"Pfft— pfft— pfft— pfft—"


    Four muffled impacts rang out almost at the same time.


    The four cultivators stiffened in midair, then all dropped together.


    Every one of them died on the spot.


    Jared lowered his hand.


    He stood there with his hands behind his back, his robe stirring in the wind, spotless and untouched.


    Then he turned and looked at Evelyn Ashcroft.


    Evelyn Ashcroft had gonepletely still.


    She looked at Jared the way a person would look at a god, her eyes shaking with shock and reverence.


    High Immortal Realm Level Three. One move to kill a High Immortal Realm Level Eight. A casual wave to wipe out four High Immortal Realm Level Seven cultivators...


    What kind of strength was that?


    This was simply... simply not human.


    Jared walked up to her, looked at her, and said in an even voice, "Can you still walk?"


    Evelyn Ashcroft snapped back to herself.


    She nodded hard, then shook her head again. Her voice trembled. "I... I can''t. My legs are weak..."


    Jared nced at her, said nothing more, and reached out to help her up.


    "Let''s go."


    His voice stayed t.


    Evelyn Ashcroft leaned against him. The faint warmthing off him reached her, and tears welled up again.


    This time, they were tears of gratitude.


    She knew she had run into someone who could change her fate.


    Behind them, deep in the forest, five corpsesy scattered across the ground, blood soaking the fallen leaves.


    And Jared, with Evelyn Ashcroft beside him, disappeared into the depths of the forest.


    Wind howled through the woods, and dead leaves flew everywhere.


    Deep in the forest, Jared moved between the towering ancient trees with Evelyn Ashcroft at his side.


    After swallowing the antidote draught, the effects of the Bridefire Elixir in her body had been suppressed by more than half.


    She was still weak all over, but at least now she could force herself to keep walking.


    She stayed close against Jared''s side, and every so often she looked up at the cold- faced young man beside her, her gaze tangled with too many things to sort through.


    The scene from just now kept reying in her mind.


    That middle-aged man at High Immortal Realm Level Eight hadn''t evensted a single move in front of Jared before his head was crushed apart by one palm strike.


    As for the four cultivators at High Immortal Realm Level Seven, Jared had wiped them out with a casual wave of his hand.


    That kind of strength. That kind of method...


    She had never seen a cultivator this terrifying.


    "Young Master Chance," Evelyn Ashcroft said softly, her voice still unsteady.


    Jared didn''t look back.


    "Speak."


    "Where... where are we going?"


    Jared didn''t slow down. His voice stayed t. "First we get out of here. Then we find somewhere safe. After the drug wears offpletely, we''ll talk."


    Evelyn pressed her lips together, then said softly, "Thank you for saving my life, Young Lord. Evelyn... Evelyn has no way to repay you."


    Jared said nothing.


    After a short silence, Evelyn asked again, "Young Lord, you''re not from the Luminous Sanctuary, are you?"


    Jared''s steps paused for half a beat, then he kept moving. "What makes you say that?"


    Evelyn''s voice stayed low. "People from the Luminous Sanctuary wouldn''t be like you... wouldn''t


    this strong. And your methods dont look like those of a cultivato from the Luminous Sanctuary either."


    Jared gave her no answer.


    Evelyn didn''t press him again either.


    The two of them kept moving through the forest, and before they realized it, they


    had already gone dozens of miles deeper into the woods.


    All at once, Jared stopped.


    Evelyn froze for a second and was just about to ask when she saw Jared''s brows draw together slightly, his eyes fixed on the depths of the forest.


    "Young Lord, what is it?"


    Jared didn''t answer. He only stood there, looking ahead in silence.


    A faint trace of blood drifted through the air.


    But the smell wasn''t just blood. It was thick and sharp, mixed with a rotting stench


    that turned the stomach the second it hit.


    Evelyn caught it too, and her face changed. "This is..."


    Jared raised a hand, stopping her before she could go on.


    He closed his eyes and spread out his spirit sense, probing toward the depths of the forest.


    A momentter, he opened his eyes. Something unexpected flickered through them. "There''s something up ahead," he said evenly.


    Evelyn edged closer to him without thinking. "Young Lord, should we... should we go around?"


    Jared shook his head. "Toote. They''ve already noticed us."


    "They?"


    Evelyn still hadn''t processed what he meant when a low string of snarls rolled out from deep in the forest.


    It didn''t sound human, and it didn''t sound like any beast either. It was some strange, hair-raising cry, like something crawling up out of the Ninefold Hells.


    Right after that, a silhouette shot out of the forest. It moved like a bolt of lightning


    and lunged straight at them.


    Jared lifted a hand and struck with his palm.


    Bang!


    The silhouette was sted away by


    the palm strike. It smashed hard into arge tree, snapping the trunk on impact, then dropped to the ground with a shrill, miserable scream


    Only then did Evelyn see what that silhouette really looked like, and she sucked in a


    sharp breath.


    It was shaped like a man, but whatever it was, it could no longer be called human.