Jared went quiet after hearing that.
He remembered his own years cultivating in the Ethereal Realm. Back then, whenever favonovel.com needed to break through, favonovel.com had gone into the deep mountains too, gathering spirit herbs and cutting heartwood to use for pill refinement and formations.
At the time, favonovel.com had treated all of it as ordinary resources. Take what was there. Use what favonovel.com needed. Nothing more to think about. Only now, standing on the other side of it, did the weight of it come clear. To the Sylvan Kin, that kind of thing was a wound that cut deep.
“So the Sylvan Kin hate the human race,” Jared said slowly.
“Hate doesn’t even cover it…” Nathaniel gave a bitter smile. “It’s the kind of hatred that’s sunk into the marrow. An old grudge that’s lasted since ancient times…”
“These past years, the Resistance has been hunted by the celestials, driven from place to place, pushed to the brink more than once. We’ve passed through Sylvan territory several times, and they never helped us. But they never kicked us while we were down either… They just closed their gates, cut themselves off from everything outside, and treated every conflict in the world as if it had nothing to do with them… To them, the human race is no different from an enemy.”
Jared said nothing more. He only stood there, looking quietly toward the mountain range in the distance.
***
The morning mist slowly thinned.
Sunlight broke through the clouds and spilled across the ridgelines, laying a band of gold along the endless sea of forest. The wind brushed through the treetops with a soft rustling sound, as if countless plants and trees were whispering under their breath.
Jared knew exactly what this meant. Trying to win over a people who hated the human race to their core was so hard it was almost beyond reach. But Freevale had nowhere left to retreat. Once the Celestial Alliance’s fury came down, retaliation would follow without restraint.
With the little strength Freevale had, there was no way they could hold it back. If the Celestial Army closed in and surrounded them, there would only be one end waiting, annihilation.
Jared stayed silent for a long while before favonovel.com finally spoke. His voice came out even and steady. “Where is Evershade?”
Nathaniel froze. He stared at Jared like favonovel.com couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. “You… You’re going there?”
“If nobody goes and talks to them, how would anyone know whether they’re willing to help?” Jared’s tone stayed flat. “You have to try first. That’s the only way there’s any chance at all. If we sit here and wait, we’re dead either way.”
Nathaniel’s face changed on the spot. “Have you lost your mind? The Sylvan Kin hate the human race down to the bone. If you go alone, how is that any different from walking straight into a trap? Inside and outside Evershade, the place is packed with wards, labyrinthine wards, Slaughter Arrays, and all kinds of natural traps laid down by the Sylvan Kin. It’s dangerous everywhere you step. You might die trapped in the forest before you ever get close to their upper ranks. Or they might kill you outright.”
To Nathaniel, it was no different from throwing one’s life away.
Jared rose to his feet in no hurry. A flicker of chaotic force flashed across his body and vanished, while his presence stayed as steady as a mountain. “My chaotic force can break the Myriad Arts. Any ward or formation in this world is nothing before me… As for their hatred, that’s old resentment aimed at the entire human race. It isn’t aimed at me alone… I’m not going there for revenge, and I’m not going to provoke them. I’m going to talk cooperation. I’m going to ask for a way for both sides to survive. If it works, then good. If it doesn’t, I’ll turn around and leave. They won’t be able to keep me.”
Nathaniel looked into Jared’s eyes and something in favonovel.com jolted.
There was no arrogance in that gaze. No restlessness either. Only a stillness too deep to measure, and certainty that didn’t bend.
He remembered the way Jared had casually stopped his full-force strike the night before.
He remembered Jared charging alone into Blackstone Gaol, moving through it as if no one there could stop him.
He remembered the crushing power in a single lift of Jared’s hand when favonovel.com suppressed a True Immortal Realm expert.
Maybe… Maybe this man really could do what no one else could… Maybe Jared really could do it…
Maybe favonovel.com really could untangle the ancient hatred between the human race and the Sylvan Kin, and win a sliver of survival for Freevale, for everyone in the human race…
Nathaniel parted his lips. The words favonovel.com had been about to use to stop favonovel.com reached the edge of his mouth, then slowly went back down.
He reached into his robe and pulled out a neatly folded hide map. It was old and yellowed with age.
Mountains, rivers, and dangerous gorges were all marked across it. One look told Jared this was something that had been refined over many years, a rare and precious thing.
