Way of the Devil

The seven lonely peaks of the Swaying Gold Mountain were exposed. The other peaks had already crumbled under the pressure of the torrent.

Soil, forest, rocks, none of them could stop the terrifying impact from the infused Nascent Qi and supernatural power.

Lu Sheng floated as he had been since the beginning. He hovered in midair and looked at the faraway Vital Energy Sect’s main branch, which was slowly revealing its true form under his attack.

The first Cyclone Nine Tripod Cauldrons Formation was undone, but the Swaying Gold Mountain was still intact. The entire mountain peak which resembled a bamboo shoot was still flickering with a contorted light which was a combination of green, purple, and white.

The three colors would jump every now and then. They would jump from one peak to another.

“That’s the Twelve Goldwater Laws?” Lu Sheng folded his hands behind him. As he stood there amidst the torrential flow, his expression was as calm as ever.

Liu’er was slightly behind him. Her lips were already trembling at this moment. Her expression was excited, and she seemed barely able to speak.

To possess a power to turn the heavens and the earth upside down, to topple mountains and overturn the seas in the blink of an eye… this was something that had far exceeded what a Nascent Soul True Lord was capable of.

Even though the Nascent Qi Lu Sheng displayed was still at the Nascent Soul tier, this terrifying might had made her realize again that her sect master always possessed a confidence that allowed him to keep his cool no matter the situation.

“As… as expected of… the Four Seas Sect’s sect master, the most powerful overlord of the four seas!” Amid the Swaying Gold Mountain, a weak but tenacious voice of a man slowly reached them.

Surprisingly, it was the misty Taoist whom they’d met just now. This person had somehow managed to recover his body with a small amount of mist. He was speaking in a hoarse and intermittent voice.

“Oh? So, you’re not human, but a spirit of the Cyclone Nine Tripod Cauldrons Formation? No wonder…” Lu Sheng had instantly seen through this person’s identity.

“Sect Master of the Four Seas Sect, to think that your so bold as to provoke the Vital Energy Sect’s main branch directly. I’m unsure if I should call you arrogant, or say that you don’t know the immensity of heaven and earth.” Dozens of small dots suddenly rose from the Swaying Golden Mountain’s peaks. They shot out and observed Lu Sheng’s location through the Twelve Goldwater Laws.

The one who spoke was a person who carried a purplish-gold ringed blade. His body was full of power and energy, and he appeared like a chivalrous person in a pugilistic world. He was Sima Zhun.

Lu Sheng’s eyes lit up. “I’ve been wanting to meet a Nascent Soul True Lord from the Vital Energy Sect for a long time now. I was just about to say that I’d like to witness your methods.”

Sima Zhun snorted. Without wasting any more time on words, he waved his arm, and a black ribbon lashed out like a whip.

The black ribbon released a deafening whistle as it broke the sonic barrier. It was still in mid-flight when it started to attract a mysterious transparent cyclone.

The cyclone grew in size, and the black ribbon’s edges started to flicker with bluish electric light from all the friction. The electric light quickly turned purple, and then white. In the end, as if it returned to its original nature, it became blue again.

Its color was no ordinary light shade of blue. It was a dark blue that was as pure as a crystal.

With a click, the black ribbon suddenly turned and transformed into a black dragon in midair. The dragon opened its jaws, and launched itself at Lu Sheng with its body covered in lightning.

“Good timing!” Lu Sheng did not even see what kind of Art his opponent had unleashed. Anxious to display his skills, he waved his arm and released a wave of seawater in return.

He infused some of his Nascent Qi supernatural power into the seawater. Under some adjustments made with strange skills, he made the seawater transform into a similar-sized water dragon which pounced toward the black dragon while baring its fangs and brandishing its claws.

“Rawr!”

The water dragon and black dragon roared at the same time, and their bodies intertwined. In no time, the water dragon’s neck was broken by the black dragon’s bite, and it was torn to pieces before it shattered.

“Interesting.” Lu Sheng was intrigued. He launched another wave of seawater again. This time, he utilized his water attribute skill, which was of a higher level. He even made numerous mysterious runes appear within the seawater, which was not an easy task.

“Boom!”

Another blue water dragon charged out, and slugged it out with the incoming black dragon.

Claws, tail whips, bites, dragon roars, and even the black dragon’s whiskers were part of its arsenal. This time, the water dragon was much more powerful, and its body could freeze and melt at any moment. With this ever-changing modes, it had easily escaped many fatal attacks.

However, its neck was still bitten by the black dragon in no time.

“Poof!”

Water sprayed everywhere. The water dragon was destroyed again.

“Well, how about this?” Lu Sheng’s curiosity was piqued. He instantly made a hundred hand signs, and his supernatural power vibrated in the air around him. A wonderfully fine-scaled wave spread out slowly.

The huge volume of seawater raced like scales as they formed a water dragon that was much more beautiful than the previous two dragons before Lu Sheng on its own.

For this trip, Lu Sheng had gathered the skill formulas he obtained from the sea clans, and derived the most profound water attribute dragon skill. This was the most powerful one—it was a most formidable skill formula with the name Heavenly Sea Lord Dragon Wave.

The water dragon materialized this time had eight claws in total. Its form was the most powerful eight-clawed golden dragon of the legends[1. The more claws per (front) limb a dragon has in China, the more powerful it is believed to be.].

A single roar from it was enough to make the surrounding air tremble. There were faint sounds of the sonic barrier being broken.

“Although your skill formula is shocking in might, all skill formulas have their fatal flaws. There are no perfect skills under the heavens. This Heavenly Sea Lord Dragon Wave of mine is a special skill formula derived to specifically work against your black dragon skill,” Lu Sheng said with a smile. “Show me how great is the Vital Energy Sect’s might.”

