At the same time, somewhere else inside the city lord mansion, Lydia Wraithmoor stood in the courtyard with ghostly miasma winding around her body, quietly circulating her energy to heal her injuries. Her fight with Skylar had left her hurt as well. It wasn’t serious, but it still needed time and care to recover. Soft footsteps came from behind her.
Lydia opened her eyes and turned her head, then saw Luther walking over at an unhurried pace. His aura was weak too, and even though the wounds on his body had been wrapped, blood still showed through the bandages. He stopped three steps in front of her and gave a slight salute. “Princess Lydia!”
Lydia looked at him, and something shifted in her eyes. “Luther, right? One of the people by Jared’s side?”
“Yes…” Luther said with a nod. Lydia looked him over carefully, and her brows drew together a little. “That presence on you… how do you have the aura of the Door of Reincarnation?”
Luther froze for a beat, then it clicked. “Princess Lydia has sharp eyes. That’s right. I did use the Door of Reincarnation before.”
A glint flashed through Lydia’s eyes. “You used the Door of Reincarnation? Then where is the Door of Reincarnation now?”
Luther let out a bitter laugh and shook his head. “I won’t hide it from you, Princess Lydia… the Door of Reincarnation really was in my hands before, and I even used it to control some forces. But later… it was taken away by a powerful man named Mr. Sanders…”
Lydia’s brows drew together. “Mr. Sanders?”
Luther nodded. “Mr. Sanders is Jared’s friend. His strength is impossible to see through, and his background is even more mysterious… when he took the Door of Reincarnation, he said this thing carried enormous consequences and couldn’t be used carelessly.”
Lydia fell quiet for a moment, then let out a soft sigh. “So that’s how it is…”
Luther watched her, then asked carefully, “Princess Lydia, forgive my boldness, but why do you care so much about the Door of Reincarnation? Could it be… something happened to the Ghost Clan in the Fifteenth Firmament?”
Lydia looked at him for a long moment. Then she finally said, “You’re Ghost Clan too. There’s no harm in telling you.” She paused, then went on. “The situation of the Ghost Clan in the Fifteenth Firmament… isn’t looking good.”
Luther’s face tightened. “Please, Princess Lydia, tell me plainly.” Lydia lifted her head and looked off into the distance. “Do you know the Reincarnation Division?”
“Of course I know it. That’s where our Ghost Clan cultivators go for rebirth.” Luther nodded.
“That’s right. It’s the place where our Ghost Clan cultivators pass into rebirth. Back then, our Ghost Clan suffered a massacre. Many cultivators were reduced to utter soul-ruin, but many others still managed to carry a wisp of the spirit into the Reincarnation Division… over these past years, quite a few Ghost Clan cultivators who entered rebirth had been born again.
But a few hundred years ago, something suddenly changed inside the Reincarnation Division. Countless Ghost Clan cultivators had their spirits trapped in there. They couldn’t get out, and they couldn’t enter rebirth either…”
She paused. When Lydia spoke again, her voice had dropped. “Those cultivators trapped inside are all elites of the Ghost Clan. They’re the foundation of our people. If we can’t bring them out, the Ghost Clan’s place in the celestial realm will only get harder and harder to hold.”
Luther’s pupils tightened. “Something like that actually happened…”
Lydia gave a small nod. “The reason I came to the Fourteenth Firmament this time was to find the Door of Reincarnation. The Door of Reincarnation is a Reincarnation Supreme Treasure. It shares the same origin as the Reincarnation Division. Only by borrowing the Door of Reincarnation’s power can anyone enter the deepest part of the Reincarnation Division and rescue the clansmen trapped there.”
She looked at Luther, a trace of expectation still there. “I thought that once I found the Door of Reincarnation, the problem could be solved. I just didn’t expect it to have already been taken away by Mr. Sanders.”
Luther fell quiet for a moment, then said in a low voice, “Princess Lydia, you don’t need to lose heart. Mr. Sanders is very close with Jared. As long as Jared recovers, we can ask him to step in and contact Mr. Sanders. Then we can see whether the Door of Reincarnation can be borrowed back.”
