Rise of The Demon General

Amon grinned. As he expected, the third sealed portal was still there, untouched.

All these years, Dim Loog had visited this vault multiple times, trying to breach the third portal, but he never succeeded. At first, he posted guards in this vault room to stop bandits from trying to breach the portal. However, after more than ten years, he stopped doing it. If even he couldn’t break through the seal protecting the portal, no one should be able to.

Unfortunately, this theory was only valid for people of the surface world. Amon now stood before the portal. He placed his hand before the portal. He felt a strong backlash from the seal. If he were weaker, he would have been thrown back.

From the backlash, he could estimate the seal was powerful enough to resist a King Stage or Supreme Stage cultivator, but not stronger. He was a Mammoth Stage cultivator, which was one stage stronger.

He grinned and exerted pressure on the seal. Sparks were generated at the point of impact, and a loud screeching sound echoed through the room.

”Hah!” With a shout, Amon drove his energy forward. It was finally too much for the seal. It crumbled. The words of power that formed the seal dimmed before going out altogether.

Without the seal, Amon was free to enter. Beyond the portal was a small room. There were not many things. Most of the stuff was books and stacks of paper. He skimmed through those books and learned that they were journals. Journals of past historians. From what he could tell, these were records from past epochs.

Judging from the number of these records, he surmised that Mu Qin valued history. Even though the Divine tasked her to erase all traces of the past epochs, she still preserved these records.

Amon chuckled. ’What irony,’ he thought. They had been correct. This vault held the historical records no longer available in the outside world. Some even contained the clues of the calamity that ended every epoch. These records had been their goal during the war, but they were useless now. His knowledge of the calamity was even better than that of the historians who wrote these records.

Though useless, he still stored these records. There was no telling if he would need information from the past one day. He had plenty of space inside his Black Space Ring, and Lin Li enjoyed reading. Hence, he dumped all these books and papers into his ring.

As he did, one large tome caught his eye. The title was Four Conquering Beast Tribes. He opened the tome and read its introduction. It was a detailed encyclopedia of four of the most dominant spirit beast types in Aetheria. The four were the Noble Dragons, the Divine Tigers, the Heavenly Rocs, and the Indomitable Turtle.

He had read some books briefly describing these spirit beasts, but none seemed to contain as many details as this tome. It even contained information regarding where the strongest of these four beast tribes had migrated to after Aetheria’s energy was drained. According to the tome, the strongest of the Noble Dragons and the Heavenly Rocs moved to the upper world, while the leaders of the Divine Tigers and the Indomitable Turtle made their homes in the lower world.

Most of the tribes followed their leaders, but some chose otherwise, such as Di Yu and Thien Huo, who chose to live in the lower world rather than the upper world like most of their brethren.

He wondered which part of the misty border the Divine Tiger and the Indomitable Turtle lived in. He did hear about one part of the misty border being dominated by a large sea. Perhaps that was where he could find the Indomitable Turtle tribe.

Though he now had the information, he didn’t plan to look for these spirit beasts anytime soon. Even one member of these spirit beasts had been more than he could handle, as was proven by his encounter with Di Yu, Thien Huo, and Ling Dau. Perhaps when he was stronger. For now, he had enough issues to deal with.

He stored the tome. After cleaning all the books and papers, the only things remaining were eleven strange devices. They were large and complicated. Their insides seemed to consist of many interconnecting talismans.

”Hm...” He returned his attention to the books and papers he had stored just now. After browsing for some time, he took out a paper. On the paper was a drawing of the device with words describing its function. It was an instruction paper explaining how to use the device.

After reading the instruction paper, Amon grinned. ”Hehe, these things will come in handy. It seems I have made the right decision in visiting this vault.”

He stored the eleven devices inside his Black Space Ring. There were no other valuables, so he left the vault.

*

One week after Amon left Dabao City, Zee Min, Zhong Yuan, Hong Zi, and Ha Velet gathered in the great hall inside the Xei Dynasty’s palace. They had arrived in Xandar City the day before.

”It is surprising to see all four High Councilors of Khode here,” uttered Xei Nuli, queen of the Xei Dynasty. ”This matter that you wish to discuss must be pressing indeed.”

Beside Xei Nuli was her husband, Xei Gongzo. He was not too pleased with how these Khode’s High Councilors decided their city as the meeting place. He said, ”I can’t imagine any matter important enough to gather all the leaders of the world. Please explain yourselves!”

”Soon, good King of the Xei Dynasty,” Zee Min replied. ”We will explain when everyone is here.”

Sitting opposite the high councilors was a burly man with a thick beard. He was Xan Chi, the Grand Chief of Kazhan’s Conclave. He asked Zee Min, ”Can’t you give us a hint? I don’t appreciate being kept in suspense.”

”Please be patient, Grand Chief,” Zhong Yuan said. ”All will be revealed when it is time.”

”Okay, but what is he doing here?” Xan Chi pointed to his side. Lei San sat there.

Lei San laughed awkwardly. ”I was invited, Grand Chief.”

Amon had instructed Lei San to find Zee Min after arriving in Xandar City. Lei San explained to her that Amon ordered him to join the meeting. Zee Min believed him because up to this point, almost everyone was oblivious of Amon’s action. Most didn’t even know that Amon had returned to Aetheria. Zee Min and the others had not yet told Xei Nuli and Xan Chi regarding Amon. They were unsure how these people would react. They preferred to let them find out by themselves when Amon showed himself.

”He is not a leader of the world. Why is he invited?” Xan Chi protested.

”Technically, I am the leader of Echos, which is a country,” Lei San reasoned.

”Echos is a fallen country. You are nothing but Farghous’ slave.”

Lei San nodded with a smile. He didn’t appear offended, but he didn’t say anything in response either.

Xan Chi didn’t let it go. He asked, ”So, slave. When does your king arrive? Or does he not plan to attend and instead sent you in his stead?”

”To be honest, I have no idea,” Lei San answered. ”King Dim Loog doesn’t know I attend this meeting. I bet he will be as surprised as you are when he sees me here.”

”I indeed am!” An authoritative voice sounded as a charismatic man in royal garb entered the great hall.

”King Dim Loog, welcome!” Xei Nuli stood and greeted her guest. The others also showed their respect by standing and greeting the Farghous king. As the sovereign of the strongest country, he deserved such respect.

Dim Loog was different from before Amon fled to the Lower World. He looked more mature. His face had the expression of one tempered by many hardships and hard decisions. A thin beard covered his chin.

He didn’t come alone. Next to him was a woman. Everyone in the room knew of her. She was Sima Fang, Dim Loog’s chief advisor. After the incident with Oredolia, Sima Fang joined Farghous, bringing her clan with her. She became Dim Loog’s trusted aide. Her intellect was one of the reasons Farghous managed to outperform the other countries and become the strongest.

Dim Loog took a seat prepared for him. Sima Fang stood beside him.

Dim Loog glanced at Lei San and said, ”We will discuss why you came here without my approval later. Before that...” He turned to the other leaders and said, ”I demand to know the reason for this invitation! I originally wanted to refuse this invitation and tell you all to come to my palace instead if you want to talk, but my good advisor here told me that it is rare for us all to gather...”

”Intriguing, I said it is intriguing,” Sima Fang corrected.

Dim Loog was irritated by the interruption. He resumed, ”She said that something important must be afoot, or something sinister. So, are the three countries plotting something sinister against my kingdom? If you want to break the current peace, just say it! I will welcome the fight!”

”Peace will be broken, but not by them.”

Everyone turned to the entrance and looked at the person who had just spoken. It was someone in bright red armor with a tail, black eyes, and horns on his bald head.