Way of the Devil

Lu Sheng held the old man up and walked a slight distance to a cell nearby that smelled cleaner. Then, he sat down.

While the old man was not paying attention, he stuffed the pill from Wandering Heart Society into his mouth.

Lu Sheng ignored the change in the old man’s face color.

“Come on, eat it. Eat it and let me see what it does…”

He pressed his hand lightly on the old man’s chest. A trace of pure Yin Yang Jade Crane Aquarius Qi quickly entered his body and began invading every inch of the old man’s body rapidly.

Before long, an intricate and complex Yin Crane Web has formed in him which channeled the old man’s originally massive inner Qi into it.

That was Lu Sheng’s method. He would test out the pill on others. If it really worked, he would absorb the increased inner Qi through Yin Crane Web. That was a foolproof method.

Moreover, with so many severe offenders in the dungeon, Lu Sheng quickly thought of a plan. The experts in these prisons were the perfect supplements for him to upgrade his inner Qi cultivation!

Just the fourth story alone kept twenty to thirty criminals. Many of them had been put in there decades ago. Those put in any earlier were already dead.

Anyway, the severe offenders on the fourth story would die sooner or later. Lu Sheng intended to suck them dry of inner Qi before that happened. Recycling was good for the environment.

He was eager to see what heights he could achieve in his inner Qi cultivation after he had absorbed all the inner Qi of these experts.

After the pill entered his mouth, the old man began trembling. Large amounts of heat evaporated as steam from the crown of his head and fine red blood vessels popped up on his skin.

“PU!”

Abruptly, the old man spat out of a mouthful of blood. Untameable waves of inner Qi boiled and churned in his body.

Lu Sheng’s eyes lit up. He placed his hand on the old man’s forehead and inserted more traces of Yin Yang Jade Crane Aquarius Qi into his body.

Immediately upon injecting his inner Qi into the old man’s body, he felt that the old man had turned into a bomb ready to explode anytime.

Massive volumes of inner Qi were gushing out from the old man’s stomach like a geyser, spreading to his limbs and meridians in a frenzy.

If his body had been strong enough, another few dozens of this pill would have enabled him to attain the stage of Qi liquefaction. Unfortunately, however, the old man’s body was too pathetically weak.

Merely over a hundred years’ worth of inner Qi by pill, and it was already too much for him to handle.

“Save… save me…!” The old man’s eyes popped up, bloodshot.

Rapidly, Yin Crane Web built itself up in his body. Lu Sheng waited silently. About the span of ten breaths later…

“GASP!!”

In a rather ear-piercing breathing sound, the old man’s body trembled. His eyes rolled back and he blacked out instantly. Large amounts of inner Qi gushed out of his body, channeled into Lu Sheng’s palm under the guidance of Yin Crane Web

In just a few tied moments, the old man’s hundred years’ worth of Yang-attribute inner Qi was consumed and devoured by Lu Sheng thoroughly.

Lu Sheng released the old man’s body and breathed in deeply. A sea of inner Qi churned and circulated in a frenzy within him. All inner Qi that was incompatible with his aura was swiftly converted into Lu Sheng’s own inner Qi.

After some time passed, Lu Sheng’s body shook as a new drop of liquified Aquarius Qi congealed in his chest.

This drop of liquified Qi was the result of all the old man’s inner Qi coupled with the effects of the pill.

‘This rate of exchange… not bad. I should have come here to absorb inner Qi once Yin Crane Web was formed. But now’s not too late.’

Lu Sheng rose, ignoring the paralysed old man before him. He continued walking towards other cells.

He needed more criminals to suck inner Qi from.

Walking on ahead slowly, he saw many bloated corpses left in the cells, floating on the surface of the water. Some of them were still alive, but drained of their vigor and energy and thus not far from death. A few of them were even out of their mind. None of them were as good a choice as the old man was earlier.

Lu Sheng guessed that the old man must have been the last to be put in here, explaining the fact that he still had some strength left in him.

He completed his round in the entire story. Only about a dozen cells were still occupied; among them, only five prisoners had their inner Qi intact and complete. The rest of them were already near death, with their energy and vigor almost completely depleted, much more their inner Qi.

“The second.”

The second cell he chose was occupied by a female prisoner who was reduced to bags and bones. But her eyes were frighteningly bright.

The woman was naked, but the thick layer of mud and filth on her made it unthinkable for anyone to harbor any lustful thoughts towards her.

She stared at Lu Sheng with her unkempt hair falling all over her shoulders. Even with the cell door between them, Lu Sheng could still feel the robust vigor and energy in her.

“I heard the pitiful scream of the old fogey, Yang-Fixing Hand. Have you come to release us or have you come to test out your skills on us?” Her voice was hoarse, as if her vocal cords had been injured while she was young.

“I guess you can consider it testing skills.”

She was yet another Divine Prime. Just by standing above the cell door, Lu Sheng could feel the depths of inner Qi in her. The dungeon of the Number One Sect in the Northern Lands truly contained the likes of

And there he was, wondering how could it be that not even a single Divine Prime famed expert had appeared in the entire Northern Lands. It turns out that they did appear, but either met with some mishap or were locked in the dungeon.

Naturally, the culprit behind all these was none other than Zhen Family.

“I heard it. I heard you releasing Yang-Fixing Hand,” the woman said earnestly. “Are you releasing me too? Just like you did him?”

“What’s wrong?” Lu Sheng was surprised, puzzled by what she meant.

“I’m a little afraid,” the woman replied seriously. “I’m afraid that I might kill you once I come out. I suggest that you come with more experts and nail my hands and feet down first.”

