Chapter 5517

Jared chuckled softly, piecing the pattern together. So the lord of Eastshire was funneling cultivators to the Sixth Hall-offering them up at so-called lectures, and in return pocketing favors he could only guess at.

He waved the notion aside like trivial smoke. “Take us anyway. If your lord slams the gates in our faces, we won’t force the issue.”

“Very well-if that’s your choice, I’ll guide you,” Luna said, steeling herself.

She bit her lower lip, voice dropping to a tense whisper. “But we must tread lightly. Our lord trusts no one. I suspect he’s trading with the Sixth Hall— shipping off our cultivators to them. Some vanish completely. Those who return stare into nothing, their minds and strength broken. I secretly investigated the matter as my father was taken away this time, but before I could find him, I ran into these two cultivators.”

Jared offered a gentle, almost pitying smile. “Your suspicions are dead on. Those so-called public lectures are a sham. They drain the soul itself into clay jars. After that, the victim turns dull, their cultivation frozen forever.”

Luna gasped, eyes widening. “How could you possibly know that?”

A quiet laugh slid from Jared’s throat. “Because only days ago I smashed one of their altars-shattered the Soul Urn they were filling.”