Lordi Payne indeed made it back to Lothgar City safe and sound, just as Chen Haunt had hoped. Under the iron rule of the Abyss Pit Sect, the Holy Sect's authority was absolute. Any disciple in peril—if aid was withheld and later discovered—meant entire clans could face extermination! Especially since Lordi Payne had sought help from San's Trade, a trade group that thrived solely on Jarl Drainwood's favor. Once his nameplate was verified, they didn't dare hesitate.
They abandoned their cargo by the roadside, cleared out the finest carriage, and carefully loaded Lordi Payne and his Blade of Life Hater aboard. They triple-checked the scene for any forgotten items, leaving the weaker members behind and rallying the strongest riders—two horses per person—to escort the carriage at breakneck speed to Lothgar City!
The team tore through the wilds, the horses' hooves pounding against the earth like thunder. They reached the city gate in record time. A rider galloped ahead, shouting at the top of his lungs, "San's Trade has found an Abyss Pit Sect disciple unconscious by the roadside—he claims urgent business for Jarl Drainwood!"
The gate guards paled, their faces draining of color as they rushed to report to their captain. The captain, grim-faced and sweating, escalated the matter up the chain of command. The carriage had barely entered the city when Jarl Drainwood himself materialized before it, his presence commanding and his expression grave.
Ignoring the kneeling crowd, Drainwood flung back the carriage curtain with a swift motion. His sharp eyes assessed Lordi Payne's condition, and after a moment, he relaxed slightly. "Just spiritual exhaustion—no other injuries," he murmured in a relief. "Fetch me a Spirit Restore Pill."
The steward scurried off, returning moments later with the precious pill. Drainwood gently fed it to Lordi Payne, channeling a stream of spiritual energy to dissolve the pill and aid its absorption. Moments later, Lordi Payne stirred, his eyelids fluttering open.
"Young Friend Payne," Drainwood immediately asked, his tone urgent but calm, "What happened that you needed to report to me so urgently? Where are Young Friend Chen and the others?"
Lordi Payne's heart raced. He had invoked Jarl Drainwood's name to intimidate the caravan—local authority often trumped distant holy sect clout in the wilds. It had worked, but now he needed a convincing story, or this wouldn't end well for him.
Both the Demon Beast Man-Faced Spider and Drainwood were at the Foundation Stage, but for Lordi Payne, one wrong step here in the city could be deadlier than facing the Man-Faced Spider itself.
Miraculously, between the teeth of death, his tongue outran his brain, spinning a tale!
"Jarl Drainwood," Lordi Payne began, his voice weak but laced with urgency, "I was supposed to assist Senior Sister Chen in taking down the flower demon beast. But Senior Brother Chen insisted on dragging us deep into the mountains for 'experience'—and then..."
He paused, glancing around nervously, hinting that the next part of his story was too sensitive for public ears.
Drainwood raised a hand, casting a small soundproof barrier around them with a flick of his fingers. The sudden silence pressed in on Lordi Payne, giving him a brief moment to refine his tale. When Drainwood signaled for him to continue, Lordi Payne adopted a mournful expression and rushed on, "Who could have known? Senior Brother Chen had Senior Sister Sil set up some insane, complex array, planning to devour the Man-Faced Spider and refine its soul and flesh into the Summon Soul Banner!"
"What?!" Drainwood stiffened, his eyes widening for a moment before he barked a disbelieving laugh. He eyed Lordi Payne with a mix of skepticism and amusement. "Has your Senior Brother Chen lost his mind? Even I wouldn't dare provoke that Man-Faced Spider. Are they staging a suicidal charge to fertilize the demon nests?"
"Jarl, I don't know either!" Lordi Payne shrugged, his voice tinged with helplessness as he deftly shifted all blame away from himself. "I just joined the holy sect two days ago—Senior Brother Chen dragged me out of the sect for tasks. I don't know nothing! If you hadn't warned us, I wouldn't even have known it was the Man-Faced Spider, let alone that it's a Foundation Stage demon beast. Anyway, their plan failed miserably—we scattered and ran for our lives. Maybe I'm too weak for it to bother with—it chased the others instead..."
Lordi Payne feigned terror, his voice trembling as he added, "The monster's heading this way, Jarl! That thing's gone completely berserk—Senior Sister Chen's already dead! If it attacks the city, the consequences..."
