"Hmph, attack." One of the four said. The four moved in unison, besieging Elder Lewis.
Elder Lewis immediately unleashed his aura and confronted the four. Clearly, even combined, the four couldn't match Elder Lewis, which shocked them—when had Elder Lewis become so powerful?
Just then, the Fiend Palace Lord arrived in a flash. Seeing Elder Lewis not only escape but grow stronger, he exclaimed in shock, "Everyone step aside, I'll handle this!"
The four heard the Fiend Palace Lord's command and quickly moved aside. The Lord immediately suppressed Elder Lewis, putting him under immense pressure.
The arriving Nether Patriarch was shocked by the situation and quickly sent a sound transmission to Elder Lewis: "Retreat!"
Hearing the command, Elder Lewis stopped fighting and immediately withdrew. The Fiend Palace Lord tried to pursue, but couldn't catch him, realizing Elder Lewis's escape technique was bizarrely fast and strange.
"Fiend Palace Lord, what should we do?" asked one of the first-class generals.
"Quick, pass down the order. Elder Lewis must be hunted. But his strength is too great—only you four together, or myself alone, have any chance against him. The others are simply too weak," said the Fiend Palace Lord, frowning.
The four quickly went out to relay the order. Winter, Xin Jiang, and Tara Chu, seeing the Fiend Palace Lord already present, hurried over as well. The Lord, noticing only three, asked suspiciously, "Isn't Faye Gale with you?"
"She was taken," Winter replied. The Fiend Palace Lord exclaimed in shock, "What happened?"
Winter explained to the Fiend Palace Lord how the five of them had encountered Elder Lewis. After hearing the story, the Lord was shocked, immediately returned to the main hall, and summoned the elders to briefly explain the situation.
When everyone heard that Elder Lewis had escaped and grown stronger, they were all stunned. The Fiend Palace Lord then issued his orders.
Winter, Xin Jiang, and Tara Chu were assigned a place to stay by the Fiend Palace Lord.
After escaping, Elder Lewis met with the Nether Patriarch.
"What's the situation?" the Nether Patriarch asked.
Elder Lewis recounted the events to the Nether Patriarch. After hearing it, the Nether Patriarch was displeased, "Didn't I tell you to find that brat's whereabouts? Why did you capture these two? Are they connected to him?"
"One is the Fiend Palace Lord's sister. She and I have a grudge, so I had to capture her. As for the other, she seemed familiar—she once entered the Fiend Realm with Evan Yang," Elder Lewis replied.
"Is that really so?" The Nether Patriarch was surprised to hear Ye Chen was connected to Evan Yang.
Elder Lewis nodded and recounted his memories from Fiend Palace. After listening, the Nether Patriarch took Elder Lewis to see the Corpse-Refiner.
They explained the events to the Corpse-Refiner.
The Corpse-Refiner laughed after hearing the story. "Good, good, not bad! Although you captured the Fiend Palace Lord's sister, that doesn't change much. But capturing the other one—that's excellent. Now, I order you both: you must lure Evan Yang out. When you see him, bring him to Corpse-Refiner Mountain. If he refuses, tell him I'll spare his life."
The Nether Patriarch and Elder Lewis nodded and left Corpse-Refiner Mountain.
Looking at the two badly injured women, the Corpse-Refiner sneered, "You're the Fiend Palace Lord's sister, aren't you? And you must be the one who came from the Human World with Evan Yang."
"Who are you, really!" Faye Gale demanded angrily.
Ye Chen glared at the Corpse-Refiner as well.
"Me? I'm about to become Evan Yang's master. What do you think?" The Corpse-Refiner laughed.
"Pah! You're just some old freak!" Ye Chen couldn't help but curse.
"Don't get cocky. When he arrives, I'll refine all three of you. Then you'll all obey me. Maybe I'll even seize Fiend Palace for fun." The Corpse-Refiner sneered.
"Arrogant. You? Even the Fiend Palace's old seniors could crush you with a finger," Faye Gale scoffed.
"Those old geezers in Fiend Palace? Not worried. Evan Yang is a great seedling—if I train him, none of them will be a match!" The Corpse-Refiner laughed heartily.
"You!" Faye Gale shouted angrily.
But the Corpse-Refiner was lost in his own fantasies, ignoring their curses and glares.
After finishing his laughter, the Corpse-Refiner said, "Enough, I'm done wasting words with you. Just wait here obediently."
He left the two women lying there, seriously injured. He'd sprinkled something unknown on them, leaving their bodies completely paralyzed.
"I wonder if Fiend Palace will ever find this place," Faye Gale sighed.
"Don't worry. Even if Fiend Palace doesn't come, he will. I believe in him," Ye Chen said.
"Is he really that amazing?" Faye Gale hadn't expected Ye Chen to believe in Evan Yang so much.
"He always has unexpected strength. Just wait." Ye Chen had known Evan Yang for years; in her heart, he was invincible.
Although Faye Gale knew Mu Han was actually Evan Yang, she still felt strange about it. After all, his appearance was different—the old face was deeply etched in her memory, and now, even though she's told he's not an impostor, she still finds it hard to let go.
