After Evan Chu and Xiaoxiao Mei emerged, the blood and qi fluctuations in both their bodies were noticeably stronger. While this didn't mean their cultivation realms had advanced, their control over power was clearly much greater than before!
If he were to fight again now, Evan's short-burst combat power would be even more terrifying than when he fought Wotan before. If he struck again, he was absolutely confident he could completely defeat Wotan without suffering a scratch himself! And if he was willing to pay a price, he could kill him outright.
That's the terrifying thing about unleashing true power. Evan Chu is different from ordinary cultivators—he can treat fighting across realms as routine, all because at the same cultivation level, he can control power far greater than anyone else!
Here's a crude but vivid example: say you have two eighteen-year-old bodies, one male and one female. If you give them steamed buns, the guy will definitely eat more. Right now, Evan is that guy, and the other same-realm experts are the girls—he can just unleash way more power than the rest!
All of this comes from innate talent, bloodline foundation, and other powerful roots—ordinary people just don't have that kind of background.
"Xiaoxiao, I can feel your bloodline has gotten much stronger again. Looks like your bloodline is pretty special—the growth rate is already on par with the Divine Wind Bloodline!"
"Huh? Really? I don't know, but as long as I can help you, that's all that matters."
"Heh, silly girl." Evan Chu gently stroked Xiaoxiao's head, then clumsily helped her put on her clothes.
At noon, Evan Chu gathered all the high-level members of Frostbane Divine Palace in the Frostbane Grand Hall. He announced he would be going into closed-door cultivation for a while, and that no one was to disturb him. For any urgent matters, Blue-Shade, Master Wan, Tao Dream, and Elena should be notified first.
In short, until Evan Chu finishes his seclusion, no one is allowed to act rashly. Even if enemies invade, they may only defend—no counterattacks allowed.
No one knew why Evan Chu was going into seclusion, and he didn't bother to explain. Soon after, he vanished in a hurry with Old Goldwing and Shadow.
Even though many people were curious, these were things Evan didn't want to share, so nobody pressed him. In no time, the Frostbane Divine Palace, which had just been bustling for days, grew quiet again.
Of course, “quiet” only referred to the inner palace. Out on the training fields, things were as lively as ever—legion drills were in full swing, and Frostbane Divine Palace experts were clashing with Sea God’s Domain elites. Even God-Venerable and God-Emperor level experts couldn’t resist sparring, exchanging insights into cultivation and bottlenecks.
At this moment, Evan Chu was traveling with Shadow and Old Goldwing, crossing mountains and rivers to search for a spatial node into the Netherworld. After several more days, he finally appeared in the Netherworld—but the feeling here was very different from when he first entered the Demonic Realm.
The Netherworld was eerily calm. Every city was on high alert, and it was rare to see any civilians—or more accurately, even the civilians had armed themselves to defend their towns.
The central capital, Nether Imperial City, was even more extreme: a full hundred thousand troops stationed outside, multiple large legions encircling the city, and probably even more forces inside. With such tight encirclement, not even a fly could get in, so Evan stayed in a nearby small city.
Because inspections were so strict, Evan had no choice but to use Light Transformation to slip into the city. But once inside, he was shocked to find that this tiny city actually had sixteen Nether Venerables and one Nether Emperor guarding it! Even if Nether Imperial City was the heart of the Netherworld, did they really need to deploy such forces in the surrounding towns?
Evan muttered to himself, full of doubt.
“Back in the Demonic Realm, as soon as I entered, war broke out. By my calculations, the Netherworld shouldn’t be peaceful either. But right now, all I see are heavy defenses—no sign of rebellion at all. Was my guess wrong?
Has the Spirit Lord not made a move here?”
But the more Evan thought about it, the more off it seemed. Sure, it made sense for Nether Imperial City to be heavily guarded, but why were all the surrounding cities so quiet and tense, like they were bracing for war? With defenses this strict, if they’re not preparing to fight, then what are they waiting for?
So, to get a clear picture, Evan spent ten days wandering the towns around Nether Imperial City. On one hand, he carefully checked for any rebels infiltrated by dark-element power; on the other, he used his bloodline to sense any sign of Chase Chu.
But to his disappointment, he found absolutely nothing.
Just as he was about to give up and go straight into Nether Imperial City to confront Serena Hua, a blazing pillar of light shot up from the imperial palace, its terrifying power piercing the heavens. Ripples of force spread outward from the palace at the center—it was shockingly intense.
This power felt deeply familiar to Evan, or rather, it resonated with a bloodline memory inside him. In this life, Evan had never encountered it before, but as Lord Frostbane in his previous life, he knew it all too well.
"It’s the Nether Venerable Sacred Lord! The resurrected Nether Venerable Sacred Lord!"
The Nether Venerable Sacred Lord was Princess Serena Hua’s father, Hadeon Hua. Before his fall, his cultivation was at the late-peak Nether Venerable Realm, on par with Lord Frostbane. To think that after all these years, now revived, his power was so terrifying that even Evan felt a trace of threat.
Evan was certain that if Hadeon Hua fully revived, his cultivation would definitely break through again, and he’d have enough strength to contend head-on with both Evan and Titus for supremacy.
The beam above the imperial palace grew stronger and the Nether power thicker. Suddenly, a violent explosion erupted from the palace’s center, and a beautiful figure was blasted out.
Evan’s pupils contracted—it was Princess Serena!
For some reason, seeing this scene made Evan suddenly think of something strange.
Lord Frostbane and the Nine-Clawed Primordial Dragon reincarnated and fused into himself, so it wasn’t surprising that after cultivating again, his realm broke through to God-Emperor. But why was it that Titus, after being sealed and suppressed for nearly a hundred thousand years, could also revive and stabilize his Demon Emperor-level power?
If one case could be chalked up to coincidence, then what about the Nether Venerable Sacred Lord? Mortally wounded and dormant for a hundred thousand years, not only had his cultivation not regressed, his power had actually grown! And then there was Roxanne Lin with her Divine Phoenix Bloodline, the reincarnated Xuanyuan Yueyan, and even the Spirit Lord, who won the War of the Gods a hundred thousand years ago but has done nothing since—his cultivation hasn’t broken through the limit either. Even if he’s stronger than Evan, it’s not by much!
What was going on? A hundred thousand years have passed since the War of the Gods, yet all these top powers have ended up at the same level! Suddenly, Evan felt as if he and these people were all pieces on a cosmic chessboard, with heaven and earth as the board, the Three Realms as the playing field, and all living beings as the pawns!
Fate—somehow, it was all arranged in the dark. But who would have the last laugh in the end? No one could say! Realizing this, Evan abruptly looked up, feeling as though someone was watching him!
Boom! Out of nowhere, thunder rumbled overhead, and a mysterious voice exploded in Evan’s mind!
“Do not pry into the secrets of heaven. Just do what you are meant to do!”