Front Line of the Beast Tide, Part 2

Yan Jin frowned slightly, his dark brow pressing on his lush, beautiful eyelashes. His gaze fell upon Jiang Xiaocao.

The other party was truly too unremarkable.

Both his temperament and appearance, at first glance, were not outstanding at all.

But upon closer inspection, one would find that he was actually born extremely well, yet precisely because he was too good, he was like a flower without fragrance, somewhat uninteresting.

He wasn’t stupid, so he naturally understood what Bai Ying and the others’ actions and expressions meant, but Yan Jin didn’t care.

To him, Jiang Xiaocao posed no threat whatsoever.

He gripped the reins, giving a gentle tug backward. The red horse beneath him immediately raised its head and puffed out its chest.

Yan Jin cast a faint glance at Jiang Xiaocao, then scolded the red horse with a dismissive look, saying coldly, “Truly not picky.”

The red horse thought, ‘What do you know? This is a rare, good grass, encountered once in ten thousand years.’

But there was a language barrier between beast and human, and its master had an inherent prejudice, so it couldn’t resist.

It could only snort two jets of hot air from its nostrils to express its dissatisfaction.

Jiang Xiaocao said nothing. He simply stared at him with wide eyes for a moment, then suddenly turned to Su Qing and said, “Su Qing, I’m so thirsty and hungry. When will we reach Zhenyao Pass?”

Su Qing snapped back to reality. Indeed, it was too much to ask a blade of grass to walk in the desert for a month. They had to hurry.

Thinking of this, she said to Yan Jin, “We are in a hurry to travel.

I presume you also have important matters to attend to. Let’s not delay. We’ll part ways here and catch up later.”

Yan Jin’s hand gripping the reins tightened instantly.

He swept past Xiaocao, looking at Su Qing. “After you leave Zhenyao Pass, you’ll need to choose a camp. How about joining mine? I have many cultivation resources suitable for body cultivators here.”

Su Qing’s heart stirred slightly, but she remembered her promise to Bayin and shook her head, “I can’t say for sure. I need to see and then decide.”

Rejected repeatedly, Yan Jin, though not naturally arrogant, felt particularly embarrassed at this moment. He snorted coldly, put on his helmet again, and tightened the reins, “Let’s go.”

Although the red horse no longer dared to lick, it still watched Jiang Xiaocao with a longing gaze.

Yan Jin called it, and it was half a beat slow to react, earning it a sarcastic remark, “What, are you hungry and thirsty too? Then you’ve followed the wrong person. I won’t spoil you.”

His words were meant for the horse, but they seemed to carry another layer of meaning.

The dozen or so riders arrived like a hurricane and departed just as quickly.

In a few breaths, the sound of hooves galloped into the distance, their figures disappearing at the edge of the yellow sand.

Perhaps the young master was just a bit displeased at losing face.

Su Qing felt nothing. She looked at Zhenyao Pass ahead, “Zhenyao Pass has a curfew at dusk.

If we don’t make it, we’ll have to spend the night outside the pass.”

At the thought of hot, steaming meals and comfortable, soft beds inside the pass, everyone was re-energized, pushing forward with high spirits towards the pass.

Gu Zimou sneaked up to Jiang Xiaocao and nudged him, “You’re amazing.”

Jiang Xiaocao asked in confusion, “What?”

Gu Zimou gestured, “Your tactic of feigning retreat to advance! He’s the young city lord with a million spirit stones per horse, and you so easily forced him to retreat, leaving him defeated. Even though we have no grudges, I hate the rich, so I’m unconditionally on your side!”

Jiang Xiaocao frowned in confusion, “Are you talking about the person on horseback? I don’t care who he is, and Su Qing doesn’t care about him either. So, what if his horse costs a million spirit stones?”

Gu Zimou suddenly found himself speechless. Bai Ying walked up and nudged him as well, saying meaningfully, “Mindset determines everything.”

