The woman looked at Evan Yang's soul and body and asked, "What's wrong with you? Why are your body and soul separated?"
What Evan saw was none other than Sharla, whom he had placed in the Sky-Piercing Tower. "It's you!" Evan exclaimed in surprise. "Who else would it be? Are you out of your mind?" Sharla retorted. Clearly, Evan was the one who put Sharla inside, but seeing Evan's astonished look as he gazed at her, it was as if she had been hiding here all along, and he was completely unaware.
"You never left?" Evan asked.
"Of course not. You won't let me leave, so how could I?" Sharla replied.
Evan thought for a moment, then extended his divine sense outward. What he saw was not the Sky-Piercing Tower, but the shell.
He looked again several times, and after confirming it was the shell, Evan muttered, "I get it now."
"Get what?" Sharla asked, puzzled.
"It's nothing. Looks like after the fusion, all the original functions and internal spaces are still here, nothing has changed." Evan said.
"What are you saying?" Sharla looked at Evan's mumbling, suspicious.
"Nothing. I'm going to fuse with my body now. You go ahead and cultivate." Evan finished speaking, then skillfully moved his body away, headed to a corner of the Sky-Piercing Tower, closed his eyes, and began to enter his body, slowly merging.
This fusion took quite a long time. After all, Evan Yang's body was in such a state that if he were outside, it would take at least several months. But here, Evan was able to shorten the process completely.
After fifty days, Evan opened his eyes—only a single day had passed outside, so it didn't affect him much. "Ah, nothing feels better than your own body," Evan said, stretching his joints and checking himself. Everything was as before, nothing had changed, so he smiled.
As for Sharla, after seeing Evan return so strangely that day, she remained curious and wanted to ask him directly, but remembering he needed to fuse with his body, she held back.
After a while, Evan walked over, smiled at Sharla, and asked, "So, how have you been lately?"
"Not bad, just cultivating every day. But you—when you came back that day, you were acting weird. What really happened?" Sharla asked curiously.
"Honestly, I can't really explain it. I'll tell you after I leave." Evan replied, then disappeared without warning right in front of Sharla, leaving her both angry and annoyed.
Evan had already left the Sky-Piercing Tower, returned to the shell, and after thinking for a moment, exited the shell. Looking at the now-enlarged shell, Evan willed it to shrink, and it instantly became smaller.
Looking at the little shell, Evan said, "I never expected your abilities to be even stronger than the Sky-Piercing Tower."
As if it sensed Evan's praise, the little shell became excited. What puzzled Evan was that, unlike other artifacts that display a Sword Spirit or something similar, neither the shell nor the tower did so.
"Could it be that higher-grade artifacts don't have Sword Spirits, but instead possess spiritual consciousness?" Evan wondered aloud.
Thinking of this, Evan Yang studied the All-Purpose Shifter Shell again and found that the Sky-Piercing Tower had indeed been fused into it. Whenever he wished, he could freely enter and exit both the tower and the shell.
"It's really fused... Looks like it's truly fused." Evan couldn't hide his emotions as he gazed at the All-Purpose Shifter Shell in his hand.
At the same time, Evan received information from the shell: it actually had cracks, meaning someone had damaged it before. Only high-level materials could restore it, though Evan had no idea what exactly was needed. The fact that someone could damage the shell enough to leave cracks shocked him—what kind of power could do that? He also wondered which was tougher, the shell or the tower.
Unable to tell which was stronger for now, Evan simply ignored it. Smiling at the shell, he said, "From now on, I'll call you the All-Purpose Shifter Shell."
Delighted, Evan put away the All-Purpose Shifter Shell and began to examine his current situation.
"Where is this place? Why is it so quiet and dark?" Evan wondered aloud, then released his Phantom Spirit Birds to scout the area.
After a while, the Phantom Spirit Birds returned, reporting the surroundings to Evan. Judging by the time, he realized the space wasn't large, but the information made him very curious.
"So many graves again? Stone coffins?" Evan muttered, then flew toward the place where the birds had found the stone coffins. Soon, he arrived.
He saw that the area was just like the graves he'd seen before, except the inscriptions were different. Evan scanned them without paying much attention, but when he read the last message, he was stunned.
"Evan Yang, died by total soul annihilation, body intact." Evan stared, surprised that he'd been sent here, and that his name was left behind.
Realizing he might have been sent into a grave, Evan sighed, "So I really did die. Luckily, I had the All-Purpose Shifter Shell, or I'd really be dead now."
