The King Of Warriors novel (Jared Chance) novel Chapter 6466

"Venerable Starwick leaned back against the black throne and closed his eyes.

His fingers were still tapping lightly against the armrest."

"One tap.

Then another.

Flat. Stubborn. Like some ancient timepiece counting down to something no one had named."

"Again and again, that violet soul flashed through his mind.

The golden codex.

That impregnable golden radiance."

"The chance had been right in front of him, close enough to take.

And he had watched it slip away with his own eyes."

That ending would not stand.

"He stood and paced back and forth through the great hall.

The hem of his golden robe trailed along the floor, scraping softly as he moved."

"He stopped before the star chart in the hall.

His gaze fell on the map of the northern region, moving from the direction of Wellspring Order to Beastmoor Ridge, then from Beastmoor Ridge back to Pole Star Hall."

"His brows drew tight.

Calculations turned over behind his eyes, fast and sharp."

Where was that soul?

Wellspring Order?

Wayfarers' Haven?

Or had it already fled to a deserted reach of the Wastelands deep in the North?

Venerable Starwick drew in a deep breath and forced the restless churn inside him back down.

He opened his eyes and took a golden writ-token from inside his robe.

"The token was only the size of a palm, forged entirely from elder suncrystal.

On its surface, an archaic character for ""Pursuit"" had been carved, and a faint golden light seeped from it."

"This was Pole Star Hall's Writ of Pursuit, one of the relics Pole Star Hall had passed down for tens of thousands of years.

Once issued, every wandering cultivator and every middle or small power across the northern region would receive the message."

"He tapped the token lightly with one fingertip.

A screen of golden light sprang from the token and hung in front of him, rippling gently like water."

"Dense clusters of ancient sigils surfaced across the screen.

They belonged to the Pole Star writ-array, a ritual array made specifically to carry information into every corner of the northern region."

"He gathered his focus for a moment, then carved a line of words onto the screen of light.

Every character carried his spirit sense and spiritual power, making sure the message bore both truth and authority."

"Writ of Pursuit: Anyone who provides a lead and locates a violet soul will be rewarded with three Golden Immortal Elixirs and 1 million spirit stones."

"Anyone who brings the violet soul back to Pole Star Hall will be rewarded with one Golden Immortal art, 10 million spirit stones, and an honorary eldership."

Three Golden Immortal Elixirs.

One Golden Immortal art.

10 million spirit stones.

An honorary eldership.

Any one of those rewards, taken by itself, was enough to drive the wandering cultivators of the northern region out of their minds.

"There were outlaws who would put their lives on the line for a few spirit stones.

There were wandering cultivators beaten down by poverty, with a breakthrough always hanging just out of reach.

There were small orders clinging to the shadow of greater powers.

Not one of them could resist bait like this."

"Venerable Starwick looked at the words on the screen of light.

The corner of his mouth slowly curved upward, cold as a drawn blade."

It was an open scheme, laid out in plain sight. Venerable Starwick did not need to search for it himself.

All he had to do was throw out bait rich enough, and countless people would risk their lives in his place.

He lifted his hand and swept it through the air. The golden ward-veil broke apart into countless motes of light, scattering like fireflies as they flew out in every direction.

The motes passed through the dome of the great hall, through the wards of Pole Star Hall, then through the sky over the northern region, racing toward every corner of the land.

The Writ of Pursuit had been sent.

Next came the waiting.

In the under-market of Blackwind City, several cultivators with hard, shadowed faces gathered close together, their voices dropped low enough that the darkness seemed to swallow the words.

"They belonged to an abduction-and-assassination guild.

As long as the price was right, there was almost nothing they would not do."

"The rewards listed on the Writ of Pursuit made them stop and look twice.

But what held their attention longer than anything else was the honorary eldership."

"An honorary elder of Pole Star Hall could draw on Pole Star Hall's resources.

With that backing, a man could move through the northern region like the road belonged to him."

That kind of power had a pull no pile of spirit stones or set of arcane arts could match.

Even so, they did not rush in.

"They did not know where that violet soul was.

They did not know what it looked like.

They did not know what abilities it had."

Anything that had slipped out of the hands of the four Golden Immortal elders of Pole Star Hall could not be simple.

"They needed more intelligence.

More details.

Only after that could they decide whether to make a move."

Talk spread everywhere, but when it came to people who truly dared to go looking, there were only a few.

"It was not that the rewards failed to catch their eyes.

It was that they could not make themselves take that step."

"The four Golden Immortal elders of Pole Star Hall had already lost the trail.

If wandering cultivators like them chased after it, what was that except walking straight into death?"

Still, word of the Writ of Pursuit tore across the northern region at a vicious speed.

"It reached the great cities.

It reached the great sects.

And it reached Wellspring Order."

On the second day after the Writ of Pursuit was issued, Pole Star Hall received a secret report.