Evan Yang had no idea what was happening outside. Meanwhile, Winter, Xin Jiang, and Tara Chu worried in their quarters until Winter stood up and said, "Let's go to the Fiend Underpalace and find Evan Yang!"
"How do we get in? Let's go too," Xin Jiang said.
"I don't know either, but we can ask around," Winter replied. The three of them went to ask people and found the entrance to the Fiend Underpalace, but without a token, they couldn't enter.
They tried sending messages to Evan Yang, but he didn't receive them. This made the three very worried—what exactly was Evan Yang doing?
Evan Yang had no idea; on the sixteenth floor, he couldn't receive any outside messages. He was still immersed in cultivation.
Unable to get in, Winter and the others could only sit and wait at the gate of the Fiend Underpalace. The gate attendant could only watch the three women helplessly.
Whenever someone entered or exited, the three would open their eyes to check. If it wasn't Evan Yang, they'd close their eyes again and treat the waiting as cultivation.
Xin Jiang and Tara Chu especially didn't want to become burdens, so they trained with extra effort.
Year after year passed. Fiend Palace still had no news of Elder Lewis, and the Nether Patriarch and Elder Lewis likewise couldn't find Evan Yang.
Time dragged on like this, until the thirtieth year of Evan Yang's seclusion. He finally opened his eyes, having reached the very top of the staircase.
In front of him was an altar, and beside it a broad platform big enough to hold over a hundred people.
Evan Yang walked over curiously, examining the altar and the surroundings. "Who created this space? What's the purpose of this altar?"
He couldn't figure it out, but as he leaned his back against the altar, it suddenly radiated a brilliant light.
A human-shaped figure appeared atop the altar. "Who are you?"
The sudden change startled Evan Yang. He quickly stepped back and asked, "Who are you?"
"Me? I'm the guardian of this place," the figure answered.
"I'm just here to cultivate," Evan Yang said.
The guardian smiled, "Heh, you're the first."
"The first?" Evan Yang didn't understand what that meant.
"This altar and this space have existed since they were built, but only you have ever made it up here. No one else," the guardian replied.
Evan Yang thought to himself, "Everyone outside thinks there are only ten floors—who knew there was a sixteenth? But even if they knew, they might not be able to get in."
Evan Yang gave an awkward smile, "Who made this space? Are you the guardian here?"
"Creator? You're not qualified to know that yet. But since you've made it here, you've passed the assessment. Since you've passed, there are benefits for you," the figure said with a smile.
"What benefits?" Evan Yang's eyes lit up at the mention of benefits.
"The copies outside—have you seen them?" the figure asked with a smile.
"I've seen them. So what?" Evan Yang asked curiously.
"Do you want to control your own copies?" The figure smiled at Evan Yang.
"You mean I can control those copies?" Evan Yang asked, skeptical.
"That's pretty much what I mean," the figure replied.
"How? Teach me," Evan Yang said, both shocked and delighted.
"This is a powerful technique. Wherever it appears, people fight fiercely to obtain it. So once I teach you, you must never tell anyone where you learned it," the figure said.
"No problem," Evan Yang replied confidently.
"Good. Close your eyes, and I'll transmit it to you," the figure continued.
Evan Yang followed his instructions, sat down, and closed his eyes. A stream of information poured into his mind. When the transmission ended, Evan Yang opened his eyes and found the altar empty.
No matter how Evan Yang called, it was useless. "Strange, why did he disappear again?"
Speechless, Evan Yang wanted to keep searching, but there was no trace. He could only check what new things had appeared in his mind.
"Sixteenfold Demon Heaven Shift," Evan Yang muttered.
He quickly browsed the description, and was both shocked and delighted. After cultivating this technique, he could automatically split off a clone. The clone's strength ranged from equal to his own (1x) up to sixteen times his base power (16x) at the Sixteenth Change, just like the progression he experienced climbing up.
Evan Yang was overjoyed and immediately started cultivating. After about half a year, he reached the Second Change.
A clone appeared before Evan Yang. It was him, and he was it; both bodies were controlled by his consciousness. Since Evan Yang could split his divine sense, he completely blocked the technique's side effects.
The manual warned that controlling clones was difficult and sometimes they could go out of control, so cultivators had to be especially careful and train meticulously.
But Evan Yang didn't need to be careful at all; he could fully control his clone with strands of divine sense.
"The clone can have twice my base power. That's really strong. Whoever created this technique is truly remarkable," Evan Yang laughed. He then merged the clone back into himself, returning to his original state.
Whenever Evan Yang wanted, the clone would appear, and it could exert twice his base power.
However, this doubling didn't apply to treasures—since there was only one artifact, his main body could use it, but the clone couldn't duplicate its effects. Otherwise, the technique would be too overpowered.
So in the early stage, the clone wasn't overwhelmingly powerful, since Evan Yang with his treasures could still defeat it.
"This technique is great for others, but for me, it's not bad either. In the future, I can let the clone handle worldly affairs while I focus on cultivation—or vice versa. Two paths, one mind," Evan Yang chuckled.