Way of the Devil

“There are three popes under the Mother of Pain. They’re each in charge of three sects. We’re under Pope Gloom’s jurisdiction. He’s the most active pope in tens of thousands of years, a true great Void Underworld expert. He can even destroy planets,” Hei Jin spoke with an intentional edge of coldness.

Lu Sheng clearly felt that her tone was different when she was talking about this great person compared to when she was talking about the others. The fluctuations in her emotions were huge.

“You have a dozen days left. You should go back, consider my suggestions, and find me after you’ve thought it through. You shouldn’t go look for Shizi Xing anymore. She intentionally left without informing you beforehand because she wants to escape from any involvement in this. The forces behind her aren’t qualified to be involved in this exchange.” Hei Jin made a clear statement. “Well then, off you go. Come back to me when you’ve made up your mind.”

“Understood…” Lu Sheng nodded slightly. He turned around and left slowly.

Although the sensation was vague, he could feel a faint gaze upon himself.

Lu Sheng exited the Seye Palace and looked back at the deep and dark palace. Then, his body slowly left the World of Pain.

‘The World of Pain is too powerful. A mere District Bishop has the strength that surpasses a Weapon Grandmaster’s. That’s not even considering the other experts above him. There’s even more than one Void Underworld expert… With Great Yin and the Devil World’s strength on the surface, there’s no way that we can fend them off.

‘Or maybe… they’re just… farming and waiting for the Inferior Worlds to grow fatter? Then, they’ll reap the harvest one fine day?’ Lu Sheng was starting to have some guesses on his own.

From the old man of the Green Branch Sect, he learnt that this galaxy was under the control of the Mother of Pain.

In other words, Great Yin’s so-called Weapon Grandmasters and Devil Emperors resisting the invasion of the World of Pain might just be a mere illusion…

‘How cruel…’

He left the World of Pain. When Lu Sheng came to, he was already back in his own Devil Palace.

He sat cross-legged. He kept thinking about how he should break free from his current conundrum.

A Confusion Realm expert. His realm alone was greater than a Weapon Grandmaster. He could not even begin to comprehend what kind of being he was.

‘Looks like I’ll have to discuss this with Weapon Grandmaster Aurora Polaris as soon as possible. I believe that my letters have reached him. All that’s left is to see how he’ll respond.’

The Prime Devil Sect went up against the First Sacred Gate, and the incident ended with the former winning by a narrow margin. The commotion this incident caused definitely surpassed everyone’s imagination.

Lu Sheng’s image was instantly raised from a Divine Lord’s to the same rank as the Three Sects and Noble Families’ Weapon Grandmaster patriarchs.

However, nobody knew that the powerful Lu Sheng was currently facing an extremely troublesome life-and-death crisis.

Time waited for no one. Lu Sheng went over to the Thousand Sun Sect again. He had not received any reply from Aurora Polaris yet; thus, in order not to waste time, he could only return to the Research Temple swiftly and make preparations for his next Arrival.

He had to improve his strength through Arrivals as quickly as possible. Otherwise, he reckoned that he would only become fodder, and he would have to make the difficult choice between life or death.

Lu Sheng did not think that Hei Jin was trying to scare him.

‘Based on such an enhancement extent, I think I’ll need three more Arrivals to raise my spirit to the extreme.’ Lu Sheng could already vaguely feel the limits of his spirit’s enhancement after his Arrival.

A person’s spirit was complementary with their body. His physical body determined the upper limit of his spirit’s enhancement.

‘In other words, the limit of an ordinary Weapon Grandmaster is also determined by his or her body. In that case, it’s only natural for the First Sacred King’s clone to lose to me… Before I ranked up to a Divine Lord or Weapon Grandmaster, my body has always been much more powerful than those of the individuals of the same rank. After my breakthrough, my Weapon Grandmaster limits should be above those of the others of the same rank as well… In other words, although it’s more difficult for me to achieve a breakthrough, I’m much more powerful than ordinary Weapon Grandmasters.’

Although there was no detailed comparison, Lu Sheng had roughly understood the standing of his strength with his guesses and derivations.

‘That’s right, I can contact that person before I carry out my next Arrival. Maybe I can get some useful information…’ Lu Sheng suddenly remembered Zhuang Jiu whom he’d met in the Hundred-headed Devil Wolf World.

He was the Fifth Heavenly Devil King of Ghost Borneo World. This title signified that he had to be a powerful person with extremely high status in that world.

In addition to that, the strength Zhuang Jiu had displayed far exceeded his imagination. Lu Sheng felt that this was plausible.

Back then, Zhuang Jiu had asked for his help to settle his karma. Hence, he owed Lu Sheng a favor. He might just be able to call upon his assistance this time.

When Lu Sheng thought of this, he swiftly went out of the Research Temple and went to a small palace. After giving the order that he was not to be disturbed, he swiftly started arranging the Communication Formation Zhuang Jiu had showed him.

It was practically the same as laying out his Arrival Formation. However, his main body was not the entity that needed to Arrive—it was a message. The message had to be transmitted through a certain spiritual wavelength.

Lu Sheng spent half a day to finish preparing the formation.

The entire formation resembled an open eye. The purple lines radiated from the eye as if some mysterious liquid flowed into the pupil.

“Agma… Sienri… Lethas… Anjury…”

Lu Sheng chanted the activation incantation. He infused the veins on the floor with his spirit.

The purple radiance grew in brightness, and became more and more glaring. Some of the purple lines started floating from the floor, forming countless purple ribbon-like objects, and swirled around the central eye.

As the incantation continued, fine grayish cracks started appearing above the formation.

