Flying Swords and the Guess at His Potential

After half an hour of careful observation near the transmission base, Evan Yang saw people from the Three Palaces arriving, each holding a token engraved with their palace's name.

"According to Senior Kong, the Genius Pavilion has gained control of this planet, so the Three Palaces should only be a minority here." Evan watched for half an hour and confirmed most arrivals were from the Genius Pavilion; only a few were from the Three Palaces.

Once Evan understood the situation, he ignored them and left, returning to his relentless training. By day, he hunted ferocious beasts; by night, he found a quiet, hidden cave to practice sending his soul out of his body.

Evan could have chosen to cultivate inside the Sky-Piercing Tower, but training outside forced him to hone real combat techniques—skills he couldn't develop in the Tower. Besides, the Tower was always like daytime, lacking the harshness of the wild.

Strangely, the longer Evan practiced soul excursions, the more smoothly he could control his soul. Progress was faster than simply hiding in the Sky-Piercing Tower.

Each day brought a little progress, and with every improvement, Evan's cultivation advanced. Though the gains were small, he could feel his strength changing through battles with savage beasts.

So the days passed: two years, then a full three years. Evan fought his way far from the transmission array base, never knowing exactly how far he'd gone.

"Whew, two years already. I wonder how much they've developed this planet?" Far from the base, Evan was curious about the progress of the others.

As Evan pondered, his divine sense suddenly detected three people. "Huh? They're tracking me? How did I not notice?"

He saw the three converging from different directions, their destination clearly his location.

Faced with three strangers, Evan shot into the air to escape, but as soon as they realized he’d spotted them, all three immediately accelerated, converging on him. Each rode a different flying sword; with these swords, their speed increased. Normally, they could only keep up with Evan, but now they quickly caught up.

Seeing he’d be caught sooner or later, Evan stopped, turned around, and smiled at the trio. "Who are you? Why are you following me?"

"Us?" The three, seeing Evan stop, each flashed a white token engraved with Ninefold Palace.

"So, you’re from Ninefold Palace. What do you want with me?" Evan judged their aura—one late-stage Out-of-Body, two mid-stage. He wanted to get things clear before fighting, especially since their flying swords looked unusual. Normally, with his full speed, even a late-stage opponent could only keep up.

"What do we want? You should know better than us," one of them sneered.

All three broke into smiles.

"Two years, and you still managed to find me. Are you bloodhounds or something?" Evan sneered.

The trio bristled. "Bloodhounds? Kid, Ninefold Palace has its ways. Catching you earns a hundred points. I spotted your trail nearby, but how did you notice us?"

Evan’s divine sense was stronger than most, but today he realized it still wasn’t enough. They’d found him before he detected them. He resolved that after this, he’d definitely train in the Strange Spiral Shell before coming out again.

"How did I notice? Obviously, I sensed you approaching," Evan replied coldly.

"I don’t buy it. They say you’re fast, but we all switched to flying swords. These swords boost speed by at least half—catching you is easy now," one of them snorted.

Evan glanced at their swords and noticed each had a slot for spirit crystals. The swords drew energy from these crystals and their controllers.

He had to admire the craftsman who made them, though this kind of simple construction wasn’t expensive.

Hearing they’d all switched to these swords, Evan wondered if Ninefold Palace had equipped everyone. If so, that was a massive undertaking.

"Is it really necessary? Did Ninefold Palace outfit all your people just for me?" Evan sneered.

"Don’t flatter yourself. Only Out-of-Body cultivators like us who felt unsure switched. If it were the stronger ones, you wouldn’t even make it out of their range before being killed," the man laughed.

Evan thought that made sense, so he stopped wasting words. "Are you choosing to leave now, or keep chasing me?"

"Funny. Of course we’re bringing you in for the reward," the strongest cultivator laughed.

"You two as well?" Evan glanced at the other two.

After a moment’s hesitation, both revealed greedy looks in their eyes.

"Looks like you're all courting death. Let me help you out!" Seeing the three determined to kill him, Evan snorted coldly—two daggers shot out at lightning speed.

The two weaker cultivators reacted too late—the daggers pierced their heads. In disbelief, they touched their wounds, each mid-stage Out-of-Body with a hole through their skull.

The late-stage pursuer was shocked. "You’re not Green Fourth-Tier?"

