Evan Yang slipped in using invisibility; as long as no Demon Sovereign was present, no one could detect him. He quickly infiltrated the outdated city lord's mansion, seeing many people patrolling as if to keep outsiders away. For Evan, who entered while invisible, this was child's play.
He soon reached the innermost area, where a heavily guarded room caught his eye. Evan guessed it was important, so he snuck inside and saw a man issuing orders—clearly arranging various troops to attack the formation.
This man was the manager of the stronghold, named Neil Kane. Thanks to his good relationship with a certain Demon Sovereign, Neil had landed the lucrative position of stronghold manager.
After giving his orders, Neil Kane dismissed his subordinates, then had wine and food brought in. Drinking alone in the room, he muttered, "This Immortal Realm's formation is really strange—even Demon Sovereigns can't open it quickly."
After finishing a cup, Neil put it down and muttered, "I heard there are very few Immortal Sovereigns left in the Immortal Realm. Once the formation opens, it'll be a massacre. When the time comes, hmm, the treasures of the Immortal Realm—I have to grab some for myself." Being the manager had its perks: during the looting, skimming just a bit would mean a lifetime supply of materials and magic treasures.
While Neil was still daydreaming, the door closed by itself. The guards outside assumed the manager had closed it, so they didn't ask questions. Inside, Neil was about to curse whoever dared shut his door.
Suddenly, everything before his eyes turned hazy, as if he'd fallen into an illusion. In reality, Evan had activated a Painting Array.
Neil Kane was startled. "Who is it? Show yourself!"
"You noticed so quickly? Not bad—the Devil Realm's managers aren't completely useless," Evan said with a laugh.
"Who are you, really?" Hearing an unfamiliar voice, and realizing someone could enter silently, Neil grew wary—such power was no small matter.
"Who I am doesn't matter. What matters is, tell me where the gates connecting the Devil Realm and Immortal Realm are located," Evan asked.
"You're from the Immortal Realm?" Neil Kane's first reaction was shock.
"That's right. You could say so," Evan replied without hesitation.
"Never thought someone from the Immortal Realm would come here. Truly unexpected," Neil Kane marveled.
"Enough talk. Tell me the location, or you might not live to see the next moment," Evan said with a smile.
Neil Kane started feeling nervous, but he knew he couldn't let Evan escape—otherwise, the consequences would be dire. Yet if he refused to talk, he'd die even faster. After thinking it over, he said, "Fine, I can tell you."
"Go ahead," Evan said.
"But you have to promise to let me go. Otherwise, I won't say a thing," Neil Kane insisted.
Evan laughed, "You want to bargain with me?"
"If I'm dead either way, what's the point of telling you if you won't promise?" Neil Kane said.
"Alright. If you tell me, I guarantee you won't die," Evan said.
"There's a map on my desk. It shows eighteen moving gates. With that map, you can find them," Neil Kane said.
"Oh?" Evan glanced over and saw a map on the desk. Sure enough, it marked eighteen locations with glowing circles around a row of planets.
After finding the map, Evan picked it up and smiled. "Thanks."
"Now let me go," Neil Kane said.
"I promised you'd live, but I never said I'd let you go. So you'll stay here," Evan said. With a flash, he appeared behind Neil Kane and sealed his entire body before Neil could react. Then Evan vanished.
No one knew what happened inside the room. Neil Kane lay paralyzed in the mist, cursing in his heart, "Damn it, you'll get what's coming to you."
Soon Neil Kane calmed down. "Hmph, you think getting the map makes you safe? Kid, you're dead wrong. When the map is used by someone else, it's detected. Just wait for the Demon Sovereigns to track you down."
Evan had no idea the map was tampered with. Clearly, the Devil Realm's operation was airtight—any disappearance or theft of the map could be sensed instantly.
At that moment, although Evan had taken the map away, on a nearby planet, a Demon Sovereign who had been meditating suddenly opened his eyes and muttered, "Strange, why has a map moved?"
After muttering to himself, the Demon Sovereign flashed over to the building where the map had gone missing.
When the people outside saw a Demon Sovereign arrive, they hurriedly greeted him, "Acting Demon Lord."
"Where's your manager?" the Demon Sovereign asked.
"He's inside drinking," someone replied.
"Drinking? Why is the door closed?" The Acting Demon Lord sensed something was wrong. "No idea," the person replied, and the others were just as puzzled.
Feeling uneasy, the Acting Demon Lord pushed open the door. Seeing the scene inside, he was shocked. "Is this what you call drinking? Has no one been here?"
