Way of the Devil

 Wood chips splintered off everywhere from the tattered wall. After a wave of commotion, a couple men of Jianghu held their wounds from the splinters and hurriedly moved further away, afraid they were going to be affected again.

“Go… f*ck your mom! You madman!!” Bie Feihe struggled to unsheath the knife at his belt, and struck toward Lu Sheng.

“Dang.”

The steel knife was casually slapped away by Lu Sheng, and then stabbed firmly into the wooden wall to the side.

“And you dare insult your master!?” Lu Sheng tightened his brow, then grabbed Bie Feihe’s hair, and slammed his face into the ground.

“Snap!”

His face was slammed squarely into the floor, and his nose bridge instantly snapped. His mouth, eyes, and forehead were covered in blood, looking extremely pitiful.

He tried his best to circulate Qi within his body, but somehow he felt as if everything in his body had become sluggish and unresponsive.

“Madman!”

“Bam!”

His head was slammed into the ground again.

“You madman!!”

“Bam!!”

“Madman!!”

“Bam!!”

“Mad—”

“Bam!!”

“You—”

“Bam!!”

“I—!”

“Bam!”

“Master!!!”

Bie Feihe finally couldn’t take it anymore, and fell silent after a desperate scream. The sound of weeping followed.

“Bam!”

Lu Sheng was too used to the rhythm, and accidentally slammed his head again. When he finally stopped, he lifted Bie Feihe’s ruined face, which looked like a pancake at this point.

“There we go. If you had obeyed in the first place, it would have saved time for both of us.” He split off a sliver of his own Essence Qi, and poked around Bie Feihe’s body to see if he was suitable for cultivating Spirit Power and the Heavenly Devil Jade Code.

The Heavenly Devil Jade Code might be more troublesome, since only spirits could cultivate it.

As for Chen Youjin and Chen Qun, both cowered in a corner, too afraid to leave or approach.

Bie Feihe’s goons, however, had savage expressions on their faces as if they were about to fight with their lives and save their master.

Lu Sheng totally ignored them. Even though Bie Feihe looked quite wretched, he knew his limit. The point was to make him feel pain, but not leave any permanent damage that could affect his potential.

As for all the power and techniques Bie Feihe showed?

In reality, Lu Sheng only changed his form once when he grabbed at him, which was enough to disrupt all his defenses.

“Gulp.”

The few men of Jianghu left in the inn looked at Bie Feihe’s ruined face and their faces turned pale as well. Most hurriedly stood up and left.

Soon, only the hunchback, his companion, and the two constables that just came downstairs were left. Even Bie Feihe’s goons ran off. Chen Qun and Chen Youjin, on the other hand, firmly knocked their heads in front of Lu Sheng a few times before struggling up and leaving.

Lu Sheng dragged Bie Feihe by the hair, and returned to his seat, then casually dropped him.

“Before you start cultivating my techniques, you need to gain weight. Your body is far too weak!” Lu Sheng mildly squeezed Bie Feihe’s arm.

From when he first struck to capturing Bie Feihe, only 10 seconds passed. But for Bie Feihe, it was the saddest 10 seconds of his life.

His… or her… face was disfigured.

She sat beside the table, held her head, and cried like a child.

Lu Sheng continued drinking in his original spot. Even though there was a lot of commotion before, only a few holes appeared on the walls and the floor of the inn. Nothing else was harmed.

He finally found a good test subject with extremely good potential, one that would stand out even in a crowd of thousands.

Even in the Great Yin, Bie Feihe’s impressive potential would guarantee him to enter the Snake level with the radiation of Divine Weapons.

Snake level might have meant nothing to Lu Sheng at this point, but they were still powerful enough to do whatever they wanted within a county. Even in an ordinary noble family, they could hold mid- to high-level positions, with all the riches and women they wanted.

“Stay here. If you are good, I won’t hit you.” Lu Sheng pointed at the ground next to his table.

Bie Feihe was too afraid to make any noise. This was the hardest beating she’d experienced since she was a child. The material that disguised her face mixed with the herbs, and stuck to her face with her blood. It felt numb and itchy, and was very uncomfortable.

The only noise left in the inn was Lu Sheng leisurely sipping his wine.

The hunchback next table glanced strangely at Lu Sheng, then at Bie Feihe.

“Who would have expected the future Gang Leader of the Black Vulture Gang to be a girl. That’s a nice thing to learn.” He then moved his gaze toward Lu Sheng.

“Little brother, this place isn’t far from the Black Vulture Gang. Are you not afraid that the Cloud Creek Kick King might come for revenge after beating their future gang leader so badly?”

Lu Sheng glanced at him, and replied with another question. “Have you heard about the Chen Family’s problem?”

“The mysterious disappearance of the Chen Family’s second daughter? I have. Their second daughter would disappear for a period of time every night, and all who stood guard would mysteriously fall asleep. She would then suddenly return exactly at noon in the next day,” the hunchback said slowly.

“Disappear?” Lu Sheng was intrigued, and planned to investigate. According to Ju Yan, one of the pillars hid here, but he also said those Universal Ward Columns could disguise themselves as anything, even living beings. Since the Chen Family was the local power, they could be of great use.

