The Shaw Family is one of the Ten Great Families on Northridge Star. With such a major incident, rumors naturally swirl throughout the city—some say that certain families have planted spies to sabotage rivals and win the Star Lord seat.
Even the Lynn Family has sent people to the Shaw estate. On the surface, the situation looks explosive, but Evan Yang just sits in an inn, listening for anything useful.
"Besides the Lynn Family, there are eight other major clans. Lately, the Santos Family has had bad blood with the Shaws—could it be them?" Evan wondered aloud.
After all, Evan only knows three of the Ten Great Families so far. The Santos Family is one of them, and they’ve recently clashed with the Shaws. Only families with grudges would bother planting spies, after all.
This is how most people think, so Evan starts digging for information about the Santos Family.
Mostly, he hears about how the Santos Family recently injured Shaw Tiange. Nothing else seems substantial.
Just as Evan is listening in, two people walk into the inn. Anyone with a sharp eye immediately recognizes them, and the crowd quickly parts—only a few strong cultivators remain seated.
"Him?" Evan is startled when he sees Kade Santos.
Kade Santos was planning to head out with his companion, but spotting Evan here, he suddenly feels the urge to recruit him.
Anyone who can survive two failed Black Hand Syndicate hits is clearly no ordinary genius. Even if Evan isn’t in the Genius Pavilion, he’s not far from it. As long as there’s no real grudge, things can be negotiated. So Kade enters, ready to gamble on making a deal.
"We meet again." Kade Santos had gone to the Shaw estate the day he injured Shaw Tiange and saw Evan Yang there listening to their conversation, so now he sits down at Evan's table with a smile.
"How should I address you?" Evan asks with a smile.
"Kade Santos, of the Santos Family," Kade replies, smiling.
"From the Santos Family? I heard you’re pretty strong—nearly knocked Shaw Tiange out for good," Evan says, smiling.
Kade’s expression doesn’t change, but inside he’s cursing, "So you’re picking a fight, huh?" Still, he quickly puts on a smile and says, "I lost control for a moment, hit a bit too hard. I went and apologized afterward—you know that, right?"
"You call that an apology?" Evan remembers the scene from that day and can’t help but laugh.
"Hey kid, what’s that supposed to mean!" The skinny, scar-faced man who had wanted to challenge Evan pipes up, clearly unhappy with Evan’s words.
Kade gestures and laughs, "Looks like Brother Evan has a prejudice against me."
"Prejudice?" Evan chuckles. Honestly, it’d be a lie to say he didn’t—especially after seeing how Kade acted at the Shaw estate. It’s clear this guy isn’t simple, and he’s got a deep scheming side.
"Isn’t it?" Kade laughs.
"I’m friends with Shaw Tiange, as you know. You injured him, and now you’re sitting here chatting with me? What exactly does Young Master Kade want?" Evan asks with a smile.
Kade’s face freezes for a moment, cursing inwardly, "What’s that supposed to mean? Am I supposed to just stick around forever?" He forces a smile and says awkwardly, "I think Brother Evan is a decent person, so I wanted to make friends."
"You hurt my friend, and now you want to be friends with me? What’s that supposed to mean, Young Master Kade?" Evan smiles, though inwardly he sneers, "How do you know I’m a decent person? You sure know how to talk big."
After being rebuffed so many times, Kade finally can’t hold back and says, "Brother Evan, even if you don’t want to be friends, you don’t have to oppose me at every turn!"
"No, I’m just venting for my friend. Nothing more," Evan replies with a smile.
Seeing that Evan will never be friends with him, Kade finally stands up and sneers, "Remember, today you refused to be my friend. In the future, make sure you don’t forget it."
With that, he leaves, taking his scar-faced bodyguard with him.
Everyone in the inn stares at Evan in shock, but he just smiles, keeps drinking, and thinks to himself, "Kade Santos is definitely not a good guy. I’ll have to stay alert."
As soon as Kade gets back to his own inn, he pulls out a transmission stone and tells his steward on the other end, "Hurry up and deal with him. I don’t want to see that filthy beggar again."
Then he hangs up, leaving his scar-faced bodyguard fuming, "Let me handle it!"
“Forget it, just let Black Hand do the job!” Kade Santos said impatiently. He’d had a rough day—Evan Yang, this nobody from who-knows-where, had messed up so many of his plans.
Evan Yang returned to the Shaw Family estate and met Cyril Xiao and Tanner Xiao, telling them everything that happened at the inn.
“Nice job chewing him out! If I’d been there, I would’ve gone at him too,” Tanner Xiao laughed loudly after hearing Evan’s story.
“You wouldn’t get hurt like that if you actually trained harder,” Cyril Xiao said, though he was clearly pleased. He still couldn’t help but criticize his son.
“Dad, I really did work hard! This time it was that weird artifact they used,” Tanner Xiao protested.
“You’ve got a point. That artifact... if Ronald Santos used it himself, I might not be able to handle it either,” Cyril Xiao said, hesitating.
