Chapter 25- Spiders

Maxwell had bandages covering his whole torso, he was sitting cross legged on the bed circulating his wood qi through his meridians to heal himself. His toned muscles were visible through the tight bandages, impressing many others in the infirmary because of his age.

"Young man, you have an impressive build for your age." A middle-aged man lying on one of the beds spoke.

"It was just a side effect of my spear training."

"No ordinary training would give you a six pack. You must have had a strenuous regime."

"How did you get such fantastic muscles?" A muscular young man chimed in, fascinated at Maxwell's physique.

"I just did some exercising as warm up before training with my spear."

"What was your training routine?"

'Is he a musclehead?' Maxwell asked himself after the multiple comments and questions regarding his muscles.

Maxwell learnt that his name was Joel and that he wanted to become a body cultivator. He already had large arms and legs and had an imposing figure that towered over Maxwell, who was still growing. Contrary to his looks, he was very friendly even with the scars on his face that gave him a terrifying look.

"Fight me! I want to go against strong opponents my age."

The doctor responded with a sharp strike to his head for thinking about fighting after his overwhelming defeat before Maxwell could decline.

Towards the end of the day, the parents of the three children he had saved came with gifts to thank him.

"We know it's not much, but we hope you can accept our gratitude." They gave a short bow to him while offering him a basket containing cones.

"What are these cones anyways?"

"These are extremely deadly weapons, especially in the hands of a cultivator with wood affinity. If you throw it, it explodes, shooting seeds everywhere that can even kill. With wood qi, someone can easily trap their opponent by growing tall trees around them."

"Woah, I have a great idea where to use it. Thank you."

Maxwell went back to sleep once they left and he woke up the next day, ready to go complete his mission and return to cultivation.

'Let me contact Leonidas to help the Metal Claw Clan out, they can get us a partnership for the wood in exchange of selling it and protection.'

"Leonidas, wipe out those bastards who traffic the beast kin. You can do it on the grounds of them touching me while I was trying to propose a deal."

"They attacked you? I will send elites to raze their bases immediately. 4 Martial Kings should be good enough."

"That will be more than enough. Have you broken through to Martial King Realm yet?"

"Yes, I have. Nobody dares to betray the treasure pavilion because of the Heaven's Oath."

"Good, have we gotten the support of Martial Saint yet?"

"Nearly, we have gotten through negotiations most of the way. If we fail, there will be a very low chance of getting another on our side since there are only 8 I have heard of."

'Hmm, master should be a Martial Saint too.'

"I believe my master is one too. He has a space affinity."

"He's not among the 8 we have discovered; he will be a good support."

"Yes, he will. I'll contact you once more when I go to the town hall."

Maxwell got ready to leave for his mission and headed to the town hall to get his guard and to talk about the cooperation.

He put Leonidas in charge of doing all the talking while he just stood there, watching, and listening. They bargained for a while and settled on a fair deal. The team to wipe out the traffickers had already been dispatched so they were bound to get results soon.

As a result of the deal, Maxwell was going to be escorted by the clan head who didn't mind doing it for someone who fought on their side even against a much stronger opponent.

Maxwell was taken through the forest on a flying sword, controlled by the clan head. Arion flew besides them as they headed towards a spider nest that had been expanding rapidly over the past few months. As they got closer, they saw more webs in between trees. Soon they were at the centre of the nest where there were spider webs everywhere that they had to cut through to head forward. In the main web, where the leader of the spiders, their king hung. There were objects covered in webs, strung from branches all over the nest.

"Those webs hold people, there are even some of my own." The clan leader spoke.

"They are being preserved in there." He added with distaste.

"Yuck, the webs are so sticky." Arion commented as he blew webs away with his flapping wings. They hovered near the Spider King who turn around to greet the 'guests'.

"What brings you here?"

"Return my clan members!" The clan leader shouted.

"They're just weaklings, why do you care about their lives?"

"They are my responsibility as the clan leader. They have given me their faith so I must do my duty."

"Leave them be and I can give you some cultivation resources to train the younger generation."

"What if I insist that you return them?"

"I will not allow you to disrupt his plan. I must fight you if you insist."

"His?" they asked confused who was playing the strings behind the Spider King.

"You aren't worthy to know his name."

The Spider King then shot spider silk at them, in an attempt to trap them. The clan leader blew it away with wind qi and it got stuck on a tree. Once it hit the tree, the acid in it started eating through the tree, creating a big hole.

The clan leader swiftly appeared beneath the spider and attacked its abdomen. They clashed multiple times in a matter of seconds and Maxwell was lost, unable to track their movements. Every strike caused massive shockwaves that knocked away many webs and smaller spiders that were present. The trees were also snapped into two. Maxwell sat on Arion's back as he shot lightning at the Spider King. Maxwell had no chance of helping so he just recorded the battle with the crystal sphere. Whenever the Spider King tried attacking Arion who was causing him to waste his qi, Arion flew away and counterattacked, letting the clan leader get an opening and cut off one of the spider's limbs.

The Spider screeched in pain and spat out more acid coated silk that ate through the ground and the environment rapidly. The flying silk was dodged by them and they continued their assault. One by one the spider's eight limbs were cut off and then its head was finally cut open with the metal claws of the clan leader.

"He will avenge m-" The spider declared confidently while dying.

"Arion help me get down all the strung-up people."

Arion flew below all the cocoons trapping the people. Maxwell swiftly sliced open all the cocoons of spider silk, causing the unconscious people to tumble out. They all landed on the big web below comfortably without getting hurt.

There were 20 humans and 5 beastkin who had been captured and one by one they all woke up, rather alarmed. They had all been knocked unconscious in an instant, so they were very confused. On each of their necks there was a spider bite mark, so they realised one of the spiders had venom that made them fall unconscious.

They were all taken back after thanking Maxwell and his sect for sending someone to save them. Maxwell returned after a mission completed and decided to not take concern about the mysterious backer the spider had.

"Here, the mission is done." Maxwell gave the mission card along with the crystal ball for recording.

"That was quite fast, did you rescue them?"

"Yes, I did."

"You did? Let me see the recording."

The mission hall manager quickly watched it and visibly grew alarmed as he watched it.

"You completed your mission, take these points." He quickly adjusted Maxwell's points and immediately gave someone else the task of handling the missions while rushing off.

'This must be related to whatever trouble has been brewing for the past few years.'

Maxwell quickly rid his mind of thoughts about it as there would be no point dwelling on it if everyone tried to keep it a secret.

'I should go into seclusion and break through to the 10th stage. I will be very outmatched if I don't reach the 15th stage at least before the Core disciple trials.'

Maxwell ate a sumptuous meal before going into closed-door cultivation. He could last much longer than an ordinary person without food. He used his thoughts to direct the lightning dragon in his dantian to fly around him. He was sitting on a rank 3 Qi gathering formation, allowing him to get qi at a constant rate from 2 sources without meditation.

He then started meditating. His mind was clear of all thoughts, and he absorbed the qi at a very quick rate. He didn't feel any of his senses and he lost track of his sense of time.