Hannah Nangong and Evan Yang entered the inn together, followed by the three others, who sat just a few tables away.
"Why are they still following us?" Hannah Nangong asked curiously.
"No idea, you'd have to ask them." Evan Yang ignored them. "If they want to follow, let them. If they're capable, they can even follow us to Celestial Resonance Sect."
"It really is strange," Hannah Nangong said, puzzled.
"Alright, let's not talk about them. Let's just drink our wine." Evan Yang said.
Hannah Nangong nodded, so she and Evan Yang drank some wine and ate a few snacks. The three others did the same, not leaving either.
Time passed bit by bit. Evan Yang said, "I'm going out for a walk."
"I'll go with you," Hannah Nangong said. Evan Yang shook his head and sent her a sound transmission, smiling, "No need. I just want to test those three's strength."
"Didn't you say you wouldn't bother with them?" Hannah Nangong asked, curious.
"I really wasn't planning to pay attention to them just now, but since there's nothing else to do, I might as well kill some time and learn a bit about them," Evan Yang said.
Hannah Nangong thought for a moment. Evan Yang's strength was enough to face even peak Xuan-Immortals without fear, so she figured nothing would happen. "Go ahead then," she said.
Evan Yang nodded, got up, and left the inn. The three others saw him leave, stood up as well, and watched him go, then followed after him.
Since the city was relatively small, Evan Yang and the others quickly left its bounds.
In the outskirts, one of the three asked, "Why did you lead us out here?"
"Of course I want to know who you people really are." Evan Yang smiled, and as he spoke, flames erupted, surging toward them.
The three were stunned for a moment, then quickly dodged aside with impressive speed. Their strength was at least Immortal King level. Evan Yang was intrigued—three Immortal Kings at once could easily take him away, but they hadn't tried, so he figured they weren't villains.
"Brother Yang, what's the meaning of this?" one of them asked, a bit displeased. They had tried to invite Evan Yang out of goodwill, but he treated them like this.
"It's nothing. I just wanted to check your strength. I didn't expect all three of you to be Immortal King level," Evan Yang said.
"Oh? So that's all?" one of them asked.
"Yeah. So tell me, which sect are you from? Maybe I'll actually go with you. If you keep following us without saying anything, how am I supposed to trust you?" Evan Yang said.
The three exchanged glances. Finally, one decided, "Alright, fine, I'll tell you."
"Go ahead," Evan Yang prompted.
"We're from the Celestial Mechanism Sect," the man said.
"Celestial Mechanism Sect?" Evan Yang had no idea what kind of sect that was, but since they'd answered, he had to respond.
So Evan Yang said, "How about this—I still have things to take care of. Once I'm done, I'll come find you. Sound good?"
"How long will that take?" one of them asked.
"Can't say for sure. If things go smoothly, maybe a few days. If not, it could take tens of thousands of years." Evan Yang thought about his goal in coming to Celestial Resonance Sect. If he found the teleportation array, he'd quickly find his father and wrap things up. If not, he'd have to search on his own, and who knew how long that would take.
"What?" The three looked shocked. Wasn't he messing with them?
"Don't believe me? You can just keep following. Don't think I'm trying to fool you," Evan Yang said.
The three exchanged glances again. One said, "Then we'll keep following you."
Evan Yang hadn't expected to suddenly pick up three bodyguards. He couldn't control them, but if he got into trouble, they'd probably help. He was secretly pleased.
The three had no idea; they thought Evan Yang really meant for them to follow until his business was done.
"Alright, I'm off. Suit yourselves," Evan Yang said with a smile, then left for the city, the three naturally trailing behind.
As soon as Evan Yang entered the city, he stumbled upon something interesting—a crowd had gathered in one spot. Curious, he walked over.
Someone was running a stall, displaying a variety of treasures. All were sealed, so no one could tell what kind of treasures they actually were.
The merchant had a sign: "One treasure, five hundred thousand top-grade Immortal Source. If you're lucky, you might get a fifth-tier or higher treasure. If not, you won't lose out too badly."
It was a kind of gambling sale—if you were lucky, you'd get a powerful treasure; if not, you'd end up with something that barely counted as an immortal artifact.
So it attracted a lot of people. Those who couldn't afford truly powerful treasures naturally wanted to try their luck with some Immortal Source, hoping for a windfall.
Many people eagerly started searching and picking treasures. The lucky ones got some high-tier treasures; the unlucky ones got nothing special. Some were happy, others angry.
Evan Yang scanned the treasures out of curiosity and found he seemed to sense something—a feeling from his North Sect art.
