"What's wrong?" Evan Yang asked suspiciously when he saw Yvonne Darkmoon looking so anxious.
"They're coming. Hurry, let's go," Yvonne Darkmoon said.
Evan hadn't expected the Yang Clan to arrive so quickly. Since they were here, he immediately used a cultivation technique to seal the two men and the soul, making sure none of them could make a sound. Once everything was settled, Yvonne took out a space ring and collected them all inside.
She said to Evan, "Come on, I know this area well. It'll be hard for them to find us."
Evan nodded and followed Yvonne out, heading east as they'd discussed. Meanwhile, Captain Lee, after escaping the forest, immediately sent word to Terry Yang. Hearing about such a strange event, Terry brought several experts straight to the scene.
"You really are useless! You couldn't even capture an Immortal-Lord and a Heavenly-Immortal!" Terry Yang cursed as he walked.
"Terry Yang, we're not afraid of them, but the real danger here is some terrifying earth beast. It's risky—there could be attacks from below at any moment," Captain Lee said gloomily.
"Stop making excuses. If you don't have the skill, just admit it. Useless," Terry Yang snorted coldly.
Captain Lee was frustrated, unable to respond, so he just led Terry Yang onward. When they reached the spot where they'd been attacked, he said, "This is the place."
Terry Yang glanced around and asked, "Where are they?"
"They should have left," Captain Lee replied.
"Damn it, pair up in twos. If you get any news, report immediately," Terry Yang ordered angrily to his men.
Everyone nodded, splitting into pairs as search teams, while Captain Lee stayed with Terry Yang to wait at the scene.
"So where's that earth beast you mentioned?" After sitting for a while, Terry Yang asked Captain Lee.
Captain Lee replied awkwardly, "No idea."
"Useless! Just one Heavenly-Immortal and some mysterious beast, and you ended up with only one survivor," Terry Yang said furiously.
Captain Lee stayed silent, feeling depressed. He could only pray Terry Yang wouldn't get angry, or he'd be in real trouble.
If Terry Yang didn't still need Captain Lee, he would've already dealt with him.
Time passed, but there was still no news. Finally, Terry Yang stood up impatiently and said, "Looks like we can't find them. This place is too strange. Let's head back—and call the others back too."
With that, he turned to leave. Captain Lee followed, sending messages to recall the others as they walked.
Meanwhile, Evan and Yvonne reached a place in the east—a patch of ground full of stones, with no plants at all. It stood out clearly.
"They're not following us?" Evan asked.
"Hardly anyone knows this route. Unless someone comes here often for fun, nobody would know about this place," Yvonne explained.
"I see. So what do we do now?" Evan asked.
"Did you teach those guys a lesson?" Yvonne asked.
"I did, but I wasn't harsh enough," Evan replied.
"Next time, be tougher. I'll keep them for now—every so often, I'll torture them, so they learn what happens when they bully me," Yvonne snorted coldly.
"That's their bad luck," Evan said.
"If only we could catch that Lord Terry too," Yvonne said.
"He's at Emperor Realm strength. I think it's best not to target him—just dealing with these Immortal-Lords nearly cost us our lives," Evan said.
"Why are you so timid?" Yvonne glared at him.
"Even if the environment here is special, it's impossible to catch that Lord Terry. I think you should give up on that idea and try something else," Evan said.
"Oh, like you have a better idea? Let's hear it," Yvonne asked curiously.
"I don't have any plan, so don't look at me like that. I'm just reminding you—this trick won't work again." Evan knew he'd relied on the environment here and the miniature sword to create a false impression, which is how he managed to handle those skilled Immortal-Lord experts. If it was a real head-on fight, he wouldn't stand a chance.
"Who's behind this?" Evan shouted angrily, his voice echoing through the strange stone field.
"Hahaha!" A loud, grating laugh rang out, stabbing at Evan's ears. At least now he knew someone really was behind this. "I don't know which senior you are," Evan said, trying to steady his nerves.
"So useless! I thought you were supposed to be so amazing, but you're really just average," Yvonne said.
"Average? Then why don't you try catching a few Emperors yourself?" Evan replied.
"Why should I?" Yvonne glared.
"Me? Just a wanderer. People call me Vagabond Sage," the old man said with a lazy grin.
"You! I'm done talking to you. I'll definitely find a way to deal with him! Hmph, just wait and see," Yvonne said, then turned to leave.
"Where are you going?" Evan asked when he saw Yvonne turn to leave.
"Obviously, I'm going back to figure something out. Unlike you, I'm not just going to hide here," Yvonne replied.
"Fine, I'd actually like to see what you come up with," Evan laughed.
