By dusk, the Skywolf Tribe’s camp was empty.
The evening light spread like blood, staining the Wastelands a dark red. Wind swept in from the distance. It lifted ash and dust off the ground and spun them through the air like countless silent sighs.
The tents were gone. All that remained was bare ground and wooden stakes driven deep into the dirt.
The wooden barricades had been shoved down and lay scattered every which way across the ground. Some had already been burned into charcoal. Some still carried thin trails of smoke.
The ground was littered with dried blood. Some of it had gone black. Some of it still held a dark red stain. Patch after patch spread across the earth like scars cut into the land itself. The air reeked of char and blood, and the smell refused to leave.
Hadrian stood in the heart of the camp and looked over the place where favonovel.com had lived for thousands of years.
He stood there a long time without saying a word. His left arm was still hanging in a sling around his neck. The wound in his chest still throbbed now and then, but his back remained straight.
His father had recovered here. The old man who had lain unconscious for 300 years, and had only just been saved by Jared, was now being carried at the very front of the line on a stretcher by several young beast-race warriors.
His son had grown up here. That young warrior had gone to the Ancient Battlefield for the first time and never came back. His body lay buried on the hillside behind the camp, facing the Wastelands, facing the land favonovel.com had guarded all his life.
His warriors had trained here. Every morning, the clash of war axes and the roar of battle cries carried across the entire Wastelands.
His clansmen had laughed here. Children had chased one another between the tents. Women had sung beside the bonfires. Old men had sat at the tent entrance, telling those ancient stories.
Now it was all over. The celestials had not destroyed it. They had abandoned it with their own hands.
“Let’s go,” Jared said as favonovel.com walked to Hadrian’s side, his voice low. “We’ll come back.”
His green robe stirred lightly in the evening wind. The Dragonslayer Sword at his waist caught the last light of the setting sun and gave off a faint gleam.
There was nothing on Hadrian’s face. But in his eyes, something still wouldn’t stay down. If not for him, the Skywolf Tribe would never have crossed the Tribunal. They would not have been forced to give up their homeland. So many people would not have died.
Hadrian turned and looked at him.
He stayed quiet for a moment. Then favonovel.com smiled. It was a faint smile, but there was nothing false in it. “You’re right. We’ll come back…”
He reached out and patted Jared on the shoulder. “Don’t carry too much of this. The Skywolf Tribe never looks back with regret.”
He turned and strode toward the moving line.
In the fading light, his back looked a little bent, but every step favonovel.com took was steady.
Behind him, the beast-race warriors stretched out in a long line. They carried packs on their backs, supported the wounded as they walked, and headed toward the Wandering Cultivators Alliance.
No one spoke. Only footsteps and the creak of wheels echoed through the dusk.
Some turned back for one last look at the camp, and everything in their eyes stayed there. Some kept their heads down and stared at the road underfoot, not daring to lift them. Some bit down on their lips and held the tears in. But none of them stopped walking.
Lydia led the Ghost Clan warriors at the very front of the procession. Her face was calm. But there was still a trace in favonovel.com eyes that wouldn’t stay hidden.
Her left shoulder was still wrapped in bandages. A faint stain of blood had already seeped through them.
The wraithblade hung at favonovel.com waist. The black glow along the blade had dimmed a great deal. In that battle, favonovel.com had burned through too much spiritual power, and even now, favonovel.com still had not fully recovered. But favonovel.com never said favonovel.com was tired, and not once did favonovel.com complain.
She was the Princess of the Moonshade Realm. She was the Chieftain of these Ghost Clan warriors. She could not be the one to fall.
The Ghost Clan warriors of the Moonshade Realm followed behind her, their cuirasses worn thin, their arms uneven and mismatched, yet every last one of them kept his back straight.
Their people had been hunted by the celestials for thousands of years. They had hidden in the dark just to keep breathing. At one time, they had all but accepted that this was what their whole lives would be.
