Way of the Devil

However, the others soon noticed that this monster was not looking at them, the ordinary humans. Instead, it was looking at a certain spot on the town’s ground.

“Makes sense. Such a grand power isn’t needed to deal with us.” Mera’s expression changed. She seemed to have suddenly thought of something when she suddenly shifted her gaze.

Luo Di turned his reddened eyes toward the same spot with hope at the same time.

“Could it be?!”

Esseinro and Fran stopped in their retreating steps. They looked in the direction everyone looked.

The ground started to shake slightly.

“Rumble…”

The black ram-horned monster stooped down. Its huge blood-red eye bulged with fury.

“Rarrggh!” it roared wildly at the ground.

However, what came at it was a tiny silver glow. The glow had just appeared. It was only the size of a palm, and blinked vaguely amid the group of monsters.

Shortly afterward.

“Pcchht!”

For an instant, the silver blade’s gleam connected the heavens and the earth as it formed an illusory shadow with a loud boom which broke out from the group of monsters. Then, it slid past the ram-horned monster, past the little boy who stood atop it, and past the dozens of perfectly intact buildings behind them.

Everything fell silent in an instant.

The monsters’ movements stopped immediately. It was as if someone had hit the pause button. Countless black monsters instantly froze; the tallest ram-horned monster froze as well.

Slowly, a clear crack surfaced on the bodies of the monsters and the little boy.

“Boom!”

Seemingly at the same time, the monsters exploded into black water which sprayed everywhere. The giant ram-horned single-eyed monster’s colossal body was immediately split into two.

A few hundred meters of the town’s ground was also split open at the same time.

The entire town was instantly split into two by this slash.

“Hiss…”

Scorching white smoke rose from the town’s ground surface. Lu Sheng wielded his sword with a single hand. The muscles on his body were no longer simple muscular structures. They resembled armor more.

The peculiar thing was that a soft tube-like structure was now protruding behind him. Two ghastly pale sharp bone blades grew from his back.

“Unleash 20%.” It was only now that Lu Sheng’s voice slowly cut through the night and reached everyone’s ears.

His voice came in layers, and vaguely sounded inhuman now. It was exceptionally bewitching and ice-cold.

A deep crack appeared several meters before Lu Sheng, and kept spreading unto the end of the town. The entire town was divided into two.

“Ah Sang…” Luo Di looked at his son with a stunned expression. He recognized the signs of the strengthening effects from the Gelailo Sword Style on that immense body that was more than five meters tall. All those who had taken the medicine and had their bodies strengthened would leave a thin line that was undetectable by ordinary people.

Ordinary people would not be able to see this mark, however, those who practiced the same style could see it clearly.

In the beginning, Luo Di had also thought that his son had become a host to a monster parasite. After all, any kind of danger could appear in the town. However, it was only now when Luo Di saw the signs of his son being strengthened by the style’s medicine that he understood.

Luo Sang did not become a host to a monster parasite.

This was because the medicinal marks were spread densely all over Luo Sang’s body. He could not even count how many of those marks were there. Thousands? Tens of thousands? Maybe hundreds of thousands, or millions?

A single medicinal mark represented a complete strengthening. This was the mark left behind on the strengthened body. Currently, the medicinal marks on Luo Sang’s body numbered so many that they were innumerable…

“Those are… medicinal marks?!” Esseinro’s eyes bulged so much that they almost popped out of their sockets.

“Black Thorn… Red Bramble… White Light…” He recognized the medicines that he was familiar with.

“Mon… monster!” Fran could not help but display a shocked expression.

“No! He’s not a monster!” Mera cut her short. She took a deep breath, and forcibly suppressed her racing heart.

“If I’m not mistaken, Luo Sang… He’s the epitome of the perfect form of the various styles. He’s a masterpiece of the strengthening of all the medicines!”

“It can be said that the current him represents the peak which our various styles can attain!”

…..

“This… is a miracle!”

Urus’s eyes widened. He was so excited that he shook. Yuya, his three remaining personal troops, and himself were the survivors of this mess.

He had brought many soldiers, but these three were all that survived.

With the instantaneous elimination of the monsters, Urus and the others who had been under a constant pressure finally relaxed. If they did not have the support of their steely determination, they would have fainted at the sight of all this.

“That man…” Urus sat limply on the ground. However, his gaze was fixed on the imposing figure who stood amid the black water.

“That person… can no longer be regarded as a person…”

Yuya’s expression remained unchanged. However, her arms were tightly wrapped around her father’s. Her pursed lips and slightly shaking legs showed that the shaking emotions she was feeling now were no less intense than the others’ in any way.

“What… should we do next?” she asked softly.

“Let’s confirm if he’s a man or a monster first…” Urus clenched his fist.

….

“Bam.”

The bulging muscles on Lu Sheng’s face were like armor that completely protected his face. Ferocious-looking veins and blood vessels bulged around his eyes. However, he was currently walking toward the fallen bodies of the little boy and the monster.

“Bam.”

His footsteps shook the ground. However, at this moment, nobody could stop him anymore.

All the monsters had been reduced to black water by that single slash. Lu Sheng, after unleashing 20%, had merely landed a single strike with the sword style’s technique.

