Rise of The Demon General-Chapter 278. Evil Soul Tempering

"No need to waste your time searching this place. You won’t find anything valuable," Xin Lie said.

"Because you have taken everything valuables in here?" Amon asked.

Xin Lie smiled in response.

"Speaking of valuables. You gave us quite a surprise," Li Jing said. "How do you come to possess the Plane Shift Stone?"

"Does it matter? It’s gone. That was the only one I possessed," Amon replied. "Why did you ask? Do you have the Plane Shift Stone where you came from?"

"No. That stone is an extremely valuable artifact. You can remove even a Demigod cultivator with that stone. It is such a waste to use it on a Pledge Demon at the level of a Transformation Stage."

"If you had told us that you have the stone, I would have gladly traded it for the infernal cultivation art you desire," Xin Lie said.

"If I did so, I wouldn’t have been alive now, would I?" Amon returned.

"That’s true," Xin Lie chuckled.

"So, you watched the whole thing at the park and didn’t bother to do anything," Amon said. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com

"Why should we?" Li Jing asked. "Whether you all live or die matters not to us. The activated Pledge Demon was also useless to us, so there was no point in us to do anything."

"And yet you stayed and watched instead of returning to your realm like you said. That means you are still up to something."

Li Jing glanced at Xin Lie upon Amon’s statement. Xin Lie just laughed for a response.

"Perhaps," she said.

"Why do you lie about the Pledge Demon?" Amon asked.

"I don’t understand what you mean," Xin Lie replied, displaying an innocent expression.

"You told me the Pledge Demon’s power is based on its master’s cultivation level. Because of your false information, I made the wrong tactical choice."

"In that matter, I didn’t lie," Xin Lie replied. "I was as surprised as you when I saw it was the little girl who was the Pledge Demon’s master. She was probably the rare type I only heard about in old tales when the practice using Pledge Demons was still common."

"Explain," Amon said.

"Hey! We don’t have to explain anything!" Li Jing scolded. He didn’t like Amon’s bossy attitude.

Xin Lie only chuckled. She patted Li Jing to calm her. She resumed, "Unverified tales told rare occurrences where the Pledge Demons bound with special individuals. These Pledge Demons exhibited power far above their masters’ cultivation. Yon Yu could be like the special individuals in those tales. If this was the case, it also explained why the Pledge Demon was activated.

"Under normal circumstances, a Pledge Demon is activated via a series of complicated ceremonies that include sacrificing a human being. After the sacrifice, there must be enough subjects to swear the pledge to the individual the Pledge Demon is bound to."

"A sacrifice? Maybe the Pledge Demon considered Yon Pa as the sacrifice," Amon conjectured.

"They still need the ceremonies," Li Jing said.

"Yes. That was why we were so surprised when we learned the Pledge Demon had already been activated," Xin Lie said. "No one knows about this ceremony outside our realm. That’s why we hunt for the Pledge Demon Artifact after learning about its existence in this realm. We thought for sure it would never be activated.

"If Yon Yu was like the special individuals from the tales, it is possible that she synchronized with the Pledge Demon within the artifact because her negative emotions peaked when she saw her father executed before her eyes. The pledge demon thrived on negative emotions. Yon Yu’s negative emotions must have triggered its activation, bypassing the ceremonies, when the villagers started swearing their oaths to her and her mother."

Amon was reminded of the malice he felt from Yon Yu. It was indeed very strong. He absorbed Xin Lie’s information. It was useless now since the crisis had passed, but it was always helpful to have additional information in case the same problem arose again. Even so, he wasn’t eager to encounter another Pledge Demon.

He started walking away.

"Hey, where are you going?" Li Jing asked.

"To rest," Amon answered. "You’ve already picked this place clean of valuables and don’t want to share your purpose of staying in this realm. I don’t see any point for us to continue conversing."

"You..."

Xin Lie laughed. A book appeared in her hand. She threw it to Amon. Amon caught the book.

"Sis, why did you give that to him ...?" Li Jing asked in surprise when she saw what Xin Lie did.

