Chapter 193: War: Li Jiao and Lu Wi

Li Jiao walked out of the tent to see the reverence of the soldiers as they passed by her. They bowed with some courtesy and scurried to the front of the tent. Their eyes showed a level of pure fanaticism, as if they could walk in the fire if Lu Zhen told them to.

She sighed as she thought, "Lu Zhen has the charisma to turn these war-hardened people into his pawns; he doesn't only have brawn but brains as well." Li Jiao walked through the crowd of soldiers before she finally saw him. However, the moment she did, her eyes widened to the zenith.

Still, she was relatively calm and carefully looked at the severed head and the battered body of the man.

"Is this the second-stage martial artist that he had attacked previously?" she thought to herself.

However, when she clearly saw the severed head of the man, a tear involuntarily fell from her eyes.

Thud!

Li Jiao fell to the ground as she cried profusely.

"Eh." Lu Zhen was stunned as he saw her crying like a mad woman.

"Why are you crying so much?" he muttered to himself, however, he didn't ask, considering she didn't speak.

Constructing a camp wasn't a difficult thing to do for martial artists, just like constructing boats, which was relatively easy to do even as manual labor. So after capturing the fortress, which was burnt to ashes, they simply built another one rather than crossing the Devil River again.

A strange silence permeated as she cried her heart out, while the entire camp of soldiers and captains was in silence, just looking at her, even though Lu Zhen was curiously looking at her.

Time passed as she finally stopped sobbing and looked at him with a relieved expression.

"I am sorry, young master... I...." Li Jiao finally looked at Lu Zhen with an apologetic expression.

"I can understand," Lu Zhen said with a wave of his hands. Actually, he couldn't understand the context, however, he just went with the flow.

"Tell me what happened to her," he sent a voice transmission to the bald captain before leaving to enter his own camp.

The soldiers made way for Lu Zhen with fanaticism in their eyes.

However, before he could even walk ten steps, suddenly he was stopped by Lu Wi, who tugged at his collar with an expressionless face.

"What is it?"

"Can I talk to you in private?"

"Sure, if you want to..."

Lu Zhen said as they both went to his camp.

"So, what does Miss Wi want to talk about?" he said with an expressionless face.

Even now, Lu Wi hadn't taken off her makeup and her dress, even though it was time for war.

"Young master, I want to talk about..."

"So, that is the case, huh..." Lu Zhen put a finger to his chin as if he was thinking about something; however, he shrugged his shoulders soon after as he resumed his meditation to recover the demonic Qi he lost.

Basically, the story was that when she was a child and had just joined the family, Li Jiao made friends with a young girl around her age, as she was the one who showed kindness towards her.

As they completed their training and were ingrained with the principles of the Lu family--basically like school in Lu Zhen's previous world--they ventured out to do various missions. During that time, they formed even deeper bonds, helping each other out and gaining a reputation as the "little twin beauties" among the others.

They made a continuous streak of successful missions, one complementing the other, earning them fear and respect.

However, reality was cruel and almost always delivered a hard slap when you deviated from it!

They messed up in one of the missions by accidentally crossing paths with the grand elder of the Xia family.

At least her friend did, while she completed her mission.

Li Jiao watched her friend's lifeless body as it was cleaved in two by a sword. However, her life was saved because she got lucky and was unconscious, witnessing her friend's death.

The man couldn't care less about a child and didn't bother to look at his surroundings. Why would he care about some bugs? Even if the Lu family finds out, would they really pursue him just for these bugs?

And the rest was history, so Li Jiao had a hatred for the man, and now that he is dead, naturally, she was mourning for her friend and crying for the death of the guy in excitement.

Lu Zhen breathed in a rhythmic sequence as he slowly took in attributeless Qi from the air and converted it into Demonic Qi by circulating it in his bloodline--the greenish patch of blood. However, it was slowly thinning out bit by bit as he circulated it.

"The bloodline is drying out..." Lu Zhen thought as he finally opened his eyes.

"If this goes on, my bloodline will be finished before I could cultivate any further."

This demonic Qi was an ace in the hole for Lu Zhen. How could he lose such a precious thing?

"Maybe I should meet with Xia Mei after the war," Lu Zhen thought with a frown on his face.

The idea of seeking guidance from Xia Mei seemed like a wise choice, considering she and his mothers were the only ones he knew that possessed knowledge about bloodlines.

Contemplating this, Lu Zhen sighed as he continued to meditate to recover the demonic Qi. He wasn't an idiot who wouldn't utilize the resources in his arsenal just because of bias. The most crucial thing for Lu Zhen was his survival and the enhancement of his strength, which, in turn, would increase his freedom.

If Lu Zhen were a first-stage martial artist, he might have already stormed the gates of the Xia family and exacted revenge. Unfortunately, he was no match for them at the moment, so he could only contribute to these smaller battles for now.

No matter which world you're truly free you need strength in either the physical, connection wise or intelligence. Either way you need to excel in one of these things.

.....

"I have avenged my friend," Li Jiao muttered to herself as she solemnly burned the ashes of her deceased comrade.

After burning the ashes, Li Jiao suddenly felt a cold wind blow over her, leaving an eerie silence in its wake.

"Now what should I do?" Li Jiao pondered, experiencing a sense of loneliness for the first time. Her relentless pursuit of strength had been fueled by the desire for revenge.

Although she hadn't directly executed it, the object of her vengeance was now deceased. With the mission accomplished, she felt a void, unsure of what to do next.