Way of the Devil

Among all the rank-3 arts, Lu Sheng had organized 99 different types of arts. They were all unique arts that did not depend on the concentration of the elements. He began strengthening them with his Mental Energy.

This was a Sisyphean task, but the benefits it would bring him would also be remarkable.

Art-releasing ranks were not everything in the world. This was the case with Dragon Fire as well.

“Come to think of it… Due to the emergence of our goods in the market, several art materials shops were trying to investigate us…” one of the merchants spoke softly.

“That’s easy.” Lu Sheng looked at the red bear man who was combing his own hair nearby. “Moz, go and give those shops a warning.”

The bear man was two meters tall. The hair on his body was as brilliant as flames.

He was Lu Sheng’s most successful test subject. Lu Sheng managed to engrave Dragon Fire’s unleashing pathway into this bear man’s body. At the same time, he used special formation veins to increase this bear man’s resistance to fire.

Hence, a Magic Fighter who truly combined magic and martial arts was produced.

The bear man Moz could bradish a battle axe and a shield while wearing magic-resistant armor. With his body that was enchanted with Dragon Fire, he could even unleash 10 shots of Dragon Fire in an instant.

This was the perfect combination of the spirit-prompting threads and Lu Sheng’s terrifying medical skills.

As long as Moz’s stamina could hold out, he could continuously unleash Dragon Fire. After he was spent, the enchanted engraved formations would absorb the stray fire element from his surroundings on their own. After two days of charging, he would be able to use it again.

“Yes, Master!” The bear man stood up and gave the long hair all over his body a good shake. Then, he stood behind the two merchants.

The power of Civilization Transition enabled him to learn the basic terms quickly. However, his vocabulary was only limited to simple words. As for his combat skills, those were his natural instincts. After his intelligence was improved, all he needed was some basic guidance, and he successfully mastered the combat skills.

“Alright, you’re all dismissed.” Lu Sheng waved his hand.

The merchants and the bear man left the cave.

Lu Sheng sat by the little river alone, lost in thought.

Ever since he’d come into this world, he had collected many antiques and magic weapons. However, they contained less Mental Energy than he’d expected.

Up until now, he had only gathered tens of thousands of Mental Energy units. The magic weapons and antiques only contained several hundred units each. Some even contained as few as several units.

‘This is too little… If it was a regalia… maybe the Mental Energy content will be much higher…’ Lu Sheng was starting to have some ideas.

‘However, where can I get my hands on some regalia…’ If he had enough Mental Energy, he was sure that he could rank up further.

His last rank-up had consumed more than 9,000,000 units when he achieved the breakthrough to the Void Underworld tier. The Void Underworld tier were divided into more than 10 ranks and three main stages.

Currently, he was at the level where he had just established the reincarnation cycle of his Heart World.

After this, he would have to materialize his heart image and eventually gain the terrifying power to engulf the real world with his heart image like a master.

It was only at that stage that a Void Underworld being would be referred to as a planet-destroying overlord.

With a single strike, an entire planet could be destroyed.

‘If I derive the Qianshen Method further in its current state, it’s highly possible for the Heart World to be converted into an armored weapon, destroying worlds with a world blade.’

Lu Sheng remembered the huge blade Zhuang Jiu had showed him which cut a planet open. He could not help but feel his emotions fluctuate.

In his current state, the most he could achieve was to destroy all living beings on the surface of a planet. However, he could not destroy an entire planet just yet.

According to his inference, the masters at the peak of the Void Underworld tier could even destroy stars. Then, with the chain explosions of the planets[1. Remember that the author came up with a cosmic setting different from our normal physics.], they could even trigger the collapse of a galaxy.

Currently, Lu Sheng had no means of destroying a star.

A star was much greater than ordinary planets. They were not in the same size class.

‘Could this mean that gathering Mental Energy from the human society alone has reached its limits?’ Lu Sheng was hit with a sudden realization.

‘I now have the power to destroy all living beings on the surface of a planet. Just how much Mental Energy will I need to improve purely with Mental Energy? If I want to absorb Mental Energy from the society of the living beings on the planet… how long would it take?’

He stood up, feeling slightly agitated.

‘Looks like I have no choice but to get it from the gods… or maybe the ancient beast tribes…’

He suddenly realized that his rank was way too high. He was beyond the help of Mental Energy gathered over decades or centuries.

Unless it was a power collected from an entire civilization or from all the living beings on a planet, it would not be of much help to him.

‘Looks like I’ve been limiting myself all this while…’ Lu Sheng was hit with a sudden realization.

“Difanla,” he called out softly.

“My Lord!” A lanky grayish-brown figure slowly walked out from among the shadows.

This was a lizardman with a lizard’s head and a human body.

This was also one of the greatest fruits of Lu Sheng’s efforts throughout the years. He had modified an entire lizardman village into magical creatures.

Before this, the success rates of creating magical creatures was very low due to genetic mutations, organ rejections, inability to withstand the corrosion of magic power, and other reasons.

