Rise of The Demon General

Chapter 473: Chapter 473. Visiting Fort Lion’s Den

The spirit beast Amon bought and tamed was called the Sun Hawk. It was a fire-element bird with decent speed and stamina. It was not the Great Eagle’s equal for transportation purposes, but its battle capability was higher than the others of the same grade. Its ability to manipulate fire was especially potent. With certain conditions, it could even contest against a lower mythical beast.

Another advantage of this spirit beast was it was one of the few that could evolve. This was the main reason Amon chose the beast.

It was almost impossible to find a lower mythical beast to tame in the market. Any such beast was certain to enter the auction. Even in auctions, the chance of a lower mythical beast appearing was very low. When it did, everyone fought for it. Amon didn’t want to bother with the hassle of competing in an auction.

Most cultivators who desired to tame a mythical grade beast did so by taming the beast in the wilderness, but this method was extremely risky. Many perished in the process. Even if they managed to find and corner one, the chance of taming it was very low. Capturing it to bring back to the settlement was even harder to do.

Hence, Amon opted for a different method. He targeted a spirit beast with an evolving ability, like Lin Li.

While Lin Li was a special case where she could evolve multiple times, the Sun Hawk’s evolving ability was common. It could only evolve one time. Even though a one-time evolving ability was the lowest, any spirit beast with an evolving ability was still rare. That’s why Amon didn’t tame any beast Gao Lan proposed to him previously. All those beasts couldn’t evolve. The Sun Hawk was the first spirit beast with an evolving ability that came to his attention.

Despite the burning incident caused by the Sun Hawk, the rest of the taming process went smoothly. The hall the Sun Hawk was brought into had a formation that suppressed the Sun Hawk’s combustion ability. This protected the handlers from getting burned.

The process was similar to when Ha Gild helped Amon tame the Thunder Roc. Except this time, Amon was strong enough to overpower the Sun Hawk and keep it from fighting back during the taming process.

Using the same trick when taming Thunder Roc, Amon tamed the Sun Hawk even faster. Lao Ku and the handlers who bound the Sun Hawk were astonished by his record-breaking time.

After Amon completed the transaction, he left the store riding the Sun Hawk. Those in the area couldn’t help but look at the magnificent bird when it flew above them. It left a streak of fire as it flew. Its feather also glistened and made it seem as if the one flying above was a burning meteor instead of a bird.

Amon rode the Sun Hawk to the Sky Stable and hired a Swift-wing Eagle to take him to Fort Lion’s Den. He sent the Sun Hawk into his black space ring and let Lin Li deal with it.

Lin Li greeted the Sun Hawk with a vial containing the nectar from the Primordial Blue Lotus. It was possessing this flower that gave Amon the confidence to look for spirit beasts with evolving abilities. With the Primordial Blue Lotus, any spirit beast with the evolving ability was sure to evolve. It was just a matter of time.

The Sun Hawk gladly accepted the offer. Lin Li used this chance to assert her superiority. She didn’t have a problem doing that because she herself had just evolved not long ago.

Amon’s improvement into the Intermediate Mystic Stage pushed her into her next stage of evolution. An eighth tail grew behind her, but not fully. This eighth tail was only one-third of the length of her other tails. Her human appearance also changed. She now looked more like a young adult than a teenager.

Amon wasn’t confused by Lin Li’s half-grown tail. The last two tails of a multi-tailed fox grew extremely slowly. With this short eighth tail, Lin Li could be considered a lower mythical beast. Once her eighth tail was fully grown, she would become a higher mythical beast. When that happened, she no longer had to fear Yuka.

It took Amon nine days to reach the Northern border where Fort Lion’s Den was located. Once he arrived near the area, he was greeted by a squadron of soldiers riding Swift Spirit Swallows.

”Halt! Who are you? And what is your purpose in this place?” The lead soldier asked.

”I am Colonel Amon,” Amon informed. He showed the letter from Huang Zhan. ”I was invited by the eighth prince to visit him at Fort Lion’s Den.”

