Jared and Gwendolyn journeyed south, traversing deste ice ins and trekking across frost-locked barrens until the road to Cloudhaven City finally appeared beneath their feet. After five days of flight, a jagged silhouette of stone and steel crested the horizon.


    Cloudhaven City.


    The city had once been ravaged by war, but now it had recovered seven or eight tenths of its former vitality.


    The city walls had been reinforced again, and the cultivators on patrol duty upon the city walls were exactly twice as many as before.


    Caravans and wandering cultivators moved in and out of the city gate in an endless stream. It still couldn''t be called prosperous, but at least it was no longer a picture of destion.


    "So this is Cloudhaven City?" Gwendolyn looked at the city in the distance and lifted a brow slightly. "It''s bigger than I expected."


    "One of the top ten great cities in the Fourteenth Firmament. Of course it isn''t small." Jared said, "Butpared to your Celestial Pce, it''s still nowhere close."


    Gwendolyn let out a lightugh. "The Celestial Pce only has me in it. What kind of big ce is that? Your Cloudhaven City is different. Just the cultivators on patrol duty upon the city walls alone number no fewer than 300."


    Still talking, the two of them headed toward the city gate.


    The guards at the city gate recognized Jared at once and hurriedly bowed. "Mr. Chance, you''re back!"


    Jared gave a small nod. "How have things been in the citytely?"


    "Reporting to Mr. Chance, everything is well," a guard answered respectfully. "Rnd has kept the city in perfect order. It''s just..."


    "Just what?"


    The guard nced at Gwendolyn beside Jared, hesitated for a moment, then lowered his voice. "It''s just that Miss Vivian


    you''ll be back..."


    Jared said nothing.


    alki every


    Gwendolyn shot him a look that wasn''t quite a smile.


    "Let''s go." Jared cleared his throat and strode through the city gate.


    about when


    The city lord mansion of Cloudhaven City sat right in the city center, a sprawling estate that covered an enormous area.


    Two guards stood at the entrance to the estate. The second they saw Jared back, they immediately ran inside to report it.


    Jared hadn''t even made it into the courtyard when a dark figure shot out from inside.


    It was Lydia.


    She wore a fitted ck outfit, her long hair tied high behind her head. Everything about her looked sharp and capable.


    "Jared!" She rushed right up to him and grabbed his arm. "So you still remembered how toe back. Do you have any idea how many days you''ve been gone? It''s been almost a month. Didn''t you say seven days at most?"


    "If you''de back a few dayster, I would''ve taken people and marched straight to the Celestial Pce..."


    Jared hurried to exin himself. "Something unexpected came up. It dyed us."


    Then Jared nced at Gwendolyn, apology written all over his face. Gwendolyn only smiled, though, and didn''t seem to mind what Lydia had said.


    "Unexpected? What unexpected thing?" Lydia''s gaze went past Jared andnded on Gwendolyn behind him.


    Her eyes narrowed slightly.


    It was an extraordinarily beautiful face.


    Her features were delicate and cool, her brows distant as mountain lines, her eyes like cold stars.


    She stood in white, clean as snow, with ink-dark hair falling behind her. There was a kind of nobility around her that looked born into her.


    Most importantly, this woman was beautiful.


    Not the kind of beauty built on careful dressing, but the kind that seemed natural all


    the way through, the kind that made it hard to look away.


    Lydia''s eyes stayed on Gwendolyn for three full seconds before turning back to Jared.


    "Who is she?"


    Her voice was calm. Calm enough to put an edge on the air.


    Before Jared could answer, someone else stepped out from the courtyard.


    It was Vivian.


    She wore a light green dress, her long hair loose over her shoulders, her features soft and gentle.


    But the instant her eyes fell on Gwendolyn, they narrowed just a little too.


    "Jared, you''re back." Her voice flowed out soft as water, but under that softness sat


    a trace of caution that barely showed. "And this is?"


    Jared looked at the two women in front of him and suddenly felt like he was sitting on a bed of needles.


    By instinct, he nced at Gwendolyn, hoping she would step in and exin.


    Gwendolyn only stood there, light and still. The corner of her mouth even lifted a little, like she was enjoying the show.


