Although Evan Yang had unsealed the ten daggers, he still couldn’t fully wield their power—his strength was lacking, and after a few uses he’d be left exhausted.
As for these divine weapons, Evan had no idea how to explain them, but fortunately all the sword spirits liked following him. Whatever Evan asked them to do, they did without question.
So the sword spirits relayed Evan’s explanation to the cautious blue sword spirit.
“I don’t remember any of that,” the blue sword spirit said after hearing the explanation.
The sword spirits passed the blue sword’s reply to Evan, who thought for a moment and said, “Just let it follow me for now. When its memories return, we’ll deal with it then.”
The sword spirits conveyed Evan’s intentions, and sure enough, the blue sword spirit listened, quietly following Evan—even hiding inside his body.
“Good thing there’s no strict limit on how many artifacts I can carry, or my body would collapse from holding so many swords,” Evan muttered to himself.
After settling the sword spirit matter, Evan took out the Silver‑Spirit Sword. “So this is the Silver‑Spirit Sword. Really odd—how did she manage to find me?”
Evan still couldn’t figure out how Lora Luo tracked him down. He kept puzzling over it, wondering if the Silver‑Spirit Sword carried her aura and let her follow him.
“Usually you can sense a refined artifact, but if you’re far enough away, that shouldn’t work.” Evan considered another possibility—that some special bond between artifact and person let her find him—but found it hard to believe she could sense him even at such a distance.
“The Silver‑Spirit Sword is icy cold—it must be a powerful blade,” Evan muttered as he examined the delicate sword.
After watching the sword for a while, Evan had no intention of keeping it—it belonged to someone else, and besides, he wasn’t a sword specialist. Having all these swords was pointless, so he simply stuck it beside the Sky‑Piercing Stele and left.
Stepping outside the tower, Evan muttered, “My tower‑space is completely cut off from the outside. Once the sword’s inside, I doubt she can track it anymore.”
Sure enough, Evan’s move broke Lora Luo’s tracking. Hours passed with no trace of him, leaving Lora cursing in frustration and sending her fellow disciples out to search.
Sean Shen stared at the portrait in his hand—it was Evan’s disguised face. He glared and muttered, “Damn it, are we here just to hunt for this guy? What a waste of time!”
Right now, Sean really wanted to catch Evan and give him a good beating—at the very least, cripple his legs and see how he’d try to run then.
As for Evan, he was still out on the city streets, waiting for the selection day. The rest of the time, he just kept a low profile, avoiding attention.
“Come take a look! The brand‑new Immortal Artifact Rankings are out!” Evan passed by a weapon shop and heard the vendor shouting.
“Immortal artifacts have rankings?” Evan wondered, curiosity rising, and walked inside. The shop was packed with people.
Most customers were here to buy the Immortal Artifact Rankings, which weren’t expensive—almost everyone grabbed a copy.
“Boss, is this ranking actually accurate?” someone asked.
“Of course it’s accurate! Enlightened Heaven Sect in the Immortal Realm updates the data every ten thousand years—how could it not be?” the shopkeeper replied.
Hearing it was from Enlightened Heaven Sect, everyone relaxed and bought a copy. Evan, curious, stepped forward and bought one too. After a quick glance, he asked, “Boss, what criteria are these rankings based on?”
“What else? Several attributes: external attributes, internal attributes, and overall attributes,” the shopkeeper answered.
“External attributes? Internal attributes? Overall attributes?” Evan hadn’t expected Immortal artifacts to be ranked with so many rules.
“I don’t really know the details. You could ask someone who actually studies Immortal artifacts,” the shopkeeper said. He only knew enough to sell the rankings; if pressed, he couldn’t explain any further.
Seeing the shopkeeper couldn’t explain, Evan didn’t ask further. He took the Immortal Artifact Rankings to an inn, sat down, and began to study it.
“Interesting—even the artifacts of several Immortal Sovereigns are listed,” Evan noted. The top rankings were all powerful treasures belonging to famous Sovereigns.
Aside from those, most of the artifacts listed below were unfamiliar to Evan—but he did spot one he recognized: “Silver‑Spirit Sword. Ranked in the top hundred? That’s surprising.”
Evan had no idea the Silver‑Spirit Sword was one of the top swords of Blue Robe Sect. Lora Luo’s master gave it to her, having once been its owner.
The rankings recorded that the Silver‑Spirit Sword’s former master was the Silver‑Spirit Emperor. The blade was named after him, and besides that, it could emit silver light—delivering deadly surprise attacks in battle.
Reading that, Evan muttered, “What’s her connection to the Silver‑Spirit Emperor?”
