"Hmph, lucky for you, you packed it up quickly."

"Or else I'd have taken you along too."

Zong Shen navigated the Floating Technique, flying toward the small grove where Pigsy was settled. He glanced at the leg that had been bound by chains earlier and saw that a layer of frost had formed on the pants leg.

He gently shook that leg, scattering ice shards all over the ground. However, he didn't notice a very subtle Raven Mark had already adhered to his calf, disappearing in the blink of an eye. Now, he only felt some numbness in that leg.

Luckily, his constitution was strong enough not to get frostbitten easily, but it was clear how cold and overbearing that chain was.

Who knows what kind of magic it was, not only carrying a certain Frost Effect but also having a strong Binding Effect.

Zong Shen flew steadily above the grove and looked back. The church warriors in the village seemed a bit agitated.

Squads of Giant Power Knights were running from the village entrance in all directions, trying to find some clues.

Zong Shen, however, was still in the Stealth State of his Shadow Clone Skill, rapidly retreating several kilometers away thanks to the Floating speed.

He stole so much secret silver, almost enough to satisfy a third of the quantity needed to build the entire tower.

Such a significant amount is not a small figure for any influence, but it's not enough to cause severe damage. After all, secret silver is also a strategic reserve.

Apart from special buildings, various large Magic Arrays and Magic Energy Equipment also require a lot of secret silver.

This batch of secret silver would only make the Calamity Raven Church feel the pinch, but it's far from causing them to bleed heavily.

Big forces do have some wealth and background, which mud-legged newcomers like Zong Shen can't compare to.

However, the development speed of the Lords is also something that the native forces can envy but not match.

Building a Tower of the Raven here by the Calamity Raven Church likely seeks more than just the Demon Remnant Soul of the Fear Demon King. Though their main target is the Fear Demon King's Strength, they probably also have ideas about the other Souls in the Burial Ground.

After all, this Burial Ground is a notorious Undead Zone, nurturing undead from the Undead Race numbering in the hundreds of thousands, and contains many ancient wandering souls from ten thousand years ago.

Regardless of the church's motives, Zong Shen already made considerable gains. Based on ratios, one thousand pieces of secret silver roughly equate to forty thousand pieces of iron. Zong Shen acquired over three thousand four hundred pieces of secret silver.

This is equivalent to tens of thousands of pieces of iron. As long as he doesn't build those secret-silver-consuming special buildings, it should be enough to meet the normal secret silver consumption for his territory for a while.

However, next time it might not be so easy to sneak in.

This time, their setup was tight on the outside but loose on the inside, mainly focusing on defending against the Kingdom Forces and being completely unguarded against the Lord's Influence.

But as the Lords' Influence starts taking their cut, the Calamity Raven Church will surely list the Lord's Influence as a target for precaution.

Not only did Zong Shen steal so much secret silver today, but another batch of Lords also attacked their altar and Magic Array set up in the Burial Ground, kidnapped dozens of villagers, and disturbed some undead in the Burial Ground, causing the Calamity Raven Church quite a bit of trouble.

So Zong Shen smartly chose to bow out while ahead, knowing that lingering too long might have let the Calamity Raven Church take advantage of him with their capabilities.

Zong Shen landed in the small grove, quickly donning his other Equipment to go into full gear. Pigsy was lazily lying at the edge of the grove.

He jogged over and jumped onto Pigsy's back, patting its body, heading southwest first.

He decided not to head directly west back to Jiang Yi's territory, fearing the church people might trace Pigsy's tracks. So, he planned to take a few random detours to throw them off.

By noon four days later, when the Burrow Challenge ended, that would be the real time to take advantage.

…

On the spot, after Shafuri let go, she calmly landed on the ground with no aggressive reaction.

Her gaze was stern as she looked up at the sky, her pupils shrinking like a bird's before slowly dilating back to normal. She looked down at her hands.

A layer of blue-white frost was receding from her palms, making them white again.

A few nearby deacons arrived, their faces showing signs of panic.

"Lady Saintess, the value of this batch of materials isn't low, yet that person stole it all..."

"That guy must have Spatial Items, surely a dog from Lentates Giant City!"

"Should we re-check those villagers...?"

The deacons spoke all at once, appearing a bit flustered.

Saintess Shafuri remained calm throughout, saying not a word of nonsense. She simply raised a jade hand, waving it in front of the deacons.

