A Man Like None Other (Jared Chance) novel Chapter 6603

In the morning light, the flagstone archway of Ashford Hollow held a faint sheen.

The four characters carved across it—Ashford Hollow—stood out sharply beneath the golden sunlight.

Jared passed through the archway and stepped onto the flagstone avenue.

On both sides, the heartwood trees hung heavy with many-hued spirit fruit, swaying gently in the morning breeze and filling the air with a tempting sweetness.

The main gate of the shrine-complex stood open.

Inside, two lines of disciples of Ashford Hollow waited on either side, each holding an azure lantern to welcome him home.

Their eyes followed Jared, full of awe.

Word of the Hall of Radiance being wiped out had already spread through the entire Eighteenth Firmament.

Everyone knew this young man had personally slain Lord Saintlight, a Golden Immortal Realm Level Five expert.

Jared crossed the main hall, passed through the corridors, and made his way to the tea room.

Master Alaric Vale was already there, waiting for him.

He sat in the seat of honor with a teacup in hand.

The morning light pouring through the window turned his white hair and beard silver.

His expression looked calm, but Jared could still see the thread of worry in his eyes.

Master Alaric Vale had lived for tens of thousands of years and seen too much to be easily shaken.

His instincts were rarely wrong.

He'd never been fully at ease about Jared going to the Abyssal Exchange.

Now that Jared was back, he wanted even more to know what had happened.

Jared sat across from him, picked up the teapot on the table, and poured himself a cup.

The fragrance of tea drifted through the room, fresh and delicate.

Ashen Mist tea.

He lifted the cup, drained it in one swallow, then set it down and looked at Master Alaric Vale with steady violet eyes.

"Master, this junior killed Cedric."

Jared's voice was calm—so calm it sounded like he was mentioning something too trivial to matter.

Master Alaric Vale's hand jerked almost imperceptibly.

The teacup tipped, and a few drops splashed onto the tabletop.

His pupils tightened for a beat, then the reaction was gone.

He looked straight into Jared's eyes.

There was no ripple there. No hesitation.

Only the quiet, matter-of-fact calm of someone stating what had simply needed to be done.

"Cedric is dead?" Master Alaric Vale's voice came out rough. "The chapter master of the Abyssal Exchange?"

Jared nodded. "Florian too. And the Vice Court Master of the Ember God Palace brought more than thirty celestial cultivators with him. They're all dead."

Master Alaric Vale said nothing for a long time.

He set down his teacup and began tapping his fingers lightly against the table, a faint, steady thump in the quiet room.

Jared had seen that habit many times before.

It was what Master Alaric Vale did when he was thinking.

"Mr. Chance, tell me everything from the beginning," Master Alaric Vale said.

His voice was even, but the weight in it was unmistakable.

Jared told him everything that had happened in the Ancient Battlefield, from beginning to end.

He started with entering the void passage, then meeting the Sage of Voidreaver, obtaining the Chaos Pearl and the Storage Ring, hearing Cedric and Florian negotiate over killing him, and finally killing Cedric and wiping out all the celestials.

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