“Sentry spiders?” Qianye frowned. “Now they’re sending arachne after the werewolves have failed? I don’t think there’s a great dark monarch, though.”

Qianye couldn’t understand the Demon King’s intentions. After Sousa’s failure, he had thought that his next enemy would be two great dark monarchs. Of course, it was possible that this hunting party was just the vanguard.

In truth, this demonkin hunting party was anything but ordinary. Not only had they mobilized a warlock, but it was Prince Predica himself. The only issue here was that the outcome wasn’t going as they had expected—Predica’s prophecy was actually unable to pinpoint Qianye’s location.

Qianye placed another leaf on the sentry spider without touching it. These creatures were a type of servspider that would be placed in strategic areas, and their death would be sensed by the arachne expert who had set them there. This made them the best guards in critical areas.

The appearance of sentry spiders meant that an arachne expert wasn’t too far away. Qianye checked his location and felt a bit hesitant.

From the traces in the forest, there should be two arachne experts of considerable rank. However, they were now a good distance apart after searching through the forest in different directions.

This distance was a bit awkward. This was an opportunity for him to defeat them one by one, but he wouldn’t be able to stop them from informing the others. He would have to flee the forest if they managed to lock onto him.

While he was hesitating, Little Zhuji tugged on his sleeve and pointed in the direction of the weaker aura.

That was only a duke, so there shouldn’t be any problem, right? Qianye glanced at Zhuji in worry, but the little girl was raring to go. She promised repeatedly that she wouldn’t overdo it, that she would run once there was danger. Qianye finally nodded after seeing that she was about to cry while hugging his legs.

After their reunion, Qianye and Nighteye didn’t neglect Little Zhuji’s training even while they were on the run. The little fellow’s foundations were simply too good. She had inherited Qianye’s sharp perception and senses in addition to her innate combat abilities. Even Qianye would have to spend some effort in order to deal with her.

It wouldn’t be a problem for her to restrain and harass an arachne duke.

At the thought of this, Qianye finally nodded in agreement. Little Zhuji cheered as she got up and vanished into the forest, not giving any chance for Qianye to change his mind.

Qianye shook his head helplessly, but he set aside his worries for now and made his way toward the enemy.

The arachne possessed an advantage in the forest, but Qianye was able to see the remaining dark wisps of origin power with his Eye of Control. That expert wasn’t making an effort to hide himself, either.

Qianye contained his aura and proceeded at a steady pace. Experts scanning the area with their perception would only think it was an ancient tree. If they did spend some more time, they would notice that this ancient tree was moving rapidly.

After an hour of tracking, Qianye ran into a bluster of raging winds—a giant creature could be seen gliding forward with the gale, scanning every inch of his surroundings.

This method of scanning was extremely efficient, but it would be impossible to sense Qianye’s concealment. However, the arachne expert wasn’t stupid, either. Instead of just relying on perception, he was scattering sentry spiders everywhere he went.

These sentry spiders could live weeks without food, so Qianye might be discovered if he were careless.

The arachne experts did not use the more convenient human form in the forest and, instead, went back to their arachnid combat forms. Their large bodies were strangely agile amidst the trees, making for a difficult opponent.

While searching, the arachne expert came to a sudden stop and glanced cautiously at his surroundings.

He could already feel an intense sense of foreboding. Without further thought, he could tell that Qianye was likely hiding somewhere in the forest. Retrieving the shield and spear from his back, the expert slashed down several trees with his sharp limbs and made a clearing for a battlefield.

Qianye had been observing his opponent for quite some time. “He actually discovered me.”

The arachne hurled his spear at a distant tree, the reinforced impact causing it to explode upon contact. Qianye’s silhouette behind the trunk vanished without a trace.

The shocked arachne held his shield up as Qianye appeared before him. The latter’s punch landed squarely on the shield.

The arachne let out a loud roar as his body sank downward, his eight limbs stabbing deep into the ground. A single punch from Qianye had nearly pushed him halfway into the ground.

Comparatively, Qianye was only pushed back slightly from the impact.

The arachne struggled free from the soil and saw his shield crumble into several pieces. That coarse arm holding up the shield was trembling ever so slightly.

The expert’s aggressiveness was mostly gone by now, replaced by an unprecedented solemnity. “Not many can suppress me, Pedro, in strength. Don’t tell me you’ve been hiding your true rank?”

Pedro stared intently at Qianye, waiting for an answer. As someone with a special bloodline, the spider’s strength was comparable to a prince despite being at the grand duke rank. He had maintained his spider form throughout the search, simply because this was his advantage. Who would’ve thought Qianye would surpass him so?”

Qianye said, “Neither fleeing nor reporting, are you planning to die here?”

Pedro threw the broken shield pieces to the ground and switched to a smaller but thicker round shield. “Come, let’s get into a real fight.”

The arachne rushed toward Qianye in an instant and launched a flurry of spear strikes. His weapon struck like a dragon, transforming the surrounding environment as it did so. The trees were soon covered in spider webs, and there was even one in the sky.

