“Jared, move it!” Flaxseed’s shout bounced between the trunks. “Coming!” Jared answered. He turned from the swamp, stepped beneath the forest canopy, and felt the path ahead narrow into something far harsher than the bog they had just escaped.
They camped for several days, letting the Purifying Lotus’ final motes weave through bone and marrow. Jared’s Wandering immortal Realm Level Seven settled like tempered steel. Flaxseed’s wounds knit shut, leaving only faint soars as souvenirs of the chase.
On the morning they finally broke camp, trouble awaited. A broad-shouldered cultivator with one blind, scar-slashed eye blocked the trail, the gleam of Earthly immortal Realm third tier swirling around him. A dozen hardened elites fanned out behind, uniforms matching like teeth on a blade.
“You two must be Jared Chance and Flaxseed,” the one-eyed warrior said, voice sharp with greed.
Jared narrowed his eyes, a cold gleam sliding across his gaze. “We have never even exchanged names. What gives you the right to stand in our way?”
The one-eyed cultivator let out a harsh, rasping laugh. “Strangers? Everyone on Nine Serpent Mountain knows a double bounty waits for whoever drags you two back to Blackshade Demon Palace and the Crimson Coil Sect…”
“Especially you, Jared. They say you carry more treasure than a king’s vault, and I intend to claim every last piece.”
Damn! News travels faster than wildfire!
Jared realized that Seraphina and Blackshade Demon Palace must have issued a joint kill order. Their enemies would now hunt them to the ends of the land.
Jared’s lips curved into a razor-thin smile as the Dragonslayer Sword at his side began to tremble, already thirsty for blood. “Just the lot of you?”
“Arrogant whelp. Kill them! I want his head, dead or alive!” The one-eyed man’s snarl ripped through the clearing.
More than a dozen cultivators surged forward, magical weapons blazing with rune-light bright enough to blot out the afternoon sun.
Jared swept Flaxseed behind and drew Dragonslayer in a smooth silver arc.
Golden sword energy fanned out like a storm front, cleaving the two foremost attackers clean in half before they could even scream.
“Wandering Immortal Realm Level Seven? Impossible!” the one-eyed cultivator gasped.
Panic rippled across his scarred face. His spies had sworn Jared was only sixth tier. That was why had dared to mount this ambush. in a matter of days the man had grown too strong, able to smash opponents a realm above him.
Flaxseed flicked a handful of talisman slips into the air. The papers burst into emerald flame and tangled several weaker cultivators in ropes of light, buying time.
He was only first-tier Earthly immortal Realm cultivator, yet decades of battlefield savvy kept toe-to-toe with them.
And Jared could feel the old rogue’s power creeping back, ember by ember. Once Flaxseed fully awakened, would crush such rabble with a single slap.
Jared now faced the one-eyed leader and three third tier Earthly immortal Realm cultivators. He danced among them, Dragonslayer flashing like sheets of golden rain, each stroke roaring so hard the four were driven back step after trembling step.
“He’s too tough! Fall back!” the one-eyed cultivator barked.
He had finally accepted the truth. Not even four Earthly immortal Realm cultivators could cage Jared. If they lingered, this clearing would become their grave.
Jared would not grant them that mercy. He flickered forward like a phantom, the Dragonslayer Sword arcing toward the leader’s flank.
A scream split the woods. The one-eyed man’s arm spun away in a red fan of blood.
The others paled, souls scattering faster than their feet. They fled in every direction, desperate to outpace the terror nipping at their backs.
Jared let them run. He knew better than to forge too many new enemies in a single day.
Seeing this, Flaxseed sighed.
“A pity they slipped the net,” murmured. Jared‘s gaze stayed icy. “They can outrun a blade, but not their own hideouts. Once they report back, our road will grow even harder.”
Just as Jared had feared, less than half a day after they left the foothills, three separate ambushes tore out of the shifting mist.
Each wave came from a different faction hungry for the bounty on their heads, and each time Jared and Flaxseed had to fight, fall back, and burn precious spiritual energy simply to stay alive.
