A voice Jared had not heard in months boomed inside his mind, low as thunder rolling beneath the sea. “Go no farther…”
The warning belonged to Vermilion Demon Lord, echoing through Jared’s consciousness field with a force that made his heart jolt against his ribs.
Jared halted as though an unseen chain had snapped taut around his chest. He pivoted toward Vermilion Demon Lord. “Mr. Vermilion… Mr. Vermilion?”
The name left his throat in a pleading rasp, half-hope, half-command. Only silence answered. It felt as if Vermilion Demon Lord had melted out of existence again, leaving the air unnaturally still. Flaxseed skidded in beside him, the bells on his hemp robe jangling in alarm. “Jared, what’s the matter?”
His eyes, always merry, were pinched with concern. Jared didn’t speak. A single line creased his brow, the same look a strategist would wear when a carefully drawn map suddenly grew blank.
Corin’s sword hovered at his side as be slowed. “Jared, what is it?”
The older man’s tone held more steel than worry.
“Master Morden, maybe we shouldn’t charge straight into Malevolent Path Hall just yet. My strength still feels insufficient. I need it tempered-hardened, before we pick that fight.” Jared’s admission slipped out in a low, steady breath that surprised even him.
“Makes no difference to me. I follow your lead.” Corin nodded once, then flicked a glance toward Flaxseed, inviting comment without a word. After all, they were going to Malevolent Path Hall for the Flaxseed clan’s divine souls.
“Jared, what are you saying? You’re backing out on me now?” Flaxseed’s voice cracked, equal parts disbelief and dawning fear.
He had traveled with Jared long enough to know the younger man never blinked at danger. To see hesitate then felt like watching a mountain tremble.
“Of course I’ll help you,” Jared said. “But we need caution. Back then, it wasn’t only Malevolent Path Hall that butchered your people. Venom Valley, Holy Light Sect, others joined the hunt. We’ll squeeze those softer sects first, strip their resources, grow stronger, and then settle the real score.”
In his mind, the plan unfolded like a game of stones, start with the weak corners, gather territory, tighten the noose, then strike the center with irresistible force.
Vermilion Demon Lord’s sudden warning hadn’t been tossed out for sport. Jared trusted Vermilion Demon Lord’s instinct more than his own. He chose to believe, and to live.
“All right, we hit the others first…” Flaxseed tapped a knotted knuckle against his palm, agreement flashing like flint on steel.
“I know Venom Valley, about three thousand kilometers west,” Corin said, pointing with two fingers as his sword angled into the wind. “Year-round toxic energy, nests of poisonous creatures, I can guide us in.”
Jared gave one curt nod. The trio wheeled around and shot across the scarred landscape, leaving Malevolent Path Hall.
They streaked toward Venom Valley, afternoon sun glinting off blades and talismans alike.
Corin knew every ridge there. He called out shortcuts, veering them away from demon beasts driven mad by the suffocating marked aura that still haunted these mountains.
High above, balanced on his sword, Corin explained, “Venom Valley’s fog comes in three cultivation levels. Green along the rim, it numbs your spiritual energy. Violet farther in, it chews through meridians. At the heart, black energy. One touch and even an Earthly immortal Realm cultivator would die choking on regret.”
Flaxseed crushed a Purification Charm. A soft gold shield blossomed around them. He
grinned, flashing missing teeth. “Good thing I packed my family’s Detoxification Powder. Otherwise, we’d be corpses before we even reached their gate.”
Black energy, distilled from the tomb of swords’ marked aura, curled around Jared’s fingertips. He noticed the drifting poisonous creatures bending toward that marked aura, being devoured grain by grain, though painfully slow.
“Maybe we won’t need charms at all,” Jared said, eyes narrowing. “Let me see if my marked aura can carve us a road.”
He pushed his spiritual energy outward. The marked aura ballooned, forming a black wall that rolled ahead of them.
Green-marked aura touched that black energy and melted like frost under a summer torch, opening a clean corridor straight into the valley’s poisoned throat. Corin’s eyes flew wide, the pupils sparking like flint struck in the dark.
“Your marked aura counters poisonous creatures!”
Jared almost blurted that was immune to all poisons, his Focus Technique refined any toxin the moment it touched him. That trick works only on me. if I want my friends unharmed, I’ll have to let the marked aura do the shielding.
“Maybe it’s because poison and marked aura are both made of negative energy,” Jared said after a breath. “Marked energy is simply stronger, so it devours the poisonous creatures before it can breathe.”
Flaxseed slapped his thigh with a bark of laughter. “That’ll save me a fortune in charms!”
The three quickened their pace as they crossed the endless, reeking swamp, violet bubbles bursting around their ankles.
