Evan Yang followed Yvonne Darkmoon into a boundless forest, but as soon as they entered, their divine sense became unusable.
"Amazing, isn't it?" Yvonne laughed.
"It really is a strange place. Why does this happen?" Evan asked curiously.
"I don't really know either. But I've heard people say there might be some kind of treasure buried below, which causes this effect," Yvonne replied.
"A treasure? Wouldn't someone have dug it up already?" Evan laughed helplessly when he heard about such a powerful treasure.
"Who knows? Anyway, it's a treasure that can't be found. If you try digging, you'll hit an impassable barrier after a certain depth," Yvonne said with a smile.
Evan muttered, "That really is pretty mysterious."
"Alright, enough talk. They should be arriving soon. I'll expose myself to their line of sight, you find a place to hide, then wait for a chance to ambush one of them. Once you succeed, head east right away—don't go the wrong way. I'll be waiting for you there," Yvonne instructed.
"Come on, they're not idiots. As soon as I make a move, they'll notice," Evan shook his head helplessly.
"Here, take this. I'll lend it to you for now." Yvonne took out a palm-sized box.
"What's this?" Evan asked, puzzled.
"No matter how you attack, as long as it enters from one end of the box and exits the other, all the attack's qi aura will be filtered away," Yvonne said.
Evan took the artifact curiously and found that it had two openings. He picked up a stone, tossed it through one end, and when it came out the other, there was truly no trace of qi—like it had appeared out of thin air.
"Alright, stop testing it. But remember, you only have one real chance. Once they're alerted, it'll be much harder to attack again," Yvonne reminded.
Evan finally understood why Yvonne was so confident about defeating them. With this artifact, picking them off one by one wasn't impossible.
So Evan hid in the spot Yvonne indicated, waiting for the right moment to strike. Meanwhile, Yvonne deliberately slowed down, making sure the pursuers spotted her.
"Captain Lee, that kid's gone!" someone exclaimed in surprise.
Captain Lee realized that divine sense was unusable here, making it impossible to detect Evan's hiding spot. Still, he was certain: "Just follow the woman. We'll find him eventually."
"Understood."
The four of them moved toward Yvonne, while Evan lost sight of her but could see the pursuers. Hidden and invisible, Evan was nearly impossible to detect.
"Better use that miniature sword." Evan remembered the tiny sword Mad Elder gave him. He brought it out and slipped underground. With divine sense suppressed, he left a clone above to spot targets for him.
While the four searched for Yvonne, Evan targeted the rearmost one and unleashed his strongest attack, letting it pass through the strange box.
With the miniature sword unbound underground, the last pursuer couldn't react in time—a sharp blade erupted from below, destroying his dantian and nearly piercing his head.
At the last moment, he abandoned his body and escaped as a soul. The other three noticed the anomaly, shocked and furious.
"Ah!" The man whose body was destroyed let out a final scream, then shed his mortal shell.
Captain Lee immediately ordered, "Stay alert!" The three survivors grouped together, back-to-back, hovering three meters above the ground, watching their surroundings.
The trembling soul hovered at the center of the three. Now at his weakest, he was terrified of being destroyed and dared not let his guard down.
Furious at losing his body, the soul demanded, "Captain Lee, what the hell is going on?"
"I want to know too—what exactly attacked you just now?" Captain Lee asked.
"I don't know. Something suddenly surged up from below and destroyed my body—almost wiped out my soul too," the soul replied.
"Damn it, looks like this place is full of hidden dangers. Everyone stay sharp," Captain Lee said, frowning at the weirdness and the loss of divine sense.
Evan had successfully taken out one. Before they realized what happened, he prepared to go again.
The three remaining pursuers had no idea where the attacks were coming from or when they'd strike. All they could do was nervously keep watch.
The soul grumbled, "Captain Lee, maybe we should leave. This place is too creepy."
"Go back? Don't forget the young master's orders. If you want to leave, go ahead," Captain Lee snorted coldly.
The soul could only endure and keep watching the surroundings.
Yvonne noticed they weren't following, so she doubled back and found one of them had lost his body—now just a soul.
