Blood spread across every inch of ground in the Hallowmere Order until the whole place ran red. Screams echoed over the entire mountain peak. Then, all at once, a terrifying aura burst up from the deepest part of the Hallowmere Order and shot into the sky. It was stronger than anyone who had appeared before—True Immortal Realm Level Two!
A streak of golden light flew out from the depths of the order and landed in front of Jared. It was a white-haired elder with a stern face, and the pressure rolling off him was enough to weigh on the air itself.
He wore a golden robe, a jade crown sat on his head, and a golden longsword rested in his hand. He was the Order Master of the Hallowmere Order, Cillian Vale. He looked over the corpses covering the ground, his face turning dark, his eyes burning hot.
“You arrogant bastard! You dare slaughter disciples of my Hallowmere Order? You’re dead!” He barked out a furious shout.
Golden radiance around him swelled in an instant, and the crushing pressure of a True Immortal Realm Level Two cultivator came down on Jared like a mountain collapsing from above.
Evelyn’s face drained of color, and she took a step back before she could stop herself. Meanwhile, Lydia’s brows drew together. Ghostly miasma rolled off her body as she prepared to step in.
Jared laughed instead. He looked straight at Order Master Vale. There wasn’t a trace of retreat in his eyes. If anything, there was something almost mocking there.
“True Immortal Realm Level Two?” He repeated it lightly, his tone flat. “Now that’s a little interesting…”
Order Master Vale flew into a rage. “Arrogant whelp! I’ll show you what the True Immortal Realm really is!”
He raised his hand and slashed down with his sword. The sword light arced out like a blazing rainbow, carrying enough force to ruin heaven and earth as it came straight down at Jared’s head. That one strike was enough to split a mountain apart and sever a river in two.
Jared watched the incoming sword light in silence. He didn’t dodge. He didn’t move aside. Right as the sword light was about to fall, he lifted a hand and drove a punch forward. The astral fist surged out like a dragon, blazing with dazzling golden radiance.
Boom!
Jared’s fist crashed into the sword light, and the impact broke out with a world-shaking boom. A brutal shockwave ripped out in every direction. The buildings around them collapsed on the spot, and dust blasted up into the air.
When the dust started to clear, Jared was still standing where he had been. He hadn’t moved an inch. Order Master Vale, on the other hand, staggered back several steps. The change in his face came all at once.
“T-This… How is this possible?!” His eyes stretched wide as he stared at Jared like he was looking at a monster. He was in the True Immortal Realm Level Two. The young man in front of him was only in the High Immortal Realm Level Four, so how could one punch force him back?
Jared looked at him and said, “That’s it?”
Order Master Vale’s face turned dark green as he let out a furious roar and attacked again. Sword light poured out without end. Every slash carried enough force to tear heaven and earth apart.
Jared still stood where he was. He didn’t dodge, and he didn’t step aside. He only lifted his hand and threw punch after punch. Every punch landed with perfect accuracy on the incoming sword light. And every punch blasted that sword light to pieces.
The longer Order Master Vale fought, the worse it got. Each exchange drove him deeper into it, until even his strikes started to carry a crack in them. The young man wasn’t human at all!
Eventually, he spun around and ran. But he had barely made it a few steps before a streak of golden radiance caught up to him. Jared appeared right in front of him, raised a hand, and brought a palm down.
Bang!
Order Master Vale’s body flew backward like a kite with its string cut, then slammed hard into the ground and spat out blood. Jared walked over and stopped in front of him, looking down from above.
Order Master Vale shook all over, his eyes filled with dread and despair. “Y-You… Who are you really…”
Jared looked at him and said, “My name is Jared… Jared Chance… Remember?”
As soon as the words fell, he struck with another palm. Order Master Vale’s head exploded on the spot, and his breath vanished. Just like that, a True Immortal Realm Level Two powerhouse died!
Jared drew back his hand and stood there with his hands behind his back, his robe still spotless. He turned and looked at Lydia, Luther, Grace, and Evelyn.
“Let’s go. We’re wiping out the Hallowmere Order.”
