Though Jared looked like a mere Level Five Wandering Immortal, the force had just unleashed clearly belonged to the Earthly Immortal Realm.
Jared stepped up to the man and gazed down from a loftier height, studying the once-invincible Top Level Wandering Immortal Realm cultivator who now groveled like a homeless cur begging for his life.
Not a ripple stirred in Jared’s eyes. “An apology?”
Jared crouched, hooked a finger beneath Saleto‘s chin, and murmured with faint mockery, “If an apology could settle everything, why would anyone need power?”
Saleto’s entire body trembled, his face was as white as parchment. He knew was unlikely to leave this place alive.
“I… I serve the Celestial Palace… If you kill me… The Celestial Palace will hunt you to the ends of the earth…” stammered. making one last, feeble struggle.
“The Celestial Palace? Ha!” Jared let out a light laugh, rose, and brushed imaginary dust from his sleeves. “To me, the Celestial Palace is nothing more than an oversized anthill.”
“Jared, you may have offended the Celestial Palace, but not everyone in it. Lady Beatra of the Fourth Hall told me only to investigate you, specifically ordered me to avoid conflict… If you hadn’t kept forcing the issue, I would never have lifted a hand,” Saleto added helplessly. He looked at Jared with resignation while spoke.
Jared suddenly remembered what Braxton of the Eighth Hall had told him, inside the Celestial King Palace, two factions wrestled for power, the Conservatives and the Reformers.
“So this Lady Beatra, how strong is faction inside the Celestial Palace? I’ve heard the organization is already split down the middle,” Jared asked.
Saleto gave a bitter laugh. “For those of us beneath the Third Heaven, it makes no difference. Whichever side issues an order, we obey. Still, Lady Beatra is kind. She has long tried to scrap the old laws so our clan can marry outsiders…”
“She herself is a female cultivator, perhaps that’s why understands their pain. Among the so-called celestials, women exist only to serve the men, and they’re forbidden to wed beyond the clan… That single rule has torn countless lovers apart and condemned who knows how many women to punishment,” said with a weary sigh.
When finished, loneliness clouded his face, clearly, carried heavy memories.
Jared had not expected the Fourth Hall’s overlord to be a woman, and judging from Saleto’s words, wasn’t after his life.
Back in the Eighth Hall, Saleto could have destroyed everything while Jared was gone. Yet had stayed his hand, obviously following Beatra’s order to investigate, not provoke.
“So she’s a Reformer,” Jared concluded, then eyed Saleto. “Tell me, has that rule hurt you too?”
Tears streaked down Saleto’s cheeks. Between sobs, confessed, “Centuries ago I loved a human woman. We were devoted, but clan law barred us… We’re all human, yet they slap the ‘celestial’ label on us, leaving us no freedom to choose whom we love… She finally left, and I… I’ve never taken another woman since.”
Jared drew a deep breath.
So the celestials are humans wrapped in fancy titles… All that arrogance, yet none of it matters without true strength…
Still, conceded, a few among them could see reality clearly.
If you have no power, what good are endless titles?
“Today, I‘ll spare your life,” Jared said.
Saleto’s head snapped up, hope flickered in his eyes.
“But…” Jared’s tone turned icy, “If you so much as glance at the Eighth Hall again, I’ll wipe your Seventh Hall from the map.”
“N-Never! Never again!” Saleto vowed, shaking his head wildly.
