Way of the Devil

“It’s just a short way from here to White Bell City. Everyone will be together. I don’t think there will be any problems. Yes, we can do this,” Grand Elder Liu Shanzi said. “Anyways, even if we did choose a different way, it wouldn’t work. There’s only a single path down the mountain from here to White Bell City. Only after we reach White Bell City can we go off on our own.”

“There is only one path?” Lu Sheng asked; he didn’t expect that.

Liu Shanzi thought for a moment, and then responded, “Right. To be precise, there is only one way that is close, the others all require a long detour.”

“Teacher, you decide,” Lu Sheng said after thinking for a moment.

In any case, if this many people were to walk together, then there probably wouldn’t be any accidents. The inconvenience would come in the second part of the journey—after reaching White Bell City, they’d have to switch routes.

“Ok, you guys go ahead and pack up, I’ll arrange carriage seats for us.” Liu Shanzi turned around and left the courtyard.

Lu Sheng and He Xiangzi quickly packed up and prepared to leave.

When they were about halfway done, Chen Yunxiang rushed over to say that she already arranged a group of carriages that were ready to go down the mountain along with the upper three grades sects. She asked the two if they wanted to go together or not.

When he heard of this, Liu Shanzi came back and promptly decided to join them—the faster, the better.

The Jade Sound Clan’s connections were plenty, and many of the experts’ female relatives all came from the Jade Sound Clan. So when given the chance, they’d always take care of the clan members very well. Being able to arrange the carriages so quickly wasn’t that much of a surprise.

After the Prime Devil Sect and the Jade Sound Clan decided to go together, the Fine Garden Sect and a small sect that was never heard of before also joined in. Most likely, they both used their connections with the Jade Sound Clan to be able to leave earlier.

After the three people from the Prime Devil Sect met with the master of the Jade Sound Clan, they got two carriages from her and successfully set out on their journey.

Because of the carriages provided by the Jade Sound Clan, a few sects joined together to form a small group and began to descend from the lone peak of the Heaven Lotus Sect, heading in the direction of the White Bell City at a moderate pace.

***

A cold wind was gently blowing.

In the light yellow plains between the Heaven Lotus Sect and the White Bell City.

Lin Huandao rode on a pure black steed called “Night Like Flight”, but slowed to a trot near a giant weathered rock.

“Night Like Flight” was an excellent breed from the distant Gale Dynasty. Because it could run hundreds of li[1] at night, boasted night vision, and could gallop through rough terrain, it was highly esteemed by the Noble Song Dynasty.

It was just that this kind of horse was extremely difficult to raise, and the grass it ate needed to be grown and cut in the faraway southern forest land.

Lin Huandao carried a silver-white battle ax, whose edge was shining with dim silver light. There was a coiled golden snake on the handle, twisting and turning as if it were alive.

“Hoo…”

He spat out a long breath; white mist spread out from his mouth, slowly disappearing into the air.

“The young master must be thinking that I will take action near the end of the road.”

“Don’t tell me you won’t?” A child’s voice came from behind the horse.

“Of course not.” Lin Huandao turned around and looked behind him.

A small demon with a human body and a snake’s head stood on the grass right behind him.

The demon’s form was strange and completely different from normal snake demons.

It had a total of three heads: a green-blue snake head in the middle and, respectively, a little boy’s and a little girl’s head for his left and right heads.

The strange thing was that both human heads wore a strange, stiff smile.

“You came, Chong Yuezi.” Lin Huandao was obviously used to the demon’s strange shape. Noble Families befriended demons fairly often—each of them having their own shape was the norm.

“It seems that we arrived at the same time.” In the other direction, an old man carrying a bamboo basket and wearing a bamboo hat was slowly walking step by step with a hunched back towards the side and then stood there.

“An Nu is also here. It’s about time.” Lin Huandao looked up at the sky. “The Eastern Talent Sect and the Mirage Water Palace are both hard bones to crack. I will go cut down the Mirage Water Palace; as for you two, you decide.”

