Way of the Devil

“I want to know what’s the difference between the power of Divine Weapons, Devil Blades, and you Devils compared to ordinary power?” Lu Sheng asked calmly. “If you can tell me, I’ll let you out.”

“HAHAHAHA, lowly ant, how dare you dream of breaking through the limits of the heavenly rivers and earthly meridians! Fool!” the voice bellowed. “A mere human like you dreams of grasping the power of the heavenly rivers… you don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“Tell me about the difference. Whether or not I can do it is my business. Your choice—will you tell or will you not?” Lu Sheng said quietly.

“Hmph! After pulling out such a long sealing saber, do you think you can still suppress me!? You underestimate the power of this king accumulated over ten thousand years. I’m perfectly able to break through the seal with my own strength—”

“Boom!”

Lu Sheng stabbed the saber back into the boulder again.

He had long felt the massive force coming from the saber hilt. But the level of force was within his zone of tolerance. He could handle it even in Yin Extreme Mode.

The sealing saber landed back into the boulder heavily, causing a crisp clang.

And then, it was silent.

A moment later, Lu Sheng pulled a stretch of the saber upwards slowly.

“Foolish lowly ant! How dare you make a mockery out of this king! Earlier, this king was simply careless. This time, I’ll definitely—”

“Boom!”

Lu Sheng stabbed it back decisively.

The resistance seemed to have multiplied by a fold. But there was no worry. He had been using his left hand. Worse comes to worst, he would simply just use his right hand as well.

A moment later, he pulled out the saber slowly again.

“…”

This time, the voice was silent.

An awkward silence…

Lu Sheng broke the silence first.

“So? Have you thought through it?” he asked softly.

“…No harm telling you.”

The voice paused for a while.

“Do you know what your Prime Devil Sect’s Ten Laws and Nine Wills are imitating from us?”

“What?”

“It’s our breathing,” the voice whispered. “This sealing saber wasn’t left behind by the Prime Devil Sect, either. It had been here since way earlier. They merely discovered this saber by accident, then lured me here.”

“…Alright.” As Lu Sheng suspected, its level of intelligence was worrying.

Lu Sheng remained placid as he continued asking, “What’s this got to do with the Ten Laws and Nine Wills? All I’m interested in is what’s the difference between the power of Law and ordinary elements?”

“The difference is that they exist on different leagues. They come from different classes and sources. The most fundamental, smallest ingredients that compose them are entirely different,” the voice finally answered honestly.

“Just like how water and ice are fundamentally the same item, yet ice is countless times harder than water. Unless you have massive volumes of water smashing into it at high speed, water will never be a match for ice head-on.

Your Prime Devil Sect put in all your life’s work. But all it has done is to imitate our breathing. This breathing is the source that produces Devil Qi.”

“Then how can I master the power of Law?” Lu Sheng continued asking.

“Simple. You just need enough quantity. Even if you’re a pig, if you can multiply yourself into a thousand pigs, you can trample over a tiger. Aren’t there many remains of the Ten Laws and Nine Wills in the depths of your Prime Devil Sect? Back then, that bunch of liars carved everything into the deepest part of the River of Poisoned Fog and even used some material to prevent the words from fading with time.”

Lu Sheng was speechless.

“Put simply, under extreme concentration, ordinary elements may possibly transform into the power of Law. You’ve got to try that out on your own,” the voice remarked casually. “Alright, is it time to let me out yet? Make good your word?”

“I understand now. Many thanks.” Lu Sheng put the saber back into the boulder, turned around and strode away.

Silence first descended on the ground, followed by an abrupt, violent tremor as if something underground was shaking in fury.

Lu Sheng had already come up with a plan. Since his body could not be upgraded, then he would use external materials as substitute. When he had tested it out clearly, then he would try it again on himself.

Returning rapidly to the lake in the River of Poisoned Fog, Lu Sheng recalled how the Devil had mentioned that Prime Devil Sect’s founding ancestors had carved the Ten Laws and Nine Wills in the depths of the river.

