Rise of The Demon General-Chapter 694. Raptured Peace
The portal Amon sent the Soul Flayer into was the same prison dimension that trapped Yuka, the Zuanze Butterfly.
Amon didn’t bring his captive to the room where Yuka was imprisoned. If he put the Soul Flayer into the same prison as Yuka, she would devour the Soul Flayer. While the two spirit beasts were both Higher Mythical beasts, Yuka was much stronger. It was the same comparison between a Peak Lord Stage and a Beginning Lord Stage.
Amon brought the Soul Flayer into another room, which had the same prison formation as the one in Yuka’s room. A Khode’s Formation Sage who served under Amon built this second formation.
Amon copied the formation he observed in Yuka’s room and showed it to the formation sage, who studied it diligently for some time. When the formation sage was confident that he could replicate the formation, Amon brought him inside the metal box.
Amon, of course, put the formation sage to sleep using his poison before bringing him in. This way, he didn’t know where Amon had taken him. He spent a week working on the formation. Amon never left his side. Amon cultivated while waiting. After the formation sage was done, Amon brought him out again after putting him to sleep.
While the formation seemed like an exact copy on the surface, it wasn’t truly so. It could hold a higher mythical beast. However, the copy was only strong enough to imprison the captive for one month, or two weeks if the captive exerted all its strength non-stop to expend the formation’s energy.
Amon knew the shortcomings, but two weeks should be enough to transport the Soul Flayer back to Oredolia.
"What do you intend to do with me...?!" The Soul Flayer yelled.
"We need your blood to make a talisman. You should be glad that we need your fresh blood. Hence, why you are still alive," Amon replied. "I also need your blood for a private reason. My need, fortunately, doesn’t require your blood to be fresh."
Amon pulled out a large syringe that he crafted himself and stabbed it into one of the Soul Flayer’s wounds. The spirit beast screamed in rage and pain as its blood filled the syringe. He repeated the process a few times, filling five syringes. He stopped because he didn’t want to risk killing the Soul Flayer.
"I will come back again in a few days. Rest for now," Amon said as he stored the syringes. He would have to hand this spirit beast over once they were back in Oredolia, so he wanted to harvest as much blood as possible before that happened.
He needed the Soul Flayer’s blood for one of the poison recipes in the 101 Primal Poison Tome. More recipes had been revealed to him now that he was a Spirit Stage cultivator. However, he only browsed through them. He didn’t learn them all because it would be too time-consuming, and none of the revealed poisons were powerful enough to poison a Lord Stage cultivator.
There was, however, one poison that he figured would be useful. Sadly, he couldn’t brew it because he couldn’t find the ingredients the recipe required. That was until he encountered the Soul Flayer and discovered its abilities.
This recipe, however, was also not strong enough to affect a Lord Stage cultivator. It couldn’t help him in his current situation, but he figured it would prove useful in the future.
The Soul Flayer continued to curse and struggle. Amon ignored its tantrum. He walked back to the portal and returned to the outside world. He was glad when he saw that his two companions didn’t challenge his instructions.
He stored both the prison box and the Beta Puppet back in his black space ring.
"Let’s leave," Amon told the two who were still meditating. "The prison I have prepared cannot hold the Soul Flayer for long. We need to return within two weeks."
"Two weeks? That’s a rush," Xan Chi said.
"That’s why we must leave now," Amon said. "Come on."
Without waiting for his two companions to agree, Amon flew up and exited via the hole in the ceiling. Sura Yao ended her meditation and followed Amon without a protest. Xan Chi’s wounds were the worst among them. Some parts of his body were still leaking blood. He cursed loudly before flying up.
"Wait for me!" He called.
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During the time Amon and the others hunted the Soul Flayer, no clashes happened in Oredolia. One wouldn’t know that it was wartime if not for the many military camps built around the regions leading to Saint’s Rest. Pilgrims from other parts were even allowed to travel to Saint’s Rest to pay their homage to the temple.
This peaceful situation was implemented to prevent antagonising the Temple of Divinity, at least until the group that had gone to hunt the Soul Flayer returned.
Unfortunately, like any large-scale institution, it was impossible to have every unit fully under control. Sooner or later, incidents occurred. In this case, it happened to one of the pilgrim groups that travelled along the path between Farghous and Saint’s Rest.
Farghous’ soldiers were already on edge after hearing the news about two of their large cities being obliterated by the temple’s Divine Punishment. They had been restraining themselves all this time, but one of them finally reached his tipping point when he saw a familiar face among the pilgrims.
"Kong...? You are Dui Kong, aren’t you? You used to run the Daggerteeth Inn in Fouzhu City. What are you doing here?"
Dui Kong looked confusedly at the soldier who called him. He didn’t recognize the soldier. Then again, his inn served many people in the past. This soldier might be one of his customers.
"I... I’m heading to Saint’s Rest to repent and ask forgiveness from the divine," Dui Kong replied.
"Forgiveness...?" The soldier took one step forward.
His partner put a hand on his arm. "Jing, don’t," he said.
The soldier, Lu Jing, swatted his partner’s hand away. His gaze, however, never left Dui Kong. "Forgiveness?" He repeated. "Do you forget what the temple did? Or do you choose to ignore it? Do you forget that the temple wiped out Fouzhu City? Our family, our friends, our neighbours! My family...!! My family is gone because of the temple! Don’t you also lose yours?!"
Dui Kong was about to say that he and his family were on a trip outside the city when it happened, but he stopped himself. Instead, he said, "It is because of what had happened that we must repent! We must ask for forgiveness from the divine so that it doesn’t happen again."
"You want to know how we can ensure that it doesn’t happen again? By flattening the entire Saint’s Rest! By obliterating the entire Temple of Divinity!"
Dui Kong and the other pilgrims recoiled as if they had been hit. Many quickly put their hands together and started praying. This further stoked Lu Jing’s anger.
"What are you doing? Stop praying! How dare you pray to those who have caused us such calamity!"
"Mister, please stop saying such blasphemous things!" Dui Kong pleaded. His previous timid voice now grew with a sharp tinge of resentment. "The divine will punish us again if you continue to commit sins. It is because we have strayed from the path of salvation that we were punished. Our country shouldn’t have taken up arms against the temple. If you soldiers don’t stop this heretical path, the Divine will send more punishments our way. You soldiers are the ones causing this! Repent, or you will doom us all...!"
Lu Jing felt something snap inside him when he heard the reproach. "Repent? I will show you how to repent!"
He threw the spear in his hand. The spear flew straight and stabbed into Dui Kong. Dui Kong was killed instantly. Among the pilgrims was a Mystic Stage cultivator. This Mystic Stage pilgrim didn’t take this lying down. He retaliated by lunging at Lu Jing.
This triggered a chain reaction where the soldiers fought the pilgrims. The soldiers were, of course, better equipped and trained. They also had a higher average cultivation. The pilgrims were slaughtered. Some, who were more averse to conflict, ran away when the fighting started.
These were the few who survived and brought the news to Saint’s Rest.
*
The news quickly reached the upper echelons of the temple.
"Holy Mother, please calm down," Zhang Daofeng said. "Didn’t our doctrines teach us to avoid conflict as best we can? The other country’s armies are currently staying put. We should just let them be and not wake a sleeping snake."
"I was all about pacifism, but if our mercy means cruelty to our believers, that I can’t accept. How will we convince our flock that the Divine grants them safety when the heretics freely slaughter them like this?" Mu Qin asked. She then turned to a man with a long beard. "Jin Guan, prepare our troops. Bring only the warrior priests! It is time we drive these heretics out of our holy land!"
