"What about the disciples of the Celestial Pce?" Jared asked.
"The Celestial Pce only ever had twelve disciples. They were all orphans I picked up from different ces."
Gwendolyn said evenly, "I already arranged for them to go somewhere safe. For them, the Celestial Pce breaking up is more of a release than anything else."
Jared looked at the woman in front of him, the way she moved fast and never hesitated.
Too many things rose at once, and none of them settled cleanly.
She had been ready for all of this a long time ago.
Not today. Not yesterday. Maybe from the moment she decided to dual cultivate with
him, she had already startedying all of this out.
"You weren''t worried I''d say no?" Jared asked.
Gwendolyn looked at him, and the corner of her mouth lifted a little.
"Would you?"
Jared gave a helpless smile.
He wouldn''t.
Not because of any promise, but because he could no longer treat the woman standing in front of him like some irrelevant passerby.
What happened between them on the Ancient Battlefield, the way they had fought side by side beneath the Voidreach, and that night under the Worldtree... some things crossed a line the moment they happened. After that, there was no going back.
"Let''s go."
Jared let out a breath. "Before we do, I need to try that bloodline-sensing art you mentioned. If we leave and then you realize you forgot something,ing all the way back would be a pain."
Gwendolyn gave a softugh and handed him the jade slip.
Jared sat down cross-legged, pressed the jade slip to his forehead, and closed his eyes.
The bloodline-sensing art wasn''tplicated.
At its core, it was simply a way to sense fluctuations in a bloodline.
Jared already had the Ice God Bloodline fused into his body, and with chaotic force acting as a bridge, cultivating it took half the effort for twice the result.
In less than half an hour, Jared had the secret art in hand.
He stirred the Ice God Bloodline inside him and sent his senses spreading in every direction.
Nothing answered within 1,000 miles.
2,000 miles.
3,000 miles.
When the range pushed out to 5,000 miles, Jared''s brows pulled together all of a sudden.
He caught it.
To the southeast, about 4,700 miles away, there was a faint signal.
It was incredibly weak, so weak it was almost drowned out by the surrounding spiritual energy.
But it was there. Without a doubt, it was the faint ripple of dormant recessive genes from the Ice God Bloodline.
"There''s one person."
Jared opened his eyes and said to Gwendolyn, "Southeast. 4,700 miles out."
A flicker passed through Gwendolyn''s eyes, and then she pressed it down just as fast.
"Only one person?"
Jared nodded. "Only one person. But my sensing range only reaches 5,000 miles right now. I can''t detect anything farther than that. Maybe once my strength rises again, the range will grow with it."
Gwendolyn went quiet for a moment, then let out a soft sigh.
"Even one is enough. At least it proves the me seed of the Frost Deity Branch hasn''t gone outpletely."
She lifted her head and looked once at the Worldtree, then turned and walked out of the Celestial Pce.
"Let''s go."
Jared rose and followed behind her.
The two of them passed through the pir maze, crossed the Voidwind reaches, and kept heading south.
Jared looked back once at that hiddennd buried under ice and snow, and the distance of it all hit him like another lifetime.
When he hade here, he had been alone, drained dry, barely clinging to life.
When he left, there were two of them. His strength had climbed by a huge margin, and at his side was one more woman, one who meant to rebuild an entire race with him.
Fate really was the kind of thing no one sawing.
They kept traveling south and covered about two days on the road.
Jared''s injuries had healedpletely, and Gwendolyn had recovered most of what she had spent as well.
As they traveled, they talked through cultivation. More exactly, Gwendolyn was teaching Jared how to use the Ice God Bloodline inside him with more control.
"Your chaotic force is too overbearing. Every time you use the Ice God Bloodline,
you unconsciously mix your other powers into it."
Gwendolyn''s brow drew together. "That does make it stronger, but it cuts the tempering effect on the Ice God Bloodline way down."
"Then what should I do?" Jared asked, in and earnest. "Purity."
Gwendolyn gave him only that one word. "The core of the Frost Deity Branch''s power is purity. You need to learn how to strip the other
elements out of your ch the need
force
and leave behind only the purest Frost God''s power."
Jared tried it her way.
The difference showed right away.
He still couldn''t make itpletely pure, but it was already far better than before.
By noon on the third day, the two of them reached a wide stretch of open in.
Jared suddenly stopped.
"What is it?" Gwendolyn asked.
Jared didn''t answer. He only lifted his head and looked north.
From that direction, an aura he knew all too well was rushing toward them.
It burned hot, overbearing, and carried the kind of madness that looked ready to destroy everything in its path.
It was Skr.
"What is it?"
Gwendolyn asked again. By now, she''d already caught the change in him.
"We havepany." Jared''s voice stayed even, but his gaze sharpened like a de. "An old friend."
The moment the words left his mouth, a ck dot appeared on the northern horizon.
That ck dot swelled fast as it tore across the sky, bigger with every breath closer with every breath, like a ck meteor dragging a long tail
of me straight at the two of them.
In just a few moments, that streak of ck light crashed down a hundred yards in
front of them.
The light peeled away and two figures showed through.
Skr.
And Josephine.
Skr looked the same as ever. ck clothes dark as ink. Hands sped behind
his back. A faint demonic aura curled around him.
His presence was even stronger than thest time they met.
He clearly hadn''t spent this time sitting still.
And Josephine at his side...
Jared''s eyes locked onto Josephine, and something in his chest cinched hard, like
an invisible hand had closed around it.
She wore a long red dress. Her hair fell like a dark waterfall, and every line of her
face looked carved to stop a man in ce.
A faintyer of zing firelight drifted around her.
It was warm and bright, but there was still a cold distance in it that kept everyone far
away.
Her eyes... they were the same as thest time he saw her. Hollow. Indifferent. Like
she was looking at a stranger.
No. Worse than a stranger.
A stranger would at least catch her attention.
But in her eyes, Jared wasn''t even worth one extra nce.
"Jared."
Skr spoke first, a trace of surprise in his voice. "What are you doing here?"
Jared didn''t answer him.
His eyes stayed locked on Josephine.
"Josephine..."
Josephine frowned a little and gave him a nce.
There was no hatred in that look. No
warmth either. There wasn''t
né
anything there at all like she was, looking at a stone by the side of the
road.
"Do I know you?" Her voice came out cold as ice.
Something in Jared''s chest tightened, dull and slow, like a blunt de dragging
through flesh.
Know him?
He knew her as far more than that.
She was the woman he loved most.
She was the one he would haveid down his life to protect.
But she didn''t remember him anymore.
She didn''t remember any of it.
"Josephine,e back with me," Jared said, his voice rough. "I''ll find a way to bring
your memory back."