"Is he really possessed?" Seeing Ming Wong's bizarre transformation—his body twisted into something barely human—Evan Yang cursed inwardly.
To confirm his suspicion, Evan Yang used Phantom Step again. No sooner had he finished than the possessed Ming Wong followed, moving faster than before and radiating a far stronger aura—already rivaling Skyward Situ.
"Is this the Wong Clan's secret method for boosting strength?" Evan Yang exclaimed, no longer daring to be careless.
"You must die!" Ming Wong finally swung his Twin Tiger Rods. Evan Yang had no time to dodge; he grabbed a dagger and blocked directly, turning it into a direct contest of strength, hand against hand. Naturally, Evan's strength was no match for his opponent.
The sudden surge in gravity pressed him down hard. The loose ore beneath Evan was shaken aside, and he struggled to hold off the fierce attack with both hands.
"Am I really going to die today?" Evan Yang muttered through gritted teeth.
The 'possessed' Marshall Wong only wanted Evan dead, acting mindlessly and relentlessly pressing down, trapping Evan so he couldn’t escape. Evan could only glare helplessly and shout, "What kind of crazy secret method is your Wong Clan using? You’ve even turned your own nature demonic!"
Ming Wong couldn’t understand a word Evan said; he just kept increasing the pressure, trying to crush him.
"Damn, he really is like a machine!" Evan cursed.
A battle between man and 'machine' had begun. Evan Yang could only rely on his top-grade Spirit Crystal Ore to rapidly restore his spiritual power and withstand the overwhelming pressure.
Evan Yang's strength fluctuated inside him, lost and regained in turns, and the pace kept accelerating.
His internal tissues were slowly cracked by the pressure, but with the help of the three leaves and the top-grade Spirit Crystal Ore, they recovered again and again. The cycle repeated endlessly—Evan's body was like thick paper holding water, filled and emptied, changing bit by bit under the rapid surge of pressure and spiritual power.
Evan had no idea what was happening; he only felt unbearably uncomfortable, his whole body burning up. The change shocked him. "Is it really going to flare up now?"
In the past, Evan's blood would flare up at a certain threshold, but after the Heaven-Cold Seed suppressed it, he gradually got used to it. This time, however, under such fierce attacks, it suddenly erupted for no reason—and the pain was far beyond anything he'd felt before.
After a long while, Evan's body was burning hot, his face flickering red and green. If Ming Wong had been conscious, he would have stared at Evan in shock, seeing him as a monster.
When Evan noticed his hands glowing red and hot, he lost his composure. "Am I really going to die here today?"
If Ming Wong had been conscious, he would have attacked Evan with strategy instead of brute force.
It was only thanks to this that Evan hadn’t been instantly killed, but he was still in dire straits—especially since the color of his top-grade Spirit Crystal Ore was slowly fading.
Relying on the top-grade Spirit Crystal Ore, Evan dared not imagine what would happen if his spiritual power couldn’t keep up with the consumption—he’d be beaten to death by the Twin Tiger Rods.
Faced with that outcome, Evan stubbornly muttered, "I still have to find my mother and father—I won’t die, I refuse!" Driven by sheer will and the changes in his body, there was a sudden 'bang'—Evan turned pale green all over, no longer reverting to blood-red. The abrupt transformation made him feel much better, and to his shock, his whole body brimmed with a power that couldn’t be unleashed.
That suffocating feeling made Evan Yang roar, "Die!" He shoved aside the Twin Tiger Rods, stabbed both of Ming Wong's hands with his daggers, then habitually crippled his opponent's dantian.
With a thunderous crash, Ming Wong’s body was hurled across the cavern, landing beneath a pile of rubble. Evan Yang, stunned, hurried over—his opponent had returned to normal, but blood streamed from his eyes, his aura faded, and the Twin Tiger Rods slipped lifelessly from his hands.
Evan Yang stared in disbelief at his green-tinted hands. "What was that power just now?"
He remembered the instant his strength erupted. Glancing at his hands and inside his body, everything was green. After checking several times, he muttered, "What is this?"
The sudden surge of power had thrilled Evan and saved his life, but now he was troubled. Was he supposed to walk around with green skin? Most sects would probably treat him as a monster.
Helpless, Evan brought out Jade Rabbit. She was startled by his appearance and hesitantly asked, "Is that really you?"
"It’s me." Evan’s familiar voice calmed Jade Rabbit. What followed was a barrage of questions. Just as Evan was frustrated about how to get rid of the green, his blood suddenly stirred—red and green flickered, then finally his skin returned to normal.
"What is this?" Evan realized that once he was back to normal, the strange power had vanished.
"That scared me to death!" Jade Rabbit exclaimed, having watched Evan’s bizarre transformation.
"Don’t say you were scared—I was too." Evan checked his body again, confirming he’d returned to normal.
"Why did that happen?" Jade Rabbit asked, curiosity in her voice.
