Rise of The Demon General

Lin Li returned to the black space ring to heal. Unlike Amon, she needed sleep. She hadn’t been able to get a decent one in almost three weeks since she separated from him. That’s why her wounds haven’t healed yet. The area inside the misty border was too perilous. Predators were everywhere. Unless one had an overwhelming power like the noble dragon, one must be alert all the time.

Amon used the same trick as before while waiting for Di Ying. He sent out disposable battle puppets as perimeter sentries. He judged the trespassers’ power by how quickly the puppets were dispatched. If they weren’t too strong, he disposed of the beasts. If they were, he moved location.

With this setup, one and a half days passed. He had another half day to go before the agreed time with Di Ying. He couldn’t communicate with her, but he could monitor her feelings via their mind link. He didn’t sense any uptick of emotions from her, so he figured everything was proceeding normally.

He was ready to wait longer than two days. In his plan, he told her to wait until either Thien Huo was occupied or away before she left. The two days were the minimum waiting time to make it seem like her leaving had nothing to do with Amon.

During this time, he received a sudden warning from the battle puppet beside him. ”Puppet three, thirteen, twenty-three, and thirty-three have been decommissioned!”

”So fast?!” Amon thought in alarm. Furthermore, judging from the puppet’s numbers, the trespasser moved in a straight line directly toward him.

He didn’t even have the time to stand up when a suffocating aura pressed on him. The temperature around the place also rose significantly. A few trees in his vicinity burst into flames. He recognized this aura. The only difference was that it was not this heavy before.

”Senior Thien Huo?” He asked.

Thien Huo appeared before him. Amon didn’t feel that Thien Huo moved especially fast, but he seemed to appear out of nowhere. A burning straight line was behind him.

”Senior, what do I owe for the honor of this visit?” Amon asked. He tried to sound calm, but he knew something was wrong. Thien Huo didn’t come to socialize. Aside from the heavy aura he had never shown before in his lair, there was also his killing intent. The killing intent he radiated was even more intense than before. Amon’s mind was running to think of a way to escape.

Thien Huo’s expression was cold when he said, ”I originally wanted to wait until you were halfway through the misty border, but for some reason, you keep hanging outside my territory. Why?”

Instead of answering the question, Amon tried to divert the focus to the first part of Thien Huo’s statement. ”What does Senior mean by waiting for me to go halfway through the misty border?”

Thien Huo smiled. ”Do you have to ask? Do you think I will let a human return alive to your kind only to let you spread the location of my lair? I know your race. You, humans, are greedy and can’t keep a secret. Even if you meant my niece and me no harm, you can’t fight your nature. You will reveal the location of my lair to other humans, or perhaps you will come yourself after you are strong enough and have gathered enough people. Not that I’m afraid of any of you, but I can’t let you put Di Ying at risk. She is still growing up. I must protect her until she can fend for herself. So, I must eliminate you before you reunite with your kind.”

”... Isn’t that a bit too extreme?” Amon asked. ”Senior doesn’t need to go to that length. If Senior doesn’t want that to happen, Senior can hold me inside your lair. I don’t mind being confined there, at least until Di Ying grows up.”

”Why would I go through that trouble?” Thien Huo asked. ”Having you stay in my lair these past few weeks has already tested my patience. Removing you completely from the picture is much easier and gives me a more certain conclusion.”

Thien Huo’s hand moved, but Amon interrupted him before he did anything.

”Senior! Doesn’t Senior want to know why I linger around this place instead of immediately leaving?”

”Mm... I’m indeed curious,” Thien Huo replied. His hand relaxed again.

”The reason is that I have an appointment with someone in this place.”

Thien Huo frowned. ”Someone? Who? Do you have a friend who knows this location? No, impossible. You can’t send messages to anyone outside the misty border. This place doesn’t allow it. All tools or talismans that send messages don’t work here, even those with mental links can’t, unless they are especially close to each other. You are bluffing!”