"I am." Evan replied with a cold laugh.

"Impossible! Crossing a tier and killing two with one move—you must be at least Azure Fifth-Tier, maybe even higher!" The man was shaken.

"Oh? Your calculation’s pretty accurate. But if you’re trying to kill me, you should expect to be killed yourself!" Evan snorted and launched into combat.

The opponent relied on his flying sword, gaining a speed advantage over Evan. Feeling confident, he laughed, "You can’t keep up with me!"

"Is that so?" Evan responded coldly.

"What else have you got?" the man snorted.

No sooner had he finished than Evan unleashed a storm of flying needles—so fast the man, riding his sword, didn’t expect it. He hurriedly raised a spiritual-energy shield.

But the shield’s defense was low—especially against micro-sized needles, which quickly pierced through.

At that moment, Evan attacked again. The man, busy defending against the needles, had no hands free to counter Evan. Evan’s dagger cut through the shield, landed a heavy blow, and then followed up with a punch.

Evan’s dagger pierced his chest. "Ah!" With a scream, the man fell from his flying sword, rolled on the ground a few times, and lay still.

Evan glanced at the three corpses and their flying swords, collected them, and planned to study their design—maybe craft better versions for his friends.

After killing the three, Evan withdrew, found a hidden spot, entered the Sky-Piercing Tower, and then the Strange Spiral Shell. He still couldn’t enter the third cave, so he went into the second cave to train his divine sense. He’d passed the first layer back in Spirit-Wandering Realm, so now he tried for the second layer.

As expected, Evan slipped through the first layer and entered the second. Immediately, he felt dizzy and uncomfortable, just like before.

Having experienced it once, he sat down, determined not to leave until he could move freely in the second layer.

He had no idea what was happening outside.

Meanwhile, news spread in Ninefold Palace: three more of their people had died on Prodigy Star—the new name for Nameless Star, now controlled by Genius Pavilion. Evan was the killer, and the Palace was furious.

Genius Pavilion brushed them off, claiming they couldn’t find Evan.

Ninefold Palace investigated and confirmed Evan hadn’t returned to Genius Pavilion, so they stopped pressing and prepared to send more people to Prodigy Star to hunt him.

Evan’s bounty was raised from one hundred to two hundred points. Normally, Star Lords only earn points through missions, but this new two-hundred-point reward attracted many Star Lords and Ninefold Palace members.

To enter Prodigy Star, these people had to get custom tokens from Ninefold Palace, which were also verified by Genius Pavilion.

The custom tokens had spiritual-sense marks and came in pairs—one for the bearer, one at Ninefold Palace headquarters. If anything happened, the headquarters token would receive the bearer’s final distress signal.

Evan, unaware of these features, continued his intense divine sense training.

At Genius Pavilion, Reed Kong was summoned again by Elder Mu.

When Reed arrived, Elder Mu called him up to his loft.

"Has he sent you any messages?" Elder Mu asked curiously.

Reed Kong shook his head. "The last time was two years ago. Nothing since."

"Two years? I heard he showed up on Prodigy Star and killed three Ninefold Palace pursuers," Elder Mu muttered.

"Is that true?" Reed Kong was shocked.

"Yes, Ninefold Palace is furious. Eleven of their people have died at the hands of a Green Fourth-Tier genius. They can hardly believe it, but they have no choice. They’re investigating us, know we’re still searching for him," Elder Mu replied.

"Eleven?" Reed Kong was amazed—it had crossed into double digits. No faction would take such losses lightly.

"It’s a first—a Green Fourth-Tier killing so many." Elder Mu wasn’t sure whether to praise or criticize Evan.

"He surprises me every time. Sometimes I wonder if he’s really just Fourth-Tier," Reed Kong sighed.

"Honestly, I should have guessed he’s at least Azure Fifth-Tier. Especially the first time—I found he killed a mid-stage Out-of-Body Star Lord while still at Spirit-Wandering Realm," Elder Mu said, staring at Reed Kong.

Reed Kong had always hidden this fact, but Elder Mu found out anyway. He quickly apologized, "It was pure luck—he said it took him a long time to kill that Star Lord."

"Luck or not, time or not—he still killed him. That’s just what Evan says, so Azure Fifth-Tier is his minimum potential," Elder Mu muttered, eyes shining.