However, Lu Sheng had spirit-prompting threads and the support of his unbelievably immense spirit. In terms of precision, he far surpassed most of the Sorcerers in this world. On top of that, he had the help from Deep Blue’s derivations. He easily raised the success rate to the point where it neared 90%.

Currently, these 100 lizardmen experts were Lu Sheng’s most loyal guards.

“Pass on my order. From this moment on, bring every Lizard Tribesmen in the area to me, and I shall grant them new life!” Lu Sheng said in a deep voice.

The lizard man was overjoyed, and he started shouting, “Thank you, My Lord! Thank you, Master!”

Lu Sheng liked these lizardmen very much. Perhaps it was because he was a dragon this time, but these lizardmen had a deep sense of respect for him. After they were modified and put under the spirit-prompting threads’ control, the Lizard Tribe became extremely loyal to the point of throwing away their lives for him.

‘No wonder the other Dragon Tribes prefer to have vassals consisting of lizardmen and dog-headed men. It’s not without reason,’ Lu Sheng mused.

The lizardman obeyed his order and swiftly left the cave. Lu Sheng intended to take this moment to rest when a bright purple light shone beside him.

“Hmm? Intruders?” He turned to look at the cave wall. It was an alarm talisman for the traps he’d set outside the cave.

His voice barely faded when a series of purplish lights erupted on the walls.

“What speed!” Lu Sheng started. He knew very well just how powerful the arcane art traps he’d laid down were. If the intruder was capable of charging through them at this speed, it was clear that the intruder was extremely powerful.

“Boom!”

Suddenly, the right wall of the cave burst open. Sand and rubble shot into the cave and scattered all over the floor.

A tunnel had been cracked open in the wall. It was just enough for a human to pass through. A girl with golden curls in silver armor who carried a huge blood-colored sword walked into the cave slowly.

Two elven Sorcerers in sorcerer robes followed behind her.

“Oh? Not bad. At your age, it’s quite a commendable feat to be able to set up that many arcane art traps,” the girl spoke in her ice-cold voice as she fixed her gaze on Lu Sheng.

“Flower Ring?” Lu Sheng instantly recognized the Flower Ring marks the three of them wore.

“It’s good that you understand this. Alright, little fella, surrender yourself nicely, and you won’t feel much pain.” The girl wore a faint sneer.

“Surrender?” Lu Sheng suddenly raised his arm. Glaring golden flames erupted from his hand.

The flames shot out like a water blast as it rolled toward the girl, seemingly without end. At the same time, he opened his mouth and shot out hundreds of tightly packed lightning balls toward her.

The lightning balls began small, but they swiftly enlarged after they emerged.

In an instant, the interior of the cave turned into a world of fire and lightning.

“This is great! Looks like we’ve come to the right place!” The girl looked excited now. The flames and lightning balls which flew all over the place reminded her of the time when she rushed headlong toward the enemy’s Sorcerer troops on the battlefield.

She dragged her huge sword behind herself and charged forward. She leapt nimbly between the lightning balls and managed to steer clear of every single one of them.

The flames that shot toward her were also easily cleaved in two with a swing of her sword.

The goldilocks shone with faint purplish radiance. The silver armor she wore was covered in flowing black symbols which protected her from the high temperature and electricity in her surroundings.

In less than a second, she had avoided the lightning and flames and was now upon Lu Sheng. She brought her sword down heavily.

Lu Sheng looked up at the incoming blade and slowly struck a strange-looking pose.

“Looks like I’ll have to fight you myself…”

“Hm?” A look of puzzlement flashed past the girl’s eyes. She barely had the time to think when her eyes widened.

The young dragon before her shot up and spun its right leg. With lightning speed, it slipped past the opening under her blade and landed a firm kick on her belly.

“Rumble!”

The entire ground shook as a whitish-gray ring erupted in the air.

The goldilocks’ body hung in the air for an instant before she reeled and crashed into the cave wall with a loud boom.

Rocks shattered and the dragon cave’s wall was immediately penetrated, exposing the mountain rocks behind it.

The girl penetrated the rock bed as well. A black pit of unfathomable depth was created.

“You were good.” Lu Sheng swayed his tail as he walked toward the girl on two legs. “It’s been many years since someone forced me to use my actual strength…”

He had a faint look of admiration on his face.

“What do you say? Would you like to follow me? I can give you greater power.” Lu Sheng’s gaze pierced through the darkness and dust. He looked straight at the goldilocks who was currently covered in blood.

“Heh… Hehe… I’m… not beat yet!” The girl managed to push herself up. She panted heavily.

“I didn’t expect you to be able to stand after a hit from my Instant Destruction Fist Technique.” The admiration in Lu Sheng’s eyes grew denser.

“Who… Who are you!?” The goldilocks glared at Lu Sheng with a mixture of anger and shock. She did not believe that a mere young dragon would possess such powerful strength.

“Me?” Lu Sheng stopped in his tracks. “A long time ago, they called me the Devil Shadow. Fist Emperor, Devil Shadow.”

“Fist… Emperor!?”

The goldilocks was shaken. There was no such title in this world, but the mere sound of it made her understood the domineering properties and killing intent behind it.