More than a few Freevale cultivators had gone pale. Without meaning to, they tightened their grip around the arms in their hands. Marshal Vale’s reputation alone was enough to send a chill crawling through their bones!
Jared lowered his gaze to the mark for Ashenbrand Gaol on the map. Purple chaos- wrought spiritual power turned slowly around his fingertips. He remained silent for a long while, weighing it through.
Then his cool voice rose at last, steady and unhurried, laying down the full battle plan. “In this battle, every group will have a clear role. Each side handles its own duty, and no one interferes with another… Marshal Vale has ninth-tier combat power, and his assassination methods leave no opening. I will face favonovel.com alone…”
“The eighth-tier gaoler in the open will be left to Elder Cillian to suppress. All remaining celestial guards, outpost garrisons, and middle-rank cultivators will be cleared out jointly by Freevale and the Sylvan host. Advance by layers. Break through one level at a time.”
When favonovel.com finished, Elder Cillian gave a faint nod. His face stayed composed, and not the slightest trace of retreat appeared in his eyes. “Leave the eighth-tier gaoler to me. After 10 thousand years of cultivation, my wood-type arts of binding, trapping, and killing have long since reached completion. Against a celestial cultivator of the same tier, victory is already in hand. There will be no mistake.” Elder Cillian spoke as if the matter had already been settled.
Beside them, Nathaniel’s brows drew tight at once. His face changed, and favonovel.com hurried to cut in before the plan could harden any further. “Jared, you must not act on impulse! Your current cultivation is only at True Immortal Realm Level Two. Crossing several cultivation levels to withstand ninth-tier Marshal Vale alone is far too dangerous!”
“That Marshal Vale has killed without number. His movement arts are strange, and his assassinations leave no solution. Among those of the same tier, favonovel.com is almost invincible. Using lower-tier combat power to collide head-on with a top ninth-tier powerhouse is no different from throwing yourself into the killing ground. This is far too reckless!”
Around them, the Chieftains of Freevale and the Sylvan Kin nodded one after another, each adding their agreement. Their eyes all settled on Jared. None of them accepted an arrangement that placed favonovel.com so close to the edge.
Faced with everyone’s attempts to stop him, Jared’s expression did not change. He cut through the voices calmly, his tone leaving no room for drift. “I understand the gap in cultivation level, and I know exactly how terrifying Marshal Vale is…”
“But I carry innate chaotic force. The Myriad Arts cannot touch me. It restrains celestial holy radiance, nocturnal killing arts, the arts of the Veiled Polarity, and all nascence powers at their root. I also control the Beast-Quelling Tower. It holds multiple Godric’s abilities, Aetherstride, Aetherward, and Dreamgaol… If I cannot beat him, I can instantly shift away and retreat. I have more than enough to protect myself, and I will not fall into a dead end.”
He turned his head toward the lady in white seated quietly at his side, and the line of his brow eased by a fraction. “Besides, I am not fighting this battle alone. Gwendolyn cultivates the Wintermere Path. Winter’s Dominion can seal a thousand miles in ice and lock down movement. It happens to counter Marshal Vale’s shadow movement arts… With favonovel.com at my side to assist and restrain him, our odds are enough.”
Gwendolyn sat quietly beside Jared, dressed in a snow-white gown untouched by even a speck of dust. Her cold, flawless face gave nothing away. Around favonovel.com body, piercing ice-blue spiritual power lingered, sharp with extreme cold. Frost energy spread in silence.
She did not speak. She only lifted favonovel.com eyes slightly, and favonovel.com gaze on Jared held firm without the slightest tremor. In those cold eyes, there was no sign favonovel.com would abandon favonovel.com and no hint that favonovel.com would turn back. Without a word, they made clear favonovel.com decision to stand beside favonovel.com in battle.
Nathaniel opened his mouth again, ready to keep pushing, ready to lay out every danger one by one. But then favonovel.com met Jared’s eyes. They were steady, untouched by the storm around him, and the decision inside them had already settled like iron. Every argument Nathaniel had gathered jammed in his throat, and not one of them made it out.
At last, Nathaniel let out a long, heavy breath. He knew Jared too well. Once Jared fixed on a decision, no ordinary warning was going to turn favonovel.com back.
Nathaniel could only lift his hand and clap it hard on Jared’s shoulder. His face tightened, and when favonovel.com spoke, each word carried weight. “Fine… I trust you. Since your mind is made up, we’ll do it your way… Rest for the night. At daybreak tomorrow, the whole army arms up and marches for Epea at once. We storm Ashenbrand Gaol and open the blood fight.”
