Carrying L in his arms, Jared walked for a while through the ancient city.
Ly against his shoulder, her little hand clutching his clothes tight as her breathing slowly evened out.
She had fallen asleep. Tear tracks still clung to the corners of her eyes, but the edge of her mouth lifted a little, like she was having a good dream.
Jared slowed his steps, not wanting to wake her.
The streets of the ancient city were narrow. Buildings pressed close together on both sides, and the walls were carved all over with ancient Ghost n runes.
Some of the runes had already dimmed. Some still gave off a faint blue glow, like thest fireflies left in the dark.
Every Ghost n cultivator they passed on the road stopped and looked at Jared with somethingplicated in their eyes.
There was gratitude in their eyes. There was curiosity too. But above all, there was awe.
They had already heard what happened on the riverbed. A human cultivator, only at the High Immortal Realm, had driven back a celestial adjudicator at True Immortal Realm Level Three with a single punch.
What kind of background did this young man have?
"Mr. Chance."
Edric hurried up from behind, breathing hard. "I''ll take you to where you''ll be staying. The Sovereign gave orders already. You''re an honored guest of our Moonshade Realm, so we''ve prepared the best room for you."
Jared gave a small nod and followed Edric through several streets until they stopped in front of a rtively intact stone hall.
The stone hall wasn''trge, but it had been kept spotless.
Two Ghost n warriors stood guard outside the entrance. The moment they saw Jared approach, both of them straightened at once.
"This used to be the Princess''s residence."
Edric pushed the door open. "After the Princess left, the Sovereign always had people clean it. He said it was to keep it ready for when she came back. You should rest here for now. Once the Princess is found..."
He didn''t finish the sentence, but the meaning was in enough. Once Lydia was found, this would be her home again.
Jared stepped into the stone hall.
The ce was arranged simply.
There was a stone bed, a stone table, several stone chairs, and a painting hanging on the wall.
The woman in the painting looked young and refined. Around the brows and eyes, she resembled Lydia a little.
"That''s the Queen Mother."
Edric''s voice dropped. "Many years ago... she died at the hands of the celestials."
Jared stood quiet for a moment.
Then he gentlyid L on the stone bed and pulled a thin nket over her.
L turned over, mumbled something under her breath, and sank right back into deep sleep.
"Mr. Chance, get some rest first. I''ll go prepare some cultivation resources for you." With that, Edric turned to leave.
"Wait."
Jared stopped him. "Elder Edric, I want to ask you something."
Edric halted at the doorway. "Go ahead, Mr. Chance."
"The Ghost n... how many of them are left, exactly?"
Edric fell silent.
He stood in the doorway with his back to Jared, his shoulders trembling just a little.
A long while passed before he finally spoke, his voice rough, scraping out like sandpaper.
"Originally... there were tens of millions."
"A few thousand years ago, the celestials began ughtering us. Ghost n cultivators died where they stood, or fled, and some escaped all the way to the Lower Realm."
"As for how many Ghost n people are still left in the entire celestial realm now, I don''t know. But as for us..."
Edric paused and looked at Jared, his eyes bloodshot.
"Right now, in Moonshade Realm, there aren''t even 300 people who can still pick up arms. Count the old, the weak, the women, and the children together, and there aren''t even 1 thousand. 1 thousand... Mr. Chance, Moonshade Realm used to have 100 thousand citizens. Now there''s only 1 thousand left."
His voice shook.
"We are not evil. We were just... born into the Ghost n. We cultivate ghostly miasma because that''s what our bloodline is. We don''t harm people. We don''t kill. We only want to live quietly."
"But the celestials say we''re evil. They say we''ve tainted the spiritual aura of the celestial realm. They say our very existence is a sphemy against it."
"They kill our men, take our women, and throw our children into the fire and burn them alive. They call that purifying the celestial realm."
Edric''s tears finally fell.
"Mr. Chance... what did we do wrong?"
Jared said nothing.
There was no answer he could give to that.
He thought of the human race and the beast race in the Ethereal Realm. He thought
of all those innocents butchered for no reason beyond being born different.
He thought of Stoneford Vige, and the vigers the demon race had massacred there.
This world had never changed.
"Elder Edric," Jared said quietly, "I''ll help you."
Edric lifted his head and looked at him through blurred, tear-filled eyes.
"Not for some grand cause. Not for some racial revival either."
Jared said, "It just shouldn''t be like this. You shouldn''t have been treated this way."
"One day, I''m going to build a celestial realm—maybe even a whole universe—
where everyone is truly equal, where there are no sses at all."
"No matter what race they belong to, they should live as equals. Different races should be able to marry each. other. There shouldn''t be any
difference between noble and lowly."
Edric parted his lips, like he wanted to say something, but in the end he only bowed
deeply.
Then he turned and left.
He knew Jared''s idea was a good one, but what good would it do?
Heavenly Law was the way it was. Who could go against thews of Heaven?
Jared sat down beside the stone bed and looked at L''s quiet sleeping face.
Something rose in his chest, hard to put into words.
This gifted child''s parents were dead.
Her grandfather was dead too.
She was only a few years old, and she already knew what loss was.
She already knew what fear was.
But she still smiled.
When she had been in his arms, she had smiled.
Maybe that was why he was willing to help them.
Not because of some greater cause. Not because of a promise.
Just because...
...when a child smiled in your arms, you wanted to protect her.
That was all.
Jared had just closed his eyes to rest when a burst of hurried footsteps suddenly came from outside.
"Hurry! Hurry!"
"Gather up! Everyone, gather up!"
"Take the children to the cer! Move!"
Jared''s eyes flew open, and he rolled off the bed in one motion.
L got jolted awake by the noise. She rubbed her eyes, sat up, and asked in a
groggy voice, "Uncle Jared, what''s happening?"
"It''s fine." Jared put a hand on her head. "Stay here and wait. Uncle''s going to go take a look."
He strode out of the stone hall and saw the street outside inplete chaos.
Ghost n warriors were running everywhere. Some were charging for the city
gate. Others were rushing for the city walls.
The old were hurrying children down
into the cer. The women were gatherings
supplies Every face
looked tight and strained, with the
same dread pressed across it.
Jared''s chest sank.
Had the celestialse?
He caught a Ghost n warrior as the man ran past him and asked, "What
happened?"
The warrior recognized him and immediately said, "Mr. Chance, the Sovereign sent
me to bring you over. He''s waiting for you at the city gate!"
Jared followed the warrior through the chaos in the street and made his way to the
city gate.
ric Wraithmoor was standing upon the city walls, staring out at the far-off sky.
His face looked even paler than it had the day before, but his eyes were bright, bright enough to put a chill on a man.
Jared climbed onto the city walls and asked, "Sovereign Wraithmoor, what happened?"
ric Wraithmoor turned to look at him. The weight in his face had deepened.
"Mr. Chance, we found her. Lydia has been found."
Jared stopped short. "Found?"
"Yes." ric Wraithmoor pointed at a Ghost n cultivator upon the city walls. "We just got word. Our scout found tydia''s aura in the eastern reaches of the Nether Mountain Range. She... she''s still alive."
Jared''s heartbeat missed once. "Where is she?"
ric Wraithmoor turned and pointed east. "The Pyre Chasm."