Rise of The Demon General

Chapter 739: Chapter 739. The General Condition of the Demon Realm

”Honorable soldier of the Mercy Faction, allow me to help you defeat the bandit base,” Amon told Wi Zhuang.

”Please, call me Wi Zhuang. May I know your name?”

”I am Amon.”

”Amon, very well. Do you wish to join our faction? Or do you want to help us for a reward?” Wi Zhuang asked.

”I wish to join. Can I do it just like that?” Amon asked in return.

”Of course. As an enforcer, I can accept new members,” Wi Zhuang answered.

”You will have to start from being a grunt, though,” Wi Yin interjected.

”This is my sister, Wi Yin,” Wi Zhuang introduced. ”His rank is raider, so she will be your superior.”

Wi Zhuang proceeded to explain the ranking system to Amon.

”Amon, how do you emit the divine energy?” Wi Yin asked.

”It’s because I am a divine cultivator,” Amon answered. He didn’t worry about the denizens of this realm learning that fact. From the interrogation of the portal guards, he learned that, unlike in Aetheria, the people here didn’t shun people who practiced divine cultivation. Plenty of cultivators in the lower realm were divine cultivators, although they were a minority. Not many resources existed in this realm that helped divine cultivators.

”But, how can you also use the darkness elements?” Wi Yin asked.

”That’s because I’m also an infernal cultivator,” Amon asked, which drew puzzlement from both Wi Zhuang and Wi Yin.

Amon chuckled. He said, ”I have a special constitution that allows me to practice both cultivation paths.”

Amon no longer tried to cover this fact. His divine cultivation had a higher level. It would be crippling if he had to hide it. Furthermore, for all he knew, his possessing two conflicting energy cores could very well be the result of a special constitution he originally possessed since the beginning.

”Really? That’s incredible,” Wi Yin said.

”But wouldn’t it be time-consuming to practice two cultivation paths?” Wi Zhuang asked. ”I sensed the divine energy you used in your art is very powerful. Much more powerful than the infernal energy that I now sensed from you. Why do you focus on cultivating your divine cultivation rather than your infernal cultivation? To be honest, I’ve never met a divine cultivator as powerful as you. It is difficult for a divine cultivator to thrive here.”

”That’s because I came from Aetheria,” Amon decided to come clean.

”The surface world?” Wi Yin said in surprise.

”Well, it has been a long time since we heard an Aetheria’s native arriving here. Even then, I’ve never actually encountered one before,” Wi Zhuang remarked.

”What is it like in the surface world?” Wi Yin asked.

”... Different,” Amon answered.

”How long have you been in this realm?” Wi Zhuang asked.

”I’ve only arrived recently,” Amon answered.

”Then, how do you know about our faction and domain lord?”

”I have a partner who is a native of this realm. He told me most of the information about this realm,” Amon said as he lifted his left arm. The shadow form of Bo Wu appeared from that arm.

Wi Zhuang was at first confused, but he soon recognized the shadow. ”A hell beast? How did it get infused into you?”

”I have an unfortunate incident that caused that to happen,” Amon answered.

Bo Wu chortled. ”He is kidding. He meant a fortunate incident. Hehe.”

Wi Zhuang saw that Amon didn’t elaborate further. He didn’t push the subject. He, however, eyed Bo Wu suspiciously.

”I see. You have no one here. I understand why you want to join our faction, but I must warn you that once you join, you must prepare to dedicate your life to the faction. Are you still sure you want to join?”

”I’m sure,” Amon answered as Bo Wu returned to its tattoo form.

”Very well. You will be a grunt of the Mercy Faction from this day onward. I will put you under my sister. Obey her commands.”

Amon nodded. ”About the bandit base, when are we going to make a move?”

”Not in the near future. As I said, we don’t have enough manpower. The intel I got mentioned that roughly five hundred bandits are inside that base. My strategy is to ambush them a few at a time. We will only assault the base once they are reduced to a tolerable number. Alas, we get jumped by them. I lost half my unit in the battle just now. This will make it harder when it is time to assault the base...”

