“We will,” Jared said, laying a firm hand on his friend’s shoulder. “One day we’ll reach the headquarters of Malevolent Path Hall, and on that day the ledger gets balanced, every line, every drop of blood.”
Flaxseed answered with a wordless grunt that carried promise enough. They scoured the ruined branch for resources, then turned their backs on the shattered stronghold and started toward the gorge’s exit.
Passing the palace wreck, Jared allowed himself one glance into its gutted heart. Heap of broken stone, streak of drying crimson, and the faint, lingering aura of Lunaria, snuffed in Flaxseed’s earlier fury. He said nothing, only walked on.
After exiting Bloody Bones Gorge, Flaxseed stopped, whirled, and flung a handful of Explosion Charms and Fire Charms high into the air. “Burn!”
Charms burst like crimson fireworks, igniting the dregs of demonic energy and spiritual energy that still clung to the canyon. Detonations rolled one atop another. Firestorms climbed the cliffs, and Bloody Bones Gorge began to cave in on itself.
White bones charred, then crumbled to charcoal. in minutes, the once-dreaded valley was nothing but a smoking scar.
“Let’s go!” Flaxseed turned on his heel and strode toward the distant peaks where Sword Sect kept its sky-piercing spires. He did not look back. Fatigue bowed his shoulders, yet an unbroken steel ran through the line of his spine.
Jared lingered a breath longer, eyes fixed on the ruin had helped create. Malevolent Path Hall’s branch lay dead, but the headquarters still loomed, a blade forever hanging. And beyond even that, the mysterious force watched them with cold, hungry eyes.
The road ahead still bristled with danger, every step steeped in uncertainty. Yet Jared felt no room to shrink back; the only direction left was forward.
He drove Sky Walk past its limits, and two white-hot ribbons of light, one his own, one Flaxseed’s, tore through level five, racing toward the distant outline of Swordmaster City.
Jared stole a glance at Flaxseed. The latter’s fists were locked so tight the knuckles shone bone-white, and the bawdy grin that usually lived on his wind-burned face had been chased off by a storm of grief.
Their raid on Bloody Bones Gorge had razed the Malevolent Path Hall branch, and they had cut down Dioz, Varek, and even Quentin himself. Yet the most precious prize, the Flaxseed clan’s captive divine souls, was already gone, ferried off to Malevolent Path Hall’s headquarters.
Whether those souls had been refined, no one could say.
“Flaxseed,” Jared called, slowing just enough for his voice to reach. “If the headquarters dared accept the Flaxseed clan’s divine souls, it means the refining isn’t finished… So long as they still exist, we will find them.”
“I know,” Flaxseed rasped, drawing two shaky breaths that scraped his throat raw. “But the thought of my people screaming inside some damned furnace-sets my heart on fire, Jared. if I hadn’t stepped into reincarnation back then, none of this would’ve happened.”
“The past is a locked door, stop beating yourself against it.” Jared clapped the man’s shoulder.
The Dragonslayer Sword thrummed at his hip, echoing the vow in his voice. “We hunt together now. Malevolent Path Hall’s headquarters, Celestial Palace’s Sixth Hall, every last debt will be paid.”
Flaxseed met Jared’s eyes, found not a trace of hesitation there, and the knot in his chest loosened. He answered with a single, granite-firm nod.
Both men flared their spiritual energy and became twin comets once more, streaking even faster toward the blade-toothed skyline of Swordmaster City.
As the city walls loomed, Jared spotted several dozen figures standing sentinel at the gate. Corin led them, gray-green robe snapping in the wind, hands folded behind his back, gaze pinned to the heavens. Only when saw Jared and Flaxseed did his iron-tight brow ease.
“You’re back,” Corin said, striding forward. His eyes flicked over the flecks of blood and lingering demonic energy on them. “How went the branch assault?”
“Mission accomplished,” Jared answered with a respectful bow. “The branch of Malevolent Path Hall lies in ashes, and its master and core cultivators are buried beneath them. But…”
