Rise of The Demon General

The one with the fire fist rolled on the ground after his dodge, when he stood up, both his fists lit up in fire again. The Grimalkin chased him after its attack failed. The cultivator slammed both his fists together when the Grimalkin was almost upon him, the colliding fire fists resulted in a deafening explosion. The Grimalkin was shocked by the force of the explosion and was sent reeling.

The cultivator then quickly sent rapid punches engulfed in fire. Three fiery fists slammed onto the Grimalkin's body. It screeched in pain as blood poured from its mouth. Its fur that was hit by the fiery first was singed to a crisp.

The cultivator with the stone armor was also faring pretty well against the Grimalkin. None of the Grimalkin's claws could cut through his protective armor. While he was free to hit the beast with his stone punches and kicks. He often missed though as his rock armor also inhibited his movements.

The one with the metal shield was less lucky. The small shield could only protect a small part of his body, while he was not as agile as the fire cultivator. His back was slashed by the Grimalkin's claw when he was slightly off-guard.

"Useless," Amon heard Madam Lin's remark when she saw the metal cultivator got hurt.

The metal cultivator seemed to have heard Madam Lin's disapproval. He gritted his teeth to endure the pain and swung his hand with the metal shield. The Grimalkin had already retreated with speed. The round shield on the cultivator's hand suddenly flew out, chasing after the Grimalkin. The Grimalkin which thought itself already safe was caught off-guard. The round metal shield had very sharp edges, it easily sliced through the creature's body and split it into two. The cultivator that got hurt had instead become the first to kill the Grimalkin.

While they were absorbed by the battle in front of them. A growl was suddenly heard from the side. A burst of shadow shot out from the bushes, going straight for Amon.

Everyone was taken by surprise, especially Amon. When he turned to look in the direction of the growl. A large Grimalkin was already very close to him, its claws were just a few feet from him.

Amon had no time to dodge, although his awareness and instinct allowed him to notice the ambush at the last minute, his body was too slow, while the Grimalkin was too fast. But before the Grimalkin reached him, a water geyser blasted out of the ground directly below the Grimalkin. It pushed the Grimalkin up into the air.

"All of you are useless! How can you allow a beast to ambush us!" Madam Lin scolded. There was vapor of water surrounding her hand, it was her that had caused the geyser.

Hearing the madam's rebuke, the other four immediately took action. They attacked the Grimalkin in the air at the same time. Multiple elemental energies struck the Grimalkin body and caused it to explode.

"Thank you for protecting Hei Mo," Hei Pho said to Madam Lin. She had cold sweat running down her forehead. She had also failed to notice the ambush. If Amon had been hurt, she would not be able to explain to Hei Gong. She put herself closer to Amon in case there was another ambush.

"Don't think about it, I am the one that invited you, so I should be responsible for your safety. I should be the one that apologizes that Hei Mo almost got hurt," Madam Lin replied. She then looked at Amon and was surprised to see that there was no fearful expression on his face.

"You are quite brave, aren't you?" Madam Lin said.

"It's because I know big sister is here, so there is no need to worry," Amon replied.

Madam Lin laughed at his words. She always like it when she was called big sister by him, it made her sound younger. Most others called her madam, which sounded old. She was indeed not young already, but she had always been taking care of her skin, thus her countenance was still similar to one possessed by a woman at the age of twenties.

Amon himself was more surprised by how easy the Madam had repelled the Grimalkin's ambush while the others were unaware. That simply meant that her cultivation level was higher than the others. Perhaps she was at the Transformation stage of the Human realm.

Amon also noticed that he could not liken the spirit beast to the animals of his past world. To be able to set up a distraction and ambush at an opportune time, such behavior was not simple animal instinct.

There was no more ambush, the fight of the remaining two Grimalkins was soon ended with the victory on the cultivators' side. Only the metal cultivator suffered a wound. He was applying medicinal ointment to his wound. Madam Lin showed no concern for his wellbeing. The madam treated Amon better than her underlings, this caused them to have resentment. Amon was aware of it but paid them no mind.

They started to harvest the Grimalkin's body. Apart from the one that exploded due to the joint attack by the four cultivators, the three others were still rather intact. Amon saw one of them pull a tiny-sized pebble that was shining with soft light out of the carcass.

This shiny pebble was then given to Madam Lin. She saw the interest in Amon's eyes, so she let him see it in detail. The light within the pebble seemed alive. When Amon focused his vision on it, he could see sparks on the inside of the pebble.

"This is a spirit essence," Madam Lin explained. "It is a concentration of Aether inside a spirit beast's body. Not every spirit beast possessed it. If you find one, you can sell it for a decent amount of Aer stones."

Aer stone was the standard exchange medium in this world, similar to money from his past world. From what the books said, Aer stone was the byproducts or a failed natural Aether crystallization. It was used to power up tools produced in this world and also can be used for a slight boost in the cultivation of the Human Realm.

"In the hand of a good pill master, this spirit essence can be made into a powerful pill," Madam Lin added. The spirit essence then disappeared. Amon noticed a ring on one of her fingers. That must be her space ring.

While her followers were still harvesting the rest of the Grimalkin's body. They heard movements. Not long after, three figures jumped out and landed near them.

"Madam Lin," the three saluted.

Madam Lin nodded at the three. "Lin Guo, do you find any trace of the fox?" She asked.

"I have, but unfortunately…," instead of continuing, he took out something from his space ring. It was the carcass of a small spirit beast. It looked similar to a fox but the fur was pink in color and it had multiple tails. Amon counted it had four tails.

"Damn it!" Madam Lin cursed. "So the rumor was false."

"Yes, the one who saw it must have mistaken this four-tailed fox for a five-tailed one," Lin Guo said.

"Hmph, a four-tailed fox is only an inferior beast. It doesn't worth my time. We have truly wasted this trip."

"But it was still considered as a rare spirit beast. Although it was not a five-tailed, it should still help madam somewhat, please accept it."

Madam Lin did not reject the offering. She took the carcass and stored it inside his Space Ring.

Lin Guo noticed Hei Pho and Amon. His eyes stopped when he was observing Amon.

"Forgive my rudeness, madam, but why do you take a five-year-old kid out here?" Lin Guo asked Madam Lin.

"Five years old?" Madam Lin turned to Amon.

Hei Pho chuckled, "I think you have made a mistake, sir. He is only…"

"How do you know I am five years old, sir? You are really good at guessing my age!" Amon said loudly, cutting off Hei Pho's words.

Hei Pho looked at Amon in bafflement. Amon stared at her and said, "grandma, this uncle is really smart. He knows I am five years old simply with a look."

"Hmph, of course, I know, brat. Any Martial realm who can sense you will think the same. You are too small to be bigger than five years old," Lin Guo replied.

Sensed?

"You are already a cultivator?" Madam Lin looked at Amon in surprise, then she turned to Hei Pho," I thought the last time I visit, you said he had just turned three?"

Hei Pho was still taken aback by Lin Guo's words. When Madam Lin threw her a question, she was lost for words, "I… actually… he…"

"Grandma is truly forgetful. How can you forget my age? You must have wanted me to stay at three," Amon quickly helped cover for her.