The three gold-armored commanders watched Elder March as she stepped onto the water, holding the bottle in her hand. She uncapped it, pointed her right index finger at the vapor rising from the bottle, and then infused it into the pool.
"Is she reliable?" Gold Three sent a voice transmission to Gold One.
"She has never failed before. She should be able to do it," Gold One replied.
The three gold-armored commanders fell silent again. The pool shimmered with blue light, looking dazzling but remaining blurry—no one could tell what was inside.
Elder March stared at the pool for a long time, her expression growing more serious. At last, she withdrew her aura, stepped out of the pool, and looked at the three. "They've already left the Chaos World," she said.
"Left the Chaos World? What do you mean?" Gold Three looked at Elder March, curiosity in his voice.
"They've entered the Spirit Prison Realm. I can't track their exact location within the Spirit Prison Realm," Elder March answered.
Hearing that Evan Yang had gone to such a strange place, the three furrowed their brows. Gold Three finally said, "Then we'll go to the Spirit Prison Realm. I refuse to believe we can't find him."
The other two gold-armored commanders had no objections. Elder March asked, "Are you sure you want to go?"
"Of course," Gold Three said.
Elder March nodded and said, "Then I'll go with you."
The three gold-armored commanders knew Elder March would definitely come along—after all, she was the one who tracked down Evan Yang and the others. They had no objections, and together with Elder March, set out for the Spirit Prison Realm.
In the Spirit Prison Realm, Evan Yang and Gavin White were currently inside a thatched hut.
The hut sat atop a mountain. At that moment, a warm-hearted old woman approached, carrying two bowls of some unknown liquid. She smiled and said, "You’ve come from afar, you must be tired. Drink these—they’re good for your souls."
Evan Yang and Gavin White looked at the black liquid. Evan Yang raised his head and asked, "Ma’am, what is this?"
"It’s something to refresh you," the old woman replied with a smile.
This old woman was the only person Evan Yang and Gavin White had encountered while searching the area, so they had many questions for her. She brought them into her hut and offered them the liquid.
"Go ahead and drink—once you’re refreshed, I can tell you everything about this place," the old woman said with a smile.
Gavin White and Evan Yang picked up their bowls and drank. A rush of clarity and energy washed over them. Evan Yang smiled, "It really is refreshing."
But Gavin White actually felt a bit tired. "Why do I feel even more exhausted?" she asked.
The old woman watched the two for any changes after they finished drinking. Gavin White became groggy and collapsed, while Evan Yang remained standing. The old woman was shocked. "I didn’t mean to do this!" she exclaimed.
Seeing the old woman’s reaction, Evan Yang realized the liquid must be problematic. He frowned and said, "We don’t even know you—why would you try to harm us?"
The old woman never expected Evan Yang to be unaffected. She had tried this many times and always succeeded, but this time Evan Yang was fine. Realizing her scheme was exposed, she hurriedly fled out the door.
Just as Evan Yang was about to chase after her, the old woman threw something, and a tunnel appeared before his eyes. She rushed into it. Concerned for Gavin White’s safety, Evan Yang stayed behind, unsure what to do—he could only use Chaos Soul-Power now and couldn’t heal her.
"We just arrived and you’re already in trouble. I’m sorry. Looks like I’ll have to wait for you to wake up before we can do anything," Evan Yang sighed.
After a while, Gavin White slowly opened her eyes. "What happened to me?" she asked, still dazed.
"There was something wrong with that liquid—it makes people pass out," Evan Yang explained.
Recalling what had happened, Gavin White asked in surprise, "You mean that old woman was up to something?"
"Yeah. There’s a tunnel at the door—she probably escaped through it. I was worried about you, so I didn’t chase her right away," Evan Yang said.
After checking herself, Gavin White said, "I’m fine. It wasn’t poison, just something to make the soul sleep temporarily."
"Probably. Let's go find that old woman and see what's going on," Evan Yang said, eager to get moving now that Gavin White was fine.
Gavin White responded and followed Evan Yang outside. Seeing the teleport portal, the two headed toward it together.
As soon as they stepped out, they found themselves in a bustling marketplace, right near the city gate.
"So it's a city," Gavin White said.
"Looks like finding that old woman will be tricky," Evan Yang said, frowning at the crowd.
Gavin White was helpless too, but at least Evan Yang saw other people. He decided to learn about the city and ask around about the strange grassland.
The two wandered the streets, listening to what people were saying.
