Stepping out from the top floor led to another space, and in that space stood a stone stele called the Sky‑Piercing Stele, bearing two names.
"Mason White? Ray Laird?" Evan Yang repeated the two names carved on the stele.
After Evan had read them several times, the Sky‑Piercing Stele began to emit a light, trapping Evan inside and rendering him immobile.
"?" The sudden change startled Evan; at this moment, it was already too late to retreat.
The Sky‑Piercing Stele seemed to possess a force of attraction, pulling Evan toward it with overwhelming power—far stronger than the Devourer Beast had been. Before Evan could even use his Soaring Sky Dance Steps, he was already swept up with a whoosh and slammed into the stele.
In a flash of light, Evan was drawn into another space.
"What the—?" Evan exclaimed in shock, realizing he was no longer in the space from just moments before.
"Sky‑Piercing Stele, Sky‑Piercing Immortal." Evan was just about to figure out what kind of space this was when several large characters appeared before his eyes.
Sky‑Piercing Immortal? Did an immortal leave this stele behind? And what was the connection between the Sky‑Piercing Tower outside and the Sky‑Piercing Immortal?
"Sky‑Piercing Mind‑Will." Just as Evan was about to grasp the identity of the Sky‑Piercing Immortal, a thought suddenly transmitted itself to him.
Sky‑Piercing Mind‑Will?
"Sky‑Piercing Mind‑Will, invisible killing—just a single thought can slay someone whose cultivation is a whole realm below your own." Evan was shocked as he sensed this mind‑will.
Attack, defense, No‑Shadow—three forms. Attack is the simplest, defense comes next, and No‑Shadow is the hardest.
"These three forms of Sky‑Piercing Mind‑Will will be inherited by three people. Attack and defense have already been learned; you can only learn No‑Shadow, or give up." The mind‑will echoed in Evan's mind.
Attack and defense already taken? Evan was startled, but he was deeply interested in the three forms of Sky‑Piercing Mind‑Will. Unfortunately, only the last—and hardest—form was left for him.
"Will you learn it or not?" The mind‑will echoed again in Evan's mind.
Why wouldn't I learn it? Even if the first and second forms are gone, I'll just take the third.
So he spoke to the empty surroundings, "I'll learn it."
"Good. The third form is also the hardest. The previous two people couldn't master it. Let's see what you can do—don't let me down." The mind‑will laughed.
Evan stood there expectantly, looking around the empty space and waiting for the mind‑will to begin its teaching.
Qi—it's used for attacks, but Evan's qi was different from others: colorless, hard to detect. What came next shocked him even more: a killing force formed by divine sense, killing with intent. But with the first and second forms already taken, Evan could only study the No‑Shadow Form.
What exactly was the No‑Shadow Form, and what did it do? With the mind‑will's explanation, Evan finally understood.
If the first form was killing with intent, and the second was defending against intent‑kills, then the third was being unafraid of intent‑based killing power.
It was like being struck by an attack and feeling nothing at all. The core difference between the third and second forms was that the second required you to set up defenses in advance to block intent attacks of similar level, while the third form ran invisibly even in an ordinary, unguarded state, granting a degree of immunity to mind‑will.
Intent also varies in strength, which mainly depends on one's divine sense. Only those with strong divine sense have strong intent, and the Spirit‑Wandering Realm is just the starting point for using intent—it's also the weakest level.
Spirit‑Wandering is just the weakest intent? Then what's the highest level? At this moment, Evan gained a deeper sense of what immortals might be—at the very least, they exist, and they're somewhere out there, so powerful that even Spirit‑Wandering experts might never reach them.
The third form was almost useless on the continent, since only those who mastered the first form could launch intent attacks, and the second form only mattered if you fought such people. The odds of running into someone with the first form were extremely low, so the third form was even less likely to be useful.
Put simply, Evan learning the third form now only mattered against people who had mastered the first—he was the only one. But Evan didn't mind its narrow usefulness; he knew his journey was far from over, and there might be even higher realms above Spirit‑Wandering, as well as those elusive immortals. Sooner or later, he'd need it.
So Evan studied it seriously.
With no opponent to spar against, Evan had no idea how effective his learning was. All he could do was follow the mind‑will's instructions each day, circulating the third form as told. According to the Sky‑Piercing Mind‑Will, it normally takes about a thousand years to fully master it, but Evan didn't have a thousand years—he'd just learn as much as he could, and whether he succeeded depended on the roughly two hundred years of tower‑time he had left.
Eyes closed, circulating his energy—this was Evan's daily routine. At that moment, he was like a shining stone in the darkness, slowly glowing brighter and brighter.
He had no idea what was happening outside.
Meanwhile, after losing his wager with the Blue Clan Patriarch, Benson Blue threw himself into the search, leading teams every day to hunt for any trace of Evan. He even began monitoring the Shadowhand Guild, knowing Evan was somehow connected. If they found the Guild, maybe they'd find Evan too.
This also made Jiang Xin and the others halt all outside activities, telling everyone to focus solely on cultivation and ignore whatever happens beyond.
With the Shadowhand Guild people refusing to show themselves, no matter how powerful Blue Zhongzi is, he can't turn the whole continent upside down to find them. All he can do is vent his frustration in Baina City.