Just as Evan was puzzling over this, he noticed a commotion outside. Glancing out, he saw crowds arguing about the Immortal Artifact Rankings—some claimed the data was wrong, others insisted it was accurate, and some said certain weapons deserved to be listed but weren’t.
Evan saw that the list covered the top thousand Immortal artifacts. With the Immortal Realm being so vast, there were bound to be countless artifacts—so it was no wonder people argued.
Evan even overheard something interesting: thirty percent of the artifacts on the list were marked as missing. “Strange—if so many are lost, why are they still listed?” Evan wondered aloud.
Evan grew curious about Enlightened Heaven Sect—how did they gather the data to rank each weapon?
The list inevitably sparked debate. Evan also learned that some Immortal artifacts were missing because their owners had vanished or died, so the artifacts hadn’t appeared in the Immortal Realm since—leaving their ranking slots empty.
“I really don’t get what there is to argue about. My ten-in-one sword spirit weapon could easily make the top ten—maybe even beat those Immortal Sovereigns’ treasures,” Evan thought with a competitive grin.
As for the blue sword, Evan still didn’t know its name or whether it was listed. But according to the sword spirits, it was a pretty good artifact—if what they said was true, it should be in the top ten. Unfortunately, the rankings only listed names, owners, and positions, without explaining the deeper abilities.
“I really don’t get what the creators of this ranking were thinking,” Evan puzzled over why such a list existed.
But soon, news he overheard made things clear.
Once the rankings came out, all sorts of shady dealings began—Evan overheard people plotting to target others for their treasures, talking about how much certain artifacts could fetch if stolen and sold.
“Isn’t this ranking just asking for trouble?” Evan shook his head helplessly.
From then on, Evan’s attention was completely hooked by the Immortal Artifact Rankings.
Finally, when the appointed time with the Chu family arrived, Evan headed to their grand manor.
The manor was bustling with people. Evan found Yanxia Nangong, and she finally relaxed upon seeing him safe.
“Anything happen these past few days?” Evan asked Yanxia Nangong via voice transmission.
“No, both sides have been keeping watch, knowing you haven’t left, so they didn’t press further. There are still people guarding the manor, but when we leave, some of them leave too,” Yanxia Nangong replied via voice transmission.
“What are the contest rules? Do you know?” Evan asked, curious.
“I don’t know. You’d have to ask the Chu family patriarch,” Yanxia Nangong replied.
Evan nodded and went to consult Chu Xiang, who was leading the way up front.
A stranger showing up at the Chu family surprised the crowd, but Chu Xiang explained, “He’s Mu Yi, a friend of the Chu family and Miss Nangong.”
Chu Yi eyed Evan curiously but couldn’t figure him out, so he let it go. Evan blended in with the Chu family group and walked along with them.
“Patriarch Chu, what are the contest rules?” Evan asked.
“It’s simple. If you can beat others of the same rank, you’re considered top tier,” Chu Xiang replied.
“Oh? What if there’s only one person in a rank? Wouldn’t that mean they’re alone?” Evan asked, confused by the rules.
“That can happen, but it’s rare. If there’s no one, the organizers will send a few people down to form a group,” Chu Xiang explained.
“I see. So how many are in Chu Yi’s group this time?” Evan asked, curious.
“Five. Besides Chu Yi, there are four others—one of them is from the Li family. I think that’s intentional,” Chu Xiang said, frowning.
Evan thought it was likely intentional—otherwise, it was a huge coincidence for the Li family to face off against the Chu family.
“How strong are the other four?” Evan asked, curious.
“No one knows for sure yet,” Chu Xiang sighed, sounding worried too.
Chu Yi, meanwhile, was lost in thought about Evan. Noticing this, Evan changed the subject to Chu Yi. “Young Master Chu, what’s on your mind?”
“Senior Mu, just thinking about some things,” Chu Yi replied, surprised Evan was speaking to him.
“What’s on your mind? Tell me—I might be able to help,” Evan said.
Chu Yi shook his head helplessly, unsure what to say, but Chu Xiang spoke up: “He’s worried about his master.”
Evan paused, then smiled. “Young Master Chu, don’t worry—your master’s fine, and he’ll be watching your contest.”
“Really?” Chu Yi asked, not quite convinced.
“I’m your master’s friend, so I know about him. He asked me here to see how his disciple performs—so do your best, don’t let him down! Otherwise, I’ll have to tease him about it,” Evan said with a grin.
Evan’s playful challenge worked. Chu Yi responded, “I won’t—I won’t let my master lose face.”