Evan Yang and the other two ignored the Devil Realm Emissary. The Emissary wandered around, muttering here and there, clearly trying to infuriate them.
But Evan Yang and his companions stayed calm, making the Emissary suspicious about what they were up to. All three quietly transmitted messages to each other, keeping the Emissary in the dark.
"Elder Lewis, Senior Damien, is it true that any light can break the barrier?" Evan Yang asked.
"It has to be pure light," Elder Lewis replied. "Not light produced by flame or other means."
Damien added, "That's right. Only pure light will work. But we're trapped in here, so we can't bring in outside light."
"So the light outside would be enough to break it?" Evan Yang asked.
"Exactly," Elder Lewis replied.
Evan thought for a moment and asked, "After breaking it, will the barrier still be here?" "Yes," Elder Lewis said. "The barrier and the dark attribute are separate. We can only break the darkness to save ourselves. As for the confinement, it can trap anyone below the Immortal Sovereign realm—it's not so easy to break."
"But this is just a barrier inside an artifact, not a true Ashen-Dark World," Evan Yang said.
Damien and Elder Lewis exchanged glances. Damien suddenly brightened, as if he'd found hope. "That's right. Since it's an artifact and not directly laid by someone, it has limits. Looks like we have a chance to escape."
"Before we can leave, we have to break the dark attribute around us. Otherwise, we can't touch the barrier itself," Elder Lewis said.
Hearing this, Damien could only sigh. Getting pure light was no easy task.
Evan Yang spoke up, "I have a way."
"What way?" Elder Lewis exclaimed, and Damien looked at Evan with curiosity.
"You'll see soon enough. I just want to know—will the Devil Realm Emissary try to escape when the darkness breaks?" Evan asked.
"Once the darkness is broken, nothing will bind us. He'll probably leave," Damien replied. "But that's not what we want. Our goal is to capture the Devil Realm Emissary this time," Evan said.
Damien and Elder Lewis were surprised. With their lives at risk, Evan still wanted to catch someone. They couldn't imagine where he got such confidence. "So I'll need your help later," Evan said.
"What kind of help?" Elder Lewis asked.
"I'll break the darkness. Before the Emissary realizes what's happening, I'll point out where he's hiding near the artifact. You two attack that spot and rush out to grab him," Evan said.
"Are you sure you can break the darkness?" Elder Lewis asked skeptically.
"Right, so I'll be counting on you two," Evan Yang replied.
Elder Lewis and Damien exchanged glances, then looked at Evan Yang, curious about how he would break through.
Just as the Devil Realm Emissary wondered why the three were so quiet, a point of light suddenly appeared in Evan Yang's hand. That light pointed straight to a spot, and all the darkness along that line vanished. Evan said, "That's the spot."
Elder Lewis and Damien didn't know how Evan did it, but time was tight. They focused their power and attacked the spot Evan indicated.
As they attacked, the light in Evan's hand grew brighter. The Emissary felt his vision blur, as if his eyes had been struck. When he opened them again, the barrier in front of him had cracked and two people appeared right before him.
Startled, the Emissary faced a sudden attack from Elder Lewis and Damien, who reached out to seriously injure him. With no warning, the Emissary could only abandon his host body. As their strikes landed, his body instantly withered and vanished.
Evan Yang rushed out and, seeing the shriveled corpse, asked, "What is this?"
"It's the body he was inhabiting. Looks like he abandoned it," Elder Lewis said.
"So he escaped?" Evan Yang asked.
"Yes. But he's not having an easy time—he's definitely suffered major losses and can't move around for now," Elder Lewis said.
"That's good," Evan Yang replied.
Seeing the troublemaking Emissary disappear like that, Elder Lewis felt it was a pity he hadn't finished him off personally, but this was already a decent outcome. At least the Emissary wouldn't cause more chaos here, and they could focus on breaking the formation.
Damien checked the corpse and said, "Looks like he's gone."
"Yeah," Evan Yang nodded.
"By the way, how did you do that just now?" Elder Lewis asked, snapping out of his thoughts.
"That's a secret," Evan Yang said with a smile.
Seeing Evan's mysterious smile, Elder Lewis and Damien exchanged glances, realizing Evan was getting more enigmatic. But they didn't press him. Instead, they said, "Let's go, and take the Emissary's corpse with us so everyone knows the Devil Realm Emissary has no killing power for now."
Evan Yang nodded, then turned to look at the barrier—really just an artifact, like a giant balloon. Now, with a hole in it, it was slowly fading away.
