Rise of The Demon General

Chapter 562: Chapter 562. Camouflaging

”Glory and... recognition?” Xin Wuming asked.

”Huang San denied me the position of the Prime Minister. That is fine. I should have seen it coming,” Amon said. ”Perhaps I put too much faith in his sense of gratitude. Anyway, it is pointless to dwell on the past. I still possess a different way to scale for power. That is by utilizing this war.”

”How can we use it?” Xin Wuming asked.

”By winning as many battles as possible,” Amon answered. ”Each victory will grant me glory and recognition. With enough of those, people will start spreading my legend. This will not only make it difficult for anyone to ignore me, but many officials will also come forward to cooperate on their own. Not to mention, fiery young cultivators will flock to join my army. Given time, I can build the biggest army in existence. By then, the king will have no choice but to appoint me his second in command.”

Amon didn’t tell Xin Wuming, but his real thought was that when that time came, he might even take over Echos and build his own dynasty. Such a treasonous intention was better kept to himself until he was sure the desired outcome was close at hand.

”I will give all my power to help Brother attain that goal!” Xin Wuming declared.

”I will be counting on you,” Amon said.

Not long after, Liu Xun walked over with several soldiers in tow. Those were the scouts they sent to try to infiltrate Bright Rock City over the past few days. He also handed Amon the detailed map he requested.

Amon studied the map and questioned the soldiers. He finished this task near sunset.

Afterward, Amon meditated while contemplating the information he had learned. When the sky turned dark, he left for the hill. Xin Wuming and Qiang Dan offered to accompany him, but he told them to stay put. He didn’t need followers for reconnaissance.

He first circled the hill without setting foot on it. He didn’t want to trip Khode’s motion detectors. His night vision eyes allowed him to see everything without carrying a lamp, thus making it harder for the sentries inside the city to spot him.

He matched the outcropping he saw near the foot of the hill with the ones marked on the map Jiang Tong gave him. They roughly matched, which meant he could trust the map for the outcropping above the hill. Those were the spots he could use to hide from prying eyes if he wanted to sneak up there. The only problem now was the Faxien Radars.

As he continued his recon, he noticed something interesting. A few mountain goats were climbing the hill.

’Hm... Maybe I can use this,’ Amon pondered.

*

The next day, Amon came to Jiang Tong and made another request.

”You want steeds?” Jiang Tong asked. ”Are you going somewhere?”

”I’m not,” Amon answered without explaining more. ”I don’t need good quality steeds. You can’t even give me old, wounded, or ones you have no use for.”

”What the hell do you want to do with these steeds?” Liu Xun asked in puzzlement.

”I would prefer to keep my plan a secret for now,” Amon replied.

Liu Xun turned to Jiang Tong, who sat in his chair. Jiang Tong was drumming his fingers on the table. He did that in silence for a while. Liu Xun didn’t ask anything. Amon also waited patiently.

After a long, uncomfortable silence with nothing but the sounds of Jiang Tong’s fingers tapping repeatedly on the table, he finally spoke, ”We have a few horses wounded by the stray shrapnel from the previous battle. Give him those.”

The horses were soon brought to his tent. There were three dozen of them. It was more than what Amon needed. The horses had scars on their bodies, but most could still walk normally. A few walked with a limp because their legs were hurt. These horses could no longer run.

*

That night, Amon took six horses that could still run. He brought Xin Wuming and Qiang Dan this time. Each of them was leading two horses. After he gave his two followers some instructions, they split up.

Arriving at a spot with fewer outcroppings, he guided one of the horses near the hill before slapping its butt. It started running up the hill. He did the same to the second horse at a different location several meters away.

After the two horses ran up the hill, he hid and peered from behind a big rock. He could still see the two horses in the distance. They had stopped running uphill and were now wandering about randomly.

