"Evan, if you kill these two, you might be able to get some Netherstones. If their status is even higher, you could even get a Netherghost Violet Orchid. You should give it a try—at your current level of defense, you shouldn't have anything to fear from these two." Luna said at this moment.
Evan Chu felt Luna's words made sense. Hiding and hesitating wouldn't solve anything—now that the situation had escalated, he needed to face it head-on. Killing these two might really get him a Netherghost Violet Orchid, and then his strength would skyrocket after the breakthrough.
Once he sorted his thoughts, Evan flashed out of the boulder and spoke directly to the two elders: "I'm in seclusion here, and you two old farts actually dare to disturb me? You must be tired of living!"
Seeing Evan appear, the elder who had been attacking the ground immediately laughed: "I told you they must be hiding here, right? My deduction was spot on, wasn't it? This guy looks like he's only at the Divine Martial Realm, so they're clearly desperate and using him to draw us in, planning a feint and then an escape. I'll handle this one, you keep an eye on the surroundings."
The two elders didn't care about Evan's appearance at all, their faces showing utter disdain. "Kid, you actually dared to kill my Black Lotus Guard Corps. How do you want to die?"
"Are you deaf or just stupid? I was cultivating in seclusion here, and you won't shut up—looks to me like it's you who should be worrying about how you want to die!" Evan snapped back angrily.
"What's the point of wasting words on him? If you don't want to do the killing, let me handle it—it's a merit-worthy deed!" the other elder said at this moment.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of these two. The other two are definitely yours—brothers should split the credit evenly! Watch me finish this one off right now." said the elder who had attacked the ground.
Right now, Evan was frantically circulating his Chaos Dragon Force. Against experts like these, he had to go all out. Instantly, the Frostbane Sword appeared from his storage ring, and with a flash, he unleashed Heaven-Cleave—fused with five-element and thunder power—at the elder, moving so fast the old man couldn't react at all.
Evan's sword strike caused violent ripples in the surrounding space—a massive, invisible greatsword of sword-qi formed and slammed right in front of the elder. But the old man was no pushover; seeing Evan's attack, he instantly grew serious and slashed out with his own longsword.
However, that elder's sword strike only unleashed eighty percent of his strength, while Evan went all out. The power gap was obvious—their attacks collided in an instant, and the massive energy shockwave whipped up a fierce wind, sending countless rocks, dirt, and dark-red plants flying into the air.
Almost at the same time, a thunderous boom echoed through the valley and shot straight up into the sky, the sound traveling far and wide. The elder was sent flying by Evan's sword, crashing into the cliff wall and collapsing a huge chunk of it.
Evan was forced back a few steps, his blood churning slightly but nothing serious. After a quick breath, he recovered completely. But the elder's body had been torn open by that sword—five-element force wrecked his internal structure, and the lightning power left him numb and unable to move.
The gaping wound on his body exposed damaged organs—if nothing unexpected happened, even if he didn't die, he'd need months of recovery. He never imagined that a youth with only Divine Martial Realm strength could unleash such a devastating attack.
He had only broken through to the seventh layer of the Saint Martial Realm a few months ago, already counted as a top expert of the Red Lotus Guard Corps, yet he'd been defeated in one move by an unknown youth.
The other elder was just as stunned, staring at Evan in disbelief. "Kid, who the hell are you? How do you have strength like this?"
"Who am I? You're not qualified to know. Red Lotus Guard Corps, huh? Means nothing in front of me. None of you are leaving here alive today." Evan declared.
He raised the Frostbane Sword and swung at the talking elder—but the strike was just a feint. When the sword tip was still two meters away, Evan instantly teleported and attacked the injured, immobilized elder instead.
Strike while the enemy is down—Evan's specialty. He'd never let a chance like this slip by. The Frostbane Sword flashed again, sword-qi surging as he struck the elder dead-on, driving the blade straight through his heart and ending his life.
The other elder, who'd been Evan's first target, saw his intent and reacted. As Evan attacked the immobilized elder, he slashed his longsword straight into Evan's back—a classic 'mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind' move.
The elder was overjoyed when his sword struck the youth's back—he thought this blow would finish him off. But something unexpected happened: when the blade hit Evan's back, it was like slashing steel plate, and his arm went numb from the shock.
A sudden thought flashed through his mind: "Such terrifying defense—I've never seen anything like it." Realizing things were going wrong, he tried to turn and escape, but it was too late.
Evan saw stars from the impact but wasn't seriously hurt—just some churning blood. He spun around and hacked back with all his strength, sending the elder flying several meters and leaving a deep, bone-revealing gash across his chest.
It was mainly because Evan had attacked in a rush and hadn't used a powerful martial art—if he'd unleashed Earthsplitter, the elder would've been decapitated on the spot. With no preparation, getting wounded was inevitable.
The elder didn't even care about his injury now—he shot up into the sky, desperate to escape. If this youth could instantly kill an expert of equal strength, there was no way he could resist. Survival was all that mattered now.
"Trying to run? You think you have a chance?" Evan flashed forward, teleporting directly in front of the elder.
Evan's monstrous power and freakish speed terrified the elder—he'd never seen anyone this young with such strength. An ominous feeling welled up in his heart.
"Even if you kill me today, you won't live long. The Silver Lotus Guard Corps and Gold Lotus Guard Corps will avenge us. Kid, your death is coming soon." The elder said in despair.
"Enough with the nonsense. I couldn't care less about your so-called Silver Lotus or Gold Lotus Guard Corps. Killing you is all that matters." Evan said—he knew the commotion had drawn attention, so he had to finish the fight and leave fast.
He swung the Frostbane Sword with all his might—this was another Heaven-Cleave, because only Heaven-Cleave could finish the job. Sword-qi surged from the blade, blasting toward the elder...