Rise of The Demon General

Chapter 528: Chapter 528. Grand Prize

In terms of strength, Amon overpowered his two opponents due to his unique physique boosted by the body-strengthening meridian points technique. His strength was close to the Beginning Spirit Stage.

However, the Qing Lion was not too far off. The Qing Lion was as strong as a Peak Mystic Stage cultivator. Huang Zhan’s nature assimilation not only granted the Qing Lion excellent protection, but it also injected a strength booster, making the lion stronger than normal.

Amon had clashed with the Qing Lion multiple times since An Guan appeared. The Qing Lion slightly lost the exchanges, but Gan Xi made up for the loss. Gan Xi’s interference caused Amon to be unable to land a finishing blow.

Throughout the fight, Amon only used martial arts. His fighting pattern was so monotonous that his enemies were lulled into a relaxed repetition. Once he saw the enemies diminish their caution, he struck.

He had been keeping the fight on the ground. The Qing Lion welcomed this setup since it could not fly. Amon fought on the ground because they couldn’t fly high anyway due to the height limit of this world. Another reason was that his trap required the enemies to be close to the ground.

He waited until the enemies were close. The Qing Lion slapped his ceremonial dagger like it always did, before lunging in with an open maw. Gan Xi was ready with his mace behind the lion.

Unlike before, Amon didn’t move away. He stood his ground as the Qing Lion approached. A pulse radiated from his feet when the lion was almost upon him. The ground where this pulse passed through collapsed. The Qing Lion jumped when it felt the ground under it give way, but it felt its body was heavier than usual.

Amon’s Earth Pulse had mostly become inefficient since reaching the Mystic Stage. This was because combatants of this cultivation level no longer needed to remain on the ground. However, reaching the master level of this art had made it practical again. At this mastery, the arcane art not only robbed opponents of their footing but also applied gravitational pull to those above the collapsed ground. This was the mastery Amon had achieved.

With the extra weight, the Qing Lion’s lunge was stopped short. It fell back into the collapsed ground, where the earth roiled and churned. Gan Xi saw the lion’s predicament. He hurriedly advanced to prevent Amon from capitalizing on this chance.

Amon was ready for him. His ceremonial dagger rushed forward and clanged with Gan Xi’s mace. The mace was full of nicks and gashes after clashing with the ceremonial dagger multiple times. This time, Amon channeled full power into the ceremonial dagger. The mace shattered.

With the interferer repelled, Amon could focus on the Qing Lion. However, he was too close to the lion. Despite having its legs restrained by the churning ground, the lion snapped its mouth at Amon.

Amon offered his left arm and let the Qing Lion bite it, not knowing it was another of Amon’s traps. The lion’s sharp teeth and powerful jaw clamped on the arm. They couldn’t shred the arm but kept Amon from pulling away.

Amon was fine with that arrangement. He had no plan to move away for now. His other hand came at the lion. That hand didn’t hold any weapon. The ceremonial dagger was still away after destroying Gan Xi’s mace. Amon didn’t need a weapon, though, because his hand itself was a deadly weapon.

Amon couldn’t bring any poison vials into this trial because all his belongings were checked before entering. Poison was restricted from being used in the trial. Since he didn’t wear the black space ring, he couldn’t smuggle anything. He didn’t need to, because his body already carried poison.

His right hand turned pitch black while approaching the Qing Lion. The lion might have many protections on its body, but it still had to leave its eyes uncovered. This was why Amon lured the lion into close range. Amon’s poison claw jammed into one of the lion’s eyes.

Amon’s poison claw had improved to Expert mastery. With this improvement, he could imbue deadlier poison into his hand. His poison claw now contained the Cold Stiff Poison instead of the Black Slaughter Poison.

The Qing Lion roared in pain and let go of Amon’s left arm. It roared loudly as poison coursed rapidly into its bloodstream. This was the roar that drew Huang Zhan’s attention when he was about to crush Wu Di’s head.

Cold Stiff Poison could kill Mystic Stage cultivators instantly and affect Spirit Stage cultivators, but the Qing Lion didn’t die instantly. Most spirit beasts had a natural resistance against poison. Some more than the others. The Qing Lion didn’t have the best poison resistance, but its huge body caused the poison to take some time before it spread. During the process, the lion was in extreme pain and greatly distracted.

