Evan Yang knew perfectly well they were trying to use him, and he didn’t believe anyone from Ethereal Sanctuary would be so generous. He was already certain this wouldn’t end well, but he didn’t show it. Instead, he smiled and said, “There’s only one Spirit Power Stone—how are we supposed to split it?”
“It’s simple. There are eight of us here, plus you makes nine. So we’ll divide the stone into nine equal shares—everyone gets a piece of the Spirit Power Stone.” The leader said.
“That’s actually a pretty good idea. Alright, so what’s your plan for distracting the two Shard Bug Larvae? They can create spatial domains, and nobody here can break those. If they do, we’re stuck.” Evan said.
“You’re right. Their spatial domains are extremely tough, and none of us have the power to break them—unless someone reached Heavenly-Immortal level, which is impossible here. So we can’t let them start forming those domains.” The leader replied.
“Oh? Is it possible to tell when they’re about to do it?” Evan asked curiously.
“Yes, you can tell. Right before they do it, their eyes turn from red to black, then back to red. If you interrupt them before their eyes turn red again, you can stop them from constructing the spatial domain.” The leader explained.
Evan was a bit surprised. He hadn’t paid close attention to the last larva, but this time he’d make sure to watch carefully. As for breaking the domain, he could actually shatter it with brute force now—but he had no intention of letting these people see that.
“My limbs are broken, so I can’t fight up close, and fire is useless against them. All I can do is use my special technique to deal with the ordinary Shard Bugs, but it won’t do much against those two larvae.” Evan said.
“So what are you suggesting?” the leader asked, curious.
“You guys handle the larvae, and I’ll take care of all the Shard Bugs. How about that?” Evan said.
"You’re handling it? Are you sure?" The leader stared in disbelief at the sea of Shard Bugs—no one else dared to stand alone among so many bugs. Just the effort would wear you out.
"Yeah, leave it to me. As long as you guys keep those two larvae busy and send someone to grab the Spirit Power Stone, we’re good," Evan said.
The group exchanged glances. The leader had almost agreed, but realized if Evan bailed halfway, they’d be stuck dealing with two larvae and get swarmed by Shard Bugs at the same time.
So the leader shook his head and said, "That’s a bit risky for you alone. How about this: the two of us handle the Shard Bugs, they keep the larvae busy, and then we find a chance to grab the Spirit Power Stone."
"No problem." Evan was well aware of his little scheme, so he agreed without hesitation. The others had no objections either.
So everyone split up. At the right moment, they rushed out—those guys charged straight into the Shard Bug swarm, while Evan and the leader started stunning the bugs. For the two of them, it was easy.
The ones who went inside caught the larvae’s attention. As soon as they showed up, the larvae tried to create spatial domains—their eyes shifted from red to black.
The leader shouted in alarm, "Stop them!"
"Got it!" The stronger cultivators quickly appeared beside the larvae while they were making their domains.
The two larvae clearly felt the pressure and stopped creating domains, backing off a bit and tangling with the intruders instead.
Meanwhile, the Spirit Power Stone just floated there, seemingly supported by some mysterious force.
Evan kept his divine sense locked on that strange stone, and the leader did the same—plus, he kept an eye on Evan, wary of his speed. If Evan suddenly dashed over and snatched the Spirit Power Stone, they’d be in trouble.
So the fighting continued: those guys tangled with the larvae, Evan and the leader stunned more bugs. Once about two-thirds of the swarm was cleared, the leader realized he was almost out of Immortal Source power. He seized the moment, edged closer to the stone, and kept attacking Shard Bugs.
Evan wasn’t stupid—he knew exactly what the leader was up to, so he started moving in too.
When the leader finally stepped up and grabbed the stone, he called out, "Retreat!"
The others quickly disengaged from the larvae, terrified of getting trapped in a spatial domain.
Just as Evan was about to say something, the leader pulled out a bottle—who knows what was inside—and tossed it at him.
"What’s this?" Evan asked.
"Open it and you’ll see," the guy replied, while everyone else looked terrified.
Evan wasn’t dumb, but he was curious. He controlled the bottle in midair, popped the cap, and a weird gas drifted out.
The leader shouted, "You!"
"What’s wrong, scared?" Evan saw their fear and knew the gas had to be something serious, otherwise they wouldn’t have made him open it.
Sure enough, the remaining Shard Bugs smelled the gas and went crazy, swarming toward them.
"Damn it, move!" the leader yelled.
"Trying to harm me?" Evan hadn’t expected the gas to attract Shard Bugs, so he snorted coldly.
"Damn!" The leader realized his trick had failed and now everyone was in trouble.
