Way of the Devil

However, none of those measures had any effect. The barricade was forcibly broken through on the second day. The lieutenant general in charge of the barricade, Eigen Rida, was shot dead on the spot. At the same time, more than 2000 men lost their lives at the scene.

The federation quickly deployed its Mecha Division which marched mightily toward Platinum City.

However, they had not even got close when they were quickly destroyed by a special team sent out by the Seven Leaves.

These teams were led by Emperor Armor wielders. They were incomparably strong. The bulky armored vehicles and cannons could not hope to keep up with their speed.

After a series of battles of varying degrees, the federation had lost five Divisions. It was a force almost equivalent to an army. The number of casualties was more than 20,000.

After expending a huge portion of the nation’s resources, the Alan Federation finally accepted the truth. It dispatched a diplomat to negotiate with Lu Sheng. The result was the weirdest pact in history, the Three-Nine Pact.

Platinum City would be recognized as a sovereign state. Three peripheral cities and nine provincial cities would also be included in the pact. At the same time, Seven Leaves would reserve its right to offensive actions.

Under certain circumstances, Seven Leaves was allowed to fight for the federation three times.

In exchange, the federation would recognize Platinum City’s unique status and relinquish the economic sanctions it had imposed. Also, it would pay 10,000,000 tibs in war reparations.

Lu Sheng’s individual strength was too terrifying. While negotiations were underway, he had slipped into the federation’s supreme assembly numerous times. As ordinary people, the chancellor and the other MPs were powerless when facing his Psychological Guidance Healing Art.

Hence, under his intentional guidance, the weirdest settlement in history was brought to fruition.

The federation had lost a war with a mere city, and offered compensation of its own volition.

After taking care of Platinum City’s independence, Lu Sheng spent another fortnight to build the city into an unprecedented city of criminals. It was a haven for evil deeds.

However, the criminals who came here had to abide by certain laws which he had enacted. Those who went against the laws could even be executed on the spot if the offence was serious.

Seven Leaves had established an enforcement team with Bach personally at the helm. The violators would be bound and sent to his dining table.

For the first offence, the criminal would have a part of his body eaten by Bach and the cannibals under his command.

When this terrifying law was announced, it immediately caused a great disturbance. Although it was not humane, the effects were surprisingly good.

Platinum City’s crime rate dropped to an all-time-low.

After settling those issues, the Seven Leaves was already capable of functioning on its own. Then, Lu Sheng started to settle the matters regarding Esha.

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

Platinum City.

Lu Sheng stood beneath the Grieving King’s huge shadow. He looked up at this giant armor which he had gone through much pain to build.

Esha stood near him. She appeared slightly downcast and helpless.

“Shasha, do you know why I’ve called you here?” Lu Sheng retracted his gaze and looked at Esha.

“…Are you going to leave me?” Esha spoke with difficulty.

She knew that with Jorin’s current status, he would not be interested in an ordinary girl such as herself.

However, she was not content with this. She wanted to give it a few more tries.

“I’ll give you an amount of money that’ll be enough for you to splurge for the rest of your life,” Lu Sheng spoke calmly. “Find some place for yourself and leave quietly. I don’t want to see any news articles regarding you and me on tomorrow’s newspapers.”

Esha closed her eyes. Although she had thought of this possibility beforehand, she still found it slightly overwhelming when it actually happened.

As she opened her eyes to look at Lu Sheng who stood at the giant armor’s feet, she could no longer hold back her tears which poured out from her eyes.

“Shasha… Look into my eyes…” Lu Sheng suddenly spoke softly.

Esha could not help but be attracted to his voice. She did as she was told, and noticed with shock that his eyes were like two pieces of magnet. They held her eyes in place, and she could not tear her gaze away from his.

A chunk of fabricated memories was inserted into her real memories. Jorin’s existence was gradually watered down. In replacement, Esha did not work near the Platinum Academy for someone else; instead, she did so because she wanted to enroll into the academy herself, which was why she chose to live near the academy which she liked.

The memories of the time she spent with Jorin were quickly erased by the psychological guidance.

After a full 10 minutes, Lu Sheng slowly closed his own eyes.

“Thump.”

Esha slumped to the ground. However, she was immediately caught by a mechanical tendril which propped her up.

Her eyes were shut tight. Lu Sheng had already inserted a portion of fabricated memories into her mind with his Psychological Guidance Healing Art.

The person known as Jorin would slowly fade away. She would leave before the Seven Leaves’ operation went into full bloom.

It would not be in Esha’s favor to stay by the side of himself, a wanted terrorist leader.

“Bring her down,” Lu Sheng ordered.

Two ladies in black suits came forward and carried Esha away.

For Esha, she would become a girl whom Lu Sheng dumped. She would keep a low profile and head overseas.

This way, he would be sending a message to the outside world that Esha no longer had any substantial standing in Jorin’s heart.

This was also a way to protect Esha.

As he looked at Esha’s receding figure, Lu Sheng handed down another series of orders. The people of the Platinum Nation would take care of her publicly and secretly.

“Now, it’s time to arrange a place for the Seven Leaves to return to after this.” Lu Sheng took out his cellphone. This object was a recent invention in this world. It was very expensive, but it enabled a small part of society to say goodbye to landlines.

“All members of the parliament, come and meet me right now.”

Before he left, Lu Sheng had to ensure that the organization he’d established would not crumble and scatter just because of his departure.

For Platinum City, the crucial key to maintaining the Grieving King was the extremely terrifying Harmonizing Power.