Amon didn’t wait for his poison to finish the lion. He did it himself. Because it was distracted, it couldn’t actively dodge his attacks. It was also constantly opening its mouth to roar out of pain. Amon threw the ceremonial dagger that had returned into the Qing Lion’s mouth.

The black dagger pierced into the soft inside of the mouth before going deeper. Using the Xian Cloth for control, the ceremonial dagger ripped apart the lion’s insides. Blood poured by the gallons from the lion’s mouth. When Amon pulled his dagger out, the lion had dropped lifelessly to the ground.

”Bastard! How dare you...!!!” Huang Zhan roared. He completely forgot about Wu Di under his feet and flew toward Amon.

Da Niu glanced at Wu Di for a while before joining his liege. The two Spirit Stage cultivators rushed toward Amon, who stood there without showing any attempt at fleeing. Amon grabbed the corpse of the Qing Lion and threw it at Huang Zhan.

”Hah!” The prince slashed his rope dart, and the corpse was split in two. His rushing speed didn’t slow.

Amon grinned. Huang Zhan’s rage was not about him losing his precious pet, but about someone breaking his possession.

Da Niu used the movement art that gave him a speed burst like before. His speed allowed him to fly past Huang Zhan and arrive first. Amon paid attention to the battle on the other side even while fighting his own battle, so he wasn’t surprised by Da Niu’s insane speed.

”Too late,” Amon said, just as Da Niu’s fist came smashing.

Da Niu punched into the ground, and it caved in. Rocks were flying everywhere.

”Where is the bastard?” Huang Zhan asked. He didn’t see Amon’s corpse inside the collapsed ground.

”... He vanished before I hit him,” Da Niu answered.

Huang Zhan turned in Wu Di’s direction. The man was no longer there.

”Fuck!” Huang Zhan cursed. Their partner had brought the key to the exit point. They had left this trial stage.

He was sure of his speculation, but still messaged the others to ensure. His underlings who fought Huang San reported that the prince also vanished mid-fight.

Da Niu reverted to his human form. ”What should we do now?” He asked.

”Never mind,” Huang Zhan said. ”They have lost their strongest member. Without any Spirit Stage cultivator to protect them, it is certain death for them the next time we meet them. Unless they decide to give up and wait five days to quit the trial, we will meet them again.”

”Still, I didn’t expect our team to lose two members to this weakest team,” Da Niu said. ”We are now down to six members. The princess’ team most likely still has full members.”

”Hmph, it doesn’t matter,” Huang Zhan said. ”The only team I worried about was Huang Zi’s. That team is gone now. Huang Er is but a joke. Her cultivation might be higher than mine, but she spent too much time playing politics. She has very little combat experience. Even I have confidence to defeat her if we go up against her, much less if she meets you. You alone can take out their entire team, provided you don’t play around and be serious from the start.”

Da Niu nodded. ”I will make sure to finish all opponents in the shortest amount of time from now on.”

”I will be counting on you,” Huang Zhan said. He then did a broadcast to his entire team, ”Okay, everyone. Same as before. Quickly find the key, but wait until we get the signal from Zhong Yuan before using it. Hurry up! Our failure here was because we took too long to solve the previous stage. If we had arrived earlier, my little brother wouldn’t have escaped. We must be ready to act immediately once the signal is given!”

”Yes, Your Highness!” Everyone replied.

*

Outside the trial world, Zhong Yuan was staring at the screen in puzzlement. He was not the only one who did. The others who happened to be in the courtyard also did, including Prime Minister Zhu Yao. They all watched the screen because a loud beeping sound was heard from it.

”What happens? Is something wrong?” Zhu Yao asked.

”What’s the words on the screen?” Senior Minister Hua Rong pointed. Aside from making loud noises, words in the ancient language were displayed on the screen.

Only Zhong Yuan could translate the language. That was one of the reasons he learned so much about this trial artifact compared to those who had possessed this artifact for millennia.

Zhong Yuan was too astonished by the revelation that he forgot to conceal his knowledge. He absentmindedly answered, ”It says congratulations for having solved the grand puzzle. Team D is now opening the master vault and will be bestowed the grand prize.”

”Gra–Grand prize...?” Hua Rong asked.

”Uh... What does this mean to the ascension trial?” Another minister asked.

Everyone was silent. Nobody had an answer to that question.