Evan Yang had unconsciously cultivated his North Sect art to the ninth tier. At this level, he was particularly sensitive to items with spiritual presence, so as he stood among the sealed treasures, he could faintly sense the subtle spirituality of one.
Evan Yang pointed to it and said, "I'll take this one."
"Alright, pay the Immortal Source and it's yours," the stall owner said. Evan Yang nodded, but just as he was about to pay, a young man about his age tossed out a million top-grade Immortal Source and said, "I'll take this one."
Now Evan Yang frowned. "Brother, I was buying this first."
"You were first? Did you pay yet?" the man asked.
Evan Yang smiled, "Everyone saw I asked first. You can ask the owner."
The owner was in a tough spot. Evan Yang was alone, but the young man had several people behind him, and a million was more profitable than five hundred thousand. Still, he didn't want to lose face by denying Evan Yang, so he hesitated and stammered, "Well..."
"See? The owner hasn't agreed to sell it to you. You'd better take your five hundred thousand and leave," the man said.
There was no way Evan Yang would back down, so he smiled, "Owner, that's not right. You just told me to pay. We already agreed."
The owner was troubled, so he said, "There are so many treasures here. Why do you both insist on picking this one? Just choose another."
"No way," both said in unison.
That made the lively atmosphere turn awkward. The owner's face showed he was stuck—no matter who he chose, he'd be in trouble.
"Don't make things hard for the owner. How about this: I'll pick someone to duel you. If you win, it's yours, and I'll pay for you. If you lose, it's mine, and you pay for me," the young man said confidently.
"Oh? What kind of duel?" Evan Yang asked with a smile.
"It's simple. No fighting here, or we'd wreck the place. Let's just use qi," the young man said with a smile.
Hearing 'qi,' Evan Yang paused, then smiled, "No problem."
No one knew where Evan Yang's confidence came from, but they were all curious about his strength—especially the three watching from not far away. They'd heard Evan Yang could defeat peak Xuan-Immortals, so this was a chance to see for themselves.
The young man said, "Xiao Lin, you go."
"Alright." Someone stepped forward. He was only a Xuan-Immortal, and in the young man's eyes, Evan Yang was at most a Celestial Immortal.
Evan Yang was curious—these people didn't know his cultivation level, so why were they so confident they could beat him? And how did they know the sealed treasure had spirituality, insisting on fighting him for it?
"Shall we start?" Evan Yang asked.
"Of course. Xiao Lin, begin," the young man said with a smile.
Xiao Lin released his aura—he was only a fifth-tier Xuan-Immortal. The crowd stepped back, and Evan Yang released his own aura: eighth-tier Celestial Immortal.
Eighth-tier Celestial Immortal versus fifth-tier Xuan-Immortal—everyone thought Evan Yang was sure to lose.
So Evan Yang was considered doomed to lose. In the young man's eyes, Evan Yang had no chance, and he was secretly amused.
But unexpectedly, Evan Yang's qi was weaker at first, but then it grew stronger and pushed the other back.
The crowd watched as Evan Yang's qi slowly overwhelmed Xiao Lin, putting tremendous pressure on him.
The young man was stunned, and so were the onlookers. Xiao Lin, the fifth-tier Xuan-Immortal, was blasted away and struggled to get up.
"You—" the young man exclaimed in shock.
"Thanks," Evan Yang said, putting away his Immortal Source and picking up the sealed treasure, leaving everyone stunned. It wasn't until the owner snapped out of it and said, "Young master, will you pay?"
"Of course," the young man said angrily, threw down five hundred thousand, and left.
But the more he thought about it, the angrier he got. "Follow that kid," he ordered.
"Alright," someone replied.
So that person left to tail Evan Yang, while the young man still fumed, "Damn it."
"Senior brother, what now?" someone asked.
"I wanted to buy something nice as a gift, but it all fell through. Not only did I miss out, I even ended up paying for someone else," the young man said angrily.
"Who was that guy? Maybe we could buy something else," someone suggested.
"Forget it, I'm not in the mood. Let's go find our people first. We'll deal with that kid later," the young man said angrily.
Evan Yang noticed the tail, so he ignored him. The three others knew the man was following Evan Yang, and seeing Evan Yang ignore him, they didn't bother either.
So Evan Yang wandered around, messing with the guy, making him chase after him every time.
Eventually, Evan Yang arrived at an inn, walked inside, and unexpectedly ran into the same group from before.
The young man hadn't expected Evan Yang to show up at the inn, so he glared and said, "Kid, what are you doing here?"
Evan Yang was curious—how could these people predict where he'd go? He smiled, "I was about to ask you the same thing!"