Way of the Devil

Half a month later…

The Great Yin Dynasty, 3465 meters above Wang City.

“Whoosh!”

A crimson sword that looked like it was made from rubies, with a two-headed snake formed by three blue flames on its blade, was giving off a hissing burning sound.

The longsword slashed through the sky, creating a bright red mark.

Yuanguang Rong gently pulled back the longsword and looked down at the wide expanse of Wang City.

Grayish-white buildings spread out beneath her feet in distinguishable layers, as if they were wooden toys that would break easily.

In the distance, a group of dark blue eagles was circling the Star Tower in Wang City.

From Yuanguang Rong’s angle, those tiny blue dots were like nothing at all.

A figure of a man made from clouds appeared beside Yuanguang Rong, and asked softly, “Rong, that Juanheng from Great Song has returned. What do you want to do with her?”

“She sowed over a hundred seeds at once in Great Song, so her return must mean that she reached the number of the awakened. Currently, there are too many empty spots in the family due to constant wars, so put her in charge of Ming City. What do you think?” Yuanguang Rong responded.

She looked like a normal 20 year old. She didn’t have extreme beauty or a really great body, but her long, red hair was as bright as the burning flames, attracting much attention.

No one could tell that she was one of the Divine Weapon Masters of one the top three strongest families in Great Yin, the Yuanguang Family.

“It’s up to you, since its your descendant. What you want to do with her is your choice,” the cloud man replied. “What about the Devil Disaster over at Great Song…?”

“Ignore it,” Yuanguang Rong said calmly. “After Juanheng returns, tell her to manage that area.”

“Then what about Qinyu?” The man was surprised.

“Qinyu… if he agrees to cut ties completely with that woman, I will consider letting him continue to control the Star Tower,” Yuanguang Rong responded.

“… Qinyu is also one of your children. You’re so harsh…” The man sighed.

“If he wasn’t my son, he would have been dead long ago.” A cold smile appeared on the corner of Yuanguang Rong’s mouth.

***

The Prime Devil Sect.

Lu Sheng stood on a ledge on a high spot within the cave. From this position, he could see the entire Prime Devil Sect square clearly.

He made this ledge himself as a sort of watch platform.

His master, Liu Shanzi, was behind him, also sitting on this platform behind a white jade desk. He slowly spread open a yellowing ancient map.

In the top right corner of the map was the year it was made, and who it was made by: First year of Great Song, by Emperor Mingxuan.

This was something that had been here since the start of the Great Song Dynasty a thousand years ago.

“Since you’ve decided to move, this map will finally be useful.” Liu Shanzi slowly unraveled the map, blowing on it gently from time to time to get rid of the dust.

“Master, you really do have a lot of treasures, you even have something like this.” Lu Sheng smiled.

“This is just one I drew and edited when I was traveling the lands when I was younger. So don’t take it too seriously.” Liu Shanzi also smiled. “That reminds me. Maybe you don’t know, but this world is round. If you walk from one spot directly forward, you can theoretically get back to the same spot. That’s why when you look at the horizon on the sea, the ships seem to come up slowly from under.”

“Oh!?” Lu Sheng was surprised. He didn’t expect Liu Shanzi to be so modern. But, it made sense. Everything after the realm of the Snake was supernatural, and the higher the level, the more supernatural powers. So, having such thoughts wouldn’t be surprising.

Liu Shanzi finally spread out the map and pointed towards it. “Our Great Song is on the South Continent. On the whole southern continent, there are only three large kingdoms: Great Chen, Great Yin, and Great Song.

“Great Chen and Great Yin are enemies, and due to geographical benefits, our Great Song is pretty much excluded and also much weaker, so we have never initiated much contact with the other two.

“As for the rest of the kingdoms, like the Ju Rong Nation, although they all have some power, because their countries are all small and don’t possess enough resources, they are not the best places to move to.”

Lu Sheng walked over to take a closer look at the map.

Great Song was located on the bottom, and the two huge lands right above it were Great Yin on the left and Great Chen on the right. There was a thick black line between these two.

“This line is the Lightless Sea, which is formed by multiple mountains and hills. It looks really thin here, but it is actually half as big as Great Song. It’s very dangerous and known to be the territory of demons and devils.”

“There should be roads going through, right?” Lu Sheng asked casually.

“Of course, but not a lot. Because of the distance, there are no guards or sentries, so everyone has to take care of their own safety,” Liu Shanzi explained.

“In that case… Let’s go to Great Yin.” Lu Sheng’s finger landed lightly on Great Yin’s position on the map. “Great Yin is actually closer than Great Chen if we take this route.” He drew a straight line from Great Song to Great Yin.

“This… the road is long, and we’ll have to pass through many dangerous areas, so…” Liu Shanzi was hesitant.

“Don’t worry, I’ll lead the way.” Lu Sheng didn’t think it was a problem.

“That’s true. With you here, we wouldn’t need to worry.” Liu Shanzi nodded, “Oh yeah, what about the North?”

“If everything goes according to plan, I’ll move them as well. It’s just that there are a lot of people, so I need some time to organize it and make plans…”

Lu Sheng didn’t finish as flapping of wings sounded behind him. He turned around and saw a pure white pigeon fold its wings and walk along the edge of the platform.

