Way of the Devil

Compared to the seven Yin Devils before it, the Eagle of Disgust was much stronger and larger. With its wings spread wide, it was seven to eight meters wide.

But the bigger it was, the smellier it was too.

Lu Sheng could barely take its foul odor. Resolutely, he kept it and quickly used his blood web to fan the air in the cave. Only after a while did he feel better.

‘If even I can’t take this foul stench, it must be even worse for others. If used well, this thing can be a real killer.’ Lu Sheng breathed out at length. After being overwhelmed by foul odor twice in one day, even he could not take it any further. He felt like puking out his dinner from yesterday.

From another point of view, if even he could not take it, others would probably be knocked out by the smell.

‘There’s one last Devil Will heart left.’ He looked at the other black heart floating beside him.

Unlike the other hearts, this one had many tiny pores packed densely on its surface. He examined it and noticed countless black maggots crawling about in and out of the pores.

‘Oh, looks like it’s already hatched… Maggots of Despair…’ Realization dawned on Lu Sheng. These maggots were too tiny and their aura too discrete. He had not noticed them before this.

‘Maggots of Despair. Their ability is decomposition. By devouring corpses, they can speed up the body’s recovery.’ Lu Sheng sensed their ability and his face immediately fell.

‘What on earth do I want this bloody decomposition ability for!’ With his palm, he shattered the Maggots of Despair’s heart before him, turning them into countless strands of Prime Devil aura which returned to his body.

‘But thankfully, I’ve at last gathered all nine Devil Wills. And now it’s time to generate the ultimate Devil Heart. In Phantom Listening Skill’s lineage, once the foundations have been laid with Devil Heart Dao, one only needs to cultivate Prime Devil Secret Art’s Phantom Listening Skill to produce the Phantom Listening Devil Body.’

The Phantom Listening Devil Body, as one of Prime Devil Sect’s Ten Laws and Nine Wills, was ranked tenth among the nineteen Devil Bodies. Its most distinctive characteristic was that it had the most Devil aura in its flesh among all the Devil Bodies.

This was also what the lineage of the Phantom Listening Skill relied on to survive till today. Compared to other Devil Bodies, its storage volume and speed of replenishment of Prime Devil Qi was several times faster.

Moreover, such a Devil Body had many varied abilities and was the fastest to adapt to the changes in combat. That was why it was passed down till now.

Lu Sheng mused to himself. He now had nine Devil Will hearts hatched—one more than the founding ancestor of Devil Heart Dao himself, according to the records. Perhaps even the founding ancestor of the Phantom Listening Skill would not be able to imagine what sort of heights Lu Sheng’s eventual Devil Heart could attain.

“Let’s begin…” He sucked in a deep breath of air. This was his habitual action each time before he began something important. It relieved him of his stress and helped him compose himself.

“Hoo… hoo… hoo…”

One by one, streaks of black gas shot out from his body, turning into Yin Devils as they landed on the ground.

Snake of Jealousy, Lion of Rage, Shadow of Insanity, Deer of Anxiety, Hound of Panic, Ram of Solitude, Ox of Pain, Eagle of Disgust, and Maggots of Despair.

Nine different Yin Devils flew around him. Each Yin Devil released a pale-blue glow.

Lu Sheng followed the Devil Heart Dao manual and meditated on the secret art diagram on it. Controlling all the Yin Devils, he made them orbit around himself according to a series of diverse pathways.

As the speed of orbiting increased, Lu Sheng’s own Prime Devil Qi was drawn out of his body as well, spreading towards the Nine Yin Devils.

Time trickled by…

After an unknown length in time…

“BOOM!”

Without warning, all the Devil Will hearts were contained by the black Prime Devil Qi, expanding and contracting as they were pulled into Lu Sheng’s body.

“Ba-thump!!”

All the Devil Qi gathered together and congealed into a massive, immaterial heart. This heart completely contained Lu Sheng, who was near six meters tall, as it beat slowly.

“It’s done!”

Lu Sheng surveyed his surroundings. This heart which contained himself was immaterial. It was like some sort of shadow-like object.

Contained within the heart, Lu Sheng could feel the Prime Devil Qi in him gushing and churning in a frenzy as if it were endless. Much of the water of the River of Poisoned Fog which he had drunk had remained in the stomach earlier. But now, it was being converted into new Prime Devil Qi at a mad speed.

The original Prime Devil Qi in him was being compressed, turning more viscous within him.

‘The speed of conversion is now five to six times faster than before. Prime Devil Qi’s total volume remains unchanged. But the activity of the Prime Devil Qi per unit has jumped drastically. The higher the activity, the lower the rate of expenditure when it is used to activate secret arts. Looks like this is the root reason why the Phantom Listening Devil Body has the most Devil aura among them all,’ Lu Sheng analyzed.

This immaterial giant heart was the eventual Devil Heart that Devil Heart Dao had produced in him.

According to the records, Devil Heart Dao produced many times more Prime Devil Qi than other similar secret arts. When the eventual Devil Heart was congealed, one’s recovery speed would be raised to two to five times that of before.

“As for mine…” With a mental command, the Lion of Rage emerged and stood before him.

“BAM!”

With one palm strike, he smashed the Lion of Rage into pulp.

Its toxic fire which carried lethal poison and hard skin were completely useless.

But in that instant when Lu Sheng smashed the Lion of Rage into pulp, the black lion roared and immediately emerged again from the black gas.

“This… this is regeneration!?” Lu Sheng was surprised. He had not read about this ability in the records of other cultivators of Devil Heart Dao.

He had destroyed the Lion of Rage to deplete his own Prime Devil Qi because he had intended to test how fast it would be replenished.

But the result was unexpected.

“Could this be the advantage I have from creating my eventual Devil Heart out of nine Devil Will hearts? Let me try again.”