“That's the strange part—is that beggar some kind of rat? Why haven't we seen even a trace of him?” Blue Zhongzi wasn't afraid of how strong Evan Yang might become; what truly bothered him was not being able to find him.
“If things were different, would I have made that bet with you?” The Blue Clan Patriarch chuckled.
“I refuse to believe we can't find him!” Blue Zhongzi snorted coldly—these days, he was really learning what it's like to be frustrated when you can't catch your target.
The Blue Clan Patriarch smiled helplessly. If it were really so easy to capture Evan Yang, he wouldn't have had to watch Evan grow stronger, only for him to return someday and slap the Blue Clan in the face.
Blue Zhongzi had never personally experienced the humiliation of being bullied at the city gate by someone weaker than himself. Right now, he just wanted to take Evan Yang down as soon as possible.
And so, several years passed with Blue Zhongzi unable to find any trace of Evan Yang. He was no longer as arrogant as before. He stood up and said, "Do you think he's being sheltered by the Free Alliance? Otherwise, we shouldn't have had zero news. Or maybe he's in seclusion?"
"Both are possible. If he's hiding somewhere in seclusion, we have no way of knowing. Or if he's inside the Free Alliance, unless they let him out, we simply don't have the strength to storm their base." The Blue Clan Patriarch shared the same suspicions.
"That Free Alliance... honestly, it's a headache." Blue Zhongzi felt troubled just hearing the name, unsure how to convince them to hand over Evan Yang.
"Do you have any connections in the Free Alliance? Have them look into it. If that guy really is there, we'll demand they turn him over. If they refuse, we'll escalate." The Blue Clan Patriarch knew his younger brother had more acquaintances, and even after years of guarding Baina City, his network was broader than the Patriarch's, who had made enemies for the clan.
"Free Alliance? Even if I do, they're unlikely to hand him over. Each of them is incredibly strong. Aside from that person, I don't see anyone who could challenge the Alliance's prestige." Blue Zhongzi understood how powerful the Alliance was; when he first heard the Blue Clan might break with them, he found it unbelievable.
"Are we just supposed to let it go? Especially since that kid's talent is terrifying—he's advanced several realms in just a few years. If this goes on, I can't guarantee he won't be Spirit-Wandering the next time we see him." Whether for personal reasons or for the clan, the Blue Clan Patriarch refused to let Evan Yang grow stronger. No matter what, he had to eliminate him.
Blue Zhongzi understood the implication, but he also knew that such a gifted individual would definitely be protected by the Free Alliance. Even if he brought a few Spirit-Wandering experts, they wouldn't let Evan go, and might even go to war with the Blue Clan. That outsider couldn't move right now, so if they stirred up trouble, things would get ugly for everyone.
"This won't work, that won't work—so what are we supposed to do?" Seeing how afraid Blue Zhongzi was of sparking a war between the Blue Clan and the Free Alliance, the Patriarch sighed helplessly.
After thinking for a while, Blue Zhongzi said, "I roughly know the exact location of the Free Alliance base, but with just the two of us, as Spirit-Wandering experts, we can't threaten them at all. Unless we can find eight more Spirit-Wandering masters—ten of us together—then maybe we could make them hand him over."
"Ten? Are they really that formidable?" The Blue Clan Patriarch was shocked to hear that it would take ten Spirit-Wandering experts just to make the Alliance budge.
"That's just a rough estimate. It might not even be enough to make them yield," Blue Zhongzi replied.
Hearing this, the Blue Clan Patriarch fell silent. After a long pause, he said, "First, find out if he's really inside. If he is, I'll contact other Spirit-Wandering experts."
"How many can you contact?" Blue Zhongzi knew there weren't many Spirit-Wandering experts on the continent. Besides the big clans, there were a few who rarely showed themselves—maybe a dozen or twenty in total.
"I'll contact four—you contact four more, alright?" said the Patriarch.
"Me, contact four? I'll have to try. It's been years since I spoke to them; who knows if they'll help." Blue Zhongzi muttered after hearing his task.
"First, confirm his whereabouts. Once we have a lead, act immediately. And those people you contact—see what they want. If the Blue Clan can satisfy them, do it if possible." Right now, the Patriarch couldn't rest easy unless Evan Yang was dealt with, and he even hoped Evan was in the Free Alliance so he wouldn't have to search everywhere.
"Looks like he's really making you uneasy—you're even willing to use the Blue Clan's resources to satisfy them." Blue Zhongzi knew just how shrewd his older brother was; unless things were truly dire, he wouldn't swallow his pride to ask so many Spirit-Wandering experts for help.
"How could I not be uneasy? Hurry up and investigate that kid's situation." The Patriarch sighed.
"Alright, I'll go arrange it now. If I hear anything, I'll let you know right away." Seeing the Patriarch make such a big decision, Blue Zhongzi sighed and left the castle.
The Blue Clan Patriarch was left alone, eyes closed but unable to calm his mind. Every time he remembered that smile, he couldn't focus on cultivation. As for Blue Zhongzi, he felt much the same—now, both brothers desperately wanted to find Evan Yang, not just to erase a shameful memory, but to remove a growing threat to the Blue Clan's future.