Rise of The Demon General

After the factions were gone, the students behind him made a triumphant cry. Amon didn’t think there was anything to celebrate. This was just the beginning. They didn’t actually win anything yet.

”Hmph! Good riddance,” Wu Di announced. He then clapped Amon’s shoulder. ”Brother Lin, if you ever need anything. Just call me, and I will do my best to help! You are an inspiration to us all. When I heard you go around to protect these people from being bullied, I came at once to see if I can offer assistance. I always look up to people who uphold justice! You have my admiration! Keep up the good work. I will come and help around whenever I can.”

Wu Di gave Amon a farewell salute and then left.

’Justice? Heh, a simple-minded fool. But, probably a useful one...,’ Amon thought while staring at Wu Di’s back.

An approaching voice accompanied by clappings broke Amon’s train of thought, ”Bravo, brother Lin Mo, bravo!”

Amon turned to the voice and saw it was Zhuan San who approached.

”Are you hiding at the side all this time?” Xin Wuming asked.

”Of course, you can’t expect me to come out and make myself an enemy to the five factions now, can you?”

”What happen to the mutual protection you mentioned before?”

”No fights happened. Additionally, your boss never exactly confirmed the partnership,” Zhuan San replied. Then to Amon, he said, ”Still, if you are going to be like this and pick a fight with the most powerful groups around in just the first week since we enter this academy, I might need to rethink this partnership offer.”

”Then no need to partner up. I never ask for it, anyway,” Amon said.

”So cold. But brother Lin, isn’t it smarter to just lay low and cultivate quietly until you are strong enough?” Zhuan San asked.

”Don’t lump me in with the other boring people you know. I don’t do things quietly. I had enough of staying under the radar, it’s time to make some noises. This place has a controlled environment. There is a limitation on how far my enemies can do here. I can take on a few calculated risks while building my influence.”

”Going against those factions are calculated risks? Hehe, brother Lin Mo. It is indeed interesting to know you. But still, you criticized me when I express interest in rounding up loners to form my circle. Now, you are doing exactly that.”

”I didn’t criticize you, I simply asked,” Amon said. ”You can blame yourself for being late in taking action.”

”Haha, don’t get me wrong, brother Lin. I ain’t upset about it. Even if I do it first, I won’t get the same result as you. I don’t have the charisma and recognition that you have. I mean, look at them, in just one day, you have already made all these people follow you.”

The thirty-something students had all dispersed and done their own things, but they kept around the area. They cultivated, trained, and chatted with one another in the area. Now that they had their territory, they could use this place to cultivate and train while they waited for their turn to use the cultivation pagoda and the training buildings. The dormitory they were staying at didn’t have the facility to do that, after all. Unlike the top ten’s private dwellings.

”Still, I can’t say that I envy the place you choose to mark your territory,” Zhuan San said. ”The flow of aether here is just so-so. The trees in the woods didn’t produce any spirit fruits. This place is not much better than any other place.”

”If the place is too good, other parties will fight more ferociously for it,” Amon said.

”Yeah. The best place is already occupied by the five factions,” Zhuan San agreed.

”Let them keep those places, for now. We are just a small gang at the moment, but we will grow.”

Zhuan San looked at Amon with a glint. Was he planning to strengthen his faction to seize the other factions’ territories?

”Gang? What’s a gang?” Tuang Yin asked. Amon looked at her, he thought the girl had also left already when the commotion was over.

”It’s a term where I was from. It meant a group of outlaws who banded together,” Amon answered.

’Where he was from?’ Xin Wuming wondered. He was the same as Amon from White Cloud City but he never heard that term.

”So, we are outlaws now?” Tuang Yin asked.

”We? The commotion is already over, why haven’t you left?” Amon asked back.

”So cold. Is that how you talk to your girlfriend?” Tuang Yin talked back.

Amon decided to ignore her. He had no interest to entertain this girl. Zhuan San was looking at the two with a meaningful smile.

”Anything else you want to talk about? I still have many things to take care of,” Amon said to Zhuan San.

”No. Please don’t worry about me. You just do what you do,” Zhuan San said. However, he was not leaving. Amon thought about chasing him away but decided against it. Amon was not yet sure about this person, so it’s better to not antagonize him.”

Amon left Zhuan San and walk some distance away before calling everyone to gather. Tuang Yin was tagging by his side. Amon decided to continue ignoring her.

After everyone gathered, Amon took out some small pouches from his space ring. Each pouch contained several wads of paper. The inside was a healthy dosage for one-time use of Thousand Dream Powder, the recreational drug that Amon had created from his Thousand Dream Poison.

He described the nature of this drug and told his members to sell them to the other students. They were allowed to give one student one wad of free sample. After that, the buyer had to pay twenty aer stones for one wad. The members who successfully sold the drug would be given a thirty percent commission.

At the same time, Amon asked them to spread the word to recruit more members into their faction. Amon told them each member would receive one free dosage of this Thousand Dream Powder weekly. For members who stayed for longer than three months would receive two free dosages each week.

Amon wasn’t afraid that using this drug would cause him trouble with the academy staff. Unlike in his past world, there was no recreational drug here. The drugs in this world were mostly cultivation and restorative pills, which were freely used inside this academy. Amon’s Thousand Dream Powder was perhaps the first recreational drug to exist in this world. It would take some time before an addiction problem started showing and the authority took action about the issue. Until then, Amon intended to fully utilize this drug to his advantage.

”Can I try some?” Tuang Yin asked.

”May I also?” Zhuan San joined. The fellow had sneaked in and joined in to listen.

”Non-members please leave,” Amon replied.

The students that had joined Amon’s faction one by one took the pouches. They were at first unsure about this faction. Most of them had gathered here due to a fit of fervor. Almost all of them were from poor and small clans. The wealthy clans had mostly joined the five factions. Hence, they were used to oppression. However, this didn’t mean they enjoy it, though. When Amon made himself their champion to stand against those bullies, they at once came under his banner.

They admitted it was an act of impulse. They couldn’t deny how satisfying it was when they saw those groups from the five factions retreat. They had been bullied in their home cities. They thought when they came to this academy, the situation would be different. But it was the same. Just within this one week, they already felt like things had returned to how it was where they came from. So, when Amon came and chased those bullies away, they felt good.

Yet, none of them was thinking this was a long-term thing. Some of them had already started thinking of distancing themselves from Amon lest they became the target of the five factions’ retaliation.

Now, however, Amon had given them an avenue to make some income. Selling one wad would net them a commission of six aer stones. Each pouch contained a hundred wads. If they could sell all of them, wouldn’t they receive six hundred aer stones from the commission? They were all from poor clans, so they all had limited funding. Such a number was meaningful for them.

Many of them were skeptical, though. Amon’s description of the drug was wonderful, but was it truly so? Amon had permitted them to test one of the wads themselves. Amon understood by experiencing the effect themselves, they would have a better understanding of the products, and hence could better market the products.

So, all of the students who had received the pouch started to look for a private corner to give the drug a try.

Zhuan San approached a random student and offered to buy the first wad. He then took that wad and went away to give it a try.

Tuang Yin followed his example.

Amon left them be. He left instructions to Xin Wuming to act on his behalf when he was gone and to come to look for him in his house if needed. He had set so his outside barrier permitted Xin Wuming to enter.