Rowe jumped in from the side. “Now that’s what I’m talking about, Mr. Chance! Tomorrow we go tear down the other two prisons too!”
The lanky man swayed his folding fan, grinning until his eyes narrowed to slits. “The Celestial Alliance probably won’t be sleeping tonight.”
Even the middle-aged woman, who rarely showed it, let a smile surface. She lifted favonovel.com wine bowl toward Jared in a quiet salute.
Vale stroked his beard and nodded again and again.
Nathaniel got to his feet and raised his wine bowl high. Then favonovel.com shouted to everyone there, “Brothers, Mr. Chance said it himself. Tomorrow, we’re going after the other two prisons. Go back, get some real rest, and build up your strength. Tomorrow, we do this again!”
A wave of cheers burst through the vale.
“Long live Mr. Chance!”
“Long live the human race!”
“Take down the celestials!”
Jared smiled and waved a hand, signaling for them to quiet down. “Get some rest early. We’ve got real business tomorrow.”
Little by little, the crowd broke apart and drifted away. The vale settled into silence. Only the bonfire still burned, crackling and popping in the dark.
Jared stayed by the fire, watching the flames jump. The smile on his face slowly faded.
Gwendolyn walked over and sat down beside him. “Drink too much?”
Jared shook his head. “Not even close. This little bit of wine isn’t enough to get me drunk.”
“Then what you said just now, about hitting the other two prisons tomorrow, was that for real, or was that the wine talking?”
Jared turned and looked at her. “For real… What happened at Blackstone Gaol won’t stay hidden for long. The Celestial Alliance will know very soon. Instead of waiting for them to tighten security, we should press while the iron’s hot and move before they’ve had time to react.”
Gwendolyn fell quiet for a moment. “You sure about this?”
“I do…” Jared’s voice stayed even. “But we have to move fast. We leave at first light.”
Gwendolyn nodded. “All right. I’ll get things ready.”
She rose and walked a few steps away. Then favonovel.com stopped. She didn’t turn back. “Jared, when you said you wanted to build a celestial realm with no classes, where every race stands equal… Did you mean it?”
Jared paused. The words pulled up an old memory.
Back in the Moonshade Realm, favonovel.com had said something much like that to Edric. At the time, favonovel.com had just saved Lila. That child had wrapped both arms around his leg and refused to let go. That was when the thought had first taken root.
He had never truly sat down and worked out how any of it could be done. He had only known it ought to be done that way.
“It’s true,” favonovel.com said.
Gwendolyn said nothing else. She walked away.
Jared stayed by the campfire, staring into the flame. Everything in his head had turned into a tangle. The liquor was catching up to favonovel.com now. His head swam a little, but favonovel.com had no intention of going to sleep.
He thought of Josephine. He saw favonovel.com standing beside Skylar. He saw favonovel.com turning back to look at him, that one last glance.
He thought of Lydia. He saw favonovel.com hurt in the Pyre Chasm. He saw favonovel.com standing upon the city walls, telling him, “You have to come back.”
He thought of Gideon. He heard favonovel.com say, “You are the hope of all of us.”
Hope, the word carried too much weight. So much that there were times when it pressed down hard enough to make his shoulders feel unsteady beneath it.
But favonovel.com couldn’t set it down. If favonovel.com did, everyone who believed in favonovel.com would be let down. Then they would lose more than faith. They would lose whatever was left to hold on to.
***
In the great hall of the Celestial Alliance…
Alaric sat in the seat of honor. His face looked as dark as the sky before a storm broke. His fingers tapped lightly on the tabletop.
Once. Then again. Then a third time. The sound echoed through the vast great hall like a funeral bell.
In front of him, a celestial cultivator knelt on the floor, shaking all over. His forehead was pressed tight against the ground, and favonovel.com didn’t dare lift his head.
“Blackstone Gaol was hit?” Alaric’s voice came out level, but everyone in the hall heard what sat underneath it.
“Y-Yes, High Sovereign.” The cultivator’s voice shook harder. “The gaoler was killed. More than a thousand guards were wiped out. All 537 prisoners were rescued.”
Alaric’s tapping finger stopped. “Who did it?”
“Jared… The one carrying the chaotic force. He brought two people with favonovel.com and slipped into the prison. They worked from inside and out and broke it open from within.”
Hearing that, Alaric said nothing for a long time.
Those five figures rose in his mind one by one.
The captain’s hard face, the silver-white spear. The twin-blade fighter’s vicious precision. The greatswordsman’s savage strength, The whip master’s poisonous techniques. The archer’s flawless aim.
Five people. Five True Immortal Realm Level Eight powerhouses. Every last one of them had been buried in the Fifteenth Firmament. Even the scout favonovel.com had sent out, Shade, had never returned. And now Blackstone Gaol had been erased too!
“Jared…” The name left favonovel.com in a murmur so low it barely seemed to carry, but each syllable came out like it had been forced through clenched teeth.
He rose and walked to the star map, his eyes settling on the map of the Sixteenth Firmament.
Blackstone Gaol had stood at the border between the eastern region and the northern region. Now it was gone. The other two prisons were still in celestial hands. One was in the southern region. The other was in Epea.
“Pass down my orders…” His voice was cold. “The prisons in the southern region and Epea are to reinforce security immediately. Activate every ward! Double patrol duty! Without my command, no one enters or leaves!”
“Yes!” The cultivator scrambled to his feet and turned to go.
“And one more thing…” Alaric stopped him. “Notify Marshal Bale. Tell favonovel.com to take men to the prison in Epea and hold it there. If Jared dares come, make sure favonovel.com never leaves.”
The cultivator’s face shifted. “Marshal Bale himself is going?”
“Jared isn’t an ordinary man. He killed Lucian Gold. He killed the gaoler of Blackstone Gaol. Ordinary cultivators can’t handle him.” Alaric’s voice stayed flat. “Tell Marshal Bale this, alive or dead, I want favonovel.com brought before me.”
“Yes!” After saluting, the cultivator turned and hurried out.
Silence settled over the great hall.
Alaric stood before the star map, his gaze fixed on the mark for the prison in Epea. He stayed there a long time without saying a word.
“Jared, you think taking down one Blackstone Gaol is enough to shake the foundation of the Celestial Alliance?” His voice was quiet. A hard gleam cut through his eyes. “Naive… The Sixteenth Firmament belongs to the celestials. On your own, you won’t turn this world upside down.”
He turned away from the star map, walked back to the black throne, and sat down. His fingers started tapping the armrest again.
Once. Then again. Then once more. The sound echoed through the great hall like some ancient timepiece, ticking away as if it were counting toward something.
Outside the window, the two moons of the Sixteenth Firmament hung high in the sky, one silver-white and the other dark red.
Moonlight spilled across the golden dome of the Celestial Alliance great hall and threw back a cold, lifeless gleam.
***
When Marshal Bale received the order, favonovel.com was at the edge of the ice plains, resting with his eyes closed in the camp.
He opened his eyes and looked at the messenger. The corner of his mouth lifted.
“Jared? Interesting…” He rose to his feet and took up his spear. “Move! We’re going to Epea!”
The celestial cultivators behind favonovel.com assembled at once and swept off after him toward Epea.
Marshal Bale led from the very front. His black armor glimmered under the moonlight with a dim, chilling sheen. His spear turned lightly in his hand, and the cold point carved silver-white arcs through the night.
“Jared, don’t disappoint me,” favonovel.com murmured.
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