Rise of The Demon General

The others immediately jumped away from where Win Yi was. They unsheathed their weapons and were ready to strike back, but the giant jaw that devoured Win Yi had vanished back into the mist.

Before long, that jaw appeared again next to Zhan An. Thankfully, Xou Liang was nearby, and his reflexes were quick. He dropped Un Lao and swung his mace, which smashed into the jaw before it could bite Zhan An. The unseen creature roared in anger at the interception.

Two other large jaws appeared near Xin Wa and Dai Gu, attempting to ambush them. They were ready, though. They used their weapons and repelled the attacks. The jaws retreated and roared angrily at their failure.

Amon threw his knives in the direction of those voices. The sound of blades piercing flesh was heard, followed by another round of roars.

"We can’t stay here. Move!" Amon instructed.

The others didn’t object. Xou Liang yelled at Chang Gu, who was the closest to Un Lao, "Gu, you carry Un Lao! I’ll protect you."

Chang Gu did as commanded, though with reluctance. He picked Un Lao up from the ground before following Amon, who had flown ahead. They were already discovered, so flying would make no difference now. Even so, Amon opted to fly close to the ground. This way, they had one fewer side to worry about an ambush.

"Shit!" Si Au cursed. They couldn’t see or sense what’s around them. The mists were too thick. They were moving swiftly, but he felt like anything could jump out at them at any time. He looked at Amon at the front. At least that guy suffered the highest risk of an ambush. If they were flying headlong into a spirit beast, Amon would be the first to find out.

Amon was aware of this. That’s why he focused on his hearing and danger sense instead of his eyes and cultivation sense. Though they were fleeing whatever attacked them back there, he didn’t randomly lead them. The direction he flew toward was the same one indicated by Yuka.

While no one questioned his decision to fly close to the ground because they understood his reason, that reason proved to be wrong. Amon sensed an ambush coming from below.

"Something coming out of the ground!" Amon warned as he flew higher.

The sounds of the ground cracking were heard soon after. The others quickly reacted thanks to Amon’s warning, except for Chang Gu. He failed to react in time because he was carrying Un Lao. The extra weight slowed him down. When others had increased their altitude, he was still near the ground when it burst.

Two spirit beasts with wide heads and protruding eyes burst out of the ground. Their wide heads were covered by carapaces, and had wide mouths that fully spanned the full width of their faces. The large mouth of one of these spirit beasts clamped onto Chang Gu’s lower body.

"Help–"

Chang Gu didn’t finish his words before he disappeared into the ground with Un Lao. The spirit beast dragged them into the ground with a speed as abrupt as when it appeared from the ground.

The other spirit beast didn’t return to the ground because it didn’t catch any prey. It didn’t give up, though. Out of its open mouth, its tongue shot out. Its target was Si Au.

Si Au had already activated his defensive art when he heard Amon’s warning. A thin layer of ice covered his body. This ice acted as a protective armor. Nevertheless, this ice armor didn’t do a thing when the spirit beast’s tongue came. Like a spear, the tongue pierced his belly and came out of his back. This tongue was then retracted. Si Au, who was stuck on the tongue, was pulled toward the spirit beast.

"Si Au!" Xou Liang exclaimed. He had rushed back to the ground. He felt terrible when Chang Gu was dragged to the ground. He had promised to protect Chang Gu. Yet, he couldn’t do anything because everything had happened too fast. He was not going to let Si Au be taken as well.

He charged at the spirit beast. With a mighty blow, his mace slammed into the beast’s wide head. The carapace on the beast’s head was shattered. Blood spilled from the wound. Xou Liang didn’t stop. He executed a martial art and delivered rapid strikes on the beast.

The beast could finally take it no more. It let go of Si Au. Its tongue returned, and it sank back into the ground to escape further blows from Xou Liang.

While Si Au escaped the spirit beast from the ground, he didn’t escape his fate. The spirit beast with the large jaw had caught up to them. The jaw came from behind him. He was holding his bloody belly and wasn’t aware. Just like Win Yi, the jaw clamped on him and disappeared back into the mist.

Everyone was shocked by these consecutive ambushes, but their crisis was not over yet. This time, the ambush came for Amon.

Amon was not powerless like the others. His danger sense warned him and gave him time to react. He shot up just when a similar jaw that caught Win Yi and Si Au came at him from the side. He swung his Moonfire Dagger using his Xian Cloth. The cloth was not as long as it used to be, but it could still cover an intermediate range.

The dagger sliced the jaw-beast as it rushed past where Amon had been a moment ago. The spirit beast was cut clean in two. It turned out the spirit beast looked like an eel, with its huge jaw covering almost one-third of its body. The spirit beast also burst into flames after being cut.

Despite slaying one of the jaw beasts, the group didn’t relax, because another menace appeared. The vines with mouths were back, and they came from all directions.

"Gather!" Xou Liang exclaimed.

Xou Liang, Zhan An, Dai Gui, and Xin Wa put their backs against each other. The biggest danger they faced was not knowing where the attacks came from. By doing this, they didn’t have to worry about their backs. They expected Amon to gather with them, but he remained away.

They didn’t have time to worry about Amon because the vines were already coming at them. They used their weapons and arts to fight off the vines. Before long, they understood the vines were not individual spirit beasts. They were parts of a single spirit beast.

The vines’ main body showed itself, which was a humongous tree-like creature. It swung one of its massive branches. Everyone used their defensive arts to block, but the branch destroyed those defenses with ease. Dai Gui suffered the direct blow. The branch hit him and sent him crashing to the ground.

While the tree beast’s vines assailed the others, it used one of its four bulky legs to stomp Dai Gui.

Dai Gui again used his defensive art, which conjured a dark grey shield. This shield had the gravity elements. This shield failed to block the attack just now, and it didn’t fare any better now. The stomp smashed into him and flattened him into the ground. The ground also collapsed from the stomp.

Amon used Invisible Phantom Flash to slice past the vines and arrived behind the tree beast’s head. He used Flame Lance, enhanced by his mixed aether. The tree beast’s main trunk resisted the flashes from Amon’s Invisible Phantom Flash, but it gave way to the Flame Lance. It appeared to be weak against fire.

The Flame Lance pierced through the beast’s head and engulfed it with flames. What seemed like its head appeared not to be its vital part, because it didn’t die despite losing that head. It swung its branch at Amon.

Amon didn’t become careless despite his seemingly sure-kill strike. He remained vigilant for retaliation. He dropped down to dodge the swinging branch. At the same time, he performed multiple strong slashes. The slashes failed to pierce through the tree beast’s hardy bark, but they were not in vain. All the slashes from the Moonfire Dagger ignited into flames. These flames spread and soon engulfed the tree beast.

The tree beast roared in pain as it swayed around to douse the flames.

Xou Liang, Zhan An, and Xin Wa didn’t waste the chance. They sent their strong attacks while the tree beast was distracted, further wounding it.

While the others dealt with the tree beast, Amon’s attention was on the collapsed ground caused by the beast’s stomp. Dai Gui’s flattened body was there, but that was not what caught Amon’s attention. The hole in the ground was quite deep. An underground cave was revealed inside. What most fascinated Amon was that he didn’t see any mists down there.

He immediately called the others, "Everyone! Come down here!"

The others turned and saw Amon dive into the hole in the ground. They didn’t have the time to ask for an explanation before Amon vanished down there. It didn’t take long for them to decide. They rushed to the hole and jumped inside.