Way of the Devil

“Oh?” Lu Sheng was delighted. He did not expect that his casual attempt actually got him closer to learning about Taoist skills.

He quickly followed up with another question. “Where’s your teacher now? Can he teach me Taoist skills?”

His question was so straightforward that Wu Youzi felt helpless.

The sect he was born into was a remote minor sect called the Clear Crane Sect. It was said that the grandmaster originated from the Indefinite Cult and learned the skills of herding red-crown cranes.

There was a great disturbance once, and the grandmaster fled the sect. However, the grandmaster’s skill was not useful elsewhere, and he did not learn the method to prolong his life. Out of helplessness, he decided to forego his pride and joined the secular world where he attached himself to high-ranking officials and spent his days free and unfettered for decades.

After his death, his two disciples founded the Immortal Seeking Sect and the Communal Peace Sect. However, both sects waned.

Two hundred years later, the current sect leader developed and promoted the skills of herding cranes. In addition to that, with his Spitting and Swallowing Art of unknown origin, he founded the Clear Crane Sect.

It was called a sect, but in truth, it was not recognized by real Taoist sects. It was an ordinary sect which was tossed about by the wind and rain.

Under such circumstances, Wu Youzi joined the Clear Crane Sect and learned some basic spitting and swallowing, which he used to fool the masses.

However, contrary to his expectations, with his half-baked Spitting and Swallowing Art, he led a smooth life in the secular world.

Even the young master of the prince’s mansion summoned him personally because of this.

When he heard that Lu Sheng wanted to learn Taoist skills, Wu Youzi chuckled bitterly.

“Crown prince, you might not know this, if you want to learn about this Taoist skill, it might take decades to progress from initiation to mastery, and finally for it to show its effects. For Taoist skills, the cultivator cultivates the path while walking on the way. It relies on the way to temper the cultivator’s nature. I’m sure the crown prince knows just how much time is required to temper a person’s heart. You should also be familiar with the saying ‘it is easier to change mountains and rivers than to alter one’s character’.”

He was quite thorough in his explanations.

“The cultivation of the path is the cultivation of the heart, huh?” Lu Sheng repeated, lost in thought.

“Since the crown prince has the intention to walk on the path, this humble Taoist will not withhold information.” Wu Youzi cleared his throat. “The first thing a cultivator does while cultivating the path is cultivate the human heart. Usually, this process takes twenty years, at least. It’s only when the human heart is pure, and the person severs his ties to the secular world can he formally approach the major Taoist skill sutra.”

“Major Taoist skill sutra?”

“That’s right. Taoist skills are divided into the major and minor sutras. The major sutra is all about the way to conduct oneself and secure one’s life. It’s directly related to the fundamental way of the great path. By cultivating this, the cultivator will have a long life. The minor sutra is about the art of attacking and also avoiding disasters. The cultivation of the minor sutra is for self-preservation. Its main aim is to break free from karma and disasters.” Although Wu Youzi’s own cultivation base was not profound, he was well-versed in its theories.

“So, what are you cultivating in, master Taoist?”

“The White Feather sutra. This humble Taoist has cultivated his sect’s White Feather sutra for four decades. However, his tier is still…” Wu Youzi shook his head helplessly and said.

“You’re quite the honest person, master Taoist.” Lu Sheng smiled.

Wu Youzi dared not make up stories. His background had already been known by other people throughout all these years. He could wing it when he talked to other commoners, however, if his lies were exposed by the Moon Prince mansion’s crown prince, he would be beheaded.

“I am not so bold as to tell lies in front of the crown prince.”

Lu Sheng gave it some thought and seemed to have understood the situation. While the Taoist sects of this world were mysterious and powerful, this Wu Youzi was willing to bow and bend his knee toward a mortal. IT was clear that the strength of the sect he belonged to was questionable.

“How about this, I’m interested to walk the path. Can you contact your sect for me, master Taoist?”

“Crown prince, is this the truth? I must say that cultivating the main sutra while a person’s nature isn’t complete is akin to seeking death.”

Wu Youzi was stunned. He had been clear in his statements. Even at the initiation stage, tempering of the heart would take twenty years. If that was not successful, everything else was for naught.

Although the sect which he belonged to was extremely weak, it at least possessed a longevity art which could be regarded as a major sutra.

According to customs and reservations, if the crown prince was genuinely willing to cultivate the path, even if his sect would not temper his heart for twenty years, he would still need ten or eight years, at least. After all, those were not mere customs, it was related to his life.

“Of course I’m being serious. Do what you must, master Taoist. If it’s successful, I’ll reward you a thousand catties of silver!” Lu Sheng nodded. He made some rough calculations about the time flow of this world. It was about 1:600 compared to the Heavenly Devil World.

In other words, 600 days here was equivalent to a single day in the Heavenly Devil World.

With one day equivalent to almost two years, he could perfectly take his time here to gather insight in the reincarnation heart.

Although he felt that this time flow rate was clearly abnormal, he did not have the time to delve into it.

“In that case, please wait for my news, crown prince.” Wu Youzi’s breathing clearly sped up. He quickly retreated.

A thousand catties of silver!

Ten catties of silver was enough to feed a family of three for a year. A thousand catties of silver… was equivalent to his two years of service to the Ning Family.

Although Wu Youzi was a deserter of his sect in name, he mainly deserted the sect to run away from the punishment and rules.

Even now, he kept supplying huge amounts of riches to his sect annually, though he was a deserter.

The Clear Crane Sect was not steeped in Taoist skills. Although it could not achieve the state of subsisting on wind and dew, it could perfectly satisfy its needs for meals and pleasure by fooling the commoners.

With this thousand catties of silver, not only would he be able to swiftly accomplish this year’s mission, he would also be able to redeem the freedom of the young woman he loved, something he wanted to do for a long time.