Amon looked at the book in his hand. On the book cover was written Evil Soul Tempering. He flipped to the first page. It was an explanation of the content. This book was a cultivation art for infernal cultivation!

"I have nothing to exchange for this," Amon said.

"Let’s just put this on your tab," Xin Lie replied. "Unless you are unwilling to owe me anything, you can return that book."

Amon only thought about the offer for a moment. He said, "Very well, but don’t expect me to pay my debt by asking me to do the impossible."

"Haha. You don’t need to worry about that," Xin Lie laughed. "That said, the cultivation art I gave will only let you cultivate in the Acolyte Realm."

"So, I need to find another cultivation art when I reach the Monster Realm?" Amon asked.

Both Xin Lie and Li Jing displayed surprised expressions. "You know about the infernal cultivation levels?" They asked.

"I have read about them," Amon answered.

"The information about infernal cultivation is taboo in this realm. Every book containing even slight information had been burnt. I’m surprised you can still find out this information."

Amon stored the book in his black space ring.

"If you have nothing left to discuss, please leave," Amon said.

"Fucker! We have given you a gift, and you didn’t even say thank you," Li Jing scolded.

"It’s not a gift. She said I owe her," Amon pointed at Xin Lie.

Li Jing was more triggered by Amon talking back. She yelled, "This is not your house! We are free to be here!"

"Suit yourself," Amon shrugged. He walked toward the room where Tuang Yin was sleeping.

Xin Lie chuckled at their exchange. She then said to Amon before Amon entered the room, "That woman inside there. She knows about your secret. Do you think it’s wise to let her live? We can kill her if you want. We will gladly do it for you."

"If I want her dead, I will do it myself," Amon replied. He went into the room and closed the door.

"Asshole!" Li Jing expressed her anger.

She turned to Xin Lie and asked, "Why did you give the cultivation art to someone as maddening as him?"

"Call it an investment," Xin Lie replied.

"Huh?" Li Jing couldn’t make sense of Xin Lie’s statement. She decided not to bother. She asked, "Are we done here? We should return to the demon realm."

"We are not returning to the demon realm," Xin Lie replied.

"What? Why? There is nothing else to do here."

"Yes, there is. Just bear with me, okay?"

"But... The Lord will be furious if he knows we stay here even after the Pledge Demon is no more," Li Jing said.

"Like I said before. If we don’t tell him, he won’t know," Xin Lie said. "Plus, if my hunch is correct, we will bring him an even greater gift than the Pledge Demon."

"I don’t understand," Li Jing said with a confused expression.

"Just trust your big sister, okay?" Xin Lie said.

"What about the other teams? If we don’t report back that the Pledge Demon is no more, they will keep searching."

"Let them keep searching, then," Xin Lie winked at her. "It’s not our problem."

*

Inside the room, Amon sat beside the bed Tuang Yin was lying on. He took out the book containing the Evil Soul Tempering art. He glanced at the sleeping Tuang Yin before opening the book. For the remainder of the day, he read and studied the instructions inside the book while Tuang Yin slept.

When night arrived, he closed the book. He had memorized all the information inside the book during the first hour of reading, but he chose to reread and study it in more detail to grasp all its underlying teaching. He was now ready to put it into practice. He took out the black aetherium stone.

The Evil Soul Tempering taught in this book harnessed the surrounding aether and refined it into infernal energy using negative emotions. After learning the method, he thought this art was unsuitable for him.

Those who knew the real him would call him evil, but that didn’t mean he was filled with negative emotions. On the contrary, he was almost devoid of negative emotions, or any emotion, for that matter. He had taught himself long ago to feel no emotion. Anger, hatred, fear, sadness, he had no use for them. The same was true for love, hope, and happiness. What mattered to him was having a goal, identifying the problems that prevented him from achieving that goal, and solving those problems. Everything else was secondary.

He glanced again at Tuang Yin. Negative emotions, eh? Perhaps at this moment, he had what was needed to learn this art.