Way of the Devil

Although Golden Leaf, Jade Star, and Divine Intellect were only three simple tiers in Great Yin, they represented the three tiers which were the closest to a Weapon Grandmaster in the Human World.

Divine Lords possessed overbearing might. Their spirits could distort nature and deceive Origin Power. If they had to be compared, the Golden Leaf tier was like an assault rifle user who fired it in a wide arc without any apparent target, while the Jade Star tier was an elite marksman who understood the assault rifle perfectly and had undergone special training.

As for the final Divine Intellect tier, they would still be using assault rifles, but the ammunition fired by them would become rocket-propelled grenades[1. Think bazooka, but quite a bit weaker.] on their own… The difference in strength could not be described as small.

‘This young man has just recently achieved his breakthrough, and he’s already at this level. What kind of monster was he in his previous life?!’ Su Ningfei’s mind went into overdrive. She could not imagine any Divine Lord to have Lu Sheng’s battle style.

She gave it some thought, and then produced a small box with bamboo leaves and green snakes carved onto it. “This is the compensation. That ragtag Treasure of yours was only refined from ordinary materials. It’d be strange indeed if it didn’t break after you bring it up against a Divine Weapon. There won’t be a next time!”

Lu Sheng smiled, and received the box without saying anything. He immediately sensed the faint Divine Weapon aura coming from within. As expected of the most powerful Divine Lord Su Ningfei, she could easily give away a Golden Leaf Divine Weapon.

After he received his compensation, he glanced at the Golden Dragon Cave’s sect master, who was cowering at the side. He turned around and leapt into the air as he left that place. Since Su Ningfei was here herself, he did not have to stay here any longer. It would be better if he returned and used the time he had to research on how he should improve his strength.

The Great Tribulation was almost upon them. He wanted to avoid becoming cannon fodder in the war between Great Yin, the Devil World, and the World of Pain. If he did not want to be powerless in the flow of events, he would have to possess a strength which would allow him to stay independent.

If he was not a Weapon Grandmaster, he would stay a pawn.

His next objective was to accumulate his spirit and wait for the substantial change and subsequent breakthrough to the Weapon Grandmaster tier.

Lu Sheng did a quick search in the vicinity. He offhandedly destroyed a few brigands and bandits who came at him. Then, he quickly sensed that something was off.

Other than the Golden Dragon Cave’s sect master’s, there were other layers of formations in this location. The key point was that there seemed to be someone who knew him very well. These formations all served the same purpose, and that was transportation.

They were meant to transport him to other locations, and not to defend or attack anyone.

These formations seemed to be based on the location where he almost killed the Golden Dragon Cave’s sect master. They were set up with that location as the center.

However, these formations seemed to have been set up in haste. They did not seem to have been activated before they were given up on.

‘Interesting… If Su Ningfei hadn’t come, I would’ve been surrounded by these activated formations after I killed those two. Alas, I was too quick, and Su Ningfei suddenly appeared as well. They misjudged our actual combat strength. Hence, they made a decision on the spot to give up on everything.’

After Lu Sheng finished inspecting the formations, he immediately sensed that the coordinator of all this was a person who would flee once the first hit missed.

‘This setup is firm. Since he could just give up on all these formation flags and resources, he must be a heartless fellow. He sold out those two and used them as bait in an attempt to set up more formations.’

His curiosity was already piqued. He wanted to know who was trying to go against him behind the scenes.

Unfortunately, while he surveyed the area, he was not able to find any trace of the perpetrator.

His opponent clearly knew his style well. Not a single trace was left in the surroundings.

Feeling helpless, Lu Sheng destroyed the formations’ runes and departed for the Prime Devil Sect. No matter who was trying to go against him, the person would surely jump out when an opportunity came his way.

********************

Su Ningfei’s matter was settled. When Lu Sheng returned, he heard that Su Yuanyuan was already rescued. He was just putting up a show. The real reason behind this issue was that Divine Lord Aurora Polaris intended to ease the tension between him and Su Ningfei by gifting him the clay tablet.

However, it seemed that it was not too successful.

Su Ningfei brought Su Yuanyuan into secluded cultivation. For a time, there was no great disturbance in Great Yin.

Lu Sheng went to the World of Pain again. Hei Jin had already located a barren town in the vicinity—it was a place called Duming Town.

There was a total of three Devil Art Masters and one Mirror Spirit Master in the town. The rest was other Anomalies, lone ghosts, and the likes.

There would always be unexplainable Anomalies in the World of Pain. They were similar to those in the Human World, undead and indestructible. If they were destroyed, they would respawn after a certain amount of time.

However, they existed on a different level in the World of Pain. If one’s sense of pain was not powerful enough, one would not be able to sense their presence.

Lu Sheng only noticed this when he was making up for the several rituals which he’d missed.

After laying out detailed plans of the town’s future development for Hei Jin, Lu Sheng patrolled the area for her and killed the monsters and Anomalies that were running rampant. Then, he went to study the Divine Sword clay tablet and started preparing for his third Arrival.

12 years was neither a long nor a short time. If he picked carefully, he might be able to select an Other World with a huge difference in the flow of time. He might even be able to use the difference in time flow to completely understand the Divine Sword clay tablet.

Hence, armed with experience, Lu Sheng started to improve his Arrival Formation again. He melted the runes and modified them again.

