Way of the Devil

“What’s this?!” Lu Sheng suddenly took a step back, and kept his distance as a safety measure.

It was only supposed to be a ball of water which he had compressed. He did not expect such a strange-looking eye to appear within it.

Flustered yet intrigued, he started to study the eyeball inside the ball of water. This eye did not seem to be what he expected it to be. It clearly appeared within the ball of water, but the pupil’s focus did not seem to be him. Instead, it seemed more like the eyeball was looking at some faraway and unknown place.

It resembled a person’s eye that was aimed in the faraway direction.

Lu Sheng calmed down. Then, he picked up a hint of strange disturbance within the eye. It was a pure brutal force that was ice-cold and chaotic. The brutality kept emanating slowly from the eye.

It was not the sort of eyeball that appeared vile and bloody from its appearance alone. Its gaze was calm and profound as if it was the brutality and chaos that hid itself under the calm water surface.

It was like a volcano that could erupt at any moment.

“That can’t be right!” Lu Sheng suddenly snapped back to the present. He sensed a slight abnormality.

He reached out his hand and slowly pushed it into the ball of water in an attempt to touch the eyeball. However, the strange thing was, he had barely placed his hand into the ball of water when he immediately felt a surge of Yin Chill travel up his arm.

The Yin Chill was so intense that even his current Nascent Soul which possessed the Yin Chill attribute could not completely block it out.

Alongside the Yin Chill, a flow of information surged into his body as well. This information was preserved with some special energy wave for a long time.

Countless images and sounds surged into Lu Sheng’s mind with this flow of information, which contained some contorted and wild will. It was attempting to tempt and control his mind.

“Humph!” Lu Sheng snorted. His main body deep within his heart suddenly shook. Yang Essence surged out wildly and cocooned the contorted will within his body. Then, it quickly eroded the intruding will.

“Bam!”

All of a sudden, he staggered backward, and blood oozed out of his orifices. To his surprise, his main body’s spirit was dealt a heavy blow.

The ball of water shattered with a loud bang, and vanished without a trace in thin air. It was as if it had only been a simple ball of water the size of a fist. Only a small volume of water dropped down and splashed onto the ground. The thick black carpet was wet.

“… It disappeared…” Lu Sheng wiped away the blood under his nose. A hint of excitement showed on his face.

Amid the surge of information just now, he saw many contorted and strange colorful images. There were also the sounds of people screaming and wailing frantically. The surge of information seemed to be purely the aggregation of some confused memory.

He was unable to extract any key content from the chaos, but every voice in the information flow’s memory was calling out the same name.

“Gesangna… Eye of Gesangna…” Lu Sheng remembered the contorted and brutal blue eye in the ball of water just now.

‘Seems like I’ve unintentionally created something great…’ Lu Sheng used his inner sight to check on the damage dealt to his body.

Even at his current level, this Eye of Gesangna was still able to injure his body. This completely baffled him, and also implied that the eye’s main body was terrifyingly powerful.

However, Lu Sheng vaguely felt that the eye did not seem to possess any special intelligence.

It resembled more a manifestation of some pure will. It also seemed like a special symbol for destruction.

‘That seems to be the effect of my Divine Vein once I condense it to the extreme. Eye of Gesangna… This world… is really interesting.’

His body was damaged by forty percent. Most were tears of his fascia when they stretched antagonistically as his muscles twitched.

Lu Sheng quickly tended to his wounds. However, he was more interested in the great destructive power produced after he condensed his Divine Vein to the extreme.

The Eye of Gesangna’s might was capable of dealing that much damage through light contact alone. He was its creator, and the results were already shocking. If someone was suddenly hit by it without defending themselves… He reckoned that he could even take out a great cultivator in an instant.

‘This attack deals direct damage to one’s spirit. It draws on some mysterious and powerful existence, making it slightly similar to the Eight-Headed Griffon’s feather.’ Lu Sheng repeatedly ran simulations of this ball of water’s condensation in his head to familiarize himself with the process. If his Divine Lord’s spirit could also be damaged by this ball of water, there was no telling what this could do to this world’s Nascent Soul cultivators.

