Chapter 913. The Vicious Domain
Amon barely evaded the lightning pillar. As the pillar zoomed past him, it torched his shadow suit. It completely evaporated upon contact with the lightning. The front part of his shadow suit was shredded, revealing his true self. If he had been a fraction of a second late, the lightning pillar would have punched right through him, obliterating both his shadow suit and himself.
The lightning pillar struck the ground below. After the lightning was gone, Di Ju was revealed standing there, his swordstaff stabbed the ground where the lightning had struck. He looked up at Amon, who stared back.
"I thought you said only three moves. That just now was a fourth one," Amon said.
Du Ji smiled and said, "A true leader knows not to take others’ words at face value and is prepared to face the unexpected. If you have lowered your vigilance after my third move and failed to react to my fourth, that means you are not fit to be my leader."
"I see... I have dodged your fourth move."
"You did." Du Ji bowed. "I find you worthy of my submission. From now on, my sword is yours, and so are the remaining Commitment Faction members who followed me."
Amon smiled. "Good! Send messengers to all four corners of the Commitment Domain. Spread the news. From today, the Commitment Domain belongs to Amon. All the leaders of this domain’s settlements are to come to Fractured Heart City within a month to pay respect. Anyone who didn’t answer this summons will be branded a rebel and will be annihilated."
"I will carry out your command," Du Ji replied.
When Du Ji went to inform his followers, Yao Ai approached Amon. She said, "Now that you have gained this domain. What do you want me to do next?"
Instead of answering, Amon gave Yao Ai a scroll.
"You will return to the Mercy Domain," Amon said. "I have written the set of goals you need to achieve in that scroll. Note that I want those goals done before the purge. We will meet every half year to discuss your progress. We will make our move during the purge."
Yao Ai opened the scroll and briefly reviewed its contents. She nodded without a word. She then brought her force and left. Amon watched her leave, wondering if he could rely on her. If he couldn’t, he would have no choice but to blow up her head. That would be a shame. Losing such a powerful aide would be a pity.
Li Hong and the Devotion Faction members remained with Amon. After Du Ji sent his messengers out, he and the remaining Commitment Faction members followed Amon. Amon led them toward Fractured Heart City, the capital of the Commitment Domain.
The capital was still in ruins after the fierce battle between Hai Di and Lang Man. Repair was ongoing, but it was conducted by the residents rather than the authority. No one has a clear idea who was in charge because the Commitment Faction had been fractured after Lang Man was gone. Du Ji, who was the second-in-charge, holed up in a fortress away from the capital.
At the center of the capital was a giant pit instead of Lang Man’s castle. Hai Di made that pit when he delivered Lang Man the killing blow. No one had made any attempt to close it yet.
In the absence of the Commitment Faction, the local gangs had entered a bloodbath to determine supremacy. After many days of bloody conflict, one gang had come out on top and taken control of the capital. This gang had just achieved victory a week ago, only for Amon to show up.
With an army backing him and Du Ji by his side, the victorious local gang folded without a fight.
Amon entered the city and announced that he was now in control of the city and the domain. He ordered the leader of the victorious local gang to join him. The gang leader was to be his local guide to learn about the current situation and other prominent players in the capital.
He chose the city hall, which was still intact, as his base of operations. From there, he sent people to call all the prominent players the gang leader had named. He gathered everyone together and organized them. He assigned tasks to everyone and managed the city’s resources.
A few were dissatisfied that Amon acted like a leader without their approval, but most were happy that someone finally took charge. Most people would always prefer order over chaos. With order, they knew that as long as they played by the rules, they should be fine. As for chaos, there was never certainty. Someone could decide to whack you for no reason, and no one would bat an eye about it.
With each day that passed, Amon’s grip over the city solidified. Weeks later, many of the leaders from the other settlements arrived to heed Amon’s calls. They came because Du Ji made the call. Almost all these leaders were Commitment Faction members, so they respected the call. Even so, some decided not to play ball and ignored the call.
To those who defied his authority, Amon sent his army led by Du Ji. These defiant leaders were captured, and their families executed, except for the mothers and children. This exception came straight from Amon. Some thought him soft and undeserving of the leader’s position because of this, but some praised him for his benevolence. Amon cared not for the opinions of those pathetic people. As long as these people didn’t publicly challenge him, they could think however they wanted.
One such person did, though not directly. He was an ex-warlord of the Commitment Faction who joined Amon’s force after Du Ji invited him. His cultivation level was at the Peak Mammoth Stage. He didn’t heed Amon’s words. During a raid on one of the leaders who defied Amon’s authority, he killed every member of the family, including the kids and mothers, after raping those mothers.
The news reached Amon. He had this warlord and his squad apprehended. As punishment, Amon had them publicly tortured at the main plaza of Fractured Heart City. The warlord begged for mercy during the process. He didn’t expect someone of his station and cultivation level to be severely punished for a violation he deemed unimportant.
Amon ignored his plea. After the public torture that lasted for days, he had them all executed in front of the masses. Since then, no one dared to think of him as soft or to disobey his orders again.
Slowly, his control over the Commitment Domain improved. Within a year, he had total control. He even renamed his faction as the Vicious Faction, following the name of his faction when he was still a student in the royal academy. The domain was also renamed to the Vicious Domain. With this rename, all traces of Lang Man’s legacy had been wiped clean.
After one year, he had a better grasp of the remnants of the Devotion and Commitment Factions’ armies. He punished the ones who were disobedient and uncooperative, while elevating those who performed well. He awarded the meritorious ones with the weapons from the ancient battleground, which Zee Whang had repaired, and the Infernal Inheritance Pills, which Yeresdyx concocted.
As for better-grade weapons Duan Jang repaired, he awarded them only to his top-tier followers, such as Du Ji and Li Hong.
He also gave Surressh a weapon that Duan Jang repaired, as a farewell gift before the Hyanid returned to his folks. Surressh was rather surprised by the gift. He was only aiding Amon because his supreme leader told him to. Nevertheless, he didn’t reject it.
To his surprise, he returned to Fractured Heart City not long after as a bodyguard to Xlasstazh. The elder offered himself to be a bridge between the Hyanids and humans. A Hyanid embassy was built in both the Mercy and Vicious Domains. The humans also built an embassy in the Devotion Domain, which had now been renamed the Hyanid Domain. This exchange was an attempt to lessen the hostility between the two races.
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One and a half years after Amon became a domain lord, he made a state visit to Venal Virtuous City in the Hyanid Domain. From the outside, the capital was a ruin, a result of the battle between Hai Di’s and the Hyanid’s forces. No repair seemed to have been done to it. That was because the Hyanids left it as it was. Instead of rebuilding the city above the ground, they built a new one under it.
Below Venal Virtuous City was now a complex series of caves and caverns, dug by the Cryanid army under the supervision of the Hyanid. Amon was now brought to the main cavern, which served as the Hyanid throne room.
Amon was inside this main cavern. He sat beside a round table that seemed to be wholly carved from a piece of rock. "I thought you Hyanids want this land because you wish to live out in the open, but I guess your kind is too accustomed to living in hiding, eh?"