The sharp airburst that erupted the instant the sword was swung alone had split the town into two, let alone the little boy who bore the brunt of the attack.

“Swinging the sword alone is insufficient to delight me anymore.” Lu Sheng tossed the battered sword in his hands. He stood before the corpse of the little boy.

“Come out. I can feel your presence.” He drew out a bone blade from his back.

With a hiss, a light purple fragment with a peculiar eye-shaped pattern suddenly rose out of the little boy’s corpse.

This fragment seemed to be a piece of some shattered clay canister. The white pattern on it seemed to be transferring some sort of liquid, which flowed quickly with white spots of light.

“If you have me, you’ll obtain unparalleled power…”

“Rule the world, suppress the starry sky. Wealth, glory, secret Arts. Anything your heart desires, you can have them.”

“Treasures? Secret Arts? Money? Beauties? Earn everything that you’ve ever regretted not having. Anything…

“Come…

“Come… All I need is a drop of your blood… Smear it on my sur—”

“Clack.”

Lu Sheng removed the fragment which he had taken a bite out of from his mouth.

“Wow, it’s hard.” He took it out with puzzlement. He was prepared to try again with his molar teeth.

“No! You cannot do this!” The sharp voice was quickly weakening. It was as if it was leaving this place swiftly.

“No!” After a short while, the fragment fell silent.

He gave it a shake. The fragment made no more sounds.

“It’s broken?” Lu Sheng was stunned.

At this moment, he suddenly noticed that the buildings within the town were slowly melting into a huge body of black water.

The enclosing wall, houses, church, tiles… everything was turning into black water.

Fortunately, after fighting this messy battle for such a long time, it was already daybreak outside.

The torrent had receded somewhat. Much of the water was gone, and the tops of a few high hills were already visible.

Currently, Lu Sheng was slowly regaining his original size. The peculiar characteristics of his body were also being buried under his skin, and vanished from sight.

He tore the uniform from a random soldier around him. Lu Sheng had barely fastened his belt when he saw Luo Di and the others striding toward him.

“Ah Sang!”

Luo Di embraced him. For a time, he did not know what he should say.

“It’s alright, Father. This place will no longer exist after this.” Lu Sheng grinned.

Luo Di released him. He noticed the condition of the buildings around them as well. His expression started becoming complicated.

He knew that his son was powerful, but he did not expect him to be this powerful.

“What… are your future plans?”

“I don’t know. However, I have this faint feeling that some place is summoning me.” Lu Sheng started to fabricate a story. He was prepared to leave a legend of him shattering and rising into the heavens in this world. This way, his sudden disappearance would be perfectly explained.

“Summon?” Luo Di was stunned.

At this moment, Mera, Fran, and Esseinro started to gather around them as well.

After the black water on the ground dispersed, the grayish-black soil underneath was finally exposed. The others looked at Lu Sheng warily. For a moment, nobody knew what to say.

However, Lu Sheng understood that this matter was not resolved yet. The fragment in his hand was only a part of something else.

Also, this method was also similar to the one used by the experts of Great Yin and the World of Pain where they cast their Divine Weapons down into the mortal realm to cultivate them.

The fragment in his hand would surely attract its user. Also, the reason why he wanted to keep this fragment for now was because he wanted to extract more information from this item.

It was obvious that this item had an intelligence of its own. He was only unsure if he had broken it somehow.

“Things are alright here. Let’s head back. Luo Di, are you coming?” Lu Sheng asked Luo Di.

Although Luo Di wanted to ask Lu Sheng how he’d managed to cultivate to such a level, there were more important things to deal with right now. The death scene today would be the best way to confirm if the town had truly disappeared.

On the other hand, Lu Sheng’s focus was on the fragment which he held in his hand. He was very interested in the fragment. One of the reasons was because there was a lot of Mental Energy in it.

“I’ll stay here for a while longer. It won’t hurt to leave after I get to the bottom of things. If I want to reap the fruits of the merging of all the karma, I can’t afford to neglect the details.”

Fran suddenly moved closer, and asked him, “By the way, Luo Sang, can I ask you something? Just how powerful are you?”

“I’m not sure…” Lu Sheng smiled.

Mera stared at Lu Sheng with envious eyes from the side. She had trained hard for a lifetime, yet it was not even worth Luo Sang’s efforts that spanned a few months. She had heard about what happened from Luo Di.

“If I may, master Luo Sang. Would you be interested in coming to Chad Academy and cooperating with us as we run some tests on you?” Esseinro was duly interested in the reason why Lu Sheng was able to resist so many kinds of poison.

Hence, although he was slightly afraid of Lu Sheng, his curiosity got the better of him. He made the proposition early on.

“By the way, are you also interested in these mysterious marks?” Esseinro suddenly pointed at Lu Sheng’s arm. There was the pattern of the Mystic Water Divine Vein on it.

Lu Sheng was intrigued. He casually asked, “You’ve seen a mark like this before?”

“I’ve seen it before. It’s one of the most basic symbols of the archaic divine script. It’s usually used under certain circumstances at certain places,” Esseinro explained.

“Archaic divine script…”