Wu Youzi hurried out of the prince’s mansion. His heart was burning.

In truth, there were many commoners who wanted to learn about Taoist skills. However, every single one of them gave up completely after a few years. They were defeated during the process of tempering their hearts.

He was not actually concerned if the crown prince was genuine in starting cultivation. He also did not care if he was successful.

The important thing was that while the crown prince cultivated, he would be able to assume the dignity of the crown prince and earn money without fetters from the masses. That was the way things were.

In truth, he had not told the crown prince everything. The Clear Crane Sect, which he belonged to, was a sect that was true to its name.

This sect’s major sutra was weak. Its minor sutra was specifically used to herd red-crown cranes that were used as spiritual beasts to guard the sect. It did not have any attacking skills.

To put it bluntly, it was a farming sect that specifically reared red-crown cranes for its own use. However, what use could red-crown cranes bring? Without a major sutra, the reared red-crown cranes would only be slightly smarter and beautiful than ordinary red-crown cranes, at most.

The other Taoist sects would not even recognize that the cranes reared by the Clear Crane Sect were red-crown cranes.

‘Who cares! In today’s world, it’s considered a contribution to fool another person!’ Wu Youzi left the prince’s mansion and swiftly went over to a tavern by the roadside.

About an hour later, he walked out of the tavern slowly, boarded a palanquin and returned to his own manor.

Several white messenger doves flew out of the tavern. They swiftly vanished in the horizons.

**********

Lu Sheng obtained news about cultivation from Wu Youzi. The next step for him was to wait.

Days passed by.

Every day, he ordered the prince mansion’s servant to gather information from the administrative officials.

The prince mansion’s administrative officials were a core group of officers handpicked by the Moon Prince to oversee various information sources. They were the most up-to-date source around. If Lu Sheng wanted to understand this world, he would have to start from gathering information.

As Lu Sheng waited for news from Wu Youzi, he gathered information himself. He even sent someone else to find other opportunities to learn Taoist skills.

However, it was true that Taoist skills were not easy to cultivate. After two weeks of effort, there were no results. There were no other way to approach Taoist skills other than this Clear Crane Sect.

After two weeks, Lu Sheng felt the Yang Essence in his body loosen. Even his spirit-prompting threads started moving.

He had more understanding about the basic rules of this world. He believed that he would be able to completely recover his main body’s strength in no time.

Lu Sheng even turned down the invitations of Yuan Jikong and Shi Tonghao just to wait for news about the Clear Crane Sect.

However, before he even learned about the Clear Crane Sect, news of the Moon Prince’s expedition reached him.

The Moon Prince led the army on a punitive expedition against the other clans to the west. This time, it was a great victory, but unlike the easy victories like before, the expedition this time was exceedingly taxing. If his three great generals had not protected him with their full might, it would have been quite impossible for the Moon Prince to be unscathed.

‘The empire is declining. It’s a mammoth task to try to salvage this huge nation…’ Lu Sheng slowly folded the oiled paper which contained the information and tossed it into the fire basin.

‘Come to think of it, the most capable among the men of this West Cliff Dynasty is the Divine Martial Great General Zhu Chengguo. The Moon Prince and the other great generals were at most second-class generals compared to him. However, from what the information says, Zhu Chengguo seems to be at his limit as well. There are now disturbances to the west, north, and east. The campaigns were endless, taxes soared, while the entire official system indulges in sensual pleasures…’

Lu Sheng knew that although he was of noble birth, his fate was tied to this vast dynasty.

Even if he did not care about karma, if the dynasty were to be destroyed, as the only son of one of the palace’s main generals, he was sure to have his body and soul destroyed.

‘I should start by trying out this legendary Taoist skill. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll just cultivate pure martial path.’ However, Lu Sheng did not even know how much Mental Energy he would need to derive this world’s martial path to the level of the gods.

He was still pondering about this when a servant suddenly hurried into the mansion.

“Mi Gong offers his greetings to the crown prince!”

“Are there any news?” Lu Sheng was starting to get impatient from all this waiting. He could have perfectly cultivated a skill formula which he was familiar with. However, because it was not a main system here, he had no choice but to bear with it.

“That’s not it. The Huge Sand Clan to the south of the empire is rebelling! The traitorous General Wang Chong leads 200,000 men under the flag of the Great Wu and declares himself as king!” The servant Mi Gong was specifically employed to gather information from the administrative officials. When he said this, Lu Sheng was first stunned. Then, his expression changed slightly.

Although he had just recently arrived in this world, and although Huang Jing was an ignorant and incompetent highborn crown prince, he still had the most fundamental qualities of a crown prince. He knew what the south Huge Sand Clan’s rebellion meant.

The Huge Sand Clan was located right next to the imperial granary, the Cloud Capital. If the Huge Sand rebelled, it was only natural for them to make the Cloud Capital their target.

If the empire were to lose its granary, the ill consequences that would ensue were imaginable.

‘This empire is really done for…’ Lu Sheng quickly stood up. From Huang Jing’s memories, in addition to the information he gathered recently, his rough judgement was that within two years, should the West Cliff Empire fail to overcome the problem with the granary, the state would certainly fall along with the skies and the land.

As the beloved son of the prince, he was a representative of the old regime. The only outcome for him was for him to be overthrown and beheaded.

There were no other outcomes.

‘No wonder… It’s no wonder that Huang Jing ended his life in misery, which gave me the opportunity to slip in.’ Lu Sheng’s chest tightened.

‘In such a situation, the Moon Prince and his generals will certainly be exhausted from rescuing the afflicted fronts, but they won’t be of much help toward the greater picture. I’ll have to be quick. Otherwise, I’m not sure if I can see this through.’