“BAM!”

He destroyed the Lion of Rage again.

“It feels harder to the touch this time. Do they get stronger each time they die?” Lu Sheng was surprised.

This time, the lion did not appear again. Clearly, the regeneration worked only once. But the Yin Devil original form of the Lion of Rage was roaring in anger in Lu Sheng’s body.

It had been formed by Lu Sheng’s raw emotions and could not be manipulated. All Lu Sheng could do was to release or keep it. It could only be influenced when Devil Heart Dao reached a new stage of evolution.

So it was naturally furious when it was smashed into pulp for no reason.

‘Each of the nine Yin Devils have got their own wills. Once released, they’re not under my control. I must use them carefully so they don’t hurt others unintended,’ Lu Sheng concluded.

Each time an Yin Devil was destroyed, it took time to heal. According to Devil Heart Dao’s records, it took half a month to heal before the eventual Devil Heart was produced. After that, it took seven days.

But Lu Sheng now sensed that, under the unending supply Prime Devil Qi in his body, the Lion of Rage needed just a day’s cooldown before he could use it again.

“Impressive!” Joy welled up in him. This was equivalent to being able to use Yin Devils multiple times within a short period of time.

To be honest, he did not value the individual combat abilities of each Yin Devil on its own. In actual fact, the entire lineage of the Phantom Listening Skill did not focus on that. What was important to them was the ultimate mode produced when the Yin Devils merged with one’s body—the Phantom Listening Devil Body.

Under the final Devil Heart’s cloaking, the originally weak Yin Devils’ varied abilities would all be passed on the cultivator himself.

As a result, all his multi-faced abilities would be transformed radically and his overall strength raised significantly. This was the true use of the Yin Devils.

‘Now, it’s time to test out the power of the Holy Weapon remnant traces… Perhaps now I can tell the exact difference between the power of Law and ordinary elements.’

Lu Sheng’s gaze fell on the jade box on the ground again.

His body began mutating. From the original six-meter-tall height, he rapidly shrunk till he was about slightly over two meters.

His hands and feet quickly became thin and slender. The horns on his head also extended backwards and outwards. A layer of mirror-like jet-black armor covered his skin.

His originally thick tail quickly shrunk and contracted, becoming long and well-proportioned, light as a whip.

Savage spikes grew out of his elbows, knees, shoulders and back like a forest. One touch would cut and hurt anybody.

“Clang.”

Lu Sheng clenched his fist. A crisp metallic clang rang out when the skin on his palm touched.

‘Good enough. Yin Yang Integration. This is my most powerful form right now. Let’s try the Holy Weapon remnant trace again.’

The white ash left behind was a mark produced by the power of Law. After such a long time since it was discovered by the Hundred Lineages company, it had only half its original power left in it. Moreover, it continued to diminish in power.

Lu Sheng estimated that he should be able to endure the radiation from this white ash now.

Walking up to the jade box, he reached forward and lightly opened the lid with his razor-sharp fingertip.

“Thud.”

A crisp sound rang out as the lid knocked into the stone wall behind it.

Some fine white ash sat silently in the box. It was much less in volume than when Lu Sheng had scratched them off the pit previously.

“That’s it… that’s the one.”

Gingerly, Lu Sheng extended a finger out at the white ash.

“Szzz…”

The moment his finger came into contact with the dust, Lu Sheng felt a stabbing pain shooting into him from the finger. The thick layer of armor was dissolving before the white dust.

Acting decisively, he quickly detonated his liquefied inner Qi.

“BOOM!”

A shapeless flame burst into life on Lu Sheng’s right palm. It was a unique phenomenon produced by the Ultimate Crimson Nine Furies Skill as it burned at high speed.

After the invisible flame was lit, the corrosion of the white ash seemed to meet with some obstacle. But it was so small that it was negligible.

Lu Sheng’s eyes narrowed as he stared at his melting index finger. He commanded mentally.

Immediately, the shadows of each Yin Devil flickered behind him.

Beginning from the Snake of Jealousy all the way to the Maggots of Despair, all nine Yin Devil emerged in a flash, then entered his body like a shadow.

“Szzz…”

As the Yin Devils entered him, intricate, bizarre patterns began emerging on Lu Sheng’s mirror-like armor.

The patterns were formed by the nine Yin Devils.

Covering his hands, legs, face, neck, chest, back, etc., these patterns added a streak of coldness and mystery to the armor.

“So this is the Phantom Listening Devil Body?” Lu Sheng felt his five senses being amplified significantly. His limbs grew lighter. It was as if he had mastered those nine different abilities for many years and could use them easily at will.

‘Apart from these nine abilities, my physical strength has been multiplied four times. My movement speed and recovery abilities have been raised by about eighty percent of my normal mode. My sense of smell has grown more acute, and my body’s more flexible.

On top of that, Prime Devil Qi seems endless now… how does this work?’

Lu Sheng frowned.

The total amount of all energy was constant. Even after coming to this world, everything he had seen followed this law.

But now, the Phantom Listening Devil Body seemed to have an endless supply of Devil Qi at its beck and call. Any expenditure was immediately replenished.

Furthermore, strange whispers encircled the Phantom Listening Devil Body. Pitch-black toxic flames would burst into life around him every now and then.

Lu Sheng thought for a moment. Then, he grabbed at the stone wall before him.

“BOOM!”

A massive ball of black toxic flames erupted, blasting a gaping hole out of the stone wall.

‘Compared to the might of Ultimate Crimson Nine Furies Skill, the toxic flame of the Lion of Rage is even stronger… Indeed. My overall strength has been raised significantly. This Phantom Listening Devil Body is extremely suited for mass battles and is highly adaptive to all sorts of environments.’