"I don’t know—maybe it has something to do with my body." Evan could only reply helplessly.
"Where should we go now?" After all the chaos, Jade Rabbit didn’t want to stay, and Evan definitely didn’t want to wait for the Wong Clan’s revenge.
Unable to figure things out, Evan reluctantly took out his top-grade Spirit Crystal Ore. The once brilliant crystal was now much dimmer. "Good thing I had this—otherwise, I’d have no way to replenish my spiritual power."
"Did you absorb all that spiritual power?" Jade Rabbit asked, frustrated by the faded crystal.
"Yeah, I absorbed it. There’s only a bit left—here, you take it." Feeling guilty, Evan handed the crystal to Jade Rabbit. Even though most of its power was gone, Jade Rabbit let Evan keep it for now, telling him to return it when she needed it.
Evan nodded, then walked over to Ming Wong, picked up the Twin Tiger Rods, and said, "This is a fine weapon—I’ll hang onto it for now." With Jade Rabbit, he left the scene.
On the third day, the Wong Clan's butler arrived with fifty people. They stared in disbelief at No. 3 Mine, which was full of dead and wounded. When they finally found Ming Wong buried under rubble, they could hardly recognize him. News quickly spread throughout the Wong Clan and neighboring families. Some small clans joined forces and swallowed the Wong Clan whole, having long eyed them hungrily.
Evan Yang had no idea that Marshall Wong’s death brought such retribution on the Wong Clan. He and Jade Rabbit were now wandering the outskirts of the Death Crystal Field, hoping to find something valuable.
After surviving the ordeal, Evan Yang understood the value of heavenly treasures. If he could find some good herbs and refine quick-recovery pills, it might yield unexpected results in battle.
"Jade Rabbit, are you sure it’s around here?" Evan Yang paced back and forth, frustrated to find himself returning to the same spot.
"Yes, right here! Why isn’t it showing up?" Jade Rabbit said stubbornly.
Evan certainly didn’t doubt Jade Rabbit’s special abilities. Seeing her so sure, he began searching the area, even using his Heavenly Eye Technique—but he saw no signs of any formation hiding something.
After a while, Jade Rabbit muttered, "Could it be underground?"
"Underground?" Evan Yang suddenly realized it might be below, so he immediately took out a dagger and started digging.
After a while, he finally dug out a hole—in fact, it was the entrance to somewhere.
"It’s so dark down there!" Jade Rabbit ran to the entrance, peered below, and shuddered.
"Is it really down there?" Evan Yang muttered, gazing at the deep, bottomless entrance.
"Yes, the aura is very strong—it must be down there." Jade Rabbit nodded.
“Who dug this entrance here?” Evan Yang muttered as he looked down at the tunnel, which stretched endlessly below. Still, the desire to find something valuable won out, so he found a piece of wood, lit it as a torch, and climbed down into the entrance. To his surprise, the path below had stairs, as if someone had once repaired it.
“Could someone actually live here?” Evan wondered aloud, holding the torch and peering into the winding tunnel.
“No idea!” Jade Rabbit, perched on Evan’s other hand, shook her head in confusion.
Determined to find whatever was hidden, Evan kept descending the stairs. Noticing the thick layer of dust, he realized no one had been here for ages—these steps must have been built long ago.
As they walked, a strong smell of blood suddenly hit them. Jade Rabbit’s sensitive nose wrinkled in disgust. “Ugh, that stinks!” she complained.
“Yeah, it really smells like blood!” Evan quickly reacted, his face darkening with concern.
“What do we do?” Jade Rabbit wanted to leave, but Evan refused to give up. He put out the torch, relying on his senses, and slowly moved toward the source of the blood scent.
“Big brother, I…” Jade Rabbit really didn’t want to stay any longer.
“Just hang in there a bit.” Evan comforted her, then tucked her into his cloth bag, gently soothing her before continuing toward the smell.
Rounding a corner, Evan heard a faint dripping sound. He looked toward the source and was shocked by what he saw: in a secret chamber, a small hole in the ceiling let in a sliver of light, and in the center stood a bloodstone coffin.
Bloodstone coffin. Drip, drip—the sound of liquid echoed through the chamber. In the weak light, Evan could see the fluid was deep red, more terrifying than the blood orb he’d seen before. That orb was alive, but this was eerily silent, as if dead.
The coffin was rectangular, about half a person tall and ten feet long, covered in strange carvings. Tiny holes ringed the base, and blood dripped from the coffin into them. Evan didn’t know where the blood went, but the eerie atmosphere made him shudder. He whispered, “Is anyone here?”
Drip, drip. Aside from that sound—and his own echo—there was nothing else.
After checking repeatedly, Evan’s expression grew grim as he wondered where the blood came from and how it could have lasted so long. Yet his feet unconsciously moved closer to the chamber, eager to see what else he might discover.