After arriving on another planet, they found a deserted place and finally calmed down.
"So what are your plans now?" Evan Yang asked the two.
Patriarch Yates was still most worried about Ye Chen, so he said, "I don't really have any plans. At worst, I'll just go into seclusion and not come out. That way, the Fenn Family won't find me. As for Chen'er, you..."
"Dad, my cultivation is suppressed. No matter how long I stay in seclusion, it won't change anything, so I want to go out and see the world." Ye Chen replied, then looked at Evan Yang.
Patriarch Yates wasn't foolish, but he didn't object either. During his time with Evan Yang, he'd realized Evan was no ordinary person—and had enormous potential.
"Then I'll leave my daughter in your care." Patriarch Yates said to Evan Yang.
Evan Yang hadn't expected this, but Ye Chen made sense: no matter how long she stayed in seclusion, nothing would change. Wanting to go out was natural, and Patriarch Yates's words were clear—he was asking Evan to look after her.
"No problem, Patriarch Yates. You can rest assured." Evan Yang said with a smile.
"Alright, you two go ahead. I'll find a place to go into seclusion. If you need to find me, just notify me first." Patriarch Yates said to Ye Chen and Evan Yang.
Ye Chen nodded, reluctantly said goodbye to her father, and left with Evan Yang.
"What are your plans?" Ye Chen asked curiously.
"Are you really planning to stick with me?" Evan Yang suddenly stopped walking and asked.
"What kind of question is that? Are you saying my strength isn't good enough?" Ye Chen immediately took offense at Evan's words.
Seeing her misunderstanding, Evan laughed, "You got it wrong. What I meant was—"
"Meant what?" Ye Chen stared at Evan.
"I mean, I'm a dangerous person. If you follow me, there'll definitely be a lot of trouble." Evan thought about how he'd stirred up so much in the Human World—he could run into Ninefold Palace people at any moment.
"Pfft, don't you have that tower? Worst case, I'll just go inside and hide." Ye Chen smiled, completely unafraid.
"Uh..." Evan was stunned for a moment.
"Relax. If anything really happens, you can just put me in the tower. Besides, Winter's inside—I can keep her company." Ye Chen smiled.
"Alright then." Evan said helplessly.
"So where are we going now?" Ye Chen handed over the decision to Evan. She was ready to let him make all the arrangements, treating it like an adventure.
"The Fenn Family will definitely be searching everywhere for us, and you know I've killed plenty of Ninefold Palace members—they won't give up either. So I want to get a sense of the current situation first." Evan planned to find someone to ask.
The best candidate, of course, was Reed Kong.
When Reed received Evan's message, he was both shocked and delighted. He immediately set out for the planet where Evan was.
In a deserted place, Evan and Ye Chen waited together until a familiar figure appeared before Evan.
"Senior Kong." Evan greeted with a smile.
"You rascal, I wondered where you'd gone. I didn't expect you to show up with such a beautiful companion." Reed Kong laughed when he saw Ye Chen's beauty.
"Senior, you're joking. I've been in a certain place these past years." Evan smiled.
"Where? Why couldn't I reach you with the interstellar Transmission Stone?" Reed had tried to find Evan many times over the years, but couldn't get through.
Evan's interstellar Transmission Stone was bought after entering this world. If the distance is too far, beyond the range of the star system, it can't connect.
"I went to the Fiend Realm." Evan was curious to know how people here viewed the Fiend Realm.
"The Fiend Realm? How did you get there?" Reed Kong was shocked.
"An elder sent me." Evan smiled.
"You're crazy! No wonder nobody could find you all these years." Reed Kong exclaimed.
"Senior Kong, where exactly is the Fiend Realm?" Evan didn't know the location of the mountain—back then, the bald white-bearded elder had quickly led them there and back, so he couldn't tell where the planet or mountain was.
"It's on a remote planet," Reed replied after seeing Evan didn't know.
"About where? Can you tell me?" Evan wanted to clarify, so if he ever needed to go to the Fiend Realm again, he'd know how.
Reed explained the direction and which planet was closest for traveling there.
After Evan finished listening, he asked, "How have things been these years? Are the Ninefold Palace and Black Hand Syndicate still hunting me?"
"Ninefold Palace is still the same, raising the reward to lure powerful people to catch you. But you disappeared—they think you're cultivating somewhere, so they treat it like before. As for the Black Hand Syndicate, that's what puzzles me. Why do they want to kill you?" Reed had never understood why Evan was hunted by the Black Hand Syndicate.
"Here's how it went: I offended some people who hired the Black Hand Syndicate to kill me. They tried three times and failed, then made it a ten-year must-kill mission. But now, more than ten years have passed." Evan explained briefly.
"Three times and still failed? You're a miracle." Reed was amazed.
"Just lucky," Evan smiled.
"Luck or not, you've survived ten years—they probably won't bother you anymore. But Ninefold Palace won't ever give up. If you show up and they find out, they'll track you again," Reed said.
