Way of the Devil

When Lu Sheng emerged from Zhao Shengying’s manor, he was holding a grayish-black gemstone which glinted with purple radiance in his hands.

Any official main city resident could transfer most of their resources into such a purplish-silver rock.

The gemstone itself was not some storage Treasure. However, it had slightly higher rarity compared to other objects, and it could remember a certain amount of energy veins. Hence, it was used as a kind of IC card.

In the stone in Lu Sheng’s hand, a total of 200,000 ice money was inserted as payment.

Zhao Shengying was not a mature person. She was also akin to a flower protected from the outside world. She was clearly duped by Lu Sheng’s words.

However, Lu Sheng did not actually intend to modify her into having a special figure with over-developed muscles. If he did that, he could still convince Zhao Shengying, but the Zhao Family was not that stupid.

When he walked out of the door, he had already sensed a dozen gazes with terrifying strength scanning himself.

He tossed the purplish silver stone in his hands. The corner of his mouth arced upward slightly. He tucked the object away and kept walking forward. He passed by several intersections and reached a busy, flourishing peak commercial area in no time.

The commercial area was full of various advertisement boards. Shops selling medicinal pills, formations, talismans, Divine Veins, Divine Weapons, Treasures, information, Instruments, and other objects could be found on the street.

However, there were no sounds of hawking anywhere. The only beings making sounds were the occasional peculiar-looking beasts which the passing customers rode on.

Most of the customers who walked into and out of the shops seemed to be in a hurry. Some of them concealed their identities by wearing black robes. Some of them looked around themselves with steady looks.

Lu Sheng walked along the right bank of the street for a while. He noticed a row of shops which sold special materials.

He picked one at random and went in.

The special item he needed to proceed to the next step of his Infinity Technique was an object called law path stone, and the one he needed was a mysterious Yin law path stone. This was the special material most suitable for him to improve his rank—according to Deep Blue’s derivations based on Lu Sheng’s knowledge.

As Fate Permits. The name of this shop seemed like an afterthought. There did not seem to be too many customers, while the entrance was barely wide enough for two customers to walk side by side.

Lu Sheng waited for two scholars in a long-sleeved attire to exit the shop before entering it himself.

The interior of the shop was a grayish-white stone hall. Directly before the entrance, the hall was divided into rows of small cubicles.

This made Lu Sheng reminisce about the internet cafes back on Earth. The cubicles were also lined in dense and neat rows like this.

Only a single occupant could be in each compartment. It was too small to even fit two.

Nobody greeted him or offered him any introductions. However, the customers could be seen going in and out of these cubicles.

Lu Sheng glanced at his right. He saw a slab of white rock on the floor. Several rows of words were inscribed on its surface.

“Fair trade. Uphold justice in your hearts.”

“One cubicle per customer. Once sold, no refunds will be given.”

Intrigued, Lu Sheng followed what the others did. He picked a cubicle and entered it.

The grayish-white wooden door opened slowly. Then, after Lu Sheng entered the cubicle, it closed behind him and was locked.

There was only a triangular crystal mirror that was as tall as a man within the cubicle.

A small row of words and the picture of an item was displayed on the mirror.

‘An automated selling machine?’ Lu Sheng was intrigued, and walked up to the crystal mirror. He moved his spirit slightly, and the display of the mirror started blinking rapidly with the light touch of his spirit.

The items were being swiped across the mirror. With a single glance, Lu Sheng had immediately remembered the volume of information packed onto the limited space.

After browsing for a while, he found out that As Fate Permits had only 30 items on sale. He was not interested in the information on the other goods.

He swiftly exited the cubicle. Lu Sheng went into another shop. The mode of operation was similar to the shop before this. No worker greeted him, and the rules were listed on a rock slab erected before the door.

In this shop, the customers were also allowed to pick their own crystal mirror. There were no sounds of haggling. There were only sounds from hurried footsteps.

In no time, in the third shop he visited, Lu Sheng found the law path stone he needed. It was a special law path stone steeped in Yin Qi, which was just what he required.

It was not expensive, either. A single stone cost him 1,500 ice money. Lu Sheng bought four stones in one go and spent a total of 6,000 ice money. He even became the Green Bronze member of this shop, Black Eye Lake.

Then, he exited the shop and bought several common materials for his formations. After all that shopping, he swiftly returned to his own courtyard.

He had the materials and the Mental Energy. Although his Spirit Power was not quite at the required level, Lu Sheng was confident in Deep Blue.

He decided to attempt a breakthrough that very night.

…..

…..

Night.

The courtyard was exceptionally quiet. Fine blood lines flashed past the ground of the dark courtyard.

There were faint transparent distortions on the courtyard’s door and surrounding walls.

“Bam.”

Lu Sheng closed the door to his room. He pressed a hand on it lightly.

With a spurting sound, a blood-colored palm print shone and wedged itself into the center of the door.

Lu Sheng lowered his head and made several dozen hand signs in rapid succession.

“Activate!” he suddenly shouted.

In an instant, a buzz filled the room. Countless light green webs shone in the room. These webs hovered in the air and completely covered every inch of the space within.

The webs glowed for several breaths. Then, they quickly dimmed, thinned, and disappeared.

It was only then that Lu Sheng undid his hand sign. He turned around and walked to the center of the room.

A small black formation which was more than three meters wide was already set up there. Two green rhombus-shaped crystals half the height of an adult were erected at the sides of the formation. Faint golden radiance that was gentle and not glaring flowed within the crystals.

Lu Sheng sat upright in the center of the formation. He closed his eyes and focused.

‘Deep Blue,’ he recited within his mind.

With a spurt, the light blue frame popped out instantly.

