Evan Yang followed the guard outside and probed, "Why is Second Young Master Fenn looking for me?"
"I have no idea. He just told me to fetch you, didn't say what for," the guard replied helplessly.
That made Evan curious—did they suspect him? But that seemed unlikely. Second Young Master Fenn wasn't as strong as he was; if they wanted to catch him, the Fenn Family would have already surrounded him by now.
So Evan could be sure he hadn't been discovered yet.
With mixed feelings, he followed the guard to Second Young Master Fenn's place, where Brandon Fenn was currently frowning.
This gave Evan a sense of foreboding.
"Second Young Master, I've brought him," the guard said.
Hearing the voice, Brandon Fenn snapped out of his thoughts, stood up, and said, "Alright, got it. You can go now."
After the guard left, Brandon Fenn said to Evan, "The steward wants to see you."
"Second Young Master, the steward wants to see me?" Evan asked suspiciously.
"Something happened today, so everyone who entered the Fenn estate in the past few months has to be called in. We all trust you, but it's just a routine check—go answer a few questions and you'll be fine," Brandon Fenn said.
Evan nodded, expression unchanged, and followed Brandon Fenn to Fenn Council Hall. There he saw the steward, Third Young Master Fenn, Miles Fenn, and others, plus many unfamiliar faces—new arrivals like himself.
"There are actually more than twenty people," Evan thought, surprised that so many had entered the Fenn estate in the past few months.
Brandon Fenn pulled Evan over to a spot and had him sit down. Third Young Master Fenn was furious, glaring at everyone, trying to learn something from their answers.
The steward questioned everyone one by one. About half an hour later, it was Evan's turn. Everyone had heard his interrogation before—just a month ago, they'd seen the steward question him.
As for Evan, Brandon Fenn, Third Young Master Fenn, and the steward, none of them suspected him. If they did, Evan could easily poison the wine and kill everyone here.
So soon, everyone was questioned. The steward frowned and said, "You all entered in the past few months, and several of you are already past Mist-Forming. That means even the weakest are in the Shadow-God Realm, so you can all use Flash Step."
Evan hadn't expected them to zero in on Flash Step.
Then the steward continued, "So those of you past Mist-Forming are most likely connected to this unusual incident in the Fenn estate. You'll be sent to a special place, and once things are cleared up, you'll be released."
At these words, many people protested noisily. Evan frowned and said, "Second Young Master, this—"
"Don't worry, I'll speak up for you in a bit," Brandon Fenn said. He knew Evan was the Fenn Family's brewer—if Evan meant harm, he could just poison the wine.
The steward saw the noisy crowd and snorted, "If you enter the Fenn estate, you follow Fenn rules!"
Seeing the steward's authority, everyone quieted down. The steward continued, "I'll have someone take you away now. If you're innocent, you'll be released soon; if not, you'll be executed on the spot."
His words were harsh, making everyone much quieter, until a group of guards appeared and led them away.
Evan was naturally the last in line. He glanced at Brandon Fenn, who stood up and said, "Steward, he's the brewer. If he were the culprit, he'd have harmed us already."
With Brandon Fenn's words, neither the steward nor Third Young Master Fenn objected. After all, they'd all drunk Evan's wine, and Third Young Master Fenn had dealings with Evan privately, so they wouldn't give him trouble.
"Alright, he doesn't need to go. Let him keep brewing for the Fenn Family," the steward said.
Evan nodded. Just as the meeting was about to adjourn, a commotion sounded outside.
"Looks like someone really had ulterior motives!" the steward exclaimed. Everyone rushed out to see—a man had tried to escape and was now badly wounded in the steward's hands.
From the fight just now, Evan realized the steward was very strong—he could easily destroy someone in the Shadow-God Realm.
But that Shadow-God Realm cultivator wasn't weak at all.
"Tell me—did you take Patriarch Yale?" the steward grabbed the man and questioned.
The man was gravely injured and replied, "I didn't."
"Didn't? Then why did you try to escape?" the steward demanded angrily.
"I stole some things and was afraid you'd find out, that's all," the man said, trembling with fear.
"Ridiculous. Take him away!" the steward said furiously upon hearing the excuse.
Evan sighed inwardly but kept a calm face and stayed put. The steward warned the others, "If any of you try to run, I'll kill you instantly!"
No one dared move a muscle, terrified they might die at any moment. Seeing this, the steward snorted, "Take them all away."
