Way of the Devil

The people from the three sects waited on the square of the Black Ink Temple for a while.

In the distance, faint roars sounded. The noise was very loud, but came from very far away. Soon, people started flying toward the sounds to settle it. A few moments later, another group of people descended.

Under the leadership of the three sects’ elders, a group of tall and skinny people wearing masks quickly formed a circle next to the field. They were all wearing white robes with golden hems.

They closed their eyes and started chanting in low voices, switching hand seals quickly. Invisible waves of energy flowed off from them and merged together, forming a larger and larger transparent pattern.

Standing with the others, Lu Sheng could only faintly see the pulsing of the pattern, but not the details.

Xie Yuqiong and her brother were checking each other’s equipment, making sure they had all their talismans and weapons. Seeing Lu Sheng doing nothing, Xie Yuqiong walked over after a slight moment of hesitation.

“Junior Apprentice Brother, where are your supplies? Weapons, armor, flags…” She looked over Lu Sheng. She didn’t see anything.

“I have them elsewhere.” Lu Sheng smiled, retracting his gaze. “By the way, there should be a few powerful people among our three sects, right? I don’t know if we’ll see them once we go in.”

Xie Yuqiong nodded solemnly. “Sun Rongji and Long Jiu from the Spirit Bind Sect, as well as Li Mai, Li Qixiang, and Gong Chi from the Youyin Sect are all popular candidates. You’ll still win a great prize if you make into the top ten.”

“What about our Thousand Sun Sect?” Lu Sheng asked casually.

“Of course, Senior Apprentice Sister Zhangsun Lan is number one, as for the rest… there were the Eight Divine Prodigies, but they lost to Gong Chi from the Youyin Sect in the a Secret Area competition with the other three sects. Embarrassingly, two of them even surrendered…” When bringing this up, Xie Yuqiong couldn’t help grit her teeth.

Xie Yusheng was even more furious, “If I were one of the Eight Divine Prodigies, I would rather die than surrender. They’re a disgrace to the sect!”

Xie Yuqiong shook her head. “It’s not just them. I heard that someone sold Zhangsun Lan’s information to the other sects. Some inner disciples who have connections to higher-ups even paid the other stronger disciples to avoid battles and increase their rank.”

“Disgrace!” Xie Yusheng’s face was flushed. “Our Thousand Sun Sect uses the best of everything. No matter if it’s training, talismans, flag matrices, or the true essence tower… which one of these is not the best out of the three sects? Yet such a thing happened… if they really have money, why don’t they bribe the masters and avoid the Devil War?!”

Lu Sheng nodded slightly. He understood the atmosphere around here now. Everything was based on money. As long as money could solve the problem, there was no problem.

The numerous inner disciples in the Thousand Sun Sect displayed this aspect perfectly.

“That reminds me. During the last battle for rankings, someone actually tried to bribe the True Essence Palace secondary emperor. They offered a sky-high price to avoid being drafted into the army…” a man with purple hair beside them suddenly spoke up.

They were speechless.

“Okay, the transfer to the Other World will begin soon. Everyone, listen. The transfer destination is the inner quarters of the Black Ink Temple. The transfer door will open at any time. Everyone come get their number from me.”

At this time, the white-robed people finally constructed a huge transparent door that glittered like water.

A transparent arched tunnel slowly formed in front of the door. The three elders from the three sects stood in a line, with different forms of true Qi coming off of them and supporting the tunnel to prevent it from falling. The person who spoke was the first elder.

Soon, managers from the three sects walked out and organized the disciples on the field to get into orderly lines and walk through the tunnel. When the disciples walked past the three elders, they got an item from each. Then they walked into the huge, transparent door and vanished.

The Thousand Sun Sect was last, behind the Youyin Sect.

Lu Sheng paid careful attention to every young girl, but couldn’t find anyone who looked like his master Su Ningfei.

The line moved by quickly. No one suffered any delay. Soon, it was Thousand Sun Sect’s turn. A girl in blue carrying a large bow on her back was first. She walked into the tunnel and through the transparent door.

After her was a long line of disciples who were dressed lavishly. Although they all wore badges from the Thousand Sun Sect, their expressions were relaxed and their steps were light. It felt like as if they were going on a school trip rather than a ranking battle.

The Youyin Sect’s disciples presented a completely different picture. All of them were serious, and their faces filled with hatred. Some even carried weapons and armor that had been broken and fixed. It looked laughable, but every one of them was filled with rage and violence. No matter if they were a girl or guy, an aura of blood surrounded them. It froze every smile.

The Spirit Bind Sect disciples at the front, including Long Jiu and the others, were another story. If the Youyin Sect people seemed like fighters who would beat you up before talking, then the Spirit Bind Sect people were the mages who called on slaves to fight for them. They were mostly solemn, with occasional lapses of brutal, constrained glares.

After watching line after line go through, Lu Sheng could basically tell the three sects apart without even looking at their badges.

