Rise of The Demon General

Du Ji and Xin Rong followed their lords and knelt. Amon followed suit. He looked at the man on the throne. The lighting in this place was dim, but Amon had no problem since his eyes could see in the dark. Nevertheless, he couldn’t quite make out the man on the throne. It was as if a blurry veil was obscuring the man.

Mo Wang rose from his throne and walked over. Amon saw that everyone hung their heads low. While he was curious to see what Mo Wang looked like, he also lowered his head. He didn’t want to risk offending the ruler of this realm for mere curiosity.

When Mo Wang arrived, all he saw were his feet.

”Rise,” Mo Wang commanded.

Only then did everyone stand back up. Amon had a good look then. Aside from being slightly pale, Mo Wang’s face looked ordinary. He looked neither young nor old. His body was neither fat nor slim. He was slightly short and wore a regular black robe. Like Amon, he was also bald. If no one told Amon, he wouldn’t believe the person before him was the strongest being in this lower world.

Though Amon had heard that Mo Wang had the cultivation of the Peak Infernal Devil Stage, Amon didn’t sense any power or danger from the man.

Mo Wang’s eyes darted from one man to the next. They stopped after spotting the black space ring on Amon’s neck. ”Ah...,” he uttered.

Mo Wang extended his hand toward Amon. Amon had the urge to move away, but he remained still. Mo Wang’s fingers touched the black ring and caressed it. ”My old ring,” he remarked.

Mo Wang looked at Amon, who displayed a quiet expression of surprise at his remark. He chuckled and said, ”Yes, this used to be mine. Don’t worry. I’m not going to take it from you. I have no use for it anymore.”

He showed Amon a gold ring on his ring finger. He said, ”See? I have a better one here. This is Big World Ring. Nevertheless, I can sense that your ring is operational, which means you can use it. For you to be able to use it...”

His hands touched Amon’s shoulders. They shifted around and touched other parts. Amon’s urge to move away intensified. If the one doing it wasn’t someone much stronger than him, he would have chopped off those hands by now.

Finally, Mo Wang removed his hands and said, ”As I expected. Someone must have discovered my tome, which contains the Demon Body Creation Method and the Demon Seeds, which hold my genetic information. Those things were stolen from this castle with that black space ring ages ago. What is your name? I don’t think any of them have mentioned it during the conversation just now.”

”Your Lordship, my name is Amon,” Amon answered.

”Amon...? Quite an unusual name, and you came with...”

”He is with me,” Yao Ai said.

”I wish to know your past,” Mo Wang told Amon. ”I want to know where my tome and the rest of my belongings are.”

Amon explained that he was from the surface world, but he feigned ignorance regarding his birth in this world and pretended to know nothing of the tome and the demon seeds Mo Wang mentioned. He said that his first memory was when he was five years old. He said the black space ring was a legacy from his clan and had no idea where it was from.

Mo Wang nodded after Amon finished narrating. He said, ”I wish to speak to you alone. Follow me.”

To the others, he said, ”The three of you continue your discussion. Also, I haven’t heard you people talk about the purge. You know how important that event is for our realm. Stop trying to manipulate each other. You know I don’t care if you people murder the shit out of each other, but I want you to be serious and cooperate for the purge. Unless, of course, if you do murder each other and only one of you is left to organize the purge. Until then, work your way around your hatred for each other. Oh, and tell the people in your domains to behave properly. I have had a surge of trespassers these past few weeks. It starts to get annoying.”

He turned and walked away after the speech. Amon glanced at Yao Ai briefly before following him.

Mo Wang led Amon out a small door at the back of the hall. They came to winding stairs that seemed to climb up to eternity. Amon surmised this was the main tower he had seen from the outside, which reached to the sky. While they could easily fly up, Mo Wang physically climbed each stair. He was silent throughout the climb. Amon feared that he would be disrespectful if he flew, so he followed Mo Wang and climbed the stairs the traditional way.

It was a long time before they reached the top. Up there was a circular hall with an open wall. Mo Wang walked to the edge of the hall and gazed outside. The winds were strong up there, but they weren’t affected.