A glint rose in Lydia’s eyes. “You mean… Jared can get in touch with Mr. Sanders?”
Luther nodded. “He should be able to. Mr. Sanders has helped Jared more than once, and the friendship between them runs deep. If Jared asks, Mr. Sanders should be willing to give him that much face.”
Lydia drew in a deep breath. Something lit in her eyes. “Alright. Then I’ll wait for Jared to recover.” She paused, then turned to Luther and spoke softly. “Luther, thank you for telling me all this…”
Luther shook his head. “You’re too polite, Princess Lydia… I’m one of the Ghost Clan too. If the Ghost Clan in the Fifteenth Firmament is in trouble, how could I just stand by and do nothing? If there’s anything I can do to help, then I won’t back away from it.”
Lydia looked at him, and a trace of approval passed through her gaze. “Even here in the Fourteenth Firmament, your heart is still with the Ghost Clan. That isn’t common.”
Luther let out a bitter laugh. “I’m nothing more than a wandering soul cast adrift out here. If I can return to the Ghost Clan and do my part for our people, that would be enough for me.”
Lydia nodded. She didn’t say anything else. The two of them stood shoulder to shoulder in the courtyard, looking out at the distant sky. That stretch of sky had once been shrouded in demonic aura. Now it had turned clear again.
Inside the hidden chamber, Jared lay there in silence, his eyes still fixed on the window. Josephine… where exactly are you? When are you… going to remember me?
He slowly closed his eyes. His consciousness gradually sank into darkness. And far away, at the other end of the horizon, a purple-clad figure stood quietly on the mountain summit looking in the direction of Cloudhaven City. Josephine pressed a hand to her chest.
A faint ache kept pulsing there, so sharp it nearly stole her breath. Why? Why did it hurt this much? Why was my mind filled with that man covered in blood, still looking at me with gentle eyes?
She didn’t know how to find the answers. She only knew she couldn’t forget those eyes. She couldn’t forget that one call of “Josephine.” She couldn’t forget any part of him. Tears slipped down without a sound. They fell to the ground and scattered into little glimmers.
In the distance, Skylar appeared without a sound. He stopped not far behind her, his eyes dark with something ugly that wouldn’t let go. He watched Josephine staring toward Cloudhaven City. What twisted through him swelled until it nearly swallowed him whole. Jared… just wait… one day, I’ll kill you with my own hands… I’ll grind you into utter soul-ruin so you never get another life! And Josephine… she can only be mine!
He drew in a long breath and forced the violence back down. Then he started forward at an easy pace, and that mild smile settled onto his face again. “Senior Josephine, it’s time to go back…”
Josephine didn’t turn around. She only gave a small nod. After one last look toward Cloudhaven City, she turned and left with Skylar. But that blood-soaked figure, those gentle eyes, that one soft “Josephine”—it was like a brand, pressed deep into the bottom of her heart. There was no wiping it away anymore.
In Cloudhaven City, the city lord mansion. The night kept deepening. Moonlight spilled down and laid a layer of silver over the ruins. Vivian was still sitting by Jared’s bed. She held his hand and looked at his sleeping face in silence.
Her voice dropped to a whisper, so low only she could hear it. “Jared… did you know that I kind of… like you too? But I know there’s only her in your heart… it’s okay. I’ll wait. I’ll wait for your injuries to heal, wait for her to come back, wait for you… to occasionally turn around and look at me too…”
Tears slid down and landed on the back of his hand. Jared’s fingers seemed to twitch, just slightly. But in the end, he still didn’t wake. He didn’t know how to face Vivian. Compared to Josephine, Vivian simply didn’t matter. Out of all the women around Jared, only Josephine held the heaviest place in his heart.
As all those moments with Josephine came back to him, one after another, one thing stayed plain: Jared had never slept with her, and Josephine had never truly become his woman. Even so, no other woman could take her place.
