Rise of The Demon General

”He… He broke a battle puppet? It’s impossible!” Yan Long uttered. He couldn’t accept this fact. ”He is just a peak Strength stage! How was it possible for him to achieve that? Even a Transformation stage cultivator has difficulty achieving that feat within the time limit!”

”Careful, young master Yan…,” Lao Zen said to him menacingly.

The incident of what happened to Lin Fen during the first trial came to Yan Long’s mind after Lao Zen’s warning. He was still unwilling and was itching to argue further, but decided to not risk it. Even though he knew his clan was a big deal in this city, none of the clans dared to oppose the royal academy because their backer was the supreme ruler of this country.

Hence, he forced his mouth close. His face was very ugly, though. He could only glare at Amon to express his dissatisfaction. Amon sneered at the display, which infuriated Yan Long further.

Lao Zen continued waiting to see if the Yan youth dared to challenge him further. He was also itching to chase away another stubborn kid like yesterday to assuage his exasperation. But since the yan youth wised up, he treated the matter as settled.

”Now, every one of you who has passed this second trial can go back to your dormitories to rest,” Lao Zen announced. ”Tomorrow morning we will continue the third and last exam. After tomorrow, only one thousand of you will remain. Or less, if too many are disqualified. I must warn you. Based on past candidates’ experience, they all agreed that the third trial was the hardest. So, do expect many of you will get disqualified.”

’Third trial. One that tests the strength of one’s mind,’ Amon thought. It was not weird that Lao Zen said it was the hardest. Cultivation and Fighting skills could be deliberately trained. The mind was different, though. Usually, one’s mind was already tough from the start or was strengthened following the growth of age or when one went through a drastic ordeal. Luckily for him, his mind was already a fully-grown adult’s mind who had gone through many ordeals. The third trial should be no problem for him.

However, he did read a book from the pyramid legacy that briefly mentioned some methods of strengthening the minds, but they didn’t describe the methods. He had read a lot of books from the current time. There was not even a mention of these mind-strengthening methods. Amon could only assume probably these methods had been lost to the past.

The candidates followed the officials and returned to the same dormitory they had used yesterday. There were fewer youths now, so many rooms were empty. Still, no one was allowed to go out. They were to remain in their rooms until tomorrow morning.

*

The next morning, the over four thousand candidates were taken to a different place.

They went to an outdoor landscape that appeared as if it was unblemished nature. There were forests, rivers, and hills. Everyone was amazed to see such a place within the complex of the royal academy. How big was this place?

They were brought to a hill with a steep cliff. On this cliff wall, there were many cave holes. Lao Zen was standing on top of this hill waiting.

When all 4,144 candidates arrived, Lao Zen started speaking, ”Today will be the last day for the royal academy entrance exam. Whether you become this academy’s students or go back to your home as a failure, we will find out today.”

Those who were less confident winced after hearing. The old tutor wasn’t one who minced words.

”Below me are a hundred caves. Each of these caves can accommodate fifty people. We will divide you into groups of forty-one and forty-two to enter the caves. Normally, we separate this third trial into two sessions, since the maximum number these caves can accommodate is five thousand people. It is good that the second trial had taken out half of your starting number, so we can finish this in one session.”

”Each of these caves has fifty rooms inside. You will be taken into this room. There is a sitting pad there, all you have to do is sit on that pad. Now, the objective this time is to try to last for as long as possible inside these rooms. The minimum required time is two hours. If you come out before two hours pass, you are disqualified. Every minute that passes after the two-hour mark will contribute points to your score. An official will wait outside the hallway and mark your time when you come out of the room. You are to return outside here afterward and wait until everyone is done. Then the exam is finished and we will know who is what. Any question?”

Someone lifted his hand. Lao Zen simply nodded for him to ask the question.

”What is the maximum someone is allowed to be inside the room? I mean, can we stay as long as we want?”

Lao Zen smiled, seemingly amused. ”You are welcome to stay inside for as long as you want. For scoring a maximum of 2,000 points, you will need to stay inside the room for ten hours.”

