Evan Yang had no intention of letting Drakehorn's head merge with its body. Who knew what would happen if they fused? So Evan sped up, quickly arriving at the front of Drakehorn and said, "Why don't you stay here and play with me instead?" "Damn it, I have no grudge against you—why are you doing this!" Drakehorn roared in anger. "No reason. Since you're a fierce beast, I can't let you stay here. Otherwise, I'd be the sinner of this world—and besides, you're my friend's enemy. No matter what, I have to stop you," Evan replied.
"Hmph, even so, you can forget about stopping me so easily!" Drakehorn was already on the verge of madness, a faint red mist spreading around his head.
Evan had no idea what it was, but Lydia Quinn and the others were shocked. Even Iris Hayes cried out to Evan, "Get back, it's dangerous!"
Just as Evan was about to react, Drakehorn's head suddenly erupted in a burst of flame. The fire was enormous—before Evan could even respond, the force blasted him away. This move also cost Drakehorn a huge amount of power. Once it was unleashed, he didn't even glance at Evan, but charged straight down the mountain toward his body.
Boom! As Drakehorn reached the bottom of the mountain, a loud sound echoed, and the mountain itself began to shake. Everyone was shocked—they hadn't expected to fail, and Drakehorn had managed to begin merging with his body.
Drakehorn burst out laughing, "I'm finally going to succeed! I'm finally going to succeed!"
Just as everyone was falling into despair, convinced the world was ending, a voice rang out: "Not necessarily!"
The voice was Evan's. He appeared, his whole body wrapped in a layer of icy sand that emitted vapor. Not only that, he held a five-tined artifact in his hand—the Limitless Spear. Evan drove the Limitless Spear straight into the junction between Drakehorn's head and body, right at the fusion point.
Steam billowed from the fusion point, and Drakehorn's triumphant smile froze. He never expected Evan to intervene at that moment—and to be completely unharmed. Drakehorn raged, "You—I'll kill you!" "Kill me? First, let's see if you can," Evan sneered.
Drakehorn realized that merging was now impossible. He'd already spent most of his power, so the only option was to flee and deal with things later. He broke the connection with his body, his head shooting up at incredible speed, leaving behind an angry roar: "Kid, remember this! Once I recover, I'll kill you and devour you!"
Drakehorn's speed was astonishing, as if he were burning his own life force. Evan didn't chase after him, but simply watched the direction Drakehorn flew off.
Everyone was stunned, staring at themselves as if amazed they were still alive. Lydia Quinn came to Evan's side and asked, "Are you alright?" "I'm fine, but he got away," Evan sighed.
"That's not a problem. At least we stopped him for now—and he lost a lot of power. He won't be able to recover for a while. During this time, we can track him down, find his hiding place, and wipe him out!" Lydia Quinn said.
"That's all we can do," Evan nodded, then helped Howling Wolf up and prepared to leave.
Before leaving, Iris Hayes couldn't help but say, "Thank you."
"No need to thank me. I released him, so naturally I'll handle it," Evan replied, then turned and left with Lydia Quinn and Howling Wolf, leaving the others standing there, unsure what to do.
"Master, he..." Leah Hayes didn't know what to say.
"Let it be. For now, everyone should focus on healing—and send more people to guard this place. If Drakehorn returns, we must prevent him from taking his body," Iris Hayes said.
Everyone nodded. Their top priority now was to prevent Drakehorn's return. As for Evan, they could only turn a blind eye—after all, they'd all seen what he was capable of. If Evan had attacked them just now, no one would have survived, and Drakehorn's head and body would have fused.
As for Evan, Lydia Quinn, and the others, they searched for a long distance but couldn't find any trace of Drakehorn, so they had to find a place to rest.
"Where do you think Drakehorn will go?" Evan wasn't very familiar with Drakehorn, so he asked curiously.
Lydia Quinn pondered, "Drakehorn is a fierce beast. If he's injured, he needs to recover somewhere with heavy yin qi—that means places where many people died. In this realm, only the Four Great Graveyards fit that description."
"The Four Great Graveyards?" Evan asked suspiciously.
"That's right—the Four Great Graveyards. These places were originally formed during this realm's chaotic period, when sects fought to establish their power and slaughtered each other, sometimes even agreeing to battle at set locations. In the end, those sites became the Four Great Graveyards," Lydia Quinn explained.
"So that's how it is," Evan said.
"Let's check those four places. Maybe we'll find his trail," Lydia Quinn said.
