The others, hearing that Evan Yang had handed over his pill refining technique to the Strange Alchemist, all looked curiously at the old master. As for Evan, he stood there without changing his expression, pretending to be annoyed.
The Strange Alchemist had no evidence. Just now, he had tried to rush over in anger, only to end up battling Left Protector. With the sect master here now, taking down Evan was impossible, so he could only say, "I'll find proof it's not a misunderstanding. Kid, don't get cocky—just wait."
Fuming, the Strange Alchemist left. White Moon was still in a hurry to get somewhere, so she said to everyone, "Alright, it's just a misunderstanding. Everyone, disperse."
The crowd scattered. White Moon turned around and walked toward Evan, giving him a strange look before saying, "Let's head out."
"Okay." Evan snapped back to attention. He saw White Moon had prepared a flying device inside the hall, big enough for about ten people, but right now only the two of them boarded.
White Moon said to Evan, "Get in. With this, we'll travel much faster."
Curious, Evan followed White Moon inside. She took control, and it felt like they were traveling through space, but Evan couldn't see anything outside—just had a vague sense of movement, not knowing where they were headed.
On the flying device, White Moon asked, "Did you really exchange pill refining arts with the Strange Alchemist?"
"Yeah, we traded. And he was the one who begged me to teach him," Evan replied.
White Moon shook her head helplessly. "That guy learned the technique, messed up, and still blames you. Maybe he's just getting more muddled with age."
Evan chuckled. "Maybe so."
The two of them continued chatting about pill refining. Meanwhile, the Strange Alchemist, still fuming, returned to Fire-Top Mountain—only to be greeted soon after by the Poison Alchemist.
"What are you doing here?" The Strange Alchemist asked when he saw the Poison Alchemist coming his way.
"Relax. What happened just now? And did that prodigy really teach you pill refining?" The Poison Alchemist grinned.
"Don't even mention him! It's all your fault—if not for you, I wouldn't have told him the Sky-Severing Talisman antidote method!" the Strange Alchemist snapped.
"What's wrong?" The Poison Alchemist was surprised by the outburst—the Strange Alchemist was unusually agitated.
The Strange Alchemist explained what had happened, cursing at the end, "That bastard must've given me a garbage technique! My furnace exploded and he used my antidote to help others—I'm so pissed!"
"No way, he's not that kind of person." The Poison Alchemist didn't believe Evan would trick the Strange Alchemist—he'd always thought Evan was honest.
"Do you know him? Are you close with him? This is infuriating!" the Strange Alchemist fumed.
The Poison Alchemist could only reply awkwardly, "Well..."
"Alright, you can go now, before I really lose my temper." The Strange Alchemist was furious, and the Poison Alchemist, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire, gave up on asking for the new technique—clearly, this wasn't the right time.
After leaving, the Poison Alchemist muttered, "What on earth just happened?"
Unable to figure it out, the Poison Alchemist just went back to refining his own pills. Meanwhile, Evan and White Moon arrived at a new place. As soon as they stepped off the flying device, an intense chill hit them.
Evan immediately circulated his Sacred Flame to avoid freezing to death. White Moon had planned to add a protective layer for him, but seeing he was completely fine, she gave him a suspicious look. Evan glanced around and saw they were in a void, but a faint white mist—or more precisely, cold qi—drifted everywhere. It was this cold that made him feel chilled to the bone.
"Sect master, where are we?" Evan asked with a frown.
"Frozen Void Rift," White Moon replied.
"Frozen Void Rift? What's that?" Evan looked at White Moon, confused.
"The cold here can only be resisted by those at the Heavenly Dao level. The fact that you can handle it really surprises me," White Moon said, still suspicious.
"Maybe it's because I cultivate fire techniques, so I'm not as afraid of the cold," Evan said with a smile.
"Really? But in the Frozen Void Rift, flames can't exist—any fire that appears is instantly snuffed out," White Moon said.
Evan was curious and casually conjured a ball of flame—it was instantly snuffed out. He then tried his Sacred Flame, and finally his ice-fire. When the ice-fire burned without issue, he laughed, "Looks like not all flames get extinguished here."
White Moon stared at Evan, stunned. "What kind of flame is that?"
"How should I put it? It's a very cold flame—not a heat-based one," Evan said with a smile.
"There's really such a flame?" White Moon reached out to touch it, and sure enough, a chill spread through her hand—just like the Frozen Void Rift itself.
"It's definitely unusual, but that's good—I don't have to worry so much now. I thought you'd have trouble adapting, but it turns out I was overthinking it," White Moon said with a smile.
Evan smiled back, then asked curiously, "So why did we come here? Is it to refine that Saint Pill you mentioned?"