The three-headed snake monster, Chong Yuezi, looked at the old man in the bamboo hat.

“I’ll go to the Eastern Talent Sect.”

“No, it should be me who goes to the Eastern Talent Sect. It just so happens that the leader of the team this time—the master of Spring Island—and this old and useless one are old friends,” An Nu retorted.

“I’m not interested in weaklings.” Chong Yuezi seemed a bit impatient.

“Unfortunately, this one feels the same way. The brain tissue of weaklings tastes so bad that it’s hard to swallow,” said An Nu with a grim laugh.

As one of the great demons who had made peace with the Lin Family, both were top-level powerhouses who were leaders of a region. This time, Lin Huandao invited them from far away to join him in a big scheme. This was completely driven by his interests, and picking weak partners for his plan would only mean that the reward at the end of it all would be very little.

Among great demons, strength was held in high esteem. Strong ones were respected and fighting hand-to-hand against strong opponents was an honorable event. At this point, when it came to interest, both of them would only be even more unwilling to back down.

“How about this, we’ll put the Hundred Temperings Sect and the Prime Devil Sect together to deal with both of them as one,” Lin Huandao suggested.

“That’s satisfactory.”

“That’s good!”

Both demons approved of this distribution.

“If it is possible, please catch sect masters alive. These sects must possess Divine Weapons inside their inner regions, otherwise we wouldn’t have suffered such a great loss last time. We need to find out the whereabouts of the Divine Weapons from the disciples,” Lin Huandao warned.

“I hate living things… Fine, I choose the Hundred Temperings Sect and the Prime Devil Sect then,” the three-headed demon said unhappily.

“There isn’t much time left. Let’s move,” said Lin Huandao softly.

The two demons looked at each other and slowly turned in two different directions.

Lin Huandao watched the two walk away until they disappeared from sight—only then did he put his hand behind his back to grip the battle ax on his back, slowly pulling it out. He then started to walk in the opposite direction.

The Mirage Water Palace wasn’t just a pushover, so a good plan was necessary.

***

Lu Sheng sat upright in the carriage with his Devil Qi slowly flowing through his blood vessels, causing his face to glow with a hint of blackness.

The Ultimate Crimson Nine Furies Skill activated alongside the Devil Qi continuously. Both were under the active control of Lu Sheng, and the rate of progress was completely kept at the same level.

The veins and blood vessels were nourished at the same time, making him feel as though his body was slowly transforming into something more powerful.

The carriage traveled slowly, with the occasional bump or jolt resulting in a small tremble. Occasionally, Chen Yunxiang’s laughter could be heard from outside. There were several students from various sects gathered outside, having—contrary to what others might expect—a great time during their idle conversation.

Lu Sheng didn’t like to waste time by getting together like this. In his opinion, the time spent chatting would have been better spent cultivating so that you wouldn’t feel regretful when you found yourself in trouble yet lacked strength.

From the start to the end of the Meeting, apart from the fact that he initially won a few games, from the middle until the end, Lu Sheng was just wandering around, always staying in his room to cultivate without going out to interact with others.

In the end, even the teacher—Liu Shanzi—couldn’t stand it. In fact, after Lu Sheng revealed his physical strength, Liu Shanzi saw some hope.

With Lu Sheng’s matchless and unreasonably strong physique that he was “born” with, paired together with the highly flexible Devil Qi from the Prime Devil Sect and his innate talent for using secret techniques, the Prime Devil Sect would have soon enough raised a pinnacle first seat that would shock everyone.

It was especially after he asked He Xiangzi about what sorts of methods Lu Sheng used to defeat his enemies that his eyes started to shine. A genius that was so well-suited for close quarters combat would have been extremely popular even if he were a part of a sect in the Upper Three Grades, but the Prime Devil Sect? That didn’t even have to be mentioned!

“Knock. Knock. Knock.”

Suddenly, someone knocked on the carriage door.