‘Teacher Liu Shanzi should be unable to enter the deep parts of the River of Poisoned Fog. That’s why they’ve not been discovered. Those founding ancestors must have decided to leave behind their inheritance in such a lousy environment out of safety. Well, it so happens that I need to find Mental Energy. Let me first take a walk around this place.’

Lu Sheng thought for a moment and left the cave. He began exploring the caves around the lake, progressing towards the deeper parts.

Soon, a joss stick’s duration had passed. After a long walk, Lu Sheng had not discovered any secret chambers or switches.

Lu Sheng then went out to the stone forest and walked several rounds there, searching all the small caves packed densely together. He did, however, find some toys with Mental Energy in them and reaped a harvest of about twenty-odd units of Mental Energy. There was nothing else.

He returned to the lake.

Gazing silently at the lake glistening before him, Lu Sheng frowned. “Could it really be inside?”

After some hesitation, he finally decided to enter the water himself.

The lake was not deep, but there were many pits and caves under it. Perhaps the secret lay here.

Lu Sheng found something to stuff his nostrils with, then took a deep dive.

“Splash!”

He burrowed into the cave and raced for the bottom of the lake like a fish.

The entire lake was only seven to eight meters deep. Back when he had sucked the lake of water, he had used Ultimate Crimson Nine Furies Skill as thrusters under his feet to maintain an upright erect position in the water.

But now, he did not want to float. Instead, he wanted to dive.

Soon, Lu Sheng clutched the wall beside the bottom of the lake, found a hole and entered it.

“Ka-ka…”

Eccentrically, the interior of the cave was without moisture at all. It was dry. One by one, the multiple-armed clay women stood on the walls, struggling to break free of their molds and crawled towards Lu Sheng.

Some of them only had upper bodies. They could only crawl against the ground and walls with their many arms in an attempt to reach Lu Sheng.

Some of them only had half their bodies. Limping and falling, they neared him.

“ROAR!!!”

With a wave, Lu Sheng released the Lion of Rage. The moment this Yin Devil appeared, it roared in rage and pounced at these clay women.

In a jiffy, all the multiple-armed clay women were shattered into yellow soil all over the ground.

They were slow but strong, and carried poison and odor on them. But the Lion of Rage was a Yin Devil which had inherited great strength from Lu Sheng. Add to that the toxic flames all over it, which made it invulnerable to poison and odor, and it countered them perfectly.

Hence, clearing up these clay women took Lu Sheng about as much effort as stepping on an ant did.

Presently, he walked to the innermost wall of the cave without obstruction. The wall was filled with many carvings.

“It was true!”

After dispatching the clay women, the remaining patterns on the wall turned into words. It was ancient Song script.

On it was written: Number Five of the Ten Laws and Nine Wills: Enmity Fire Devil Body.

Below it was a series of cultivation techniques packed densely together, accompanied even by diagrams.

Lu Sheng quickly memorized them, intending to ask Teacher Liu Shanzi what Enmity Fire Devil Body did when he got back.

‘Ten Law Devil Bodies represent ten different types of Devil Bodies. Add to that the Nine Wills, and we’ve got a total of nineteen Prime Devil Secret Arts. This Enmity Fire Devil Body…’ Lu Sheng scrutinized the contents.

He discovered that the contents were still based on the Devil Qi from the River of Poisoned Fog.

Soon, he had committed the contents to memory. He left this cave and swam towards other caves.

One by one he passed by many small caves. Soon, he found another cavern. The Lion of Rage charged into it and set it ablaze immediately. After dispatching all of the clay women, Lu Sheng walked into its innermost part and discovered another one of the Ten Laws of Prime Devil Secret Art.

Closely after that, Lu Sheng found all ten Devil Bodies Secret Arts in the caverns at the bottom of the lake. Of them, two were too badly damaged by erosion. The other eight were kept in perfect condition.

Lu Sheng was overjoyed. After experiencing the power of the Phantom Listening Devil Body, he held his breath in anticipation of the other Devil Bodies.

The Phantom Listening Devil Body gave him near infinite liquefied Qi detonation. This meant that his Yin Yang Integration and liquefied Qi detonation pinnacle state could last forever and be used like normal… instead of having to rush for time like previously, when he had nothing left after detonating all ten drops and his strength would drop drastically.

