Way of the Devil

It was merely a simple, short saber. And yet, it continuously hacked through two wooden walls, which were even made of specially treated wood to boot. The saber blade hacked into the white-clothed person, carrying with it the aftershock of the attack.

“RIP!!!”

A tearing sound like that of cloth being ripped could be heard. Lu Sheng’s eyes were bloodshot. In one slash of the saber, he sliced the white-clothed person into two halves.

The saber spun round, splitting a wooden table on the side into two pieces along the way.

His watchful gaze swept across the room. Black Fury Skill revolved quickly all over his body. A tyrannical air of violent savagery emanated from his chest, lingering about him without dispersing in the least.

“BOOM!”

He kicked away the eight-seater desk that was in his way, sending it flying into the wall and then falling apart on the deck in pieces. Still, he faintly perceived that someone was spying on him from the dark.

“YOU COURT DEATH!!!” Lu Sheng roared madly, striking with Tiger Kill of the Black Tiger Saber Technique. “GET OUT HERE!”

The saber force smashed into the wall before him like a thunderstorm. A huge bang rang out in the midst of the tiger roar.

“KA-BOOM!!!”

More than half of the entire wall was smashed into smithereens by Lu Sheng, whose force was being amplified by Black Fury Skill. Broken bits and pieces of black wood flew all over.

Behind the third destroyed wall, a woman dressed in white appeared before his eyes, her face covered with long hair.

Song Zhenguo and Jun’er were huddled in a corner, staring at her with eyes filled with despair and hysterical fear. Little did they expect that Lu Sheng would come across them at this moment.

In the first few seconds, both of them were stunned. After they recognized Lu Sheng, however, their shock turned into joy as they watched Lu Sheng charge towards the white-clothed woman like a deity descended from heaven.

Song Zhenguo was about to rise and approach them, but he was pulled back by Jun’er abruptly.

“Something’s wrong! Wait first!” Blood trickled down the corner of Jun’er’s mouth. She had been hurt at some point in time. Right now, she was staring at Lu Sheng, clearly sensing that something was out of the ordinary about this person.

“What’s wrong? That’s Brother Lu. That’s Brother Yue Sheng! I didn’t know that he was so strong, so powerful! He must have come to rescue me!” Song Zhenguo explained hurriedly, his spirits reinvigorated.

“Look closely again!” Jun’er reminded in a hushed tone.

Song Zhenguo paused, then quickly turned and look. Only then did he find that Lu Sheng looked odd.

“HEEHEEHEE…” the woman’s figure flew backwards, sending massive volumes of oily green fireballs, which looked like human heads, flying towards Lu Sheng.

Several dozens of green fireballs cut off all his escape routes.

Black Fury Skill rippled to its maximum power on Lu Sheng. His heart was presently filled with a tyrannical, murderous intent to destroy and kill. The short saber in his hand vibrated intensely. Copious amounts of inner Qi flooded into his right arm, channeling into the saber’s blade as he slashed forward with it.

“ROAR!”

A deafening tiger roar!

Silver saber light formed the shape of a gigantic axe, colliding squarely with the oncoming green fireballs.

“BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM…”

A series of bursting sounds, like the sound of gas balloons being burst, rang out. Huge volumes of green fire were burst apart and fell all over, covering the hanging red lanterns in flames. The flames rapidly spread along the rugs and leather.

“A pugilistic expert? An inner and outer force double-cultivator? Not bad,” the woman shrieked in laughter. Her body floated into the air slowly and she waved her hand.

Instantly, a string of round black orbs flew in from the gaping hole in the broken wall. Several dozens of orbs smashed towards him before he could realize what was happening.

“Tiger Might!” Lu Sheng gripped the saber in both hands, the giant frame of his body forming a stark contrast with the compact, short saber. Presently, however, the short saber was vibrating at an incredible speed, turning brighter and brighter as it reflected the light of the flames, becoming glaring to behold.

“HOO!”

Like a giant tiger, a gust of wind swept forward like a tornado. Lu Sheng pounced forward. His explosive speed across the short distance even surpassed his earlier speed when he was hunting down the white-clothed person.

He continuously dodged and actually evaded every single one of those orbs. Then finally, at an unfathomable speed, he hacked down on the woman’s neck.

