Way of the Devil

A small boat traveled like a shuttle as it drew long white lines on the emerald river’s surface. The lines spread and quickly disappeared.

Lu Sheng stood on the small boat with his hands behind his back, facing the wind. Nobody was rowing, but the boat still moved forward without even slowing down.

To put it precisely, the Dipper Star Cliff was located outside Great Yin’s borders, where a vast barren land was.

The Qilong Mountain Range was an extremely strange mountain area. The grass and huge trees were lush, but no Demonic Ghosts gathered here. There was not even a single peculiarity.

There were only some independent rogue cultivator sects scattered at the edge of the mountain range.

The Golden Dragon Cave was one of them. Dragon Elder Qian Jin, Qing Baiwu, referred to as the Golden Dragon Cave’s sect master, carried the legendary golden dragon bloodline in his veins. He was one of the few independent Divine Lords.

It could be said that he had set up an independent regime and chose to be unfettered.

However, because of the Ten-Thousand Transformation Divine Weapon, he had imprisoned Su Ningfei’s daughter, Su Yuanyuan.

‘It’s said that this Dragon Elder Qian Jin possesses exceptional strength. He’s even older that the Divine Lord Shifting Moth. His experience is actually similar to Su Ningfei’s. Like Su Ningfei, he had killed wantonly during his youth and claimed countless lives. In the end, he was dissuaded by a nameless old monk, who just happened to pass by, and was convinced to do good instead. That’s how he ended up living in seclusion in the mountains and founded the Golden Dragon Cave. I don’t know how true this story is, though.’

Lu Sheng had come on his own. He intended to take care of things swiftly. After taking care of this trivial matter, he had to return quickly and make arrangements for Hei Jin. Then, he would have to handle his Arrival as soon as possible.

He did not have much time to dally. If Hei Jin did not lie to him, then the reason why the Great Song and Great Yin were frequently locked in combat with the Devil World in recent years was an invasion planned by the World of Pain. There were also frequent outbreaks of Devil Disasters due to it.

It was clear that the Devil World wanted to delay the Great Tribulation, and launched wars on all sides.

However, he was unsure why Hei Jin was able to say with such certainty that the Great Tribulation would happen in 12 years.

What was the meaning behind this time frame? Lu Sheng did not understand.

He snapped back to the present, and produced a complicated and detailed colorful map. He took his own bearings.

“Dipper Star Cliff… should be here.” Lu Sheng looked around him. The banks were lined with grayish cliffs, the skies above him were gloomy, and the river’s water flowed silently. This should have been his destination, but he did not feel any traces of a Divine Weapon.

“It’s just as that person said! Sect Master Lu has come personally.” Just when he was feeling puzzled, a young man in long green clothes slowly surfaced from the river before him.

“I am the Golden Dragon Cave—”

“Poof!”

Lu Sheng slowly drew his hand out of the man’s heart. The person before him instantly turned into black ashes and scattered. It was unknown when he had appeared the youth.

He shifted his gaze and spread his spirit. All of a sudden, he looked at a cave on a cliff on one side of the river.

“Found it.”

Lu Sheng moved swiftly, leaving a chain of afterimages behind him as he shot into the cave. The several hundred meters of distance did not seem to even exist.

Two people sat cross-legged within the cave. One of them had messy hair, two missing front teeth, and a scarlet great blade floating behind him.

The other one was pale, and had the same appearance as the man who had appeared before Lu Sheng moments ago. It was the Golden Dragon Cave’s sect master Qing Baiwu, who had been glowing with health and vigor. Currently, he was slightly pale. When he saw Lu Sheng barging in this soon, his eyes widened.

“Divine Lord Lu, please wait! Don’t you want to know—”

“Boom!”

Qing Baiwu did not even get to finish his sentence when he felt as if he was tackled by an elephant. His body shone with golden radiance as he reeled to the depths of the cave.

“Wait! Divine Lord Lu, don’t force us to do something to Su Yuanyuan!” The other messy-haired old man was shocked. The great blade behind him suddenly drew densely packed scarlet blade marks before him. The countless blade marks were like vines as they burned and blossomed with red flowers in the air. In the blink of an eye, it weaved itself into a semi-transparent net.