Drainwood narrowed his eyes, studying Lordi Payne intently. For a moment, Lordi Payne felt like a mortal pinned under the gaze of a coiled viper—the pressure so thick he could barely breathe. A cold sweat broke out on his back, and he wondered if he had been exposed.
However, Drainwood suddenly released the pressure and spoke in a gentle tone, "Don't worry about Lothgar City. Under Holy Sect rule, any city of decent size is equipped with the Nether-Slaying Demon Array. A Foundation Stage demon beast—unless tagged with a beast-taming ring—gets within a hundred miles, and the array will trigger to annihilate it."
"I-Is that so?" Lordi Payne's hair stood on end. Swallowing hard, he forced a grin. "I'm new to the sect. I don't know nothing. I'm sorry to trouble you, Jarl, your honor."
Drainwood smiled kindly, though his eyes remained sharp and calculating. "The city's fine, but since Young Friend Chen and the others are holy sect disciples, I can't ignore the situation now that I know. Where were they refining the banner?"
Lordi Payne hadn't expected things to take this turn. Drainwood not questioning him further was a relief—but now the man was going to save Chen Haunt and the others?!
This demonic sect had such a kind-hearted senior? What cursed luck! Was the idiot AwfulOS system secretly tanking his fortune?
Lordi Payne considered pointing Drainwood in the wrong direction to let Chen Haunt's squad meet their end. But Drainwood pressed for specifics, hinting that he knew Lothgar's mountains like the back of his hand. With no other choice, Lordi Payne reluctantly spilled the correct location, even sketching a rough route map on the dirt ground at Drainwood's request.
After cross-checking twice for consistency, Drainwood smiled. "Young Friend Payne, you've done very well." He turned to the steward and said, "I'm going out to save them. Take Young Friend Payne to the mansion—rest him well and tend to his needs."
Before the steward could reply, Drainwood flicked his sleeve, transforming into a breeze. In the blink of an eye, he soared over the city walls and vanished into the distance.
Lordi Payne eyed the steward's polite "please" gesture, steadied himself, and stepped forward reluctantly, his mind racing with unease.
Meanwhile, Chen Haunt had no idea that rescue was on the way. Disheveled and battered, his body was a patchwork of wounds. His shoulder, arms, back, and thighs were riddled with venom-burned gashes, his robes soaked in blood. His left shoulder was a mangled mess, chunks of flesh carved away by the spider's relentless attacks.
All of this—every wound, every drop of blood—had been sacrificed to protect the Summon Soul Banner. During moments when the spider's strikes weren't immediately lethal, Chen Haunt had taken the hits himself rather than let the banner break. The banner was his lifeline, his ticket to greater power, and he had willingly sacrificed his own flesh to keep it intact.
"Motherfucker! Lordi Payne, you fucking bastard!!! Human-Faced Spider, you fucking beast!!!" Every inch of him screamed in agony—his limbs ached from near-dry spiritual energy, squeezed dry from relentless use. But worse than the physical pain was the heartache.
Despite his efforts, the Summon Soul Banner bore two cracks from the spider's relentless assault. Five vengeful wraiths had already been lost—including the freshly refined Hwong Hyun. The thought of the repair costs gnawed at him, fueling a fresh wave of vicious curses directed at Lordi Payne.
Another web shot from behind. Chen Haunt's eyes bulged with terror and hatred. "You damn livestock! If I escape this, when my cultivation reaches the Foundation Stage, I swear I'll slaughter all your spawn!!!"
Cursing, he dodged the attack, casting the banner to float midair in preparation for the incoming follow-up strikes. But to his surprise, nothing came.
Stunned, he glanced back. The spider's fury still blazed in its crimson eyes, but its movements betrayed exhaustion. Its massive body heaved with labored breaths, and its venom dripped sluggishly from its fangs.
"It's tired?" Chen Haunt realized. Although it was a Foundation Stage demon beast, the egg-laying had weakened it, and the relentless chase—smashing through the forest all the way—had taken a heavy toll, even for a creature of its strength.
Though it could continue pursuing him, the speed of its web-throwing and venom-spitting had clearly dropped. Its attacks were slower, less precise.
Realizing this, Chen Haunt's spirit soared. He cast the Blood-Burning Technique, igniting the last dregs of his essence blood to rocket toward the forest edge. "Motherfucker livestock asshole, don't you dare quit! Come along. Once I'm out and enter into Lothgar City's hundred-mile area..."
"The Nether-Slaying Demon Array will be triggered to annihilate the demon monster—and I might even harvest a big bonus!"