Way of the Devil

Outside the Autumn Moon County. Deep inside a forest.

The loose soil which was covered in dry fallen leaves suddenly started to shake.

A huge 20-meter-long python slithered out of the ground slowly. Its semi-transparent grayish-black back was exposed to the air.

The python’s extended body could cover the distance of a dozen huge trees. It had a girth as thick as a water bucket. It had a human face on its head, while its blood-red forked tongue flitted in and out of its mouth.

“Finally… I won’t have to stay in this boring plot of land any longer…”

Grayish-black Devil Qi kept surging into the forest from outside. It surged and rolled around the huge python.

Its large body shook violently. Its huge body that was thousands of catties in weight leapt into the air. After making a circle in the air, the human-faced python released a sharp and peculiar laugh.

“I wonder what kinds of interesting souls I can catch this time…”

With its laughter still lingering in the air, the huge python flew into the skies and charged in a certain direction.

….

Lingye Lake, the largest lake in the Nine Bright Province.

A giant pitch-black figure silently crept up the lake’s bank and swiftly disappeared into the distance.

Within a pitch-black abyss.

There was a huge deer that had fused with a rock. It was a dozen meters in height. It slowly broke off from the rock wall, and its pair of emerald eyes had an anxious look in them.

Seemingly at the same time, terrifying huge beasts all over the Nine Bright Province slowly emerged from their hiding places.

Domineering auras surged in all directions in a manner that covered the heavens and the earth. They quickly crossed each other over the entire Nine Bright Province.

The entire province was covered in surging black Devil Qi.

There was no blind spot.

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

Green flames kept burning slowly on Lu Ning’s body. He rolled around in an attempt to extinguish the flames, but to no avail.

What puzzled Lu Ning was that these green flames seemed to have some protective effect on him.

“What’s this?”

The black-winged man saw the green flames from afar. He also saw an unscathed Lu Ning. His brows furrowed.

“Ice Sand.” He reached out toward Lu Ning.

White snow spread out from his arm like grains of sand. It shot out, and Lu Ning was completely enveloped by the white ice sand in a second.

“I don’t care what you are, but with the ice sand devouring you, you’ll be reduced to dust,” said the black-winged man with an ice-cold expression.

“Rumble…”

Suddenly, a series of vibrations came from afar.

“What’s that sound?” The man raised his head in surprise. He looked in the direction of the sound.

What he saw was huge clouds of black Qi. The black Qi which covered the mountains and wilderness seemed to have a life of its own as it spread wildly toward him from afar.

The black Qi quickly reached the base of his feet and covered his feet.

“What’s this?” The black-winged man’s body erupted with ice sand in an attempt to repel the black Qi. However, when the black Qi was scattered, more black Qi would surge in to replace it. There was no end to the black Qi.

“This doesn’t seem right. It looks like some great individual is unleashing an Art!” The black-winged man quickly looked toward the blue-eyed man, who was the leader of this current operation.

“Master Huang, what should we do now?”

A fair figure slowly rose out of the great, wide pit. It was the white-clothed man who had exploded with Chang Qingzi moments ago.

The intense explosion just now had left two huge gaping holes in his body. They were so deep that his bones were visible.

He covered his mouth. Dark red liquid could faintly be seen between his fingers.

“I didn’t think that this Star Soul could be this decisive. It’s fortunate that I’ve brought the Soul-binding Lock which His Majesty gave me. It managed to bind my soul when his self-explosion was at its strongest. That saved me from coming in vain.”

When he heard his subordinate’s question, he frowned and looked at the bound Lu Ning. Then, he looked at the endless stream of black Qi around his feet.

“A powerful being is conducting a wide search, huh? We should avoid it as much as possible. I don’t want there to be any surprises,” he said gravely.

Zi Hengzi and his partner had also reached their location from a nearby spot. They had just entered this area which was covered in black Qi. When they heard the blue-eyed man’s words, Zi Hengzi seemed to have remembered something. His eyes suddenly bulged.

‘This aura… Why do I find it similar with that of the Prime Devil Sect’s sect master, Lu Sheng?’ He carefully examined the rolling black Qi on the ground. The more he examined it, the more he found it familiar.

“What? Zi Hengzi, do you have anything to say?” The blue-eyed man noticed his subordinate’s hesitation.

“I—” Zi Hengzi wanted to speak.

“Pcchht!”

In an instant, a black spike suddenly impaled his chest from behind.

“Hahahaha! I found it! I found it! I’m the first! Number one!”

A huge maggot-like worm with a body length of a dozen meters was wriggling its fat body which folded over in many layers. It removed one of its legs from Zi Hengzi’s body.

“So, my first prey is a high-level Weapon Master? Not bad! I like this taste!”

“I…” Zi Hengzi’s sight quickly blurred. He felt a faint dry heat welling up within himself. His chest started to feel limp and numb, and this feeling started to spread throughout his body. Where it spread, all senses were lost.

“What’s that thing?! It killed Zi Hengzi!”

The black-winged man opened his palms and formed a huge ball of white ice sand, which he threw at the huge worm. They collided with a loud crash.

The dozen-meter-long worm had a savage smile. Its huge spider-like mouth opened and closed. It grabbed Zi Hengzi and stuffed him into its mouth. With a few gulps, it crushed his body and swallowed him.

The ice sand which the black-winged man tossed onto it did not even scratch it. It stood where it was, untouched.

“It’s no ordinary Devil! It must at least be at the peak Devil King rank! Retreat!” The blue-eyed man’s expression went cold. A circle of white runes suddenly shone in the air before himself. A triangular rune shone between his brows at the same time.

“Thousand Threads.” He pointed a finger at the worm.

