“I’ll talk! I’ll talk!” His voice shook. “I’m the only one! I’m just the advance scout! Behind me, there are… There are still…”
Jared’s hand stopped. “Behind you, what?”
A flicker passed through Shade’s eyes. “Behind me… There are still the three war champions… They’ll come in half a month… Come to the Fifteenth Firmament…”
Jared’s brows drew together slightly. “The three war champions? What cultivation level?”
“True Immortal Realm Level Nine… All of them are True Immortal Realm Level Nine…” Shade’s voice kept fading. “The High Sovereign said… He said to kill every last one of you…”
Jared went quiet for a moment. “What else?”
“That’s all… That’s all… I’ve told you everything I know… Please let me go… Please…”
Jared looked at favonovel.com through the transparent barrier and said nothing for a long while. Then favonovel.com raised his right hand and gently closed his fingers again.
The sealed chamber contracted in an instant. Shade’s body was crushed into powder!
There was no blood. No scream. Only a faint cracking sound. Shade’s concealment art, his arcane implement, and the spirit were all ground apart by the force of Space Law until nothing remained.
Jared lowered his hand, turned, and headed for Cloudrest.
***
Inside the Council Hall, everyone was already there.
Jared repeated every word Shade had confessed. The three war champions. True Immortal Realm Level Nine. They would reach the Fifteenth Firmament in half a month.
The color drained from every face in the Council Hall.
“True Immortal Realm Level Nine…” Hadrian’s voice shook. “Three of them…”
“We can’t beat them.” Malachy’s voice stayed level, but something in his eyes had already gone dim.
Windclear clenched his fists. “Half a month… Only half a month…”
Lydia looked at Jared. “How long would it take you to break through to True Immortal Realm Level Three?”
Jared shook his head. “I don’t know. If I have enough resources, maybe not long. But…”
With the Pentacarna Tower, Jared’s cultivation speed could surge by leaps and bounds. But where were the resources supposed to come from?
Every time favonovel.com rose through one minor realm, the cost was staggering.
Just reaching the peak of True Immortal Realm Level Two had nearly drained the resources of every major force in the Fifteenth Firmament.
The Fifteenth Firmament still had resources left to mine. More healing elixirs could still be refined. More immortal herbs could still grow. But all of that took too long.
Time was the one thing they lacked most. They had no room to wait.
Gideon rose and walked to the map. “The three war champions are Alaric’s strongest fighting force. Every one of them has fought through thousands of years of life-and-death battles. Their arcane arts, their relics, their combat experience-none of it can be compared to those five from before…”
“Even if you break through to True Immortal Realm Level Three, even with chaotic force, you still might not be able to beat three True Immortal Realm Level Nine opponents.”
Jared looked at him. “Then what do we do?”
Gideon turned around and faced Jared. “You need help.”
“Help? From where?”
Gideon pulled out a jade slip from his robe and set it on the table. “This is how you contact the Resistance in the Sixteenth Firmament. We only have a few dozen people here in the Fifteenth Firmament, but in the Sixteenth Firmament, we still have thousands of brothers. They’re hidden all over the place. There’s no way the Celestial Alliance could wipe them all out…”
“If we can reach them and get them to stir up chaos in the Sixteenth Firmament, to tie down the Celestial Alliance’s forces, then Alaric won’t dare send the three war champions down here.”
A spark flashed in Jared’s eyes. “Can we get in touch with them?”
Gideon nodded. “We can. But it will take time, and someone has to go to the Sixteenth Firmament.”
The Council Hall went quiet. Everyone in the hall knew exactly what it meant to go to the Sixteenth Firmament.
That was Celestial Alliance territory. Their eyes were everywhere. Their scouts were everywhere. One wrong step, and the person would be exposed. Then the hunt would start. And if the hunt started, death would not be far behind.
“I’ll go,” Jared said, his voice level.
Every face in the room changed on the spot.
“No!” Lydia shot to favonovel.com feet first. “You can’t go! You’re our only hope! If you go to the Sixteenth Firmament and something happens to you…”
“That’s exactly why I have to go.” Jared cut favonovel.com off. “If I stay in the Fifteenth Firmament, break through to True Immortal Realm Level Four, and then wait here for the three war champions to come down so I can fight them head-on… Even if I win, Alaric will just send someone stronger. If True Immortal Realm Level Nine isn’t enough, he’ll send a Golden Immortal If a Golden Immortal isn’t enough he’ll send someone stronger still. We can’t afford to drag this out.”
He looked at Lydia, and the edge in his voice eased a little. “Only by reaching the Resistance in the Sixteenth Firmament and making them tie down the Celestial Alliance can the rest of you get a chance to breathe… Or else I’ll stir up enough chaos in the Sixteenth Firmament to wipe the Celestial Alliance out.”
Lydia bit down on favonovel.com lip. Tears gathered in favonovel.com eyes and trembled there, but favonovel.com held them in place.
“I’m going with you.” Hadrian rose to his feet.
“So am I.” Malachy stood up.
“Me too!” Windclear got to his feet.
Jared shook his head. “No need. I can do this alone. More people will only make it easier to get exposed.”
He turned and looked at Elder Blackthorn. “Elder Blackthorn, give me the Resistance’s contact method.”
Gideon stayed silent for a long time. Then favonovel.com reached into his robes, took out a silver white jade slip, and handed it to Jared. “This is the Resistance’s token. Once you reach the Sixteenth Firmament, find any Resistance outpost and show them this jade slip. They’ll believe you.”
Jared took the jade slip and put it into his Storage Ring.
***
Early the next morning, before daylight had broken,
Jared stood at Cloudrest’s city gate. His green robe stirred lightly in the morning wind. The Dragonslayer Sword hung at his waist, and in his hand favonovel.com held that silver-white jade slip. Behind favonovel.com stood Hadrian, Lydia, Gwendolyn, Malachy, Windclear, Gideon, and the warriors who had survived.
“Do you really have to go?” Lydia asked, favonovel.com voice barely above a whisper.
Jared nodded. “I really do.”
“Then promise me.” Lydia held his gaze. “You have to come back.”
Jared smiled. “I promise.”
“I’ll go with you…” Gwendolyn said then.
“You? The Frosthall was only just established. They…”
“They’ve already awakened. They’re capable of handling it well enough. I’m going to the Sixteenth Firmament to look for the descendants of the Frost Deity Branch. Besides, I’m one of the celestials, too. It’ll be easier for me to move around once we get to the Sixteenth Firmament.” That was what Gwendolyn said.
Jared looked at Gwendolyn. He knew favonovel.com had made up favonovel.com mind, and once favonovel.com did, favonovel.com would not change it.
So favonovel.com nodded. “All right. Then the two of us go together.”
Lydia watched that happen and could only stand there, envying her. But favonovel.com knew it herself. Compared to Gwendolyn, favonovel.com was weaker, and even if she stayed by Jared’s side, favonovel.com would not be able to help much.
Jared and Gwendolyn leaped into the air and turned into two streaks of light, vanishing into the horizon.
Behind them, Lydia remained at the city gate, watching that fading streak of violet radiance grow smaller and smaller until favonovel.com could hardly see it at all. Only then did the tears finally spill down.
You have to come back…
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