Evan Yang spent most of the day sitting quietly in the garden, his divine sense constantly active, surveilling the area. When Kade Santos finally appeared, Evan locked onto him with his spiritual perception, then used Thousand-Mile Echo to pinpoint his location and observe his every move.
As soon as Kade arrived, the owner respectfully welcomed him upstairs to the second floor.
"Young master, what brings you here today?" the owner greeted respectfully.
"Just taking a stroll," Kade replied with a smile, though inwardly he muttered, "The more I walk around, the less the Shaw Family suspects me of anything shady. If I stay hidden, they'll think I'm up to something."
"Young master, you’ve come at the perfect time—we just received something really special," the owner’s eyes lit up as he saw Kade. This was the next heir of the Santos Family, and he was already thinking about how to curry favor.
"What’s so special?" Kade knew his family’s equipment shop sometimes received rare treasures from clueless sellers, so he often heard about strange artifacts brought in from all over.
The owner smiled, then took out an exquisite jade box. Seeing the box’s craftsmanship, Kade stared intently and said, "Open it. Let me see."
The owner slowly opened the box, revealing a blood-red centipede about a foot long, with a hooked mouth, a tail, and countless legs sprawled out before everyone.
"Blood Centipede!" Kade exclaimed in shock.
"Exactly. And one this size must be thousands of years old. Using it as a blood pet is an excellent choice," the owner said with a smile.
Kade took the box, closed the lid, and smiled, "Don’t tell anyone about this. As for you, I’ll make sure my father hears about your help—you’ll be rewarded soon."
"Thank you, young master." The owner smiled, his goal achieved. Kade, eager to try out his new prize, quickly packed up the box and left the shop with his bodyguard.
"Let’s go outside, too many eyes here," Kade said to the thin, scar-faced man beside him.
The two of them walked out of the city at a relaxed pace.
After leaving through the east gate, they flew for half an hour before finally stopping. Kade looked around to make sure no one was near, then headed to a hilltop.
They stopped in a hidden patch of forest on the hill. Kade parted the brush, revealing a cave entrance.
"Wait outside. I'll go in and check things out," Kade said.
The bodyguard nodded and stood at the entrance, keeping an eye on the surroundings.
After Kade left, a figure appeared in the dense woods on the opposite hill, but he didn’t fly out, worried the bodyguard’s divine sense might detect him.
It was Evan Yang, concealing his aura. He stood there, staring at the cave. "Strange, what are they doing here?"
Evan, who had been in the city, became curious about what Kade Santos wanted with the Blood Centipede after seeing it, so he followed them all the way here, carefully masking his aura. Luckily, he was able to hide himself so well that neither Kade nor his companion noticed someone lurking in the woods without any presence at all.
Evan originally planned to rush over for a closer look, but realizing it would expose him, he held back and decided to wait until later.
So he waited for most of the day, until nightfall, when Kade finally emerged from the cave and smiled at his bodyguard, "Let’s go."
The scar-faced man never questioned what Kade was doing; he simply listened and followed orders, leaving the hill with him.
Once the two had gone far enough and their divine sense no longer covered the area, Evan quietly flew over from another hill, arriving at the hidden cave entrance and slowly stepping inside.
Evan easily passed through the array without touching the lingering aura. Once inside, he concealed his presence and moved with extreme caution.
Evan entered and once again split his divine sense into multiple strands. Soon, the cave residence behind the array unfolded in his mind, every detail clear.
"Huh? Isn’t that his clone?" Evan saw a naked man lying in a pool of blood—he was startled by the scene.
Fortunately, Kade’s clone was cultivating and hadn’t noticed anything happening nearby. Evan stayed extra cautious, hiding behind a secluded rock to keep monitoring the situation.
Inside the cave residence was a blood pool about the size of a person. The blood covered Kade completely, except for his upper body, which floated above the surface.
Besides that, the most striking thing was the Blood Centipede Evan saw earlier—it was now perched on Kade’s chest, quietly growing larger.
"Is it sucking his blood?" Evan was shocked, hardly able to believe it.
What happened next made Evan even more curious. The Blood Centipede, like a satiated insect, lay on Kade’s chest while he seemed to be waking up.
