Lord of Prayer

Feng City, Cowherding Town.

The second floor of a food stall restaurant.

Zhou Chen knocked on the door of the private room. A few seconds later, a short young man opened it, looked him up and down for a moment, then turned his head and shouted, "Captain, he’s here."

There were ten people in the private room—seven men and three women. One man with sharp features and an exceptional air nodded slightly:

"Come in."

Zhou Chen walked into the room, closing the door behind him. The patterns of a Barrier Array flashed for an instant on the walls. He pulled over an empty chair, sat down, and openly surveyed the group, Sensing the fluctuations of their auras.

’One Tier Four and nine Tier Threes. This lineup for the two Knight Orders is quite impressive...’ He raised an eyebrow inwardly. There wasn’t even a single Tier Two Ascender in these two squads.

On second thought, it made sense. "Ghost" was definitely a Tier Four Ascender, so sending Tier Two Ascenders would be a death sentence. A moment’s carelessness and they’d be killed. Only Tier Three Ascenders were qualified to face a Tier Four. The Knights cultivated by the Life Church were all one-in-a-million geniuses, top-tier prodigies in the Extraordinary Realm. Even one-on-one against a Tier Four Ascender, they could manage to escape, let alone when they were teaming up under the leadership of another Tier Four Ascender.

Nine Tier Three Knights working together would be more than enough to give an ordinary Tier Four a run for their money. With another Tier Four Knight added to the mix, an ordinary Tier Four would basically have no chance of survival.

But "Ghost" had evaded the Life Church’s pursuit for over a decade; he was clearly no ordinary Tier Four. This gave Zhou Chen a nagging feeling that they were "under-gunned." ’If only the Life Church could have sent one more Tier Four,’ he thought. ’That would be the safest bet.’

But that was impossible. Ascenders were incredibly rare, especially High-level Ascenders, who were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns. Eighty percent of the cities in the World had only a single Tier Three Ascender to guard them. A Tier Four was already a strategic-level weapon. Any organization would have to treat them with the utmost respect and wouldn’t deploy them lightly. At the end of the day, this mission was just a probe. How could they possibly dispatch two Tier Fours?

"My name is Wang Yaoting, and I’m the commander-in-chief for this operation." The man with the sharp features and righteous air introduced himself. His voice was steady, inspiring a sense of rock-solid reliability. Though he didn’t look particularly old, his eyes held an ineffable, world-weary look. He glanced at the person beside him, who immediately took a file from a Storage Artifact and handed it to Zhou Chen.

"This contains all the detailed information the Church has gathered on ’Ghost’ over the years."

"Thank you."

Zhou Chen didn’t waste any time with pleasantries and began to read through the file immediately.

[...’Ghost’ is ruthless and cruel, a cold, bloodthirsty, sadistic, and deranged individual. He has repeatedly captured Guardian Knights and Church believers alive, only to torture them to death in brutal ways, not even sparing their families. According to investigations and analysis, ’Ghost’ does this partly to select suitable sacrifices, and partly to vent his own pathological and twisted nature...]

[’Ghost’ is a Tier Four Ascender and has been observed using multiple Extraordinary Abilities: Shadow Style, Spirit Control, Dark Evil Fire, Air Slash, Fallen Words, Flesh Bomb, Mutated Darkness, and Seed of Distortion. Most of these abilities are achieved through Extraordinary Artifacts. As for ’Ghost’s’ own inherent Extraordinary Ability, it has yet to be identified.

’Ghost’ has used numerous Extraordinary Artifacts: Forbidden Object C-012·Good-Evil Reversal, C-024·Existence Weakener, Forbidden Object C-699·Clay Man, Soul Rest Cemetery, Soul-Calling Flute, Staff of Filth, Green Rattan Pendant...]

[...’Ghost’ has received Power from some evil entity, enabling him to see the ’future trajectory’ approximately 1.5 seconds into the future. Extreme caution is advised during combat. If possible, a group assault is imperative...]

Seeing 1.5 seconds into the future... Zhou Chen’s pupils constricted. ’Is this a Time Type ability?’

No wonder the Life Church had been helpless against "Ghost" for so many years. With such a heaven-defying ability, catching him was next to impossible!

