The King Of Warriors novel (Jared Chance) novel Chapter 6585

"The chapter master wants to meet with you, Mr. Chance."

Claire's voice stayed perfectly even, as if she were discussing something ordinary. "The Abyssal Exchange is willing to work with you against the celestials. If you're interested, come with me to the Abyssal Exchange so we can talk."

Work with him against the celestials.

Jared's brow lifted slightly.

The Abyssal Exchange wanted to oppose the celestials?

They weren't afraid of retaliation?

"The Abyssal Exchange has a grudge against the celestials?" Jared asked.

Claire shook her head. "No. The Abyssal Exchange does business as business. We don't make enemies of any faction.

But in many places, the Exchange's interests and the celestials' interests collide."

"The celestials like monopoly. They like control. They like keeping every resource in their own hands.

"The Exchange needs circulation. It needs trade. It needs resources to move freely.

"So from the standpoint of profit, the Abyssal Exchange and the celestials are natural enemies."

She paused, and a knowing smile touched the corner of her mouth. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend, Mr. Chance. Wouldn't you agree?"

Jared said nothing for a moment.

The saying wasn't wrong.

But only if that "friend" wasn't the kind to stick a knife in his back.

Master Alaric Vale had been right. Agents of the Abyssal Exchange couldn't be trusted.

But right now, Jared needed them.

"Lead the way," Jared said.

A glint flashed through Claire's eyes, then vanished as quickly as it had come.

She dipped in a slight bow and turned toward outside the shrine-complex.

Jared followed behind her, violet eyes sweeping the surroundings as his spirit sense spread for 50 miles.

The slightest disturbance wouldn't escape him.

Stormhaven lay tens of thousands of miles from Ashford Hollow.

To get there from Ashford Hollow, they had to cross the Ashford Range, pass over the Godfall Wastes, then continue several thousand more miles north before reaching Stormhaven's sphere of influence.

Claire didn't choose to walk or fly.

Instead, she drew out a silver-white jade talisman from her sleeve and poured spiritual power into it.

The jade talisman burst in midair and transformed into a silver-white sky-barge.

It was about 10 yards long and 3 yards wide, its hull carved all over with spatial sigils.

At the prow was the Abyssal Exchange sigil—a treasure ship crossing the void: a treasure ship built to travel the void.

"Mr. Chance, please." Claire leaped onto the sky-barge first.

Only a power like the Abyssal Exchange could afford something like this.

For ordinary cultivators, keeping up with cultivation resources was hard enough. No one had extra to burn on a sky-barge.

The Abyssal Exchange, on the other hand, didn't have to care. It was all public property anyway—might as well use it.

Jared followed her aboard, then took his place at the prow, his violet eyes fixed on the distance.

The sky-barge rose into the air and shot north at astonishing speed.

Underfoot, the Ashford Range shrank fast.

The endless peaks blurred into green waves, and the snow on their summits flashed white in the sun.

The shrine-complex of Ashford Hollow lay half-hidden in the rolling mist, there and not there, like the finishing touch in an ink-wash painting.

Claire stood behind Jared, watching his back. Her slate-green gown stirred in the wind.

She had a hundred things she wanted to say.

She knew better than to say any of them now.

Every cultivator wore the same careful expression, as if one wrong move might put them on the wrong side of the rules here.

The code of the Abyssal Exchange was stricter than that of any great sect.

Anyone who dared stir up trouble in Stormhaven—no matter who they were, no matter who stood behind them—would be seized at once by the guard corps, thrown out of the city, and banned from ever setting foot inside again.

Claire guided the sky-barge down onto the platform of the central floating island.

The platform was enormous, large enough for dozens of sky-barges to land and lift off at the same time.

Claire put the sky-barge away, then turned to look at Jared.

"Mr. Chance, this way, please. The chapter master is already waiting in the Void Pavilion."

Jared nodded and followed Claire off the platform, heading toward the center of the island along a broad flagstone avenue.

Heartwood trees lined both sides of the avenue, heavy with many-hued spirit fruit that filled the air with an enticing sweetness.

Every hundred steps, a stone lamp pillar rose beside the road. At the top of each one sat a fist-sized luminous pearl, glowing with a soft light even in broad daylight.

At the end of the avenue stood a vast square.

In the center of the square rose a massive black tower, nine stories tall, each level set with tens of thousands of spatial crystals.

In the sunlight, the spatial crystals shattered the light into bands of color, wrapping the entire tower in a dreamlike halo.

This was the Void Pavilion, the central seat of the Abyssal Exchange in the Eighteenth Firmament.

Claire led Jared through the main gate of the Void Pavilion.

Beyond it lay a vast hall.

A massive star chart was set into the domed ceiling, marked with the coordinates of the heavens and the myriad worlds. Some of those places Jared recognized. Some he had never even heard of.

The stars within the chart turned slowly, as if alive—or as if some ancient formation were still operating overhead.

A row of counters lined each side of the hall, with Abyssal Exchange stewards seated behind them, receiving guests from every direction.

Some visitors were exchanging spirit stones. Some were buying healing elixirs. Others were asking for information or placing commissions.

Every steward wore the same polished smile, courteous in tone without ever overstepping.