"Who are you?" The Old Beggar asked suspiciously, seeing someone appear in front of him.
"Haven't you figured it out yet?" Evan Yang smiled. The Old Beggar focused his gaze—indeed, it was none other than Evan Yang. Now, without the Hidden Dragon Elixir, Evan could not escape the Old Beggar's discerning eyes with mere illusion techniques.
So the Old Beggar laughed, "I heard you became the Grand Pavilion Lord of the Genius Pavilion. How do you have time to come out?"
"Senior, don't tease me. I'm used to acting alone—managing such a massive Genius Pavilion? That's not likely. Maybe I'll help out occasionally, but that's about it." Evan Yang replied with an awkward smile.
"You're always so modest. If I hadn't seen you myself, I'd hardly believe you've already passed your tribulation." The Old Beggar laughed. In his eyes, it felt like a dream—after all, when he first met Evan Yang, he was just a newcomer to cultivation, and now he was this powerful.
"Look at you," Evan Yang said with an embarrassed smile.
"Enough, you're blushing now. So, what brings you to me this time?" The Old Beggar dropped his joking manner and asked curiously.
"I heard about you and the Alchemy Eccentric Immortal. What's really going on?" Evan Yang was eager to know what lay behind it all.
"To put it simply, the Alchemy Eccentric Immortal stole my clan's ancestral treasure. Unfortunately, I'm not strong enough to beat him, so I planned to challenge him through alchemy. Whoever loses has to abolish their cultivation." The Old Beggar sighed.
"Ancestral treasure?" Evan Yang exclaimed in shock. What kind of item could make the Old Beggar risk his life?
"Yes, it's because of that. The Alchemy Eccentric Immortal fears I'll keep pestering Alchemy Sacred Mountain. When we dueled before, we agreed: whoever lost would quit the alchemy world, never touch it again, and the other wouldn't interfere. So I've never acted against Alchemy Sacred Mountain—they only sent people to watch me. But this time, sigh, it's my fault. I visited my ancestral tomb and took out the clan's treasure, but the people from Alchemy Sacred Mountain discovered it." The Old Beggar sighed.
"So you went to Alchemy Sacred Mountain?" Evan Yang asked, frowning.
"Yes, that's right. Of course, they wouldn't give it back. The Alchemy Eccentric Immortal made a new agreement: whoever loses must abolish their cultivation. Faced with those terms, I agreed." The Old Beggar replied with an awkward smile.
"But are you confident?" Evan Yang exclaimed.
"Not very. I lost once before—not only did it leave a shadow, but ever since the Alchemy Saint Hand's duel with the Fiend World, I've seen even more clearly how strange their alchemy methods are. Right now, I can't break through them." The Old Beggar sighed.
Seeing the Old Beggar's helpless expression, Evan Yang thought—if not for him, Evan wouldn't be able to refine pills, and his journey wouldn't have gone so smoothly. So he said, "Let me take part instead. I'll shoulder this bet."
"You?" The Old Beggar hadn't expected Evan Yang to say that.
"Yes, me." Evan Yang answered.
"No way. You're now the Grand Pavilion Lord of the Genius Pavilion, and you're being hunted by the Three Palaces and all the major clans." The Old Beggar rejected the idea outright. He knew Evan Yang had refined the Hidden Dragon Elixir, and that Evan's alchemy was now on par with his own. If Evan stepped forward, the odds of winning were much higher.
"Senior, I know your worries. Don't stress—they're busy with their own affairs now, they won't come. As for the small fry, that's nothing, they won't even touch me." Evan Yang knew everyone was preoccupied with the Immortal-Gate Entrance Map; at most they'd send someone to represent them at Alchemy Sacred Mountain. Even if they discovered Evan, by the time they arrived, everything would be over.
"You..." The Old Beggar looked at Evan Yang's confidence and remembered how he himself used to be just as confident when refining pills. But after the Alchemy Eccentric Immortal appeared, it crushed him, and he ended up searching everywhere for a successor. Now that his successor had grown up, he couldn't bear to let him step forward.
Seeing the Old Beggar in a daze, Evan Yang smiled, "Senior, what's wrong?"
"Do you know why I chose you back then?" The Old Beggar asked.
"You said I have the Medicine-God Physique." Evan Yang still remembered those words.
"That's right. Back then, I truly intended to train you into a powerful alchemist, to defeat the Alchemy Eccentric Immortal." The Old Beggar said.
"Then isn't now the perfect time? Let me duel him, to test my abilities." Evan Yang was confident in his pill-refining skills—even facing the Alchemy Eccentric Immortal, he wasn't afraid.
"But my old thinking was wrong. The Alchemy Eccentric Immortal isn't just an expert in pill-refining—his cultivation is even stronger. Do you want to know how powerful he really is?" The Old Beggar suddenly asked Evan Yang.
"Pseudo-Immortal Stage?" That was the strongest realm Evan Yang knew of here.
"Wrong. He's even stronger than the Pseudo-Immortal Stage. If I'm not mistaken, he might have already become a true Immortal. For some reason, he's still here and hasn't entered the Immortal Realm." The Old Beggar suddenly said something that shocked Evan Yang.
"What?" Evan Yang exclaimed.
"Don't be shocked—it's the truth. I only learned about it recently," the Old Beggar said.
"Have you seen him in action?" Evan Yang asked suspiciously.
