"Martial Uncle, look what I brought!" Lynn Lin said with a smile.
"Lynn Lin, where did you find this?" The man looked Evan Yang up and down, pointing at him as he examined him.
The girl's name was Lynn Lin, as Evan Yang had figured out. Lynn grinned, "I heard the nearby village said there was a monster, so I went to check. Sure enough, I found this green creature."
"Not bad, not bad! You just went out for a bit and already made such a catch. Come, hand him over—your master is looking for you," the man said with a smile.
"Alright, Martial Uncle, I'll leave him to you," Lynn Lin said with a smile. She grabbed Evan Yang and said, "Behave yourself, or I'll chop you into mincemeat."
"You've got it wrong. I'm human, not some monster. I look like this because I've been poisoned. Weren't you going to check if I was a monster? What, that's it?" Evan Yang finally couldn't help speaking up.
Lynn Lin patted Evan Yang's head and said, "You kid, so restless. My Martial Uncle will naturally verify your identity."
"Oh? Is that so? Then please go ahead," Evan Yang said to the man.
The man noticed that Evan Yang's way of speaking was nothing like a monster—more like someone hard to figure out. He quickly recovered and said to Lynn Lin, "You go ahead, leave this to me."
"He's very cunning, Martial Uncle, be careful," Lynn Lin said, handing the rope to the man.
After Lynn Lin happily left, the man said, "Come, follow me."
Evan Yang followed the man to a pond, which was steaming. The man said to Evan, "If you want to prove you're not a monster, jump in. Here, you can get confirmation."
Evan Yang looked at the pond curiously, then jumped in half-skeptically. A wave of warmth flowed through him, making him feel comfortable. The man watched Evan closely, afraid he might suddenly go berserk and kill people.
As Evan soaked in the warmth, he felt comfortable. Not only that, he noticed his skin color slowly fading back to normal. Thinking the poison was gone, he checked himself and found it hadn't disappeared—only his skin color had returned to normal.
This made Evan very curious about what kind of place this pond was and how it had such effects.
Seeing Evan's color fade and looking no different from a normal person, the man smiled and said, "Looks like Lynn Lin got it wrong again."
"Does she often get it wrong?" Evan asked curiously as he climbed out.
"That's right, she often brings people—some poisoned or just odd-looking—thinking they're monsters," the man said with a smile.
"I don't know what this pond is. Why can it remove my skin color?" Evan asked curiously.
"I'm Daniel Drake, an elder of Southspirit Palace. As for this pond, it's the Immortal Essence Pool—a place that forces monsters to show their true form and also serves as a divine pool for humans, able to remove many side effects," Daniel Drake said with a smile.
Evan Yang, hearing how miraculous the pool was, smiled and said, "It really deserves to be called a divine pool. Excellent."
"Of course. By the way, what's your name? How did you end up with such a strange poison?" Daniel Drake asked curiously.
"I don't know, just got bitten by some bug and ended up like this," Evan Yang replied awkwardly.
"So that's what happened, maybe it was some kind of monster," Daniel Drake said with a smile.
Evan Yang asked curiously, "Demons, monsters? What are those, exactly?"
"Oh, they're spirit beasts that have lost their nature, and some mutated beasts that become vicious. We call them demons. Long ago, if you got bitten by such a beast and didn't remove the poison in time, you'd lose your nature and become like them," Daniel Drake said with a smile.
Evan Yang said doubtfully, "Is there really such a thing?"
"That's right, don't underestimate these demons. The strong ones can be as powerful as gods, so we all have to be careful," Daniel Drake said.
So that's how it is. What kind of place is this realm?" Evan Yang asked curiously.
"You don't know what this realm is?" Daniel Drake looked at Evan Yang curiously.
Evan Yang knew he had to bluff, so he said, "I'm not very familiar with this realm. I've spent years cultivating outside and haven't interacted much with people here."
"Oh? That's how it is? I thought you'd lost your memory or something," Daniel Drake said with a smile.
Just then, Lynn Lin arrived and asked Daniel Drake, "Martial Uncle, where's the green man?"
"Green man?" Daniel Drake looked at Evan Yang, and Evan looked at Lynn Lin.
Lynn Lin looked at Evan Yang, feeling he looked familiar. Evan smiled and said, "Hello there."
"Ah, no way! He's not a monster? How could this happen?" Lynn Lin exclaimed.
"What, do you wish I was a monster?" Evan Yang said speechlessly.
"You, how could you not be one?" Lynn Lin said, frustrated.
Lynn Lin, stop it. Why did your master want to see you?" Daniel Drake said with a smile.
Hearing Daniel Drake's words, Lynn Lin frowned, "Don't mention it. It's that damned prince again."