Evan Yang had no idea that the Nether Patriarch had already made a secret deal, treating him as a commodity to be traded. At this moment, Evan had arrived in an unknown, deserted, and chaotic stone forest.
He entered the Tower, found Nina Ye, and took the Pass Token from her.
"What's wrong?" Nina Ye asked suspiciously when Evan wanted her Pass Token.
"There's a tracking imprint on these. We have to disable the tokens, or else they'll definitely find us again," Evan replied.
Nina Ye didn't fully understand, but seeing Evan speak with such certainty, she handed over her Pass Token.
As for Evan, he looked at Nina's token, then took out his own as well.
"Let's see if I can destroy them." Evan took out a dagger and struck the token hard, but nothing happened.
"These tokens really are tough. Looks like I'll have to find another way to deal with them," Evan muttered.
So Evan took the two tokens, left the Tower, found a messy patch of stones, dug a hole, and tossed them in. Just as he was about to leave, he seemed to think of something and re-entered the Tower to find Derek.
"Derek, how do you usually handle things like peeing and pooping in here?" Evan asked curiously.
Derek hadn't expected Evan to ask about such things, so he awkwardly pointed to a spot and said, "I dug a pit over there. I put all the urine and waste in it."
Evan glanced over and did see a damp, filthy spot. With a cold smile, he gathered up the waste and moved it outside the Tower.
Watching the waste disappear, Derek looked at Evan in confusion.
"It's nothing. Just focus on cultivating. I'll bring you some things later," Evan said with a smile.
Then, with a flash, Evan left the Tower. Both Nina Ye and Derek, seeing Evan act so mysteriously, were curious but had no idea what he was up to.
Outside the Tower, Evan covered the tokens completely with the filthy waste.
"Done." Evan said with a broad smile, then left the area and flew toward the nearby city.
In the city, Evan bought some daily necessities and dry rations for Derek, then found an empty spot and re-entered the Tower.
"Here, these are for you." Evan handed Derek the supplies.
Seeing the food, Derek couldn't wait to dig in. Time inside the Tower flowed several times faster, so he got hungry quickly.
Nina Ye didn't need to eat, but she chatted with Evan about what he'd just done. When she heard he smeared the tokens with waste, she gave him a strange smile.
After Derek finished eating, Evan took out a glass container and saw three worm-like energy strands swimming inside—some thick, some thin.
"What are those?" Nina Ye asked curiously.
"Those are Fiend Star Sources," Evan replied. It was Nina's first time seeing them, and she was shocked. Derek stared at the glass in fascination.
Evan took out the black control rod, then placed it in the glass container. All three energy strands shrank back in fear. Evan pointed to the thinnest one, and, imitating the shop attendant, took it out.
"Let's test it." Evan took the thinnest strand and placed it in front of Derek, but Derek showed no reaction to the Fiend Star Source.
"That's odd," Evan said, puzzled by the lack of reaction.
"Kid, what exactly are you trying to do?" Nina Ye asked suspiciously.
"I want to see if he'll attract it," Evan replied.
"According to Steward Xue's explanation, they already tried that and it didn't work." Nina Ye replied.
"Yeah, I know. That's why I want to keep testing—once a month, just in case." Evan decided to check Derek's attracting ability monthly.
He handed this task off to Nina Ye, while Evan left the Tower and returned to the city, planning to sell some items for Spirit Crystal Ore.
He searched for a long time but couldn't find any auction house. Frustrated, Evan kept moving from city to city until he reached a much larger one, where almost everything could be found.
Evan took out some Immortal Yellow Earth, wanting to see how much it would fetch here.
As it turned out, the locals called this Immortal Yellow Earth "magic mud," believing it was earth imbued with demonic power. When a palm-sized piece appeared at the auction, it attracted a huge crowd.
"Kid, you're about to strike it rich. I hear many major families and powerful experts have been drawn here by this magic mud," an appraising elder said to Evan with a smile.
Evan hadn't expected so many people to show up and asked, "They don't know I'm the seller, right?"
"Absolutely not. Here at Eight-Treasure Pavilion, we always keep things confidential. No one knows where the auctioned items come from. It's to protect every consignor's safety," the elder assured him.
"Alright, I'll come back to collect my Spirit Crystal Ore after the auction," Evan nodded.
"No problem," the elder replied with a smile.
Seeing everything was settled, Evan said goodbye to the elder and returned to the auction hall, where many powerful experts had already gathered.
"This is even crazier than the Human World," Evan muttered to himself, seeing so many powerful figures crowding in, even their attendants were extraordinary.
