By the time Jared returned to Moonshade Realm with the Soulkindling me, ric and Lydia had already been waiting at the city gate for a full day.
When that golden me lit up in the falling dusk, tears spilled out of ric''s eyes all over again.
"The Soulkindling me... it really is the Soulkindling me..."
His voice shook. "The Reincarnation Core, the Soulkindling me-we have two now... only thest one is left..."
He took the Soulkindling me into his hands with extreme care, then turned and walked into the Council Hall, setting it beside the Reincarnation Core.
Under the glow of the moonstones, the two priceless treasures reflected off each other. The Reincarnation Core was ck as night. The Soulkindling me zed bright as day. One ck, one gold, they looked like yin and yang meeting in one ce.
Lydia stood beside Jared, looked at the faint weariness on his face, and asked softly, "Are you hurt?"
"No." Jared smiled. "Just a little tired."
He wasn''t lying.
In the battle at Soul Abyss, he had killed the Frostwyrm Guardian and more than a hundred celestial cultivators. Chaotic force could suppress everything, but the drain on him had still been heavy.
On top of that, he had sat in front of the Verdant Crucible for 6 hours, controlling the me with his spirit sense, stripping away impurities, and blending the medicinal properties.
Work that fine was far more exhausting than a fight.
"Then go get some rest." Lydia tugged lightly at his sleeve. "L''s been waiting for you. She said she wants to hear you tell a story."
Jared thought of the little girl clutching her rag doll, and something warm rose through him.
He nodded and followed Lydia out of the Council Hall.
Behind them, ric still stood before the two treasures, murmuring under his breath, "One more... just one more..."
The next day, in the Council Hall.
ric spread out the map of the Fifteenth Firmament across the table and pointed to the location of the Tribunal.
"Mr. Chance, the Nether Lamp is in the Tribunal''s treasury. The treasury is heavily guarded, and there''s also an ancient ward on it. The Tribunal Venerable himself is a True Immortal Realm Level Eight-the strongest person in the Fifteenth Firmament. If we try to force our way in..."
He left the rest unsaid, but the meaning couldn''t have been clearer.
Jared looked at the red mark on the mapbeled "Tribunal" and said nothing for a moment.
"Not by forcing our way in."
ric was taken aback. "Then what do we do?"
"Set it aside for now."
Jared stood up and walked to the doorway, looking at the moonlight filtering through the ck fog outside. "My strength still isn''t enough. True Immortal Realm Level Eight—I can''t beat that right now. If I force my way in and try to take it, it''ll just be suicide."
ric opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end, he said nothing. He knew Jared was telling the truth.
"Then what are you nning to do, Mr. Chance...?"
"Take care of something else first." Jared turned his head and looked at Gwendolyn, who was sitting in the corner. "Help Gwendolyn find the people of the Frost Deity Branch."
Gwendolyn''s fingers moved slightly. She didn''t speak, but a trace of hope shed through her eyes.
ric nodded. "What kind of help do you need? The Moonshade Realm may be poor, but we still have people to spare."
"No need." Jared shook his head. "This isn''t something we should make public. More people will only make it troublesome. Gwendolyn and I will be enough."
Lydia stood up. "I''m going too."
Jared looked at her. "Your injuries still haven''t fully healed."
"They''re almost healed."
Lydia raised an arm, ck ghostly miasma swirling in her palm. "Besides, I''m the Ghost n Princess. I know more people in the Fifteenth Firmament than you do. I can help with finding people."
Jared was silent for a moment, then nodded.
"All right. You''reing too."
The corner of Lydia''s mouth lifted slightly.
Jared, Gwendolyn, and Lydia left the Moonshade Realm and flew toward the southwestern reaches of the Nether Mountain Range.
Their first target was the five people with the Ice God Bloodline that Jared had sensed in the Pyre Chasm.
Jared had only managed to find the rough locations of those five people. They were all in gathering ces for wandering cultivators around the Nether Mountain Range.
"How are you nning to persuade them?" Lydia asked.
Jared thought it over, then said, "We''ll see when we get there. If they''re willing to join the Frosthall, we take them with us. If they''re not..."
"Then we don''t force it," Gwendolyn said, picking up where he left off. "The Frost Deity Branch has never forced anyone. But I''ll make sure they know they''re not alone."
Lydia nced at Gwendolyn and said nothing.
The three of them flew for about two days before they finally dropped down onto a wastnd.
There was a market town out there on the empty in called Frostwind Hollow.
It wasn''t big. Just a few hundred households, most of them wandering cultivators.
The buildings in town were all piled stone, low and crude, and in the wind, they looked like they mighte apart at any moment.
Using the information in the jade slip, Jared found a stone hut on the eastern side of town.
The door to the stone hut stood slightly ajar, and coughing drifted out from inside. Jared raised a hand and knocked.
"Who is it?"
An old voice came from inside.
"A wandering cultivator passing through. I was hoping to beg a drink of water."
The door opened.
An old man stood in the doorway. His hair was graying white, his face worn deep with age, his back bent slightly forward.
His cultivation was only at True Immortal Realm Level One, the very bottom rung in the Fifteenth Firmament.
His eyes were cloudy and worn out, but the instant he saw Jared, his pupils tightened just a little.
He had sensed something.
It was subtle.
Like something buried deep in the bloodline had been stirred.
Like a memory that had slept too long was suddenly being called awake.
"You are..." The old man''s voice shook.
Jared looked at him and answered in an even voice. "My name is Jared. This is Gwendolyn, heir of the Frost Deity Branch."
The old man''s whole body jolted.
"The... the Frost Deity Branch?"
His eyes went wide. Round and staring.
"That''s impossible... the Frost Deity Branch should''ve been gone a long time ago..."
"No." Gwendolyn stepped forward
and stopped in front of him. "The Frost Deity Branch was never destroyed. I''m living proof of that."
She raised her right hand.
An icy blue radiance gathered in her palm.
The light was pure and cold.
An ancient, noble presence flowed off it.
That presence struck a resonance with the bloodline inside the old man.
His body started trembling on its own.
"You... you really are..." Tears burst out of his eyes. "My grandpa told me before our ancestors came the Frost Deity Branch. alway
thought it was just a legend
"It isn''t a legend. I am of the Frost Deity Branch, and I am the Pce Mistress of the
Celestial Pce."
Gwendolyn drew the light back into her palm.
"You carry the Ice God Bloodline. It''s very faint, but it''s there. If you''re willing, I can
help awaken it."
The old man stayed silent for a long time.
Then he dropped to his knees.
His voice came out rough, but it did not shake.
"This old servant... is willing."
The old man''s name was Rowan.
He was 3,700 years old this year.
His ancestors really had been cultivators of the Frost Deity Branch.
But the bloodline had thinned with each generation. By the time it reached him, only
a faint trace remained.
He had believed this was all his life would ever be.
He hadn''t expected that, before his life ran out, he would still meet an heir of the
Frost Deity Branch.
Gwendolyn had him sit down cross-legged.
Then she pressed both hands against his back.
Ice-blue divine radiance poured from her palms.
It flowed into Rowan''s body along his meridians.
Jared stood to the side and sent a strand of chaotic force into Rowan''s spirit well.
Chaotic force was a universal catalyst.
It could stir a sleeping bloodline awake.
It could repair damaged meridians.
It could temper the strength of the physical body.
Under thebined effects of Jared''s chaotic force and Gwendolyn''s Frost God''s power, the Ice God Bloodline inside Rowan began to awaker