Evan Yang felt his heart sink halfway upon hearing how strict it was, but he still refused to give up and asked, "Is there any other way to see her?"
"No. Unless my sister agrees, there’s no other way at all," Lena King replied.
"That’s troublesome," Evan said with a smile.
"Of course. That place is extremely important. Even people from the Water Palace can’t just enter, let alone you," Lena explained.
Evan nodded. He planned to try sneaking in himself, and do it without anyone knowing.
Seeing Evan deep in thought, Lena said, "Come on, I’ve made progress. I’ll take you to see my sister and get your reward."
"Reward? No need for that," Evan laughed.
"You really won’t go?" Lena asked.
"Yeah, I won’t go. But, could you tell me exactly where the Yin‑Nether Flame is?" Evan asked curiously.
"Why are you asking so specifically? Don’t tell me you plan to sneak in?" Lena widened her eyes.
"You’re overthinking it. I’m just curious," Evan smiled, though he wondered to himself why this girl was so sharp.
"I know, but I’m not telling you," Lena grinned.
"Why not?" Evan asked, curious.
"You’re not from the Water Palace, so why should I tell you?" Lena said. "Even if I’m not from the Water Palace, I’m still your teacher," Evan replied.
"Teacher? You’re so full of yourself. I was just saying that, you know," Lena quickly corrected when Evan started acting like her master.
"Oh? So you’re taking it back? In that case, I’ll leave," Evan said.
"Hey, why are you so petty? Teacher is teacher, what’s the big deal?" Lena grumbled.
"That’s more like it. Now, your teacher wants to know, so you can tell me, right?" Evan asked.
"Fine, I’ll tell you. It doesn’t matter anyway—you can’t get in. That place is..." Lena began describing the location to Evan. When she finished, Evan smiled and said, "Thanks."
"Now it’s your turn to play with me," Lena said.
"Play with you?" Evan asked suspiciously.
"That’s right. I want to see if I can freeze water during a fight," Lena said.
Evan smiled, "No problem. Let’s head to the lakeside first."
After speaking, Evan walked ahead, with Lena and the Spirit Monkey following behind. After a while, Evan leapt and dove into the water.
Lena was puzzled—why did Evan go into the water? Evan smiled at Lena from the opposite shore, "I’ll be in the water. You attack me from here."
"Are you sure?" Lena asked, curious after hearing Evan’s idea.
"Absolutely. Go ahead," Evan said with a smile.
Lena was thrilled at such a good opportunity—Evan wouldn’t dodge, and she could use him as a target. She started controlling the water to attack Evan, trying to freeze it as well.
As for Evan in the water, he left a clone behind; his true body had already gone underwater in stealth.
The Spirit Monkey was still recovering from the fruit and, seeing Evan and Lena playing, lay down nearby to nap.
That’s why Evan easily slipped past the strange monkey and left the area.
"That place is on a blue-red planet. Let me find it," Evan said. After leaving the planet, he looked around and saw a blue-red planet on the edge—just as Lena had described.
Evan was secretly delighted and hurried toward the spot. Soon he arrived, looked down, and found a patch of land emitting smoke, surrounded by water.
"These flames are really hot," Evan observed. The redness came from the flames on the land, making the planet appear blue and red.
But this didn’t trouble Evan. With a flash, he activated his Ice‑fire within and landed on the patch of land. There were many cracks, each filled with leaping flames.
These flames were not only red, but also black.
"Is this the Yin‑Nether Flame?" Evan muttered to himself. Once he confirmed this was where his mother was imprisoned, he quickly released his divine sense to search for the entrance.
Soon, a conspicuous entrance appeared on the land like a volcano’s mouth. Evan flew over, looked down, and saw darkness below—but could feel the intense heat from the opening, not something ordinary people could withstand.
"Mother, I’m coming down," Evan said, feeling a bit excited. To get down faster, he sped up. With Ice‑fire regulating his temperature, only his appearance was scorched black.
At this moment, Evan was a person entirely blackened from head to toe.
With night vision and the glow of the flames below, Evan plunged downward, but was blocked by a thin membrane. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get through.
"Maybe this is the so-called passage," Evan muttered to himself.
Facing this barrier, Evan checked and found it was like a formation, but extremely strong. Still, he refused to give up and gathered a bunch of formation attacks at one point, hoping to break through.
Unfortunately, his first attempt failed. Evan thought he lacked power, so he added more formations, trying again and again.
