Gwendolyn stood inside the barrier and watched the whole thing.


    She stayed silent for a long time.


    She knew Jared was strong.


    But every time she saw him make a move, the impact stillnded just as hard.


    More than fifty Mistshade Fiends, ranging from True Immortal Realm Level Two to the fourth tier, hadn''t evensted five breaths in front of him.


    Just how strong was this man?


    If all of that ever came down on her, would she be able to take it?


    The thought left Gwendolyn standing there a little too still.


    Jared drew back the chaos-me and turned to walk back to Gwendolyn''s side.


    "Let''s go."


    Gwendolyn didn''t move.


    "What is it?" Jared asked.


    Gwendolyn looked at him, her face drained pale. "I can''t hold on much longer."


    Jared paused for a beat.


    Only then did he really notice what shape she was in.


    Her shield was still up, but her face had gone white as paper. Cold sweat covered her forehead, and her breathing came fast and uneven.


    Jared had blocked the spirit assault from those Mistshade Fiends just now, but the aftershock had still reached her.


    The Frost God''s power had never been especially resistant to demonic aura to begin with. On top of that, after walking through demonic aura for so long, her spirit had already been eaten away.


    "Your spirit..."


    "I can still keep going for a while," Gwendolyn cut in. "But if we keep moving forward, I might not make it to Shade Abyss."


    Jared said nothing for a moment.


    "Then we go back. We head to ckstone City."


    "But the time..."


    "We have enough time," Jared said. "Your life matters more than the schedule."


    He raised a hand and sent a strand of chaotic force into Gwendolyn''s body, helping her steady her spirit.


    Then he turned and started toward the edge of the Blightmist Wood.


    Gwendolyn followed behind him, looking at his back.


    Something she couldn''t put a name to rose quietly inside her.


    This man always ced other people''s lives above his own business.


    The two of them withdrew from the Blightmist Wood and flew in the direction of ckstone City.


    ckstone City was a small town built on a mountain of ck stone. The city walls weren''t high, but they were thick, and upon the city walls were carved with warding sigils.


    Most of the buildings in the city were made of stone, gray and in, with nothing that stood out.


    This was one of the few neutral strongholds in the Fifteenth Firmament. It wasn''t attached to any great n, and it survived in the cracks through its own strength and flexible diplomacy.


    By the time Jared and Gwendolyn reached ckstone City, evening had already settled in.


    The setting sun had stained the ck stone mountain a dark, blood-red.


    At the city gate, the guards caught sight of two strangers approaching and immediately went on alert.


    "Stop. Who are you?"


    Jared stopped. "Wandering cultivators passing through. We want to enter the city and rest for the night."


    One of the guards looked him over from head to toe, then shifted his eyes past him to Gwendolyn.


    After a brief pause, he stepped aside and let them through.


    "Go on in. No fighting in the city. No causing trouble. Break the rules, and you''re thrown out."


    Jared gave a nod and walked through the city gate.


    The streets inside were narrow.


    On both sides, the shops sold all kinds of odds and ends-healing elixirs, arcane implements, materials, even information.


    There weren''t many people on the street. Most were wandering cultivators, though there were also merchants from the beast race and the demon ns.


    They nced at Jared and Gwendolyn once, then looked away.


    Jared was just about to find an inn for the night when a burst ofmotion suddenly broke out ahead.


    "Let me go! What gives you the right to arrest people?"


    "Enough crap! Shadow Hall is conducting business. Everyone else, back off!"


    Jared followed the sound and looked over.


    Not far from the city gate, several Demonic Cultivators in ck armor had a group of wandering cultivators surrounded.


    There were seven or eight wandering cultivators in the group.


    At their head stood a middle-aged man in a gray robe, his features hard and steady,


    a True Immortal Realm Level Three cultivator.


    Several younger cultivators were behind him.


    Some were injured. Some had already been forced to the ground under the hands of the demonic cultivators.


    There were more than a dozen demonic cultivators, and the one leading them was a captain at True Immortal Realm Level Three.


    The cuirass on his body bore the mark of Shadow Hall.