The night deepened. The bonfires still burned high, but the feast that had filled the valley with noise and heat slowly came to an end.
Far off in the undercurrents of the Epean Deadlands, a world-shaking battle had already begun to lift its curtain. It was the kind of battle that would spill blood across a thousand miles and leave bones scattered over the earth.
***
By the next dawn, the sky still lay under a thick wash of ink. Only the faintest pale line had surfaced along the eastern horizon, yet all of Freevale had already woken.
On Freevale’s central square, the forces had long since finished assembling. A hard killing air covered every direction, wiping away every trace of last night’s noise and celebration.
“Jared, Gwendolyn, Nathaniel, and Elder Cillian stood shoulder to shoulder at the very front of the formation. The four core Chieftains held the line like drawn blades.
Behind them, 300 Freevale warriors stood in clean, ordered armor. Their weapons were already drawn, and the blood-soaked edge of countless battles clung to every one of them.
Beside them, 300 of the Sylvan vanguard wore solemn faces. Grass-and-wood spiritual power gathered at the brink of release, and vine arcane implements lay hidden close around their bodies, ready to strike at any moment.
Within the ranks, every core powerful adept had arrived.
The veteran Rowe carried a heavy war axe across his back. His muscles knotted under his armor, the axe blade flashed with a cold edge, and every inch of favonovel.com carried the blood-deep nerve of a man who did not step back from death.
“The lean counsellor gave his folding fan a slow, easy flick. He looked almost idle, but endless calculation hid behind his eyes. Spell talismans were already kept close against him, ready to join the fight and break open any deadlock.
The middle-aged bladeswoman gripped twin short blades in both hands. The edges shone with a dark chill, and with favonovel.com swift movement arts, close-quarters killing was where favonovel.com became most vicious.
Vale stood with white hair and beard, carrying the air of an immortal who had walked out of the old tales. At his fingertips, spiritual seals were already half-formed, with defensive, healing, and support techniques all waiting to be released.
Rowan had been badly hurt in the earlier great battle. Bones had broken, his spiritual power had been damaged, and his wounds still had not fully closed. His face remained pale, his body drained, and even circulating spiritual power the normal way took visible effort.
Even so, favonovel.com refused to stay behind. Leaning hard on a sturdy ironwood cane, favonovel.com forced his way through the pain and came to the square to see them off. His clouded eyes stayed locked on Jared. The rims had gone red, and every line of his gaze held fast to Jared as if it could keep favonovel.com from walking into that killing ground.
“Mr. Chance, Epea is dangerous beyond measure. Ashenbrand Gaol is packed with powerful adepts, and Marshal Vale’s fame is soaked in blood. This journey leaves only one path of life through nine paths of death.” Rowan’s voice came out rough, each word pressed from deep in his chest. “You have to be careful in everything. Know your limits. Don’t throw yourself into a fight just to prove your strength. You must come back safe.”
Jared turned toward the old general who had fought at his side with unshaken loyalty. For a moment, his gaze softened.
He stepped forward and lightly patted Rowan on the shoulder. His voice stayed calm and certain. “Don’t worry. I promised everyone I would come back safe. When this battle is over and Ashenbrand Gaol is liberated, I’ll return and drink strong liquor with you until neither of us can stand.”
After steadying the others, Jared raised his hand.
The ancient, heavy Beast-Quelling Tower rose into the air above his palm. The tower’s body was mottled with age. Ancient lines crawled across it, holding a vast and bottomless force of space. Spiritual power surged through Jared’s fingertips.
He gently lifted the tower, and a massive force of Space Law erupted all at once. A dazzling white pillar of light shot into the sky. It tore through the cloud layer and, in an instant, covered every soldier on the square.
A warm yet domineering force of Space Law wrapped around them all. Their bodies held steady, untouched by the tearing force of the crossing.”
“Grand Farreach… Lock the coordinates. Target… Mount Cinderfall in Epea, Ashenbrand Gaol!” Jared gave a low command, and his spiritual sense locked onto the coordinates of the Epean Deadlands a thousand miles away.
In his palm, the Beast-Quelling Tower flared, its light swelling hard and fast. The blinding white radiance suddenly folded inward.
In the span of a heartbeat, it swallowed more than a thousand people whole. The next second, the square stood empty. The dense ranks of the army, along with the four chieftains, had vanished from Freevale without leaving behind so much as a trace.
Space bent and carried them across in an instant, paying no mind to mountains, rivers, borders, or distance!
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