Way of the Devil

After he carefully digested the Devil Qi inside his stomach, Lu Sheng shrunk swiftly. He opened his mouth wide and spat out Muyun’s body hidden within his belly which he had swallowed whole moments ago.

After he spat out Muyun’s body, his size reduced to the size of a chestnut and he plunged into Muyun’s heart. He immediately vanished from sight.

“Now that this karma is settled, it’s time I settle my own affairs.” He hoisted Liu’er and leapt into the air. He flew toward the overseas region.

A wispy mist covered them all the way. The benefits of devouring Yun Ye was slowly starting to show.

Yun Ye was also an unlucky fellow. The Devil Qi which he cultivated was considered powerful in this world. However, compared to Lu Sheng, it was a far cry from the purity of the Devil Qi in the Great Yin’s Devil World. In addition to that, his Eight-Headed Devil Art had devoured to many Devil World devils. He had also devoured many Ancient Demons. It had already evolved into a special system that specifically suppressed Devil Qi.

If Lu Sheng had went up against a Divine Intellect Devil Path cultivator, he might have had to slug it out with him for a while yet. However, against Yun Ye who was completely suppressed by him, one gulp was all it took.

Yun Ye’s Devil Qi was like a pail of poison water. Poison water could be used to extinguish other fires and could also be used to kill other living things by poisoning.

However, Lu Sheng’s main body was practically a pail of poison water that was many times more concentrated. It would be strange if he was able to defeat a pail of concentrated poison water with a pail of diluted poison water.

Yun Ye’s cultivation base was swiftly converted into vast amounts of Devil Qi. The Devil Qi was then converted into Yang Essence by his main body to replenish his own cultivation base.

It took him five days to reach the Four Seas Sect from the Vital Energy Sect’s Swaying Gold Mountain. Lu Sheng’s wounds were mostly healed and his Spirit had recovered. His combat strength was once again at its peak.

In truth, he did not use every method available to him in this matter. At the very least, he did not unleash his Mystic Water Divine Vein. After all, he did not go there to kill people, but to force the Vital Energy Sect to compensate him. The outcome was surprisingly satisfactory.

After they returned to the Four Seas Sect, Lu Sheng focused on his cultivation. He studied the various changes of his main body’s Death Blaze. In no time, barely after a fortnight, the Vital Energy Sect’s compensation was delivered by a huge envoy.

There were a thousand scrolls of skill formulas, with the weakest of them at the Foundation-Building tier. The most powerful ones included Nascent Soul skill formulas other than the Vital Energy Sect’s core skills.

These thousand skill formulas were not the defected items Lu Sheng gathered from the four seas. They were first class skill formulas which had actually been improved on by the Vital Energy Sect after its cultivators cultivated them.

The reason why Lu Sheng was evenly-matched with the Vital Energy Sect’s master was because his skill formulas were too weak.

Otherwise, with his supernatural power, if he had cultivated the same volume of first-class Nascent Qi, he would not have had to use his Sea-overturning Orb back then. He merely had to overwhelm his opponent with his supernatural power and crush him.

After the shipment of skill formulas came the gengshanite, riceiron, fine gold rocks and other precious cultivation resources. They would not have to worry about running low on resources when they refined Instruments or pills for the time being.

After Lu Shengzi got what he wanted from the Vital Energy Sect and took care of Muyun’s karma, he released the fattened Fated Child Du Guangchi back to his sect safely. He even returned the Earth Lake Sword to them.

For now, he was the mainstay of the Four Seas Sect. It’s might was boundless now. The cultivators of the overseas region dared not cross him. Even the immortal sects of the central plains, the sects of the Taoist, Buddhist and Devil Paths would not dare to provoke him as well.

His name as True Lord Fu Hai spread far and wide after his feat of flooding the Swaying Gold Mountain during his battle with the Vital Energy Sect.

The overseas sea clans were unified. Various demon clan rogue cultivators of great caliber were also recruited. The outstanding disciples were picked and were taken in by the three Godly Lords.

Liu’er and the others were initially repulsed by the fact that they were controlled by Lu Sheng. However, with the passage of time, they gotten used to it and dared not have any other thoughts. They were able to have an intimidating effect on other people while they were under Lu Sheng’s banner.

People lived for fame and profit. Cultivators, with their mundane cultivation aside, lived to enjoy the same things.

