"Jared!"


    Vivian shot up from deep inside the city lord mansion.


    Her white clothes were already soaked and streaked with blood, the stains scattered all over her as the wild wind whipped at her sleeves. She looked like a candle about to go out in the storm, as if she could fall at any second, and yet there was still something all-or-nothing in the way she forced herself forward, a hard kind of resolve that made the sight of her hit that much harder.


    Using everyst bit of spiritual power she had left, she flew to Jared''s side without holding anything back.


    She reached out with a faint tremble in her hand and gently caught his sleeve. On that stunning face, the weight of what she''d juste through showed in enough. Her eyes were rimmed red, and it was obvious she had already fought through a brutal battle.


    "Jared, listen to me."


    Vivian''s voice came fast and low. Her eyes stayed locked on Skr in the distance, sharp and guarded, as if she feared he might strike without warning. "This man is far stronger than you think. The Jared standing here right now can''t fight him head-on.


    "Right before you came out of seclusion, the Lord of the Basilica of the Celestial Pce personally made a move to suppress this monster. He was... heavily wounded by a single strike and fled in disgrace. Even the grand warding array of the Celestial Pce was broken by him!"


    Jared''s pupils tightened, and the impact of thatnded hard.


    The Lord of the Basilica of the Celestial Pce?


    That was one of the true top powerhouses of the Fourteenth Firmament.


    His cultivation had long since reached the peak of True Immortal Realm Level Two. He stood at the summit of the Fourteenth Firmament, someone countless cultivators could only look up to, with divine arts and techniques that could reach the heavens and the earth.


    And that kind of powerhouse had actually been heavily wounded by Skr in a single blow, without even the strength to strike back, forced to run for his life in humiliation?


    The weight in Jared''s chest pressed down even harder.


    He had known Skr''s strength would explode after falling onto the demonic path, but he hadn''t expected it to rise to this point, far beyond the normal cultivation levels of the celestial realm.


    "He obviously reached this level by devouring the spirits and cultivation of countless cultivators. And the demonic aura around him can even corrode the spirit."


    Vivian clutched Jared''s sleeve tightly, her words rushing out. "Jared, you have to be careful. You absolutely can''t be careless, and you definitely can''t meet him head-on. We need to find a way to fall back first, then figure out how to break him."


    Jared was quiet for a moment.


    Then he looked at Vivian''s worried face, gave a small nod, and said in a steady voice, "I know."


    He was never going to take Skr lightly.


    From the first moment he saw him, Jared had already caught that bottomless presence.


    Buried inside the thick demonic aura was a terrifying power that looked capable of crushing anything in its way. Even he had to hold that pressure in view. This was nothing like the Skr from back then.


    Skr was no longer that beaten cur he had sent running again and again.


    The Skr standing there now really did have the right to face him head-on.


    He had the right to challenge him. He even had the right to try to take his life. So what?


    A loser was still a loser.


    It didn''t matter that he had fallen onto the demonic path or that his cultivation had exploded upward.


    In Jared''s eyes, he was still that same cheap schemer who only knew how to y dirty.


    Jared''s gaze settled on Skr again.


    There wasn''t a trace of retreat in his eyes. Only a cold will to fight, and a killing intent pressed down so hard it nearly turned solid. The draconic energy around him boiled again, and the Dragonyer Sword''s cry turned sharper and faster.


    Skr took in the sight of Vivian and Jared standing so close without missing a thing.


    Something cold flickered through his eyes, along with a streak that vanished almost as soon as it came. Then his smile turned even more mocking, with a clear edge of provocation.


    He turned his head and looked at Josephine beside him. His tone came out light and deliberate, his voice pitched just enough for Jared to hear.


    "Senior Josephine, see that? That''s Jared''s woman."


    "Oh, and she''s not the only one. There are several more down below. They''re all guarding the entrance to the hidden chamber,pletely devoted to him, crying their eyes out because they''re scared something will happen to him."


    "Tsk. Jared really does have it good. No matter where he goes, he''s got women by his side."


    Josephine stood there without moving.


    Her eyes followed Skr''s words to Vivian, and she looked the woman over from top to bottom, carefully, one detail at a time.


    She was strikingly beautiful.


    Her white clothes were soaked with


    blood, but that only made the cold, proud air around her stand out


    more. Worry and concern sat inly between her brows. Her hand clutched Jared''s sleeve tight like


    she couldn''t bear even the chance of


    him getting hurt. None of that


    concern looked forced.


    Standing together, the two of them looked close in a way that came naturally.


    It was the kind of closeness that made them seem like a couple who had already spent years at each other''s side, without the slightest distance between them.


    For no clear reason, something turned over inside Josephine.


    It came up out of nowhere, sour and sharp, like a hard stone jammed against her chest. It sat there, heavy and aching, pressing the breath out of her a little at a time.


    She had never run into anything like it before.


    It was so strange, so far outside anything she understood, that she couldn''t make sense of it, couldn''t get a grip on it, and could only let it keep spreading through her. What right did she have to react like this?


    She didn''t even know Jared.


    He had nothing to do with her, so why would seeing him stand close to another


    woman leave that sour weight in her chest?


    But every time h


    time her eyesnded on him beside that woman, every time she saw that woman clutching his sleeve so closely, every time she caught the way his gaze softened toward her, it was as if something pointed and cruel drove straight into Josephine''s chest. Contént


    A dull ache spread from it. Even her breathing stoppeding easy.


    Josephine''s brows drew tight together.


    Confusion showed in across her stunning face. She tried to force down that unexinable wave inside her but it wouldn''t stay down. The sour ache and that needling pain only kept building, until even standing there felt unsteady.


    She shoved the turmoil down as hard as she could and dragged her eyes off Jared.


    Then she turned to look elsewhere, refusing to look at the two close figures again, trying to steady herself and quiet what wouldn''t quiet down.


    Skr caught every tiny change in Josephine''s reaction.


    The smile at the corner of his mouth deepened, and a flicker of satisfaction cut


    through his eyes, like a scheme hadnded exactly where he wanted it to.


    This was the effect he wanted.


    He wanted Jared to suffer.


    He wanted Jared to be driven into despair. He wanted Jared to lose every shred of dignity in front of Josephine and watch the woman he loved look at him like a stranger, even stir because of him in a way she couldn''t understand.


    To Skr, that was a thousand times better than killing Jared outright.


    He wanted to grind Jared''s mind down piece by piece until the pain broke himpletely.


    "Jared."


    Skr spoke again, his tone even more arrogant now as the demonic aura around him churned harder.


    "Didn''t you want to fight? Fine. I''ll give you that chance. I''ll indulge that obsession of yours."


    He slowly raised his right hand and made a casual inviting gesture.


    His face was full of mockery, and the contempt in his eyes was close to spilling over.


    "Come on, then. Let me see how much power a High Immortal Realm Level Four


    like you can really bring out."


    Jared only looked at him in silence.


    He didn''t say a word. But the aura around him had already climbed to its absolute


    peak.


    Jared only raised the Dragonyer Sword slowly, then leveled its tip straight at


    Skr.


    Golden light burst from his body. Dragon pressure spread across the whole sky and forced the demonic aura back step by step.


    His presence climbed in an instant to its absolute limit. Spiritual power roared through him like a flood, already gathering for a full-force strike.


    But right when he was about to take that first step and bring the sword down, Skr suddenlyughed.


    That smile was packed with savage satisfaction. There was something vicious in it,


    cold enough to crawl under the skin, and every cultivator there went tight through the chest.