Way of the Devil

 The news of the Devil Army breaching the Gorge of Two Worlds didn’t reach the Great Yin Imperial Court until the next afternoon. A total of three Gorges of Two Worlds were breached, and 100,000 troops stationed there were lost in a single night. The three Holy Master generals were declared missing in action.

By the time the Devil Army was discovered, at least ten cities and their surrounding areas were overtaken by Devils, while nearly millions of people were sacrificed to form the Gate of Blood and Flesh.

Luckily, the three major sects immediately sent out Devil Termination Decrees to gather powerful cultivators and assassinate Devil Generals within the Devil Army, finally creating some breathing room for the imperial court.

The Great Yin Imperial Court hastily recalled the nearly 300,000 troops stationed in Outer Worlds or other entrances to the Devil World, along with 10 or so masters from the Mingxiang Court. Led by Crown Prince Gui, they went to the frontline to battle the Devil Calamity.

The war entered its tensest phase the moment it began. The Great Yin was already battling directly against the Devil Emperor Vera, and never expected another branch of the Devil Army to attack its back. Now, facing enemies on both ends, the situation was dire.

Every province was urgently ordered to increase the resources spent on exterminating devils as well as to send more reinforcements to the frontline.

Meanwhile, several tens of the Great Yin’s princes and princesses were sent to 13 states to hasten the formation of local militia.

***

Spirit Ring Tower, Moling Prefect, Jiuming Province.

The cloud of war churned and changed outside, but as the largest auction house within Moling, the Spirit Ring Tower was still bustling with liveliness, seemingly not at all affected by the invasion of the Devil Army.

The Great Yin was too powerful, so much so that all the nobles and powerful cultivators had absolute faith in the imperial court and three major sects.

With that many Weapon Masters guarding the frontlines, no matter how bad the situation became, no one believed that the Great Yin could lose.

The sound of hawing merchants and bidding customers rung out constantly. Inside the three-storied tower, Lu Sheng slowly walked along the corridor. Occasionally, he would hear the sound of bids being placed from within the closed door.

Inside of the uneven-sized halls, all sort of auctions were taking place.

He retracted his gaze and looked at the pretty woman leading the way. She had a thin waist and raised butt, and wore a long scarlet dress. The only thing different from a human was the fluffy rabbit tail behind her slim and round legs that swayed slightly as she walked.

Soon, the woman led Lu Sheng across several corridors, reached a medium-sized hall, and pushed the door open.

Around ten or so people were seated sparsely inside. A chubby auctioneer with a friendly smile was shouting out the current bids.

“One Ice Jade Talisman Knife, 100,000 Devil Gold! 100,000 Devil Gold! Any higher bids? 100,000 Devil Gold once! 100,000 Devil Gold twice!!”

The chubby auctioneer shouted with all his might, his hand constantly waving in front of a dark gold box.

“One three stars Divine Weapon assembled by Master Zhu Zixuan himself! Only 100,000 Devil Gold!!”

Lu Sheng frowned as he followed the rabbit-tailed woman to a seat in the corner.

“Why does a minor Divine Weapon have stars?” he questioned.

The rabbit tailed girl smiled sweetly. “Esteemed guest, you might not know, but in the auction business, we judge Minor Divine Weapons by their power retention after assembly from 1 to 9 stars.

“After all, these Divine Weapons or Devil Blades have all been shattered before. The more intact the pieces, the smaller the imperfection, which in turn means greater power.

The highest 9 star Divine Weapon can even approach a perfect Gold Leaf grade Divine Weapon.”

“Oh?” Lu Sheng was surprised. “Those must be very expensive, then?”

“Of course. But since we are at the start of a Devil Invasion, someone as powerful as the esteemed guest must also know war supplies like these will be limited soon, while importing them will get harder. Even if you yourself don’t need it, stocking up powerful weapons like these Minor Divine Weapons and waiting for the price to go up is also a very smart move,” the rabbit-tailed woman said sweetly.

Lu Sheng nodded casually, and looked at the long knife Divine Weapon the auctioneer was introducing.

After coming out of the Thousand Sun Sect, he immediately found the largest auction house within Moling, with the purpose of finding a Minor Divine Weapon that would fit him.

Real Divine Weapons were extremely expensive and hard to find, so he didn’t even consider those. But Minor Divine Weapons were obtainable, and he planned to buy one for concealment purposes.

On top of that, after hearing about the legend of Divine Weapon from Su Ningfei, he wanted to test whether Divine Weapons were actually created from concentrated Spirit Energy.

Besides, he had his Deep Blue Cheat Device which could make use of Mental Energy. Even if a Divine Weapon wasn’t made by concentrating Spirit Energy, there was a high chance that Mental Energy existed within it. He would benefit from it either way.

Mental Energy seemed like a substance made out of concentrated Mind or Spirit Energy and Essence Qi, or at least related to them. And every Divine Weapon had a long history.

Even if the Divine Weapons had been shattered to pieces then reassembled, everything it had experienced was still retained. Among all those pieces, at least one was bound to have Mental Energy.

