Evan Yang narrowly avoided disaster. If not for the Heaven-Cold Seed inside him, he would have already become a blood slave, losing his true self.
Now, Evan has absorbed all the essence from the blood here. Even the blood pool has turned into nothing but water. If you tally it up, you can tell just how much energy he’s taken in.
Most of the energy was devoured by the Heaven-Cold Seed, with only a small portion used by Evan’s body. That’s why he didn’t explode from the overload—and managed to survive.
But this energy is ultimately from an evil source. Even though the Heaven-Cold Seed purified it, a faint shift in Evan’s temperament still occurred.
First, his aura. Second, his nature.
His aura now carries much heavier killing intent—just as Old Clam said, it’s thick with baleful qi. Normally, only those who’ve killed countless people end up like this.
As for his nature, Evan now speaks with a hint of evil, almost like the embodiment of wickedness. Yet to him, it feels natural—he doesn’t sense much change.
"You’re advancing your cultivation way too quickly. That’s never a good thing. Take some time to stabilize later." Old Clam was increasingly worried about Evan’s rapid progress and warned him again.
Evan understood. Gaining power too easily always comes at a price. He grinned and replied, "Yeah, I’ll find some time to properly stabilize soon."
"Good." Old Clam relaxed after confirming that aside from a slightly more sinister vibe, Evan hadn’t grown arrogant or changed his personality.
Evan glanced around at the formation and muttered, "How do I break this array now?"
All Evan could do was wait—searching for a flaw in the formation.
Just as Evan was about to keep searching, the formation vanished. He looked down and realized the pull was gone. He easily walked out of the pool and onto the shore.
Staring at the place that used to be blood-red, now just a normal pond, he couldn’t help but marvel, "This formation really is amazing."
Evan had no idea it was because of him that the blood pool lost its original appearance. Meanwhile, Warren Wong and his master were already furious and shocked.
"You—you must gather the rest of the primordial spirits for me. Let me out so I can teach him a lesson!" the master said angrily.
"Yes, Master." Warren Wong realized that only his master could deal with Evan now. He himself had no means left, and the formation couldn’t do anything to Evan either. Instead, the blood pool had changed.
That blood pool was the result of his master collecting blood for tens of thousands of years. Warren didn’t know the purpose, but judging from his master’s reaction, the pool must have played a huge role in keeping him lucid. What that role was, Warren still had no clue.
"I—I’ll kill him!" the master roared, consumed with hatred for Evan. But he couldn’t leave; his body was trapped somewhere, and only with enough primordial spirits could he get the energy to move and escape that damned place.
Warren Wong felt the master’s rage deeply and dared not say a word, quietly waiting for orders.
He waited until his master ordered him to go gather the remaining primordial spirits.
Evan had no idea that he’d disrupted the birth of a demon. At this moment, he was still inside the array, waiting for the next spatial opening.
Sure enough, when the space opened again, Evan stepped out into Everwind Valley. He glanced at the swirling vortex behind him and muttered, "Who’s really behind all this?"
He waited until the spatial vortex closed again, then slipped away, leaving the area and returning to Myriad City.
When Evan reappeared, he was already in disguise. At the gate, Gabe Little-Imp saw him and shouted excitedly, "You’re finally back!"
"What’s up?" Evan asked, curious at Gabe’s excitement.
"You’ve been gone a whole month—we’ve lost so much." Gabe already saw Evan as a powerful beggar. All their news used to come from him, but after he left, nobody could dig up the info they needed.
"So there’s a lot you can’t find out?" Evan laughed, hearing the reason.
"Of course! This past month, tons of people have shown up here—most of them cultivators. I heard it’s because so many important people disappeared recently." Gabe explained.
Evan thought to himself, "So that’s it. Over a hundred Soul-Forming experts vanished all at once—no wonder it’s causing a stir."
Evan followed Gabe Little-Imp back to the rundown shack. On the way, he saw that the city was full of experts—many at the Soul-Forming Realm.
What really caught Evan’s attention were a few people whose cultivation he couldn’t see through. That could only mean one thing: they were Spirit-Wandering experts.
"Even Spirit-Wandering experts showed up." Evan muttered to himself.
