A Man Like None Other (Jared Chance) novel Chapter 6374

Jared sat down with his back against the wall and closed his eyes.

The chaotic force moved slowly through his body.

His spirit sense slipped through the wall of the cell and spread through the prison.

He needed to find the leader among the imprisoned human cultivators.

He needed to find the ones who still hadn't let go of hope.

His spirit sense moved like an invisible snake, gliding down the corridor, slipping through one cell after another, feeling out the aura of every prisoner.

Most of them had weak auras. Their spiritual power had been sealed, and even the spirit had been suppressed.

By then, they were barely any different from ordinary people.

But the aura inside one cell was different.

That cell sat at the end of the corridor. Seven sealing talismans were pasted across its iron door, twice as many as the others.

There was only one person locked inside. His cultivation was at True Immortal Realm Level Seven, and even with the seal pressing him down, his aura was still far stronger than the rest of the prisoners.

Jared fixed the location of that cell in his mind.

He kept sensing for a while longer.

Once he was sure there wasn't anyone stronger, he drew back his spirit sense.

He opened his eyes and looked at the numb faces in the cell.

Something heavy rose in him, hard to put into words.

These people had once been cultivators too.

They had once had homes, families, and dreams of their own.

But now they were nothing more than livestock penned up by the celestials, waiting to be squeezed dry for the last bit of value left in them.

"Everyone," Jared said.

His voice wasn't loud, but every person in the cell heard it clearly.

No one answered.

Some of them didn't even bother to look up.

"My name is Jared. I came from outside. I'm here to get you out."

The cell went still for a moment.

Then someone laughed.

The laugh came out dry and bitter, like they were mocking Jared for still being naive enough to say something like that.

"Get us out?"

A middle-aged man finally lifted his head. A scar ran from his forehead all the way down to his chin, and there was nothing left in his eyes.

"Do you even know what kind of place this is? Blackstone Gaol. One of the celestials' three great prisons. Nobody who comes in here ever walks out alive."

"Not before," Jared said. "From now on, they will."

The middle-aged man looked at him for a long moment, then slowly shook his head.

"Kid, I've been in here for three hundred years. I've seen countless people just like you. They came in full of confidence, talking about breaking out, talking about fighting back. Their bones are still hanging on the stakes outside the iron gate."

Jared didn't argue.

He pushed himself up from by the wall and walked to the iron door.

Then he reached out and grabbed the chain wrapped around it.

Chaos-flame surged out of his palm.

The chain melted apart in an instant, and the sealing talismans burned down to ash.

Everyone in the cell lifted their heads at the same time.

Their eyes went wide. Their mouths fell open.

The dead blankness on their faces vanished, replaced by raw disbelief.

The middle-aged man struggled to his feet. His legs gave way so suddenly he nearly crashed to the ground, and he had to brace himself against the wall to stay upright.

"You... you can break the seal?"

Jared turned back to look at them.

"I told you. I'm here to get you out."

Jared didn't rush to open every cell.

He needed to find the leader first.

He needed a plan first.

And he needed to figure out the prison's troop layout and the spread of its wards before he moved.

He left Alaric Winterborne and Gwendolyn in the cell.

Then he headed down the corridor alone, straight for the cell with seven sealing talismans pasted across its door.

The corridor stretched a long way, with cells lining both sides.

Inside them were all kinds of prisoners.

Some were from the human race, some from the beast race, some were demons, and there were even a few from the Ghost Clan.

"Three people?" Rowan's face changed on the spot. "Have you lost your mind? Blackstone Gaol has over a thousand guards, and the gaoler is True Immortal Realm Level Eight. How are three of you supposed to get anyone out?"

Jared looked at him. "I have a way. But I need your help."

"What kind of help?"

"Tell me how many human cultivators are in this prison. Which cells they're locked in. Who can still fight. Who can still move."

Rowan went quiet for a moment.

Then he turned, walked to the wall, and used his finger to sketch out a rough map on the surface.

The prison's layout, the guards' positions, the wards, the cell divisions—he marked them out one by one.

"There are five hundred thirty-seven human cultivators in all. They're spread across twelve cells on the second floor."

Rowan's finger moved across the map. "The ones who can still fight? Fewer than a hundred. They've been locked up too long. Their spiritual power is sealed, and their bodies are falling apart too. But if there's a way to break the seals, they can recover some of their strength."

Jared nodded. "I can break the seals. Chaotic force suppresses every seal."

Light flashed into Rowan's clouded eyes. "Chaotic force? You carry chaotic force?"

"Yes."

Rowan said nothing for a long while.

Then he let out a long breath.

"No wonder Nathaniel Linford dared send you here. Good. Good. Good."

He said it three times, and the light in his eyes kept building.

"Here's the plan."

Jared crouched down and traced along the map on the wall with his finger. "Tomorrow morning, the celestial cultivators will open the cells and take us to the mine to work.

That's our only chance. There are fewer guards at the mine than inside the prison, and the terrain is more open. It'll be easier to make a move.

You're responsible for reaching everyone and getting them ready. The moment I give the signal, everybody moves together."

Rowan's brow tightened. "There are wards at the mine too, and the gaoler will be there holding the field. True Immortal Realm Level Eight. We can't beat him."

"Leave the gaoler to me."

Rowan looked at him.

Doubt sat plain in his eyes.

A young man at True Immortal Realm Level Two saying he would take on a gaoler at True Immortal Realm Level Eight sounded like pure fantasy.

But what Jared had just done to break the seal was something no ordinary person could have pulled off.