Way of the Devil

Three days later.

Lu Sheng carefully sat cross-legged in the center of an extremely expansive and complicated formation.

The formation he would be using this time was much larger than what he had used before.

If everything went smoothly, the world he would be Arriving in this time would have the greatest difference in time flow compared to all the other worlds he had Arrived in before.

In a single attempt, he laid out a formation to the limits of his abilities. He did not consider the energy rank of the world. He merely focused on searching for a world with the greatest difference in time flow.

This way, even the least difference would be 1:100. The larger differences might even reach one to hundreds, 1:1000, or even several thousand.

With such a great difference in time flow, he would have ample time to gain insight.

“Pchht.”

Lu Sheng slowly wiped away the formation veins which controlled the energy ranking. He redrew the veins with a crystal carving knife.

Then, he slowly infused it with his Yang Essence so that the formation veins were completely assimilated into the formation.

“Fuhai,” Lu Sheng said softly, and tapped the formation with his index finger.

“Hiss…”

A metallic ball which had turned completely pitch-black slowly appeared behind him.

‘With the mended and strengthened Sea-overturning Orb as the core, the rift should last for a longer time, and it should be able to endure greater space-time pressure. It’d be nice if I can widen the rift.’ Lu Sheng had his own thoughts already. To him, it would be best if he could use a formation to leave stable path marks on both worlds.

This way, it would be easier for him to enter a world he had previously visited.

Unfortunately, the amount of energy he needed to accomplish that was too much. He could not do it on his own.

Setting up path marks required extremely powerful energy for them to constantly emit their signals which had to travel through countless space-time storms and vortexes.

This required a constant supply of energy and a constant switching of personnel.

“Let’s go with this.” Lu Sheng made the final amendments to the formation veins. Then, he inspected the high-energy objects on himself.

This time, he would be travelling to a low-energy-rank world. He would not be allowed to bring any high-energy-rank objects over. They would be isolated by the world’s membrane.

Once isolated during space-time shuttling, any objects without sufficient energy protection would be instantly torn to shreds.

That was why Lu Sheng cast everything he had into the Sea-overturning Orb. He was not sure if he could bring items with him in his Heart World into another world. He decided not to take the risk.

Some pills. Two Divine Weapons. A newly bought Devil Path dagger he would use for surgeries. Two vials of Spirit-soothing medicine which contained a large amount of mental power.

The others were a collection of miscellaneous items. Lu Sheng merely carried some basic gold, silver, gemstones, and some high-calorie food items when he activated the formation. He infused sufficient Yang Essence into the Sea-overturning Orb.

After doing all that, he calmed himself down. He slowly closed his eyes and sat cross-legged.

“Hiss… Hiss…”

Red lines slowly glowed and spread along the formation veins.

The Sea-overturning Orb hovered in midair. The red lines slowly connected to the lower portions of the orb. The red lines grew in number and density.

“Pchht!”

In an instant, a dash of gray light flashed past. A gray rift suddenly appeared above the Sea-overturning Orb.

Lu Sheng leapt, morphed into black light, and shot into the rift like an arrow.

The rift slowly closed until it was the size of a sesame seed. It remained like that in the air.

“Pchht! Pchht! Pchht!”

Red lines shot out from the Sea-overturning Orb which enveloped this spot of gray tightly.

It was now on standby until there was a need for it to be expanded the next time.

***

Swoosh.

The white curtains were pulled away.

Lu Sheng looked at the level grass field outside the window. A golden-haired boy was riding a bicycle in circles. He could also hear faint sounds of paintbrushes outside.

He lowered his head to look at his outfit.

1.6 meters tall, he was wearing a white shirt and jeans. He was carrying a backpack, and a school badge was on the right side of his chest.

’15-year-old Zhuo Zhenyu. Currently studying in Lahua Town’s Second Central School. His greatest wish was to fulfill his father’s wish, which is to become the top painter in the world with the title of god.

‘I’ve felt that something was off before I Arrived. As expected…’ Lu Sheng exhaled helplessly.

Looking at the reflection in the glass, he clearly saw the childish nature which was still evident on his own young face.

‘My skin tone is slightly on the pale side. So, I have a westerner’s skin tone with an easterner’s face, huh?’

Lu Sheng was quite satisfied with this body. This world turned out to be just what he had expected. It was a world without any supernatural powers.

The energy stagnation in the air was so strong that it made his hair stood on ends.

With his immense Yin Flame energy, he could destroy an area of several thousand kilometers in the Heavenly Devil World. Here, he would not even light a cigarette.

Lu Sheng had attempted to exert some of his main body’s power in the beginning. Unfortunately, the structure of the materials here was extremely stable. There was practically no free energy around. It was good enough for him to be able to light a Yin Flame.

These factors aside, what piqued his interest was that the main theme of this world revolved around painters.

This world had more than 100 nations. Every year, there would be an international painter competition with the name of God’s Eye.

The top three contestants would each get the titles of God’s Eye, God’s Hand, and God’s Color. These were titles carrying utmost glory.

This host’s father had once been an “outstanding” painter.

From what he learned from Zhuo Zhenyu’s memories, his father, Zhuo Siqing, possessed “Formidable” painting skills. He was also very confident in his realistic portrayals. Although he joined the competition many times, he never went beyond the district level.

Zhuo Siqing would put the blame on the judges by saying that they did not have an eye for beauty. He would also be dejected every time.

However, what made him feel speechless was that the painting jock kept on bragging about how exceptional his own skills were before Zhuo Zhenyu. He often lamented that if only Zhuo Zhenyu had not held him back, he would have improved by leaps and bounds in his painting skills, and it would not have been a problem for him to step on the international stage.

