Way of the Devil

When he was leaving the Cave of Intolerance, Lu Sheng was still thinking about what the young man had said. He naturally didn’t really believe that the other person was just a young man. Evil people were often skilled in making themselves look youthful, not to mention that he’d faced an expert from a sect of people with bloodline powers.

That person was definitely an old monster far older than Lu Sheng; it was only because he properly maintained his looks that he looked like he was a young man.

‘This Leaf Sect seems to be a large force in the records. It is their philosophy to stop sect members from sacrificing common people to become stronger.

It’s just that right now, the Prime Devil Sect is the most suitable place for me to cultivate in. I don’t need to consider any other options for now.’

Many relics were hidden deep within the Prime Devil Sect; perhaps even one with the ability to absorb Divine Energy remained undiscovered there. And when it came to secret arts, they still hadn’t been completely mastered, so as of now, there was no need to worry about anything else.

After memorizing where the Leaf Sect’s Cave of Intolerance was located, Lu Sheng returned along the path to the top of the mountain, where the square for the Meeting was.

***

A very large plaza in front of the Melody Temple, completely covered with red stone slates.

The plaza was shaped like a square, with four different sculptures of various people placed in each of the four corners. These were the four greatest sect masters in the history of the Heaven Lotus Sect. Among the sculptures were the Two Saints of the Heaven Lotus.

In front of the Melody Temple, the sect masters of three sects in the upper three grades sat on one side, looking over the fight currently taking place in the Meeting’s field.

There was a bald middle-aged man at the seat of the West Infinity Court, looking relaxed. The corners of his eyes were dyed with a large amount of red that extended to his temples. He was wearing a large robe and two golden rings on his arms.

He was the first seat of the West Infinity Court, Blood Infant Huang Fu. He was also the strongest first seat at this time, and rumor had it that he had already reached the realm of Snake a long time ago. After the past few years, nobody knew what level he was at.

At the seat of the second-ranked Heaven Containing Sect sat an elegant man wearing a large white robe with an apricot-yellow waistband. Surrounding him were numerous flying needles, each one about the length of a palm. This man was named Gongsun Nian. He wasn’t very famous since he lay low and wasn’t well-known. Only after the Chosen One, Bai Xiu, admitted that he wasn’t as good as Gongsun Nian did the latter get his current reputation.

The third seat was the Wan Shun Palace. The Chosen One, Bai Xiu, was as cold as jade. On his back was a blade that was much longer than a normal one. His long black hair was tied in a straight ponytail, raised up high. His hands were spread out on his knees and his eyes were slightly shut. He didn’t seem to care at all about the other first seats fighting below.

At this time, in the plaza, the fight was between the sects ranked nineteenth and twentieth in the upper three grades.

The first seats of the sects were all at the seventh-vein level and each had a variety of techniques and styles, but they were all suppressed by the four giant sculptures and could only exert half of the power they could usually wield.

Near the plaza were the seats for the sects part of the middle three grades, and then the seats for the lower three grades. The levels were clearly distinct.

The seat of the Prime Devil Sect where Lu Sheng sat at was already at the outermost part of the plaza. Behind him were cliffs and canyons.

When Lu Sheng came back, He Xiangzi was not there. There was only a banner of the Prime Devil Sect, inserted into his seat all alone.

The fighting in the faraway plaza didn’t interest him. The secret arts used had no relevance to him anyways. The contestants were all relying on secret arts developed from Bloodlines.

In his boredom, Lu Sheng sat down cross-legged to train his inner Qi and check to the changes to his Devil Will Heart.

This time, when he meditated, he found out that something unusual had happened.

‘The first Devil Will Heart is the man-faced snake, which is the snake of jealousy. The second is the Lion of Rage. The third one… if it follows the conventional development, then it should be the Shadow of Insanity. If it doesn’t, then it will be some other desire taken from the depths of my heart…’

Lu Sheng focused on his perception and found out that the third Devil Will Heart had yet another crack in it.

‘A total of nine Devil Will Hearts. After all of them become active, condense them into the final Devil Will Heart. This would be the completion of the Devil Heart, and also the highest-realm technique in all of the secret arts of the Prime Devil Sect,’ Lu Sheng thought with high expectations.

‘The Prime Devil Sect’s secret technique can completely transform both bloodlines and the body from the inside out. The internal Qi is continuously strengthened through both body and blood, continuously developing and extending the power system. Then, when the two combine, what will happen? The result should be really interesting…’

He carefully observed while sitting cross-legged for a while. The third Devil Will Heart should hatch within the next two days.

After sitting for another hour or so, another match from the Meeting ended. Even from far away, the sound of cries, laughter, and laments from the sects’ disciples could be heard.

The voices from there were loud, lively, and extraordinary, but near the Prime Devil Sect, it was quiet and without any movements.

Another hour passed in the blink of an eye, and the sky was now gradually dimming. People from all of the sects slowly returned to their seats as well.

On the plaza, groups of twos and threes were returning together. He Xianzi, the siblings from the Zhan Family, as well as Fang Tan and Chen Yunxiang were all walking together, talking about the results of the great competition in whispers.

Fang Tan had a bloody scar on the side of his face that hadn’t fully healed. Obviously, he got it in the middle of the great competition just now.

When he saw everyone return, Lu Sheng slowly got up.

“Where did you go, Brother Lu? I couldn’t find you anywhere!” Zhan Kongning said regretfully. “You didn’t get to see the interesting parts. There was also Brother Fang’s bitter fight where he won in the end, successfully raising the ranking.”

“Is that so? I took a random walk to the bottom of the mountain,” Lu Sheng replied carelessly. “It’s all over?”

