Way of the Devil

“Your Majesty, I’ve heard the poison dragon emissary mention that the Poison Dragon Pool and the four-winged iron eagles are all under the supervision of an immense force known as the Holy Dragon Temple. This organization is very powerful. The known forces in the area are practically all under their jurisdiction.” White Ash gave a serious and detailed reply.

“Holy Dragon Temple?” Lu Sheng committed the name to his memory.

“Your Majesty, if the Holy Dragon Temple was truly established by the holy dragons, we must take extra care. This old wolf has heard that the holy dragons are the kings of the dragon tribe. They’re born with immunity to most arts, and their physical strength is unparalleled. They’re born to be legendary creatures, and are fairy-ranked experts since birth. If it’s really the Holy Dragon Temple… I’d suggest we make preparations to leave this place as soon as possible.” Even White Ash did not know what rank Lu Sheng was at now. However, he was of the opinion that they would not be able to best the holy dragons in any case. Hence, he started to persuade Lu Sheng to lead everyone away from here.

“They’re that strong?” Lu Sheng was intrigued.

“Yes. Even the gemstone dragon which has the moniker ‘war weapon’ is not a match for them,” White Ash said with a nod. “Now that there’s not that many of us, it’ll be much easier for us to move. If we wait until our numbers increase, things will get more complicated.”

“You have a point, but I’d like to give it some thought for now.” Lu Sheng nodded to show his understanding.

He waved his hand to dismiss White Ash. Lu Sheng stood up and walked into the nearby dense forest. He sat there cross-legged.

‘Deep Blue.’

He had a thought, and Deep Blue’s interface immediately surfaced before him.

‘Seems like I can still rank up.’ Lu Sheng checked the button behind the frame. The derivation button was still there.

This current atlas had lasted for quite a long time. He counted six atlases in total, and he was only at the third one for now, which was the rank of a frost wolf feudal lord. He kept ranking up in this condition, and eventually reached his current fairy rank, which was also the legendary rank.

‘Since I’m waiting for them, I should go up a few more ranks.’ To save time, Lu Sheng focused his spirits and pushed the derivation button again.

The frame suddenly blurred.

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

On the mountaintop. Within the Holy Dragon Temple.

The three-eyed holy dragon slowly woke up from her slumber. She was suddenly shocked awake by a blast of rampant and ice-cold air. The cold air was only the size of a pea before this. However, with the passage of time, it kept swelling up at an increasing pace, and it blew with ever greater velocities.

Now, it had already become a huge lump of substantial aura, which she could no longer ignore.

However, she dared not leave her place. She had to constantly guard the Eternal Frozen Spring under her charge. Otherwise, the outcome would be unimaginable if it erupted.

“Jasmine.”

A deep blue vortex surfaced in the darkness, and a slightly smaller blue holy dragon emerged.

“Your Honorable Majesty, Jasmine shall obey your commands.” This holy dragon had a slender build. Her claws were much sharper than her fellow tribesmen’; she was the fastest member with the sharpest claws among her tribe.

The three-eyed holy dragon glanced at her.

“Go to the Poison Dragon Pool. Find the source of this abnormal cold air. Subdue it. If it resists, kill it where it stands.”

“Understood.”

***

‘Cold frost atlas. Cold Winter Wolf +9 (fairy). (Special traits. Legendary constitution, level nine. Level-nine legendary art, Ice Control, Ice Armor, Cold Winter Roar, Extreme Cold Spirit Light.)’

‘Why am I not ranking up?’ Lu Sheng looked at his Mental Energy which had gone down by more than 10,000 units. This was a loss for him. If he could not replenish the amount in this world, his current trip would result in a huge loss for him.

However, when he thought about it in another way, he should be able to rank up to a Weapon Grandmaster when he returned after settling things here. If he could rank up to a Weapon Grandmaster, then he would not even mind spending every last bit of his Mental Energy he had now.

