Rise of The Demon General

”I actually prefer the blade remain broken,” Amon remarked about the Broken Justice. ”I am more used to using a weapon with a blade of this length. Your work is, as usual, perfect.”

He rolled the chain around the vambrace and hid the Broken Justice under it, just like how he did when he was still using the Xian Cloth. In honor of his old weapon, he called this chain the Xian Chain.

”What about my other requests?” He asked Zee Whang.

Zee Whang pointed at another table. Six large daggers with double blades were laid there. The blades were purple. Sparks of electricity coursed along the blades regularly.

Amon came over and touched one of the blades. A jolt of electricity stung him. His hand moved to the hilt in between the blades. It was safe to touch the hilt.

He picked up the purple daggers and tested them as well. The words of power on them flared. They were words of power for using the Flying Sword art. He had taught them to Zee Whang when he put in the request to make these daggers. He was now synchronizing the enchantment with his art.

The six daggers floated up and began to spin. They then flew around the room.

Zee Whang almost blurted out, asking Amon to be careful, but decided he would just be ignored like before.

These six knives were made from lightning rocks, a rare material containing rich lightning elements. Amon bought the rocks at an exorbitant price in a high-profile auction in the Commitment Domain. This happened when he was still travelling the land, working on his ploy to pit Hai Di against Lang Man.

In addition to delivering an electric shock upon contact, the flying daggers now possessed the ability to perform a sudden burst of speed by turning into a lightning bolt. With this ability, the daggers zapped around the room seemingly randomly. Zee Whang had a cold sweat when bolts of lightning zoomed past him multiple times. He was fighting the urge to either hide or climb back into his Neo Supreme Puppet.

Amon finally concluded his demonstration. The six lightning flying knives returned to him. He stored them in his black space ring.

He turned to Zee Whang and asked, ”What about the last one?”

Zee Whang displayed a confused expression. ”What last one?”

Amon didn’t reply. He just stared at Zee Whang in silence. After a few seconds, a realization appeared on Zee Whang’s face. ”Oh, that one!” He said.

He went to another table that was covered with scraps. He searched around inside those scraps before pulling something out, a black wooden stake. The one with the Godslayer word written on one of its surfaces. He handed the stake to Amon.

”... So?” Amon asked after receiving the stake.

”So what?” Zee Whang asked back.

”So, what did you learn about this stake?” Amon had asked Zee Whang to use whatever means necessary to find out what was special about this stake, even if it meant taking the stake apart. Nothing seemed different with it. Not even a scratch. It was as if Zee Whang never touched it.

Zee Whang scratched his head and shrugged. ”It’s a wooden stake. That’s all.”

”That’s all? Did you try to cut it up and check its inside?”

”I can’t. It resists every cutting tool I have. I can’t even cause a nick.”

”Doesn’t that tell you this is not a normal wooden stake?”

Zee Whang shrugged again. ”It’s an abnormally hard wooden stake...?”

Amon gave Zee Whang an irritated gaze.

”Look, I have tried everything,” Zee Whang said. ”I even have my most advanced analyzing tool to study its composition. No matter how I look at it, the result says that it is made of wood. That’s it. It is even common wood from trees you can find everywhere: the lower world, the surface world, and, I suspect, even the upper world. No other substance is detected by my analyzer. It is pure wood.”

”How do you explain I can’t break something that is made of common wood?”

”I can’t... Well, my analyzer did discern that the wood is incredibly dense. It is like something is holding its particles together and refuses to let go, no matter how much outside force is applied.”

”What something?”

Zee Whang shrugged again. ”I can’t tell. My analyzer failed to read any energy. Whatever is the force that keeps that stake in one piece, it is undetectable.”

Amon looked again at the stake. As weird as Zee Whang sounded, he had an idea, because this invisible energy affected him as well. When he gave the stake to Zee Whang for analysis, a strong urge told him not to. If not for his strong willpower, he wouldn’t have been able to part with it. Now, after getting the stake back, a strong feeling of relief washed over him, like recovering a long-lost precious item. This invisible force that held the stake’s molecule together was also pulling at him.

Amon disliked inexplicable issues. Without the correct information, he might unwittingly make a mistake. Was it wise to keep this stake with him?

He decided to leave the matter for later. He had a more important issue to deal with. He stored the wooden stake in his black space ring and left Zee Whang’s workshop.

He went to the main room next, where Yuka was imprisoned in the past. The sealing enchantment of the room was active. It was used to seal a person instead of a spirit beast. Even so, this person could easily break out of the enchantment if he weren’t heavily drugged and chained by Di Yu’s binding chains.

The person was Yao Ai. She had been nursed out to sufficient health, but her appearance was slightly different than before. She no longer had wings on her back. Her left arm was back to a human version, and one of her curly horns remained broken. This was because they were all altered parts. They couldn’t be regenerated even with a Regrowth Pill. If she wished to regain those parts again, a Flesh Alterer must implant them again.

Yao Ai sat on the floor and looked at Amon with a sharp gaze.

”You seemed calmer today,” Amon greeted her.

She replied, ”Don’t get the wrong idea. I still wish very much to tear you apart. I’m just tired of failing in doing the same thing over and over.”

Amon chuckled. ”Look. It’s high time you accept your situation. Things will never go back to how it was before. It is the same with the world outside. The lower world will soon have a change of hierarchy. The other domain lords don’t have the opportunity to be included in this new lower world, but you do.”

”Are you telling me you have gotten rid of Hai Di?”

”We are about to.”

”We?”

”You will see, once you accept my conditions.”

”For me to serve you? You have the nerve to keep spouting that bullshit.”

”It is a fact. Remember that I told you I have implanted something inside your head?”

Yao Ai didn’t respond.

”It is a device that can trigger a powerful explosion. If I trigger it, you have no chance of surviving.”

Yao Ai remained quiet.

”Perhaps a little demonstration will let you know that I am not bluffing.”

Amon held a talisman in his hand. It slightly lit up. Following that, Yao Ai felt vibration and a loud hum in her head. It quickly intensified into a splitting headache. She held her head and screamed from the pain. She rolled on the ground due to how intense the pain was. Then, it abruptly stopped.

Yao Ai was panting as her thoughts returned. Sweat was rolling down her face. ”You, bastard!!” She yelled at Amon.

”That is, if I trigger the device lightly. If I set it to full power, your head will explode,” Amon explained. ”I think that should be demonstration enough. I don’t wish to use it unless I must. So, I ask for your cooperation.”

”Do you mean subordination?” Yao Ai asked with a hiss.

”It’s a matter of perspective,” Amon replied.

”I should have killed you when I had the chance.”

”I know, like when I returned from the misty border after settling the Cryanid plague. You want to kill me to get possession of this black ring, which you can only use after hacking Mo Wang’s gene in my body. That’s why you challenged me to a duel when we first met. It is a pretense to cut off one of my limbs so you can gain access to the gene. Did I sum it right?”

Yao Ai showed a surprised expression.

Amon chuckled. ”You might have lived much longer than I, but I am a better player when it comes to information gathering. It is not difficult to bribe and torture your people to release the information. You, domain lords, only use your power to threaten everyone into submission. You don’t know how to inspire true loyalty. Then again, it will not stop me from gaining the information if you did.”

”Brag all you like. Do you think you can rule better than I?”

”I don’t think I can. I know I can, and I have a good chance of making it a reality. I’m giving you the opportunity to be my number two... or three. That will depend on your performance.”