Way of the Devil

 Zhangsun Lan’s face paled as she exclaimed, “A cloud eagle….!”

“Go!” Lu Sheng abruptly started to run across the small distance between the cave and the cliff. He stomped on the edge of the cliff. His whole body shot up and flew toward the diving cloud eagle.

Lu Sheng dove toward the cloud eagle with his arms and legs spread wide. His eyes, turned away from the other two, started to shine a dark red light.

“Dang!”

The Wei River Sword was quickly unsheathed.

Instantly, Lu Sheng was surrounded by a wave of a silver-blue ripples, just like the light reflected by the ocean.

His whole body landed heavily on the back of the cloud eagle, like a full moon above the ocean.

Fear flashed across the eyes of the cloud eagle, which was just about to go into a frenzy. It ultimately let Lu Sheng land on its back.

The full moon[1. It refers to that Morning Moon ability.] dissipated, and the force of the slam made the cloud eagle sink a good distance, yet it didn’t dare resist. Lu Sheng finally stood up and patted the Wei River Sword with a smile. “A worthy Divine Weapon, even the cloud eagle bows before you.”

Sun Rongji and Zhangsun Lan finally woke up from the shock and followed suit. After some careful aiming and some assistance from the cloud eagle, the two eventually barely made it onto its back.

“Truly powerful! It could even tame a cloud eagle that is naturally at the Earth Prime level, how powerful!” Sun Rongji exclaimed with widened eyes.

“Strange, that was clearly not—” Wei River Sword was about to say something.

“Snap.”

A crisp sound came from the hilt Lu Sheng was holding, and the Wei River Sword’s voice stopped abruptly.

Lu Sheng smiled. “That was alright. I trained for many years, trying to let the sword become part of me. Not that bad after all.”

“Why didn’t Brother Lu use such a powerful Divine Weapon before?” Sun Ronji asked with a mix of surprise and envy.

“To be honest, I didn’t use the sword, because I didn’t want to hurt innocents. This sword is truly too destructive. Even Earth Prime level cultivators would be hurt, let alone Bind level.”

Wei River Sword: “…”

“So that’s why… I didn’t expect Brother Lu to be holding back all this time…” Sun Rongji laughed bitterly and shook his head. “And my arrogant self still thought I was the most powerful disciple in Moling.”

“Senior Apprentice Brother Lu, I have a secret treasure reserved for you too. Try to stay close to me if there is danger.” Zhangsun Lan suddenly sent her voice to Lu Sheng.

Lu Sheng was surprised. He didn’t expect Master Yuan Zheng to include him in his considerations. His heart was slightly touched.

“Alright, be careful and watch your surroundings. If my theory is correct, that so-called Starry Sky Noble should be nearby. He must really stand out too—we should find him from the sky. Be prepared to strike.”

“Of course.”

“Understood.”

The three of them lay flat on the back of the cloud eagle and carefully looked down onto the ground through its steel-like feathers.

A strange kind of smoke-spouting tree was everywhere on the expansive plains, and twisting roads went right through them. It was as if a white line had been drawn on a black canvas, painfully obvious.

Lu Sheng’s eyes followed the road, and soon found a procession with a triangular blood-colored banner in its front.

There were only seven or eight Devils in the procession, but every one of them wore dark red armor and they all had a thick lizard tail sticking out behind them.

The Devil in the lead was tall and muscular. His right arm hung on his side, like the claw of some savage beast. It was even thicker than his waist.

“I heard that the Starry Sky Nobles of the Devil World all have their own triangular flags. It seems that this is our target?” Sun Rongji saw the procession as well.

“They’re all Devils, aren’t they? Let’s kill them first, then talk,” Lu Sheng said flatly, and pressed his hand on the cloud eagle.

But it refused to land no matter what, and made a hooting noise like it was begging for mercy.

“It probably doesn’t dare attack a Starry Sky Noble. This is the Devil World after all, and the Starry Sky Nobles who work for a Devil Emperor must hold a prestigious position.” Sun Rongji shook his head.

“Oh well. Let go down ourselves, then.” Lu Sheng didn’t push the cloud eagle, and instead made it land somewhere else on the plain.

The three jumped down lightly and crouched behind a big smoke-spouting tree.

“Go,” Lu Sheng said to the cloud eagle, his spirit no longer suppressing it.

The cloud eagle screeched in gratitude and hurriedly flew away into the distance.

“We should probably figure out a way back,” Sun Rongji said wearily. “That cave was pretty high above the ground.”

“We’ll climb,” Lu Sheng said casually. “Let’s go.” He led the way toward the Starry Sky Noble.

The two behind him were forced to follow.

After crossing a dense forest of black trees, the three of them soon stood in the middle of the white road. Right in front of the Devil procession.

The Devil in the lead raised his hand to signal the procession to stop.

“Now.” Lu Sheng abruptly charged and crossed several tens of meters in a couple steps. He swung the Wei River Sword straight at the Devil’s head.

“HA!” the Devil roared. Black metal claws shot out of his left arm, going straight for Lu Sheng.

The other two caught up as well, and started to fight the other Devils around him.