On the way, Evan had heard White Moon mention the Saint Pill, but he didn't really understand it, so he had no idea what kind of pill it was. Now that they'd arrived, he wanted to know if this was where they'd be refining it.
"That's right. Only the chill here can prevent the Saint Pill, at the moment it's formed, from turning into gas and dispersing," White Moon explained.
Evan finally understood—the purpose of this place was to keep the Saint Pill from dissipating. Still, it seemed a bit extreme; if the pill could vanish the moment it was made, it was clearly no ordinary pill.
"So where do we start?" Evan asked.
"No rush. First, we need to seize something," White Moon said.
"Seize something? There's something else here?" Evan asked, curious.
"The Saint Pill is still missing one medicinal ingredient, and it's extremely hard to get. In a moment, just stay at the spot I designate—don't come out, no matter what you see. Wait until I'm done, then come out. If something happens and I don't return, retrace your steps—the thing won't chase you outside. Whatever you do, don't go in further," White Moon instructed.
Evan nodded and followed White Moon. After walking for a while, Evan sensed a terrifying aura ahead, like some kind of slumbering beast.
White Moon said to Evan, "Wait here. No matter what you see, don't come out. If something happens and I don't come back, just retrace your steps—the thing won't follow you outside. Absolutely don't go in any deeper."
(Irrelevant webnovel system message—skip this line for translation.)
Hearing this, Evan felt like the sect master was heading off to die, but he calmly said, "Got it."
Evan stayed put, watching the direction White Moon went. Soon, following her line of sight, he saw a cluster of snow-white objects floating in midair—like a pile of snow on a snowy day.
"Frozen Void Rift? Does it even snow here?" Evan muttered as he saw the pile.
But just as he finished muttering, he witnessed something shocking—the snow pile moved, and a massive head emerged. It was a gigantic snowfield bear.
Its aura was terrifying. Sensing someone disturbing it, the snowfield bear roared furiously at White Moon, who promptly pulled out a fan.
She aimed the fan at the massive bear and attacked, but its tough hide wasn't even scratched. Instead, it let out a furious roar and charged at White Moon.
White Moon dodged nimbly, barely escaping, but the snowfield bear quickly launched another counterattack.
Man and beast clashed fiercely. Evan muttered, "So that's what a Heavenly Dao expert is like? They can boost their cultivation with willpower, and this bear is already strong—even seems to have Heavenly Dao intent. If this keeps up, the sect master will be in danger."
The snowfield bear was at the Heavenly Dao level. Evan wanted to help, but there was nothing he could do—if he tried and failed, he'd just end up knocked out.
"When will I be able to fight a Heavenly Dao expert myself?" Evan thought. Right now, he could barely take on someone halfway into the Heavenly Dao realm, but against a true expert—even if he went all out—he'd end up seriously injured, maybe worse.
"Willpower, Heavenly Dao intent—what is that, really? Is it faith, or something else?" Evan wondered to himself.
Evan didn't really understand what Heavenly Dao intent was, since he knew little about Heavenly Dao itself. No one had ever spelled out its true meaning for him.
While Evan was lost in thought, the fight raged on. The snowfield bear bled from several wounds, and White Moon was no better—her hand was slashed by the bear's claws, five gashes bleeding, her face pale, lips dry, and sweat beading on her forehead.
In this frigid place, White Moon had to fight off the cold as well, while the snowfield bear was naturally suited to it—the environment gave it a huge advantage.
Though both were injured, if the fight continued, White Moon knew she wouldn't last. She took out a small furnace.
The furnace was engraved with four small dragons. Under White Moon's control, four fire dragons appeared and wrapped around the snowfield bear—this was her usual pill-refining artifact.
She had no choice but to use it now; otherwise, victory would be impossible. With the fire dragons joining the battle, the snowfield bear was restrained and let out furious roars.
"Her artifact—is it the fourth one?" Evan was stunned. White Moon's artifact was connected to the Fire-Burning Furnace line.
Evan watched, even more curious. White Moon was pushing herself, her face changing, and her disguise slowly faded away.
Evan had always known White Moon was a woman. Now, seeing her true form revealed, he stared in a daze—she was a formidable woman.
White Moon couldn't worry about her disguise anymore. All she could do was try to defeat the snowfield bear. She shouted, "In the name of fire, grant me the Devouring Sky Flame!" As soon as she spoke, the four fire dragons merged into a single giant dragon and crashed into the bear.
The snowfield bear was sent flying, and White Moon wasn't much better off—she too was knocked back.
White Moon lay on the ground, staring at the snowfield bear, wanting to see it die with her own eyes. But though the bear had collapsed, it still growled angrily, its lips trembling.