    Jared drew in a breath and forced himself to speak.


    "This is Gwendolyn, the Pce Mistress of the Celestial Pce."


    The courtyard went silent in an instant.


    Lydia''s eyes went round. "The Pce Mistress of the Celestial Pce? That


    Celestial Pce, the most mysterious ce among the celestials?"


    Even Vivian was caught off guard. "The Pce Mistress of the Celestial Pce? Isn''t that supposed to be a figure out of legend?"


    Gwendolyn gave a slight nod.


    "That''s right. But the Celestial Pce no longer exists. I''m only a wandering cultivator now."


    Lydia and Vivian looked at each other and saw the same shock in each other''s eyes.


    Lydia especially looked a little awkward. A moment ago, she had been saying she was ready to march straight up to the Celestial Pce.


    The Celestial Pce was the oldest inheritednd of the celestials, and even the Celestial Basilica and the Celestial Basilica''s counterpart together could not match how


    mysterious it was.


    to''


    In the stories, the strength of the Celestial Pce''s Pce Mistress ran so deep no


    one could measure it. Even powerhouses in the True Immortal Realm did not provoke her lightly.


    So how had someone like that, someone out of legend,e back with Jared?


    Vivian''s gaze kept shifting between Jared and Gwendolyn, and the sourness in her chest only grew heavier.


    "Jared, you and her... what exactly is the rtionship there?" Lydia asked straight out.


    Jared parted his lips, but no answer came.


    What stood between him and Gwendolyn... that really wasplicated.


    If he called them friends, then there was the dual cultivation they had shared beneath the Worldtree.


    If he called her his cultivation partner, then that had only been a transaction.


    If he said there was nothing between them, that wouldn''t hold either. They had gone through life and death together, and Gwendolyn had even given him the Heart of the Northern Abyss.


    "She helped me bring my friends back to life, a husband and wife," Jared said at


    Lydia clearly wasn''t satisfied with that answer, but she let it stop there.


    Vivian, on the other hand, said nothing.


    She only walked over and gently took Jared''s hand.


    "It''s good that you''re back," she said, her voice soft. "Everyone''s been waiting for


    you."


    Something in Jared loosened.


    He closed his fingers around hers.


    "Where''s Rnd?"


    "In the Council Hall," Vivian said.


    "He''s been studying the movements in the Demon Marches these past few days He say


    the Demon


    Dragon Lineage has been acting a


    little strangetely."


    Jared nodded, then turned to Gwendolyn.


    "Get some rest first. I''m going to go see what''s happening."


    Gwendolyn shook her head. "Don''t worry about me. Go do what you need to do."


    Lydia nced at her and said evenly, "I''ll take Lady Frost to a guest room so she can rest."


    Gwendolyn looked back at Lydia, the corner of her mouth lifting slightly. "Thank you for the trouble."


    The two women held each other''s gaze.


    Something in the air seemed to crackle.


    Jared cleared his throat and pulled Vivian along with him toward the Council Hall.


    Behind them, Lydia and Gwendolyn headed for the guest rooms, one in front of the


    other.


    After a few steps, Lydia suddenly said, "Lady Frost, you and Jared... are you really nothing more than a transaction?"


    Gwendolyn didn''t slow down.


    "What do you think?"


    Lydia bit her lip. "I don''t think so. The way you look at him... that''s not how you look


    at someone you''re just making a deal with."


    Gwendolyn stopped and turned to look at her.


    A trace of amusement flickered through those deep eyes.


    "Then what kind of look do you think it should be?"


    Lydia shifted her face away under that gaze. "How would I know?"


    Gwendolyn let out a softugh and kept walking.


    "Don''t worry. I won''t take your ce."


    Her voice was soft, but every wordnded cleanly in Lydia''s ear. "I have my mission.


    He has his road. We only... traveled together for part of the way."


    Lydia froze for a beat and stayed where she was, watching Gwendolyn''s back


    disappear at the end of the corridor.


    Something tangled and hard to sort through rose up inside her.


    This woman... maybe she wasn''t all that unbearable after all.


    To be exact, what she had with Jared was nothing more than a transaction too.


    It was only over this stretch of time that her own heart had started, little by little, turning toward him.