Earth-Immortal Star System—the star system Evan Yang had targeted. He quickly arrived at Ethereal Sanctuary's outpost on the outermost planet of the system.
As soon as he arrived, Evan chose to enter the teleportation array leading to the Shard Bug Void. But unexpectedly, the moment he stepped out of the array, he found himself surrounded as if facing a thousand troops—experts blocked every exit, and the formation had stopped operating.
Scanning the figures in the void, Evan recognized them—they were none other than members of Ethereal Sanctuary.
Evan frowned. "You actually plotted against me."
"Ha! Of course we did!" A cold laugh sounded from the crowd.
When Evan saw the speaker, his eyes showed surprise and suspicion—it was none other than Immortal Lord Lin, whom he himself had crippled.
Immortal Lord Lin now possessed only his soul and a discarded body. But after fusing with certain things, he had become what he was now.
Evan could hardly believe it. He had clearly crippled Immortal Lord Lin before, so he frowned and said, "Aren't you supposed to be dead?"
"Dead? Ha! Boy, thanks to you, I wasn't killed—just crippled and left alive. That's exactly why I survived. And now, not only am I alive, I'm going to kill you." Lin snorted coldly.
"And them?" Evan asked.
"You mean your clone?" At that moment, another voice sounded. Someone walked out—it was none other than Palace Lord Nolan.
Evan's eyes grew suspicious. Palace Lord Nolan had clearly been soul-sealed by him before—how was he moving now? Not only that, Nolan now had a physical body, though it looked somewhat swollen, as if suffering from side effects. But it was definitely Nolan.
"Surprised, aren't you?" Lin snorted coldly.
"What methods did you use?" Evan asked.
"Want to know? I won't tell you! Even if you have many clones or you're strong, so what? Look—there are at least twenty Emperors here, more than ten above sixth-tier. Can you escape?" Lin sneered.
Palace Lord Nolan also gave a strange smile. "Evan Yang, surrender. Maybe if you join us, we could accomplish great things—maybe even rule the Immortal Realm."
Rule the Immortal Realm? Evan sensed that both Palace Lord Nolan and Lin had changed, but he couldn't yet determine how.
"Palace Lord, stop wasting words. Just destroy him." Lin was eager to test his cultivation.
"Fine, I'll leave it to you. Everyone, step back and secure every exit—don't let him escape." Palace Lord Nolan ordered.
"Yes, Palace Lord!" the others replied. They spread out, giving Evan and Lin space to face each other.
"Are you really going to fight me?" Evan sneered.
"Don't get cocky, boy! I'm not who I used to be—my strength is at least eighth-tier Emperor! Prepare to die!" Lin snorted coldly.
"Eighth-tier Emperor? I'm afraid you won't even leave ashes behind when I'm done." Evan laughed.
"Arrogant brat! You're just an Immortal Lord, how dare you act so wildly!" Lin shouted angrily.
"Immortal Lord? I'm an Immortal Lord, and you were one too. But now, somehow, you think you're so powerful. I don't know why, but I'll find out." Evan said.
"Arrogant fool—go die!" Lin wasted no time, stretching out his hand toward Evan. Evan sensed something suddenly tearing at the space around him.
Evan looked closely and saw the space around him torn open—a gap appeared. This was the devouring spatial power unique to Shard Bugs.
But how did Lin gain this ability? Evan eyed him suspiciously while dodging.
Evan moved so fast that just as the spatial crack formed, he was already elsewhere.
"If you've got guts, stop dodging!" Lin shouted angrily as Evan kept evading.
"Then come catch me!" Evan sneered.
"Damn you—go die!" Lin roared, launching a frenzy of attacks. Evan watched Lin closely, noticing his face changed color during the assault, and saw shell-like patches on his arm.
"What's going on?" Evan wondered to himself.
Lin hadn't expected Evan to still have the presence of mind to fight him. Evan felt no pressure at all—he could dodge every attack with ease.
Frustrated, Lin couldn't match Evan's speed. When Evan saw the opportunity, he flashed behind Lin, his hand appearing—and Sacred Flame instantly ignited in his palm.
A screech, then a miserable scream—Lin's back was burned to ashes. Even stranger, his flesh looked bizarre. Evan eyed Lin suspiciously. "You're not human."
