Rise of The Demon General

The sounds of feet scurrying were sounding more and more as time passed. Amon just waited in silence. He completely left the decision to the white-haired man to decide his own fate.

The white-haired man’s expression was continuously changing. He was having a tense internal struggle. He must still hold hope of getting out of this situation somehow. Amon gave him time to come to grips with his situation.

The man won’t be able to move again in a short time even if he used recovery salve on his wounds. Amon had targeted the ligaments on the white-haired man’s limbs when he threw his throwing knives.

Amon stood up, then backed away a bit. The white-haired man was confused at first, but then he heard the sound. He looked back and saw a White Bone Ant crawling slowly at him. The sight of this spirit beast broke all the pride left in him.

”I will tell you! I will tell you! Don’t let it take me!” The white-haired man shouted.

Amon lunged out, his body turned translucent as he arrived in front of White Bone Ant, his swan dagger stabbed deep into the ant’s skull. The spirit beast fell lifelessly. Amon walked back to where the white-haired man was laying.

”Talk. If too many appear, I won’t be able to stop them,” Amon said.

The white-haired man gulped. He was shivering. He must have come to terms that he would not live through tonight. It was either a quick death or a tormenting slow death.

”I don’t know exactly who hires us. We just receive the target from our handler,” the white-haired man said.

”Who is this handler?” Amon asked.

The white-haired man was silent.

Amon stood up and made a show that he was leaving.

”Wait! Wait! I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you!”

Amon stopped, but he didn’t approach. He just stood there and waited for the man’s words.

”His name is San Guo,” the white-haired man said.

”Be more specific! Where can I find this San Guo?”

”… He has a clothing store at Shining Gold street called Impure Desire. The store is just a ruse. Inside it is a place where the underworld criminals gathered to exchange information and receive jobs. San Guo is the organizer, he is the intermediary for the high-profile jobs. He knows almost every criminal in the city and also has a good connection with the powerful clans. He will know the one who wants your death.”

The white-haired man heard some tapping sounds from behind. He turned and watched in horror as three White Bone Ants were approaching him.

”I already tell you what I know. Kill me! Kill me!”

Each of the White Bone Ants bit one part of the man’s body and started dragging him.

”One more question, tell me the cultivation level of this San Guo.”

”He is a beginning Strength stage. Kill me! You have promised me! Please…!”

Amon watched with cold eyes the white-haired man getting dragged further by the White Bone Ants. He was screaming hysterically, begging for death. When he was almost driven insane by the fear of his impending dreadful fate, Amon swung his arm. A ray of light flew rapidly and stabbed at the White-haired man’s throat.

Blood spurt from the wound. The white-haired man coughed blood. His crazed eyes showed relief before his last breath as his body continued to be dragged away.

Amon did not care whether the man suffered or not before his death, but he had given his words. He had no problem betraying people if needed. But he kept his words when possible because he was too arrogant to break his own promise.

He didn’t go to pick up the throwing knife lodged inside the white-haired man’s throat. There were another five White Bone Ants that showed up, he didn’t want to take a risk for a single knife. He turned and left the woods.

*

One week after, in the basement underneath a clothing store called Impure Desire, was a large hall. Several people with a rough demeanor were lounging around the hall. There was one bar counter on one side of the hall. Several female servants wearing revealing clothes took drinks from that counter to serve the rough-looking gangs. The place had the vibe of a tavern rather than the basement of a store.

At one corner of the hall was an expensive-looking desk. A large and slightly fat man with a lavish coat was sitting on an exquisitely carved wooden chair before the desk. A thin person was opposite him from the desk, sitting on a simple stool.

”Have you heard anything from Si An or his crews?” The fat man asked.

”No, it’s as if they have disappeared from the face of the earth,” the thin man answered. ”The last report was they were intercepting their target near Sinner’s Bliss. There were also rumors from the local residents that some fight broke out near that area and the White Dusk Woods at that time.”

”It was unlike him to not report after a job, whether success or fail…”

”Should I send men to the White Dusk Woods to search? Maybe some of them had fallen there. We should look for their bodies to make sure.”

”If they died in White Dusk Woods, there will be no bodies to be found. The White Bone Ants would have dealt with the bodies. What about their target, that Lin Mo boy?”

”No news as well. Our watchers informed us that the boy has not yet returned to the Lin estate. You can’t have thought that little boy to have escaped Si An, can you?”

”I also thought it was unlikely… But thinking about it again, of how our clients paid a generous sum for this little boy, that might indicate that he is not simple. Call some men to search around the town, for Si An and this Lin Mo. Particularly focus around the district where they were last seen.”

”Right away, boss,” the thin man uttered and went away.

The fat man, who was San Guo, sighed. Why did a simple job turn into such a headache? He was due to submit a report to the client as well. He rubbed his forehead. He then called for a female servant nearby, who brought him a jug filled with wine. He drank directly from the jug.

San Guo spent the next two hours organizing report papers from the other jobs and settling payments with his hired men. After that, he came out of the store as it was closing for the evening. His hired men exited from a secret exit at the building behind the store, which was also owned by him. People would start asking questions if suspicious-looking men kept on going in and out of his clothing store.

San Guo walked to his villa accompanied by his two guards, both were Transformation stage experts.

His villa was not far from his store and was rather large. It was nothing compared to those mansions owned by clans, but he was satisfied with his villa as it was the product of his hard work. He didn’t have a high level of cultivation like most prominent figures in the city, but he had a talent for building connections as well as organizing and dealing with different types of individuals. This villa was both a refuge for his family and also the pride of his accomplishment.

The two guards stood outside the villa on standby as San Guo entered. He was eager to hear the sweet sound of his daughter and savored the embrace of his beautiful wife before he went out again to meet his client.

”Aling!” San Guo called. Weird, usually his cheerful daughter would have come running at him if she heard the front door being opened.

San Guo put down his bag as he stretched to ease his tired muscle and walked to the kitchen. He wanted to have some meal first before going out again. His wife was a good cook apart from being good in bed. He always enjoyed tasting his wife’s cooking. That’s why he had become fatter by the day.

When he arrived at the kitchen. The sight in front of him made him freeze.

”Do not yell, or I will cut both their throats,” a little boy in a black attire said. He was standing in between two bound women, one adult and one young child below ten years of age. The two women were sitting on a chair with both their hands and legs tied to the chair, their mouths were gagged with clothes so they could not speak. Tears were rolling down their cheeks as their faces showed confused and frightened expressions.

”You… Lin Mo… What do you want…?” San Guo recognized the boy who was holding his wife and daughter hostages. He was the one that distributed Lin Mo’s data to Si An, so he was sure to be able to identify Amon in a single glance.

”What do I want?” Amon asked. ”Simple, I want information. Tell me who asked you to hire people to assassinate me, then these two don’t need to die.”