"Trash." Evan Yang didn't react with fear the way Easton Situ expected—he just laughed.
"You? Filthy beggar, watch how I break your legs!" Easton Situ cursed furiously, seeing Evan Yang remain stubborn even when death was near.
"Him?" Evan Yang pointed at the man standing not far from him.
His words not only mocked Easton Situ but also angered the man. Before Easton could give the order, the man released his aura, ready for a fight with Evan Yang. But Evan just laughed, "Is that all?" Compared to Warren Wong, this guy was still weaker. Even Warren wasn't his match—so how could this one be?
"Is this guy crazy?" Easton Situ wondered, seeing Evan Yang laughing in the face of such pressure. What happened next left him stunned: Evan Yang darted forward with incredible speed—his Phantom Step technique. The man had no time to react before witnessing something bizarre: Evan's two daggers stacked together, stabbing straight into his dantian.
"Pfft." The man stared in disbelief at his abdomen, hands gripping the blood-soaked daggers. He asked unwillingly, "Impossible." Just like that, a peak Foundation-Building expert died at Evan Yang's hands.
Easton Situ retreated in disbelief. "Impossible! You're only mid Foundation-Building—how could you kill him in one move?"
"Nothing's impossible. Now it's your turn." Evan Yang pulled out his daggers, ready to strike Easton Situ. But Easton quickly took out a protective charm—a small jade pendant. After infusing it with spiritual power, a halo of light surrounded him.
Clang, clang, clang—Evan Yang tried three times, but his daggers couldn't pierce the light halo.
Easton Situ clung desperately to the jade pendant, feeding it spiritual energy while staring at Evan Yang in terror. "My mother won't let you off!"
Evan Yang put away his daggers and examined the strange light halo, even reaching out to touch it. Easton Situ, frightened, stepped back, and the halo shifted to follow him.
"Your mother really went all out—giving you such a powerful item." Evan Yang confirmed the halo wasn't ordinary and sneered.
"So you'd better not touch me. Once my mother arrives, you're dead." Easton Situ desperately hoped Evan Yang would leave.
But Evan Yang wasn't stupid. He knew the pendant was only defensive, not offensive. "I'd like to see whether you die first, or your mother arrives first."
After speaking, Evan Yang searched for a weak spot around Easton Situ, making Easton tremble all over, terrified that the pendant might have a flaw Evan could exploit.
No matter how he tried, Evan Yang couldn't break through the strange light halo. He had to admit the pendant's defensive power was impressive.
"You can't hurt me at all. You might as well give up." Easton Situ trembled but tried to muster courage.
"Oh? You're that sure?" Evan Yang really couldn't do anything to the artifact; even his strongest attacks couldn't break it.
Easton Situ didn't know what Evan Yang was thinking and continued, "So you'd better leave. When my mother gets here, you're finished."
"I've been here so long—shouldn't your mother have arrived by now? Why hasn't she shown up yet?" Evan Yang sneered.
"Don't get cocky. I already sent a message to my mother—she'll be here soon. You're dead meat," Easton Situ threatened, still trying to protect himself.
"Sent a message?" Evan Yang muttered, but he didn't stop moving—he started digging a pit at Easton Situ's feet.
"What are you doing?" Easton Situ felt uneasy as he saw Evan Yang digging around his feet, a sense of dread creeping in.
"Heh, you'll find out soon enough." Evan Yang kept digging while grinning. For a normal person, digging a pit would take a long time, but for Evan, it was a breeze—he quickly made a huge pit around Easton Situ.
At this point, Easton Situ couldn't run—if he tried, Evan Yang would block him. The jade pendant could defend, but not attack, so he was completely trapped.
Once the pit was ready, Evan Yang grinned, "Down you go." Like herding a duck, he shoved Easton Situ into the pit.
Easton Situ wasn't stupid—he refused to jump in. So Evan Yang broke the ground under his feet, and with a loud 'bang,' Easton fell straight into the pit Evan had dug. Evan looked down and said, "Don't think I'll let you go just because you have a shield." Then he shoveled all the dirt back in, piling on more and more rocks just to be sure.
"Whew, finally done." Evan Yang lay down next to the rocks, laughing.
Angry shouts came from underground. "Filthy beggar, my mother won't let you off!" Now and then, Easton's voice sounded a little scared.
"What kind of jade did your mother give you? Even buried under all these rocks, it still protects you." Evan Yang was more and more curious about the pendant, but there was nothing he could do with Easton clutching it so tightly.
"Filthy beggar, if you have guts, don't run!" Right now, Easton Situ was like a bug crushed under a mountain, yelling furiously. Normally, his cultivation wasn't even his own—he just relied on his special status to bully others. After being taught so many lessons by Evan Yang today, his former arrogance was long gone.