Now, endless waves of Shard Bugs appeared around them. Their attacks weren’t strong, so the top-ranked cultivators could handle them, but the sheer numbers made things tough. They’d wipe out a patch, and another wave would rush in. All the escape routes were blocked.
With every path blocked, even Flash Step couldn’t be used. Plus, the two larvae were still going wild. Some tangled with the larvae, while the rest kept stunning Shard Bugs.
At first, everyone was complaining, furious, some even glaring at Evan.
But Evan just smiled and said nothing. They brought this disaster on themselves.
The leader, stuck near Evan, glared and growled, "I really regret not hitting you directly with that gas."
"That’s what you call harming others and yourself. Since you love attracting Shard Bugs so much, enjoy it. I’m out." Evan grinned, then suddenly sent flying needles straight into the leader’s hand holding the stone.
"Ah!" The leader hadn’t expected Evan’s sneak attack with flying needles and cried out in shock and anger.
The Spirit Power Stone dropped. Evan flashed beside him, grabbed the stone, and smiled, "Thanks for the stone."
"You—I'll kill you!" the leader roared, chasing after Evan, but more Shard Bugs blocked his way. Any bugs that got close to Evan were blasted away by Windshadow Burst.
The gap between Evan and the leader widened with every step.
Evan heard curses and screams behind him. When he checked with his divine sense, he found several people already torn apart by the larvae.
Some couldn’t hold out and got ambushed by Shard Bugs—their bodies broken in many places. Even magical artifacts got chewed up, so their bones didn’t stand a chance.
Soon, only two people were left. Evan kept moving farther and farther away, until he couldn’t see anyone in that mass of Shard Bugs.
"You reap what you sow." Evan knew those last two were as good as dead—two Shard Bug Larvae weren’t pushovers.
Watching the swarm, Evan flashed out of sight, found a quiet spot, and entered the Sky-Piercing Tower. Inside, he took out the Spirit Power Stone.
"This stone’s water-blue—could it be water-attribute?" Evan muttered.
He touched it and felt a chill. Unsure how to use it and afraid of breaking it, he put it away. "I’ll ask Chris Lee when I get back—maybe he’ll know."
Not knowing how to use the Spirit Power Stone, Evan stashed it and left, returning to the central teleportation platform, where crowds had gathered.
Three people stood on the platform. When they saw Evan, suspicion flashed in their eyes.
"He’s back," Hugh Hu sent a message.
"Did he actually escape?" Neil Ning wondered. He’d thought Evan would be caught or killed, but now Evan was back, and the Fifth Palace leader was nowhere to be seen.
Skyler Xiao frowned, "Did something happen to that guy?"
"No idea. Come on, let’s check it out. He’s probably heading to exchange Shard Bugs," Hugh Hu said to the other two after seeing Evan teleport toward Ethereal Sanctuary.
The other two nodded and followed Hugh Hu to the teleportation array.
Back in the First Palace, Evan went to the Shard Bug exchange, where someone handled the bug collection.
"What does Ethereal Sanctuary want with all these Shard Bugs?" Evan muttered after seeing a notice saying disciples aren’t allowed to keep any, or they’d get in trouble.
A staff member spotted Evan and asked, "Here to exchange for points?"
"Yeah," Evan replied.
"Hand them over, let me check," the staff member said.
Evan took out a spare ring and dumped out his haul, but kept the larvae to himself—he didn’t want anyone knowing he’d beaten one, or it’d raise too many questions.
The staff counted, casual at first, then grew serious. "These are all yours?" he asked, eyes heavy.
"Yeah," Evan said.
"Over twenty thousand?" the guy blurted, shocked.
Evan hadn’t expected he’d collected so many. A lot didn’t have bee glue, so the staff hurried to seal them—otherwise, if they woke up, they’d tear the place apart.
"I found a patch of bugs, so I just collected them. Not sure if someone fought them first, but they were all knocked out," Evan explained.
"That’s some luck," the staff said, still surprised. Actually, it wasn’t unusual—some top experts couldn’t be bothered to collect bugs, so others got to pick up the leftovers.
"Yeah, lucky me," Evan smiled, not mentioning he’d done it himself. He always liked to keep his strength hidden, especially here in Ethereal Sanctuary, with that Heavenly-Immortal watching.
And behind that Heavenly-Immortal was Immortal Lord Lin. If he found out Evan was this capable, he’d never let him grow unchecked.
When Immortal Lord Lin heard Evan had turned in tens of thousands of Shard Bugs, he was shocked at first, but relaxed when he learned they were supposedly left behind by someone else.