“Pcchht! Pcchht! Pcchht! Pcchht!”

Countless white ribbons surged out of the runes wildly. They wrapped themselves firmly around the worm in layers.

“After being hit by my Thousand Threads shackle, even an ordinary Devil Lord could not break free, let alone a mere—”

“Pooh!”

He had not even finished his sentence when two black spikes suddenly broke through the ribbons. They mercilessly tore the white ribbons apart.

“You’re trying to stop me with these rubbish strips? You’re asking for it!” The huge worm was smiling. It wriggled its immense body and charged toward the blue-eyed man with lightning speed.

“Impossible!” The blue-eyed man was flabbergasted. “It’s of the peak Devil Lord rank! Impossible! There are only a handful of Devil Lords according to the information we have. How’s it possible for a Devil Lord that I can’t recognize to appear here?!”

As he retreated speedily, he produced a small bottle from his pouch. He took out a red pill and tossed it into the air.

“I must inform the reinforcements immediately. A peak Devil Lord-ranked Devil! It’s impossible for it to be a coinci—”

“Bam!”

In an instant, the red pill shot into the skies. It did not even have time to explode when a grayish-yellow eagle clutched it with its claws. Pungent mud oozed out of the eagle’s body and covered the pill, swiftly melting it.

“Spread… My smell… My feet odor… My body odor…” The eagle’s long chant resounded across the heavens.

“Rotting Eagle, you scum! This is my prey! Mine! Other than the master, no one can steal it from me!” the huge worm roared at the skies.

“Ah… I’m only here to spread the truth. Without hate, there will be no pain. Without hate, there would be no joy. I’m an emissary to bring everyone here joy.” The huge eagle circled in the air. Putrid droplets like rotting flesh kept dripping down from it.

The blue-eyed man’s expression changed greatly.

“Two peak Devil Lord-ranked Devils! Retreat! Quick!”

He brought his subordinates and Lu Ning who was covered in ice sand, and quickly charged toward the skies far away.

The two Devils showed no signs of coming after them. Instead, they were starting to fight each other. Their exchange escalated into furious shouts and curses.

Their group kept running toward the distance. They turned into a white chain of flowing light covered in runes which moved with blinding speed.

The blue-eyed man looked down from the skies. His field of vision was filled with pitch-black Devil Qi.

“This scale… is no longer the tier of an ordinary Divine Lord…” He felt awed. The two Devil Lord Devils that had just appeared also made him worried.

“Who’s flying above my head…” Suddenly, a long chant like a poet’s came from below them.

The few of them looked down. They saw a 15-meter-tall giant with a ram’s head sitting on a huge boulder while it looked toward the skies at them.

“My life is filled with loneliness. There’s nobody here to keep me company. There’s nobody I can talk to. Are you sent by the heavens to listen to my ramblings?”

The ram-headed giant’s eyes were filled with sadness and endless misery.

“What’s with this f*cking creature? Another Devil lord-ranked Devil?!” The moment the blue-eyed man locked eyes with it, he felt his own spirit shiver. He could instantly tell that this ram-headed monster was of the same rank as the previous monsters.

“Master! This isn’t right! Why’re we back here?!” the black-winged man suddenly reminded him in a loud voice.

The blue-eyed man’s heart tightened. He immediately activated a Secret Art in his heart to break the illusion. He felt as if a screen had been instantly removed from his eyes, and noticed with fright that he was flying back at high speed.

“It’s the ram-headed giant’s Illusion Art! What a powerful illusion! Even I have fallen for it! Let’s go!”

He felt even more anxious. Currently, the blue-eyed man was at a complete loss. He had no idea how they were discovered.

From the beginning until now, they had encountered many monsters, and they were all of the Devil Lord rank!

That was illogical!

After the war with the Evil Spirits, it was impossible for there to be this many Devil Lords that had never been seen before.

He looked carefully into the Devil Qi under him. He suddenly saw some small animal running wildly among the Devil Qi.

“That’s…”

Sacred Power surged into his eyes, which shone with blue radiance. He instantly saw the animals running amid the Devil Qi clearly.

Those were countless canines.

At a glance, there were a few thousand black dogs with height of a meter. They were chasing after the flowing light created by their Escape Art.

The blue-eyed man felt that it was a mistake for him to aid in the mission. Initially, he was not responsible for the retrieval of the Star Soul this time. He was only passing by coincidentally. He was in a good mood, and that was why he decided to help his juniors end this matter more quickly.

However, he did not expect…

As he looked at the huge group of black dogs below them that covered the mountains and the plains, the blue-eyed man felt numb all over. His Divine Lord intuition kept warning him that the issue at hand would most probably threaten his own life.

“Can you… feel my pain?” All of a sudden, a deep voice came from the distant skies in front of them.

The blue-eyed man was stunned at first. Then, his expression changed greatly. He quickly made a hand sign with the intention of dodging. However, it was too late…

“Feel the pain…”

In the skies before them, a colossal black ox that was 100 meters tall had eyes that shone with the color of blood. A mass of blood-colored lightning gathered and enlarged before it.

“Rumble!”

The ball of lightning erupted, and red light burst forth.

A round runic shield appeared before the blue-eyed man. The shield shattered, and his entire person was about to be covered by the red light.

A blurry blue arm suddenly reached out from behind him and grabbed at the red light.

In an instant, the heavens and the earth seemed to have contorted. Rods of blue electricity started to fill the air. It was as if the entire world was completely dyed blue.

“Nine Saints’ Hand? It’s His Majesty!” The blue-eyed man was elated.

“I’ve been waiting for you for a long time…”

500 kilometers away stood a huge white wolf. Its hundreds of heads had mouths that shone with white radiance.