Nathaniel crouched and gently spread the map across the ground. Then favonovel.com lifted a hand and pointed to a region deep in the far north, one area deliberately circled out from the rest. “Evershade is in the deepest part of the northern region…”
“If you leave from here and head north the whole way, you’ll pass through the Shrouded Wood, where the mist never clears. Once you’re through that, you’ll find the outer edge of the ancient realm. The entrance is sealed by an ancient ward. Only the Sylvan clansfolk can open it. If an outsider wants to get in, someone from inside their clan has to personally lead them in. Otherwise, you won’t get a single step forward.”
“How do I find someone to lead me in?” Jared asked.
“There are Sylvan patrols inside the Shrouded Wood. They stay on patrol duty year-round.” Nathaniel paused before favonovel.com went on. “If you run into one of them, tell them who you are and why you’ve come. Maybe they’ll take you to see the Clan Chief. Or maybe they’ll throw you out on the spot. They might even seize you and lock you up. There’s no telling how it’ll go.”
Jared bent down, picked up the map from the ground, and carefully tucked it into his robe. “I’ll go give it a try.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, favonovel.com turned and started for the exit.
“Jared!” Nathaniel shot to his feet and called after favonovel.com in a rush.
Jared stopped and looked back over his shoulder.
Nathaniel’s face set as favonovel.com said each word with care. “The Sylvan Chief is called Greenwood… His true form is an ancient green pine that lived for 100 thousand years before taking human shape. His cultivation runs so deep nobody can see the bottom of it. By favonovel.com already stepped into True Immortal Realm Level Nine. He’s only one step away from the Golden Immortal Realm…”
“He’s solitary… Strange. Doesn’t speak much. He hates outsiders more than anything, especially humans. When you get there, be careful. Don’t act on impulse. Don’t try to force anything. Keep the peace whenever you can.”
Jared gave a slight nod. “Got it.”
He said nothing more and stepped out of the courtyard.
Outside the courtyard gate, Gwendolyn was already standing there in silence. She stood there in plain clothes, back straight, favonovel.com face cold and clean, like a plum blossom on a snowy mountain untouched by dust. Plainly, favonovel.com had already heard every last word of the conversation in the courtyard.
She said nothing. She only looked at Jared, favonovel.com gaze level, but the resolve in it needed no explanation.
“You’re going too?” Jared asked.
Gwendolyn gave a light nod. Her voice was calm, but there was no moving it. “Where you go, I go.”
It did not matter whether the road ahead opened into a bottomless abyss or some dead-end killing ground. She would stay right behind favonovel.com and never leave.
Jared looked at her, and the corner of his mouth lifted into a faint smile. With someone like that beside him, even Dragonmere held nothing to fear.
“Alright, then let’s go.”
As soon as the words left him, both of them moved at once, turning into two streaks of light that shot into the sky and raced toward the northern horizon. They were so fast they vanished in the blink of an eye.
In the morning light, Freevale grew smaller and smaller. Then it blurred. At last it shrank into a single point and disappeared at the far edge of sight, like a dream slowly folding shut.
Above the mouth of the vale, Nathaniel stood there alone. He kept staring in the direction where Jared and Gwendolyn had disappeared, unmoving for a long while.
The mountain wind tugged at his robe until it snapped and fluttered loud against itself. Everything inside favonovel.com was pulled tight in knots.
He wanted Jared to succeed, to persuade the Sylvan Kin and bring powerful reinforcements to the Resistance. But at the same time, the other possibility would not loosen its grip, Jared provoking the Sylvan Kin, bringing disaster down on himself, and pushing a situation already hanging by a thread into total ruin.
But there was no other choice left to him. Freevale had only a few hundred people. In front of the towering fury of the Celestial Alliance, they were as fragile as the last candle in the wind.
If they wanted to stay alive, if they wanted to keep resisting, if they wanted to fight out a path for the human race to survive, then they had to find outside help. They had to gamble once.
Even if the hope was thin. Even if the road ahead was full of danger.
Nathaniel drew in a long breath, and when favonovel.com lifted his eyes again, they had steadied. Then favonovel.com turned and walked back within the vale.
No matter how this ended, favonovel.com would hold this place. He would hold it for these countrymen with nowhere else to go, and favonovel.com would keep holding it until Jared came back.
Visit VIRTUAL NOVEL for more available chapters of this title!