Way of the Devil

However, the person who stood in front of the blade right now was not Mu Yun, but Lu Sheng.

This sword represented the greatest sect of the Righteous Path, the Vital Energy Sect. It was one of their most powerful Treasures—one of the three divine swords. It had incredible might, and was most capable in slipping through the defenses of a person’s mind.

Du Guangchi urged the sword intent and aura with all his strength. He waited for the change in Lu Sheng’s expression. He would then suppress Lu Sheng with his divine sword and defeat him in a single hit.

However, he did not expect Taoist Mu Yun to still be standing calmly with a foolish expression as he stared at him after ten breaths.

Du Guangchi was shocked in his heart. He steeled his resolve and brought his divine sword down on his opponent.

“Boom!”

The radiance from the sword burst forth in an instant. It turned into hundreds of golden threads and fanned out as they shot toward the Wood Martial Abode’s master. They appeared like a golden torrent of sword aura with extremely domineering might.

“Slash!” Du Guangchi followed up with a yell. The sword aura increased in might and speed. It was amplified even after being unleashed by its user.

The golden sword aura which covered the skies seemed to have covered an area of a few hundred meters around the Wood Martial Abode as well. The area was lit with a brilliant golden light. Everything was bright and clear.

When the little demons on the ground were illuminated by the golden light, they screamed in pain, and black smoke rose from their bodies.

The golden sword threads were already a few meters before Lu Sheng. They were almost upon him.

“Rumble!”

At this very moment, a loud sound was heard. A terrifying blue light which covered the heavens and the earth covered everything around them before disappearing as quickly as it had appeared.

“Clang!”

The Earth Lake Sword lost its glow and dropped to the ground. It stayed there, motionless. Du Guangchi sat on the ground with dazed eyes. Yao Lian slumped on the ground. She lost consciousness immediately.

Lu Sheng retracted his hand slowly. His expression was calm.

“Capture them. I’ll deal with them later,” he gave the order casually.

The entire scene was silent.

The little demons were flabbergasted. The two rat demons displayed wild joy in their eyes, mixed with awe, amazement, respect, admiration, and other emotions.

The ones the most shocked by this were not them, but the two Righteous Path cultivators in hiding.

The two cultivators’ minds were completely fazed. Even when Lu Sheng gave the order for Du Guangchi and Yao Lian to be captured, they had not snapped back to their senses yet.

The Wood Martial Abode’s master, Taoist Mu Yun, who had been cooperating nicely up until now, had suddenly turned on them. His instantaneous explosive hit had heavily wounded the Fated Child Du Guangchi on the spot. The Earth Lake Sword dropped to the ground, and Yao Lian fainted straight away. All these were slightly too much for the two of them to process.

The formidable and vast blue-colored Core Qi was shocking, but it was nothing compared to the unease and anger they felt in their hearts right now.

Currently, the two rat demons who could already stand on their feet hastily went over and bound Du Guangchi and Yao Lian. They found some rope and tied their hands behind their backs. Then, they led their captives into the Wood Martial Abode.

Before this, everyone merely felt their sight turn blue. When they blinked again, the blue light had disappeared, and so did the golden light. Only the defeated Earth Lake Sword was left on the ground alongside Du Guangchi and Yao Lian who could no longer stand.

“Mu Yun! Get out here!” A thunderous roar suddenly came from the skies.

Lu Sheng raised his head and looked at the skies. He saw two white-robed Taoists hovering in the air. One of them was Die Shazi, whom he met previously.

The other one was a hunchbacked old woman whom he had never seen before.

The source of the furious shout was that old woman.

Lu Sheng was in no hurry. He waited until the rat demons entered the abode with the prisoners before taking one step forward. A white cloud gathered beneath his feet and pushed him up into the skies. He was above the Wood Martial Abode in the blink of an eye.

“A mere Wicked Path rogue cultivator, how dare you?! How dare you?!” The old woman was so angered that her body shook from it. She pointed a finger at Lu Sheng, but could not find the words to continue even after a long while.

Die Shazi stood beside her with a gloomy expression. He stared at Lu Sheng, unsure of the words he should say. He had seen it clearly. Lu Sheng had used his immense and rich Wicked Path cultivation base to forcibly strip the Earth Lake Sword of its sword aura with his vast Core Qi.