”But, brother, Mistress Yao Ai only gives you until next week to complete this task,” Wi Yin said with concern.

”Why did the domain lord send only such a small force to deal with these bandits?” Amon asked. ”It doesn’t look like a serious attempt.”

”It is not,” Wi Zhuang said. ”I’ve heard that the surface world is orderly. It is different here. Bandits are common. Everywhere you go, you will meet them. Our faction doesn’t bother with them unless they oppose us directly, or if they cause too much ruckus to attract our attention, like the bandits we are targeting. Even so, our domain lord doesn’t really take these bandits seriously.”

”Right. Giving you this task is only a game to her,” Wi Yin said bitterly.

”Wi Yin, do not speak like that. Do you want to get punished?” Wi Zhuang admonished.

Wi Yin pouted in response.

”We took out more than a hundred bandits here. Combined with the ones you vanquished using your ambushes. It should leave around three hundred inside the base,” Amon speculated. ”Do you know the average cultivation levels of the bandits inside the base?”

”We have been interrogating the bandits we defeated, like the ones here,” Wi Zhuang gestured at the surrendered bandits. His soldiers were tying them up. ”The average goons are mostly at the Diabolic Stage, with their superiors at the Malicious Stage. The most troubling is their leader, a man named Xia To. He is a cultivator at the Intermediate Fiendish Stage.”

”Intermediate Fiendish Stage? A common bandit has a cultivation level that high?” Amon asked. That was equivalent to an Intermediate Lord Stage.

”There were plenty of bandits who had the cultivation at the Fiendish Stage,” Wi Zhuang informed.

Amon pondered this news. Unlike in Aetheria, Lord Stage cultivators weren’t at the apex. They were roughly only at the middle of the food chain. However, with what he had sensed from the environment, he thought this shouldn’t be surprising. The aether content in this realm was extremely dense. It was around the intensity of the room where he took the Spring of Life.

He at first thought the density was limited to the area near the portal gate. But after traveling, the density didn’t reduce. It was even denser in some rare spots. He understood now that this density was the general condition of this realm. This meant that the cultivation speed of this realm’s denizens should be much faster than in Aetheria.

”See? Our domain lord truly has something against you,” Wi Yin told his brother. ”How is it possible she asked you to defeat an Intermediate Fiendish Stage cultivator?”

”Even if that is true, we have no choice but to obey,” Wi Zhuang replied sternly. ”This is the way. If the domain lord asks us to do something, then we must comply. The alternative is death!”

”In this case, obeying is also death,” Wi Yin muttered defiantly.

Wi Zhuang sighed. ”If we don’t obey, it will not be only me who dies. You, our parents, our siblings, my wife, and my children will also be punished. I don’t mind dying if it means I spare you all from my fate. Because of that, you should listen to what I’ve told you. When it’s time to assault the bandit base, you must not follow.”

”I will never leave you!” Wi Yin exclaimed.

Wi Zhuang shook his head. He then turned to Amon.

”Now you understand. It will be impossible to complete the task within the given time frame. Sigh... It seems you will have a new superior so soon after joining.”

”Next week is more than enough. Let’s attack the bandit base now,” Amon said.

The others paused when they heard it. Everyone was thinking that maybe they had heard wrong. They looked at each other and saw from their expressions that Amon did utter what they had heard.

Wi Zhuang said, ”Brother Amon, I know your cultivation is high. But from what I sensed when you used your arts, your divine cultivation is not at the power level of the Fiendish Stage. Our number is also lower than the bandits remaining inside the base. Assaulting the base now will be suicide. I know my life is at stake, but I can’t sacrifice everyone’s life simply for a desperate gambit with no chance of winning.”

”Don’t worry about the enemy number. In fact, you and your people can simply watch on the sidelines. I will deal with the base myself. Just remember to promote my name when you hand this task to the faction.”

Amon climbed onto the Great Sun Hawk while everyone was still dazed by what he said.

”Let’s go,” he told them. ”I need eyewitnesses. Otherwise, you can’t properly report how I destroyed the base.”