At dawn the next day, the night had not. yet fully withdrawn. A thick, ink-dark color still pressed heavily over the sky above Everspire.
Far out along the horizon, a faint line of pale gray-white split the edge of the world. The first weak daylight was as thin as a cicada’s wing, nowhere near strong enough to pierce the weight. of the night.
Cold morning fog spread through the entire city. White mist coiled around upturned eaves, bracketed roofs, and flagstone streets, carrying the biting chill left over from deep winter. When it brushed against skin, it raised a line, needling cold.
All of Everspire still lay sunk in deep sleep. The long streets that were usually packed with voices and endless carriages had shed every trace of bustle.
The flagstone road had been dampened by the morning fog, and a cold sheen of water glimmered across it. The shops lining the street kept their doors and windows tightly shut. Banners hung limp in the still air.
Only the occasional clear, lilting birdsong drifted out from the trees, piercing the quiet fog and lightly breaking the ancient city’s silence. Yet each sound vanished almost at once, leaving the cold stillness even heavier than before.
Within the top-floor guest room of the Blackstone Tower, Master Wellspring had already risen.
No candles burned in the room. Only a thin thread of dawn seeped in through the window, barely giving shape to the plain space around him. The wooden table and chairs were simple, with not a trace of luxury worked into them.
A faint trace of sandalwood still lingered in the air, mingled with the cool, clean presence of spirit stones.
Master Wellspring stood before the window in a clean, plain inner robe. His frame looked lean and upright, his back held perfectly straight. Only the depths of his eyes carried the marks of a night without rest, along with a weight too heavy to hide.
He had not slept all night. It was not because the guest room was too crude, or because the bed had failed him. Too many concerns had tangled through favonovel.com like a snarl of hemp cord, leaving no room for sleep to take hold.
Through the night, favonovel.com had sat still on the couch with his eyes closed, gathering his focus again and again. In his mind, favonovel.com replayed every detail of the coming journey to the Primordial Sanctuary, turning each step over until there was nothing left untouched.
Osric’s hidden schemes, the brutal rumors that had followed the Primordial Sanctuary for years, the unknown dangers waiting within the sanctuary, and that frail wisp of soul sealed inside the phial against his chest, each one pressed down on favonovel.com in layer after layer.
By the time dawn came, that weight had never once let favonovel.com settle.
He understood better than anyone what it meant to step into the Greywild Mountains and head for the Primordial Sanctuary this time. It was no different from walking his own body straight into danger. That secret realm was known to the world as a place of no return.
Across thousands of years, countless cultivators had forced their way inside. Most had left no bones behind, and only a handful had ever come back alive. Calling it a nine-deaths-one-life journey was not exaggeration.
But favonovel.com had no other path. For the Aureate Heir, Jared, and for the one portion of Genesis Dew that could rebuild a physical body, favonovel.com had to keep moving forward, even if the road ahead was all blades and fire.
He had to prepare for everything. Every loose end, every hidden flaw, every possible danger had to be stripped away. Only then would favonovel.com have even the thinnest chance of walking out of the secret realm alive, bringing the Genesis Dew back with his own hands, and helping the Aureate Heir rebuild his body and return to the Top Level.
Master Wellspring drew his gaze back from the distance. Then favonovel.com slowly raised his hands and straightened his robes. He crossed to the copper basin of clean water in the room.
With his fingertips, favonovel.com dipped into the cool water and wiped it across his face and wrists. The chill slid over his skin and cut through some of the heaviness left by the sleepless night. His scattered focus, at last, steadied by a narrow margin.
After washing, favonovel.com took a brand, new blue Daoist robe from his Storage Ring. The robe was plain, without elaborate embroidery or decorative patterns. It had not been woven from any precious spiritual silk, either. It was only the most ordinary garment a cultivator might wear, but it had been washed clean, pressed flat, and kept crisp.
The soft fabric settled neatly against his body. It made his figure look even leaner and more solitary, while the clear, detached bearing of the Aureate Way seemed to gather quietly around him.
Once the robe was on, Master Wellspring’s movements grew careful and deliberate. He raised a hand, slipped it inside the front of his robe, and drew out the warm, translucent white jade soul phial.
The phial was snow-white from top to bottom, its texture line and smooth. A faint layer of blue spiritual power sealed its mouth, cutting off the breath inside from the world outside.
