"Take care of yourself, then." Evan Yang's aunt-master reminded him.
Evan nodded, said goodbye to her, and when he reached the door, he smiled at the two kids, "Someday I'll refine some Immortal pills for you, so you can return to normal."
"Really?" The two of them were overjoyed.
After that, Evan bid farewell to the three.
Once Evan had left, his aunt-master sighed deep in the secret passage, "The world outside has long been recorded. But even if I tell you, what difference does it make? You still have to go out and experience it yourself. I hope you reach the summit and find the Immortal path."
Evan had no idea she actually knew something, but only he himself understood why she wouldn't tell him.
After handling some affairs, Evan returned to the mainland. He originally planned to visit the Blue Clan and find Lance Blue, but he received a message.
The message was sent by Xin Jiang, with a location written on it and the words 'emergency' added at the end.
Seeing those two words, Evan muttered, "Strange, what's happened?" He immediately rode the Firebird and rushed to the location.
By the time Evan appeared again, he was already speeding toward the destination.
A lot of people were gathered there, but they weren't enemies, nor ordinary folks—they were all Evan's old acquaintances.
"It's you guys!" Evan hadn't expected this outcome.
"Sorry, we played a little trick on you." Xin Jiang laughed.
Everyone here was someone Evan had known back in Deepreach City.
"You guys..." Evan smiled helplessly.
Then everyone came up to greet Evan. Seeing these old friends, Evan said goodbye to each of them in turn.
Everyone knew Evan was leaving, because they all believed he wouldn't just stay here forever.
Besides that, Evan also saw someone he hadn't met in a long time—Raven Gu.
"You know him, right?" Xin Jiang smiled.
"Of course I do. He tried to assassinate me back then." Evan laughed.
Raven Gu said awkwardly, "How could I have known you were so powerful back then?"
Everyone burst out laughing, and then Xin Jiang told Evan that Raven Gu was actually the founder of their assassin organization.
This was the first time Evan learned about Raven Gu's identity.
It surprised Evan quite a bit. After everyone finished chatting, Evan asked if they wanted to return to Deepreach City, but they were used to the Free Alliance's lifestyle—free and unrestrained—so Evan didn't insist, letting them stay at the Alliance's stronghold.
After everything was settled, Evan prepared to leave, but before departing, he noticed someone was missing.
"Where's Miss Chu?" Evan realized Tara Chu was gone.
"Strange, she was just here a moment ago." The Chu family head said suspiciously.
The others were curious too. Evan activated his divine sense, weaving several threads through the stronghold to scan every situation into his mind.
He finally spotted a figure in one area, and left a message before heading out: "I know where she is. Wait here for me."
When Evan appeared again, he was already in a patch of grass, where Tara Chu lay on the ground.
"What's going on!" Evan helped Tara Chu up and checked her physical condition.
He found that the green mass inside her body had already filled her entire dantian.
"Could this be the cause?" Evan helplessly injected his spiritual power again to see if he could wake her up.
Tara Chu finally regained consciousness. When she saw Evan again, her eyes were red and her cheeks flushed.
"Are you alright now?" Evan asked.
"Thank you." Tara Chu said to Evan, leaving him baffled.
"Why does this keep happening to you? Is it because of that mass inside?" Evan asked, puzzled.
"Yeah, I don't know why, but it happens often. And every time I wake up from a blackout, my cultivation improves a bit." Tara Chu replied.
"Is that so? How many times has it happened?" Evan asked, surprised and doubtful.
"Over a dozen times. I can't even remember exactly. Usually I wake up pretty quickly." Tara Chu answered.
"So many times—if this happens during a critical moment, it'll be trouble." Evan said, alarmed. Especially on the battlefield, if you suddenly black out, that's a disaster.
But Tara Chu couldn't do anything about it—ever since that incident, this had been her reality.
"Looks like we have to force that mass out." Evan said.
"But it's impossible to force out—it's like it's taken root and sprouted inside." Tara Chu, who knew her own body best, said helplessly.
"Taken root and sprouted?" Evan realized only his own Heaven-Cold Seed could do that. Thinking Tara's condition was caused by his intervention, he felt guilty.
"Yeah, but I'm fine now. Don't overthink it." Tara Chu said with an awkward smile.
How could Evan not worry? Still, he pretended to be calm. "As long as you're okay. But let me check one more time."
With that, he probed Tara Chu's dantian again.
