Way of the Devil

“Pccht!”

“Pccht!”

“Pccht!”

Black light columns shot into the skies. They were all a dozen meters thick, and gouged huge pits in the ground.

Lu Sheng’s black blade exploded into countless shards of Devil Qi in his hands. With that attack, even this black Devil Qi blade which he forged when he entered this realm could not withstand it.

The black light columns persisted for 15 minutes before subsiding gradually.

When the light columns vanished, the entire Weapon World shattered with loud crashes. The dimension morphed into countless fine shards, which exploded with a flurry before dissipating in the air.

With that, Lu Sheng unleashed black Devil Qi, and returned to his humanoid main body.

He calmed down. Wherever he looked, he saw scenes of carnage and destruction. Before this, he had been standing in a yellow, barren plain. It was now reduced to broken hills.

“So, that was his clone after all. It’s just a clone, yet it was capable of unleashing the Weapon World. The First Sacred King has moved unhindered in Great Yin for so many years, he’s quite the remarkable fellow.”

“Dad!”

From a nearby pit, Lu Ning flew toward Lu Sheng while tears and snot streaked his face.

Lu Sheng caught Lu Ning in his embrace.

“Are you hurt? Let me see!”

“No… I’m fine, but my master… He’s…” Lu Ning’s tears started to flow uncontrollably.

Lu Sheng narrowed his eyes. He had come here to rescue his son. The moment he accomplished that, he had already noticed the old man whose spirit had seven colors.

His aura was completely different from the spirit auras of Great Yin. It had a peculiar, gentle, and neutral undulation.

“Your master?” he asked. “Since when have you got a master?”

Lu Ning’s chest tightened. He lowered his head, feeling slightly scared. However, he quickly lifted his head again. His teacher was in grave danger. If he wasted precious time that could have been used to treat his teacher just because he was afraid of being punished by his father, he would never forgive himself.

He steeled his resolve and told Lu Sheng everything, about how he learned the mysterious cultivation method and how he accidentally activated Chang Qingzi’s spirit.

“Chang Qingzi?” Lu Sheng mumbled to himself. “Let’s not be rash. Let me check.”

He spread his spirit and scanned dozens of kilometers around himself. He quickly focused his attention on three spots.

The first spot was the location where the First Sacred King’s clone died, which was also where the Weapon World shattered. It was now a huge pit a hundred meters deep. There was nothing inside it. The crumbling of the Weapon World seemed to have brought everything else with it, leaving a huge pit behind.

Lu Sheng scanned the area a dozen times, but could not find any spoils. He felt that it was a pity.

Then, he found the blue-eyed man and the black-winged man who were pulled into his Heart Devil World.

The two of them lay on the ground with listless eyes. Their spirits had clearly been sucked out of them in the Heart Devil World, destroyed, and died. Only empty shells of their bodies were left.

Lu Sheng waved an arm and carried Lu Ning. He floated over to retrieve the two bodies. It was only now that he saw the cluster of colored lights left behind by the so-called Chang Qingzi.

From Lu Ning’s description, Lu Sheng had a good impression regarding this Chang Qingzi. Although these problems had arisen because of him, he was a responsible person. He had risked his life to protect Lu Ning, which showed that he had a good moral character.

Lu Sheng did a quick check on him. All he needed to do was to give him some incense medicine that aided in spirit recuperation. Chang Qingzi was not in a grave situation.

“Don’t worry, your master is fine. However, since I’ve found out, I’ll have to carefully test whether this so-called master of yours is actually fit to be your teacher,” Lu Sheng said with a light chuckle.

“I want him to be my master!” Lu Ning shouted.

“You won’t be making the decision.” Lu Sheng swung his arm and released some Devil Qi which enveloped the colorful cluster of light.

“Alright, let’s head back. I should be dealing with some other business back there.” Lu Sheng lifted his head and looked in the direction of the Nine Bright Province far away.