After he took care of everything and healed his wounds, Lu Sheng started to derive the next tier. It was also the legendary Primordial Spirit tier.

However, he did not have any derived cultivation methods; hence, the derivation button did not appear on Deep Blue.

At this stage, Lu Sheng was already at the limit of improvement. He ordered Liu’er and the Merpeople clansmen to prepare some food. Then, he went straight toward the Vital Energy Sect’s Swaying Gold Mountain.

As the sect master of the overseas region’s Four Seas Sect, Lu Sheng did not conceal his movements. His action of heading straight toward the Swaying Gold Mountain was immediately picked up by the Vital Energy Sect.

***

Swaying Gold Mountain, Name Hall.

The seven Peak Masters of the Vital Energy Sect were already here. Even Yun Ye’s teacher returned from beyond the great wall.

Du Guangchi’s teacher, the drunk old man, was here as well. This old man had gone and borrowed a Treasure from his junior apprentice brother. However, he did not expect the situation overseas to be this volatile. He had rushed overseas in an attempt to rescue his disciple, but Yun Ye had changed his course halfway, and went to kill the Divine Sword Sect’s sect master and the four holy monks. He was helpless to face the powerful Four Seas Sect alone. He did not even have the courage to show himself.

Currently, the old man looked haggard. It was apparent that he had been fretting over his disciple’s predicament recently.

The sect master sat on the platinum-colored throne, which was made in the shape of three dragons playing with a pearl. His long white hair fell loosely around him, while a crescent on his forehead was gently gleaming with white light.

“We’ve already sent our men to deal with the disturbances on the borders. With the help of the various sects, this matter will surely be concluded without difficulties. The only issue is with the Four Seas Sect’s Sect Master Muyun. For some unknown reason, he has chosen to return to his hometown,” said one of the Peak Masters with a solemn expression.

“The Four Seas Sect’s Sect Master Muyun was hunted down by Die Shazi many years ago, and fled overseas. In mere decades, he had reached the Nascent Soul tier, organized a force, and became the most powerful sect master. Who’s to say that he’s not coming to exact revenge over the stab,” said another short and old Peak Master.

“Even if he’s coming for revenge, how should we deal with him?” The one who spoke was a new addition to the Peak Masters, Shen Shuang. He was meant to fill in the void left behind by Yun Ye. As the youngest among their ranks, he was extremely enthusiastic—unlike the other Peak Masters who seemed to be lifeless.

“Leave the Four Seas Sect be. The big and small cats of the overseas region aren’t anything to be afraid of. This isn’t the first time our Vital Energy Sect is faced with such a situation. If he truly comes, we’ll just push him over with our overwhelming might.” The Peak Master who was a beautiful woman had a calm expression.

The Vital Energy Sect’s sect master’s expression was calm as well. However, he had his gaze trained on the two quietest Peak Masters.

They were the second Peak Master, Liu Sicheng, and the seventh Peak Master, Sima Zhun.

Liu Sicheng wore gray clothes and a bamboo hat every day. He resembled more a chivalrous person in the pugilistic world who braved snowstorms with a saber on his back than a sect’s elder.

Sima Zhun, on the other hand, had thick eyebrows and big eyes. He carried a purplish-gold great ringed saber on his back, and was of a muscular build.

These two were the ones whose strength was the most mysterious among the seven peaks. The two of them had not made any moves for many years. Instead, they had their own juniors and disciples get all the action.

The two of them were the oldest in the Vital Energy Sect—the sect master himself might not be as old as them. The other Peak Masters had been replaced time and again; the two of them were the only ones who remained all this time.

Liu Sicheng smiled. “Come to think of it, ever since the last group battle, there has never been such a lively scene. This Four Seas Sect’s sect master came on his own. It does not seem likely that he’s here to pick a fight. It’s more probable that he’s here to do some probing.”

