At Cloudrest’s city gate, everyone stood there waiting. They were there waiting.
Hadrian, Malachy, Windclear, Gwendolyn, Gideon, and the warriors who had survived. Expectation filled their eyes. So did worry.
The moment favonovel.com saw the three of them come out, Hadrian charged up first. “Well?”
Jared smiled. “We did it.”
Upon the city walls, the cheers hit like thunder.
At the city gate, Alaric stood and looked at the people shouting themselves hoarse. The tears kept running down his face. He had waited for this day for far too long.
For tens of thousands of years, his clansmen had been hunted, enslaved, and penned in. He had long since figured favonovel.com would never live to see hope. But now, hope had finally arrived.
He turned toward Jared and bent into a deep bow. “Mr. Chance, Moonshade Realm will never forget what you’ve done for us.”
Jared caught favonovel.com before favonovel.com could stay bowed. “Sovereign Wraithmoor, don’t… I gave Lydia my word.”
Then favonovel.com turned and looked over everyone gathered there. “The Tribunal’s era is over. The Ghost Clan’s suffering is over, too. But our fight isn’t over yet.”
The roaring cheers gradually died down.
“The Celestial Alliance from the Sixteenth Firmament won’t let this go. They lost five people. They’ll send more down here for sure. True Immortal Realm Level Nine, maybe even higher.”
Every face tightened.
“So we get ready,” Jared said, his voice even. “We train. We prepare for war. We raise our strength. And when they come, we make sure none of them leave.”
Hadrian gripped his war axe hard. “That’s right! We make sure none of them leave!”
“Make sure none of them leave!” the beast-race warriors roared in unison.
“Make sure none of them leave!” the Ghost Clan warriors shouted as one.
“Make sure none of them leave!” the demonic cultivators yelled together.
“Make sure none of them leave!” the human cultivators howled in one voice.
Jared looked at them, and the corner of his mouth lifted. “Good… Then let them come.”
He turned and walked into the city.
***
Just as Jared and the others entered the city, a silhouette dropped soundlessly onto the ruins of the Skywolf Tribe. It was a lean man in tight black clothes. Black cloth covered his face, leaving only his eyes exposed.
His cultivation was at True Immortal Realm Level Six. But his aura was faint. Faint to the point that it was almost impossible to sense.
He held a round arcane implement in his hand, and a pale silver light moved slowly across its surface. He was a scout from the Celestial Alliance!
His codename was Shade.
Shade stood on the ruins and swept his gaze around. He looked at the tents that had been removed, the wooden fences that had been torn down, and the dried bloodstains. A trace of doubt flickered through his eyes.
He crouched down, touched a bit of blood on the ground with his finger, and lifted it to his nose.
“Blood from the beast race. Blood from the Ghost Clan. Demon blood. Human blood… And celestial blood,” favonovel.com said quietly. “The battle was brutal…”
He rose to his feet and flew toward Shadow Hall.
Shadow Hall was empty. Inside the underground palace of Shade Abyss, not a soul remained. The hidden chamber had been cleared out.
The wards had been shut down. Even the stone door had been left open. The black throne stood alone in the empty great hall, as if it were mocking him.
Shade walked up to the black throne and reached out to touch one of its armrests. There was still a trace of warmth on it. He realized someone had been sitting here not long ago.
He turned and flew toward Moonshade Realm.
Moonshade Realm was empty, too. There was no one in the ancient city. No one in the stone hall. Even the sigils upon the city walls had gone dim.
A black flag was still planted at the city gate. The emblem of Moonshade Realm was embroidered on it, snapping sharply in the wind.
Shade stood at the city gate and looked at that flag for a long time without a word. Then favonovel.com turned and flew toward Cloudrest.
He did not go anywhere near the city. He stopped on the low hill a hundred miles away, pulled a round arcane implement from inside his robe, and aimed it at Cloudrest. The silver light on the arcane implement grew brighter and brighter until an image of Cloudrest spread out before him.
Shade studied Cloudrest through the arcane implement, his brow knotting tight.
There were three times as many cultivators on patrol duty upon the city walls as there should have been. One stood every 10 yards, each with arms in hand, eyes sweeping the surroundings like hawks.
Warding sigils covered the city walls so densely that there was barely any gap between them. Every single one gave off a harsh blue glare, weaving together into an airtight net.
And above the city, an enormous ice-blue net hung over the sky itself, sealing in the entire place. A killing chill flowed across it, enough that even birds would not dare near.
Across the Wastelands, black threads too fine for the naked eye wound through the dead grass and broken stones like an unseen web, waiting for prey to walk straight into it.
He put the arcane implement away, leaned back against a rock, and sat there with his eyes closed.
Forcing his way in was out of the question. The instant those wards were triggered, favonovel.com would not even have a chance to run.
What about disguising myself as a wandering cultivator and slipping inside?
That would not work either. The checks at the city gate were too strict. Every person going in or out was questioned, searched, and made to prove who they were.
The celestial aura on favonovel.com was hidden beneath a concealment art, but one of the cultivators handling inspections was a true Immortal Realm Level Seven old man with a viciously sharp gaze. There was no guarantee Shade could foot him.
He opened his eyes and looked toward Cloudrest. Something cold flashed through them.
“If I can’t get in, then I wait…” favonovel.com murmured. “I wait for the people inside to come out. Sooner or later, somebody has to leave.”
***
Shade waited for three days.
For all three of them, favonovel.com lay on the low hill like a rock, motionless from beginning to end. His presence was drawn in so completely that even his body temperature dropped until it matched the world around him.
His eyes stayed fixed on the city gate the whole time, watching the constant stream of people entering and leaving. The beast race caravan. Ghost Clan messengers. Demon patrols. Wandering cultivators from the human race.
He memorized every face, every aura, every route they took.
On the morning of the fourth day, his chance finally came. A squad of beast-race warriors came out of the city, escorting several wagons as they headed south. The wagons were packed with crystals and healing elixirs. They were obviously being sent to some outpost.
Shade slipped after them without a sound. He stayed far back. So far that the convoy had long since vanished to the naked eye, and only their aura let favonovel.com keep the trail.
His concealment technique ranked among the best in the Celestial Alliance. Even a True Immortal Realm Level Eight expert would have a hard time detecting him.
The convoy traveled for about an hour before stopping inside a valley. The beast-race warriors began unloading the cargo, carrying the crystals and healing elixirs into a hidden cave.
Shade lay flat on a distant ridgeline and watched the beast-race warriors move in and out of the cave.
As they worked, favonovel.com weighed whether favonovel.com should use the opening and slip inside with them.
Then, right at that moment, favonovel.com caught the touch of a gaze. It was light. So light it felt like a feather drifting onto skin.
Shade’s whole body locked up in one violent instant. He’d been spotted!
He stayed pressed to the ground without moving an inch. Even his breathing stopped. His concealment technique was still running. His aura was sealed away completely. He should not have been detectable.
Then that gaze disappeared.
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