Chapter 5653

Jared and Sylvia stirred awake on the blistering sand. The moment consciousness returned, pain slammed through their skulls as if a blacksmith’s hammer had landed squarely between their eyes.

When their vision cleared, an endless desert stretched to every horizon, wind screaming across the dunes and flinging needles of grit that stung their cheeks.

Overhead, the sun blazed like a thousand knives, turning the world into a furnace where even the air shimmered under the merciless heat.

Sylvia pressed a trembling hand to her temple. “Mr. Chance, where in the heavens are we?”

Her voice quavered, equal parts wonder and fear.

Jared shook his head, brow knotted, sifting desperately through ragged memories that refused to come together.

Moments ago—or perhaps lifetimes they had been inside the main hall of Heaven Gate Sect’s ruins, reaching for an ancient tome that pulsed with golden light. That touch had triggered a blinding flash; consciousness snapped off, and when he came to, they were on this alien wasteland.