Rising from the Ashes BY Only For You Novel

---- Chapter 1842 Ruth shouted, "If you don't go, he'll kill Zac! Mr. Lloyd, please... You have to save him! At this point, you're the only one who can do anything!" Ruth broke down in tears after that, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably. She was clearly terrified out of her mind. Andrew helped her up and said, "Tell me everything, from the beginning. Zachary already passed the selection round, wasn't he supposed to become Mr. Thornton's apprentice?" Ruth sobbed.

"That's what we thought when we went there. But before we could even see Mr. Thornton, Mr. Wallace suddenly lashed out and struck Zac in the chest. He coughed up blood right on the spot and didn't even get a chance to fight back before they had him pinned!" She added, "Mr. Wallace let me go and told me to bring you this message. If you don't show up soon, Zac's as good as dead!" Andrew's eyes flashed with cold fury.

"That bastard!" He told Ruth to stay put at the hotel and wait for Lauren and the others to return. Then, he went to the Southern Martial Union's main headquarters alone. Andrew could not understand why Jerome would do something ---- like this. Logically, holding open tryouts for inner disciples was a positive thing. Yet, Zachary was ambushed and captured when he went to pay his respects as a new apprentice.

The more Andrew thought about it, the more he felt like this trip to Goldridge was dragging them into a much bigger storm. However, he still did not have enough information to see what that storm was exactly. As the saying went, when titans clashed, it was the little people who died in the crossfire. Andrew did not fear chaos or conflict, not in the slightest. Nonetheless, just because he did not fear it did not mean he would ignore the people around him.

He came here to back Zachary and help him earn his place as Jerome's inner disciple. Once he started something, he would end it. Otherwise, with Andrew's sense of danger, he should have gathered Lauren and the others and left Goldridge when things started smelling off. After all, Henry, Scarlett, and the three ruling leaders from Gabo Creek were all gathered here in Goldridge. With all these major players from the Southern Martial Union, it was obvious that something huge was brewing.

---- Andrew had sensed it the second he entered this city, but he had brushed it off at the time. "Stop right there!" Just as Andrew expected, the moment he arrived at the main gates of the headquarters, he was blocked. This time, though, it was not the same two guards he and Zachary had met before. It was a full-fledged martial king, and about seven elite fighters were hovering at the peak senior grandmaster level. This was not just security anymore. It looked more like a lockdown.

With this kind of setup, Andrew knew that even he would have to exert some serious effort to break through. "I'm here to see Mr. Thornton," he said calmly. His eyes caught sight of a red ribbon tied around the martial king's sleeve. "What business do you have with Mr. Thornton?" The martial king kept his hands tucked inside his wide sleeves. He was a short, elderly man.

He lifted his brows but kept a blank expression as he questioned Andrew Andrew looked right at him and replied coolly, "I don't know why he wants to meet me. Why don't you go ask him yourself?" ---- The old man squinted his narrow eyes, then suddenly raised his hand. "Let him through." Andrew did not flinch and walked right past him, brushing shoulders. Their eyes locked in that brief moment, and Andrew could feel the man's killing intent, ready to explode at any moment.

This Southern Martial Union headquarters had apparently become a deadly trap, a place where nine out of ten who entered would never leave alive Andrew let out a quiet sigh in his heart. What the hell was Jerome trying to pull? He had zero interest in walking into some massive mess the minute he arrived in Goldridge. But at this point, it did not matter what he wanted, because he was already dragged into it.