Quentin Qing received the news, both shocked and furious. If Qingyun weren't still recovering, he would have rushed over to investigate right away.
"Damn it, how is this kid's power getting scarier and scarier? We can't let him get the Ten‑Million‑Year Wood‑Heart Core." Quentin Qing muttered to himself.
The Wood Family was equally stunned by what happened at their stronghold, so they relayed all the information to Skyler Shi. Once Skyler learned about the Ten‑Million‑Year Wood‑Heart Core, he immediately took action.
Ray Qing saw Skyler Shi return and asked, "Senior Shi, how did it go?"
"I found out. Turns out it's on the One Hundred Eightieth Planet. No wonder he wanted the map," Skyler Shi said.
"Do you have the map?" Ray Qing asked.
"No, but I'll get one now. The place is dangerous, though—the clan won't provide backup, since they don't want to send people to die for nothing. Still, they're making me go," Skyler Shi sighed.
"Uh..." Ray Qing hadn't expected this twist in the Wood Family's attitude, but thinking about it, it made sense. If the Wood Family could have gotten it, they would've acted long ago—instead, they know where the Ten‑Million‑Year Wood‑Heart Core is, but don't go for it.
"Alright, I'll go get the map first. How about your Qing Family team joins up with mine when we head out?" Skyler Shi suggested.
Ray Qing thought it over and decided he had to go all in. If they didn't catch Evan Yang now, they'd have even less chance later, so he answered, "Alright, no problem."
Skyler Shi gritted his teeth, took some Immortal Sources to buy the map, and returned after a while, bringing key personnel with him. Including the Qing Family, there were over twenty people in total. They set out together—their destination: the One Hundred Eightieth Planet.
As for Evan Yang, he was already prepared and currently flying through the void. It took about half an hour to cross the distance between two planets—a speed that was already extremely fast, luckily the planets weren't very large.
After four or five days, he finally arrived at the One Hundred Eightieth Planet.
"Oh my god, why are the previous planets all relatively small, but this one is so huge?" Hannah Nangong exclaimed when she saw the massive planet ahead, glowing entirely green.
"It really is huge. Looks like we'll have to spend at least a few years here," Evan Yang said.
Hannah Nangong agreed. Otherwise, even at their speed, just circling the planet would be tough if no one blocked them.
"Where do we start?" Hannah Nangong stared at the giant planet in front of them, not knowing where to begin.
"Let's first find a spot without any plants, then decide what to do next," Evan Yang said after thinking it over.
Hannah Nangong nodded. She and Evan Yang circled the planet, and sure enough, it was massive—it took them several days just to cover a small portion. Finally, they spotted a patch without any plants.
"Let's go down," Evan Yang said.
"Mm." Hannah Nangong nodded. The two of them used a few Flash Steps and descended from the sky to the spot.
"Is this a primeval forest or what? It's all trees!" Hannah Nangong muttered after landing.
On top of that, the place gave off a deep, oppressive feeling.
"It's not bad, actually. I don't feel any pressure—in fact, I feel comfortable," Evan Yang laughed. Mainly, it was thanks to his North Sect arts, which were all about harmonizing with nature.
Arriving here, not only did he not feel suppressed, but his mind was clearer and his Immortal Essence circulated faster. If anything, his power was boosted by about one and a half times. That was the advantage here—Evan finally understood. Early-stage North Sect arts might seem weak, but once they're strong, they're terrifying—a pure natural support ability.
"How come you don't feel it?" Hannah Nangong asked, puzzled.
"Don't forget, our North Sect is all about forests—we're used to it," Evan Yang laughed.
Hannah Nangong understood, but said, "Well, lucky you. I'm just annoyed."
"Didn't I tell you not to come? You insisted, and now look at you," Evan Yang laughed.
"Alright, enough about that. Let's figure out how we're going to move forward," Hannah Nangong quickly said, not wanting to be teased anymore.
Evan Yang thought for a moment and said, "Let's search together, but I'll also have the Phantom Spirit Birds help." With that, Evan unleashed countless Phantom Spirit Birds—otherwise, searching such a massive planet would be nearly impossible.
"Do you know what the Ten‑Million‑Year Wood‑Heart Core looks like?" Hannah Nangong asked curiously.
Evan Yang pondered. "It should be a really huge tree, right?"
"I think so too." Hannah Nangong mused. Evan Yang was using the Phantom Spirit Birds to search for unusually large trees, then reporting their locations.
And so, Evan Yang and Hannah Nangong began their long trek through the forest. The woods here were strange—whenever they passed through some weeds and broke a few vines, the vines would quickly restore themselves.
"Such vitality!" Evan Yang remarked.
"Yeah, it's really strong," Hannah Nangong agreed. She tried a few times herself, and each time the vines recovered quickly.
"In a place like this, running into dangerous plants would really be a nightmare," Evan Yang said, recalling the rumors about the Wood Star System.
