Lena King was startled. "What just happened?"
Evan Yang chuckled, "What else could it be? It’s obviously those three."
Once Lena realized, she cursed. The three hidden figures cursed as Evan and Lena dodged their trap. Evan didn't explain, just led Lena straight into the second layer.
The second layer was a vast, surging water surface. Evan smiled, "Want to play with them a bit?"
Absolutely.
Evan grinned, "Water’s your specialty. Come on, let’s dive under and figure out how to deal with them."
Following Evan’s lead, Lena and he dove beneath the water. Sure enough, after a while, Liam Blaze and his two companions emerged from the layer’s entrance. They never expected Evan and Lena to spot them. They definitely didn’t expect Evan to stay underwater just to mess with them.
Just as they started flying, the water below suddenly surged like a giant wave, slamming all three of them straight into the water. Liam cursed, "Damn it, what kind of monster is causing trouble down there?"
Evan almost laughed at their reaction, but held back and signaled Lena to stay quiet. With divine sense suppressed and the water blocking their vision, Liam's trio couldn't see below, but Evan easily tracked them.
Following Evan’s plan, he and Lena launched ice and water attacks at the silhouettes above.
One moment a giant wave crashed over them, the next came a burst of freezing cold. Furious, the trio shot up into the air, not daring to touch the water.
"What kind of monster has this kind of power?" Liam Blaze cursed.
"Who knows? In these twenty layers, anything could appear. And this is just the second layer—the later ones might be even scarier," Darren Fang said.
Liam steadied himself. "Let’s hurry up and get to the sixth layer. The first five are pretty simple, not much point. Only the sixth layer is really good for us to cultivate, and there are more precious things there too."
Easton Fang and Darren Fang nodded, quickly setting off. Evan had already used his Thousand-Mile Echo to overhear their conversation. After they left, Evan and Lena surfaced. "Let’s go," Evan said.
Evan didn’t use Phantom Spirit Birds this time; he relied on his superior divine sense to trail them from behind. From the second layer to the third, third to fourth, and fourth to fifth, Evan repeatedly messed with Liam’s trio, making them furious. They kept thinking they were just unlucky, always running into weird stuff.
When they finally reached the sixth layer, Liam grumbled, "Damn it, what’s up with the earlier layers? All these random weird things keep happening."
"No idea. According to the Palace Lord, there shouldn’t be anything odd in the first five layers," Darren Fang said, puzzled.
Liam thought for a moment. "Whatever, let’s check out the sixth layer first. Getting to the seventh isn’t so easy—each time you go through, there’s a challenge gate. I doubt Evan will leave the sixth layer that fast. He’s probably still stuck somewhere in the earlier layers." Darren Fang agreed.
"Either way, let’s search together. If we run into them, we’ll use the plan we prepared to deal with him," Liam said.
After Evan and Lena entered, they found Liam’s trio gone—outside Evan’s divine sense range. Evan released Phantom Spirit Birds to scout the sixth layer and see what could be found.
Lena followed Evan as they explored. After a while, Evan received feedback from the Phantom Spirit Birds and found several groups: three Fire Temple people in one direction, two Earth Temple disciples in another, and a single Earth Temple cultivator standing inside a glowing circle, gesturing as if fighting something invisible.
"What’s he doing inside that circle?" Evan wondered silently, curious about what was going on.
Still curious about the lone cultivator, Evan decided to mess with the others first. The sixth layer’s terrain was strange—sometimes it rained, sometimes there were fierce winds, sometimes it felt burning hot as if surrounded by flames, and sometimes it was icy cold. But everyone could handle it; after all, it was only the sixth layer. If you couldn’t survive here, you had no hope further down.
Just then, Liam’s trio discovered a mound of condensed earth with a gravestone—a tomb of a ninth-tier Emperor, cause of death unknown. The three stared at the gravestone for a long while before Darren Fang said, "The sixth layer shouldn’t be this dangerous, right? How could someone die here?"
"Want to know? Just dig it up," Liam said.
"Are you really going to dig?" Darren Fang frowned.
