Two dayster, Jared and the others finally reached the Nether Mountain Range.
It was a mountain range wrapped in ck fog.
The peaks were steep, the ravines ran deep, and everywhere he looked there were jagged rocks and strange nts with no names he knew.
The ck fog flowed through the mountains and shut the sunlight outside.
The whole range sat under a heavy dimness.
"This is the Nether Mountain Range."
Edric kept his voice low. "It''s covered in ghostly miasma all year round. Outsiders whoe in here can easily lose their sense of direction. Our Ghost n has hidden here for thousands of years, and the celestials still haven''t found our exact location."
Jared nodded and followed Edric into the ck fog.
Edric knew the terrain here like the back of his hand.
He led the group through the mountains, steering around every trap and every dangerous stretch.
After walking for about 2 hours, they arrived in front of a massive mountain gate. The mountain gate was natural.
An arch had formed between two mountain peaks, and beyond ity a deep, shadowed gorge.
Ancient runes covered the rock walls on both sides of the gorge, giving off a faint blue glow.
"These runes were left behind by our Ghost n ancestors."
Edric exined, "They can block outside probing, and they can also resist the celestials'' holy radiance."
Once they passed through the gorge, the view ahead opened all at once.
What opened up beyond the gorge was an underground ancient city.
The ancient city had been built against the mountain in risingyers.
It started at the valley floor and stretched all the way into the mountain''s depths.
Every building had been made from a ck stone that looked old and heavy.
Time had worn over it for who knew how long, but the grandeur it once carried was still there to see.
But that grandeur belonged to a long-dead past.
Now the ancient city was falling apart.
Copsed buildingsy everywhere, and dried bloodstains streaked the ruins.
The city walls were scarred with countless marks left by attacks.
In some ces, ckened patches still remained where holy radiance had burned through the stone.
Several Ghost n warriors stood guard at the city gate.
They wore the same ck armor as Edric''s people, but they looked even more worn down, their faces hollowed out by exhaustion.
The moment they saw Edric return, a young warrior broke from the gate and ran
over.
"Elder Edric! You''re back!"
Then his eyesnded on Jared, and the change came at once.
"This is..."
"One of us," Edric said. "He''s the Princess''s friend. He saved us."
"The Princess?" The young warrior''s eyes flew wide. "Princess Lydia?"
"The Princess is still alive." Edric''s voice caught as he spoke. "Mr. Jared is the Princess''s friend."
The news spread through the ancient city in a sh.
The whole ce erupted.
Ghost n people poured out from every direction.
They crowded around Jared, voices piling over one another as they pressed him for news about Lydia.
"The Princess is really alive?"
"Is she alright?"
"When is sheing back?"
Jared was boxed in at the center of the crowd.
Questions came from every side, and for a moment, he had no idea which one to answer first.
Right then, a low voice came from somewhere behind the crowd.
"Move."
The crowd parted on its own, opening a path.
A tall middle-aged man stepped out from among them.
He wore a ck robe.
His face had gone gaunt. His eye sockets were hollowed deep, and both temples had already turned gray.
His eyes were threaded with bloodshot red, and his face carried the marks of years and hatred alike.
Even worn down that far, even with that drained, haggard look on him, he still carried a presence no one would dare take lightly.
His gaze settled on Jared and stayed there for a long time.
Then his eyes suddenly widened.
"You... you''re carrying Lydia''s aura."
Jared looked at the worn-down man in front of him. A tangled weight rose in his chest.
"You''re Lydia''s father?"
The man nodded.
His voice came out rough. "I am ric Wraithmoor. The Sovereign of the Moonshade Realm."
He walked up to Jared and looked him over from top to bottom.
Too much sat in his eyes to put cleanly into words. Concern. Pain. And a strand of hope that had been crushed down for far too long.
"Lydia... she''s still alive?"
"She is. She was swept away by a spatial storm, and I don''t know where she ended
up. But I can promise you this. She''s alive."
ric''s body gave a slight tremor.
He closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath.
When he opened them again, the wet shine was gone. In its ce sat a heavy, unshakable resolve.
"Come inside."
He turned and walked toward the depths of the ancient city.
"Tell me exactly what happened."
