Evan Yang smiled. "Alright, that's enough. Let's go check on those people, then we'll talk more later."
Hannah Nangong withdrew her hand and snorted, "If you tease me again, I'll rip your mouth off."
"Alright, alright, great Miss Nangong," Evan said with a laugh.
"Hmph, just now you were calling me Madam Yang, and now you switch so quickly," Hannah snorted.
"I told you I was joking. Come on, let's go." Seeing Hannah press him again, Evan quickly turned, opened the door, and stepped outside.
Hannah followed behind him. Soon, they saw Evan push open another room, and after the two entered, he closed the door.
Inside sat Darren Bullard and several others. At this moment, the five men saw Evan enter and showed expressions of terror, but couldn't make a sound.
"You five, I'm leaving soon. If Quinn Qing ever comes looking for you, tell him that if he keeps pestering me, the consequences will be far worse than just being poisoned." Evan said with a smile.
Although the five could hear Evan's words, they couldn't speak, and could only stare at him with wide eyes.
After speaking, Evan turned and left the room with Hannah.
The five men were once again left completely isolated from the outside world.
Evan Yang and Hannah Nangong walked downstairs. Evan found the innkeeper and smiled, saying, "Boss, thank you for your hospitality these past few days."
"Not at all, you’re guests here," the innkeeper replied with a smile.
“Sorry for the trouble. By the way, I have a few friends staying in the room next to mine. They’ll be here for another month, but right now they’re cultivating and don’t like to be disturbed. So please, don’t let anyone bother them. Here’s ten thousand high-grade Immortal Source—this should cover both their stay and what I’ve spent these past few days.” Evan handed over the Immortal Source.
The innkeeper smiled, "Alright, I won’t let anyone go upstairs." With that, he took Evan’s Immortal Source.
Everyone around was watching Evan and Hannah. After all, Evan had just made quite a splash. Not far away, Leo Li was eyeing Evan, secretly muttering, "He’s really loaded—ten thousand Immortal Source. Is he some noble’s son or what?"
Seeing Evan’s generosity, Leo Li started scheming—not just for the people, but for the money too. He secretly chuckled, "Out in the endless snow, if I kill you, no one will ever know."
Evan didn’t know exactly what Leo Li was thinking, but from his look, he could tell it wasn’t anything good. Of course, Evan had already been on guard against him.
With that, Evan and Hannah finished their business. After a short while, when the time came, everyone—about forty or fifty people—set out together from the inn.
Heavy snow was falling. Three of the group were locals from the Snowveil Star System and seemed very familiar with the area. One of them walked ahead and explained, "This planet is on the outermost edge of the Snowveil Star System. Most of the toads here are between a thousand and ten thousand years old, so you can expect to find those kinds here."
The group seemed to understand, but Evan Yang thought for a moment and asked, "Is it possible to find a hundred-thousand-year or even a million-year toad here?"
Evan’s question made everyone stop and look at him suspiciously. Leo Li seized the chance to mock, "Kid, a hundred-thousand or a million-year toad? Are you tired of living? That kind of venom is so deadly even an Emperor Realm expert might not walk away alive."
"Oh? Venomous? Does that mean thousand-year and ten-thousand-year toads aren’t poisonous?" Evan asked curiously.
"They are, just not as deadly. But you still can’t be careless. If you get bitten, the venom gets into your blood, and it’s not easy to recover," the Snowveil local explained.
"So basically, if you get hit by a hundred-thousand-year toad, you’re done for? But if it’s a thousand or ten-thousand-year one, there’s still hope?" Evan summed up.
"That’s right. Once it’s over ten thousand years, the venom is extremely potent. Don’t underestimate them," the man replied.
Leo Li chimed in with a laugh, "Kid, did you get all that? Let me give you a bit of common sense, so you don’t get bitten and not even know what happened."
"Oh? Captain Li, please enlighten me," Evan said with curiosity, wondering why Leo Li was suddenly being so helpful.
Leo Li grinned, "The smaller the toad, the older it usually is. Once they reach a certain age, they can freely change size. Also, if you see a toad with its eyes open, it’s actually asleep. If its eyes are closed, that’s when it’s awake—and the most dangerous."
Evan and Hannah Nangong both found this interesting. Evan thanked him, "Thanks for the tip, Captain Li."
Leo Li smiled, "No problem. Since there’s a girl in your group, I figured I’d better warn you. Wouldn’t want her to get poisoned—there’s nothing in it for me if that happens." He glanced at Hannah Nangong, who was hiding her cultivation, and secretly snickered to himself.
"Thanks," Evan replied, secretly muttering, "I’ll seal your eyes shut when I get the chance."
"Alright, let’s keep moving," the Snowveil local said, resuming the lead.