After he sat down, Lu Sheng motioned the rabbit-tailed woman to leave. He, on the other hand, took out a board in front of him that recorded the items being auctioned.

The board recorded the items being auctioned one after another in detail. This hall was responsible for Divine Weapons and Devil Blades only, and accepted nothing else.

Lu Sheng looked through the ten or so items recorded on it and finally understood why the auction house went through the trouble of ranking the Minor Divine Weapons by stars.

It turned out that a lot of the Divine Weapons had other materials mixed in. Some had only a fifth of actual Divine Weapon shards, some had a bit more, like a third, while the so-called one star Minor Divine Weapon had only a ninth.

Lu Sheng’s mouth twitched, and he started to read the description on the board. He was in desperate need of a Divine Weapon to conceal his power.

Since his power and talent lay in an extremely powerful body and strength, he should look in that direction.

Soon, Lu Sheng found a very fitting Divine Weapon on the back.

“Wei River Sword: once shot out of the bottom of the Wei River at the far east of the Great Yin. Its light shined for hundreds of meters, and could draw the power of the water of the Wei River.

“Core power: Heavy pressure—if utilized with enough power, it can crush the opponent with the whole weight of the Wei River.

” Bloodline: Strength, body improvement.

“Type: Water, strength.

“Stars: 7 stars.

“Price: 190,000 Devil Gold starting bid.”

Lu Sheng looked through the other Divine Weapons and didn’t find many that focused on strength and body. Aside from the sword, there were only three others, two of which were female accessories, while the other was a massive metal tower shield. He learnt many techniques before, but was never interested in those that involved shields.

For him, defense was useless, and so he didn’t learn any defense-focused techniques. The best defense, aside from offense, was a strong enough body.

Why would he need to defend if his opponent couldn’t even scratch his skin?

After he had decided, Lu Sheng started to randomly look at other Divine Weapons.

“Nine Village Dimension Wheel: A special Divine Weapon acquired by a powerful master of the imperial court. Connects to a mysterious world named Nine Village. Any living being who enters will be turned into pus within three breaths of entering it.

“Core power: Absorption—can absorb all people weak enough into the Nine Village. Provided that the user has enough True Qi, a maximum of 1,000 can be absorbed.

“Bloodline: utilize the power of Nine Village.

“Type: Qi.

“Star: Nine Stars.

“Price: 90,000 Devil Gold starting bid.”

Lu Sheng was intrigued by it.

“Don’t get tricked, Brother.” A middle-aged man on the side sent his voice. “I bought a Nine Village Dimension Wheel before, and it was completely useless.”

“Oh? How so?” Lu Sheng glanced at the man who sent his voice: he was sitting to his right, separated by three seats.

The man wore a black shirt with a golden flower embroidered on it. His legs were covered in dark blue armor, making him look as if he had just come back from a battle and hadn’t had the time to change out his armor.

Lu Sheng’s eyes automatically moved to a delicate short knife on his waist. A lion with countless feather wings on its back was engraved on the gray scabbard.

“Apologies for my bluntness. I am Zhou Yongtan, and my family was moderately wealthy. Since I was not really content with my bloodline, I came here often to find a fitting Divine Weapon in hopes of strengthening my foundation. A while back, I encountered a similar Nine Village Dimension Wheel, but after I bought it…”

Lu Sheng was very curious and straightened himself. “Were there side effects?”

“Not side effects, but the True Qi consumption….” Zhou Yongtan shook his head wearily. “To absorb a single living being, say, someone at the five Veins level, it would require half of the total True Qi storage of someone at the same level. And you can only absorb opponents weaker than yourself at that.”

Lu Sheng was shocked too. Half of five Veins level’s total True Qi storage? That much True Qi wasted just to absorb a weaker opponent?

With that much True Qi, why use the Divine Weapon? Might as well just do it yourself, which might even save you some True Qi.

“A shame to throw away, yet useless if kept.” Lu Sheng shook his head as he thought of it.

“I totally agree.” Zhou Yongtan sighed in agreement. “The thing that pisses me off even more is that this damned place even had the audacity to sell a second and a third of this.”

“Third Old Zhou, you are basically advertising for them for free. Are you not tired from warning everyone that seemed interested in the Nine Village Dimension Wheel? Besides, the auction house did warn you—no one forced you to buy it.” A chubby woman sitting to the side laughed coldly.

Only ten or so people sat during the auction. Everyone who could afford to bid for Divine Weapons was from a well-off family, which Moling only had a few. After a couple auctions, everyone was familiar with each other.

“What? This little brother seemed new, and I just didn’t want him to be cheated.” Zhou Yontan smiled awkwardly.

“Old Zhou, your family’s business extended even to the outer worlds. Why care so much about a little loss like that? Even some elders of the three major sects depend on your Zhou Family, so why make things so difficult for such a small auction house?” The chubby woman laughed at him.

“Little auction house? Tsk, tsk.” Zhou Yontang licked his lips, and didn’t say more. A little auction house? A little auction house that could auction Divine Weapon? Not a funny joke.

The chubby woman also shut up.