This was also the so-called act of pressuring someone else with sheer strength.

Du Guangchi had never been Mu Yun’s opponent to begin with. After all, a junior in his Middle-stage Foundation Building tier would still be seeking his own death if he went up against a senior with a Core even if he had a Divine Weapon in his hands.

Hence, these old people had deliberately devised a script for the plan. However, they did not expect that…

Die Shazi shook his head helplessly. As if he felt sorry, he said, “You know, you might’ve had the time of your life when you attacked them back there, but after this, you’ll probably be imprisoned in the Vital Energy Sect’s Evil Punishment Dungeon and go through all kinds of suffering for a few hundred years in the future.”

“Why’re you wasting words on this wicked devil? Let me destroy his cultivation base, then we’ll talk!” The old woman immediately shook her palm, and a silver ring flew out.

“Senior Apprentice Sister, there’s no need to be worked up. Taoist Mu Yun had promised me that he’d cooperate with our plans. I’m sure there’s an explanation for this sudden turn in events. Let me ask him about it first.” Die Shazi felt helpless as well. If they captured and interrogated him without first asking him about his reasons, as the point of contact, Die Shazi would also be affected to a certain degree.

“What more do you have to say to this wicked devil? Which hand did he use to harm Apprentice Nephew? Let me break it, then we’ll talk!” The old woman had a short temper. She was on the verge of making a move again.

“Senior Apprentice Sister! Calm down, please. Mu Yun isn’t completely at fault here. Moreover, as the people from the Righteous Path, we should be lenient wherever it’s possible. We shouldn’t kill someone as we please. If we harm other people without reason and word of this gets out, it’ll not be beneficial to the name of the Vital Energy Sect,” said Die Shazi as he attempted to dissuade her from attacking.

“Die Shazi, you’re set on going against me today, is that it?” The old woman was immediately angered. She turned her eyes on Die Shazi.

“Senior Apprentice Sister, I—”

“The more you try to stop me, the more I have to destroy this wicked devil. I’d like to see if the newly appointed Seventh Peak is really determined to go against me!” The old woman pointed at Die Shazi’s nose and scolded him.

“Senior Apprentice Sister, you’ve misunderstood…” Die Shazi smiled bitterly and helplessly. “I only want to—”

“Get out of the way!”

“Senior Apprentice Sister—”

“Get out of the way!”

“Senior Apprentice Sister, listen to me!

“I told you to get—”

“Pcchht!”

The two of them instantly froze.

Die Shazi lowered his head slowly and looked toward the old woman’s chest. Without him noticing, a dark red bloody hole had appeared there.

Huge amounts of blood and flesh wriggled as they attempted to meet in the middle and reconnect, but it was futile. A layer of dark blue radiance froze the flesh and blood in place, and they could not break free.

“Poof!”

The old woman spat out a mouthful of blood which covered Die Shazi’s face.

“I… I…”

Nearby, Lu Sheng slowly retracted his hand. The blue Core Qi on the tips of his fingers slowly dissipated like smoke.

“The two of you haven’t been able to reach a conclusion after bickering for so long. I just did you a favor of helping you decide…” His expression was calm as if he just did an insignificant and simple deed.

Die Shazi lowered his head and looked at the bloody hole the size of a person’s head in his senior apprentice sister’s chest. A hole that large, coupled with the terrifying cold Core Qi which it contained, was something even a Middle-stage Core Formation cultivator would not have great odds of surviving…

“Mu Yun! Aarrgghh!” Die Shazi suddenly let out a shout skyward.

He hoisted his senior apprentice sister’s body, turned around, and grabbed the silver ring in midair. His supernatural power burned intensely like flames all over his body.

In midair, the two of them resembled a shapeless torch. They burned with transparent and distorted flames which enveloped the area of dozens of meters around them.

“Do you like her?” asked Lu Sheng with a calm expression.

He lifted an index finger, and his blue Core Qi was compressed to the limits by the million tons of seawater. A point of blue light shone on his fingertip.

“Then why don’t you follow her?” Lu Sheng flicked his finger lightly.