"No million-year toads?" Evan wondered to himself.
Leo Li suddenly sidled up and asked, "Kid, what are you thinking about?"
Evan could tell Leo Li had bad intentions, but he didn’t call him out. He just smiled, "Captain Li, I was wondering if there’s any chance of running into a million-year toad on a planet like this."
"It’s possible. Some million-year toads are really smart—they can shrink themselves down and hide for years in secret places. Unless they come out for a stroll, you’ll never find them," Leo Li explained.
"Have you ever seen one?" Evan asked curiously.
"Never seen one myself, just heard stories. They say tens of thousands of years ago, a terrifying million-year toad caused chaos here. Tons of top experts joined forces to hunt it down. Whether it died or escaped, nobody knows," Leo Li said.
"Really? Did they kill it, or did it get away?" Evan asked, intrigued.
Leo Li said, "From what I’ve heard, it’s still alive, just badly wounded."
"I see. Any idea where it went?" Evan asked.
Leo Li paused, then said, "Kid, you don’t need to know that. Things that elusive—we’ll never run into them."
"You never know, maybe we’ll be the ones to stumble across it," Evan replied.
Leo Li shook his head, "That’s impossible. If you really did, you’d be out of luck. Without Emperor Realm strength, you’d stand no chance against it. Its venom is so terrifying it could take down an Emperor expert."
"Got it," Evan said, though in his heart he wondered where the Million-Year Venom Toad might show up.
Leo Li asked, "So, where are you two from? Why are you here catching toads—alchemy?"
Evan smiled, "We’re from Ethereal Sanctuary. The palace needs toads, so here we are."
Leo Li was startled when he heard 'Ethereal Sanctuary,' but seeing it was just the two of them, he figured he’d test their strength first. If they were weak, he’d deal with the guy, grab the money, and drug the girl. After all, the Immortal Realm was huge—even if Ethereal Sanctuary had the most complete star maps, they only covered a fraction.
Evan noticed Leo Li’s expression and secretly laughed. Leo Li then said, "So you’re from the Sanctuary—my respects."
"You flatter us," Evan said with a polite smile.
Leo Li pressed on, "So, are you from the Lower Sanctuary or the Middle Sanctuary?"
"We’re from the Lower Sanctuary," Evan replied with a smile, though he thought to himself, 'I might be from the Lower Sanctuary, but Hannah Nangong is at least from the Middle Sanctuary.'
Hearing they were from the Lower Sanctuary, Leo Li was delighted. As a Profound-Immortal, dealing with someone from the Lower Sanctuary would be a piece of cake.
"I see. Well, if you need any help later, just let me know," Leo Li said with a smile.
"Thanks, Captain Li," Evan replied with a grin.
Leo Li nodded, then returned to the group to chat with the other three locals.
"Hey, why didn’t you let me teach him a lesson?" Hannah Nangong sent a voice transmission.
Evan replied via voice transmission with a smile, "With so many people here, if you dealt with him now, who would scout the way for us?"
"So you want to use them as pathfinders?" Hannah seemed to get it. "Yeah, this is the Snowveil Star System—we don’t know anything here, and even if we had a map, there’s no way to predict where the toads are or what threats there might be. With a big group, at least we have some cover," Evan explained. "Fair enough. I’ll listen to you. But once this is over, I’m digging out that dog’s eyes myself," Hannah said.
Evan nodded—after the expedition, Hannah could do whatever she wanted.
With that, Leo Li and the others moved forward with mixed feelings, while the rest were just hoping to catch a few toads to take home.
After about a day and night of travel, they finally reached their destination—a forest where the trees were all low and the ground was blanketed in snow. The most distinctive feature was the abundance of rocks. "We’re here," one of the locals announced.
"Here? Are there really toads here?" someone asked.
"Yep, toads love hiding among messy rocks. This place is perfect for them. You can start searching now, but remember to regroup here every night. Stronger spirit beasts roam after dark, so it’s safer together," the Snowveil local explained.
"Alright," everyone agreed, and the group dispersed. Evan and Hannah exchanged a glance and headed off in their own direction.
Leo Li watched them go and muttered, "You two sure are bold, splitting off so fast."
Evan never planned to stick with the crowd—he wanted to see what these toads looked like, so he and Hannah went off alone.
"How do we find them?" Hannah asked.
"They said toads like messy rocks, so let’s move some stones and see," Evan suggested after thinking it over.
"Alright," Hannah agreed, and the two began clearing the rocks in front of them.
There were all kinds of rocks, big and small, buried under the snow and piled high. They had to clear away a lot of snow before they could see the rocks, then spot the various holes and crevices among them.
But they didn’t see any toads, leaving the two of them a bit puzzled.