Evan Yang chuckled and said, "That's still better than letting you catch me. At least if we go down, there's still a chance we might survive."
With that, Evan and Bastor leapt off the cliff together. Below was a hazy, indistinct mass—no telling what lay beneath. When Titus Skyflood saw this, he was shocked and quickly chased after them.
Evan and Bastor hurriedly suppressed their auras and randomly headed elsewhere. According to Bastor, visibility here was even lower than above—only a few meters at most.
"Let's go. We have to shake him off," Evan said to Bastor.
Bastor nodded. Having visited a few times before, he was familiar with the area above and could lead Evan around.
After circling about, Evan and Bastor seemed to have shaken off Titus Skyflood. They planned to take a closer look at their surroundings and find a place to hide, but Titus's aura soon appeared nearby again.
"How is he finding us so quickly?" Evan was baffled. Both he and Bastor had concealed their auras well—how was Titus Skyflood tracking them?
"No idea," Bastor replied, equally puzzled. He had no clue how Titus Skyflood was tracking them.
At this moment, Titus Skyflood had a bird-like spirit beast perched on his hand. The bird was tiny and stared in Evan's direction, its eyes flashing. This was a powerful spirit bird Titus had tamed—it could sense direction, and once it memorized someone's aura, no matter how well they hid it, as long as they moved, the bird could detect them.
"Trying to escape? Dream on. As long as you don't go further down, I'll catch you for sure." Titus Skyflood knew that unless Evan went deeper, he had nothing to fear, so he kept close behind them.
If not for the low visibility all around, Titus Skyflood would have already caught Evan with his speed. But the area was full of hidden dangers, so Titus could only move through at a steady pace.
Sensing Titus Skyflood's aura, Evan and Bastor immediately sped up, but Titus was still faster. They had no choice but to head further down.
"Looks like we'll have to go deeper. Bastor, maybe you should head back. He's coming for me, after all. As the guardian, you shouldn't get caught up in this for no reason." Evan was prepared to descend, knowing it would be dangerous, and Bastor didn't need to take the risk.
"Don't say that. I'm not afraid of death, Evan. With my experience, I can help you go further. Let me go with you," Bastor insisted.
"But what if..." Evan said, worried.
"No 'what if.' I've made my choice—I'm going down with you. Let me go with you," Bastor said. "But..." Evan was still uneasy.
But Bastor insisted on going down with Evan. Helpless, Evan let Bastor lead the way. Under Bastor's guidance, Evan quickly moved deeper. When Titus Skyflood realized they'd gone lower, he cursed, "Damn it, are you two really that reckless?"
Frustrated, Titus Skyflood had no choice but to keep going. As Evan and Bastor went deeper, they felt things were getting stranger—often seeing things they shouldn't. According to Bastor, most were just illusions, nothing to worry about. The real danger was below: not just illusions, but sometimes real things mixed in, making it impossible to guard against. "Is it really that weird?" Evan asked, suspicious.
"Yeah, this place is terrifying. The deeper you go, the more real things get mixed with the illusions, so you can't tell what's real or fake. That's why I never dared to go too far down," Bastor explained.
Evan nodded, but he still didn't really understand what counted as real or fake. Just as he was curious, an illusion—a human figure—suddenly appeared in front of him. It looked just like the illusions before, but when the figure extended its hand and a huge surge of power attacked, Bastor shouted in alarm, "Dodge!"
Evan also sensed something was off and dodged immediately. The attack missed, and the figure vanished.
"Whew, what was that?" Evan asked suspiciously.
"That one was real. If you sense any power fluctuation, it means it's real, so you have to react fast. Otherwise, you might get killed before even reaching the depths," Bastor explained.
"Then why did it disappear again?" Evan asked, still puzzled.
"It's just an illusion—only attacks once. After it attacks, it leaves, whether it hits you or not. They're lifeless," Bastor said.
Evan didn't understand—how could lifeless things notice him and Bastor, then attack them?
"What exactly are these things? How do they exist here?" Evan asked, still suspicious.
"I don't know. Nobody does. Even after years in Deadwillow City, I have no clue what's going on," Bastor replied.
