At this moment, Evan Yang found himself in a land of darkness—no borders, no directions, unable to tell where anything was, unable to leave. Even his Realm-Shuttle Pen was useless here.
Evan wondered what kind of place he'd ended up in. Suspicious, he muttered, "Damn it, where the hell is this?"
In the darkness, Evan could only use his night vision to scan the area, flying back and forth without ever finding an edge. The only thing he could do was fly freely—there was no sound, no life, nothing at all.
"I wonder what happens if I attack some spot here." Evan tried picking a location, then took out a needle and launched it with great force. He watched as the needle pierced the void, shot into the distance, a tiny spark of light flashing by before vanishing.
Seeing that the needle never touched any boundary, Evan realized he'd definitely entered some unknown place. Now, the only thing he could do was search for an exit, so he spent his time looking for a way out.
Outside this place, nine powerful strange creatures and Queen Arachne had already gathered. "Are you sure he's here?" Lord Shen asked Queen Arachne.
Queen Arachne nodded. "That's right, he's inside. I saw him go in with my own eyes."
"This kid's luck is just awful. He actually stepped into our forbidden death zone—the Null-Zero Realm. No one ever comes back out." Lord Shen sneered.
"What a bargain for him," Queen Arachne said.
"Don't rush. In here, he's not going to last long. Soon his body won't be able to withstand the force inside, until it's broken down, leaving only a shattered soul." Lord Shen laughed.
"So what do we do now?" one of the creatures asked curiously.
"Wait. If enough time passes and he doesn't come out, that means he's already dead in there. Saves us the trouble," Lord Shen replied.
The other creatures nodded, thinking it made sense, so they waited here. The time limit wasn't exactly short or long—ten years. For them, closing their eyes for a moment could pass ten years, but to guard against Evan showing up suddenly, they had Queen Arachne stand watch. If Evan appeared, she'd alert them right away; if not, all the better.
Queen Arachne nodded, then fixed her gaze on the void ahead. Inside that void, Evan kept searching for a way out, but nothing happened. So he thought of the soul he'd captured from the Double-Faced Fiend.
When the Double-Faced Fiend's soul was brought out, he glared at Evan in fury. "Damn human, you'd better let me go or you'll die soon!"
"Letting you go doesn't matter, but that's only if you can leave this place," Evan said with a laugh.
Hearing Evan say he'd let him go, the Double-Faced Fiend's soul was naturally pleased. He looked around, only to realize something was off—the surroundings were pure darkness. He exclaimed, "What is this place?"
"What do you think?" Evan laughed.
"It's nothing but darkness—there's only one place like this, the Null-Zero Realm." The Double-Faced Fiend's soul said in shock.
"Null-Zero Realm? What kind of place is that?" Evan asked curiously.
"There's nothing here. Everything gets erased to zero," the Double-Faced Fiend's soul said, dazed.
"Everything erased? Why is that?" Evan asked, suspicious.
"Within ten years, anything living here will disappear, broken down until nothing remains. None of us creatures dare come here," answered the Double-Faced Fiend's soul.
"Ten years? Is there any way to get out?" Evan asked, curious.
"Unless you have absolute strength, there's no way to leave," the Double-Faced Fiend's soul replied, regaining composure.
"What does 'absolute strength' mean? And how do you actually get out?" Evan wanted to know exactly what counted as absolute strength.
"I've heard that if you calm your mind, you can sense energy waves in every direction. If you destroy all those energy nodes, you can leave. But strength is everything—just knowing isn't enough if you can't break them," the Double-Faced Fiend's soul answered.
Evan thought for a moment, then followed the Double-Faced Fiend's method. Sure enough, he quickly discovered what the soul described: thousands of energy points all around, tightly linked together. If you destroy one, the others quickly repair it—unless you break them all at once, but that takes immense force.
"I'm going to try breaking them. You go back for now," Evan said, putting away the Double-Faced Fiend's soul. He closed his eyes, split his divine sense into thousands of threads to lock onto the energy nodes, then scattered his power across many points, aiming directly at each node.
But the scattered power was only a thousandth of Evan's strength. Trying to break each node was extremely difficult—his attacks hit the nodes and vanished almost instantly.
"Looks like I'm not strong enough yet," Evan frowned.
So Evan brought the Double-Faced Fiend's soul out again. The soul looked at Evan curiously.
"How does this place even exist?" Evan asked, suspicious.
