"Mr. Chance, from this day on, I''ll follow your lead in everything. I''ll never have divided loyalties..."


    Luther suddenly threw his arms around Jared and started pouring out his loyalty.


    "Alright, enough. You''re a grown man."


    Jared shoved Luther off, then looked toward Miss Warwick. "Miss Warwick, Luther isn''t much of a talker, but he''s steady where it counts. If he treats you well, then he''ll mean it for real. If you stay with him, you won''t be wronged."


    Grace''s face was still red. She gave a small nod.


    Off to the side, Evelyn watched the whole thing like it was the best show she''d seen all day, her eyes shining.


    "Wow, Luther and Grace are so romantic. I want to fall in love too!"


    Evelyn had been raised by the Hallowmere Order like a caged piece on a board, kept for one purpose only: to cultivate in pairs with men of pure bloodline.


    But she didn''t want to be used. She didn''t want to be pushed around. She didn''t want to cultivate in pairs with some man she didn''t even like.


    What she wanted was something like what Luther and Grace had now-to follow the man she liked and be in love with him.


    Jared flicked a calm look at her.


    "Kids shouldn''t be thinking about that."


    Evelyn''s mouth pulled down. She didn''t dare say another word.


    Jared turned back to Luther, curiosity in in his voice.


    "That said, when did this even start between you two? When we went to the Luminous Sanctuary, I remember you barely had anything to do with each other."


    Luther scratched his head, looking awkward.


    "It was... it was during those few days when you went to the Luminous Sanctuary."


    "Then have the two of you cultivated in pairs yet?" Jared asked, still curious. Luther nodded.


    "We did. It was during those days when the Celestial Pce was besieging Cloudhaven City. We had just started cultivating in pairs..."


    "Those days?" Jared paused, caught off guard. "You were one step from death back then, and you still had the mind to..."


    Jared honestly couldn''t picture it. They''d practically had one foot in the grave, and somehow Luther had still found the mind for that kind of thing.


    Luther''s face turned even redder. He opened his mouth, stalled out, and couldn''t force the words loose.


    Grace reached over and gave his sleeve a light tug.


    "There''s nothing here that can''t be said."


    She lifted her head and looked at Jared. Her face was red, but her gaze didn''t waver.


    "During those days, we were guarding outside the hidden chamber, and we could''ve died at any moment. Luther said he was probably going to die this time, and the only thing he regretted was that before dying, he''d never known what a woman felt like." "So then you two just..." Jared stared at them, caughtpletely off guard.


    Luther drew in a deep breath and said, "Yeah. Grace said I should try it."


    "Well, I haven''t tried a man before either. I thought I was going to die then too..." Evelyn curled her lips, inly unconvinced.


    "Good. Good. Good!"


    Jared said it three times in a row, then pped Luther hard on the shoulder. "Luther, you''ve got some nerve. At a life-and-death moment like that, you could still do it. That''s what a man is."


    Luther''s face turned even redder. "It was because I''d never done it before. I got worked up, so then I..."


    But the more he talked, the lower his voice dropped.


    Jared looked at him like that, and the smile in his face deepened.


    "Alright, alright. No need to exin. This is a good thing. A really big good thing."


    Then he turned serious. "Luther,


    you''ve been with me a long time.


    You''ve suffered plenty Now you''ve


    finally found someone you like, and you get to live the kind of life you actually want. I''m truly d for you."


    Luther looked at him, and his eyes reddened again.


    "Mr. Chance..."


    "Alright." Jared patted his shoulder. "From now on, treat Miss Warwick well. Don''t let her down."


    Luther nodded hard. "I know!"


    Grace stood off to the side and looked at Jared, gratitude in in her eyes.


    She had once been nothing more than a wandering cultivator Jared had taken in,


    with no one to rely on and nowhere to go.


    Now she could stay by Luther''s side. Now she had a ce to belong. All of it hade because of Jared.


    "Young Master Chance, thank you." Grace bowed as she spoke.


    Jared waved it off.


    "Don''t thank me. This is your own fate."


    "Jared, the men of the Celestial Pce are all gone. Where do we go next?" Lydia asked.


    "The men are gone, but the Celestial Pce''s Sacred Mountains are still there. We need to find the remaining Sacred Mountains. Inside them are the Venerables'' physical bodies of the Ghost n," Jared said.


    "Right, we need to find those Venerables'' bodies." Luther was fully on board with what Jared wanted to do.


    Lydia''s brows drew together when she heard that.


    The Venerables of the Ghost n were great powers from the elder age, beings with heaven-reaching cultivation who had once led the Ghost n in conquest across thend.


    Later, they had fallen in the War of Gods and Fiends, and their physical bodies had been taken by the divine race and sealed away somewhere.


    She hadn''t expected those bodies to be in the Celestial Pce''s hands.


    "What are you nning to do?" Lydia asked.


    Jared looked at her, his gaze steady.


    "Destroy it."


    Lydia paused for a beat.


    Jared went on, "If the Celestial


    Pce wants to revive the


    Venerable, then they clearly have something in mind. If they seed in using that Veherable''s body,


    consequences will be beyond imagining. Instead of leaving trouble behind, it''d be better to destroy it


    now."


    He paused, then looked at Lydia. "You''re the Ghost n Princess. That Venerable


    belongs to your Ghost n. If you don''t agree, I won''t force it."


    Lydia stayed quiet for a moment before she finally spoke.


    "I agree."


    She lifted her head. Somethingplicated flickered through her eyes. "The Venerable really was one of the great powers of our Ghost n when he was alive. He was an ancestor I looked up to."


    "But since he already fell, he should be allowed to rest in peace. What the Celestial Pce is doing with his body, using it for this kind of filthy business, is a desecration of the Venerable."


    "Rather than let the Venerable''s body be a tool for the celestials, it''d be better to destroy it and let him be truly free."


    Luther nodded too. "I agree with the princess. The Venerable was a


    towering figure in his day, a real


    here. If he knew the celestials met


    using him after death, he probably wouldn''t be able to close his eyes even in death."


    Jared looked at the two of them and gave a small nod.


    "In that case, let''s go."


    Jared led the group out to search for the Celestial Pce''s Sacred Mountain.