Rise of The Demon General

Amon had seen the boy’s attempt to attack as he approached. He was ready for it.

Before Lin Can’s fist hit, the explosive wind produced by his punch had arrived first. Yet, the wind just brushed through Amon. When Lin Can’s fist came, his fist went through Amon as if Amon was made of air.

Lin Fen was not the only one with movement art. Inside the library Amon had acquired from the pyramid legacy, there were also many books containing movement arts. Amon had picked one for learning. He had not used this art till now because it was not a movement art that was suitable for a long race like Lin Fen’s one. It was an art that gave a short movement boost for a brief instant.

The movement art that Amon learned was called Lingering Shade Stride. The art made his body lighter as well as gave him a dash of speed for a short period. When he executed this art, it also produced a flash of afterimage.

What Lin Can’s fist hit was that afterimage.

Amon was already at the first pole that constituted the bridge. Lin Can was extremely confounded by how Amon dodged his punch. He soon snapped from his daze when he realized the others had come near him from behind. He hurriedly jumped to start crossing the bridge.

Amon was already at the fourth pole. He suddenly turned back on that pole and made a punch. Lin Can was taken by surprise by Amon’s sudden assault. Lin Can was in the middle of a jump at the time. The energy from Amon’s Bone Shattering Shadow Fist traveled through the air and hit Lin Can in the air.

​ Lin Can managed to put his arms to his front to protect him from the fist energy, but he bounced from the impact. Since the bridge only consisted of a single row of poles, there was not much footing for Lin Can. Amon had also aimed his punch slightly to the side so that the impact threw Lin Can away from the poles.

Lin Can fell. His eyes were wide as he stared and Amon and cursed, ”You bastarrddd…!!!”

The height of the bridge section was around twenty meters. Lin Can hit the ground hard. He was hurting but otherwise no injury, the body of a Strength stage cultivator allowed one to survive such a fall. He looked up in anger and unwillingness. There was no chance for him to win this selection process anymore. It’s not possible for him to chase after the others if he started from the beginning again.

Amon resumed jumping poles to poles. He almost arrived at the end of the bridge when he suddenly sensed danger from behind. He ducked at the last second as an invisible wind blade sliced past him. His sleeve was torn by the energy and a long cut appeared on his left arm. The cut was shallow, it didn’t hamper his movement.

Because Amon had made an urgent duck, he lost balance. But he managed to hold the edge of the pole with his hand and hung by its edge instead of falling. He saw the one that had made the attack was a boy who had first arrived on the bridge after Lin Can had fallen.

The boy waved his two hands. Amon saw fluctuation in the air around those waving hands and sensed another danger. It was those wind blades again. Amon kicked the pole’s side and propelled himself to the next pole, just as those wind blades hit the pole he was hanging on a second ago and left several deep gashes.

The boy continued waving his hands as he jumped forward, sending one wind blade after another.

Amon was ready then. He activated his Hardened Bronze Body. Though the wind blades were invisible, Amon could perceive their arrival from his danger sense.

Every time the wind blade came, he struck it with his hardened arms. Loud impact sounds were heard and sparks were created every time that happened. He continued deflecting the wind attacks while jumping through the poles at the same time.

When Amon arrived on the pole at the end of the bridge, he stopped.

The boy who had been attacking Amon with the wind blades readied himself. He had seen that Amon also had an art that hit from a distance. He didn’t stop throwing his wind blades. If he kept on attacking, Amon would have trouble attacking back. At the same time, he was ready to block Amon’s fist attack with his wind blades.

Amon used one arm to block the boy’s wind blade and another arm to attack. The attacking arm punched out with Bone Shattering Shadow Fist.

The boy readied himself to send a wind blade to clash with Amon’s fist energy. However, he found that Amon’s fist energy didn’t come at him. Amon’s punch was aiming at a lower elevation.

While he was still wondering why his adversary had such a terrible aim, he heard cracks from under him. Soon, he felt his body getting tilted involuntarily. He lost balance. He held onto the pole with his hands but soon found that the pillar had turned sideways.

Another cracking sound was heard. He saw the parts where the pole had cracked. It was the pole that had received his wind blades. This was the same pole that Amon was hanging onto before. His wind blades had caused large gashes on the pole and weakened it. Amon then sent his fist energy on the same spot, causing it to crack further.

Another boy jumped onto this half-broken pole while he was still hanging. The boy stepped on the pole and immediately jumped away again. The stepping force added by his weight, caused the pole to finally break. He fell together with the pole.

The others who were still behind, stopped when they reached the pole before the one that had just broken. Since the pole before them was no more, they had to jump directly to the next pole after the broken one. The distance was too great.

Yet, they saw no choice. The one at the front gathered the aether onto his feet and made a strong jump. He extended his arms trying to catch the pole he was jumping to. He failed to grab the top of the pole. His hands scrapped the side of the pole, trying to stop his descent, but there was no handhold at the side of the pole. He also fell to the ground.

The remaining two who saw the scene were uncertain of how to proceed. They looked ahead and saw Lin Fen had already stood on one of the poles with the red paper. Amon was en route to the second one. While the last boy that had managed to step on the cracked pole before it broke, was heading towards the last one.

Even if they were able to pass this bridge, they won’t be able to chase them. All three red papers would have been taken.

They were powerless as they saw the red papers get taken one by one.

When the last red paper was taken, Lin Weida’s voice boomed, ”The selection process is over! We now have four candidates to go to the Royal Academy’s entrance exam!”

*

Everyone was back inside the great hall again. Four youths now stood in the center. Lin Weida was back on his throne. Those who had failed stood at the side with the others. They wore sour faces regretting their failures. Lin Can’s face was especially dark. He stared dagger at Amon, who completely ignored him.

The four youths at the center were Amon, Lin Baxiong, Lin Fen, and Lin Anwen. Lin Anwen was the last boy who had stepped onto the half-broken pole. He was also a youth who had joined the White Cloud Tournament with Amon but unfortunately couldn’t become the finalist to enter the secret dimension.

Lin Bubai came to these four and handed each of them a badge.

”Those badges were given by the royal family. They represented the four spots that gave you the privilege to enter the Royal Academy’s entrance exam. Those badges have your names carved onto them, so they can’t be used by anyone other than you. However, do not lose them. If you go to the royal academy without these badges, you can forget about the exam. They won’t care whatever excuse you make.”

The four stored those badges in their space rings.

Lin Bubai continued, ”I hope you didn’t bring shame to our Lin clan and fail the entrance exam. If you succeed, don’t forget your roots. You come from our Lin clan. If you decide to come back here after graduating from the academy, you are always welcome. If you don’t, then remember to keep our Lin name in your heart.”

Three out of the four nodded passionately. Amon simply wore a flat expression.

”We will prepare some escorts who will take you to Qishurg City one week from now,” Lin Bubai informed. ”Settle your affairs within this one week and gathered here in the morning. The journey to Qishurg City will take around two weeks. You should arrive in that city one week before the entrance exam. Do not be late! Anyone who fails to arrive by noon will be left behind. You will then have to travel to Qishurg City on your own. You are dismissed!”

When everybody started leaving, Lin Weida, who had been silent on his throne, said, ”Lin Mo, you stay.”