At the current moment, merely devouring Divine Weapons did not attract his interest anymore. Devouring his other selves in the Other Worlds through his Arrival was the fastest way to improve his cultivation base.

After studying the Four Seasons Frozen Skies Tome again, Lu Sheng did a major correction of the formation. He managed to narrow down the difference in time flow to a ratio between 1:10 and 1:50.

As for which world he would randomly Arrive in, there was no telling.

However, Lu Sheng could faintly sense that in the worlds with a faster flow of time, the energy cycle progressed at a faster pace as well. These two entities were directly proportional to each other. Similarly, the limits of energy in these worlds were not high.

Hence, it was not an easy feat to pick the most suitable world while keeping these few factors in mind.

After studying this for a few months, his new Arrival Formation was finally completed.

Lu Sheng began his third Arrival.

…

“Buzz…”

Fragments of blue light spots and dark red pieces scattered in the air within the Research Temple. They were like shredded paper.

Lu Sheng stood in the center of the Formation in the middle of the Temple, holding a small box which he had prepared beforehand. These were all special items which he’d prepared to bring over to the next world.

To avoid Arriving in a world with too great a difference in Laws, he even prepared the simplest of gemstones and gold dust, which could even be used by mere mortals. He prepared this on the off chance that he Arrived in a special world where it would come in handy. At the very least, he would not have to start over in a world with absolutely nothing.

“East 12.33, West 13.16, North 20.00, South 9.47…

“After making minute adjustments, insert Divine Vein power.”

Lu Sheng raised the back of his hand, and the Divine Vein glowed with faint blue light on its own. This Divine Vein was not overly weakened even in Great Yin, and maintained its original formidable lethality. It was apparent that its energy level was high.

Lu Sheng had discovered to his surprise during an experiment that if he added this Divine Vein as a special material into his Arrival Formation, it had the effect of stabilizing the entire formation’s structure.

Hence, the Mystic Water Divine Vein had become a crucial part of his Arrival Formation’s activation. It was precisely because of it that he was able to narrow down the range of possible worlds that he might Arrive in to a controllable degree.

Lu Sheng shook the air with his voice as he squeezed out every word, adjusting the data orally with runic language. The formation under the Research Temple glowed red; the radiance was like a burning flame as it danced constantly. There seemed to be faint images of monsters brandishing their claws and baring their fangs within it.

“You have a death wish?” Lu Sheng’s spirit lashed out. A dark red winged-serpent’s pattern glowed between his brows.

“Boom!”

With a muffled sound, the illusory images of the monsters in the Research Temple vanished as they wailed and melted into the radiance.

‘That was a space-time turbellarian worm… According to the records in the Four Seasons Frozen Skies Tome, this phenomenon will only occur when the difference in the time flow reached a certain threshold.’

Lu Sheng looked at the glowing formation under his feet.

‘According to the records, there are some worm-like matriarchal organisms living within the space-time continuum. They subsist on the time and longevity of the beings that shuttle through the space-time continuum. The space-time turbellarian worm is such an organism. I didn’t expect to actually bump into one…’

Lu Sheng’s spirit surged, and his formless Spiritual Power attempted to search for the remains of the space-time turbellarian worm. However, all the remains had already been washed away by the surging formation energy, and were nowhere to be seen now.

“What a shame… I can only do it next time.” Amid his lamentation, the Arrival Formation suddenly shone brightly with red radiance. The red and blue snowflakes and paper shreds shone with white radiance.

“Pcchht!”

A gray crack instantly opened up in the air above the Formation, and Lu Sheng was entirely enveloped by a white glow. He then shot into the opening, and vanished in the blink of an eye.

The gray crack had only stayed open for an instant. After Lu Sheng entered it, it closed up naturally. The entire process lasted no more than half a second.

Everything went smoothly under the Arrival Formation’s precise calculations and arrangements. The opening which only lasted an instant and the limit of size to an extremely small range reduced the pressure on Lu Sheng and the load on the Formation to a very significant degree. This way, the safety and stability could be guaranteed.

******************

The rays of the setting sun fell on an old, abandoned, and deadly quiet town.

The streets, stables, taverns, and inns were deserted. Dust and mist lingered in the air.

“Ah Sang, do you remember this place?” An unfamiliar voice came.

Luo Sang looked at everything before him with a stunned expression. He subconsciously replied, “This is… Wind Falcon Town… My hometown…”

“Yes… It’s my hometown as well.” The voice came from his right. Luo Sang immediately turned to look toward its source.

He saw a big, tall, burly man. He was full of whiskers, and seemed to have witnessed many vicissitudes of life. The man was looking forward calmly. However, anyone could tell that the calmness was only on the surface.

The man had a crew cut, which made him look well-trained and neat. He wore a black short-sleeved shirt that revealed his chest, which was comprised of well-defined muscles and full of scars. His bronze skin tone shone with a glossy luster under the glint of the setting sun.

“Ah Sang, you must carefully remember everything about this place.” The man’s voice was deep. It brought with it a hatred that was carved in bones and the heart.

“Remember this place.

“Remember this place which was once ours, but had also destroyed us completely.

“I’ll remember it.” Luo Sang did not feel his own lips move, but his voice still escaped him.

“Let’s go. We’ll put an end to this.” The man strode out from his side toward the deadly still town.

“Hew!”

Suddenly, a shrill cry echoed.