”You are Colonel Amon? His Highness has told us to bring you to him once you arrive. Please, follow us.”

Amon instructed the Swift-wing Eagle to follow the squad. Amon saw in the distance sky several other squads of fliers. He looked down and saw even more groups of soldiers patrolling the area. It seemed Prince Huang Zhan was someone very serious about territory security.

Fort Lion’s Den came into view soon. It was roughly five times the size of Fort Fresh Maw. Additionally, not far from it was a second, smaller fort. This second fort was not registered on the map. He didn’t know of its existence. It was probably built not long ago to accommodate the growing army size.

As he neared the fort, he saw the mass of soldiers around the place. The army here could not be compared to the one at Fort Fresh Maw. He estimated there were probably around fifty thousand soldiers roaming this place.

Amon’s gaze went to the distant North. A vast expanse of savannah dominated the landscape. That savannah was a no-man-land area called Bloodspill Prairie. Beyond the savannah was the country of Kazhan.

The savannah was originally also a part of Kazhan’s territory. Fort Lion’s Den was originally built to oversee the direct border between Echos and Kazhan, but a huge political shift in Kazhan split the country into separate factions.

Kazhan was originally a country comprised of multiple different tribes. Their governing system revolved around a council of chiefs from the most powerful tribes. However, foreign interference influenced the chiefs to change their government from the tribal to the feudal system. The most powerful chief among the council was crowned as king. The remaining chiefs became nobles.

The foreign party that caused the change was the Temple of Divinity. By the time the feudal system was announced, many tribe members had already converted to the temple’s followers. Hence, not many opposed the change.

While not many, some still did. Not every chief agreed to forgo their traditional way of life. These chiefs and their people protested but failed. Those who were most upset about the change went up in rebellion. Sadly, this effort also failed. These rebels lost but were unwilling to become part of the new system. Hence, they went away and occupied plots of land around the border.

The Bloodspill Prairie was one of the areas the rebels occupied. Different tribes lived in the savannah. They continued to follow their old customs, where they went and raided nearby settlements. In the past, they mostly targeted Echos settlements. These days, they raided both the settlements in Echos and Kazhan.

Each tribe that lived in the savannah had powerful cultivators. That’s how they managed to survive till now despite having two great countries flanking them. Kazhan itself avoided treating these tribes too aggressively. They still considered these tribes their people even when these tribes refused to submit to the new system. They focused on the defensive and only fought the tribes when the tribes attempted to raid a settlement.

It was Echos’ troops that had frequent conflicts with these tribes. The tribes had been a pain to Echos even when Kazhan was still under tribal rule. Hence, there was a deep resentment from Echos citizens who lived near the Northern border. Prince Huang Zhan’s troops were mostly recruited from these resentful citizens.

Before Prince Huang Zhan took command of this place, Echos similarly only played defense. They fought the tribes only if the tribes attacked. After Prince Huang Zhan took over, he regularly conducted operations in the savannah, escalating the conflicts.

At the moment, Amon saw no movement from or into the savannah. He had come at a peaceful time.

The leader of the flyer squadron instructed him to descend outside the fort. Amon complied. After landing, the Swift-wing Eagle turned around and flew back to Golden Stone City.

”Come,” the flyer squad leader also landed and ushered him into the fort.

Under escort, he walked into the entrance of the fort. The entrance was so thick he felt like he entered a cave. The entrance had two gates, an outer gate and an inner gate. During a siege, the enemies would need to break the gates two times to enter the fort. With such a fortified entrance point, he had no doubt the fort possessed a barrier dome that prevented flyers from entering through the sky.

When Amon walked past the inner gate and entered the fort’s courtyard, its portcullis suddenly dropped behind him. The squad that escorted him turned and pulled their weapons. Joined by the soldiers already waiting inside, they surrounded Amon. All these soldiers were ready to attack. There was no path for escape!