"These are the crystals we seized from the mine. Thirteen thousand in all."
Jared pushed the crystals toward Hadrian. "These are for Skywolf Tribe. Take them as a small token from me."
Hadrian looked at the pile of crystals and stayed quiet for a long, long time.
Thirteen thousand high-quality crystals were enough to keep every warrior in the Skywolf Tribe cultivating for decades.
With those crystals, the tribe's strength could rise by an entire tier.
"Jared, you risked your life to take these crystals. I..."
"If the Skywolf Tribe brothers hadn't held the celestials back with their lives, there was no way I could've taken them," Jared cut in. "These crystals were bought with the lives of the brothers who died. If you don't accept them, then their blood was spilled for nothing."
Hadrian's eyes reddened.
He reached out and began putting the crystals away, one piece at a time.
His hand shook, but every movement stayed steady.
"Jared, from this day on, the Skywolf Tribe will live and die with you."
Jared shook his head.
"No need. I only hope that one day, there won't be oppression in the Fifteenth Firmament anymore. No more slavery. Every race should be able to live as equals."
Hadrian looked at him for a long while before speaking.
"You're a bigger man than I thought."
Jared smiled and rose to his feet.
"Get some rest and heal up. The Tribunal won't let this go. There are harder battles ahead."
He turned and walked out of the main tent.
Behind him, Hadrian kept staring at his back for a long time without moving.
Jared brought the rescued cultivators back to Snowfall Hollow.
Ice Seal stood at the town gate with the townsfolk, waiting there from dawn until dusk.
Anxious hope covered every face.
Some stood there with their hands clasped in prayer. Some paced back and forth. Some stretched up on their toes, straining to look down the distance.
The moment those hundred-plus cultivators appeared on the mountain path—ragged, wounded, barely held together—tears rushed straight out of Ice Seal's eyes.
"Dad! Dad!" a young man shouted as he rushed forward and threw his arms around an old man.
That was his father, the one taken away three years ago.
Three years had passed, and he had long since believed he would never see his father again.
"Son... my son..." The old man reached up and touched his son's head, tears streaming down his face.
"Brother! You're still alive!" A young girl threw herself into the middle-aged man's arms.
He was her brother, the one who had been taken away five years ago.
All this time, she'd believed he was already dead.
"Sister... you've grown up..." The middle-aged man laid a hand on his sister's head, his voice rough and worn.
Outside the crowd, an old woman stood by herself.
She had cried herself blind.
Her husband and son had both been taken away.
She had lived alone for ten years, scraping by on laundry work for other people.
"My son... has my son come back?" she asked, her voice shaking.
No one answered her.
Her son had not come back.
He had died in the mine.
Celestial cultivators had beaten him to death.
They had thrown his body onto the wasteland outside the mine.
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Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: A Man Like None Other (Jared Chance)
Dropping of 4 new chapters a day is too small, please increase it to 10. Thanks...
Josephine's first time seeing Jared kill isn't with Leyton but with Falcon. Pay attention to your work....
You need to correct yourself,dear author. Josephine was in the City of Herbs when she was a kid, so why is the city's smell surprising to her?...
I need more chapters...
When can I get the next chapter...