“Now we’re just waiting for the results from the meeting of the sect masters to combine the sect ranks and individual ranks. The final one will determine the sect’s overall ranking,” said Chen Yunxiang while laughing. “Tomorrow, we should be free to go.”

“Junior Apprentice Brother, do you not like lively places?” He Xiangzi asked in a small voice.

“It’s not that bad.” Lu Sheng looked at the lively crowd of the sect disciples who were still in discussion. It gave off the feeling that the great competition of the Meeting had become some sort of entertainment for the Hundred Lineages’ disciples, like a festival or something.

“Then we can pack up tonight and prepare to go back,” said Lu Sheng without a care.

“So soon…” To be honest, He Xiangzi still wanted to have some fun. It wasn’t easy to leave the sect for a bit, and there were also so many people together. The sect’s ranking was even stabilized. There wasn’t anything to worry about. The sense of urgency that Lu Sheng displayed in wanting to return to the sect so quick saddened her a little.

“Yeah, it’s not easy to come out and get together. Why don’t we all spend some time together and have some fun?” Chen Yunxiang suggested. “My Jade Sound Clan has beautiful junior and senior apprentice sisters, want me to introduce you to some of them, Brother Lu?” she teased, laughing.

“I’m married. Furthermore, this trip that we took wasn’t for fun…” Lu Sheng said lightly.

“Well, all right, let’s stop chatting since it’s time to have dinner. The Heaven Lotus Sect has arranged sweet, spicy, and sour flavor foods in three different places. You can choose what you want to eat on your own. What do you want to eat?” Zhan Hongsheng chipped in.

“I want the sour one!”

“I want to eat spicy food.”

Each person spoke one after another.

Lu Sheng glanced at Zhan Hongsheng and Fang Tan, but didn’t say anything.

“I will not to go. Senior Apprentice Sister He Xiang, remember to return early,” he murmured and turned away slowly.

He Xiangzi looked at his back with a troubled expression, then looked at her friends. In the moment, she didn’t know which decision to make.

***

The Lin Family.

Lin Beikai put down his spoon, closed his eyes and slowly chewed the food in his mouth.

There were two people around him on both sides of the feast.

There was a woman wearing black and another wearing white, both of whom had only half of their hair, the hairline from the forehead to the back of the neck. The left side had no hair, only the scalp. The right side was filled with dark and black silky hair.

Both women had deep eye sockets, and their mouths showed sharp tusks.

“The Meeting is about to end,” said Lin Bei Kai in a low voice. “Lin Huandao passed through since he brought in a divine weapon. Everything is going according to plan, and we are just waiting for you two.”

The face of the woman in black was cold, her hands constantly rubbing the porcelain bowl in front of her.

“Logically, we should not interfere with the private affairs of young master.”

Lin Bei slowly chuckled.

“This is not a private matter. Lin Huandao’s arrangements are really impeccable. It’s just that Shangyang Fei will not act as expected. That is why I invited you two to come. I just hope that the two of you can help me to keep watch on the Shangyang Family’s actions. Should their judges make any moves, I hope the two of you can tell me right away so that I can make preparations.”

The women looked at each other.

“It’s just surveillance. Of course it’s okay, but the young master has spent so much to invite us. It wouldn’t be for this small of a matter, right?”

“Of course not.” Lin Beikai laughed. “The plan has been steadily progressing, and all of the secret moves have been arranged properly. Now, it just needs to be carried out. One of the reasons why we invited you two was so that you could prevent any accidents from happening.”

“Preparation? Alright,” the white-clothed woman said coldly.

“With the strength of you two, I am relieved. In addition…” Lin Bei picked up a wine glass. “As for Lin Huandao, should anything come up, then please take care of it.”

The two Swallow Gods were aware of the conflict between him and Lin Huandao and naturally understood that he didn’t really mean it, so the two slightly nodded.

“If there is a chance, we will intervene.” They were standing by Lin Beikai. They always were part of his influence, just that he had never used them before. Thanks to this, their connection to him was concealed, and they could make their move in a critical moment… like the current time.

***

The next day.

The Meeting was finished. Lu Sheng did not participate in the entire process at all, cultivating his inner force in his assigned room the entire time.

After waiting until the afternoon, He Xiangzi went in through the door to inform him about the end of the Meeting. Only then did he slowly walk out of the room.

“What about the teacher? How is our ranking?” Lu Sheng asked arbitrarily.

After mentioning this, He Xiangzi shone with excitement.

“We ranked 59th! The teacher won against three sect masters and also won a lot of properties and mines! This is really a turnaround!”

“Very good, then when are we going back?” Lu Sheng was also relieved that the Meeting went smoothly from beginning to end, without stumbling across any issues.

He still remained vigilant and did not dare to reveal his strength so that he wouldn’t be targeted. But he didn’t expect that nothing would happen throughout the entire Meeting.

‘Did they really give up? Impossible…’ His heart didn’t believe it.

“Junior Apprentice Brother, I think that we should go with Shizhi Guangzong. They happen to be on the same path as the Three Great Sects. They can take us along the journey. It’ll be like a bunch of elites from a large amount of sects coming with us, so it will be safer by a lot,” He Xiangzi said positively.

Lu Sheng frowned and thought about it. “What do you think, teacher?”

“I also think that we should join with the big forces.” Liu Shanzi slowly walked into the courtyard and faced Lu Sheng and He Xiangzi with a gratified look. “This trip ending this way is largely thanks to you, Little Sheng.”

“I am also a member of the Prime Devil Sect. Teacher, you are saying this too politely.” Lu Sheng smiled. “However, I do think that having too many people won’t help hide our whereabouts.”

The Grand Elder Liu Shanzi thought for a moment.

“Also true, it’s better to act alone. We have fewer people and can move faster.” He paused for a moment. “Then we still act alone. It’s easier to hide.”