined up in a row.
Evan smiled, "I'll start from the left." With that, he stepped into the first formation.
After Evan entered, Cyrus asked, "Whose formation is this?"
One person replied, "That's my trapping array."
"This formation alone should keep him busy," Elder Whiteshade laughed. Cyrus frowned, "You're not really planning to make things difficult for him, are you? If you do, no one else can replace him."
"Do you want to see someone who only has these two abilities but doesn't know how to use them?" Elder Whiteshade didn't like it either, but there was no choice—this was a matter of great importance.
Cyrus understood the seriousness and could only say, "I get it."
Just as they finished speaking, Evan emerged from the first formation, holding the first box. He smiled, "Done."
Everyone was stunned. They had just finished talking, and Evan already had the box. It was unbelievable—normally, each of them would need at least one or two hours to figure out a single formation.
"Looks good," Cyrus smiled. Evan smiled back and entered the second formation. This one was a maze array. Elder Whiteshade said, "That's my maze array. If he can walk out easily, I'll truly respect him."
Everyone wanted to see if Evan could really get out. After a while, he did—he emerged again, and they had to admit his formation-breaking skill. Evan smiled, "I've got the second box. Now for the third."
After that, Evan went in and came out again and again. All ten formations—he wasn't delayed for even half an hour. He retrieved every box. Now, no one dared doubt his ability, and they invited him into Skyvault Immortal Hall as an honored guest.
Inside the hall, Elder Whiteshade said, "Now let's talk about the mission."
Evan nodded and listened carefully. Elder Whiteshade continued, "This is a matter of utmost importance. No matter who you are, you must take it seriously. If anything goes wrong, even the Chaos World could be in danger—do you understand?"
Everyone nodded. Then Elder Whiteshade said, "Evan, when the time comes, we'll send you to the entrance of the sealing formation—the place those two seniors entered years ago. We hope you can go in smoothly, check the situation inside, and then come back out so we can discuss how to repair the internal formations."
(This chapter isn't finished yet~.~ Please click next page to continue reading the rest!)
Evan replied, "Yes, understood."
"Alright, let's head out now," Elder Whiteshade said. Everyone stood up, left the world‑realm, and moved toward the flickering point of light.
Arriving outside the light, Evan finally saw how immense the formation was—like a giant wound wrapped in a massive array. The array had been repaired many times, but it couldn't take much more. That's why they planned to go inside and fix it.
"See that? There's a small entrance. We'll send you there, and once you're inside, we'll wait here and be ready for anything," Elder Whiteshade said.
Evan nodded. Then he walked over alone, while Elder Whiteshade and the others began setting up formations around the area, ready to seal the entrance if anything went wrong.
Evan reached the entrance. He could sense two different auras above it—one felt familiar, like the aura from Grandmaster Adrian Zuo's mirror image.
"Senior, I've arrived," Evan muttered. He spent a long time probing the formation, using Heaven's Eye Sight and formation‑against‑formation. Soon, a small entrance appeared. After entering, Evan quickly blocked the opening behind him to prevent accidents.
Calming himself, Evan was stunned by what he saw inside. A raging storm‑wind threatened to tear him apart. Without at least 300 strands of Heavenly Dao Intent, one would die instantly. Even Evan had to use his transformed state to move, and his speed was slowed a hundredfold—he was crawling like a turtle.
"Is that vortex the storm?" Evan steadied himself and looked ahead. Not far away was a white‑lit vortex, surrounded by wind, and he felt himself being drawn toward it.
Evan tried to steady himself and looked back at the formation, finding it riddled with holes. He wondered, "When those two seniors came here years ago, where did they go?"
Seeing nothing but the vortex, Evan didn't know how to find them. He searched the area, recorded everything he saw, then returned, sealing the entrance behind him and approaching Elder Whiteshade and the others.
Seeing Evan return safely, everyone was overjoyed. Elder Whiteshade asked, "How was it?"
"Inside, there's a massive storm. Without at least 500 strands of Heavenly Dao Intent, you can't move at all. Setting up formations would be extremely difficult, and there's a strange pull—if you're not careful, you'll get sucked into the vortex," Evan explained in detail.
Hearing this, Elder Whiteshade frowned, "This will be tough. Does anyone feel confident?"
Cyrus said, "No matter what, we'll risk everything to repair it."
The others were prepared to die if necessary. Hearing this, Elder Whiteshade said, "Alright, let's rest for a bit, then we'll go in with Evan."
Everyone nodded. Once things quieted down, Elder Whiteshade found Cyrus and Evan.
Cyrus and Evan were puzzled as to why Elder Whiteshade sought them out.
"Do you know why I asked you two to stay?" Elder Whiteshade asked. Of course, Cyrus and Evan didn't know. Elder Whiteshade continued, "We don't know if we'll succeed this time. I hope you two will stay and handle the defenses. If anything happens, seal the area immediately—no matter what, don't open it again."
Cyrus was shocked. "What?"
"I'm counting on you," Elder Whiteshade said sincerely. Without them, there would be no one left to handle emergencies.
Cyrus understood Elder Whiteshade's intent and sighed, "Alright, I'll do my best to guard this area." Evan thought for a moment and said, "Me too."
"Good, with you two here, I'm reassured. Especially you, Evan—you alone are worth ten others," Elder Whiteshade said with a smile.