Evan Yang was shocked. The combined attack of these dozens of people was far beyond what he could withstand. He couldn't advance or retreat—his only options were to take it head-on or retreat into the Spiral Shell Haven.
Not knowing how powerful these attacks really were, Evan withdrew into the Spiral Shell Haven and watched as the attacks landed one after another on its surface. The figures stopped attacking and stood silently, as if guarding something.
"Thankfully, these people are just like wooden puppets." Seeing them stop, Evan realized they only attacked if he moved—otherwise, they just stood there, and their attacks were waves of powerful dark energy.
"It looks like these attacks can be broken with the Light Attribute." After observing for a while, Evan suspected that light could counter the darkness. He decided to test his theory, flashing out and standing still, watching the figures closely.
He gathered power in his hand—all of it pure light. The moment the light appeared, the figures visibly flinched, their eyes blinking uncomfortably. When Evan raised his hand, they finally attacked.
They launched a group attack. Evan wrapped himself in light, then rebounded it outward like a wave, dissolving all the surrounding dark energy. Not only that, the light surged toward the figures as well.
As the light reached them, the figures vanished instantly. Evan withdrew the light and muttered, "Was it really that easy to solve?"
Curious, Evan checked the area and found the figures were gone—no matter how hard he searched, he couldn't find them. He tried moving further down, and soon more figures appeared just like before. Evan used the Light Attribute again and quickly forced them to retreat.
"Looks like light really does solve the problem," Evan said.
With excitement, Evan continued descending, searching for the path below. As for Titus Skyflood, Evan had already left him far behind.
After a whole day, Evan managed to descend a great distance, until he finally reached the bottom—there was nowhere left to go.
"The bottom?" Evan muttered.
Walking along the bottom, Evan studied his surroundings—all he saw were dark stone walls. With the Night-Eye Technique, everything was quiet. He wondered how all those illusions and real entities appeared. "Strange, how do they show up?" he questioned.
But after searching for most of the day, he still found nothing. He kept looking along the canyon floor, which was not only deep but also long. Puzzled, he contacted Bastor, but even Bastor admitted he'd never been to the bottom and didn't know what this place was.
Curious, Evan wandered the bottom for a long time. If he weren't worried about Titus Skyflood above, he would have already turned back.
As Evan continued searching for another exit or new discovery, he heard the sound of wind ahead—a whistling breeze that made him think he might be leaving the canyon.
He walked over and found a tunnel. The tunnel was tall—five or six people could stand upright inside—and the walls rose straight up.
"Where does this tunnel lead?" Evan wondered as he kept moving forward.
Evan entered the tunnel beneath the canyon. Titus Skyflood, who had pursued Evan for years, found he could not continue any further. He decided to turn back, thinking Evan must have met some misfortune and there was no point in continuing.
So Titus Skyflood reluctantly returned, but he couldn't stop thinking about Evan and the divine sword.
Meanwhile, in the Immortal Realm, the disappearance of the Devil cultivators and the closure of the gate brought great joy. The Alliance Leader knew Evan had succeeded, meaning the gate between realms was closed and the Immortal Realm would no longer be disturbed by the Devil Realm—at least for now.
The Alliance Leader withdrew the grand array and ordered the major clans to return to guard their regions. If there was any news from the Devil Realm, they were to report immediately.
So the Immortal Realm and Devil Realm remained peaceful for several years. Evan, meanwhile, kept walking through the tunnel at the canyon bottom, spending years inside what turned out to be a labyrinth.
To Evan, a labyrinth was nothing special, but this one trapped him for many years. He wasn't too surprised, since the maze constantly changed, making it even harder to navigate than those old divine sense trial tunnels.
"Whew, how many routes have I tried already?" Evan muttered. Over the years, he'd walked countless paths. Without his multi-split divine sense, he might have been stuck in place.
Though things weren't much better now, Evan knew he'd made progress. Maybe if he kept going, he'd find an exit—so he pressed on.
And so, more years passed as he walked, until he finally came upon a barrier.
Evan stepped inside the barrier. Floating within was a black sphere, lying quietly and radiating calm. But as soon as Evan entered, it sensed him and sprayed a stream of gray-black gas toward him.
