Lydia looked at him, and something like approval flashed across her eyes. This man really is different… He had just come through a life-and-death disaster, yet the first thing he did after waking wasn’t to drown himself in romance. He cut where he needed to cut and moved fast once he made the call…
“I’m going with you,” Lydia said. “You owe me two lives. I need to be there to watch you pay them back.” Jared let out a short laugh. “Alright… Then I guess I’ll owe you one more favor.”
Luther stepped forward too. “I’m going as well. Those b*stards from the Celestial Palace should’ve been dealt with a long time ago.”
Jared looked at the people in front of him. Something hot pressed up in his chest. These were the companions who had walked beside him all this way. They had faced life and death together.
“Alright. Then we go together…” He paused, then looked at Vivian. “Vivian, you stay in Cloudhaven City… Roland’s injuries are too severe. He needs someone there to take care of him.”
Vivian wanted to go with them too, but she knew what mattered more. She nodded. “Don’t worry. I’ll hold Cloudhaven City.”
Jared looked at her for a long moment. He didn’t say anything else. Then he turned and set out for the Celestial Palace with Lydia, Luther, Evelyn, and Grace.
The Grand Basilica stood in the deepest part of the Celestial Dominion. It stretched across the entire Sacred Mountain range, vast and towering. It took Jared’s group 3 days to reach the mountain gate.
But when they stopped in front of the mountain gate, every one of them went still. The mountain gate stood wide open. Not a sound came from inside. There were no guards. No patrol disciples. Not a trace of living presence anywhere. Inside, the whole place was a mess. Dead leaves had piled up. Dust lay over everything. The Celestial Palace had clearly been abandoned for days.
Jared’s brow tightened a little. Then he stepped through the mountain gate. As he walked deeper in, every pavilion and tower sat empty. The entire Celestial Palace felt like a dead land, heavy and still.
“Where is everybody?” Evelyn’s eyes widened. Lydia said, “The Celestial Palace lost all its elites in that battle… Instead of sitting around waiting to die, they made plans early.”
Jared said nothing. He only kept walking. Not long ago, this had still been one of the strongest powers in the Fourteenth Firmament. Now, all that remained was an empty shell. Bleak. Broken. Left to rot!
He stopped in the great hall and looked at the throne sitting there with nothing on it. “What a waste…” he said quietly. He hadn’t been able to wipe out the Celestial Palace with his own hands. That still left a little regret behind.
Jared turned around, about to speak, when his gaze landed on Luther and Grace. Right away, he caught Grace’s hand resting lightly on Luther’s wrist. Luther shifted a little toward her and lowered his head to say something by her ear. The corners of Grace’s mouth lifted before she forced them back down. And the way Luther looked at Grace was so soft it was almost spilling over. Jared raised a brow. Well, damn… When had these two gotten together?
He didn’t say a word. He just looked a little longer. Grace was keeping a straight face, but the smile at the corners of her eyes wouldn’t stay hidden. Luther usually kept his face cold, but right then he looked openly pleased.
As they kept moving, the way Luther and Grace acted around each other grew harder and harder to miss. Whenever they took the mountain road, Luther kept drifting in front of Grace without even seeming to realize he was doing it, always making sure she wouldn’t slip. When they stopped to rest, Grace would quietly pass Luther a waterskin. As he took it, their fingers would brush, and then both of them would pull back fast and pretend nothing had happened.
At last, Jared stopped and turned to look at Luther with a half-smile. “Luther…”
“Hm?”
“You two,” Jared said, looking at him and then at Grace, his voice slow and easy. “Since when?”
Luther froze. Grace stopped short too. Then color rushed straight into her cheeks, and she reflexively shifted half a step behind Luther.
“W-What do you mean?” Luther said stiffly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
Jared laughed. “Then tell me this. Why is it that from the moment we left until now, your eyes haven’t left Grace for a second? Why were you always stepping in front of her? And why when she handed you a water pouch… did your fingers touch and then fly apart like that?”
Only then did Evelyn catch up. Her eyes went wide. “Huh? Luther and Grace? You two… You’re together?”
Grace’s face burned even hotter. She looked like she wanted the ground to split open and swallow her whole. Luther could see there was no hiding it anymore. He gave up trying, lifted his chin, and forced the words out. “So what if we are? Grace and I… We… We’re really in love!”
Jared looked at him standing there, red-faced and stubborn all at once, and a laugh slipped out. “I never said I wouldn’t allow it. Why are you getting worked up?”
Luther froze. “Y-You don’t object?”
“Object to what?” Jared patted his shoulder. “You’ve followed me for a long time. Now you’ve found a woman you truly like. I’m happy for you. Why would I object?”
Hearing this, Luther just stared at him. His eyes slowly reddened. “Mr. Chance… I… I thought, with how lustful you are, you’d take Grace in too…”
“Damn…” Jared went speechless for a second. “Yeah, I’ve got plenty of women, but not one of them was forced. That doesn’t mean I take every woman I run into, does it? I’m not some stud horse.”
