Evan Yang racked his brains for something that might tempt the guard, until he finally thought of an idea. He grinned, "The Elite Palace has plenty of powerful techniques. If you let me take him away, I'll teach you one."
The black-clad guard laughed skeptically, "Techniques from the Elite Palace can't be copied. Otherwise, there wouldn't even be a separate Elite Palace."
"I know they can't be copied, but I can pass one on to you directly," Evan said with a smile.
"Don't kid around. That's nearly impossible—especially the stronger the technique, the harder it is to teach," the guard still didn't believe him.
"Looks like you still don't believe me. Too bad for you," Evan said, turning to leave.
Watching Evan's back, especially the insignia for 'Elite,' the guard started to waver. "Maybe he really can..." he muttered.
But remembering that the prisoner belonged to the Right Palace Lord, he resisted the temptation.
Evan saw the guard about to step forward but then stop, so he paused too. "How about heading down below?"
"Why go down?" the guard asked, confused.
"Don't you think it's boring up here? Let's go down and have some fun!" Evan said with a grin.
"Forget it, go on your own. Most of the Right Heaven Palace people are busy today—I still have to watch over things!" the guard shook his head.
Evan heard this and extended his divine sense. Sure enough, the place felt strange—quiet, with hardly anyone around. Only this building, like a prison, had a single person on guard.
This made Evan consider just knocking out both guards and taking Zach away.
"Just the two of you on guard?" Evan asked again.
"Yeah, otherwise I'd love to go down and have some fun with you," the guard replied.
Evan understood, so he turned back, smiling as he walked, "I want to go in and take another look."
The guard frowned, "Bro, you just went in. I think you should let it go—maybe next time."
"I suddenly remembered something important. Let me go in and talk some more," Evan said.
"Well..." The guard hesitated, clearly uneasy.
"If you won't tell me how to get someone out, at least let me chat with him again," Evan said, acting aggrieved.
The guard had no choice but to nod. He walked over, spoke to the jailer, and led Evan inside. As the door closed, Evan suddenly made his move—the guard never expected Evan to attack.
"You—" The guard pointed at Evan, but Evan tapped a key point on his soul body.
The guard, who had been ready to fight, found his Soul-Power wouldn't circulate. He stared in terror, "What did you do to me?"
"Nothing much," Evan chuckled. He'd studied that sealing technique and found it worked great on souls.
So the guard was caught off guard and soon subdued. Evan dragged him to Zach's room. When Zach saw Evan return so quickly, he exclaimed, "Big Bro Mira!"
"Don't make a sound, I've got something important to do," Evan said, tossing the black-clad guard aside.
The black-clad guard was already knocked out, clueless about what had happened. Seeing the body, Zach covered his mouth, staying silent.
Evan left again, leaving Zach inside to wait.
At the outer gate, Evan called out urgently, "Bro, something's wrong! My friend suddenly fainted!"
"What?" The guard was startled and rushed ahead, not knowing Evan was smirking behind him. As the door closed, he collapsed too.
When Zach saw Evan drag another person inside, he gasped, "Ah!"
"Alright, it's fine now. You can leave with me," Evan said, then led Zach outside.
He swept the area with his divine sense to make sure no one noticed. Then Evan told Zach, "I've seen your mother—she's nearby. Let me look for her."
"Okay," Zach nodded.
So Evan took Zach and searched the area.
"Strange, why is it so quiet here? Where did everyone go?" Evan wondered. For such a big place, there sure weren't many people.
Evan activated Thousand-Mile Echo, trying to locate the woman.
He soon heard crying nearby—a voice he recognized as the woman's. Evan brought Zach to a room, where a woman was sobbing inside.
When Zach saw her, he exclaimed in delight, "Mother!"
The woman, who had been crying, froze at the sound. She stared at Zach in disbelief, "Little Kai..."
"Mother," Zach said, hugging the woman tightly.
Evan kept watch outside, ready to take Zach away at any moment.
Inside, Zach and his mother caught up. Hearing their conversation, Evan felt moved, even muttering to himself, "Mother, when will I get to see you like that?"
At that moment, Evan suddenly missed his own parents. Though he'd only lived with his mother for a few years, the feeling of being separated from family made him sad. It was this sense of loss that pushed Evan to keep striving, hoping to reach the Immortal Realm someday.
While Evan was lost in thought, Zach came up behind him and asked, "Big Bro Mira, can you take my mother with us?"
