The King Of Warriors novel (Jared Chance) novel Chapter 6385

Gavin turned around and made a gesture for Jared and Gwendolyn to go ahead.

"You two, come with me."

"The paths deeper inside the Shrouded Wood are even more complicated than they are here, and there are plenty of powerful wards as well."

"Without me leading the way, even if you managed to get through this thick fog, you'd still have a hard time reaching the Sylvan Kin's heartland."

"Much appreciated, fellow adept." Jared cupped his fist.

Then he and Gwendolyn fell in behind Gavin and headed deeper into the Shrouded Wood.

Gavin took the lead.

As he walked, he gave the wooden staff in his hand a light sweep, and threads of green spiritual power spilled out from it.

The dense fog around them peeled back at once.

A broad path opened through it.

He kept walking as he spoke to Jared and Gwendolyn. "This Shrouded Wood is the Sylvan Kin's first line of defense."

"It's filled with wards our people set up. Those wards are formed from ancient spirit flora and wood-aspected spiritual power."

"They're meant specifically to stop outsiders from breaking in. What you ran into just now was only the outermost patrol."

"If we go any farther in, there are stronger patrols waiting, along with even more dangerous wards."

Jared gave a slight nod at Gavin's explanation.

At the same time, his spirit sense stayed spread out, scanning every shift in the surroundings.

He could tell the wood-aspected spiritual essence around them was growing richer and richer.

The awareness hidden among the grass and trees had grown more active too.

But the hostility that had been trained on them earlier was gone.

What remained was only a trace of curiosity and caution, plainly because Gavin was with them.

Gwendolyn eased up as well, the icy divine radiance around her drawing in a little.

Even so, she kept her guard up and watched everything around them.

She looked at Gavin beside her and finally asked, "Master Hartwell, when did the Sylvan Kin's spirit vein start showing signs of corruption?"

"Didn't the Sylvan Kin's upper ranks notice it?"

At that, a strained look crossed Gavin's face, with something bitter underneath.

"I don't know exactly when it began. But around several decades ago, we started noticing that the spiritual essence in the forest was beginning to thin out."

"Some of the ancient plants started showing signs of withering too."

"We reported it to the upper ranks of the Sylvan Kin."

"But they told us it was just a normal natural phenomenon and said we were making too much of it."

"Looking back now, they must've known about the spirit vein drying up long ago."

"They just had no way to solve it, so they chose to keep it hidden.

They were afraid it would throw the clansfolk into chaos."

Gavin said it like he had already turned the whole thing over in his mind more than once.

Jared listened in silence.

Then his face tightened a fraction.

The problem with the spirit vein had been there for decades.

And the Sylvan Kin's upper ranks had chosen to bury it.

That could only mean the corruption in the spirit vein ran deeper than he had expected.

If they had come a few years later, then even with the chaotic force in his hands, he might not have been able to pull it back.

The three of them kept moving.

With Gavin leading the way, they slipped past one powerful ward after another.

Those wards held terrifying force.

One wrong step, one careless trigger, and even a True Immortal Realm Level Seven cultivator would have walked away badly wounded.

Along the way, they also ran into several groups of Sylvan Kin patrols.

Every one of them saluted Gavin with clear respect the moment they saw him.

When their eyes shifted to Jared and Gwendolyn, both from humankind, the look in them changed.

There was doubt there. Guardedness too.

But none of them stepped forward to stop the two of them. Gavin had clearly spoken ahead of time.

Just like that, the three of them pressed deeper into the Shrouded Wood for about half an hour.

Up ahead, the thick fog slowly began to thin.

The forest trees grew sparser too.

The rotting stench in the air faded more and more.

In its place came rich, pure wood-aspected spiritual essence.

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