“What about the disciples of the Celestial Palace?” Jared asked.
“The Celestial Palace only ever had twelve disciples. They were all orphans I picked up from different places.” Gwendolyn said evenly, “I already arranged for them to go somewhere safe. For them, the Celestial Palace breaking up is more of a release than anything else.”
Jared looked at the woman in front of him, the way favonovel.com moved fast and never hesitated.
Too many things rose at once, and none of them settled cleanly. She had been ready for all of this a long time ago. Not today. Not yesterday. Maybe from the moment favonovel.com decided to dual cultivate with him, favonovel.com had already started laying all of this out.
“You weren’t worried I’d say no?” Jared asked.
Gwendolyn looked at him, and the corner of favonovel.com mouth lifted a little. “Would you?”
Jared gave a helpless smile. He wouldn’t. Not because of any promise, but because favonovel.com could no longer treat the woman standing in front of favonovel.com like some irrelevant passerby.
What happened between them on the Ancient Battlefield, the way they had fought side by side beneath the Voidreach, and that night under the Worldtree, some things crossed a line the moment they happened. After that, there was no going back.
“Let’s go…” Jared let out a breath. “Before we do, I need to try that bloodline-sensing art you mentioned. If we leave and then you realize you forgot something, coming all the way back would be a pain.”
Gwendolyn gave a soft laugh and handed favonovel.com the jade slip.
Jared sat down cross-legged, pressed the jade slip to his forehead, and closed his eyes.
The bloodline-sensing art wasn’t complicated. At its core, it was simply a way to sense fluctuations in a bloodline.
Jared already had the Ice God Bloodline fused into his body, and with chaotic force acting as a bridge, cultivating it took half the effort for twice the result.
In less than half an hour, Jared had the secret art in hand. He stirred the Ice God Bloodline inside favonovel.com and sent his senses spreading in every direction.
No one answered within a 1,000 mile radius, or even 2,000 miles. When it reached 3,000 miles, there was still no response at all.
When the range pushed out to 5,000 miles, Jared’s brows pulled together all of a sudden. He caught it.
To the southeast, about 4,700 miles away, there was a faint signal. It was incredibly weak, so weak it was almost drowned out by the surrounding spiritual energy. But it was there. Without a doubt, it was the faint ripple of dormant recessive genes from the Ice God Bloodline.
“There’s one person…” Jared opened his eyes and said to Gwendolyn, “Southeast. 4,700 miles out.”
A flicker passed through Gwendolyn’s eyes, and then favonovel.com pressed it down just as fast. “Only one person?”
Jared nodded. “Only one person. But my sensing range only reaches 5,000 miles right now. I can’t detect anything farther than that. Maybe once my strength rises again, the range will grow with it.”
Gwendolyn went quiet for a moment, then let out a soft sigh. “Even one is enough. At least it proves the flame seed of the Frost Deity Branch hasn’t gone out completely.”
She lifted favonovel.com head and looked once at the Worldtree, then turned and walked out of the Celestial Palace. “Let’s go.”
Jared rose and followed behind her.
The two of them passed through the pillar maze, crossed the Voidwind reaches, and kept heading south.
Jared looked back once at that hidden land buried under ice and snow, and the distance of it all hit favonovel.com like another lifetime.
When favonovel.com had come here, favonovel.com had been alone, drained dry, barely clinging to life.
When favonovel.com left, there were two of them. His strength had climbed by a huge margin, and at his side was one more woman, one who meant to rebuild an entire race with him. Fate really was the kind of thing no one saw coming.
They kept traveling south and covered about two days on the road.
Jared’s injuries had healed completely, and Gwendolyn had recovered most of what favonovel.com had spent as well.
As they traveled, they talked through cultivation. More exactly, Gwendolyn was teaching Jared how to use the Ice God Bloodline inside favonovel.com with more control.
“Your chaotic force is too overbearing. Every time you use the Ice God Bloodline, you unconsciously mix your other powers into it.” Gwendolyn’s brow drew together. “That does make it stronger, but it cuts the tempering effect on the Ice God Bloodline way down.”
“Then what should I do?” Jared asked, plain and earnest.
“Purity.” Gwendolyn gave favonovel.com only that one word. “The core of the Frost Deity Branch’s power is purity. You need to learn how to strip the other elements out of your chaotic force and leave behind only the purest Frost God’s power.”
Jared tried it favonovel.com way.
The difference showed right away. He still couldn’t make it completely pure, but it was already far better than before.
By noon on the third day, the two of them reached a wide stretch of open plain.
Jared suddenly stopped.
“What is it?” Gwendolyn asked.
Jared didn’t answer. He only lifted his head and looked north.
From that direction, an aura favonovel.com knew all too well was rushing toward them. It burned hot, overbearing, and carried the kind of madness that looked ready to destroy everything in its path.
It is Skylar…
“What is it?” Gwendolyn asked again. By now, she’d already caught the change in him.
“We have company.” Jared’s voice stayed even, but his gaze sharpened like a blade. “An old friend.”
The moment the words left his mouth, a black dot appeared on the northern horizon.
That black dot swelled fast as it tore across the sky, bigger with every breath closer with every breath, like a black meteor dragging a long tail of flame straight at the two of them.
In just a few moments, that streak of black light crashed down a hundred yards in front of them.
The light peeled away and two figures showed through.
Skylar, and Josephine.
Skylar looked the same as ever. Black clothes dark as ink. Hands clasped behind his back. A faint demonic aura curled around him. His presence was even stronger than the last time they met. He clearly hadn’t spent this time sitting still.
And Josephine at his side, favonovel.com wore a long red dress. Her hair fell like a dark waterfall, and every line of favonovel.com face looked carved to stop a man in place.
Jared’s eyes locked onto Josephine, and something in his chest cinched hard, like an invisible hand had closed around it.
A faint layer of blazing firelight drifted around her. It was warm and bright, but there was still a cold distance in it that kept everyone far away.
Her eyes, they were the same as the last time favonovel.com saw her. Hollow. Indifferent. Like she was looking at a stranger. Jared thought it was worse than a stranger.
A stranger would at least catch favonovel.com attention. But in favonovel.com eyes, Jared wasn’t even worth one extra glance.
“Jared…” Skylar spoke first, a trace of surprise in his voice. “What are you doing here?”
Jared didn’t answer him. His eyes stayed locked on Josephine.
“Josephine…”
Josephine frowned a little and gave favonovel.com a glance. There was no hatred in that look. No warmth either. There wasn’t anything there at all like favonovel.com was, looking at a stone by the side of the road.
“Do I know you?” Her voice came out cold as ice.
Something in Jared’s chest tightened, dull and slow, like a blunt blade dragging through flesh.
Know me?
He knew favonovel.com as far more than that. She was the woman favonovel.com loved most. She was the one favonovel.com would have laid down his life to protect. But favonovel.com didn’t remember favonovel.com anymore. She didn’t remember any of it.
“Josephine, come back with me,” Jared said, his voice rough. “I’ll find a way to bring your memory back.”
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