When proper intelligence work has been done, fights between Ascenders are actually very quick. Victory and defeat, life and death, can be decided in less than two minutes. 1.5 seconds might seem brief, but it can determine many things, including the outcome of the battle.

Having Future Vision was equivalent to knowing what would happen next. Whether it was countering a move, escaping, or delivering a finishing blow, he could prepare his strategy in advance, putting him far ahead of his enemies strategically—always one step ahead. For a Tier Four Ascender who possessed a large number of Extraordinary Artifacts, this ability was like adding wings to a tiger. But for his enemies, it was undoubtedly the most disgusting and troublesome ability to face.

’A tough enemy indeed...’ Zhou Chen quickly finished reading the file, handed it back to the Knight who had given it to him, and looked at Wang Yaoting. "When do we move out? How should I cooperate?"

A debonair man sitting nearby suddenly let out a snort of laughter. Seemingly realizing this was a bit rude, he cleared his throat twice and said with a smile, "Are you really planning to participate in this mission?"

"Is there a problem?"

"You’re Zhou Chen, right? You’re quite famous. I’ve heard of you. A lot of the young women in the Church are your fans, so let me be frank—"

The debonair man maintained his smile and said, "—you’re not strong enough for this mission."

Zhou Chen paused in thought.

"And you are?"

"Li Miao, a Platinum Knight of the Life Church," the man said proudly.

The Knights of the Life Church are divided into four Levels:

Silver Knight, Golden Knight, Platinum Knight, and Holy Knight.

The Knight Levels are not determined by Power, but by merit. Even a Tier One Ascender could be granted the title of Holy Knight for performing a great deed. Becoming a Platinum Knight meant that Li Miao had accumulated significant achievements.

From this perspective, Li Miao indeed had the right to be proud. Tier Three Ascenders already held a high status, and he was also a Platinum Knight of the Life Church’s Knight Hall. His standing was several notches above that of a normal Ascender of the same tier. He was truly one of the elite.

"Oh, a Platinum Knight," Zhou Chen said, as if in sudden realization. He gave a perfunctory compliment, "Very impressive."

Then, he ignored Li Miao and turned to Wang Yaoting. "Mr. Wang, to be honest, I’m flattered to have received the Palace Mother of the Life Church’s approval. I believe this is a great honor for any Ascender, so I’m very much looking forward to cooperating with the Knight Hall on this mission."

Wang Yaoting nodded. "The operation will begin in fifteen minutes. Your task is to support us and act according to the situation. Try not to get yourself killed.

Li Miao, you were very rude to our guest. Apologize."

The expression on Li Miao’s face froze. "Commander..."

Wang Yaoting didn’t make a single move, but his silent calm was enough to stop Li Miao from making any further protest. He could only mumble a weak "sorry" in Zhou Chen’s direction.

Zhou Chen paid him no mind, ignoring him completely, and asked with confusion, "Fifteen minutes? Why not now?"

"Because we still need to eat," a young woman with her hair in buns said with a grin.

"Won’t that waste precious time?"

"Nope. When ’Ghost’ attacked you earlier, we fought him. We left something on him that allows us to track his location," the bun-haired young woman said with a smile. "Why else do you think the Soul Rest Cemetery suddenly disappeared?"

’They were ambushing Ghost while he was ambushing me?’ Zhou Chen was stunned. He hadn’t Sensed any Essence Fluctuation at all at the time. ’Were they inside a Barrier, or maybe just really far away?’

Just as he was pondering this, there was a knock on the private room door. One of the Knights waved his hand, and the Barrier Array was deactivated. Immediately after, a waiter came in carrying a large, steaming bowl of lamb soup.

At that exact moment, Wang Yaoting’s expression changed, and he suddenly roared, "Watch out!"

Zhou Chen, who was closest to the waiter, had already sensed something was wrong. He made an attempt to act, but it had no effect. With an inward curse, he vanished from his spot with a Flame Jump.

The next second, the waiter, a look of confusion still on his face, swelled up and exploded. A storm of countless bloody fragments swept through the entire room, violently corroding everything they touched.