Evan flashed to the other side and stared at the black sphere.
The black sphere sensed Evan's movement and released more gray-black gas. Evan didn't know what the gas was, so he was extremely cautious, refusing to touch it, and dodged away.
Once the gas dissipated, Evan flashed to the other side again.
The black sphere was clearly provoked and grew furious, releasing more gas several times—but nothing worked on Evan. Finally, in a fit of rage, it filled the entire barrier with gas. Evan was startled—and at that moment, something in his storage activated. When he looked, it was the Divine Seal.
The Divine Seal radiated light, shielding Evan completely. With the Divine Seal's protection, the black sphere stopped releasing gas and instead stared suspiciously at the Seal—then, unbelievably, started to compete with it.
Evan watched as the Divine Seal and the black sphere collided again and again in midair.
Neither could gain the upper hand, so Evan could only wait and see what the two God artifacts would do next.
After battling for most of the day, the two finally separated. The Divine Seal returned to Evan's hand, the black sphere floated back to its spot, and Evan was puzzled. Soon after, the Divine Seal sent a message directly into his mind.
The message was that this black sphere was also a God artifact, used by a deity. That's why, when the two met, they fought out of curiosity.
"Is that really the case?" Evan wondered aloud, still skeptical.
The Divine Seal confirmed it. Hearing this, Evan looked at the black sphere and muttered, "So it's also a God artifact. No wonder this place is so strange—and those illusions and real entities must be its doing, right?"
The black sphere seemed to hear Evan. After communicating with the Divine Seal, the Seal relayed an exciting message: if Evan wished, the black sphere could send him directly to the top.
"Oh? Really? That's great!" Evan exclaimed, delighted.
Just as Evan finished speaking, the black sphere suddenly released a mass of shimmering black energy. The energy slowly approached him. At the Divine Seal's urging, Evan absorbed the dark energy into his body.
As soon as he absorbed it, Evan realized this was Dark Attribute energy—the direct opposite of light. In his sea of consciousness, a new Dark Attribute core formed. With the black sphere's help, the core expanded until it reached a certain strength, then stopped.
When it stopped, the Divine Seal signaled Evan to use the Dark Attribute. The black sphere would then help him leave.
Not sure why he had to absorb this energy to leave, Evan released the Dark Attribute. With the black sphere's help, his vision went black—and the next moment, he was back at the canyon rim.
"Huh? I'm back up?" Evan said, surprised.
Once he was up, Evan released Bastor. Bastor, seeing the familiar surroundings, was shocked. "We're out?" he exclaimed.
"Yeah, we're out," Evan replied with a smile.
"What happened? Where's Titus Skyflood?" Bastor, still confused, asked.
Evan told Bastor everything that had happened. When he finished, Bastor couldn't help but admire him—not only had Evan reached the very bottom, he'd also made it out by a unique method.
"Alright, everything's fine now. After so many years down there, no matter what, Titus Skyflood must have left by now," Evan guessed.
"Yeah, probably. If he hasn't left and is still down there searching for you, that would be hilarious," Bastor laughed.
"That'd be fine by me," Evan chuckled.
Bastor smiled, "Well, until we meet again. If you ever need my help, just come find me."
"Sure, I will. I'm heading out now—see you," Evan said.
After escorting Evan out, Bastor returned. Evan stepped out of Deadwillow City, looked at the Devil Realm beyond, and muttered, "The Devil Realm and Immortal Realm should be peaceful for now."
Once outside, Evan made up his mind: he'd first check out the Devil Realm's situation. If nothing unusual was happening, he'd return to the Immortal Realm.
So Evan changed his outfit and went to a nearby big city, heading for the busiest district.
There he could hear all sorts of Devil Realm gossip. Since the gate to the Immortal Realm was closed, the main complaint was that they couldn't go there to reap benefits.
They were frustrated and hoped Demon Mountain would find a way to reopen the gate. But Evan knew it couldn't be opened anytime soon—and as for Titus Skyflood, who knew if he'd try something else.
"Demon Mountain? Everyone's scared of that Immortal Evan Yang now," someone suddenly said.
"You mean Evan Yang? I've heard about him, too. He caused quite a stir in the Devil Realm back then. I heard the gate was closed because of him," another replied.