Evan agreed with Lydia Quinn's reasoning. Howling Wolf had other matters and couldn't accompany them, so he said, "I have something else to deal with. I'll head out first."
"Sorry for dragging you into this mess," Evan said awkwardly.
"It's nothing. Those hypocrites deserved it," Howling Wolf replied.
Evan smiled, "You really take things lightly."
"I'm used to it. I'll head out now. See you two around," Howling Wolf said.
Evan and Lydia Quinn said goodbye to Howling Wolf. Lydia led the way—these four graveyards were scattered in different places, so the two started searching at the closest one.
The first graveyard was a canyon—its floor covered with stones and bones, eerily silent. Lydia Quinn pointed at the canyon, "This is one of them. Back then, this canyon was filled with blood."
"That's terrifying," Evan said.
"Exactly. That's how the first graveyard formed. Let's look around and see if we can find any trace of Drakehorn," Lydia Quinn said.
Evan nodded and released Phantom Spirit Birds to help search for Drakehorn's trail. Walking through the canyon, he didn't notice anything at first, but as he walked, black energy gradually gathered around him.
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"What... is this?" Lydia Quinn looked at Evan in horror.
Evan was startled by the change himself and asked Lydia Quinn, "What's going on?"
"That's yin qi—you can actually absorb yin qi?" Lydia Quinn asked suspiciously.
Evan didn't know what was happening, so he checked his body and realized it was the Heaven-Cold Seed acting up. As his power grew, the Heaven-Cold Seed automatically started absorbing the graveyard's yin qi, gathering it for absorption.
"The Heaven-Cold Seed can absorb not just essence, but yin qi too?" Evan wasn't sure if this was a new function or an original trait, so he couldn't figure it out.
"What are you thinking?" Lydia Quinn asked, seeing Evan lost in thought.
"Nothing, just thinking about something. Maybe it's related to my body, so I can absorb it," Evan replied.
"That's really strange. Normally only fierce beasts like Drakehorn can absorb yin qi," Lydia Quinn said.
"Oh? Is that so? Good thing I'm human, or I'd think I was a monster," Evan joked.
"As long as there's no harm, you can use this ability to detect if any fierce beasts nearby are absorbing yin qi," Lydia Quinn said.
Evan thought it made sense, so he closed his eyes. While the Heaven-Cold Seed absorbed yin qi, he also sensed changes in the surroundings. With feedback from the Phantom Spirit Birds, Evan soon opened his eyes.
"Did you find anything?" Lydia Quinn asked when Evan came to.
"There are fierce beasts, but not Drakehorn. Looks like we need to check the other three graveyards," Evan said.
"If that's the case, let's check the other places," Lydia Quinn nodded.
So Evan and Lydia Quinn went to the other locations.
The other three graveyards were similar in nature, just different in terrain, but none showed any sign of Drakehorn. Evan did encounter other fierce beasts and dealt with them one by one.
"Strange, why aren't any of the four graveyards showing signs of him?" Lydia Quinn frowned.
"Besides this method, is there any other way he could recover quickly?" Evan asked.
Lydia Quinn pondered, "Aside from that, there's another method—devouring humans. By swallowing their bodies and souls, the stronger the victim, the more energy he absorbs."
"Looks like we'll have to focus on that angle," Evan said after thinking it over.
"Let's check the major cities and see if there have been any mass deaths lately. Maybe we'll find a clue," Lydia Quinn said.
Evan nodded and went with Lydia Quinn to a nearby city.
The city was called Blackshard City. Its walls were black and said to withstand powerful attacks. The city's ruler was an Immortal Sovereign who commanded many experts and ruled independently. Years ago, he had a conflict with Drakehorn.
As soon as Evan and Lydia Quinn stepped into Blackshard City, they encountered someone furious with Evan.
"It's you! How dare you come here?" The speaker was Damon Luo, a young member of the Luo Clan in Blackshard City.
The Luo Clan's patriarch was an Immortal Sovereign and the city's ruler. He was both loving and strict with his descendants, often protecting them but also making them face danger alone. This upbringing produced capable but sometimes arrogant clan members.
So, unless someone needed to come here urgently, most people avoided Blackshard City.
Evan didn't know much about the city, and Lydia Quinn didn't know about Evan's history with the Luo Clan. When Damon Luo confronted Evan, Lydia realized trouble was coming.
Evan didn't care about the Luo Clan's power and just smiled, "Long time no see."
"You! Don't think you're anything special just because you're strong. Any one of my subordinates could beat you," Damon Luo said, restraining himself from attacking because he knew Evan's true strength.