"Let them come. Do you think I'm afraid?" Evan smiled.
"So what are your plans now?" Reed looked at Evan curiously.
"We'll see. Maybe I'll go into seclusion for a while." Evan wasn't sure what to do next. He felt the most important thing was to get stronger, so he could handle future hunts from Ninefold Palace or the Fenn Family.
"Seclusion is good. Without life-and-death trials, it's easier to improve your cultivation. By the way, what realm are you at now?" Reed asked, curious.
"Late Soul-Gathering Realm." Evan replied.
"What!" Reed was stunned. When he first met Evan, he was only at Spirit-Wandering stage, and now he'd even passed Out-of-Body Realm—it was hard to believe.
"I went to the Fiend Realm. More life-and-death trials—that's all there is to it." Evan smiled.
"You're a real oddball. I can hardly believe it," Reed Kong clicked his tongue.
"Listen to what you're saying, Senior Kong."
"Oh, right—recently, for some reason, the top Fenn Family of Ninefold Star came to the Genius Pavilion looking for you," Reed said suspiciously.
Evan didn't expect the Fenn Family to learn his identity so quickly, so he explained to Reed about Ye Chen and his relationship with the Fenn Family.
After Reed finished listening, he muttered, "You really are something."
"Senior Kong, let's not talk about it. The Fenn Family and I—sooner or later, that'll be settled." Evan smiled.
Ye Chen looked worried, blaming herself for making Evan gain another enemy.
Evan didn't know what she was thinking; at the moment, he was chatting with Reed about the Fenn Family and the Genius Pavilion.
"The Fenn Family will definitely team up with Ninefold Palace—their relationship is pretty close," Reed replied.
"It's fine. One enemy or two, makes no difference." Evan said fearlessly.
"You've got guts. I like it." Reed saw Evan's personality was similar to his own—never afraid of powerful clans—and laughed.
"Not bad," Evan said awkwardly, laughing.
"Are you interested in Hundred-Change Valley?" Reed asked since Evan didn't have any pressing plans.
"Hundred-Change Valley?" Evan felt the name sounded familiar.
"Yeah, it opens once every hundred years, and stays open for a month. There are stones inside that sometimes hide Immortal-grade artifacts." Reed explained.
"That's why it sounds familiar." Evan remembered the stones—his gauntlets and the Ancestor of Ten Thousand Insects both came from there.
Thinking of the Ancestor of Ten Thousand Insects, Evan wasn't about to miss this chance, so he immediately decided and asked, "Let's go. When does it open?"
"Ten days from now. Let's go together then," Reed smiled.
"If people find out you're with me, it could cause trouble. Just give me the location, and I'll go by myself when the time comes." Evan didn't want Reed to get in trouble with Ninefold Palace for being too closely involved.
"Well..." Reed wanted to say it was fine.
Evan interrupted, "Senior Kong, as long as you're safe, I can always ask you for help in the future. If something happens to you, then I won't have anyone to rely on."
Reed thought it made sense, so he agreed and told Evan the location and opening time for Hundred-Change Valley.
After chatting a bit more, Reed finally left.
"I'm sorry." Not long after Reed left, Ye Chen suddenly spoke.
"What's wrong?" Evan asked, puzzled.
"It's all because of me. Otherwise, you wouldn't have gotten involved with the Fenn Family." Ye Chen said hesitantly.
"What are you talking about? I already killed their people back then. Besides, I was with you at the time—if I hadn't killed them, they would've killed me. It was inevitable." Evan smiled.
"You're really not afraid?" Ye Chen sighed.
"Afraid of what? I dared to offend Ninefold Palace—why would I be scared of the Fenn Family? Don't overthink it. We'll go to Hundred-Change Valley together in a few days. I'm not very familiar with it, so I may need your help when we get there." Evan believed Ye Chen must know about Hundred-Change Valley, unless she was also from a world sealed off from the outside.
"Hundred-Change Valley—every time it opens, tons of cultivators go, both strong and weak. There are even robbers along the way. But there's a realm restriction: no one above Spirit-God Realm can enter, meaning the highest allowed is Spirit-God Great Perfection." Ye Chen explained.
"There's such a restriction?" Evan hadn't expected that, but he was secretly glad—at least no freakishly strong monsters would show up.
"Yeah, especially the Fenn Family—they always send the most experts every year," Ye Chen said.
"Why?" Evan asked, puzzled.
"Because they have a technique called the Tyrant Seal Art. It can suppress people's cultivation, so even the strongest can be forced down to Spirit-God Great Perfection. That makes them the strongest inside—unless they run into someone truly tough, they can handle it all." Ye Chen explained.
Evan had heard Ye Chen mention the Tyrant Seal Art before, and her cultivation was suppressed by this technique.
"So that's how it is—sounds lively." Evan liked fighting for his life. Hearing that the Fenn Family and so many strong experts would go made his blood boil. The main thing was those strange stones—even if there were no Immortal artifacts, he could feed them to the Ancestor of Ten Thousand Insects.