Chapter 102: Spearhead of Ashes...

Time passed minute by minute. Zhou Tian, utterly bored, held a branch and scratched idly at the ground—an S here, a B there. Roughly three hours later, on the pattern he'd mindlessly scrawled, a lump of ashes flickering with crimson light suddenly appeared and, with a roar, blazed up into a towering red flame over ten feet high, laced with drifting black cinders.

Zhou Tian squinted at the sight. The entrance special effects were certainly flashy.

The crimson flame dispersed, the dust settled, and a figure in a long scarlet robe stood where it had been. The robe was patterned with flame-like black markings. He looked to be middle-aged, with a few wrinkles on his face, resolute eyes, and both hands folded into his sleeves.

The man stared intently at the blood-red cloth in Zhou Tian's hand, and a flicker of agitation actually surfaced on his face.

"Are you a member of the Ashes Cult?" Zhou Tian probed.

The man drew his gaze away from the blood cloth, looked at Zhou Tian, and the excitement on his face receded. "That's right. I'm one of the bishops of the Ashes Cult—Saman. How did you come by this item?"

"Its owner gave it to me, of course." Zhou Tian rose from the ground, dusting off his backside. "Come on, let's do the code. Gu... guchi rua."

A few bizarre syllables squeezed out of Zhou Tian's mouth—the code Anduin had taught him, used to verify the other party's identity.

"Mohei rua!"

Saman shouted excitedly. Zhou Tian had no idea what he was so worked up about, but he knew the code had matched—the response Anduin had taught him was exactly these syllables.

"The God Child—he's well, isn't he?" Saman asked, trembling all over.

"He's fine. Your God Child is safe. Don't get so excited." Seeing that Saman looked on the verge of keeling over with emotion, Zhou Tian hastily added, "Your God Child asked me to give you this."

He handed the blood-red cloth over.

Saman grew even more stirred, a look of reverence spreading across his face. He reached out with both hands, took the blood cloth from Zhou Tian, and slowly pressed it to his forehead.

"%h《@#"

A string of extremely eerie syllables chanted from Saman's mouth. Instantly, something miraculous happened: the cloth steeped in Anduin's blood gave off a soft, faint glow. Scattered specks of golden light drifted slowly across its surface, and a vague, low intonation arose—not Saman's murmuring, but another voice entirely.

Saman's eyes were shut tight, as if listening to that chant.

A moment later, the intonation faded, and the visions on the cloth vanished, returning it to its plain, unremarkable state. Saman opened his eyes and whispered, "As you will it."

Zhou Tian quietly watched the whole scene. It seemed that fellow Anduin had hidden quite a lot inside that cloth.

Saman raised his head to look at Zhou Tian. "We are already aware of the bargain between the God Child and yourself. A friend of the God Child is a friend of ours. Please, follow me."

Zhou Tian nodded. "If you already know, then all the better."

Saman bowed his head in acknowledgment, turned, and walked toward the cave mouth. Zhou Tian followed behind him.

"You certainly know how to make an entrance." Zhou Tian said the moment he stepped out of the cave. The cave he'd found was on the mountainside of a peak, and when he emerged behind Saman, he found the land covered far and wide with people in red robes bearing black markings—all members of the Ashes Cult.

"Please forgive us. Today we suddenly sensed the God Child's aura; we had no choice but to be cautious," Saman said.

"No harm done." Zhou Tian waved a hand. Trifles like this didn't weigh on his mind. "How long has your God Child been captured?"

This question seemed to strike a raw nerve in Saman. His face flushed red, as though he wanted to say something, but a moment later he regained his composure and sighed. "The God Child has been in captivity for quite some time. We've been lurking near Sailer City for a long while, trying every means we could to reach him, but with no success—until today."

Zhou Tian watched Saman's emotions shift. There seemed to be a story behind it, but it had nothing to do with him, so he didn't dig deeper.

"Saman, what's the situation?" Two people walked out from among the Ashes Cult members, also middle-aged in appearance.

"These two are our cult's other two bishops," Saman introduced them to Zhou Tian, then said, "Please wait a moment." Zhou Tian nodded.

Saman stepped aside with them and murmured in low voices for quite some time before returning—sharing intelligence, presumably. The other two also looked deeply moved.

Afterward, Zhou Tian followed them to their nearby hideout, which was underground, protected by methods that blocked detection, and far from crude. It looked as though they'd been operating there for a long stretch, which further deepened Zhou Tian's curiosity.

Zhang Yi and the others, once captured, would be put on trial within days, yet Anduin—a God Child bearing divine blood—had been kept imprisoned all this while without being killed. The reasons were worth pondering. But Zhou Tian's goal right now wasn't to uncover Anduin's secrets; it was to rescue Zhang Yi and Musu.

"Can you tell me your plan?" Zhou Tian asked.

After entering the underground base, he had followed the three bishops through twisting tunnels, turning left and right, with no idea where they were headed. Saman and the other two exchanged glances, and finally Saman spoke. "There's no harm in telling you. The plan is simple—all we need to do is place that cloth stained with the God Child's divine blood upon our cult's holy artifact, the Ashes Spear."

"That simple?" Zhou Tian was a little surprised. He'd expected some profound and arcane secret art.

"Indeed. The Ashes Spear is the weapon of the Lord of Ashes, holding power beyond imagination. Though it was shattered in ancient times for reasons unknown, a residue of divine power still remains within it. As long as the God Child forms a connection with it, it will be able to locate him and help him break free." Saman explained, and when he spoke of the Ashes Spear, there was an indescribable pride in his eyes. Among the surviving cults in the God-Forsaken Land, only the Ashes Cult possessed the personal weapon of their god-king, and that was why the Ashes Cult's cohesion was essentially the strongest of all the cults.

"But your God Child is imprisoned in the very heart of Sailer City. Are you certain it can help him break free?" Zhou Tian asked again.

"On that point, we have no doubt whatsoever!" Saman's reply was steadfast.

"If this divine artifact of yours is so formidable, then how was Anduin captured by the Holy God Cult in the first place?" Zhou Tian asked, puzzled. You all make the Ashes Spear sound so mighty—so why was Anduin still taken away?

The atmosphere fell into silence.

"There was a reason for that..."

Of course there was a reason, Zhou Tian grumbled inwardly. But he didn't press further—they clearly didn't want to talk about it.

Saman and the others continued leading the way, and Zhou Tian followed in silence. Along the road they passed quite a few cult members, all of whom bowed respectfully to the three of them—more precisely, to Saman and his two colleagues.

They came to a metal container forged of black metal flecked with gold, like brilliant stars scattered across a night sky. Every inch of its surface was carved with intricate patterns, and it was bound by thick crimson chains. Light rippled along them, and the gleam of flames flickered faintly between.

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