"Why? Because of strength, of course!" the man sneered.
"Are you from the Three Palaces or the Genius Pavilion?" Evan Yang stared at him and asked.
The man burst out laughing. "A bandit would never reveal his identity, idiot. Maybe we're even on the same side—wouldn't that be awkward if you found out?"
"A bandit? What are you trying to rob?" Evan snorted coldly.
"Everything on you," the man sneered.
"You've got guts. Aren't you afraid I'll report you?" Evan hadn't expected to run into a robber here.
The man laughed loudly at Evan's words. "Ridiculous. If I rob you and then kill you, who will know?"
"Even kill me?" Evan was surprised. Genius Pavilion members aren't allowed to kill each other outside—if discovered, there's punishment. That leaves only one possibility: this guy isn't from the Pavilion, but from the Three Palaces.
"Of course. Prepare to die!" the man sneered.
"You brought this on yourself!" Evan snorted, a dagger appearing in his hand. With a flash, he moved at top speed—there was only a ripping sound.
When Evan regained his balance, the man stared at his chest in disbelief, as if it had been slashed by something razor-sharp.
"You—!" Blood gushed from the man's body; he was gravely wounded. In just one exchange, he was instantly killed by someone at a lower cultivation realm.
Evan snorted coldly with his back to the man. "That's your fate."
"You won't escape either! Just wait—my brothers will avenge me!" The man, barely lucid, threatened Evan, then collapsed heavily to the ground, dead.
"Your brothers? Let them try to find me first." Evan had killed him, so he wasn't afraid of others—after all, they attacked him first. When needed, he used whatever means necessary.
Then Evan flashed away.
About an hour after Evan left, five people arrived at the dead man's side. They looked at each other, and finally one frowned. "How did Old Six die?"
"See if he left anything behind!" one of them said, stepping forward.
He squatted by the corpse and searched, finally finding a wooden slip. It was unusual—very small, about the size of a finger.
He looked inside and sighed, "He was killed by a beggar—and the killer was only at early Out-of-Body."
"Early Out-of-Body? Impossible, Old Six was mid-stage Out-of-Body," one of them said.
The one who checked replied, "Nothing's impossible. If the killer's from the Genius Pavilion, even someone two realms higher can be killed."
His words instantly woke the others up. That's right—the Genius Pavilion is full of geniuses who challenge across realms. But it could also be someone from the Three Palaces.
"Our guy got killed—how can we just let it go? Boss, I want to avenge Old Six," one of them said.
"Fourth Brother, I get how you feel, but we're doing this in secret. Only the five of us can handle it—no outside help. That makes finding him on this planet tough," the eldest said.
"Boss, what do you suggest? We'll follow your lead," Fourth Brother asked the eldest.
"Let's split up. We've got half a month, so everyone can rob and search for the beggar at the same time," the boss said.
The group nodded. Then the boss conjured a ball of fire and cremated the dead man. The five of them split up and began their long search for Evan Yang.
Evan didn't know his image had been saved by the dead man, but he wasn't afraid. He'd long gotten used to these robbers—trouble that can't be avoided.
With only half a month left, he kept tempering himself, treating it as a test of his true strength.
But he still ran into those gang robbers. Evan showed no mercy in their revenge—over several days, he killed four more.
After killing the fourth, Evan muttered, "Counting the first, that's five dead. Shouldn't be any more, right?"
These days, Evan was pretty frustrated. All four had mid-stage Out-of-Body strength and were fully on guard, attacking him viciously from the start.
Still, as long as nothing unexpected happened, Evan at early Out-of-Body could reliably handle mid-stage opponents—it was just a matter of time.
So on this planet, Evan spent a full twenty-five days. On this day, he ran into a tough enemy.
"You're the one who killed my five brothers!" The man saw Evan in his beggar disguise and matched him to the descriptions. He was furious.
"They tried to kill me. I only fought back out of necessity," Evan said coldly.
"Necessity, huh? No matter what, you're dead today." The man snorted, unleashing his full aura. Evan couldn't gauge his exact strength, but it was definitely above mid-stage.
"What realm are you?" Evan asked suspiciously.