Harmonizing Power had made Platinum City undefeatable.

If he left this place, the foundation to all this would crumble and disintegrate.

However, his objective was to maintain it for several decades, and that would be enough. Platinum Nation’s model could not be sustained forever. It was enough for it to last until he left.

On Jorin’s side of things, this aspect was not included in his karma. Lu Sheng simply did not want to see an organization which he had put so much effort into establishing go to waste.

‘Let’s hypnotize them… though I’m not sure how long it’ll last. Well, it’ll last as long as it can.’

The current Platinum City had attracted countless criminals from all over the world. There were influential warlords, drug pushers, the mafia, and terrorists.

If all these forces were gathered as one, even the Alan Federation could not turn a blind eye to this terrifying force that spread across the world.

Picking the most powerful of forces to man Platinum City alongside the Seven Leaves might be a plausible plan.

Now, it was an issue of settling the loyalty of these forces.

Lu Sheng planned to settle the matter completely during the next Seven Leaves meeting. In hypnosis, there was a skill called suggestion. If he repeatedly made reinforced suggestions, the effects of the hypnosis would be able to last many years.

That was what he planned to do next.

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

Great Yin. Prime Devil Sect. Devil Palace.

“Pcchht!”

Lu Sheng charged out from the gray rift and landed on the formation on the floor. He barely managed to steady his feet when sounds of destruction came from behind him.

The gray rift was completely destroyed the instant he charged out of it.

Lu Sheng was covered in a pitch-black armor. The clothing on his main body was destroyed during the process of his Transportation.

‘I didn’t expect to encounter a time trickle… Jorin’s body was destroyed. That’s a shame… but I’ve successfully assimilated his spirit. I guess that counts as an overall success.’

Lu Sheng swung his long, spiked tail which resembled a saw. He stepped on the formation runes and walked to the corner. He opened the secret compartment, took out a set of clothes, and wore them.

He glanced at the timer in the secret compartment. This was a simple timer he’d built based on the theory of a sand dial. The timer operated on Devil Qi and formation runes, hence its precision not inferior to that of the electronic timers on Earth.

‘As expected, it was just slightly more than a day.’ Lu Sheng closed the secret compartment and swiftly reverted to his human appearance. He walked out of the Research Temple slowly.

“Rumble…”

The heavy rock door was slowly moved away. The disciple who was on guard outside hastily went down on his knees.

“All hail the sect master!”

“Has anyone come look for me while I was in my secluded cultivation?”

“The lady has come by once. The stand-in sect master lady Duan Muwan has come by also. However, they did not mention anything of importance.” This disciple was trusted by Duan Muwan. The main purpose of stationing him here was not to protect the Research Temple; instead, he was supposed to be a messenger who conveyed the information delivered by the others to Lu Sheng.

Lu Sheng nodded in acknowledgement. He went to the Discussion Temple directly. The World of Pain’s District Bishop wanted to see him, and he had no idea just how powerful a District Bishop was.

Judging from Shizi Xing’s strength alone, she was already at the tier of a Weapon Grandmaster. Since the District Bishop was above her, he would be her direct superior.

According to the Black Society World of Pain’s rules, the individuals with higher ranks were usually the ones with greater strength.

Hence, the District Bishop’s strength had to be more powerful than Shizi Xing’s.

As he sat on the main seat in the Discussion Temple, Lu Sheng started analyzing his strength after becoming a Weapon Grandmaster in detail.

‘Assuming that 1000 years was needed to achieve the breakthrough to a Weapon Grandmaster, I don’t think there’s many Weapon Grandmasters older than 2000 years. Among Great Yin’s Weapon Grandmasters, there’s only one Yin Extreme Weapon Grandmaster who has achieved a breakthrough at least 1000 years ago.’

He caressed the black jade paperweight on his table.

‘If I need at least 30 years to achieve something after Arriving in another world, considering the difference in time flow, as long as a Weapon Grandmaster manages to survive 100 years after breaking through, it’s possible for him to experience one to three worlds.

‘If I calculate it in that manner, I can estimate the upper limit of many Weapon Grandmasters’ spirit’s strength. For example, our Thousand Sun Sect’s Weapon Grandmaster Aurora Polaris had only inherited his position less than 400 years after his breakthrough. 400 years is only 12 worlds, at most, which means that he has assimilated 12 alternate versions of himself.

‘However, in some worlds, such as the Winter Night Wolf’s world, it’s impossible to cultivate to the tier of a demigod without a few hundred years. If one bumped into an individual with a terrifyingly grand karma, it would take much longer to settle it. 100 years might not even be enough to settle a single karma…’

Lu Sheng did some calculations for himself. Based on the number of Worlds he had experienced, even when he compared himself with the youngest Weapon Grandmaster Aurora Polaris, he still paled in comparison. There was a huge difference between them.

However, when he compared himself to the First Sacred King with his status and strength, he was not weak among the Weapon Grandmasters.

‘Deep Blue has greatly shortened the time needed for my recovery after an Arrival. Besides, the success rate is also greatly improved. Also, they can’t completely immerse themselves in their Arrival. They have to deal with the various affairs in Great Yin.

‘In addition to all that, there’s no guarantee that they’re able to settle all the karmas for each of their Arrivals.

‘I’m different from them. I have a success rate close to 100% in all the Worlds I’ve Arrived in. Now’s a great opportunity for me to see the results of my recent Arrival.’

He had a thought in his mind. He opened his mouth, and slowly stuck out his thin and sharp tongue. He unrolled his tongue, revealing a platinum-colored cube.