Evan Yang realized he had almost no usable techniques. Aside from Ninety-Ninefold Purefire, which was still at the Sparkfire stage, he feared that even if he used it, it would barely affect his opponent.
He understood deeply the gap between the Foundation-Building stage and Qi-Refining. The methods that worked against Qi-Refining cultivators could no longer harm someone at early Foundation-Building.
Caught in a dilemma, Evan said, "I didn't even hurt you."
"Ridiculous! That Diamond Fist of yours is nothing but a cheap imitation of the Starheart Method," Victor Howe sneered.
"What?" Evan was shocked. His opponent understood Diamond Fist so well—and claimed it was just some heart-method knockoff.
"The Starheart Method is a combat heart-method, said to have been created by an immortal and left behind on this continent. The Bai Family stumbled on it, studied it for a bit, and cobbled together Diamond Fist. Then, three thousand years ago, Gavin Jiang from the Shadowhand Guild stole it! So really, Diamond Fist is just a trash technique—how dare you use it against me?" Victor Howe burst out laughing at Evan's expression.
"Combat heart-method? Gavin Jiang? Isn't he the guy who owns that Strange Spiral Shell?" Evan was stunned. No wonder Diamond Fist barely worked against Foundation-Building—turns out it was just a failed experiment.
"Hmph. If you kneel right now, beg me, and then lead me to Tara Chu, maybe I'll spare your life," Victor Howe said. He'd just reached early Foundation-Building and didn't want to waste effort fighting someone at his level if he could avoid it.
Of course Evan had no intention of doing as Victor wished. He began thinking about how to deal with him.
"What now?" Seeing Evan staring at him so intently, Victor Howe readied himself, not wanting to get caught off guard again.
"You're only at early Foundation-Building. What makes you think victory is guaranteed?" Evan sneered.
"Victory? Ha! That's the funniest joke I've heard in ages." Victor Howe burst out laughing.
Evan ignored him and threw several punches—boom, boom.
"Pff—" Victor Howe spat out blood in disbelief. "You... impossible! The Bai Family's discarded technique shouldn't have this kind of power." He'd thought Diamond Fist couldn't harm him and planned to exhaust Evan's spiritual power before finishing him off.
Even Evan himself was surprised. He'd just instinctively thrown several punches in a row, and when he sped up, it was like all the blows landed on the same point at once, massively increasing their power.
Right now, Evan didn't overthink it. He just wanted to end things fast, not give Victor a chance to recover, so he hammered out five more punches in quick succession, slamming them into Victor's dantian.
"Pff, pff—" Already badly wounded, Victor Howe couldn't dodge Evan's speed. He vomited blood again and stared at Evan with unwilling eyes, dying. But right before death, something happened that Evan never expected—a resentful thought echoed from Victor's body: "Who... who destroyed my seed?"
The sudden turn made Evan instantly wary, afraid Victor might revive. But after a long wait, all he saw was Victor's corpse—no sign of the voice's owner.
"Who was this guy, anyway?" Evan squatted beside Victor's body, muttering in curiosity as he picked up the pill bottle Victor had been showing off earlier.
Inside were five Essence-Nurturing Pills—one mid-grade, the rest high-grade. "So many high-grade pills!" Evan was stunned, more suspicious of Victor's identity.
Evan searched Victor Howe's body, hoping to figure out his identity, but found nothing except the small pill bottle.
"Ugh, nothing else at all." Evan stood up, glanced around, and left the area helplessly.
Not long after Evan left, a tiny purple scorpion-like insect crawled out of Victor Howe's body. It glanced in Evan's direction, then spread its wings and flew the other way. If Evan had seen this, he would have been shocked.
After leaving Victor behind, Evan found a quiet spot and sat down to check his body's condition. To his amazement, the Heaven‑Cold Seed had sprouted a leaf. "It really grew a leaf?" He thought back to his Foundation-Building breakthrough. "Did I succeed only because the seed evolved?"
After examining his body, Evan remembered the earlier fight. "Diamond Fist, Starheart Method—how did that guy know so much?" He thought again of Gavin Jiang.
That thought made Evan quickly pull out the Strange Spiral Shell. Staring at it, he remembered how Bluebrow Daoist had bullied him, coveting the shell. "Damn it—if not for you, Elder Lee wouldn't have suffered so soon. One day, I'll make you pay!"
After venting, Evan began studying the Strange Spiral Shell. He'd played with it before, but never found anything special—certainly nothing as remarkable as Bluebrow Daoist claimed.
