Way of the Devil

The light blue interface surfaced before Lu Sheng.

“Improve Gelailo Sword Skill.”

“Pcchht.”

The interface immediately blurred.

Lu Sheng calmed his breathing down, and the huge amount of medicine clearly showed its intense, boiling effect. His skin felt hot, and he felt as if countless tiny needles were stabbing into his pores from the outside to his internal organs.

These needles were like tendrils as they tunneled their way into his internal organs and heart. They only stopped after they were blocked by his curled up main body.

“Hmm… This medicine… Interesting…” Lu Sheng raised and looked at his own arm.

Densely packed red blood spots started appearing on the skin of his arm. His muscles were agitated, and were contorting as if they were being wrung by a pair of big hands.

Lu Sheng looked on as his arms slowly enlarged. The medicine was divided into two parts: one part was keeping his body’s switches open, while the other part was swiftly surging into his muscle cells and nourished them as they strengthened their structure.

Lu Sheng’s spirit was overseeing the changes in his body. He quickly understood why Luo Di said that there was a limit to how strong a person could become by taking these pills.

‘These pills are forcibly stimulating the body to become stronger. It doesn’t do much to strengthen my internal organs. While my body’s strength and quality is being strengthened, my internal organs stayed pretty much the same. The supply of energy couldn’t keep up at all. In addition to that, there’s the accumulation of the pills’ toxins. That puts a greater strain on my organs. No wonder there’s a limit…’

At this moment, the modifier’s interface surfaced again.

Lu Sheng focused his gaze on it.

“Gelailo Sword Skill, Great Master. (Special quality, sword skill, complete. Strength increment, level three. Constitution increment, level three. Speed increment, level three.)”

‘There’s still a bit of the medicine left, but it’s not enough to continue ranking up.’ Lu Sheng carefully gauged the pills’ effects within his body.

He stood up from the ground and moved his limbs. His silhouette was clearly that of a muscular young man’s.

‘It’s true that my strength has increased. If I measure myself based on Luo Sang’s ordinary human strength before this, I currently have the strength equivalent to two to three grown men. My constitution is the same as wearing thick leather armor. When my muscles are agitated, I can withstand the soft slashes of cold weapons. However, I can’t withstand a stab just yet. As for my speed…’

Lu Sheng suddenly hurled a punch forward.

“Bam!”

A falling leaf was crushed to pieces by his punch, and its fragments scattered.

‘It’s three times the limit of an ordinary person.’

Truth be told, Lu Sheng was not very satisfied with such a limit.

‘Looks like I’ll have to look for another way carefully…’ Lu Sheng packed up his things, and hastily returned to the manor. He did not take any detours. Instead, he went straight toward the few places where Luo Di would usually be.

The bedroom, study, and the practice ground.

There was nothing notable about the practice ground. Some basic defensive equipment and weapons were stored there. Lu Sheng went through some drawers in the bedroom, but did not find what he was looking for. Then, he went to the study.

After going through the study carefully, he quickly found a well-hidden compartment in the wall beside the study table.

A letter was kept within the compartment. There was also a vial of dark red medicine.

Lu Sheng scanned the contents of the letter briefly. It was written by Luo Di and addressed to Luo Sang. He’d clearly guessed that Luo Sang would find this. He even mentioned a few special cities and places in the letter.

The gist of the letter was that if he had died in an accident and Luo Sang found this compartment in his quest for revenge, he should go to these places and look for his friends. They would take care of everything.

Naturally, the unsaid message was that if Luo Sang had no intention of avenging Luo Di, he would most probably not find this compartment. A portion of the letter was addressed to anybody besides Luo Sang. This was to prevent this letter from being read by someone else in the event that Luo Sang gave up.

Lu Sheng skipped over the messy part regarding the future arrangements, and extracted the parts that were useful to him.

For instance, the way to take the pills and the amount in which they should be taken. There was also the preparation method and the relevant ratios.

He learned from the letter that the name of the pills he had been taking was Black Thorn. It was the standard pill passed down within the Gelailo Sword Style for a long time. Practically every practitioner would take this pill to improve his or her strength.

Lu Sheng had just been fretting about not finding a new stash of medicine, so he copied the formula down.

There was another object inside the hidden compartment. It was the dark red vial.

Luo Di had mentioned that this vial contained an extremely concentrated Black Thorn solution. The concentration and toxicity of this solution was a hundred times greater than the pills he had been taking. It was the stock solution used to prepare the pills. A single drop was enough to produce a bottle of pills.

‘That saves me the trouble of making the pills myself. I can use this for now and try to make the medicine later. Although there’s a lot of the medicine here, it might not be enough to strengthen me.’

Lu Sheng started calculating in his mind.

The key point limiting the practitioners of the Gelailo Sword Style in improving themselves was that the human body’s internal organs could not withstand the stress induced by the prolonged exposure to the toxins in the medicine. Even the training method passed down with the sword style could only help slightly.

However, in Lu Sheng’s case, he was completely capable of eliminating the problem of the lingering toxicity by deriving the training method.

‘The training method is a process. Through constant training, I’ll reach the goal. As long as I reach the goal, I’ll be able to completely eliminate the toxins.’ Lu Sheng replayed the skills in his mind as he uncorked the vial. He glanced into it and saw a thick liquid that resembled blood. A sharp scent of disinfectant emanated from it, and he could not help but squint his eyes.

