Way of the Devil

Swaying Gold Mountain.

The Vital Energy Sect’s sect master slowly placed the ancient scroll in his hands down. He looked ahead of him as if he was reminiscing. It also seemed as if he purely wanted to rest quietly.

Several Peak Masters of the Vital Energy Sect stood calmly behind him. They had come because of Yun Ye.

“I already know about Yun Ye,” the sect master replied softly. “You should all return to your own affairs. There will be a natural turning point for this matter. We need only sit back and observe the changes.”

“Sect Master, it’s precisely because the Heavenly Path is flawed that we’re here to guard the Mortal Path and make up for that defect.”

A blue-robed Taoist who looked even more wizened than the sect master stepped forward. In a low voice, he spoke, “Now that the Ancient Devil has shown himself again and the Buddhist Sect has suffered great losses, it’s the perfect opportunity for our Vital Energy Sect to realize our ambitions. Why don’t we request an order from the Higher Realms for a countermeasure to this situation?”

“We have to pay a great price for an order from the Higher Realms. It’s not something that can be done on a whim. I will carefully ponder the matter regarding the Ancient Devil. About Yun Ye, there’s no need to trouble yourselves. Even if he’s really possessed by the Ancient Devil, we have another pressing matter to attend to at the moment.” A faint sense of helplessness could be detected in the sect master’s expression.

He waved his arm and jade slips the color of white clouds instantly flew out of his fingertips. They dropped precisely into the hands of the individuals who stood behind him.

Divine Awareness filled the jade slips.

“This?!”

“Impossible! How did it come to this?”

“Hasn’t the southern border just calmed down? Or did Yun Ye…”

“There’s also True Lord Huang Ji of the great desert. Didn’t he die all those years ago? How’s he?”

After the Peak Masters read the contents of the jade slips, their expressions changed drastically. They finally understood why the sect master chose to ignore Yun Ye for now. They truly had another more important matter to handle.

They could not deal with the Ancient Devil for now, but things would not change much for the time being. After all, no matter how powerful the Ancient Devil became, he was still a lone individual. Also, Yun Ye had hidden himself deep within the mortal realm, and proved extremely difficult to hunt down. Before he recovered his cultivation base, he would definitely not expose himself rashly.

However, these other men were different. They were overlords with a powerful and large following. Hence, the priority was to calm the other locations down before they focused their forces at dealing with Yun Ye.

When the sect master saw that they had understood his meaning, he nodded slightly. “Huang Ji has reappeared in the North Desert, and caused a great disturbance. The Poison King has shown up on the southern border and wreaked havoc on the 87 mountains. The main thing is that our current forces are insufficient to stop the wicked being within Yun Ye’s body. We need to prepare another thing.”

One of them stepped forward, and asked, “Sect Master, if I may ask, what is that other thing?”

“A set of formations.” The Vital Energy Sect’s sect master smiled, and spoke in semantics. “Everything will definitely meet its decline when it’s at its peak. If we were to stand on our own feet in the world, we’ll inevitably need some special preparations. The object I’ve buried under White Palace Mountains all those years ago… I think it’s time that it’s brought back to the surface.”

When the several Peak Masters heard this, they were all stunned.

***

Overseas, the Sea Snake Clan’s Lishui Palace.

Inside the palace that seemed to be built out of crystal, Lu Sheng walked slowly alongside the three great Godly Lords to survey this extravagant building which was just recently conquered by his army.

The crystal palace spanned more than ten miles. It was built on the seabed, and was surrounded by exceptionally brilliant fire red corals.

Within the palace, there was a Water Stabilizer Pillar which suppressed the palace’s center of gravity.

Lu Sheng came to a stop before the Water Stabilizer Column. He raised his head and looked at this huge rock column which stood erect in the Lishui Palace’s central garden. He was filled with emotions.

“Come to think of it, this rock column resembles something that I’ve heard of in a legend. In that legend, there was such a divine needle that pacified the oceans as well.”

The Water Stabilizer Pillar’s circumference was more than ten meters, and it was completely grayish-black in color. Ancient-looking patterns of immortals and divine beasts were sparsely carved on it. It appeared no different from the other ordinary rock columns.