Since the Phantom Listening Devil Body was known as the most mediocre Devil Body, then what these supposedly stronger Devil Bodies held in promise excited Lu Sheng.

Like with martial arts, Lu Sheng began thinking of accumulating all Devil Bodies on one person—himself.

What heights would he arrive at?

Just a single Phantom Listening Devil Body already put Lu Sheng at the pinnacle of the lower three grades of Snake realm, casting aside his own extraordinarily strong physical body.

If all the other Devil Bodies were added to that…

***

West Infinity Court.

Number one in the Hundred Lineages, historically the strongest sect, equivalent to the Noble Families, extremely powerful and rich… one praise after another, one halo after another continually cloaked West Infinity Court in prestige.

To the many sect disciples who have lost the protection of the Noble Families from which they came, West Infinity Court was the epitome of strength in their minds.

Because of that, West Infinity Court was often compared to the Noble Families by disciples in the Hundred Lineages.

All of them wanted to see if they could develop to their fullest even without the backing of a Noble Family, and whether or not they could match up to the Noble Families.

West Infinity Court was the subject of such high hopes as it continued to lead the entire Hundred Lineages.

Sect Master Zhao Zhi was dressed in jade white robes and crowned with a purple gold headdress. Seated upright in the study, he practiced calligraphy leisurely.

Over fifty years in age, he was reputed as West Infinity Court’s most charismatic sect master as of yet. Since he began holding the reins of the sect, he had constantly been working hard, accumulating strength, managing West Infinity Court till it entered an age of unprecedented strength. Because of that, he was widely loved by many disciples.

Gripping the brush, he slowly completed the character for “complete” (‘完’).

Zhao Zhi dipped his brush in ink and was about to continue when he was suddenly interrupted by the sound of breaking air outside the window. Hurriedly, he lifted his head.

A small, intricate ancient yellow bronze mirror had appeared on his windowsill.

The moment Zhao Zhi’s gaze landed on that mirror, the color of his face changed. Quickly, he walked over, took the bronze mirror and hid it in his sleeve.

He shut the windows swiftly, threw out a ball of silver dust from his hand and waited for a while. Only after that did he take out the bronze mirror once again.

“What is it?” he whispered to the mirror. Astonishingly, he was not using the Song language. Rather, it was a bizarre language.

“It’s about to start… the new wave of Devil Disaster.” The blurry image of a lady slowly emerged in the mirror. A voice spoke in the same language from within, sharp and clear.

Zhao Zhi’s face fell as he asked, “So soon? Didn’t the last one occur just ten years ago?”

“Indeed. Originally, it wasn’t time yet. But this time, one of the three gates belonging to Three Sacred Gates that should have been opened was closed. We didn’t expect that someone could resist that temptation and backed out of the tunnel and shut it.

This is a golden, once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity. Absolutely unmissable. With one gate down, it means a batch of forces that could have resisted us for a long time is now gone,” the lady replied.

“But in such a hurry?” Zhao Zhi hesitated.

“There’s no hurry. Without the help of the gate, at least a fifth of the resistance is cut. Perhaps this time we really can take down the Song Dynasty,” the lady said deviously.

Zhao Zhi fell into silence.

“I understand now…”

Devil Disaster. It meant that terrifying power of the league of a Divine Weapon Master was about to be unleashed into the mortal world. As a spy planted in the Hundred Lineages, he had to cooperate and do the preceding work well.

The decline of sects that have been suppressing Devils, such as the Prime Devil Sect, the Cave of Ten Thousand Caverns… etc., was in actual fact his work behind the scenes.

Now, the main forces who had once resisted the Devil Disaster had been reduced to the lower three grades.

Since the other party had notified him, it meant that his place was about to become the frontline.

According to the established pattern, two Devil Spirits would first descend and build the Gate of Flesh and Blood.

These two Devil Spirits, each of Divine Weapon Master level, were sufficient to massacre the entire Jiang Yu City and its region, including several cities like White Bell City, in order to build the Gate of Flesh and Blood.

Faced with such a sudden assault, not even the Shangyang Family would be able to resist it.