“Do it, then.” Lu Sheng wore a calm expression as he inched closer.

“You?!” The old man was stunned. Then, he felt his vision blur. He barely had time to react when he felt a jolt of pain. His sight went dark, and he lost consciousness.

Lu Sheng casually squeezed the old man’s head until it burst. Emerald Yin Flames spread out of its own accord, and enveloped the old man’s body entirely.

“Bam!”

The old man’s corpse exploded. The scarlet great blade broke into five pieces and shot in all directions.

“You’re still thinking of running away from me?” Lu Sheng stretched out a hand. Dark blue seawater spread out behind him, and cocooned all five of the Divine Weapon’s fragments.

“Have mercy, Sect Master Lu!” The old man’s Divine Lord spirit seemed to be begging for mercy with a faint voice in the seawater.

“Oh? I see you have the Jing Family’s bloodline.” Lu Sheng scrutinized his captive, and immediately discovered this old man’s background.

“That’s right. Sect Master, please let this caged bird fly, and let this old man live for now!” the old man wailed.

“Why would the Jing Family have a stranded branch such as yours? I must’ve made a mistake.” Blue light flashed within Lu Sheng’s eyes. The seawater behind him immediately gave two quiet sounds as if something had split open from an explosion.

He was but a Golden Leaf Divine Lord. Divine Lords were rare in Great Yin, but this did not mean that Lu Sheng would have grown stronger by facing him.

Frankly, a Golden Leaf Divine Lord was similar to an Early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator. Lu Sheng had killed many of them in the previous world.

Although the Divine Lords here were more adept at killing compared to the Nascent Soul cultivators in Muyun’s world, they were nothing special to Lu Sheng.

He did not even use his own Divine Intellect spirit, but merely used a portion of the Sea-overturning Orb’s might—it was carried over from the other world.

He had easily taken this person out.

He was not able to bring back his terrifying supernatural power from the previous world. He could only merge part of it into his body and increase his body’s strength.

However, he was able to bring back the Sea-overturning Orb in its entirety. Although the Laws of Great Yin suppressed it greatly until it only contained a fraction of its original might, it was still enough to deal with ordinary Golden Leaf Divine Lords.

‘That’s alright. After all, there’s no heaven and earth Spirit Qi in the air here. Without Spirit Qi, there can’t be any enhancement in supernatural power. I can only unleash a might as powerful as my own body. Fortunately, the changes in Laws weren’t that great. The Treasure itself still contains a fraction of its original might.’

Lu Sheng was still satisfied. He retracted the seawater behind the Sea-overturning Orb, and continued moving forward.

He moved swiftly through the cave. In the blink of an eye, he had already covered a distance of a few thousand meters, and quickly caught up to the Golden Dragon Cave’s sect master who was filled with golden light as he fled.

“Sect Master Lu! We can talk this through! If you kill me, you surely won’t be able to find out where Su Yuanyuan is held!” The Golden Dragon Cave’s sect master was currently drenched in sweat. Fortunately, he had heeded the young girl’s advice, and did not keep the Golden Dragon Cave with him. Otherwise, he would have suffered a great loss this time.

There was no way that Lu Sheng’s strength was from a recent breakthrough. The sensation that reached him back when his double was killed made him understand that this person was at least at the Jade Star tier.

Among the Divine Lords, most of them were at the Golden Leaf tier. A Divine Lord at the Jade Star tier would have been a well-known individual already. If he had such a cultivation base, he would not have had to take on another identity, leave his family, and come to this barren land.

“The Golden Dragon Cave is a Divine Weapon. It’s not with me now, I’ve had someone keep it hidden in some unknown location. I’m the only one who knows where it is—”

“Clang!”

He had not finished his sentence when Lu Sheng’s hand had already grabbed Qing Baiwu’s forehead. Lu Sheng’s hand was blocked by a layer of faint golden membrane.

However, the thin golden membrane had only blocked his advance for an instant, and cracked open under the greenish flames which spread out from Lu Sheng’s hand.

