Rise of The Demon General

Amon continued to collect soil, water, spirit herbs, spirit trees, and the Four-seasons Worm in his following days. But one day, he heard something from a distance. He looked over the direction before hurriedly finding a place to hide.

Not long after, he saw a couple of men passing through. Amon remembered the two. They were part of the fifty finalists from the tournament. The two were from a smaller clan than the Lin clan.

The two looked over to the woods. Many of the trees here had been uprooted by Amon, so the soil was rather messy. The two observed the terrain with puzzlement. As they walked closer to the woods, they saw some of the trees bore spirit fruits. They seemed ecstatic and started to go and pick the fruits, storing them in their space rings while eating some at the same time.

These people would be here for a while if he let them. Amon could move to a different part of the woods but that would be time-wasting. There was also no certainty that these two would stay here. They could also wander around and stumbled onto Amon another time there. That second time could be at an unfortunate moment where Amon was unaware of their approach.

After a brief thought, Amon decided to just take care of them. They were from a smaller clan, so they shouldn't have that much access to strong arts. It should be safe to deal with them. If they want to blame someone, then blame themselves for daring to become interlopers in his territory.

Amon made sure first that there was no one else in the vicinity. Afterward, he approached the two from behind. The two were still busy collecting the spirit fruits in elation. Their excitement in finding treasures had made them oblivious of the environment. From the look of it, they were heading deeper into the woods. They would just become the prey of Ethereal Bronze-skinned Snakes if so. So, from the way Amon saw it, their fates were sealed. Might as well give whatever treasures they had found to him instead.

Amon saw the two separated to cover more ground. Stupid move on their parts, but a blessing on Amon's part. Amon crept to the closer one. All the while making sure that he stayed in his prey's blind spot. He used the trees and shrubs for cover while trying his best to make as little sound as possible.

Amon studied the situation. The two were not too far apart. It was not possible to take down one without alerting the other, which meant he had to face the other one directly. Since he couldn't sense one's cultivation yet, he couldn't tell which one was stronger among the two. And since both were not showing their killing intents, Amon could also not gauge which one was the more dangerous one. So, it's fifty-fifty.

Never mind, they were just boys. Talented perhaps, with a bit of experience in killing spirit beast, but still, immature boys. He would have no problem going one-on-one with them.

With that thought, Amon rushed out from his hiding place. His prey had just come down from one tree and was headed towards another one. The boy heard something and started to turn. With his Swan dagger, Amon executed Silent Swift Stab. His body turned invisible.

When the boy turned, he didn't see anyone, but suddenly he felt something sharp stabbing into his throat as a cold eye boy suddenly appeared before him.

"Urgghh…" He was choking on his own blood.

Amon pulled his dagger violently to the side. The boy lost half of his neck. His head looked as if it was about to fall due to losing its support. The boy's entire body then fell to the ground as blood continued to pour out of his torn neck.

"You…! Who are you…?!" The other boy heard the disturbance and looked over. He immediately took out his weapon which was three interconnected ropes that had a spiked metal ball at each end. He started to spin these balls.

'Three-weights bola weapon?' Amon thought after seeing the weapon.

The boy threw the bola weapon, which spin around and destroyed everything in its path. Amon moved to the side to avoid the trajectory, but the spinning weapon turned in the air and came back at him.

Amon was surprised but not flustered, he made a long jump back and dropped to the ground before rolling away, putting a large distance in a short time. The bola weapon struck the ground then rebounded and flew back to the boy who threw it.

It was a martial art, Amon thought. The art made his bola weapon behave like a boomerang.

The boy caught the bola and spun it again.

Amon threw his knife at the boy. Seeing the flying knife, the boy spun the bola in front of him with fast speed. The bola spun so fast that it created a force field. Amon's knife bounced back after hitting this force field.

The boy threw the bola again. Amon dodged to the side and threw another knife, targeting the window when the boy lost his defensive weapon.

The boy, however, took out another bola weapon and spun it, deflecting Amon's knife.

The boy continued with this rhythm. After catching the first bola back, he threw it again for the offense. The second bola he kept for defense. Amon didn't try to make contact with the thrown bola, he continued to retreat.

"Where are you going, you coward?! Are all you capable of is backstabbing?" The boy called out, trying to agitate Amon.

Amon paid the words no mind. He might be able to finish off the boy if he forcefully approached, but there was also the risk of him getting injured by the bola.

The bola came again, Amon hid behind a large tree. The bola struck the tree, shattering the outer part of its trunk. The tree was sturdy enough to resist the bola's devastating force.

"Hide and run, let's see how long you can last," the boy shouted.

Amon equipped his crossbow. 'You want to have a long-range contest? Let's see who can hit farther then.'

The bola was thrown again, this time to the side of the tree since Amon was hiding behind it. The bola abruptly changed direction in the air and came to Amon's back.

Amon had expected it. This boomerang tactic won't work on him. He took a low position and rolled on the floor as the bola flew past above him and again shattered the tree bark. Amon ran to another tree. That tree would break with another throw. He wouldn't want to be underneath it when it came down.

His opponent threw his second bola at the same time as he received the one that returned, creating a continuous attack cycle. He did it while advancing to keep Amon within reach.

Amon weaved in and out of trees as the bolas kept on coming.

After a while, his opponent's throwing slowed. The boy was tired now. As expected of an inexperienced boy, he didn't know how to conserve his energy. It's time to strike then.

Amon waited for the boy to do his next throw. When the bola left his hand, Amon shot his bolt. With precise dexterity, he loaded the next bolt swiftly then fired again, then loaded another bolt. He managed to shoot three bolts before the enemy's bola came. He immediately took cover in a tree that was next to him.

When the opponent saw Amon's bolts all flew slightly away from him. He snickered. Such a bad shot, he thought. But then the bolts started to change direction.

These three bolts had been fired using Soul Searching Shot. Their flight curved and went for the target from different directions.

The boy panicked and immediately spin the one bola in his hand to create a protective forcefield. He deflected the first bolt, but the second bolt came to his side. He hurriedly turned and blocked the second bolt. At that time, the third bolt flew towards his back.

With only one bola, he couldn't defend against attacks from so many sides. If he hadn't thrown the other bola, he could have used both to defend more effectively.

He knew he couldn't block the third bolt, so he tried jumping away. But he was too late and too slow. The bolt missed his vital point but hit his thigh. He screamed in pain.

The bola that he had thrown previously was on the way back. Due to his sudden pain, he was not paying attention. He ended up getting hit by his own bola. The sound of cracking was heard when the metal balls of the bola slammed his arm.

He doubled over to the ground. He was yelling in pain due to the wounds. But the yell was quickly silenced when a fourth bolt came and hit him on the forehead.

After dispatching the two boys. Amon came over and picked up their space rings. He checked the goods inside. There were surprisingly many items. The boys seemed to have worked hard in collecting things. Aside from the spirit fruits they had picked up just now, there were also spirit herbs, loads of aer stones, various pills, engraved weapons, and spirit beasts' body parts.

There was, however, one tool that piqued Amon's curiosity amongst their belongings. Something that looked like a compass. Amon searched through the things he had taken from Pai Ning. He had thrown away her clothes and other mundane things but had kept the compass. He thought that he might need it to get a bearing.

He took that compass out and compared it with the one from the boys. They were exactly the same. The wooden needle on both the compasses was pointing towards the depth of the woods.