‘Rather than saying the training method is a method, it’s more apt to compare the training method of each tier to a cultivation method. As long as I’m able to complete this cultivation method, I’ll be able to completely detoxify myself. After all, the training methods of each tier are completely different. An ordinary person will at least need a year of hard work and training to complete a training method and completely detoxify himself. More than 90% of the practitioners weren’t able to complete the training method of the Great Master tier. The most they achieved was 50-60% of the training method. However, my Mental Energy is completely capable of shortening the training method greatly and completing it.’

Lu Sheng raised his head and took a sip of the solution.

Its smell was bad, but its taste was surprisingly alright. It tasted like strawberry-flavored peppermint tea. A chilling ice-cold sensation slowly flowed through his throat into his stomach.

The pills’ effect that was much stronger than what he had experienced before started to surge within Lu Sheng’s body.

“Deep Blue.” He summoned the modifier again.

“Improve Gelailo Sword Skill.”

“Hiss…”

The interface immediately blurred.

From this moment on, it was truly a period of surpassing the limits. For Lu Sheng, eliminating the toxins was the crucial part. As for the strength of his internal organs, he had many ways to improve it.

….

Time flew by like an arrow. More than two months had passed in the blink of an eye.

Another day quickly passed Lu Sheng by. The day progressed quickly from the glaring morning sun to the golden sight, and eventually the sun was replaced by a crescent moon.

At night, the manor was peaceful and calm.

The women in the courtyard had returned to their homes to rest after finishing their daily chores. The servants started cleaning up the manor and wiping the furniture, while the gardener carefully trimmed the grapevines and olive branches.

“Splash!”

A pail of cold water drenched Lu Sheng completely from head to toe.

He placed the wooden bucket back onto the ground with a clank, and swung his hair as he stood in the courtyard.

Two months of training had completely changed Luo Sang’s outer appearance.

His muscles that were as strong as a lion’s twitched on his body. His slightly black hair was on the long side, and was clinging to his forehead messily.

Compared to the old Luo Sang, the current him had an arm that was as thick as his old thigh.

His thick and black chest hair danced in the wind. He ruffled and wet it with water.

“I’ve almost finished up the medicine.” These two months, Lu Sheng had completely finished the vial of highly concentrated medicine Luo Di had left behind.

Currently, his gaze was on Deep Blue’s interface.

‘My tier remains unchanged… Even after I consumed so much of the medicine.’

“Gelailo Sword Skill, Great Master. (Special quality, sword skill, complete. Strength increment, level ninety-nine. Constitution increment, level ninety-nine. Speed increment, level ninety-nine).”

‘However, my body is really at the limit of the medicine’s boost. I’m just unsure how powerful I am compared to the experts in this world.’ Lu Sheng stooped down and tossed the bucket into the well. Then, he gave the roller winch a kick.

“Bam.”

“Crash!”

The roller rotated wildly as if in a frenzy. The bucket which was tossed down just moments ago was pulled up in a second.

Lu Sheng caught the bucket, and dumped its contents over his head again.

He had trained for the whole hot day. Taking a shower like this was enjoyable.

After a few buckets of water, Lu Sheng grabbed a towel, covered his lower body with it, and walked back slowly to his bedroom.

Waves of heat came from his room. Two servants were boiling a big bucket of water while being drenched in sweat.

The bucket was made of iron, and its base was blackened from all the burning. The water within it boiled and spewed out vapor.

“Alright, the two of you may leave,” Lu Sheng ordered them casually.

The two servants were men with average build. They were about 170 centimeters tall and slightly muscular.

However, compared to the current Lu Sheng, they were like mere children who stood in front of an adult. They appeared extremely thin and weak in comparison.

“Yes, Young Master.” The two of them acted as if they had received a great amnesty. They hastily stood up and exited the bedroom.

Recently, the adults of the manor noticed that the young master Luo Sang, who had been an average and even thin young man, worked hard in his training and became this huge muscular man.

The young master’s temperament had also changed from the initial cowardly nature to a more decisive and steadier one. He now had a stern air about him.

When the two servants exited the room, Lu Sheng shut the door and windows, and then extinguished the fire. Then, he did a somersault and landed in the water bucket. He rubbed his body down comfortably with the hot water.

With the medicine Black Thorn, he was already strengthened to the extreme. Now, the Black Thorn no longer had any effect on him—his body was already immune to it. He needed to search for a newer and better method to strengthen himself.

‘In other words, it’s time I went out for a trip… Staying here isn’t beneficial to my future progress. In the other worlds with different power systems, I’ve managed to achieve twice the results with half the effort using some of these methods, but in this world, they’re nowhere near as effective as taking the pills. It looks like the main method of strengthening in this world is taking pills. Also, I might be able to obtain new medicines from the places Luo Di mentioned in his letter.’ Lu Sheng pondered as he rubbed his body down.

After taking his shower, he stepped out of the bath bucket. His body was still hot. He did not even have to use the towel, though. He merely shook his body, and the high temperature thereof quickly made the water evaporate.

Lu Sheng put on fresh clothes—a white shirt with a bowtie. He paired it with long slimming black pants and short brown leather boots.

He combed his hair and instantly turned into a strong nobleman with a gentlemanly air about him.