Amon narrowed his eyes. ’A fugitive?’ He thought. But now that he thought about it, he didn’t find it surprising. He had been missing for eight years without sending any news back, and Yao Ai had warned him that if he failed and was still alive, her agents would hunt him down. It seed that she made good on her threat.
Amon told his pursuers, "No need for the trouble. I will go report to Her Lordship directly."
"This is not an option. As I said, resist, and face an imdiate..."
One of the soldiers interrupted the one who spoke to Amon.
"What is it?" The speaking soldier asked with annoyance.
"Squad leader, his cultivation..."
"What about...," The squad leader stopped mid-sentence.
His expression changed after he paid attention. He ca after Amon, with the assumption that Amon was a cultivator with the dual cultivation level of the Interdiate Lord Stage and the Peak Malicious Stage. That was the information from Amon’s record. Yet, the Amon before him exuded a completely different cultivation level.
Amon’s Concealed Ghost Body could no longer shroud his cultivation to make it seem one stage lower. He had grown too strong for this art once he grew past the Fiendish Stage. He could still mask his presence if he concentrated on using this art. It just wouldn’t fool the others into thinking he was a weaker cultivator now.
The squad leader was anxious. He dared to co over because he thought Amon still had the recorded cultivation levels. Even if Amon’s cultivation level had increased over the past eight years, it should only be half a stage. He never imagined that Amon’s infernal cultivation was now a full two stages higher.
He looked around. His followers were all Fiendish Stage cultivators. He knew Amon had defeated a Peak Fiendish Stage cultivator like him before, but he certainly could not fight so many Fiendish Stage cultivators simultaneously. But now, after discovering Amon’s cultivation level, he was no longer confident. Even if the other half of his squad arrived, he didn’t think he could take Amon on. Furthermore, Amon had been reported to be able to defeat opponents with higher cultivation levels.
"Sir... What should we do?" His follower whispered to him.
He couldn’t answer.
Amon didn’t have the patience to wait for them. "Are you going to do sothing or not? If not, I will leave now. Stop at your own peril. I won’t hesitate to use force. You have been warned."
Amon turned around and left. The squad mbers turned to their leader for orders. The leader only stared at Amon in silence.
The other half of the pursuers arrived then. One of them asked, "What’s wrong? Why did we let him leave? Isn’t this our chance to get a reward from his bounty?"
"Bounty your head!" The leader knocked the head of the person who had just spoken. He then pointed to another one, "This is your fault! Why did you have to spot him and let us know? Now, we will be a laughingstock when we return empty-handed."
The one who was scolded felt wronged. "Didn’t the leader praise him when he reported that he identified Amon using his far-sighted eye art. Why is he being scolded now?"
"Let’s go back!" The leader exclaid with a grumbling tone. "Bloody hell! What a waste of ti!"
*
After several days of travel, Amon arrived in the Saintly Sin City. He went to the Carrion Tower to report directly to Yao Ai, and also to show that he hadn’t failed or abandoned his mission.
He spotted Yao Ai on her throne up on the Carrion Tower when he flew closer. The Vermillion Vulture was there with her. He followed the rules and descended to the base of the tower. He would enter the tower from below. The guards beca tense as soon as they saw Amon. They recognized him and knew he was a fugitive.
"Halt! You are under arrest!" They bellowed.
"Move aside! I want to et Her Lordship," Amon said.
"That is out of the question. You are to be detained until..."
Their words were drowned by Yao Ai’s commanding voice from above, "Let him in."
It seed Yao Ai had also spotted Amon when he approached. The guards complied and let Amon enter. One of the guards wanted to escort him, but he left the guard behind by moving at high speed. This left the guard speechless. Amon did not need a guide. He ca here once. He rembered the way despite its labyrinth-like corridors. In a short ti, he arrived at the mushroom-shaped top.
The Vermillion Vulture shrieked when Amon showed up. It also stared at him nacingly.
The giant beast was not the only one that greeted him. Yao Ai also did. Her reverberating voice entered his ears. The voice was filled with a power that hamred into his mind. "You have the guts to return after being absent for so long."
