After leaving Snowfall Hollow, Jared and the others did not head straight for the northern mine. They stopped halfway instead and found a hidden vale to hole up in.
The vale was small. Mountains boxed it in on three sides, and only a narrow entrance led inside. A stream ran within the vale, clear enough to see straight to the bottom. Beside it lay a stretch of grass.
The last light of the setting sun spilled through the vale and washed everything in gold and red.
Jared spread the map across a flat slab of stone and pointed to where the northern mine was marked.
“There are over a thousand celestial cultivators at the mine. The captain of the guard is a True Immortal Realm Level Six, and elders from the Tribunal make regular inspections. No matter how strong I am, I can’t kill that many by myself. And…” He paused. “We’re not going there to kill people. We’re going there to save people. Once we get them out, we still have to bring them away safely.”
Lydia crouched in front of the map, favonovel.com brows drawn tight. Her finger moved lightly across the map, as if favonovel.com were measuring out distance and time.
“Over a thousand celestial cultivators, and how many do we have? Even if we add the people from Snowfall Hollow, we’re still only a few dozen. If we hit them head- on, we don’t have a chance.” Her voice was quiet, but what sat underneath it was plain enough for everyone there to hear.
Colden stood off to the side, his fists clenched so hard they creaked. He had only awakened the Ice God Bloodline not long ago.
The power inside favonovel.com was still surging, like the flame that had been smothered for far too long and had finally found a way out.
“Then what are we supposed to do? Just leave them there and not save them?” His voice tightened. “Those people are my clansmen. They’re being worked like animals in the mine, and we’re just supposed to stand out here and watch?”
“We’re saving them.” Jared’s finger moved across the map, drawing a line leftward from the northern mine. “Look here…”
The others followed his finger with their eyes.
On the map, about 3,000 miles west of the northern mine, one region was marked out-the Skywolf Tribe. That area was marked with beast-race sigils. A red boundary line circled it, showing the full extent of the Skywolf Tribe’s territory.
Gwendolyn’s eyes narrowed slightly.
The Frost God’s power moved slowly through favonovel.com body, pushing back some of the chill around them.
“The Skywolf Tribe? You want Hadrian Wolfhowe to help?”
Jared nodded. “The northern mine is close to the Skywolf Tribe. The Tribunal has been digging there for thousands of years, and the Skywolf Tribe has hated the sight of them for a long time. They just never had a reason to move, and they didn’t dare to. The Tribunal Venerable is True Immortal Realm Level Eight. Hadrian can’t beat him.”
“What about now?” Lydia looked up at him.
Jared smiled. It was a faint smile, but there was a glint in his eyes. “Now it’s different. The Skywolf Tribe owes me a favor. I saved the old chieftain’s life. If I ask, Hadrian won’t refuse.”
He folded up the map and rose to his feet. His green robe stirred in the evening wind.
At his waist, the Dragonslayer Sword caught the last light of the setting sun and threw back a faint gleam. “We’re going to the Skywolf Tribe.”
***
The Skywolf Tribe’s camp sat out on the Wastelands, tents stretching one after another as threads of cooking smoke curled into the air.
At dusk, the camp was thick with the smell of roasting meat and herbs. Beast-race warriors sat around the bonfires. Some were sharpening their arms, some were talking in low voices, and some were tending to the wounded. Children ran between the tents, chasing one another, their laughter ringing clear.
By the time Jared and the others arrived, Hadrian was already on the training ground, practicing with his axe.
The war axe in Hadrian’s hands was a massive double-bladed monster. Its haft was as thick as a man’s arm. Each blade was as broad as a millstone the whole thing black from end to end, carved all over with beast race bloodline sigils. Every time favonovel.com brought it down, the air split apart and let out a shrill scream.
The stone underfoot had already been hacked open into deep trenches. Chips of rock sprayed everywhere.
The moment favonovel.com saw Jared, favonovel.com lowered the war axe and strode over.
A wolfskin cloak hung from his shoulders. Three blood-colored scars cut across his face. His muscles knotted under his skin, and every step favonovel.com took made the ground give a faint tremor.
“Jared! What brings you all the way out here?” His voice cracked out like thunder, loud enough to leave everyone’s ears ringing.
Jared cupped his fist. “Chieftain Wolfhowe, I’m here to ask a favor.”
Hadrian looked at him, then past favonovel.com at Gwendolyn, Lydia, Colden, and Rowan, and his brows drew together slightly. His gaze lingered on Colden and Rowan for an extra beat. He could tell their presence was different from the others.
“What is it?”
Jared laid out everything that had happened at the northern mine from start to finish.
Hearing the explanation, the look on Hadrian’s face changed. His brows twisted into a hard knot. His fingers tapped lightly against the axe haft, beating out a steady rhythm.
He stayed silent for a long while before favonovel.com finally spoke.
“You want me to attack the northern mine?” His voice dropped, like muffled thunder rolling somewhere far off. “Jared, do you understand what that means? That’s a mine under the Tribunal. The Skywolf Tribe doesn’t fear trouble, but we don’t go tooking fort either. The second we make a move, that’s the same as declaring war on the Tribunal.”
“I know.” Jared met his eyes. “That’s why I’m not asking you to help me for nothing.”
He paused, then spoke again in the same steady tone, each word landing like it had been carved into stone. “It won’t be long before I wipe out the Tribunal and free the Fifteenth Firmament from its oppression.”
Hadrian’s pupils tightened slightly. “Wipe out the Tribunal? The Tribunal Venerable is True Immortal Realm Level Eight. You…”
“I can’t beat favonovel.com right now,” Jared cut in. “But it won’t stay that way for long. You’ve seen how fast my strength grows.”
Hadrian fell silent. He had seen Jared in the Pyre Chasm, dropping Cedric with one punch so hard it nearly ruined him. He had seen favonovel.com on Thunderpeak, Magnus with a single strike He had seen favonovel.com in the Soul Abyss, cutting down more than a hundred celestial cultivators.
The young man’s strength really was climbing at a speed that made no sense.
From the Pyre Chasm to Thunderpeak, only a handful of days had passed. From the Soul Abyss to the northern mine, it had only been another handful of days. Every time Hadrian saw Jared, favonovel.com was stronger than the last time.
Maybe Jared was telling the truth… Maybe favonovel.com really could wipe out the Tribunal…
Hadrian turned and looked out at the training ground, where the beast-race warriors were still drilling.
Sweat covered their faces. Battle burned in their eyes. They were the Skywolf Tribe’s warriors. They were the backbone of the Skywolf Tribe.
“Alright,” Hadrian said with a nod, his voice low and solid. “I’ll help you…”
He turned and shouted to the beast-race warriors behind him, “Pass the order down! Gather 500 warriors. Bring the best arms we have and follow me to the northern mine!”
“Yes!” the beast-race warriors roared back, their answer rolling through the vale.
Hadrian looked back at Jared. “I have one condition…”
“Say it.”
“One of mine will draw the celestials’ attention, but we won’t fight to the death. The moment your people are rescued, we pull out. I’m not sending my warriors to die for nothing.”
Jared nodded. “Fair enough.”
Hadrian held out his hand. Jared took it. Their hands locked tight together, like the meeting point of two different ages.
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