General Leon Long, having made his stance clear, kept pressing. "Elder Lewis, since you admit it, fine. But tell me—what makes you so sure that guy's from the Devil Realm? Don't just say it's your hunch or what you believe. If that's all you've got, nobody's going to buy it—not us, not the sects and clans outside."
If Elder Lewis really knew, he would've said so ages ago. Right now, he knows who's causing trouble, but can't force them out—and that's his biggest headache lately. Otherwise, he'd have exposed them already. He's speaking up now mostly to protect Damien Darkmoon; if anyone listened to General Leon Long, Damien would be toast.
"Elder Lewis? I know you're with the Immortal Realm Alliance, you've got plenty of info and talent. But if you can't give us a reason, we'll have to calm the crowd outside—and that means punishing Damien Darkmoon." General Leon Long went on.
"Give me one day. If I can't figure it out, you can punish Damien Darkmoon. Deal?" Elder Lewis knew his people were almost here; he just needed to stall a little longer.
General Leon Long didn't want to agree, but the others quickly spoke up, willing to give Elder Lewis one day. If nothing came of it, they'd punish Damien Darkmoon.
The meeting wrapped up in a rush, and things outside were a mess. To calm everyone down, Elder Lewis teamed up with a few faction leaders and spread a summary of the news.
When folks heard about the Devil Realm Emissary and the puppets, some started to cool off. They began thinking about all that had happened these past days, and why the Eighth Great Power would bother killing people—it made zero sense for them.
Elsewhere, Elder Lewis paced back and forth, muttering, "Why aren't they here yet?"
"Where is he?" Nangong Palace Lord exclaimed, jumping to his feet as he remembered the news about Evan Yang visiting Blue Robe Sect.
"He's inside the formation. Where exactly, I don't know," Elder Simon Spring replied.
"What? He's here?" Nangong Palace Lord exclaimed. Meng He was shocked too. Even though he knew Evan Yang was way ahead of him now, he still wanted to see this guy.
"Where are the fifteen?" the Devil Realm Emissary asked, eyes narrowed.
"Isn't he from Blue Robe Sect? Why are you after him?" Nangong Palace Lord asked suspiciously.
"He has a personal grudge with me. Is that reason enough?" Elder Simon Spring replied.
"If you can't find him, why do you think we can?" Nangong Palace Lord questioned.
"Because he can disguise himself. Even if he's standing right in front of you, you wouldn't know it's Evan Yang. But there's someone who does," Elder Simon Spring said.
"He can disguise himself?" Nangong Palace Lord was shocked.
"That's right. If he stood next to you, you still wouldn't know," Elder Simon Spring affirmed.
"Damn it, what kind of monster is he?" Nangong Palace Lord cursed. The headache of finding Evan Yang just got worse—he was inside the formation, couldn't be caught, and could disguise himself anywhere.
"What the heck is going on? How did things end up like this?" Nangong Palace Lord muttered, snapping back to reality.
Meng He, standing nearby, didn't care if it was true or not. He asked, "Palace Lord, any news on that kid?"
"No clue. Haven't heard a thing these days. It's a headache," Nangong Palace Lord sighed.
Just then, someone outside reported a visitor for Nangong Palace Lord.
When Nangong Palace Lord had them brought in, he realized he didn't recognize any of them—especially the old man at the front, who looked like a living skeleton. The old man chuckled, "I'm Elder Simon Spring, vice sect master of Blue Robe Sect."
Nangong Palace Lord knew Blue Robe Sect was an ancient sect, so he wondered why they'd come looking for him. He asked, "So, what do you want with me?"
"We want to work with you," Elder Simon Spring said.
"Work with me? On what?" Nangong Palace Lord asked, puzzled.
"To capture Evan Yang," Elder Simon Spring replied.
Hearing this, Nangong Palace Lord immediately stood up, remembering the news about Evan Yang visiting Blue Robe Sect, and exclaimed, "Where is he?"
"He's inside the formation. As for where exactly, I don't know either," Elder Simon Spring replied.
"What? He's here?" Nangong Palace Lord exclaimed. Not only him, but Meng He was shocked too. Even though he knew Evan Yang was far beyond him now, he still wanted to see this guy.
"That's right. He came before the contest started, but he escaped," Elder Simon Spring sighed.
"Isn't he from Blue Robe Sect? Why are you trying to catch him?" Nangong Palace Lord asked suspiciously.
"He has a personal grudge with me. Is that reason enough?" Elder Simon Spring replied.
"If you can't find him, why do you think we can?" Nangong Palace Lord knew Elder Simon Spring was strong, so he questioned him.
