At the main table in the very center of the square sat the most honored seats of the entire feast.
Elder Cillian was pulled by Nathaniel straight to the seat of honor, whether favonovel.com meant to take it or not. The table in front of favonovel.com had been filled until there was hardly a bare inch left, Freevale’s treasured cuts of meat, spirit-grain wine, mountain spirit greens, and every kind of cultivation tonic they could set out. The welcome had been laid on with everything they had.
Elder Cillian had spent long years in seclusion within Evershade. He lived on the spiritual essence of the world and its grasses and trees, drank morning dew, and ate spirit fruit. Long ago, favonovel.com had grown used to the clean, plain diet of secluded cultivation. The human race’s heavy meats, strong with oil and salt, and their hard liquor were another matter. No matter how gracious the table looked, his body had never learned to take to them.
But such warmth could not be refused. He would not let down Nathaniel or the people of Freevale after they had offered their hearts so openly, so favonovel.com only picked from a few plates of sweet, fresh mountain greens. He chewed slowly, every movement calm and refined.”
After three rounds of wine, the mood thickened. Noise rolled through the feast in warm waves, and in the middle of it all, Elder Cillian slowly set down the jade chopsticks in his hand.
The warmth in his gentle brows drew back little by little. His expression settled into something heavy and solemn. The relaxed air around favonovel.com dropped all at once, cutting straight to the heart of the matter, with not a trace of polite small talk left.”
“Chieftain Linford, Master Chance has already told the Sylvan Kin everything about Freevale’s current situation, as well as the grudges and entanglements between you and the Celestial Alliance… The Celestial Alliance dominates the Sixteenth Firmament. Its power stretches across every sea and wilderness, with vast territories under its command and countless strongholds beneath its banner… Among them, the most intimidating are the Three Dreadholds, built specifically to imprison champions of every kin and rebellious cultivators who resist the celestials…”
“Not long ago, you fought through blood and fire. You paid a terrible price, but you still tore down Blackstone Gaol, one of the Three Dreadholds, by force. That blow crushed the celestials’ reputation and shook the entire Sixteenth Firmament. Now Blackstone Gaol has fallen, but the remaining two Dreadholds are still held firmly in celestial hands. Countless resistance cultivators from every kin remain suppressed inside them… So tell me when do you intend to move next and pull out those last two hidden threats by the roots?”
The question landed too directly, too sharply. In an instant, it cut through the roar of the banquet.
Nathaniel raised his hand and set down the wine bowl favonovel.com had been holding. The smile on his face vanished all at once. A darkness settled between his brows, dense enough that it would not clear.
The ease around favonovel.com scattered, and in its place rose the murderous intent of a man who had spent too many years inside war.”
“Elder Cillian speaks plainly and openly, so I won’t circle around the truth either. I’ll say it straight…” Nathaniel drew in a deep breath.
A deep guardedness passed through his eyes, weighed down by what favonovel.com could not ignore, before favonovel.com slowly continued, “This very afternoon, I received urgent intelligence from clandestine agents hidden inside the celestial ranks… Of the Three Dreadholds, Ashenbrand Gaol, located at Mount Cinderfall in Epea, has already been heavily reinforced and garrisoned by the Celestial Alliance…”
“The celestial high command places extreme importance on that site. They specifically dispatched Marshal Vale, one of the three war champions, to personally take charge of its defense. His cultivation has reached the peak of True Immortal Realm Level Nine. He stands among the celestials’ highest combat forces…”
“The most terrifying part is this: favonovel.com does not cultivate direct assault methods. All his life, favonovel.com has devoted himself to concealment, assassination, and tracking. His methods are vicious and strange, and favonovel.com comes and goes like a ghost. There is no clean way to guard against him… Across 5 thousand years of cultivation and killing, no fewer than a hundred foremost adepts of every kin, Sect Masters, ancient Beast Kings, and mighty adepts of the human race have died under his assassinations…”
“Countless figures with names that once shook the world were often erased before they ever sensed favonovel.com coming. Quietly wiped out, with not even an intact corpse left behind. His methods are vicious, impossible to guard against, and his brutal name has spread throughout the High and Nether Realms… But now, things are different…”
“Elder Cillian is here to hold the line, three hundred elite Sylvan warriors have come in force to aid us, and Freevale still has its remaining battle strength. With our two forces joined, our combat strength has surged. We now have the capital to clash head-on with Ashenbrand Gaol. The plan in my mind is to seize this chance and take Ashenbrand Gaol in one stroke…”
Before Nathaniel could finish, every gaze in the square swung in one motion and landed on Jared. Silence covered the entire gathering.
Everyone waited for the answer of the one who truly held the center of the decision.
Jared held a white jade wine cup between his fingertips. Moving at an unhurried pace, favonovel.com picked up a bite of spirit greens and chewed it slowly. His expression stayed smooth as still water, his brows and eyes calm. It was as if the heavy situation around favonovel.com and the deadly enemy ahead could not stir even the faintest ripple from him. He still did not answer.
The evening wind swept across the square. The bonfires crackled in the dark. The silence lasted only a moment, but it settled over them with a weight that pressed down on every chest.
