“Looking to die?!” Elder Cillian gave a cold snort, murder pouring from his eyes as he struck again. This time, he stopped holding back. A ball of golden light gathered in his palm.
It was his signature technique, the Worldbane Radiance Seal. But right then, the roof of the side hall suddenly exploded apart.
Boom! Tiles blasted everywhere, and dust surged through the hall. A dark silhouette dropped from above like a falling star and landed with perfect precision in front of Evelyn, blocking Elder Cillian’s attack.
It was the woman in black, with strikingly cold features, skin as pale as snow, and eyes as deep as the night sky. A faint ghostly aura drifted from her body, but there was nothing grim about it. Instead, it carried a strange, noble rhythm, as if she had stepped out of another world.
Evelyn froze, staring blankly at that figure’s back. The woman ignored everyone there. She only raised her right hand. Her palm was black as ink, with threads of pure ghostly energy curling around it. Then she slammed that palm onto the formation.
“Break…” The word came out light, but the force behind it crashed outward like a wave. The ritual array that had looked impossible to break gave way under that single palm strike as if it had been made of paper, shattering in an instant. The array markings snapped apart. The light bled away. The force pinning Jared in place vanished with it.
Jared broke free from the array, his body swaying hard enough that he nearly went down. His face had gone white as paper. Most of the power in his bloodline had been drained away, and the damage to his strength was severe. He forced himself steady, then looked at the woman in black, a trace of doubt passing through his eyes.
The woman in black turned around and looked straight at Jared, something shifting in her gaze. She said nothing. She only studied Jared closely, as if she were confirming something. A moment later, she said in a flat voice, “Come with me.”
Jared’s brow tightened, and he was just about to ask when he saw her lift a hand and sweep it through the air. A black light dropped over him and Evelyn like a veil. That light was like a black hole. In an instant, it swallowed all three of them. The next second, the three of them were gone.
Elder Cillian’s face turned ashen with rage as he shouted, “After them! Go after them! I want him found alive, and if he’s dead, then bring me the body! He is not getting away!”
The Basilica disciples poured out in a rush and charged down the mountain after them, a huge force moving at once.
A hundred miles away, in a stretch of barren mountains. Almost no one ever came here. Weeds choked the ground, and now and then a beast’s roar broke the silence. Three figures dropped from the sky and landed in a hidden vale.
The woman in black released her hold, and Jared and Evelyn dropped to the ground. Evelyn collapsed where she landed, sitting hard on the ground and dragging in rough breaths. Blood was all over her, and the color in her face had faded to almost nothing. That palm strike had left her with devastating internal injuries. If not for the way she’d held herself together by sheer will, she would have blacked out long ago.
Jared’s face was pale too, but he still stood straight. He drew a deep breath and moved what little spiritual energy he had left, forcing himself back under control. His eyes settled on the woman in black, full of scrutiny and caution.
“Who are you?” His voice came out cold, and one hand had already closed around the hilt of his sword. She had saved him, but after the betrayal at the Celestial Basilica, he no longer dared trust anyone that easily.
The woman in black looked at him and did not answer right away. She only kept quietly studying him. After a moment, she suddenly said, her voice cold as ice, “Why is there Ghost Clan aura on you?”
Jared’s brow drew together. Ghost Clan aura? Something shifted behind Jared’s eyes as he thought of Luther. Luther was Ghost Clan. He had stayed by Jared’s side for a long time, so it was only natural that some of that aura had rubbed off on him.
“I have a friend from the Ghost Clan,” he said evenly. “Who exactly are you?”
A flicker of realization passed through the woman’s eyes, and then she gave a small nod. “So that’s it…” She paused, then said slowly, “My name is Lydia Wraithmoor, Ghost Clan Princess.”
The moment those words landed, both Jared and Evelyn changed expression. Ghost Clan Princess? The woman went on. “I came from the Fifteenth Firmament.”
Jared’s pupils tightened. The Fifteenth Firmament? That was a place out of legend, one level above the Fourteenth Firmament. People said that was where the real powerhouses gathered. Anyone who could come down from the Upper Realm was no ordinary person.
“Why did you save me?” Jared asked, his voice low, the caution around him turning sharper.
Lydia looked at him and said evenly, “In the Fifteenth Firmament, I sensed a trace of the Door of Reincarnation, so I followed that aura all the way down. By the time I got here, that aura had disappeared, but I sensed Ghost Clan aura on you… I thought you had some connection to the Ghost Clan, so I stepped in and saved you.”
She paused, her eyes resting on Jared’s face. “Now it seems that aura was probably left behind by that Ghost Clan friend of yours. Since you already have ties to the Ghost Clan, naturally I wasn’t going to stand by and watch you die.”
Jared stayed silent for a moment, then slowly loosened his grip on the sword hilt. What she said sounded hard to believe, but at least for now, she really did not seem to mean him any harm. And the Door of Reincarnation was something Luther had used before. Even though it had been taken away now, Luther probably still carried at least a trace of its aura on him.
“Thank you,” he said in a low voice.
Lydia shook her head. “No need. I’m only repaying a favor.” She turned away and looked into the distance, as if her gaze could cut through layer after layer of cloud and mist and reach that legendary Fifteenth Firmament. “The aura of the Door of Reincarnation showed up out of nowhere. Something’s off. I’m going to look into it. Take care of yourselves.”
With that, she lifted a foot and started to leave.
Jared suddenly spoke up. “Wait!”
Lydia stopped and looked back at him. Jared met her eyes. “People from the Celestial Basilica are still hunting me down. You saved Evelyn and me. I’ll remember what you did. If there’s ever a chance, I’ll repay it.”
The corner of Lydia’s mouth lifted into a faint smile. “No need. I only did it in passing. But…” She paused, her eyes settling on Jared, and something unreadable flickered through them. “The bloodline in you is anything but ordinary. Stay alive. Don’t die here.”
As soon as the words fell, her figure blurred and turned into a streak of black light, vanishing into the vast sky. Jared watched that streak of light disappear into the distance and said nothing for a long time.
Evelyn struggled to her feet and came over to his side. Her voice dropped. “Young Lord, was she… was she telling the truth? A Ghost Clan Princess from the Fifteenth Firmament?”
Jared shook his head. “I don’t know. But she really did save us. And the aura of the Door of Reincarnation she mentioned does exist…”
The reason Jared had not told Lydia anything about the Door of Reincarnation was simple: he still wasn’t sure he could trust who she really was.
If he had said it out loud now, it might have brought disaster down on Luther instead. He turned and looked at Evelyn’s pale face. His brows drew together slightly. “Treat your injuries first. We can talk about everything else later.”
