Rise of The Demon General

Amongst the arts he had gotten from the Hei clan, there were still two arcane arts he had yet to master. The reason was that it took a long time to master the arcane arts. Unless he was already at the Transformation stage, learning arcane art consumed a large amount of time. Amon couldn't afford to spend so much time on them considering he had many other specialties to focus on, hence he had been putting them on hold.

Despite that, he still spared a little time each day to practice one of these arts little by little. He chose to study the Flame Lance. The other arcane art, Iron Fist, was a fist offensive art. He already had Bone Shattering Shadow Fist, hence he didn't think he needed the Iron Fist art urgently.

The Flame Lance, however, was an offensive art that was capable of piercing strong defense. His Water Slicing Ring art was a very strong offensive that could seemingly cut through everything. This Flame Lance was a similar art with a piercing-style assault.

After practicing it slowly in his spare time, Amon had not yet reached a mastery where the Flame Lance could be used decently in a battle, but he had achieved Skilled mastery, where he could form the lance in two seconds and the energy could penetrate for as long as one foot.

This was a pathetic result if he used it against a skilled opponent. Not only the two seconds required would have him open to the opponent's attacks, but the one-foot reach was no different from the reach of a normal knife. He might as well just use a knife in that case.

But for this fight, it was enough. Amon was confident his Flame Lance should be able to pierce the battle puppet's metallic skin. The puppet was of the metal element, which was weak against fire element attack.

As the art required two seconds, Amon had put some distance before activating the art. The battle puppet could do a sudden fast-speed lunge that covered a medium range from time to time, but Amon had noticed that it couldn't do it all the time. There was an interval. It was now during that interval, so it was enough time for Amon to gather the fire element for his art as the puppet came at him.

As the fire elements gathered, they were compressed into a granule, a bright red dot on his fingertip.

Amon paid attention to the puppet's movements. Its attack pattern was monotone, as was expected from a mechanical being. The attacks were also all just punches. Amon had long memorized it. Lasting for five minutes was child play to him, none of the puppet's punches could touch him again after the initial contact. Sending the puppet into the tent's wall needed some effort but was doable. No, he would do things outside of the given rules. Simply because he knew he could.

Amon waited for the punch from the puppet's right fist to come. As it did, he made a low duck, letting the punch pass above his head. With the arm outstretched, it exposed its armpit. The talisman core was around that area.

Amon's finger stabbed into the armpit. His finger felt like hitting solid steel, it caused him pain. But the red dot on his fingertip exploded upon contact. It turned into a small piercing spear that drilled through the puppet's metallic skin. A hissing sound was heard and smoke was produced at the point of contact. Clanking sounds followed soon as the puppet trembled accompanied by small movements before going completely rigid.

The official at the corner didn't understand at first what had happened when the battle puppet stopped. He thought the puppet was having a rest, but then he remembered that a battle puppet needed no rest. What further confused him was Amon standing straight beside the battle puppet with folded arms, as if the fight had ended.

'Has it?' This thought unwittingly surfaced in his mind.

He looked at the candidate and the trial puppet who was still. The disbelief in his mind was inevitably banished by the fact in front of his eyes.

He walked to the battle puppet who was still inert. Amon was still standing with folded arms beside it, completely not worried that the puppet might resume its attack on him.

The official touched the battle puppet. It was completely still. He put his hand at the back of the puppet's neck and used his aether to sense the puppet's internal structure.

'So, that's where its control input was located,' Amon thought.

The control input was the part where a command could be given to a battle puppet. A puppet with a more complex talisman core would be able to understand more complex commands. The control input was the same as the talisman core, it could be positioned anywhere in the puppet's body, so only the owner of the puppet would know its position. Additionally, the control input was fitted with a series of complex artificial nerve locks. The controller needed to insert his aether following a fixed pattern. Otherwise, the puppet would reject the command. So, even if one knew the position of the control input, one still couldn't control the puppet if one didn't know the combination to bypass the locks.

The official's eyes turned wide after sensing the internal of the battle puppet via its control input.

"You…! How did you…" He said to Amon but stopped. He then looked at the last spot where Amon had hit. There was a small hole there. Behind that hole was where the talisman core was hidden.

"How did you know its core is there…?!" He asked Amon.

"Lucky guess," Amon answered simply.

'Lucky guess my ass!' The official wanted to curse.

"So… Do I pass?" Amon asked.

That was a rhetorical question, of course. But since the official just stood there staring at the battle puppet with a stupid look, Amon had to force him to confirm it.

"Ye–Yes… You passed," The official stammered.

Upon the confirmation, Amon walked out of the tent. He knew his own time. It was three minutes and ten seconds. He took longer than Wong Cou but faster than Yan Long. Zhuan San was also among those that had beaten the puppet. His time was three minutes and thirty seconds, slightly faster than Yan Long's. The other candidates who had managed to beat the battle puppet before the five minutes duration were all above four minutes. For now, only four of them had a time mark below four minutes.

Amon was instructed to head to one side of the plaza where the other finished participants were placed. The ones that had passed by surviving five minutes and the ones that had passed by defeating the battle puppet were separated.

The ones who won by defeating the battle puppet were given a place where chairs were arranged. They could sit and relax while waiting. As for the survivors, they had to stand like the participants who had yet to enter the tents. No one dared to criticize such discriminating treatment. The ones who had defeated the battle puppet were clearly a better breed of fighters compared to the ones who only passed by surviving. Hence, they deserved special treatment.

As Amon sat down on an empty chair, a commotion happened near the trial tents. One participant had been heading towards the tent which Amon had come out from. But he was stopped by the official. The official asked the participant to wait while he went and talked with Lao Zen. They talked for a bit. Lao Zen's face changed from indifference to surprise to contemplative, he then turned to Amon with a pensive expression.

Everyone was aware of the weird exchange and looked at Amon as well. Whatever had happened had something to do with Amon.

Lao Zen then said something to the official. The official returned to his tent and then announced loudly, "Sorry, everyone. There has been a malfunction with the battle puppet in this tent. Please wait while we have people go and bring another battle puppet here."

"Hahaha!" A laughter was heard from beside Amon. Amon looked over and saw it was Yan Long. He sat on a chair not far from Amon.

"I thought you truly passed by beating the battle puppet before the given five minutes but turns out it is because the battle puppet you were fighting against has malfunctioned. What a joke! So, you only depend on luck to get through this trial, the same as how you get the first rank on the first trial. It's just a fluke."

Everyone turned to Yan Long. 'Luck? The first trial was based on one's cultivation. Can that be considered luck?'

But no one dared to mock Yan Long. They knew his family's status in this city. It was not wise to make him an enemy.

"Haha, don't say it like that, brother Yan Long. Luck is also a part of our ability," Zhuan San said diplomatically.

"Who is your brother? Don't address me so casually!" Yan Long said disdainfully.

Zhuan San shook his head with a sigh.

"What has you got to say, you fluke?" Yan Long asked Amon.

Amon just snickered and didn't say anything.

This upset Yan Long. How dare this backwater kid ignored him? Yan Long threw more insults. But Amon instead just close his eyes and started to cultivate. Yan Long became even more infuriated. He threw more insults, harsher and louder with each passing second.

This attracted Lao Zen's attention, who came and scolded Yan Long for the noise. The old overseer was already not in the mood due to losing one battle puppet. It was not cheap to repair one, especially its talisman core.

Lao Zen glanced again at Amon, who was ignoring everyone and continued to cultivate. He then turned and walked away.