“Come. Come to me…”

A deep, magnetic, and alluring voice came from the crack.

Lu Sheng’s spirit shook slightly. He hastily steadied himself and continued chanting.

This was the spectral mutter of the Ghost Borneo World, not some being from that world talking to him.

The Ghost Borneo World attracted the beings around itself of its own volition to enter it and strengthen it. The beings would become a part of the world and contribute themselves to making the world more powerful.

This was reminiscent of the aroma and attractants used by the insect-catching plants to attract their prey.

Fortunately, Lu Sheng’s spirit was powerful enough. After resisting it for a dozen seconds, the voice started waning.

As he continued on with the incantation, purple radiance slowly permeated out of the crack.

“Welcome, my friend.” Finally, Zhuang Jiu’s voice came from the crack.

“Greetings, Fifth Heavenly Devil King. You may call me Wolf King.” Lu Sheng gave it some thought, and came up with a nickname.

“Alright, Wolf King. You’ve finally made contact with me. I owed you a favor in the North God World back then. What would you wish for in return?” Zhuang Jiu spoke slowly.

“I’d like to know how should I cultivate after becoming a Weapon Grandmaster,” Lu Sheng asked directly. “To tell you the truth, I’m currently under a death threat by a domineering being. I wish to find the trigger to my next breakthrough. I might have a chance to turn the tables then.”

“Breakthrough, huh? Do you need me to send someone to help you in your Arrival? Brother Wolf King,” Zhuang Jiu replied simply. “You mentioned being a Weapon Grandmaster, do you mean beyond the Army Raising realm? Beyond that are the Confusion Realm and Void Underworld realm. Forgive me for being frank, but cultivation tomes hold not much meaning to great beings such as ourselves. What you need is a concept, a direction, a general path. Not all experts of the Army Raising realm tread the same path thereafter.”

“Oh? How’s that so?” Lu Sheng was hearing this for the first time.

“After reaching the Army Raising realm, what you need is to continue gathering Divine Veins and complete your Heart World. Every Heavenly Devil’s Heart World has its own inclinations. That would be determined by your own nature. Your Heart World’s inclinations will be based on your true nature. I can give you some crystals from my part. They’re used to transfer detailed information on various Divine Veins and ways to awaken them. We collectively call these crystals ‘mystery crystals’. A single mystery crystal will allow you to understand the basic usage of one Divine Vein. Of course, it’ll only be the basics. Throughout the Army Raising realm, you’ll need to at least gather and understand nine Divine Veins and have a certain level of mastery over them as well. Otherwise, I can send some subordinates to help you get out of your predicament. Wolf King, you may choose from these two options.”

“Is that why you went to that world? There are a lot of Divine Veins left behind in that world. I even found materials on Divine Veins in some backward tribes.”

“The thing is, inspiring Divine Veins is a helpful cultivation method that will be useful until the Void Underworld realm. You should inspire as many Divine Veins as you can. That’ll be very helpful in forming the style of your own Heart World,” Zhuang Jiu answered him patiently.

Lu Sheng paused with a frown before continuing, “I’d like to ask another question.”

“Ask away. All this is actually fundamental knowledge. However, it seems that nobody has passed it on to you; hence, you can only search for the answers on your own.” Zhuang Jiu seemed like an easy person to talk to.

“What’s the actual function of the Heart World? We keep expanding and completing it, but what’s the end product like?” Lu Sheng asked in a deep voice.

“The end product? A Void Underworld expert’s realm is the ability to turn fiction into reality. He can superimpose his Heart World onto the real world and distort everything. Anything real can be made fake, anything fake can be made real… No matter how illogical or unreasonable the rules are, they can become logical in the Heart World. Your will is what determines everything.”

“Turning fiction into reality…” Lu Sheng was still slightly puzzled in his heart.

“Perhaps you won’t understand from description alone,” Zhuang Jiu muttered to himself. “Let’s put it this way. In the multitude of Worlds and countless dimensions of the universe, one thing permeates through them all: we call it the Yin element.

“The Yin element is the fundamental energy that decides if an entity exists or not. It’s without form or shadow, but it’s real.”

“Yin element?” Lu Sheng narrowed his eyes. He felt a faint anticipation rising within himself.

“Yes… Just like… this…”

“Pcchht!”

In an instant, a beam of purple light shot out from the crack and plunged into Lu Sheng’s forehead in the blink of an eye.

“Rumble!”

A huge noise erupted before him. His vision instantly exploded into purple particles and dispersed.

“What do you see?”

When Lu Sheng opened his eyes again, he was shocked to find that he was suspended among a space filled with purple crystals.

The land below him was constructed from countless purple crystals.

Shattered crystals floated in the air and moved slowly across his field of vision.

“What is this place?” Lu Sheng’s brows furrowed deeply. He suddenly felt something, and quickly looked up.

The skies abruptly darkened.

There was a blade.

It was a terrifying black, old blade inscribed with countless divine runes. The blade was descending slowly toward the land from the skies.

Lu Sheng’s pupils immediately narrowed. He looked from left to right in an attempt to estimate the range of the blade’s width.

However, the black blade spanned the horizons. It split the skies into two. Its end was nowhere in sight.

A mournful and drawn-out old song reached his ears from the skies. It came with the waves of hot wind.

“Oh heavens… why do you punish my tribe so…

“How divinely beautiful is the purple crystal mountain.

“However, regardless of beauty, everything will perish under this sharp blade which parts the heavens and the earth…”

As the song continued, Lu Sheng stared blankly at the slowly descending black blade. It broke through the layers of clouds, shattered the highest purple crystal peak, and slowly inched its way toward the ground.