Evan Yang listened carefully to Hector Xiang’s explanation, so that if he ever encountered a powerful toad, he’d be prepared.
"Thanks for explaining, Brother Xiang." After hearing Hector’s explanation, Evan said gratefully.
"It’s the least I can do. If we make it back, you must take me to see it." Hector Xiang smiled.
"No problem." Evan smiled. He knew nothing about toads, so having someone familiar nearby made him feel at ease. As for the outside world, he kept paying attention to it.
So the days and months passed. Hannah Nangong and Hector Xiang didn’t know how time flowed here, so they often asked Evan what was happening outside.
Evan always replied, "It’s still the same." So the two kept waiting, while Evan continued to monitor the situation outside.
Time ticked away. Nearly a month had passed outside, but inside it had been fifty months. Hannah and Hector were getting confused, while Evan kept waiting.
Until one day, the blizzard outside suddenly became strange. Evan felt as if the world turned dark and chaotic—he couldn’t tell what was happening anymore. Retracting his divine sense, he said, "I guess it’s almost over."
"Oh? What’s the situation now?" Hannah asked curiously.
"It’s changing now. I think it’ll stabilize soon." Evan replied.
So the three continued to wait.
Every few days, Evan would check outside, but it always felt chaotic, so he kept waiting.
After nearly a year inside the tower, things finally stabilized. Evan saw a dark place outside, and even heard dripping water.
"How is it now?" Seeing Evan’s expression, Hannah asked curiously.
"I’ll go take a look. You two wait here." Evan said.
"Be careful, then." Hannah said.
Evan nodded, then left the tower. He saw his tower embedded in a jumble of rocks, waved his hand to put it away, and carefully studied his surroundings—a sealed chamber with a single opening, and a tunnel where he could hear gusts of wind.
"Strange, what is this place?" Evan wondered as he walked into the tunnel, wanting to see what had brought him here.
He didn’t believe a blizzard could happen for no reason.
So Evan activated his Night‑Eye Technique and walked down the tunnel. Time passed bit by bit; after several days, he finally reached his destination. Before him was an underground palace, ancient in appearance, surrounded by all sorts of messy things—the most striking of which were human skeletons.
"Skeletons? They’re broken, but not shattered?" Evan noticed the bones were only fractured, not crushed. This meant their owners were no ordinary people—after all, even Emperor Realm experts couldn’t escape the blizzard, so these must have been Emperors.
Seeing so many skeletons, Evan could hardly imagine it. He still didn’t understand why there was a blizzard here, but soon the wind caught his attention.
"Wind? Why is there wind here for no reason—and so strong in one spot?" Evan found the wind was coming from a certain direction, so he walked toward it.
He arrived at what looked like a pool, but wasn’t—it was just an empty space. Floating above it was a gray object, about the same size as Evan’s Sacred Flame, spinning wildly.
"Strange, what is this? Could it be the cause?" Evan saw it spinning so fast, and realized the wind was coming from it, so he wondered aloud.
Puzzled, Evan stared at the thing and slowly reached out his hand to see what it was.
The instant his hand touched it, the thing spun even faster, like a cutting machine. Evan felt a sharp pain and quickly pulled back—"Damn, what is this? That hurts." He saw a crack appear on his hand.
After a while, Evan’s hand finally healed. He looked at the strange object and muttered, "What is this thing, so terrifying?"
Seeing such a miraculous object, Evan refused to give up until he figured it out. He tried using his qi against it, but as soon as his qi touched it, the thing spun madly and absorbed Evan’s energy like a bottomless pit—it was useless.
"Amazing, but how can I make it mine?" Evan was fascinated by how the object absorbed his qi like a bottomless pit, yet had such power.
But how could he make it his? Evan was stumped.
"This thing is so powerful—it must be spiritual. But how can I control it? Maybe I can try other attributes. If it’s spiritual, maybe I can communicate with it." Evan decided to try other attributes.
First, he tried flame. As soon as it approached, the wind swept it away and the fire couldn’t hold, so Evan withdrew. Ice-fire was the same. Earth power managed to suppress it for a moment, but it broke free. Finally, Evan tried lightning.
Boom! Lightning struck the wind, but it was like entering water—it just passed through, having no effect.
