The moment he heard that, the Guardian Elder froze.

Still on his knees, he shook violently, like he was being sifted through a screen. Cold sweat poured down his forehead, mixing with dust and leaving dark streaks across his face.

He was Cedric Vale, a Guardian Elder of the Celestial Basilica for three thousand years. His cultivation had only just brushed the threshold of the True Immortal Realm, but within the Basilica, he had always held real status.

Yet now, he didn’t even dare lift his head to meet Jared’s eyes.

He swallowed hard, unable to stop himself.

The Celestial Basilica really did possess such a secret art.

It was one of their core inheritances, guarded for tens of thousands of years—the Rite of Returning Souls.