Zeke Wood described what happened to Cole Wood, and after listening, Cole frowned and said, "Is that really so?"
"Yeah, everything suddenly withered at once. It was really strange," Zeke Wood replied.
"Looks like he must understand some wood-attribute mysteries too," Cole Wood said with a frown.
"How could that be?" Zeke Wood said.
Cole Wood looked at Zeke Wood and mused, "Nothing's impossible. This guy is getting more and more interesting."
"Senior brother, what do you mean by that?" Zeke Wood asked suspiciously.
"I mean he's scarier than we thought," Cole Wood said.
Zeke Wood disagreed, "No matter how strong that kid is, that's about it. Even if he takes first place in the Emperor Realm bracket, he won't be able to show off in the Half-Void Immortal Sovereign bracket."
"If it was before, I might have thought he couldn't beat me, but after seeing all this, I'm not so sure anymore," Cole Wood said.
"Senior brother, you're so lame. Just seeing that was enough to shake you," Zeke Wood said.
"Scared off? Is that possible? I just think he’ll be really strong, maybe even beat everyone," Cole Wood said.
"I don’t believe it. Let’s just wait and see. We’ll know soon enough," Zeke Wood replied.
On the other side, Evan Yang was faced with three pairs of eyes staring at him—Miss Cloud, Palace Lord Yuna, and Morgana Dreamhaven.
"How did you do it?" Miss Cloud asked curiously, suspicion in her voice.
"Yeah, I want to know too," Palace Lord Yuna said, surprised after hearing her sister describe Evan Yang’s abilities.
Morgana Dreamhaven didn’t speak, but her gaze made it clear she was more eager than anyone to know Evan’s secret.
Evan Yang looked at the three and smiled, "Don’t stare at me like that. It’s really nothing special, just some abilities I have."
"What kind of abilities could be that amazing?" Morgana Dreamhaven finally couldn’t hold back and asked.
"How should I put it… You can just treat me as a healing-type powerhouse. If you’re injured or poisoned, I can handle it. As for those withered trees, as long as they haven’t been dead too long, I can revive them," Evan Yang summed up simply.
After hearing Evan Yang’s words, Morgana Dreamhaven still couldn’t figure out what his abilities really were, but she knew they were already beyond her imagination.
"This is the first time I've heard of such an ability. Truly impressive," Morgana Dreamhaven said.
"Me too! Can you show us?" Miss Cloud couldn't help but ask excitedly. Palace Lord Yuna also looked at Evan Yang. Seeing the anticipation in their eyes, Evan knew this secret would soon become public, so he had nothing left to hide from them.
So Evan Yang smiled, "Watch closely."
As he finished speaking, Heaven-Cold mist appeared in Evan Yang's hand—a faint green gas. Morgana Dreamhaven and the other two stared at the strange mist.
"Each of you take a little and see for yourselves what it can do," Evan Yang said, handing a small portion to each of them.
The three carefully examined it and found the mist had a rich aura. Not only that, it seemed to have healing properties. Evan Yang spoke to them, "You can make a small cut, then apply the Heaven-Cold mist to it and see what happens."
Following Evan Yang's instructions, they each made a small cut on their hand. The wounds began to heal, and the healing was noticeably faster than their normal recovery.
"What is this stuff? How did you do it?" Morgana Dreamhaven asked in disbelief.
"How should I explain it? My body naturally produces this kind of energy, so of course I can repair those withered trees," Evan Yang replied.
Hearing Evan Yang's words, Morgana Dreamhaven muttered, "No wonder."
"Amazing, that's incredible! From now on, if I'm hurt, I'll just come to you," Miss Cloud said.
"No problem, I guarantee I can cleanse any poison," Evan Yang replied with a smile.
Miss Cloud and Palace Lord Yuna both smiled—this was clearly great news for them. Morgana Dreamhaven also felt reassured, realizing Evan Yang was even stronger than she'd thought.
"The tournament is coming soon. Until then, you all must stay safe. Some people may try to spar with you, but do your best not to show too many of your trump cards, or you'll risk being studied," Morgana Dreamhaven warned.
Evan Yang and Palace Lord Yuna nodded. Miss Cloud wasn't competing, but watching them fight made her itch with excitement.
The Wood Temple covered a vast area, with many planets dominated by plants. Several palaces had already arranged friendly pre-tournament spars.
Naturally, the Water Temple received invitations to spar—and the challenger was from the Earth Temple.
Lord Ridge approached Morgana Dreamhaven. "Morgana, how about it? Want our people to spar?"
"Oh? Who are you sending?" Morgana Dreamhaven asked with a smile.
"I've got two who just came out of seclusion. They heard Evan Yang is famous now and want to spar with him," Lord Ridge said.
"Oh? Both of them want to challenge Evan Yang?" Morgana Dreamhaven frowned. This was obviously a wheel-battle tactic, targeting Evan and trying to probe his true strength.
"If you think that's unfair, Evan can just pick one of them," Lord Ridge said.
"I'll have to ask him first," Morgana Dreamhaven said, then turned to Evan Yang. "What do you think?"