"Silence, when the Cold Crow Chains coiled around him just now, I sensed a demon aura. His origins are quite mysterious, definitely not one of Avalon's lackeys."

"I have already implanted a magic mark through the Cold Crow Chains, which will last for three days. He won't escape. If we can uncover the source of the demonic aura on him, we will have even greater gains."

"Currently, the urgent task is to resolve the suppression array and reception altar at the Burial Ground. That's the most important thing. These losses are insignificant and still within the Archbishop's permissible range."

"Immediately inform them to take out the spare secret silver materials and assign someone to strictly guard the materials area around the clock."

"I have a feeling he will definitely come back again..."

Lady Saintess Shafuri spoke very calmly. So far, she was the highest-ranking person of the Calamity Raven Church present here and also the commander of this operation.

According to the teachings, her status in the church is second only to the Archbishop. Every Saintess successfully integrates with the Raven Spirit during childhood, gaining extraordinary power and lineage.

The Raven Spirit is said to be the will of the God of Calamity Raven, who is worshipped by the Calamity Raven Church.

The God of Calamity Raven dominates calamities as a raven. Its true form has never appeared in this world, but followers are seen walking this world after great wars and disasters.

In other words, this God of Calamity Raven is possibly a type of powerful Otherworldly Creature.

On the continent, there are many other churches, some worshiping ethereal beings, but through specific buildings or rituals, they can receive its power.

Of course, some worship native creatures, like the Dragon Transformation Church, which has its own baptism method granting its warriors some powers of the Giant Dragon.

Additionally, the Dark Night Elf race worships the Moon Goddess Elune, known as the dragon-descendant people of Alonwa who revere the Dragon God, and there are many such faith-based deities.

Lady Saintess Shafuri holds a certain authority in the church. After she spoke, the deacons dared not say anything and hurriedly went to prepare according to her instructions.

With the Lord's influence intervening, the Calamity Raven Church began to encounter some troubles.

The main issue is that the Lord's influence is a completely unknown new power to them.

Although a single lord is nothing significant to them,

sending a casual squad of warriors can easily eliminate them.

However, once they gather and launch a harassment attack, they become annoying like flies.

Shafuri stood still for a while, quietly thinking about something. A few minutes later, she called over a Heretical Giant Power Knight, lightly leaped onto the horse, and wrapped an arm around the knight's waist. The horse then headed out of the village.

The target was precisely that Burial Ground north of the village. The arrays there required her blood, containing Raven Power, as the primary driving force to suppress the undead in the Burial Ground, preventing the reception ritual from reviving the surrounding undead.

This is the most vital issue Shafuri needed to resolve now, while Elder McGuire has already led the church warriors to launch a revenge attack on those lords who damaged the magic arrays and altars.

Compared to the magic arrays and altars, what Zong Shen did is insignificant. After all, for people of the Calamity Raven Church, resources have a price, but this action is priceless.

...

At this moment, Zong Shen was riding Pigsy, galloping across the vast grasslands, sometimes going left, sometimes right, heading in different directions.

Just to leave no trace, avoiding rapid pursuit by the Calamity Raven Church.

After advancing in a confusing manner for half an hour, Zong Shen stopped to let Pigsy catch its breath and rest.

By now, the cold and numbness in his calf had completely subsided.

However, a strange sense of discomfort lingered in his heart, making him puzzled. After devouring the Demon's Heart, his body's intuition became extremely sharp.

Could it be that there's something wrong with the calf?

Zong Shen raised his eyebrow, removed his war boots and leg armor, rolled his pant leg up to the knee, reached out to feel around repeatedly, and his eyes scanned back and forth, yet he saw no unusual state.

But the intuition in his body was very strong just now...

So, Zong Shen decided to consult the strategy, to see whether his calf had any issues or left any hidden dangers.

"Is there something wrong with my calf?"

(There is a magic mark hidden in your calf, which will last three days. It originates from the Raven Chain that was wrapped around your calf earlier. This magic mark will expose your location. You can use Magic Exorcism or a Purification Potion to remove this mark.)

Upon reading the strategy's tip, Zong Shen immediately understood.

There's an issue with his calf. That Saintess is not simple; she managed to place a magic mark on him through the chain magic.

The last time Zong Shen saw something like this was on the first day after landing, during Korby's encounter with a goblin tribe attack, where he had a magic beacon affixed to him.

Surprisingly, now he's the one caught in it!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.