Way of the Devil

The short grass kept retreating beside his feet.

Luo Di leapt forward and over a boulder that was half a man’s height, and dropped into a small ditch behind it. Then, he rolled to his right.

“Bam!”

The boulder behind him exploded. A black monster that resembled a plant that had been magnified countless times was wriggling and brandishing its numerous thorny branches which were dripping with sticky black liquid, coming after Luo Di speedily.

The boulder was cracked open by one of its thorny whips.

The most peculiar thing was that three of this monster plants branches drooped like fishing rods, and three bloody and rosy human heads hung at their tips. Amid the thick fog, the three human heads were either smiling or looking confused. From afar, they seemed alive.

As Luo Di sprinted madly, he glanced backward at the three heads. The heads belonged to his comrades, whom he had been talking to just moments ago. Unfortunately, they were still killed by the Hunter.

“Bam!”

The ground shook far away. It was the sound of a cannon—Urus had made his move.

The skies darkened, and the fog had risen. It was the time when the town’s monsters were active.

“Boom!”

The sounds of firing cannons rose in succession. The ground kept shaking.

“Hihi…”

The monster plant paused. It ignored the sounds of cannons, and continued to give chase to Luo Di.

The cannon sounds stopped soon enough. Wails could be heard through the fog.

Luo Di sighed internally. He knew that Urus had failed completely. Just like with the other person many years ago, military firepower did nothing other than enraging the town.

He flipped over and plunged into the shrubs. He then tossed a small bottle and stuck close to the ground, remaining as quiet as he could.

The small bottle shattered after it fell onto the ground. Green smoke immediately rose around it.

The monster plant immediately hesitated, and its movements slowed. It swayed to the left and right. It seemed unable to locate Luo Di anymore.

Luo Di did not dare to even breathe loudly. He merely hid among the shrubs silently.

The plant’s black branches searched in all directions. There were a few occasions where its branches almost brushed against Luo Di, but he managed to wriggle out of the way just in time.

A dozen minutes later, the plant finally showed some signs of leaving. It slowly retreated into the fog with slow steps, and vanished in no time.

However, Luo Di remained still. At this moment, that thing was still close by. It would immediately return once there was a sound.

Time passed slowly. He stood up, and was just about to sigh in relief when he heard something.

“Luo Di!

“Where are you?

“Luo Di!

“Where are you at?”

A deafening shout erupted a dozen meters to his side.

Luo Di’s colors drained. He quickly turned around.

What he saw were three monster plants slowly showing their main bodies through the fog behind him. They were eyeing him like he was their prey.

“This is… bad…” Luo Di could not help but mutter.

“Ah, you’re here!” Luo Sang’s voice suddenly sounded beside him. Luo Di glanced in the direction of the voice, and saw Luo Sang walking out of the fog. He was looking at him with a surprised look.

“You?!” Luo Di did not recognize the current Luo Sang. Compared to when he’d left the manor, the Luo Sang before him held no semblance to his son other than his face.

“I’ve practiced the sword techniques you taught me and started taking the medicine. The effects are obvious.” Lu Sheng flexed his arms. “Then, I heard that you’re here, and so I came.”

“You…” Luo Di opened his mouth. When he saw his son’s pure smile, he suddenly felt a lump in his throat.

“You shouldn’t have come… It’s dangerous here…”

“Pcchht!”

In an instant, three strikes of sword that each resembled full moon gleamed. Three light sources appeared out of thin air amid the gray fog. Luo Sang had appeared behind him without his noticing it, and was sheathing his sword slowly.

The three plants fell to the ground with a crash, and quickly turned into puddles of black water. Luo Sang pulled on a branch in his hand.

He turned around with a shocked expression, and asked, “Dangerous? Are you in some kind of trouble, Father?”

Luo Di immediately choked on the lump in his throat. He looked at the sword in Lu Sheng’s hand, and then at the monster plants that had been reduced to black water.

“Just now… you were using… the sword style’s skill?” His expression was slightly peculiar.

“Yep.” Lu Sheng smiled. “That move is very useful. I saw that these branches were sturdy when I came here, so I cut some of them down. However, because these plants will retaliate, and I was worried about affecting the ecosystem here if I took too many, these are all I took.” As he spoke, he removed a bundle of branches from his back.

“These are the ones I’m talking about.”

Luo Di took a glance and nearly fainted.

There was as many as 20 branches here. In other words, Luo Sang had slain at least 20 monster plants.

The edge of his lips twitched. He was unsure what he should say. Although these monsters were immortal and could respawn, this was still his first time seeing a person that was able to cut them down.

“Father, you didn’t tell me that you were sightseeing here. I’ve been staying back home and practicing the sword all this time. I’ve kept at it until the medicine was almost finished. Then, I had no choice but to seek out the people you mentioned in your letter. I obtained some medicines from them, but I seemed to have encountered some bottlenecks again. When I heard from a man called Solomon that you were here, I came to meet you.”

Lu Sheng licked his own lips.

“Solomon said that you’re going to die? I don’t believe him. Father, tell me, who wants to have you killed? I’ll kill them for you.”

Luo Di was slightly unable to process all this.