The auction house had many items, but Evan's magic mud was scheduled to be auctioned three days later. The strong guests who arrived secured private boxes and stayed put, while Eight-Treasure Pavilion spread the word, drawing in even more people.
During those three days, many other items were auctioned, and Eight-Treasure Pavilion made a fortune.
"Isn't Eight-Treasure Pavilion just using my item to make money?" Evan hadn't expected he'd become their free advertisement.
Anyone who heard about the magic mud auction came to watch; even if the main item wasn't up yet, they'd often buy other things, letting Eight-Treasure Pavilion skim profits. Naturally, they made much more than usual.
Evan didn't care about the result; he just focused on waiting for his auction in three days. In the meantime, he witnessed the ferocity of the local bidders.
What surprised Evan even more was how hot-tempered and aggressive people were. If they didn't win their desired item, they'd challenge others to fight outside in the void until they'd vented their anger or left seriously injured.
"In the Human World, people mostly scheme in the shadows, but here they're explosive and direct—if there's a conflict, they just fight." After three days of observation, Evan summed up his impression of the Fiend Realm's conduct.
Simply put, Human World people are much more scheming, while Fiend Realm people are explosive and straightforward—they don't put on one face in public and another in private.
But none of that concerned him. In just another hour, his Immortal Yellow Earth would be up for auction.
Meanwhile, the Nether Patriarch, excited, led over a hundred Soul-Gathering experts to the chaotic stone forest.
Using Captain Lee's tracking mark, the Nether Patriarch found the spot. Seeing only mud on the ground and no sign of Evan, he realized he'd been tricked and suspected Evan had discarded the tokens there. His excitement turned to anger. He snorted, "Damn it!" and smashed his fist onto the pile of mud.
As expected, those nearby and the Nether Patriarch instantly noticed a strange smell in the air and on the spot where their hands touched the mud.
The others couldn't smell anything—they were all corpse-refiners, used to following orders and unable to distinguish scents. The Nether Patriarch was forced to sniff the mud closely.
"Weird, why does it smell like urine and feces?" the Nether Patriarch muttered, frowning.
After a while, the Nether Patriarch became more and more convinced he'd been mocked by Evan. Furious, he ordered his men to dig out the two tokens and returned to the city where Captain Lee was.
When Captain Lee saw the two tokens, he exclaimed, "They threw them away?"
"Yeah, I picked them up," the Nether Patriarch said, his expression sour.
Captain Lee took a closer look and also smelled the strange odor. "Weird, it's so foul."
"No need to sniff anymore. That kid tampered with them," the Nether Patriarch said, suppressing his anger.
Captain Lee finally realized something was off, his face darkening as he quickly put the two tokens away. He grumbled, "Damn it, that kid dared to do this to our Fiend Realm tokens."
"Is there any way to track him?" With the tokens ruined, the Nether Patriarch could only try his luck.
"There is, but we'd have to go higher up. You know who," Captain Lee said, frowning.
"What rank Fiend General?" the Nether Patriarch asked, curious.
"Eighth rank. He can track someone's whereabouts by their aura," Captain Lee replied.
"What are the requirements?" The Nether Patriarch relaxed upon hearing 'eighth rank.'
"A Fiend Star Source as thick as a fist would be enough to tempt him," Captain Lee said, gesturing the size with his fist.
The Nether Patriarch winced inside. That would cost at least ten million—while the Nether Family was wealthy, it amounted to several years' income.
"If I tell him what you did to the tokens, maybe he'll want to help," Captain Lee added.
After hearing Captain Lee, the Nether Patriarch pondered for a moment. "I don't want him dead, I want him alive. As for the Fiend Star Source, I'll have someone prepare it immediately."
"Alright, I'll contact him now," Captain Lee replied.
"Mm." The Nether Patriarch nodded, then left with his group.
Watching them leave, Captain Lee muttered, "When did the Nether Family get so many experts?"
With that question in mind, he contacted his superior.
Soon, his superior arrived—a middle-aged man in armor, not in Daoist robes, clearly standing out from the others.
His arrival drew a lot of attention.
Captain Lee respectfully led him into a quiet room.
"Captain Lee, you know it's a lot of work for me to track someone by image or aura," the middle-aged man said as soon as he sat down.
"General Ba, don't worry. They've promised a Fiend Star Source as thick as a fist if you can find him," Captain Lee said with a smile.
The middle-aged man's eyes widened, then he tried to act calm. "If the higher-ups find out I'm tracking someone without authorization, especially someone from the Human World, it could affect relations between our two realms."