Way of the Devil

 The middle-aged man in the middle glanced at all the Chen Family members present, but his eyes suddenly stopped at Lu Sheng. A strange expression appeared on his face.

“Lu… Chong?” He somehow knew Lu Sheng’s name.

Lu Sheng was surprised too.

“You know me?” He was standing in a corner to avoid attention, but now that Zhang Hong called him out by name, everyone shifted their attention to him.

The Chen Family Head was even more overjoyed. If they knew each other, maybe they could give the Chen Family a pass as a favor for Lu Sheng. He still felt a last shred of hope.

“As a member of the Four Guardian Families, you are one of the few heirs of the Lu Family. Not only do I know you, I also know your brother Lu Quan and your sister Lu Zhenling,” Zhang Hong said flatly. “What? Does your presence mean that the Lu Family wants a hand in this?”

Zhang Hong was baffled too. The Four Guardian Families had survived for millennia, and every one of them was an ancient and powerful family. Each also closely guarded its own mysterious traditions and powers.

He didn’t expect to encounter a direct heir of Lu Family, another one of the Four Guardian Families, during his bloodline retrieval mission.

Even though the Lu Family was never famed for their martial arts prowess, they were rumored to be very proficient at bonding with Protectors. That alone necessitated caution. After all, Protectors weren’t only for fighting evil spirits.

Not long ago, the news spread among his family that someone from the Lu Family left to travel the world. He didn’t expect to meet him so soon.

 ‘It’s that Zhang Family… ‘ Lu Sheng finally found a piece of Lu Chong’s childhood memory. The Zhang Family, the Ling Family, the Qiu Family, as well as his own Lu Family were the so-called Four Guardian Families. Lu Chong even visited those families before when he was little; he just didn’t know there was a collective name for them.

He didn’t expect to meet a member of the Zhang Family during his mission to find the Universal Ward Column in the hidden ground.

According to Lu Chong’s memories, the Four Guardian Families lived in relative peace, and never bothered each other. It was an equal but competitive relationship.

It seemed that the other three families also had their own strange and mysterious parts.

“Lu Chong, you must know how important all things bloodline-related are to the Zhang Family. Even if it’s you…” Zhang Hong said in a low voice.

Lu Sheng was truly not interested in that. He immediately found a new direction after realizing all three families Lu Chong visited when he was little had their own secret.

“The Lu Family is not interested in your crap, but I do want to ask you about one thing. Do you know if there is a hidden ground around here?” he directly asked.

As soon as those words left his mouth, the three men’s faces turned livid.

“How did you find out about the hidden ground!?” Zhang Hong’s expression was filled with caution, and he instantly unsheathed the hook sword made out of some kind of black metal.

“Hm? You actually do know about it?” Lu Sheng’s eyes brightened. He knew he asked the right person. Ju Yan told him about the hidden ground, and he only thought it was just simply hidden. But now, seeing the Zhang Family’s reaction, he realized it might not be as simple as that.

“Lu Chong, you must know that delving into other families’ biggest secrets is an absolute taboo!!” Zhang Hong said in a cold voice. “You’d better forget about it right now, or else… the Zhang Family will not allow you to leave this city alive!

“Even your father would not be able to protect you then!”

Lu Sheng blanked out for a second.

“Biggest secret?” He was increasingly sure that this hidden ground Ju Yan wanted him to find was the Zhang Family’s closely guarded secret.

“Do you know the location?” he asked again.

“I already told you, forget about it. Lu Chong, do you want to provoke a war between the Zhang Family and the Purple Smoke Villa?” Zhang Hong said sternly.

“War?” Lu Sheng laughed.

“What if I said I’m determined to go?” He raised his right hand, and turned his palm up. Slivers of the invisible Spiritual Power spread out, and surrounded his hand like mist.

The rest of the men present couldn’t see the Spiritual Power, but Zhang Hong and his two companions could sense the waves of it.

“Then don’t blame me…” Zhang Hong’s face turned serious, and he was about to raise his hand.

Instantly, a torrent of unbelievably powerful Spiritual Power diffused around Lu Sheng like wildfire.

“Boom!!!”

A shapeless storm centered around Lu Sheng exploded in all directions.

Zhang Hong was forced to retreat backward. The horrifying pressure emitted by the Spiritual Power almost stopped his heart. Even though they didn’t have any way to bind with Protectors, they still cultivated a sort of mutated Spiritual Qi. He, too, could feel the immensely powerful pressure Lu Sheng’s Spiritual Power exerted.

“Is… is that?!” The three men’s eyes opened so wide their eyeballs were about to pop out of their sockets. They felt as if an immense pressure was pushing from in front of them, suppressing the Hundred-Spirit Qi within their body.

“This level of Spiritual Power… you… what Protector did you bound with! How…” One of the men even sounded like he forgot how to speak.

“Puff!”

Another man behind Zhang Hong finally succumbed to the pressure and spewed out a mouthful of blood. The Hundred-Spirit Qi within his body was pulled in by the horrifying flow of Spiritual Power, and had gone completely haywire. He was severely wounded before he even made a move, and collapsed onto the ground.