Lydia nodded. Luther and Grace looked at each other, and for a moment neither of them said a word. Evelyn kept her eyes on Jared, unable to look away.
An hour later, inside the mountain gate of the Hallowmere Order, not a single living soul remained. The disciples who had done every kind of evil, and the Elders who had backed them and helped them do it, all lay dead. Blood ran together into a river. Bodies and bones were piled up like a mountain.
Jared stood outside the mountain gate and looked back once. That mountain peak, once towering and grand, had turned into nothing but ruins. The corner of his mouth lifted a little, and a faint smile showed.
“Let’s go…” He turned away and led Lydia’s group off into the distance until they disappeared from sight.
Behind them, smoke rolled over the ruins of the Hallowmere Order, and flames surged into the sky. The Hallowmere Order, which had lorded over everyone for so long, was gone just like that.
***
At that same time, in Luminous Sanctuary, at the foot of Saintlight Peak, inside a crude stone hut, Godric sat cross-legged on a prayer mat, his eyes closed as he regulated his breathing.
Ever since they had assigned him to patrol duty at the mountain foot, he had been living in this stone hut. The place was tiny. One bed, one table, one prayer mat. That was it. It was poor to the point of looking pathetic. Compared to the grand sleeping chamber he used to have as Lord of the Basilica, this place wasn’t even as good as a doghouse.
But Godric didn’t complain. He endured it. For the past few days, he had led the Celestial Palace disciples on their rounds every day, patrolling on schedule, changing shifts on schedule, not daring to slack off in the slightest.
People from the Celestial Basilica came by from time to time to inspect them, looking them over with that superior, top-down gaze, and every now and then they would throw out a few cutting remarks.
Godric endured all of it. He was waiting. Waiting for a chance. Waiting for the Celestial Basilica to lower its guard, waiting for his injuries to fully heal, waiting for the right moment. Once it came, he would take his disciples and leave this place to find another way out.
As for the secret of the Sacred Mountain, that was the last card he still held. As long as he still had those resources and the Venerables’ bodies, he still had something to bargain with. Whether he bargained with the Celestial Basilica or tried to rise again later, those things were the only capital he had left to turn the board over.
Godric opened his eyes and looked out the window. Outside, a few Celestial Palace disciples sat on the rocks, staring into the distance with blank faces. The sharp edge they used to carry was long gone from their eyes. All that remained was numbness and weariness.
Something in Godric’s chest twisted. His disciples were suffering right along with him because their Hall Master had failed them.
“Hang on a little longer…” he muttered under his breath. “Just a little longer… An opening will come…”
Before the last word finished leaving his mouth, someone shoved the door of the stone hut open. Godric’s brows pulled tight as he looked up.
The one who rushed in was one of the few Elders he had left, an old man surnamed Shaw who had followed him for thousands of years. Elder Shaw’s face was tight with urgency. Cold sweat covered his forehead, and even his lips were shaking. “H-Hall Master… Hall Master… something terrible has happened!”
Godric stiffened and shot to his feet. “What happened? Is the Celestial Basilica making a move on us?”
“N-No… Not that…” Elder Shaw panted, his voice shaking. “It’s… It’s the Sacred Mountain… Our Celestial Palace’s Sacred Mountain…”
Godric’s pupils shrank hard. “What happened to the Sacred Mountain?”
Elder Shaw dropped to his knees with a thud. Tears streamed down his face as he cried out, “It’s all destroyed! Several Sacred Mountains are gone! The Venerables’ bodies… They’re all destroyed too!”
Boom! It was like something detonated inside Godric’s head. He locked up where he stood, and all the color drained from his face in an instant.
“You… What did you just say?!” He lunged forward and grabbed Elder Shaw by the collar, his eyes bloodshot, his voice scraped raw. “Say it again! What happened to the Sacred Mountain?!”
Elder Shaw wept as he spoke. “Hall Master, this subordinate just got a message from the contact we left in the Fourteenth Firmament… Someone… Someone broke into our Sacred Mountain, destroyed every warding array protecting it, and destroyed all the Venerables’ bodies! Not a single one was left!”
