Way of the Devil

 “Out, of course!” Sun Rongji said wearily. “I need to use the True Essence Tower to nourish my body for a while before going back out.”

“Weren’t you so arrogant just a second ago?” Zhangsun Lan smiled coldly at Sun Rongji. “Something along the lines of eliminate me first so that I wouldn’t interfere with your duel? Then what happened? Or did you fall after my senior apprentice brother made just a single move?”

“My arrogance came from my confidence in my own strength. I’m not dumb,” Sun Rongji said seriously.

“Can you beat my senior apprentice brother?” Zhangsun Lan seemed very good at making friends. Even though Lu Sheng had just extorted 50,000 Devil Gold from her, she was still in a great mood. 50,000 wasn’t a small amount, but was a very worthy price for a top three ranking.

Plus, she got to watch Sun Rongji and Li Mai get beaten to a pulp for free.

Sun Rongji’s confidence immediately dropped, but he managed to smile. “I can’t right now, but that doesn’t mean I can’t in the future.”

“You can’t in the future, either,” Lu Sheng interjected on the side.

Zhangsun Lan immediately laughed out loud.

“Senior Apprentice Brother, you…” Sun Ronji wearily looked at Lu Sheng.

Fighting was one thing, but it was obvious how close the three major sects were from how they acted after this incident.

Lu Sheng stared at them and felt as if he was back at the Prime Devil Sect—back then, he didn’t have the shrewdness nor the strength he possessed now, but he wasn’t so solemn and cruel, either.

A couple years had passed since the first time he stepped into the Prime Devil Sect, but all that happened in the blink of an eye… Even though it wasn’t that long, he still felt as if it was eons ago.

“Senior Apprentice Brother, you are so ruthless. You looted all the savings I collected over these years in one go.” Sun Rongji very much respected Lu Sheng. “Senior Apprentice Brother is probably the number one inner sect disciple in the whole of Moling.” He was quite a reasonable person. His eyes were clear, looking as if his recent defeat had not made him envious or frustrated at all.

Even Zhangsun Lan on the side glanced at him, surprise flashing across her beautiful eyes.

“I’ve been in need of money lately.” Lu Sheng shook his head. “Just don’t blame me when you get out.” His face was strange.

“What?” Sun Rongji didn’t have the time to react before three rays of white light shot out of the white whirlpool. They landed on the three people, wrapped around them, and flew back into the white whirlpool.

***

“Hiss! Puff, puff!”

Three rays of white light shot out of the invisible door, landed on the ground, and formed three shapes.

They were Lu Sheng, Sun Rongji, and Zhangsun Lan.

As soon as the three of them appeared, everyone on the training ground focused their attention on them like spotlights.

Especially on Lu Sheng. Countless amounts of wounded in the corners of the training ground stared at him with a mix of anger and respect. This was especially true for the Spirit Bind Sect area.

Luckily, everyone fought in a fair manner, and none of the people who were eliminated by Lu Sheng complained, though their senior apprentice brothers and sisters were quite curious about him.

But the curiosity didn’t last long. Soon, all eyes turned back onto the screen. The battle for the silver key was about to start.

“Rongji, come here,” Cave Master Jiuwei from the Spirit Bind Sect said lightly.

Sun Ronji walked toward the Spirit Bind Sect with a solemn expression. Soon, he stood in front of Cave Master Jiuwei and started to report the situation with a lowered head.

“That’s enough, I’ve seen everything already. That man is indeed way stronger than you.” Caver Master Jiuwei didn’t blame Sun Rongji for his loss. Plus, he had always been proud of his nephew’s honest and reasonable style. Though that went against the style of the Spirit Bind Sect as a whole, and he didn’t get first place, Cave Master Jiuwei was still content with it.

In truth, he’d never expected Sun Ronji to get first place to begin with.

“Lanlan.” Master Yuan Zheng waved at Zhangsun Lan.

Zhangsun Lan held out her fist at Lu Sheng.

“Senior Apprentice Brother Lu, I will go first.” As power trumped everything else, she still called Lu Sheng “senior apprentice brother” in spite of the fact that she had entered the sect way before him.

“Go.” Lu Sheng nodded, and was about to leave and rest.

In theory, this was only a temporary break, and all of them should go to the resting area arranged by all three sects, but Zhangsun Lan and Sun Rongji both had special status and were exceptions.

A couple attendants from the three sects surrounded Lu Sheng and helped him put on a casual robe to cover the tattered clothing beneath. He then left the training ground, crossed some streets, and walked toward a courtyard surrounded by layers of light barriers. Inside were food and other commodities, as well as various medicinal powder and remedies the three major sects had prepared..

“Wait!”

Suddenly, a voice stopped him from behind when Lu Sheng was about to enter the courtyard.

Lu Sheng looked toward the voice. He saw Yuan Chengdao from the Spirit Bind Sect lightly jump down and land not far from him, staring at him tightly.

“Elder Yuan? How can I help you?” Lu Sheng raised his eyebrow, acting as if he didn’t know Yuan Chengdao at all and was talking to an ordinary stranger.

“Only ten Spirit Bind Sect disciples passed… thanks to you!” Yuan Chengdao’s tone was icy cold, and he stared at Lu Sheng with a hint of menace.

“Then what does Elder Yuan want? Fight me? Teach me a lesson?” Lu Sheng let out a strange smile.

“Why not?” Yuan Chengdao laughed coldly. “You think you are guaranteed to get the first place? That’s why you are acting so brave? Or do you think I won’t kill you?”