Several full breaths passed before Jared finally set down his bowl and chopsticks. Only then did favonovel.com lift his gaze. His black eyes looked deep as a frostpool. He watched Nathaniel without a ripple in his face, and when favonovel.com spoke, each word landed clean, his tone cool and carrying a decision no one in that square could question.
“The full defenses of Ashenbrand Gaol in Epea. Its terrain, its structural layout, its troop distribution, and the powerful adepts assigned there… Give me every piece of detailed intelligence. Hold nothing back. Go through it one item at a time,” Jared ordered.
Nathaniel did not waste a breath. He reached into his robes at once, drew out the hide map folded in neat layers, and spread it quickly across the tabletop.
The map had been drawn with meticulous care. Mountains and rivers, volcanic lines, the prison structure, the locations of sentry posts-every mark had been laid out with sharp clarity.
Red and blue sigils crossed over one another, and dense notes crowded every open space. All of it was firsthand intelligence, gathered by clandestine agents who had staked their lives to bring it back.
Nathaniel planted a fingertip on a scarlet region on the western side of the map and began to explain in a low, steady voice. “Ashenbrand Gaol sits deep in the heart of Mount Cinderfall, within the Epean Deadlands… The entire mountain range is built from volcanic rock that has endured for ten thousand years. The stone is unbelievably hard, resistant to extreme heat, resistant to arcane ats, and built to withstand direct assault. By nature alone, it is an ideal prison-fortress…”
“Beneath the mountain range, the underground veins twist and intersect in every direction. A vast river of molten fire runs through it without end, with hidden currents surging year-round and heat burning through the depths. All of Mount Cinderfall stays dry and scorching through every season. The heat waves there rise like a tide…”
“The main body of Ashenbrand Gaol was carved directly into the belly of the volcano: It has been reinforced layer after layer, and the prison’s outer shell is completely wrapped off by burning strata of molten fire. tock. High heat and fierce flame surround it year-round, forming a natural death barrier with no simple solution…”
“The entire prison has only one dedicated passage connecting it to the outside world. It is narrow, long, and deep. One man could hold the gate against ten thousand. It is easy to defend and almost impossible to attack. Forcing a break in that setup would be extremely difficult. The prison as a whole is divided into a three-depth structure, with defenses set at every depth suppression layered on top of suppression, and control enforced at a brutally strict level…”
“The First Depth holds ordinary prisoners from every kin. Most are low-level cultivators who resisted the celestials… The Second Depth holds vicious heavy convicts. Every one of them is a mid-level cultivator who committed major offenses and repeatedly rose against the celestials…”
“The most dangerous part is the Third Depth. It is a top-secret death prison used specifically to confine champions of every kin above True Immortal Realm Level Seven, ancient monsters, and resistance Chieftains… The punishments are cruel, and the seals are severe. Once someone is imprisoned there, the chance of coming out alive is almost gone.”
Jared kept his eyes fixed on the map and asked, voice even, “How are the outer guard forces divided? List the core powerful adepts and any hidden fighting strength, one by one.”
Nathaniel’s fingertip moved fast across the marked points on the map, and the lines of his face tightened further. “Around the prison’s outer perimeter are twelve sentry posts, some in plain sight and some concealed…”
“They form a ring that locks down every entrance and exit to Mount Cinderfall, strictly preventing outsiders from slipping in. Each sentry post has one hundred regular celestial cultivators stationed there at all times. Their cultivation is uniformly stable between True Immortal Realm Levels Three to Five… They are equipped with the Celestial Saintlight Ward, the alarm array, and lethal traps. Their shifts rotate around the clock, and the security is airtight…”
“Inside the prison, the garrison is divided by depth. The First Depth permanently holds the three hundred celestial guards. The Second Depth holds two hundred elite cultivators. The defenses grow heavier with each layer… At the very core, in the death cells of the Third Depth, fifty foremost celestial elites stand guard. Every one of them starts at Level Six, every one is fiercely loyal, and their combat strength is formidable.”
“The gaoler presented openly to the world is at True Immortal Realm Level Eight. His methods are not weak, and favonovel.com controls the prison’s daily operations as well as its laws and punishments. He appears to be the highest authority in Ashenbrand Gaol, but favonovel.com is only the piece placed in the open to mislead outside enemies…”
When Nathaniel reached the key point, his voice dropped sharply. A darker pressure gathered in his eyes and would not clear. “The true controller of Ashenbrand Gaol, and the greatest life-or-death danger in this operation, is Marshal Vale…”
“This Marshal Vale is a True Immortal Realm Level Nine powerhouse and one of the three foremost war champions of the Celestial Alliance. His name holds the Sixteenth Firmament in its grip… He has spent his entire life cultivating the peerless assassination arcane art known as the Nocturne of Knives. He can devour darkness, merge into shadow, conceal his movements, and suppress every trace of his aura… He passes between the real and the unreal without a sound. He can track a target across a thousand miles and take a life within a hundred steps…”
“Across 5 thousand years of cultivation and killing, no fewer than a hundred foremost adepts from every race had died under his assassinations… Countless great figures with names that shook the world had been erased by favonovel.com before they even knew danger had arrived, their bodies left without a single whole piece. His methods were vicious, impossible to guard against, and his name had spread like a curse through the High and Nether Realms.”
When the last piece of intelligence had been laid bare, the square fell into a silence so deep it seemed to press down on everyone standing there.
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