"Well..." Evan glanced at the woman.
Though she longed to leave, the woman said, "Little Kai, be good. I can't leave right now—you go ahead."
"Mother, I don't want to be separated from you," Zach said, looking at Evan with helpless eyes.
Evan remembered the woman had said she couldn't leave Soul-Heaven Palace—otherwise, he would have taken her down before.
"Are you able to leave?" Evan asked.
"No, the person who opens the gate at Soul-Heaven Palace knows me. He would never let me leave," the woman said.
Evan knew exactly who she meant—the gatekeeper really was the one in charge. He was strong, too. If Evan tried anything, it would probably draw everyone nearby, making it even harder to escape.
"Don't even think about it. Just take Little Kai and leave quickly. If they come back, it'll be trouble," the woman said.
Evan asked curiously, "Where did they all go?"
"The Right Palace Lord had something urgent and gathered them all to go somewhere. That's why it's so empty here—it's the best time to take Little Kai away," the woman explained.
"No, I don't want to! I want to stay with my mother!" Zach cried before Evan could say anything.
"Little Kai, be good. I'll come down to see you," the woman said. She knew that once Zach left, it would be hard to see him again, but she had no choice. Keeping him here would only be more dangerous.
Evan understood what she meant, but Zach still believed, "Really?"
"Yes," the woman nodded.
"Then I'll take him away now," Evan said. He had no other choice—he'd have to find another opportunity to help the woman escape.
The woman nodded, and Evan left with Little Kai.
Evan reached the lower gate, where the gatekeeper frowned, "Why are you going down again?"
"I'm taking a friend down," Evan replied with a smile.
"Why do you have so many friends?" the man asked, puzzled.
"It can't be helped. I'll be back within an hour," Evan said.
"Alright, hurry up," the man said.
So Evan left with Zach, comforting him along the way. He found the innkeeper and said, "Boss, I might need your help."
"I understand," the innkeeper replied. He was shocked to see Zach again—after all, Zach had been taken away. Evan bringing him back meant he had done it on his own, so the innkeeper planned to hide Zach away from everyone.
Evan thanked the innkeeper, then returned upstairs. On his way back, he saw many people rushing about.
Evan was the first to sense something was happening. When he returned to the Elite Hall, he found the supervisor gathering everyone.
"Strange, what's going on?" Evan wondered as he walked over, but didn't see Bai Lingzi. That was a relief—if he ran into her, she'd definitely pester him.
Once everyone had arrived, the supervisor said, "It's time for another joint operation in Soul-Heaven Palace. Is everyone ready?"
"Ready!" everyone replied.
Evan was confused—everyone seemed to know what was happening except him. He listened as the supervisor said, "Now, follow the instructions you were given and head to your assigned locations on the map."
Everyone dispersed. Evan went to the supervisor and asked, "Sir, what instructions are those?"
"Didn't they deliver one to every room?" the supervisor asked, puzzled.
Evan had been busy and hadn't returned to his room. Hearing this, he laughed awkwardly, "I was reading some books earlier, so I didn't know."
"Then go check. You're leaving tomorrow—don't be clueless, or you'll lose out big time," the supervisor said.
Evan nodded and hurried back to his room to see what was going on.
He saw a packet of instructions outside his room. Evan picked it up, went inside, and started reading. It described the Soul World’s once-in-a-century major operation.
The so-called major operation meant patrolling the borders—after all, the Soul World was vast, and border patrol was essential.
The operation had two goals: first, to do hard labor at various border bases, repairing the energy sites of the Soul World.
Evan didn’t understand what an energy site was, but the second goal shocked him: cleaning up the area and checking for any corpses or outsiders.
Seeing the second item, Evan was stunned. If his body was discovered, he’d be done for. Only now did Evan realize that every century, the Soul World searched for corpses.
And whoever found a corpse would get a huge reward. If you were lucky, you could earn hundreds of years’ worth of Chaos Soul-Power; even if not, you’d still get decades’ worth. So everyone wanted to try their luck.
The operation lasted a month. Once the energy sites at the bases were repaired, everyone spread out to search.
It was urgent—Evan was deeply worried his body would be discovered. There were plenty of experts here. If they destroyed the layer of defense protecting him, his body would no longer be his own.
Thinking of this, Evan felt a chill run through him and hurried to the place where old books were stored.