Way of the Devil

Chapter 470: Formula (1)

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

One day.

Two days.

Three days.

On the surface of the sea thousands of miles away from the island where Wood Martial Abode was located, the faint bluish seawater rose and fell. The cone-shaped waves surfaced and disappeared as soon as they appeared.

“Splash!”

A slender and handsome Taoist slowly rose from the water. It was as if something was pushing him up from below.

Currently, Lu Sheng had already lost the orb atop his head. That orb was cultivated by Mu Yun. At this point, it was only an orb with slight powers to him, and was not useful in any other way. Hence, he plucked it out and prepared it as a tool to face the Fated Child.

His venture into the deep this time was fruitful. His sacrificial refining of his Artifact was very successful.

‘Next up should be perfecting the method of Core condensation and condensing the best Inner Core. The Triad Brilliant Nether Collection won’t be enough.’

Lu Sheng squinted his eyes. Currently, although he was only at Complete Foundation Building tier, his Pure Qi supernatural power had surpassed the ordinary volume of the Complete Foundation Building tier more than a few hundred times.

The main difference between the Core Formation tier and the Foundation Building tier lay in the immense difference in the overall volume of the cultivator’s supernatural power. Also, Core Qi’s quality was better than Pure Qi.

Although Lu Sheng’s current Pure Qi was of high quality, it was still incomparable with Core Qi. However, his Pure Qi’s volume was too great. An ordinary Taoist Master of the Core Path’s supernatural power was equivalent to ten to twenty Complete Foundation Building Pure Qi, while his was at least equivalent to a few hundreds…

In addition to that, he had sacrificially refined his Artifact.

‘I know, why don’t I head over to the Mist Clam Clan and take some pearls? Although I have no need for them, the disciples of my sect do. Fighting solo isn’t the best way forward.’ Lu Sheng suddenly had this thought. Now that his Artifact was complete, he wanted to test it out on somebody. In addition to his initial plans, this trip was extremely necessary.

He looked around and sensed the Mist Clam Clan’s palace’s aura faraway. He immediately circulated his Pure Qi, and the seawater started pushing him in that direction.

He moved at high speed. The distance of a hundred meters of sea surface was covered in a second. A trail of clear white waves was left behind him.

A few minutes later, Lu Sheng slowly came to a stop and started to dive deep into the ocean.

This time, he had only dived a few hundred meters and was greeted with two burly men with spears in their hands and yellow clamshells on their backs.

A clam demon quickly lowered his head, and said softly, “Oh, the Wood Martial Abode Master has personally paid a visit. Please allow me to inform the palace.”

“There’s no need. I’ll personally pay a visit to Brother Fu Jin.” Lu Sheng’s expression remained unchanged. He waved his arm and released some Pure Qi. He instantly fixed the seawater beside these two clam demons.

His Pure Qi could lower his enemies’ body temperature in an extremely short amount of time. For clam demons with extremely weak temperature-controlling abilities, this was practically an extremely powerful bane. Under low temperature, they quickly lost their ability to move around. The two of them widened their eyes and moved with extremely slow speed as they tried to break free of this shackle. Unfortunately, their struggle was meaningless.

Lu Sheng swam past these two clam demons, and a splendid and imposing silver palace slowly revealed itself before him.

The palace was hemispherical and was built on the seafloor. Countless corals dotted its surroundings, which shrimp demons with their shrimp heads and demon bodies patrolled. Some fishmen with fish heads and human bodies were entering and exiting the palace as if they were transporting something.

Lu Sheng walked straight up to the palace’s doors. He was still some ways away when he saw a middle-aged man who wore a clamshell head ornament, embroidered robes, and bright pearl necklaces walking out hurriedly to meet him.

“Wood Martial Abode Master, you’ve come along way. Please forgive our terrible hospitality.” This person looked peaceful. Although he wore noble-looking clothes, he still managed to look lazy.

“What’s up with the pearls? You should know that the pearls are key to my sect’s cultivation,” asked Lu Sheng directly.

