Elder Du once again condensed into a human form and looked at Evan Yang, smiling, "Well?"
"Senior, that's an impressive technique. How did you do it?" Evan Yang asked curiously.
"Next, I'll teach you. How much you learn depends on you." Elder Du chuckled, then began to teach Evan Yang step by step. For Evan, what he liked most was a challenge.
After listening to Elder Du's instructions, Evan found a quiet spot, closed his eyes, and prepared to practice as taught.
Watching Evan, Elder Du muttered to himself, "Whether you succeed or not depends on yourself."
In the following period, Evan began decomposing, starting with his hands and feet. It took him most of the day just to decompose half his body. He frowned, "If I decompose like this, I'd have been destroyed long ago."
Helpless, Evan continued cultivating. After several days, he finally made some progress—he could fully decompose, and his consciousness remained in the space. As long as he wished, he could recondense at will. However, his decomposition and recondensation speed still couldn't match Elder Du's.
So Evan sought out Elder Du again. Seeing Evan approach, Elder Du asked curiously, "How is it? How's your learning going?"
Evan sighed, "I can decompose and recondense, but my speed is still a bit slow."
"Don't rush. Take it slow. The fact that you learned it in just a few days is already impressive. Next, it's all about speed. If you're fast enough, no one can touch you. But if you're slow, you'll die miserably—you should know that." Elder Du said.
Evan Yang knew very well that if he was slow, he might be injured or even killed before he could disappear. Thinking of this, he naturally chose to keep training madly.
So Evan returned to his previous training spot, where he practiced frantically, almost nonstop, decomposing and recondensing over and over.
He repeated the same motion so many times that he lost count and forgot about the passage of time outside.
In the blink of an eye, half a year passed. Seeing Evan still training madly, Elder Du sighed, "If everyone trained like this, the Academy would be full of elites."
Evan had no idea Elder Du was praising him. Finally, on a snowy day, Evan opened his eyes, felt the change in temperature, and muttered, "So the Heavenly Dao Realm has snow too."
"Of course. The Heavenly Dao Realm has all four seasons, every kind of scenery. Especially the snow—it's beautiful." Elder Du replied with a smile.
"Senior, how long have I been training?" Evan asked curiously after hearing Elder Du's words.
"It's been over half a year. How's your Decomposition Art coming along?" Elder Du smiled. Evan grinned, "Not bad, I've made some progress."
"Let me see." Elder Du said. Evan nodded, and quickly vanished in front of Elder Du, then reappeared.
Elder Du laughed, "Not bad, you've improved. But I still need to test you. If I touch you, you lose."
"Huh? Senior, you taught me this, so you're definitely faster. I think I'll pass." Evan said awkwardly.
"How do you know if you haven't tried?" Elder Du laughed.
With that, Elder Du decomposed. Evan didn't dare hesitate and immediately decomposed as well. Just as he finished, Elder Du appeared behind him, trying to catch him—Evan vanished again.
Elder Du smiled, "You're pretty fast."
On the other side, Evan reappeared. As soon as he did, Elder Du rushed over, so Evan quickly decomposed again, and Elder Du followed suit.
When Evan appeared, he found Elder Du gone. Suddenly, Elder Du appeared behind him, laughing, "You let your guard down."
Evan was startled and tried to decompose, but it was too late—Elder Du caught him. Evan asked in confusion, "Senior, didn't you just disappear? How did you suddenly appear behind me?"
"I knew you'd settle here, so I condensed right at this spot—and you happened to condense here too." Elder Du chuckled.
Evan was shocked, "Senior, how did you know I'd condense here?"
"Because we're in the same space, same location. When you decompose and condense, there's a certain feeling. When I'm decomposed, I can sense it too." Elder Du laughed.
At this point, Elder Du came over and laughed, "Why are you all so silly? Why didn't you make a move while he was condensing?"
Everyone knew their condensation was too slow—otherwise, they would've stopped Evan long ago. Seeing no one answer, Elder Du said, "Then today, he's the winner."
"Elder Du, I want to challenge him." The lone female disciple spoke up.
Evan was curious. He had no grudge with this woman, yet she'd been staring at him since earlier and now challenged him directly.
Elder Du was curious too. "What do you want to challenge him for?"
"The flag in his hand. If I take it, then I win today." the woman replied. Elder Du laughed, "But you already lost earlier."
"There were too many people before—I wasn't ready. Now I want a one-on-one." the woman said. Elder Du looked at Evan, who wanted to figure out what was up with her, so he agreed without hesitation, "Alright."
"Since you've both agreed, I have no objections. We'll start right away—one quarter of an hour. If there's no winner by then, it's a draw." Elder Du took the flag, planted it in the snow, and had Evan and the woman separate by some distance.
Both contestants decomposed at the same time and quickly arrived near the flag. Neither appeared, waiting for the other to condense first and be ready to strike.
Just like that, half a quarter passed. Evan muttered, "What's she doing? Isn't she here to take the flag? Why hasn't she moved yet?"
The woman muttered, "Damn, why isn't he making a move?"
Elder Du laughed from the side, "If you two don't act soon, time will run out." The surrounding disciples watched the flag, waiting to see who would take it.
Just as Elder Du finished speaking, the woman condensed, and Evan condensed as well. They appeared almost simultaneously and immediately started fighting.
The onlookers saw Evan was only at Immortal Sovereign realm and held their breath. The woman was curious, and Elder Du smiled. But when Evan showed his overwhelming strength, everyone was stunned—the woman exclaimed, "You're actually just an Immortal Sovereign!"
"What, Immortal Sovereign can't fight for the flag?" Evan laughed.
"Not exactly. If you're really an Immortal Sovereign, there's no suspense—you're bound to lose. I thought you were much stronger." the woman sneered.
Evan chuckled, "Is that so?" With that, his hands and feet changed color. The spectators frowned, wondering what technique Evan had cultivated to change his limbs' color.
Elder Du showed a puzzled look and muttered, "After this guy changes color, his strength increases so much."
Not only did Elder Du sense Evan's power, but the woman facing him was shocked as well.