Rise of The Demon General

”Perhaps it is time to put that plan to use,” Amon said.

Mo Wang didn’t respond. He returned his gaze outside. Amon let him contemplate in peace. After a while, he told Amon, ”Follow me.”

They went back down the tower. This time, Mo Wang didn’t make them waste time by climbing down the stairs. He flew down directly to the base of the tower. Down there, he went to a darkened corner. An obscured door was hidden there. The door was made of the same material as the wall. Unless one came near, one wouldn’t notice the door.

Mo Wang pressed a hidden button beside the hidden door, and it opened. He gestured for Amon to follow him inside.

Beyond the door were more winding stairs, except they led down instead of up. Mo Wang was back to using the stairs instead of flying. As the two climbed down, Amon heard rumblings behind. He looked back and saw the hidden door had closed by itself.

”Don’t worry about it,” Mo Wang said without looking back.

Amon didn’t see the bottom even after walking for some time. The shaft that went down seemed to be as far as the tower they had gone up just now. As they went deeper underground, a loud boom was heard, and the entire shaft shook.

”Hm... Seems like she is in a bad mood today,” Mo Wang remarked after the shaking ended.

”Who?” Amon asked.

Instead of answering, Mo Wang said, ”Do you remember that I told you when the Divine came to this lower world, the true reason was not to discuss the purge?”

Amon nodded.

”The discussion for a joint operation for the purge was an afterthought after he won the fight against me,” Mo Wang continued. ”He probably thought it was better to involve the lower world rather than leave the purge to be conducted entirely by his direct followers. With demons around, he could pin the blame on us in case some survivors escaped the massacre. Furthermore, the lower world would not leak the secret of the purge since they were accomplices. Quite devious, really, the Divine. Anyway, the last time he came, it was because he received news that I got my hands on her.”

”Her?”

”You will see. She is just beyond that gate.”

They were now close enough to the bottom to see a giant gate near the end of the stairs.

”Your Lordship mentioned the Divine received news. Does that mean he has spies in the lower world?”

”I don’t doubt that. He could have forced his followers to abandon divine cultivation and study infernal cultivation, then sent them here as spies. Those spies could recultivate their divine cultivation here. Unlike the pricks in the upper and surface worlds, we don’t discriminate against divine path cultivators. Some of those divine cultivators can be his people.”

”Why doesn’t Your Lordship? Just hunt down and kill every divine cultivator, and the problem is solved.”

”And sink to those pricks’ level? No, thank you. While I know I can no longer consider myself a good person, I still can’t sink to that depravity.”

Amon was amused that someone labelled a demon for having better morality than the group considered the good guys.

After a few more booms and tremors, they arrived before the gate. It was more than ten meters tall. Words of power flashed over its surface, providing powerful protection. Sensing the barrier in place, Amon didn’t believe he could breach this gate if he tried.

Mo Wang made a series of gestures with his hands, which resonated with the words of power on the gate. After emitting a bright flash, they dimmed. Amon also sensed the barrier protecting the gate had weakened. It then slowly opened.

When the gate was ajar, Amon heard a growl. Following soon was an earth-shaking roar. A powerful wave blasted out of the gap of the open gate. Amon skidded backward from the wave. He almost tumbled over if Mo Wang hadn’t erected an energy field that stopped the wave. Another boom and tremors occurred.

A heavy and authoritative female voice was heard.

”Loathsome demon! I swear I will tear you apart once I am free of these chains. Release me...!!!”

When Amon walked past the open gate, he laid eyes on the most gargantuan creature he had seen ever since he arrived in this world. Even larger than the Earth Elemental copy that he summoned when he fought Shou Zou.

The colossal creature before him had the elongated body of a serpent. It was covered in glistening black scales. It had four thick limbs that ended with claws burning with dark smoke. The same dark smoke covered the tip of its long tail. Dark manes covered its head, while two long horns projected above it. A pair of long whiskers came out of the tip of its snout. Its eyes were two dark orbs as black as night.

”A dragon...?” Amon asked. There were many books describing these majestic creatures, but most were from indirect accounts. He never met anyone who had encountered a dragon directly. That’s because these creatures were at the top of the food chains among the spirit beasts, and most that encountered one didn’t live to tell the tale.

”You keep shouting that every time I visit you. It is getting old, Di Yu,” Mo Wang spoke to the dragon. ”Also, how can you expect me to release you if you promise to tear me apart once I do? That doesn’t really give me an incentive to do so, does it?”

”Stop gloating, demon! Do you come here only to mock me again?”

”Nope. This time I brought a visitor.”

The black eyes of the dragon shifted to Amon when she noticed someone other than Mo Wang. Amon himself noticed that the dragon’s body was restrained by many chains. A majority were giant-sized chains, but there were normal ones as well. All were enhanced by words of power.

While the words of power seemed ancient and potent, the metal itself was nothing ordinary. The chains glowed even when no light hit them. They emitted light on their own. Sparks of white lightning occasionally coursed through them. The energy from these chains formed a dome that enveloped the titanic dragon.

”Visitor? This is a first. What do you want by showing me to another demon?” The dragon asked Mo Wang. She then called Amon, ”Hey, little demon. How about you come closer?”

”Don’t listen to her,” Mo Wang told Amon. ”She couldn’t do anything to you as long as you don’t enter the energy dome around her.”

”Hehe, and here I thought you finally brought me a snack,” the dragon said.

”Stop joking, Di Yu.” Mo Wang turned to Amon and said, ”Di Yu here is an abyssal dragon, a Mid Deity Beast. She was the reason the Divine came to the lower world last time. As I said, the Divine stopped anyone from threatening his position by either directly eliminating his competitors or preventing them from ever climbing to his level. When he knew I got my hands on her, he knew I had the means to.”

”How does Your Lordship use her to upgrade your cultivation level?” Amon asked.

Mo Wang hesitated for a breath before answering, ”The biggest hurdle a cultivator has in cultivating is the cultivation chokepoints. The higher the level, the harder the chokepoint became. When I broke through from the Intermediate Infernal Devil Stage to the Peak Infernal Devil Stage, I needed roughly fifty million years to break through. That’s because every time I failed, I had to wait one million years before I could make another attempt. The number of resources and pills I spent to boost my chances was astronomical. After hitting the ceiling of the Peak Infernal Devil Stage, I knew I would never be able to break through without the right tool.

”I combined my expertise in the chemistry of our past world with the pill master’s knowledge of this world to create a technique that enables me to bypass the cultivation chokepoints. The problem is that for this technique to work for the True Devil chokepoint, I will need the blood of a deity beast. Not just any deity beast, but it must be a dragon of a noble lineage.”

”I take it she is one?” Amon asked.

”She is. It takes me a considerable effort to capture her,” Mo Wang answered.

Di Yu’s body shook upon hearing it. Her four claws stomped the floor, causing a booming sound and tremor.

”You used lies to trick me, you deceiver! I swear I will burn you to oblivion for that!!” She opened her mouth, and dense dark smoke converged in her open mouth. The dark smoke exploded with a dark flash. A dark ray blasted out from the open mouth.

Amon jumped away from where Di Yu’s mouth was pointing, but he saw that Mo Wang didn’t move an inch.

The dark ray didn’t get far. It was blocked by the dome that imprisoned the black dragon. The dark ray bounced back and hit Di Yu herself. She roared painfully from it.

Mo Wang shook his head. ”Why did you do that? You already know that will only hurt yourself.”

Di Yu responded with a growl. She was too angry to say anything.