Hearing them talk about this mysterious artifact, Evan Yang couldn’t help but ask, “What kind of artifact is it, anyway? How can it be so powerful?”
“It’s some artifact the Santos Family got from who knows where. It’s just a bracelet—once he puts it on and activates it against his opponent, they’ll start feeling groggy, like they’re trapped somewhere. If it gets serious, you just want to fall asleep,” Tanner Xiao explained, describing how it felt during the fight.
“That’s incredible!” Evan Yang was shocked by the bracelet’s power.
“Yeah, it really is,” Tanner Xiao said, still puzzled by it.
Cyril Xiao sighed as well. “Artifacts like that are the worst to deal with. If not for it, I’d have a much easier time running for Star Lord.”
“When’s the election?” Evan Yang asked. Hearing about the Star Lord contest, he immediately pictured a battle between several Out-of-Body experts—surely it’d be dramatic. He wanted to watch, hoping it might help his own cultivation.
Cyril Xiao thought Evan Yang was interested in the contest and answered, “Half a year from now. That’s when the tournament will be held.”
“Tournament?” Evan Yang didn’t know the details, so he asked curiously.
“Yeah. The tournament works like this: each family chooses someone to compete, and everyone faces off one-by-one. Whoever scores the most points wins in the end,” Cyril Xiao explained.
“Isn’t it only the candidates who have to participate?” Evan Yang asked, still curious.
“No, anyone from the family can join. Doesn’t matter what their status is—as long as they can represent the clan, they’re allowed,” Cyril Xiao clarified.
“That sounds intense,” Evan Yang muttered after hearing the rules.
“Yeah, it’s always fierce. That’s why I keep thinking about how to counter the Santos Family’s bracelet,” Cyril Xiao said, helplessly.
“Santos Family... have you ever suspected the butler is from their clan?” Evan Yang asked, curious now that he understood the strange artifact.
“Of course we’ve suspected it, but there’s nothing we can do. We checked today, but the Santos Family acted like nothing happened—just going about their usual business, shopping and strolling around,” Tanner Xiao said, full of resentment.
Knowing the butler is a traitor but not who he works for is the most frustrating thing right now. But Evan Yang didn’t lose heart. Instead, he smiled and said, “Leave this to me.”
“You got a plan?” Tanner Xiao asked, curious.
“The butler’s main body is still with me. I’ll see if I can get anything out of him,” Evan Yang said, planning to use the Santos Family angle to test him. He explained this to Cyril Xiao and Tanner Xiao.
Cyril Xiao and Tanner Xiao thought it made sense—if they suspected the Santos Family, then testing the butler was the way to go. So Tanner Xiao found a quiet spot, and Evan Yang took out the Sky-Piercing Tower and stepped inside.
Evan Yang walked over to the unconscious butler, crouched down, and woke him up.
The main body blinked groggily, then realized he was in an unfamiliar place. “Where am I?” he asked, startled.
“A faraway place,” Evan Yang replied with a smile.
“You! What do you want?” the butler snapped, regaining his arrogance.
“How funny—you really think you can hide your ties to the Santos Family?” Evan Yang sneered.
The butler stared at Evan Yang in horror, as if Evan could see right through him. At that moment, Evan became certain the butler really was connected to the Santos Family—otherwise, he wouldn’t have reacted so strongly.
“Say what you want. You can claim I’m with the Santos, the Lynn, or any other family—that’s fine. But don’t expect to get my backstory from me,” the butler said, quickly regaining his composure.
“Oh? You’ve got a tough mouth. But if I took your portrait to every clan in town, who knows what might happen?” Evan Yang grinned wickedly.
“Every clan?” The butler was clearly shaken—he’d worked for the Santos for years, and if Evan really did that, someone might expose his secrets.
“Well? Got anything to say?” Evan Yang smiled after seeing the butler’s hesitation.
“I’ll never tell!” The butler remembered Kade Santos mocking him, and decided he’d rather die than confess.
“Fine, you’ve got guts! In that case, go back to sleep. And if you try to call the Black Hand again, make sure it’s someone really tough—otherwise, I’ll just wipe them all out,” Evan Yang said, pointing at the two unconscious assassins nearby.
The butler glared at Evan Yang. “Just wait—Black Hand never fails. This is the third time, and they’ll definitely kill you!”
“I’ll be waiting,” Evan Yang snorted, then knocked the butler out again.
Unable to get anything useful, Evan Yang went to the Shaw Family’s rear garden. He opened his divine sense and activated Thousand-Mile Echo, hoping to catch movement at the Santos Equipment Hall—even if he couldn’t prove the butler’s connection, he wanted to track the Santos Family’s actions.
According to Tanner Xiao, the Santos Family ran a big equipment store in the city—they made their fortune buying and selling gear, and had branches everywhere.
Evan Yang’s divine sense swept over the Santos Equipment Hall, searching for clues.
Suddenly, he picked up a faint conversation: “Kade, what should we do? That butler hasn’t come back yet.”