Lena Zhong didn't speak; she simply stared straight at Evan. The young man in front of her was far too mysterious. She had a strong feeling that the Hall Master from the City Lord's Mansion was actually his subordinate. But one thing she couldn't figure out—why would a newly ascended youth in the God Realm have a God-King obeying him?
On the surface, it looked like Evan was following Elder Lee’s lead, but based on her years of intelligence work and her analysis of their expressions, she was certain her judgment was correct. Of course, she wouldn’t expose it right now—maybe Evan had secrets he couldn’t reveal. At this moment, she only knew him as ‘Lin Feng.’
“If Miss Zhong has no objections, I’ll take my leave. Once I finish my seclusion, I’ll definitely come to Fragrant Grace Hall to find you. I wouldn’t dare offend Stormtower.” Evan smiled.
“Remember what you said. If you dare deceive me, you know what will happen. But don’t worry—if you ever run into trouble, Stormtower will do everything to help you. You can send someone to Fragrant Grace Hall to notify me anytime. You should understand Stormtower’s strength.” Lena Zhong said.
“If I need help, I won’t stand on ceremony. Then, I’ll take my leave—until we meet again, Miss Zhong!” Evan didn’t linger; he turned and left the room.
Elder Lee was already waiting for him at the counter. When he saw Evan come out, he asked, “Everything alright?” Though it was a simple question, it carried a lot of meaning.
“No problem. Let’s go home!” Evan replied, then left Fragrant Grace Hall with Elder Lee.
After returning to the City Lord’s Mansion, Evan headed straight for Mine Tunnel No. 19. Everything passed without incident. The first thing he needed to do now was to raise the level of Earthshift.
Evan took out the 5th-rank earth-attribute elemental crystal and carefully examined it. As he held it, he could clearly feel the powerful earth-element aura. It was a rhombus-shaped crystal, entirely gray, and looked quite exquisite.
To be safe, Evan set up an invisible barrier at the entrance of the mine tunnel—if anyone entered, he’d sense it immediately. Now, he began slowly absorbing the crystal’s energy, preparing to break through to the third layer of Earthshift.
Back when he first obtained the Native-Soil Crystal, the memory was still vivid. But now that he was in the God Realm, things were completely different. As long as he had enough Violet Cloud Crystals or God Stones, he could easily buy whatever elemental crystals he needed—no more wandering all over in search of them.
Of course, getting supreme-grade crystals might be a bit troublesome, but he believed that sooner or later he’d get them. Once he perfected Ninefold Stellar Transformation, his strength would leap to a whole new level—maybe he could even kill enemies two realms above.
There were plenty of things he needed to do. Once he broke through to the God-Lord Realm, he might finally be able to unleash the last strike of Sevenfold Absolute Cleave—Absolute Cleave itself. He was really looking forward to its power; it supposedly required at least Immortal Lord level to perform, which showed just how much Chaos Divine Power it would consume.
Evan was sure that if he unleashed Absolute Cleave, he could probably wipe out an entire city. The God Realm was different from the Immortal Realm—the earth here was unimaginably tough, and destroying it was no easy feat. Maybe Absolute Cleave could match the destructive power of Divine Cleave back in the Immortal Realm.
He still couldn’t form a Space Domain, which was the mark of a truly strong expert. With his control over the elements, he believed he could eventually create nine elemental domains, then fuse them into a Chaos Domain. If he could grasp domains, even as a God-Lord he could easily trap God-Kings—and he was confident he could fight God-Emperors too.
Of course, all of this was just wishful thinking for now. Achieving it was way too hard. Evan smiled faintly and said to himself, “One day, I’ll uncover the truth behind what happened back then. I’ll become the strongest in the God Realm again—and whoever plotted against me, I’ll pay you back tenfold, a hundredfold.”
Clearing away distracting thoughts, Evan entered a tranquil state of mind and began slowly absorbing the earth-elemental crystal in his hand. The energy of this 5th-rank earth crystal was far stronger than the Native-Soil Crystal he’d used before—God Realm treasures really were on another level. Evan felt that once he finished absorbing its power, he might break through to the late stage of Earthshift’s third layer.
He just needed to find even higher-quality crystals one day to break through to the fourth layer and reach full mastery.
Time passed slowly. Evan absorbed the energy at a cautious pace, mainly because the earth crystal’s power was so intense. If he took it in all at once, his meridians might snap or his dantian could rupture. He had to proceed step by step.
It took nearly three days for Evan to finish absorbing the earth-elemental crystal. He let out a long breath of foul air and began his breakthrough to the third layer of Earthshift. A haze of gray light enveloped him, and at a certain moment, the light faded and he stood up.
“Finally broke through to the third layer—though it’s only mid-stage, but that’s enough. My defense is much stronger now, and I can even use earth walls and earth spikes. If my Chaos Divine Power gets strong enough, I might even conjure a mountain. I’d love to see the look on someone’s face if a mountain suddenly dropped on them.”
"Time to test out the power of Earthshift’s third layer. Hope it lives up to my expectations!" Evan said.
With a thought, Evan’s body vanished and dove swiftly into the earth. His speed underground was now much faster than before, and the pressure in the soil was noticeably lighter. In just a few breaths, he had sunk to the ten-meter mark.
That used to be his absolute limit, but now—even though he still felt pressure—it wasn’t nearly as intense. He kept going deeper, and only stopped when the pressure around him grew strong again, but still within his tolerance.
Looking around, Evan couldn’t help but suck in a breath—there were Violet Cloud Crystals everywhere. Tons of mid-grade and upper-grade ones, and plenty of lower-grade too. He didn’t rush to collect them; after all, even upper-grade Violet Cloud Crystals were only worth a mid-grade God Stone. Compared to the God Stones in the Coiling-Dragon Ring, these upper-grade crystals didn’t even matter.
Suddenly, he spotted a stone ahead radiating an especially fierce purple light. "A supreme Violet Cloud Crystal? There’s actually a supreme Violet Cloud Crystal down here?" Evan blurted out, then quickly moved closer.
He drew the Frostbane Divine Sword and quickly dug away the surrounding rocks, uncovering his first supreme Violet Cloud Crystal. Underground, if he didn’t use Earthshift, he couldn’t move or dig at all—Earthshift let him merge with the earth and use the space freely. That was its greatest advantage.
After storing the supreme Violet Cloud Crystal in his ring, Evan began searching for another. The pressure on his body felt much lighter now—maybe it was just excitement—but he couldn’t help sinking deeper into the earth…