Volume 4, Chapter 12 – The Invading Executioner

——”Lord Duan’s Divine-Graced Maiden? I thought she was killed two years ago, but she’s actually still alive? How unexpected. Looks like she’s been imprisoned. And this place, it was actually built by the Terrabond Lineage? Have the Lingyuan family people allied with the Terrabond Lineage?…”

As a certain man’s series of muttered words reached her ears, Zao Li, who had been in a state of breakdown and frantically pounding the floor, suddenly trembled all over. Her frenzied actions came to an abrupt halt, and she began looking around in bewilderment and confusion.

After taking in all the dilapidated surroundings, Zao Li clenched her fists in confusion.

“This, this voice, where is it coming from?”

Had she already gone mad and started having auditory hallucinations?

However, just as Zao Li made this judgment, the speaker seemed to have guessed her thoughts, and that eerie voice echoed once again in the Divine-Graced Maiden’s mind.

——”It’s not a hallucination. Look at your shadow.”

“Shadow?”

Guided by her confused emotions, Zao Li looked down at her own shadow. Then, the Divine-Graced Maiden’s expression changed drastically, and she was so frightened that she retreated repeatedly.

“Ahhhh!! What, what is this?!”

At this moment, under Zao Li’s terrified gaze, the shadow before her began to twist and deform like a scene from a horror movie, with clumps of black mud-like substances continuously seeping out from it.

Immediately after, the black mud surged up and rapidly condensed, quickly taking the form of a human figure.

It was a delicate-featured man dressed in blood-red clothing, with khaki-colored short hair and crimson pupils. Though his face was delicate, there was a chilling coldness between his brows.

Although she didn’t recognize the man, after seeing his familiar attire, the emblem on his chest, and the black diamond ring on his index finger, Zao Li instantly realized the identity of her visitor.

——”Executioner!”

Lady Isabelle, a top-tier figure of Paradise Manor.

Although Zao Li had never met her, she had learned about that existence through Lord Duan.

And the Executioners were the elite forces cultivated by Lady Isabelle.

Each Executioner was said to possess Divine Departure Realm strength, specifically responsible for carrying out Paradise Manor’s various high-level classified missions.

“You’re one of the Executioners, right?”

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Zao Li said with a trembling voice.

This time, the other party’s answer did not disappoint Zao Li.

“Yes, that’s right. Akrovan… Lady Isabelle’s Executioner.”

His tone was flat, but the pride within was unmistakable.

“An Executioner, really here! This, this is wonderful! …Oh, right, sir, how did you come to be here?! Are you here to rescue me?!”

“No.”

Akrovan replied without courtesy:

“I came here merely to search for the Sacred Stone. I have no interest in rescuing you.”

While answering Zao Li’s question, this Executioner named Akrovan was also silently sizing up the disheveled black-haired girl before him.

“Zao Li, the Divine-Graced Maiden who disappeared two years ago…”

Akrovan murmured softly.

Undoubtedly, encountering Zao Li in the depths of this dungeon was completely beyond Akrovan’s expectations.

You must know that Akrovan had infiltrated the Lingyuan family main residence not to rescue Zao Li, but to gather intelligence.

Over the past two years, because Duan and other Paradise Manor higher-ups not only needed to concentrate their efforts on processing the large amounts of souls and resentment brought back from the Kingdom of Qingyun, but also had to deal with the increasingly unstable “boundary,” they hadn’t paid too much attention to the three little Divine-Graced Maidens of the Lingyuan family.

However, after Ailiya repelled the Abyssal Lord, the situation became different.

Ailiya had reached the Divine Departure Realm and could manipulate the Sacred Stone, which perhaps meant she possessed physical qualities similar to Elegy from back then, and thus had the qualifications to become a vessel.

Therefore, after Ailiya used the Sacred Stone’s power to repel the Abyssal Lord’s consciousness, Paradise Manor’s higher-ups once again focused their attention on this remote area in the Covenant’s northern territory, and they also needed to recover Xi Xuan’s Celestial Augur bloodline.

Akrovan’s infiltration of the Lingyuan family this time had two purposes.

One was to investigate the Lingyuan family’s defensive capabilities clearly, to prepare for subsequent large-scale operations.

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The second was to probe Ailiya’s true strength and find an opportunity to steal back the Sacred Stone.

As the strongest assassin and intelligence gatherer under Isabelle, Akrovan had already figured out her approximate strength by observing Ailiya’s training. However, after realizing that the Sacred Stone wasn’t on Ailiya’s person, Akrovan planned to investigate the Lingyuan family a bit more thoroughly.

He hadn’t expected that today, Akrovan would discover Luo Fei’s sneaky movements.