He spread his arms, and his violent Nascent Qi surged wildly into the water dragon. The formation of this water dragon alone had taken more than ten times the Nascent Qi used to form the black dragon.

“Rawr!”

The blue water dragon increased in size, and quickly surpassed that of the black dragon. From a length of a dozen meters and a diameter of more than one meter, it swiftly enlarged to a diameter of more than five meters and a terrifying length of 70-80 meters.

The colossal blue dragon circled in the air. Its huge dragon eyes were like searchlights as they released two blue light beams. They were fixed on the dancing black dragon before it.

“Rawr!”

It roared furiously again.

“Rarrgh!”

The black dragon roared furiously in response.

Sima Zhun had a solemn expression. His opponent truly had too much supernatural power, and could spend it like it was nothing. Sima Zhun had been fairly confident before this, but now his heart sunk as well.

“Go!”

“Go!”

The two of them pointed at each other at the same time.

The two dragons, one large and one small, roared at the same time. They charged at each other from their respective positions.

Claw strikes, bites, tail whips, tackles!

“Bam!”

With a single collision came a huge bang. The blue dragon wailed, and its gigantic body fell down with a loud crash as it plunged into the seawater underneath. In the blink of an eye, it turned into water again, and merged as one with the seawater below.

Lu Sheng’s initially casual expression instantly darkened. Liu’er, who stood on the side, was showing a strange expression. She wanted to laugh, but she did not dare to.

Sima Zhun’s expression was strange as well. He was already prepared to lose his black dragon and launch an attack himself. However, he did not expect the tide of the battle to change so suddenly. He did not even fully register the change…

Lu Sheng chuckled, and praised, “Not bad. As expected of a peak True Lord of the Vital Energy Sect. I think that your dragon skill formula is already at an unrivalled standard!”

Sima Zhun’s face twitched. He wanted to interrupt his opponent by saying that the black dragon was only a primary skill formula he unleashed to test his strength… In truth, any Core Formation cultivator of the Vital Energy Sect could unleash this skill…

However, when he saw the dangerous aura flowing out from Lu Sheng’s eyes, he decided not to reveal this fact…

“Next, I’ll show you my most powerful ultimate skill formula, one that I’ve spent decades working on!” Lu Sheng’s face drew taut. He desperately tried to maintain his aura of a peerless expert as the sect master.

“Poof!”

He had truly put in his hard-earned capital this time. This was an overseas skill which was regarded as the one with the greatest destructive ability among the skill formulas he’d gathered. At this moment, it was swiftly unleashed by him.

A spot of blue light condensed on Lu Sheng’s hand. The blue light quickly multiplied, and filled the air like fireflies in no time.

“Sea Jade Disc, Extreme Cold Holy Cloud Wave!” Illusory shadows of sea snakes suddenly appeared around Lu Sheng. The shadows were an assortment of different shapes and sizes. They plunged wildly into the spot of light in his hand.

At the same time, the blue lights in the air swarmed into the spot of light on Lu Sheng’s hand like bees.

“Boom!”

In an instant, the spot of light suddenly erupted with a dazzling blue light column, which flickered with seven-colored radiance as well. The light column struck ferociously at Sima Zhun’s black dragon.

Countless layers of ice and snow flakes spread out along the light column’s trajectory. The surrounding seawater was quickly frozen.

“Pcchht!”

The light column shot out with a speed that was impossible to describe. The black dragon did not even manage to react when the light column was upon it.

Then…

“Bam!”

The black dragon swung a claw, and the light column was shattered. It dropped into the seawater below.

“Boom!”

The light column fell into the sea, and a huge vibrating sound spread out.

“…”

“…”

“…”

A silence descended in the air.

The black dragon itself was stunned. It raised its own claw to take a look. It seemed to have noticed for the first time just how powerful its claws were.

It was not a mere skill; it was a Treasure’s Intent which had its own intelligence.

Lu Sheng drew a deep breath. He closed his eyes slightly and stood where he was.

Sima Zhun started to display an expression which was also a reflection of what he had to pour out from his heart. However, when he saw Lu Sheng’s current expression, he felt that he should not mercilessly strike him while he was down… However, his expression was strange no matter how one looked at it.

“Pfft!”

Finally, Liu’er could no longer refrain from rubbing salt onto Lu Sheng’s wounds. She was as beautiful as a flower. She could hold it in no longer, and finally broke out in laughter.

“Sect… Sect Master…” Liu’er laughed with difficulty. She wanted to smother it, but when she thought about the sect master’s image just now, which was such a far cry from what he usually was, she felt that she could no longer restrain the laugh which she had held back for so long.

“If I told you that I was only joking with you, would you guys believe me?” Lu Sheng suddenly became serious.

Sima Zhun shook his head, speechless.

Lu Sheng fell silent.

After a long pause, he started to speak slowly again.

“True…” He slowly reached for the Earth Lake Sword on his back and drew it out lightly.

“I shouldn’t have put much hopes in the inheritance of the overseas region.”

With every inch of the Earth Lake Sword drawn, Lu Sheng’s eyes slowly gleamed with glaring blue radiance which was as terrifying as the sun.

“Forget it… It seems that you lot do not have any intention of settling this with peaceful conversation.” The Earth Lake Sword was finally completely out of its scabbard. It was gleaming with the same glaring blue radiance.

“Have you… prepared yourselves to be buried under the sea?”

“Buzz!”

Seawater surged wildly behind Lu Sheng again. Terrifying Nascent Qi supernatural power a hundred times more powerful than before erupted like mountain torrents and surged out wildly.

“I’ll show you my true strength.” Lu Sheng suddenly raised the long sword high. A faint deep red winged serpent’s pattern appeared between his brows.

“Divine Might!”

A deep blue sea that was much more expansive and dangerous than before slowly appeared behind him.