Zhuo Zhenyu had never seen his own mother since he was a young boy[1. That means ZZ doesn’t remember her, but perhaps author is implying that Lu Sheng can see his memories since birth (or earlier lol). I have no idea why else the author would mention “since he was a young boy” otherwise.]. His father Zhuo Siqing was both a dad and a mum. He did all the housework himself.

Also, there was something interesting about this world. A small group of painters claimed that they mastered a certain secret: painting soul.

The works of the painters who mastered the painting soul could unconditionally influence any living person who saw their art. They could make the audience fall into all sorts of illusions and induce all sorts of emotions within them.

‘Ordinary painters don’t have any abilities. They’re mere mortals. However, painters who mastered the high-ranking technique known as the painting soul will have all sorts of special abilities. This world’s restrictions on supernatural powers are heavy, yet it’s so lenient when it comes to the painting path… Looks like I’ll have to learn how to paint this time!’

Lu Sheng went through Zhuo Zhenyu’s memories. Zhuo Zhenyu liked sports since young. Hence, he often scoffed disdainfully at the painting path which his father insisted on teaching him. He was completely disinterested in painting.

This resulted in him being disqualified even in his basics, let alone becoming a painter.

Although there were some incidents which changed his view of the painting path, it was slightly too late for him to be working hard to catch up now.

‘The troublesome part is that there are no martial path skill formulas related to painting… I don’t think I can rely on Deep Blue for some instant methods this time…’ Lu Sheng’s brows were tightly knitted together. He walked up to his study desk and looked at the books.

Basic Sketching Techniques, Learning from Master Painters, Sketches and Colors, and others.

He flipped through them randomly. Markings and annotations in red and black ink were scattered all over the pages. Overall, they gave the impression that this book was used by some top student.

There were some places where a single sentence was marked with several annotations.

“Little Yu? Little Yu?” Zhuo Siqing called out his name loudly from outside the room.

Lu Sheng organized his feelings before running out of the room.

“What’s the matter?”

Zhuo Siqing, who wore a slightly wrinkled, casual black suit and spectacles, was carrying a bag of sliced fish in his hand. When he heard Lu Sheng’s reply, he felt that something was off. That was not how his son would have usually responded.

However, he did not think much about it, and snapped back to the present almost instantly. He changed into indoor slippers and tossed the fish into the sink in the kitchen.

“How was your day? How’s everything with school?” He went into the living room and turned the air conditioner on. He then removed his jacket and sat down.

“It was okay.” Lu Sheng sat down as well.

Lu Sheng tried measuring the energy activity in this world. The energy in the air was extremely thin, while the stagnation was shockingly dense.

He switched to another equation and did the calculations. The difference in time flow compared to the Heavenly Devil World was more than 1:400.

In other words, a year here would not even equate to a day there.

10 years here was the equivalent of 10 days there.

Although this difference was not too huge, for Lu Sheng, who was pressed for time, this was more than enough.

His success or failure in attaining the Confusion Realm tier would depend on the insight he gathered here.

In truth, the best scenario would be for Lu Sheng to Arrive in a world with high energy density. However, such things were beyond Lu Sheng’s control.

‘It’ll be best if I can gather insight on the crucial parts of my cultivation in the years I’ll be spending here.’

Lu Sheng placed his backpack on the floor. He instinctively reached out for a sweet bean paste bun on the table.

Smack.

Zhuo Siqing grabbed his wrist with utmost precision. “Finish your meal first!”

“Alright.” Lu Sheng immediately restrained himself. He did not want to eat the bun—it was his host, Zhuo Zhenyu, who liked to eat them.

“A few days from now, you’ll have to settle your meals in the school’s cafeteria. I’ll be joining a competition soon.”

At the mention of painting, Zhuo Siqing immediately beamed with joy and seemed to be in high spirits. He did not even notice Lu Sheng sneak a bun away from the table and start munching.

Lu Sheng was in no hurry. After all, Zhuo Siqing had joined too many competitions than he cared to remember. It also did not matter if this host’s wishes were fulfilled or not. After all, his current spirit was already at the limits of his body’s capacity. It would be a waste for him to assimilate more spirits.

The key was to gather insight.

As for how he should go about gathering insight…

Lu Sheng had memorized the East Park Autumn Dew Fertilizing formula before this. This skill formula mainly cultivated a person’s mind.

It emphasized natural progress that went with the flow of things.

After finishing a conversation-filled meal with Zhuo Siqing, he was sent back to his room to do his homework. Zhuo Siqing continued practicing his painting.

This was how this family was making ends meet nowadays, with the profits he earned by selling ordinary works.

He had to grit his teeth just to buy the fish today. However, Zhuo Siqing saw that his son was not looking well. Hence, he decided to buy some food that would serve as good nourishment.

After the meal, Lu Sheng sat at his study table.

‘No matter what, I should start by honing my ability to protect myself.’

Even without supernatural powers, his Yang Essence was sufficient to nourish himself.

Throughout the next few days, Lu Sheng slowly adapted to the life here and began leaning basic painting skills.

A crestfallen Zhuo Siqing came back from the competition soon enough. Once again, his work did not even merit participation in the final round of the district level.

However, suffering defeat in every battle did have its advantages. Zhuo Siqing was back to normal by the end of the afternoon. He began preparing meals for Lu Sheng again.

A dish and a soup were quickly served at the table.

“Eat. After this, go and practice your basics,” Zhuo Siqing said as he gestured toward the food.

“Dad, how was your painting? Did you get in the finals?” Lu Sheng mercilessly pried his wound open.

Zhuo Siqing’s face twitched.

“It’s only the final rounds, of course I’ve managed to get in. However, there was this old man who came from afar. I pitied him, and so I gave up my spot for him.”