Chapter 2276 — Asking for Help

Wei Zhao's reply was a pure evasion of the question, yet it also made clear that he had fought the Fire Lion clan, and that it was only natural for traces of their aura to cling to him.

"You rounded up the little Fire Lions? And they still gave you their most precious Fireflow Divine Bomb?" The Heaven-Rank Spider watched Wei Zhao with contempt. "Human cultivator, you are a very dishonest creature. In that case, I have no choice but to lock you all up first."

"Fireflow Divine Bomb!" Wei Zhao had never expected that the Heaven-Rank Spider would discover the Fireflow Divine Bomb on his person, and he was thoroughly alarmed. This Heaven-Rank Spider was a little too formidable, was it not?

"That is the weapon the Fire Lion clan uses to fight against us, capable of breaking our Heaven-and-Earth Net. You carry such a thing on you, so how could I not be familiar with it?" The Heaven-Rank Spider's voice was somewhat cold. "Tell me the truth, or be locked away. The choice is yours. Though I should warn you, once we lock you up, we may not remember you again for ten years or more. Whether you can hold out that long depends on your own fortune."

"Very well, then. Since it has come to this, I will speak plainly." Wei Zhao sighed. Originally, he had guessed that the spider spirit beast clan must be sworn enemies of the Fire Lion clan, and so he had intended to keep his ties with the Great Fire Lion secret, lest he stir up unnecessary trouble.

But now it seemed that the Heaven-Rank Spider was not so easily fooled, and that telling the truth was absolutely unavoidable. Wei Zhao could only come clean: "The reason I did not say so earlier is that I truly did blunder into your territory by mistake. I had no wish to disturb you, only to pass through and descend the mountain. And if my guess is right, you are exactly the enemies of the Fire Lion clan here in the middle range of the Wulonghaote Mountains, are you not?"

"Correct." The Heaven-Rank Spider admitted it readily.

"I do have a connection with the Fire Lion clan, but it happened like this..." So saying, Wei Zhao recounted everything to the Heaven-Rank Spider from beginning to end: the purpose of his journey, his joining the Adventurers' Guild of the Tagan family to take on a mission, his feud with Tagan Long, his secret aid to the little Fire Lion, his subsequent bonding with the Fire Lion clan, his climb up the mountain to retrieve treasure, the attack by the Tagan family's skilled fighters, and his rescue by the Heaven-Rank old man.

Naturally, he left out the part about healing the little Fire Lion and boosting its strength. That was something Wei Zhao could not well speak of for the moment, especially with the Heaven-Rank Spider and the Fire Lion clan being enemies. If Wei Zhao told it, there was no telling what the Heaven-Rank Spider might do in a fit of rage.

"That Heaven-Rank old man is your master?" the Heaven-Rank Spider asked, rather strangely. "You... have dealings with that sect on the mountain as well?"

"Master, I suppose I was mistakenly taken as his disciple, but yes, I do have some connection with that sect," Wei Zhao said.

"You do not seem to be lying, but even so, I cannot let you leave now!" the Heaven-Rank Spider said. "Although your master and I are somewhat acquainted, my son has gone missing, and I suspect the Fire Lion clan is behind it. So I will hold you as a bargaining chip to use against the Fire Lion clan in exchange for my son's safe return!"

"Your son? Taken by the Fire Lion clan? Since when?" Wei Zhao was stunned.

"About ten days ago now." The Heaven-Rank Spider saw no reason to conceal it.

"Then it absolutely could not have been them," Wei Zhao said. "From the time I left the Fire Lion clan's den until now, it has not been ten days, and I never saw your son at all..."

"Perhaps they have him imprisoned somewhere," the Heaven-Rank Spider said after a slight hesitation.

"That is unlikely. Why not tell me the circumstances of your son, and perhaps there will be a clue!" Wei Zhao said.

"Very well." The Heaven-Rank Spider was not worried that Wei Zhao could stir up any real trouble on its territory. "Here is how it was. Ten days ago, my son went to the other side of the middle range of the Wulonghaote Mountains to collect a certain heavenly treasure. That place belongs neither to us nor to the Fire Lion clan; it is a shared ground that produces a few heavenly treasures each year. But the one my son went to collect is useful only to our spider clan. The Fire Lion clan also knew when it would ripen, and my son still has not returned, nor have the subordinates I sent to search found any clue at all. So I cannot help but suspect that the Fire Lion clan has done him harm..."

"Oh?" Wei Zhao frowned. If what the Heaven-Rank Spider said was true, then the Fire Lion clan really might be the prime suspect. And yet Wei Zhao felt it should not have been them, for otherwise there was no way he could have known nothing about it at all.

"Jiji..." Just as Wei Zhao was frowning in thought, at a loss for how to respond so that the spider clan would let them go, the Thunder Pig suddenly cried out.

"Thunder Pig?" Wei Zhao looked down at the Thunder Pig. But the Thunder Pig was clearly not speaking to Wei Zhao; it was speaking to the Heaven-Rank Spider.

"Oh? Little thing, why do you ask whether there is more of that heavenly treasure?" The Heaven-Rank Spider regarded the Thunder Pig in puzzlement.

Hearing the Heaven-Rank Spider's explanation, Wei Zhao was briefly taken aback, but in an instant something occurred to him, and he said, "The Thunder Pig is also a kind of ancient spirit beast, but its ability is to seek treasures and track things down. I wonder whether you have ever heard of such a spirit beast?"

"Oh? Seek treasures and track things down? Such a spirit beast... truly exists?" The Heaven-Rank Spider looked at the Thunder Pig in shock, only to see it nod smugly. Its heart stirred, and it understood at once what the Thunder Pig meant. "If there were an identical heavenly treasure, you could follow the pattern and find... my son?"

The Thunder Pig nodded, then added a couple of explanatory squeals, meaning: I can only find a treasure like this one. If your son is not together with the treasure, then there is nothing I can do.

"That would still be remarkable!" the Heaven-Rank Spider said, and then gave a few instructions to its subordinates. They left at once, and before long returned carrying a small box, which the Heaven-Rank Spider had them hand directly to the Thunder Pig.

The Thunder Pig opened the box with its two front paws, sniffed carefully at what was inside, and then headed for the cave's exit. Yet no spider subordinate moved to stop it, and it was allowed to walk out of the cave.

After all, the Heaven-Rank Spider had now pinned its hopes on the creature, and they were not worried that the Thunder Pig would try to flee at such a moment.

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