Faced with this scene, Evan Yang dared not be careless. In places where precious herbs grow, there's usually something intelligent guarding them—it's not as simple as picking ordinary medicine.
But with so many herbs, there was no way Evan could give up. He had the Jade Rabbit jump onto his hands, then slowly stepped forward, moving deeper until he reached the very center of the herbs. Only then did he realize this place was a cultivation ground for fire-element herbs—within a ten-zhang radius, all the plants were thriving. What shocked him most was a flickering Colorless Flame on a rock at the very center.
"Is that...?" Evan Yang couldn't believe his eyes. If he wasn't mistaken, the flame before him should be a Fire Seed. But why was it colorless? That only made him more curious.
After seeing Brynn Bishop's fire seed at the Pill Meet, Evan Yang was deeply fascinated by this Colorless Flame. He walked over, eyes shining with excitement as he stared at the flickering fire.
"Big brother, what are you looking at?" The Jade Rabbit, seeing Evan Yang entranced, asked curiously.
"It's a Fire Seed. I'm seeing if I can absorb it." Fire Seeds are said to be absorbable, and they're extremely rare in the world. Now that he had found one, there was no way he'd let it go.
Evan Yang set the Jade Rabbit down at his feet and began to reach out with both hands to touch the Fire Seed. It felt just like touching a warm, living creature, but the Fire Seed was initially timid and jumped backward to avoid him.
"It even has intelligence?" Evan Yang was shocked to see the flame drifting away from him.
Whenever Evan Yang tried to touch the Colorless Flame, it would move in the opposite direction, leaving him unsure how to absorb it.
Standing there stunned, Evan Yang finally clamped his hands together quickly, trapping the flame between his palms. The flame jumped wildly, trying to escape, and perhaps angered, suddenly grew larger and hotter—scorching some of Evan's hair and turning his hands bright red. Just when Evan was about to panic, a wave of refreshing coolness surged from the Heaven‑Cold Seed inside him.
"Whew, that was close." The refreshing chill made Evan Yang let out a breath of relief. The flame on his hands, as if it had encountered something amazing, stopped struggling and began to move around on his palms.
"Did it notice the seed?" Seeing the flame's reaction, Evan Yang guessed the coolness from earlier had piqued its curiosity.
Curious and attracted, Evan Yang smiled inwardly and spoke in a gentle, human-like tone, "There's something good inside me. Would you be willing to enter my body?"
Absorbing a Fire Seed usually meant guiding it into one's dantian. That was exactly Evan's plan. Sure enough, after hearing him, the flame began to move across his hands. Seeing this, Evan relaxed his grip, and the flame didn't escape. Instead, it crawled over his body, as if searching for something, until it stopped at the spot corresponding to his dantian. Just as Evan wondered if it would really be absorbed, the flame suddenly lunged and vanished.
"Where did it go?" The flame's sudden disappearance startled Evan Yang, and he began searching frantically.
But after searching for a while, he still couldn't find the flame. Only when the seed inside him stirred did Evan realize the little flame was squatting obediently near the Heaven‑Cold Seed, not touching it.
He had worried the two might 'fight,' but seeing them coexist so peacefully, Evan finally relaxed. Looking down, he saw the Jade Rabbit glaring at him.
"What's wrong?" Evan Yang asked curiously.
"Big brother, you absorbed the flame, but look around you," the Jade Rabbit said, sounding aggrieved.
Evan Yang looked up and finally noticed that, with the flame absorbed, the plants had lost their energy and no longer gleamed with vitality. Seeing this, Evan refused to let them go to waste and hurried over to harvest them—only to be interrupted by several furious roars echoing from another opening in the cavern.
"Ah, monsters!" The Jade Rabbit cried out, terrified, and jumped onto Evan Yang's leg.
Seeing this, Evan Yang knew he'd definitely angered the spirit creatures living here. Without a second thought, he grabbed the Jade Rabbit and ran for the exit—not out of cowardice, but because the overwhelming pressure from those beings made his body feel like it would collapse just standing there.
He flew back along the original path, the pressure behind him growing fiercer. In his rush, Evan didn't notice the flames in the fissures slowly fading away.
Evan Yang just wanted to escape this strange place, running nonstop. "Damn it, what are these monsters?"
"I don't know, big brother! It's all your fault!" the Jade Rabbit muttered miserably.
"Ugh, let's just run! Actually, I can use these spirit creatures to deal with the people above." Evan was about to argue, but suddenly had a flash of inspiration and grinned.
So, under Evan Yang's guidance, the spirit creatures chased after him, heading upward.
After months, all the rogue cultivators except the Bai Family had lost patience and left.
The Bai Family only kept guards at the fissure edges as a routine. Suddenly, a figure appeared—just as they were about to check if it was the little beggar, a swarm of bizarre spirit creatures followed close behind, their bodies covered in magma-like substance.
Those spirit creatures didn't care who was in front of them—assuming everyone was Evan's accomplice, they immediately began slaughtering. Waves of resentment and shouts shook the crimson sky.
When the Bai Family heard what was happening, they sent out their experts. At first, they thought they were just going to catch the little beggar, but ended up fighting some bizarre creatures instead. Not only did the Bai Family lose many elites, even their older generation experts were badly injured and forced to retreat. In the end, they had no choice but to seek help from major sects and great clans.