"Where's the problem, anyway?" Evan muttered, staring at the strange shell in his hand.
The shell seemed ordinary, its material unknown, and its opening sealed. Evan had no clue what its creator intended. "Damn, I've got a treasure and don't even know how to use it." Frustrated, he hurled it at a nearby rock—bang! He jumped up, startled to find the shell buried deep in the stone.
"A hidden weapon? Damn, what is this thing?" Evan pried open the rock and found the shell lying among the fragments.
The shell's incredible hardness impressed Evan, but he still had no idea how to use it, so he reluctantly put it away and took out the supreme-grade spirit armor he'd stripped from Gavin Bai.
Without hesitation, Evan put the armor on. It felt a little strange. "Too bad I haven't reached Core Formation yet, so I can't refine a magic treasure." He had to wrap an outer layer of clothing around the armor.
Once dressed, Evan felt a cool sensation on his skin. "No wonder it doesn't heat up—turns out this armor also protects against heat."
After checking the armor, Evan started examining Gavin Bai's pouch. He expected a young clan master to carry herbs, pills, and valuables, but when he opened it, all he found were a few rusty daggers and a manual. "Seriously? What a poor little rich kid."
Fed up, Evan took out the only three daggers. But as soon as he did, they clanged to the floor. "Damn, can't even hold a dagger properly?"
Thinking he'd just dropped them by accident, Evan bent down to pick up the three rusty daggers, but they felt as heavy as boulders. Frustrated, he cursed, "What are these made of?"
When he finally managed to pick one up and study it, sweat beaded on his forehead. "Whew, just using one is a miracle—three at once? My hand would snap off."
In the end, Evan put the daggers back in the pouch, exhausted. "I'm wiped out."
After gazing at the sky for a while, Evan felt his soreness disappear. No need to guess—the leaf from the Heaven‑Cold Seed was working its magic. "If I trained with those daggers every day, would I eventually wield them with ease?" The thought struck him out of nowhere.
Excited, Evan pulled out the manual. To his shock, it was a Starheart Method counterfeit. He read through it and found it was indeed similar to Diamond Fist, but incomplete—a defective heart-method. Still, even this flawed version taught him a lot. The true essence of Starheart Method wasn't about unleashing powerful punches instantly, but about building up wave after wave.
The manual described the first three 'waves'—similar to the punches Evan used to kill Victor Howe. But the heart-method emphasized stacking attacks. At his current level, Evan could only manage the second wave: a double attack, which consumed a huge amount of spiritual power.
To test its power, Evan found a rock, gathered spiritual energy as the manual instructed, and struck a tree with two rapid punches—the second almost immediately after the first. The two blows combined, and with a bang, a thick tree toppled. His spiritual power was barely depleted, thanks to the Heaven‑Cold Seed's fast recovery. "Ordinary cultivators could only manage a few punches, but with my seed, I can throw more."
Evan pondered the heart-method. "Foundation-Building probably can't generate enough spiritual power for the third wave—looks like only Core Formation cultivators can do it."
He made another guess: if he used the daggers as flying knives and launched two at once, would he get the same double-wave effect?
Imagination ran wild in Evan's mind, until a sudden downpour snapped him out of it.
"Phew, I'm nuts—trying to run before I can walk!" Evan laughed at himself, but resolved to learn Object Manipulation: controlling flying swords and treasures.
This technique could only be mastered by Foundation-Building cultivators—just like when Evan saw Elder Victor Wu leave Lecture Cliff on a flying artifact.
Thinking of Object Manipulation, Evan knew he had to start with light objects—not the daggers, which would be asking for trouble.
So for the next few days, Evan found a secluded spot and began training in Object Manipulation.
Meanwhile, outside, Tara Chu woke up with no memory of her last days in the Foundation-Building space, terrifying the Chu Family, who searched for famous doctors to no avail. As for the Bai Family, things weren't going well for them either.
The Bai Family patriarch, furious that his youngest son hadn't returned, summoned Elder Lee for answers. Elder Lee could only say Gavin Bai entered the space and never came out. Enraged, the patriarch announced his son's death to the clan, forcing Elder Lee to kneel for days before sparing him—though he stripped away much of his authority.
This did nothing to calm the Bai Family's anger. The patriarch took several elders and stormed the Chu estate for answers, but the Chu Family could only report that Tara Chu awoke with no memory of her time in the Foundation-Building space, confirmed by renowned doctors. The Bai Family left in fury, vowing to keep searching for clues.
Aside from the turmoil at the Chu and Bai estates, Joyhaven Palace was also facing new developments.