"We should be careful. If we encounter powerful plants, we'll retreat immediately," Hannah Nangong said.
"No need for that. If we run into trouble, we'll just head straight into the tower. I think it'll be fine," Evan Yang said, confident that the tower would be a big help here.
Thinking of Evan Yang’s strange idea, Hannah Nangong nodded, feeling it was a good plan, so the two continued searching.
They soon ran into trouble—a small stream appeared before them. In the forest, seeing a stream was rare.
Hannah Nangong exclaimed with delight, “Finally, it doesn’t feel so oppressive anymore!”
“Alright, don’t get too excited. Be careful—there might be strange creatures in this stream,” Evan Yang said with a smile.
“Don’t scare me,” Hannah Nangong replied, not believing him.
Just then, a vine slowly stretched out from the water, suddenly whipping around Hannah Nangong’s leg. Hannah was startled, and Evan Yang immediately struck, quickly severing the vine.
Once Hannah regained her balance, she exclaimed, “Damn it, even a vine is so aggressive!”
“Careful, something’s off,” Evan Yang said, sensing something strange. He couldn’t explain the feeling, but he was very sensitive to this place.
“Really? I think it’s fine,” Hannah Nangong said.
“Quiet,” Evan Yang said.
After hearing Evan, Hannah fell silent. Sure enough, a sense of foreboding suddenly rose up her back. She turned and saw behind her a sentient vine, about two people tall, moving along with countless tendrils reaching for them.
“It’s here—let’s wipe it out,” Evan Yang said.
The two began attacking wildly. Many vine ‘arms’ were chopped off, but instantly regrew, as if they could never truly be destroyed.
Not only that—their escape routes, left, right, and above, were all blocked. The vine tendrils were so long that they covered both of them inside.
Eventually, darkness fell before their eyes as the surroundings were sealed tight, and the outer layers of vines grew thicker and thicker.
“Looks like it wants to trap us to death,” Evan Yang exclaimed.
“So what do we do now? This thing’s insane—even my Profound-Immortal strength can’t destroy it!” Hannah Nangong said angrily.
“Let me try fire,” Evan Yang thought for a moment. Flames spread, and sure enough, fire worked against wood. The flames grew, burning a hole through the vines. Sensing danger, the vine spirit parted and exposed them again.
“Whew, looks like fire really works,” Evan Yang said.
Hannah Nangong nodded. At this point, she could only rely on Evan. Evan kept up the fiery assault, forcing the vine spirit to slowly retreat. It didn’t leave; instead, it seemed angry and dove into the stream.
“It even knows how to hide underwater?” Evan Yang was shocked as the vine spirit entered the water.
Hannah Nangong was also surprised, watching the vine spirit. Once it submerged, it started counterattacking. The wet vine tendrils were harder to burn—even though fire could still scorch them, the water made it much more difficult.
“What now?” Hannah Nangong asked, seeing how tough the vine was.
“Fire won’t work, but I have other ways.” Evan Yang smirked, seeing it in the water. He then did something that shocked Hannah Nangong.
Squeak! The vine spirit was frozen, and the water around it was blocked, stopping its flow. The vine spirit hadn’t expected someone this terrifying—someone who could command both fire and ice. Now it struggled, but Evan’s ice-fire wasn’t ordinary; the chilling cold left it stuck in the water as if trapped in winter.
“You—?” Hannah Nangong was stunned as Evan Yang finished his move.
“What?” Evan Yang smiled.
“You have water attribute? You can use three elements—fire, water, earth?” Hannah Nangong was incredulous. She’d thought two attributes was impressive, but Evan had three, which was hard to accept.
“Yeah,” Evan Yang replied.
Getting Evan’s confirmation, Hannah Nangong was stunned for a while before coming back to herself. “You freak.”
“Come on, I’m not a freak,” Evan Yang said, feeling a little annoyed.
“Then what are you? In the Immortal Realm, people with three attributes probably number less than ten,” Hannah Nangong said.
“Oh? There are others with three attributes?” Evan Yang asked curiously.
“Yeah, some big clans or sects have a few, but it’s very rare. I’ve only heard of one or two people before,” Hannah Nangong explained.
“I see.” Evan Yang nodded, then turned to the vine spirit again. “Alright, let’s deal with this thing first.”
“Looks like it can’t be killed,” Hannah Nangong frowned.
“Yeah, but I know how to finish it off,” Evan Yang said, following the advice of the tree soul.
“How?” Hannah Nangong asked curiously.
“Watch me,” Evan Yang said. He gathered flame on his fingertip and drove it into the vine spirit’s uppermost section, burning through its core. A wisp of green gas—its life essence—floated out. Evan quickly waved his hand and collected the green energy.
“What is that?” Hannah Nangong asked curiously.
(Note: Life essence refers to the core vitality or spiritual energy of a sentient plant, often used in cultivation or alchemy.)