Chapter 968. Demon Savior

Amon’s appearance stunned everyone.

Firstly, it was his demonic aura. Infernal cultivators could be considered extinct in the upper world. No infernal cultivator dared to go to the upper world, even when the portal didn’t block them. The ones who naturally rose from the upper world’s population were ruthlessly hunted and dispatched.

Secondly, it was the intensity of his infernal energy. The power exuded by Amon was very powerful. Most infernal cultivators couldn’t last long in the upper world. The inquisition made sure of that. Yet, Amon’s infernal power didn’t lose to Lei Xiang’s aura. It even trumped her somewhat.

Amon made full use of the situation while everyone was stunned. His Lightning Flying Knives floated next to him, coated in the shadows of his Elder God Suit. These knives turned into lightning bolts and slipped past Lei Xiang.

Lei Xiang reacted late because she was distracted. The knives were also too fast, and they didn’t target her. The Lightning Flying Knives punched into the four priests, whose cultivation levels were at the Emperor Stage.

These priests had enjoyed untold ease when dealing with others. They rarely met anyone who dared to oppose them, much less attack them. Thus, they never expected the newly-appeared demon to attack straight away without warning. They never thought of using their defensive arts. Without those arts, their bodies couldn’t withstand the knives’ power. These knives pierced through and came out of their backs.

Everyone was stunned by the turn of events, especially Lei Xiang. She snapped out of her trance.

"Demon, prepare to face...!"

Amon already lunged at her when she began brandishing her crucifix sword. The two orbs on his armor glowed. The fire energy released by his Soulfire Armor merged with his shadow suit, enlarging its visage. He was as if turning into a huge shadow-fire demon. His aura spread, pressuring everyone in the room. The shadow fire converged in his right hand, which was now shining brightly.

Amon’s aura was heavily directed at Lei Xiang, making it hard for her to breathe. She understood the situation was dire. She was no longer the hunter, but the hunted. She pumped her aether to the max and uttered a loud chant to conjure courage.

"The Divine bless me! I will not lose to a demon! I will–"

She felt like something struck her head. She lost her focus as incredible dizziness assailed her head.

In a bout between two experts, a momentary lapse could prove fatal. This was why Amon chose to learn mind blast instead of other mental powers. At the same instant that he unleashed the mind blast, he slashed the accumulated power in the Corrupted Justice. Lei Xiang was in the midst of a swing, but she slowed significantly after the mind blast struck her.

Amon’s slash used the combined power of the Corrupted Justice, the Elder God Suit, and the Soulfire Armor. The three elemental energies of light, darkness, and fire intertwined to create colorful flashes of white, black, and red along the slashing trajectory.

The lightning-quick slash zoomed past Lei Xiang’s slowed-down swing and struck her shoulder. Her natural defensive aura and thick battle armor couldn’t stop the slash. The low-tier divine dagger cut through the armor like a hot blade through butter. It continued unimpeded with a downward slice and came out of her thigh.

"What..."

Lei Xiang’s dizziness hadn’t even subsided when her body split in two. Her half-hazy thoughts stopped as she lost her life without understanding what had happened.

The two parts of her body dropped to the ground. Darkness and fire coated the split corpse, eroding and burning it simultaneously. Amon picked up Lei Xiang’s glowing necklace before the elements touched it. The corpse itself turned to ash before long, leaving no trace of the inquisitor.

The tentacles behind Amon reached out and grabbed the priests’ and deacons’ corpses. They were similarly burned and eroded.

Gui Chang and the others remained rooted at their places. They hadn’t moved or said anything since Amon showed up. Everything had happened too quickly and too unexpectedly. They didn’t know what to think.

Only when Amon spoke again did they realize what they had witnessed was not an illusion. Everything was real.

"Everyone, please don’t be alarmed. I meant you no harm. On the contrary, I am here to liberate you from the Holy Temple’s tyranny."