“I wouldn’t dare have those thoughts.” Lu Sheng shrugged. “Elder Yuan is very powerful. I don’t know what else I can do other than obey.

“But everyone wants revenge. Like Elder Yuan said, since I can’t beat you, I can only take out my frustration on the disciples. Isn’t that the way it’s supposed to be?”

“You!?” Yuan Chengdao clenched his fist in anger and his face turned livid. A good half of the Spirit Bind Sect disciples being eliminated because of him alone wasn’t a simple crime anymore, but a catastrophe. On top of that, as Lu Sheng constantly spread the news of their grudge, his fellow elders would blame him for everything when they couldn’t touch Lu Sheng.

“What a clever mouth! Seems like your master didn’t teach you proper manners!” Yuan Chengdao suppressed his anger. “Don’t assume for a second that I can’t deal with you as long as you hide in your sect. I will eventually teach you a good lesson on rules and etiquette!”

“How my master teaches me is none of your concern. Bluntly put, an ordinary elder from the Spirit Bind Sect like yourself doesn’t even have the right to teach me anything.” Lu Sheng had a smile on his face, but his words made Yuan Chengdao even angrier.

Yuan Chengdao forced down his anger, closed his eyes, and didn’t open them again until he turned around.

“I will be waiting for you outside.” He knew Lu Sheng had attracted the attention of the higher-ups, but he wouldn’t let him walk away after killing his brother no matter what. No one could interfere with his personal grudge with Lu Sheng. If he could kill him in a proper duel, no one would say anything.

“Oh, right, Elder Yuan. Your brother said the exact same thing to me. So, I killed him in front of everyone,” Lu Sheng suddenly said.

Silence.

Yuan Chengdao clenched his fist, his body trembling.

“Elder Yaun only has one younger brother? How unfortunate. Does that mean the Yuan Family has no other heir? You two seem to have quite an age gap between you. Was he really your brother? Or…”

“DO YOU WANT TO DIE!!” Yuan Chengdao finally couldn’t hold back anymore. He turned, his body surrounded in black smoke, and clawed at Lu Sheng’s head.

The black claws approached, faster and faster.

“Hiss.”

Lu Sheng barely began to take out the knife on his waist.

“Stop!!”

“Bam!”

With a booming sound, a shape on the side shot out and solidly hit Yuan Chengdao’s hand, deflecting his claws.

The two men went past Lu Sheng and exchanged moves at lightning speed, and both landed after waves of golden light and black smoke exploded.

However, Yuan Chengdao retreated a few steps before steadying himself, and his face was ashen. He clearly didn’t get the upper hand. The other man, though, stood firmly in place, not showing any sign of weakness.

“The Thousand Sun Sect’s disciple doesn’t need you to discipline him!” The man who appeared was a middle-aged man that looked similar to Master Yuan Zheng.

“Qingyang.”

“Elder Yuan.”

Thousand Sun Sect’s Master Yuan Zheng and Spirit Bind Sect’s Cave Master Jiuwei called out at the same time.

Cave Master Jiuwei was still on the training ground. After glancing at Master Yuan Zheng on the opposite side, he continued to send his voice to Yuan Chengdao.

“You started this. Even though he provoked you with words, let it rest.”

Jiuwei was the strongest man in the Spirit Bind Sect, and the current vice-sect master. As for the seat of the sect master, he gave it to his senior apprentice brother, because he didn’t want the responsibilities and mundane tasks it came with.

He and Master Yuan Zheng had been rivals for a long time.

But compared to Yuan Chengdao’s tricks behind his back, he was more worried about the Thousand Sun Sect’s attitude. This competition was only a small matter, and would happen every so often, but the attitude of Thousand Sun Sect’s Moling branch would determine who would get the upper hand between the Spirit Bind Sect and the Youyin Sect.

Yuan Chengdao was so angry he was about to spew blood, yet he didn’t dare go against the vice-sect master’s will, and could only stare at Lu Sheng with hatred in his eyes.

Lu Sheng, on the other hand, smiled and swiped his finger across his neck behind the middle-aged Qingyang.

“I killed, your son…” He mouthed.

Yuan Chengdao was enraged. In truth, the whole reason why he cared so much about his “brother” was because that was his son he had with his step mother. Now that Lu Sheng had guessed his secret, he hated him even more.

“You little bastard! If it weren’t for the people protecting you, you would have died many times already!” Yuan Chengdao’s poisonous voice reached Lu Sheng.

“Do you even have the courage to attack me? If not, stop making up all these excuses.” Lu Sheng laughed lightly, which made Yuan Chengdao’s blood rush up and nearly strike out at him.

“That’s enough!” Master Yuan Zheng directly sent out his voice to Lu Sheng and Yuan Chengdao. It rung out in both of their heads like a giant bell.

Lu Sheng took it well and only felt like it was too loud. With his body, Master Yuan Zheng’s full blown war cry wouldn’t have affected him much, let alone this bit of raised voice.

But Yuan Chengdao didn’t. Yuan Zheng was the strongest man in the Moling branch of the Thousand Sun Sect, and a man who had been a Weapon Master for more than a thousand years. His power had gotten even more mysterious recently, and no one knew what level he was at.

He instantly felt like his whole body had been shook by the voice.He raised his head, only to be greeted by Lu Sheng’s scorn-filled smile.

“Trash.” He saw Lu Sheng silently mouth a word.