As he thought about this, a group of people rapidly gathered outside the inn. Everyone wore leather armor and had steel knives, clearly practiced in martial arts.

A few middle-aged men that looked like they led rich and leisurely lives were walking in the middle. The one in the lead looked somewhat like Chen Qun.

The Chen Family had finally arrived.

“The Coral Bowl is here. Fight over it if you want, but this thing is not something the Chen Family can or wants to hold anymore. The rest is up to the masters here.” As soon as he entered, the middle-aged man cupped his fists and paid his respects to everyone present in the inn.

He then ordered his men to bring up a red wooden box. A fiery red coral as large as a palm sat within it.

‘ They would give it up that easily?’ Lu Sheng was surprised. He’d thought he had to go through a lot of trouble, but the Chen Family seemed reasonable enough.

The middle-aged man from the Chen Family then bowed deeply directly at Lu Sheng as if thanking him for helping his son. The group then promptly left. The whole process was simple and clean.

Lu Sheng looked curiously at the Coral Bowl on the ground. He finally picked up the jug of wine on the table, and drained it before standing up and leaving.

“If the little brother doesn’t mind, you could find me at the Zhao Family. We could still work with the Black Vulture Gang on this,” the hunchback said behind him.

“Thank you.” Lu Sheng smiled, then glanced at Bie Feihe, who trembled before reluctantly following.

The two walked away from the Green Coat Inn, followed the road, and soon could no longer smell the fragrance of the inn.

The street, after a whole day of scorching heat, was still extremely hot. But as soon as Lu Sheng left the door, he saw two intimidating old men with white hair standing not far away from a trash can.

Both were powerful, and their hair and beards were white. Both wore close-fitting clothes fit for martial arts, one white, the other black, complete with a silver vest made from some sort of metal thread on the outside.

“Young Lord, are you ok?” the man on the left said in a clear voice as he walked up, his eyes filled with worry as he looked at Bie Feihe behind Lu Sheng.

Bie Feihe opened her mouth and wanted to speak, but didn’t muster up enough courage as she bit her teeth and stared at Lu Sheng’s back.

The two elderly men were nicknamed the Two Cranes Iron Fist, but most called them Third Grandpa Zhou and Second Grandpa Zhou. Both cultivated the powerful Thirteen Crane Fist Form, and could attack from a range or easily kill a bear. Even in the Black Vulture Gang, they ranked among the top 10.

Their appearance meant that the Black Vulture Gang’s reinforcement wouldn’t be far off.

“Elders Zhou, please be careful! This man is extremely powerful!” Bie Feihe finally warned loudly.

Lu Sheng glanced at the two old men in boredom. Both had a sizeable amount of Inner Qi within them, though only by normal standards. Maybe ten or so times greater than ordinary men if converted to Essence Qi.

But, it was too little to impress Lu Sheng.

“Young man, don’t be hasty. Release our young leader right now, and we can still work this out, or else…” Third Grandpa Zhou said in a low voice.

Neither of them noticed anything special about Lu Sheng. On the contrary, he looked no different from an ordinary man, aside from his lively body.

But that just made the two of them even more cautious. Someone who could so badly beat up the future gang leader, Bie Feihe, who cultivated martial arts to a substantial level, was anything but ordinary.

“May I ask… who you are…?” The Second Grandpa Zhou finally realized something was off after he observed for a while. Even though Lu Sheng simply stood there, unmoving, the more he observed, the louder a bell rang in his heart. Hair rose all over his body as if it was experiencing a life and death situation.

“Are we fighting? If not, I’m leaving.” Lu Sheng didn’t have time to play childish games. At his level, these mortals were weaker than kids. Their moves were mere child play.

Second Grandpa Zhou was about to talk, but felt a sudden coldness in his heart, and abruptly stopped himself.

Third Grandpa Zhou was greatly surprised. He knew his brother always had an accurate instinct, and chose to stay silent as well.

Lu Sheng glanced at the two of them, then continued walking calmly. Bie Feihe’s eyes widened for awhile. She knew how high those two ranked among the Black Vulture Gang, yet even they didn’t dare attack. Where did her new master that appeared out of nowhere came from!?

For the first time in her life, she regretted acting so childish and running away.

***

Chen Family.

In a small office that had an exquisite plaque hanging above its door.

Chen Jiuhua sat stunned in her chair, her hand stroking a pure and flawless jade pendant. She thought about her daughter’s cute and beautiful smile, and felt as if a knife had cut through her heart.

“Ever since Little Bi met that person, our Chen Family has not lived a single day in peace…”

“It’s not Little Zhe’s fault, either… the two kids were truly in love…” Chen Zhunguang sat on the side, looking equally elderly. Even though he was the family head’s brother, he looked far older.

“I suspect that Little Bi’s strange behavior is because she is still contacting that Zhang Yunzhe!” Chen Jiuhua suddenly said venomously.

“Impossible! Stop with the nonsense!” Chen Zhunguang chided.

But as he thought about it, it was truly possible. If Little Zhe’s mysterious family visited again…