"What, you can't break through?" The Double-Faced Fiend realized he was doomed—if Evan couldn't break out, they'd never leave.
"I'm just a bit short," Evan replied.
Hearing that, the Double-Faced Fiend's soul thought for a moment, then said, "I have a way."
"Why didn't you say so earlier!" Evan glared.
"I wouldn't tell you unless I had no other choice," the Double-Faced Fiend grumbled.
"Speak," Evan was curious what the Double-Faced Fiend had been hiding.
"I don't know how many nodes there are, but if you want to attack every one, you need enough power. Attacking one by one won't cut it," the Double-Faced Fiend said.
"I know that much. So how do you actually break through?" Evan asked.
"Enhancement Art!" the Double-Faced Fiend said.
"Enhancement Art?" Evan asked, curious.
"That's right. I created it myself. Since I have two heads, I wanted each one to have the same strength and be able to erupt with full power at the same time, instead of splitting my strength between them," the Double-Faced Fiend replied.
Evan seemed to understand: if every strand of his power could be unleashed at full strength, it'd be like a thousand versions of himself attacking all the nodes at once, instead of splitting his strength into a thousand weak pieces.
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"Didn't expect you to still have some use," Evan laughed.
"If I didn't want to die here, I wouldn't tell you," the Double-Faced Fiend grumbled.
"Enough talk, let's get started," Evan said.
The Double-Faced Fiend transmitted his self-created cultivation method to Evan, then added, "I spent who knows how many years creating this technique. No telling how long it'll take you to master it. With only ten years, who knows if you'll be able to learn it in time."
"Relax. For others, it's ten years, but for me, at least five hundred," Evan chuckled.
The Double-Faced Fiend's soul didn't know what Evan meant, but was quickly put away. Evan entered the Spiral Shell's Sky-Piercing Tower and immediately started learning the Enhancement Art.
Outside, the creatures kept waiting, unaware the Double-Faced Fiend's soul was helping Evan inside.
In the blink of an eye, eight years passed outside. Evan had spent nearly four hundred years inside, finally mastering the technique. Now, he could unleash his strongest effect—becoming three thousand versions of himself at once. That meant he could send out three thousand attacks, each as strong as his full power, though the energy cost was huge.
After leaving the Spiral Shell, Evan closed his eyes and quickly located the nodes. Using his light attribute, he attacked—thousands of beams shot out, each targeting a node.
The nodes were instantly destroyed by the attacks. Without hesitation, Evan rushed out.
Outside, Queen Arachne suddenly saw countless points of light and looked suspicious. She watched as Evan flew out of the void, and immediately alerted the others.
The others saw Evan appear and looked suspicious, then moved without hesitation to block his path.
Seeing so many enemies, Evan frowned. "Just when one wave settles, another rises."
"Human, how did you do it?" Lord Shen asked in disbelief.
"Do what?" Evan asked, puzzled.
"How did you break out?" Lord Shen stared at Evan.
"Are you guys my friends?" Evan laughed.
"You—" Lord Shen glared as Evan teased them.
"What? You're just trying to stop me," Evan laughed.
"You've got guts, but can you handle all nine of us?" Lord Shen sneered. The nine had surrounded Evan.
Evan noticed each of them had an aura as strong as the Double-Faced Fiend—some even stronger.
Before, Evan would have run for his life. But now, after learning Enhancement Art, he could handle multiple foes—if he had enough power, meaning he'd need to finish the fight quickly.
So, without hesitation, Evan unleashed nine attacks, each made of lightning—perfect for countering these creatures.
Suddenly, nine bolts of lightning crashed down on their heads. The creatures were shocked, but it was too late—they tried to block with their bodies, but some weaker ones were instantly scorched, their strength greatly reduced.
Evan seized the chance to destroy the weaker bodies. In a flash, six bodies fell, and he captured six souls. The remaining three couldn't believe what they'd just seen, and Queen Arachne was stunned, trembling, unable to look at Evan.
Lord Shen roared in fury, "Damn human, how dare you kill so many of us!"
"Are you still coming?" Evan laughed.
"Hmph, that's Enhancement Art. So you used it once inside, and again now. I want to see if you can use it a third time," Lord Shen snorted.
"Didn't expect you to know the technique so well. You're right, I've used it twice. But don't underestimate me—now that you three are badly wounded, you're no match for me," Evan sneered.