On the second day since Draven's sister was captured,
Draven waited outside the Great Elder's house with an anxious look on his face. There were also two groups of young men standing beside Draven. Each of the two groups had a twenty-year-old young man standing at the front, and it appeared as though the two similarly aged young men were the leaders of their groups.
One of the young men, who appeared to be more gentle and amicable compared to the other, walked up to Draven and patted his shoulder.
"Little brother, do not worry, nothing will happen to Dessy. You should at least eat something now. You have been awake the whole night without eating anything."
This young man's name was James Will, and the leader of the other group was called William Light. Both of them were from outside Demon Sealing Mountain. They were of the same age as Draven's sister Dessy.
Two years ago, they came to Demon Sealing Mountain to learn spirit-type battle techniques from the Great Elder.
James Will fell in love with Dessy the moment he came here and had been pursuing her for two years. As for William Light, he was the number one opponent of the Eagle Hunting Team and would often clash with Dessy's team. In truth, Draven was not fond of either of them, since Dessy never liked to interact with them.
"Here, at least drink this water." When James saw Draven sitting there absentmindedly, he handed a wooden water bottle to him.
"No need, I am not thirsty," Draven shook his head as he fixed his gaze into the distance absentmindedly.
James sighed, and he too sat there quietly. William did not say anything either; he stood there like an unmoving statue. The entire place remained silent.
As time passed, family and relatives of the Eagle Team members came one after another to the Great Elder's house when they heard the news.
Finally, when evening arrived and the sun was about to set, a group of men slowly jogged towards the Great Elder's house. In the lead, four strong men could be seen jogging with a stretcher on their shoulders. A body was on top of the stretcher covered in a white cloth. Following the four men, several others were carrying the injured members of the Eagle Tribe on their backs.
Great Elder Lilly was also keeping up with their pace as she rode on her white horse with a serious look on her face.
"Elder is back…""Thank God, my father is safe…""My son…""Jane, you are back…"
Relatives of the Eagle Team members began cheering when they saw their family members being carried back safely to the village.
Draven also stood up anxiously and looked for his sister, but even after scanning the whole crowd, he could not spot her."Grandma, where is Big Sister Dessy?" He ran forward and asked Lilly anxiously.
William and James stood at the side with a complicated look on their faces as they glanced at the body carried on the stretcher. They had a bad premonition that they did not wish to come true.
Lilly gave Draven a forced smile as she climbed down from her horse and handed the reins to another woman in beast-skin armor.
"She is injured, but there is still a chance that we can bring her back. Pray to the mountain gods that nothing happens to her," Lilly said as she began walking towards her house.
"Bring her in. William and James, you two also follow me inside the house." Lilly called out to the four men holding the stretcher and walked inside, followed by William and James. Draven gritted his teeth and followed them inside.
After placing the stretcher on a wooden platform inside Lilly's house, the four men bowed to Lilly and left. Lilly remained silent for some time before nodding to one of her female apprentices. The young lady walked forward and gently removed the white cloth covering the head of the body on the stretcher.
Everyone in the room stiffened when they saw the face that was revealed. It was a burned corpse with no skin or hair, the bones and tendons of the face exposed, giving the body a ghostly appearance. The entire room was filled with a rotten smell as the cloth was removed.
"It is Dessy. Her body has been burned in the blood pool for more than a day. Her spirit is almost corroded and we only have less than half a day to save her life." Lilly paused for a moment and continued, "Her bloodline spirit is a rare Twin-Headed Dragon Spirit. If we can activate the second head of the dragon spirit, I can make sure she at least recovers fifty percent."
Draven's head went blank when he heard that the unrecognizable body on the stretcher was his big sister, the one he considered the most beautiful lady in the village. His big sister, who loved to pull pranks on him. His big sister, whom he loved even more than his mother.
"Dessy…" Draven sat on the floor with a pale face.
Lilly sighed when she saw this. Looking at the two young men, William and James, she said calmly, "In my village, currently only you two have a dragon spirit compatible with hers. If either of you can help me awaken her spirit, I will give you the complete Chaos Resonance Art and ten Soul Capturing Stones."
James frowned when he heard this. "Her spirit is corrupted, right? Will it not affect our spirit?"
Lilly nodded. "It will. That is the reason why I am willing to take out ten Soul Capturing Stones as compensation. You also will not need to hunt for a Secret Beast as per our previous agreement. I will give you an inheritance stone of Chaos Resonance Art from my account."
"Please… save her. Did you not say you like my sister? Please, help her." Draven hastily crawled on his knees towards James and pleaded, tears falling endlessly from his eyes.
"This…" James looked at the disfigured body on the stretcher and hesitated. In the end, he gritted his teeth and shook his head. "I am sorry, Master. I cannot afford damage to my spirit. Please honor our previous agreement and let me capture a Secret Beast in return for the Chaos Resonance Art."
He did not even look at Draven, who was pleading before him. As the son of one of the prestigious families of Celestia, the conditions Lilly had put forward were not enough to buy him over. As for risking his future to save Dessy, that thought never even crossed his mind. After all, the beautiful lady he had known was now just a disfigured monster, no longer worthy of his attention.
"Please… help her. We have some treasures left behind by our parents at home, I will give all of them to you…" Draven said anxiously when he heard this, but James looked away coldly.
Seeing this, William stepped forward and bowed to Lilly. "Master, I am sorry. I also refuse your offer. Like James, I will also earn the Chaos Resonance Art according to our previous agreement."
Lilly closed her eyes in sorrow when she heard this, but Draven crawled towards William and began begging him, just as he had begged James before.