This sudden turn of events startled the middle-aged man—he'd never seen anything like it before. He stared suspiciously at Evan Lin and demanded, "Kid, is this your doing?"
Evan Lin replied with a mocking grin, "What are you talking about? I have no idea what you mean. Is this really how powerful your spatial domain’s flames are?
Sure, the fire’s strong enough—maybe good for cooking a meal. But as for killing someone? I don’t think it’s up to the job."
"You! Kid, don’t get cocky—let me show you the true power of my earth wall!" As soon as the middle-aged man finished speaking, he activated the earth element in his domain. But the result left him so frustrated he nearly coughed up blood.
A tiny earthen wall, barely one or two meters wide, appeared in midair. It might be enough to kill an ordinary person, but against an Immortal at the Ninth-Heaven Arch-Immortal Realm, it was a joke.
Evan Lin laughed, "Wow, your earth wall is really something! Go ahead, try attacking me with it—let’s see if you can crush me underneath! Hahahaha!"
The middle-aged man knew for certain his spatial domain had been tampered with by this brat, though he had no idea how. But being mocked like this was intolerable. "You’re way too arrogant, kid. I’ll split you in two right now!"
With that, the spatial domain vanished, and a several-meter-long golden staff appeared in his hand. He swung it with blinding speed, sending a wave of staff-shadows crashing toward Evan Lin like a tidal wave.
The staff-shadows instantly changed the color of the sky, fierce winds erupted, and the surrounding space rippled with powerful energy.
Evan Lin instantly flashed backward. The earth element he’d gathered transformed into a towering wall, dozens of meters high, which he sent crashing toward the middle-aged man.
Behind the earthen wall, another enormous fireball materialized. Evan Lin instantly activated teleportation and vanished from the scene—he wasn’t about to fight a mid-stage Immortal Lord head-on. That would be suicide, and he wasn’t that stupid.
When the middle-aged man saw the earthen wall coming at him, he immediately realized what had happened: the earth element in his own domain had been hijacked by this kid. It was clear that Evan had never been truly trapped by his spatial domain—he’d just been pretending the whole time, all to set up his escape.
The staff-shadows smashed into the earthen wall, shattering it into countless fragments. A violent energy storm pulverized the debris into dust. At that moment, the fireball surged forward, catching the middle-aged man off guard—he had to hurriedly counter with a palm strike.
The fireball exploded, turning into a shower of flames that scattered through the air. Quite a few landed on the middle-aged man, and even his immortal beast mount was caught in the blast, leaving him in a total mess.
"You little punk, I’ll tear you apart!" the middle-aged man roared, his face twisted with fury. His immortal beast seemed to sense its master’s rage and flapped its wings, vanishing into the sky.
With that, the spectacle in Coldriver City came to an end. Evan Lin instantly became the hottest topic in town, with rumors spreading and exaggerating his feats until he sounded like a living legend.
Not long after Evan and the middle-aged man left, a massive gray bird appeared over Coldriver City, carrying another middle-aged man on its back.
He gazed down at the crowd gathered in Coldriver City, then muttered to himself:
"Don’t tell me I got here too late and that kid’s already been killed? If that’s the case, I might be done for too."
He leaped off the bird’s back, landed in front of a Golden Immortal, and grabbed him. "Where’s the youth who was fighting here just now? Was he killed?"
The Golden Immortal was completely immobilized and glanced nervously at the middle-aged man. "That youth already escaped. He’s ridiculously strong—are you his friend?"
The middle-aged man paused, then said, "That’s right, I’m his friend. You should know, he’s a major figure in the Martial Spirit Dominion. Hurry and tell me which way he went—who dared to try and harm him?"
The Golden Immortal was even more shocked—he hadn’t expected the youth to be from the Martial Spirit Dominion. No wonder his strength was so terrifying; that place really was full of monsters.
He pointed straight ahead and said, "He flew off in that direction. You’d better hurry—he’s being chased by a mid-stage Immortal Lord."
"A mid-stage Immortal Lord? Damn it! Why didn’t you say so earlier? If anything happens to him, I’ll wipe Coldriver City off the map!" the middle-aged man shouted in panic.
With a flash, he soared into the sky, mounted his Celestial Vulture, and disappeared from sight in an instant.
The people of Coldriver City were stunned once again. To think they’d see a powerhouse from the Martial Spirit Dominion in their lifetimes—and one so young, too.
Meanwhile, Evan Lin was pushing both Windshift and teleportation to their limits, but he still couldn’t shake the Immortal Lord from Pengzhou City. Before long, the man caught up to him.
Evan Lin stopped and faced the furious middle-aged man. "Your speed’s still too slow—you actually chased me this long. So, how do you like the battlefield I picked?"
The random comment left the middle-aged man a bit confused. "Kid, your escape techniques are pretty good. You really made me chase you for ages. And yeah, this place is a fine spot."
"You picked this place as your burial ground, so at least you know your limits."
"Wrong. This isn’t my burial ground—it’s yours. Looks like you’re satisfied with the spot, so all my searching along the way wasn’t in vain," Evan Lin laughed.
At the same time, Evan was rapidly gathering lightning-element power from the sky, and ordered Tom Chu and Jade Chu to be ready to defend him—facing a mid-stage Immortal Lord was no joke.
The middle-aged man glanced at Evan Lin. "Kid, are you stalling for time? You think someone’s coming to save you?"
"You think I need to stall for time to deal with you? I’m just wondering if killing a mid-stage Immortal Lord is a waste—maybe I should let you live," Evan Lin said.
"You’re way too arrogant, kid. I hate arrogant fools the most—prepare to die!" The middle-aged man had no patience for Evan’s trash talk. His staff smashed down, unleashing a storm of staff-shadows.
Evan Lin didn’t back down—he unleashed a full-strength Star-Cleave, wanting to test just how far his attack power lagged behind a mid-stage Immortal Lord.
Staff-shadows filled the sky, sword-qi slashed wildly—both attacks were earth-shattering, shaking the very space around them as they collided head-on.
Boom! The deafening crash echoed as sword-qi and staff-shadows clashed, a storm of energy spreading in all directions. Both combatants were struck by the force of the collision and the backlash, instantly blasted backward.