Way of the Devil

The skies were gray. Cold wind howled.

A huge python and a lizard charged toward the village.

Lu Sheng had just stopped improving himself when he heard the rumble of thunder from the outside. He pushed the wooden windows open to have a look outside, and could not help but grin.

‘More of those coming to congratulate me on becoming a great feudal lord.’ He managed to push his body out of the wooden doors. However, his overly huge body still crushed the wooden door the instant he squeezed out through it.

“The meat is mine too! Hahahaha!” The huge python unhinged its jaws and lunged at the wooden hut at high speed.

Lu Sheng squeezed out from the door at this very moment.

“Bam.”

Lu Sheng extracted his arm from within the door’s slit with difficulty. He supported his own weight with his hand on the ground, and then struggled to pull the lower half of his body out.

However, his height was already more than six meters after his improvements. He was also more than three meters wide. The small wooden hut could not withstand the pressure. He had barely exerted a slight force, and yet…

“Kakka…”

The wooden hut gave a pained wail. Then, with a loud crash, it completely collapsed.

“My guests from afar, come and have a seat.” Lu Sheng patted the ground beside himself. He shook his two fierce-looking wolf heads to shake off the sawdust and dust.

“Sorry for this. I’ve just attained this strength. I haven’t had the time to improve my base yet,” Lu Sheng said with a kind smile.

The single-horned huge python and the red-eyed lizard slowed down despite themselves, and eventually stopped less than 10 meters before Lu Sheng.

The intense bone-chilling cold air made them feel cold. However, it was nothing compared to the cold wind that raged at the depths of their hearts.

The constantly spreading white radiance on the ground had completely proved that the werewolf before them was an honest-to-god great feudal lord. Also, the golden spiritual light that kept spreading outward also suggested that this werewolf had most probably attained the fairy-rank.

Fairy rank!

That would make him one of great domain overlords, whose numbers were rare even in the entire mountain range. If a feudal lord was the leader of a small tribe, a great feudal lord was an overlord that could rule over an area. At the fairy rank, one would be a peak expert whom even the holy dragons would not be able to completely limit. Even within the Holy Dragon Hall, a fairy rank expert would only be second to the dragon queen and the seven-colored dragon king.

He was an absolute expert that was powerful enough to determine the victory or defeat of an army.

The ordinary feudal lords’ bloodline art would mostly be useless against a fairy-rank monster. A single bloodline art of a fairy-rank expert was capable of changing the tides of a war and destroying the landscape.

The red-eyed lizard reacted to this situation with lightning speed. He quickly switched to a friendly expression, and politely replied, “Esteemed fairy expert, we have trespassed upon your lands. Please forgive us. I, Red Horn, and Single Horn, are great feudal lords from the Fenna Forest far away. When we sensed that a being had ranked up here, we quickly came to pay a visit. Please forgive us if we’ve offended you in any way!”

Currently, Lu Sheng had finally pulled his entire body out of the wooden hut. His immense body was more than six meters in height. There were two snow-white wolf heads above his shoulders, while his thick fur rolled in the wind. Every step he took would give off a heavy thump and make the surrounding ground shake.

The werewolves from the other wooden huts came out as well. They looked at the big, tall, and strong-looking Lu Sheng with frightful eyes.

White Ash came out of his house and the first thing he saw was a thick and powerful snow-white furry foot. He rubbed his eyes and took a second look. “You… are Black Bone?!”

However, when he actually walked out of the house and saw the entirety of Lu Sheng, he realized that his eyes were perfectly fine.

The familiar chest fur, fierce-looking snout, and the clump of long white hair between his eyes. Every sign pointed to the fact that this colossal being before him right now was Black Bone, who had just recently announced that he would go into secluded cultivation.

“Of course, White Ash. I wish for the snow wolf tribesmen to have as many offspring as possible. Five months from now, I want to see at least 100 wolf pups before me,” Lu Sheng said in his deep voice as he turned around.

Black Bone’s karma was to lead his tribe and rule over the mountains, and to have no other power bearing down on them from above. If his wish was for himself, it would be easier. However, if he had to bring the entire tribe along, Lu Sheng would have to put more effort into it.

He needed to strengthen his tribe as much as he could. A dozen tribesmen would never be enough to achieve that purpose. Their low numbers also meant that they would not be able to control a large area. After all, to settle karma, he had to make sure that there would be absolutely no chance for things to go wrong afterward.

“As a reward, I’ll help the couple who has the most offspring to awaken Frost Power.” With the control he currently had, he was completely able to thin the Frost Power and have it flow into the bodies of his fellow tribesmen without harming them.

With this, over the years, any creature—even a pig—would be able to gradually awaken Frost Power as long as they had this bloodline.

With this, White Ash was not the only one who was stunned. The other frost wolf tribesmen who came out also took some time to process what they had just heard. They gradually snapped out of their fear, and an irrepressible joy surged out of them.

“Aurrr…”

“Aurrr…”

“Aurrr…”

Wolf howls shot toward the skies. They rose and fell.

The grassland wolves and forest wolves stared at the frost wolf tribe with admiration. The rise of a peak expert was truly able to make an entire tribe flourish.

The huge single-horned python and red-eyed lizard could only laugh along, and blended in with the atmosphere.