"They're just mid-stage, but I'm late-stage Out-of-Body. You're only early-stage—unless you can leap two minor realms, you're dead." The man was vicious, convinced Evan could only challenge mid-stage, not late-stage.
"Late-stage?" Evan frowned, but quickly relaxed as he looked at the man before him.
The man waved his hand, and a ball of fire appeared.
"You use fire?" Evan asked curiously, seeing the flame.
"That's right. Today you'll die in my raging flames—for my brothers!" the man snorted.
Fire? That was nothing to Evan—he could use three types himself: Sacred Flame, ice-flame, and a ninth-rank fire.
To fight fire with fire, Evan decisively chose ice-flame.
The man had no idea what Evan was thinking. With a wave, a blazing fire shot toward Evan, trying to roast him alive.
In both momentum and speed, the man's attack was fast, leaving Evan no time to pause. Evan had to move at top speed just to keep up.
"Fast enough! But I don't believe you can keep it up!" the man snorted.
"Is that so? Get ready to be disappointed." Evan showed a strange smile.
The man didn't understand Evan's smile. Evan waved his hand, and a colorless flame flew out, clashing with the man's fire—instantly extinguishing it.
The sudden extinguishing shocked the man. He'd never seen anything like it. Staring at Evan, he asked, "What trick did you use?"
"Nothing special." Evan was secretly delighted—his ice-flame could actually snuff out the other's fire.
"Hmph, don't think I can't deal with you!" the man said, intensifying his flames. The fire grew, and waves of heat surged outward.
Evan wasn't worried. He waved his hand quickly again—ice-flame met fire, and this time the effect was even stronger. The heat waves turned into ice blocks, and the man's fire-wielding hand froze solid.
"You! What treasure did you use?" The man stared at Evan's hand, convinced he had some incredible artifact.
A treasure? Evan smiled helplessly. "Ignorant."
"Not talking? Fine. I'll kill you and study it later!" Knowing his strongest fire was useless, the man withdrew his flames and prepared to attack Evan up close.
Close combat? Evan wasn't afraid. He was skilled with fists and wore gauntlets, stacking fortyfold force each time. It wasn't enough to instantly cripple the man, but it caused plenty of damage.
"You've got plenty of treasures on you, kid." The man's anger shifted to greed.
"That depends on whether you live to take them." Evan sneered. Anyone who tried to steal his treasures or kill him would meet a bad end.
"Arrogant!" The man snorted and lunged for close combat again.
Evan secretly smiled. If the man kept fighting like this, Evan could use his gauntlets to unleash a hundredfold attack and seriously injure this late-stage expert.
The clueless man kept grappling with Evan, until Evan landed a heavy punch.
The man's arm snapped with a crack, sweat pouring as he cried, "What did you use this time?"
"Nothing—just hard to control my strength," Evan said with a smile.
"You... freak." Unable to defeat an early-stage opponent, the late-stage man finally cursed.
"Go die!" Evan punched again, but the man had lost all courage. The last blow had badly damaged his right hand, so he retreated and fled.
Trying to escape? Evan was shocked—that was his first reaction. He immediately gave chase.
Even at max speed, Evan could only keep pace. The man's back was drenched in sweat, terrified Evan might have some bizarre treasure and surpass him.
"If this keeps up, I'll get caught sooner or later." After flying for a while, the man realized Evan's qi consumption was slow and panicked, quickly taking out a transmission stone.
He spoke into the transmission stone, "Brother Lie, I've got a situation."
"What's wrong?" came the suspicious reply from the other end.
"I found a big target, but my five brothers were killed by him. I need your help—let's split the loot fifty-fifty," the man said urgently.
"Oh? Must be pretty strong then?" the other replied, surprised.
"Not really, just early-stage Out-of-Body. But he's got lots of treasures, including one that counters my fire. So I'm just luring him away for now," the man explained.
Hearing he's only early-stage but has many treasures—even able to counter a late-stage cultivator—excited the other. He quickly asked for the location, then cut the transmission.
Evan heard it all. He wanted to finish the man quickly, before another powerful enemy arrived—facing two at once would lower his chances.