“The pearls are a specialty of our Mist Clam Clan. However, I’ve been getting more customers lately, hence I had to divert my supplies to them. That’s why I’ve decreased the production for the Wood Martial Abode.” The middle-aged man smiled. “After all, the same amount of money can only buy a smaller amount of pearls now. Please forgive us, Abode Master.”

“Forget it, I have no intention of wasting my time with you.” Lu Sheng stretched out his hand and threads of blue Pure Qi swirled on top of his palm. “I’ve come today to persuade your clan to submit under my Wood Martial Abode.”

The middle-aged man appeared astonished. He was the king of the Mist Clam Clan, and his name was Fu Jin. He had lived on the seabed for at least a thousand years. He had submitted to a few great forces before, but they were great forces that were far too powerful compared to him. However, the Wood Martial Abode Master before him had similar cultivation base as he did. If they truly fought, neither of them would be able to best the other. How dared he suddenly come here and spout such nonsense?

“Heheh, Abode Master’s sense of humor needs some work. It’s best to avoid speaking of such matters in the future to avoid any misunderstandings,” Fu Jin said with a smile.

“I’m not joking with you.” Lu Sheng’s expression was calm. “Or, perhaps, you may try.”

The smile on Fu Jin’s smile faded. A semi-transparent light red treasured sword appeared before him, and he grasped its hilt.

“Mu Yun, we’ve known each other for more than ten years, do you really want to fall out with me for some Cloud Water Pearls?”

Lu Sheng said nothing more. A silver metal ball with dark red patterns appeared behind him.

“Go!” He pointed at Fu Jin.

The metal ball instantly shot out. It was not fast, but its momentum was extremely heavy. It pulled along a huge mass of seawater as it moved toward Fu Jin.

“Whoosh!”

With Lu Sheng as the center, the seawater ten meters around the metal ball formed a wall of water and went crushingly toward Fu Jin.

“Preposterous!” Fu Jin made a sword-controlling gesture and mumbled something under his breath. A white jade pearl as large as a man’s head rose behind him. Next, patterns of swimming fish appeared on it.

“Go!’ He pointed at Lu Sheng.

The pearl shot out. It swirled a few times in the water and paused before crashing heavily into the wall of water.

“Bam!”

Water sprayed everywhere, and a small dent was made in the wall of water. The pearl was driven straight into the wall. It charged mercilessly toward the silver ball. However, it had just traveled a few meters into the wall when it started showing signs of lacking the strength to continue on.

The entire wall of water was dozens of meters thick.

Fu Jin’s face flushed. The clamshell head ornament on his head started to glow faintly. Supernatural power surged out of his body and his Core Qi surged wildly into his pearl Artifact. He attempted to free himself from this predicament.

However, his efforts were futile. The white jade pearl shuddered. It quickly grew powerless, and was fixed inside the wall of water.

“How… How’s this possible?!” Fu Jin had fought Mu Yun before and knew about some of his abilities. Mu Yun’s Abstruse Bead Seven Enlightened True Skill, which he was skilled in, was powerful in its cold and toxicity. The abstruse bead could flicker as many as seven times, and every time it flickered, the abstruse bead’s might and toxicity would be increased.

However, at the height of its might after the seventh flicker, the abstruse bead’s might was the same as his Natal Clamshell. Unless it was a prolonged fight, the two of them would practically be evenly matched. The outcome of the fight might not even be decided after a few days and nights. In the end, both of them might end up with severe injuries.

This was the crucial reason why the two of them had always restrained themselves from finding out who was the more powerful one.

However, the situation at hand was…

Fu Jin, with his flushed complexion, spat out a mouthful of blood and essence, putting his life on the line. He quickly made the signs for the secret art which burned his Core Qi and gave him an instantaneous burst of supernatural power.

“Boom!”

The white jade pearl suddenly lit up with a layer of grayish-white flames. The pearl’s power was also amplified, and it proceeded forward for several more meters.

Then, it stopped again helplessly.

When Fu Jin saw this, he completely despaired.

