Venerable Starwick leaned back against the black throne and closed his eyes. His fingers were still tapping lightly against the armrest.
One tap. Then another. Flat and stubborn. Like some ancient timepiece counting down to something no one had named.
Again and again, that violet soul flashed through his mind.
The golden codex. That impregnable golden radiance. The chance had been right in front of him, close enough to take. And favonovel.com had watched it slip away with his own eyes.
That ending would not stand!
He stood and paced back and forth through the great hall. The hem of his golden robe trailed along the floor, scraping softly as favonovel.com moved.
He stopped before the star chart in the hall. His gaze fell on the map of the northern region, moving from the direction of Wellspring Order to Beastmoor Ridge, then from Beastmoor Ridge back to Pole Star Hall.
His brows drew tight. Calculations turned over behind his eyes, fast and sharp.
Hmm… Where was that soul?
Wellspring Order? Wayfarers’ Haven? Or had it already fled to a deserted reach of the Wastelands deep in the North?
Venerable Starwick drew in a deep breath and forced the restless churn inside favonovel.com back down. He opened his eyes and took a golden writ-token from inside his robe.
The token was only the size of a palm, forged entirely from elder suncrystal. On its surface, an archaic character for “Pursuit” had been carved, and a faint golden light seeped from it.
This was Pole Star Hall’s Writ of Pursuit, one of the relics Pole Star Hall had passed down for tens of thousands of years. Once issued, every wandering cultivator and every middle or small power across the northern region would receive the message.
He tapped the token lightly with one fingertip. A screen of golden light sprang from the token and hung in front of him, rippling gently like water. Dense clusters of ancient sigils surfaced across the screen. They belonged to the Pole Star writ-array, a ritual array made specifically to carry information into every corner of the northern region.
He gathered his focus for a moment, then carved a line of words onto the screen of light. Every character carried his spirit sense and spiritual power, making sure the message bore both truth and authority.
Writ of Pursuit: Anyone who provides a lead and locates a violet soul will be rewarded with three Golden Immortal Elixirs and 1 million spirit stones.
Anyone who brings the violet soul back to Pole Star Hall will be rewarded with one Golden Immortal art, 10 million spirit stones, and an honorary eldership.
Three Golden Immortal Elixirs. One Golden Immortal art. 10 million spirit stones. An honorary eldership. Any one of those rewards, taken by itself, was enough to drive the wandering cultivators of the northern region out of their minds!
There were outlaws who would put their lives on the line for a few spirit stones. There were wandering cultivators beaten down by poverty, with a breakthrough always hanging just out of reach. There were small orders clinging to the shadow of greater powers. Not one of them could resist bait like this.
Venerable Starwick looked at the words on the screen of light. The corner of his mouth slowly curved upward, cold as a drawn blade.
It was an open scheme, laid out in plain sight. Venerable Starwick did not need to search for it himself. All favonovel.com had to do was throw out bait rich enough, and countless people would risk their lives in his place.
He lifted his hand and swept it through the air. The golden ward-veil broke apart into countless motes of light, scattering like fireflies as they flew out in every direction. The motes passed through the dome of the great hall, through the wards of Pole Star Hall, then through the sky over the northern region, racing toward every corner of the land.
The Writ of Pursuit had been sent. Next came the waiting.
He would wait for the wandering cultivators whose eyes would stick to the prize, for the small powers trying to cling to Pole Star Hall and for the desperadoes dreaming of getting rich overnight to carry Jared’s soul right to him.
Venerable Starwick sat down again, leaned back against the black throne, and closed his eyes. His fingers began tapping the armrest again. Once. Then again.
Within the great hall, only that dull tapping echoed on and on, like some ancient timer measuring out something unseen. Outside the window, three blazing suns hung high. Gold, silver, and crimson light wove together as they poured down, staining the whole earth a deep, muted gold.
Less than half a day after the Writ of Pursuit went out, the entire northern region erupted!
***
Inside a tavern in Everspire, wandering cultivators sat gathered around tables, speaking in low, tight voices.