Lu Sheng slowly opened his eyes from his meditation.

“Who is it?”

“It’s me, Shengya.” The voice of Yue Shengya came in from outside the carriage.

“Please come in.” Lu Sheng slowly restrained his power and adjusted his sitting position.

The door of the carriage slowly rolled open. Yue Shengya smiled brightly, then went inside the carriage and took a look around.

“Junior Apprentice Brother, is it just you? That’s quite convenient.”

She walked over to sit cross-legged in front of Lu Sheng and took out a copper book from her sleeve.

“This is the proof of ownership for the Red Sun Iron Mine, which is recorded in this book. The exact location and how many years it has been actively extracting materials are all recorded in here.”

Lu Sheng slowly reached out to receive the copper book, then flipped through the pages a bit. The exact location of the mine, the name of the owner, the approximate output, the maximum storage and other information were all written in the document. The mine was already listed under his name.

“Thank you.”

He received the book and put it away.

“Junior Apprentice Brother Lu, when you stay inside the carriage like this alone and refrain from going out to chat and having fun with everyone, don’t you feel depressed or bored?” Yue Shengya asked with a smile.

“It’s okay,” Lu Sheng said, not caring at all. “I got used to being alone like this a long time ago.”

“Aren’t you married? Why don’t your family members accompany you?” Yue Shengya asked in a soft voice.

“After I settle down, I plan on taking them to the Central Plains. The Northern Territories… no matter what aspect it may be, there really is a huge difference when compared to the Central Plains,” Lu Sheng said simply.

Yue Shengya nodded at him. “That’s true. Whether it’s the academy entrance exams, the people’s residences, or even the different experiences in different aspects, the Northern Territories come short of the Central Plains in all of them. What a pity, had my family not been so deeply rooted in the south, I would have planned on living in the Central Plains too…”

“Boom!”

Suddenly, there came the deafening sound of an explosion outside.

The carriage was violently brought to a stop. The horses were scared into neighing loudly, and all of them stopped in place. The carriage was shaking as well, refusing to regain its balance.

This sound of the explosion was so strong it could even make people’s hearts stop for a brief moment.

Lu Sheng quickly opened the curtains and looked in the direction of the sound.

Under the gray sky, there was an unending stream of dense black smoke rising into the sky amidst a barely visible distant sect team.

“That is the location of the… Eastern Talent Sect.” Yue Shengya frowned. “Did something happen?”

“The Eastern Talent Sect is one of sects within the upper three grades, it shouldn’t run into an accident easily,” Lu Sheng muttered. “Or maybe something unexpected happened.”

“Could it be an explosion due to their secret techniques going out of control? I’ve heard that there’s a type of constitution that can make power from Bloodlines extremely unstable among the geniuses within the Upper Three Grades—no matter how much they may develop their Bloodline power, it’d always result in an explosion,” said Yue Shengya while laughing.

“Even something like this can happen?” Lu Sheng was amazed; he’d never read about anything like this in a book before.

***

The Eastern Talent Sect’s team.

Carriages were scattered everywhere, piles upon piles of black ash and burnt corpses lying near them.

The leader of the team, the master of Spring Island, was nowhere to be found; of the disciples under him, only three survived out of a total of 32 students—even then it was because they’d gone to other sects to see their relatives.

“The duration of the attack was extremely short. Everything was over in but a few blinks.”

Lao Xufeng, the leader of the West Infinity Court, crouched down to check the black ash on the ground with a displeased face.

“Someone able to strip the master of Spring Island, a master in the snake realm, of any means of resistance within a single moment… Nobody in our team can contend against such power.

We must return to the sect as soon as possible. Otherwise, unless the first seat of our sect is present, none of us can even come close to matching the murderer in strength!”

“Is it that serious? Couldn’t it be that the master of Spring Island is pursuing the murderer and that’s why we can’t find him?” a male sect master from a sect within the Lower Three Grades asked in a gloomy voice.