The King Of Warriors novel (Jared Chance) novel Chapter 6574

The flagstone path wound deeper through the bamboo grove.

On both sides, green stalks swayed in the breeze, leaves whispering against each other like they were guarding some ancient secret.

Jared walked behind Adrian, his violet eyes sweeping the grove.

He could feel it immediately. Not a single stalk here was ordinary. Every piece of the bamboo forest belonged to a larger formation.

Beneath the ground, the bamboo roots braided together into a vast hidden web, drawing the spiritual essence of the entire vale into one place.

It formed a natural Spiritual Energy Convergence Array.

The method behind that arrangement was extraordinary.

This wasn't something built in a day, or even an age. It had taken tens of thousands—possibly hundreds of thousands—of years of accumulation and change to become what it was now.

The Aureate Way ran far deeper than Jared had imagined.

After the three companions followed the flagstone path for about half an hour, the bamboo began to thin.

Ahead, a flagstone archway came into view.

The archway stood about 3 yards tall, built from two massive stone pillars and a crossbeam.

The pillars were carved all over with sigils of the Aureate Way, and across the beam were four ancient characters:

"Ashford Hollow."

Beyond the archway stretched a broad flagstone avenue.

Rows of heartwood lined both sides, heavy with many-hued spirit fruit that gave off an irresistible sweetness.

At the end of the avenue stood a vast shrine-complex.

It had been built into the mountain itself—gray tiles, white walls, upturned eaves stacked layer upon layer.

From the mountain foot all the way to the summit, it rose as if it had grown straight out of the stone.

Every hall in the shrine-complex was wrapped in a faint wash of spiritual light.

That glow came from the hall-warding formation in motion.

Above the shrine-complex, cranes circled through the air while bright clouds drifted around the peaks.

A spirit spring spilled from the mountaintop in a roaring cascade, its thunderous rush echoing through the entire vale.

Adrian stopped in front of the archway and turned to face Jared.

"Mr. Chance, please wait here."

He bowed slightly.

"My master said you are an honored guest of the Aureate Way. You are to be received with the highest ceremony. I'll go announce your arrival now."

Jared nodded.

Adrian turned and headed up the flagstone avenue, moving much faster than before.

After about 100 steps, he suddenly stopped.

He drew a jade talisman from his sleeve and sent spiritual power into it. A clear, ringing note burst from the talisman and rolled through the vale, lingering for a long time before it faded.

The instant that note died away, bells and drums erupted from inside the shrine-complex.

The bells rang first—deep, steady, weighty.

Nine peals in all. Each one reverberated through the vale hard enough to numb the ears, yet carried a solemn grandeur that made the air itself feel sacred.

Then came the drums.

They thundered with fierce, vigorous force—also nine beats—interweaving with the bells like the opening of some ancient rite.

The main gate opened slowly.

Two lines of disciples of the Aureate Way stepped out in blue-green robes of the Way and took their places along both sides of the avenue. In every pair of hands was an azure lantern, its flame flickering in the breeze and casting the whole road in clear light.

None of those disciples were weak.

The lowest among them was True Immortal Realm Level Seven, and the strongest few had already reached the peak of True Immortal Realm Level Nine.

They stood in perfect order, every posture respectful.

Then, as one, their eyes settled on Jared, and the curiosity and expectation in them was impossible to hide.

Jared took in the scene, and a flicker of surprise crossed his violet eyes.

Nine bell peals. Nine drumbeats. Two ranks of disciples standing in formal reception.

In any order, that kind of ceremony was reserved for the most honored of guests.

And he—a youth at True Immortal Realm Level Eight, visiting Ashford Hollow for the first time—was being welcomed with exactly that treatment.

What exactly was Master Alaric trying to do?

The thought flashed through Jared's mind, but he had no chance to dwell on it.

A figure had already emerged from the shrine-complex.

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