After that, things quieted down again. The steward looked at Evan and said, "Though nothing happened to you, just to be safe, stay in your brewing quarters. You're not allowed anywhere else."
Evan hadn't expected this, but for now, he could only accept it.
Back in his quarters, Evan found someone watching him from outside. "This steward really is cautious," he thought.
This made it much harder for Evan to leave. The guard outside was strong—late-stage Shadow-God Realm. If Evan killed him, it would alert the other guards. But if he didn't, getting out would be tough.
Faced with his situation, Evan knew the longer he stayed, the worse it would be. So he came up with an idea and said to the guard, "Can you help me with something?"
The guard asked suspiciously, "What is it?"
"I want to go out and buy some herbs. Could you help me contact Second Young Master Fenn?" Evan said.
"Buy herbs? No way—you can't leave right now," the guard replied.
"Brother, without those herbs, I can't brew. Even precious wine that's halfway done will go to waste," Evan sighed helplessly.
This made the guard think for a moment. "Wait here, I'll contact him for you," he said.
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A short while later, Brandon Fenn arrived. He already understood what Evan wanted. "Evan, what herbs do you need? I'll have someone find them for you."
"Second Young Master, these herbs are hard to identify, and there are a lot of weeds mixed in," Evan said.
"Then I'll just have them buy everything," Brandon Fenn replied.
"Second Young Master, these herbs are extremely valuable. Even a single stalk costs tens of millions of high-grade spirit stones. If we buy fakes, the loss would be..." Evan said with an awkward smile.
Brandon Fenn was surprised at the price. Since no one else could distinguish them, he thought for a moment and said, "Alright, I'll go with you. And so will he."
He pointed at the man watching Evan. Evan knew the Fenn Family didn't fully trust him, but he didn't mind. As long as he could leave, the late-stage Shadow-God Realm guard might be powerful in their eyes, but to Evan, he was just decoration.
So Evan answered without hesitation, "Alright."
Brandon Fenn brought his own guards, plus the late-stage Shadow-God Realm man, and together they left the Fenn estate with Evan to visit other first-class planets and buy herbs.
Unfortunately, Brandon Fenn and his group couldn't find any clues about those herbs, which frustrated him. "Evan, are you sure these herbs even exist?" he asked.
"Yes, I was lucky to buy some before, so I managed to brew a little," Evan replied with a smile. Secretly, he thought, "As if they'd find any."
Hearing this, Brandon Fenn followed Evan to more planets. He couldn't even remember how many they'd visited. Just as he was about to complain, Brandon Fenn was suddenly sealed.
The sudden turn of events shocked everyone.
The Shadow-God Realm expert exclaimed, "Who are you, really?"
The other guards hadn't expected Evan to attack Brandon Fenn. At that moment, Brandon Fenn couldn't move or speak, but the technique was unmistakably familiar.
"Go back and tell the Fenn Family: if they want Second Young Master Fenn's life, they must reveal the side effects of the Domineering Technique. As for how to announce it, I won't explain—just spread the word so the whole world knows. I'll find out," Evan said with a smile.
Domineering Technique? Why did he want that? Brandon Fenn was frustrated, and the others exchanged bewildered glances, unable to make sense of it.
Evan vanished, and the late-stage Shadow-God Realm man couldn't even see where he'd gone—Evan's trail was lost.
After Evan knocked Brandon Fenn unconscious, he threw him into the tower. Then Evan headed toward Ye Chen and the others.
After about half a day, Evan returned to the mountain, but his face changed drastically when he saw it. The paradise was now cracked and ruined, as if a great battle had swept through.
Evan was shocked and quickly took out his communication stone, activating it to see what had happened.
Once activated, he saw many messages from Diley. Evan checked them one by one and guessed they'd run into trouble—and were being chased.
Seeing the situation, Evan quickly contacted Diley. After a while, Diley messaged, "Master, you're back?"
"Where are you now?" Evan asked.
"We're still on this planet, but a bit far from the old spot. I'll send you a rough map. I don't really know where we are," Diley replied.
Evan nodded and soon received a map. He didn't recognize it, so he asked, "Can you come over now?"
"No, Master. We're hiding, and the enemy is strong—even Little Master can't beat them. If we go out, we'll likely get caught," Diley answered.
Evan hadn't expected Diley and the others to run into such trouble. He said angrily, "Wait for me—I'm coming right away."
With that, Evan flashed into the city, hoping someone there might recognize the place on the map.
Evan carried a drawing—the map he'd made—and asked passersby about it, even visiting inns.