At first, it was just like usual—a normal examination. But when he looked closer, the mass stirred: a faint vapor drifted out from it and entered Evan's body.
It headed straight for his Heaven-Cold Seed, which responded like a parent meeting its own child—warmly absorbing the vapor. The Seed then began to change.
Besides that, Evan could feel his own strength subtly changing, as if he was about to become stronger.
This state lasted until the mass inside Tara Chu shrank back to its original size, at which point it stopped releasing vapor and the Heaven-Cold Seed stopped absorbing. As for Evan, he felt an imminent insight—he was close to reaching Spirit-Wandering Great Perfection.
Evan withdrew his hand and asked, "How do you feel?"
"I'm fine. What about you?" Tara Chu, noticing Evan's odd expression, asked curiously.
"I'm fine. Go back, everyone's waiting for you." Evan said with a smile.
"What about you?" Tara Chu asked.
"I'm leaving. I don't want everyone to feel sad about goodbyes, so please tell them for me." Evan said to Tara Chu.
Tara Chu nodded, then watched Evan leave. Her mind kept returning to memories in the Foundation-Building space: "Actually, I've already recovered my memories."
Evan had no idea Tara Chu already remembered what happened in the Foundation-Building space. She had slipped away earlier to avoid showing her feelings, but the mass inside her acted up and made her faint.
When Tara Chu returned and told everyone Evan had left, they all felt it was a pity, but there was nothing they could do—Evan's realm was far above theirs now.
But this also motivated them, making everyone train harder.
As for Tara Chu, she kept thinking about those memories, and it took her a long time to suppress them. Meanwhile, Evan had already arrived at the Blue Clan.
But Lance Blue wasn't in Baina City; he left a message saying he'd wait for Evan at Sky Unity Sect.
So, after receiving the message, Evan hurried to Sky Unity Sect. There, he saw newly built walls enclosing the area, and several Spirit-Wandering experts secretly monitoring the surroundings.
When Evan arrived, Lance Blue quickly appeared atop the wall and smiled, "You finally made it."
"I didn't expect you to move so quickly." Evan glanced at the reorganized area, realizing the Blue Clan had prepared defenses. It made sense—this would minimize casualties. After all, Spirit-Wandering stage cultivators entering there were doomed. Evan could go only because he was Shadowless, a skill he'd learned in the Tower of Tongtian, which made him immune to mental attacks.
Evan only realized this later—other than that, he wasn't much different from everyone else.
As for the specifics, Evan wasn't sure—it was just a guess.
Lance Blue smiled, "Come on, let's go inside."
Evan nodded and followed Lance Blue to the cave residence. The hidden observers envied Evan's access, and some wondered why he could go there.
Soon after they left, a beggar appeared and vanished from the area at astonishing speed.
Those watching only saw a black dot in the sky, and when they checked again, it was gone. They had no idea what it was.
Inside the cave residence, the beggar flew up to the black hole, then entered the castle, checked the map, looked around, and left. Soon, he spotted Evan and Lance Blue walking ahead.
As Evan walked, he suddenly felt something watching them. He turned curiously, "Where did it go?"
"What's wrong?" Lance Blue asked curiously.
"Feels like someone's watching us." Evan said suspiciously.
Lance Blue looked back, saw nothing, and said, "You must be mistaken. I didn't notice anything."
Evan glanced at Lance Blue, then behind them. "Maybe I'm overthinking it," he said, and continued on.
After they left, an old beggar emerged from the castle and muttered, "Good kid, you could sense me even like this."
Unaware that someone really was there, Evan followed Lance Blue to the barrier and asked, "Can you get in?"
"With this artifact, I can." Lance Blue took out the staff. Before coming, he'd gathered the power of many experts, so he was confident.
Evan, who'd never seen the staff before, was curious. He watched Lance Blue aim it at the barrier and strike, opening a gap before him.
Evan exclaimed, "What a powerful artifact!"
"Exactly. If you infuse spiritual power into it, it can be crucial at key moments." Lance Blue put away the artifact and smiled.
Seeing the artifact's power, Evan thought of the Spirit-Absorbing Box. If he infused it with spiritual power ahead of time, and absorbed it when nearly depleted, wouldn't it achieve the same effect?
Delighted by the shared principle, Evan resolved to fill the box with spiritual power when he had the chance.
Lance Blue had no idea what Evan was thinking. They soon reached the maze formation inside. Lance Blue was curious why Evan could navigate it so easily, but didn't ask.
Evan reached the light pillar and began repairing the formation.