Lu Sheng reached out and grabbed the paper strip on the pigeon’s foot.

He opened the paper and read it, then paused for a second.

“Master, I need to go down for a bit.”

“Go, go. I’ll take this time to rest.” Liu Shanzi waved him off.

Lu Sheng nodded and backed away. Then, he leapt from the platform towards the Cultivation Loft in the distance.

The Cultivation Loft was built for the disciples to lock themselves in and cultivate, so although it looked like an attic, it was only the entrance. The insides were completely underground.

When he landed, Li Shunxi was already waiting for him there.

“Brother Lu, are you really moving?” Li Shunxi was dressed in all white, with beads of sweat still on his forehead. He obviously had just run here. He was only a normal human, and if not for all the special opportunities he got that enhanced his body, he wouldn’t be able to withstand this environment full of Prime Devil Qi.

Hence, after exerting himself, he was on the brink of collapsing now.

“Yup.” Lu Sheng nodded. “Why?”

Li Shunxi was silent for a bit, then turned around suddenly. “Follow me! I want to show you something.” After saying this, he hurried towards the Cultivation Loft.

Lu Sheng followed closely. The two entered the building, and followed the curving stone tunnels into a slightly larger stone chamber. Li Shunxi shut the door, then locked it, and lit the lights on the wall.

The two sat down on two cushions in the center of the stone room and looked at each other.

“Brother Lu, do you mind me calling you this way?” Li Shunxi spoke in a low tone.

“You don’t have to worry about such things with our friendship.” Lu Sheng watched him calmly, not knowing what he was trying to do.

“Okay, then I will show you this.” Li Shunxi also stopped being reserved. He stretched out his right palm and sliced it quickly. A line of blood formed in thin air, and large amounts of blood started seeping through it.

The dark-red blood dripped down his palm, but none of it hit the floor.

All the blood evaporated mid-air, forming a red fog that rose up and became a red mirror between the two.

The surface of the mirror glittered, and the face of an old man slowly appeared. What was strange about him was that there was a pair of buck horns on his head.

“This is…?” Lu Sheng didn’t know why Li Shunxi showed him this person.

“This is one of the previous faces I saw. It belongs to someone behind the Devil Army,” Li Shunxi said seriously. “You know that I have the Jade of Secrets and can see the future. Before, when Nine Cities fell into chaos, I thought the future was set. But then you came, and everything changed. The history got changed…”

“You’re saying this person is related to the history you saw?” Lu Sheng was taken aback.

“In the future I saw, this person planned the opening of the Gate of Flesh and Blood, and was the culprit for causing Great Song and all the neighboring nations to fall victim to the Devil Disaster.

“In the future, he’d send out multiple Devil Lords to take over the lands in Great Song bit by bit, then complete a mass offering to communicate with an even higher realm. He completely changed the human world and made it into one of the Devil World’s external havens,” Li Shunxi explained.

Li Shunxi then sighed. “The Leaf Sect has already contacted me, and I have agreed to work with them to try to stop this person from invading the human world.”

“So why did you come find me?” Lu Sheng asked, confused.

Lu Shunxi first paused, then asked desolately, “Great Song is our home and birthland. Brother Lu, do you not want to save it at all?”

“No.”

“…”

Li Shunxi did not expect for Lu Sheng to be so direct.

When the Leaf Sect contacted him, they mentioned Lu Sheng’s personality, and told him that the chance of him convincing Lu Sheng would be extremely small.

Looking back, the strong people from the Leaf Sect weren’t wrong.

“Right now, people as powerful as Brother Lu are very rare in Great Song. If even you leave, then it will be a big hit to all the other strong people still here.” Li Shunxi tried to persuade him.

“So what?” Lu Sheng said. “My path ¹ , my choice. I know it will cause a lot of reactions, but when you make a decision, you also have to bear all the consequences of that decision. Everyone should be like that.”

Li Shunxi paused for a bit, then continued, “If we want to close the three Gates of Flesh and Blood, then we first have to block the Devil Spirit, King of Nothingness, and Huang Fu, yet there are almost no counters to the King of Nothingness’s escape skills. So Lin Beikai from the Lin Family is heading towards the Myriad of Demons Palace to borrow the Potion of Demon Wisdom to try to limit his escape capabilities. I will follow him. If, Brother Lu, you are willing—”

“I’m sorry, I’m not interested in these,” Lu Sheng interrupted him.

Li Shunxi looked at him helplessly.

Honestly, he already saw the outcome of this trip to the Myriad of Demons Palace. It was a complete failure. Because of that, they weren’t able to close the Gate of Flesh and Blood, leading to the descent of the Devil Spirits and the complete destruction of Great Song. Reinforcements from other nations never came, and under the increasingly terrible conditions came about a catastrophe he just saw not long ago from the future: the Devil’s Endless Abyss.

Many Devil Spirits allied together and opened the Devil’s Abyss, letting out countless Devil Qi and poisoning everything. It led to over eighty percent of Great Song’s lands becoming barren, and all life was infected and turned into devils. And the millions of living creatures being tortured and in pain further led to the opening of the door in that realm… finally causing that frightening existence to descend.

And the start of this all was this trip to the Myriad of Demons Palace.