“Enough of this. Bring me there.” Even Lu Sheng’s face started to look twisted under the immense Spiritual Pressure. The power that ordinary men couldn’t even feel made him look like a complete devil in the eyes of Zhang Hong and his companions.

It was so horrifying, and far surpassed the evil spirits they normally guarded. Only a few could match him even in their family.

“You… will regret this!” Zhang Hong’s expression was twisted as he felt the Hundred-Spirit Qi all over his body flail about like boiling water. The Hundred-Spirit Qi gave him power and a body that far surpassed mortals’, but also made him even more powerless when faced against this horrifying Spiritual Pressure.

“Let’s go.” Lu Sheng walked past him, and instantly retracted his Spiritual Pressure. Those were only an explosion that combined the dozens of Protectors he had. He didn’t even show the Spiritual Power he cultivated himself yet. It was at least ten times more powerful.

“You! You want to just walk in there? Are you not afraid of our Zhang Family’s Grand Elder?!” Zhang Hong said in an astonishing tone.

Lu Sheng paused, and half glanced at him.

“No one, aside from myself, could make me afraid.

“Of course, if you have people that could beat me, I would be overjoyed.”

Zhang Hong was so taken aback by this borderline arrogant statement that he took a few steps back. He was about to retaliate before promptly recalling the horrifying Spiritual Pressure he’d just felt. For a time, he was at a loss for words, and could only clench his fists tighter and tighter.

He took a deep breath and made up his mind before saying in a venomous voice, “If you are not afraid, okay, I will bring you there. The Zhang Family has two elders guarding the place, so if you truly want death, then follow me!”

“Lead the way,” Lu Sheng answered simply.

Zhang Hong didn’t even look at the Chen Family now. Compared to the leaked bloodline, the present matter concerning the hidden ground was clearly more dire.

He turned around and helped his companions up. The three of them stood up, and quickly left the Chen Family.

Lu Sheng followed closely behind.

Zhang Hong took a deep breath, and sensed the retrainted yet still terrifying Spiritual Power. It was as deep as the deepest abyss in the deepest ocean.

“The Spiritual Apostle of the Lu Family… this generation… might be the strongest Spiritual Apostle in history…!”

“That level of Spiritual Power…”

He had a feeling that this Lu Sheng might start an unimaginable and twisted storm among the Four Guardian Families.

Lu Sheng held Bie Feihe in one hand, his steps light. Every step he took covered dozens of meters as he followed close behind the three men.

Under the strange stares of onlookers, they flew past the city gate and into the wilderness, then turned toward the southeast.

Zhang Hong moved like he was riding the wind. By infusing his legs with the Hundred-Spirit Qi, he was able to maximally relax the muscles and nerves there while at the same time reinforcing his joints, increasing his speed in the process.

The two other men also did the same thing. This special strengthening technique was developed by the Zhang Family over the centuries, and could achieve maximum efficiency without harming the legs.

Lu Sheng, on the other hand, did not rely on Spiritual Power to strengthen his legs. Every step he took made a giant hole, and with the help of the counterforce, he was able to easily keep up with the three men with Bie Feihe in his hand.

“How far do we have to walk?” he asked.

“About half an hour. We will be there after crossing the Yin Mountain,” Zhang Hong said coldly.

“Too slow.” Lu Sheng shook his head slightly. He abruptly shot forward while an invisible hand grabbed Zhang Hong’s neck.

“You point the way, I’ll speed you up.”

“Whoosh!”

He abruptly increased the force, which increased his speed several fold. Bie Feihe and Zhang Hong all unconsciously started to scream.

“AghAghghAGGH!!”

“Whoosh.” Strong winds flowed into their mouths and silenced them. They only felt their whole body falling backward, like a kite being dragged in the sky and shaken by the torrent of wind in front.

The scenery all around had blurred out completely.

Zhang Hong tried his best to look forward and tell directions, but Lu Sheng moved so fast they were in a new area before he could notice the familiar path.

But as Lu Sheng moved forward, even his limited Divine Lord spirit could sense that they were approaching an immense source of Spiritual Power.

It was an immense furnace of mixed Spiritual Power. In Lu Sheng’s eyes, it was like a torch in the darkness, extremely noticeable.

***

Zhao Ling Mystical Land.

A petal-shaped white light filled the sky, and slowly landed inside the canyon. This was the Zhang Guardian Family’s secret grounds, and guarded the Zhang Family’s biggest secret.

In a red pavilion near a river, right in the middle of the canyon.

Zhang Mu smilingly stroked his white beard. He felt great satisfaction as he looked at his brother, who was deep in thought.

“How is it? I guarantee you can’t solve it. To design this Spiritual Formation, I spent much time learning from mortal Grandmaster level craftsman. By lowering my pride, I finally perfected this legendary Wen Guang Fa Hua Formation!”

The man sitting across him was also an elderly man, about 70 or 80 years old. However, even though the elderly man had a snowy white beard and hair of the same color, his brows were as black as ink.

He was one of the Grand Elders that guarded the Zhao Ling Mystical Land along with Zhang Mu—Zhang Chenshan.