Without hesitation, Akrovan had slipped into the shadows and secretly followed behind Luo Fei, arriving at this underground chamber that all previous intelligence agents and spies had failed to find.

He had originally thought that Luo Fei had hidden the Lingyuan family’s secret weapons, or the Sacred Stone, in such a classified location… but he hadn’t expected there to be even more secrets here?

Corrupted Beasts…

Hehe.

After realizing that the Lingyuan family’s dungeon contained large numbers of Corrupted Beasts, Akrovan couldn’t help but sneer coldly in his heart.

If it weren’t for the Westivian Covenant constantly interfering in secret, the process of gathering intelligence on the Lingyuan family wouldn’t have become so difficult. Once the Lingyuan family’s collusion with Corrupted Beasts was exposed, the Westivian Covenant would no longer be able to protect them. Not only that, the entire human world would jointly crusade against these sinners who had collaborated with Corrupted Beasts.

Once fighting broke out, taking advantage of the chaos to obtain Ailiya and the Sacred Stone would obviously not be difficult.

Lady Isabelle would definitely be very pleased.

Finding evidence of the Lingyuan family’s collusion with Corrupted Beasts was already a great achievement. He hadn’t expected to now also find the Divine-Graced Maiden who had been missing for two years…

This could be considered an additional harvest~

However,

“You don’t look like you’ve been living easily, Miss Zao Li.”

Akrovan’s words carried a hint of mockery.

In response, although Zao Li was somewhat dissatisfied, she completely dared not show it, and instead respectfully and fearfully lowered her head:

“Lord Akrovan!! Please, please save me!”

“Save you? Hmm…”

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Akrovan raised his hand to his chin, putting on a thoughtful expression.

As for saving humans?

Akrovan seemed somewhat resistant to the idea.

“I, I’m very useful!! After the nails in my body are removed, I can quickly recover my Divine Departure Realm strength! And I can also serve as a witness to help you expose the Lingyuan family’s crimes.”

Perhaps because she had been sent flying by Luo Fei twice, developing psychological trauma, this time Zao Li anxiously expressed her abilities, afraid of being abandoned again.

“Hehe.”

Akrovan chuckled a few times.

Sometimes, watching humans desperately plead for help in their hysteria was truly delightful.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take you out. Lord Duan probably wants to see you very much too. However, I’m a bit curious. Why don’t those Corrupted Beasts kill you?”

Saying this, Akrovan crouched down and curiously grabbed Zao Li’s chin.

“You’re a Divine-Graced Maiden, something that evil forces hate so much. Why don’t they kill you? Or could it be that you, like the Lingyuan family, have already allied with the Terrabond Lineage…”

“No no no!! Absolutely not!”

Zao Li frantically shook her head in denial:

“I have no relationship with them whatsoever!! Those, those creatures keep me alive probably to extract the Augury Force from my body. That bitch Ailiya comes to extract from me once a week.”

“Extract your Augury Force? Hmm… So that girl’s strength improved so quickly, could it be because she absorbed your power?”

“No, it shouldn’t be… I haven’t sensed the aura of my power on her.”

Shaking her head, Zao Li tremblingly gave her denial.

“Perhaps it’s for her two sisters.”

“Impossible.”

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This time, it was Akrovan’s turn to deny.

“If they had absorbed your Augury Force, how could her twin sisters still not have reached the Divine Martial Realm? Besides, your attributes conflict with theirs, so they couldn’t use it anyway. That girl from the Lingyuan family extracting your Augury Force must have some other purpose. The question is, what for?”

Licking his lips, Akrovan murmured thoughtfully.

The next instant, as if thinking of something, this Paradise Manor Executioner’s pupils suddenly contracted, and a look of sudden realization burst forth from his eyes.

“Could it be…”

“Lord Akrovan, have you, have you thought of something?” Zao Li asked very humbly.

“Your Augury Force might have another use…”

“What, what?”

“To nourish the Sacred Stone.”

“The, the Sacred Stone?!!”

That’s right!

The Sacred Stone also needed large amounts of Augury Force to activate and start up! It was said that back then, even Lianna at the peak of Divine Departure Realm could barely drive the Sacred Stone!

Much less Ailiya, who was only at the early Divine Departure Realm! She must be using my power to activate the Sacred Stone!

In other words, it was the Sacred Stone that had been absorbing my power earlier?!

Damn…

Thinking of this, Zao Li’s face immediately showed an excited yet sickly smile. The next moment, as if eager to demonstrate her value, Zao Li excitedly reached out and grabbed Akrovan’s clothing.

“Lord Akrovan! I, I! I might have a way to help you find the Sacred Stone!”

Akrovan: Hmm?