Now that the Four Seas Sect had spread its might far and wide, there was none in the overseas region who did not submit to it. The various resources were also mined after the deep sea clans were unified.

A large number of elite rogue cultivators and minor sects were merged. Outstanding Pill Makers and Instrument Makers were also picked out.

Lu Sheng focused on studying the Death Blaze’s nature as he organized the Four Seas Sect. He fortified its strengths and started nurturing Muyun’s heir, Luo Cheng.

Days like this gone by and a few years passed by in the blink of an eye.

*************

Overseas region. Tune Mountain.

Tune Mountain was the first mountain of immortals in the four seas. It was a peak on a small island that could magically move about. After Lu Sheng discovered it, he quickly claimed it and made it the location where he could seclude himself and cultivate.

The Four Seas Sect’s headquarters was located elsewhere.

The autumn winds rustled, and the mountain was encircled by faint bluish mist. From afar, spiritual beasts flew and danced deep in the mountain and huge trees reached for the skies. White jade palaces were vaguely visible and scattered on the mountaintop.

In the palace on the mountaintop. Rooftop platform.

Lu Sheng sat cross-legged on a huge rock. He silently observed Luo Cheng who was training with the sword below.

On Luo Cheng’s right stood Luo Ying. There was another bald, hunch-backed old man.

There were only four of them on the white jade platform.

Pcchht!

Luo Cheng struck out with his sword. Sword gleams flew and danced in the air. They jumped around him like a mass of silver light. His blade would occasionally reflect the sunlight from above which made it appear exceptionally glaring and magnificent.

After a short while, the sword practice was concluded.

Luo Ying and the old man quickly clapped their hands. Thinly scattered applause sounded on the platform. Luo Cheng blushed at the sound of it.

“Teacher, kindly comment on my sword skills.” He had officially followed Lu Sheng as his disciples and became the Four Seas Sect’s young master.

Lu Sheng did not treat him unfairly as well. The moment they became teacher and student, he infused Luo Cheng with supernatural power. He also gave him various magical pills as if they did not cost him anything.

Luo Cheng’s qualities were not great and Lu Sheng did not expect him to actually achieve some great feat. The only thing he wanted him to do was to give birth to more descendants and live longer.

Fortunately, Luo Cheng and Luo Ying had done a good job in this aspect. Luo Ying did not even seem to take a break. She had given birth to Luo Cheng’s children three times now in the span of a couple of years. One of them was even a twin of opposite sex.

They had four children in the blink of an eye.

Lu Sheng snapped back to the present. He glanced at Luo Cheng who was looking at him with an eager expression.

“Good job. The Clear Sky Nine Transformations Sword Skill is agile and flexible, yet you were able to use it in a way that’s overbearing with the weight of Mount Tai. If you’re able to join the Clear Sky Sect, I’m afraid the sect’s Patriarchs would’ve been infuriated to death by you.”

Luo Cheng initially thought that he was being praised. However, when he heard the latter part of the statement, his face fell.

Luo Ying, who stood at the side, could not suppress her laughter. Her belly was swollen again, it was clear that she was pregnant. In order to not let Luo Cheng hook up with other women, Luo Ying had almost put her own life on the line. Fortunately, the Four Seas Sect was rich in resources and there was no shortage of nourishing supplements. Hence, her body was able to keep up with her determination.

“Here’s a set of Air Curtain Vacuum skill formula. Take it and train with it properly.” Lu Sheng gave it some thought. Then, he waved his arm, and a beam of white light shot out. It fell precisely into Luo Cheng’s hand and turned into a palm-sized jade slip.

“Thank you, uncle!” Luo Cheng was overjoyed. After training with the sword for this long, he finally had the chance to cultivate Qi-related skill formulas.

After dismissing Luo Cheng, Lu Sheng looked at the bald, hunch-backed old man.

“Alright, you two should go now. I have something official to attend to,” he ordered.

Luo Cheng and Luo Ying hastily bowed and retreated.

After the two of them left, the bald, hunch-backed man walked up to Lu Sheng and stood before him.