They were all two meters tall at least, and were very agile despite their cumbersome appearance. They spread out and surrounded Lu Sheng and his companions in the middle.

“Go!” Zhangsun Lan threw out ten or so balls of white flame, which turned into pure white crocodiles.

The crocodiles were two meters long. They swung their huge tails as they charged ruthlessly at the Devils.

Sun Rongji drew his halberd from somewhere and started to fight a Devil with an audacious air around him. They were evenly matched. Sun Rongji was slightly faster and combined his strikes more smoothly, but the Devil wore heavy armor, and ignored the few hits he suffered. Even though he might not be as powerful as Sun Rongji over all, he still forced Sun Rongji to focus only on him.

Zhangsun Lan, on the other hand, stood in place and commanded the ten or so crocodiles to distract the other devils.

“Hurry, the smoke crocodiles can only last thirty breaths!” she called out urgently. The rest of the Devils were all agile and tough too. Occasionally, they would release intense Devil Qi to corrode the smoke crocodiles’ leather armor.

Zhangsun Lan didn’t expect these Devils to be fourth Vein Bind level. Normally, the Devil Army consisted of mostly first Vein level soldiers.

But fourth Vein was a little absurd. As far as Zhangsun Lan knew, unlike humans, the Devils had a more stable gap in power depending on their tribe and race. It was hard for them to break through to an upper level even with other methods.

Third Vein tribes would produce third Vein adults, while fifth Vein tribes would produce fifth Vein adults. Only an extremely small amount of individuals was able to break through to a higher level.

Those who managed to do so were respectably called Devil Generals, or Starry Sky Nobles. Their heirs could inherit the position as well.

Compared to first-generation Devil Generals, most Starry Sky Nobles got the title by inheritance.

The procession they were facing had only fourth Vein level soldiers, while the leading Starry Sky Noble might even be a first-generation Devil General.

“Watch out!” Zhangsun Lan shouted at Lu Sheng as she thought about it.

Lu Sheng exchanged moves with the Devil at lightning speed, and the two of them had moved over a hundred meters since the start of the fight.

Lu Sheng was also surprised by the Devil’s peak seventh Vein level speed and strength. Even when he was able to find an opening occasionally, the strike would only wound the Devil slightly.

He was fighting at the same peak of seventh Vein level. And he had the mind of a Holy Master as well.

That meant ordinary human seventh Veins couldn’t defeat a devil of the equivalent level.

“You… how dare you try to assassinate me. You must want death!” The Devil laughed coldly. He somehow even spoke the official language of the Great Yin.

His claws sweeped up streaks of black wind with large amounts of poisonous sand mixed in. This poisonous sand would be enough to severely wound an ordinary human. If not for Lu Sheng’s strong body, he also would be affected by it.

Even so, Lu Sheng’s Black Membrane constantly viberated as if it could break from the poisonous sand at any time.

“You might be able to get the advantage using only seventh Vein level of power, but it will be basically impossible to kill him,” the Wei River Sword’s elderly voice spoke. “Use the power of your bloodline. This is the Devil World, you must end the fight soon.”

Lu Sheng stabbed his sword at a slant, then turned it into a horizontal swipe and forced the Devil to step back.

“Too little. Even though I’ve been wearing this sword at all times, it was still only a brief period of time. The bloodline improvement from you is still too little.”

“No matter; I could lend you my power,” the Wei River Sword said calmly. “Exchange of powers like this is part of the bond.”

“It’s fine. I’ll deal with this myself.” Lu Sheng twisted the Wei River Sword slightly, a faint field emitting from him.

It was colorless and shapeless, but put more pressure onto everything around.

The Devil’s moves visibly slowed as it quickly felt the effect. It might not be much, at most 100-some jin[1. 0.5 kg.] or so, but it still gave Lu Sheng an advantage during such an even fight.

A pressure field was added to an otherwise even match. The Devil’s movements suddenly slowed a bit because of its surprise.

“Rip!”

Lu Sheng found an opening and stabbed a bloody hole through the Devil’s left arm.

“Despicable!” The Devil was instantly angered, and turned to charge at Lu Sheng. He struck out faster and stronger in anger, but the pressure suddenly disappeared.

The Devil lost his balance from using too much force and missed with his claws. Lu Sheng, on the other hand, casually stepped aside, and his sword connected with the Devil’s waist.

“Puff!”

Another stream of black blood dripped onto the ground.

“AGHHHH!!!” The Devil screamed in frenzy. Like a mad elephant, it started to charge at Lu Sheng like it wasn’t afraid of death.

But the pressure field occasionally appeared, sometimes right or left, sometimes up or down, constantly changing directions and pulling his every move. Lu Sheng changed his position often, and his sword was bound to strike a weak point occasionally.

After this process was repeated several times, the Devil finally slowed from the loss of blood. Finally, he fell on his knees.

“You… human… are despicable!!” The Devil roared in anger, his eyes bloodshot as he gasped for breath.

“Hurry up and die so that you don’t waste my time talking.” Lu Sheng stabbed his sword straight into the Devil’s eyes.

Blood slowly flowed out and the Devil fell backward. It stopped breathing after a few struggling for a few moments.