As soon as those words left his mouth, the guard was utterly shocked, staring at the middle-aged man in disbelief. "Mine Master, did you misspeak? You think I'm no match for him? He's just an ordinary Immortal who only ascended four months ago—how could he possibly be a threat to someone at late Earth Immortal like me? I don't buy it."
The middle-aged man smiled and replied, "I'm telling you this for your own good. If you don't believe me, there's nothing I can do. Why not have a little spar, then? As for life and death, I won't get involved—I'll just watch for the fun of it, how about that?"
The middle-aged man was actually speaking to Evan Chu, aiming to see his reaction. At this moment, he was so astonished it was like a tidal wave had erupted on a calm lake—if he weren't forcibly suppressing his excitement, he'd have thought he'd seen a ghost.
An ordinary Immortal who’d only ascended four months ago had somehow broken through to the Heavenly Immortal Realm in one leap—and not just early stage, but late stage! That kind of speed was unheard of. If this guy kept advancing like this, Nolan was sure he’d become one of the top figures in the Immortal Realm.
If he could get close to someone like that, it’d be a huge boost for himself. But if he couldn’t use Evan for his own benefit, then Evan would become a massive threat—one that could cost him his life. Nolan had to handle this carefully; if push came to shove, he might have to strike first.
Evan Chu just smiled and said, "Mine Master, you think too highly of me. I’m just a regular Immortal—how could I dare to spar with a late Earth Immortal expert like the guard? That’d be suicide. Let’s just forget about it."
A faint smile flashed across Nolan’s face as he secretly sent a voice transmission to Evan: "You’ve got late Heavenly Immortal strength—are you really afraid of a guard? Help me kill this guy and I’ll make sure you’re rewarded. Whatever you want, we’ll talk after he’s dead!"
Evan was momentarily stunned, unsure how to respond. Just then, the guard grew impatient. "Kid, the Mine Master already gave the order for us to spar, and you dare defy it? I want to see how you have the guts to ignore me. Blades don’t have eyes—if you die under my sword, don’t say I didn’t warn you."
Seeing the killing intent radiate from the guard, Evan Chu smiled faintly. Looks like the Mine Master is being watched—this guard is probably a watchdog sent by the Lord of Coldriver City. Nolan wants to use my hand to get rid of him, so I’d be doing him a favor, or maybe repaying the old transmission master a bit of kindness.
"Since the guard insists on killing Evan Lin, then Evan Lin can only go along. Like you said—blades don’t have eyes, so I hope the guard will show some mercy," Evan said.
A sharp, murderous glint flashed in the guard’s eyes. With a flicker, he shot up into the sky—the two of them obviously couldn’t fight in the mine itself, since an Immortal’s attacks could easily destroy the whole place. But up in the air, as long as they went high enough, their attacks wouldn’t affect the ground below.
Evan Chu also flew up, pulling the Frostbane Sword from his storage ring. The guard sneered, "Kid, if I’m not mistaken, you’ve dug up way more Immortal Stones than you handed in. Never thought a piece of trash like you could actually find stones in a waste tunnel—pretty surprising."
"You really want my storage ring, huh? Want to see how many Immortal Stones I’ve got inside?" Evan grinned, flashing a high-grade Immortal Stone in front of the guard before slipping it back into his ring.
The glow from the high-grade Immortal Stone made the guard’s eyes go wide. "So you’ve even got high-grade stones? Looks like this tunnel really is something special. Kid, you’re too stupid—stupid enough to give away the secret of the tunnel. That means you definitely can’t be allowed to live today."
With another flicker, the guard produced a silvery longsword, swirling it into a sword-flower before lunging at Evan Chu. Evan didn’t even take the attack seriously—he was actually planning to test the defensive power of Earthshift’s second layer, and this attack was the perfect opportunity.
Still, he had to put on a show—he quickly spun up his own sword-flower, but it was just for appearances. There wasn’t a trace of Chaos Immortal Force in it; it looked decent on the surface, but had zero real attack power.
The guard’s longsword reached Evan in a flash, easily knocking aside Evan’s blade. A wave of sword-qi crashed into Evan, and the guard’s sword-tip pressed straight against Evan’s chest.
But just as the tip touched his chest, Evan shifted his body a tiny bit, dodging his heart. He wasn’t completely sure he could block a direct stab to the heart—if the guard managed to pierce it, he wouldn’t die, but he’d be seriously wounded, and there was no need to take that risk.
Seeing his sword-tip strike Evan’s chest, the guard’s face lit up with joy. "You, an ordinary Immortal, dare to mouth off to me? Today’s the day you die—go to hell!" He twisted his wrist, ready to drive the blade straight into Evan’s body.
But when he tried to stab in, he found his longsword slowly bending—then, in the blink of an eye, it snapped in half. Yet the youth across from him hadn’t suffered a scratch; Evan was smiling at him. The guard was utterly shocked, unable to understand how Evan’s defense was so strong. His sword was a mid-grade Immortal artifact, and it couldn’t pierce Evan’s body and was even destroyed. He simply couldn’t accept it.
"W-what kind of protective armor are you wearing, to have such insane defense? If you hand it over, I’ll spare your life," the guard blurted, suddenly thinking of something.
Evan couldn’t believe how dumb this guy was. "You really disappoint me. A late Earth Immortal, and you still can’t break my defense? Trash like you doesn’t deserve to live. Out of kindness, I’ll let you in on a secret before you die: I’m not wearing any protective armor—my current strength is late Heavenly Immortal."
As soon as he finished speaking, Evan’s Frostbane Sword traced a graceful arc past the guard’s neck, then was slipped back into his storage ring. Evan didn’t even glance at the man—he simply floated down to the ground.
The guard clutched his neck, gasping, "How—how is this possible? How could he have Heavenly Immortal strength?" Suddenly, a jet of blood shot from his throat, and his head and body parted ways, plummeting to the ground...
Next chapter will be late—something came up today!