He felt that there was a need to inform Li Shunxi about him turning against the First Sacred King. The entity that fought with him should be the core spirit he left within the Light Nation with charred earth, just like his own body within his Heart Devil World.

If one wanted to break through the Weapon World, the surest way would be to find a loophole. The loophole would not be some dead object. Instead, it would usually be some extremely dangerous being left behind by the Weapon Grandmaster.

If one was not powerful enough, one would surely die.

After settling Lu Ning’s disappearance, Lu Sheng planned to bring them all back to the Devil Palace. The Nine Yin Devils finally noticed something was amiss. They detected huge armies that did not originate from the Nine Bright Province mounting an invasion.

After Lu Sheng learned of this news, he decided to let one of the Yin Devils under his charge, the Ox of Pain, personally see to the matter.

After the First Sacred King’s clone lost, the great army of the Three Sacred Gates quickly assumed formations and engaged the Yin Devils.

Lu Sheng’s Nine Yin Devils were all colossal. The most shocking among them was the Ox of Pain. The contour of its strong muscles alone was a telltale sign of just how powerful the Yin Devils were.

The Arts used by the Three Sacred Gates’ army landed true on the Ox of Pain’s body. However, it did not even show any reaction.

The huge trees’ army fought with the black ox for a while. Even after learning that the blue-eyed man and the others were killed, the tree army did not show any signs of retreat. Instead, they increased their numbers.

The huge army flooded into the Nine Bright Province from its borders. The army was already halfway through the border, and it was increasing in size.

After taking a rough measure of their numbers, Lu Sheng dispatched the Nine Yin Devils to guard the border and prevent the First Sacred Gate’s army from coming in.

He brought Lu Ning and Chang Qingzi back to the Prime Devil Sect.

The zone where he fought bravely with the First Sacred King’s clone was a relatively barren area of the Nine Bright Province. It was apparent that the First Sacred King had considered the possibility of harming the innocent people. Hence, he purposely picked a zone with a wide area.

Unfortunately, he still lost to Lu Sheng in the end.

…..

Three Sacred Gates. In a mysterious cave.

A milk-colored shape of a dragon moved its tail sideways as it swam slowly in the deep lake within the cave. The dragon shape was a hundred meters long and a dozen meters thick. Through the water, six horns could vaguely be seen on its head.

An emaciated old man with a blue-feathered cloak floated on the surface of the lake.

There were two vertical blood-red scars between the old man’s brows, extending from his nose ridge into his hair. It was as if his head had been cut open before, and these scars were the proof thereof.

“Prime Devil Sect… Lu Sheng.” After mumbling to himself and heaving a long sigh, he slowly opened his eyes.

“I didn’t expect there to be another addition to our ranks.”

“Your Majesty, I’m afraid that the sudden appearance of this Lu Sheng in the Nine Bright Province will be a hindrance to our grand scheme.”

Several middle-aged men and women in black armor stood on the banks of the lake. One of the men stroked his long beard and mumbled, “I’m just wondering if His Majesty is able to end things quickly with the Prime Devil Sect’s sect master.”

The First Sacred King sat upright on the surface of the lake. He shook his head slightly.

“The battle of Weapon Worlds contains immense risk. Anyone below the tier of a Weapon Grandmaster is like an insignificant worm. No matter how huge the numbers are, they’d be instantly sucked into the Weapon World and just add to the death toll. That’s the fundamental reason why I haven’t given an official order to attack the Nine Bright Province.”

“You are right, Your Majesty. If that Lu Sheng worked together with Aurora Polaris, the Nine Bright Province would’ve most probably turn into a flesh-grinding field. No army would be big enough to fill it,” a middle-aged woman agreed.

“So, what do you suggest we do?” the middle-aged man just now said with a frown.

“What should we do? The only thing we can do is to work together with the other Sacred Gates. Our First Sacred Gate isn’t powerful enough,” the woman said slowly as she shook her head.