He raised his eyes and looked at Lu Sheng behind the wall of water.

“You win.” The color of blood quickly drained from his face. He started to weaken his natal pearl’s struggling intensity. “From now on, the Mist Clam Clan will submit to the Wood Martial Abode. Are you satisfied now?”

“Splash…”

The huge wall of water slowly scattered. Lu Sheng retracted the silver metal ball. His expression was calm.

“Don’t blame me, Fu Jin. I’ve no intention of exposing my powers yet, but alas… things have not gone the way I wished they would.”

He said this on purpose. It was clear that he had another meaning.

Fu Jin’s expression changed slightly. He seemed to have understood something.

“I understand now. About the Cloud Water Pearls, I’ll reject all other buyers from now on and provide them solely for the Wood Martial Abode.”

“Also, your Black Cloud Pearl, the one which you produce the least. Give us ten of them every year,” Lu Sheng added. Mu Yun had known this Fu Jin for more than ten years. It was only natural that he knew about the more precious items of his stock.

“Also, a hundred kilograms of Submarine Yin Iron won’t be a problem, right? Ordinary gold, silver, bronze, and iron, five hundred kilograms each.”

“Will do.” When Fu Jin heard Lu Sheng asking for the Black Cloud Pearls, his expression had immediately darkened. However, when he heard that Lu Sheng only wanted ten pearls per year, the normal color returned to his complexion slightly. As for the other items, they were insignificant for him.

However, for the poor and desolate Wood Martial Abode, they were items that were greatly needed.

“One other thing. Other than the Mist Clam Clan, are there any other more powerful sea clans in a thousand miles?” Lu Sheng posed another question.

“Powerful sea clans… There are some. They live in the deeper parts of the ocean and rarely come into contact with other people, that’s why not many know about their existence.” When Fu Jin heard the question, he was stunned, but quickly snapped back to his senses. He gestured for the clansmen around him to retreat. Then, he projected his voice and softly said, “If Abode Master intends to subjugate more sea clans, the sea snakemen in the trench are a good choice. They excavate Yin Iron and various other ores from the seabed, and are very skilled in this. I’ve seen the Sea Snake King a few times before this. He’s slightly stronger than me, but he’s not your match.”

Lu Sheng smiled.

“Send someone to bring me there. By the way, do you have a messenger talisman? I need one.”

Fu Jin submitted to his fate. The sea clan had always followed the strong. Such a scene was nothing to his clansmen. The most difference this would make was that they would have another master.

Only by depending on a powerful force could they live better lives. In this sea clan ecosystem where the survival of the fittest was the principal rule, this was only too natural.

He was not the only one. His clansmen had gotten used to this as well. Although the surrounding clansmen were surprised by the news, when they saw that nothing bad had happened, they quickly returned to their daily lives.

Fu Jin bit his fingertip and squeezed out a drop of demon blood. He quickly drew a talisman. The way to make a life talisman was easy, and practically every Foundation Building cultivator knew it. It was specifically used to send messages over short distances.

The demon blood used to make the life talisman could only be used once. Hence, life talismans should not be used wantonly. After the life talisman was used, the cultivator would have to expend more demon blood to replace it.

Lu Sheng received the life talisman and roughly tested the might of his own Artifact.

He was only at the Foundation Building tier’s Complete stage, and was already able to unleash a terrifying might that surpassed Fu Jin’s, who was at his Inner Core tier’s Early stage. He even gauged the might of his Artifact. When it went head-to-head with the white jade pearl, its might was almost more than two hundred times the pearl’s.

This might had already exceeded ordinary early stage Inner Core’s strength. According to Mu Yun’s memory, not many cultivators at the middle stage of their Inner Core tier could attain such a terrifying level.

The Taoist Master of the Vital Energy Sect who hunted him was at middle-stage Inner Core tier back then. His might was now much weaker than Lu Sheng’s. At the very least, it was a gap of a dozen times.

Lu Sheng had roughly learned about his rank at the moment, so he had a plan of his own.

After he received the life talisman, Fu Jin invited him to visit the palace.