Way of the Devil

Although he was only asking for information, most of the people he talked to showed changes in their expressions the moment they heard the words “Red Moon”.

They were not to be provoked; they were cruel, sly, had powerful influence… those were their descriptions and impressions of Red Moon.

The Red Moon Disciples were a synonym for being dangerous, devious, and bearing ill intentions.

They would do anythingto obtain resources and benefits, by hook or by crook .

Although Lu Sheng had been hearing various negative opinions, Lu Sheng had at least heard one new piece of information.

The information was that every Red Moon disciple seemed to be chasing after the same goal: eternal burning.

This was mentioned by an old man who was very old and had one of his eyes switched for a dark gold dragon’s eye. Lu Sheng met him when they were waiting for the next Transport Formation.

“The source of the Red Moon Disciples is Master Red Moon, who comes from a mysterious place. Just like him, it seems that there are organizations like his in countless universes. All of them seek eternal burning,” the old man stated slowly. “I’ve gone through countless manuscripts, and I think I’ve gotten a rough idea what this eternal burning means. What is it that can burn eternally, releasing light and energy at the same time?

“It’s eternal life. Life is the thing that’s burning, and eternal burning means eternal life. Eternal life… That’s what they’re after.”

“Eternal life…” Lu Sheng mumbled as he recalled the old man’s words. When the white glow of the formation dimmed, he was already standing before a huge scarlet palace and peering into it.

From the left to the right, he could see no end to this scarlet palace. The entire palace was barren without any decorations.

Red stone pillars up to 100 meters tall were neatly arranged in long, continuous rows. They resembled red pipe organs.

They were straight, hard, and bright red.

The entire palace towered before Lu Sheng silently.

There was scorching heat in the air; it was at least 50 degrees Celsius. The dry heat boiled and created transparent and contorted vortexes in the air.

“Is there no one here?” Lu Sheng hesitated slightly. By right, the Red Moon Disciples should have been the largest organization with the most members in Libra City. This place was Master Red Moon’s base for recruiting disciples. It should have been impossible for it to be this quiet.

He hesitated for a while. His guess was that he had not discovered the correct way to enter yet.

Lu Sheng turned to glance at the Transport Formation again. He quickly noticed a small red mark on it.

It was a red moon. A word was inscribed on the crescent: “turn”.

Lu Sheng gave it some thought. Then, he tapped this mark lightly.

The mark clearly shone for an instant before it dimmed.

“There’s a newcomer again? It’s not time for the recruitment yet. Come back at three o’clock in the afternoon…” An ice-cold, emotionless male voice came from the mark.

“Three in the afternoon? Understood.” Lu Sheng nodded slightly.

“If you’re sincere on joining, have 10,000 ice money ready. Also, prepare to give away your own life,” the voice continued.

“Understood,” Lu Sheng replied.

The voice slowly faded.

Lu Sheng stood where he was for a moment. Then, he walked out of the Transport Formation and sat down on an empty space at the side.

Other than the red palace, this place was surrounded by vast, densely packed stone forests.

The skies were gray and so was the ground. There were no sounds from birds and insects. It was as if everything here was in a deathly stillness.

After sitting cross-legged for some time, he would sometimes encounter the random cultivators who arrived here. However, they would quickly leave this place again.

There was nothing here. The Transport Formations were also free to use. It was rare for anyone to be willing to wait here.

Time slowly passed. Eventually, there were a couple of men with outstanding airs about them being transported here. Like Lu Sheng, they found an empty spot and waited there.

Lu Sheng did not even look at them. His head was tilted downward, and he maintained the posture as he organized his own mind.

He waited for two more hours.

Suddenly, faint cracking sounds could be heard. A black spot appeared before the smooth pillars of the red palace. The spot then enlarged abruptly.

“Pcchht!”

The dimensional space was torn open, revealing a gray rift which was more than three meters tall.

A rough and heavy gray leg of a beast emerged from the rift. It resembled the foreleg of a giant lizard of sorts. It had four webbed digits, and its coarse skin was full of wrinkles, which made it appear tough and strong.

“Bam!”

The beast’s claws planted themselves firmly onto the ground. Then, there was a second leg, and a third…

A total of six beast legs crawled out of the rift. A giant gray lizard more than five meters tall appeared before them.

Currently, there were about a dozen individuals waiting here—including Lu Sheng. They were all strangers to each other.

Some of them seemed to recognize this giant lizard. They quickly bowed and paid their respects.

Some eyed it warily, waiting for it to state its identity.

Lu Sheng, on the other hand, remained seated and unmoved.

The giant lizard stuck out its grayish-red forked tongue. Its narrow eyes displayed hints of cruelty and violence.

“This is the Red Moon Galaxy’s Black Death Star 311. There are 500 recruitment points in total. You guys have some luck for being assigned to my point.”

His voice was slightly hoarse. It sounded as if two female voices were speaking together in different tones. One of them had a high pitch, while the other had a low pitch.

The people gathered here immediately understood this giant lizard’s identity. Those who were still seated quickly got to their feet. They stared at it with serious expressions as they waited for it to continue.

The giant lizard smiled. It wore an extremely complicated, scornful look.

“In the Red Moon, there’s no such thing as noble birth or humble beginnings.”