He saw Drake Long's soul and his corpse still there, though the body was already rotting.
Drake Long hadn't expected things to turn out like this. He quickly composed himself and said, "You were all truly courageous." "Don't flatter us. You were just begging the Emissary for mercy a moment ago," Damien snorted.
"Elder Lewis, you're not going to go back on your word, are you?" Drake Long exclaimed.
Elder Lewis was clearly displeased. "Weren't you just begging the Emissary for mercy? Now you want me to give you a body? That'll depend on what the Alliance decides."
"What!" Drake Long was shocked.
But he quickly calmed down, realizing there was nothing he could do now. He was useless, so he let the three take him away.
In the Devil Realm, a place saturated with demonic qi—a cave whose entrance was littered with bones—black liquid oozed from within.
Deeper inside, a figure sat, radiating boundless devil qi.
Suddenly, the motionless figure opened his eyes and roared, "Damn it, damn it! Evan Yang, you—I will kill you!"
This was none other than the true body of the Fire Demon Envoy. Although only a soul projection had gone out this time, it was now severely injured, leaving his real strength diminished.
Evan Yang had no idea that the Fire Demon Envoy, one of the Devil Realm Five-Element Emissaries, was currently raging over his actions.
Meanwhile, Evan Yang and the others brought the Emissary and Drake Long out, announcing that the Devil Realm Emissary had been destroyed.
Now everyone just had to wait for the formation to be broken. Contestants could continue the competition or withdraw, but the planetary rewards would go to the winners.
Some loose cultivators who weren't competing just hoped the formation would break soon so they could leave this cursed place.
The halo barrier was finally withdrawn. Sister Serenity walked over to Evan Yang and said, "You really are amazing."
"Thank you," Evan Yang replied, surprised that Sister Serenity would say something like that to him.
Yvonne Darkmoon barged in and asked, "What are you two talking about?"
"Nothing much," Evan Yang said.
"I don't believe you. Were you flirting with her?" Yvonne teased.
Evan Yang froze, almost wanting to smack her, while Sister Serenity could only give a wry smile. "You're joking, Yvonne," she said.
"Don't worry, Serenity. If he ever bullies you, just tell me and I'll teach him a lesson," Yvonne declared.
"Hey, who are you to me anyway? Besides, do I even have the guts to bully Serenity?" Evan Yang said helplessly.
Yvonne laughed. "That, I can't say."
Seeing how lively the group was, Elder Lewis walked over with a smile. "Alright, you can chat later. Evan Yang, please handle the formation first." "Got it," Evan said, then headed to the mountain to dismantle the black demon stones.
A crowd gathered, eager to see how this genius would break the formation. Meanwhile, Ethan Yang and Palace Master Nangong exchanged a glance, then watched Evan on the mountain. "So, are your people ready?" Nangong asked.
"Yes, they're preparing in secret, but with Elder Lewis and the others around, it's tricky," Ethan Yang replied.
"Don't worry, I've arranged for several deathsworn," Palace Master Nangong said.
"Deathsworn?" Ethan asked, surprised.
"Yes, borrowed from others. Originally, I planned to use them during the competition to eliminate obstacles, but now, with Evan Yang here, they might not be strong, but at least they'll cause a distraction. Once they do, your people should act—there's only a ten-breath window," Nangong explained.
Ethan hadn't expected Nangong to have such a plan, so he smiled. "Let's hope for a smooth partnership."
Chun Wuzi asked curiously, "What are you two talking about?"
"Nothing, just wait and see," Ethan Yang replied with a smile.
Chun Wuzi didn't know what 'show' they meant, but he was annoyed—Evan was about to break the formation, and everyone saw him as a hero.
On the mountain, Evan Yang carefully collected the stones, occasionally disabling lingering protective arrays.
When he was nearly done, Evan put the black demon stones away. They weren't very useful, but he kept them just in case.
Once everything was handled, the formation's power was cut off. The array in the sky began to change, slowly returning to its original state. The crowd cheered, and Elder Lewis, Damien, and the others were happy. Just as everyone relaxed, six men in black suddenly appeared, heading straight for Evan.
Evan was shocked—each of the six was an Emperor-rank cultivator.
Six Emperors! Elder Lewis and Damien were alarmed and shouted, "Protect Evan!"
Those who reacted quickly rushed over: Sister Serenity, Damien, Elder Lewis, and the cold-faced one—all four stepped up.
The four of them blocked the six attackers. It was a close call, but after only two breaths, one of the black-clad men broke through and struck at Evan with his palm.