“Jared!” Vivian shot up from deep inside the city lord mansion. Her white clothes were already soaked and streaked with blood, the stains scattered all over her as the wild wind whipped at her sleeves.
She looked like a candle about to go out in the storm—as if she could fall at any second—and yet there was still something all-or-nothing in the way she forced herself forward, a hard kind of resolve that made the sight of her hit that much harder.
Using every last bit of spiritual power she had left, she flew to Jared’s side without holding anything back. She reached out with a faint tremble in her hand and gently caught his sleeve. On that stunning face, the weight of what she’d just come through showed plain enough. Her eyes were rimmed red, and it was obvious she had already fought through a brutal battle.
“Jared, listen to me!” Vivian’s voice came fast and low. Her eyes stayed locked on Skylar in the distance, sharp and guarded, as if she feared he might strike without warning. “This man is far stronger than you think. The Jared standing here right now can’t fight him head-on.
Right before you came out of seclusion, the Lord of the Basilica of the Celestial Palace personally made a move to suppress this monster. He was… heavily wounded by a single strike and fled in disgrace. Even the grand warding array of the Celestial Palace was broken by him!”
Jared’s pupils tightened, and the impact of that landed hard. The Lord of the Basilica of the Celestial Palace? That is one of the true top powerhouses of the Fourteenth Firmament… his cultivation has long since reached the peak of True Immortal Realm Level Two.
He stands at the summit of the Fourteenth Firmament—someone countless cultivators could only look up to—with divine arts and techniques that could reach the heavens and the earth… and that kind of powerhouse had actually been heavily wounded by Skylar in a single blow, without even the strength to strike back, forced to run for his life in humiliation?
The weight in Jared’s chest pressed down even harder. He had known Skylar’s strength would explode after falling onto the demonic path, but he hadn’t expected it to rise to this point—far beyond the normal cultivation levels of the celestial realm.
“He obviously reached this level by devouring the spirits and cultivation of countless cultivators. And the demonic aura around him can even corrode the spirit.” Vivian clutched Jared’s sleeve tightly, her words rushing out.
“Jared, you have to be careful. You absolutely can’t be careless, and you definitely can’t meet him head-on. We need to find a way to fall back first, then figure out how to break him.”
Jared was quiet for a moment. Then he looked at Vivian’s worried face, gave a small nod, and said in a steady voice, “I know…” He was never going to take Skylar lightly. From the first moment he saw him, Jared had already caught that bottomless presence. Buried inside the thick demonic aura was a terrifying power that looked capable of crushing anything in its way.
Even he had to hold that pressure in view. This was nothing like the Skylar from back then. Skylar was no longer that beaten cur Jared had sent running again and again. The Skylar standing there now really did have the right to face him head-on. He had the right to challenge him. He even had the right to try to take his life.
So what? A loser is still a loser… It didn’t matter that Skylar had fallen onto the demonic path or that his cultivation had exploded upward. In Jared’s eyes, he was still that same cheap schemer who only knew how to play dirty. Jared’s gaze settled on Skylar again.
There wasn’t a trace of retreat in his eyes. Only a cold will to fight, and a killing intent pressed down so hard it nearly turned solid. The draconic energy around him boiled again, and the Dragonslayer Sword’s cry turned sharper and faster.
Skylar took in the sight of Vivian and Jared standing so close without missing a thing. Something cold flickered through his eyes, along with a streak that vanished almost as soon as it came. Then his smile turned even more mocking, with a clear edge of provocation. He turned his head and looked at Josephine beside him. His tone came out light and deliberate, his voice pitched just enough for Jared to hear.
“Senior Josephine, see that? That’s Jared’s woman… oh, and she’s not the only one. There are several more down below. They’re all guarding the entrance to the hidden chamber, completely devoted to him, crying their eyes out because they’re scared something will happen to him. Tsk… Jared really does have it good. No matter where he goes, he’s got women by his side.”
Still, Josephine stood there without moving. Her eyes followed Skylar’s words to Vivian, and she looked the woman over from top to bottom—carefully—one detail at a time. She was strikingly beautiful. Her white clothes were soaked with blood, but that only made the cold, proud air around her stand out more.
Worry and concern sat plainly between her brows. Her hand clutched Jared’s sleeve tight like she couldn’t bear even the chance of him getting hurt. None of that concern looked forced.
Standing together, the two of them looked close in a way that came naturally. It was the kind of closeness that made them seem like a couple who had already spent years at each other’s side, without the slightest distance between them.
For no clear reason, something turned over inside Josephine. It came up out of nowhere—sour and sharp—like a hard stone jammed against her chest. It sat there, heavy and aching, pressing the breath out of her a little at a time.
She had never run into anything like it before. It was so strange—so far outside anything she understood—that she couldn’t make sense of it, couldn’t get a grip on it, and could only let it keep spreading through her. What right did I have to react like this? She didn’t even know Jared. He had nothing to do with her, so why would seeing him stand close to another woman leave that sour weight in her chest?
But every time her eyes landed on him beside that woman—every time she saw that woman clutching his sleeve so closely—every time she caught the way his gaze softened toward her, it was as if something pointed and cruel drove straight into Josephine’s chest.
A dull ache spread from it. Even her breathing stopped coming easy. Josephine’s brows drew tight together. Confusion showed plain across her stunning face. She tried to force down that unexplainable wave inside her, but it wouldn’t stay down. The sour ache and that needling pain only kept building, until even standing there felt unsteady.
She shoved the turmoil down as hard as she could and dragged her eyes off Jared. Then she turned to look elsewhere, refusing to look at the two close figures again, trying to steady herself and quiet what wouldn’t quiet down.
Skylar caught every tiny change in Josephine’s reaction. The smile at the corner of his mouth deepened, and a flicker of satisfaction cut through his eyes, like a scheme had landed exactly where he wanted it to. This was the effect he wanted.
He wanted Jared to suffer. He wanted Jared to be driven into despair. He wanted Jared to lose every shred of dignity in front of Josephine and watch the woman he loved look at him like a stranger, even stir because of him in a way she couldn’t understand.
To Skylar, that was a thousand times better than killing Jared outright. He wanted to grind Jared’s mind down piece by piece until the pain broke him completely.
“Jared…” Skylar spoke again, his tone even more arrogant now as the demonic aura around him churned harder. “Didn’t you want to fight? Fine. I’ll give you that chance. I’ll indulge that obsession of yours.”
He slowly raised his right hand and made a casual, inviting gesture. His face was full of mockery, and the contempt in his eyes was close to spilling over. “Come on, then. Let me see how much power a High Immortal Realm Level Four like you can really bring out.”
Jared only looked at him in silence. He didn’t say a word. But the aura around him had already climbed to its absolute peak. He only raised the Dragonslayer Sword slowly, then leveled its tip straight at Skylar. Golden light burst from his body.
Dragon pressure spread across the whole sky and forced the demonic aura back step by step. His presence climbed in an instant to its absolute limit. Spiritual power roared through him like a flood, already gathering for a full-force strike. But right when he was about to take that first step and bring the sword down, Skylar suddenly laughed.
That smile was packed with savage satisfaction. There was something vicious in it—cold enough to crawl under the skin—and every cultivator there went tight through the chest.
