Jared stayed on high alert, placing each footstep gingerly as he ventured deeper into the shadow-choked gorge.
Dank, venomous miasma curled around his calves, yet his tempered flesh dismissed the poison as though it were morning mist.
For nearly an hour, he pressed on, nerves stretched taut until a faint conversation drifted through the haze. He slid behind a crooked pillar of rock, held his breath, and narrowed his eyes. Barely fifty paces ahead, three figures hovered in the murk.
The first, wrapped in regal gold, should have radiated authority. Instead, lifeless eyes and a slack face marked him a puppet bereft of will. Beside him stood two men in austere white robes, Jaehaerys of the First Hall and Brennan Hartley of the Second, pillars of the Celestial Palace.
“Mr. Jaehaerys, how much longer must we wait? Why hasn’t Malevolent Path Hall shown up?” Brennan’s impatience rasped across the fog-laden air.
They had shackled the Celestial King for days, loitering in this cursed canyon, yet their partners in treachery remained ghosts.
What the two conspirators did not know was chilling. Prince Percival Wulverton, the envoy meant to meet them, and the Grand Elder were already dead. Even Lord Ashcroft, a celestial lord, had fallen.
Percival’s plan had been simple: subdue the Celestial King’s palace with the Third Hall Master, then escort their prize here. Fate, bloody and abrupt, had intervened. Now Malevolent Path Hall scrambled for a stand-in, leaving Jaehaerys and Brennan marooned with their living trophy.
“Quit fretting. Malevolent Path Hall promised they’d come today,” Jaehaerys said, voice cold as wet marble. “Once we hand them the Celestial King, we’ll receive our reward. When we return, we’ll report that the king fell while seeking the Heaven Gate Mountain ruins. After that, I will ascend the throne. And when I wear that crown, I’ll make Onneas Dusko pay for crossing us, violate her dignity, then erase her for good.”
“I still feel uneasy,” Brennan muttered, shifting his weight. “What if the Fourth Hall Master learns of this and tells the patriarch? The clan chief forbids pacts with Demonic Cultivators!”
“Relax. Once we reach level eight with our payment, we’ll silence Onneas first. No one will interfere.”
Jared needed no further proof. The two Hall Masters had betrayed their sovereign, bargaining to sell him to Malevolent Path Hall.
Footsteps rustled beyond the swirling vapor. A squad of black-robed cultivators emerged, led by an elder of Malevolent Path Hall.
His aura fell far below the slain Grand Elder’s, a sign that his faction did not deem this transaction crucial.
“Ha! I never thought you’d truly dare betray the Celestial King,” the elder boomed, laughter ricocheting off the canyon walls.
“Spare the bluster. Did you bring what we asked for?” Jaehaerys snapped. He fixed the newcomers with a stare as icy as the lingering fog.
“Of course.” The elder, Morcant, produced an item pouch, runes flickering across its surface. “Everything you requested lies within. Hand me the Celestial King, and the pouch is yours.”
Jaehaerys accepted the item pouch with a casual flick of his wrist, as though the weight of fortunes meant nothing to him.
A quick glance confirmed the contents. He closed his fist and nodded, an oily smile spreading beneath the torchlight. “Excellent. The Celestial King is right here. Take him away!”
Morcant stepped up to the bound prisoner and studied the man’s pallid face, the way a butcher eyes a prize carcass.
“Not bad,” he murmured, voice thick with greed. “It truly is the Celestial King. We will refine his soul at once.”
From the shadowed archway at the rear of the hall, Jared finally revealed himself, walking into the torch-glow as if he had always belonged to the scene.
“You seem to have forgotten to ask whether I approve,” Jared said, his tone so mild it cut deeper than any shout.
Every head in the chamber snapped toward him. For a heartbeat, nothing stirred, the torches crackling louder than the stunned men who stared at the intruder.
Jaehaerys narrowed his eyes. “Who are you?!”
“Who I am is irrelevant,” Jared replied, each syllable crisp as falling ice. “What matters is that you will not leave here with the Celestial King tonight.”
Morcant raked his gaze over Jared, then snorted. “Kid, you must be tired of living. This isn’t a place for wanderers. If you value your hide, vanish!”
