Rowe jumped in from the side. "Now that's what I'm talking about, Mr. Chance! Tomorrow we go tear down the other two prisons too!"

The lanky man swayed his folding fan, grinning until his eyes narrowed to slits. "The Celestial Alliance probably won't be sleeping tonight."

Even the middle-aged woman, who rarely showed it, let a smile surface. She lifted her wine bowl toward Jared in a quiet salute.

Vale stroked his beard and nodded again and again.

Nathaniel got to his feet and raised his wine bowl high. Then he shouted to everyone there, "Brothers, Mr. Chance said it himself. Tomorrow, we're going after the other two prisons. Go back, get some real rest, and build up your strength. Tomorrow, we do this again!"

A wave of cheers burst through the vale.

"Long live Mr. Chance!"

"Long live the human race!"

"Take down the celestials!"

Jared smiled and waved a hand, signaling for them to quiet down. "Get some rest early. We've got real business tomorrow."

Little by little, the crowd broke apart and drifted away.

The vale settled into silence. Only the bonfire still burned, crackling and popping in the dark.

Jared stayed by the fire, watching the flames jump. The smile on his face slowly faded.

Gwendolyn walked over and sat down beside him. "Drink too much?"

Jared shook his head. "Not even close. This little bit of wine isn't enough to get me drunk."

"Then what you said just now—about hitting the other two prisons tomorrow-was that for real, or was that the wine talking?"

Jared turned and looked at her. "For real. What happened at Blackstone Gaol won't stay hidden for long. The Celestial Alliance will know very soon. Instead of waiting for them to tighten security, we should press while the iron's hot and move before they've had time to react."

Gwendolyn fell quiet for a moment. "You sure about this?"

"I do."

Jared's voice stayed even.

"But we have to move fast. We leave at first light."

Gwendolyn nodded.

"All right. I'll get things ready."

She rose and walked a few steps away.

Then she stopped.

She didn't turn back.

"Jared, when you said you wanted to build a celestial realm with no classes, where every race stands equal... did you mean it?"

Jared paused.

The words pulled up an old memory.

Back in the Moonshade Realm, he had said something much like that to Edric.

At the time, he had just saved Lila.

That child had wrapped both arms around his leg and refused to let go.

That was when the thought had first taken root.

He had never truly sat down and worked out how any of it could be done.

He had only known it ought to be done that way.

"It's true," he said.

Gwendolyn said nothing else.

She walked away.

Jared stayed by the campfire, staring into the flame.

Everything in his head had turned into a tangle.

The liquor was catching up to him now.

His head swam a little, but he had no intention of going to sleep.

He thought of Josephine.

He saw her standing beside Skylar.

He saw her turning back to look at him, that one last glance.

He thought of Lydia.

He saw her hurt in the Pyre Chasm.

He saw her standing upon the city walls, telling him, "You have to come back."

He thought of Gideon.

He heard him say, "You are the hope of all of us."

Hope.

The word carried too much weight.

So much that there were times when it pressed down hard enough to make his

shoulders feel unsteady beneath it.

But he couldn't set it down.

If he did, everyone who believed in him would be let down.

Then they would lose more than faith.

They would lose whatever was left to hold on to.

the Celestial Alliance great hall

Alaric sat in the seat of honor.

His face looked as dark as the sky before a storm broke.

His fingers tapped lightly on the tabletop.

Once. Then again. Then a third time.

The sound echoed through the vast great hall like a funeral bell.

In front of him, a celestial cultivator knelt on the floor, shaking all over. His forehead

was pressed tight against the ground, and he didn't dare lift his head.

"Blackstone Gaol was hit?" Alaric's voice came out level, but everyone in the hall heard what sat underneath it.

"Y-Yes, High Sovereign." The cultivator's voice shook harder. "The gaoler was killed. More than a thousand guards were wiped out. All 537 prisoners were rescued."

Alaric's tapping finger stopped.

"Who did it?"

"Jared. The one carrying the chaotic force. He brought two people with him and slipped into the prison. They worked from inside and out and broke it open from within."

Alaric said nothing for a long time.

Those five figures rose in his mind one by one.

The captain's hard face, the

silver-white spear. The twin-blade fighter's vicious precision. The greatswordsman's savage strength, The whip master's poisonous... techniques. The archer's flawless aim.

Five people. Five True Immortal Realm Level Eight powerhouses. Every last one of them had been buried in the Fifteenth Firmament.

Even the scout he had sent out, Shade, had never returned.

And now Blackstone Gaol had been erased too.

"Jared..." The name left him in a murmur so low it barely seemed to carry, but each

syllable came out like it had been forced through clenched teeth.

He rose and walked to the star map, his eyes settling on the map of the Sixteenth Firmament.

Blackstone Gaol had stood at the border between the eastern region and the

northern region.

Now it was gone.

The other two prisons were still in celestial hands.

One was in the southern region. The other was in Epea.

"Pass down my orders."

His voice was cold. "The prisons in the southern region and Epea are to reinforce security immediately. Activate every ward Double patrol duty. Without my command, no one enters or leaves."

"Yes!" The cultivator scrambled to his feet and turned to go.

"And one more thing." Alaric stopped him. "Notify Marshal Vale. Tell him to take men to the prison in Epea and hold it there. If Jared dares come, make sure he never leaves."

The cultivator's face shifted.

"Marshal Vale himself is going?"

"Jared isn't an ordinary man. He killed Lucian Gold. He killed the gaoler of

Blackstone Gaol. Ordinary cultivators can't handle him."

Alaric's voice stayed flat. "Tell Marshal Vale this: alive or dead, I want him brought

before me."

"Yes!"

The cultivator turned and hurried out.

Silence settled over the great hall.

Alaric stood before the star map, his gaze fixed on the mark for the prison in Epea.

He stayed there a long time without saying a word.

"Jared, you think taking down one Blackstone Gaol is enough to shake the

foundation of the Celestial Alliance?"

His voice was quiet.

A hard gleam cut through his eyes. "Naive. The Sixteenth Firmament belongs to the celestials. On your own, you won't turn this world upside down."

He turned away from the star map, walked back to the black throne, and sat down.

His fingers started tapping the armrest again.

Once. Then again. Then once more.

The sound echoed through the great hall like some ancient timepiece, ticking away

as if it were counting toward something.

Outside the window, the two moons of the Sixteenth Firmament hung high in the

sky, one silver-white and the other dark red.

Moonlight spilled across the golden dome of the Celestial Alliance great hall and

threw back a cold, lifeless gleam.

When Marshal Vale received the order, he was at the edge of the ice plains, resting

with his eyes closed in the camp.

He opened his eyes and looked at the messenger.

The corner of his mouth lifted.

"Jared? Interesting."

He rose to his feet and took up his spear. "Move. We're going to Epea."

The celestial cultivators behind him assembled at once and swept off after him

toward Epea.

Marshal Vale led from the very front.

His black armor glimmered under the moonlight with a dim, chilling sheen.

His spear turned lightly in his hand, and the cold point carved silver-white arcs through the night.

"Jared, don't disappoint me," he murmured.