It sauntered with its huge body around the people there with ease. Its huge feet did not make any sound when it planted them onto the ground.

Its thick and strong tail waved slightly to the sides as it moved. It appeared to be a formidable hunter that was about to pounce on its prey.

“As long as you have money! As long as you can contribute enough to the Red Moon!” the giant lizard spoke loudly. “Then your strength, background, or tribe won’t matter. You can join the Red Moon and inherit Master’s teachings.

“The magnificent Red Moon shines on us all. Under this pure moonlight, all of us, every living being, are equals! We are all brothers and sisters, basking in the same moonlight!” The giant lizard was starting to shout with slight passion right now.

“Alright. I’ve said all I had to say. If you’ve made up your mind, come over here and pay up, and then your lives. What’re you looking at? Yes, to me, Siven The Great.” The giant lizard blew out a strong gale, and some of the people gathered before the Transport Formation nearly lost their balance.

Lu Sheng glanced in their direction. There were two who were practically mere mortals. At best, there was only a thin layer of Spiritual Essence cultivation base on them. He guessed that they obtained their cultivation bases with the help of drugs.

An old man with slightly swollen eyeballs well advanced in age asked, “What guarantee do I have that I’ll be regarded as one of the Red Moon Disciples after paying my money and my life?”

“I’ll give you this.” The giant lizard Siven lifted itself up and showed them a stitched wound in the shape of a crescent moon on its chest.

The wound still glinted with blood. It was held together by black threads on all sides.

“This is the greatest mark of the Red Moon Disciples, the Scarlet River Seed. Alright, let the registration begins!”

The giant lizard opened its jaw. With its tongue, it tossed out a pile of light silver scrolls onto the ground.

“For those of you who have made up your minds, take up a scroll and put down your signature and thumbprint. The contract will be established automatically.”

Two of them immediately stepped forward. They took up the scrolls and read its contents.

Lu Sheng picked up a scroll as well. He scanned its contents and found them to be identical to what the giant lizard had said. There was no trickery here.

He swiftly embedded his thumbprint on the scroll and wrote his name, Lu Yue, on the scroll with his fingertip.

The scroll did not react.

Lu Sheng frowned. He changed it to Lu Sheng[1. He is using a different character with the same pronunciation for his first name], yet there was still no reaction.

Feeling helpless, he eventually wrote his actual name, Lu Sheng, on the scroll and erased the previous names.

With this, the scroll suddenly burst into flames. In the blink of an eye, it was reduced to ashes, which scattered away.

The instant the scroll finished burning, his vision blurred, and his surroundings changed immediately.

He’d been standing before the giant lizard, beside the Transport Formation. In the next second, he found himself in a grayish-black tunnel which winded downward.

Lu Sheng look behind him. It was pitch-black; there was nothing there. Before him was the vast and deep tunnel.

The walls and floor flickered with a metallic luster. Lu Sheng spread his spirit, but could not sense a thing.

Lu Sheng frowned. Ever since he arrived at Libra City, the pure act of probing his surroundings with his spirit could no longer satisfy his usual requirements for detection.

There were too many defenses against the spirit’s primordial form here.

“Welcome to the Preaching Path.” An iron man completely made up of black metallic parts slowly rose from the ground.

“Now, I’ll plant the Scarlet River Seed in you to teach you the Red Moon Law. If you’re confident, you can choose to withstand it yourself and endure the inheritance of the Red Moon Law,” the iron man spoke coldly. “Naturally, the process of enduring it is extremely painful. You might even lose your life.

“However, under the shine of the great Red Moon, I’ve been cultivating some Treasures lately, and I’m short of a few rare materials. If you can aid me with 10,000 ice money, there won’t be a problem for you to pass this.” The iron man immediately switched to a gentle tone.

“No problem!” Lu Sheng had more than 100,000 ice money on him, earned from his chronic illness patients. This was the moment to use them.

He took a step forward and gave the iron man an ice money plate with a white flower inscribed on it.

This was the ice money flower plate. One plate was worth 100,000.

The iron man received the plate and immediately put on a gentle expression.

“What a generous brother! The Red Moon likes generous brethren such as yourself.

“Come, choose the spot where you want the Scarlet River Seed to be planted. There are no restrictions on which part of your body. Don’t worry, you won’t feel any pain due to 10,000. Also, you won’t have to listen to the Red Moon Law. All you have to do is wait for the Scarlet River Seed’s announcement in two days and meet Master Red Moon.” The iron man became friendly quickly enough.

The Red Moon Law was actually a torture method that put a person’s mental willpower to the test. The rules of the Red Moon Disciples were included in it.

However, since Lu Sheng paid the fee, these rules meant nothing. In the Red Moon, a rich person would be held high, while the poor would be thrown into hell.

Lu Sheng understood this quickly enough.

He passed through the Preaching Path easily. The iron man even brought him to see the other newcomers who were enduring the preaching.

When they saw the newcomers who were in great pain, the iron man even allowed Lu Sheng to try and adjust the intensity and frequency of the preaching to these newcomers.

As Lu Sheng saw the newcomers writhing in pain under his control, he completely experienced what “cash is king” meant.

This stark contrast made him understand why the Red Moon Disciples always turned to money.