"Yes. I tried to reclaim the clan's treasure, so I made my move," the Old Beggar replied.
"And the result?" Evan Yang asked curiously.
"I managed to subdue the Alchemy Saint Hand, but then the Alchemy Eccentric Immortal appeared. By rights, I could've unleashed my cultivation and fought him for the treasure, but I was too confident—and that's what happened." The Old Beggar sighed.
"Unleash your cultivation? Senior, you suppress your cultivation too?" Evan Yang asked in surprise. He'd already noticed the Old Beggar's aura was different—sometimes strong, sometimes weak.
"Yes. Now that you're at the Nine Tribulations Realm, I can tell you—right now, the Pseudo-Immortal Stage is considered the strongest by everyone. But unless you find the entrance to the Immortal Realm, you only get a few tens of thousands of years of life. When that's up, you're just a spent force. Since I'm an alchemist, I know how to use pills to suppress my cultivation, so I keep it at the Nine Tribulations Realm, sometimes even lower, just to avoid entering the Pseudo-Immortal Stage." The Old Beggar explained.
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"So you're at the Pseudo-Immortal Stage, Senior?" Evan Yang was still a bit shocked to hear this.
"That's right, I'm at the Pseudo-Immortal Stage, so I keep suppressing it. But this kind of suppression has a time limit—it's not like the Wind Family's Tyrant Art. Their patriarch can suppress the Pseudo-Immortal Stage down to the Nine Tribulations Realm and release it anytime. But for me, once I use pills, the effect lasts ten thousand years, and I have to wait for it to wear off before using them again. I've gone through several rounds of pills, but this time, I had no choice and didn't use them. I plan to resolve this matter before thinking about it again." The Old Beggar sighed.
"The Wind Family Patriarch is also at the Pseudo-Immortal Stage?" Evan Yang exclaimed. He'd always thought the patriarch was strong, but never imagined he was at the Pseudo-Immortal Stage.
The Old Beggar nodded, "That's right, he's at the Pseudo-Immortal Stage."
"I see." Evan Yang finally understood, then after hesitating for a moment, said, "Senior, since you're also at the Pseudo-Immortal Stage, there's nothing to worry about. When the time comes, let me compete in pill-refining. If the Wind Family Patriarch really tries to catch me, you can hold him off, and I'll handle the others myself." Evan Yang replied.
"Kid, were you born this gutsy? Right now, I'm risking my life against the Alchemy Eccentric Immortal—there's a good chance he'll break his word or do something else and kill me." The Old Beggar sighed.
"If it really comes to that, I'll accept it." Evan Yang was still skeptical that the Alchemy Eccentric Immortal had surpassed the Pseudo-Immortal Stage, but thinking about it, even Mad Elder and Little Lion might have reached that level. If the Eccentric really broke his promise and attacked, Evan had already planned to use beast transformation—so long as he didn't run into the Wind Family's Nine-Colored Mirror, he had nothing to fear.
"My clan has only me left. That Immortal Realm is still out of reach. I just have one life—if I die, so be it. But you're different. Your potential is enormous; maybe someday you'll find the Immortal-Gate Entrance and enter the Immortal Realm to keep cultivating." The Old Beggar's attitude had changed completely. He didn't want Evan to represent him in the duel—mainly because he worried for Evan's life.
Evan Yang smiled, "Senior, you let me refine pills because you wanted me to challenge the Alchemy Eccentric Immortal. Now that I'm here, I won't let you down. Are you really going to let your dream die?"
"Letting the dream die is better than losing your life." The Old Beggar said bluntly. In his eyes, the Alchemy Eccentric Immortal was already beyond what the Pseudo-Immortal Stage could handle.
But the Old Beggar didn't know that after beast transformation, Evan Yang was even scarier than the Alchemy Eccentric Immortal. Right now, only the Wind Family's Nine-Colored Mirror could counter him.
Besides, Evan Yang didn't believe the Alchemy Eccentric Immortal had such a treasure. If he did, it would just be Evan's bad luck.
"Senior, whether you agree or not, I'll show up on that day. When the time comes, I'll need you to introduce me." Evan Yang smiled.
"You..." The Old Beggar felt like Evan Yang was joking with his life.
"Don't overthink it. Win or lose, I won't let you abolish your cultivation." Evan Yang was confident, though he couldn't guarantee victory against the Alchemy Eccentric Immortal. At the very least, he was sure beast transformation could keep the Old Beggar safe.
"You haven't changed—still as reckless as ever, the same kid who wrecked all the formations." The Old Beggar sighed.
Hearing 'formations,' Evan Yang seemed to remember something. "Senior, do you know where my original planet is? What's it called?"
"I don't know its name, but I remember the location. I found it by accident, trying to escape the people from Alchemy Saint Mountain. I never expected to find a sealed planet, cut off from the outside world. I planned to wait there until you grew strong, then bring you out—but you..." The Old Beggar recalled the past.
The Old Beggar's words stirred Evan Yang's longing—now that he was at the Nine Tribulations Realm, the next step was the Pseudo-Immortal Stage, or even the Immortal-Gate. Leaving here, he might never return. He suddenly felt an urge to go back to that planet, see his old friends, and meet the senior who gave him the Tianhan Seed.
So Evan Yang asked the Old Beggar to tell him the precise location. The Old Beggar knew Evan had left in a hurry and didn't know where it was, so he described the direction and approximate distance.