"Phew, looks like I need to get out of here fast." Evan Yang knew that the power behind that bead was definitely terrifying—no ordinary expert could leave a piece of spiritual sense sealed inside like that.
Spiritual sense is a cultivator's form of consciousness. Powerful spiritual sense can even attack others, while weaker spiritual sense can be sealed into objects and transmit everything it observes back to the owner's true body.
Knowing that a major figure was about to arrive, Evan Yang quickly memorized the first three layers of the Ninety-Ninefold Purefire formula carved on the wall, then retraced his steps and left the cave.
Outside, snow was still falling in thick flakes. No one had noticed anything strange in the cave, so Evan finally relaxed and quietly slipped away from the Rising Sun Sect.
Leon Wong died without ever realizing that, in his attempt to solve the Evan Yang problem by luring him into Shaoyang Cave—hoping to boost his Sparkfire and torture Evan without anyone hearing—he ended up being the one tormented. Not even his cries for help were heard.
When the Rising Sun Sect's upper elders learned about Leon Wong, they sensed something was wrong. So much time had passed without him emerging, so they sent people to check the cave. There, they found signs of battle and two piles of burned ashes.
Realizing the situation had blown up, the Rising Sun Sect sealed off the entire sect, determined to find the culprit—an outer disciple. Yet Evan Yang seemed to have vanished into thin air.
"Damn it! Who was it?" Warren Wong burst out of seclusion in a fury upon hearing his younger brother had been killed.
Unable to find the suspect, the Rising Sun Sect began eliminating possibilities. When Logan Luo reported that Evan Yang was missing, he sensed something was off and brought it to the elders. When they learned Evan was the real killer, they all looked at each other in disbelief.
"Impossible! That kid didn’t even have a spiritual root four years ago!" Warren Wong shouted, furious and unable to believe Evan Yang was the culprit.
"Maybe two years ago, he got some kind of treasure in Gavin Jiang’s legacy space that let him cultivate, suddenly reaching the ninth layer of Qi-Refining." The speaker was Duan Yanggeng, the red-skinned sect master of the Rising Sun Sect, who had emerged from seclusion as soon as he heard that a Wong Clan member and a Human-Rank Alchemist had been killed.
"Could it be true that Gavin Jiang, the legendary thief, really left his treasure inside that space?" someone exclaimed in shock.
"I don’t care whether it’s true or not—I’m going to catch him first!" Warren Wong growled, furious at the speculation.
Just then, an enraged shout echoed from the sky: "Who killed my disciple? Get out here!"
The sect elders were stunned by the force of that voice. When they regained their senses, they realized the master of the Human-Rank Alchemist had arrived. Seeing the figure hovering in the air, they were all terrified.
"Which one of you killed my disciple?" The man in the air swept his gaze across the crowd, but did not find the person whose spiritual sense he had detected through the bead.
"Senior, I am Duan Yanggeng, sect master of the Rising Sun Sect. As for the one who killed your disciple, we are searching for him as well." Duan Yanggeng knew someone had to step forward, or the sect could face annihilation.
"Who is he?" The man in the air asked coldly, as if he could kill everyone present at any moment.
Another crisis swept through the Rising Sun Sect, just as it had two years ago. The person hovering above was Master Wu, the renowned alchemist in the pill world. Today, his disciple had been killed by a minor sect’s disciple—something he could not swallow.
"Master Wu, we’ve searched the entire sect. Evan Yang has already fled!" Duan Yanggeng replied respectfully to the man in the air. The rest of the Rising Sun Sect stood by, equally respectful. What they feared was not just Master Wu’s cultivation, but his reputation. A powerful alchemist could always find warriors willing to fight for him in exchange for pills. Even if they managed to defeat him, their troubles would be far from over.
Master Wu glared furiously at the scene, noting that the man who had spoken to him was also at the Core Formation stage. He didn’t want to make an enemy of an entire sect unless absolutely necessary, but that didn’t mean he was letting this go. With a cold snort, he said, "If that brat ever returns, report to me immediately, or bear the consequences." Then, brimming with anger, he stormed out of the Rising Sun Sect.
Unaware of the uproar at the Rising Sun Sect, Evan Yang only wanted to get as far away as possible, hoping to avoid being found by the sect or the owner of that spiritual sense.
"Phew, I've already run hundreds of li. They shouldn't be able to find me now, right?" After several days of running, Evan Yang finally stopped and muttered to himself.
After resting for a while, Evan Yang took out the small storage pouch Elder Lee had given him. Following the method for using storage pouches, he probed it with his weak spiritual sense.
(There are two types of storage pouches: non-artifact ones, which don't require blood recognition, and artifact-grade ones, which most cultivators prefer for their security, though they're much rarer and more valuable.)
Evan was using the non-artifact type, so it was easy to extend his spiritual sense inside and check its contents.
