Rise of The Demon General

The night before Hai Di fought Yao Ai, something terrible happened in Serene Passion City. It was a city in the southern part of the Commitment Domain. This was one of the cities not yet surrendered to the Devotion Faction.

The one who currently controlled the city used to be a warlord of the Commitment Faction. His name was Won Bei, and he was an Intermediate Mammoth Stage cultivator. After Lang Man was defeated, he followed Du Ji but parted company midway. Du Ji wanted to go East and rally the remnants of the Commitment Faction to fight back against the Devotion Faction. Won Bei thought, why should he follow? His loyalty was to Lang Man, and now that Lang Man was no more, he had no obligation to stick with the failing Commitment Faction.

After convincing his followers, they deserted and fled in a different direction. They arrived in Serene Passion City and decided to make the city theirs. As someone who used to be a warlord, he and his followers were not a force common city officials could oppose. They slew the mayor who tried to resist and coerced the other officials to submit.

They then spent their days partying and doing whatever they liked.

After a few days of merrymaking, they received a report that a large force was coming their way. At first, they thought Du Ji had come to demand that they return to service, but later learned that it was a force sent by Xin Rong. Like Du Ji, the dictator of the Devotion Faction was also trying to assert control over the Commitment Domain left behind by Lang Man.

Won Bei wasn’t going to let it. He was now his own man. He had tasted freedom, and he liked it. Serving under Lang Man for so long had made him forget the feeling. He wasn’t going to submit to anyone again. Thus, when the force of the Devotion Faction arrived, they fought back.

During their battle, none realized something had happened inside Serene Passion City. It began inside a small clinic. The clinic was filled with patients who exhibited the same symptoms. They had a stomachache, a headache, and lost the ability to utter a coherent speech. The pill masters of the clinic thought it was probably a case of food poisoning, but couldn’t determine the illness. Neither their recovery pills nor curative pills worked on these patients.

The patients became weaker with each passing hour. By nightfall, they could no longer move and just lay on the bed. Before midnight, they rose from their beds. The pill master in charge of the night shift thought that whatever ailed these patients had run their courses, and these people had regained their health. However, when he saw these patients’ expressions, he knew he was wrong, dead wrong.

Their faces displayed no emotion. Their eyes showed only whites. Drool dripped from their gaping mouths, which let out eerie groans. The pill master was confused. He didn’t understand what was going on. His confusion made him unaware of danger as the blank-faced patients lumbered toward him.

He called out to these patients. They gave no response other than continuing to approach. By the time he realized something was very wrong with these folks and wanted to move away, it was too late. The patients responded to his act of moving away. Like predators seeing their prey attempt to flee, they sprang.

In an instant, the pill master was grabbed by them. Like rabid animals, they all bit any part of the pill master they could get their teeth on.

Not long after, the patients smashed open the clinic’s door and rushed out. Following close behind was the pill master, wearing the same blank expression as the patients. His body was drenched in his blood, the result of being bitten by the mass. Yet, he showed no pain, nor did his wound impair his movement.

He lumbered like the others and sprang into a high-speed chase once he spotted another person. He lunged at the person and bit him. After a successful bite, he left the victim and went looking for another one. His victim rose not long after, wearing the same expression as his, and went through the same procedure.

What made them dangerous was that there seemed to be no defense against whatever disease they carried. Once they successfully bit someone, that person became like them, regardless of their cultivation level. The only way to prevent one from contracting the disease was by preventing one from being bitten or hardening one’s skin so that the biter’s teeth couldn’t break through the skin. However, many were taken by surprise. They didn’t have the time to use their defensive arts before they got bitten. Even a small bite on the finger was enough to turn them.

Moreover, the turned people retained their strength and speed. In a short time, a good number of high-level cultivators had fallen victim. This, in turn, made it even harder to contain the outbreak. In a short few hours, half of the population had turned into mindless zombies that sought only to spread the disease further.

The battling armies outside didn’t realize what was happening inside the city when some infected citizens charged out. These citizens jumped at the soldiers from behind and bit them. By the time they realized what was happening, half of them were already infected. They tried to flee but were pinned between the enemy force and the zombie horde.

The Devotion Faction soldiers also didn’t know what was happening. All they saw was their enemy becoming messier by the second. They considered it an advantage and pushed more fiercely, even when their enemy shouted at them, telling them of the danger. Who in their right mind listened to the enemies during a battle? They laughed and struck the enemies. Then, they saw the blank-faced people charged out from behind the enemies. These people lunged and bit them. Even after they pierced and hacked the people with their weapons, these people still advanced forcefully and bit them. Before long, they joined the blank-faced crowd.

Among this zombie crowd was Won Bei, who was bitten due to being careless after being blasted to the rear by the enemies. With the power of the Mammoth Stage, he charged into the enemy’s midst and bit whoever he came into contact with.

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The incident wasn’t isolated to Serene Passion City. It happened in several other settlements, and not just in the Commitment Domain. It also occurred in the Devotion and Mercy Domains. One thing was the same, though. All the infected settlements were in the southern part of the three domains.

In the span of one night, the plague was known to all. This was around the time when Hai Di fought Yao Ai.

The infected citizens left the cities after they infected everyone. They spread everywhere. The cultivators of the neighboring settlements hurriedly gathered and set up barricades before the horde arrived. They couldn’t let this plague spread further.

Xin Rong and Du Ji, who were left in charge of the opposing forces inside the Commitment Domain, were forced to stop the war and divert their forces to contain this plague.

The situation in the Mercy and Devotion Domains was the same. The local officials not involved with the war banded together to deal with the plague. The worst was in the Devotion Domain, because it was where the major battle between the factions was ongoing. The plague spread faster there.

Once Yao Ai’s forces retreated, Hai Di learned about the crisis. He had no choice but to split half of his force to stop the plague, with Hai Lao at the lead. This weakened the force that chased Yao Ai.

This allowed the Mercy Faction to keep the Devotion Faction at bay. With the sacrificial companies Diu Cay left behind to slow their pursuers, they even had time to make camp to rest when night arrived.

*

”How is Her Ladyship’s condition?” Diu Cay asked.

He was inside a tent. Yao Ai was lying on a bed. Several pill masters were around her, treating and bandaging her wounds.

The lead pill master answered, ”Her Ladyship’s condition is severe, but with the treatment we gave, Her Ladyship’s life was not in danger. We have injected recovery pills directly into Her Ladyship’s system. Her Ladyship only needed rest to recover.”

”That’s good to hear.” Diu Cay nodded in relief.

A soldier barged into the tent, shouting, ”Dictator, urgent news!!”

”What is it? Do our pursuers arrive?”

”No, sir. It is news from our domain. Something has happened there.”

The soldier gave her a message talisman. Diu Cay read the message written on it and frowned. ”Why now of all time?” He cursed. He turned to the soldier and asked, ”Where is the officer who holds the communication crystal with headquarters?”

The soldier answered, ”She is having a meal at one of the field kitchens.”

”Bring me to her! I need to speak with headquarters to know the details!”

Diu Cay followed the soldier out.

Not long after they left, two people approached the tent. The soldiers guarding it recognized one of them. They addressed the person, ”Slayer Amon, it’s good to see you!”