"Come on, take a break first. I’ll show you some of the best info we’ve gotten lately—then you pick which is easiest to grab." Gabe led Evan to the beggar gang and grinned.
Evan nodded slightly, and Gabe had a few beggars sort through some cloth strips. Each strip listed the value of a piece of information.
Evan took the strips and quickly read them. Most messages were about cultivators searching for the missing experts, but some were unrelated to the incident.
"That’s odd," Evan muttered.
He spotted a message asking about someone—and that someone was himself.
"Who wants this info?" Evan pointed to the strip about himself, curious.
Gabe looked and laughed, "It’s a woman. She shows up every five days—she’s been here six times already. Still no answer, but the price is high, so I’ve kept it around."
"A woman?" Evan asked suspiciously, then requested a description.
It turned out he didn’t know her at all—even when Gabe drew her appearance, Evan couldn’t recognize her. But her eyes looked familiar, though he couldn’t place them.
"Could she be someone I know?" Evan wondered. He searched his memory for clues about the woman, but came up empty—only her eyes seemed familiar, but he couldn’t recall who she was.
"When will she come again?" Evan was very curious about her identity.
"Let me think... She should be back in two days." Gabe replied after some thought.
Evan nodded. "Next time you see her, tell her you know where that person is—but first, she has to tell you who she is, or you won’t give her the info."
"You know where that person is?" Gabe exclaimed in surprise.
"I just happened to be out these days and saw them, so I know," Evan explained.
Gabe was thrilled after hearing Evan’s words. He could finally earn some rewards, so he quickly agreed and let Evan check the other messages for any he might be able to obtain.
Evan shook his head. "Forget the other messages. There’s no way they’ll find those people."
"Why?" Gabe Little-Imp didn’t understand why Evan was so sure those people couldn’t be found, almost as if Evan knew their whereabouts.
"No reason. If you want to stay alive, stop digging for those answers," Evan replied helplessly.
"But if we don’t dig, we’ll make less money." Gabe thought of all the people relying on him—without outside income, they couldn’t survive, let alone live well.
Evan understood Gabe’s point and didn’t blame him. Instead, he checked the strips again and picked one message. "Let’s check this one out."
Gabe glanced over—the message was about investigating what a group of people were carrying.
Evan was interested because the message mentioned the Demon Sect.
"Demon Sect?" Gabe was startled when he saw it.
"Who needs this info?" Evan asked, curious.
"Looks like a disciple from a sect," Gabe recalled.
"Which sect?" Evan asked.
"Seems like it’s the Sky Unity Sect from Central Province," Gabe answered.
"Sky Unity Sect? What are they looking for?" Evan wondered, but kept a neutral expression. He had Gabe lead him to where the Demon Sect group was staying.
Evan saw it was an inn. Thanks to Gabe’s introduction, the Sky Unity Sect members provided info: the Demon Sect group was staying in a certain room there.
Following Gabe’s lead, Evan found the room. The two didn’t enter—instead, Gabe somehow got them both dressed as staff, and they pretended to tidy up the neighboring room.
Evan took the chance to check if anyone was inside, while Gabe kept watch at the door.
Evan used his divine sense to confirm the next room was empty. He quietly crawled in through the window, while Gabe stayed outside, unaware of what Evan was doing inside.
Inside, Evan checked all the bundles and found nothing valuable. He knew cultivators wouldn’t leave treasures in an empty room, so he planned to leave.
Just as he took two steps, his divine sense noticed something strange about the room’s layout.
"Aren’t all the rooms laid out the same?" Evan had already checked the inn—every room was identical, but this one was different.
He found a few extra things: a table, chairs, and some daily necessities. Most importantly, there was a small furnace on the table, seemingly used to hold something.
Evan checked the small furnace and noticed something odd. Just then, his sharp ears caught voices outside the door. He quickly slipped back to the neighboring room, and Gabe rushed in, signaling Evan to leave at once.
Evan nodded and left the room, but his divine sense locked onto those people. He realized they were strange—especially the aura they gave off, which seemed tied to spirit beasts.
"Why is the Demon Sect connected to spirit beasts?" Evan wondered aloud.
Most importantly, Evan found two people in the room looked familiar—and he soon remembered who they were.