"Me." The soul stared at Evan, as if thinking deeply. Now, in front of him, there were only two paths: one, convince Evan he wouldn't kill him; two, die.
"I say, just let me eat him." Soul-Reaping Water laughed.
Seeing the terrifying Soul-Reaping Water, the soul trembled, afraid it would end up in its mouth again.
"Don't eat me, I'll listen to you, I'll do whatever you say!" the soul said in fear.
"You're so strong, I might not even know how I died someday." Evan hesitated. After all, this person was an assassin sent to kill Faye Gale. If he kept him around, and the soul ever turned on him, it would be a big problem.
The soul really didn't want to die and quickly said, "I have a way—I can become your soul bodyguard."
"Soul bodyguard?" Evan asked suspiciously.
"I have something here, take a look." As the soul spoke, it transmitted some information to Evan.
After Evan finished reviewing the soul bodyguard method, he finally understood what it was. It was a rather bizarre cultivation technique, using souls as a protective sheath, like a defensive artifact, but more vicious. Once you become part of the bodyguard, you must follow the master into battle until death, unable to resist the master.
"Are you sure about this?" Evan felt odd seeing such a cruel technique.
The soul only wanted to survive now—whatever bodyguard, as long as it lived, that was what mattered. It nodded repeatedly, "Yes."
Evan looked at the soul, thought for a moment, then said, "Alright, but this is the first time. There's a chance your soul could be destroyed. Are you sure?"
"Yes." The soul nodded.
So Evan began cultivating according to the technique, and once he learned it, he started to integrate the soul.
Evan's qi rapidly circulated around him, with the soul caught inside. At first, there wasn't much connection between Evan and the soul, but gradually, Evan could sense the soul's thoughts and intentions.
When the soul finally finished orbiting around Evan and stopped, Evan could know its thoughts with a mere intention.
The soul realized it had become a bodyguard, avoided death, and said, "It's done."
"Mm." Evan nodded. With a thought, the soul vanished; with another, it reappeared.
"Where did you go?" Evan was curious about where the soul bodyguard had entered.
"I don't know. As soon as I entered, it was dark all around, but it felt comfortable, like I wanted to sleep." the soul replied.
"I see. Then you can sleep inside for now. I'll call you out when needed," Evan muttered.
"Mm." The soul vanished again under Evan's thought.
Actually, Evan knew exactly where the soul was and what it was thinking; he just wanted to test if it was lying.
If it lied, Evan's first thought would have been to erase it.
"How boring, it's gone again." Soul-Reaping Water sighed.
"Alright, there'll be more in the future. Go back now," Evan said with a smile.
Soul-Reaping Water disappeared again. Evan returned to the outside world. Today's events would definitely attract Black Hand's attention. But since the soul wasn't dead, he wondered what would happen. Evan summoned the soul and found it wasn't bound by the special soul lock typical of other assassins.
After the other party explained, Evan realized that kind of soul lock only worked on cultivators with lower cultivation.
"Looks like Black Hand is pretty mysterious," Evan muttered.
Even this soul didn't know much. Evan figured its strength was quite high, but it had been invited, and everything depended on the target's price.
While Evan was pondering about Black Hand, Second Young Master Fenn received news. He angrily said, "What? Failed?"
"Yes, I heard the assassin was wiped out," said a guard.
"Damn it, wiped out? Just like that?" Second Young Master Fenn fumed.
"Young master, they said if you want to continue, you need to pay another five billion, half the previous price," the guard said.
"Might as well have them rob me! Damn it." Second Young Master Fenn raged.
"Young master, this is the second attempt. If it fails again, the third will be free," the guard replied.
"If it fails again? Am I just giving away fifteen billion for nothing?" Second Young Master Fenn was furious.
"If the third attempt fails, they'll return the fifteen billion, and they'll keep hunting her for ten more years," the guard replied.
"Is that so?" Second Young Master Fenn finally calmed down a bit.
"Yes," the guard answered.
"Fine, go gather another five billion for me. Damn it." Second Young Master Fenn said angrily.
The guard hurried off, leaving Second Young Master Fenn with a strange expression. He snorted coldly, "Damn it, before I leave the Human World, I will definitely kill you."
The day passed quietly. Faye Gale didn't come looking for Evan, seeming to be in seclusion after expending a lot of energy, while Evan stayed put, lost in thought.
On the second day, Elder Shaw brought Evan and Faye back to the grand hall. Evan's appearance sparked discussion among many, while Logan Cole stood there, fuming at the remarks directed at him. But there was nothing he could do—most here were from major families and sects, and he was only a Sacred Mountain disciple.