“SPLAT!”

A human head flew up in the air. Lu Sheng rode on the momentum of his saber and delivered another slash as he swung it back!

“SPLAT.”

The white-clothed woman was sliced into two halves diagonally. An ear-piercing shriek rang out.

The fire grew stronger and stronger. Quickly, the beams of the chamber were burnt through and collapsed all of a sudden.

After striking with his full might, Lu Sheng had barely come to the end of his strike when the horizontal beam slammed onto him. All around him, fire rolled towards him as if it were alive, engulfing him in flames and covering him from sight.

“LU SHENG!!!”

Only then did Song Zhenguo and Jun’er dash out from the corner of the room in an attempt to save him. But their efforts were in vain.

The bean had slammed into Lu Sheng right on the top of his head and the raging flames had consumed him entirely in the blink of an eye. He was no longer visible.

“Let’s go!” Jun’er clutched onto Song Zhenguo tightly.

“YUE SHENG! BROTHER LU!” Song Zhenguo bellowed.

“Both of you should worry about yourselves first.”

Astonishingly, the white-clothed woman appeared again. Her body was already perfectly intact, without a single wound. Lightly, she floated beside the fire in the chamber, staring at the two of them deviously with a pair of dark eyes under the hair.

The duo including Song Zhenguo rushed out of the door without even daring to turn their heads.

“It’s me! I’m the one who sent Brother Lu to his death!” Tears welled up in Song Zhenguo’s eyes. Anger and grief overwhelmed him.

“We’ll talk about it after we escape!” Jun’er said decisively.

“ZOOM!”

The white-clothed woman shot out behind them, right at their heels.

“TRYING TO RUN!?” she shrieked loudly.

“ARGHHHHHHH!!!”

Just then, a bellow rang out from within the flames behind the woman. A muscular figure, flames still burning here and there on his body, pushed away the beam and leapt from the fire into the air.

Sparks flew as a giant hand emerged from the flames and gripped onto her.

“YOU!!?” The white-clothed woman’s head turned in fear and shock.

But all she saw was Lu Sheng pouncing towards her, his saber sweeping through the flames, conjuring up a massive wave of red and then hacking downwards squarely above her head.

“RIP!”

Once again, the woman was hacked into two halves by Lu Sheng.

But, unbelievably, the two halves of her body began to merge rapidly again, recovering its original form.

“A mere mortal! How dare you…” she screamed, black hair flying about madly behind her. Her hands lay over each other, forming a strange hand sign. Then, her white dress instantly turned into streaks and streaks of white cloth, shooting towards Lu Sheng and enveloping him.

“Die!” Streaks after streaks of white cloth shot at him, each emitting sharp roars as they cut through the air.

Lu Sheng’s eyes were blood-red. Flames still smoldered on his robes and white smoke was billowing out of some spots on him.

After a series of moves that had exhausted the Black Fury Skill, he was gradually regaining some sobriety.

He could sense that a large surface area of his body had been burnt. Lu Sheng quickly accelerated Black Tiger Jade Crane Skill. The improved version of Black Tiger Jade Crane Skill boasted strong healing abilities. Before long, Lu Sheng could feel the scorching burn on many parts of his body alleviating significantly.

But with this change of Inner Qi, both Black Tiger Jade Crane Skill and Black Fury Skill activated at high speed within him and Lu Sheng immediately sensed an extraordinary transformation occurring within him.

Two warm currents were spinning in him; one was violent while the other was serene.

He held onto his saber and stared doggedly at the woman floating in mid-air. Unexpectedly, an indescribable feeling arose in his heart.

Two streams of Inner Qi, one left and the other right, flowed into his left and right arms respectively. Then, they merged and entangled with each other on the short saber in the grip of both his hands, generating a formidable and fierce might.

Following the flow of this power, Lu Sheng’s body arched outwards slightly.

The meditative diagrams of both the Black Tiger and Immortal Crane became one in his mind, entangling with each other.

As if he had gained enlightenment, a red glow exploded out of Lu Sheng’s saber in that very instant.

“ROAR! SHRIEK!”

A high-pitched sound which was both like a tiger’s roar and a crane’s call rose to the heavens!

