Fiend Palace was in total chaos at this moment. One search was led by Elder Liu for Evan Yang, while the other was for the Palace Lord’s missing younger son.
As the searches went on, they realized they were after the same person. The two teams merged, and their target shifted to Phantom Elder.
But Phantom Elder hadn’t appeared again since that time—not even at his old base. Everyone was left powerless, especially since Phantom Elder could change his aura as well as his appearance, making him nearly impossible to track by aura.
“That kid, Evan Yang, right? The Human World genius?” Elder Liu asked after General Northcliff finished his report.
General Northcliff nodded. “That’s right. He’s already recognized as the top-tier genius in the Human World, and all the major powers there protect him.”
“The Human World may call him a genius and protect him, but here in the Fiend Realm, we won’t. I’ll make sure this Human World genius is crippled in the Fiend Realm.” Elder Liu’s hatred for Evan Yang hadn’t faded at all.
General Northcliff didn’t know exactly how Evan Yang had provoked Elder Liu, but he understood one thing: the moment Evan Yang appeared, he’d be hunted by every top expert in Fiend Palace.
But ever since Evan Yang vanished with Phantom Elder, he hadn’t shown up again—it was as if he’d evaporated from the Fiend Realm. Still, they were certain he hadn’t left; otherwise, they would’ve known.
It was like a kite with its string cut—there wasn’t a single clue to follow.
“That kid—he’s appeared again?” On a mountain shrouded in thick mist, a gaunt old man stood, with a middle-aged man whose eyes were dark beside him.
These two people were none other than the Corpse-Refiner and the Nether Patriarch.
Originally, Evan Yang was thought to have died in Dead Lake, so the Nether Patriarch was brought back and kept on Corpse-Refiner Mountain. Occasionally, the Nether Patriarch received message stones with news about Evan Yang's activities in the Fiend Realm.
So now, the Corpse-Refiner was both shocked and delighted, but when he saw the news that Evan Yang had already reached mid Divine Spirit Realm, even sending top experts from the Divine Cauldron Realm wouldn't be able to handle him. He found it hard to believe, but had to accept it. Then he looked at the Nether Patriarch and said, "Go. Kill some people and raise your power."
"Yes." The Nether Patriarch seemed to have his own intentions, but was still bound by others' commands.
The Corpse-Refiner knew this was a Living Corpse Thrall. When his own consciousness retreated, the Nether Patriarch had his own will, but could only follow orders.
Because Evan Yang had stirred up so much trouble, Fiend Palace people were tracking him everywhere. Even if some died or were wounded, it wasn't a big deal to them. As long as it wasn't Evan Yang, they didn't bother reporting it.
Soon, it was discovered that many Sixth- and Seventh-Rank Generals had died, but the higher-ups only noticed after a while.
"How did hundreds die in just half a month?" Elder Liu was shocked after reading the report.
"I don't know, but after investigating, many people disappeared after dying. We can't find where they went, not even with qi-tracking techniques," Gavin Zhao replied.
"Could it be that brat?" Elder Liu wondered suspiciously.
"No sign of him," Gavin Zhao answered quietly.
"Useless. Hurry up and investigate! It could very well be that brat, or maybe even Phantom Elder." Elder Liu said angrily.
"Yes." Gavin Zhao quickly withdrew.
"Corpses? If we could find the bodies, at least we'd know what wounded them and what methods were used." Elder Liu wasn't sure how these people had been killed, so he felt uneasy.
Meanwhile, on Corpse-Refiner Mountain, hundreds of corpses were stored inside a cave.
Some were dead, some still alive but severely injured. Each stared at the old man and the puppet beside him—the Nether Patriarch.
"Who are you, really?" someone asked in terror.
"Don't worry, I'll make you all stronger," the Corpse-Refiner laughed.
"What are you trying to do?" The man glared at the Corpse-Refiner, furious.
"Ever heard of Living Corpse Thralls?" The Corpse-Refiner laughed.
"You're the Corpse-Refiner?" The man was stunned, and the others who weren't unconscious were equally shocked. Some even woke up from the surprise.
"Haha, that's right, it's me. Today I'll turn you all into my latest research—fusion corpses." The Corpse-Refiner laughed loudly.
"You—you can't! If Fiend Palace finds out, you're dead for sure!" the man shouted, both shocked and furious.
"Relax. Here, I can block Fiend Palace's tracking," the Corpse-Refiner said with a smile.
"You!"
"Let's begin." The Corpse-Refiner ignored them and directly ordered the Nether Patriarch.
The Nether Patriarch followed the Corpse-Refiner's instructions, walked over to the speaker, and placed a hand on his head.
The man screamed in agony, "Ah!"
The scream was extremely miserable. Many people were startled awake, some even stared at the Nether Patriarch in terror.
Meanwhile, the Nether Patriarch's hand on the man's head began to change, and the victim started to transform as well.
It wasn't until that person suddenly vanished, and the Nether Patriarch's body began to change, that the sound of his bones shifting could be heard clearly by all.
“Good, absorb a few more, and once you finish the rest, your strength will reach the Divine Cauldron Realm.” The Corpse-Refiner said with satisfaction.
Hearing the Corpse-Refiner and witnessing the Nether Patriarch's display, everyone’s faces turned grim. Some started screaming in panic, but no matter how loud they shouted, it was useless—even their Transmission Stones had stopped working.
