Eldon Liu was stunned by Evan Yang's overwhelming aura, but at the same time his greed for the Divine Seal was exposed. That artifact could let a severely injured Immortal Lord unleash power to rival his own.
"Are you really determined not to let go?" Eldon Liu asked.
"Let go? Let your whole family! I'm going to destroy you!" Evan Yang vented all his guilt and rage over the Holy Saintess onto Eldon Liu, and his power surged instantly. Eldon Liu was shocked and hurriedly retreated, but the force was still overwhelming, cleaving half his body in one strike.
"Ah!" Eldon Liu roared in fury as a wave of pain hit him. Seeing half his body gone, he glared at Evan Yang and shouted, "Evan Yang, I won't let you off. Just wait!"
"I'm not letting you off right now!" Evan Yang gathered his power again, but Eldon Liu panicked and fled without hesitation. He was already badly wounded and no match for Evan Yang, who now possessed the Divine Seal.
Evan Yang originally wanted to chase after him, but his strength suddenly vanished. It was as if all his power had been drained, and he collapsed to the ground, falling unconscious.
Eldon Liu didn't dare stay any longer and had already escaped. After leaving, he found a place to hide and nurse his wounds, while outside, the Protectors and the others continued their fierce battle.
A long time passed. After the others were defeated, they all fled, leaving the five Protectors to wait at the Holy Altar for the Holy Saintess's return.
While hiding in a secluded place to recover, Eldon Liu looked at his mangled body and cursed, "Damn it, it'll take at least tens of thousands of years to heal this."
Just then, Green Guard Gavin walked in. Seeing Eldon Liu's condition, he exclaimed, "Protector Liu, what happened to you?"
Protector Liu said, "There’s been some changes, but don’t worry. The Holy Saintess is seriously injured—worse than me."
Hearing that the Holy Saintess was gravely wounded, even more so than Protector Liu, people wondered just how severe her injuries were. For now, Protector Liu needed to steady everyone, so he said, "Nobody leave yet. Stay here and keep out of sight. Also, help me with something."
"Did you call Protector Liu?" Green Guard asked.
The Holy Saintess sighed, "My original power is gone. After Eldon Liu’s heavy attack, my cultivation is now only at the Emperor Realm."
No one knew the Saintess had been unconscious. So, you need to go out, spread the word—say the Holy Saintess has vanished, maybe even died. That’ll stir up chaos, and also say the Divine Seal was taken by an outsider named Evan Yang. You know what I mean, right?" Protector Liu explained.
Green Guard, having followed Protector Liu for so long, understood his meaning immediately. He quickly left to spread the news, which soon reached many ears and naturally caused turmoil among the upper ranks.
When the five Protectors heard the news, they frowned. "What’s going on?" Protector Tian asked Galen, who had just come to report.
"I came to confirm things—I don’t know what happened to the Saintess," Galen replied. "She and Protector Liu have been inside for a long time, and haven’t returned. Nothing’s happened, right? And this news was definitely spread by Protector Liu." Protector Tian frowned.
Protector Liu dared to spread such news, so it must be true. "We need to find the Saintess and clear this up quickly, or things will get messy," Protector Ming said, worried.
"But we don’t know how to navigate the Holy Altar," Protector Tian said, furrowing his brow.
But there was nothing they could do. No one knew the way inside, so they could only wait outside. A few Protectors went back with Galen Chao to calm everyone down.
Inside the Holy Altar, Evan Yang slowly regained consciousness, but his body couldn't move at all—every movement brought intense pain.
"An Immortal Sovereign's attack really is no joke. Luckily, the Divine Seal restored some of my strength—otherwise, who knows when I would have woken up," Evan Yang muttered, clutching the Divine Seal.
Evan Yang checked his body, then used his Heaven-Chill energy to repair it. Gradually, after about a month, he was able to move again. With effort, he put away the Divine Seal and brought out the Holy Saintess.
Looking at the unconscious Holy Saintess, Evan Yang muttered, "My Heaven-Chill energy is pretty weak compared to an Immortal Sovereign. I wonder how much energy is left in the Divine Seal."
Knowing his Heaven-Chill energy wouldn't do much for the Holy Saintess, Evan Yang took out the Divine Seal again and placed it in her hand, but nothing happened.
Evan Yang tried to figure out why. He recalled how he had guided the Divine Seal's power before and finally remembered blood. So Evan Yang made a small cut on the Holy Saintess's finger, letting her blood drip onto the Divine Seal.
As the blood slowly seeped into the Divine Seal, it began to emit a faint, gentle glow that enveloped the Holy Saintess. Seeing it work, Evan Yang was overjoyed and waited beside her, healing himself as well.