"Not good!" Evan quickly slipped into the tower, shrinking it down to fingertip size. In the darkness of the cave residence, hidden among rocks, it was nearly impossible to spot.
Soon after Evan shrank the tower, Kade slowly woke up, looking very comfortable. Still lying in the blood pool, he reached out and stroked the Blood Centipede. "Take your time. Once you’re stronger, I’ll let you absorb even more blood."
The Blood Centipede seemed to understand him, rolling around before settling on Kade’s chest. Just as Evan wondered what would happen next, the centipede burrowed into Kade’s chest, leaving a centipede mark behind.
Watching the centipede disappear, Kade looked satisfied. "Little thing, in a few days I’ll let you taste someone else’s blood."
Afterward, Kade glanced around to make sure nothing was amiss, then closed his eyes again.
Once Kade was sure he was alone and had closed his eyes, Evan quietly controlled the tower to leave the cave residence, then slipped out into the night.
Back at the Shaw estate, Evan bumped into Tanner Shaw, who was searching everywhere for him.
"What’s up?" Evan was still thinking about the cave, but seeing Tanner’s anxious face, he grew curious.
"Nothing, really. You hadn’t come back yet, so I thought something happened to you," Tanner said, a bit embarrassed.
Evan smiled, realizing Tanner was worried about him. He knew he was always in danger—especially with the Black Hand Syndicate’s ‘three strikes’ rule.
"I’ll be fine. You don’t need to worry about me like this," Evan said gratefully.
"What are you saying? If you need anything, just let me know—I’ll ask my dad to send someone to protect you," Tanner laughed.
"I told you, I prefer being on my own," Evan replied, used to solitude.
Tanner could only sigh at Evan’s stubbornness and dragged him to the garden to share some wine.
"Isn’t your dad against you drinking?" Evan asked, eyeing the wine set out in the garden.
"No one will know if you don’t say anything. Besides, my dad must be in seclusion right now—he won’t find out," Tanner laughed.
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"How can you be so sure your dad is in seclusion? What if he suddenly shows up?" Evan laughed.
"You don’t know? At the Spirit-Wandering stage, cultivating at night is about twice as effective as during the day. So people at that realm usually train at night and handle business during the day," Tanner explained.
"Really?" Evan was surprised to learn the Spirit-Wandering stage had something to do with nighttime.
"That’s right. I don’t know why, but someday I’ll experience it myself," Tanner laughed.
Evan was genuinely curious after hearing Tanner’s explanation. But since his next realm was Spirit-Wandering, he calmed down, planning to explore it when the time came.
"Tanner, how much do you know about Kade Santos?" After witnessing the oddities in Kade’s clone cave, Evan was curious.
"Him? I’ve only fought him a few times. Then he used that bracelet and injured me badly. That’s about it," Tanner said. He didn’t seem to know much about Kade, just that he was from the Santos Family.
Evan fell into thought after hearing Tanner’s reply.
"Evan, why are you suddenly interested in him?" Tanner asked, curious at Evan’s silence.
"Does the Santos Family have any cultivation methods related to blood?" Evan finally couldn’t help but ask.
"Blood? How did you know?" Tanner asked, surprised.
"Really?" Evan exclaimed in surprise.
"Yeah, a few generations ago, someone in the Santos Family got a cultivation art that uses blood for training," Tanner replied.
"Anything special about it?" Evan asked, curious.
"I don’t know. I only heard my dad mention it once. After cultivating that art, Santos Family members change personality, become loners, and—if there’s anything special—it’s that their blood can kill. That’s all I know," Tanner said.
"Blood can kill?" Evan was stunned by such a bizarre idea.
"Yeah, that’s what I heard, but I’ve never seen it myself," Tanner replied.
"Blood that kills—what a strange thing. Has anyone actually seen it?" Evan asked, puzzled.
"No one’s seen it. Anyone who did is dead, and the person who spread the rumor vanished too," Tanner shook his head.
That made Evan even more curious. What kind of cultivation art was it, and how did blood kill?
"Don’t dwell on it, Evan. Here’s a toast—didn’t drink enough last time, so let’s make up for it now," Tanner laughed, seeing Evan lost in thought.