Evan Chu looked at the massive creature and laughed. "What a fool—coming here just to die!" He pressed down with the Frostbane Sword in his hand, unleashing Heaven-Cleave; the gigantic sword-qi attack struck the charging Nether Lizard in an instant.
The Nether Lizard was instantly shredded into pieces by Evan Chu, not just split in two like before—only a cloud of blood mist remained in the air, and not even the Phantasite was left behind.
One move to insta-kill the Nether Lizard—even Evan was a little stunned. That was terrifying. Too bad about the Phantasite, though; he felt a bit regretful in his heart, but then started looting the corpses of the Ghost Clan cultivators he'd just slain.
It didn't take long for Evan Chu to gather about fifty wooden tokens, plus some Netherstones. In the Netherworld, Netherstones are basically the same as Starstones—excellent stuff.
After glancing at the Ghost Clan corpses he'd slain, Evan Chu unleashed another Heaven-Cleave, making them vanish completely from the Land of the Undead—total corpse erasure. Aside from a massive fissure in the ground, nothing else remained.
Soaring into the sky, Evan Chu smiled at Luna and Jade Chu. "Not a bad haul. If I keep this up, I’ll definitely beat Faye Knox. I wonder how she’s doing right now—honestly, I kind of want to go see her."
"You’d better work harder. I’m sure Faye Knox has way more tokens than you by now. Seeing you show off just annoys me. Let Jade Chu keep you company—I’m going back to sleep." Luna finished speaking, turned into a small silver sword, and flew into Evan Chu’s brow.
Evan Chu stared gloomily at the spot where Luna disappeared. When did he offend this goddess? Could she be jealous? No way she’s that petty!
"Jade Chu, let’s go!" Evan Chu said to Jade Chu.
"Big brother, I want to go rest too. After turning humanoid I’m still not used to it, but don’t worry—I can keep scanning for you from inside the storage ring. Just call me whenever you need." Jade Chu said.
Evan Chu suddenly felt unsettled. Had these two already planned this together? Why were they both so eager to leave—were they just messing with him on purpose?
"Jade Chu, help me out—just tell me which spots have the most Ghost Clan people. Just a few places is fine, I’ll find them myself." Evan Chu said, feeling a bit depressed.
"Okay! Hold on a sec!" Jade Chu replied. A flash of cyan light passed, and after half a stick of incense, she said, "The west has the most Ghost Clan. If you head that way, you’ll run into plenty. There are some in the south too, but you’d better not go there—a woman is currently slaughtering Ghost Clan like crazy, and her kill rate isn’t any slower than yours."
Evan Chu knew Jade Chu was talking about Faye Knox—only she could have that kind of power. "Got it, thanks!"
Jade Chu nodded, her cyan glow flaring up before she transformed back into the Wind-Binding Pearl—looking extremely strange. Evan Chu stowed her away in his storage ring. If he told anyone a bead could turn into a little girl, they’d think he was crazy—but it was the truth.
Evan Chu glanced at the distant sky, then instantly used movement art to fly toward the direction Jade Chu had pointed out.
To beat Faye Knox and save face, Evan Chu turned into a killing machine—he slaughtered countless Ghost Clan along the way, leaving no survivors. Of course, he didn’t forget to absorb ghost-qi either, since after returning to Grimchart City, ghost-qi would be the best shield for hiding his true identity.
By now, the wooden tokens in Evan Chu’s storage ring had piled up like a small mountain. He didn’t want to kill any more—this amount should be enough to beat Faye Knox. If he showed up with too many tokens, it would attract the Ghost Clan’s attention. For the rest of his time, he roamed the Land of the Undead hunting monsters from all five Netherworld races, killing plenty and collecting several hundred more Phantasite.
One day, while resting on a clean boulder, Luna suddenly said, "Lin Feng, today’s the day you leave. You’ve gained a ton from this Land of the Undead trip—your strength broke through and you got the Five-Element Fruit. When you get out, don’t act rashly; there are plenty of people out there stronger than you."
"I know, but if I had a few more months here, it’d be perfect. I could train Windshift and Thundershift right on the spot. And I never got to visit those restricted zones Jade Chu mentioned—they must have great stuff. I wanted to ask her for exact locations, but I was too busy killing monsters and forgot." Evan Chu said.
"I know all about those restricted zones, but it wouldn’t do you any good to go. This is the Netherworld, and like I’ve told you before, it’s actually just a branch point of the real Netherworld. The restricted areas in the Land of the Undead are probably sealing some truly terrifying beings. If you break those seals, you’ll be dead in an instant. I’m not trying to scare you—I’m warning you for your own good. You think I don’t want you to get benefits?" Luna said.
A chill ran down Evan Chu’s spine—good thing he hadn’t asked Jade Chu for help, or the consequences would’ve been unthinkable. But he still wondered: why seal things here, in a branch point of the real Netherworld? Just how vast was the true Netherworld? He’d used instant movement countless times in the Land of the Undead, but never reached the end.
"Got it. For a second I thought you were mad at me and ignoring me!" Evan Chu laughed.
Just then, the air above Evan Chu began to tremble violently. A Teleportation Gate appeared in the sky, and his wooden token flew out of the storage ring. A white light flashed from the token, shooting straight into the gate—after a moment, the token returned to the ring.
Evan Chu was baffled by all this—he couldn’t explain it at all. For something so magical to happen, the person behind it had to be a true master. He didn’t even dare imagine how strong that master must be.
A powerful force pulled at him from the Teleportation Gate, but Evan Chu could’ve resisted easily—he chose not to, letting it drag him inside.
Evan Chu knew he could fly straight into the gate, but some Ghost Clan contestants without enough Phantasite couldn’t fly—and so couldn’t reach the gate. If they missed the timing, they’d be stuck here forever. Maybe all the monsters in this place were formed that way.
Passing through the gate, Evan Chu’s body flickered and reappeared somewhere else—not the desert, but a huge plaza in a city.
Over a thousand people stood in the plaza—most of them fellow contestants. Evan Chu hadn’t expected to be the last one teleported out, which was rare. Just then, a middle-aged man in black robes spoke: "This trip to the Land of the Undead was quite the experience, wasn’t it? Fewer returned than ever before, but anyone who made it back has passed the test. Now it’s time to show off your loot: if you have a hundred wooden tokens, you advance; thirty Phantasite also gets you through. I know some of you don’t know what Phantasite is, but you’ll find out soon. Line up, everyone—let’s start, one by one..."