Way of the Devil

There were five rooms facing the main gate, each with a character carved on it.

“Heaven, Earth, Man, Ghost, God.” [ED/N: The last one has many, many meanings, so it may also be divine, soul, or spirit]

The five doors were blue, yellow, white, black, and gold, respectively.

The yellow-robed man walked over with the completed forms. He glanced at them casually.

“Didn’t finish the task? When you walk into the white door, remember to use your True Qi. After you use up all your True Qi, back out on your own. Trying your best to last won’t give you a higher score, so there’s no use.”

“Understood.” They all nodded.

Lu Sheng was the only one silent. He was a little confused.

“If you understand, then go in.” The yellow-robed man pointed to the white door in the center, clearly impatient.

The four slowly walked toward the door with the character for “man” on it.

Lu Sheng was still waiting for instructions, but after a long while, the person still didn’t speak a word. He just stood there with his arms crossed lazily.

“Brother Lu?” Halfway there, Chen Jintian realized Lu Sheng wasn’t following them. He turned around, confused. “What’s wrong?”

Confused, Lu Sheng turned around, and asked, “What about those who finished their task? Which door do they go in?”

The yellow-robed man was startled. There were people who retrieved the requested item and completed their task?

He was very surprised. Usually, the prodigies who finished their tasks had their branch elders take them directly to other people. He only accepted regular branch disciples, especially those who didn’t finish their Other World tasks but were unwilling to return to their homes. They were perfect for making money off of.

If he was really a prodigy disciple who finished his task, why was he here? Where was his group elder?

The man stared at Lu Sheng, then at this form. It took him a few minutes to come to his senses.

“You… you take your item and go into the Earth door. If you have a high enough potential, you’ll walk out the corresponding door.”

“I understand.” Lu Sheng immediately understood what he meant.

After completing a task, they would receive an Earth rating. However, if they entered and didn’t have enough potential, they might end up walking out of the Man door. If they were super talented, they might walk out of the Heaven door.

As for the Ghost and God doors, Lu Sheng didn’t know what they were for.

He walked toward the Earth door. Chen Tianjin stood in front of the Man door, staring at him dazedly as if shocked that someone he randomly talked to was so talented.

“Wait a second. Take your money.” Suddenly, the yellow-robed man waved his hand gently and all the gold Lu Sheng had paid earlier came shooting back toward him. It stopped in the air in front of him.

“This is?” Lu Sheng looked at him confusedly, accepting the gold.

“Those who retrieved their items and completed their quests don’t have to pay dues.” The man smiled kindly.

Nodding, Lu Sheng took out the Maroon Dragon Spear, pushed open the door, and walked in.

Behind the Earth door was a flood of violet light. Inside the light, a hazy, sexy figure slowly approached.

“Bang.”

The door behind Lu Sheng shut on its own.

A few pairs of small hands reached out from the light and started feeling up Lu Sheng from his head and neck, down to his chest, waist, and abdomen.

Every time the hands touched him, they squeezed or rubbed, sending out wisps of warm aura that seeped into Lu Sheng’s body.

This aura was creepy. Once it got inside Lu Sheng’s body, his body immediately digested it.

But the little hands didn’t seem to care as they continued touching him.

Soon, a pair of small hands reached towards Lu Sheng’s lower body…

“Crack!”

Expressionless, Lu Sheng grabbed a pair of hands and broke them off, throwing them aside.

“Change a method.”

The light fell silent for a while. The pairs of hands retracted.

“Whoosh!”

A pink tongue suddenly flew out and shot toward Lu Sheng.

“Bang!!”

Lu Sheng grabbed the tongue and tugged on it hard. It broke into a few sections. The pieces fell to the ground and vanished.

“Can you be more normal?” He felt as if his brain was about to explode. What the heck was this? Testing people with things like these…

“No… no need…” A soft, timid girl’s voice sounded from the light. She seemed very scared.

“Please leave. Your testing is finished.” The girl’s voice sounded frightened.

She was an Enchanting Devil Girl kidnapped by them from the Devil World. She could drain people’s True Qi and arouse men to their extremes. But in front of Lu Sheng, her talents were completely useless. She even ended up hurting herself.

Shouldn’t normal people feel tingly all over and lose their strength when she touched them? Even Earth level people were affected. But Lu Sheng…

“Then I can leave?” Lu Sheng asked back.

“Yep…”

Lu Sheng pulled open the door and ran straight into the yellow-robed man’s shocked gaze.

“Can I leave?” Lu Sheng asked calmly.

