A Man Like None Other (Jared Chance) novel Chapter 6360

Shade waited a long time. Only after making sure no one was coming after him did he slowly raise his head.

A fine layer of sweat had surfaced across his forehead.

His hands were shaking slightly.

"A false alarm?" he murmured. "It had to be a false alarm."

What Shade never noticed was that, deep in the distant vale, a young man in azure robes was standing at the cave entrance with the corner of his mouth slightly lifted.

Jared stood at the cave entrance, looking toward that half-hidden dark figure in the distance.

A cold glint slid through his eyes.

"He's here," he said softly.

Hadrian Wolfhowe walked over to his side and followed his line of sight, but saw nothing.

"Who is?"

"A scout from the Celestial Alliance." Jared pulled his gaze back. "True Immortal Realm Level Six. Good at hiding. He's been lying on the ridgeline for three days."

Hadrian Wolfhowe's pupils tightened. "You found him that long ago?"

"The first day." Jared smiled a little. "He was waiting for a chance to get into the city. So we'll give him one."

Hadrian Wolfhowe's brow pulled together. "What are you trying to do?"

"Let him in."

Jared turned and looked at Hadrian Wolfhowe. "Pass the order down. Starting today, cut the inspections at the city gate by half.

Reduce the number of cultivators on patrol duty by one-third.

And every day at noon, shut down the Ice-Seal ward in the sky for one incense stick."

Hadrian Wolfhowe's face changed. "Are you out of your mind? What if he—"

"He won't make a move."

Jared cut him off. "He's here to investigate, not to fight. Once he finds out what he came to find, he'll go back and report it. I want him to find out."

He paused. A hard glint slid through his eyes. "Then I'll make sure he never gets back."

Hadrian Wolfhowe looked into Jared's steady eyes, and something hard to put into words rose in his chest.

This young man usually came off gentle.

He stood by his friends, and he never looked away from the weak.

But once he decided to do something, he turned cold.

Decisive.

Ready to use whatever it took.

"Alright." Hadrian Wolfhowe nodded. "I'll make the arrangements right now."

Shade noticed the changes.

The inspections at the city gate had loosened.

What had originally taken one incense stick of questioning now took only a few words.

There were fewer cultivators on patrol duty now.

The solitary figures upon the city walls had thinned out a lot.

Every day at noon, the giant ice-blue net spread across the sky shut down for one incense stick, as if someone were deliberately leaving him a passage.

Shade crouched on the low hill and watched those changes.

The longer he watched, the less any of it sat right.

"Too convenient," he murmured. "Way too convenient."

But he didn't back off.

Shade was the best scout the Celestial Alliance had.

He couldn't go back empty-handed.

He had to get inside.

He had to find out the truth.

At noon on the fifth day, the massive ice-blue net in the sky shut down right on time.

Shade drew in a deep breath.

Then he drove his concealment art, turned into a faint silhouette, and shot toward Cloudrest.

He moved with lightning speed.

Yet his presence was so faint it was almost impossible to detect.

He slipped through the opening in the net, cleared the city walls, and landed in a deserted corner of the city.

The city was lively.

Cultivators from the beast race, the Ghost Clan, the demon race, and the human race were all mixed.

Some were trading. Some were drinking. Some were training.

Shade stayed tucked into the corner and watched them.

He silently fixed every detail in his memory.

His heartbeat sped up.

These people were the Celestial Alliance's enemies.

He was going to remember all of it and carry the report back.

Then he saw Jared.

Jared stood upon the city walls.

His green robe moved in the wind, and the Dragonslayer Sword at his waist caught the sunlight with a faint gleam.

Purple chaotic force coiled around him.

The glow wasn't violent. It was quiet, like a giant dragon lying asleep.

His eyes were violet, and it looked as if stars were turning inside his pupils.

Shade's breathing stopped.

Shade's whole body locked up.

His stride stopped cold.

In front of him stood the young man in azure robes.

Violet chaotic force moved around Jared in steady currents, sweeping the darkness clean from the area around him.

His eyes were violet too, and in his pupils, it looked like stars were slowly turning.

The corner of Jared's mouth tilted up just slightly. The smile was so faint it was almost impossible to see, but the instant Shade caught it, a chill shot from the soles of his feet straight to the crown of the skull.

"Did you get a clear look?" Jared's voice was calm.

Shade's pupils shrank hard.

He spun and ran.

He drove his concealment technique to its limit, and his speed went with it, all the way to the limit.

But no matter how fast he ran, that violet radiance stayed in front of him.

"You..." Shade's voice shook. "You knew I was there the whole time?"

Jared did not answer.

He raised his right hand, spread his five fingers, and aimed his palm at Shade.

Violet chaotic force gathered in his palm, but this time it was not the flame, not lightning, but something older and purer than either one.

Spatial nascence.

Shade noticed the chamber around him starting to twist.

The air turned thick, like glue frozen solid.

His body began to lock up, as if an invisible hand had closed around him.

"No..." He fought with everything he had, but in front of spatial nascence, his concealment technique was as weak as paper and was torn apart in an instant.

His body was compressed, fixed, and sealed away. The air around him turned into transparent walls, trapping him inside a closed chamber only 3 feet across.

Shade threw himself against the transparent walls and pounded on them, but they did not move in the slightest.

The blood had drained from his face, and his eyes were full of dread. "Let me out! Let me out!"

Jared walked up to him and looked at him through the transparent walls. "How many of you came?"

Shade ground his teeth and kept his mouth shut.

Jared raised his right hand and slowly curled his five fingers inward.

The sealed chamber began to shrink.

The transparent walls pressed inward.

Shade's body compressed with it.

His bones started crackling one after another.

A shrill scream ripped out of him.