”I’m serious, Senior. I won’t dare lie to you. If Senior doesn’t believe me, why doesn’t Senior wait for a while? They should arrive soon. If Senior kills me now, they will know and will retreat. They are very good at hiding. Even Senior won’t be able to hunt all of them down, at least not for sure. They already know my current location and know that it is close to Senior’s lair. If they flee now, they will return to their master with the information about the location of Senior’s lair.”

Thien Huo’s frown went deeper, but it soon relaxed. His smile returned. ”I know what you are doing. You, cunning human. You are stalling for time, aren’t you? There is no one coming. You are lying!”

”Well... Yes and no.”

”What are you saying? If you try to confuse me with nonsensical speech, it only serves to annoy me more.”

”I meant yes, I was stalling for time, and no, I was not lying about someone coming.”

”Pah! I have had enough with your–”

”Uncle, stop!!”

Thien Huo turned behind when he heard Di Ying’s voice. There she was, flying at high speed. She flew past him and placed herself between him and Amon. She used herself to shield Amon.

”Don’t hurt him, please!” Di Ying pleaded.

”Ying Er...? How do you know I was coming for him...?”

”I... I felt his fear.”

Amon rarely felt fear, even during dire circumstances. He had been through many life-and-death situations and knew how to remain calm, even in a crisis. The fear that Di Ying felt was one he intentionally generated. This fear was the only way for him to tell Di Ying that he was in danger since he could not communicate with her.

”Feel? What are you talking about? How can you feel...”

Thien Huo stopped mid-sentence. His expression changed from confusion to realization to disbelief, before slowly transitioning to anger. ”

His voice was trembling when he asked, ”Ying Er... Don’t tell me... Don’t tell me you formed a mental link with this human...?”

Thien Huo’s anger was plain for everyone to see. Di Ying was shocked. She had never seen her uncle this mad before. Could she have made a grave mistake? In her confusion, she replied to Thien Huo, ”I... He knows about Mom, Uncle! He promised to help me free her. We are going to free her together. That’s why...”

”Haven’t you realized he had deceived you?!” Thien Huo yelled. While yelling, his body transformed. He grew bigger. His skin turned scaly. A pair of horns burst out of the top of his head. His neck and face elongated, and his teeth turned into sharp fangs. Two large wings sprouted from his back.

”Raarrgghhh...!!!” His roar reverberated everywhere. The mists around them combusted in flames. Turning the entire place into a firestorm hell.

Amon already had difficulty moving when Thien Huo released his true aura. But now, the pressure of that aura multiplied even further.

After the mists were burned to nothing, the entire place became clear. Thien Huo was completely different from before. He had transformed into a titanic dragon with a massive body covered in red scales and four powerful limbs. He slammed one of his forelimbs to the ground, which caused it to collapse.

His voice, which had now turned deeper and coarser, boomed out, ”How can you let someone with a noble dragon bloodline like you be tamed by a human? This is unacceptable! Amon, I will tear you to pieces!!!”

”Uncle, no! Please calm down!” Di Ying tried to placate her uncle.

While that happened, Amon’s attention was not on either Thien Huo or Di Ying. Something else had drawn his attention. Something close to his heart. The black space ring was glowing. He sensed a different aura from the glowing ring. An aura that he recognized, but didn’t expect to sense here.

The glow suddenly intensified. A rift in space occurred directly before him. As the rift appeared, something shot out. This something hit Thien Huo and ripped the space.

Everything had happened so fast. Thien Huo moved to the side when the assault came, but failed to make a clean dodge. A long void hung in the air like a knife had cut the space itself apart. The space was not the only thing ripped. A huge chunk of flesh in Thien Huo’s left arm was also torn. Blood gushed out of the open wound.

A voice Amon recognized sounded from the rift before him. Following this voice was a familiar figure.

”Hahaha! Salamander Dragon! I finally got you!” Mo Wang exclaimed.