Chapter 5969

Cold creek spray pricked Jared’s face. He blinked and found himself once more beside the water in Peach Blossom Haven, the dream of stone pavilions already dissolving like breath in winter air.

Yet the resonance remained.

Deep within, the four entwined forces sat more snugly than before, and the impression of nascent chaos pulsed against his soul like a fresh brand—quiet, insistent, impossible to ignore.

The Vermilion Demon Lord cocked his head, crimson curls dancing over one horn. “What just happened? You shut your eyes for a breath, and the old man waved you through.”

“Hard to unravel,” Jared said, still tasting the hush of that vanished board. “Call it an insight.”

He let the questions hang. His gaze traveled to the far reaches of the haven, where fog curled around the mouth of an ancient cave, time itself seeming etched into the shadowed arch.

“That should be the final dwelling,” he murmured. “The third trial waits at its door.”