The light blue derivation button in Deep Blue’s frame was like a steel needle which stabbed into Lu Sheng’s heart.

His Mental Energy was being consumed more and more.

“Again!”

He steeled his resolve, and pushed the derivation button solemnly.

‘The number nine should be an extreme number. At this level, there should be some different changes, right?’

The numbers of his Mental Energy started falling down like a waterfall as it was being wildly depleted. Lu Sheng could feel a wonderful substance that was as light as gas slowly entering his body through the pores in his skin. It merged with his surging Mental Energy, and saturated every inch of his skin and every corner of his body.

“Hiss…”

A slight pang of pain suddenly came from his shoulder again.

“Pooh!”

Another wolf head popped out from his other shoulder.

‘With this, I officially declare myself a Cerberus…’ Lu Sheng smiled wryly in his heart. He’d never thought that he would ever grow into this legendary monster.

“Pooh!”

Another head interrupted his thoughts. This time, it popped out from his chest.

Lu Sheng stared at his own chest. He was slightly stunned.

“Pooh! Pooh! Pooh! Pooh! Pooh! Pooh!”

Wolf heads kept popping up all over his shoulders and back in rapid succession. They were clustered on his torso like mushrooms.

The frame regained clarity.

‘Cold frost atlas, Nine-headed Winter Night Wolf (great fairy). (Special traits. High legendary constitution. Level-one high legendary art, Low Temperature Control, Ice Snow Transformation, Winter Night Roar, Cold Spirit Light, Ice River Summoning.)’

Lu Sheng’s body had also enlarged without him knowing. As if he was inflated, his muscles and fur grew larger in a wild manner.

Seven meters…

Eight meters…

Nine meters…

10 meters!

He was now a 10 meters tall snow-white werewolf. His entire body seemed to be steaming as he kept unleashing cold white air. The ground and trees around him were swiftly covered by the creeping cold white air. In the blink of an eye, they were frozen into ice sculptures.

The cold air kept spreading. It covered the village, and everything that was within a hundred meters was covered in a layer of white frost.

Some of the white gas even swirled within some narrow cracks and corners. Miniature ice crystalline structures were formed.

Lu Sheng did a scan with his spirit, and instinctively understood thanks to his bloodline that those were cold frost ice spirits that were being nurtured.

Cold frost ice spirits were unique living beings that were nurtured under the Cold Spirit Light. They were like apparitions, having no physical bodies. They were capable of passing through living beings and bringing them extreme cold and pain.

They were terrifying beings that tormented other life forms the moment they were born. They were associative organisms of the Winter Night Wolf.

“Nine heads…” Lu Sheng opened his mouth and sighed. However, his nine heads sighed at the same time. It seemed that all their movements were synchronized. He appeared to have nine heads, but he had only one consciousness.

He raised a hand, and was just about to put his various abilities to the test after his improvement when a formidable aura which closed in on to his location with blinding speed from afar interrupted his thoughts.

“Rarrghh!”

An ice-cold and loud growl came from the faraway skies.

Lu Sheng raised his head to look. His nine heads looked at the source of the roar at the same time.

“Boom!”

In an instant, a violent cyclone suddenly bore down on him. Having been caught off guard, Lu Sheng’s body shook slightly as well. The trees around him slightly bent under the force of the wind, and eventually snapped. The shrubs were flattened against the ground.

“What’s this? Is this a show of strength?” Lu Sheng was immediately dissatisfied. Although this body was not as tough as his main body, it was now about half as strong as his main body.

He immediately had a thought. Among the arts contained within his natural bloodline, he started preparing his Winter Night Roar.

The wolf head in the middle opened its jaws and aimed at the skies. A ball of white light spun quickly within its jaws, quicker and quicker.

Eventually, a spot of collapsed black even vaguely appeared in the center of the white light.

“Aurr!”

He released a howl.

A beam of clean white light shot out of Lu Sheng’s mouth. The light column was two meters thick, and shot as straight as a laser beam in the direction from which the sound came.

….

