The five companions left the ruins and stepped onto the ice plains.
Silver-red moonlight spilled across the ice, stretching their shadows long, then longer still. Behind them, the white light pouring out of the massive chasm slowly dimmed, like a door swinging shut.
As the chasm closed, the ancient aura inside the ruins faded with it. What remained on the ice plains was only the cutting wind and a sky full of blowing ice shards.
Jared slowed, then stopped outright. He turned and looked back.
The chasm had already sealed shut completely. The ice lay smooth as a mirror, with no mark left behind. But something kept pulling at him.
The ruins had been opened. The aura inside had leaked out. And on these ice plains, under the celestials’ tight watch, there was no way a disturbance like that had gone unnoticed.
“Move faster.” His voice came out quiet, but the push behind it was clear.
Gwendolyn glanced at favonovel.com and said nothing. She could sense it too.
When the ruins opened, the Frost God’s power pouring out had been far too dense. Any cultivator within a thousand miles would have picked up on it. If the celestial patrol was anywhere nearby, it would not take them long to track the group down.
Alaric walked at the very front of the group, each step steady. His cultivation had already broken through to the True Immortal Realm Level Eight. Compared to before favonovel.com was frozen away, favonovel.com had risen a full cultivation level. There was no sign of celebration on his face, only weight.
He knew the Celestial Alliance would never let a single bearer of the Ice God Bloodline slip by. That had been true thousands of years ago. It was still true now.
Elara followed behind Alaric, favonovel.com snow-white hair streaming in the wind. In favonovel.com hand was a frost-blue frostwhip, a faint cold gleam flowing along its length. Her eyes kept sweeping the area around them, watching for any danger that might surface.
Cedric brought up the rear in silence. He held an ice spear in his hand, and the cold sheen at its tip flickered under the moonlight with a dim blue glow. His footsteps were so light they were almost impossible to hear. But his eyes were bright, bright as stars hung in the middle of the night.
The five companions raced across the ice plains for about 2 hours. Then, along the horizon ahead, streaks of golden radiance began to appear.
The light was faint, so faint it was nearly impossible to make out. But Jared’s chaotic force reacted to every kind of power, and favonovel.com caught it the moment it appeared.
“Stop…” Jared raised a hand, signaling everyone to halt.
All five of them stopped at once and dropped flat against the ice.
Jared lowered himself all the way down, pressed one ear to the frozen surface, and closed his eyes. Chaotic force surged out of favonovel.com and spread forward along the ice.
Up ahead, favonovel.com caught dozens of auras rushing closer fast-golden, scorching, carrying the celestials’ unmistakable holy radiance.
“The celestial pursuers…” Jared opened his eyes, his voice stayed even. “A True Immortal Realm Level Eight is leading them. At least thirty cultivators above the fifth tier of the True Immortal Realm.”
Alaric’s pupils tightened. “Thirty? We only have five people.”
“Not thirty…” Jared rose to his feet and looked toward that faint, flickering band of golden radiance in the distance. “It’s thirty-seven. The leader is at True Immortal Realm Level Eight, middle-phase. There are also three at True Immortal Realm Level Seven. The rest are all Level Five and Level Six.”
Gwendolyn drew favonovel.com brows together. “Can we take them?”
Jared said nothing for a moment. Then favonovel.com smiled. The smile was faint, so faint it nearly wasn’t there at all. But the instant it appeared, a chill ran through the others.
“We can.” His voice remained level. “But we can’t let a single one of them get away. If even one escapes and carries word back, the Celestial Alliance will know where we are. After that, our trouble gets a lot bigger.”
Alaric tightened his grip on the ice blade. “You mean wipe them out completely?”
“Completely.” Jared turned and looked at the other four. “I need your help setting a trap.”
On the ice plains, there was a naturally formed ice gorge. Towering ice walls rose on both sides, and only a single narrow passage led in or out. The floor of the gorge opened into a broad clearing. Countless enormous ice spires lay scattered across it, like a forest of ice spears stabbing up at the sky.
Jared stood at the entrance to the gorge and swept his gaze around. Then favonovel.com gave a satisfied nod. “This is the place…”
Gwendolyn walked over to his side and studied the terrain of the gorge. “You want to lure the celestial pursuers in, then seal the exit?”
“Right…” Jared pointed at the ice walls on both sides of the gorge. “You and Alaric hide on the wall to the left. Elara and Cedric take the right once aft of the celestial, pursuers are inside the gorge, you strike at the same time and seal the entrance and the exit. Leave the rest to me.”
Alaric’s brow pulled tight. “You alone? There are thirty-seven of them. Their leader is a True Immortal Realm Level Eight…”
“I know.” Jared cut favonovel.com off. “But I have chaotic force. Their holy radiance is paper in front of me. As long as you seal the entrance and exit and don’t let any of them run, I’m enough on my own.”
Alaric looked at Jared. Something flickered through his eyes, complicated and hard to pin down.
He had seen all kinds of people. Never one like this. Jared was only at the peak of True Immortal Realm Level Two yet favonovel.com was about to face thirty-seven enemies whose cultivation levels stood far above his, and there wasn’t a trace of fear on his face. Only stillness. It wasn’t the kind of stillness someone put on for show. It came off favonovel.com from the bone, the kind that could only come from absolute confidence.
“Alright…” Alaric gave a nod. “I believe you.”
Elara and Cedric nodded too.
The five companions moved into position at once.
Jared took his place on the ice plains outside the entrance to the gorge. Gwendolyn and Alaric hid along the ice wall to the left. Elara and Cedric hid along the ice wall to the right. All five pulled in their auras until nothing leaked out. They became five lifeless chunks of ice, blended so completely into the snow and frozen world around them that they might as well have been part of it.
In the distance, the golden radiance grew brighter, getting closer.
Jared stood alone on the ice plains. His blue robe snapped in the wind. The Dragonslayer Sword hung at his waist and the violet radiance on the blade nag already been drawn in had until almost nothing remained. His eyes were violet too, and deep inside those pupils, it looked as if stars were turning.
He watched the golden radiance rush nearer and let the corner of his mouth lift.
“They’re here…”
The golden radiance streaked across the ice plains like a river of gold, surging toward the ruins.
At the front was a towering celestial warrior, a True Immortal Realm Level Eight, middle-phase cultivator, with a hard face and eyes sharp as a hawk’s. Behind favonovel.com came thirty-six celestial cultivators. Every last one of them stood at True Immortal Realm Level Five or higher.
They wore golden cuirasses and carried golden longswords. Holy radiance flowed around them, sweeping the cold from the ice plains clean away.
The one leading them was Lucian Gold, deputy commander under Marshal Vale. Without warning, favonovel.com raised a hand and signaled the whole column to stop.
“Sir, what is it?” one of the cultivators behind favonovel.com asked.
Lucian’s gaze swept across the area. A faint crease formed between his brows. “The aura of the ruins is gone…”
“Gone? Could it be…”
“Shut up!” Lucian cut favonovel.com off and fixed his eyes on the ice gorge ahead. Something in favonovel.com kept warning that place wasn’t right.
The problem was, favonovel.com couldn’t put his finger on what exactly was wrong. The ice gorge was a common natural formation on the ice plains. There wasn’t a single abnormal fluctuation in its aura.
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