Lina Hayes snorted coldly, "Who are you, really? Why did you knock out our man?" "That's right! Why did you knock out our man?" Leah Hayes asked.
"I don't know what you're talking about. I was just resting here, and you two barged in out of nowhere," Evan Yang replied.
"You don't know what we're talking about? Then what's the deal with that token on you?" Lina Hayes demanded.
Evan Yang hadn't expected these two would even know about the token he had hidden. He'd already guessed they were together, but now he was certain. What puzzled him was how they could know he kept the token on him—did they have X-ray vision or something?
"Don't try to deny it. Our tokens are specially made for tracking targets. You actually wore it, which made things a lot easier for us," Lina Hayes said.
After realizing what was going on, Evan Yang laughed, "So that's how it is. I thought you two were really all-knowing, to know even that."
"So what else do you have to say? Hurry up and confess," Lina Hayes snorted coldly.
"That? I just picked it up. What's the problem?" Evan Yang took out the token and tossed it over.
Leah Hayes caught the jade token and snorted, "Don't think you can fool us. Do you take us for idiots? Picked it up? Is it really that easy to find?"
"So what do you want? Are you planning to stick around and mooch off me?" Evan Yang asked.
"Speak. Why did you take the token? If you don't tell us, don't even think about leaving today," Lina Hayes said.
Evan Yang laughed, "Who said I was leaving? I'm planning to sleep here tonight. I've got things to do tomorrow. You two can go."
Then Evan Yang ignored them, lay down on his bed, making Lina and Leah Hayes furious. Both of them raised their hands, and a wave of cold air shot out, instantly freezing Evan in place.
"These two girls actually have some skill; working together, they can really freeze someone." Evan Yang wasn't bothered at all—he felt perfectly warm inside.
Seeing Evan frozen, Lina Hayes laughed, "Kid, now you can't run, right? Hurry up and tell us why you took the token, or next time I won't be so gentle—I'll freeze you to death."
Leah Hayes chimed in from the side, "That's right, kid, spit it out."
"You two girls really have no respect for your elders. No matter what, I look older than you, right?" Evan Yang laughed.
"How arrogant! You think that'll get us to let you go? Keep dreaming!" Leah Hayes snorted.
Lina Hayes said directly, "Why bother being polite with him? Let's just freeze him all night and see if he can still talk big tomorrow."
Leah Hayes nodded, and the two of them raised their hands again, pouring even more power into their attack. The cold tried to invade Evan's body, but was devoured by his Ice Saint before it could get in.
But the two girls had no idea, and Evan Yang just kept sleeping, letting them wear themselves out. By the next day, the girls finally withdrew their hands.
Lina Hayes laughed, "Kid, got anything to say now?"
Evan Yang stretched out his hands—crack! The ice shattered, shocking the two girls, who couldn't believe their ice was so brittle against him.
"You—how did you do that?" Lina Hayes stammered, staring at Evan.
"How did I do it? Just like this." Evan Yang laughed, and a flame appeared in his hand. The heat was intense, making the room swelter and causing the two girls to break out in sweat instantly.
"Damn it, you're actually a fire-attribute cultivator!" Lina Hayes cursed.
"Yeah, that's right. So, what are you two planning now? Leaving, or still want to keep pestering me?" Evan Yang asked.
"You—I'm watching you! I'm sending a message to the Hall!" Lina Hayes pointed at Evan and shouted.
Leah Hayes added, "I'll send a message to the Hall too."
Evan Yang didn't stop them, but smiled, "So? Did you two send the message yet?"
"You really do have guts, not even trying to stop us," Lina Hayes said.
Evan Yang laughed, "I already told you I'm not the one who took the token. Are you really going to be unreasonable? If that's how it is, do whatever you want."
Lina and Leah Hayes exchanged glances, curious if Evan Yang really had nothing to do with it, and if he'd actually just picked up the token.
"If you have no proof, don't make wild accusations. I've got business to handle now. If you insist on following me, I can't help it." Evan Yang laughed, then turned to leave. The two girls discussed it for a moment and ended up following him, waiting for reinforcements from the Hall.
On the street, people saw a man walking with two young women and assumed he was some rich young master.
Seeing the curious looks from passersby, Lina Hayes asked, "Sis, why are they staring at us like that?" "No idea," Leah Hayes replied.
Seeing their funny exchange, Evan Yang asked, "Have you two never been to a city before?"
"How did you know?" Lina and Leah Hayes really were on their first mission outside, so they looked at Evan curiously.
"Isn't it obvious? With you two on my left and right, anyone who knows the city would think you're my maids or something." Evan Yang joked.
