A Demon's Journey

Tiana managed to enter the Pinhian Republic safely due to Yrellea's efforts.

Yrellea guided Tiana to the nearest city and soon met up with her. She had moved to this city earlier to meet Tiana.

It had been nearly 5 months since the two saw each other.

"Heya," Tiana greeted Yrellea with a warm smile.

Yrellea responded with a nod while speaking, "So, you finally moved out of the Sinyalian Kingdom. I was worried that the Sinyalian Kingdom's borders with the Lamhilhan Theocracy would be sealed tight. It seems there was scope to breach them."

Tiana smiled upon hearing those words. She shook her head negatively, "Nope. There was no scope to breach them in the normal way. Even if I used my entire wealth, I would have failed to bribe those soldiers."

"…Then how?" Yrellea showed a surprised expression.

"Hehe…I instigated a beast raid and used them to enter the Lamhilhan Theocracy," Tiana spoke out with a proud expression.

The pupils in Yrellea's eyes widened instantly. She understood what Tiana meant. With a slight smile, she spoke, "…That was unexpected. I certainly wasn't expecting you to use such a method."

"I heard the news of the Lamhilhan Theocracy's conflict with the Sinyalian Kingdom and knew that it would be very difficult to pass the borders unless I did something surprising. After coming up with nothing, I thought how Master would likely deal with this issue and then came up with this idea."

"Master would cause enough chaos to confuse both sides and slip through the borders during that time," Tiana spoke.

She was certainly proud to have thought of this method.

"…The Lamhilhan Theocracy's forces didn't pursue you?" Yrellea asked, a bit curious. She knew that the Radiant Church ruled over that territory. There was no way they would let Tiana leave unharmed.

"I think most of the soldiers who saw me enter with the beast raid died. But I was cautious enough to not enter any towns or cities. I jumped from one village to another," Tiana responded with a shrug.

Meanwhile, Yrellea glanced at the Frozen Spirit Fox that was happily ingesting its meal and asked, "Didn't she gain any attention?"

"I didn't take her into the village with me. I figured that even if a soldier saw me atop her, he couldn't have seen my face clearly. As long as I am not seen together with Snow, they won't associate me with her," Tiana responded. 𝐟𝘳𝑒𝗲𝘸e𝒃𝘯𝒐𝐯e𝚕.c𝒐𝒎

"…You are right," Yrellea spoke while staring at Tiana.

"The path onwards will be much more dangerous," Yrellea added with a grave expression.

Tiana nodded in understanding, "I know. To reach the Empire of Qian Guo, I have to pass through the borders of three to four kingdoms. We have no connections in those kingdoms, so it will be very difficult."

Yrellea nodded and spoke, "That's right. You can go through the sea, but I am afraid that you can't bypass the strict checking of the Empire of Qian Guo. Its security is much different compared to that of kingdoms. It's guarded by a special array formation that would instantly alert the guards if an intruder entered their territory. I am sure they have already marked the entire border that touches the ocean."

"…Is there no other way?" Tiana asked. She had to reach the Empire of Qian Guo to achieve her objective.

"There might be one way. But it's dangerous," Yrellea spoke with a serious expression.

"What is it?" Tiana asked.

"…Remember what Noah informed us. He managed to enter the Great Qin Empire's territory through a forbidden forest. Even the Great Qin Empire hadn't set up precautions for intruders entering through the forbidden forest because it was extremely difficult to set up those arrays in that area, and they believed no one could pass the forbidden forest safely."

Yrellea stared into Tiana's eyes and spoke seriously, "There is one such Forbidden Forest between the Pinhian Republic and the Empire of Qian Guo."

"Really? Then I can use that. I can just contact Zena. She can talk to the Beast Emperor presiding over the area and let me pass through," Tiana quickly spoke with a hopeful tone.

"… It's not so simple. The ruler of this forest isn't a Beast Emperor but a powerful Demon Emperor. Moreover, multiple demonic tribes are residing in this forbidden forest who won't let you pass through their territory," Yrellea spoke gravely.

"I see," Tiana softly responded.

"…However, I expected this situation to occur and have been making preparations to deal with it," Yrellea spoke, giving a bit of hope to Tiana.

Tiana was puzzled and raised her brow in question, "Hmm?"

"This Kingdom has a very powerful general known as the Vicious Lightning Paragon. He is a peak Emperor Rank Warrior. There is also a Church of Mubesni which is headed by a Celestial God. I plan to manipulate them so that they can deal with this Demon Emperor for us."

"…And how will you achieve that? They won't listen to us," Tiana spoke with a confused expression.

"I just need to make them believe that the demons in this forbidden forest pose a great threat to the Pinhian Republic. If this occurs, the Vicious Lightning Paragon and the Church of Mubesni will be motivated enough to attack the Demon Tribes."

"...And how will you do that?" Tiana still didn't understand how Yrellea planned to make the demon tribes target the Pinhian Republic in the first place. The demons weren't stupid.

It was no luck that they managed to survive for so long. They wouldn't rashly attack a kingdom.

Yrellea merely smiled in response and spoke, "...Manipulating humans and demons is easier than you believe. You need to settle down in Pinhian Republic for some time, though."

"I see," Tiana decided to leave this matter to Yrellea.

"Well, since you are here. Why don't you set up a force and handle the security of my Misty Flower Pavilion's branches? You must have brought a copy of those array formations that master used around the Sacred Ice Aurora Valley Sect."

"I have. But they all require tremendous energy to operate. Master told me that he connected those arrays to an Ice Vein to make sure they never run out of energy. Moreover, he also set up some auto-operating energy gathering arrays. Those arrays were too complex, and I couldn't copy them correctly," Tiana spoke seriously.

Yrellea fell into deep thought as she heard Tiana's words. The energy source for the array formations was truly a serious issue.

"…I will use all branches of my Misty Flower Pavilion to search for an undiscovered elemental vein," Yrellea spoke. In reality, she wasn't very hopeful about it.

"I will create a group as you said. It will help me set up a base in the Empire of Qian Guo. I couldn't bring my subordinates from the Sinyalian Kingdom since the situation in the Elemental Aurora Valley Sect is a bit too delicate," Tiana spoke while sighing out. It would have been nice if she could have brought her subordinates along like Yrellea.

"Don't worry about that. I will help you quickly find warriors who are suitable for your cultivation technique," Yrellea solemnly spoke.

"My subordinates have already found several women possessing Yin Physique and Ice Element. I was waiting for you to arrive before approaching them," Yrellea spoke with a smile.

"Woah! That's great," Tiana was truly happy to have heard these words. It would certainly help her save the time looking for disciples

"...Come. Let's meet your first disciple in this nation," Yrellea spoke while heading towards her carriage.

The two were soon on the move. They were heading towards a town.