Way of the Devil

Standing in the courtyard, Lu Sheng stared at his hands.

A faint web-like pattern emerged on his palms. Although the gray veins were very faint, they remained discernible.

‘I’m initiated into Golden Veil Skill… it’s time to upgrade it.’

Without even bothering to return to his sanctuary, he simply proceeded with it right there and then in the courtyard.

‘Deep Blue,’ he called out in his mind.

A light-blue screen appeared before him.

‘Begin martial arts extrapolation?’ The dialogue box popped out.

‘Yes,’ Lu Sheng replied calmly.

The dialogue box disappeared, revealing a row of assorted martial arts behind it. After absorbing all the Yin Qi from the artifacts he had acquired, the extrapolation button now appeared behind every single martial art.

Lu Sheng’s gaze remained for a long while on Ultimate Crimson Nine Furies Skill. The button for extrapolation was there. But, he understood that if he really pressed on it, his body would certainly fail to hold up. He would almost certainly fall into mishap.

Either sustaining heavy injuries or having his meridians damaged.

The total volume of inner Qi in his body had reached the maximum capacity that his body at this point could hold. Without solving this problem, there was no way he could cultivate higher-leveled inner force skills.

‘What a pity…’ he looked deeply at Ultimate Crimson Nine Furies Skill, but eventually shifted his gaze onto the newest martial art at the bottom of the column instead.

‘Golden Veil Skill: Initiated. Special Effect(s): Invulnerability to Sharp Weapons—Level One.’

It was an elementary hard body skill; its only effect was to resist sharp weapons. Lu Sheng slowly breathed out,

‘Better upgrade it using Yin Yang Jade Crane Skill first.’ His eyes narrowed.

‘Upgrade Golden Veil Skill to Level One.’

At the thought, the row for Golden Veil Skill on the Modifier blurred and came into focus again after a few breaths.

‘Golden Veil Skill: Level One. Special Effect(s): Invulnerability to Sharp Weapons—Level Two.’

‘Upgrade Golden Veil Skill to Level Two,’ feeling no abnormality in his body except for the depletion of Yin Yang Jade Crane inner Qi by half, he carried on.

Although he had enough Yin Qi to spend on upgrading, it was quite a waste of it. Lu Sheng wanted to save it for extrapolating skills beyond their existing limits.

The Golden Veil Skill row on the Modifier blurred and came into focus once again, this time changing to Level Two. Its special effect had also changed to “Invulnerability to Sharp Weapons—Level Three.”

This time, Lu Sheng clearly felt a pang of weakness stabbing through his body. He looked at the skin on the back of his hand. The layer of gray veins was becoming clearer.

‘Looks like I’ve gotta use Yin Qi,’ all three items he had obtained from Zhuo Wenyu had contained Yin Qi. However, the Yin Qi absorbed from all of them was merely sufficient to upgrade Ultimate Crimson Nine Furies Skill once.

Hence, before finding any other source of Yin Qi, he had to use it sparingly.

Lightly, he pressed on the extrapolation button behind Golden Veil Skill with his mind.

“Szzz…”

The entire Golden Veil Skill row blurred and appeared again.

‘Golden Veil Skill: Level Three. Special Effect(s): Invulnerability to Sharp Weapons—Level Four. Amplified Strength—Level One.’

Just like the phone app game he had played in his other life, the Modifier displayed the specific effects of full-mastery of Golden Veil Skill explicitly.

Lu Sheng raised his arm and looked at it under the moonlight. Somehow, he felt that a certain mysterious transformation had occurred in his body, but couldn’t quite put a finger on it. It seemed to be occurring on a very subtle level.

Sensing the rough changes in his body, he walked into his sanctuary and pulled on a piece of brick in the corner of a wall.

Instantly, a secret drawer was pulled out. In it was a pair of massive butcher blades.

Lu Sheng lifted one of the sabers by the hilt and slit it across his forearm.

The sharp blade rang as it slid across his skin. Astonishingly, all it left was a faint white line!