Elsewhere, a woman cultivating suddenly opened her eyes. "Damn it, someone’s trespassing over there!"
That woman was none other than Bianca King. She immediately snapped out of her cultivation and vanished in a flash. Evan had no idea this place was linked to Bianca—any disturbance here would alert her. But he kept trying to break the formation.
Suddenly, a wave of cold intent swept over his back, startling Evan. How had someone approached without him noticing? He turned and saw a woman in white, like a celestial fairy, but her eyes burned with poisonous fire as she stared at him.
Evan knew the Palace Lord’s strength was extraordinary—she could see through his invisibility. Only an Immortal Sovereign could do that, so she had to be at least that level.
Knowing there was nowhere to run, Evan revealed himself and greeted Bianca, "Greetings, Palace Lord."
"You’re quite bold," Bianca snorted coldly.
"Palace Lord, I was just curious and wanted to take a look," Evan said.
"Curious? What’s there to see here?" Bianca said coldly.
"This planet is blue and red, so I came down out of curiosity. Then I found a volcano and got even more curious, so I looked around. I found what seemed like a formation and tried a few times, but couldn’t get in," Evan explained.
"Evan Yang! Didn’t anyone teach you that some places can’t be entered at will?" Bianca said angrily.
Evan knew he’d angered the Palace Lord, but with nowhere to run, he sighed, "Palace Lord, I told you I wandered in by accident. If you want to kill me or punish me, do as you please!"
"Fine. Not afraid of death at this point? Then I’ll grant your wish!" Bianca extended two fingers, and a shadowy force appeared around Evan’s neck.
Suddenly, Evan felt his neck clamped by a powerful force. "Ah!"
"Hurts, doesn’t it? This is just the beginning," Bianca said.
"So the Palace Lord bullies the weak?" Evan retorted.
"There’s no big or small here—only those who break the rules. You broke the rules, so I have to deal with you," Bianca said.
Enduring the pain, Evan asked, "I don’t know what’s down there—why is the Palace Lord so angry?"
"That’s none of your concern. But you—how is it you’re completely unharmed outside the Yin‑Nether Flame? That’s a miracle," Bianca suddenly realized Evan was fine here.
"This fire is nothing," Evan said to himself, knowing he probably wouldn’t make it today. He wasn’t afraid—if the Strange Spiral Shell remained, he could reincarnate, but his body might be destroyed, which worried him.
"Nothing? You’re quite bold. But I want to see why you’re not afraid of these flames," Bianca was intrigued. She checked Evan and found a familiar cold aura inside him.
At first Bianca thought she was mistaken, but after checking carefully, her eyes widened in surprise. "Ice-fire!"
Evan was shocked that someone else knew about Ice-fire. He stared at Bianca, "You know it too?"
Bianca looked at Evan with a complicated expression, then released his neck. "I offended you. Sorry."
Evan was confused—she’d wanted to kill him just moments ago, now she was so respectful. "What’s going on, Palace Lord? If you want to kill me, just do it. Don’t use this tone, it’s scarier."
Bianca suppressed her anger, "Isn’t it good for me to treat you like this?"
"Uh..." Evan was stunned for a moment.
"Enough talk. Simply put, since Ice-fire chose you, I have no right to make things difficult for you," Bianca said.
"No right to make things difficult for me?" Evan was suspicious—did Ice-fire really change the Palace Lord’s mind?
"You’ll understand this someday. Telling you now is pointless," Bianca said.
"Palace Lord, you can’t just leave me hanging," Evan complained.
"You have to discover and dig it out yourself. I won’t tell you," Bianca said coldly.
Evan knew this was definitely related to Ice-fire, but wondered why Bianca was suddenly so respectful. Since she wouldn’t say, Evan focused on his mother and asked, "Palace Lord, I want to go down below. Can you let me?"
"No," Bianca replied.
"Why not?" Evan asked.
"Only Water Palace people can go down there. You’re not one, so I can’t let you," Bianca said without hesitation.
Seeing how stubborn Bianca was, Evan said, "If you won’t let me, I’ll find my own way."
Bianca frowned at Evan, "Why are you so determined to go down? Do you even know what’s down there?"
"I heard there’s Yin‑Nether Flame below, and I have Ice-fire. I want to see whether my Ice-fire is stronger, or the Yin‑Nether Flame is," Evan blurted out.