With a bestial roar that made Ashlock's Star Core quiverthe great storm of ash ceased, and Ashlock opened his demonic eye to gaze upon his pet curiously.

What had become of his beloved spider?

[His Highness of the Nine Realms, Ashen King Larry, has completed his ascension]

[Evolution of {Larry} complete]

The crack in the realm overhead closed, and calm returned.

With the ash storm gone, Ashlock could gaze upon Larry without obstruction. The spider had decreased in size by about a third, but he now had a crown of black horns on his head with a permanent halo of ash swirling around their points.

His fur had transformed into strands of ash that shimmered in the moonlight. Meanwhile, his scarlet eyes held a new depth of intelligence, and his ivory fangs looked sharp enough to pierce a god.

He looked like a creature from some legend or myth that defied the laws of what seemed possible. The way his fur of ash shifted around as if it were alive was fascinating to watch, especially in his demonic eyesight.

Unfortunately, the ash acted as an impenetrable veil, blocking Ashlock's demonic eye from looking at Larry's soul core. Making it impossible for him to know Larry's true realm of power, but if he had to guess, Larry was stronger than him.

The spider slowly approached Ashlock with measured and careful steps. Still, as silent as ever.

Ashlock felt Stella hiding on his branch shrink back as the spider approached. Which also made him nervous. The tether of black Qi that linked him to Larry was still there, and the system hadn't notified him that he had lost control over Larry. So it should be fine... right?

Larry paused close to his trunk and then dipped his head, "The Ashen King pledges his loyalty to the great spirit tree." The words were gruff, and even Ashlock found them hard to decipher, like a potent accent despite his perfect hearing and {Language of the World} skill.

Everything seemed to pause for Ashlock as he tried to process what had happened. Did Larry just... speak? Real words? Stella also seemed stunned as she looked at Diana, who was chained to his trunk, and then back at the spider.

Diana had regained some of her rational back, but she was still resisting the chains like a crazy person and thrashing around. "Did you understand what it said?" Diana hissed through clenched teeth, "That demon can speak!?"

"Barely." Stella said without looking back at the crazy girl, "I believe that was the ancient language I learned recently, but its pronunciation was way off."

Larry glanced up at them and flared his eyes, making them both shriek and almost fall out of the tree. "You may be the mistresses of the great tree, but insulting my speech is rather uncouth of you ladies."

Okay, what the fuck is happening. Ashlock awakened from his stupor, and his demonic eye that didn't seem to faze Larry looked directly at him. It felt weird, but it was clear that the spider was expecting a response.

Ashlock directed his attention to the linking black tether. What should he say? Was there a proper way to go about accepting a summons allegiance? Ashlock mulled over the issue momentarily before deciding to say something overly pompous to sound dignified.

"The great spirit tree accepts your allegiance and loyalty, Ashen King of the nine realms."

"Thank you, my lord." Larry bowed again, or at least as best a spider could with its oddly shaped body. "What are my lord's orders for this humble servant?"

Larry's vocal cords clearly didn't match the speech he was using. Had the spider inherited his language as part of the summoning skill?

Ashlock naturally wanted his pet to deal with the cultivators as soon as possible, but the fact that Larry could speak was a more pressing matter. "Larrythere is no need to refer to me as such. Calling me lord all the time will become tiresome."

"As you wish, Master."

Ashlock felt a headache coming. Why was the spider so uptight? He was clearly stronger than him, was the summoning contract that powerful that it instilled a forced sense of loyalty?

"Whatever... Tell me, Larry. Why do you speak in the ancient tongue?"

The spider paused momentarily before answering, "It came with the divine knowledge bestowed upon me during the ascension. Ashen spiders have no spoken language, so I was granted knowledge of the ancient tongue. Does my improper speech displease Master like the mistresses? I can atone for my sins by tearing off my limbs one by one until Master is satisfied"

"Stop!" Ashlock shouted, and Larry clamped his mouth shut. Hearing the spider talk like a distinguished gentleman with such a strong, almost thick Scottish accent was disorienting.

"Larry, you are a valued ally of mine. I was simply curious as to the origins of your speech. It's not your fault that a spider's vocal cords aren't designed for such complex words."

Larry looked down at the floor, and Ashlock had never seen a sad-looking spider before, but he could tell the big guy was upset.

Ashlock sighed before asking another thing that had been bugging him. "Why do you say the girls are my mistresses?"

"I can feel that Master cares deeply about these mortals, so they are women in a position of power relating to the great spirit tree and, in turn, are above me as Master does not care for me as deeply." The spider straightened his long legs, looked up at Stella, and then at the chained Diana, "Also, I can smell a hint of something ancient about them."

Ashlock ignored the statement about him not valuing the spider as that sounded like an emotional bombshell and asked, "Ancient?"

He could understand Stella after she had taken that pill from Senior Lee as it might have changed her in such a way that she could punch lightning, but Diana too? "What's ancient about them?"

"Master, this servant must disappoint, but my realm is not yet high enough to discern such a thing."

Stella peered through the scarlet canopy and asked, "Hey, spider are you talking to Tree?"