The others had no idea what was happening. When they looked into the room, they were stunned: it was filled with mist, making it impossible to see what was going on. But they insisted no one had entered.
Hearing no one had entered, the Acting Demon Lord was even more shocked. It would take tremendous skill to evade all these guards. To solve the mystery, he had to clear away the mist.
So the Acting Demon Lord entered, broke through several times, and finally cleared the Painting Array. Neil Kane lay on the floor. When Neil saw the Acting Demon Lord, he was secretly delighted, but couldn't speak.
The Acting Demon Lord asked, "What happened here?"
Neil Kane remained silent, still lying there, eyes staring ahead.
"I'm asking you! Why aren't you talking?" the Acting Demon Lord said angrily when Neil didn't respond.
Still no answer. The Acting Demon Lord, furious and about to teach Neil a lesson, discovered Neil's body wouldn't move at all—no matter what he did, Neil was completely immobilized. "Damn it, what's going on?" the Acting Demon Lord exclaimed.
Neil Kane couldn't speak, so no one knew what had happened inside. The Acting Demon Lord checked the scene and found the map missing, realizing the intruder had come for the map. As long as the map was in that person's hands, he could track it down quickly.
Without another word, the Acting Demon Lord flashed away, leaving Neil Kane lying motionless on the floor, staring ahead, full of unspoken thoughts.
Evan had no idea the map could be tracked, so he waited at one of the gates for it to appear. According to the markings, this gate appeared for half an hour at a time, with a ten-hour interval between appearances. Evan didn't know when it had last appeared, so he could only wait.
As he waited, a powerful aura suddenly approached from behind. Evan was startled—it was the aura of a Demon Sovereign. Invisibility was useless now, and it was too late to escape; the newcomer's divine sense had already locked onto Evan.
The Acting Demon Lord stopped in front of Evan and asked, "Which faction of the Immortal Realm are you from?"
"I'm just a Devil Realm rogue cultivator," Evan pretended.
"A rogue? Kid, you took the map and still claim to be a rogue? That's something no one is allowed to touch," the Acting Demon Lord snorted.
Evan was confused—how did the other party know he had the map? Maybe the map had been tampered with. Evan frowned.
Seeing Evan hesitate, the Acting Demon Lord said, "Don't just stand there. The map has a tracking function—once it leaves its assigned location, I can easily find it. So don't think you can take it away."
"So that's how it is. I didn't expect the Devil Realm to have such tricks," Evan sighed as his cover was blown.
"Tell me, which faction of the Immortal Realm are you from? If it's nothing serious, I might spare your life," the Acting Demon Lord said.
"I took the map, so I don't need your mercy. Since you're here, you'll stay with me. If you report to other Demon Sovereigns, my mission here will be exposed," Evan said.
"Stay with you? Kid, you're bold, but that won't change your fate," the Acting Demon Lord said.
"Is that so? Let's see how strong you are as a Demon Sovereign," Evan laughed.
"Arrogant! I'll see just how much you have to be arrogant about," the Acting Demon Lord snorted. He stepped forward and struck at Evan, who countered. Their palms collided, each retreating a distance.
Seeing that Evan's cultivation hadn't reached Demon Sovereign level but his strength matched one, the Acting Demon Lord was baffled. "Your cultivation hasn't reached Demon Sovereign, so how can you be so strong?" "What, are you scared?" Evan asked.
"Scared? Kid, if you think I'm scared, that's laughable. I'm just puzzled. But once I subdue you, you'll talk." The Acting Demon Lord said, then unleashed twin fists that erupted in massive flames.
The Demon Sovereign's flames were incredibly powerful, nearly covering the entire area. The intense aura alarmed people on nearby planets.
Evan knew that if this continued, their location would soon be exposed. He had to end the fight quickly, so without hesitation, he used Sacred Ice to extinguish the flames, then encased the Demon Sovereign in a layer of ice. That wasn't enough—Evan summoned all four妖尊, each landing a blow that instantly crippled the Demon Sovereign, leaving only his drifting soul, which Yara Lowe collected.
The Acting Demon Lord was stunned. Evan could summon so many experts at once, and his heart filled with fear. Once his body was gone and his soul controlled, recovery was nearly impossible. He even saw other defeated Immortal Sovereigns' souls, realizing Evan was terrifying—able to subdue so many Immortal Sovereigns.
After finishing off the Acting Demon Lord, Evan memorized the map, then threw it away—since carrying it would only bring trouble.