Way of the Devil

Zhangsun Lan’s face was drenched in sweat as she controlled the smoky crocodiles to distract the rest of the Devils. Despite that, due to their repeated injuries, they were getting weaker and weaker.

Distracting five Bind level Devils at the same time was quite a challenging task for her.

Luckily, Lu Sheng had finished his fight already, and the rest of the soldiers lost their morale and fled as they witnessed the death of their leader.

She finally had some breathing room, and turned to watch Sun Rongji. He was in quite a miserable situation.

The Devil he was fighting had the face of a middle-aged man, purple hair, and a single horn protruding out from his head. The black armor he was wearing was different from all the other Devils’.

Although he appeared to be spending a great amount of effort, Zhangsun Lan thought the fight felt more like the spars she had with her grandfather.

Sun Rongji appeared to be winning, yet made no substantial advancement. It was as if he was being played with.

“This guy…” Zhangsun Lan narrowed her eyes, but abruptly noticed the Devil glancing at her with a smile.

That single glance made the hair on her back stand up and gave her goosebumps.

Suddenly, this Devil took one step back, blocked Sun Rongji’s halberd with one hand, and started talking to the three. “That’s enough. I planned to do the killing myself. I didn’t expect you people to actually kill Venaki ¹ .”

Lu Sheng slowly pulled his sword out of the body of a Devil and also looked at him with a frown.

Sun Rongji’s face paled. He retreated several steps, pulled back his halberd, and stood in place. Now, he understood the Devil was using them to kill the rest of the Devils in the procession.

Sun Rongji narrowed his eyes, and said coldly, “What do you mean?”

“I’ll introduce myself: I am Shirion. I would like to thank you people for killing that weak brother of mine.” The Devil smiled and bowed toward Zhangsun Lan.

“You people better go now, I just released a blood signal. The Holy Devil Team will be here soon. You won’t be able to leave once they get here.”

Sun Rongji and Zhangsun Lan were surprised. They finally realized this was the spy within the Devil World, obviously working with humans to get rid of his adversaries. With someone like this working as a mole for them, this mission was indeed not as hard as they expected it to be.

“You three only need to go back where you’ve arrived and wait for an hour. I will take care of the rest of the mess,” Shirion said politely.

“Let’s leave,” Lu Sheng called out. It was normal for the strongest to be in command.

The three of them stared at Shirion vigilantly as they quickly retreated into the distance.

“Spread out! Don’t let them know our teleportation spot.” Lu Sheng sent his voice to the others. Both of them blanked out for a second, and immediately reacted.

“Let’s meet half a hour later at the foot of the mountain.” Lu Sheng sent his voice again.

“Understood!’

“Be careful on your own.”

The three of them spread out quickly, disappearing into the black forest in the blink of an eye.

Shirion didn’t move at all, and merely watched as the three of them disappeared with a smile on his face.

“Seems like your great plan worked.” A female Devil with an identical single horn on her head slowly walked out of the other side.

“What else could I do? My brother was too dumb. I didn’t want to kill him and be plagued by a Blood Sin, but that doesn’t mean other people can’t,” Shirion said with a smile.

“And so you worked with the humans?” The Devil girl let out a cold laugh. “Are you not afraid of me reporting you?”

“My dear cousin Alisa, we both know you won’t do that. You know full well how many despicable and disgusting things I’ve done over the years. You wouldn’t have waited until now if you wanted to report me.”

“What if this is an exception?” Alisa said coldly. “Like—”

“Like me.”

Suddenly, the calm voice of a man spoke from behind Shirion.

Both single-horned Devils blanked out, and immediately turned toward the voice.

A towering three meter tall Devil wearing a bull-horned helmet slowly walked out of the forest.

“Shirion, Alisa. You two disappointed me very much today…” the devil spoke slowly in a low voice.

Both single-horned Devils’ face paled.

“Jean…”

“No plan is absolutely safe in this world.” A puff of black smoke came out of Jean’s face. “Like now… you there, wouldn’t you agree?” His eyes, as big as a fist, stared at a spot deep inside of the forest next to the two Devils.

A slim and strong human male walked out of the forest with a sword. It was actually Lu Sheng, who’d supposedly left not long ago.

“How did you find me?” Lu Sheng asked with a curious expression as he stared calmly at Jean. “I thought I hid well.”

“Your Divine Weapon is very anxious,” Jean said in a low voice. “He is afraid.”

“…” Lu Sheng looked down on the Wei River Sword.

“I’m only 3,000 years old and I still want to live… I say we go back to the teleportation point and wait…” the Wei River Sword said in a fearful voice.

Lu Sheng didn’t know what to say. He just wanted to kill a couple Devils as sacrifice for the Wei River Sword and improve his Ultimate Eight-Headed Devil Way with pure Devil Essence. Since he sensed the approaching scent of pure Devil Essence, he couldn’t resist the urge to wait for it on the side.

He thought he hid well, yet never expected the Devil to find an opening through the Wei River Sword.

“Human, why did you come back? This is the Devil World, not a place for you to play around in,” Jean said coldly.