But now, they were done hiding. They had stepped out. They stood under the sun, stood on the Ancient Battlefield, stood beside the ones willing to fight shoulder to shoulder with them.
Malachy came in from another route with the demonic cultivators of Shadow Hall and met up with them halfway. His face looked grim. Shadow Hall had been built and maintained for thousands of years, and now favonovel.com had to abandon it just like that. The cost of it showed plainly on him.
Golden blood from the battle at the northern mine still stained his black robe. His right hand still trembled, just slightly. That was an old wound left behind by Magnus Storme’s holy radiance. Every time the weather turned overcast, it started throbbing again.
Even so, favonovel.com did not hesitate. He knew Jared was right. If the celestials of the Sixteenth Firmament truly sent people down, splitting up to defend separate positions would only let them be crushed one by one.
He lifted a hand in a brief wave, and the demonic cultivators behind favonovel.com slipped into the column without a sound.
Everyone was moving in the same direction.
***
The Wandering Cultivators Alliance.
Cloudrest was a city suspended in the sky, wrapped in cloud and mist all year long. From the ground, only a faint outline could be seen through the haze.
The city’s foundation had been forged from meteoric iron. Its surface was carved all over with dense, packed sigils, and in the drifting mist, those sigils gave off a faint blue glow, like countless fireflies.
The city was not large, only several dozen miles across, but its city walls were solid, and its wards layered one over another, making it easy to defend and hard to break.
The city walls had been built from black stone. Warding sigils covered the rock from end to end, and every single one held the power of ancient powerhouses. The city gate was cast from iron, a full 3 yards thick. Several spirit stones the size of fists were set into it, each one giving off a dim nether light.
Windclear stood at the city gate, watching the forces pouring in from every direction, his face set hard. He still had the broken sword in his hand. The blade was full of chips, and the strip of cloth around the hilt had already been soaked through with sweat.
Behind him, the disciples of the Wandering Cultivators Alliance stood in formation atop the city walls, gripping their arms tight. Every pair of eyes stayed fixed outward, stretched taut with strain and watchfulness.
They had never seen this many people gathered in one place before. Beast race, Ghost Clan, demon, and human race cultivators had all together, their cuirasses mismatched, their weapons uneven, but the look in their eyes was the same on every face. They wanted to live!
“Elder Forest, everyone’s here…” A disciple from the Wandering Cultivators Alliance ran over, breathing hard. Sweat covered his face. Across his forehead ran a scar burned there by holy radiance, and fresh blood was still seeping out of it.
Windclear gave a small nod, then turned and walked into the city. He moved fast, but his back had already bent some.
The Wandering Cultivators Alliance had survived in the cracks for thousands of years by offending no one and provoking no one. But now favonovel.com had chosen a side. He had chosen to stand against the Tribunal. He didn’t know whether that choice was right, but favonovel.com had not turned back from it.
The Council Hall was packed wall to wall.
Hadrian, Lydia, Malachy, Alaric, Colden, Gwendolyn, and Gideon were all there, along with the old man who had escaped down from the Sixteenth Firmament, a True Immortal Realm Level Eight.
His silver-white hair had fallen into disarray. Several wounds on his face still hadn’t closed, but his eyes shone hard and sharp, as stars nailed into the night.
Jared stood in front of the map, his finger tapping lightly against the table. His brows drew together slightly. His gaze moved back and forth over the map as one possibility after another raced through his head. His injuries had healed, and his chaotic force had recovered for the most part. He knew that still wasn’t anywhere near enough.
They had gotten word that the celestials had sent down five True Immortal Realm Level Eight cultivators from the Sixteenth Firmament.
The Tribunal Venerable was at True Immortal Realm Level Eight. Those five upper realm celestial warriors were also at True Immortal Realm Level Eight.
The cultivation level was the same, but Upper Realm cultivators were far beyond anything the Lower Realm could match. And as for him, favonovel.com was only at the peak of High Immortal Realm Level Nine. He was short by a full major realm.
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