“These are the crystals we seized from the mine. Thirteen thousand in all.” Jared pushed the crystals toward Hadrian. “These are for Skywolf Tribe. Take them as a small token from me.”
Hadrian looked at the pile of crystals and stayed quiet for a long, long time.
Thirteen thousand high-quality crystals were enough to keep every warrior in the Skywolf Tribe cultivating for decades. With those crystals, the tribe’s strength could rise by an entire tier.
“Jared, you risked your life to take these crystals… I…”
“If the Skywolf Tribe brothers hadn’t held the celestials back with their lives, there was no way I could’ve taken them,” Jared cut in. “These crystals were bought with the lives of the brothers who died. If you don’t accept them, then their blood was spilled for nothing.”
Hadrian’s eyes reddened. He reached out and began putting the crystals away, one piece at a time. His hand shook, but every movement stayed steady. “Jared, from this day on, the Skywolf Tribe will live and die with you.”
Jared shook his head. “No need. I only hope that one day, there won’t be oppression in the Fifteenth Firmament anymore. No more slavery. Every race should be able to live as equals.”
Hadrian looked at favonovel.com for a long while before speaking. “You’re a bigger man than I thought.”
Jared smiled and rose to his feet. “Get some rest and heal up. The Tribunal won’t let this go. There are harder battles ahead.”
He turned and walked out of the main tent. Behind him, Hadrian kept staring at his back for a long time without moving.
Jared brought the rescued cultivators back to Snowfall Hollow. Ice Seal stood at the town gate with the townsfolk, waiting there from dawn until dusk. Anxious hope covered every face.
Some stood there with their hands clasped in prayer. Some paced back and forth. Some stretched up on their toes, straining to look down the distance.
The moment those hundred-plus cultivators appeared on the mountain path, ragged, wounded, barely held together-tears rushed straight out of Ice Seal’s eyes.
“Dad! Dad!” a young man shouted as favonovel.com rushed forward and threw his arms around an old man.
That was his father, the one taken away three years ago. Three years had passed, and favonovel.com had long since believed favonovel.com would never see his father again.
“Son… My son…” The old man reached up and touched his son’s head, tears streaming down his face.
“Brother! You’re still alive!” A young girl threw herself into the middle-aged man’s arms. He was favonovel.com brother, the one who had been taken away five years ago. All this time, she’d believed favonovel.com was already dead.
“Sister… You’ve grown up…” The middle-aged man laid a hand on his sister’s head, his voice rough and worn.
Outside the crowd, an old woman stood by herself. She had cried herself blind. Her husband and son had both been taken away. She had lived alone for ten years, scraping by on laundry work for other people.
“My son… Has my son come back?” favonovel.com asked, favonovel.com voice shaking.
No one answered her. Her son had not come back. He had died in the mine. Celestial cultivators had beaten favonovel.com to death. They had thrown his body onto the wasteland outside the mine. Wild dogs had gnawed it down until nothing was left but a pile of white bones.
The old woman stood there and waited a long time. No one came to hold her. At last, favonovel.com understood. She dropped to favonovel.com knees and wailed. Her cries rolled over the town and lingered in the air for a long, long time.
Off to the side, Gwendolyn watched the scene, the rims of favonovel.com eyes turning red.
Jared walked over to her. “We brought them back. What now?”
Gwendolyn was quiet for a moment. “Help them awaken the bloodline. Let them know they aren’t slaves. They’re heirs of the Frost Deity Branch.”
Jared nodded. “I’ll help you.”
Gwendolyn looked at him, and something complicated flickered through favonovel.com eyes. “Thank you.”
Jared smiled. “No need. Did you forget? We’re in the same boat.”
Gwendolyn didn’t answer. She only looked toward the sunset spilling over the distant snow mountains.
Golden radiance spread across the snowy peaks. It washed the whole world in a warm orange-red glow.
Gwendolyn knew exactly what this meant. With these descendants of the Frost Deity Branch alive, and with their bloodline awakened, the Frost Deity Branch would finally have the foundation it needed to grow again. And more than that, favonovel.com believed the Frost Deity Branch had not been so easily wiped out.
***
Somewhere in the higher planes, there had to be descendants of the Frost Deity Branch still living on, The Tribunal!
When the Tribunal Venerable received the news, favonovel.com was in the great hall of the Tribunal, sitting with his eyes closed in quiet rest.
“Hall Master! Something terrible has happened!” A celestial cultivator stumbled inside, dropped to his knees, and shook all over.
The Tribunal Venerable opened his eyes. “Speak.”
“The northern mine…. The northern mine was attacked by the Skywolf Tribe! The ward around the mine was destroyed, the crystals were taken and those ice thralls… Those servants of the Frost Deity Branch… Every one of them was rescued!”
Hearing that, the Tribunal Venerable’s pupils tightened all at once. “The Skywolf Tribe? Hadrian Wolfhowe? Has favonovel.com lost his mind?”
“N-No… It wasn’t just the Skywolf Tribe…” The cultivator’s voice shook. “Jared was there too. He slipped into the mine and used chaos flame to melt through the soul-shackles and free those ice thralls. He also… He also took every emberstone crystal in the mine…”
The Tribunal Venerable said nothing for a long time. Then favonovel.com smiled. The smile was cold enough to make the whole great hall seem to drop a few degrees.
“Well done, Jared. Well done, Hadrian…” He rose to his feet. His long golden robe dragged across the floor with a soft rustling sound.
“Pass the order down. Gather every soldier we have. In three days, we will flatten the Skywolf Tribe… And one more thing…” He paused. “Send word to Shadow Hall. Tell them this, if Malachy Vane still wants to keep standing in the Fifteenth Firmament, then he better stay out of this.”
“Yes!”
The Tribunal Venerable walked to the great hall entrance and looked out at the distant sky. “Jared, you will pay for this…”
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