Elder Cole was already on the dais, smiling at Evan. "Today we duel again. No need to repeat the rules—it's about pill refining. But this time, the pill is much harder: a pseudo-Immortal pill."
"? Isn't it supposed to be a Mystic-Rank pill?" Elder Shaw was shocked; this wasn't the original arrangement.
"Mystic-Rank pills aren't challenging and can't show our two realms' alchemy skills. I've already spoken to Alchemy Saint Hand, and he agreed," Cole said with a smile.
With Saint Hand's approval, Elder Shaw could only accept, though he didn't place much hope in Evan.
Seeing Elder Shaw agree, Cole smiled, "Then we'll use two hours as the limit. The pill is the Phantom-Giant Pill."
"Phantom-Giant Pill?" Evan hadn't heard of it, but Elder Shaw explained: it was a pseudo-Immortal pill. After taking it, a person would become a giant, with greatly increased strength and attributes, but also more exposed to enemies. That's why it's classed as a pseudo-Immortal pill.
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Evan understood, and Elder Shaw handed him the Phantom-Giant Pill recipe.
Once everything was ready, Cole had the ingredients brought up, and soon the pill refinement began.
Pseudo-Immortal pills like the Phantom-Giant Pill take longer to refine, so two hours were set as the competition time.
Everyone was excited about refining a pseudo-Immortal pill. Cole quickly began, while Evan was casual. Not only that, his method was extrapolated from Elder Shaw's techniques, so he wasn't using his own unique style. But he infused his spiritual power, helping the pill essences fuse better.
Cole finished after about an hour, but didn't reveal his result right away. He watched Evan closely.
Evan was refining his pill, and also watching Cole. Just as he was about to finish, the herbs in his furnace changed unexpectedly.
"Trying to sabotage me? Not a chance!" Evan discovered that some herbs suddenly had much more water content. These were the herbs arranged by Cole; Evan had no choice in selection. To outsiders, the herbs looked identical, so nothing seemed off.
So Evan began making adjustments in the furnace. Suddenly, everyone saw his flame surge, and a lot more vapor appeared, with even some white mist.
"Strange, what's he doing? Why so much water vapor?" Everyone knowledgeable about pill refining was shocked by Evan's actions.
Randomly increasing the fire during pill refinement would definitely affect the pill, so in the eyes of the crowd, Evan looked like an amateur.
Elder Shaw stared at Evan in confusion, cursing inwardly, "Strange, how could this happen!"
Cole secretly laughed to himself, "Kid, no matter how big your fire is, it won't help. Think you can get rid of that water? Even if you do, your pills are ruined."
Others didn't know what Cole was thinking, but Evan saw his smile and sneered inwardly, "Think I'll fail? Dream on."
About fifteen minutes later, the mist disappeared and the fire calmed down again.
Cole also began to extinguish his fire. His pills were done, and Evan slowly put out his own fire too. When it was out, he smiled, "All done."
"Four pseudo-Immortal pills," Cole said with a smile.
Four? The alchemists were shocked. Pseudo-Immortal pills weren't easy to refine, and among these four, two were supreme-grade and two were high-grade.
Confident that Evan's batch must have been ruined, Cole grinned even wider.
Evan looked at his own furnace, feeling a bit annoyed, and quickly broke some pills on purpose, cursing in his heart, "What's this, I thought you'd refined a lot more."
Then he opened his furnace—also four pills. But all four of Evan's were supreme-grade, with some pill fragments beside them.
The whole hall fell silent, until someone suddenly burst out laughing, "Good, good, truly impressive."
It was the Old Beggar laughing. He hated the Sacred Mountain people, so Evan's repeated blows to their pride delighted him. He even muttered to himself, "I wonder where that kid is, is he this good too?"
Cole refused to believe it. "Impossible! The fire was so big—how could you do it? You cheated!"
"How did I cheat?" Evan asked with a curious smile.
"You just put them in!" Cole accused.
"With so many people watching, how could I put them in?" Evan sneered.
Elder Shaw quickly stepped in with a smile, "Exactly, we all saw it. There was no cheating at all."
"He's from your Fiend Realm, of course you'd defend him," Cole snorted.
"Then let everyone say who won." Elder Shaw put away his smile—this was a rare chance for the Fiend Realm to win, so he wasn't about to give it up. He spoke sternly.
Cole looked around and asked, "Did anyone see him switch the pills?"
Silence. No one had seen anything. The Old Beggar laughed again, "Obviously not, but you just won't admit defeat—that's a competition for you."
"What business is it of yours? Shut up! Say one more word and I'll throw you out," Cole snapped.
The Old Beggar just smiled and ignored him, looking at Evan with praise in his eyes.