Evan pondered for a moment. Soon, another figure appeared. This time, Evan was smarter—he watched to see if it gathered power to attack him. When it didn't, he relaxed, but Titus Skyflood was still following behind.
At this point, Evan realized Titus Skyflood must have some way to track him—he just didn't know how. Facing this, Evan had only one option: keep going down to shake off Titus Skyflood.
With Bastor leading, Evan and Bastor kept descending. The deeper they went, the more real things there were compared to illusions, so they were attacked several times. Sometimes five or six figures appeared at once, launching simultaneous attacks—Evan barely dodged each time, and so did Bastor. Luckily, Bastor's hunting dog could sense when the real figures were about to attack, reacting even faster than the eye, so Bastor managed to evade for now.
"If we go any deeper, I won't be able to hold out," Bastor admitted. He knew this was as far as he could go, so he told Evan.
"Then come into my Spirit Tower," Evan said to Bastor.
"Spirit Tower?" Bastor was confused.
"It's a spatial artifact. You can stay inside for now—I'll handle things here." Evan knew Bastor had already helped him a lot; from here on, he'd have to deal with Titus Skyflood himself.
Not wanting to trouble Evan, Bastor nodded and entered Evan's Spirit Tower. Evan composed himself, sensing Titus Skyflood's aura getting closer. He told himself, "Shake him off!" and sped up, heading further down.
By speeding up, Evan naturally encountered more real figures. To be safe, he activated Earth-Rock Aegis on himself for extra defense, then continued downward, dodging attacks as he went.
But the deeper he went, the more attacks there were—sometimes they came at him like a dense net, swarming toward Evan.
Evan tried using his Sixteenfold Demon Heaven Shift to create clones and distract them. It worked—the attacks lessened, giving him more time to dodge.
When Titus Skyflood saw Evan going deeper, he shouted in anger, "Damn it, do you really have a death wish? That place isn't somewhere just anyone can enter."
Evan didn't know what Titus Skyflood meant. All he could do now was keep moving down, trying to shake Titus off.
It wasn't until Evan gradually sensed Titus Skyflood getting farther away that he finally relaxed. "At last, I've put some distance between us," he thought.
Just as Evan took a brief rest, ready to continue, Titus Skyflood's aura suddenly seemed much closer. Evan frowned. "What's going on? Why does he sometimes feel far, sometimes close?"
Sensing something was wrong, Evan sped up again. Only when the feeling faded did he stop, but it soon returned. Confused, Evan asked Bastor, who explained: the deeper you go, the more your senses are limited. Sometimes what you sense isn't real—sometimes it's just an illusion.
"Even your senses can be faked. Looks like I can't trust what I feel—I'll just have to keep going," Evan thought. Without stopping, he sped up and flew onward.
But the dangers ahead kept increasing. A few times, Evan's arm was hit—he could still feel the numbness.
"Looks like the danger is getting worse. Should I keep going?" Evan wondered, seeing the endless road ahead.
Right now, Evan's mood was one of facing obvious danger ahead, yet he had to keep drilling downward—his only goal was to shake off Titus Skyflood's pursuit.
If not for Evan's artifact, Titus Skyflood wouldn't want to stay here either. The environment was tailored for each person—the stronger you were, the stronger the real figures you encountered, so Titus's speed gradually slowed, forced to fend off attacks.
Sometimes Evan sensed Titus Skyflood was far away—and that was real. Other times, it was just an illusion. But Evan didn't know; he only knew he couldn't trust any of it and had to rely on himself.
So Evan kept getting farther from Titus Skyflood, until suddenly a group of figures appeared before him. Each looked just as real as before, but they stood motionless, making Evan think they were illusions.
By rough estimate, there were more than fifty of them—surrounding Evan completely.
All their eyes fixed on Evan, who stayed alert for their attack. Then, unexpectedly, they spoke in unison: "Intruder—die!"
"Intruder? Die?" Evan had never heard voices before—until now. He asked Bastor, but Bastor had never heard them speak either. Evan realized he must have reached a much deeper level, encountering even stranger life forms.
"Can you hear me?" Evan asked.
But they said nothing, just stood there silently. Evan was puzzled, so he tried to move downward. Instantly, they all reached out, their hands suddenly bursting with powerful dark energy, attacking him head-on.