Way of the Devil

Lu Sheng stood up. He ordered a jar of wine before he exited the tavern and strolled on the streets.

The Clear Prince was warned, and his objectives were already achieved. He had no intention of going all out with the Clear Prince Mansion at this point of time as well.

He merely needed to buy time and accumulate his strength. He wanted to prevent the Clear Prince from making any secret move against him for the time being. That was why he’d ordered Little Zhen to display his strength there.

‘Looks like the Clear Prince Mansion is quite strong.’ Lu Sheng walked slowly along the eaves. Occasionally, rainwater dripped down from the edges, but he did not mind.

In the alley before him, a young girl with a ponytail carefully pulled her little brother’s hand. Then, she squatted down to straighten his clothes.

In a candle shop to his right, a staff member was trimming the candles with a knife so that they were rounded and smooth. Then, he smoothened it further with a special sandpaper.

From the nearby residential area, coughs of an old man could faintly be heard.

Two young girls in brightly colored clothes carried their cloth sacks as they went about their shopping. When they passed Lu Sheng, they were smiling.

A slightly old horse carriage drove toward him slowly on the street. Through the curtains of the carriage, a scholar could be seen speaking gently to a beautiful girl with a bulging belly.

Lu Sheng narrowed his eyes. He walked forward slowly and decided to exit the city and return to the prince’s mansion immediately.

Suddenly, a whine could be heard.

The coughing of the old man in the residential area intensified. However, the sound died down after about eight coughs.

The young people wailed as well. Soft sobs of little children could be heard.

‘What’s this!?’ Lu Sheng suddenly stopped in his tracks. He could sense the old man’s swiftly dispersing soul through the residential area.

During the day, a soul without any stubborn will would swiftly disperse the moment it left the body.

In but a few breaths, the old man’s soul completely dispersed.

Lu Sheng’s expression remained unchanged. Naturally, he had seen many of such incidents before. The common people of Great Yin were in the abyss of suffering. Countless deaths always happened throughout the nation.

However, this was different.

He was sensing the old man’s soul dispersing in real time.

However, in an instant, in what seemed as the same instant the old man’s soul dispersed, a brand-new soul wavelength slowly appeared within the womb of the pregnant lady in the horse carriage.

Lu Sheng stopped in his tracks right away. He stood where he was and glanced at the house where the old man had passed away. Then, he looked at the receding back of the horse carriage.

He had Arrived in new worlds for countless times, and had experienced life and death countless times. However, never had he been awed as much as this time as he observed it directly.

He remained silent for a while before quickening his steps and walking to where the old man stayed. He peeked through the window.

The children and grandchildren were bawling their eyes out by the old man’s deathbed. They were genuinely crying in pain.

Lu Sheng looked at this scene briefly and went away.

**********

Time slipped away. In the blink of an eye, a year had passed.

The Crane King Cave expanded in a frenzy. In a short year, it conquered an area of several hundred kilometers around itself. The minor sects and even some minor demons were subdued, chased away, or killed.

Antiques used for worship purposes were gathered within the Crane King Cave. However, Lu Sheng did not stay within the cave.

He did not return to the prince’s mansion, either. He merely replenished his 12 crane demons, and ranked up the crane demons to the same rank as Little Zhen with his new Pure Qi. At the same time, he infused his new Pure Qi into the cocoon which Bai Songzi was being incubated in.

After completing all his preparatory works, he left the Clear Crane Sect and the prince’s mansion. He left two letters and began to travel around.

After being moved the other day in the little town, he vaguely gained some insight. He also had a faint notion that his opportunity was here.

Hence, he decided to let go of all his current responsibilities, and wandered all over the empire.

With the support from the Crane King Cave, the Moon Prince Mansion was safe for now. Regardless of the problem, once the Crane King Cave sent out its crane demons, everything was easily solved.

The demon general-ranked crane demons could already influence ordinary white cranes with their own demonic powers and turn them into specters.

Specters were ordinary living beings that were turned by demonic power before their time. They were more powerful than living beings, but were of the lowest rank among the minor demons.

The specters increased in number, and were all under the Clear Crane Sect’s command. Clear Crane Sect’s forces swiftly increased like a rolling snowball.

The Moon Prince Mansion was slowly becoming feared. Empress Lin sent out a demon general to have a look around the prince’s mansion. After it returned with grievous injuries, nobody else dared to come and stroke the tiger’s whiskers.

The Moon Prince’s status within the imperial court gradually rose as well. He became a feudal prince such as the Clear Prince.

However, what befuddled the others was that while the Clear Prince and the Moon Prince had clearly been on good terms, after the Moon Prince grew stronger, the two prince mansions behaved like water and fire instead. The two princes also fought with each other, and none of them showed weakness to the other.

Lu Sheng did not care about these matters. He focused his entire attention on grasping that insight. He left the Moon Prince Mansion’s territory and traveled to various towns without any plan.

He did not go out of his way to collect Mental Energy. Instead, he merely observed the people in the crowds. He observed the emotions and their partings and reunions.

His Confusion Realm-tier soul was high above as it looked down at the birth, ageing, sickness, and death of the living beings below.

However, for some unknown reason, Lu Sheng felt that he was lacking something very important.

Another three years passed in the blink of an eye.

The Crane King Cave grew stronger. The Clear Crane Sect’s might improved as well.