Mo Wang began to speak. ”Actually, I didn’t care about the tome of the Demon Body Creation Method and my demon seeds. What I’m interested in is another tome. It has a cover with the word ’101 Primal Poison Tome’ written on it. You didn’t happen to see it when you were with the family that created you, did you?”

”I did not,” Amon lied.

”Mm, too bad. You said that the family had been massacred due to a clan feud. Let Yao Ai know the location of the old family’s mansion, will you? I will have her send agents to search the place for clues.”

”I will inform her,” Amon replied.

Mo Wang nodded. He was silent again while gazing outside. Amon waited for him to resume speaking. When he did, it was a question, and one that drew Amon’s surprise.

”You came from Earth, didn’t you?”

The question was unexpected. Amon was lost for words. Mo Wang turned to Amon. After seeing Amon’s surprised face, he chuckled.

”I already knew when I examined your body down there. I can sense that your existence is not originally of this world. I know you lied about having no recollection of your past before five years old. We transmigrators are fully aware of our surroundings since our moment of birth.”

”We...?” Amon asked.

”I came from the same world as you,” Mo Wang replied.

This revelation left Amon speechless. He would be lying if he said he never wondered about the circumstances of his arrival in this world. Was it an accident? A natural anomaly? He knew for sure the Demon Body Creation Method didn’t mention anything about pulling a soul from another world. If anything, the Hei Clan, who used the technique to create his body in this world, was oblivious that he came from another world. Now, he finally met a fellow migrant.

”Were Your Lordship also entered this world by the Demon Body Creation Method?” Amon asked.

Mo Wang chuckled and shook his head. ”I created that method, and it has nothing to do with drawing a soul from Earth. I simply developed the technique to try to create a clone of myself, which I must admit, failed miserably. None of the babies I created using the method came to life. I put the tome away after giving up on it after multiple failures.”

”So... I am living in Your Lordship’s clone body?”

Mo Wang shrugged. ”I don’t see any resemblance between you and me. Perhaps your soul influences it, makes it grow into something that resembles yourself in our past world. Nevertheless, your body surely possesses my genetic information. Otherwise, you won’t be able to use that Small World Ring. I made that ring, and I designed it so only I can use it.”

”I see,” Amon uttered. This explained why others who had gotten his ring were never able to use it.

”Say... I have always wondered when I heard your name. It has been ages, but hearing your name jolted a distant memory when I still lived on Earth. You couldn’t be General Amon, the dictator of the country of Galhana, who plunged Earth into a long and bloody world war now, could you?”

”Your Lordship has heard of me?” Amon asked.

”Holy... You are truly him? You know, the Earth where I came from. Everyone feared you. History books described you as an evil monster who brought the darkest hour to the world.”

”Wait a minute... History books? Your Lordship knows me from history books?”

”That’s right. In our past world, I lived five hundred years since the end of your reign of terror.”

”That makes no sense,” Amon said. ”From what I know, Your Lordship has been here for millennia. How could Your Lordship come from the future of our past world but arrive millennia before me?”

Mo Wang shrugged again. ”What I can think of is that the time between our old world and this one doesn’t move in parallel, or perhaps the Creator’s power transcends time.”

”Your Lordship knows about the Creator?” Amon was again surprised by another revelation.

”Of course. The Creator is the one responsible for all transmigratory processes. In the era when I arrived in this world, there were plenty of other transmigrators like me. Today, I was the only one left until I met you. The Creators also talked to us more frequently then. He had fallen silent a long time ago. I never understand why.”

”Have Your Lordship met him?”

”No, we only heard his voices, and only if he wished it.”

Amon went silent. This was a lot to take in. He was silent for so long that he only noticed Mo Wang was looking at him weirdly after some time.

”What is it?” Amon asked.

Mo Wang chuckled. ”I can’t believe I am conversing with someone described as an evil monster. Then again, I myself have become one... It is strange. You wouldn’t picture me becoming the person I am now if you had met the old me on Earth. I was a nerd. I was what most people called a loser. I go by the name Mo Wang now, but I have a different name then. Back in my past life, I was known as Leonard Galecki.”