"Do I need your permission to leave?" Evan Yang laughed, then turned and headed toward Jace Situ, curious how his fight was going.
Arriving at the edge of Jace Situ's battlefield, Evan Yang finally witnessed the spectacle of two people fighting in the air. "So this is what flying combat after Core Formation looks like?" he wondered.
Core Formation is a huge leap above Foundation-Building—not just in cultivation, but in being able to fly and use secret arts like sound transmission. Watching the two fight overhead, Evan Yang felt like a student stealing a lesson. "I need to reach Core Formation soon. Then I can fly wherever I want."
Time passed slowly as Jace Situ and his opponent remained evenly matched. Evan Yang could only wait below, but when he started to worry that Second Madam Situ might send reinforcements, he decided to help Jace out.
"Heh, tough luck, kid. That's what you get for siding with those people." Watching the man above, Evan Yang drew a dagger and hurled it at him.
The man, locked in a heated battle with Jace Situ, suddenly sensed a strong aura from below and dodged the dagger just in time. Jace seized the opportunity to land a few heavy punches.
After taking several punches, the man thought Jace Situ had hidden helpers and quickly flew off, vanishing without a trace.
"Coward," Evan Yang muttered when he saw the man flee.
Jace Situ descended from the air and asked curiously, "Brother Evan, are you alright?"
"I'm fine. Did he leave?" Evan Yang asked curiously.
"Yeah, looks like he was scared off. But you—how did you suddenly show up here?" Jace Situ asked, surprised.
"I saw you hadn't come back for a while, so I came to check—and ended up scaring him a bit," Evan Yang chuckled.
"Where are the others?" Jace Situ looked around, noticing no one else was nearby.
Evan Yang explained what had just happened. After listening, Jace Situ asked, both shocked and amused, "You—you really killed that peak Foundation-Building guy?"
"Yeah, took a lot of effort to deal with him," Evan Yang said, pretending it was difficult.
"And my little brother?" Jace Situ remembered that before leaving, Easton Situ and the man had teamed up against Evan Yang.
"He's in the ground," Evan Yang said, pointing at the big rock behind him.
"In the ground? Where?" Jace Situ looked at the big rock behind Evan Yang but saw no sign of anyone.
Seeing Jace Situ didn't understand, Evan Yang led him to the mountaintop.
When they arrived, Jace Situ saw the man Evan Yang had killed in one move. There was a wound at the dantian, but no other signs of fighting or injuries. He looked at Evan Yang in shock. "You killed him?"
"He was too careless, so I finished him off in one go," Evan Yang nodded, deliberately blaming the man's carelessness to hide his own strength.
Hearing it was due to carelessness, Jace Situ nodded in understanding, then asked again, "Where's my little brother?"
"Under the rock!" Evan Yang pointed below the boulder.
Not believing it, Jace Situ walked over—and sure enough, complaints came from below. "Big brother, let me out! I won't dare misbehave again!"
"How did you pull that off?" Jace Situ asked Evan Yang in disbelief, ignoring Easton Situ's shouting from below.
"Here's how it happened." Evan Yang explained how Easton Situ had a jade pendant. After hearing the story, Jace Situ was shocked. "That pendant is in his hands?"
"What kind of treasure is it?" Evan Yang was always curious about the pendant's power to protect someone so well.
"It's one of Joyhaven Palace's sect treasures—the Soaring Dragon Pendant. They say it can defend against attacks from cultivators two major realms higher," Jace Situ said, full of envy.
"Seriously? That kind of artifact exists?" Evan Yang couldn't believe it. It was the first time he'd heard of a treasure whose defense scaled with the user's cultivation—if Easton Situ was at Foundation-Building, would only a Core-Breaching expert be able to break through?
Jace Situ scratched his head and laughed, "That's just what I've heard."
"It's probably true. Even if it's not two major realms, it's at least one," Evan Yang said, thinking back to how frustrated he'd been attacking that light shield.
Jace Situ had never actually seen the pendant's power, so he couldn't be sure—he could only go by rumors.
Buried under the dirt, Easton Situ kept begging, "Big brother, please let me out!"
"Let you out? Dream on. You're lucky I didn't kill you—just wait here for someone to come save you," Jace Situ said. After years of being bullied by his little brother, he was glad Evan Yang had finally taught him a lesson. Even though Jace couldn't break the pendant either, he still felt satisfied.
Just then, a terrifying aura erupted from the Situ family estate.
"Uh-oh, my Second Madam is angry. Let's go!" Jace Situ said, recognizing the aura instantly—it had to be that guy who went back to report.
Evan Yang also sensed the powerful aura, feeling it even from a distance. He was a bit disappointed not to finish off the young master below, but at least he'd gotten some payback. He quickly followed Jace Situ off the mountain.