A Man Like None Other (Jared Chance) novel Chapter 6034

"What is it?"

Celestial Metal Venerable's eyes narrowed to twin sword points, as though they could slice straight through Jared's assumed face.

Jared closed the gap with two measured steps, dropping his voice to a conspiratorial murmur.

"It's about the recent disturbances along the Heaven-Ascending Path. The Grand Venerable has issued a secret order—we are to hasten the gathering of soul crystals, especially those carrying an unusual aura."

He dangled those names deliberately, knowing only the Five Venerables shared that level of knowledge.

A flicker crossed Celestial Metal Venerable's gaze, yet wariness held firm.

"Where is this order? Why have I not received it?"

"Here is the order."

Jared lifted his hand; a jade slip, softly gilded with light, floated above his palm.

The ripple it gave off matched the signature the Grand Venerable had used—an echo Jared had copied from Glacier’s memories.

Celestial Metal Venerable fixed on the slip.

An exploratory thread of spirit sense drifted out to verify it.

The instant that thread brushed the surface—

—the air twisted; the expected quiet inspection flipped into raw chaos.

The jade slip burst apart with a dull crack.

Instead of shards, it dissolved into a storm of hair-fine, ash-gray Needles of Chaos that tore toward his face like rain blown sideways.

In the same breath Jared sprang forward, chaotic force roaring to full power.

His palms multiplied into a blur, each strike homing on a different vital spot around Celestial Metal Venerable.

"I knew there was treachery!"

Surprised but not flustered, Celestial Metal Venerable moved as though he had rehearsed this attack.

The twin swords on his back rang free, spinning into two streaks of silver-white sword aura.

One swept into the oncoming needles; the other cleaved straight for Jared’s brow.

At the same moment, his Celestial Metal Divine Armor flared alive, runes racing across the plates until his defense spiked to its peak.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

A barrage of impacts followed, so fast they blurred into one continuous roar.

Most of the Needles of Chaos shredded under the sword aura, yet several slipped through and pinged against the Divine Armor.

Each impact gouged a tiny crater, gray corrosion spreading across the glow.

The arc aimed at Jared met a gray, chaos-forged palm and skidded off course with a shriek of torn space.

"You’re not Glacier! Who are you?!"

Rage boiled in Celestial Metal Venerable’s shout; certainty hardened the edge in his eyes.

That suffocating gray force shared nothing with Glacier’s frigid laws; it reeked of pure erasure.

"The one who has come to claim your life!"

Jared dropped the last trace of disguise; a bolt of motion, he crashed into Celestial Metal Venerable, fists and palms weaving a net of chaos.

In an instant, the hall drowned in overlapping sword light and writhing gray turbulence.

The silver-white sword aura stayed impossibly keen, shearing through pillars, walls, air alike.

The murky chaos answered by dissolving whatever it touched, even the underlying laws that gave form to the hall.

Their duel tore from indoors to open sky; each clash toppled another section of palace, split earth wide, and shredded defensive arrays.

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