Another one lifted his hand. ”What is the longest record from the past candidates?”

Lao Zen nodded. This question was more sensible. ”Four hours,” he answered.

The candidates, who at first thought that it shouldn’t be a problem to just stay still inside a room and endure, were having pensive looks now. The longest record was not even half of the maximum time required to score 2,000 points. Not to mention, the first two hours didn’t award any points.

”Is there any benefit for us to be in the top ten? Are there rewards?” This time the question was not about the trial. The one who asked was Sima Fang. She had been in the top ten for the first and second trials.

Lao Zen smiled. ”There is a reward. I originally planned to inform you after the final top ten was announced. But since you asked, I guess it is fine to let you know now. Consider it a motivation for you to keep within the top ten. The rewards will be your accommodation.”

”Accommodation?” Everyone muttered.

Lao Zen nodded. ”Most of you will be placed inside dormitories like the one you have been using the days before. But for the ten top candidates who passed, you can live inside a private residence complete with a courtyard and a protective barrier. So, you will have the luxury of privacy. The size of this residence will depend on your ranking. The first ranker will of course get the largest residence.”

Hearing that, the prior top ten were now more eager to keep their rankings, including Amon. With this private residence, he would be able to continue his poison experiment more conveniently.

Lao Zen waited for someone to ask more questions. After no inquiry for a minute, he said, ”Okay, let’s start this trial. Everyone, please group up to forty-one or forty-two people and follow the officials to enter the caves. Don’t bother to choose, all the caves and the rooms will have the same effect.”

Everyone simply grouped up with the ones closest to them. Soon, everyone started trickling into the caves.

Inside the caves was a long hallway with many hole openings along both its walls. Amon assumed those holes led to the trial rooms.

His guess was not wrong, because the official leading them instructed one youth to enter one room.

When Amon entered, it was a simple room with a circular layout. The wall was of natural stone, it was smooth and white. There was nothing inside except for a single seating pad at the center of the room.

Amon took his seat on top of this pad. He just stayed still and waited for something to happen.

After a couple of minutes, nothing had happened yet. Amon decided to just cultivate then. He closed his eyes and started to circulate his cultivation art.

While he was cultivating, he heard some voices. He opened his eyes, only to find the mangled face of a boy right in front of him. The boy was staring at him with his one dead eye. Amon stared back without expression.

The face of the boy was heavily damaged, but Amon still recognized the boy. The boy’s name was Joe. Joe was his close friend when he was still underage in his past life, or at least that’s what Joe thought. Both of them were child soldiers. They volunteered to join a paramilitary force in a country that was engulfed by civil war. Joe didn’t survive into adulthood.

The incident that took Joe’s life happened during a time when they were commanded to infiltrate the enemy’s territory through a jungle. They were ambushed and they got separated from their squad. While they were trying to return to the base, they were attacked again. This time by a large brown bear.

They ran out of ammunition at the time so all they could do was flee.

However, their short legs couldn’t outrun the bear’s speed. During a critical moment, Amon shoved Joe towards the bear. The look of disbelief on Joe’s face was burnt into Amon’s memory. While the bear was tearing Joe apart and mauling his face, Amon sneaked behind the bear with his combat knife. He jumped onto the bear’s back and then repeatedly stabbed the bear’s neck until it died.

When Amon stood back up, he saw that Joe was still breathing, albeit hardly. Joe only had one eye left on his damaged face. He was staring at Amon but unable to say anything. Amon just stared back at him silently until he exhaled his last breath.

This one eye was now staring at him, the same stare Amon remembered during Joe’s last moments.

”You… killed me…” Joe said. ”I thought you were my best friend… You betrayed me…”

Amon didn’t respond. He just stared at Joe without expression. ’So, this is what the mind game is…? Heh, pathetic!”

Amon closed his eyes and ignored the ghost of his past life. He went back to cultivation.

However, before he could focus on gathering any aether, Joe’s voice crescendoed into blaring noise. It was as if hundreds of Joe were shouting at him with his voice amplified by a megaphone. The earsplitting noise caused Amon’s head to hurt.