In the midst of this sound, Lu Sheng leapt up in the air and stabbed his saber pencil-straight into the woman’s body.

“KILL!”

“BOOM!!!”

This time, the massive force did not hack the woman into two halves. Rather, her body exploded with a blast into innumerable shards, which were lit ablaze by the flying sparks. These fell into the fire and no sound was heard from them again.

“Thud!”

Lu Sheng landed heavily on the deck, causing tremors throughout the entire pleasure boat. After a fit of heavy panting, he finally straightened his body slowly. He looked down and picked up a purple jade hairpin from the deck. This was the only object that had fallen off the woman’s body.

“Brother Song. Looks like the heavens smile on you. You’re fine even after all that,” Lu Sheng smiled at the duo including Song Zhenguo not far from him on the deck, revealing a row of snow-white teeth.

“Brother… Brother Lu…?” After fully witnessing the tremendous battle earlier, Song Zhenguo was seriously doubting if his new friend and brother was human after all.

“Let’s find Brother Chen. We should be getting off the boat. Otherwise, if we dawdle for too long, we may be unable to leave anymore,” Lu Sheng lifted his arms. His charred clothes were now stuck to his skin. Fortunately, Black Fury Skill gave him very high heat endurance. Moreover, his actions in the battle earlier were too violent and quick, preventing the flames on his body from burning on in a vicious cycle. Hence, his burn wounds were not significant.

“So… that female ghost… she’s gone just like that?” Song Zhenguo asked, stunned.

“No idea. But she should be gone,” Lu Sheng shook his head. His gaze fell on Little Jun.

Little Jun returned his gaze with a gentle and grateful smile.

The three of them swiftly found the fainted Chen Jiaorong in a corner of the boat. Song Zhenguo carried him on his back and the four of them alighted the boat at the harbor. They had only just gotten off it when the pleasure boat behind them lit up in flames. The huge fire was clearly visible on Cypress Pine Lake.

Strangely enough, they suddenly discovered that they were no longer at the spot by the lake near Mountain-Edge City. Rather, they were at a lakeside area in a deserted wilderness.

The four of them stepped on land and surveyed their surroundings. To their surprise, they saw no signs of human presence. Everywhere was a wilderness, filled with wild grass.

Lu Sheng took Song Zhenguo’s outer robe and changed into it.

After ripping his clothes off his body, only a small portion of his skin was burnt. Most of it was merely black from the flames. The hair on his head, facial hair and whatnot had all been burnt clean.

He was now as bald as an egg.

They watched as the pleasure boat, consumed in flames, slowly sank into the lake till it disappeared. Only then did Lu Sheng look at Little Jun. Song Zhenguo also looked at Jun’er at that moment. Both of them needed an explanation–one that only Little Jun could give.

What on earth had happened?

At the sight of their stares, Jun’er bowed her head and bit her lips in silence.

“…Don’t stare at me. I actually don’t know much about the pleasure boat. All that I know is that we’re not an ordinary pleasure boat. There’s a very mysterious and powerful leader above us. Most of the pleasure boats on the entire Cypress Pine Lake are under his control. And our pleasure boat also belongs to him officially.

That woman had also been our boat master, in charge of us all this while. It’s just that I had no idea that she… she was…” Jun’er shook her head and sighed.

“Let’s talk further after we get back,” Lu Sheng stared at the surface of the vast and empty lake. “Who knows where this is?”

“Let me,” Song Zhenguo laughed bitterly. “If I’m not wrong, this should be a river downstream of Cypress Pine Lake outside Mountain-Edge City. It’s at least more than ten miles away from Mountain-Edge City. We just need follow the river upstream.”

He looked at Lu Sheng, who was entirely charred black. Pushing Jun’er aside, he suddenly bowed deeply at the waist towards Lu Sheng.

“This time, I almost led Yue Sheng and Jiaorong to your deaths. Because of Jun’er and me, we almost got both of you embroiled in this mess.”

“I’m afraid… this mess isn’t quite over yet,” Lu Sheng, however, shook his head gently at him.

Song Zhenguo was stunned, but suddenly saw Lu Sheng’s line of sight falling on Jun’er beside him.

He quickly turned to look at Jun’er, only to see that her body, originally as solid as reality, was gradually turning translucent.