Rise of The Demon General

Chapter 255: Chapter 255. Final Attempt at Recruiting

’Now!’ Xin Wuming thought to himself.

Although he hadn’t fought Yang Li since their last spar, Vicious members always frequented the Practice Building. Yang Li only used the basement in her residence for cultivating. She mostly still used the Practice Building for training her arts, where she could ask the teachers for pointers when needed. With Yang Li spending most of her time there, it was easy to monitor her and learn about all the arts she possessed.

From that reconnaissance, Amon and Xin Wuming knew all the arts Yang Li possessed. They, of course, knew about this Fire Breath as well.

When the fire was about to engulf him, Xin Wuming charged forward instead of retreating. As he did, a layer of water enveloped his body.

Xin Wuming might have metal affinity but that didn’t mean he couldn’t learn other elemental arts. It just meant that it would take him longer to master that art, and it wouldn’t be as powerful as when used by someone with water affinity.

The arcane art he was using was Water Suit. The art conjured a layer of water that protected his entire body. Under normal conditions, this arcane art was superb in protecting its practitioner against arcane art like Fire Breath. However, Xin Wuming’s water affinity was non-existent, while Yang Li’s fire affinity was S-level. The water suit only lasted a second before it evaporated.

One second was all Xin Wuming needed. He barged into the raging flames and came before Yang Li. The flames burned his body once his water suit was gone. He also had Iron Skin on, but the metal-element defensive art could do little against Yang Li’s flames. The fire burned through his skin like any other skin. He gritted his teeth and endured the pain without stopping his advance.

Yang Li was startled to see Xin Wuming before him while flames still poured out of her mouth. She instinctively ended the art and ducked as Xin Wuming’s finger-sword came stabbing. Her claw came with a backhand swing as her body spun.

While Yang Li had a battle instinct that allowed her to react swiftly to unexpected situations, Amon did too. Xin Wuming had sparred with Amon a lot of times that it was hammered into him to always expect his assault to fail. Hence, unlike his first duel with Yang Li, he could respond this time.

His hand slashed at Yang Li’s incoming claw. He was using his other metal-element arcane art, Sword Hand. While Iron Finger produced a long but slender sword, Sword Hand produced a large metal blade. The raw power from Sword Hand put Iron Finger to shame. Even though the metal blade melted after colliding with Yang Li’s flaming claw, its power was enough to deflect her claw and throw her off-balance.

Yang Li didn’t panic just because of that. Instead, she used the recoil force from the impact and sent an elbow attack using her other arm. This elbow struck the side of Xin Wuming’s head.

While Xin Wuming’s Iron Skin was useless against Yang Li’s flames, it was still helpful against blunt attacks. His hard skin prevented the blow to his head from causing a concussion. He forced himself to charge forward and crashed into Yang Li’s body.

During his training with Amon, Amon informed him that techniques were mostly useless against instinct-type enemies. Their unpredictability could throw systemic combatants, who relied mostly on techniques, into chaos. Against such an opponent, it was more effective to use brute strength once an opportunity arose. This was what Xin Wuming was doing now.

With their bodies pressed against one another, Xin Wuming used his superior strength to clench Yang Li and shove her forward. He ignored the pain from his skin getting burned due to being in such close proximity to her.

With all his might, he slammed her into the ground. The hard impact shocked her and made her lose all the air in her. When she came to focus again, she saw Xin Wuming’s sword-finger above her forehead. The referee’s hand was grabbing Xin Wuming’s arm and prevented it from moving.

”The winner is Xin Wuming!” The referee announced.

Xin Wuming got up after the announcement. He was panting. Most of his skin was burned. Amon jumped into an arena. He took out a blanket from his space ring and wrapped Xin Wuming with it.

”Go and get healed,” Amon told him.

It was unnecessary. That was just Amon’s cue to send him away. The blanket was to prevent others from seeing Xin Wuming’s burning skin heal by itself.

Xin Wuming took the cue and left the place.

”I must go oversee another booked match,” the referee said. ”Please leave this arena once you are done, and no fighting without supervision. Understand?”

Amon nodded. Yang Li was still sitting on the floor. She didn’t respond.

After the referee exited the place, Amon asked Yang Li, ”Do you know why you lost despite your elemental superiority?”

Yang Li didn’t respond. Her head was down.

”The reason you lose is because of me!” Amon stated.

This statement made Yang Li bring her head up. Her eyes were on Amon. Her eyes didn’t show despair from the loss. It showed a quiet anger. Amon was glad to see that gaze. If Yang Li was pitying herself for the loss, he would leave without saying anything further.

”You can gauge for yourself Xin Wuming’s improvement,” Amon said. ”The last you fought, you were equal in cultivation and martial arts. If you fought in the arena that first time, you would have won with no problem. Today, he defeated you even when you were both allowed to use arcane arts. What does that tell you? It tells you that despite your hard training, I can still advance one’s growth to trump yours. Therefore, I am the reason for your loss.”

When Yang Li still didn’t respond, Amon asked, ”What is your purpose coming to this academy?”

This time, Yang Li responded, ”... To become stronger.”

Amon nodded. ”You use this academy as a tool to make you stronger. You are willing to obey these academy’s rules for that end. I am offering you the same. You can use me as a tool to make you stronger. In exchange, I demand your obedience and loyalty. From Xin Wuming’s display, I’ve proved my worth. If you accept my terms, I can and will help you grow into someone who sits at the top of this world. This will be the last time I give you this offer. I won’t do it again, and you must give me your answer now!”

The two stared at one another for the longest time. Finally, Yang Li spoke, ”If I beat you one day, will you set me free?”

Amon grinned. ”Very well. But unless I’m the one initiating it, you may only challenge me once a year.”

Yang Li put her two hands on the floor. She bowed before Amon.

”I accept... Big brother,” She uttered.

”Excellent. Report to Xin Wuming tomorrow morning. He will let you know your tasks,” Amon said.

When he noticed the crease on Yang Li’s forehead, he said, ”Don’t worry. The tasks won’t divert you too much from the time you need to cultivate and train. In exchange, you will be awarded cultivation pills for the completed tasks. Trust me. With those pills, your progress will be faster even when you spend less time cultivating than your usual timetable.”

Amon then took out three items from his space ring. ”These are my gifts to you for becoming my follower.”

One of the gifts was an aetherium stone. With his wealth, it was not difficult to procure these stones. They were all low-grade ones, though. The ones awarded to his faction members were mostly low-tier engraved aetherium stones. The one he gave Yang Li was a mid-tier one.

Yang Li was speechless by the gift. An aetherium stone was a luxury only wealthy cultivators enjoyed. It was not something she dreamed of possessing with her current status.

The other two items were books.

”Thank you, big brother!” Yang Li said as she accepted the gifts.

She looked at the two books. One contained the martial art, Ghost Bone Claw. The other taught the fire-element arcane art, Scorching Field. These two books were among the goods Amon plundered from Lu Zu’s space ring. The Ghost Bone Claw was classified as a mid-tier practitioner art. As for the Scorching Field, it was a high-tier practitioner art.

She felt like dreaming as she held the books in her hand. She spent a lot of academic points to exchange for the mid-tier practitioner Fire Breath. She now had a better arcane art just like that. She was already starting to believe becoming Amon’s follower was the right call.

Amon said, ”I will visit your place from time to time and spar with you. I will give you pointers for improving yourself.”

When he saw Yang Li’s expression, he added with a grin, ”If I lose in the spar, you may demand your freedom if that is what you wish.”