"Of course. That’s the only way to find out the cause of death—and maybe there’s some treasure buried with him," Liam grinned.
Tempted by Liam, Darren Fang and Easton Fang didn’t hesitate—they tore the grave apart. Not far away, Evan saw this and sighed, "They’re worse than beasts, digging up someone’s tomb."
"What did you see?" Lena asked. Her divine sense wasn’t as strong as Evan’s, so she hadn’t noticed anything.
Evan glanced at Lena, then shared what he saw with her. When Lena saw the three digging up someone’s grave, she cursed, “That’s just awful.”
Because the grave was specially constructed, it took the three a long time to move the heavy stone at the bottom. Beneath it lay a corpse—now just bones. The waist bones had two clear holes, as if struck by heavy fists, and the skull was fractured. Clearly, the person was beaten to death.
Judging by appearances, he was killed by someone," Darren Fang said.
Liam checked and said, “Yeah, and everything he had was taken. Nothing left—what a miser.”
All that effort for nothing," Darren Fang cursed.
Liam heard this and looked at the stone, “Not necessarily. At least this stone is valuable—very heavy. Took us a lot of effort to get it up. Maybe it’ll be useful.”
Darren Fang and Easton Fang thought that made sense and started examining the stone to see where it came from.
Evan had an idea, a strange smile appeared on his face. “Wait here, I’ll show you a good show.”
Lena didn’t understand what Evan meant, but he vanished in a flash. When he reappeared a quarter hour later, the three had thoroughly checked the grave’s surroundings and were finally ready to leave.
Just then, the surroundings suddenly darkened. Black mist rose, and eerie winds blew—it all felt very strange.
The three were startled, thinking a powerful expert was nearby. Liam said, “Who’s there? Could you show yourself?”
“I died miserably, and you still dig up my grave. I’ll kill you.” A chilling voice echoed.
The three were terrified—was the soul of the dead still lingering nearby? Liam raised his guard. “Senior, you should find a new body and leave instead of wasting time here. Now’s your chance.”
“Find a body? That’s right. You three look like good candidates. Maybe I’ll pick one of you.” The voice laughed.
Hearing that the dead soul wanted to possess them, the trio panicked and raised their defenses. Chaotic attacks rained down—stones, wild winds, heavy rain. No matter which way they fled, they circled back to the grave, as if trapped in an illusion.
Outside, Lena watched the scene Evan sent her—seeing their terrified expressions and running in circles—and laughed. “How did you do it?” Evan smiled, “That’s a secret.”
Lena grumbled, “Always a secret.”
“Of course. There’s an even better show coming,” Evan said.
Lena didn’t get it, so she kept watching Evan’s feed. The three were about to break when the voice returned: “I’ll let you go, but each of you must offer a precious item from your body.”
The three searched themselves and finally each placed a treasure in front of them. Liam said, “Senior, we’re ready.”
“What are these? What do they do?” On the ground lay three items: a six-sided cauldron, a broken mirror, and a battered hat.
“This is a Hexa-Flame Cauldron—it sprays fire! The flames gather inside and can be used for attacks. The broken mirror is a fragment from a powerful artifact; it can reflect attacks a couple more times before shattering. The hat is even more impressive—it protects your soul from attacks,” Liam explained.
Evan looked at the three items. “Not bad. You can leave now.”
The three hurried to their feet, saw a passage ahead, and slunk away. Evan walked over and picked up the three treasures.
Lena laughed, “Those cowards really left behind some good stuff.”
“Good stuff? I bet they have way more than just these,” Evan replied, doubting the trio only brought these items.
Sure enough, after leaving, Liam’s trio stopped and Liam cursed, “Damn it, how did we end up digging up such a grave?”
“Seriously, even if someone died, their soul shouldn’t last this long. Besides, the realm was closed—what power could sustain them?” Darren Fang wondered.
Liam seemed to realize something and cursed, “No, this place has been closed for ages. Besides us eight, only previous entrants are left. But if only a soul remained, it shouldn’t last long.”
“What do you mean?” Darren Fang sensed something was off.
“Damn it, we got played. Let’s go see who it was!” Liam cursed.