“Such pure scent of Devil Essence…” Lu Sheng took a huge breath as if intoxicated. “The air around me is filled with a fresh fragrance… All of it came from you.”

Jean’s face darkened.

“A human cultivating Devil Essence?? You will die!”

Shirion and Alisa both stared strangely at Lu Sheng as well, then looked at the huge, hideous Jean.

What Lu Sheng just said would fit a beautiful woman, but if it was used to describe Jean…

“Oh well, might as well have some appetizers,” Lu Sheng suddenly muttered to himself.

“What do you… mean!?” Jean didn’t finish in time. His eyes opened wide, reflecting a hideous mouth getting bigger and bigger as it bit toward him.

“Puff!”

The whole forest darkened, then brightened again.

Jean, Shirion, and Alisa all disappeared. Along with five or six huge black trees around them.

Lu Sheng stood in place alone, casually wiping his mouth with a handkerchief.

“Such pure Devil Essence. Haven’t had a good meal like this in so long…”

“Buzzzzz…”

The Wei River Sword on his waist was trembling uncontrollably.

“What’s the matter with you?” Lu Sheng put his hand on the blade.

“No… nothing. I just feel like… trembling…” The Wei River Sword’s voice was quivering too.

“Time to go. Devil World… Such a wonderful place.” Lu Sheng was very happy with his reward during this trip. That Jean’s Devil Essence was extremely pure. Even if he was only the equivalent of an Earth Prime upper three tiers human, the pure Devil Essence within him tasted different compared to all the other ones he’d had, and provided even greater benefit to the Ultimate Eight-Headed Devil Way.

***

Outer layer of the Black Seal Temple.

“Hiss…”

Zhangsun Lan, Sun Rongji, and Lu Sheng all jumped out of the ball of black light. All of the leaders of the three sects that stood in wait around them let out a small sigh of relief.

“As long as you are safe.” Master Yuan Zheng sighed appreciatively, and looked softly at his granddaughter and Lu Sheng.

“Rongji, that was only a test, you can enter the real main sect contest now. Unlike before, the Devil Army breached the Gorge of Two Worlds and truly entered the Great Yin territory. All three of us major sects have been ordered to go to war. All the disciples must join the fight. This is especially true for elites like you to serve as an example,” Cave Master Jiuwei explained camly.

“After breaching the Gorge of Two Worlds, the Devil Army spread out to raid the empire. One such force is only 450 kilometers away from the Moling Prefecture and poses an immediate threat. We hope you three will be able to reach them overnight and prevent the Devil Army from massacring humans for sacrifices.” Cave Master Jiuwei seemed to have been appointed the commander of the three major sects’ Moling branch and directly gave the three people orders.

A woman in a purple dress on the side also spoke, “That is also the content of this contest: see who destroys more of the Devil Army. Though us of the Youyin Sect couldn’t enter as a part of the contest, we will still deploy forces to assist with the operation.”

“Lady Rong is too polite.” Master Yuan Zheng nodded at the woman with a smile. “20 of our Thousand Sun Sect’s inner sect disciples along with 50 more from the outer sect have been stationed near the Youyin Sect. Lan’er would be there as well, and I hope the lady will provide them with some extra care.”

“Naturally.”

“Lu Sheng.” Master Yuan Zheng then turned toward Lu Sheng, “You possess great power. You are being sent to the Gourd Mountain to eliminate the Devils there. Remember, the Devil Army holds the numerical advantage. Immediately send out signals and stall for time until reinforcements arrive.”

“Understood.” Lu Sheng nodded.

“Also, Prince Qiong Huan from the Imperial Court is holding a feast tonight. You are on the invitation list.”

“I will be sure to attend.” Lu Sheng was in a good mood. This trip to the Devil World was like a little hunt. He even felt a slight change in the Ultimate Eight-Headed Devil Way.

Although his spirit had broken through to the Holy Master level, his physical body was still stuck in place. Maybe swallowing another whole ancient Devil would help. He wondered when he would get the opportunity to have a feast like that again.

But he couldn’t be too obvious, or he would attract the attention of the people in charge.

This contest had in truth been altered greatly by the invasion. The three of them were no longer the stars.

Many palace masters came up to report to Master Yuan Zheng immediately after he made arrangements for Lu Sheng and Zhangsun Lan. The three major sects seemed to have made the Black Seal Temple into a temporary military command center.

Master Yuan Zheng chatted hurriedly with Cave Master Jiuwei for a bit longer, then left with a few other palace masters.

Zhangsun Lan left with him. She gave Lu Sheng a look and sent a voice message to him to meet during the feast.

Sun Rongji, on the other hand, threw a jade token to Lu Sheng. A short distance communication matrix was engraved on it.

The three of them seemed to have formed a vague bond after this mission.

Cave Master Jiuwei was very pleased to see this. A rare smile appeared on his stiff face as he watched Lu Sheng and Zhangsun Lan go. He then turned around to leave with the people from the Spirit Bind Sect.

As for the incident where Lu Sheng specifically targeted the Spirit Bind Sect disciples, he wasn’t concerned at all. It was only the disciples of other elders and palace masters that got the short end of the stick.