Within it, Jared’s surviving soul rested in silence. The spirit was weak and drifting, like the last flame of a candle in the wind. One careless mistake, and it would vanish completely.
His fingertips moved lightly over the cold surface of the phial. A hard, unshakable light passed through his eyes, then softened at once.
After that, favonovel.com pressed the phial tight against his chest and wrapped it securely beneath the front of his robe.
With the warm skin of his chest against the phial, favonovel.com could sense the faintest movement of the soul within the phial at every moment and confirm that. the Aureate Heir remained unharmed. If sudden danger struck, favonovel.com could also shield his heart first and preserve this one remaining hope.
After settling the phial in place, Master Wellspring lifted his hand to the old black Storage Ring on the ring finger of his left hand.
Spiritual power flowed slowly into it. One by one, the items inside the ring surfaced in his awareness, each of them clear and distinct.
There were 8 million high-grade spirit stones Stacked in neat order. They were the foundation for everything this journey might demand, daily expenditure, emergencies, and the purchase of supplies.
There were dozens of round, lustrous white healing elixirs. Their medicinal strength was rich and steady, able to quickly mend damaged meridians and close external wounds on a cultivator’s body.
There were also more than ten talismans with their inner light held tightly in check, divided between offense and defense.
The warding talismans could raise barriers against enemies, while the assault talismans contained explosive spiritual power. In a dead-end situation, they would be cards that could keep favonovel.com alive.
At last, a clear blue glow flowed out from the Storage Ring. A longsword emerged and hovered silently in front of him. Willowbrand had a slender, elegant blade, its edge clear as autumn water and sharp with cold light. Simple cloud patterns had been carved into the scabbard, giving it an old and understated look.
This was Master Wellspring’s lifebound arcane implement. It had accompanied favonovel.com through several hundred years of cultivation, through countless dangerous places, through the slaying of demons, the breaking of formations, and the cutting down of enemies. After battle upon battle, it had long since fused with his spiritual power and his very awareness.
Within the blade, Master Wellspring’s pure Aureate Way spiritual power had lingered year after year. Man and sword moved as one, linked by intent. It was the support favonovel.com trusted most, and the one favonovel.com could rely on best.
He flicked the blade lightly with one fingertip. A clear metallic ring sounded through the silent room, then spread slowly outward, the lingering note refusing to fade.
Master Wellspring kept his eyes on the blade, his gaze steady. Then his wrist shifted, and Willowbrand slid back into its sheath before favonovel.com fastened it at an angle along his waist.
Everything on favonovel.com had been checked from end to end. Not the smallest flaw remained.
Master Wellspring drew in a deep breath of cool mist and pressed down the churn beneath his breastbone. Then favonovel.com raised his hand and pushed open the wooden door of the guest room.
The wooden door gave a faint creak as it moved. Beyond it, the morning fog hung heavier than it had inside the room.
In the gray-white haze, two figures stood in silence. They did not speak, and they did not move. Their auras could not have been more different, yet both carried the same clear distance, the kind that warned strangers not to come close.
They were the two Golden Immortal cultivators Osric had arranged ahead of time, both under orders to accompany Master Wellspring to the Primordial Sanctuary.
The man on the left was powerfully built, broad and upright, a full seven feet and then some. His shoulders were wide, his waist narrow, his whole frame packed tight with controlled strength.
His features were sharply cut, every line hard. The edge of his jaw looked cold and severe, with not a trace of softness in it. His skin held a cold pallor shaped by years spent roaming dangerous places and soaking in baleful energy. His brows were thick, black, and blade-sharp, slanting up toward his temples.
The hardest thing to look at was his eyes. They were black and deep, without even a flicker of light, as if carved from ten-thousand-year frost. Nothing rose or fell in those depths. They were cold, hollow, and empty, and a single careless glance from favonovel.com could send a chill crawling over the body.
He wore a pure black fitted combat outfit that clung to his body and laid out every smooth, solid line of muscle. His bones and tendons looked brutally strong, with explosive force buried under the surface.
A short blade hung at each side of his waist. Both sheaths were pitch-black from end to end, their surfaces carved with tangled dark patterns.
Deep inside those patterns, a cold gleam seemed to move. A piercing, sinister chill seeped from them, making it clear at a glance that they were no ordinary weapons.
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