They could only watch helplessly as the people around them were absorbed one by one by the Nether Patriarch.
Only after the Nether Patriarch absorbed over a hundred people did his strength, as the Corpse-Refiner predicted, reach early Divine Cauldron Realm.
“Early Divine Cauldron Realm—not bad. But living corpses give much more energy; dead ones are too weak. To make sure you catch that brat, you need to grab a few more, but be careful. Fiend Palace will be on guard after losing more than a hundred men.” The Corpse-Refiner chuckled.
Obeying orders, the Nether Patriarch resumed his grim harvest. After each round, he would return to Corpse-Refiner Mountain, where his aura couldn't be tracked, easily completing his task before heading out again.
This intermittent cycle lasted half a year, by which time the Nether Patriarch’s strength had reached late Divine Cauldron Realm.
“Alright, late Divine Cauldron Realm. Take a break for now; otherwise, Fiend Palace will really go crazy.” The Corpse-Refiner laughed, watching his living corpse grow stronger day by day.
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Back in Fiend Palace, Elder Liu was both furious and anxious. He still didn’t know who was behind all this, but it was clear the enemy was strange and powerful—so many Fifth-Rank generals had died.
“Elder Liu, what should we do now?” Zhao Lin asked, frustrated.
“What else? Keep tracking them!” Elder Liu snapped.
Zhao Lin could only withdraw, leaving Elder Liu stewing in anger.
Things quieted down for several years. Nothing happened—no sign of Phantom Elder, Evan Yang, or the mysterious killer targeting Fiend Palace.
After several years of his son’s disappearance, the Fiend Palace Lord finally lost patience and issued a realm-wide wanted notice. Anyone with information on Phantom Elder or Evan Yang would be richly rewarded.
This drove the Fiend Realm into a frenzy. Cultivators stuck at bottlenecks saw a chance to cash in and began organizing teams to hunt the two wanted men.
Groups formed everywhere, scouring the realm for the targets named in Fiend Palace’s bounty.
Upon hearing the news, the Corpse-Refiner sighed, “Search all you want. Once Evan shows up, it’ll be time to pull in the net.”
Even the Corpse-Refiner, waiting for Evan Yang’s reappearance, began to feel impatient.
As for Evan, he was still immersed in the Black Sea. By now, his cultivation speed had slowed to fifty times normal, but his realm had advanced to Divine Spirit Great Perfection. The next step was Divine Cauldron Realm, but thanks to the Heaven-Cold Seed, he couldn’t predict when the bottleneck would break.
Then one day, Elena suddenly showed signs of trouble—her aura turned chaotic.
Alarmed, Evan quickly pulled her back into the Sky-Piercing Tower, where she finally calmed down.
“What happened to you just now?” Evan asked, suspicious.
“I’m not sure. I was cultivating normally, then suddenly my limbs wouldn’t obey, my spiritual power grew chaotic, and sometimes my mind felt unclear.” Elena explained, still confused.
Evan thought for a moment and realized it might be due to her prolonged exposure to fiendish qi in the Fiend Realm.
He explained the situation to Elena, who understood it was likely the fiendish qi’s influence. She decided not to go outside anymore, opting to rest inside the tower for a few years until she recovered.
Evan nodded in agreement, so Elena stayed in the tower with Derek and the others, while Evan went out alone.
“Divine Spirit Great Perfection.” Evan took a deep breath, feeling a special fondness for this place. As long as he kept training here, he believed he could eventually reach even higher realms.
He closed his eyes once more.
In this pitch-black place where no aura could be sensed, Evan meditated for another ten years. Altogether, he spent thirteen years here before opening his eyes again—he had broken through to Divine Cauldron Realm.
Early Divine Cauldron Realm—his Divine Spirit region expanded greatly, and outside it formed a Protection Cauldron, built from fused treasures: the Immortal Warplate merged into the cauldron, and so did his daggers.
The Protection Cauldron was a strange hybrid, with everything mixed in. Even more astonishing, Eldon the Ancient Tree Soul and Soul-Reaping Water occupied the space between the cauldron and his Divine Spirit.
Fortunately, Evan could still control the Protection Cauldron at will: daggers could fly out and return to his hand, and the Immortal Warplate could detach and reform as armor, then merge back into the cauldron.
Seeing that everything worked as before but his power had soared, Evan was overjoyed. On top of that, his Fly-Fire Boots’ fourfold speed was finally unlocked.
“Finally unlocked!” Evan exclaimed. Since getting the Fly-Fire Boots, he’d only managed double speed before. Now, with fourfold speed, he gained a huge advantage for future movement.
Besides treasures and Phantom Step, Evan could now take sixteen steps—stacking sixteenfold speed onto fourfold boots gave him sixty-four times speed. With soul augmentation, he knew he could reach a hundredfold burst at early Divine Cauldron Realm.
With so many layers stacked together, Evan found it hard to believe—but he was sure both Phantom Step and the Fly-Fire Boots were incredibly precious.
His starry-sky technique alone could unleash two hundred times attack power; with the Powerburst Gauntlets and soul amplification, five hundredfold strength was no problem.
With such stacked attack power, Evan believed he could blast even Divine Cauldron Great Perfection experts away with a single punch.