‘This saber is sharper than an average blade. Yet even it was unable to cut open my skin easily…’ Lu Sheng estimated that the toughness of his skin provided him with the defense of a layer of leather armor.

Some of these thick leather armors were impervious to cuts from saber blades, even if one expended a lot of strength.

‘This Golden Veil Skill’s effects aren’t impressive. No wonder it’s merely of Strength Proficiency. After full-mastery, and coupled with Bear Wrestling Arm, that’s all it can do. Apart from defending against sharp weapons, all it can do is some slight amplification to strength, which even other hard body skills can do,’ he shook his head slightly, rather disappointed.

But at the same time, he felt only a slight amount of Yin Qi expended. Perhaps that was because of the weakness of this martial art.

‘Since I’ve expended only this little Yin Qi, I can continue!’

After taking a bathroom break and grabbing a bite, Lu Sheng quickly returned to his sanctuary to continue cultivating new hard body skills.

After Golden Veil Skill was Dusk Dantian Inflating Skill.

This time, he acquired a total of five hard body skills from Martial Proclamation Library. Golden Veil Skill had been fully mastered. Next up was Dusk Dantian Inflating Skill which boasted a very powerful rebound effect.

This hard body skill required one to first train the toughness of one’s body by tempering the skin, bones, and muscles into extremely pliable structures, much like a leather drum. This was so that when the opponent struck the surface of one’s body, he would suffer from powerful rebound effect as if he had struck a drum.

One could say that it was the prime example of how the best defense was a good offense. Naturally, the difficulty of cultivating this skill was much higher than that of Golden Veil Skill.

Rumor had it that some experts within the sect had even cultivated to Intent Proficiency with this skill, making it one of the top-notch manuals among Strength Proficiency manuals.

Lu Sheng rang a bell and instructed his subordinated to change the medicinal bath while he familiarized himself with the mantra of Dusk Dantian Inflating Skill.

Lu Sheng continued to train hard like this. In the blink of an eye, three days had passed.

During those three days, he confined himself to the sanctuary, sleeping on the ground when he was tired and calling for food or drinks when he was hungry or thirsty. On and on, he struck himself using a giant hammer to temper his body, according to the mantra’s instructions.

Lu Sheng had men hang up a dozen iron maces in his sanctuary. Each one was as thick as an average person’s waist. When tempering his body, he would push a mace away with his hand, then slam his body into it as it came swinging back towards him.

The sharp spikes on it and the huge force it carried as it slammed into him helped to consolidate Golden Veil Skill and cultivate Dusk Dantian Inflating Skill.

In this manner, he trained for three days repeatedly. Because Lu Sheng already had the experience of cultivating several hard body skills to begin with, and boasted extremely deep outer force foundations, it only took three days for his body to exhibit characteristics of initiating in to Dusk Dantian Inflating Skill.

“BAM!”

A thick black mace was struck high into the air.

Lu Sheng stood among the iron maces, his arms spinning like a whirlwind and slamming into the area before him.

“BAM! BAM BAM BAM BAM!!!”

Instantly, the muscles all over his body inflated by a fold like they were about to explode. His muscles rippled and shook like waves across his body.

He charged left, right, and center among the maze of maces like a bull in a china shop. Palm by palm, he struck the maces into flying. Maces, each weighing more than a hundred catties, came swinging back forcefully towards him, riding on their weight and momentum. Then, they were sent flying by him again.

Sharp spikes slammed into Lu Sheng’s skin, leaving only small impressions in his skin.

“BOOM!”

Suddenly, Lu Sheng’s entire body spun rapidly like a gyroscope, his arms outstretched.

All the maces were sent flying away from him.

“BAM BAM BAM BAM!”

The steel chains on which the maces hung snapped and the maces slammed into the walls, leaving holes of various sizes there before landing heavily on the ground.

“Phew…”

Lu Sheng kept his arms. His barren top was red, but not a single wound could be found on him.

‘My body has expanded by a fold once more…’ he sighed as he looked at the bloated muscles on his body.

Previously, before he had begun practicing hard body skills, he was already 1.8 meters or so. But now, he was probably 2-meters-tall. And he wasn’t the lanky kind of tall. Every spot on his body was covered in strong and firm muscles.