“From what I know, the Prime Devil Sect has a very tight relationship with the Third Sacred Gate. Since our actions conflicted with Lu Sheng, I’m worried that the Third Sacred Gate would be unhappy…” the man reminded.

“At the end of the day, the Nine Bright Province’s strength has exceeded our expectations. Rather than being stubborn, why don’t we switch targets?” one of them suddenly spoke. When this opinion was given, everyone there immediately considered the proposal.

The First Sacred King’s expression remained unchanged. He sat upright on the lake’s surface without saying a word.

The others discussed among themselves for a while before looking at the Sacred King again.

“We’ve heard that you’ve sent a clone to the Nine Bright Province before this, Your Majesty. Perhaps your clone may be used to suppress the entire situation,” said one of them bluntly.

The First Sacred King’s expression remained unchanged. When he remembered his clone which had died tragically, his heart twitched.

“My clone has some other matter to attend to. It’s not easy for him to move right now.”

“Is that so? That’s a pity. If Your Majesty was able to send a clone to the field, the Nine Bright Province wouldn’t be in such a stalemate.” The proposer of the idea felt that it was a waste.

“That’s right. As another Weapon Grandmaster, with His Majesty’s power, a mere new Weapon Grandmaster will be easy to nab.” Another man nodded and agreed.

The upper echelons of the Sacred Gate immediately looked at the First Sacred King who was sitting upright.

For a long while, the Sacred King remained expressionless. However, what he felt internally was helplessness and awkwardness.

He had secretly sent out his clone to aid the blue-eyed man and the others. He had done so to deal with the greatest threat in the Nine Bright Province, the Prime Devil Sect. However, he had not expected to be defeated by Lu Sheng. His clone had been destroyed, and now the battle was in a stalemate.

He still could not understand how his clone was destroyed. Even if Lu Sheng ranked up to a Weapon Grandmaster, he should only be at the ordinary level.

Even though his clone only had a third of his main body’s strength, it should not have lost so easily.

After muttering to himself for a while, he slowly said, “Since the situation is unclear, we should spend a few days observing. It’d be too rash of a decision to switch targets. There’s no need for that now.”

“As you command, Your Majesty!”

The others lowered their heads and bowed respectfully toward him.

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

Nine Bright Province. Autumn Moon County.

In the garden behind the Devil Palace, Lu Sheng sat cross-legged on the cushion in the pavilion. A seven-colored silhouette of a man sat cross-legged opposite him. The figure had white hair and a haggard build. He was Lu Ning’s so-called teacher, Chang Qingzi.

“May I know where you’ve come from, Brother Chang Qingzi? Why have you come to the Nine Bright Province?” Lu Sheng posed the question directly. “I was never a person to beat around the bush. I like to be direct.”

Chang Qingzi smiled wryly. He had initially thought that he found a good student and could help him grow along the way, eventually restoring himself to his former glory. However, he had not expected his student’s father to be this much powerful compared to himself.

“You’re a straightforward person, Sect Master Lu.” Chang QIngzi shook his head slightly. “To tell you the truth, I’m from another planet. I’m not from this Yellow Springs Planet. However, I was pulled to this place against my will due to an accident.”

“Against your will?”

“That’s right,” Chang Qingzi responded with a nod. “Sect Master Lu, have you heard of the Black Measure Web?”

“Black Measure Web?” Lu Sheng was perplexed. “What’s that? I’ve never heard of it.”

Chang Qingzi stroked his long beard. “The Black Measure Web is a protective barrier put in place by the master of the Yellow Springs Planet, the Mother of Pain. It has the special ability to filter out harmful substances and attract foreign materials. To tell you the truth, my cultivation method is special, and the Black Measure Web has accidentally recognized it as something beneficial. Hence, I was suddenly pulled into this land.”

“Mother of Pain, huh?” Lu Sheng’s heart went cold for a second. Although this Chang Qingzi was not overly powerful, he had seen far more things than anyone in Great Yin. It was clear that he originated from an alien civilization that was more open.