“You’ve only trained with the sword style’s skills, and nothing else?” He looked at his son who was taller than himself by a head with a stunned expression. “You’ve only practiced the sword skills and took the medicines, and you’ve become like this?”

“Yeah. I’m almost at the limit. I’m getting the feeling that there won’t be any improvements even if I continued training.” Lu Sheng nodded.

Luo Di had a peculiar expression. He suddenly questioned if the sword skills which he had practiced all these years were fake.

“I saw quite a number of men firing cannons at the town just now. However, they were the ones losing men. Is the town your destination this time, Father?” asked Lu Sheng. He was currently playing the role of a Luo Sang who had no experience and no idea about his own strength. This was the best way for him to conceal the flaws in his explanations.

“Yes…” Luo Di nodded. He walked over and inspected the area where the three plants fell.

Moments ago, it seemed that the three monsters were swiftly and easily cut down in the blink of an eye. However, when he had gotten closer this time, he noticed three deep and extremely clear sword marks on the ground.

Somewhere on the ground behind the three monster plants, there were three sword marks as deep as a palm’s length. They seemed to have been dug out by hoes.

Luo Di stood there and inspected the marks for a long time. The conclusion that he eventually reached was that Lu Sheng had been using the moves which he had taught him.

‘Could it be… that my son is actually a genius?’ The thought surfaced in his head.

This was also the outcome which Lu Sheng was aiming for. Nobody, it could be said that nobody could possibly turn a timid and green person into a mature man in a few months. His body’s strength could be explained as him being gifted with natural endowments. However, there was no way to explain his temperament.

Hence, he thought of this way to make up for it. There could be a change in him, but the others might need some time to process it.

Though he felt helpless, Luo Di was actually feeling fortunate in his heart. If his son had come a moment later, he reckoned that he would have been in a dire situation, to say the least.

“Now… I have to attend to some business in the town. You should go…” He wanted to tell his son to go somewhere else, but when he thought about it, since Luo Sang had been here, he would definitely be able to come here again. If he accompanied him this time, he might just be able to survive. After knowing the terrors of this place, he would not dare to return again.

Otherwise, if he noticed his disappearance and came here to look for him on his own… The dangers of that would have been greater.

After he organized his thoughts, Luo Di decided to bring Luo Sang with him. In this day before he entered the death scene, he wanted his son to witness the true terror of this place and get away after knowing the difficulties.

‘I only have one day. I hope…’ Luo Di sighed inwardly.

“Let’s go. Let’s head over.” Luo Di pointed in the direction of the town. Since he was here, he would let his son see everything.

“Alright.” There was a glint of interest in Lu Sheng’s eyes.

The two of them increased their pace as they walked toward the town in a file amidst the fog.

The fog was quiet. The sounds of cannons firing had resounded in the air before this, but now, everything was completely quiet.

The amount of light diminished. It was almost dark.

After walking for a dozen minutes, the fog gradually subsided. A small grayish-white building appeared before them.

The unique white spotted walls of the building clearly showed that it was a building that belonged to the town. They had already gotten close to the town from the side.

“Luo Di!” Some people with blood all over them called out to them from nearby.

“Esseinro!” Luo Di was startled when he saw them. He quickly ran over.

Lu Sheng followed closely behind him, ready to protect him at a moment’s notice.

The two of them got close to each other. It was only now that he saw the people who called out to them were three old men. One of them was the old scholar who had spoken up before this. One of his legs had been pierced by a nail, and it seemed to be festering already.

“This is…” As Luo Di gotten nearer, the three men clearly tensed up at the sight of Luo Sang behind him.

“He’s my son, Luo Sang,” Luo Di hastily explained. He was already considered a strong man. However, compared to his son, he was nothing.

When his son was compared to these three frail old men, he was truly like a monster.

“Your… son?” The three men exchanged glances. They still felt tense.

Through the fog, Luo Sang’s eyes were directed at them. They felt that he was no different from the monsters they encountered.

“No matter what, we should get out of here first. This is too close to the town,” the old scholar suggested softly.

“Alright.” Luo Di nodded in agreement. Then, he quickly carried the old scholar. He turned to Lu Sheng, and said, “Ah Sang, we…”

Suddenly, his body tensed. He turned to look at the first floor of the building.

In one of the windows, a long-haired black-eyed woman in a white dress was smiling at him from the darkness.

“All of you… will—”

“Boom!”

The woman, the window, and the room, alongside half of the top of the building, were instantly turned into a gaping hole. They vanished without a trace. It seemed to have been broken off by something.

The entire small building shook for a long while, and items crashed as they fell inside it. The building only calmed down after a long time.

“Smack, smack.”

Lu Sheng clapped his hands together to shake off the dust. A four meters wide portion of the wall was obviously missing from the enclosing wall.

“You thought that I can’t reach you just because you’re far away? Naïve.” He chuckled. He suddenly turned and saw the dazed expressions of Luo Di and the others.

“See that, Luo Di? You don’t have to do a thing. Such a being can’t even endure one hit from me,” Lu Sheng said casually.

The corners of Luo Di’s eyes twitched. He did not know how he should respond to this son of his who was seriously lacking in common sense department…