Way of the Devil

“This hand…” Lu Sheng paid more attention to the arm this time, and realized it grew directly from the wall, and not from any person.

The rectangular gray wall was spotless. There were no scratches or cracks on it at all. But in such a place, cleanliness itself was a cause for suspicion.

After he realized this, Lu Sheng started avoiding walls and started to walk in the middle of the road. Now, there were no more black arm attacks.

He continued peacefully for a few miles before hearing the sounds of weapons clashing to the front of him.

Lu Sheng quickened his footsteps. He turned the corner around a round two-story temple and saw the fight.

Xie Yuqiong and her brother were fighting two black metal giants along with some members of the Youyin Sect.

Their weapons landed on the giants with loud clangs, but each strike dealt only minimal damage.

Xie Yuqiong formed hand signals one after another. Adjusting her True Qi, she threw out powerful paper spells to help her with the fighting.

Pale white flames shot out from in front of her towards the black metal giants, burning holes of different sizes on their bodies.

Xie Yusheng held a long sword and sat on the ground cross-legged. Three small white flags were set in the ground around him, moving in the wind. A faint circle of white light flowed out with him as the center.

Lu Sheng looked closer at the black metal giants and realized they weren’t made of metal at all. They were the Shut-eyed Monks he’d met before at the Black Ink Temple, but they seemed to use some sort of ability to enlarge and harden their skin. However, the blood still flowing out from their eyes revealed their identities.

“Crack!”

One of the girls from the Youyin Sect got punched in her right arm. With a crack, her arm bent at a strange angle. She grunted, moved it back, secured it, then waited for a few seconds. She could then use her arm again.

‘So there’s no limitation on the recovery ability the black membrane possesses. Just by dragging this out, they can kill the thing.’ Lu Sheng understood.

“Hurry, this way!!” Suddenly, more footsteps sounded. Figures leapt down from the roof amidst a flurry of yells.

These people all had the Spirit Bind Sect’s badge. Their expressions were serious as if they had gotten into some extremely troublesome matter.

One of them happened to be Long Jiu. He held a large, bloodied knife in his hand and carried a long golden hammer on his back. His messy hair was ruffled by the wind.

“Make them block it. Retreat!” he shouted.

Before his voice died down, the wall behind them exploded.

“Boom!!”

Rocks and tiles rained down. A silver-black monster with the lower body of a spider and the upper body of an ape rushed through.

“Hiss!!”

The monster roared at the people, its gaze fixed on Long Jiu and the other members of the Spirit Bind Sect. Its towering figure over three meters tall lumbered toward Long Jiu.

“Go!” Long Jiu’s entire body was trembling from fear the creature’s roar brought him. His gaze was solemn as he turned and shot away into the distance.

“Stop!” Suddenly, a large figure appeared in the way of the running members of the Spirit Bind Sect.

It was Lu Sheng. Holding his sword, he blocked their path.

“Girls stay. Guys leave!”

Long Jiu was first surprised, then furious. “The actual f*ck! Are you that crazy about girls? Why don’t you go die, then!?”

“You can go die, then.” Lu Sheng pulled out his sword. True Qi flowed out of him as a ten meter long stretch of Sword Qi shot out.

“Hiss!!!”

The white Sword Qi cut straight toward Long Jiu’s forehead.

With no other choice, Long Jiu raised his knife to block it. His True Qi outlined two defensive spells beside his knife. The green spells flashed, and the knife immediately became harder and heavier.

“Clang!!!”

The Sword Qi struck the knife fiercely.

A huge force rippled out. The nearby disciples of the Spirit Bind Sect didn’t even get time to react before being stunned and falling to the floor, the whites of their eyes showing.

Even the ape-spider that was chasing them paused due to the enormous force.

With a crack, the large knife in Long Jiu’s hand broke into pieces and fell to the ground. A sword light fell and sliced across him.

Long Jiu just stood there, unmoving. After a few breaths, a line of blood appeared in the middle of his body. With a hiss, his entire body split open from the middle and fell to his two sides. Blood and organs spilled everywhere.

Lu Sheng retracted his hand and looked toward the rest of the Spirit Bind Sect’s disciples present.

“Senior Apprentice Brother Long!!” A few apprentice brothers who were close with Long Jiu were furious. They pulled out their knives and ran at Lu Sheng.

Different hazy shadows of creatures appeared behind them as if they were summoning Yin Devils. These Yin Devils crouched on their backs and shot out toward Lu Sheng as they used their abilities.

Within a second, three or four black streaks of air shot toward Lu Sheng, transforming into the shapes of a snake, bull, and human.

“Chasing Sun, Wind Clearer Blade.” Lu Sheng raised his sword casually. Instantly, numerous rays of sword light burst out as if a peacock had unveiled its tail feathers. They accurately punctured all the black air.

The few people who let out the Yin Devils immediately fell to the ground, coughing up blood. They couldn’t stand up again.

“Coming to battle before even reaching the fourth vein in the Realm of Snake? Stupid.” Lu Sheng glanced at Long Jiu’s body, which was quickly dissipating.

