Way of the Devil

Xu Feila and Elder Stone were the two ancient Devil Kings sealed under Prime Devil Sect.

Devil King, a title he had once admired, was now simply a chess piece under Lu Sheng’s command.

“Lu Sheng, you have been here for a long time, so I assume you made the necessary arrangements. Your master has neither the mind nor energy to interfere. Sorry for troubling you with all this.” This came out naturally as Liu Shanzi had long since passed the title of the sect master down to Lu Sheng.

“Also… we were attacked multiple times on our way. Even the Yin Devils couldn’t keep them away a couple times, and we had to depend on Elder Stone and King Shadow for protection.” He was obviously pleading the case for the two Devil Kings.

Lu Sheng narrowed his eyes and again looked at the two Devil Kings. After all the time he spent interacting with the Devil Army, he started to learn about the Devil World, and had a very deep understanding of the tribes led by Devil Kings.

Devil Kings not only represented themselves, but also the whole tribe they led. Conversely, no weak tribe could produce a Devil King. This meant King of Shadows’ and Elder Stone’s tribes might still exist, but were probably being bullied by other tribes during their absence.

Since these two escaped, but didn’t leave immediately, and even helped Prime Devil Sect on top of that, they surely wanted something.

“Attack? Does Master know who the attackers were?” Lu Sheng immediately changed the topic.

The attackers not only dared to attack people under the Yin Devils’ protection, but also managed to force them away. That must have required some absurd power.

Each of the nine Yin Devils had their own unique advantages, and they were very powerful on their own. They were all Weapon Master level when he’d left, and now that he broke through to the Devil Master level, the Yin Devils, who were born directly from his spirit, also had to be affected.

Even if they were separated by a long distance, there should have been at least some improvement.

With such an entourage of guards, someone still ambushed the caravan…

“I do not know, either. The attackers all had long green swords. Some blurred their faces, while most wore masks, and all of them hid their scents well. Their strength and speed were both exceptional, but I couldn’t find which system they cultivated under.” Liu Shanzi shook his head.

“We can talk about this later.” Lu Sheng smiled, then started to ask his master about his experience on the road, as well as the arrangements he made since reaching the Great Yin.

He then chatted with Senior Apprentice Sister He Xiangzi for a bit, took care of a couple more disciples, made arrangements for everyone, and proposed many detailed plans to calm everyone’s mood before finally moving over to the Crimson Whale Sect’s crowd.

“Greetings, Sect Master!” Ning San kneeled on the ground first.

Umbrella Girl, surprisingly, also bent her knee a little. Her face looked soft and delicate. Obviously, Yingying was in control.

As she felt Lu Sheng’s gaze, Umbrella Girl replied softly, “Elder Sister… she spends most of her time nowadays… cultivating. Even though she is far more powerful… but… but..” She stammered and talked slowly, but conveyed her message clearly.

The basic idea was that although Hongfang Bai cultivated rigorously and far surpassed Yingying, she realized she was still a long, long way off from matching Lu Sheng. Hence, Yingying was in control most of the time, so she wouldn’t have to be embarrassed because of her weakness.

Lu Sheng didn’t care much. Hongfang Bai definitely had talent and potential, but at his level, those didn’t matter much anymore.

The so-called “top prodigies” could only reach Snake upper three tiers at best in the Great Yin. The Weapon Master level, and everything after that, was more of a matter of luck.

“How does the Crimson Sun Sect fare?” he asked casually.

“A total of 132 people came with the sect. 36 fled during the attacks. The rest awaits Sect Master’s orders,” Ning San replied in a whisper.

“Three of them had achieved the Heaven Prime level,” Xu Chui added on the side.

Lu Sheng nodded. Heaven Primes were only slightly bigger ants. Back then, he even planted the Yin Crane Net so that he could harvest Inner Force later, but now, it just seemed useless.

He didn’t even know how much Inner Force he needed to absorb to equal the amount of Mental Energy he could receive from consuming one Divine Weapon.

“Thanks to Sect Master’s genius creation of the Yin Crane Net, we encountered basically no bottlenecks during our cultivation of Inner Qi. As long as we worked hard, we would always keep going forward,” Xu Chui exclaimed sentimentally.

“You need to be careful yourself too. Inner Qi doesn’t do much to strengthen the body. It is better to start finding supplementary Outer Skills, or you might encounter a physical bottleneck.” Lu Sheng gave out some pointers.

Inner Qi was far less potent compared to Devil Essence when it came to body strengthening. He had to stack a pile of Outer Skills back then before barely producing Liquid Inner Qi. But once he came to the Prime Devil Sect, he was instantly shocked by the assortment of Devil Techniques there.

It was obvious that Devil Techniques were leagues ahead of martial arts and Inner Skills.

“We will definitely keep that in mind.” Ning San, Xu Chui, and the rest of the disciples all cupped their fists.

Lu Sheng settled the Crimson Sun Sect on an empty rock field nearby, and paid for the construction of a headquarters. With his reputation, Autumn Moon County would definitely spare him some profit no matter how bad their economy was. Though it might not be as grand as the one in the North, the Great Yin was constantly supplied with resources from the Other Worlds, and was a richer place overall—even more so when it came to the rarer items, some of which the North didn’t even have.