Lin was severely wounded. He hadn't expected Evan to be so fast, or his flame so terrifying—it only took a moment to destroy most of his back.
"Not human? That's your fault." Lin shouted angrily.
"What on earth is going on?" Evan asked.
"I won't tell you. No matter what, you're dead today." Realizing Evan was more terrifying than expected, Lin secretly transmitted to Palace Lord Nolan, asking him to command and help.
Palace Lord Nolan nodded. "Everyone, be ready."
Just as Evan was about to grab him, Lin waved his hand and opened a spatial crack, stepping right in. Evan was shocked—Lin could freely enter and exit spatial cracks, something only those strange bugs could do.
While Evan was still curious, Lin appeared elsewhere. Then all the experts stretched out their hands, targeting Evan alone.
A massive spatial crack instantly appeared around Evan. In their eyes, his death was certain.
Evan was swallowed by the spatial crack and vanished. The others all wore strange smiles, until Palace Lord Nolan said, "You've all seen it—we have this power, it's strong. But aside from this, we're still weak. Ruling the Immortal Realm isn't likely, so keep strengthening yourselves! Now, head to the laboratory."
(Irrelevant webnovel system message, skip this line.)
"Yes, Palace Lord!" everyone replied.
Inside the spatial crack, Evan could only hear their voices before drifting away, unsure where he was headed. At that moment, he was inside the Strange Spiral Shell, observing the outside and muttering, "All these people can tear open space—what's going on?"
Evan thought about what had just happened and Palace Lord Nolan's final words. He realized they must be experimenting with something to boost their power—and their ability to tear space.
"Looks like when I get the chance to escape, I'll need to investigate what they're really up to." Evan drifted through the spatial crack, not knowing where it led.
Evan controlled the Strange Spiral Shell, hoping to find another crack to escape.
While searching, Evan closed his eyes to cultivate, leaving his clone to handle the shell. Time passed bit by bit.
One day, the shell suddenly shuddered. Evan, who had been cultivating, felt the world spin. He quickly opened his eyes and took control, checking what was happening outside.
He saw a bright light ahead, growing larger—like something explosive.
"This power... it's terrifying." Evan was shocked—even the aftershocks could toss the shell around. If it hit directly, could the shell or the Sky-Piercing Tower survive? Thinking of this, Evan felt pressure.
He kept controlling the shell, trying to prevent it from flipping. But the outside light grew stronger, the explosive force intensifying, until its range expanded and enveloped the shell completely.
Boom! Evan was affected by the shell's exterior, his whole world spinning. The impact on his divine sense was too strong—his soul was injured, and he lost consciousness.
Inside the Sky-Piercing Tower, the two women were startled and quickly called out to Evan.
But Evan wouldn't wake up, making them anxious. Yet there was nothing they could do.
"We can't get out, can't call for help—it's driving me mad!" Lora Luo said, her emotions surging.
Sharla frowned. "Something must've happened outside—that's why he suddenly fainted." "What do we do now?" Lora Luo asked worriedly.
"Wait. Trust he'll wake up. He's not dead." Sharla checked Evan and spoke.
Lora Luo nodded, and together she and Sharla stayed by Evan's side.
Evan had no idea what was happening—he was completely unconscious.
He didn't know what was happening outside. He felt conscious, but couldn't wake up—he wanted to open his eyes, but couldn't, and his whole body wouldn't move.
After many tries, he finally managed to open his eyes—only to see a dense forest before him.
"Where is this? What happened to me?" Evan found he couldn't use his divine sense, but strangely, he could still use all his power.
Even stranger, Evan could feel and see his body. Curious, he tried to take out the Strange Spiral Shell, but realized all his treasures—space rings and such—were gone.
"What's going on?" Evan was shocked. He had been inside the shell, but now couldn't control it, as if he'd lost contact with it.
Evan pondered for a while to calm himself. "As long as I have my cultivation, I can find out where this is and why I ended up here."
So Evan started searching for a way out of the forest. Without divine sense, he relied on Phantom Spirit Birds to quickly find a direction and avoid getting lost.
After a day in the forest, the Phantom Spirit Birds returned with information. Seeing their findings, Evan frowned. "This forest is huge!"