Rise of The Demon General
Chapter 287. Bandit Force

Chapter 287: Chapter 287. Bandit Force

Yan Fan and Wei Linkun lingered inside the woods for a while. Yan Fan couldn’t sense Amon’s whereabouts, so they resorted to searching for his trails. They were not good trackers, or Amon hid his tracks well. Either way, they failed to find any clues.

After an hour of searching, they finally gave up and left the place.

Once they did, Amon revealed himself. He perched on the branch of a giant tree with thick foliage. Yan Fan and Wei Linkun didn’t realize their target was close. He could even hear their conversation.

Yan Fan failed to detect Amon’s presence due to his Concealed Ghost Body. Under passive conditions, those who could sense him would think his cultivation was one stage weaker. But if Amon actively focused on this art, he could erase his presence. Unless Yan Fan reached the Spirit Stage, he couldn’t detect Amon.

Additionally, Amon combined this art with his natural stealth ability. He slowed his breathing and became one with the surroundings. When Yan Fan’s detection art swept his place, it saw him as part of the tree.

Amon jumped down and landed on the ground. He looked at where the two had left. He had known the two were following him. That’s why he entered these woods. He also knew when Yan Fan’s people were tailing him. After hearing their conversation, Amon knew Yan Fan would not give up any time soon. The man was like a hound that locked onto his scent. Perhaps he needed to think of a way to deal with this constable.

He would deal with this matter later. Right now, he had other things he needed to complete. Zhuan San only gave him one day for the gate authorization, so he needed to make it count.

*

One week later, at the Northern Gate of Qishurg City, the usual kingdom soldiers were nowhere to be seen. Instead, the gate was manned by young people wearing Royal Academy uniforms. These students were members of the Vicious Faction.

Zhuan San gave Amon full authority over this gate, but that didn’t mean Amon could use the members of the Demon Gang. A lot of people would start throwing questions if members of the underworld organization control the city gate. Using Royal Academy students, however, was fine, considering the close tie between the kingdom and the Royal Academy.

The Royal Academy students watched the people who came in. They let some in but refused a portion from entering. When those people protested, the students instructed them to enter from the other gates.

From a tall tower not far from there, someone was spying on the process. Xa Jien came and asked this spy.

"What did you see? What did they bring in?" Xa Jien asked.

"Only people," the spy said.

"People? They didn’t bring in stuff?"

"If they did, they must be using space rings."

"How many people have they let in?" Xa Jien asked.

"Almost one hundred by now," the spy answered. He then added, "The day is still early."

"What kind of people do they let in?"

"Everyone who wears a red ribbon tied on their left arms. Those who do not are asked to enter from the other gates."

"One hundred... That’s too many people to follow," Xa Jien muttered.

"Yes. I asked our men to follow some of them, but they all went to different parts of the city. There didn’t seem to be a pattern. They mostly visited the taverns and spent time drinking there."

"I see... Keep watching. Let me know if anything is out of the ordinary," Xa Jien said.

The spy wanted to say, ’These whole matters are out of the ordinary, sir,’ but instead, he said, "Yes, sir."

*

Everything on the Northern Gate proceeded without trouble. Some occasional tensions happened when some people trying to enter the gate were redirected to other gates. They complained and demanded to see the superior. They all thought there must be a mistake in allowing these students to be in charge of the gate.

These tensions didn’t last long because the people with the red ribbons turned around after hearing the commotion. All of them came with intimidating manners to the ones complaining.

All these people with red ribbons had rough looks. Most of the ones who ventured outside were cultivators, but these people looked like they had been living in the wilderness for some time. The complainers might feel no fear when talking to young students, but being surrounded by this type of people, they lost their nerves. They immediately scurried away to enter from the other gates.

Once the sun set, a squad of kingdom soldiers returned to take over the gate. The lieutenant leading the squad was dissatisfied with this whole arrangement. Why did their superior let a bunch of students in charge of the city gate? What if they let unscrupulous people into the city?

The lieutenant was not wrong. In fact, most of the ones entering the Northern Gate were unscrupulous. These people went all around the city. They made loud noises and, on several occasions, almost got into a brawl, but one among the group always reined the others in. This prevented the situation from turning ugly.

These people spread around the city and enjoyed themselves in the taverns, brothels, and other establishments meant for entertainment. Xa Jien’s men who tried to follow these people didn’t find anything suspicious about them aside from their rough behavior.

After they were done having fun, these people went to the slum district. They slept on the streets or any available open fields. After waking up, they repeated the same activity the next day.

Xa Jien’s men finally gave up after following these people for two days. They decided to return and submit a report.

These rough people continued doing the same thing on the third day. But on the night of the third day, they didn’t retire to the slum district. Instead, they all gathered in the same place. This place was Demon Gang’s largest secret hideout.

Amon was there waiting for them. Xin Wuming, Yang Li, Wu Lang, and Qiang Dan were by his side.

The rough people that entered via the Northern Gate three days ago numbered around four hundred. These were people Amon recruited when he was out doing missions. He mostly took a mission related to rumors of demons and routing a bandit group.

When he was routing a bandit group, he sometimes encountered those whom he could sway to his side, like what happened with Qiang Dan. He used aer stones to entice them after showing his capabilities by slaying their leaders, using either stealth or poison.

It didn’t always work, though. If anything, he had a low chance of success. But he had been doing this for years, so if everyone he had recruited came together, the number was still significant.

He built an underground hideout not far away from Qishurg City. This was where he placed all the bandits he had gathered. As his wilderness force increased, he had an even easier job convincing the next bandit group he targeted. When his force showed up, the smaller bandit group was easily intimidated. Sometimes, he could even recruit the entire group without needing to kill anyone. In such cases, he simply demanded their personal belongings as proof to report that his mission was a success.

He instructed them not to cause trouble to travelers or nearby settlements. This way, the kingdom wouldn’t be aware that these bandits were not yet eliminated.

Amon used the wealth he amassed from his underworld organization to provide these recruit bandits with rations, cultivation pills, and Thousand Dream Powder. These bandits razed others because they didn’t have the means to support themselves. If one provided support, they would happily stay cooped up inside the hideout. Providing for these bandits without them doing anything in return taxed Amon’s finances, but he thought it was worth it for future needs.

Now was one of the occasions he needed them.

He asked Zhuan San for complete authority over the city gate to smuggle these bandits in. If they were properly checked, some might get identified as wanted bandits. Even if the kingdom soldiers didn’t identify them, they were most likely denied entrance to the city due to their appearances and didn’t have a credible reason to enter the city, nor did they have a guarantor to vouch for them. The city might still accept it if Amon vouched for two or three people, but not four hundred rough-looking people.

Amon spent the last week calling everyone to gather and march to Qishurg City. Now, these four hundred bandits were here. The Demon Gang might have lost many members due to the joint invasion of the Alley Advocates and Sewer Snakes, but these bandits made up for the lost members and increased their number even more.

Even with these bandits, their total number still lost to the combined forces of Alley Advocates and Sewer Snakes, but Amon chose to recruit these bandits for two reasons.

The first reason was the bandits’ average cultivation levels. They were generally higher than the cultivation levels of common underworld members. Most underworld members consisted of Strength Stage cultivators. These bandits were mostly comprised of Transformation Stage cultivators, even though a large majority were only at the Beginning Transformation Stage.