Webs also appeared on Qianye’s body, slowing his movements down by a bit. Even a tiny bit of delay might be lethal in a fight of this level.

Pedro clearly treated Qianye like a powerful enemy, using the full power of his domain from the get-go.

Qianye drew his azure sword and deflected the incoming spear.

Following this clash, the environment dozens of meters around Qianye began to change. All of a sudden, everything became hazy, almost as though there was a mist rolling in.

This was Qianye’s domain!

Pedro took several steps back in caution, feeling a bit puzzled.

The arachne expert couldn’t figure out what use Qianye’s domain had, nor could he sense any effect on his own domain. The two domains coexisted in a mutually undisturbed state.

This went against all common sense, especially for someone with great knowledge and experience like Pedro. An idea came into his head as he glanced at Qianye. The latter looked a bit anxious, which wasn’t a normal reaction in battle.

Pedro ventured a guess. “He hasn’t fully grasped his domain!” At the thought of this, the arachne expert discarded all hesitation and shot countless spider webs at Qianye.

These tens of thousands of threads were enough to turn Qianye into a cocoon. Pedro then took a step forward and thrust his spear at Qianye’s heart.

However, the spider webs inside Qianye’s domain dissolved into mist as soon as they were moved. Those outside his domain were also broken down entirely as they entered. No spider web could come within three meters of him.

Shocked out of his wits, Pedro jumped backward. “What kind of domain is that?!” Even experts at the same rank couldn’t break free of his spider webs. Why would they vanish just like that?

He hadn’t finished speaking when he let out a muffled groan and blood trickled from his nose—his domain had been shattered. The backlash injured him no matter how sturdy of a man he was.

Qianye made no reply. He appeared before Pedro in a single step, engulfing the target in his domain as he slashed down!

This slash was abnormally heavy.

Pedro blocked the strike with his spear, but his trusted weapon of many years was actually folded from the middle. His giant frame, one that was twice as big as ordinary arachne, was smashed into the ground.

Pedro wanted to struggle up after blocking the attack, but his body froze as a wisp of grey energy landed on his body.

“Why is it so heavy?!” The arachne was stunned.

This wisp of unassuming grey energy felt like a small mountain on his body. If one such wisp was so heavy, he wouldn’t even be able to walk if dozens of them were to arrive.

There was grey energy drifting everywhere around him at this point. Pedro let out a loud roar as a dark moon lit up within his body. The terrifying might forced Qianye to retreat and put some distance between them.

At that moment, countless spiderwebs shot out in every direction—there was no blind angle at all. This killing move was rather similar to Qianye’s Life Plunder, except Qianye’s attack involved formless sanguine threads. Pedro’s attack launched physical spider webs, which were much harder and shaper. Even Qianye had no desire to test the might of those spider webs.

After Qianye’s retreat, Pedro jumped onto the spider web threads and fled into the distance.

He actually ran?

Qianye shook his head helplessly, discarding the notion of giving chase. Pedro was a terrifying creature, and killing someone of such physical strength would be a difficult feat. It wasn’t going to be easy to intercept him, either, if he was intent on fleeing. Qianye’s favorite prey were people like Brock—weak and inclined to fight to the end.

Since Pedro had fled, Qianye hurried toward a different battlefield. He didn’t really have time to observe the change in his domain.

In the depths of the forest, Basil was advancing rapidly with his aura concealed. His movements were more cautious than Pedro’s, as their secret arts were quite different.

It was at this time that he heard a gentle snap from the side, as though someone had stepped on a twig. Feeling even more cautious, Basil retracted his aura and began channeling his power. He then picked up his shield and axe before making his way toward the source of the sound.

What appeared before him was an empty area. There was nothing else there, and he didn’t find any fallen branches, either. As someone with sufficient combat experience, Basil quickly noticed something out of place. He drew his handgun quietly and fired at a certain place in the forest.

Amidst the flurry of leaves and branches, Basil heard a tender voice cry out in pain. A silhouette scuttled out from the trees and fled into the depths of the forest.

“Trying to flee?!” Basil started chasing with a cold laugh.

He had guessed the opponent’s strength during that brief contact—that person was strong, but he was a bit stronger. Basil had no weakness in speed since he possessed the golden arachnid bloodline. He might even be a bit faster than the fleeing target.

He made a quick decision to give chase.

And moments later, he caught up to this escapee.

Basil never let his guard down while facing this beautiful girl. He roared with a stern face, “I am the Darknight Duke Basil, heir to the ancient Anubarakan lords and wielder of the golden bloodline. You can forget about escaping from me!”

The girl looked panicked, almost as though she were intimidated by the long name. Like a startled little critter with no road to escape, she walked toward Basil with her head lowered.

Basil sighed as he thought to himself. “Looks like I need to knock her out and ask for more information. Right, I should hold back a bit when I attack.”