Rise of The Demon General

”I will go pick up Nao Dou. You all wait here,” Amon ordered. His battle puppets circled the villagers. He told them the battle puppets were there to protect them just in case, but they had a feeling it was more like those puppets were there to watch them.

Amon went to the locked house where Nao Dou was. He removed Nao Dou’s restraints and brought him out. However, he didn’t bring Nao Dou to where the villagers were waiting. The two instead headed in the opposite direction.

They walked out of the village and approached the wall of mist where the illusion formation came into effect. Aside from the mist wall, a wooden fence also marked the border. Before they arrived, Nao Dou heard voices in his mind. His face went pale.

”Wh–What have you done...?!” He turned to Amon with a horrified look.

The voices he heard were those of his friends: the loyal villagers, as well as Nao Zuan Yi and Nao Dongli. Yet, he didn’t see them. For him to hear their voices, they should be nearby.

The voices were too chaotic. He cleared his mind to try to pinpoint their sources. When he identified their locations, his horrified feeling intensified. The voices came from the fence. Or more correctly, the many accessories and equipment hung on the fence.

Amon chuckled. ”Because they are mind practitioners, they can still communicate even in that state.”

”Gra... Grand elder...?” Nao Dou asked as he approached a broken amulet hung on the fence.

’Nao Dou! Help us! Release us from here!!’ He heard Nao Zuanyi’s voice. It came from the broken amulet.

”Amon! What have you done?!” Nao Dou asked the same question. ”You said you won’t harm them!”

”I didn’t. They are perfectly unharmed... inside a different body,” Amon replied with an evil grin.

Amon used soul imprint to transfer the villagers’ souls into these objects, the same as he did with Lang Man. A normal person would have gone mad after such a soul transfer. Lang Man was special because he had the Law of Survival. As for the villagers here, their Sea of Consciousness granted them a strong mind. This allowed them to retain their sense of self even after the transfer.

”I think this is similar to your mind transfer. But without touching anything, she won’t be able to transfer her soul to another body.”

Hearing Amon’s words, Nao Dou reached out for the amulets. He could do a mind transfer as well. However, Amon grabbed his arm before he touched the amulet.

”They are my prisoners, Nao Dou,” Amon told him. ”Until your service is done, they are to remain here.”

”What do you mean? I only need to guide you out of this village, don’t I?” Nao Dou asked.

Amon shook his head. ”You are not getting away so easily. It is not every day I encounter people with powerful mind control abilities. Ten years. You serve me for ten years, and I will return to release everyone here.”

”Ten years? Their bodies will have decomposed by then!”

”A body without a soul will indeed die and decompose, but don’t worry. I’ve placed spirit beasts’ souls inside their bodies. Their bodies remain under my poison, which puts them in deep slumber. So long as no outside force damages their bodies, they can last for decades.”

Nao Dou was undecided. He watched the equipment hung on the fence and listened to the voices of his fellow villagers. Being confined in a village was one thing. Being confined inside an inanimate object? For ten years? Could anyone endure that kind of life?

”Heh, that one is particularly lively,” Amon remarked regarding a piece of broken armor chained directly to the ground beneath the fence. The armor was shaking, as if struggling to break free.

All the equipment hung on the wall was chained to the fence. Some more than the others. These were the ones containing the souls of mind practitioners specializing in telekinetic power. Despite their state, they could still move things with their minds, albeit much weaker. The broken armor chained to the ground enshrined the soul of Nao Dongli.

”Come on,” Amon told Nao Dou. ”Time to go. We will come back again a decade from now to set them free, assuming you serve me well, that is... And don’t think about sneaking back here to use your mind transfer to free them.”

Amon pointed to the side. A battle puppet stood there. ”If I even suspect that you try to do that, I will send a command to these battle puppets. It will destroy all the equipment here. Without something to house their souls, they will dissipate into nothingness. It will be no different from dying.”

Nao Dou hesitated. He was unwilling to leave everyone in such a state, but he also knew that there was nothing he could do.

”I loathe the day that you came into our village. I should have slain you when you were unconscious,” Nao Dou said bitterly.

”I know you do. As I told your grand elder, regrets are for losers. You can lament your mistake all you want in your own time. For now, do your job and get us out of this place. Oh, one more thing. Do not tell anyone else about your friends here. I mean it. Don’t try to do it secretly by using telepathy. If I suspect Nao Pei, Nao Mei, or anyone else knew I had imprisoned the other villagers in inert objects, my puppet will break everything here. If you don’t want to risk losing these people, then you better play along. Is that clear?”

Nao Dou gritted his teeth and nodded with revulsion.

”Good. Let’s go. They are too loud,” Amon said. He grabbed Nao Dou and practically dragged him away.

*

When he arrived where the others were gathering, none talked to Nao Dou. Amon observed them for a while. It didn’t look like they communicated telepathically, at least not with Nao Dou. Why would they? They had rebelled against the elders and helped bring their downfall. Even if Nao Dou told them the truth about what he did to Nao Zuanyi and the others, the defected villagers most likely wouldn’t believe him. They would think he was trying to divide them and turn them against Amon for revenge.

Even with that thought, Amon paid attention to their body language. After making sure there was unlikely secret communication between Nao Dou and the others, he told the elder, ”Nao Dou, stop dallying. Show us the way out.”

Nao Dou gave Amon a disgusted look before reluctantly approaching the wall of mist. He said, ”Everyone must be in contact with one another. Use a rope or hold hands. Otherwise, you will be lost inside the formation and return here.”

Amon wasn’t keen on holding hands with others, so he took out an engraved chain and had everyone hold onto it. He gave one end to Nao Dou.

”Remember. Don’t try anything funny,” Amon warned.

Nao Dou took the chain without replying. He began walking and stepped into the wall of mist.

”Let’s go,” Amon told the others. He was the second to enter the mist. Like before, the mist vanished as soon as he passed it. He was in the woods. Nao Dou continued to walk in front of him. He followed the elder.

Nao Dou made multiple turns. Sometimes, he stood still for around a minute. He was as if trying to sense something.

Amon could feel it slightly too. A soft tingling in his Sea of Consciousness. He understood then that there were signs in the formation that could only be detected using fourth-tier mind-control power.

Amon suspected whatever Nao Dou was detecting changed every time he passed this formation. Otherwise, he would have moved based on memory instead of trying to detect anything. This meant it was pointless for him to memorize all the turns they had taken. He would not be able to navigate his way back into the village without Nao Dou.

After some time, they encountered another wall of mist. Nao Dou stopped before it, looked back at the defected villagers, and said, ”Past this mist is the outer world... Know that we prohibit you from going out there to protect you. We are being truthful about that. Whatever you do, do not give the people out there any hints that you are mind practitioners. Try to act surprised or make mistakes even if you know what the interlocutor’s intention is.”

The villagers hung their heads low. They couldn’t help but feel shame. Despite their desire to leave the village, they knew the elders did their best to protect them.

”One more thing,” Nao Dou said. ”Whatever you do, do not say something that insinuates that you don’t respect the Divine and his followers. There is a serious caste system outside here, and Holy Temple’s members occupy the highest caste. If they suspect you have insulted them, they can punish you on the spot. The punishment most of the time is death.”