Unsure where to start, they heard lively voices ahead and went to investigate. There was a stage, and on it a storyteller was talking about one grand battle after another. The crowd listened with excitement.
Only Evan Yang and Gavin White had no idea what he was talking about.
"What are they talking about?" Gavin White asked, curious. Evan Yang shook his head. "I don't know either."
Just then, someone shouted from below the stage, "You fraud! More than half of what you say is fake—Spirit Kings, Sacred Spirits, Evil Spirits—how come we've never seen any of them?"
The storyteller was an old man. He laughed, "You don't believe? That's because you've never seen them. Here, powerful souls are everywhere—even Evil Spirits and Sacred Spirits are mortal enemies. We're just cannon fodder at best."
"Hmph, we've lived here for years and know nothing about that. Stop trying to fool us," the man said. Many others agreed, thinking it was all nonsense, and began to chase the storyteller off the stage.
(Irrelevant system message skipped.)
The storyteller reluctantly left the stage, cane in hand, disappearing into the crowd. But Evan Yang and Gavin White followed him. Evan Yang felt that the Spirit Prison Realm wasn't as simple as it looked, and the old man's stories might not be lies—he could be a source of real information.
After walking a long way, the old storyteller stopped and turned to Evan Yang and Gavin White. "Why are you following me?" he asked.
"We wanted to hear your stories, so we followed you," Evan Yang said with a smile.
"You actually believe what I say?" the old man laughed.
"Of course," Evan Yang nodded.
"In that case, could you buy me something to eat? I'm hungry," the old man suddenly said, making Evan Yang and Gavin White wonder if they'd run into a scammer.
But Evan Yang couldn't help but ask, "Can souls even get hungry?"
"Of course—especially me. I love eating, and right now I'm starving. You two should treat me. This place is famous, Spiritrise House—the food here is incredible. Let's go." The old man spoke as he pulled Evan Yang inside, with Gavin White following behind.
Inside, they saw many powerful people—most souls here were strong. The old man led Evan Yang past them to the second floor, where a waiter greeted them.
"What would you all like?" the waiter asked.
"Bring us your top ten dishes," the old man said with a greedy smile. Evan Yang watched him, and after the waiter left, Evan Yang said, "This..."
"No need for this or that. Let me introduce myself—I'm Master Spirit Caller," the old man said with a smile.
Evan Yang and Gavin White felt uneasy. Master Spirit Caller—wasn't that the sort of title used by scammers in the mortal world, claiming to summon spirits?
Seeing their expressions, Master Spirit Caller laughed, "What’s wrong? My name scares you?"
"It is pretty scary," Evan Yang said with a bitter smile.
"My sect has even more ridiculous titles: Master Ghost Caller, Master Nether Caller, and so on," Master Spirit Caller said with a laugh.
"Enough, enough. Elder, can you tell me—what kind of world is this, really?" Evan Yang couldn't help but ask.
"You want to know about this world? Then you've found the right person. I know this world inside out. It's just those people—they think I'm a scammer, so they don't believe me," Master Spirit Caller said.
Evan Yang and Gavin White started to feel they might be getting scammed, but still wanted to see what happened. Evan Yang smiled, "Go ahead, Elder—let's hear it."
Master Spirit Caller launched into another round of rambling stories, making Evan Yang and Gavin White nearly lose their minds. Just then, the waiter brought the dishes.
Seeing the food, Master Spirit Caller said, "Hold on, I'll eat first." He began devouring the dishes.
Evan Yang curiously looked at the dishes—they were brightly colored, mostly leafy things. Master Spirit Caller called them delicious.
"Not eating? They're really good—don't be shy, dig in," Master Spirit Caller urged when he saw the two staring.
Evan Yang snapped out of it and said to Gavin White, "Let's try it."
Gavin White nodded, and Evan Yang picked up some leaves with his chopsticks. The first taste was cool and refreshing; after swallowing, his soul felt comfortable—similar to the effect of the liquid they'd drunk earlier, but this time Gavin White was fine.
"Well? How does it feel? These dishes can strengthen the soul—many people come here just to eat them," Master Spirit Caller said with a smile.
Evan Yang and Gavin White kept eating, feeling their spirits improve with each bite.
When they'd finished, the waiter came to settle the bill. Master Spirit Caller laughed, "Charge these two—they're treating today."
Evan Yang hadn’t expected Master Spirit Caller to be serious. He was stunned, and so was Gavin White—they had just arrived and had no idea what kind of payment was used here.