A Man Like None Other (Jared Chance) novel Chapter 6708

Ancient demonic runes covered all four walls, radiating dark-red light that made the entire hall look submerged in a thin mist of blood.

An ancient presence filled the air, like an open history book whose every page spoke of former glory and tragedy.

A massive stone table occupied the center of the hall. Spread across it was a huge yellowed map showing the terrain of the Twentieth Firmament and the territories controlled by its different factions.

The markings were color-coded. Red represented celestial strongholds, black marked human cities, gray indicated neutral areas, and one region near the edge of the map had been circled repeatedly in dark red. Warning symbols surrounded it.

Skylar walked to the stone table and turned to Jared.

The two stared at each other across the map without speaking. For a moment, the only movement in the hall came from the dark-red light silently flowing over the walls.

Then Skylar opened with a question Jared had not expected.

"How many crystals do you still have?"

Jared raised one brow and leaned against the stone table, folding his arms. "Why do you care?"

"The people outside are here to collect their bounty," Skylar said as casually as though commenting on the weather. "I issued the bounty. The demons don't actually have enough crystals to pay them."

Jared understood at once.

Skylar's plan to fight the celestials with their own weapon had been clever, but he had overlooked one very practical problem.

The demons simply were not as wealthy as the celestials.

The celestials controlled the richest resources in the Twentieth Firmament, including countless crystal mines and spiritual veins. The demon race had been suppressed for years and possessed far fewer resources. Even if every Demonic Cultivator pooled everything they had, they could not cover one-third of the first round of payouts.

There was no way for them to honor the bounty as promised.

"So you want me to pay for it?"

Still leaning against the table with folded arms, Jared gave Skylar a look of open mockery.

"I helped you kill Grand Elder Greenwood, took his storage ring, and collected the resources from the celestial factions in the Nineteenth Firmament," Skylar said calmly. "You should have plenty of crystals on you. I could sense how much you were carrying back in the Emperorfall Expanse."

"I nearly died earning those."

Mockery colored Jared's voice, though the smile never reached his eyes. "Nice plan you've got. You come up with the idea, and I pay for it? I could hear that abacus of yours clicking from outside the valley."

"You don't have to."

Skylar shrugged and spread his hands with complete indifference, as if saying, Suit yourself.

Lazy amusement slipped into his otherwise calm voice. "Then I'll tell the people outside that the demons are broke. They can take those celestial heads home—or go straight back to killing Demonic Cultivators and collect the celestial bounty instead.

"Once they start working for the celestials again, you can forget about ever destroying the Celestial High Temple. You'll spend the rest of your time in the Twentieth Firmament running like a stray dog while Aureon Suncrest hunts you from one end of it to the other. Your choice."

"Wouldn't that screw you too?" Jared asked.

"Screw me? Like hell." Skylar gave a dismissive snort. "Worst case, I leave the Twentieth Firmament and head straight to the Twenty-First. Once I'm there, I'll still be a big deal among the Demonic Cultivators."

"Fuck. Is the celestial realm your private property now? You just go to whatever Firmament you feel like?" Jared rolled his eyes.

Skylar burst out laughing at his expression.

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