Rise of The Demon General

”In the past, Aetheria consisted of only the surface world, and it was very much different than the surface world you came from,” Mo Wang said. ”It was rich with aether and filled with various spirit beasts that can easily devour any cultivators below the Devil Realm. This all changed after the Divine gained control over the upper world.”

”The Divine?” Amon asked.

”The prick who holds the leash on everyone in this cultivation world,” Mo Wang answered. His voice was filled with undeniable loathing. ”The Divine is a cultivator with unparalleled talents and aptitude. He is also known to be the oldest person in the world. Rumors have it that he was born at the beginning of this world. No one truly knows. Anyway, he was already the leader of Aetheria when I came to this world. He was the first to ever attain the True God Stage of the Divine Realm, and he remains the only one ever since. Although I believe the reason is mostly that he does something to anyone who seems to show a chance of closing in on his cultivation level.”

”You said everyone in this cultivation world. I take it you mean the lower world as well. How can the divine spread his influence here if he cannot enter this world?” Amon asked.

”Who said he cannot enter this world?” Mo Wang asked back.

Amon frowned. ”Do you mean... He can? I thought this world rejects divine cultivators.”

”You are also a divine cultivator, yet you can enter this world,” Mo Wang returned.

”Do you mean... the Divine also possesses dual cultivation paths?”

Mo Wang shook his head. ”No. The Divine is a pure divine cultivator. What I’m trying to say is that there are things that go against our understanding, but it still happens. I don’t know how the Divine can enter the lower world. I have tried to find out the reasons for millennia, but I still haven’t found anything that sheds light on it. Nevertheless, the fact was that he did, because when he did, there was a great battle, and I was the one who fought him.”

Amon remembered Un Lao’s tale about the battle that created the ancient battleground. Mo Wang must be referring to that battle.

”I lost. I don’t deny that,” Mo Wang said. ”He was too powerful. It was not strange considering he had the cultivation level of the True God Stage. Our duel lasted for many days. I tried my best, but eventually, I had to admit defeat.”

Amon sneered within. He knew for a fact that it was not a duel. Mo Wang fought the Divine with a horde of his followers. Mo Wang most likely controlled the information and altered the official story to make it appear as though he had fought the Divine alone. He was probably ashamed that he had ganged up on a lone enemy and still lost.

Amon pretended not to know the truth.

”Though he came for a different reason, it was then that the agreement for the purge was born,” Mo Wang continued. ”You see, the Divine, he is a maniac. He can’t stand disorder. He has very strict dogma, and his dream is to create a society that adheres strictly to order. Despite his overwhelming power, he can’t force everyone in Aetheria to follow his vision. Aetheria is too large and already fully matured. He couldn’t fully control it. He tried, for many millennia. Ultimately, he was forced to accept reality.

”However, when the upper world was created, he saw another chance to realize his dream. Unlike Aetheria, a newly born small world can be molded to his desire. Hence, he immediately assumed possession of the upper world once it was created, but there is a problem with this new world.”

”It was empty and weak,” Amon guessed.

Mo Wang nodded. ”You are correct. The Divine easily solved the emptiness problem by filling it up with things and people of his choice. He molded the world into what he perceived as a utopia of law and order. The problem was that this new world lacked sufficient aether for its inhabitants to grow. With this condition, no one would be willing to stay for long. After much research and study, he came up with a solution.”

”The purge?” Amon asked.

Mo Wang nodded again. ”The purge was designed to siphon the energy of the surface world to the upper world. To do that, he massacred almost the entire surface world’s population, razed its civilization, and destroyed all the historical records. The massacre and destruction serve two purposes. The first is to hide the fact that the surface world has been drained. After the purge, any cultivator can feel how empty the air is without aether, even those who have not developed cultivation senses. Hence, anyone above the age of five is to be slain, and not all kids below five years old are spared. Only those with talents for cultivation are left alive to repopulate the surface world.

”Since these kids haven’t become a cultivator before the purge, they never knew the previous aether condition. They grew up never realizing that the world had undergone a drastic change. Other than the destruction and massacre they witnessed, they thought the world was still the same. They were also raised and watched by the Divine’s henchman, at least for a few generations. Making sure that the story of massacre and destruction was never passed on to the kids’ descendants. The survivor kids themselves were slain after they gave birth to a couple of generations, to ensure that the secret remained hidden.”

Hearing that, Amon understood Mu Qin’s role and her association with the upper world. She was tasked with overseeing these survivors and nurturing them for the next purge.

”As for the second reason, it is to provide the surface world with an explosion of aether,” Mo Wang resumed. ”When a cultivator dies, the energy he has cultivated is released back into the world. With a mass massacre, the aether content of the world is significantly amplified. This provides the best conditions for those who want to steal the energy. Once the world’s aether is drained, it will be left to recover until it is ripe to be harvested again.”

”It takes ten million years for that?” Amon asked.

”Aetheria’s natural world is the surface world. Hence, it is the only one that can generate natural aether. It takes ten million years for the surface world to get into a state where there is enough aether to support someone in becoming a Demigod cultivator. The Divine decided that the period was how long a cycle should be before a purge was conducted.”

”I see... That’s why there was rarely someone who entered the Demigod Realm in the surface world. So, this purge is a joint venture between the upper and lower worlds?”

”Yes,” Mo Wang confirmed. ”Though I would say the lower world contributes seventy percent of the manpower.”

”The energy that is siphoned, it is shared half-and-half?”

”Nope. It is the opposite of manpower. Seventy-thirty, in favor of the upper world.”

Amon chuckled. ”We supply more manpower but receive less reward? I say that is the very definition of a bad deal.”

”A bad deal is the only one we get for working with a tyrant. I say we should be grateful that the Divine didn’t demand that we do all the work while he takes all the spoils.”

”Nevertheless, I don’t believe Your Lordship is satisfied with this arrangement, right?”

Mo Wang looked away before saying, ”It is not about being satisfied or not. It is about survival, and I learned a long time ago that we must sometimes bury our pride to survive.”

”If we violate the deal, what will the Divine do? Come back here and punish us?”

”That was what he threatened before he left the last time he paid the lower world a visit.”

”He never came back after that one time?”

”We never give him a reason to.”

”... The next purge. When will it take place?”

”The Divine decides it. I will receive a message ten days before the purge is to happen, but it will not be any earlier than eighteen years from now. That was when it hit ten million years since the last purge.”

”I understand Your Lordship obeyed the unfair arrangement to guarantee survival, but I’m sure Your Lordship doesn’t plan to let this treatment go on for eternity, do you? Anything I can help with?”

”Hehe. Do you truly want to help? Or are you doing this to trick me for your own benefit? Others might not know you, but where I come from, your scheming and treacheries are well-documented in the history books. Your reputation doesn’t really inspire confidence for me to trust you.”

”If those history books truly recorded everything, then Your Lordship should know that I will not accept a tyrant other than me. I will oppose the Divine sooner or later. Why not do it with a reliable ally? I believe Your Lordship is the strongest candidate to oppose him. So, there is no way I will cause Your Lordship harm, at least not until the Divine is defeated.”

”Well, isn’t that reassuring?” Mo Wang uttered sarcastically.

”If Your Lordship has a plan, please do not hesitate to make use of my service.”

”Well, aside from describing you as a despicable schemer, the history books also mentioned that you are someone who got things done... I might indeed have something that I plan to use against the Divine. I was simply not desperate enough to go through with it.”