"Really strange—why won’t it obey?" Evan wondered.
Evan tried many methods, but nothing worked. Finally, he decided to use his tower. He directly collected the object into the tower, and it was clearly agitated—once inside, it flew wildly around. Evan was startled and quickly told the other two, "Don’t go near it!"
Hearing Evan’s warning, Hannah and Hector didn’t dare be careless and quickly avoided it.
The object flew everywhere, smashing the rooms inside Evan’s tower. Seeing the destruction, Evan felt heartbroken, but thankfully, he was the tower’s master. With one thought, he exerted infinite pressure, pinning the object in one spot so it couldn’t move.
Once it was subdued, Evan entered the tower and stared at the little object, feeling depressed. "What is this thing?" he muttered.
"What is it?" Hannah came over curiously—she’d just seen its power.
"I don’t know. Maybe it’s some powerful thing—I just can’t subdue it for now. When I get stronger, I’ll deal with it." Evan said.
"It really is terrifying. I wonder where you got it from." Hannah muttered, thinking of what she’d just seen.
"Alright, it’s fine now. You two stay here—I’ll go find a way back." Evan said, then left the tower, leaving a strand of divine sense to keep suppressing the strange thing inside.
After leaving the tower, Evan looked around—nothing special. The wind had vanished. "That thing must be the origin of the wind, and maybe even the source of the blizzard. If I could control it, it’d be perfect. But I wonder if every planet has one of these." Evan muttered.
With these thoughts, Evan disappeared. After a few days, he arrived in a field of snowy white, not knowing where he was, so he released Hannah and Hector.
Seeing the outside world again, Hannah and Hector felt as if several days had passed. Evan just smiled, "Let’s go."
"Where are we?" Hannah realized she was a bit lost.
"Don’t worry. I just found the direction to the city we started from." Evan smiled.
"So fast?" Hannah exclaimed.
"Yeah, as soon as we came out, I released them. Didn’t expect the city to be so close." Evan said.
"That’s wonderful!" Hannah said joyfully. Hector was also excited and added, "It’s all thanks to Brother Yang—we finally survived."
"Brother Xiang, you should come with us. I want to see if there really are toads there." Evan said.
"Of course. I’d love to encounter a powerful toad. But if there really is one that strong, I suggest we don’t get too close—after all, even Emperors fear such spirit beasts. We should just observe, not disturb it, and it shouldn’t attack us." Hector said. "Let’s check it out first." Evan knew the toad’s greatest strength was its poison, but he was immune to all toxins, so he wasn’t afraid at all.
Hector nodded, so the three spent half a day returning to the city. Once there, Evan took Hector to the rocky ridge north of the city where he’d been before.
In the rocky ridge, Evan found the well and said, "This is the well. It’s poisonous inside and out—don’t touch it. I went down and saw a tunnel below, very small. I once tried covering it with water, but it never overflowed—the hole must be very deep."
Hector nodded, "That’s right—some toads even dig tunnels."
"Oh? So you’re sure this is a toad’s burrow?" Evan asked.
"Yes. If your poison really came from here, then this is a toad’s burrow. I just don’t know where it leads." Hector said, puzzled.
Evan was about to say the tunnel was deep when his eyes lit up and he smiled, "I get it—the tunnel is very deep and leads to the underground world."
"Underground world?" Hector asked, confused.
"I sent some special things to investigate earlier, and finally figured it out—there’s an underground palace below here, with tunnels so narrow only small creatures can pass through," Evan explained.
Hearing this, Hector asked in surprise, "How deep is it, exactly?"
"Let’s go down and see for ourselves," Evan said.
"Go down? What if we disturb something?" Hector was worried. "Don’t worry, I’ll handle it," Evan said with a smile.
"Brother Yang, I know you’re strong, but the toad’s poison is deadly—even Emperors can’t avoid it. Maybe we should just forget it," Hector sighed, unable to see the truth of the situation.
"Don’t worry. I have my ways to avoid its poison," Evan said with a smile.
Hearing this, Hector was half-convinced, half-skeptical. Evan was already prepared—he waved his hand and, following the route provided by the Phantom Spirit Birds, began digging a tunnel down.
With his earth powers, Evan easily tunneled downward.