"One down, not bad. Now I just need to split up the other three," Yvonne muttered to herself.
Yvonne stepped out and, seeing the three men, feigned surprise: "What are you doing here?"
The three looked at each other, unsure what to do. Just then, as one was thinking, a sharp blade shot up from below. The three scattered, but the targeted man was too close and got his leg crippled.
"Damn it, who did that!" Captain Lee raged. The wounded man clutched his leg in mid-air, terrified of falling and becoming an easy target.
"Looks like you ran into a ground beast," Yvonne said.
"Ground beast?" The men exchanged confused looks, having no idea what this place really was. Hearing Yvonne name something so strange, they became curious.
Yvonne hadn't expected them to be so gullible. She kept guiding them, "The ground beast hates strangers. Maybe it's your first time here, so they're not welcoming you and attacked."
"What? Is that for real?" Captain Lee was shocked, and the others looked incredulous.
"That's right. Outsiders come here all the time and get attacked like this—sometimes even eaten, nothing left behind," Yvonne continued her bluff.
The men's faces changed dramatically. But Captain Lee was here to catch Evan—returning empty-handed wasn't an option. He said, "Miss Xie, you must know how to avoid these attacks. Why not tell us?"
"Tell you? You tried to capture me for no reason, now you want my help? Do I look three years old to you? I don't think so. You can just suffer here for a while," Yvonne said, savoring their helplessness as payback.
"Miss Xie, I know you hate us, but we're from the Yang Clan. If anything happens to us, the Yangs will come looking for your family," Captain Lee said, unwilling to give up.
Yvonne wanted to kill them for all their threats, but she had a plan—to create an opening for Evan. So she said, "Alright, I'm not petty. Here's the deal: each of you come over and apologize politely, and I'll tell you how to avoid the attacks."
"Really?" Captain Lee was delighted.
"Of course. Who's first?" Yvonne asked.
Captain Lee knew one man's leg was crippled, and another needed to guard him. So he said, "I'll go first."
Yvonne nodded, and Captain Lee told the unharmed subordinate, "Stay sharp!"
"Got it," the unharmed man replied.
Captain Lee flew down cautiously, approaching Yvonne.
"Miss Xie, I'm sorry!" Captain Lee said sincerely.
"Too quiet. Say it louder," Yvonne demanded.
Captain Lee gritted his teeth, about to shout, when a scream erupted behind him—the unharmed subordinate had his hand crippled, blood streaming everywhere. "Damn it!" Captain Lee was shocked and rushed to protect them, but a sharp blade shot up from underground, striking his foot. Thanks to his speed, it only hit his foot, sparing the rest of him.
Even so, Captain Lee felt miserable. He quickly regrouped with the other two and said, "Let's go!"
"Trying to leave? Not so easy!" A voice rang out nearby as Evan revealed himself, emerging from underground.
"Damn you, hiding here all along!" Captain Lee shouted angrily when he saw Evan.
The other two were drenched in sweat and in pain. Even after stopping the bleeding, their strength was diminished.
"You should worry about yourselves. Watch out for the ground beast," Evan said with a laugh.
Captain Lee was startled and quickly flew up. The other two didn't dare linger and followed him into the air.
"Tsk, tsk. You had the guts to hunt me, but not to face me head-on," Evan mocked.
"Hmph, let's see if I can take you down!" Captain Lee told the others to be careful, then charged at Evan, hoping to capture him and escape this cursed place.
"Your foot's still bleeding," Evan laughed.
Even so, Captain Lee was at the peak of the Immortal-Lord realm, still stronger than Evan. Evan didn't dare fight him head-on. Yvonne watched anxiously, wanting to help, but her oath held her back, leaving her helpless on the sidelines.
Just as Captain Lee was about to grab Evan, Evan performed earth-escape and vanished underground.
"Damn, you have earth-attribute powers. No wonder you can disappear so fast," Captain Lee exclaimed in shock.
"Captain Lee, what now?" the soul asked, trembling with fear.
"Let's go!" Captain Lee didn't want to stay a moment longer. The three hurried away, not daring to linger.