Chapter 44
A rolling mountain horizon enveloped the entire valley, with trees and peaks stretching everywhere. This valley, which seemed endless, was called the East Straight Boundary. It was a hundred miles wide and served as a division between the Cultivation world and the Beast-men. For a thousand years, the two races waged war in this valley, making it thick with Death Qi. But no matter how many died or who won, this natural border seemed to truly act as a division of the natural order of things. Whichever side won, the mountainous area was a great hurdle that prevented either nation from conquering the other. They had no choice but to cross this valley, as flying was impossible due to the sharp winds at high altitudes that could kill even a Nascent Soul cultivator.
This situation warranted peace between the two warring factions, which had now lasted for hundreds of years. But peace was only temporary, as a great number of Beast-men were now marching towards the boundary near the valley.
"General Agrool, the army is prepared to cross the border of the East Straight Boundary. I think the spies may have told us the truth; the Death Qi in this area is far thinner than in the West Straight Boundary. Plus, they have informed us that the humans have only built weaker walls on the other side. After we finish them here, we'll just trample those settlements and invade their empire," said a soldier to the man clad in thick, red leather armor and a red cloak. The man's helmet was made of bronze, with a lion's snout protruding from it and two long, sharp fangs.
The lion Beast-man general, Agrool, nodded his head in confirmation. He then signaled with his hand to move forward as he began to march. And so, the entire army, which seemed to number between 10 to 20 thousand, began its march.
Inside General Agrool's mind, the Beast King had explicitly commanded him to test the humans' defenses. If they could infiltrate the land, he was to move at least a few miles towards the mountains and establish a stronghold there.
General Agrool knew the situation in the Beastia Empire. Although it was a truly large empire with powerful Beast-men governing it, its resources were truly scarce. They had sent envoys to the humans, but the humans seemed not to heed this plea, and now their only choice was to fight just to have a portion of that fertile land.
A long time ago, this was not the case, as the two Empires were living in peace. Then, exactly a thousand years ago, the humans began a violent act against the Beast Empire. The story told at that time was that the Beast King had killed the young prince of the Xi Empire who acted as an envoy. This sparked the hatred between the races, which escalated from assassinations to minor skirmishes, and then to a full-blown war. This was the start of everything, which had cost many lives of both humans and Beast-men.
Meanwhile, on the scout camp near the middle of the East Straight border, a man was monitoring from atop a high tower, which had the ability to see even the boundary of the Beast-men's land. The man squinted his eyes, and a look of suspicion appeared in them. When he was about to call for his superior to confirm something, an arrow suddenly found its way to his neck. The man then fell with a loud thud, making his other team members jump in caution. But it was too late as they suddenly discovered a number of enemies appearing from the shadows.
"Shadow concealment! You're from the Panther Assassination Squad of the Beast Clan?" a man who looked like the leader of the scout group uttered in disbelief.
"Hehe, you know about us, then you know what will happen next, right?" a young woman suddenly said.
Looking at her figure, she seemed not to be of the Beast-man race because she looked like a normal human except for her long black tail. In her hand was a wooden longbow already notched with an arrow. Upon seeing this, the scouts immediately tried to fight back, as they knew that this woman was here to kill them all. So they decided to put up a fight rather than die like lambs.
But before the scouting team's cultivators could react, two arrows immediately found themselves in the chests of two scout members. Their leader felt cold sweat drenching his back as his sense of danger warned him nonstop; it was clear that the woman in front of him would not hesitate to kill him.
"Hehe, you're the only one left. I guess I'll spare you," the woman said as if she felt conflicted.
Upon hearing this, the captain of the scout group felt hopeful in his heart. Then he slowly stood up, but never took his eyes off the woman.
"Thank you…" The man said as he quickly dashed out of the small observation camp.
"Are you really going to spare him? You know that we should not let the human army be informed of our movements," a man who suddenly appeared behind the woman said.
"Let me have fun, okay?" the woman said as she slowly took her time drawing an arrow.
The scout leader was now dozens of meters away as he quickly flew on a flying sword. When he was able to get out of the scout camp, he was in. But unlike higher-level cultivators, his flying speed was a little laughable, as this was due to his weak cultivation level in the Core Forming realm. When he was almost a kilometer away, the woman suddenly released the arrow, which flew really fast and not long after pierced the scout leader's head directly.
"Everything here is done. We need to go back and regroup with the army," the man behind her said.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the valley, it was all silent with no activity. The top of the walls had no visible soldiers marching about, and even the sentry towers were empty. This scene was made for a deserted post as though everyone at this border seemed to have withdrawn back toward the mountain.
As the sun was almost setting, the border looked gloomy, as either this post was abandoned or there was a hidden plan brewing deep within this area, as this place was under the control of the 2nd Prince, Prince Li Yan Xi, or what was commonly known in the army as the Dragon Commander.
At this time, near the boundary of the Haven Town, a huge beast that looked like a small mountain had emerged. In front of the beast was a young man who was already unable to control himself in fear and peed his pants. The soldiers on his side held their weapons, but it was clear that they, too, were afraid, as their hands were shaking continuously with some rattling sounds every now and then.
This was the 4th Prince of the Er Kingdom, Prince Nie Er. In front of him was the huge mouth of the worm-like creature, which, with only its breathing, caused all the humans around it to feel like they were suffocating.
"This is bad; that is a Land Devouring Worm. We should let everyone escape this area, as even I would have a hard time fighting against this kind of Level 5 beast," Master Ju said as he hovered through the air, looking at the beast with Elder Ao and Elder Lu Hao Duang.