“Nine Dragons Cloud-splitting Saber!” Qing Baiwu knew that he was on the brink of death already. He gave up on trying to persuade Lu Sheng, and roused his spirit, Divine Weapon power, and bloodline power instead. He then gripped his saber with both hands and swung it with unprecedented might.

The brilliant golden radiance gathered in his hands like flowing water. Then, it extended into a slender curved blade, which spewed golden flames.

There were nine pure white snake dragons on the curved saber’s surface. They coiled around the saber and roared constantly.

“Aarrgghhh!” Qing Baiwu let out a frenzied roar. He infused his everything into this attack. The entire power of his Divine Weapon and his golden dragon bloodline power were channeled into this attack without reserve.

The cave shone with golden radiance. For an instant, it seemed as if a small sun had exploded within.

“Rawrr!”

The nine white snake dragons suddenly burned and leapt into the air, where they transformed into nine golden dragons. They charged alongside a brilliant saber’s gleam between them, and slashed mercilessly at Lu Sheng.

“Overturn the Sea.” Lu Sheng pointed a finger at them.

The blue seawater appeared behind him again. A bluish-golden metallic orb rose quickly from the water, and flew to meet the golden nine dragons saber.

“Boom!”

The two objects clashed head on, and a terrifying explosion was instantly released.

The entire mountain suddenly split open, and beams of golden light and blue water columns shot out from the crack.

After a long while, the golden light dimmed, and the blue water columns gradually faded as well.

Half of the mountain had crumbled. The cave was turned into an open-air rubble site.

Qing Baiwu panted heavily. He half-knelt among the rubble, and kept a hand on his golden saber. His clothes were completely destroyed by the explosion, revealing his form-fitting golden inner armor.

Lu Sheng was hovering opposite him. At this moment, he gestured lightly with his hand, and recalled his Sea-overturning Orb in midair.

“Click.”

It had just reached his hands when the Sea-overturning Orb’s surface cracked.

Lu Sheng’s expression immediately darkened.

“You must die!”

In an instant, he moved with lightning speed, and appeared before Qing Baiwu, grabbing at his neck.

“Stop!” A sudden furious shout came from the air.

Lu Sheng paid the voice no heed, and proceeded to grab Qing Baiwu’s neck.

However, in the next instant, a lotus arm that resembled white jade seemed to have teleported in front of him and blocked his attack.

“Bam!”

Lu Sheng was sent back a few meters. He snorted, and advanced again.

“Spirit Massacre!” Several claws burst forth from his hands with lightning speed, and charged toward the person from all directions.

“I said stop!” The lotus arm’s owner appeared in the air. With lightning speed, she parried Lu Sheng’s attacks with her arms.

“He broke my Treasure! He should die ten thousand deaths!” Lu Sheng’s expression was ice-cold. His body started to swell, and his mouth split open until his ears. Three rows of sharp saw teeth were revealed.

“I’ll pay you back!” the girl shouted immediately.

“Boom!”

Lu Sheng’s palm clashed with the girl’s head on. A white, disc-shaped shock wave suddenly erupted between them, and the mountain bodies that came into contact with it were instantly cut off and fell.

“You should’ve said so sooner, Teacher.” Lu Sheng’s body reverted to its original state. He smiled at the woman in a black dress before him.

Su Ningfei wore a strange expression. She panted as she looked at him. “So, you still remember that I’m your teacher!

“…Thank goodness I came! If you’ve killed him, where would I go and find Yuanyuan?”

“I don’t care about that.” Lu Sheng smiled. “Your daughter isn’t my daughter, Teacher. However, I believe that you won’t let your descendant die that easily.”

Su Ningfei was instantly dumbfounded.

She had come in her main body this time. They had exchanged hurried blows, but she vaguely felt that Lu Sheng had grown stronger again, much to her surprise. Although they had only exchanged physical blows, to be able to fight against her main body and remained undefeated, Lu Sheng’s physical body was clearly strengthened to a certain extreme.

Even though she was in her humanoid form, she at least possessed the offensive power of a Jade Star tier.