As for Evan Yang, he'd already escaped and was quietly listening to news from inside at a wayside inn on the outskirts.
The inn was crowded with rubbernecking cultivators. Most just wanted to see what the Bai Family and those strange creatures were all about, but their curiosity drew countless rogue cultivators. In the sky, powerful experts could be seen flying back and forth.
"I heard monsters have appeared again in the Dead Volcano Range," someone exclaimed.
"Exactly. The Bai Family wanted to catch a beggar, but who knew they'd end up releasing the spirit creatures that had been cultivating inside?" someone replied.
"You mean even the Bai Family can't handle them?" someone asked, skeptical.
"Ha, you don't understand. Thousands of years ago, a big shot went in to pick herbs, but even he was driven out by the spirit creatures. It took the combined forces of major sects and great clans to suppress them. Who knows what caused them to escape again this time?" someone who seemed well-informed laughed.
"So these spirit creatures have been around for thousands of years?" Evan Yang was shocked as he listened from the side. He realized things had gotten out of hand, but then relaxed—after all, the big shots would handle it, and it had nothing to do with him.
As the crowd chatted, they suddenly heard the sound of cultivators fleeing. Seeing so many running out, some curious ones asked what was happening, only to learn that the spirit creatures were even more ferocious than thousands of years ago—slaughtering many big shots and apparently heading straight for them.
Hearing the stories from those fleeing cultivators, everyone started packing up and hurriedly left, leaving behind an inconspicuous little beggar.
Evan Yang stood up and looked around at the now empty area, sighing, "Go ahead and make a mess—at least this way, no one will pay attention to me."
Despite the slaughter happening behind him, Evan Yang didn't look back, acting as if it had nothing to do with him. Only when a group suddenly appeared behind him did he turn around, just in time to see a thin, handsome young man running toward him, chased by a crowd.
"Did they come out from inside?" Evan Yang muttered when he saw the group.
No sooner had the young man reached Evan than the crowd shouted, "Thief, stop right there!"
"So he's a thief?" Evan Yang glanced at the handsome stranger, debating whether to stop him. Suddenly, a strange voice cried out, "Isn't that the little beggar? Grab him!"
"Oh, crap." Evan Yang realized the crowd had bad intentions, lost the mood to stop the stranger, and started running alongside him instead.
"Thief! Beggar!" came the shouts from behind.
The stranger, who hadn't paid Evan any mind, turned and grinned after hearing the shouts behind them. "So you stole from them too?"
"What do you mean, 'me too'?" Evan Yang replied, frustrated.
"Heh, don't deny it. We're both down-and-out—let's escape together," the young man laughed heartily.
Evan Yang was feeling pretty unlucky to run into this mess, but thankfully, both he and the young man were fast enough to shake off their pursuers. They finally stopped in a deserted spot.
The two sized each other up curiously until Evan Yang, frustrated, finally asked, "Who are you, anyway? Why are they chasing you?"
"Me? I just took a few things, so they're after me," the young man chuckled.
"So you really are a thief?" Evan Yang asked.
"I'm a master thief! Not just some petty thief—don't lump me in with the ordinary kind," the young man replied, a bit offended.
"Master thief? You're still being chased," Evan Yang couldn't help mocking him.
"Aren't you the same? I haven't asked yet—how did you offend them?" the young man shot back.
"Me? Why should I tell you?" Evan Yang thought to himself—he certainly couldn't say he'd killed members of the Bai Family.
"Fine, don't tell me then," the young man snorted.
"Why are you acting like a little lady?" Evan Yang laughed at the young man's tone.
"Mind your own business! You're the little lady. You're the little lady born to your mother!" The young man rattled off, making Evan Yang glare at him.
"Alright, enough nonsense. Tell me, who were those people chasing us?" Evan Yang noticed they weren't rogue cultivators—their uniforms meant they were either from a sect or a clan.
"Them? Just Bai Family flunkies," the young man answered after thinking for a moment.
"So you stole from the Bai Family?" Evan Yang laughed instead of being surprised.
"Yeah, so what? What's so funny about that?" the young man retorted, unwilling to back down.
"That's odd. The Bai Family has so many experts—how did you dare steal from them?" Evan Yang was curious how someone with similar cultivation to him managed to sneak into the Bai Family.
"Tch, it's their own fault for chasing the little beggar and stirring up so much trouble. The Bai Family's a mess right now. Good thing I went early—otherwise, I wouldn't have gotten anything." The young man chuckled.
"You're pretty clever. Did you get anything good?" Evan Yang, who didn't like the Bai Family, was pleased that the young man had stolen from them.
"You're just a little beggar—what's there to show you? You wouldn't understand anyway," the young man said stingily.
"Stingy," Evan Yang said.
"Speaking of little beggars, you actually remind me of that genius alchemist who caused a stir in the city a few months ago," the young man said, starting to realize Evan Yang looked familiar.
Evan Yang didn't deny it. After all, they were in the same boat—both had offended the Bai Family. It wasn't a big deal.
Seeing Evan Yang's demeanor, the young man looked him up and down again and exclaimed, "I can't believe it—it's really you!"