Amon replied, "I need ti. The mission you gave is not exactly easy, but I have completed it."
"Hm...?" Yao Ai rose from her throne and looked back. Her fascination was not with Amon’s words, but with the fact that Amon continued walking toward her unhindered. She expected Amon to fall to his knees after being assaulted by her aether-filled voice. She uttered with interest, "Your cultivation..."
"I encountered a boon during the course of completing the mission," Amon explained vaguely.
"... You said you have completed the mission?"
"Yes, the Cryanids have retreated into the misty border. They won’t attack us anymore."
"Really...?"
"The force you sent to aid the border hasn’t reported back? Go ahead and contact them. They should have arrived at the border by now."
Yao Ai continued eyeing Amon for a little longer before taking sothing from her space ring. Amon at first expected she would be using a ssage talisman, but what she held was a crystal ball. The ball was originally grey. Like a fading mist, the greyness of the ball gave way to white. A second later, the image of a face appeared inside the crystal ball.
"Your Lordship," the face inside greeted.
"Dictator Diu Cay, I ordered you to lead an army to wipe out the Cryanid swarm at our border. How goes the undertaking?"
’Diu Cay,’ Amon thought. He had heard the na but never t the person. He was Yao Ai’s number two, the only one with the rank of Dictator. His cultivation was at the Interdiate Overlord Stage of the Devil Realm, and he was the second strongest person in the rcy Realm.
"Reporting, Your Lordship. The Cryanids seed to have left. I have sent scouts since I arrived two days ago to check along the border. We can’t find any Cryanids. So of the scarce survivors we found testified that they saw the swarm moving en masse back into the misty border."
"Why didn’t you imdiately inform ?"
"My apologies, Your Lordship. I wished to clarify that the Cryanids have truly gone before I make the report."
"Hm... Continue patrolling the border for a month in case they return. Before you return to the capital, set up a periter defense along the border and station three warlords from the ones who still survive."
"What about the destroyed settlents?"
"Leave them. If the people want to rebuild those settlents, they can do it themselves."
"Understood. I will carry out your commands."
Diu Cay’s face vanished from the crystal ball, which turned grey again. Yao Ai stored the crystal ball.
"How exactly did you do it?" Yao Ai asked Amon.
He answered, "I sneaked into the Cryanid’s lair and eliminated the ones who control the Cryanids."
"Are you talking about the human-Cryanid hybrids? My followers inford of these creatures. If I’m not wrong, the report says you are the one who first discovered the existence of these creatures."
"I did, and I managed to put a tracking art on one of them. That’s how I could track them back to their nest. It took excruciating effort and patience, but I managed to slay every one of them. With those hybrids gone, no one is controlling the Cryanids anymore. That’s why they returned to their habitat, the misty border."
"What are those hybrids actually? How did they co into existence?"
Amon shrugged. "Taking them out was already a chore. I couldn’t bother to learn about their origin. For all we know, they could be accidental freaks of nature."
"Hm...," Yao Ai turned to the side and went silent. Amon couldn’t tell if she believed his lies.
Yao Ai’s expression showed that she was contemplating sothing. After so ti, she looked back at Amon. He could see that there was hesitance in her expression, as if she was having an internal struggle. That hesitance was soon gone, as she had decided on sothing. Ever since Amon arrived up here, he had sensed a slight killing intent from Yao Ai. This killing intent was now gone.
"Good job, Slayer Amon. You have indeed done the impossible," Yao Ai praised.
"You never thought I could pull it off, did you?" Amon asked.
Yao Ai chuckled. "Does it matter? What’s important is that you have proven yourself. Now I see that you are as worthy as your arrogance. Perhaps you can indeed do what you claid you could do years ago on this roof."
"I can always do what I claid," Amon stated.
"Very well. I guess I will have to endure your arrogance a bit longer. I rember you said you could devise a plan to break the status quo in my favor if I gave you sufficient intel on Hai Di and Lang Man."
"I did."
Yao Ai took a small, red crystal. "This is a data crystal. Inside it is all the information I have gathered on my two rivals over many centuries."
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