The three Godly Lords exchanged glances. They were unsure of how they should continue the conversation.

Landlord Dong Mi, who was initially mind-blowingly fat, was now left with a body weight of 50 kilograms. A light purplish bandage covered his entire body. Other than his eyes, not an inch of his skin was exposed.

“Sect Master, you sure are knowledgeable. I’ve never heard of any legend that described such a massive rock column as a needle.”

After their collective effort to siege Lu Sheng ended in failure and they were crippled, Lu Sheng had placed Restrictions on them using his main body’s skills.

Those Restrictions were extremely peculiar. The three of them had secretly tried many methods, but could not seem to break them.

These Restrictions’ structure was actually simple. A foreign spirit was planted inside their Nascent Souls’ vital part, and could be detonated at any time, effectively destroying the Nascent Soul.

Hence, the method to undo this Restriction was to remove the foreign spirit.

However, the three of them had tried several methods, but they were still powerless to do anything against the foreign spirit.

The foreign spirit even made them feel as if its property was more mysterious and powerful than a Nascent Soul True Lord’s transformed spirit.

All of the known methods applicable against spirits were ineffective against it.

The more terrifying thing was that the foreign spirit had no effect whatsoever on the progression of their cultivation bases.

After the three of them rested and recuperated, they attempted to break free of the Restriction again—to no avail. In the end, out of helplessness, they had no choice but to join Lu Sheng’s cause.

Lu Sheng finally learned about their identities.

The one with the greatest cultivation base was Landlord Dong Mi, Ta Huangong. He was in charge of the Dong Mi Country, which was a few thousand miles big.

The person with the snake tail and human upper body was Mount Qi’s chief, Dong Ling. She was in charge of the snakes on Mount Qi, and was a great saint of the Snake Demon Clan.

Finally, the invisible humanoid being was a demon born from an ancient patch of water in the depths of the Hanli Lake; he had always acted alone. He had another title from the central plains, where he was referred to as True Lord Shui De.

The three of them initially had no relationship whatsoever with each other. The reason that brought the three of them together was unknown. They were overlords where they came from. They banded together in an attempt to conquer the entire overseas region in secret and gather all its resources.

Even True Lord Nine Dragon of the overseas region was suppressed by them. He could only fume silently, but dared not voice out his discontent.

However, the three of them did not expect that a Taoist Master Mu Yun would appear out of the blue. This Mu Yun rose through the ranks in mere months, and his strength improved to an unimaginable stage. He had attained the Nascent Soul tier, and became the most powerful expert in the overseas cultivators’ realm.

Before this, they did not control the overseas region openly for fear of the Vital Energy Sect and the Devil Path, but when they saw Lu Sheng’s Four Seas Sect controlling a wide area of the seas and the Vital Energy Sect did nothing, the three of them were finally moved by their desires, and planned to move their operations from the background to the surface.

After all, even though resources were scant in the overseas region, it was a wide area. When the resources from various locations were gathered, the actual volume would not be little. Also, they had set their plot in motion in the dark to control the deep sea clans. If they were able to control the deep sea clans, they would be able to mine the minerals from the deep sea’s abyss. The statement about the overseas region being scant in resources was but a joke in light of this.

It was precisely because they could not mine resources from the deep seas and the amount of land in the overseas region was limited that the cultivators had been constantly consuming Spirit Qi gathered from the islands. That was why there was the impression of the overseas region being a place with few resources.

The plans the three of them made were actually perfect. With every step planned ahead, they were gradually gaining control of the deep sea demon clans. They made them do their work for them and mine resources from the deep sea.

However, they did not expect that an unbelievably formidable Lu Sheng would make his appearance here.

Landlord Dong Mi reined in his thoughts, and returned his reverent gaze toward Lu Sheng. “However, this Water Stabilizer Pillar does have its similarities with the divine needle that pacified the ocean which you’re talking about, Sect Master. They’re both meant to appease the waters and prevent any storms from hitting the area.”

Lu Sheng smiled. He stepped forward and touched the Water Stabilizing Column softly.