Amon stayed in hiding and waited. Not long after, he saw movements from up the hill. These movements were from a group of soldiers in Khode uniforms coming down the hill. Amon couldn’t see their expressions due to the distance, but could imagine their bafflement at learning that it was the horses that triggered their Faxien Radars.

The group hung around the place for a while. They ended up deciding to catch the two horses. They brought the horses back up.

Amon waited until they were out of sight before he returned to Echos’ army camp. He was preparing more horses when Xin Wuming and Qiang Dan returned. They informed Amon that Khode soldiers also came to check the horses they released on the hill, except the soldiers on their sites didn’t capture the horses. They chased the horses downhill instead.

Amon acknowledged their information. He gave the two of them one horse each and told them to release the horse into other parts of the hill.

They did this three times that night, releasing a total of twelve horses. During the third release, the Khode soldiers at one of the sites got pissed when they learned it was a horse again. They ended up killing the horse.

Just before dawn, Amon brought the remaining horses and placed them near the foot of the hill. He scattered hay in the area. This would provide the horses with sustenance and keep them in the area. He also stationed his people further away to watch over the horses while hiding.

He left the horses alone for the day. Only when the horses wandered too far would his people go and capture them.

*

The next night, Amon repeated the process. Like before, the Khode soldiers came down again to check. They chased the horse away before returning.

Once they were out of sight, he immediately made the horse they had shooed away return up the hill. A few minutes later, he released a second horse. He continued releasing a horse every few minutes. Only after five horses were walking about the lower part of the hill did the group of soldiers return.

He measured the time. It had been around thirty minutes since that group came down the first time. From their gestures, Amon imagined they were kind of peeved discovering even more horses were roaming around tonight. They again chased away the five horses before returning.

Amon moved to another site. Five of his followers were on standby there. They were Zhong Yuan, Hu Hua, Shi Hei, Diao Xin, and Yi Chaisan.

”Are you ready?” Amon asked them. ”We will start the operation. You have only ten minutes each cycle. Act fast.”

The four nodded in acknowledgement.

He again led another horse and made it go up the hill from near their hiding place. He waited for the Khode soldier to come. They did. After they left, he told the four, ”Move now. Zhong Yuan, you first. Find the radar fast!”

”Roger that, boss,” Zhong Yuan replied. A hint of sarcasm in his tone.

”Remember to move like a horse,” Amon reminded.

’Fuck! How to do that?’ Zhong Yuan cursed as he moved toward the hill while leading the horse that had just been chased down.

He made the horse go back up and mimicked its movement. While moving, he looked at something that looked like a compass in his hand. The thing in his hand was a device he made. It could react to the wave emitted by a Faxien Radar and thus, detect its location.

He moved in the direction shown by his device. He didn’t forget to mask his movements. He stopped and went around randomly so that he didn’t appear like someone who moved with an intention.

While he did that, Yi Chaisan entered the hill. She also moved randomly while making her way to Zhong Yuan. Hu Hua, Shi Hei, and Diao Xin joined soon. When the three arrived, Zhong Yuan and Yi Chaisan were kneeling while looking at the ground.

On the ground next to their feet was a contraption fitted with several talismans. This was the Faxien Radar. It was originally invisible, but Zhong Yuan used a talisman to reveal it.

”Okay. Pay attention. You will have to do this by yourself after this,” Zhong Yuan told his companions.

The four nodded.

Zhong Yuan took out a talisman he had prepared beforehand. He laid it on top of the Faxien Radar. He channeled aether into his talisman, and tendrils of light came out of it. He guided these tendrils and attached them to each of the talismans in the Faxien Radar. He made a few tweaks before reactivating the invisibility talisman that masked the radar.

Once that was done, they started going back down.

”Don’t forget the horse!” Zhong Yuan told Hu Hua, who was close to it. ”I have made it look like everything within this area had moved away. The radar here will only send a static report from now on. It will be weird if they find the horse here when the radar doesn’t detect it.”

”Oh, right,” Hu Hua uttered. She immediately grabbed the horse and led it back down.