According to the standard procedure, if they wanted to enter a fairy expert’s territory, they were supposed to send gifts beforehand and ask for permission from afar. If they were granted permission, they would be allowed to get as close as one kilometer, where they would have to wait for a guide to bring them to the expert. Nobody would have charged rashly and aggressively toward the expert as they did.

The newly ranked-up expert before them could brush it off. However, if they suddenly left at this moment and provoked this expert…

“Alright, I’d like to have a long talk with my two honored guests. The space is too small here. Let’s head out for a bit.” Lu Sheng laughed. He grabbed the huge python and the lizard with his arms. Then, he strode in the faraway direction.

Before this, he would have actually believed that they were here to congratulate him. However, after observing their obvious attempts at hiding their intentions, if he’d still been unable to sense that they had ulterior motives, he would have wasted his time in being a sect master for so many years.

“Come, there’s a river around here. Let’s go have a cup of tea.” Lu Sheng grabbed the creatures and pulled their huge bodies with brute force as he walked in the faraway direction.

After a dozen thumping footsteps, they were in the forest. He tightened his clamp around their throats.

“Alright, tell me the truth. What have you come here for?” At this moment, a layer of clean, white, and hard armor quickly covered Lu Sheng’s body. The armor covered his entire body; only small tufts of his fur were visible on his palms and face. The other parts of his body appeared extremely heavy and thick.

Some of the armor’s elbows were even had ornate carvings of wings. A thick ice spike which resembled a sword dragon was on his back as it stood tall.

The huge python and huge lizard struggled instinctively. However, when they felt the supernatural brute force around their necks and the terrifying Frost Power which surrounded them, they tacitly chose to surrender.

“We… were just coming over to see if there’s any chance to obtain some food…” The huge lizard was thinking of a suitable excuse when the huge python blurted out the truth.

“We felt some waves lingering around here, and thought that a treasure was discovered. So…” the huge python said honestly.

“So you came to see if there’s a chance that you can get your hands on it, right?” Lu Sheng instantly understood what these two were here for.

“Yeah…”

Seeing how they were being cooperative; Lu Sheng did not feel that it was right for him to be merciless. His tribe was in too sorry a state right now. It was the right moment to recycle these two and create some results.

“I can let you off, but the two of you must deliver all your treasures here. I mainly want those that have been around for a long time. Also, find some prey for my tribesmen.” Lu Sheng had no intention of going out to hunt every day.

“Of course! Of course!” The huge python and huge lizard quickly nodded.

It was no laughing matter. If they crossed a fairy expert, being eaten alive on the spot was the simplest punishment they could have hoped for. The expert before them was being magnanimous and merciful.

“Alright, off you go. Don’t even think about running away. Otherwise, don’t say that I didn’t warn you.” Lu Sheng snickered and loosened his claws.

Two bursts of high-density Frost Power silently crept to the side of their hearts. They could pierce them at any moment.

At his rank, controlling Frost Power outside his body was as simple as having a meal or drinking water.

The two bursts of Frost Power contained a hint of his spirit-rank mark. Unless it was by the hands of an expert of the same rank, the Frost Power would not be undone.

“Understood!” When the two monsters were released, they hastily dashed into the dense forest without picking any apparent route.

Lu Sheng did not stop them. The two bursts of high-density Frost Power would activate once every day. If they did not return, the Frost Power would pierce their hearts once they were activated on the second day. Then, the dense cold flow would spread across their bodies from their hearts and turn them into porcupines.

Lu Sheng stayed until the two monsters vanished into the forest before returning to the village.

White Ash and the other frost wolf tribesmen had to have been puzzled as to how he suddenly attained such a rank. Even with the atlases, nobody could have possibly ranked up to this extent without sufficient resources.

They surely had their own guesses, but Lu Sheng could not care less. All he cared about was settling the karma. History would naturally make up a reasonable explanation for him.

Usually, the public would choose to believe in logic and reason rather than legends. Even if a real legend was standing right in front of them, nobody would believe in it.

Lu Sheng returned to the village. His earthen hut was already destroyed. He needed a larger space for his secluded cultivation. Coincidentally, he was at this level. He glanced at Deep Blue’s interface.

‘Frost Power atlas, Cold Winter Wolf (fairy). (Special traits. Legendary constitution, level one. Level-one legendary art, Ice Control, Ice Armor, Cold Winter Roar, Extreme Cold Spirit Light.)’

‘Isn’t this the legendary creature I’ve heard about in the Western novels that were based on legends on Earth?’ Lu Sheng suddenly remembered this fact buried in his memories. He immediately understood something.

He looked at his Mental Energy. Up until now, he had spent more than 3,000 units, and had more than 90,000 units left. He could be considered a great consumer already. Fortunately, his remaining Mental Energy was still sufficient for him.

‘When I’ve ranked up to a feudal lord before this, the other feudal lords had come to congratulate me. Now that I’m at the fairy rank, experts of the same rank should be coming around as well.’ Lu Sheng made the assumption in his heart. He decided to wait and see how things would turn out.

He decided to summon White Ash, and asked about the situation of the tribes around them.

White Ash was already more than 70 years old, and was absolutely an elderly well advanced in age among the frost wolf tribe. He had a vast knowledge of many things.

Lu Sheng sat cross-legged on an empty land at the side of the village, and directed a question toward the old werewolf. “Are there any special and powerful tribes around here? Tribes that are much more powerful than the four-winged iron eagles.”