บท 199: Monkeys as trial guardians
"Infernal, weren't you supposed to be dead in the first place? Even if you survive that battle back then, there's no way that your cultivation would be recovered to its peak, not to mention making such tremendous improvement!" The fourth city lord Tyrond cried out in pain as he tried to suppress the internal wounds.
"You aren't qualified to know my secret and secondly, this is a world where only the strong have the authority to speak." Infernal said impatiently as his shield took on the form of a lance. The others remained silent and watched.
As for the soldiers, they had already lost their will to fight as they lay their weapons on the ground. Despite this, fear wasn't reflected on their face. As a soldier, they had already expected this day to come. It was karma for all the things their lords have done as they remain too weak to get them to stop their actions.
"General Infernal, you can take the lives of me and my man, but don't expect any of us to surrender to you. We may have been in constant war and our hands may have been stained with blood, but we've never taken part in any of those crimes because our heart remains pure for war. Please, just take our lives."
"How about this, I want all of you to work for the Evil realm from today onwards. I won't restrict your movements, I just need you to clear the missions on the bounty board and slay those who have been committing inhumane crimes."
Ignoring the soldiers who were in deep thoughts, Infernal then walked towards the four city lords that had fallen onto the ground.
To Bank however, it was Infernal walking towards him since he was the nearest to him.
"Infernal wait! We can talk things out!" Unlike Tyrond who was fearless, Bank was someone who was afraid of death which also contributed to the reason behind him cultivating the liquid law even though his level of accomplishment was low. Even at the fifth transformation of the Demigod realm, he's only half a step into the first sage realm.
"Bank, you're still afraid of death after so long?" Infernal walked up to Bank who was leaning against the wall, his breathing was hurried and blood was flowing from his head to his eye, drawing a line down his eye. Infernal then placed his hand beneath Bank's cheek and squatted down to meet him. Eye to eye.
"Just what is it that you want of me!" Bank cried out as he tried to scramble backwards, only to realise that there was no path of retreat for him.
"What do I want? I want you to tell me where the treasury of this city is and give everything to me after packaging them into a spirit ring." Infernal stated while lifting up one finger.
After that, I want you to tell me all the crimes this city has committed and swear your eternal loyalty to me. You shall be my slave until the day you die. That's the price you have to pay for your crimes." Infernal then added on, raising a second finger and upon seeing that Infernal was going to raise his third finger as well, Bank panicked.
"Stop! Please stop with this already! I'll give you everything! I'll tell you all the secrets! Just don't kill me please!" Seeing Bank's cry, Infernal's heart didn't waver in the slightest, nor did he feel any sense of pity towards this man who indulges in torture and mutiliation of live humans and demon beasts or any other species.
"Bank! It's just death that we're facing at most! Make your bloody mind up and just kill yourself if you can't…"
"Shut up!" Before Tyrond could even finish what he had to say, Infernal cut him off.
"Hidas! Melvin! Save me!" Bank begged for help, only to realise that they were all laughing out loud.
Hidas even added on "Bank, just shut the hell up alright? Isn't it just death? Weren't you always acclaiming that you won't be able to die because you can escape from anywhere in the form of a liquid?"
"You enjoyed torturing people with liquid right? At least now you'll be able to spend the rest of your life living with your favourite substance,"
"Torturing people with liquid such as scalding water after crippling their cultivation?
"I've changed my mind, I'll be taking your life now." Right when Infernal's lance was about to pierce through Bank's heart, a mysterious barrier stopped him.
"Where is this place?" Nightin mumbled subconsciously when he saw the four statues standing before him. Each statue was taller than the previous but they had one thing in common, they were monkeys that were holding rods.
"I see that you're new to the star search young lad." An ancient voice suddenly sounded out from above.
When Nightin looked up, all he saw was an array of stars. The stars came in different shapes and sizes, but none of them were eye catching enough for him to identify the star that was speaking.
"Don't waste your time trying to find me. In this world, Phoenix is the only one who can sense my presence and find my location. Even the seven disciples of his are only qualified to be one out of my ten thousand celestial guards." The voice spoke again, its voice coming from every direction.
"Fine, but why did you lead me here?" Nightin asked, his head raised to face the stars.
"I'm sure that you have seen those four monkeys as well. Right now, I need you to challenge the monkeys from the smallest to the largest, that'll be the first part of your test."
"Which monkey did Clyde and Zilas defeat at the end of the test?"
"Clyde fell to the third monkey while ZIlas ended with a draw against the third monkey." Zilas was not even at this peak that time. The voice thought to itself.
"I see, then I shall end the battle by defeating the third monkey. As for the fourth monkey, he shall be my training partner." Nightin told the voice as he walked steadily towards the first monkey.
"Challenger, are you ready?" The monkey came to life and asked, jumping about as it eluded the sword intent despite its weapon being a rod.
"Pretty interesting, a rod as a sword." As Nightin got ready, he could feel his cultivation base slipping away from his body but it doesn't matter in a sword fight.
"Now then challenger, show me what you can do." The monkey taunted as it made the first move, appearing beside Nightin in just one step as it smashed its rod downwards.
Raising his sword up, Nightin parried the attack and slashed towards the monkey again, sending him flying backwards as he dodged to the side while rotating behind the monkey.
"You're too slow." Nightin said as his sword stabbed through the monkey's heart from behind.
It was at this time that the eyes of the second monkey lit up. Its eyes were red and it was silent.
Like an assassin, its rod was already approaching Nightin's chest right after the first monkey settled down.
Aurora! Nightin called for the aurora sword within his heart as the sword of frost blocked the rod. After stopping the rod, it then coiled around the rod like a serpent and proceeded onto the arm of the monkey.
Despite this, the second monkey proved itself to not only be much stronger, but to be much more intellectual as well by abandoning the rod swiftly before catching it back to slam onto the ground, defrosting the ice on its rod.
Aurora sword, come back.
After recalling the aurora sword, Nightin then proceeded to surround himself with blades made of feathers before attacking again, making use of the feathers for the first wave of attacks.
Seeing this, the second monkey sneered and spun its rod with both hands, blocking all of the feathers before swinging its rod to go for the offensive strike.
"Goodbye." Nightin said as he slashed towards the rod, making use of the momentum of a spin to break the rod into half cleanly. After that, the slash then stopped before the second monkey which turned to stone and returned to its position by the mysterious force.
The third monkey then came into life as well, its eyeball was black and was human-like.
"Now then, show me just how good you are to have defeated Clyde and even force Zilas into a draw before he made his breakthrough.
"You asked for it, human."
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