Way of the Devil

Sect Master Chen hesitated. He finally let out a slow sigh of relief as the elderly man next to him surrounded the premise with chains.

“We call her the Holy Master of Eternal Slumber, but many people call her the Devil Master of Eternal Slumber instead.”

“Devil Master of Eternal Slumber…” Lu Sheng narrowed his eyes. He hadn’t heard of this name before. Besides, wasn’t the title of ‘Devil Master’ usually reserved for the Devil Army?

Zhang Shilong saw that, and let out a bitter laugh. “You might have heard her other name before.”

“What name?”

“Qian Du.”

Lu Sheng blanked out for a moment, then immediately thought of the Great Yin history book that he had read. There were records of that name on there.

“Qian Du… you mean the one that historically caused 37 cities to…” He didn’t finish. Zhang Shilong’s nod already confirmed his guess.

The Great Yin suffered a horrifying epidemic in its past.

In those years, tens of millions of people died because of it—a loss for the Great Yin, which had at most a population of thirty million.

According to the records, Qian Du was a special strain of disease that spread through the air, but now…

“What really happened?” Lu Sheng heart tightened. He was powerful, sure, but far from the point of being able to murder tens of millions of people in one breath. If he tried his best, he could kill a couple hundred thousand at most before top-tier masters swarmed and killed him with their numbers. After all, population numbers were a key resource for the Great Yin.

Zhang Shilong grabbed a chair and sat down. Since the quarantine was complete, he stopped worrying so much. “I don’t know much, either. I just know that she suddenly appeared in the Great Yin. No one knew where she came from. The only thing we do know is that she first came into contact with a little city called Zisui.

“All living creatures in the city died overnight. Whether they were human or cattle—or even poisonous bugs and mice—all of them suffered the same fate.

“After that, no matter where she went, widespread disease followed. She called herself Qian Du, and possessed terrifying regenerative power. Back then, all sorts of strings were pulled to constantly send out Holy Masters, but none could defeat her.”

Sect Master Chen sighed, and continued for Zhang Shilong. “I will say the rest, Shilong. You aren’t familiar with what was after that, either. Back then, I was still the 24th disciple under my master. My master, Xuanqing Zi, was one of the most powerful masters who’d joined the hunt.”

He motioned for Lu Sheng to sit, while he, too, grabbed a chair to sit down.

“At the time, even with the great Noble Families deploying their Weapon Commanders, she was only captured. At last, we found a way to kill her by using Broken Dimension Rock to slowly grind and cut her original body, then kill the part that was ground off. It was as slow as a grinding mill, but it was the only way to kill her.”

“Then Devil Emperors happened to invade, and with many forces allying to defend the Gate of the Devil World, Broken Dimension Rock became scarce. We were forced to move Qian Du’s seal. Thousands of years passed, and all the Weapon Commanders were pinned tightly by the Devil Emperor, while Qian Du’s power increased to the point where it couldn’t be controlled anymore. Any leak from carelessness resulted in an epidemic that cost tens of thousands of people’s lives.

“Then, the sect master of our Thousand Sun Sect, Weapon Commander Kong Heng, negotiated with Qian Du in secret for a year and reached an agreement. Master Qian Du joined our Thousand Sun Sect because of it.

“Many of the older generation aren’t even aware of this, and treat her like a normal ancient master of the sect. If she hadn’t chosen you as her disciple, I wouldn’t have said anything.

“I thought it was a legend. After all, no one remembers exactly what happened thousands of years ago, and the records were vague. Who would have thought…” Sect Master Chen said wearily.

Lu Sheng had a general understanding of who that strange woman was… Top of Devil Master tier, and even Weapon Commanders couldn’t kill her in a short amount of time. She herself, meanwhile, was a moving apocalypse. It was probably for that reason she had to hide in the secret area to avoid hurting more innocents.

The only thing he didn’t understand was what she saw in him, and why she would guide him and take him in as a disciple.

Sect Master Chen’s full name was Chen Jinzhi. He wasn’t just the most powerful man in the Autumn Moon County Capital; he was also famous for his detailed and careful thoughts, so he was able to figure out what Lu Sheng wanted to ask.

“No matter what, it is a great privilege to be chosen by that master. All her disciples before, no matter their gender or age, all achieved something great. Even the vice-sect master of the main branch was a disciple under her at one point.”

“Then what about this quarantine?” Lu Sheng questioned.

Chen Jinzhi didn’t answer, and instead unsheathed a longsword emitting a blue light. The sword flashed, and a ray of blue light flashed out.

“Snap!”

A lot of things around Lu Sheng burned and dropped to the ground.

Something fine and black like sesame seeds dropped. The moment they touched the ground, the hissing sound of corrosion came from the floor.

Large amounts of black smoke rose. Uneven holes were corroded out in the slates—which were made from high level material and reinforced by formations—at a visible speed before everyone’s eyes.

Even more shockingly, Lu Sheng noticed that a dense swath of semi-clear bugs flapped out of the black smoke. The bugs had scarlet eyes and at least ten pairs of legs. Their four clear wings flapped rapidly behind their backs, emitting a buzzing sound. They died as the black smoke faded.