Soon, all the members of the Thousand Sun Sect before him had passed through. It was Lu Sheng’s turn.

Following the line, Lu Sheng hurried up after Xie Yuqiong and her brother walked in.

He got a golden badge from a bucket in front of the first elder and a black, wooden badge from the second elder.

He came to the third elder, an elder from the Spirit Bind Sect.

“Lu Sheng? You seem to be doing okay.” This elder was very young. Although he was wearing a mask, his youth showed through his voice. Different from the first two elders, he handed each metal badge to the disciple personally.

When it was Lu Sheng’s turn, he also took out a metal badge and handed it to Lu Sheng.

But when Lu Sheng was about to take the badge, he suddenly gripped the metal badge tightly.

“Do I know you?” Lu Sheng frowned and started examining the Spirit Bind Sect elder in front of him.

This elder was wearing a white monkey mask and wore a short shirt that was black with patterns of the sun on it. A short, dark brown staff was at his waist.

“I’m Yuan Chengdao, and my younger brother is Yuan Yingxiao.” The elder gave an ugly laugh as he suddenly lowered his head and whispered into Lu Sheng’s ear. His voice seemed to go straight into Lu Sheng’s ear.

“Tell me. How do you want to die?” Yuan Chengdao gently pushed the metal badge into Lu Sheng’s hand.

“After hiding for so long, do you think you can get away with it? I will slowly use the power of an elder and crush you to death… you can’t fight against me, for then you will be disrespecting an elder, disrespecting your seniors, disrespecting the three sects…

“You will soon understand that if I wanted to kill you, it would be as easy as crushing an ant. But then, it wouldn’t be fun anymore…”

Yuan Chengdao continued laughing in his creepy, piercing voice. “Little fellow, we’ll play this game slowly…”

Lu Sheng accepted his metal badge calmly and walked toward the transparent arched door.

He’d known he would get into trouble for killing the people from the Fierce Tiger Tribe, but he hadn’t expected them to appear here.

After he got to the door, Lu Sheng looked back at Yuan Chengdao. He was handing the metal badge to the next person. As if he felt Lu Sheng’s gaze, Yuan Chengdao tilted his face slightly and smiled at him.

“Don’t worry. When I come out, I’ll send you to meet your brother.” At the last minute, Lu Sheng also smiled and disappeared into the door.

***

Inner quarters of the Black Ink Temple.

The faded glow of the sunset illuminated all the buildings of the Black Ink Temple, cutting them in half from the left.

One half was black, the other dusky.

A huge statue over a thousand meters tall stood in the center among large clusters of gray temples.

The statue depicted three monks standing back to back. All of them were wearing hoods, their hands resting on staffs in front of them. Apart from stains on their robes, the entire sculpture was grayish-white.

With the statue as its center, circles of black and gray temple buildings radiated out, continuing until one couldn’t see them anymore.

A dot of white light slowly appeared at the bottom of the statue above an area of cracked tiles. The white light suddenly exploded, revealing the figure of a person.

It was a tall, sturdy young man. His defined muscles forced his black shirt into a piece of tight clothing. An ordinary gray sword was slung on his back.

“So this is the inner quarters of the Black Ink Temple.” The man was Lu Sheng, who was just transferred over. He glanced around, and seeing there were no signs of movement, quickly took out the three badges he got from before.

A metal, wooden, and golden badge.

Each badge was carved with a different character, Thousand, Bind, and You, respectively. These three badges would allow him to enter the resting spots of the three sects.

“From what I know, there are three resting spots created by ancestors of the three sects. These three places will act as the resting areas for the disciples of the three sects.” Lu Sheng remembered what Yuan Chengdao had said before Lu Sheng was transferred.

“The Spirit Bind Sect will send people to focus on me.” He looked at the sky. “I’ll go and check first.”

He slowly pulled out the sword from his back and jumped. The entire ground shook as Lu Sheng shot up into the air and toward the houses.

Buildings and houses flew past him. Every once in a while, the door would be open, leaving the bare houses in full view of passersby.

“This seems different from the Black Ink Temple. Are there no dangers here?” Lu Sheng was confused.

“Boom!”

Just as he’d thought this, the wall to his right was suddenly punched through. A black arm with three sharp silver knives on it reached through the wall and tried to grab his neck.

Lu Sheng moved his sword quickly and got there before the arm. He stabbed through the right wall.

A muted squelch sounded. Just when the black arm was about to reach his neck, it shot back by itself and completely vanished.

“Oh? I didn’t notice?” Lu Sheng peered through the hole, but saw nothing. He’d obviously hit something, but there was no trace on the floor or ground.

“Bang!”

Another arm smashed through the wall behind him and reached for his back.

“Chasing Sun, first move, Scattered Clouds.” Lu Sheng waved his wrist and slashed out a ball of white light that blocked his back.

The black arm and white light fought together, making clanging noises and sending out numerous sparks of transparent True Qi. Soon, the black hand was shredded to pieces like a candle.