Among the Spirit Bind Sect’s group, only this young man had some real strength. His previous strike was about sixth or seventh vein, but only that much.

There were only three men and two women left from the Spirit Bind Sect.

Gripping their weapons, they didn’t know whether to drop or use them, so they could only stand there awkwardly.

“Careful!” Suddenly, Xie Yuqiong’s voice sounded.

“Roar!!”

The ape-spider jumped toward Lu Sheng from his left, and the black metal giants from his right.

The two actually decided to ally and kill Lu Sheng, the biggest threat, first.

“Stealing Knife with Bare Hands!” Lu Sheng shouted, quickly moving his body to avoid the arms of the black metal giants. Just when a black metal giant was about to shoot over his head, Lu Sheng grabbed its lower right leg at lightning speed.

“Chasing Sun, Sword Illumination.”

“Boom!”

Grabbing the black metal giant like a huge sword, Lu Sheng swung it toward the ape-spider.

“Bang!!!”

A shield made of green smoke tried to form in front of the ape-spider, but before it could solidify, a huge black figure came crashing down on it, blocking its entire view.

Large cracks appeared on the ground. Only the bottom half of the black metal giant was still held in Lu Sheng’s hand. The other half had been completely integrated into the ape-spider and impossible to tell apart anymore.

Lu Sheng nodded in satisfaction. The move he’d just used wasn’t from the Chasing Sun sword arts, but something he interpreted from the stone slate.

‘So this is what it meant by everything can be used as a sword. So powerful.’ He thought back to his spark of understanding when he fought as ideas would suddenly fill up inside his head.

‘Maybe… I can understand a bit of the knife marks on the stone slate…’ In that moment, Lu Sheng’s thoughts exploded. New and different ways he’d never imagined before poured out. For a second, he even considered forfeiting the competition to return and contemplate the stone slate in seclusion, but he forced his impulse down.

Coming back to his senses, his gaze was a little distant as he looked toward the Spirit Bind Sect disciples.

“I finally understand… I finally understand…” Suddenly, Lu Sheng seemed to really understand something.

“You are a sword.

“You are a sword.

“You are also a sword.”

He pointed toward each of the Spirit Bind Sect people, thoughts and ideas forming and knitting in his mind. His expression become extremely serene.

“…”

“???”

The disciples from the Spirit Bind Sect were extremely confused. They started to think that they had met a crazy man.

Xie Yuqiong, her brother, and the rest of the Youyin Sect all watched Lu Sheng carefully, not knowing what he was thinking.

Lu Sheng glanced around at the people left. His body moved instantly, appearing in front of the Spirit Bind Sect people in just a few leaps. He called on his True Qi and shot out Sword Qi time and again.

With multiple cracks, all the hands and feet of these people were cut off. Lu Sheng also left True Qi on their joints to prevent them from healing.

Xie Yuqiong and the others froze in place. Originally, she was going to greet Lu Sheng, but seeing this, her heart tightened and her footsteps slowed.

Before, it was because Lu Sheng was unexpectedly strong, and she didn’t see when he’d appeared.

But now, it was due to Lu Sheng’s strange moves. The Spirit Bind Sect people had already given up completely, but he still broke all their limbs and froze the cuts with True Qi to prevent them from regrowing their hands and feet.

This was creepy.

“Is anyone in disguise? Show all your faces, or I’ll peel off your skin.” Lu Sheng glanced at the Spirit Bind Sect people, his gaze landing especially on the girls.

“Senior Apprentice Brother from the Thousand Sun Sect, warriors can be killed, but not insulted. It’s okay that you disqualified Senior Brother Apprentice, but don’t insult us. Just kill us,” one of the pretty female disciples said coldly.

“I’m looking for someone. Also, every time I see someone from the Spirit Bind Sect, I get upset.

“Don’t blame me. Blame one of your elders. I can’t touch them, but I can touch you.” Lu Sheng’s expression slowly calmed down, but his tone took on a hint of iciness.

Killing a prefectural elder from the Spirit Bind Sect in front of everyone would not be good. It would be hard to take care of. If they were in private, it would be a different story, but at the time, there was no way for him to attack Yuan Chengdao.

So, Lu Sheng was pissed when he walked through the door.

Seeing Long Jiu, he got even more pissed.

“And you guys.” Suddenly, Lu Sheng lifted his head and looked towards the rest of them. “All the girls, stay. If the guys try to run, I’ll cut off your limbs.”

Xie Yuqiong and the others were first shocked, then depressed.

They didn’t expect for Lu Sheng to turn against them too.

The few people from the Youyin Sect were especially confused, unable to understand what was going on.

A tall and skinny boy from the Youyin Sect stepped out, and demanded coldly, “This Senior Brother Apprentice… what… do you mean? Our Senior Sister Apprentice Gong Chi is nearby. Maybe you would like it if we told her your wishes.”

“Gong Chi?” Lu Sheng planted his sword into the ground next to him. “No need. Do you have emergency flares? Ignite one and tell her to come over.”