Everyone looked at one another, unsure of how to respond. Amon didn’t end his arcane art, so his claim of not being hostile wasn’t too convincing. Finally, Gui Chang took it upon himself to represent everyone. He cleared his throat and stepped forward. He uttered, "Sir..."

"You can call me Demon Savior," Amon said.

Gui Chang paused a beat before continuing, "Sir Demon Savior, we thank you for saving us from the Holy Temple. Is it true what you said? Are you going to liberate us from the Holy Temple?"

"My goal is to destroy the Holy Temple. Liberating you happens to be along the way. Considering our objectives align, I suppose you are willing to work together?"

Gui Chang glanced at the others briefly before saying, "I think I speak for everyone when I say that we welcome all the help we can get if we are to go up against the Holy Temple."

"Even from a demon?" Amon asked.

"We are willing to welcome the entire lower world if we must."

Amon chuckled. "Be careful what you wish for. That may just become reality."

Heavy footsteps sounded from the tunnel behind Amon. The rebels became tense again.

"Don’t worry. They are with me," Amon told everyone.

Several battle puppets exited the tunnel. They carried many dead Holy Temple members.

"These are the priests and deacons Lei Xiang had stationed at the secret exits of this hideout. She was not kidding when she said she had this place surrounded. Lucky for you, I have slain them before I came here. I left my battle puppets to collect the bodies because I was in a hurry."

Amon reached out and sent the battle puppets and the corpses into his black space ring.

"Without corpses, the Holy Temple will be undecided about what had happened here. Even so, you folks better be prepared for an intense investigation. You better ditch this place. Blow it up with explosives or something to erase any evidence."

"We thank you for your counsel," Gui Chang said. "Regarding our cooperation, how do you propose we work together?"

"For now, continue growing your movement," Amon answered. "Turn it into something that can threaten the Holy Temple. If you can learn who inside the Holy Temple is assisting this movement, let me know. We can get better results if I can cooperate with someone with influence within our enemy’s camp."

"How... How do you know?" Gui Chang asked.

"I heard your chat before the inquisitor showed up," Amon answered.

Gui Chang and the others were flabbergasted. Could this demon savior hear their conversations from outside?

What they didn’t know was that Amon had known this meeting place. He had sent Dao Su’s altered bugs ahead of him. These altered bugs entered this basement and hid. Some clung to the ceiling’s corners. Each of them carried Zee Whang’s surveillance devices, allowing Amon to see and hear what was happening here.

Amon didn’t explain the truth. Letting them believe he could do something extraordinary would make them have more confidence in him. He handed Gui Chang a stack of message talismans.

"We will communicate through this," Amon said. "I will need information on your comrades in the other cities. Write me their names and residences. I will look for them when I visit their cities. If I need your group to make a move, I will send you instructions. Until then, keep a low profile and continue recruiting supporters."

"Alright, I will send you their names," Gui Chang said. He didn’t worry Amon would betray their names to the Holy Temple. Amon was a demon, and he had just murdered a score of Holy Temple members. There was no possibility that Amon worked for the Holy Temple.

"By the way, whose factory is above us?" Amon asked.

"It is my friend’s," Gui Chang answered. "He is a Holy Temple loyalist, though. I know he hasn’t used this basement for a long time. That’s why I dug the secret tunnels to here. If somehow the Holy Temple sniffed that we have used this basement as a secret gathering place, we won’t get the heat."

"But your friend will. Some friends you are." Amon chuckled.

"Serve him right! When my daughter is punished, he didn’t do anything. He was her godfather! He even continues to suck up to those Holy Temple members afterward. Curse him!"

Amon shrugged. He didn’t care about people’s relationships. "In this case, you won’t mind if I take care of destroying this place to hide the evidence, will you?"

"What will you do?"

"I’ve said it before, haven’t I? Use explosives. It should blow up this place nicely and destroy the evidence. It will be too troublesome for the Holy Temple to dig through the rubble to investigate."

"If you can do that, we will leave it with you. We don’t have access to materials to make an explosive large enough to bury this place."

"Very well. Go away now, and leave this place to me," Amon said.