The pouch was tiny, just five or six feet high, three or four feet long, and seven or eight feet wide inside, but it was packed with things. Evan rummaged through it, finding some gold coins—currency for mortals, which he’d used as a child. More importantly, he found a small pile of pale-green, neatly shaped rectangular blocks. "Could these be Spirit Crystal Ore?" Evan wondered, startled by the half-foot-long, pale-green blocks.
Spirit Crystal Ore is a type of mineral in the cultivation world, containing dense spiritual energy. Cultivators can absorb it to speed up their training. It's also a top energy source for alchemists’ flames, and essential for formations and spatial arrays. These stones come in Low-Grade, Mid-Grade, High-Grade, and Top-Grade, with higher grades holding more energy and being much more precious.
One Top-Grade piece is worth 100 High-Grade, one High-Grade equals 100 Mid-Grade, and one Mid-Grade equals 100 Low-Grade. And so on.
(This chapter isn’t over yet~ Please click next page to continue reading!)
Evan took out a piece and held it in his hand, feeling the faint spiritual energy it emitted. Curious, he tried to see if the Seed would absorb the energy, but it remained unmoved. Seeing this, Evan sighed, "Looks like it’s only interested in herbs and pills refined from herbs."
Putting the Spirit Crystal Ore away, Evan counted and found at least several dozen pieces inside. Besides these, there was only the ninth-layer Rising Sun Scripture mental formula. "Could this be Elder Lee’s entire life savings?" he wondered.
In truth, Evan had no idea that Elder Lee had used up most of his materials over the years. The storage pouch only contained these few items, and even Elder Lee himself had forgotten what was left inside when he handed it over, making Evan think his teacher was rather poor.
Just as Evan was about to withdraw his spiritual sense from the pouch, he spotted a small token in the corner. Curious, he took it out. It was about the size of a palm, with a pill engraved on the front and a dark black body. On the back, three characters were carved: "Human-Rank Alchemist."
"So Elder Lee was a Human-Rank Alchemist too?" Evan finally realized what he was holding—a token proving one’s identity as an alchemist, and this particular one belonged to Elder Lee.
After fiddling with it for a while, Evan put the token back, composed himself, and decided to head to a nearby city to learn more about the Eastern Continent.
The next morning, Evan arrived at a place called White Slope City. He found an inn, ordered several dishes, and started devouring them. Although he’d reached the ninth layer of Qi-Refining, since he hadn’t yet built his foundation, he still suffered from ordinary hunger like mortals.
"Did you hear? A Human-Rank Alchemist was killed in the Rising Sun Sect," said one of three men sitting at the table next to Evan.
"That’s right, I heard about it too. Apparently, it was an outer disciple from the Rising Sun Sect," another replied.
"Strange, isn’t it? Four years ago, he was rootless, and now he’s at the ninth layer of Qi-Refining," the last man said, full of doubt.
Evan, who had been eating, immediately pricked up his ears and listened closely to their conversation.
Unexpectedly, the discussion drew in a crowd of listeners, and the inn was soon buzzing with heated debate.
From their chatter, Evan learned all sorts of rumors: some claimed he’d gained an opportunity two years ago in Gavin Jiang’s legacy space, allowing him to cultivate; others said he’d always had cultivation and just hid it. But two details mattered most: first, the person he killed was the disciple of a Heaven-Rank Alchemist, who was now offering an Earth-Rank spirit pill for news of Evan’s whereabouts and a Heaven-Rank spirit pill for his life; second, the Wong Clan was furiously searching for him everywhere.
"Damn, an Earth-Rank pill for my whereabouts, and a Heaven-Rank pill for my life," Evan cursed inwardly.
The cultivators around him were all excited—some wanted to track Evan down for the reward, others were even eager to hunt him for Master Wu.
Evan was grateful that he was currently filthy, covered in dust and grime. He hadn’t had time to clean up, so even if he appeared before them, anyone who hadn’t seen him personally wouldn’t realize the wanted ‘genius killer’ was right there eating at their side.
Finishing his meal and paying, Evan quickly slipped away, determined to avoid the crowd’s attention—otherwise, he might die without even knowing how.
Just as he left the inn, Evan heard a commotion nearby. An elderly man, dressed like a beggar, was thrown out of a restaurant.
The staff shouted angrily, "Damn beggar, how dare you come here without money? Get lost!"
At first, Evan thought it was just a common sight and paid little attention, planning to leave the trouble behind. But as he was about to hurry away, the Seed inside him started pounding, as if it wanted to leap out of his body.
"What’s this?" Evan realized the Seed was reacting to the old beggar. Curious and shocked, he suppressed its agitation and approached the old man, squatting down to help him up. "Elder, let me help you."
The old beggar hadn’t expected anyone to help him. When Evan offered a hand, he turned and smiled, "Young man, you’re very kind."
As Evan helped him up, he discovered the old man’s hand tendons had been severed. Rage flashed through Evan’s heart—who could be so cruel to treat an elder like this?