“Pcchht!”

His Core Qi turned into a blue sharp arrow in midair and covered the distance of a few hundred meters in the blink of an eye. With a terrifying speed and pressure, it stabbed mercilessly into the transparent flames around Die Shazi.

“Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!”

A few consecutive blasts were heard. Lu Sheng’s Core Qi parted the layers of flames and was about to pierce into Die Shazi’s body when Die Shazi shook his wrist. A beam of white light was unleashed, and deflected the arrow.

The deflected Core Qi shot into the sea below them with a sizzle. It left a black path behind it in the form of an empty column.

The column maintained its structure for a few breaths before the surrounding seawater filled the gap again.

“Seven Righteous Sword Skill, Earth Chimera!” Die Shazi carried the old woman with one arm and wielded his sword with the other. He slashed out seven blade shadows with a flurry of movements.

The seven blade shadows stayed on in midair without disappearing. Then, countless yellow Core Qi threads spread out and connected them together. In the blink of an eye, it formed a vivid pale-yellow benevolent beast, a chimera.

“Rawr!”

The chimera pounced toward Lu Sheng.

“I’m not done!” Die Shazi waved his sword about, and a ring of seven-colored runes surfaced around his wrist. The rune circle spun quickly.

He was still mumbling something under his breath, and unleashed another one of his Seven Righteous Sword Skill.

“Water Chimera!” A light blue chimera, a benevolent beast, appeared. It was more than ten meters in length, and its roar was ferocious.

“Fire Chimera!” A red chimera formed by flames appeared as well. Its eyes flickered with golden-red radiance.

“Wind Chimera!” A light green semi-transparent chimera roared and pounced.

There were four chimeras in total. They encircled Lu Sheng and pounced at him at the same time, moving with amazing speed.

The Earth Chimera was surrounded with a radiance which could amplify its comrades’ defenses. The Water Chimera could relieve and heal its comrades. The Fire Chimera could enhance its comrades’ attacks and burn any enemy that got close enough. The Wind Chimera could increase its comrades’ speed.

When the four chimeras worked together, the effects they had were no longer a simple addition of their different enhancements.

“Bam!”

The seven-colored runes on Die Shazi’s wrist suddenly shattered. He lowered his head and could not stop himself from spitting out a little blood. However, he could not conceal the expression of being free from inhibitions on his face.

“Four directions converge, the seven righteous ones become one. Kill!”

“Rawr!”

The four chimeras pounced wildly and tore at Lu Sheng.

“Useless trick.”

Lu Sheng spread his right palm out. Countless blue Core Qi surged out wildly like the sea.

“Buzz!”

In a breath’s time, the skies in a thousand meters’ radius lit up with bluish mist, which spread in all directions wildly.

Countless blue stars lit up and blocked out other lights from the surroundings.

The Core Qi on Lu Sheng’s body clashed wildly with the four chimeras. The chimeras roared and howled furiously as they attempted to break free from the Core Qi’s impediment. At first, they could actually move forward, but the surging Core Qi increased in volume and speed.

The other elements in the surrounding air were rejected by the blue Core Qi. Only a single power was left in the skies around them, and that was Lu Sheng’s Core Qi.

Finally, one of the chimeras could not absorb enough Origin Qi from the outer world, and its body gradually crumbled.

In no time, the other three chimeras could not bear it as well. They were like young beasts that endured the storm with difficulty. There was nothing they could do but bear with it.

“How’s this possible?!” Die Shazi stared at the scene before him with incredulity. He had already unleashed his peak might with his Seven Righteous Sword Skill. He believed that his last attack was enough to fight against a Late-stage Core Formation cultivator. However, the scene before him… His skill was forcibly undone by Lu Sheng with Core Qi alone.

Seemingly ceaseless Core Qi surged out of Lu Sheng’s body. The area of the skies it covered spread wider and wider.

In no time, the three remaining chimeras were like the drowned among great waves. They got overwhelmed by the Core Qi and vanished among it.

The sky around them was dyed in a bluish hue. In the center of this bluish world, Lu Sheng hovered silently. A bluish-gold Golden Core’s shadow hovered behind him.