"Mistress Stella, I am indeed conversing with Master Tree."

Stella dropped down and stood at a tentative distance from Larry. She summoned a bundle of papers with the runic language scribbled on them and frowned as she feverously rummaged through them. "Bloody annoying accent and dead ancient language..."

She then seemed to have a great idea, "Hey, spider, can you write?"

Larry looked at his two forelimbs and then back at Stella, "What is writing?"

Stella blinked with confusion for a second before a sigh escaped her mouth, and her shoulders sagged. Then, in a last-ditch effort, she held up one of the papers covered in scribbles, "Spider, can you read this?" She pointed at it as if it were an eyesight test.

"My name is not Spider. I am the Ashen King of the nine realms. His Highness Larry." The spider straightened his back and seemed smug. He then glared at Stella, and she shrank back under his powerful gaze.

"Sure... Highness Larry... can you read this or not?"

Larry crawled a little closer, and his many red eyes looked the paper up and down, and a low hum resounded from his maw as if he was deeply contemplating the text.

"Well, can you?" Stella pressured the spider after a while had passed, and Larry's many eyes left the paper and glared at her.

"Mistress, your ability to draw is simply horrendous. I cannot discern the nature of this art piece. Is it supposed to depict a great war between the cultivators and the gods?"

It took a while for Stella to mentally process and translate what Larry said, but once she did, she looked the paper up and down and then looked between it and Larry a few times in disbelief. "What part of this looks like a drawing?!"

Larry nodded, "Exactly. It's a terrible drawing."

"That's because..." Stella gripped the bridge of her nose, "It's not a drawing. It's writing. They are different."

"Looks the same to me."

"Have you ever even seen a drawing?"

The spider tilted its head, "No."

Stella deposited the papers back into her ring and threw her hands up, "I give up! Can you ask Ash what he want's me to do with Diana, at least?"

Ashlock hadn't wanted to confuse the spider, so he had remained quiet, and the fact there was something ancient about Diana and Stella was bugging him. However, something fantastic came out of all of this. He now had a dedicated spokesperson!

Unfortunately, it was also a shed-sized spider with an ominous-looking crown of ash and the power to topple this entire sect. But beggars can't be choosers.

"Larry. Tell Stella to keep Diana chained and under control for now. I am growing some mushrooms that may help alleviate her symptoms."

Larry repeated his words in his gruff accent and a language that Stella was barely proficient in. If Ashlock had to guess, Stella had been guessing based on context clues what Larry was saying and piecing it together from the few words she recognized. But now that she had asked him for direct instructions, she wanted to understand every word.

After a while and a lot of note-checking alongside Larry having to repeat his words until the spider was clearly annoyed, Stella finally translated the words correctly.

"Mushrooms? Are they really so miraculous to cure Diana of such madness?" Stella said to Larry and then looked up through the canopy at Diana, who was still thrashing against her chains and shouting random nonsense mixed with coherent sentences.

"Why are you asking me?" Larry grumbled, looking at the floor, "I know nothing about mushrooms."

"Fair point." Stella said back and looked toward the tree trunk, "Ash? Are these mushrooms really so powerful? We could make a lot of money from them if so..."

Ashlock didn't even need to bother with Larry on this occasion and just flashed his leaf with lilac Qi to signify yes. He was already planning on selling his mushrooms, fruit, and later alchemy products once someone under his sect learned alchemy.

A rumbling from Larry's stomach made Ashlock refocus on the cultivators at the mountain's base. It appeared they were gathering and about to launch an offensive.

Did they think the ash storm was an attack from the heavens and he would be weakened? Or maybe they thought someone had ascended and would be consolidating their new cultivation base.

Whatever the reason, Ashlock didn't care. The rage of seeing Stella stepped on by that Evergreen cultivator and the other one threatening Diana with a blade to the neck had already cemented his stance on them. They were foes that couldn't co-exist with him and needed to be eradicated.

He hadn't become a cold-blooded mass murderer. This was simply in retaliation. They attacked him first, and they had only gained control of this land by killing its previous occupants, so they had it coming.

Ashlock much preferred the Ravenborne family that had minded their own business, minus their whole murder plot for Stella, of course. "Why is everyone in this world so rotten?" Ashlock wondered as he pulled on the black tether with Larry, giving his A-grade pet a mission.

"Eradicate the Winterwrath and Evergreen families, down to every last one in the area. However, do not venture into Darklight City or kill any mortals."

His reasoning was simple. Mortals posed no threat to him or anyone he cared about. Also, they would provide as much Qi and sacrificial credits as a bug. Therefore, their slaughter was unnecessary and wasteful. If anything, the mortals would be perfect for keeping around as maids, servants, and builders for his new sect.

The cultivators, on the other hand... in his eyes, they were fair game. He would happily negotiate or ally with the other families in exchange for benefits, but it was too late for the Winterwrath and Evergreen families.

"As the Master decrees." Larry rotated and crawled toward the pavilion door as ash began to swirl around him, "It shall be carried out to perfection. A slaughter befitting my Master's tastes."