Rise of The Demon General

Lei Muyin came by the bushes. Her heart was beating. She had gone with her clan tutors to kill spirit beasts before, but this would be the first time for her to kill a human being. She was excited. People said that the first time was the most memorable. She would like to pull out this Lin Mo so she could see his face when she stabbed him.

Their Lei clan and this boy’s Lin clan had always been at odds, so killing this Lin clan’s member would be a glory for her. Of course, she couldn’t spread this glory outside of her clan. Otherwise, a war might erupt between the two clans. Open conflict was never good for growth. It would be the White Cloud Sect who reaped the benefit of their two clans coming to war.

She looked around the bushes, looking for Lin Mo’s legs or arms so she could pull him out. But she couldn’t find any, the bushes were rather wide. Did she have to get her robe dirty by entering the bushes? She thought annoyingly.

Seeing no other choice, she inserted her arm into the bushes. She searched around with her hand trying to find Amon’s body.

As she did, a blade suddenly burst out from within the bushes. The blade stabbed right into her throat.

It happened so fast that by the time Lei Muyin wanted to utter a surprised cry, the blade was already in her throat. Her surprise cry came in the form of a choked cry instead, with blood bursting from her mouth.

The blade was pulled out. A gush of blood sprayed from her opened throat. She swayed back before falling to the ground. The squirrel on her shoulder jumped as she fell. Sensing the danger, the squirrel hurriedly scurried away, leaving its dying owner. However, before it could get far, a knife flew out and pierced its body, nailing it to the ground.

Amon came out of the bushes, the swan dagger in his hand was dripping with blood.

Lei Muyin wanted to ask how, but blood continued to fill her mouth, causing her to unable to speak. She was still looking at Amon with wide eyes when she breathed her last breath.

After he was sure that Lei Muyin had died, Amon squatted down and took her space ring. She had found some valuables but nothing much, Amon transferred them into his space ring.

Amon had known that someone was approaching when he was resting. Lei Muyin’s art of stealth was not enough to fool Amon. When he detected that someone was watching him, he pretended to eat the mandrake raw.

He had known from the start that eating the mandrake raw would be fatal. He had read about the mandrake’s info from the Catalog of spirit plants. He asked for Lei San’s explanation about the mandrake simply to bait him. Lei San had told the truth about the mandrake except about the consuming part.

Consuming a raw mandrake would leave the consumer poisoned because the mandrake’s skin possessed lethal poison. One would need to submerge it under boiling water for at least an hour to remove the poison before consuming the mandrake.

Since Lei San was lying to him, then he was sure to not be trustful in leaving the mandrakes with Amon. Amon suspected that Lei San must have a way to come at him once the mandrakes were in his hands. Turned out it was his partner, Lei Muyin, who came.

Amon returned the empty space ring to Lei Muyin as well as placed another thing on her body. He then moved away from there. He did not doubt that Lei San would come soon. He didn’t know how good this Lei San was. But considering him being the best prodigy in the Lei clan, the youth wouldn’t be simple.

Amon could see when he barged into the snakes’ nest that Lei San becoming exhausted after performing his fire element arcane art was only a pretense. The Lei prodigy still had enough energy. He might even have more arts deadlier than that fire arcane art he displayed.

Although Amon still considered no youth would be his equal, he also didn’t see the need to take the risk of confronting this prodigy. He believed Lei San won’t rat him out to the White Cloud Sect. Especially after the gift Amon left on Lei Muyin’s body. If he did, he would be exposed too. So, Amon left.

*

After some while, Lei San came upon the clearing where Amon rested a little while ago. Pai Wuci had asked everyone to spread out to search for the black-suited intruder. Lei San used this chance to break away from them. Since there was no more mandrake, there was no need for him to stay with them.

Above his left shoulder was a similar squirrel as the one carried by Lei Muyin. However, the scent this squirrel tracked was Lei Muyin’s scent. This particular squirrel could only track one scent at a time. Lei Muyin was tracking Amon while Lei San tracked Lei Muyin.

