Rise of The Demon General

Madam Lin continued to visit Amon daily. Amon also continued to produce the poison that Hei Pho used to sell to Madam Lin monthly. With his increased understanding of poison, he could now discern the effect of this poison. This poison caused intense pain without endangering its victim's life.

Amon still wondered about the reason why Madam Lin ordered this poison regularly. He happened to find out about it today.

During Madam Lin's daily visit for a chat, Amon noticed that she was not in her best mood today. Pretending to be a concerned son, Amon asked for the reason. Amon was hoping that Madam Lin would just say that it was not something a kid like him should concern about, but instead, she told him the reason.

"I never told you my position and job in this clan," Madam Lin said. "I think it's time that you know. I'm in charge of the clan's prison and sometimes, extracting valuable information from particular prisoners."

Madam Lin observed Amon's expression before saying, "Do you understand what I mean?"

"Does mother mean torture?" Amon asked with a flat face.

Madam Lin nodded. A glint of surprise in her eyes. "This drug that you make for me regularly, that Hei Pho used to make, is used on those particular prisoners. It helps us in forcing information out of them without harming them physically."

"Rather civilized. I thought as one of the top clans of this city, this clan won't care whether these prisoners are harmed or not," Amon said.

"Most of the time we don't, but we still have to be careful with some individuals. In case we need them for a leverage or prisoner exchange," Madam Lin said.

"Then, what is the problem this time? Since mother told me about this, I reckon mother's worry has something to do with this job."

"You are right," Madam Lin sighed. "Father has tasked me to extract information from one of the Lei clan's prisoners. It is vital information that my father allowed me the freedom of taking extreme measures on the prisoner. However, I need to get the information within this week. This is a crucial time, some elders have been questioning my ability and pressuring my father. These elders are unhappy with me and have been waiting for an opportunity for quite some time to cause me trouble. This is their chance. There is a high chance that I will be replaced if I fail this task."

"There are people who dare to be unhappy with mother?" Amon asked.

"There are," Madam Lin didn't elaborate.

"What can mother tell me about this Lei prisoner that you want to extract information from?" Amon asked.

"Are you going to help mother with this problem?" Madam Lin chuckled.

"Probably," Amon asked.

Madam Lin watched Amon's serious expression and knew that he was not kidding. She thought for a bit before telling him what she knew about the Lei prisoner.

The prisoner was named Lei Pang, one of the Lei clan's young prodigies. He was one generation as Wei Linkun from the Wei clan and also had his name immortalized as one of the top ten in the previous White Cloud Tournament. His cultivation was at the peak Transformation stage of the Human realm and was believed to almost break through to the Martial realm. The Lei clan had high hopes for him. He had been captured by the Lin clan during a mission to eradicate a bandit base that has been active near a village not far from White Cloud City.

As fate had it, a group of the Lin clan was also hired by a different village to take care of this bandit base. The two groups of the Lin and Lei clan happened to assault the base at the same time from different entrances. They managed to destroy the base and killed all the bandits, but the two groups ended up in a quarrel to decide who should take the bandit leader's head to claim the mission bounty. The quarrel escalated into a fight.

The Lin clan came out on top. All the Lei clan's cultivators were killed except for the leader of the Lei group, Lei Pang, who was then captured. My brother, Lin Bubai, upon learning of Lei Pang's capture, saw this as an opportunity, because Lei Pang was a newly appointed co-leader of the Lei clan's spy network. If they could learn about the Lei clan's spies, they could remove the Lei clan's spies inside the Lin clan. He immediately had the bandit base sterilized to erase any indication that the Lin clan had been there. Even all the bandit's and Lei people's bodies were destroyed.

"What about the village who gave the mission request to the Lin clan?" Amon asked.

"The village was destroyed," Madam Lin answered flatly. "We make it seem as if the bandit survived the Lei's attack and had decided to flee. They rampaged through this village as a result. No one should be able to trace Lei Pang's disappearance to us."

Ruthless and efficient, Amon thought in approval.

Madam Lin continued her story. Lei Pang had been in their hands for a few days. The elders argued that they would need to get information about the spies as soon as possible. The Lei clan is sure to start thinking of a way to replace their spies after Lei Pang's disappearance, but they dare not pull all their spies in such a short time, that would be the same as revealing the spies themselves. Not to mention the Lei clan didn't know who had Lei Pang. But the longer they wait, the Lei clan would have a better window in replacing their spies one by one without notice. That's why it's crucial to extract information from Lei Pang as soon as possible.

The elders had pressured Lin Weida that if by the end of this week, which was four days from now, Madam Lin was still unable to get the information, they would have Lin Wulang take over the task. If that happened, Madam Lin's power within the clan would decline.

Amon knew that Lin Wulang was Lin Wuli's father. Hearing that, he had a hunch that whatever caused these elders to be unhappy with Madam Lin had something to do with him. He didn't truly care about helping Madam Lin. His initial thought was that if Madam Lin lost her position, it would be more difficult for her to defend him during the remaining half year before he applied for the royal academy. Now that he suspected that the group causing trouble to Madam Lin also had a grudge against him, he figured it was more essential to help Madam Lin keep her position.

"How is Lei Pang's popularity in the Lei clan? Are large-scale searches being conducted upon his disappearance?" Amon asked.

"It does. Almost all the higher-ups in the Lei clan have high hopes for Lei Pang. The Lei clan is not subtle in doing their search. They have been causing havoc in the city for a few days. The White Cloud sect has to step in so they didn't go too far. If the Lei clan somehow finds out that we are the one holding Lei Pang, they won't mind going into an open war with us to rescue him."

Amon pondered for a bit after hearing it, he then asked again, "This Lei Pang, how do you describe his personality?"

"He is a very proud and confident person. He had the opportunity to flee during the fight at the bandit base, but he refused to do it even when it was clear that they were outnumbered. He is most proud of his cultivation speed. He always tells his clanspeople that he should be able to break through to the martial realm within three more years. If he managed to do that, he will be the youngest Lei member to achieve that in history."

"Does he have anyone he loves? Like, truly love that he is willing to sacrifice himself."

"I don't think there is any. He has a few wives inside the Lei clan but he treated them more like playthings. The one he truly loves is himself."

"Can I go see him?" Amon asked.

"… I don't think it is a good idea for a kid to go there," Madam Lin said.

"Don't worry about me, mother. I have seen plenty of blood," Amon said.

Madam Lin was reminded again of the time when Amon had executed Wei Feng. Amon had also gone through many conflicts during the mission and tournament. "The place I'm in charge of is not anything like the battlefield. The blood you have seen before won't guarantee you to be able to cope with what you see in my workplace."

"Believe me, mother. I will be able to cope with whatever is in this place you are overseeing," Amon replied calmly.

Madam Lin was still hesitant, thinking that Amon was just being overconfident. As a matter of fact, she was not even sure why she told him all of this. Perhaps she was just too stressed that she needed to confer with someone. Lin Dong was usually the husband she spoke with the most regarding her work. But lately, she found that talking to him or any of her husbands was not as productive as it used to be. Those husbands were only good for dual cultivation now. She felt her daily talks with Amon were much more pleasant. Perhaps that's why she had chosen to convey her current problem to him.

Madam Lin inspected Amon's gaze, who showed no hesitance. She still thought that the kid was being too overconfident. That he didn't know the darkness of this world. She decided that showing him a glimpse might do the boy some good.

"All right. Come with me," Madam Lin said.