The King Of Warriors novel (Jared Chance) novel Chapter 6447

"Venerable Emberlain's words jammed in his throat.

For a moment, he had no answer at all. The pressure packed tight inside him, but there was nowhere for it to go and no argument he could put forward."

"The truth sat too plainly before him.

With only him and Frostgrave, they had never been able to break through the defense in the first place. Once they left Pole Star Hall, they would have nowhere to seek help and no one to lend them strength. In the end, they would only lose the boon completely."

"If they stayed in Pole Star Hall now, the Hall Master would most likely take every advantage and claim the relic for himself.

But at least there would still be a thin chance of receiving some portion of the boon. There was no other path left."

With every option cut away, Venerable Emberlain could only clench down and endure it. His reply came low and tight. "...Then we will do as the Hall Master says."

"Venerable Starwick saw him yield, and a faint look of approval passed through his eyes.

With a wave of his hand, he sealed Jared's soul back into the Soul-Vault Pearl, then casually took it into the storage relic he kept closest to himself. Once it was there, it was firmly under his control, beyond anyone else's reach."

"You two have traveled hard all this way. Withdraw for now and go rest in the guest rooms inside the hall. As for the duty report and filing for the newly ascended Golden Immortal, that can be handled a few days later."

"Venerable Starwick waved them off lightly.

His tone had turned distant. By then, he no longer bothered to preserve much of their dignity."

Venerable Emberlain and Venerable Frostgrave pressed down everything that still had no place to go, bowed in formal salute, then turned and silently withdrew from the Soul-Refining Hall.

"The instant their figures were completely gone and the hall doors closed, Venerable Starwick lowered his gaze to the Soul-Vault Pearl in his palm.

Every trace of warmth vanished from his eyes. Only a cold edge remained, along with a hunger that no longer needed to hide."

"""Aurelius, Cassian, with those petty little schemes of yours, you dared show off in front of me? You wanted to use my hand to break the deadlock, then sit there and divide the relic, splitting the boon evenly?

""What a delusion."""

"From this day on, this peerless relic is mine. No one else gets so much as a finger on it."

Venerable Starwick had already given the order ahead of time. The cultivators under him were to settle Venerable Emberlain and Venerable Frostgrave properly inside the inner guest quarters of Pole Star Hall.

"The two stone chambers stood pressed close together.

Their walls had been stacked from heavy hushstone, sealed so tightly that ordinary cultivators would never be able to pierce through and probe what lay beyond."

"But for the two Venerables, who had already stepped into the Golden Immortal Realm and whose soul-sense far surpassed common men, that little wall between them might as well not have existed.

Every movement on either side, every spoken word, came through clear as day."

"Venerable Emberlain sat alone on the cold stone bed.

The force around him hung low and heavy. His face had gone iron-blue, and the fire he had forced down inside him refused to settle."

"The moment Venerable Starwick’s hard, overbearing face rose again in his mind, along with that plain intent to swallow the relic whole, the pressure under Venerable Emberlain’s ribs surged all over again.

Keeping it pinned down took everything he had."

"Right now, he is only taking the Soul-Vault Pearl by force because he still holds a lucky thought. He wants to fumble out a shortcut by himself.

Once he burns through his efforts, exhausts every secret art, every thread of nascence, and every arcane art he has, only to gain nothing in the end, the last of his patience will run out. When that happens, he will turn back on his own and come to us to discuss cooperation.

By then, the initiative will be back in our hands. We can raise the conditions with the current at our backs, take a reasonable share of the opportunity, and secure a place in it for ourselves."

"After hearing that, the tight line around Venerable Emberlain eased a little.

He turned the words over carefully, found the sense in them, and slowly nodded. ""Then for now, all we can do is endure, lie low, and wait for the right moment."""

"The two of them said no more.

Each closed his eyes and regulated his breath, stabilizing his Golden Immortal foundation and restoring the nascence-wrought spiritual power drained by the journey. On the surface, all remained quiet as they waited for the situation to shift."

"Only they themselves knew that after what had happened today, a seam had already opened between them.

From that seam came suspicion, and neither could pretend it was not there."

"They had once both served under the celestials, fought shoulder to shoulder, and tied their interests together as Golden Immortal allies.

But because of one sovereign relic, distance had grown in their hearts, and the trust between them had been wiped clean away."

"In the future, the moment their interests collided would be the moment they turned their backs on each other.

Their alliance already existed in name only."