Rise of The Demon General

Chapter 171: Chapter 171. Ancient Menace

During the two weeks, the others who were trying to break the illusion experienced increasingly strange ordeals. As they meditated, they heard whispers some distance away. When they opened their eyes, they saw nobody. When they heard the whispers again, they tried to go in that direction but found no one.

When they learned to ignore these strange whispers, they started to hear footsteps. But again, they found no one. Then, they saw shadows moving.

Ten days after they started meditating to break through the illusion, Fan Niang saw a woman with a deformed face peeking through the corner. Her scream after seeing the woman forced Yong Lei, who was nearby, to end his meditation. Yong Lei had learned to ignore everything because he understood all of those were merely illusions.

He tried to calm Fan Niang down, but in the end, Fan Niang refused to enter the ruin anymore.

Amon heard all this during their night gatherings when everyone was giving their summary reports to Li Shi. He wondered why he didn’t experience such illusions. Probably because he had broken through the enchantment too early. These mental harassments built up slowly and intensified with time. It had not invaded his mind enough when he broke its hold on his mind.

Li Shi couldn’t force Fan Niang to go back down. She could only encourage the others.

Two weeks after Amon started deciphering the word puzzle in the great hall under the ruin, he finally deciphered it. Not because he finally made sense of the letters’ arrangement but because he felt the pressure in his head weakening.

While those above experienced increasing resistance from the mental pressure, he felt the one that assailed him lessened. Perhaps his mind had grown to become immune to the pressure, or simply because the one protecting this door came from a different source from the one assaulting the other students up there. He didn’t truly care for the reason as long as he achieved his goal.

Once the pressure clouding him was not enough to affect him, his mind quickly solved the letters’ arrangements. The fact that these were the letters from his old world, which meant they should form words from his old world as well, did help him solve the puzzle quickly.

It was indeed an anagram. After rearranging the letters, they formed ten sentences.

*

Beware the coming of ten thousand millennia,

Gates of the two worlds will sing songs of judgment,

The strong will be carried,

The weak will lay out seeds,

The reaping shall provide for the divine and the wicked,

There is no escape,

There is no hiding,

There is no fighting back,

Fate is written,

Accept it with grace or screams. It changes nothing.

*

At first glance, this was gibberish. But Amon remembered again the talk about the current epoch. He couldn’t help but use his jade stone to contact Li Shi.

”Tutor Li, I want to ask about something,” Amon said through the jade stone.

”What is it, student Lin Mo?” He heard Li Shi’s voice from the stone.

”Do you have an exact time of how many years our current epoch has been? Since the time you said we have no historical record.”

”There is no exact time, but roughly ten million years ago.”

Amon frowned. ”Have we passed ten million years in our current epoch?” He asked again.

”Not yet.”

”Are you sure about that? I thought you said just now you have no exact time.”

”I don’t know the exact time, but the oldest written record found was nine and a half million years ago. It was about the founding of the first settlement we know of, which slowly grew to become the first kingdom in our history. Unless we found an older record, I will say that was the start of our epoch. Even if I’m wrong, it shouldn’t be more than half a million years. That’s why I’m pretty sure we are not yet ten million years past our civilization. Of course, our ancestors should have existed longer than that since we’ve found older relics and ruins, such as this one. It’s just that we never found one with written records of what happened during those previous epochs.”

”If I were to ask you your professional opinion about how soon our current epoch will reach its ten million years, what is your best guess?”

”... I say, maybe a million years? A thousand? Or maybe even tomorrow. As I’ve said, I can’t say for sure. What’s the matter? Did you find something?”

Amon was silent as he contemplated Li Shi’s words.

”Student Lin Mo, I gave you a question! Did you find something?” Li Shi’s voice was heard again.

”Yes, I think I have broken through the illusion. I am now looking down a hole toward the floor underneath. I am fixing a rope now to descend into this hole. I will contact you again later to report what I find down there.”

”That’s great news!” Li Shi’s voice was very joyful after hearing about Amon’s success. ”But... what does that have to do with your question about our current epoch?”

”It’s nothing. It’s just something that comes to my mind. I will end this conversation. I need to focus on going down. I will contact you again.”

”Okay. Be careful and be safe!”

Amon ended the conversation. His eyes never left the glowing words on the door. ”If I’m to believe this message here, it will mean I have a limited time in this new world,” Amon muttered. ”Written records, eh? Maybe that’s why the past occupants of this place left a message in such a contraption instead of a book or a scroll. This message was hidden as an anagram puzzle serving as a lock to the door. Even if someone found it, without deciphering the anagram, no one could see the message. Perhaps whoever or whatever purged the historical records of the past epoch didn’t bother enough to solve this door’s puzzle as they think it was only a simple lock.”

”Hmph! Never mind. Whatever comes, I will deal with it,” Amon said. He cleared his mind. His objective was still to find valuables inside here. If he was to prepare for this ancient menace these glowing words warned him about, he would need to become as powerful as possible in as short a time as possible.

He approached the door and tried to push the stone door. It still didn’t budge. After a brief second, Amon decided to read the glowing words aloud.

Once he finished uttering the last sentence, the glowing words fizzled. A rumble was heard. The heavy and solid stone door started to slide slowly.