After making arrangements for the Crimson Sun Sect, Lu Sheng immediately received an invitation from the Head of the Turquoise Conch.

The Head of Turquoise Conch Agency of the Autumn Moon County invited him to visit. It was probably because of the fight in the wilderness. The Head of Turquoise Conch was an important position. He might only be the head of a county branch, but he must have had a solid background.

Since he was so respectful, Lu Sheng was curious about this head of spy organization too. There was information he needed.

***

The Thousand Sun Palace of Autumn Moon County.

Lu Sheng sat in the middle of the hall and looked at the two Thousand Sun Sect disciples outside. Both were female, dressed in close-fitting purple attire, and had masks on their faces.

They had nice and balanced bodies, and their manners vaguely indicated their noble birth. They looked like ladies of prestigious families. No one would have expected them to be high-ranking officials of the Turquoise Conch Agency.

The woman in the lead had a long, white token on her waist. Two knives lined in gold and sheathed in fish skin scabbard were attached to her thighs, looking clean and agile.

“Greetings to Sect Master Lu. I am Xiao Qing. Sect Master, you truly did make a joke out of us…” She was a middle-aged woman, and did not attempt to hide her discontent despite Lu Sheng’s position as the honorary sect master of the Thousand Sun Sect.

“And why does Department Head Xiao make such accusations? We Thousand Sun Sect disciples have always been law-abiding citizens.” Lu Sheng cracked a smile.

“Law-abiding? That’s simply not true. When have the three major sects truly obeyed the laws?” This “Xiao Qing” was clearly only an alias, and she definitely did not hide her dislike for the three major sects. “No need to act dumb, Sect Master Lu. I just have some questions about the Devil spy you encountered.”

“Ask away, Department Head.” Lu Sheng smiled. Choosing to receive the officials of Turquoise Conch Agency in the Thousand Sun Sect was also his way to keep the arrogance of the imperial court in check.

Xiao Qing wasn’t happy at all. Lu Sheng’s attitude was brash, and completely lacked any respect befitting an official serving the imperial court.

But since he was the honorary sect master of Thousand Sun Sect’s prefectural branch and had a powerful background, she could only endure it.

“We had received news of the Black Alliance and Three Sacred Gates nearby, and sent people to check. But, they were all stopped from obtaining any clues by your sect’s Blood Sun. Does Sect Master know anything about this?”

Lu Sheng finally understood why this visited came to be in the first place.

The three major sects might have been powerful, but they were still only the officially accepted large sects of the underworld—entities on the opposite side of the imperial court. Even without the presence of a Weapon Master, the Great Yin Imperial Court was still at an advantage. But since it was only an advantage, they couldn’t do anything about the three major sects, which were independent of the government.

Hence, most officials viewed the three major sects that occasionally disobeyed orders as the biggest trouble among the underworld.

Lu Sheng was amused as well. A mere department head of a county somehow had the courage to speak so harshly in front of him, the honorary sect master of a prefectural branch.

“Blood Sun is the emergency troop under the direct command of the main Thousand Sun Sect. Aside from them, not even prefectural level sect masters have the right to deploy them. Department Head, you are reaching out to the wrong person.” He shook his head and smiled.

“Right now, you are the most popular among the Thousand Sun Sect. Don’t blame me if I start to use force if you keep silent.” Xiao Qing was very annoyed by the Three Sacred Gates and Black Alliance’s incomprehensible constant obsession around the Autumn Moon County.

It made her very anxious and annoyed, and when she finally found some clues, she was stopped by the Blood Sun of Thousand Sun Sect. That pushed her over the edge.

The whole point of her visit was to force Lu Sheng to pressure the Blood Sun into giving ground.

From her point of view, Lu Sheng’s identity had been exposed already—he was a sect master of a minor sect from the Great Song that entered the Thousand Sun Sect, but still had his roots in the people that arrived after him.

If he made her a favor now, she would pay more attention to them once they established themselves in the Autumn Moon County since she was in charge anyway.

Unfortunately, she completely misjudged Lu Sheng’s intentions.

“I am truly powerless to interfere. Blood Sun is only commanded by the main sect, so it’s not something I could deal with. Speaking of which, that case of the Lu Family… How did your agency handle it? Did you people capture anyone?

Xiao Qing’s expression turned blank, and then she said awkwardly. “What does Sect Master Lu have to do with it?”

“I suspect there might be a portal to the Devil World near Autumn Moon County. It can’t be a coincidence that the Three Sacred Gates, Black Alliance, and the Devil spy all easily appeared near here,” Lu Sheng said in a low voice.

“Impossible!” Xiao Qing waved her hand. If she admitted to something as severe as this, it would be neglect of the highest degree. Combined with the case a while back, she would be executed if this was reported.

“Department Head Xiao seems very confident. So be it. Aside from that, during the migration of my family and sect, the caravans were constantly attacked. The attackers had very noticeable figures and possessed immense strength and speed. Their techniques…” Lu Sheng started to describe the appearance of the attackers to Department Head Xiao.