Rise of The Demon General

Everyone present was taken aback by the turn of events. They didn’t expect Hai Di to be taken out by his own protector. Even Di Yu and Thien Huo were confused. They stopped attacking and moved away. Di Yu licked the parts that were leaking blood, where Ling Dau had bitten her.

Everyone felt a strange aura after Ling Dau devoured Hai Di. The multi-headed dragon himself was shaking all over, as if he were sick. Yet, he was grinning widely, as if in ecstasy.

Despite his grin, his voice was filled with venom and anger. ”You, worms... You have gone and done it. You made me waste a potential power that should have elevated me even further. All those years to persuade him to fuse with me, wasted! Ah... I’m so angry right now. I’m going to make you all regret this...!”

While he was ranting, a change occurred in his body. He seemed to be in ecstasy before, but now he was grimacing as if he were in great pain. A bulge appeared at the base of his necks. This bulge grew before it suddenly elongated rapidly. Before everyone knew it, a seventh head had popped out.

”Hah...! Hah...! Hah...!” Ling Dau was panting. ”It is still painful even when I have done it many times. Hehe. Now, I’m ready to go again.”

”What... What’s this?” Thien Huo asked. ”Is that how you grow so many heads? By devouring a human cultivator?”

”Hideous wyrm, explain yourself!” Di Yu demanded.

Ling Dau smirked. ”I don’t have to explain anything to you, old coots... But, I guess considering things had happened out in the open like this, there was no point for me in keeping this secret anymore. Very well, I will tell you. My ability comes from my element. After you fucks banished me, I matured and came into my element. The element of the soul. I am a Soul Dragon.”

”Soul...?” Surressh asked. ”Is that even an element?”

”The elements of a noble dragon aren’t limited to elemental elements,” Yao Ai explained. They had gathered upon retreating. ”Their elements are very much like our cultivation law. The elemental elements are the most common, but not their limits.”

Amon added, ”Note, however, that much like cultivation laws, even though elemental elements are the most common, it only means that they are the most likely to be gained, not that they are weaker than the unconventional elements.”

”Nobody is saying that your Law of Darkness is weaker than unconventional cultivation law,” Yao Ai responded.

Amon gave her an annoyed look.

”What does your soul element have to do with growing an extra head?” Thien Huo asked Ling Dau.

”Hehe,” Ling Dau chuckled. ”How about I tell you a story of how I learned the true ability of my element?”

No one replied. Ling Dau took it as a hint that they were willing to listen. He continued, ”When my soul element manifested itself, I wasn’t sure what it did. I’m confused. It was not strange, considering I was alone with no one to guide me. I was banished by the high-and-mighty asshole dragons, after all.”

”Are you going to keep throwing insults in your tale?” Di Yu asked.

”Hehe. I will try to keep it to a minimum,” Ling Dau replied. ”Anyway, as I said, I was alone. There was one time when I was discovered by an Overlord Stage human cultivator, who mistook me for a great wyrm because of my appearance. I was still weak then, since it had not been long since I matured. The human hunted me down with his friend. It took him a great long time, but he finally succeeded. He locked me up and forced me to be his tamed beast. I resisted him for a long time, but eventually, I folded. I mean, there is a limit that one can take, don’t you agree?”

Amon knew of another spirit beast that had been put in a similar situation, but refused to give in. He didn’t say anything, though.

”When I finally accepted to form a mental link with that human cultivator, I discovered something fascinating,” Ling Dau resumed. ”I learned that my soul element protected my energy core from getting dominated by the process. What happened was the other way around. I was the one dominating him through the mental link. Whatever advantages beast tamers usually had with their tamed beasts, I was the one who had them instead.

”I didn’t immediately disclose this fact, of course. I pretended that the human cultivator had the advantages and obeyed his commands. Only when he was alone and vulnerable did I act. I paralyzed him by hurting him via our mental links. I then devoured him.”

”Devour...?” Thien Huo asked.

Ling Dau shrugged. ”Though I had already matured, I could still be considered young then. I was angry, humiliated, and frustrated. I took it out on that human cultivator who thought he could tame me. The fascinating thing was that I experienced a physical transformation after consuming that cultivator.”

”You gained your second head,” Di Yu said.

Ling Dau nodded. ”It was the first time I grew an extra head. It was shocking. Frightening even, if I may say so. What do you expect? You would feel the same if another head popped out of your body, but I learned to cope with it. After that, I began to trick human cultivators into forming mental links with me. I knew the key was the mental link, because I had consumed human cultivators before, and nothing had happened. Surprisingly, though. When I consumed the next cultivator I bonded with, nothing happened.”

”This is the problem when you gain an uncommon element,” Thien Huo remarked. ”Most of the time, you don’t know how your power works.”

”That’s true,” Ling Dau agreed. ”Hence, I experimented a lot. I continued to bond and consume human cultivators, so much so that I ended up being hunted by humans. I was forced to lie low for some time. But throughout those experiments, I finally ascertained how my ability worked. Apparently, I absorb the cultivator’s soul when I consume them. This extra soul affects my body, causing me to grow another head.

”To absorb a cultivator’s soul, I must devour a cultivator who is at the Devil Realm and has an elemental affinity of at least A-rank or above. If the cultivators I consume don’t fulfil those criteria, I won’t absorb their souls. Additionally, it will also be ineffective if I consume a cultivator with the same elemental affinity as the one I have previously absorbed.”

”I see...,” Thien Huo said. ”That’s why each of your heads projects different elemental powers.”

”Yeah. The first extra head I gained possesses the element of light. Imagine my surprise when I learned I could discharge a breath attack that contained the element of light. For a short time, I misunderstood that I might have awakened a second element within me. Hehe.”

Ling Dau chuckled. No one was amused, but he didn’t give it a mind.

”That’s why you targeted Hai Di. You have not yet possessed the darkness element,” Amon remarked.

One of Ling Dau’s heads turned in Amon’s direction. He was offended that a worm barged into a conversation between noble dragons. However, he still answered.

”Yes. Though there is another reason I targeted Hai Di. I targeted him because, aside from fulfilling the criteria that allow me to absorb his souls, he also has a cultivation law.”

”What do you mean?” Thien Huo asked. ”Are you saying you can also gain the power of a cultivation law?”

”His shadow power,” Di Yu stated. ”That is not the power of his soul element.”

”You are correct.” Ling Dau grinned. ”That is the power of the Law of Shadows. I gained it after fusing with someone who has that cultivation law. The funny thing is, I only learned I can gain cultivation laws because a human cultivator told me.”

”Huh? What do you mean?” Thien Huo asked.

”Right now, I possess two cultivation laws. One is the law of shadows, which I have demonstrated. The second is the law of understanding. It allows me to know the nature and history of the things I touch.”

Di Yu narrowed her eyes. That’s how Ling Dau knew she was once imprisoned by a human.

”The human with the Law of Understanding was the one who told me that I could gain cultivation laws. In fact, he purposefully approached me and offered himself to fuse with me.”

Ling Dau chuckled when he saw everyone’s expression. ”Hehe. I see that you find that hard to believe, but it’s the truth. I had a chance encounter with that human. With just a touch, he understood the power of my soul element better than I did. He told me that if I formed a mental link with him and he surrendered his soul willingly, our souls would fuse. He would live on in me, and I will not only gain his elemental power, but also his cultivation law.”