After another round of thanks, Jared and Flaxseed stepped back into the sun-drenched street, leaving whispers and wary eyes swirling in their wake. Flaxseed had barely set foot beyond the last thatched roof of the town when gave a scoff that carried on the dusty wind.

“Celestia really does rule with an iron fist, doesn’t it? And Celestial Palace’s Sixth Hall sounds worse than that Malevolent Path Hall. Roaring Storm Church, the place we’re looking for, is in between them. It seems level six is a lot more dangerous than level five…”

Jared’s eyes narrowed, dark as stormwater, as studied the southern horizon. “The deeper the water, the slower we wade,” said. “First, we locate Abbot Infinides at Roaring Storm Church, learn what we can about Celestial Palace’s Sixth Hall, and then decide our next move.”

They were about to rise into the sky on a quick Sky Walk when sharp clangs of metal drifted out of the nearby forest, blows heavy enough to rattle leaves from high boughs. A woman’s muffled gasp followed.

Flaxseed brightened at once. “Trouble brewing? Come on, let’s take a look!”

Jared felt it too, an aura laced through the strikes that was neither a cultivator’s spiritual energy nor a demon beast‘s beastial energy. It carried a solemn authority that reminded of the rumors about celestials that Keenan had whispered about.

Silently, they slipped between towering trunks, stopping behind an ancient oak whose roots coiled like serpents around the earth.