The two elders just nodded their heads and immediately relayed Master Ju's orders, making everyone in the camp pack up their things and immediately move away from the supposed battle area. Unknown to them, there were two silhouettes located behind the worm, where two young women stood rooted to the ground. Their bodies were stiff, and their eyes looked moist, which could be seen on the one without the mask. But the one with the mask had her shoulder suddenly started shaking, which signified that she was already unable to control her emotions.
The two were Qin Lou and Susu Ling, and they saw what had happened. When Shin Jiao was attacked in his tent, the two accidentally heard something and wanted to check it out. When they went out of their tent, they saw a figure rush out of Shin Jiao's tent like a shadow.
This made their hearts wary, and a foreboding feeling filled them with a sense of dread. Then they quickly rushed inside Shin Jiao's tent and saw the blood on the floor without a body. The two had a tacit understanding and immediately rushed out, trying to find the shadow they saw earlier. With the help of Qin Lou's eye cover, they were able to find traces and went in the right direction.
Then they saw the body wrapped in a blanket, and the face was far too clearly that of Shin Jiao, making Qin Lou grip her heart in pain. She had viewed Shin Jiao with respect and truly considered him a true friend. Upon seeing her friend die in front of her, she froze in shock. She never would have thought that he, who seemed too strong and a secretive person, would die just like that. Then Shin Jiao's image and his goggles played in her eyes over and over again as her eyes started to tear up.
At the same time, Susu Ling also felt stifled. Though she didn't have that close of a relationship with Shin Jiao, she still considered him a friend. Because of their constant bantering and his bullying, she had to admit that it made her feel his presence as something she wanted in her boring life. He was the first male friend she had who would not harbor any thoughts of making a move on her because of her beauty or background. And seeing him die just like that made her heart hurt for an unknown reason.
As the two women were unable to move in shock, nobody had actually noticed them.
"Young prince, it's better if you walk away from this place, as it is far too dangerous for you to be here," an elderly voice said behind the 4th prince of Er, which startled him and the guards.
When they turned around, they saw Master Ju behind them, who leisurely landed on the ground. Then he looked at the huge beast in front and heaved a sigh of exasperation. He knew that he might lose a layer of skin fighting the mountain-like creature in front of him, but he didn't mind. All he needed was to buy the people he was with time so that they could enter the town and inform the other higher-level cultivators, and ask for back-up.
"Thank you, Master Ju. You must kill this beast. It… it ate a mortal servant. I think it was the one with Mistress Susu Ling and her friend," Prince Nie Er said as he immediately thought of something.
"What? This... that boy… are you sure? Sigh… this is truly a waste of talent," Master Ju said in exasperation.
"What do you mean by that, Master Ju? Isn't he just a mere mortal servant?" Prince Nie Er asked in confusion.
"He might be a mortal, but with his talent in making formation arrays, your Er Kingdom could have another layer of protection. As far as I know, if that boy could only cultivate, he could create at least Level 4 or even Level 5 formation arrays," Master Ju said as if seeing the possible future of Shin Jiao with sadness. He didn't hide this information as he heard that Shin Jiao was already dead.
"But alas, he is dead... Young Prince, go now! I'll take care of this beast," Master Ju said.
When Prince Nie Er heard this, his heart felt a little angered. He didn't expect that he could have had a future prospect who could be his greatest contribution to his father, but it all went to waste because of him following the command of a wasted prince. As a prince, he knew that formation experts in the Er Kingdom could only be counted on two hands. And the highest they had was only a Level 2 formation array expert, who was now serving under his father's command. And because of that expert, they would always win battles after battles against the beast tide.
With a heavy heart, Prince Nie Er stood up and began to move with the soldiers. But when they started to move forward, the Land Devouring Worm suddenly made a loud shriek as it looked at their group.
"Run! Don't stop! I'll try to stop the beast, so go! Now!" Master Ju shouted as he quickly made some hand signals and took out a bunch of formation flags.
As an array expert, Master Ju was truly proficient in making battle arrays, especially attacking arrays. In one quick move, he was able to make a fire attacking array in front of him, facing the huge beast. When the beast moved, wanting to jump towards Prince Nie Er, the array activated and attacked the Land Devouring Worm.
Growwlll!
The huge worm howled in pain as its body began to be covered with fire. Prince Nie Er took this chance and immediately flew away, making the worm truly angry. Although it didn't have any eyes, through its growls, it was clearly pissed at the humans who had escaped. Then it suddenly shifted its attention to the single man who was attacking it. But before it could react, it suddenly felt some pain from its tail.
And there, it noticed two small figures attacking it over and over. Although the damage was insignificant, it was still enough for it to feel a little bit of pain, like an ant bite. Then it waved its tail, trying to hit the two insects behind it.
Master Ju noticed the Land Devouring Worm's actions and felt a little confused. He didn't know what was happening, so he used his spiritual sense and was dumbfounded. He could see Susu Ling and Qin Lou madly attacking the worm's tail. But before he could react and save them, the worm did something outrageous: its head suddenly disappeared.
Meanwhile, while these things were happening, Shin Jiao was watching stealthily from a tree. He had actually noticed the two women attacking the tail and wanted to jump out and stop them, but he saw Master Ju. He was unable to decide whether to stop the two women and risk exposing his true identity to Master Ju or just watch and jump out in case of any danger. But while he was undecided, something he didn't expect happened, which would remind Shin Jiao once again of the unpredictability of this world.
When the worm's head disappeared, it actually transferred to its tail. Then, suddenly, with a huge suction, it made the two women float in the air and towards its huge, gaping mouth.