Evan Yang glanced at Hannah Nangong's smile and shook his head helplessly. "You saw it yourself—your strength simply isn't enough to take us down, so you might as well head back. We don't want to fight you, but letting you leave so easily would be too simple."
After speaking, Evan manipulated something on their bodies, then smiled and said, "You'll spend a day here."
Those people stood there like puppets, watching Evan and Hannah leave at their leisure.
Not long after they left, the man who had rescued the bully appeared again. Frowning, he muttered, "Damn, I need to lure Hannah Nangong away first—otherwise, it's hard to deal with him."
After his muttering, he went to Bullard Manor to notify them, and had people carry everyone back.
As for Evan and Hannah, they naturally went to investigate the directions of the two star systems.
The next day, at Bullard Manor, the bully finally recovered his mobility and raged, "I'm going to kill that guy!"
"Bullard, don't be impulsive," said the man.
"Quinn, tell me—what should we do?" asked Young Master Bullard. The man he spoke to was none other than Quinn Qing.
"Let me analyze them. That guy's cultivation is only sixth-tier Earth-Immortal, but his strength matches a fourth- or fifth-tier Heavenly-Immortal. So, you need at least a sixth-tier Heavenly-Immortal to deal with him alone. But the woman is trouble—she's already peak Profound-Immortal. You have to lure her away, or else it's very hard to handle that guy," Quinn Qing explained.
This Young Master Bullard—known as Bullard Duo—had always been the Bullard Clan's treasure since childhood, so he was naturally arrogant. This time he had bitten off more than he could chew, and with his father absent, he could only listen to Quinn Qing's analysis. Quinn, meanwhile, was happy to borrow the Bullard Clan's power to deal with Evan and Hannah; even if trouble arose later, it wouldn't fall on him.
"In that case, we first need enough manpower to track them down—they've already been gone nearly a day," Bullard Duo said.
"Don't worry. I placed a tracking method on them; I can follow their movements," Quinn Qing replied.
"Oh? That's pretty impressive," Bullard Duo exclaimed, half skeptical, half amazed.
"It's a little trick I learned. As long as they don't notice, I can track them," Quinn Qing said confidently.
"Alright, I'll go gather the team and set out," Bullard Duo declared, rising to find people. Soon, five were assembled. At first Quinn thought it was too few, but Bullard Duo smugly pointed, "See the guy in the blue Daoist robe?"
"Yeah, what about him?" Quinn Qing asked curiously.
"His cultivation has reached first-tier Immortal Lord. Handling that woman shouldn't be a problem. As for the other four—two Profound-Immortals, two Heavenly-Immortals—they're more than enough to deal with them," Bullard Duo said with a grin.
"Excellent," Quinn Qing said, delighted. He hadn't expected the clan to have an Immortal Lord, and was now truly impressed.
"Let's go," Bullard Duo urged, eager to capture Evan and Hannah—planning to torment the man and "enjoy" the woman.
Quinn Qing was secretly pleased. Although he could mobilize strong cultivators from his own family, he preferred not to reveal his identity. As long as he kept using the Bullard Clan’s power to deal with Evan and Hannah, he’d have more than enough leverage.
Evan and Hannah had no idea Quinn Qing was tracking them, and the method he used was quite strange.
At least for now, Evan hadn’t noticed Quinn Qing following them. He and Hannah were heading toward the Snowveil Star System. Luckily, the Snowveil Star System was marked on the map, while Woodstar only had a few planets listed; most were missing.
So Evan and Hannah chose the Snowveil Star System first. It took them a few days, using teleportation arrays and traveling the distance, to arrive at Snowveil.
As expected, upon entering the outermost planet of the Snowveil Star System, they immediately felt the cold—snow was everywhere.
"Wow, it's really cold," Hannah Nangong exclaimed, still not used to it.
"Are you alright?" Evan asked, curious about her reaction.
"I'm fine, just not used to it at first. I'm much better now." She circulated her cultivation, generating warmth, and her body quickly adjusted.
As for Evan, he was immune to heat and cold—his body, protected by the Sacred Flame, naturally warmed up, so he had no problem. "Let's go. We'll check out the nearest city and see where these old toads usually appear."
"Alright," Hannah replied.
So the two of them flew over the snow, realizing that the teleportation array was quite far from the nearest city—so far, in fact, that they still couldn't see any sign of it.
"Evan, are we going to get lost?" Hannah Nangong asked, worried.
"Don't worry, I already checked—there's a city ahead," Evan replied.
"Oh? How come I didn't notice?" Hannah asked curiously.
