Chapter 4: Surrender and Annihilation (Part 2)

Pinita forced a wry smile. “Many of us have come. I’m leading only a portion of the troops. The rest have gone to the Shibah Grasslands ahead, tasked with blocking the Karabaza Trail.”
Guo Shier asked, “Are you here for the Duchy of Ek?”
Pinita replied, “Yes…”
Yadlan snapped angrily, “Why attack us?”
Pinita said, “It’s not just you. Any bandits or robbers near the Karabaza Trail are targets for us to recruit, especially large groups of them…” He was deeply frustrated. He never expected such skilled fighters to be among them, ruining the entire operation. If he had known, he would never have provoked Guo Shier and the others.
Guo Shier waved his hand. Of course, he understood Pinita’s tactics—gathering bandits as cannon fodder to grow stronger, then using them to block trade routes, suffocating and weakening the Duchy of Ek. It was a method of strangling an opponent’s foundation for survival, nothing hard to understand. But since they had targeted him, it was their misfortune.
Pinita hesitated for a moment before saying, “The Duchy of Chiska… can give you everything…”
Guo Shier couldn’t help but laugh. He said, “You surrender to recruit us?”
Pinita was shocked. This guy was too smart. He indeed had that in mind. He knew he couldn’t defeat Guo Shier, but if he could escape in the chaos, he still had a chance. The reason he surrendered so easily was that he recognized Guo Shier and Aizek’s formidable strength. If he could recruit Guo Shier and Aizek for the Duchy of Chiska, there would be no need to besiege the Duchy of Ek at all—they could attack directly.
Guo Shier fell silent for a while before asking, “Do you know Drualakaba?”
Pinita was stunned. He said, “Drualakaba… that’s a legendary place. Are… are you a king-class barbarian spirit expert?” His heart was in turmoil. King-class barbarian spirit experts were extremely rare in the duchies. They were like gods—only such experts would go to Drualakaba.
Guo Shier said, “Never mind what kind of expert I am. I just want to learn about the Wild Lands.”
Pinita replied, “It’s an extremely dangerous place. Only those who reach the level of an eighth-grade barbarian spirit expert can enter. But usually, even eighth-grade experts don’t go there. Only those who reach the ninth grade and have reached a certain age would consider entering.”
Guo Shier wondered, “Reached a certain age?”

Pinita said, “Well, it’s… only when one knows they won’t live much longer do they enter it, and once inside, they can never get out.”
Guo Shier asked, “How can one reach the Barren Lands?”
Pinita’s heart skipped a beat. Unbelieving, he asked, “You want to go there?”
Guo Shier replied, “Obviously!”
Pinita forced a wry smile. “I only know it’s in the far west. As for how to get there, I’m not sure. Maybe the Kingdom of Chiskar has a map, but that’s only available to the grand duke, and we can’t access it.”
Realizing this guy was cunning and trying to imply that he should join the Kingdom of Chiskar, Guo Shier said, “Aren’t you afraid of bringing danger to the Kingdom of Chiskar?”
Pinita grew uneasy. “I… I didn’t mean that. As long as you reach the Kingdom of Chiskar, I’ll ask the grand duke to give you a map to the Barren Lands.”
Guo Shier smiled faintly. Pinita lowered his head, his mind in chaos. Then Guo Shier said, “Alright, I’ll go to the Kingdom of Chiskar.” He didn’t care how many experts the kingdom had. Now he knew that few barbaric spirit experts above level seven were willing to stay in the kingdom, so the best experts there were at most level seven.
Pinita was overjoyed. He hadn’t expected to actually recruit Guo Shier and Ezekiel, but if he could get them to go to the Kingdom of Chiskar, it meant his companions on the Karabaza Trail would be safe. There were also large numbers of the Kingdom of Chiskar’s troops in the Shibah Grassland. If Guo Shier agreed to go there, he wouldn’t have to fight against them anymore. That was Pinita’s goal.
Guo Shier wasn’t stupid. He understood Pinita’s hidden intentions right after speaking and cursed inwardly at the cunning guy. He said, “You’re now my prisoner. Hehe, I’ve taken all the valuables from your camp.”
Pinita was quite agreeable. He said, “Yes, yes…”
Guo Shier said, “Get up. Follow me first.” With a gesture of his hand, the ropes binding Pinita broke. He then said, “Give him his weapons.” Standing up, he added, “Pinita, go gather your people and send someone to bring back those who tried to escape. Reorganize the troops.”
Pinita replied, “Yes, I’ll gather the troops.” He picked up his two-handed greatsword and turned to leave.
Guo Shier said, “Eisen, search the camp for valuables and food.” Even though Pinita had surrendered, it didn’t mean Guo Shier wouldn’t loot. What could be stolen still couldn’t be missed.

With Pinaata present, the captives in the camp immediately calmed down and quickly returned to normal. Those dead bandits were simply unlucky. Pinaata gathered a few trusted subordinates to assemble his troops and sent people to search for those who had escaped.

