A Man Like None Other (Jared Chance) novel Chapter 5426

I will never forget this day. For every drop of blood the demons spilled, I will demand a river in return.

Jared had no idea how long he had been running. His lungs burned, calves on fire, yet he kept sprinting until the silhouette of Cloud Valley finally surfaced through the dim haze ahead. At its mouth, veils of mist drifted like living curtains. Every few breaths, the vapor rippled, showing faint tremors in the air—echoes of that forbidden spatial technique Aurelius had once told him about. Relief cut through Jared's exhaustion. He pushed himself faster, shifting Aurelius on his back to a steadier grip and charging for the valley's threshold.

Then, without warning, the clash of steel and roars behind him fell silent. His body locked. Jared turned, each vertebra creaking, and stared into the dark forest they had just escaped. The tar-black miasma had dispersed. In its wake lay more than a dozen beast race cultivators—brothers in arms—sprawled across blood-soaked roots. Their leader, a mighty bear beast cultivator, was pinned upright against an oak, a bone spear punched straight through his chest. His eyes, white and furious even in death, still glared as if cursing the unseen demon who had felled them.

"Ah—!" A strangled roar tore from Jared's throat, raw enough to taste iron. He dropped to one knee, facing the fallen cultivators, and bent in a deep bow that trembled with grief. "Brothers," he rasped, voice sandpapered and steady, "rest easy. I will avenge you. I swear I'll drive every last demon from level six."

Stirred by the tremor in Jared's chest, Aurelius cracked open heavy eyelids and whispered, "Jared... what happened?" His words floated like cobwebs, thin and weightless.

Jared dashed a sleeve across the tears gathering at his lashes and forced calm into his tone. "Nothing to worry about." He managed a half smile. "We've reached Cloud Valley. Hold on a little longer. Someone in the Herb Sect will patch you up soon." Bracing Aurelius against him, he stepped over the valley's threshold.

With every ounce of strength left, Aurelius lifted one hand and traced a labyrinth of sigils in the air, chanting words that flickered like embers. Space rippled. A glassy barrier materialized, invisible until candlelight caught its edges. Jared guided them through. Behind them, the entrance sealed, erasing the carnage, shutting sorrow and vengeance outside.

Along the path, he noticed something striking: every figure he passed—all tending gardens, grinding powders, teaching fledgling healers—was a woman. Concentration shone on their faces like prayer candles, their calm a stark, almost surreal contrast to the chaos still raging beyond Cloud Valley's veil.

Just outside the great entryway of the front hall, the leading disciple halted beneath the carved eaves. Her voice, sharp with urgency yet disciplined by training, rang through the chamber beyond. "Ms. Lughlin, two visitors seek healing. One bears grave wounds—the taint of demonic energy is eating at his spirit."

"Show them in." The answer drifted out in a tone as gentle as falling snow and as calm as still water, a voice that carried quiet authority without the need to rise above a measured murmur.