"Two women, three men, and one chubby creature—I don't know what kind of spirit beast it is," Eldon, the Ancient Tree Soul, replied.
Evan Yang was startled. Two women—that must be Nina Ye and Winter. Three men, of course, referred to the Strange Fiend, Old Clam, and the street thug he'd captured.
As for the last chubby spirit beast, that was obviously Sprig.
Seeing that Eldon wasn't lying, Evan was overjoyed. "So what's outside this artifact now?"
"The riverbed. There's water flowing above it," Eldon said.
Evan confirmed it was the Death River in the void. The thought of leaving this way and possibly being devoured by the river water made him pause and reconsider.
Meanwhile, Eldon had already begun cultivating and was waiting for Evan's summons at any time.
"I wonder what those river waters will do!" Evan muttered. But if he didn't leave, it meant he'd be trapped here forever.
After thinking for a while, Evan spoke: "Keep an eye on any changes outside, especially when I throw something out. Let me know what happens out there."
"Alright," Eldon answered, fully alert.
So Evan took out a piece of Spirit Crystal Ore, infused with spiritual power, to see what would happen if he threw it outside.
He tossed the Spirit Crystal Ore through the exit, and the situation outside was immediately transmitted into Evan's mind.
The Spirit Crystal Ore sank into the river like a stone falling into water, settling there.
"Nothing happened?" Evan wondered aloud. But the Death River was known as a cursed river—how could there be no reaction? For safety's sake...
Evan entered the Sky-Piercing Tower.
Everyone inside the tower was overjoyed to see Evan return. He hadn't come back for a long time—inside, nearly a hundred years had passed. Derek had even advanced to the Fusion Realm; although he still lacked Fiend Star Sources, his progress was impressive.
Since Evan was about to leave, he didn't chat much with them. Instead, he began controlling the tower, moving it toward the black exit.
He knew his Sky-Piercing Tower was definitely superior to the False Mountain. Otherwise, Eldon could see the False Mountain artifact but couldn't fully perceive his tower.
So he decided to use the tower's special abilities, entered the black exit, and soon emerged on the other side, landing next to the False Mountain and the Spirit Crystal Ore.
"Now it's safe." Seeing the tower emerge unharmed and unaffected by the river, Evan was delighted. At least he could control the tower to slowly rise and leave the river.
As for the False Mountain, Evan stored it inside the Sky-Piercing Tower.
Everyone gathered around, curious as Evan examined the False Mountain in his hands.
"Is this the False Mountain that trapped you?" Nina Ye asked, intrigued.
"Yeah, that's right," Evan replied with a smile. He looked closely at the False Mountain and noticed a lava-like area at the base, then a suspended bridge above it, beyond the bridge was a snowfield, and above the snowfield, a forest.
Every place Evan had passed was clearly recreated on the surface of the False Mountain.
"What a magical artifact," Evan marveled, seeing all the places he'd traversed displayed on the False Mountain.
Nina Ye and the others hadn't seen what Evan had gone through, so they didn't know what was special about the False Mountain. All they saw were fire, a bridge, snowfields, and trees on its surface. But Evan knew that if he hadn't been careful and cautious, he would have died countless times.
"But how do you use it?" Nina Ye wondered, watching Evan inspect it from all angles.
Hearing Nina's question, Evan tried to use it, but even after infusing spiritual power, nothing happened. It seemed the artifact wasn't controlled by spiritual energy at all.
After failing, Evan remembered how the Nether Patriarch had controlled the False Mountain—he realized the man had used spoken incantations.
"I'll have to ask him directly." Evan put away the False Mountain, planning to question the Nether Patriarch.
But that wouldn't be so simple. Evan still had a grudge to settle with him. The Nether Patriarch, who never believed Evan could survive, had fully recovered from his injuries and spent his days complaining to the Swain Family about Derek.
As for the Swain Family's young master, he was even more frustrated. With Evan supposedly dead, he tried to ask Captain Lee to investigate Nina Ye's whereabouts, but Captain Lee refused due to the trouble caused by General Ba's death.
So the Swain young master could only worry over his paralyzed patriarch and steward every day.
Evan controlled the Sky-Piercing Tower, slowly moving it upward. When he reached the surface of the river, he could hear the sound of the current. To his surprise, flames had erupted outside the tower.
At first, he worried the fire might affect the tower, but after a while, nothing happened. Evan smoothly floated out of the river and entered the void.
With a flash, Evan stepped out, put away the tower, and looked at the river before him, muttering, "I should thank you—otherwise, the Nether Patriarch would have dragged me and the tower off to who knows where."
Although the river was dangerous, for Evan it had actually saved his life, so he felt grateful to it.
After expressing his gratitude, Evan didn't immediately go looking for the Nether Patriarch. Instead, he headed to the Hidden Heaven Emporium, mainly to collect more Fiend Star Sources for Derek.
Not long after, Evan arrived at the same shop as before, greeted once again by the kind-hearted clerk.