The Moon Prince had personally led his army to suppress the other tribes twice. Every time when he was about to lose, the Crane King Cave’s forces were always able to turn peril into safety.

The commanding general of the enemy army mysteriously died, while the other high-ranking officers were assassinated. The enemy army crumbled even before the battle was fought.

Autumn of West Cliff Year 8442.

The divine general, the Moon Prince, and the Writ Prince led the imperial army, and the subdued other tribe armies, for a total of 700,000 men that commanded 800,000 men to battle the largest militia of the Yellow Leaf Plain, the Triad Plum Volunteer Army.

The Triad Plum Volunteer Army numbered 300,000 men and commanded 500,000 men. Many peculiar individuals were included among their ranks. They fought with the imperial army for more than four months in a dozen of battles on varying scale.

In the end, the volunteer army lost. However, the imperial army suffered great losses as well. The 700,000 men army was reduced to 300,000 men. It was almost destroyed.

The Purple Palace Sect behind the divine general, the Black Rope Mountain behind the Writ Prince, and the Crane King Cave behind the Mon Prince Mansion had played pivotal roles during the great battle.

The legendary master of the Crane King Cave showed himself during the great battle as well. It was said that their master was a peak great demon who had attained the rank of demon king.

The great demon called himself Bai Songzi. The 12 demon generals under his command possessed formidable strength.

It should be known that ordinary Demon Tribes were already considered powerful just by possessing demon elites. If they had a demon general among their ranks, they could claim a mountain for themselves.

Here, they had a demon king.

A demon king was a peak overlord that could bring disaster and harm to a country and its people.

Every demon king had their own formidable innate Capacity. Even the Taoists with cultivation bases a rank above them would not want to provoke the demon kings.

If one encountered a demon king with an unreasonable Capacity, one’s spirit might directly be crippled regardless of one’s cultivation base. If that happened, one could not do anything besides wallowing in sorrow.

Perhaps only the legendary Spring Autumn Sect and the Indefinite Cult would care less about these forces.

At the end of the war, the West Cliff Empire’s strength was greatly reduced. However, the dynasty’s fate was prolonged. The rebellions were somehow suppressed for now, and the empire was granted temporary peace.

However, everyone could tell that the current West Cliff Empire was like a setting sun. If there was another disturbance, it would be incapable of withstanding it.

**********

10 years later…

West Sea. Tool Pillar Town.

10 years ago, a wandering apothecary suddenly arrived in the town. The apothecary had saved Squire Xu’s youngest son, a resident of the town, on his way here. Hence, Squire Xu sponsored him financially, and he opened a small clinic in the town.

The apothecary who appeared to be in his early twenties claimed to bear the surname Lu. Although he was young, he was gentle and exceptionally detailed with his patients.

However, just as everybody else expected, Apothecary Lu’s medical skills were only mediocre. He had no trouble treating minor ailments, but when it was something serious, he would refer them to another clinic, and dared not treat the patient himself.

However, because of the cheap price, everyone went there to see him.

10 years passed by in the blink of an eye. Apothecary Lu’s mouth turned slightly green. The old people who frequented his clinic were having difficulty moving about now.

However, Apothecary Lu remained in his clinic, and earnestly served every patient.

“Uncle Lu! Uncle Lu! Look? I have a pinwheel!”

A little girl with twintails suddenly ran into the clinic. The little girl was only three years all. She was Squire Xu’s youngest daughter. Her name was Xu Zijun.

Xu Zijun was naturally lively and cute. She was lovable, but she especially liked to play in Lu Sheng’s clinic.

In truth, she was not the only one. Many young children liked to play here.

This was because Lu Sheng had placed many rock sculptures of various sizes in his backyard. These sculptures were of men, animals, birds, beasts, bugs, fish, and many more.

Lu Sheng merely used these sculptures as tools for him to memorize the meridian points of the different beings. However, he did not expect them to be liked by the children so much.

Lu Sheng, who sat behind the counter, saw Xu Zijun who wore a stuffed cotton-padded jacket.

“Why’re you here this early today, Little Jun?” He extended his hand and caressed Xu Zijun’s head.

“I learned and made this myself,” Xu Zijun replied in her sweet, childish voice. Then, she glanced at the red paper pinwheel in her hand. She presented it to Lu Sheng.

“This is for you, uncle.”

“Really? Is this really for me?” Lu Sheng asked, surprised. It was rare to see a little child being this generous.

“It is.” Little Jun nodded earnestly. “I’m not the youngest anymore starting from today. Mother has given birth to a younger brother.”

“Really?” Lu Sheng was surprised. Squire Xu’s family was truly flourishing.

Little Jun nodded, and said, “They’re bringing him here to you, uncle.”

Lu Sheng had intended to ask about it. When he heard this, he raised his head and saw an ox cart stopping before his door.

A middle-aged man in red clothes supported a sweet, fair, and graceful woman as they walked in. The beautiful woman was holding a newborn in her hands.

The infant’s cries added some liveliness to the clinic.

“Apothecary Lu, look at this! Hahaha! Another son has been added to my family! Please use your incensing method and draw a talisman for my son.” The man was the famed kind-hearted person of the town, Xu Chang, or Squire Xu.

Lu Sheng hastily walked up to them.

Drawing talismans was the local custom. According to custom, the family would look for a trusted apothecary to paint the newborn’s ears with cinnabar to pray for good fortune.