Pinaata’s camp was large, with a large number of people, so the supplies took up a quarter of the campsite. Additionally, since the bandit group had robbed many times, there was an abundance of goods in the camp. Essen rushed over excitedly and said, “My lord, we’ve struck it rich… Haha, so many gold bars! And lots of crystals too!”

Guo Shier asked, “Are there any ores?”

Essen replied, “Yes, quite a few!”

Guo Shier was overjoyed and said, “Take me there quickly.”

The place where the money and valuables were stored was near the large tent, where there were over a dozen carts, with all the valuable items inside their compartments.

Guo Shier approached. Dozens of bandits were guarding them, and upon seeing him, they bowed respectfully. They had completely submitted to Guo Shier, the newly arrived bandit leader. In this world that worshipped the strong, Guo Shier was the ultimate object of admiration.

“Bring down the wooden boxes and open them!”

Someone immediately stepped forward and carried the boxes down. When the boxes were opened, Guo Shier found numerous ores of various kinds, most of which he didn’t recognize. With a wave of his hand, he placed them on the altar for the old expert to examine. If any proved useful, he could acquire or search for them in this world.

There weren’t many ores—only three carts were loaded with them, clearly stolen. Then two boxes of crystals were found, which were even more valuable than gold bars. So far, Guo Shier only knew that these crystals contained immense life energy, but he wasn’t sure how to use it. Of course, crystals were also one of his collection targets.

After checking them, Guo Shier took what he needed. As for the large quantities of gold and silver bars, he hardly touched them, as he had no shortage of such things.

Pinaata returned with a few trusted subordinates, followed by hundreds of people carrying dozens of large boxes. Coming before Guo Shier, he said, “My lord, these are just ordinary goods. I still have many finer items.”

Essen was surprised and asked, “Hey, where did you hide these boxes? Why didn’t I notice them?”

Seeing the dirt on the wooden boxes, Guo Shier said, “They must have been buried underground.”

Pinita said, “Yes, we dug several underground storage rooms here to keep the better items—those on the carriages… hehe, those were for cover…”
Esen’s face turned red with embarrassment as he cursed inwardly at these cunning guys. Seeing all those carriages and treasures, he thought all the good stuff was here and stopped searching carefully. Unexpectedly, he had indeed missed important items, and in large quantities.
Pinita continued, “Five boxes of high-quality crystals, twelve boxes of rare ores, four boxes of precious herbs, and some more… Sir, you should take a look yourself. Also, there’s a portion of gold bars—about 130 boxes—and over 400 boxes of silver bars. There’s too much to carry here.”
Guo Shieru waved his hand. “Forget the gold and silver. I want all the miscellaneous items you’ve collected.”
Although Pinita didn’t understand why Guo Shieru wanted the miscellaneous items, he didn’t dare question him. He immediately sent people to fetch those items he didn’t care about, among which were large amounts of furs. Guo Shieru picked through them, putting the items he needed into the altar and ignoring the rest.
The old man was very satisfied. He had gathered a large amount of material at once, all of which needed to be tested.
Guo Shieru asked, “Pinita, did you come here just to rob caravans?”
Pinita replied, “Yes, that’s right. We’ve robbed quite a few caravans recently. Hehe, caravans coming from the Duke of Ek are intercepted in the Shibah Grasslands, while those coming from Edlu Castle and other border castles are basically doomed as soon as they enter the Karabaza Trail.”
Guo Shieru nodded. He had come from Edlu Castle, encountered the Oran caravan, and then entered alone. They were all in the Bend Area; presumably, many caravans were stuck there now.
“How many days has it been since any caravans passed by?”
Pinita said, “We have hundreds of spies along the Karabaza Trail… It’s been almost thirty days without a single caravan. Hehe, I guess… a very large caravan will appear soon, uh…” He suddenly remembered that command of that caravan was no longer in his hands.
Feeling resentful, Pinita added, “Caravans coming from the Duke of Ek usually carry large amounts of gold and silver bars, while those from Edlu Castle bring various items—like ores, crystals… and various precious herbs…” His tone was full of temptation, knowing that Guo Shieru was collecting ores and crystals.
Guo Shieru couldn’t help but smile and said, “Pinita, you’re smart.” Then he turned and left.

Pinata hurried after him, wiping away a cold sweat in secret, realizing that Guo Shier had seen through all his plans. At the same time, he felt a hint of pride: even if you see through me, you’ll still follow the path I’ve designed.
The only thing he couldn’t figure out was Guo Shier’s identity. He didn’t resemble a local at all, especially with his rare black hair and eyes. His clothing and appearance had no similarities to those of the locals. Pinata had a big question in his mind: where did he come from?
A guy sneaked up and winked at Pinata. Guo Shier couldn’t help but laugh. His soul could perceive everything around him; even when turned away, he could sense it clearly. He turned around and said, “Come here!”
The man was so scared that he sat down on the ground immediately. He knew Guo Shier was a terrifying person.
Pinata’s face turned pale instantly.