“The three of you have been in the overseas region for a long time already. I wonder if there are any legendary Dragon Clans in this area?”

“Dragon Clan?” When the three of them heard this, they moaned slightly.

“I’ve heard something about that. Some ancient texts actually do contain records of such a demon clan. Legend has it that the Dragon Clansmen were the most powerful individuals among the demon clans. They were born with the bloodline of great demons, and had at least Core Formation cultivation bases from birth,” Mount Qi’s chief, the snake-tailed beautiful woman, said with her sweet voice.

“It’s amazing that they were born with such might,” Lu Sheng exclaimed, impressed. “Alas, we can’t find any living members of the Dragon Clan anymore.”

“Sect Master, if it’s the Dragon Clan you wish to see, I do know something of the sort. There’s a sect in the central plains that goes by the name of High Dragon Sect. It’s said that a vile dragon is suppressed underneath their sect. It should be an actual living Dragon Clansman,” suggested the Mount Qi’s chief with a smile.

“High Dragon Sect… Mm-hm. I’ll have a look later.” Lu Sheng nodded.

At this time, the crystal palace was already cleared of the rebels and traitors. The stubborn clansmen of the Sea Snake Clan were either captured or killed. None of them were spared.

“Sea Shark Kong Fei, requesting an audience with the sect master.” Currently, a voice came from the garden connected to the great hall.

“Enter.” Lu Sheng turned around casually and looked in the direction of the door.

The hall’s doors swung open slowly. A muscular man with a shark’s head walked in.

The muscular man wielded a double halberd in his hand, and was clad in a full set of heavy dark gray metal armor. Wisps of black Core Qi seemed to linger around him faintly.

“Kong Fei pays his respects to the sect master.” The huge man saluted Lu Sheng respectfully. “We’ve successfully captured the king snakes of the Sea Snake Clan in the Lishui Palace. We’ve brought them all here. They’re outside the palace doors right now. I humbly request further instructions from the sect master.”

Lu Sheng nodded. “Bring them in.” The Sea Shark Clan was the most loyal sea clan; there was no other clan more loyal than them. If it was said that the other sea clans were forced to join Lu Sheng’s cause, the Sea Shark Clan was the only sea clan that followed Lu Sheng whole-heartedly of their own accord.

This was because when they met Lu Sheng, they were being hunted down by the joint forces of a few great sea clans. The number of their clansmen had even fallen under the three-digit mark before.

There were countless sea clans that had blood feuds with them. In addition to that, they were cruel and liked to kill to begin with. They also admired the strong.

Hence, when they witnessed Lu Sheng—the True Lord Fu Hai—and his terrifying might, they joined the Wood Martial Abode whole-heartedly. In other words, they joined the Four Seas Sect.

Lu Sheng had corrected and completed the Sea Shark Clan’s hereditary cultivation method, and they could now cultivate to the Nascent Soul tier. This made the Sea Shark Clansmen utterly impressed.

Kong Fei was initially not the Sea Shark Clan’s chief. However, after the cultivation method was completed, he was the first one to achieve the Complete Core Formation tier, and became Lu Sheng’s strongest subordinate. That was how he was promoted to become the chief by the Sea Shark Clansmen.

He himself was a fanatical admirer of Lu Sheng.

Currently, he had ordered the demon generals and soldiers under him to bring in the captured king snakes, and had them kneel before Lu Sheng. They even pressed their heads to the ground as if they were kowtowing.

There were eleven king snakes in total. The one at the forefront was a white-haired old man well advanced in age, and was covered in green scales. His golden armor was completely battered, and was still fuming slightly with black Qi. It seemed that his wounds were not light.

This old man had fixed his glare on Lu Sheng.

“Do whatever you like! I don’t care if you want to kill or flay me!” the old man growled.

“You’ve got guts. Aren’t you afraid that I’ll wipe out the entire Sea Snake Clan?” Lu Sheng posed a question, intrigued. “Currently, the Clam Shark Clan is the only one that’s still hiding in the shadows. The other sea clans are already with my Four Seas Sect. You might not be afraid of death, but the children behind you might not necessarily be as fearless as you are.”