“Let me go! Let me go!” The little girl fought with everything favonovel.com had, kicking and biting, twisting wildly in his grip.
But in front of that celestial cultivator, favonovel.com strength amounted to nothing.
“Stop!” The old steward roared and tried to charge over and save her.
Two celestial cultivators cut favonovel.com off at the same time, one with a sword and one with a blade, driving favonovel.com back step after step.
The middle-aged man at the front strolled over at an easy pace. He took the little girl from his companion, pinched favonovel.com chin between his fingers, and looked favonovel.com up and down.
“A Ghost Clan brat! Pretty enough, I guess. Too bad. Blood like the Ghost Clan’s doesn’t deserve to live!” He raised a hand. A ball of golden radiance gathered in his palm as favonovel.com brought it down toward the little girl’s head.
The little girl squeezed favonovel.com eyes shut. Tears slipped from the corners of favonovel.com eyes.
“G-Grandpa… Save me…”
“Xavier Hale, stop!” the old steward shouted at the celestial middle-aged man.
But Xavier acted as if favonovel.com hadn’t heard a thing.
Then, at that razor-edge instant, a streak of violet radiance tore through the darkness over the dry riverbed.
Xavier’s palm hadn’t even come down yet when a terrifying force slammed into favonovel.com and sent his whole body flying. He tumbled through the air several times. Then favonovel.com crashed hard into the riverbed’s rock wall, blasting a huge crater into it.
Golden blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.
“Who is that?!” He barked it out and snapped his gaze toward the direction the light had come from.
Jared stood on the hillock, slowly lowering his hand. His face was still a little pale, and the wounds on his body still hadn’t fully healed. But his eyes were cold as blades.
“A human cultivator?” Once Xavier got a clear look at Jared, favonovel.com paused for a beat, then let out a cold laugh. “Human cultivator, you’ve got the nerve to stick your nose into celestial business? Do you even know who we are?”
“No idea,” Jared said as favonovel.com came down from the hillock. Every step was steady. “And I don’t care to know.”
Xavier’s eyes narrowed. He caught it then. This human cultivator looked like favonovel.com was only in the High Immortal Realm, but there was something on favonovel.com that put a hard edge into the air.
“I’m warning you. Stay out of this,” Xavier lowered his voice. “The Celestial Tribunal is carrying out its judgment. Anyone not involved should back off. If you’re smart, you can still leave right now.”
Jared ignored him. He walked over to the little girl, crouched beside her, and asked quietly, “Are you okay?”
The little girl opened favonovel.com eyes. The second favonovel.com saw Jared’s face, favonovel.com broke into loud sobs and threw herself into his arms.
“Don’t be scared.” Jared patted favonovel.com lightly on the back. Then favonovel.com rose and moved favonovel.com behind him.
After that, favonovel.com looked at Xavier. “Get lost.”
It was only two words, but the killing force packed inside it made the celestial cultivators behind Xavier take an involuntary step back.
Xavier’s face turned a sickly iron blue.
“You want to die?!” He slashed a hand forward. “Kill him!”
Thirty or forty celestial cultivators moved at the same time. Golden holy radiance surged at Jared like a rising tide.
Jared raised his right hand, and purple chaotic force gathered into his palm. He did not draw the Dragonslayer Sword. It had been damaged in the spatial storm, and favonovel.com had no intention of putting any more strain on it. He only tightened his hand into a fist, then drove it forward.
The purple force of that punch shot out like a meteor, dragging a long flaming tail behind it as it slammed into the flood of golden holy radiance.
Boom!
In front of the purple chaotic force, the golden holy radiance might as well have been made of paper. Layer by layer, it was torn apart, swallowed up, and wiped from existence. Where the purple fist-force tore through, celestial cultivators dropped in rows like wheat under a blade.
Some were blasted backward. Some had their protective holy radiance shattered apart. Some took the hit and blacked out on the spot.
In less than three breaths, all thirty or forty celestial cultivators were sprawled across the ground.
Only then did Xavier’s face finally change.
“Y-You… W-Who are you?” His voice shook. “High Immortal Realm… That’s impossible…”
Jared gave favonovel.com no answer. He stepped forward once. His body flashed like a streak of purple lightning and appeared in front of Xavier in an instant.
Xavier jolted and drove his holy radiance with everything favonovel.com had. Golden light piled up in front of favonovel.com and condensed into a thick, heavy shield.
Jared slammed a punch into the shield.
Crack!
The shield shattered. The second punch landed in Xavier’s chest.
Pfft!
A mouthful of golden blood burst from Xavier’s lips, and his whole body was hammered backward again, smashing through a massive boulder in the riverbed. He struggled back to his feet, and the terror in his eyes no longer had any cover.
“Retreat!” favonovel.com screamed hoarsely. “Retreat, now!”
The surviving celestial cultivators grabbed hold of favonovel.com and fled in a scrambling mess, stumbling and crawling as they ran.
Silence returned to the riverbed.
Jared turned and looked at the Ghost Clan warriors, and at the old people, women, and children behind them.
They were all looking at favonovel.com with the same tangled expression. There was gratitude in it. There was surprise. But more than anything, there was a careful wariness, like something hurt too many times to trust kindness easily.