Lei San frowned when he saw Lei Muyin’s body on the ground. He came upon the poor girl.

He was scowling. He cared not for the girl. The girl had some sort of affection for him but it was one-sided. He had asked her to stay hidden so that she didn’t join Pai Wuci’s team. This should allow her to move freely when needed. When Amon appeared, he immediately formed this plan to get the mandrakes all for himself.

What he cared about was the mandrake. It could help improve his power. Now, this stupid girl had gotten herself killed without achieving the objective. Even the squirrel that could track Amon was dead not far from her. He was truly angry.

Suddenly, he noticed some movement on Lei Muyin’s robe.

He looked closer. The robe covering Lei Muyin’s belly was wriggling. A critter was in there? Lei San carefully removed the robe. Underneath the robe, he found a mandrake tied to Lei Muyin’s body.

Lei San was rather stunned by the discovery. He even thought this was an illusion. It took him a while before he snapped out and accepted that a mandrake was truly before him. A living one nonetheless. A mandrake’s potency degraded the longer they were dead. The best way was to boil it while it was living and consumed it immediately once all its poison skin was shed. This would ensure the best probability of obtaining a special constitution.

”Hahahaha…,” Lei San laughed. ”You have my words that I will give one to you. Lin Mo, you have no problem killing a little girl, but it seems that you are a man of your words. Fine, our business is concluded with this. I will not bother with the other two mandrakes in your hand.”

Lei San then went away, leaving Lei Muyin’s body behind.

*

Amon had continued his running, putting more distance to possible pursuers. He didn’t think that Lei San would come after him after getting his share of the mandrake, but nothing was certain. He had killed Lei Muyin’s squirrel because he knew that critter could track him. He had read about the critter in the spirit beasts encyclopedia. That critter was the equivalent of the tracker dogs in his previous world.

Amon continued to run under the cover of night. He only stopped after arriving on a rocky hill surrounded by vast plains. He rested near the top of this hill. He should have good visibility in case anyone came to pursue him.

He took out a spirit fruit and ate it. The fruit not only increased his cultivation but also nourished his body and recovered his stamina.

He then performed cultivation while resting at the same time.

As the dawn was approaching. He opened his eyes. There was another pursuer. This one was a bit more skillful than Lei Muyin, but to successfully sneak onto Amon was still a hundred years too soon.

Swan dagger and a throwing knife appeared in Amon’s hands. He knew that the pursuer was sneaking from behind. He would give this one a jump the same as Lei Muyin.

But he sensed this one stopped not far away and his instinct came alive with all sorts of warning. He immediately jump away, just as something fell where he was sitting a moment ago. A large explosion occurred, throwing rocks everywhere.

Amon had taken cover behind a rock wall when the explosion took place. Rocks and shrapnels from the explosion scraped the rock he was hiding behind. From the sound, he was sure if he was hit by the explosion, he wouldn’t be unscathed even if he activated his Hardened Bronze Body.

Amon stayed behind cover as he waited for his opponent’s next move, but his opponent was also silent. The opponent this time was not the typical impatient youth. He wondered who this one was, he was pretty sure it was not Lei San.

After a brief thought, he called out, ”Wei Lun, you are pretty brave to come alone.”

A long silence followed before there was a reply, ”How do you know it is me?”

”You are the only one that hit me before I flee from that snake’s nest,” Amon answered. He believed there was a tracking substance in what Wei Lun had hit him with. Wei Lun must have tracked him here using something similar to the tracking squirrel.

Amon said out loud, ”If you have used the bomb just now back at the nest, I wouldn’t have been able to flee.”

”If that happens, I don’t have a guarantee that I will get the mandrake. White cloud youths will just take them from your corpse,” Wei Lun replied.

”You still don’t,” Amon said.