He stood in the sanctuary, hot steam rolling and billowing from his body, enveloping the entire room in a wave of heat.

‘The side effect of practicing too many hard body skills seems to be my ever-expanding body size?’ Lu Sheng did not know whether to cry or to laugh.

He could no longer wear the shorts he had used to; they had turned from loose shorts into tight shorts.

Sighing, Lu Sheng rang the bell.

Soon, a voice rang out from outside the sanctuary,

“My lord?”

“Bring me a set of clothes, the largest size,” Lu Sheng instructed.

“Yes, sir.”

The person outside quickly retreated.

Lu Sheng stood inside the sanctuary, feeling the unobstructed and smooth flow of Qi and blood all over his body. An unprecedented feeling of invigoration and comfort filled him, telling him that he had recovered. Yin Yang Jade Crane Skill inner force, which was previously spent on upgrading Golden Veil Skill, had been replenished thoroughly too.

‘This is the day when I achieve full-mastery of Dusk Dantian Inflating Skill!’ He sat down cross-legged, allowing sweat to flow down his body and drip to the ground unchecked.

***

Mountain-Edge City, She Lin Garden.

Zhang Yuandong had thick brows and large eyes. His body was tall and well-built. His arms were long and slender, reaching to his knees and thus earning him the nickname—Long-armed Ape King.

His Heavens Tipping Palm was extraordinarily powerful and he had achieved the pinnacle of Spirit Focus. Even when matched against Crimson Whale Sect’s Chen Ying in his prime, he could hold his own. Three Ape Warriors were under his command, each of them capable Intent Proficiency experts.

Yet, even with that, he was now sitting in the garden of his headquarters, brows locked in a frown and his face scrunched up with worry.

‘Zhen Family… has abandoned even Crimson Whale Sect?’ As a Spirit Focus expert, he naturally had his own connections with Zhen Family. He was considered their vassal, secondary to Crimson Whale Sect. Hence, he too had received insider information about Zhen Family’s anomalous behavior.

‘Crimson Whale Sect has always been Zhen Family’s arms and legs in the Northern Lands. To abandon even such a huge force… what on earth is in their minds?’ Zhang Yuandong was befuddled.

“Brother Dong,” a short but stocky man strode in from outside the garden. A black battle axe was strapped to his back, making him look ferocious.

This was the Deputy Leader of She Lin Society, Li Shan. He had long since achieved full-mastery of his Nine Mountains Hard Qi Skill and even attained Intent Proficiency. He had developed the originally Strength Proficiency hard Qi skill into an unprecedented realm. In the entire She Lin Society, he was the second-in-command.

“Ah Shan, you’ve come,” Zhang Yuandong arose. “How goes the matter I asked you to look into?”

Solemn-faced, Li Shan glanced left and right, then whispered in a hushed tone,

“The Transformation Clan Chief has indeed been burnt to death.”

“Seriously!?” Zhang Yuandong trembled.

“Without a doubt!” Li Shan confirmed.

Zhan Yuandong heaved a long sigh. Hands behind his back, he paced to and fro in the garden.

“Something must be wrong here! Transformation Clan Chief is the son of Crimson Whale Sect Master. His strength was also of the Spirit Focus realm. Although he was not at the pinnacle of the realm yet, his Blood Brilliance Sword Technique is something to be feared. Even I wouldn’t be able to defeat him in less than a hundred moves. How could such an expert be burnt to death in a fire that easily? Who would believe it?”

Li Shan nodded, “Despite the fire, even a Strength Proficiency expert with any decent qinggong would be capable of escaping, not to mention Intent Proficiency and Spirit Focus experts… unless he was imprisoned in a chamber and unable to escape.”

“That’s impossible!” Zhang Yuandong shook his head. “Others may not know it, but I’ve once crossed paths with the Transformation Clan Chief. He had an extremely sharp dagger hidden in his sword hilt which could slice through metal with ease. What wall or door could possibly resist such a powerful weapon?”