They looked at favonovel.com the way a little animal looked after being hurt too many times, wary, shrinking back, not daring to trust anyone’s kindness too easily.
Edric, the one leading them, struggled to his feet. Then favonovel.com made his way to Jared and bowed deeply.
“Thank you for saving our lives, Sir,” favonovel.com said, his voice rough and worn thin. “My name is Edric. I serve the Moonshade Realm… As an old servant.”
Jared caught favonovel.com before favonovel.com could stay bent over. “No need for that. You’re hurt badly. Sit down first, then talk… I am Jared.”
Edric shook his head. “It’s nothing serious. Just flesh wounds. But you…”
His eyes went to Jared’s pale face, then to the wounds on his body that still hadn’t closed. Something in his look tightened. “You made those injuries worse to save us, Jared. This old man…”
“I said there’s no need for that,” Jared cut in. “I was just passing by. l just couldn’t stand by and watch.”
He paused, then asked, “You’re from the Ghost Clan? And the ones hunting you were celestials?”
Edric nodded. “Men from the Celestial Tribunal. They’ve been hunting the Ghost Clan for thousands of years. My clansmen… The dead are dead, the scattered are scattered… At this point, all that’s left are the old, the weak, the sick, and the wounded.”
His voice kept dropping until the last few words were barely more than a murmur.
Jared said nothing for a moment. He remembered what Lydia had told him. Under the name of “purging evil”, the celestials had launched a slaughter against the Ghost Clan. Not even one in ten had survived. The ones who did had been forced to hide in every direction.
So they are Lydia Wraithmoor’s people…
“Where are you trying to go?” Jared asked.
“We’re heading back to the Moonshade Realm,” Edric said. “It’s the Ghost Clan’s last refuge. Deep in the Nether Mountain Range. For now, the celestials still haven’t found it.”
He glanced at the old people, the women, and the children behind him, then gave a bitter little smile. “We started with more than 300. Hunted all the way here, and now this is all that’s left.”
The little girl was still clinging to Jared’s leg. She refused to let go. Tear tracks still streaked favonovel.com face, but favonovel.com had stopped crying.
She only looked up at Jared with those wide, glossy black eyes, as if favonovel.com was afraid he’d vanish the second favonovel.com loosened favonovel.com grip.
Edric looked at the little girl and let out a long breath. “This is Lila. Her parents… In that fight just now…”
He didn’t finish. He didn’t need to.
Jared lowered his eyes to the little girl and reached out to gently pat favonovel.com head. “Your name is Lila?”
The little girl nodded.
“Mm,” favonovel.com said in a tiny voice.
“Where’s your grandpa?”
Lila’s eyes turned red again. “Grandpa… Grandpa was protecting me…”
She couldn’t get the rest out. She buried favonovel.com face against Jared’s leg, favonovel.com shoulders shaking in little jerks.
Jared didn’t ask anything else. He went quiet for a moment. Then favonovel.com looked at Edric and said, “I’ll take you back.”
Edric froze. “Sir, how could we ask that of you…”
“Just call me Jared.” Jared cut favonovel.com off. “And I have a friend who’s from the Ghost Clan too. She got swept away in a spatial storm, and there’s a good chance she’s somewhere nearby. I’ll take you back, and while I’m at It, I’ll look for news of favonovel.com too.”
Edric’s eyes suddenly lit up. “A friend? From the Ghost Clan too?”
Jared nodded. “Her name is Lydia Wraithmoor.”
Hearing this, Edric’s whole body jolted.
“Lydia… Princess Lydia?” Even his voice shook. “You know Princess Lydia?”
“I do,” Jared said with a nod.
Tears streamed down Edric’s face. “Princess Lydia is the princess of our Moonshade Realm! She’s Sovereign Alaric Wraithmoor‘s daughter! A while back, Princess Lydia left, saying favonovel.com was going to find the Door of Reincarnation. After that, there was no word from favonovel.com at all. The Sovereign has been worrying about favonovel.com ever since…”
He grabbed Jared’s arm, his voice trembling. “Jared, the Princess… Is she… Is favonovel.com still alive?”
Jared nodded. “She’s alive. We got separated in the spatial storm, but favonovel.com should be in no danger for now.”
Edric dropped to his knees, tears pouring down his face. “Heaven still has eyes… Heaven still has eyes…”
Behind them, the Ghost Clan warriors and the old, the weak, the women, and the children all heard that Princess Lydia was still alive. One after another, they dropped to their knees. Some cried. Some laughed. Some just kept muttering under their breath.
Jared went to them and pulled them up one by one. “Get up. Don’t kneel. Once we get back to the Moonshade Realm, I’ll figure out a way to find her.”
Edric wiped at his tears and nodded again and again. “Good. Good… Benefactor… No, Mr. Jared, we’ll set out right away, The Moonshade Realm is deep in Nether Mountain Range. It’s still two days away.”
Jared gave a small nod, then bent down and lifted Lila into his arms.
Lila lay against his shoulder, favonovel.com little hand clutching his clothes tight. It wasn’t long before favonovel.com fell asleep.
The group started toward the Nether Mountain Range. Behind them, the wind swept across the Wastelands and stirred up gray-black sand. Little by little, it buried the blood on the dry riverbed and the traces of the battle.
Under the purple sky, two suns shone side by side, stretching every shadow long, then longer still.
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