The first thing that caught his eye was the first frame. It was the main cultivation method of the Infinity Technique.

“Infinity Technique. Sixth tier — Backtrace. Backtrace tier, first rank, Heart. (Special traits. Heart Devil World. Eight-Headed Devil Art. Time Freeze. Powerful Spirit. Nature Deception…).”

‘There’s no limit to the development of the Infinity Technique. Unfortunately, it’s too vague. Without enough theories to fill in the gaps, it’s too difficult to make any progress… The restrictions of the other cultivation methods are too severe as well…’ When Lu Sheng looked at this main cultivation method of his, he felt helpless. The further he advanced, the greater the restrictions imposed on the Infinity Technique became. It was one thing for him to experience extremely slow improvement for every rank, but he even had to figure out the required materials on his own.

The law path stone he used this time was barely suitable for his needs. He could not say the stone was exceptionally suitable for his purposes to the point that this rank’s potential would be fully brought out.

However, Lu Sheng did not have the necessary resources to get his hands on the other main cultivation methods. In the case of the Infinity Technique, it was the fruit of him deriving countless martial path cultivation methods collectively. It was a masterpiece of his martial path which he compiled himself.

‘The Red Moon Disciples’ cultivation method can only be used as reference. Alas, if I could actually get my hands on a main cultivation method which has a complete system, I wouldn’t have to go through so much trouble.’ Lu Sheng sighed. Though he felt helpless, he had to attempt this breakthrough no matter what.

Lu Sheng calmed himself down. He reached out and grabbed at the air.

“Pchht! Pchht! Pchht!”

With three consecutive sounds, three pure white law path stones suddenly shot out from the corners of the room. They circled him slowly.

Lu Sheng flicked his finger. Three formless air flows instantly shattered the law path stones. They were reduced to white powder which slowly settled onto the floor.

“Hiss…”

He suddenly drew a deep breath. The white powder seemed to be pulled by a vortex as they swirled and plunged into his mouth.

While he sucked in the powder, he swiftly pushed the modify button under the modifier. Then, his gaze fell onto the derive button behind the Infinity Technique.

“Derive Infinity Technique. Raise it by one rank.”

“Pchht!”

The instant he made the confirmation, the frame suddenly blurred.

10 breaths… 20 breaths…

One minute… Two minutes…

In the blink of an eye, a dozen minutes passed by.

Lu Sheng maintained his upright sitting posture.

Eventually, the frame sharpened.

“Infinity Technique. Sixth tier, Backtrace. Backtrace tier second rank, Heart Path.”

Lu Sheng glanced at the part on the special traits. The contents were largely similar to before. There were no obvious changes.

He carefully felt the changes in his body and spirit.

He did not feel any substantial changes. However, he could clearly feel that his spirit’s volume was improving rapidly.

‘Am I going to experience gradual improvements again? That’s not too bad.’

His physical body was not affected much. Perhaps the origin of this cultivation method was the Heavenly Devil World, where the beings did not spend too much time cultivating their bodies.

The enhancement he gained through this derivation was not even as much as he’d gained when he assimilated the host’s body in the previous world.

‘According to the information of the cultivation method, I should be able to reach the peak of the Weapon Grandmaster rank this time. My spirit should be at the threshold of a substantial change, and it should be impossible for me to improve on it anymore. The next step would be the Confusion Realm.’

Lu Sheng quickly went through the information of the cultivation method derived by Deep Blue. These three law path stones had filled the gaps and empty spaces in the natural laws of his Heart dimension.

They were highly helpful for his Heart World.

With that gap patched, with the help of Deep Blue via some special path, Lu Sheng would be able to swiftly temper and strengthen his spirit.

Throughout the next five days, besides purging Zhao Luoying of the heavy planet pollutants, Lu Sheng spent all of his time in his own courtyard to get used to the changes in his spirit. He did not go anywhere else.

His spirit finally slowed down in its enhancements on the sixth day. It grew steadier.

‘My spirit has grown about four times…’ After some self-inspection, Lu Sheng reached the surprising conclusion.

‘But my physical body is seriously lagging behind. Even by assimilating the Instant Destruction Fist Art from the previous world, my physical body is still unable to catch up with the enhancements in my spirit.

‘The Infinity Technique originally targeted the body, but as it progressed, it would shift its focus onto the spirit.’ He stood up from his position in the center of the formation. As Lu Sheng glanced at his remaining Mental Energy units, he immediately smiled bitterly.

If he’d merely ranked up his cultivation method, it would have been just fine. However, this time, not only did he rank up, he carried out derivations as well. With a cultivation method of this rank, the consumption of his derivation was unimaginable.

From his more than 10,000,000 Mental Energy units, more than 5,000,000 units were instantly consumed…

‘Actually, it’s quite a bargain already. With these 5,000,000 units, I have managed to achieve something that would’ve taken others ten thousand years in a few days.’ Lu Sheng understood this well. However, when he saw his newly obtained Mental Energy being reduced to half in the blink of an eye, he still could not help but feel his heart break a little.

‘I definitely wouldn’t have used up this much Mental Energy if I’d just been improving the cultivation method!’ Lu Sheng felt pain in his heart. He thought about the Red Moon Disciples’ Scarlet River cultivation method, but thought that its rank was too low for his liking. He knew that he would not be able to obtain any Army Raising-tier cultivation methods in the near future.

He stood up and did some simple inspections of his formation. Then, he opened the windows and ventilated his house.

The next step in his cultivation would be the Confusion Realm. However, he was not able to locate the derive button behind the modifier.

This meant that his current stock of knowledge and experiences was not enough for him to derive formidable strength beyond the Army Raising tier, such as the Confusion Realm.