Rise of The Demon General-Chapter 264. The Ambush

"So, you can use demon energy but cannot cultivate it?" Xin Lie asked with a smile. "The question is, why should we give you anything? The information I provide about the Pledge Demon is already my generosity. I don’t see why I need to add anything more."

"I can pay you. Or, if you need anything done, I can help. I am very resourceful," Amon said.

"I’m sure you are. However, we need nothing. Our purpose in this realm is the Pledge Demon. We gained a record indicating one was brought to this land eons ago. Now that we have learned it has been used, we have no more reason to stay. So, we don’t need your service."

"We certainly don’t need your aer stones," Li Jing added. "We have plenty of them ourselves. Unless you have runic items to exchange, you have nothing we need."

’Runic items...,’ Amon thought. He had several items he suspected to be of runic quality or above, among which were the Xian Cloth, his Black Space Ring, the Allure Beacon, and the Plane Shift Stone. However, he wasn’t willing to part with those items for a cultivation art manual.

He took out a handful of the blackstones from his Black Space Ring. He picked up a decent quantity of them during the excavation mission. They were supposed to be precious blacksmith materials.

"Are these good enough for an exchange?" Amon asked.

"Blackstones?" Xin Lie identified the materials easily. "I am surprised you have those materials, but no. We have plenty of those where we came from."

Amon stored the blackstones. "Anything I can do to persuade you?"

Xin Lie shook her head. "Sorry, kid. I suggest you don’t cultivate your demon energy. It is better that way. The stronger your demon energy is, the easier it is for a powerful cultivator to detect. You are safer if you leave it dormant. Unless, of course, you no longer plan to stay in this realm. How about following us to the demon realm? If you do, I will let you choose any infernal cultivation art from my collection."

"Sis?" Li Jing didn’t expect Xin Lie to invite Amon to follow them.

It was Amon’s turn to shake his head. He didn’t want to go to unfamiliar territory without preparation. He already started building his force in this realm. If he followed them, he had to let go of everything and start from scratch again.

"This is a goodbye then," Xin Lie said. "We would like to rest. Please leave. You won’t see us again tomorrow."

Amon frowned. It was rare to meet someone with access to infernal cultivation art. He was unwilling to let this chance go, but he couldn’t think of anything viable to accomplish his goal. Xin Lie was most likely a cultivator equivalent to a spirit stage cultivator. He would end up losing his life if he risked it by using the forceful method.

’Never mind,’ he thought. He had patience. Even if he lost this chance, he would find another one in the future.

He left the room without saying anything to the women.

"What a rude asshole. He didn’t even say goodbye," Li Jing complained. "Are you sure you want to leave him be? I know we are returning to the demon realm, but the lord will not be happy if he learns that we let someone live after learning our identities."

"He won’t know if we don’t tell him," Xin Lie said with a mischievous smile. She then added, "We are leaving, but we are not returning to the demon realm yet."

"No? What else do we want to do in this realm?"

Xin Lie simply smiled in response to the question.

Amon returned to his room. Tuang Yin was still sleeping soundly. Unlike her, he didn’t need sleep. He sat cross-legged on the floor and cultivated. He took Xin Lie’s advice and waited for the morning.

*

The next morning, Amon came out and saw the door to Xin Lie and Li Jing’s room was open. He went over and saw that the room was empty. The two had left.

"Good riddance," Tuang Yin said. She didn’t like the two women.

"Let’s go. I have learned some new information about our mission," Amon said.

"You did? When did you get the information?" Tuang Yin asked.

"Doesn’t matter," Amon said. He told Tuang Yin about the Pledge Demon and the possibility it was bound to a woman named Yon Niang. When Tuang Yin asked where Amon got this information, he again told her it didn’t matter.

When the two walked out of the inn, Amon noticed the innkeeper’s remains were no more. Even the blood had been wiped. The villagers who woke up early probably cleaned the mess to avoid outsiders like them seeing it. They didn’t realize that Amon was there when the mess happened.

"Do you know which way to Yon Niang’s place?" Tuang Yin asked.

"That way," Amon pointed.

When he was watching from the roof last night, he saw in which direction the Pledge Demon flashed toward after turning into a shadow. He believed that direction should be where Yon Niang’s house was. Plus, someone who had the entire village under control should live inside the best home. He remembered the biggest building he thought to be the village hall. It was in the same direction as where the Pledge Demon retreated.

"How do you know?" Tuang Yin asked.

Amon started walking without answering the question.

Tuang Yin followed. She had been with Amon long enough to know there was no point in asking the same question twice if Amon didn’t answer.

When they were halfway there, Amon stopped.

"Why are we stopping?" Tuang Yin asked. She was surprised to see the seriousness on Amon’s face, one that was even more so compared to his usual serious face.

The seriousness clued her in that something was wrong. When she was about to look around to check the surroundings, Amon grabbed her arm and pulled her away. As they leaped back, she saw several long spikes fall from above and jabbed the ground they were standing on a moment ago.

The spikes quickly dispersed after hitting the ground. They were not real weapons but ones created from arcane art.

She looked up and saw six people on the roofs of the surrounding buildings. They were all young people in their twenties. Their attire was that of the Royal Academy uniform.

"It is as the rumor said. He is always alert," One of the people up on the roofs said.

"Nah. He is just lucky," another said.

"What the hell are you people up to?!" Tuang Yin scolded.

"Be careful. There are two more behind us," Amon warned.

Tuang Yin looked back and saw there were indeed another two with Royal Academy uniforms. Considering she wasn’t familiar with their faces, and they looked older, it was safe to assume these people were senior students.

The four on the roofs jumped down. The four blocked the street in front. Two blocked the back. The remaining two stayed on the roofs, each on Amon’s two sides. They were to prevent Amon from jumping up to the roof to escape.

"It is difficult to catch you like this, junior," One of the senior students said. "But now that we do, don’t expect us to let you go."

"Shit! We are surrounded...," Tuang Yin said.

She and Amon put their back on one another to avoid the enemies attacking them from their blind sides. As their backs touched, Amon whispered something to her.

The two on the roofs didn’t move from their positions. The four at the front and the two at the back were slowly closing in. They were grinning as they thought they had their prey cornered.

Amon’s arms suddenly shot forward in opposite directions. Poison Cloud Bullets flew out of his hands.

The senior students responded to this move. One student from the front and another from the back threw small knives from their hands. These knives collided with the Poison Cloud Bullets. The bullets exploded into white gas that lingered in the air. It was not the normal purple gas because the poison in these bullets was not the deadly version but a weakened version of the Fragile Bone Muscle Poison. He was not yet ready to expose his deadly poison to the public.

"We know you are an expert in throwing weapons. We also bring people who are..."

The senior student stopped talking when he realized Amon had thrown another item aside of the Poison Cloud Bullets. Amon didn’t throw this other item at them, though. Amon threw it into the air directly above him.

The thing he threw was the Flashbang Grenade. This flashbang grenade was in between the two seniors who stood guard on the roofs. These two seniors watched the ball in the air with fascination. One of them registered what it was.

"Wait! Isn’t that ball the one that..."

The Flashbang Grenade exploded, generating bright light and intense noise. The two seniors on the roofs were closest. They were too late in identifying the grenade. They lost their vision and hearing.

The seniors on the street were further away but were also close enough to be affected. In that instant, the hunters lost sight of their prey.