Chapter 5502

“Flaxseed, we’re leaving,” Jared said, already turning his back on the stunned crowd.

Flaxseed froze for half a heartbeat, then the truth hit him-Jared had decided to stop fighting.

A sigh slipped past his cracked lips. He shot one last, helpless look at the cultivators still hurling curses, then shuffled backward beside Jared, melting into the shadowed edge of the Soul Convergence Altar.

There the two men stood, motionless witnesses to the unfolding ritual, bitterness, dread, and sorrow swirling together in their chests like an untamed storm.

High on the platform, Edison allowed a triumphant grin to spread across his face.

“You all saw it, did you not? The traitor’s bravado has dried up!” he shouted, voice ringing like a cracked bell. “Steady your minds-ignore him. In only a few breaths, your breakthroughs will arrive!”

With theatrical flourish, he lifted the jade scepter once more, murmuring a string of ancient syllables that tasted of honeyed poison.