The bugs were tiny, so normal vision couldn’t see them at all. Only people with Lu Sheng’s acute senses could detect them.

“Everyone who came into contact with that master must be quarantined,” Chen Jinzhi explained. “Since the seniority of that master is extremely high, you are now technically directly my junior apprentice brother. Your position will be a direct disciple of the Autumn Moon County Branch. Aside from that…” Despite his hesitation, the kind-hearted master warned, “Just be careful…”

“I understand.” Lu Sheng understood the moment he saw the bugs. Most likely, Master Qian Du didn’t enjoy killing—she just couldn’t control the threat of her own body.

Immediately afterwards, people holding intricate equipment entered while wearing white insulating attires, shining rays of blue or green light with swirling symbols in them at Lu Sheng from their intricate compass-like devices.

Rays of light with runes swirling among them landed on Lu Sheng, quickly forming special symbols representing purity, seal, and quarantine.

Chen Jingzhi and the other sect master were busy for a while, and finally finished the inspection on Lu Sheng.

The conclusion was… no danger present.

Compared to that master’s previous disciples, the amount of poisonous bugs on Lu Sheng was miniscule. A small seal solved the problem.

Chen Jinzhi and the other sect master let out a long sigh of relief. They were normal Earth Primes, after all. Even if they were at the top of their level, they were still scared of that master, and afraid that something catastrophic would happen if there was an accident.

There were precedents, too. Her second disciple wasn’t completely cleansed during the quarantine, resulting in around three thousand people dying from the plague on the second day. That branch of the sect went extinct.

That was the scariest part—the contamination couldn’t be resisted by anyone below the Divine Weapon Master tier… including Earth Prime tier.

Lu Sheng completely understood their words of caution, and fully cooperated with their inspection and quarantine.

After another while, after repeatedly confirming that Lu Sheng didn’t present any danger, the two sect masters let out a sigh of relief, and bid goodbyes.

Zhang Shilong and the rest of the people present also went through a detailed inspection and cleansing process. They, too, let out a sigh of relief.

As they left the lobby in the wooden building, their legs were still soft. Ironically, Lu Sheng, who caused all this in the first place, was in prime shape and a great state of mind.

“Want to get something to drink?” Zhang Shilong patted Lu Sheng’s shoulder. This elder didn’t dare act like a superior in front of Lu Sheng anymore. He’d been truly scared for his life back there.

During that moment when he remembered who Lu Sheng’s master was, many thing flashed across his mind. The things he wouldn’t accomplish, the regrets he would have to leave behind… but at the moment of life or death, none of that was important. The only thing left was the delicate and alluring face in his dreams.

Lu Sheng looked at the sky. It was evening already. The yellow light of dusk was turning bright red.

“It’s almost dark, and we dealt with too many things already. We should go back and rest.” He’d just received Su Ningfei, or Heining’s true Qi technique, and planned to try it out. He vaguely felt something different about it compared to other True Qi techniques.

“That will be good too. It must have been hard for you too, encountering such an old… senior…” Zhang Shilong sympathetically slapped Lu Sheng’s shoulder. “If you are in any trouble, you can find me at Jinhua Villa, or you could find Madame Purple Leaf at the Valley of the Hundred Leafs. Soon, the sect will make arrangements for you, so just rest well for now.”

“I understand.” Lu Sheng nodded.

As Zhang Shilong left with the other people, so did Song Du. This guy was accompanied back by the servants of the Song Family. He didn’t even dare look at Lu Sheng, and his face was sallow. He had also heard the sect master’s explanation, so he was avoiding Lu Sheng like plague.

As the people left, Lu Sheng looked left and right, sensing that there were still many eyes on him in the dark. He let out a weary laugh.

The notoriety of this cheap master he got by accident was truly shocking.

He looked back on the wooden building, and walked along the pathway to the side. He respectfully refused the carriage and guards provided by the sect, insisting on taking a walk by himself to take his mind off things.

The Thousand Sun Sect was only one of the powers in the Autumn Moon County. Though they were the largest and most powerful, in reality, the difference between them and the other two top-tier sects wasn’t much.

The three major sects—the Thousand Sun Sect, Youyin Sect, and Spirit Bind Sect—controlled over half of the Great Yin’s powers, while the other half was controlled by the three noble families.

That was the layout of the Great Yin’s politics, and since Autumn Moon County belonged to one of the three major sects, their words were law (aside from the government’s). Meanwhile, the government was really just controlled by the three noble families.

In fact, they were in control of the imperial court of the Great Yin.

In other words, it was the difference between the imperial authority and sects.

Lu Sheng caused quite a big commotion just then, and didn’t even take a few steps before noticing countless overt or hidden gazes looking toward him.

Luckily, Sect Master Chen didn’t spread the news, and soon, the scouts that were attracted by the commotion slowly disappeared. Most of them went to investigate some other people.

Lu Sheng circled around in the city a few times, and soon used his advantage in suppressing his scent to easily ditch the people following him.

Then, he went to stock up on necessary medicine from an herbal shop, and bought a few simple books on talisman making.