Jiang Shuyi also nudged him, “How does that saying go? Only the unloved are the third wheel?”

Hua Ling shook her head, “That’s not how that saying is used, is it? By order of arrival, our little Xiaocao was first.”

[Open Jinjiang App and scan to read]

Gu Zimou yelled, “Why is everyone bumping into me? Wait for me.”

They hurried and finally made it into Zhenyao Pass just before curfew.

This place was less a pass and more a long, narrow town.

The defenses of Zhenyao Pass were very strict.

The soldiers guarding the entrance repeatedly verified Su Qing and her group’s entry permits, then meticulously questioned them on a few points.

After confirming everything was in order, they allowed them to enter the pass.

The city was very desolate.

Almost all the people walking in the streets were cultivators, their auras heavy.

Most of them moved in a hurry, carrying the stench of bloodlust.

Zhenyao Pass only had one inn for resting, and its decor was very simple, barely windproof.

Service was practically non-existent; even calling for hot water took ages.

As for food, it was mostly naan bread soaked in broth made from demon beast meat, with no scum skimmed from the surface, making it truly fishy and gamey. The wine, however, was plentiful.

Most people who came here were risking their lives to seek opportunities, so these external comforts were not important.

The team consisted of six people, who opened two large rooms.

Su Qing, Hua Ling, and Jiang Shuyi stayed together, while Jiang Xiaocao, Gu Zimou, and Bai Ying stayed in the other room.

The innkeeper was a decrepit old woman, with wrinkles upon wrinkles, her eyelids drooping almost to her mouth.

Her flat lips revealed an unkind and indifferent demeanor.

Su Qing could tell she was a cultivator, but couldn’t discern her cultivation level, probably above her own.

The old woman rummaged through a drawer for room keys, her lips flapping. “Extinguish the candles at nightfall, close your doors and windows tightly. Don’t open for anyone who knocks, even if you need to pee in the middle of the night, better to do it in your pants than go outside.”

Gu Zimou asked curiously, “What happens if we go out?”

The old woman paused, then heavily slapped down two room keys, sneering, “Try it and see, won’t you?”

Her eyes were sharp as knives. Gu Zimou shrank his neck and dared not speak.

Su Qing realized that Zhenyao Pass was probably far less safe than they imagined.

Even though it was a human outpost, being too close to the Myriad Beast Forest meant that many demon beasts probably infiltrated it.

After all, although the city’s defenses were strict, they weren’t as impenetrable as an iron barrel, and demons possessed countless skills and methods, who knew how they might have snuck in.

Su Qing reiterated, “Everyone in each room must supervise each other. Under no circumstances should you open doors or windows, or leave your rooms.”

She, Hua Ling, and Jiang Shuyi took the room keys and entered their room.

Once inside, they immediately closed the doors and windows tightly.

The room was furnished just enough. Candles were placed in holes dug into the walls.

There was only one large communal bed and a few quilts, as well as meditation cushions for cultivators on the floor.

Other than that, there was nothing.

Hua Ling stretched lazily, rubbing her neck, “I’ve been meditating the whole way here. Tonight, I definitely need to lie down and rest. This bed is big enough for the three of us to squeeze onto…”

As she grumbled, she casually lifted the quilt.

The next second, she shot straight up and clung to Su Qing, “There are bugs!”

Honestly, Su Qing had traveled with her all this way and had never seen her so agile.

Jiang Shuyi said speechlessly, “So there are bugs. Aren’t you from the Beast School? What are you afraid of bugs for?”

She went closer to look. The next second, she also jumped up and clung to Su Qing, “Holy cow, why is it so big!”

Su Qing, carrying two human-shaped hangers, carefully stepped closer to look, and couldn’t help but feel her scalp tingle.

Lying conspicuously in the quilt was a purple-black centipede, a full meter long, its body coiled deep within the quilt like a venomous snake, making one’s skin crawl.

Its body surface glowed with an eerie luster, seemingly mixed with some kind of venom.