“Yes… go to the Earth Spirit Quarter. The test results will be sent there directly.” The yellow-robed man came to his senses and nodded. His smile got even softer. “Then, someone will take you to get your badge and to the inner quarter. You can choose someone to be your master. Of course, if you already have a master from your branch and don’t want to change, that’s also okay.”

“I understand.”

“Brother Lu, next time you come here for a talent test, don’t come here again. This is a side door. The real testing area is across from here,” the yellow-robed man explained. “This is the registration place for all those who couldn’t complete their tasks. You should have gone to the Golden Divine Palace, where people who passed their tasks register.”

The man almost walked Lu Sheng out the door of the registration place.

He had just walked out the gate and turned onto a side street when a young girl with two swords at her waist blocked his path.

“Lu Sheng?” The woman’s voice was calm. She stared at him, her hand on her sword.

“That’s me. You are?” Lu Sheng was a little bit confused. He had just arrived, and didn’t know anyone yet.

“The Lu Sheng who killed Yuan Yingxiao?” The woman shook her robe, her expression turning serious.

“That’s me.” Lu Sheng nodded again. “What? You want to get revenge for him?” He looked the woman up and down. She wasn’t fat, skinny, tall, short, pretty, or ugly. She was extremely plain. If it weren’t for the two swords at her waist, he wouldn’t notice her at all.

“It has nothing to do with me. This is the Thousand Sun Sect. Someone told me to bring you a message, that’s all.” The girl looked at Lu Sheng with a hint of pity. She whispered, “Don’t leave Thousand Sun City. Be careful.”

“Oh?” Lu Sheng thought someone came to look for trouble, but instead she tried to warn him. The only person who would warn him would be Zhang Shilong.

The woman turned around and left after finishing her message. She disappeared quickly.

Lu Sheng stood still for a minute, thinking, then headed toward the north side of the little city. He asked for directions along the way to make sure.

The True Essence Tower was not here. One had to pass through this area and reach the entrance to the inner quarters first. Behind that, the True Essence Tower, Spirit Training Field, and Starry Nine Dragon Pavilion were all underground.

To enter the inner quarters, one first had to pass an examination. Lu Sheng first came to the Golden Divine Palace the yellow-robed man mentioned. After explaining his purpose, someone quickly brought him to a large quarter where he could temporarily live. Tomorrow, when the results came out, he would be able to enter the inner quarters.

There were only a few people together with Lu Sheng. Because of people being scattered, most came for testing sporadically. There were no set dates or times.

The next day, an eight-person group, including Lu Sheng, headed toward the entrance to the inner quarters.

They followed the procedure as they got their uniforms, swords, herbs, badges, and everything else. Lu Sheng organized everything at the entrance before entering the huge cave-like gate to the inner quarters under the lead of Zhang Songhui.

“From now on, you can only rely on yourself. Once you enter, no one will care what you do. You can go to the Master Hall to see how much it costs to become a disciple of the master you desire.

“You can also cultivate and study hard by yourself and pay senior apprentices to help you.” Zhang Songhui led a group of young people dressed in riches and luxuries through a dark tunnel, explaining the rules of the inner quarters.

“Remember, this place is different from the outside. In the inner quarters, you make all your decisions.”

Lu Sheng glanced around. Apart from him, who entered the inner quarters as a result of his talent and passing the exam, the rest of the four had obviously paid their way in.

The one to his left seemed like an ordinary scholar. He was dressed in a pale green shirt and had a white bandanna wrapped around his head, but also had a black jade charm hung around his waist; it glittered with tiny complicated symbols. It was definitely not an ordinary talisman. To carve so many characters onto such a small area must have cost a fee normal disciples couldn’t even imagine.

Lu Sheng could also sense a fairly strong ripple from the jade charm. It was at least at Earth level.

The girl to his left was wearing a tight red dress, whose hem was really short, and she was carrying a red paper fan. Special talisman bells carved with spells were hung all over her, from her hair down to her wrists and even her ankles.

All the bells gave off a uniform ripple. They were a complete set. Talisman sets like these were very powerful, and, naturally, very expensive.

The rest was the same. Only one glance was needed to tell that they didn’t come from ordinary families. Only Lu Sheng was truly plain and simple, which actually made him stand out.

“In the Thousand Sun Sect, money doesn’t mean everything, but having no money means nothing.” Zhang Songhui was a gentle scholar wearing round-rimmed glasses, but his voice had a tilt to it that made people uncomfortable.

“If you don’t have money, there’s nothing you can do. Even if you’re an entire realm higher than your peers, a strength-boosting talisman is more than enough to close the gap. Think you have experience in real life battles? No use. After a few flag matrices and some summoned slaves, ten percent of your True Qi can deal the same amount of damage as if it were a hundred percent.”