Chapter 288: The crucible of War

Journey to the frontlines

/*unedited*/

A week has passed in a blink of an eye.

A strange vehicle can be seen traveling through the dry desert land of Beastia. In this vehicle sat two people sat in an ambiguous manner a handsome young man and a mature beautiful woman with wavy fiery hair.

Shin Jiao has spent these few days, while the demon queen Agnes is recuperating, creating gears for his plan to enter the demon territory. He has also informed Qian Li, through a long-range communication, that he would be staying in the border for some time.

Although Qian Li was a bit hesitant, she knew that Shin Jiao has a plan and she can only blame herself for being too weak to follow him.

What Qian Li didn't tell Shin Jiao was her encounter while returning to the Great City of Wu.

That is because she was besieged by a group of demon spies while on her way. She was only able to escape her dangerous circumstance due to the gears she had and the protective pill that Shin Jiao gave her. After she miraculously killed the demons, she extracted very disturbing information.

And this information is something that can have a great effect on the kingdom of Wu or the whole empire itself.

After the call, Shin Jiao focused on his mission at hand.

He learned from Agnes that the demon has occupied the most part of the northern portion of the continent. Although they numbered by millions, the continent if too huge for them to conquer that easily. Hence the demon forces have been scattered.

But because of their brute force and gigantic strength, the beast clan which also relies on brute strength was unable to stand against the demons.

The hoverbike which Shin Jiao created zoomed smoothly through the desert sand. The two decided to travel using this method because they wanted to approach the demon's territory stealthily. The hoverbike is something that Shin Jiao created a while back but was not able to use it because most of the terrains in the cultivation land are full of trees.

The smooth travel of the two made Agnes appreciate the feeling of the warm air hitting her face. With her strength, she could not even feel the scorching rays of the sun. Warm would be the closest word to describe this temperature.

"Hey, Agnes… when we get to the first beast clan city you have to be low-key okay. You must show your true strength or else our plan would not work." Shin Jiao reminded.

Hearing his word, Agnes frowns.

"Why do you call me by my human name? Do you think this queen would not hit you?" Agnes the demon queen suddenly grumbles.

Shin Jiao has already helped her recover her health and strength back. With the use of healing solutions and healing vat, the recovery of Agnes was faster. She even recovers the mana she had lost in her escape from the demon stronghold.

"Hey, hey, we are partners, right? Why do you mind? Plus remember our goal, if you compromise our mission, then I would definitely leave you and do it alone." Shin Jiao warned.

As they continue traveling the two reached a small oasis in the middle of two large rocks that looks like small mountains.

"Agnes, we should stop there for a while. Maybe we can meet other people or beings in that place." Shin Jiao said as he directed the hoverbike to the oasis.

However, before they can reach the place, Agnes whispered something in Shin Jiao's ears and he replied with a nod.

"There are people or beast-men hiding around that area. They might be bandits trying to ambush anything or anyone who comes to this place."

Shin Jiao already knew this as he also sensed the killing intent of those beast folks.

But Shin Jiao doesn't care as his goal in this place is to get more information. Whether he gets it through the bandits or through other people it's the same. Merchants or bandits are great sources of information during wartime.

In his time as a spy, he would always use those merchants and soldiers to get information. Although most of the time he would always do so through many underhanded ways.

Right at this time, Shin Jiao and Agnes arrived at the outskirts of the oasis. To their surprise the Oasis is actually very huge, it more of a small paradise than an oasis.

Suddenly from the rocks on both sides jumps out a group of beast-men that looks like desert horned lizards. Carrying refined weapons and desert colored armors; they swarmed towards Shin Jiao and Agnes like flies.

"Hahaha… Welcome to our lair blind fools! This is a place where you can enter freely but you can never leave. Hehe…" the largest desert lizard man said in a deep voice as he walked forward through the crowd.

"Hello! We are just a traveler looking for direction. If you could please tell us the way to the nearest city then we would be grateful." Shin Jiao said.

However, the eyes of the desert lizard men are not at Shin Jiao. They are all looking at the beauty sitting behind him with unconcealed lust.

Most beast-men covet the beauty of cultivators, and this is also one of the reasons for the war between the races. Plus not all beast-men have a hideous appearance. For example the proud feline clans and the submissive and peace-loving rabbit clan. These two clans are known to have the closest resemblance to humans. However, out of these two clans, the rabbit clans would always suffer the brunt of this dog eat dog world because of their peace-loving attitude and weak trait, while the feline clan is one of the hegemony clans in Beastia.

As the lizardmen look at Agnes with their lust-filled eyes, Shin Jiao could not help but sigh because of the bad luck of these bandits. They are not aware that what they are ogling at is the famous demon queen. And so their fate is already decided at this time.

And true to Shin Jiao's conjecture, he can now feel suffocating pressure coming from the killing intent of Agnes who is sitting behind him.

"I wanted to make some lizard stew today." She muttered under her breath.

"Okay, but you must leave that big guy alive. We need to get something out of him." Shin Jiao said as he folded his hand in a relaxed manner.

Immediately jumping into action, Shin Jiao wanted to unconsciously cover his nose because of the bloodlust coming out of Agnes. Before the lizardmen could react to this, they were already trembling from her great killing intent.

Swoosh!!!

With a sudden move, a lizard man was decapitated and his body slumped to the ground headless.

"The woman is crazy! Everyone, attack!" seeing one of his men dying, the lizardmen leader shouted.

Then suddenly another one died with a clawed hand appearing out of his chest from behind. Then with a flick, Agnes threw the corpse of the lizard man to the group like nothing.

This scene didn't deter the lizard men bandits as they continuously tried to attack Agnes. But with her cultivation level and speed, she just played with them until almost every one of the lizardmen bandits are dead.

She then stood atop a stone and slowly licks her bloodied hands.

This action of hers made Shin Jiao cringe in disgust.

He could not help but look at her beautiful figure which now looks like a real demon queen with blood all over her body. Her previously gray robe and white skirt are not dyed in crimson blood.

The leader of the lizardmen is now on the ground with fear clearly visible on his lizard eyes.

"So, would you kindly guide us to where the nearest city is?" Shin Jiao asked with a smile.

While trembling, the lizardmen bandit leader slowly pointed towards the direction of the west. Upon seeing the direction, Shin Jiao extended his hand and a small circular object appears. Then he threw it up as it began to hover in the air.

"Let's see if you are telling the truth. If you are lying to me, one of your limbs will come off." Shin Jiao said with a smile that looks sinister when the lizardmen leader saw it.

Suddenly, he saw the small object began flying at a fast speed towards the direction he pointed as Shin Jiao observe through his goggles.

Suddenly, he frowns.

This is because; the drone he sent suddenly disappeared.

"Hmm… A trap? I see… so you wanted to send us to our death using a trap. What a nice fellow." Shin Jiao said as he suddenly took out a small handgun.

Peng!

In one shot, the arm of the lizard man was blown to bits.

Arrgghh!!!

"Hmm… This guy has the cultivation of a gold core realm beast-man." Shin Jiao thought as he noticed the slight toughness and resistance of the physique of the lizardmen bandit leader.

"Again, where is the direction of the nearest city?" Shin Jiao pointed the handgun towards his other arm.

"No more! No more! I will tell. I will tell… There go east, there is an oasis. Then go north." The lizardmen leader shouted through his gritted teeth as he tried to endure the pain of his blasted left arm.

After that Shin Jiao confirmed the direction, and after thirty minutes he nodded his head.

"Thank you." Shin Jiao said as he pointed the nozzle of his gun towards the lizardmen bandit leader's head.

However, before he can press the trigger…

"Stop! Please Don't!"