Every joint of the centipede’s segmented body subtly wriggled, thousands of legs twitching simultaneously, as if it was about to launch an attack at any moment.

Jiang Shuyi yelled, “Where’s your Golden Peng bird?!”

Hua Ling exclaimed in despair, “The Golden Peng bird already flew into the beast pouch! It’s scared too!”

Jiang Shuyi, “What’s a bird afraid of bugs for?”

“Who wouldn’t be afraid of bugs bigger than themselves?!” Hua Ling argued loudly, “And don’t you know the Beast School saying, ‘Beasts follow their master’s lead’?”

Afraid wasn’t exactly not afraid; Su Qing generally wasn’t afraid of things she could fight.

But it was disgusting. She gritted her teeth and sent out a vertical sword qi, splitting the centipede.

Purple-black fluid instantly splashed all over the bedding.

The centipede was dead, but its incomplete limbs still twitched and convulsed for a while before finally going still.

“This centipede is a first-tier low-grade demon beast.”

It was normal for a room to have bugs, but if the bugs had evolved into demon beasts, Su Qing couldn’t help but feel her scalp tingle.

This bedspread was completely unusable.

It was wrapped up with the centipede’s corpse and tossed into a corner.

As dusk approached and the sky gradually darkened, Su Qing extinguished the candles in the room.

The three of them squeezed onto the communal bed and closed their eyes, trying to sleep.

Of course, from their companions’ breathing, it was clear that no one was truly asleep.

Su Qing closed her eyes and circulated her spiritual energy to cultivate.

Before long, she heard an extremely noisy gust of wind outside the window.

As she listened, she realized something was amiss. This was not the sound of wind; it was clearly the sound of countless wings flapping mixed together.

Hua Ling opened her wide eyes and transmitted, [It’s blood-sucking moths! They love to drink human blood the most!]

These creatures resembled ordinary moths but were larger, with wings that could span half a foot when fully spread.

They lived by feeding on blood, not discriminating between animal and human.

Their mouthparts had evolved into needle-like structures, both venomous and sharp, capable of instantly piercing skin.

A single moth was nothing to fear, but a swarm of moths… could probably drain a cow into a hide within half an hour.

These creatures resembled moths in their habits, loving light and exhibiting phototaxis.

No wonder the innkeeper told them to extinguish the candles; there was this underlying reason.

Because their room had long since extinguished its lights, this swarm of moths merely passed by.

Soon, the unsettling flapping sound disappeared into the distance.

But heaven didn’t make it easy for them. Not long after, a knocking sound came from outside the window—”thump, thump, thump“—very rhythmic, as if a hand was resting on the window.

Hua Ling, worthy of being an excellent Beast School disciple in both academics and character, widened her eyes and said in horror, [It’s bone-marrow-eating birds! They specialize in eating human brain marrow! That sound is them pecking at human skulls with their beaks!]

Meaning there was a flock of birds outside the window, waiting to shatter it, fly in, and eat their brains?

Su Qing rolled over.

As long as it didn’t come in, she would pretend not to hear. But if it did come in, then who ate whose brain would be uncertain.

She closed her eyes and continued to feign sleep. Just then, a rustling sound came from outside the door. Someone was calling “Help! Help!” in a strange accent.

Su Qing thought: ‘Bad pronunciation. Go back and re-cultivate.’

Hua Ling transmitted, [It’s the Mimic Snake! This snake will reside in the spine until it eats out the insides bit by bit, only then will it emerge!]

Jiang Shuyi said faintly,

[You know what? Actually, if you didn’t tell me, I wouldn’t be scared at all.]

It’s only now that I know there’s a bunch of demon beasts outside waiting to drink human blood, eat human flesh, and suck brains, that I can’t sleep!

[It’s fine, sleep.]

Su Qing rolled over again.

This time, she was face up. She said serenely,

[As long as we’re in bed, no one can harm us.]