"It's a secret North Sect technique—you can't see it." Evan smiled. Earlier, he had sent out a flock of Phantom Spirit Birds to scout ahead, so he wouldn't get lost.
"So that's how it is. I have to say, your North Sect really is a mysterious place," Hannah remarked.
"Yeah, I've heard that long ago it was a famous sect, but for some reason it was besieged by experts and ended up as the small, obscure sect it is now," Evan explained.
"I've always been curious about that. When I found out you were from North Sect, it felt strange. But with you, I'm sure North Sect will shine again," Hannah said with a smile.
"You think too highly of me. I'm just a small figure," Evan replied, smiling.
"No way. Your potential is huge—sixth-tier Earth-Immortal challenging fifth-tier Heavenly-Immortal, the first ever. I bet your legend is spreading all over Ethereal Sanctuary, and plenty of people are itching to step on you," Hannah said.
"Step on me? They wish. They'll need the luck to even try," Evan said with a smile. He knew leaving Ethereal Sanctuary was the right choice: inside, experts were everywhere, and many disliked him, so danger was constant. But out here, even if he faced trouble, he had plenty of ways to escape or fight back.
[Irrelevant system message about chapter continuation—skip in translation.]
Hannah Nangong had gone from naive to genuinely impressed by Evan's confidence.
"But there's something I've been meaning to ask," Hannah said.
"Go ahead," Evan replied.
"If I hadn't asked you for help, would you have helped me anyway?" Hannah asked.
Evan didn't quite understand what she meant, but instead of answering directly, he smiled. "If you were in danger, I'd help you."
"Me, in danger?" Hannah was puzzled by his words.
"Enough about that. Let's speed up—we're almost there," Evan said, changing the subject.
"Okay," Hannah replied, following Evan forward—but her mind lingered on their conversation, unable to calm down.
After flying for several hours, they finally spotted the city. Everything was covered in snow—if you didn’t look closely, you’d think the buildings were just snow mounds. It took them quite a while to reach the city gates.
The city wasn’t deserted. Even in the snow, people moved about. There were no stalls on the streets; everything was inside the shops, and warm air drifted from every window.
"Let’s find an inn, sit down, and gather some information," Evan suggested.
"Alright," Hannah replied, snapping out of her thoughts.
They walked through the snow for a while and arrived at an inn called Snow Arrival Inn.
"Snow Arrival Inn? That’s an interesting name," Evan said with a smile.
Hannah felt the same, so the two walked in. There weren’t many guests, but the innkeeper was welcoming. As soon as they entered, he greeted them, "Are you here to stay?"
"Stay? Not yet—we just want to sit for a bit," Evan replied with a smile.
"Oh, what do you need?" the innkeeper asked warmly.
"Do you have any good food here? Bring us your best," Evan said.
The innkeeper smiled. "Alright." He immediately had someone bring out some good dishes.
Evan and Hannah enjoyed the food, but kept their ears and eyes open, paying attention to everything around them.
But they didn’t learn much—there were few people, and most just came to drink and warm up.
Seeing they couldn’t find anything useful, Evan called the innkeeper over and asked with a smile, "Innkeeper, do you know where the old toads are?"
The innkeeper was intrigued. "You’re here to look for toads, too?"
"Yes," Evan nodded.
"In that case, you’ve come to the right place. Every month, people here organize expeditions to search for toads, and there are always clues provided. I suggest you stay for a few days—the next event is coming up soon," the innkeeper explained.
"Is that so? How many days until then?" Evan asked, curious.
"Let me check... About five days," the innkeeper calculated.
"Alright, we'll stay here for five days then," Evan decided after thinking it over.
"Alright, I'll prepare a top room for you both," the innkeeper said with a smile.
Evan replied, "Make it two rooms, please."
The innkeeper was momentarily stunned, then glanced at them awkwardly. "Sorry, I'll get right on it."
Hannah was also surprised before speaking, "Actually, one room is enough. We're not even sleeping."
"Not sleeping is one thing, but you're a woman. I can't ruin your reputation. If you meet a good man in the future, you might want to marry him," Evan said with a smile.
Hannah hadn't expected Evan to be so considerate. At that moment, all her old misunderstandings about him vanished.
"What's wrong?" Evan asked, noticing her expression.
"I used to think you were a rogue," Hannah said, smiling.
"I told you, it was a misunderstanding. That day, you were lying in the weeds, poisoned. I helped you detoxify, but when you woke up, you thought I was a rogue," Evan replied, embarrassed.
"I was too impulsive then. I thought there were no men like you in the world," Hannah said with a smile.
"Oh? Was it because of the person who poisoned you?" Evan asked, curious.
"How did you know?" Hannah asked, surprised.