Inside the Council Hall of the ancient city, ric took the seat of honor and listened while Jared recounted everything that had happened from the Fourteenth Firmament to the Fifteenth Firmament.
When he heard about what Lydia had gone through in the Fourteenth Firmament,
his brow drew tight, then eased, then tightened again.
When he heard that the void passage had been interfered with, and that the three of
them had been scattered by the spatial storm, his face darkened.
"Mr. Chance, may I ask you something? Did Lydia obtain the Door of Reincarnation?"
Jared shook his head.
Then he told ric everything about the situation with the Door of Reincarnation.
When ric learned that the Door of Reincarnation might not be obtainable at all, his expression turned extremely ugly.
"The Reincarnation Division is a ce where the souls and sense of Ghost n cultivators pass through."
"Its purpose is to take in and protect the souls and sense of those Ghost n cultivators who died in war."
"For tens of thousands of years, countless Ghost n cultivators have passed through the Reincarnation Division to enter rebirth..."
"But in thest few hundred years, for reasons nobody understands, the soul and sense inside the Reincarnation Division haven''t been able to leave There are tens of thousands of Ghost n cultivators. soul and sense trapped in there."
His voice turned heavy.
"If those soul and sense can be released, then the Ghost n still has a chance to
rise again."
"Then is there any other way?" Jared asked.
ric fell silent for a moment.
"There is. But it''s hard."
ric let out a light sigh.
"The old tome says that if someone can gather three supreme treasures and light
the Nether Lamp, they can open the path of reincarnation and release every trapped
soul and sense."
"Those three treasures are the Nether Lamp, the Reincarnation Core, and the Soulkindling me. But the Ghost n has been hunted for so many years that all three of them were lost long ago. By now, no one even knows whose hands they''re in."
"There are rumors, though. The Nether Lamp is said to be in the Celestial Tribunal''s hands, the
Reincarnation Core in the dem
Shadow Hall, and the Soulkindling m in the beast-race Sky voir,
Tribe."
"With the strength we have now, protecting ourselves is already hard enough. How
could we possibly gather all three treasures?"
"As long as there''s another way, that''s enough." Jared let out a breath.
If the Door of Reincarnation was the only option, that really would have put Jared in
a bind.
He had no way to contact Mr. Sanders. Was he supposed to push himself to the edge of death one more time?
Maybe Mr. Sanders would show up when he was about to die.
But Jared had no intention of doing that.
Since there was another way, this became a lot easier to deal with.
"I''m begging you. Please help us." ric looked at Jared, his face full of appeal.
Jared stayed quiet for a long time.
He wasn''t some saint.
He had no desire to get tangled up in all the messy grudges and chaos of the
celestial realm.
But this matter with the Ghost n was something he had to step into.
For Lydia''s sake, and for Luther''s, he couldn''t leave it alone.
"Don''t worry. I''ll help you," Jared said with a nod. "Not for the Ghost n. For
Lydia."
ric froze when he heard that, then gave Jared another long look.
His mouth opened slightly, like he wanted to say something, but the words never
came out.
In the end, he only said, "Thank you."
Jared smiled faintly.
"Don''t thank me. You should send people to keep looking for Lydia, and for my other
friend too-Gwendolyn."
"Don''t worry, Mr. Chance. I''ve already sent people out. Since you showed up here,
Lydia and the others can''t be too far away. Even opening the void passage has its range limits."
Jared let out a slow breath after hearing that.
He rose and walked to the doorway of the Council Hall, then stood there looking out
at the dim sky beyond.
Purple sunlight filtered through the ck fog and spilled down over the ruins of the ancient city, staining everything with a strange, unnatural color.
Outside the Council Hall, L sat on the steps waiting, a worn cloth doll clutched in
her arms.
The second she saw Jarede out, she ran over and grabbed the corner of his
clothes.
"Uncle Jared, are you leaving?"
Jared crouched down and looked into her eyes.
"No. I''m taking you home."
Tears slid down L''s face again, but this time she didn''t make a sound. She just
nodded hard.
"Mm."
Jared picked her up and headed deeper into the ancient city.
Behind him, ric stood in the doorway of the Council Hall, watching Jared''s back
for a long time without moving.
"Lydia... this Jared, is he and you..." he murmured.
Then he turned and went back into the Council Hall.