"What? We're your maids? You jerk!" Lina Hayes fumed.
Evan Yang chuckled, watching the two girls freak out, as he arrived at the trading venue he'd visited the day before.
"Is the person trading Dark Spirit Stones here?" Evan Yang asked the gatekeeper.
The gatekeeper recognized Evan from yesterday and smiled, "So, are you planning to trade an eighth-grade artifact?"
"That's right. If he's here, let me meet him," Evan Yang said.
"Alright, come with me." The gatekeeper led Evan inside, with the two girls close behind, afraid he'd run off.
Evan Yang was brought to a private room, where a man was seated. When Evan entered, the man stood up and said, "You're the one trading for Dark Spirit Stones?"
"Yeah, that's me," Evan Yang replied.
"I've got a hundred thousand here, just like I wanted. Did you bring it?" the man asked decisively.
Evan Yang nodded, took out the box, and handed it over. The man opened it, saw it was indeed an eighth-grade artifact, and laughed, "Honest guy, no tricks. Here's to a successful deal."
(End of chapter notice: This is not part of the novel, skip translating.)
After the exchange, the gatekeeper acted as the middleman. Once the deal was done, everyone prepared to leave.
As they passed by a certain spot, a noisy commotion caught Evan Yang's attention. He looked over and saw it was an auction, with various items being sold. He was just glancing around when he noticed something shiny on the stage.
"A scale from a qilin!" the auctioneer announced.
Qilin? Evan Yang wondered how such a thing could appear in public. Seeing Evan so focused, Lina Hayes laughed, "It's definitely fake. You're staring at it so seriously."
"Fake? How can you tell?" Evan Yang asked.
"There really are qilins in this world, but nothing from them ever falls off. They guard their bodies well. If something's lost, it means they're dead. But they're so strong, as powerful as Immortal Sovereigns, maybe even stronger. No Immortal Sovereign would dare mess with them, let alone touch their reverse scale," Lina Hayes explained.
"You know a lot. What, does your Hall have dealings with qilins?" Evan Yang laughed.
"That's because we saw a real qilin in the Hall when we were kids," Leah Hayes replied.
Evan Yang was shocked—such a divine beast appearing in this world was rare. Lina and Leah Hayes realized they'd said too much, so quickly stopped talking.
Seeing them refuse to speak, Evan Yang laughed, "It's fine if you don't talk. Maybe I'll visit your Hall someday, see this so-called divine beast for myself."
"You might get to visit the Hall, but see a divine beast? Dream on. Divine beasts aren't something just anyone can see," Lina Hayes mocked.
Evan Yang ignored her, left the trading venue, and tried to shake off the two girls. When he reached the outskirts of the city, he smiled, "Ladies, goodbye. I'm not seeing you off."
With that, Evan Yang vanished in a flash. The two girls were stunned, realizing Evan's speed was incredible. They'd thought he was worried about escaping, so he kept them close, but hadn't expected this outcome.
"Sis, what now?" Lina Hayes said angrily.
"That guy's strength is no joke!" Leah Hayes replied, furious.
After venting, the sisters decided to wait for people from the Hall. Meanwhile, Evan Yang had already reached the east side of the city, where he found Howling Wolf.
"You're finally here. So? Nothing happened?" Howling Wolf asked.
"No, everything's fine," Evan Yang replied.
"Good, good. Now that we've got Dark Spirit Stones, let's hurry to the Hundred Trust Pavilion," Howling Wolf said. Evan Yang nodded, and soon the two arrived at their destination.
Following procedure, Evan Yang and Howling Wolf sought out the person inside the Pavilion. After showing their image, the person left for a while.
"Where did he go?" Evan Yang asked, curious.
"He's putting your request in the system. They'll check the database for the person's whereabouts. If they find anything, they'll judge the value of the info," Howling Wolf explained.
"There's a place this amazing?" Evan Yang asked, curious.
"Yeah, the Hundred Trust Pavilion can do almost anything," Howling Wolf said.
Evan Yang wanted to know how they searched for info, but couldn't find out, so he just waited. After a while, the person returned, looked at Evan and said, 'The person you're looking for last appeared tens of thousands of years ago, so we can't track them.' 'No way,' Howling Wolf exclaimed before Evan could say anything. Tens of thousands of years was a bit much.
Evan Yang frowned, "Tens of thousands of years? Can't you get anything more recent?"
"No, that's all we can provide. If you want, I can give you the locations where she appeared tens of thousands of years ago," the person offered.
Evan Yang thought it over—maybe those clues could help. So he traded for some information from tens of thousands of years ago.