The tavern walls had been built from rough gray stone. A few spirit lamps hung from them, giving off a dim, murky glow. The air was thick with the smell of cheap spirit wine and roasted meat. Cups and plates clattered, vendors called out, and laughter tangled with argument until the whole place turned loud and messy.
But at that moment, every conversation circled the same thing, Pole Star Hall’s Writ of Pursuit!
Some people marveled at Pole Star Hall’s staggering offer. Some could not take their eyes off the rewards. Others had already begun shifting in their seats, ready to go looking for that violet soul.
The tavern keeper was an old man at True Immortal Realm Level Nine. He leaned against the counter, listening to the room talk, a thin, mocking smile hooked at the corner of his mouth. He said nothing. He only worked the beads on his abacus, the sharp clack and rattle cutting through the noise.
“Three Golden Immortal Elixirs! A Golden Immortal art! Ten million spirit stones! An honorary eldership! Has Pole Star Hall lost its mind?” A scar-faced wanderer slapped the table, his eyes round as bronze handbells. His voice jumped with every word, and his gaze clung hard to the reward. “Put all that together, and an ordinary wandering cultivator could rise in one leap and become a major power in the northern region. If it were me, I’d wake up laughing from my dreams!”
“Tch… Dreams? You think you’d live long enough to take it?” An old man seated in the corner gave a cold laugh. He wore a ragged Daoist robe, and a rust-streaked longsword rested in his arms. His voice came out hoarse, edged with ridicule and something worn thin by years.
“That violet soul got away from the four Golden Immortal elders. You think it’s ordinary? Pole Star Hall put up a bounty this high because that fugitive soul is worth far more than the reward. You think Pole Star Hall is just handing out treasure for nothing? They’re using these wandering cultivators as knives, making them search for that spirit in their place. If it gets found the credit belongs to Pole Star Hall. If it doesn’t, the dead won’t be their people.”
“So what?” the scar-faced wanderer shot back. “Fortune comes from danger. If someone finds that spirit and hands it over to Pole Star Hall, favonovel.com won’t have to worry about the rest of his life.”
“You don’t even know what that spirit looks like. Where are you planning to search?” The old man let out a derisive snort, shook his head, and said no more.
Before the Everspire waygate, a black-clad adept hurriedly paid spirit stones and stepped into the Teleportation Array.
He was a scout for a small power in the northern region, responsible for gathering intelligence and then reselling it to anyone who needed it.
Less than an hour after the Writ of Pursuit had gone out, favonovel.com had already copied the news hundreds of times and sent it through secret channels to every district. He was placing a bet-betting that this information would bring favonovel.com a rich return.
***
In the under-market of Blackwind City, several cultivators with hard, shadowed faces gathered close together, their voices dropped low enough that the darkness seemed to swallow the words. They belonged to an abduction-and-assassination guild. As long as the price was right, there was almost nothing they would not do.
The rewards listed on the Writ of Pursuit made them stop and look twice. But what held their attention longer than anything else was the honorary eldership.
An honorary elder of Pole Star Hall could draw on Pole Star Hall’s resources. With that backing, a man could move through the northern region like the road belonged to him. That kind of power had a pull no pile of spirit stones or set of arcane arts could match.
Even so, they did not rush in. They did not know where that violet soul was. They did not know what it looked like. They did not know what abilities it had.
Anything that had slipped out of the hands of the four Golden Immortal elders of Pole Star Hall could not be simple. They needed more intelligence. More details. Only after that could they decide whether to make a move.
Talk spread everywhere, but when it came to people who truly dared to go looking, there were only a few. It was not that the rewards failed to catch their eyes. It was that they could not make themselves take that step.
The four Golden Immortal elders of Pole Star Hall had already lost the trail. If wandering cultivators like them chased after it, what was that except walking straight into death?
Still, word of the Writ of Pursuit tore across the northern region at a vicious speed. It reached the great cities. It reached the great sects. And it reached Wellspring Order!
***
On the second day after the Writ of Pursuit was issued, Pole Star Hall received a secret report.
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