“Sect master, the Vital Energy Sect is clashing with the Devil Path’s Earth King Hall. The Vital Energy Sect’s forces are led by the two great cultivators Liu Sicheng and Sima Zhun. However, there are two other great cultivators plotting things in the shadows. Our scouts have limited cultivation base and they weren’t able to obtain their identities. However, because the Vital Energy Sect had revealed this on purpose, we were able to glean this information.”

“Oh?” Lu Sheng started muttering to himself. “As expected, the Vital Energy Sect still has some strength left. However, this should be their limits. The Earth King Hall is not an easy opponent to defeat as well. If the pressure wasn’t so great, the Vital Energy Sect wouldn’t have lashed out with such a great force.”

“Sect master, your wise eyes are as bright as torches. The Earth King Hall’s elites have tried to investigate you secretly several times. Ever since you’ve went into secluded cultivation, the Vital Energy Sect was alright, but the Devil Path’s Earth King Hall would frequently come and probe us to see if you’ve actually left,” the bald, hunch-backed man said with a stern expression. “Shall we join the fray alongside the Vital Energy Sect’s elites as well?”

“There’s no need for that. We need only observe the changes silently,” replied Lu Sheng drily.

His greatest problem now was the issue of settling the immense force of the Four Seas Sect. If Muyun’s descendants wanted to live in peace in the years to come, they needed to have enough strength to protect themselves.

Once he left, the Four Seas Sect was sure to fall apart. Anyone could guess what would happen to Luo Cheng and his family when that time came.

“How many Godly Lords do we have in the sect right now?” Lu Sheng suddenly asked.

“Officially, we have three, but in truth, we have five. True Lord Bi Shui and True Lord Tao Ling are hermits. They live I seclusion on the islands and aren’t known by outsiders,” the old man replied with a low voice.

“True Lord Bi Shui…” Lu Sheng muttered to himself. This person was actually a Golden Core Seven Tribulations spiritual master whom he had sought out two years ago. He nurtured him into a Godly Lord.

The process of his breakthrough was mixed with much of Lu Sheng’s Devil Qi and Yang Essence. Hence, he was able to survive the Tribulations safely. Otherwise, he would not have survived the final Tribulation, let alone become a spiritual master.

Similarly, Lu Sheng had planted a deeper, hidden ace in him.

These individuals were the Four Seas Sect’s real foundation. They were also mainstay of the defensive forces which Lu Sheng prepared for the future.

He had spent the recent years repeatedly researching and deriving a set of Spirit-controlling skill formulas that was almost perfect. This set of skill formulas was a combination of almost every skill formulas and methods he could get his hands on. Eventually, he managed to derive a flawless controlling method.

He had already planted it into the five Godly Lords. All he had to do was to wait for the experiment to begin.

Currently, he had been observing them for a few days. There did not seem to be any hidden damages. Once he confirmed that there was no problem at all, he prepared to return to the Great Yin ahead of schedule.

“Is the Mystic Water Altar ready?” Lu Sheng suddenly asked again.

“It is. The final parts of the altar have been completed. Once its activated, it’ll be able to encompass the entire North Sea,” replied the old man.

“Alright. That will be all.” Lu Sheng was silent for a while. Then, he sighed and said, “Give me the key.”

When the old man heard this, he quickly fished out an ornate green key which seemed to have been made of jade. He presented it with both hands and placed it in Lu Sheng’s hand.

Lu Sheng received the key and observed the pattern on its surface.

It had taken one whole year and the combined efforts of a thousand peak Instrument Makers to produce this key. On this finger-long key was inscribed ten thousand Formation runes.

This was the real unique hidden trump which Lu Sheng created to endure that Luo Cheng would always receive the beneficence in the future.

“I’m going to cultivate in seclusion for a very long time. When I’m not around, I’ll leave the sect to you and the five Godly Lords to manage the Four Seas Sect together. This key contains the essence and blood of the five Godly Lords and also a part of the nine great sea clans’ souls. It’ll fall into Luo Cheng’s hands in the future. The Four Seas Sect will continuously provide him with resources in the future. However, Luo Cheng and his descendants shall not have any actual power, but they shall enjoy the riches.”

Lu Sheng paused slightly before continuing, “This key is closely related to the Luo Family’s bloodline. The five Godly Lords and the nine great sea clans shall not do the Luo Family any harm. This is a strict order, otherwise this key will mete out harsh punishments in my stead.”

“As you wish, sect master.” The old man hastily nodded.