"What? Is there something you can't talk about?" Graham Nether (Old Ghost) asked.
Victor "Boss Nether" Kane knew the truth couldn't be hidden forever, that his inability to recover his strength would eventually be exposed and he'd be replaced. He could only say, "I was gravely injured by that person, and then, somehow, he did something to me—I haven't been able to recover since."
The other nine were shocked at first when they heard this. Graham Nether (Old Ghost) grabbed Boss Nether's hand, checked him over, and raised his eyebrows.
Seeing Graham Nether raise his eyebrows, everyone looked at him suspiciously.
"One of the three great taboo arts," Graham Nether said, letting go of his hand.
"What?" Boss Nether only now realized what he'd been hit with, and was utterly horrified.
"There are only two ways to change your current situation: one, swap bodies; two, find him and have him undo it personally," Graham Nether said.
Boss Nether naturally hoped for the latter, so he said, "Once we find him, I'll have him undo it for me."
At this moment, Graham Nether was even more curious about that person's identity—just who could have mastered one of the three great taboo arts?
"Alright, you all can leave. If you hear anything about that person, report to me immediately," Graham Nether said.
Boss Nether and the others nodded and left the cave. Outside, the nine looked at him with strange expressions.
"What? Are you starting to look down on me now?" Boss Nether glanced at them and sneered.
"Boss Nether, you're overthinking it. We're just curious why you didn't tell us the truth at the time," Lewis Yates asked, intrigued.
"What good would it have done to tell you? It would've just made the people below restless and unwilling to follow my orders," Boss Nether replied.
The other nine found this reasonable, but secretly took pleasure in his misfortune. Seeing their silence, Boss Nether spoke up, "Everyone, send people to track him down with everything you've got."
"Alright." The other nine nodded, then left. Watching them go, Boss Nether sighed inwardly, "Without my strength, it's going to be hard to keep the people below in line."
Meanwhile, Evan Yang and his group were still traveling. After five months, they arrived in the western part of the Chaos World, where Medicine King Heaven was located.
"You two will have to stay inside my treasure for a while. Let me and the girl go ahead first," Evan Yang said.
Unable to break free from the plane's laws, Lynn and Melody had no objections and entered Evan Yang's Strange Spiral Shell. Evan then brought Ember Yang and the Flame Behemoth into this plane.
Ember Yang was already so excited she wanted to grab someone and ask where Medicine King Heaven was, then immediately demand the Mad Alchemist's whereabouts.
Arriving in a city, Evan Yang said to Ember Yang, "Listen to me in everything."
Then, taking Ember Yang along, he strolled through the streets. Ember was confused—how could Evan Yang be in the mood to wander around at a time like this? She was about to burst from impatience, so she frowned and said, "Dad, how long are we going to keep wandering? Wouldn't it be faster to just ask someone?"
"Girl, do you know how strong Medicine King Heaven really is? Even if you find out, what then—are you planning to just charge in?" Evan Yang asked.
"If I find out, I'll go straight to that person and force him to hand over what I want," Ember Yang said.
"Never mind what sect he's from—just his strength alone means we have to use our wits. We can't beat him by brute force," Evan Yang said.
"Dad, you're not backing out, are you?" Hearing this, Ember Yang thought Evan Yang wasn't planning to go, and raised her eyebrows.
Evan Yang smiled. "I said we'd use our brains—don't rush."
Ember Yang really didn't know how Evan Yang planned to use his wits. She watched him wander up and down the street until he found a pharmacy specializing in pills, all of them rare and precious.
"Boss, how much are these pills?" Evan Yang casually pointed at a batch of extraordinary-looking pills.
The shopkeeper had displayed these pills for a long time, but no one had ever shown interest. Now, someone finally wanted to buy them, so he grinned, "Young man, I knew you had good taste. Just for you, I'll sell them cheap."