Sima Zhun smiled as well. “That reminds me, I’ve done some research on this Four Seas Sect’s sect master’s life history as well. This person hates evil with a passion, but his actions seem neither just nor wicked. He values loyalty greatly, and has clear boundaries between kindness and hatred. The only thing is that he’s cultivating in the Wicked Path’s cultivation method. He might actually be testing us, the Vital Energy Sect, before deciding if he wants to slug it out with us officially.”

The Vital Energy Sect’s sect master smiled. “It seems slightly odd that they rose to prominence in such a short amount of time. His methods are brutal and his actions are decisive, but he has his own independent bottom line and rules. He doesn’t seem like a person who dabbles in the Devil Path. The main thing is that he has Du Guangchi as hostage…”

When this name was mentioned, all Peak Masters fell silent.

Du Guangchi was closely related to the fate of the Vital Energy Sect for the next thousand years. If something untoward were to happen to him, it would be too late for them to do anything.

“Hence, our objective in dealing with him is to first rescue Du Guangchi and retrieve one of the three Divine Swords, the Earth Lake Sword,” said Sima Zhun. This was the second time he spoke.

“I don’t think the Four Seas Sect’s sect master is a person who will agree to a compromise easily. What kind of methods should we employ to recover the Divine Sword and our apprentice nephew?” asked one of the Peak Masters softly.

“Let’s leave it to the Third Peak,” replied the Vital Energy Sect’s sect master. “It’s said that the Four Seas Sect’s sect master has extraordinary power, and his Nascent Soul is primarily of the water attribute. The Third Peak governs Earth, Fire, Core Fire, and True Fire. He’s of the earth and fire attributes. He’ll be able to suppress him.”

The Third Peak’s Peak Master, Zhao Wuding, stood up slowly and bowed toward the sect master. He was a middle-aged man with a stoic face. He was tall and well-built, with broad shoulders and arms that extended past his knees. His attire made him look no different from an old farmer who worked the fields.

“As you wish, Sect Master.”

“By the way, is there any word regarding the great desert?” The sect master posed another question.

“There isn’t any yet…”

“We have word from the southern border, though. The mountain chiefs have formed an alliance. Junior Apprentice Brother Li is meddling in the shadows. I’m sure that he’ll be able to turn calamities into blessings.”

Those were the replies to the sect master’s question.

The Vital Energy Sect’s sect master displayed a helpless expression.

“I suppose that’s alright. That old ghost often employs shocking methods. My only hope is that things will progress for the better. By the way, our grand thousand-year festival is just around the corner.”

“This is a year of many troubles. The issue of Yun Ye and the Ancient Devil isn’t settled yet, so we shouldn’t mention the great festival for now,” advised the ceremony officer as he stepped forward.

“Nothing is going well this year. In the cycle of karma, every single occurrence is closely related with one another. Perhaps this is the inevitable storm we have to endure before the fortune of a thousand years come to us.” The Vital Energy Sect’s sect master heaved a long sigh.

The Peak Masters bowed slightly, and at the same time responded, “The sect master speaks with reason.”

***

Amid an unbroken emerald green mountain forest.

Lu Sheng and Liu’er walked slowly amid the greenery. Their bodies seemed to float as they flew forward swiftly, defying gravity.

Lu Sheng had changed into a blue robe, and was armed only with one of the three Divine Swords, the Earth Lake Sword. This trip was also made to settle the karma. As to the extent that he would go to, it all depended on how much Muyun hated the Vital Energy Sect.

At this moment, he was still wearing a calm expression, but the air that faintly flowed out of his eyes scared Liu’er beside him witless.

She had already understood that this trip toward the Vital Energy Sect would probably not end nicely.

Along the way, Liu’er explained some of the main points regarding the Vital Energy Sect to Lu Sheng. Although Lu Sheng had already learned many of them from Du Guangchi, he did not mind listening to it again at that moment.

“According to our investigations, the person who has the greatest combat strength in the Vital Energy Sect is the Vital Energy Sect’s sect master. Next in line are two people: Sima Zhun and Liu Sicheng. They’re the seventh Peak Master and second Peak Master, respectively. It’s said that they were already Late-sage Nascent Soul great cultivators a few hundred years ago.”