    In his hand was a long ck saber, faint demonic aura sliding over the de.


    "Your Shadow Hall has gone too far!" the middle-aged man snapped. "This is ckstone City, not Shadow Hall territory! What gives you the right to seize our people?"


    "What gives us the right?" the demon captain let out a coldugh. "Because you''ve been colluding with the celestials and plotting against Shadow Hall."


    "We never-"


    "Save it. Take them away!"


    The demonic cultivators hauled those younger wandering cultivators along and prepared to leave.


    Jared watched the scene unfold, and his brow pulled tight.


    He had no interest in sticking his nose into someone else''s trouble.


    But he still needed to take the


    Reincarnation Core from Mchy Vane. If Shadow Hall''s demon cultivators could throw their weight around unchecked in ckstone City, it could get in the way of what he meant to do next.


    And those wandering cultivators brought something back to him-ordinary people


    pinned down by power, pressed so hard they couldn''t fight back.


    "Hold it."


    Jared spoke.


    His voice wasn''t loud, but it carried clean and clear into every ear there.


    Every eye turned to him at once.


    The demon captain narrowed his eyes and looked Jared over from top to bottom.


    Top Level High Immortal Realm Level Eight. One human wandering cultivator. In the captain''s eyes, that level of strength wasn''t even worthy of carrying his shoes.


    "What the hell are you supposed to be? You think you get to interfere in Shadow Hall''s business?"


    Jared didn''t answer. He walked over and stopped right in front of the demon captain.


    "Let them go."


    The demon captain''s face darkened. "You want to die?"


    He swung his de and chopped straight at Jared.


    ck sword light rolled off the edge, wrapped in thick demonic aura—more than enough to kill a True Immortal Realm Level Two cultivator in a single strike.


    Jared raised two fingers and caught the de between them.


    The sword light broke apart at his fingertips. The demonic aura vanished into nothing, like mud sinking into the sea without a trace.


    The demon captain felt as if a mountain hade down on his saber. It wouldn''t budge an inch.


    The color drained from his face.


    "You..."


    Jared flicked his fingers.


    The de shattered, and the fragments sprayed in every direction.


    The demon captain staggered back several steps.


    The web of his hand split open, and blood ran straight down from his grip.


    "I said, let them go."


    The color drained from the demon captain''s face.


    Only then did he realize it.


    This human cultivator, who looked like he was only at the Top Level High Immortal


    Realm Level Eight, was far stronger than anything he had imagined.


    "You... who are you?"


    "Jared."


    The demon captain''s pupils suddenly shrank.


    He had definitely heard that name before.


    In the Pyre Chasm, one punch had badly wounded Cedric Gilt, one palm strike had sent a celestials'' deputy flying and one sentence had scared every celestial cultivator there into a miserable retreat.


    For the past two days, the whole Fifteenth Firmament had been passing that name


    around.


    "J-Jared, fellow adept." His voice shook. "We''re from Shadow Hall. If you..."


    "I''ll say it one more time. Let them go."


    The demon captain ground his teeth, then threw out a hand.


    "Release them."


    The demonic cultivators let go of the wandering cultivators and backed off to the


    side.


    Jared looked at the demon captain.


    "Get out."


    The demon captain scrambled away with his men, half crawling as he fled.


    The city gate went quiet.


    The middle-aged man stepped forward and bowed deeply.


    "My name is Edmund Rowe, branch master of the ckstone City local chapter of


    the Wandering Cultivators Alliance. Thank you, fellow adept Jared, for saving our lives."


    Jared reached out and stopped him.


    "No need for that. Why were they arresting you?"


    Edmund Rowe let out a long breath.


    "Shadow Hall has tightened patrol dutytely, and they''ve been especially wary of outside


    cultivators heading to the Shad


    Abyss. We only passed through celestial territory once, and they set


    their eyes on us after that, saying we were secretly colluding with celestials. But the truth is simple. They just wanted an excuse to drag


    us off to the Shade Abyss and work us like ves."


    Jared''s brow tightened slightly.


    "Work ves?"