"Because he can disguise himself. Even if he's standing right in front of you, you wouldn't know it's Evan Yang. But there's someone who does know," Elder Simon Spring said.
When Nangong Palace Lord heard Evan Yang could disguise himself so well, he was shocked. "He can disguise himself?"
"That's right. If he stood next to you, you still wouldn't know," Elder Simon Spring affirmed.
"Damn it, what kind of monster is he?" Nangong Palace Lord cursed. He already had a headache trying to find Evan Yang, and now hearing Evan was inside the formation but couldn't be caught—and could disguise himself anywhere—made it worse.
Elder Simon Spring laughed, "Nangong Palace Lord, he's not a monster, just a person. Like I said, there's someone who can track him."
"Who?" Nangong Palace Lord asked.
"Someone from the Saint Spirit Sect. He came with me, but ended up helping Evan Yang. Still, it seems he's searching for Evan too. If we find him, we'll find Evan," Elder Simon Spring said.
"Saint Spirit Sect? They can predict and sense?" Nangong Palace Lord exclaimed.
"Exactly," Elder Simon Spring replied.
"Is he strong?" Nangong Palace Lord asked suspiciously.
"I can't take him alone. But if we work together, we can capture him. Then, we can force him to tell us Evan Yang's whereabouts. Even if Evan disguises himself, we'll find him," Elder Simon Spring said.
Nangong Palace Lord thought this was a good plan. Since he and Elder Simon Spring shared a common enemy, he nodded, "Alright, I'll cooperate with you. What does that person look like? I can have people help search for him."
"Alright." Elder Simon Spring nodded and sent Nangong Palace Lord the image of the Saint Spirit Sect member.
Nangong Palace Lord nodded and assigned the task. Although some were reluctant to go out, his hatred for Evan Yang drove him to send them anyway.
Seeing so many people assigned, Elder Simon Spring felt reassured. Besides, now all the sects and families were staying in their own quarters, only the unaffiliated cultivators were stuck inside the formation, wandering around—making the target pool much smaller.
Elder Simon Spring was also treated as an honored guest by Nangong Palace Lord, and learned everything about Evan Yang's time in Blue Robe Sect.
After hearing some of Evan Yang's exploits, Nangong Palace Lord was stunned. It seemed Evan's cultivation had no limits—every time they thought they had him, he just got stronger.
As for Evan Yang, he had no idea Elder Simon Spring would seek out Nangong Palace Lord to cooperate.
At the Darkmoon residence, Yvonne Darkmoon was still pacing nervously. When she saw the news, she was shocked and anxiously muttered, "One day, only one day left. If they can't prove the existence of a Devil Realm Emissary and puppets, we'll be in trouble."
Evan Yang saw the news too and was shocked the situation had escalated so far. Faced with this, he decisively went to Drake Long to see what actions they were taking.
At Drake Long's place, he was speaking to the fifteen people: "Without my orders, you can't take a single step outside this door, understood?"
"Understood. But what if someone from the Eighth Power comes to question us?" someone asked curiously.
"Don't go. Just say you can't leave without my orders, and report anything to me. I'll handle the rest," Drake Long said.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Seeing there was nothing more, Evan Yang slipped away. Walking down the road, he analyzed the situation, wondering, "Devil Realm Emissary, puppets—is there really no way to expose those puppets?"
If he could expose the puppets, Evan Yang would find a way to make them reveal themselves, and then Yvonne and the others would be safe. But after observing them, he found they were no different from ordinary people.
Just then, he heard someone calling for help. Evan Yang was puzzled—why would someone be calling for help now? Curious, he hurried toward the sound and saw a man approaching an injured woman.
Evan recognized the man—it was Captain Li, Terry Yang's attendant, the one who escaped before. "Out catching people again? Then I'll have some fun with him," Evan thought.
Captain Li slowly approached a woman wearing a black veil and said with a smile, "Stop struggling. There's nobody else here."
"Who are you, and why are you trying to catch me?" the woman asked in alarm.
"You'll know soon enough. And with your figure, you're just perfect," Captain Li said with a grin.
"If you come any closer, I'll kill myself," the woman said in terror.
"Kill yourself? Try it and see if you have any strength left," Captain Li laughed.
The woman tried, but found she had no strength left and cried out, "You despicable man, you poisoned me!" "Otherwise, you would have run away, right? So just come quietly, or you'll get hurt and our young master won't be happy," Captain Li said with a smile.
"Shameless scoundrel!" the woman shouted.
"Say whatever you want. Now I'll throw you into my ring and see what else you have to say," Captain Li sneered. Just as he was about to step forward, an attack suddenly came from underground.