Another month passed. The Holy Saintess finally woke up, and as she opened her eyes, Evan Yang exclaimed in delight, "You're awake?"
"Evan Yang?" The Holy Saintess felt as if she had been reborn.
Evan Yang smiled, "Looks like you’re really awake now. How do you feel? Any better?"
The Holy Saintess checked herself and quickly frowned, "It’s gone."
"What’s gone?" Evan Yang asked, confused.
"My original power has vanished," the Holy Saintess replied. Evan Yang didn’t understand what she meant.
"I’m not sure if it’s because of Eldon Liu’s heavy strike, but now my cultivation is stuck at the Emperor Realm," the Holy Saintess said, frowning.
"That’s not so bad. You’re just recovering now—you’ll get better in time," Evan Yang comforted her.
Though uncertain if she would ever recover, the Holy Saintess nodded, "Thank you."
"No need to thank me—it was the Divine Seal that saved us both," Evan Yang said.
"Divine Seal?" The Holy Saintess didn’t know what had happened after she fell unconscious, so she frowned. Evan Yang saw her confusion and explained everything that happened while she was out.
After listening, the Holy Saintess looked at the Divine Seal in her hand, checked it again, and murmured, "So that’s how it is."
Evan Yang wondered aloud, "What kind of power does the Divine Seal really have?" He couldn't judge its abilities, so he curiously asked the Holy Saintess.
The Holy Saintess explained, "The Divine Seal has always contained an invisible force. Every generation of Saintess carries it as a last-resort treasure. I never expected it to save us both this time."
Evan Yang marveled, "So it's not just any ordinary treasure. With it, I could even face Immortal Sovereigns."
The Holy Saintess shook her head. "The Seal's power needs time to recover. We used up almost all its energy this time, so it'll take many years to restore. Right now, it's no different from an ordinary artifact."
Evan Yang apologized softly, "I'm sorry. I drained it out of desperation."
The Holy Saintess reassured him, "It's fine, don't worry. It will recover in time. The real problem is Eldon Liu. I don't know where he fled, and my strength is limited. If I run into him now, it'll be troublesome."
Evan Yang said, "Eldon Liu is also badly wounded. He probably won't stir up trouble soon, but we can't just wait. We should find him and strike while he's weak."
The Holy Saintess nodded. "I'll contact the other Protectors once we leave the Holy Altar."
Evan Yang nodded, then rose to follow the Holy Saintess. She tried to put away the Divine Seal, but it felt impossibly heavy, as if it couldn't be moved at all.
The Holy Saintess was stunned. "Strange, why can't I pick it up?" she exclaimed.
"How is that possible?" Evan Yang picked up the Divine Seal easily, surprising the Holy Saintess. "So the legend is true," she murmured.
"What legend?" Evan Yang asked, puzzled. The legend was that treasures like the Divine Seal would recognize their master, especially after being awakened. Maybe because it saved them, it was activated and now recognized Evan as its master. "If others find out, it’ll be chaos," Evan thought, knowing the Divine Seal was their sacred relic.
But after thinking for a moment, the Holy Saintess said, "Just take it with you."
"Is that really okay?" Evan Yang hesitated.
"What else can we do? Right now, it only recognizes you. Keep it, and nurture it with your purple light—its power will slowly recover," the Holy Saintess explained.
Evan Yang looked at the Divine Seal, feeling helpless, but he wasn’t one to fuss. He quickly stored the Divine Seal and said, "I’ll keep it for you. When you can use it again, I’ll return it to you."
"Alright, you keep it for now. And when no one else is around, you don’t need to call me Holy Saintess—just call me Miss Nangong, like before," she said with a smile.
Evan Yang looked at her smile, thinking of Nangong Yanxia—it really was her. He smiled back, "Alright." Then he asked, "How did Miss Nangong end up here?"
She explained, "It was that gem—you mentioned it. The gem opened a gate, bringing me back here and merging me with my original Saintess body. I was about to fully awaken, but Eldon Liu interfered before I could."
Evan Yang smiled, "I thought I’d never see you again."
She replied, smiling, "How could that be? You’re seeing me now. If not for you, I might never have known the truth, and the Divine Seal would’ve fallen into Eldon Liu’s hands, causing who knows what disaster."
The Holy Saintess shook her head. "I don’t know. I’d really like to figure it out—where did Eldon Liu get his information? To us, gods have long since vanished. Our only mission has been to guard the Divine Seal, hoping that one day the Light God might reappear and reclaim it."