At this moment, the giant tree was still growing at a speed visible to the naked eye. Evan Frost stepped up to the Native-Soil Crystal, stopped, and studied it carefully. He noticed wisps of deep gray material drifting around the crystal—he could sense that these were earth element too, but already condensed into a physical substance.
"Evan, hurry and collect those deep gray soil particles into your storage ring! That's Primal Earth—an incredibly rare, top-tier earth element. It's the highest-grade earth attribute there is. I never thought it would show up in the Godfall Battleground; even in the Immortal Realm, it's almost never seen. I've only read about it in ancient records," Luna said, her voice trembling with excitement.
"Seriously? How is that possible? Isn't the Immortal Realm supposed to be overflowing with heaven-defying treasures? How could Primal Earth be so scarce? Luna, are you sure you're not mistaken?" Evan Frost asked, skeptical.
"Idiot! Primal Earth only appears under the influence of high-grade earth particles. Who knows how many years this Native-Soil Crystal has existed here? Look at its color—it’s already starting to shift toward deep gray. Give it a few thousand or even tens of thousands more years, and it could very well transform into a Primal Earth Crystal. That’s the absolute peak of earth-element energy stones," Luna explained.
Evan Frost suddenly felt like he'd hit the jackpot. Even though this Native-Soil Crystal hadn't fully evolved into a Primal Earth Crystal, just absorbing its energy would give him more than enough confidence to break through to the second layer of Earthshift. As for this Primal Earth—if he stored it inside the Chronos Band, maybe after decades or even centuries, it would condense into a true Primal Earth Crystal.
Without hesitation, he drew the Frostbane Sword and carefully scraped the Primal Earth from around the Native-Soil Crystal. Only then did he realize that even a tiny smear of Primal Earth on the blade weighed nearly ten thousand jin, shocking him with its terrifying density.
After gathering all the Primal Earth around the Native-Soil Crystal into his storage ring, Evan Frost’s forehead was already drenched in sweat. This was real manual labor—he was so exhausted he could barely catch his breath.
Next up was claiming the Native-Soil Crystal itself. The giant tree beside him was still growing madly, and the surrounding earth particles were rapidly thinning. Evan tried to grab the crystal with his bare hands, but it didn’t budge at all. He knew exactly how strong he was—if even he couldn’t move it, its weight had to be absolutely monstrous.
Unwilling to admit defeat, Evan Frost surged Chaos Dragon Force through his arm and tried again. Still, he couldn’t lift it—he only managed to shift it a tiny bit.
"What the hell is going on? This Native-Soil Crystal is way too heavy! Luna, Big Sis, do you have any tricks up your sleeve?" Evan asked helplessly. The treasure was right in front of him, but he couldn’t claim it—he was seriously frustrated.
"With your strength, you should be able to lift the Native-Soil Crystal easily. If you can't, it means there's a prohibition seal on it. Some ancient expert must have branded an artifact-spirit prohibition here to keep the Godfall Battleground and the Azure Ruins Ancient Land separate. Only by breaking the seal can you truly claim the Native-Soil Crystal," Luna said.
"A prohibition? Are you kidding me? Why put a damn seal on it?" Evan Frost grumbled. "Hey, don’t panic, big bro! Isn’t Tom Chu here? Let Tom help you break the prohibition. It’s actually just a simple artifact-spirit ban, like the one on my own body. The Native-Soil Crystal can’t form a true artifact spirit, but I bet the expert who set this up was hoping it would eventually.
That way, the Godfall Battleground and the Azure Ruins Ancient Land would always stay separated. Anyone wanting to enter would have to use one of the few controlled entrances. Whoever set up this prohibition was definitely a top-tier expert," Tom Chu added.
"Tom, you can really do it?" Evan Frost was visibly surprised—Tom Chu was proving to be way more capable than he'd expected, and Evan was supposed to be the older brother!
Tom Chu emerged from the storage ring, revealed his true form, and began circling the Native-Soil Crystal, emitting faint yellow light as he worked. After half a stick of incense, he stopped, flew into Evan’s palm, and said, "Big bro, it’s done. Try it now. I’m totally spent though—I’ll need a few days to recover, so unless it’s urgent, don’t call me out."
Evan Frost put Tom Chu back into the storage ring, then once again surged Chaos Dragon Force through his body. This time, he gripped the Native-Soil Crystal—sure enough, it weighed about ten thousand jin—and immediately stowed it away.
Just then, the surrounding earth layers underwent drastic change. Thunderous rumbles echoed around him, and the giant tree stopped growing. Its trunk had reached several meters in diameter—a true tree king.
After just a few breaths, Evan Frost realized all the surrounding earth layers had vanished—even those above his head. The mountain that was here before was gone without a trace. Faced with this bizarre phenomenon, he understood: the prohibition between the Godfall Battleground and the Azure Ruins had been completely broken. From now on, anyone from the Azure Ruins could freely enter this place.
The most obvious landmark was this colossal tree king—a tree that had taken only four days to reach its current size. Evan Frost flew into the air to survey the surroundings and found that not much else had changed. Maybe this spot had been chosen as the barrier anchor because the Native-Soil Crystal appeared here and caught the attention of some super expert.
Evan Frost was burning with impatience to get home. With a flash, he sped toward the Azure Ruins, using several short-range teleports in a row. When he saw a town, he stopped to confirm his direction, then raced off toward the Azure Ruins at full speed.
Meanwhile, Sean Xiao and the others were heading for the so-called limestone cavern beneath the Cloudcrest Mountain Range. By coincidence, Evan Frost’s return route took him right past there. As he arrived, he happened to see the last two Freewind Palace disciples slipping into the cavern.
The two wore Freewind Palace robes, but their presence here struck Evan as odd. He extended his divine sense inside and discovered thousands of people gathered—Sean Xiao, several sect masters, Leah Summers, Mia Dream, and a crowd of black-clad members of the dark organization.
The fighting seemed to have just ended. Most of the dark organization’s people were dead or badly wounded, and the survivors appeared to be pleading for something. Mia Dream’s face was pale; she wanted to speak but was stopped by Leah Summers.
Evan Frost found the whole thing strange, so he flashed inside the cavern as well. Listening closely, he realized the dark organization survivors were begging Mia Dream to save them—her identity as a princess of the Demonic Realm had just been exposed to everyone.
Since ancient times, the Demon Clan and the Human race have been mortal enemies, locked in a struggle of good versus evil. But Mia Dream was Evan Frost’s woman—suddenly, nobody knew what to do…