Evan Yang had already sensed one person's identity through his Soul-Reaping Water. He'd been waiting for a chance to expose him, and now was the perfect opportunity. Evan smiled, "This brother here looks strong, and I like a challenge. I'll choose him."
"Oh? This is Lan Wind. Are you sure you want to pick him?" Lord Ridge asked.
"That's right. I choose him," Evan Yang replied.
"Alright then. Lan Wind, what do you say?" Lord Ridge asked.
Lan Wind smiled. "I came here to spar with him, so of course I have no problem with that."
"Good. You two can spar right here. Remember, keep it friendly—no killing blows," Lord Ridge said.
Morgana Dreamhaven smiled after Evan made his choice. "Since that's settled, Lord Ridge and I will act as referees. The arena is a fifty-meter radius around you—step out or concede, and you're out early."
Evan Yang and Lan Wind nodded. Miss Cloud, Palace Lord Yuna, and the others immediately withdrew to outside the fifty-meter boundary, while Evan and Lan Wind stood quietly facing each other, as if they had a lot to say.
"Sis, who do you think will win?" Miss Cloud asked curiously.
"Before the fight starts, I can't tell who's stronger, so I can't make a call," Palace Lord Yuna replied.
Miss Cloud nodded, thinking that made sense. Meanwhile, Morgana Dreamhaven and Lord Ridge chatted on the side.
"Lord Ridge, last time you tried to kill Evan Yang, and now you're here for another sparring match. What's your intention? Do you really have such a big bias against Evan?" Morgana Dreamhaven said with a smile.
"Morgana, you're reading too much into it. I didn't try to kill him last time. As for this spar, it's normal—everyone else is sparring with Wood Temple people, and since I couldn't find anyone, I had to challenge your up-and-coming expert to check Lan Wind's strength," Lord Ridge replied with a laugh.
Morgana Dreamhaven looked at Lord Ridge and smiled. "What an innocent excuse. But whatever, time has already passed."
The conversation quickly lost momentum, and both focused on the duel.
At that moment, Evan Yang and Lan Wind still stood quietly, but Lan Wind's expression wasn't great—Evan had provoked him.
"Lan Wind, huh? Why did you pick that name? And to go so far as to assume a new identity just to take my life—who would've thought? But with this disguise, I wonder how much strength you can really show?" Evan Yang said with a smile.
Lan Wind's eyes narrowed as he stared at Evan Yang. "What do you know?"
"I don't know anything. You'll have to explain it to me," Evan Yang said with a smile.
"You say you don't know, so why all this pointless talk?" Lan Wind glared at Evan Yang.
"Nothing much. Let's start," Evan Yang said.
Lan Wind attacked first, but Evan Yang easily blocked him. Not only that, Evan countered with Ice-fire Sacred Flame, which was much stronger than before. Lan Wind was quickly forced back.
Seeing Lan Wind get pushed back so fast, Morgana Dreamhaven laughed, "Why isn't he using attribute attacks? Your sect's earth attribute should be pretty strong, right?"
"Well, he's been training another attribute lately, so he's temporarily set earth aside," Lord Ridge replied with a laugh, though he cursed inwardly, "If he actually used earth, he'd be exposed as dual-attribute."
Morgana Dreamhaven and the others were somewhat convinced, but Evan Yang wasn't. He looked at Lan Wind and smiled, "Not going to use fire attribute?"
Fire attribute? An Earth Temple cultivator using fire? What did Evan Yang mean by that? Morgana Dreamhaven raised her eyebrows, and both Lord Ridge and Lan Wind wondered what Evan was getting at.
"Me? I've been training earth, but I did practice some fire arts. Since you insist, I'll play along," Lan Wind said.
With that, Lan Wind unleashed a smooth fire attribute attack. Miss Cloud and the others were shocked—shouldn't an Earth Temple genius use earth? Why fire?
Morgana Dreamhaven looked suspiciously at Lord Ridge. "What's going on?"
"He's dual-attribute. Evan Yang is too, isn't he? Though it seems Evan has three attributes," Lord Ridge replied with a smile.
Morgana Dreamhaven knew Evan Yang had three attributes—earth, water, and fire—but hadn't seen any others.
"Is that so?" Morgana Dreamhaven wondered, since she'd never seen Lan Wind use earth attribute.
Evan Yang smiled. "Lan Wind, huh? I wonder if your fire can withstand my Ice-fire Sacred Flame."
"Ice-fire? That is indeed powerful flame. I'd like to experience it," Lan Wind said.
"Alright then, I won't hold back. Watch closely." With that, Evan Yang unleashed a powerful Ice-fire, easily blocking Lan Wind's flames and steadily pushing them back.
Seeing Evan Yang's Ice-fire so strong, Lan Wind could only use part of his strength. If he went all out, he'd risk triggering a transformation and causing trouble. He'd come here hoping Lord Ridge would cover for him, not wanting Morgana Dreamhaven to notice anything.
But he never expected Evan Yang already knew, and was deliberately provoking him.
Lan Wind, frustrated, could only use fire, but fire couldn't overcome Evan Yang. Morgana Dreamhaven watched the stalemate and commented, "He could have used earth to block Ice-fire."