….

Jasmine flapped her huge wings. Her graceful body that was more than 10 meters in length glided under the skies.

A dozen hurricane green dragons that were half her size followed behind her. These green dragons were skilled in controlling the atmosphere. With them around, it would be enough to give the little fellow who had just ranked up a gift.

The green dragon leader got closer, and asked softly, “Esteemed holy dragon, we’ve sent down the wind pressure. What should we do next?”

“The heavy wind pressure unleashed by 15 wind dragons at the same time is equivalent to a high legendary art already. Even I would not dare to take the attack head on. I have troubled you, fellow elders.” Jasmine was also very polite to these wind dragons. After all, these old dragons were elders in the wind dragon tribe. Every single one of them was an elite of the great feudal lord rank or higher. The leader of the wind dragons was even a fairy-rank legend.

Even though she was also at the fairy rank, and could take on 10 great feudal lord wind dragons at the same time, that was her limit.

“You’re being too polite, holy dragon. This is our duty as citizens.” The wind dragon leader hastily returned some polite words.

“Buzz…”

Suddenly, a soft buzzing sound came from the ground.

Jasmine was slightly stunned. The wind pressure art should not have produced such a sound. She hoped that the little fellow did not die from the previous attack.

She quickly lowered her head and took a look.

“Pcchht!”

In an instant, a beam of white light shot past her face, bringing with it some color of blood.

The white light shot past her and into the distant cloud layers.

The white skies suddenly darkened at high speed.

“This… could it be?!” Jasmine was slightly stunned. Her pupils contracted as she turned back to look toward the skies.

She instantly remembered the scene which she had seen in her memories. “This is bad. Retreat!” she shouted toward the group of wind dragons.

However, she was too late.

Countless clean white frost started spreading across the bodies of the dragons. Under the cover of the dark clouds, the wind dragons’ movements started slowing down. Every beat of their wings required 10 times the energy than normally.

Jasmine beat her wings with fright as she shouted, “Run! This is the legendary Winter Night Roar! Good heavens! Why is a Winter Night Wolf in this area?! Let’s go, let’s go! Run!”

If all of the elites of the wind dragon tribe fell here, she dared not imagine how furious Her Majesty would be.

The wind dragons quickly turned their bodies around and scattered in all directions. There was no need for Jasmine to remind them. They had already noticed a fatal threat that was slowly descending upon them.

Once they were caught in this ice layer, their life force would be completely sucked dry.

As a holy dragon, Jasmine did not fear such a grand scale art, but she was also staring at the ground with clenched teeth at this moment. She could vaguely make out a huge snow-white figure that was looking up at them.

“Dammit! You’re dead! I! Marianne Lialinna Undley… Oh! My mother…” Jasmine plunged downward. Halfway through her plunge, she saw the huge wolf. The instant she saw it, she felt a chill run down her body as if her nerves had been stabbed by needles. The sense of a fatal threat surged throughout her body.

That wolf had nine heads, and all of them were directed upward. Growing clean white balls of light were brewing in their jaws.

Minus the light beam just now, there were eight more…

“Rumble!”

White radiance filled her vision. Everything was covered in ice and snow.

…

Lu Sheng raised his heads consecutively. Balls of light with terrifying might were swiftly brewing in his jaws.

The first light beam was already fired.

Next was the second beam. The light column was shot from the second raised wolf’s head.

“Pcchht!”

Then it was the third beam…

The fourth beam…

The fifth beam…

Beams of light shot into the skies, which was now completely dark. With this, Lu Sheng understood why the bloodline’s name after the evolution of this atlas was Winter Night Wolf. It turned out that he was actually capable of creating a winter’s night.

Naturally, if Jasmine had been here, she would have corrected him. An actual Winter Night Wolf did not have nine heads, and at most would only have been able to darken the skies for a short while.

To achieve a level where one was not even able to see all five fingers such as this… Perhaps none of the Winter Night Wolves of the legends would have been capable of it.