Rise of The Demon General

”Can you please just die already?” Hai Di uttered. He fired multiple black spears at Lang Man.

”Haha. Brother Hai Di, you should know that even if I am willing, that is still a tall order,” Lang Man laughed. Multiple large ice sheets were created around him. These sheets reflected light like mirrors.

Lang Man became a blur as he zoomed from one ice mirror to the next. This was his ice-element arcane art that could also function as a movement art. He could move almost instantly along a path reflected between two mirrors. With this art, his movement was almost like teleportation. None of Hai Di’s black spears could hit him.

”Hmph,” Hai Di harrumphed. He changed from targeting Lang Man to targeting the ice mirrors. His black spears pierced the mirrors, eroding them.

However, new ice mirrors were formed as the old ones were destroyed. It was unending. This became a contest of energy expenditure, or so Lang Man thought. It turned out Hai Di had a different plan.

Some of the black spears that hit the ice mirrors didn’t continue advancing after destroying the mirrors as they should have. They became black dots and hung in the air without moving away. When Lang Man realized something was wrong, he found that too many black dots had surrounded him.

These black dots suddenly released multiple black ropes. These black ropes attached themselves to other black dots. Before he knew it, Lang Man found himself inside an intricate web. This web turned the countless dots into a single entity. It released an aura that locked him inside.

”You won’t escape my dark prison,” Hai Di stated. The web slowly merged into a large dark cocoon with Lang Man at its center.

”Ugh...!” Lang Man found it difficult to move. Darkness seemed to press on him from everywhere. This darkness not only robbed him of his movements, but he also couldn’t see or sense anything. While he was incapacitated, he felt something punch through the right side of his waist, then his left arm, then his right shoulder.

A moment of panic, which he hadn’t experienced for a long time, overwhelmed his heart. This panic pushed him to exert power more than he thought he could.

”Hhaaaa...!!!” The temperature dropped drastically. All of a sudden, the entire dark cocoon transformed into ice.

*KRACKK!!!*

A loud crashing sound was heard when the giant ice cocoon shattered into pieces, throwing shards of ice in all directions. After the ice cocoon was gone, Lang Man could be seen again, or what was left of him.

He had lost both his legs and his left arm. Almost every part of his body had holes or huge chunks missing. Even a quarter of his head was missing. The upper left part of his head was as if it had been gouged out. One could see a portion of his brain from that wound.

Those wounds were inflicted by Hai Di’s black spears. Hai Di’s perception wasn’t hindered by the dark prison. He could see Lang Man just fine, so his black spears easily hit the immobile Lang Man.

Despite Lang Man’s terrible condition, he didn’t show a worried expression. The panic he felt before was gone. He figured the feeling was artificially triggered by Hai Di’s dark prison. He was smiling when he said, ”As expected from Brother Hai Di, every attack imposes heavy pressure, especially your restraining art. I shouldn’t be surprised, considering you understand the Law of Pressure.”

Hai Di wasn’t confused by this scene. He had expected it. ”Hmph, I’m the one who should compliment you. Even with half a head, you can still talk.”

”Hehe,” Lang Man chuckled. The exposed flesh from his many wounds began wriggling. Vines and tiny wooden branches sprouted from those wounds. They took the shape of the missing limbs and other body parts. These vines and branches fused, replacing the missing flesh and bones. Skin grew rapidly to cover this newly created flesh. In a short instant, he was whole again. It was as if he were never wounded.

”I still find it hard to believe every time I witness it,” Hai Di remarked. ”You probably have the best combination of special constitution and cultivation law.”

”I don’t deny that,” Lang Man replied. ”Before I learned the Law of Survival, my Immortal Wood Body took a painful amount of time to regenerate my body. After I gained my cultivation law, its regeneration rate increased significantly. As I said, I can’t die even if I wish to.”

”I don’t believe that. Everything has a limit. You will eventually run out of your regenerative energy. I only need to inflict damage long enough to deplete it.”

”Now, that is an interesting theory. One that I believe only Brother Hai Di can put to the test. This battle is going to be more interesting than I thought.”

”Don’t act so nonchalant. Even if I can’t defeat you, my force will defeat yours. By the end of this battle, you will witness the ruins of your capital.”

Lang Man remained relaxed. ”I wouldn’t count on it. Your force might have tasted victories while trampling through my territory, but you won’t win here. I have all my forces concentrated here. Speaking of which, where is your tamed beast? Rumor is you have tamed a noteworthy spirit beast, but no one knows exactly what it is. I thought you would be showing it in this battle. I have been wishing to pit my Yukona against it.”

Lang Man’s mention made Hai Di glance downward. His eyes fell on a large spirit beast with the upper body of a woman, but with the bottom part of a spider. That was Lang Man’s tamed beast, a Yukona.

The Yukona’s woman part had snow-white skin, while his spider part was covered with ice-like scales. It moved with predatory swiftness, striking with each lunge. Everywhere it went, a hail followed. This hail battered all opponents around the Yukona with ice pellets. They froze weak opponents while slowing most others.

Hai Di answered Lang Man, ”What you have heard is just a baseless rumor. I have no tamed beast.”

”Really, but...” Lang Man stopped because he received a signal from his space ring. A signal from a message talisman, one categorized as urgent. The sender who used the counterpart of this message talisman knew only to send the most important message, one that was important enough to be read even during a battle.

Surprisingly, Hai Di also pulled out a message talisman. The two rivals looked at each other with the message talismans in their hands. As if in agreement, the two flew back and put a safe distance between them before they read the message talismans.

The two received the same news from their talismans, but it elicited different reactions in them. Hai Di was scowling while a grin formed in Lang Man’s face. One thing was for sure. This news was shocking to both sides.

The news informed them that a large force from the Mercy Faction had charged into the Devotion Domain, obliterating several border towns in its wake. They were in a full charge toward the Devotion Domain’s capital, Venal Virtuous City. With most of the Devotion Faction’s force deep inside the Commitment Domain, the Mercy Faction’s force encountered little resistance.

”Hahaha! Brother Hai Di. It seems that you have been played by Sister Yao Ai,” Lang Man laughed. ”Her assistance all these years was only to mislead you.”

Hai Di remained scowling. He crumpled the message talisman that had informed him of the news. ”She is the weakest among us. It is not surprising that she resorts to such a cheap tactic. I will deal with her once I’m done with you.”

”Are you sure, Brother Hai Di? Do you truly think you can defeat me that easily? Didn’t we already establish that you can’t kill me? At least not in a short time. By the time our fight is concluded, you might not have a city to come home to. What about your family? They are in the capital, aren’t they? You like to toy with one’s family. I think it’s high time for you to taste your own medicine. I hope Sister Yao Ai captures your family, skewers them on stakes, and leaves them there to greet you when you return. Haha!”

”You have a nasty wish, don’t you? Among my family members you wish will be skewered is Lan Mei, your ex-wife.”

”She is still my wife! You shameless fuck can’t properly educate your pups. Once I get my hands on your wife-stealing son. I will make him wish he had never been born!” Ever since the battle began, this was the first time Lang Man showed such a strong reaction.

While the news about Yao Ai’s treachery had upset Hai Di, seeing Lang Man’s angry outburst gladdened him. ”I’m afraid you have neither the ability nor the chance to carry out your threat!!”

”We will see! Let us settle who is the better cultivator between us!”

The two clashed again. The battle reignited, with no sign of ending anytime soon.