Now, having come back to life after death, Evan felt incredibly excited. He continued exploring, this time with extra caution and cleverness. Before long, he reached the light pillar beneath the tower, where the same soul was sealed as before.
This surprised Evan. If not for the different names on the tombs here, he would have thought he'd returned to the same grave as before.
Sensing someone approach, the sealed soul opened its eyes. When it saw Evan, it exclaimed, "How did you get here?"
"I'm actually curious—how is your soul sealed here too?" Evan asked suspiciously.
"Kid, you really are everywhere—so you made it here too. Looks like we're fated to meet. How about this: same deal as last time. If you help me, I can give you the power you want," the soul proposed.
"I didn't need it last time, and I don't need it now. Goodbye." With that, Evan turned and left.
No matter how much the soul shouted or cursed at him, Evan ignored it and headed back the way he came, walking toward the void.
"Looks like these towers are somehow connected—they can seal the same soul." Evan muttered, still puzzled. He wondered, doesn't a person only have one soul? How could he see two identical souls? From their tone and knowledge of him, he was sure it was the same soul.
Unable to figure it out, Evan stopped thinking and simply flew upward, since the Phantom Spirit Birds had found an exit.
But he realized that since he was supposed to be dead, suddenly appearing would cause chaos. Besides, Evan wanted to find out who really killed him—the true culprit, whom only he knew was sent by Yang Tian. He had to stay invisible.
So he activated his invisibility and rose from below. When he reached the surface, he saw Grandpa Sleepy not far away, dozing as usual.
Grandpa Sleepy, who had been asleep, suddenly opened his eyes, as if sensing something.
Evan knew Grandpa Sleepy had definitely noticed him—only he had that ability. So Evan proactively sent a sound transmission and greeted him, "Senior Sleep."
"You brat, aren't you supposed to be dead?" Grandpa Sleepy was unusually excited and confused.
Evan smiled, "I only fake-died. I'm not really dead."
"How is that possible?" Grandpa Sleepy asked, not believing him.
"I took a miraculous pill," Evan bluffed. "A miraculous pill? That must be some powerful medicine," Grandpa Sleepy exclaimed, surprised and doubtful. "Senior Sleep, I'll explain later—I'm busy now and need to head out. Also, please don't tell anyone I've returned," Evan said.
"Why?" Grandpa Sleepy was puzzled why Evan, having come back to life, didn't want others to know.
"You know, everyone thinks I'm dead. If I suddenly show up, it'd scare a lot of people—and besides, I still want to find out who killed me," Evan explained.
"I see. Well then, if I get the chance, I'll definitely visit here. I'm really curious how you managed to die and come back to life." Seeing Evan was in a hurry, Grandpa Sleepy replied.
With that, Evan left. Grandpa Sleepy muttered, "What a genius, what a genius... Looks like Heaven can't bear to let such a talent die."
If Evan had heard Grandpa Sleepy's words—and what he'd said before—he would definitely stumble. Why does everything always get tied to Heaven?
But Evan had already reached the outside. Now, he needed to head to the Yang family.
Yang Tian and the others had no idea Evan had come back to life. Not only them—even Xie Yue and his people didn't know. So far, only Grandpa Sleepy was aware.
With only one day left before the competition, everyone was busy investigating the assassin. When Evan arrived at Yang Tian's place, Yang Tian wasn't there.
"Strange, where did he go? Maybe he's somewhere else," Evan wondered. Just then, he heard Yang Tian's voice outside.
Evan waited curiously as Yang Tian entered, followed by several unfamiliar people.
The man leading the group asked, "Young Master Yang, please cooperate and let us check all the rooms."
"I've already said it—there's no assassin here. If you really want to investigate, let Emperor Xie Yue and his people come. I'd like to see if they dare," Yang Tian replied angrily.
Knowing Yang Tian's status, the group didn't dare offend him and had to leave.
After they left, Yang Tian snorted, "Want to investigate? No way. I'll just wait and see what you can do."
Hearing Yang Tian's words, Evan realized someone was searching for his killer, but Yang Tian wouldn't let them investigate. With no way to enter, they left empty-handed.
Yang Tian had to deal with people asking about the assassin once or twice a day, always driving them away.
Faced with this situation, Evan knew he had to find the assassin and let Emperor Xie Yue and the others know. He kept observing Yang Tian, convinced he'd eventually contact the killer.
So Evan waited for half a day. During that time, Yang Tian left and returned several times. Finally, at night, he entered a room.
Curious, Evan followed behind and found someone cultivating inside. That person was none other than the one who killed him. Seeing him, Evan was furious, but he knew he couldn't take on both experts right now—he had to come up with a plan.