"Just wait. I'll definitely take down that psycho demon, no matter how strong his family is—I won't give up," Yvonne said firmly, then left.
Seeing he had nothing left to do, Evan was about to leave as well. Even though he hadn't gained much this time, he'd at least learned some key information: Blaze Mountain was a forbidden ground of the Yang Clan. As long as he found the Yang Clan, he could find Blaze Mountain—and that meant finding his father.
"Dad, I'll figure out where the Yang Clan is soon," Evan muttered. He got up, ready to leave, but suddenly the stones started moving in a precise pattern.
Evan's expression turned to shock. Nothing had happened while Yvonne was here, but now that she'd left, the place was changing. Evan was startled and shouted, "Who's messing around?"
But there was no response—the stones kept moving. Evan tried to lift his foot and take flight, but an invisible force bound him, making him unable to move.
Irrelevant system message, skip this line.
"Damn it, what's going on?" Evan exclaimed in shock.
No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't break free from the binding force.
"Damn it, this is so frustrating!" Evan, unable to fly up, tried to escape underground—but found he couldn't burrow either. He was even more confused: what kind of place was this, to make him so powerless?
Evan checked again. It didn't look like a formation, but these stones were definitely strange. If he tried to attack them, they'd dodge; if he tried to slip through the gaps, that didn't work either. Everything about this place was bizarre.
"Who's behind this?" Evan shouted in anger.
"Hahaha!" A voice rang out—shrill to Evan's ears, but at least now he knew someone really was behind this. "I don't know which senior you are," Evan said.
"I'm no senior, just a wanderer," a man said, sitting on one of the stones and grinning at Evan.
Evan eyed the man on the stone warily. "And you are...?"
The man looked ragged, just like a vagrant, but his bearing was different—Evan could sense he was a formidable expert, though he couldn't figure out exactly how.
"Me? A wanderer. People call me Old Wanderer," the old man said with a lazy grin.
Old Wanderer waved his hand and the stone formation stopped moving. He smiled at Evan, "Once you leave the stone formation, the game begins."
"Senior, junior—whatever," Old Wanderer laughed.
"Senior, may I ask why you stopped me?" Evan asked curiously.
"Stopped you? I was just resting in this forest, but you all disturbed me. That girl seemed pretty cute, so I didn't show myself—now that she's gone, I had to stop you," the wanderer said with a smile.
Evan replied gloomily, "Senior, I didn't mean to disturb you. I'll leave now."
"Leave now? That's too quick. I get bored alone, and it's rare to have anyone come here. Stay and keep me company for a while," the wanderer said with a grin.
"Company? Senior, I'd rather not. I have important things to do," Evan replied, knowing the man was an expert and that playing along would be dangerous.
"Kid, why are you so timid? You're already at Heavenly-Immortal ninth stage. If you keep me company, maybe you'll break through to Profound-Immortal," Old Wanderer said.
Evan couldn't tell if the man was friend or foe, so he could only smile awkwardly. "Senior, that's not necessary. I'll just go back and cultivate properly."
"What? Refusing me? No way. If you won't keep me company, I won't let you leave," Old Wanderer said.
"So, senior, what will it take for you to let me go? You don't mean to keep playing forever, right? That would be endless," Evan said, knowing escape was unlikely—the stone formation was too strange.
Old Wanderer grinned, "Just catch me and I'll let you go. Simple, isn't it?"
"Huh? Senior, you're so strong—catching you? That's impossible, especially since I can't fly or burrow. I'm not that powerful," Evan said awkwardly.
"Don't worry, I don't mean here. I mean in the forest. And I'll only use ten percent of my strength. How about that?" Old Wanderer smiled.
"Ten percent? Is that for real?" Evan asked skeptically.
"I swear to the heavens, it's real," Old Wanderer said.
Evan secretly chuckled—he hadn't expected his Heavenly-Immortal strength to fool the other guy again. If Old Wanderer used only ten percent, even if he was Emperor Realm peak, ten percent was just Profound-Immortal.
Still, Evan pretended to be aggrieved. "If I catch you, you'll let me go? No tricks?"
"Absolutely not!" Old Wanderer said.
Evan nodded. "Alright, so how do we start?"
Old Wanderer waved his hand and the stone formation stopped. He smiled at Evan, "Once you leave the stone formation, we begin."
"Senior, you'll go easy on me, right?" Evan asked.
"No way. I said ten percent, and that's all—no more, no less. Come on," Old Wanderer said, lively as if he'd just woken up.
Evan had no idea how Old Wanderer got out, but now he had no choice but to follow his rules and look for a chance to escape.