Lu Sheng was stumped. Then, he laughed.

“You… you’re an interesting one.” He grabbed the iron bar, which was as thick as a man’s forearm, and pulled hard.

“Creak…”

In the horrifying creak of metal bending, two iron bars, each the width of a forearm, were forcibly pulled into an “O” shape by him. The woman stared dumbfounded.

Such strength was beyond the realm of human comprehension.

“Come on out.” Lu Sheng peered inside the cell.

The woman’s eyes lit up even brighter.

She glanced at Lu Sheng. Placing both her palms on the algae-covered walls, she jumped. In the blink of an eye, she shot out through the gap in the iron bars and landed lightly on the surface near Lu Sheng.

Lu Sheng saw the radiant sparkle in her eyes, as if she was suppressing some mysterious impulse in her.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

“Zhao Jiaojiao,” the woman replied earnestly.

“You’re something,” Lu Sheng handed out a rare compliment. “You’re even more of a something than that old fogey earlier.”

“Of course. Had I not sought out Zhen Family of my own accord to test out my moves, then failed and got captured, I would not land up here,” Zhao Jiaojiao said, looking like a normal human being.

“How long have you been locked up here?” Lu Sheng asked in curiosity.

“I don’t know. Maybe twenty years. Maybe fifty years. I don’t bother remembering such things anymore,” Zhao Jiaojiao remarked casually. “Now that you’ve released me, what do you intend to do?”

“I was planning to cripple your cultivation base,” Lu Sheng grinned. “But now I’ve changed my mind.”

“SWISH!”

He disappeared in a flash and appeared behind Zhao Jiaojiao instantly, like teleportation. He struck her in the middle of her back with his palm.

“BOOM!”

By reflex, Zhao Jiaojiao’s body trembled. A massive wave of tyrannical inner Qi gushed out of her body. Astonishingly, it raged even more intensely than Ultimate Crimson Nine Furies Skill! It was like a bomb that would explode at a single touch.

“BOOM!! BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!!”

Copious balls of inner Qi, like fist-sized balls of white light, exploded on Lu Sheng’s body, sending violent tremors across the walls of the dungeon.

The deafening blasts reverberated throughout the dungeon. If any ordinary mortal were to be present, his eardrums would be shattered instantly.

But they were of no effect whatsoever to the both of them.

Zhao Jiaojiao attempted to turn around. But strong as she might have been, the difference between their strength was too vast.

Before she managed to turn even half her body, an overwhelming wall of inner Qi blasted into her body, instantly overrunning all her lines of inner Qi defence.

An intricate, complex Yin Crane Web swiftly formed in her body.

***

About two hours later, Lu Sheng strolled out of the dungeon with Zhao Jiaojiao under a black cloak behind him.

All the prisoners left in the dungeon had their inner Qi sucked dry by him, apart from Zhao Jiaojiao. Without the support of their inner Qi, these prisoners languished and died after Lu Sheng had sucked the inner Qi out of them.

At this point of time, Zhao Jiaojiao was the sole survivor of the entire fourth story of the water dungeon.

“Go wash yourself first. Someone will bring you to me. Do not attempt to run. You’re too clever to think that it would do you any good,” Lu Sheng said calmly.

“I, Zhao Jiaojiao, am no such fool.” Zhao Jiaojiao smiled.

“Then we’ll get along well.” Lu Sheng nodded. He summoned a guard and relayed some instructions. Shortly, a few female disciples came and led Zhao Jiaojiao away to wash her. He, on the other hand, headed straight for his study.

After absorbing the inner Qi of all the prisoners on the fourth story, he now possessed nearly four hundred years’ worth of Aquarius Qi. Four drops of liquefied Qi spun slowly in his chest, completely suppressing Ultimate Crimson Nine Furies Skill’s Yang-attribute liquefied Qi.

‘The troublesome thing is… all the inner Qi converted by Yin Crane Web is Aquarius Qi. Only Yin-attribute inner Qi has grown. I’ve got to find a method of conversion that balances Yin and Yang…. That’s right! Balance Yin and Yang!!’

Lu Sheng suddenly recalled that one of the effects of Yin Yang Jade Crane Aquarius Qi was to balance Yin and Yang. The core principle behind this martial art was to nourish the Yang with the Yin so as to establish equilibrium between Yin and Yang, in the first place.

‘Since Aquarius Qi could convert Yang-attribute inner Qi earlier, it should be able reverse-engineer the process.’

After absorbing four hundred years’ worth of inner Qi in one sitting, Lu Sheng was now feeling rather bloated.

He entered the study and immediately shut his eyes to meditate, researching how to convert his inner Qi to the Yang-attribute.

“Xu Chui greets Sect Master.” Before long, Xu Chui, who was now already in Spirit Focus, entered slowly and knelt on one knee.

“I’ve a task for you,” Lu Sheng said emotionlessly without opening his eyes.

“Please give your instructions, Sect Master.” Xu Chui bowed his head in reverence.

“Take a sufficient number of men and pay a visit to Mountain Tiger Clan, who has been secretly going against our Crimson Whale Sect. Arrest all their experts and put them in the dungeon. Remember, I only want the experts. The inner force experts,” Lu Sheng instructed.

“Yes, sir!” Xu Chui acknowledged.

Ever since his previous return, he had taken over full control of Soaring Eagle Squad. His strength alone in his ordinary state was already more than a match for the experts of Mountain Tiger Clan, not to mention his trump card—the present Xu Chui could instantly transform into a Divine Prime expert.