Way of the Devil

Mist Child Ward, Flower Tree City. Before a mobile sesame seed cake cart.

“Two bucks, I want a portion of two bucks!” Bai Chaoan rubbed his hands together and blew into them. This weather was too cold.

“Here you go. Fresh meat sesame seed bun!”

“Mm-hm. Here’s the money.”

Bai Chaoan paid for the food. He took the sesame seed bun wrapped in paper and took a huge bite. The crispy and aromatic outer crust contained juicy and tender meat on the inside. Bai Chaoan took a huge bite and gave it a good chew, and immediately felt contented.

He liked sesame seed buns very much, just as much as he liked to kill.

For every person he killed, he would eat a sesame seed bun. That was the habit he’d picked up over the years.

Also, he had set certain rules for himself. If he killed a man, he would eat a fresh meat sesame seed bun; if he killed a woman, he would eat a cabbage sesame seed bun.

The morning air was chilly. Bai Chaoan finished his sesame seed bun quickly. He then shoved his hands into his pockets and walked into a 13-story building which was not frequented by many.

‘Is this the place? It’s right beside a government department. This might be troublesome. I should take care of the other one first.’

Although his current task was to kill three mere mortals, Bai Chaoan insisted on carrying out his duties with the utmost professionalism. He would do his best to complete his mission in the most secretive way possible.

Since two of his targets were slightly difficult to reach, he decided to aim for the easiest one first.

He pouted and swallowed the sesame seed bun. Then, he turned around and walked into the subway station. As he walked in the direction of the crowd, he casually took out his phone and looked at the target’s photo which he had saved.

It depicted a young high school boy with elegant features and a stern expression. A few rows of description were displayed on the bottom of his screen. Du Xiong, 18 years old. Frequently spotted at Guang He Boxing Gym, Zodiac Boxing Gym, and Flower Tree Martial Arts Center.

He tapped on a button on the side of the screen. More detailed information immediately popped out.

They were all about Du Xiong’s preferences.

‘He’s just a mere mortal, yet they want me to personally take action… Looks like some big shot is involved in this, huh?’ Bai Chaoan guessed in his heart.

He knew that he had to be extra cautious about targets such as this. For the Geshas, vassals such as himself, a Star Chaser, was naturally insignificant. He could be killed by an offhand blow at any time.

However, for mere mortals, Star Chasers were unbelievably formidable beings. For him, killing mere mortals was no more difficult than killing a chicken.

‘Let’s make this quick. Find a suitable location…’ Bai Chaoan opened the calendar and looked at the time. ‘Tomorrow, then. I can stop by Mother’s house after I’m done with this assignment.’ Bai Chaoan closed his cellphone and yawned.

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

‘Anyone who stands in my way must die!’

Lu Sheng stood before the bathroom mirror. He looked up, flipped his hair backward, and wiped the water away.

The feeling of losing a quarter of his karma got on his nerves.

The death of his little brother, a Gesha, made him understand that there was an extremely terrifying threat hidden in this world.

Du Qiu was dead. The next target would most probably be this host’s father, Du Xuning, or the mother Li Can. It might even be Du Xia.

‘I’ve intended to take it slowly this time. Why am I always forced to take action in the end…’

He took his towel silently and dried off his hair and his face.

‘I don’t want to…’

Lu Sheng walked out of the bathroom. His mother Li Can was sleeping soundly on the living room’s couch with her head askew.

Du Xuning was still dealing with Du Qiu’s funeral arrangements. Du Xia was at a gathering with her friends outside, and had yet to return.

Lu Sheng knew that the gathering was probably a pretext. It was highly possible that Du Xia had gone to investigate Little Qiu’s death on her own.

Du Xia was very powerful. Lu Sheng had never fought a Gesha before, so he could not tell where the limits of this divine power were. However, this did not impede him from probing with his spirit.

He had carried out several careful probes as he tried to figure out the rank of Du Xia’s power. He was awed every single time.

Her extremely sharp premonition ability could cover an area of 100 meters. Also, she had a strong instinct which allowed her to evade threats that were beyond this range.

She possessed simple yet explosive psychokinetic abilities and seemed to be in control of some powerful flames. She seemed to have it all.

For Du Xia, these were merely ordinary abilities at her disposal. Lu Sheng could not even probe what her deeper powers were.

After covering Li Can with a blanket, Lu Sheng returned to his room and switched his computer on.

‘I can’t wait any longer. I must make the arrangements as soon as possible.

‘Deep Blue.’

He sat before the computer and called out to the modifier in his heart.

“Swoosh.”

The modifier immediately popped up before his eyes. Lu Sheng’s gaze went straight toward a new frame at the bottom of the interface.

“Mixed Martial Arts. High dan. (Components: Zodiac Fist, Teitedo, Sailing Hands, Chopping Hands, Ishrye Free Boxing…)” What followed was a series of a dozen martial arts that were popular in this world.

They were the martial arts which Lu Sheng had dabbled in recently.

For Lu Sheng, most of these martial arts were easy to learn. He decided to extract the essence of every martial art and merge them into a Mixed Martial Art.

This martial art took the signature moves and essences of the various martial arts, pieced them together, and enhanced their might to the greatest level.

However, that was also the limit to what Lu Sheng could do.

He scanned the frame for a moment. After dabbling in it for some time, he started having some plans about this world’s martial path.

Other than the outer force, there was also the Inner Chain Qi which was similar to the Hard Qi Skill.

The Inner Chain Qi had no shape or form. It was not the vigor mentioned in Chinese traditional medicine, nor was it some kind of magnetic life field. It was more like a method to explore a person’s potential. It consisted of a training method that purely stimulated the physical body.

Inner Chain Qi could be used to strengthen one’s physique and immune system. However, no martial path expert could tell if it actually existed or not.

‘I planned to slowly find out about this and only use my Mental Energy at my peak, but now…’ Lu Sheng felt as if there was some unseen hand slowly reaching toward him and his parents while bypassing Du Xia.

“Let’s start.” He pushed the modify button with familiar movements. The entire frame blinked, blurred for an instant, and sharpened.

‘Mixed Martial Art, to the limit,’ Lu Sheng read in his mind. He directed his focus and gaze onto the frame.

“Hiss…”

His Mental Energy slowly reduced by one unit. It transformed into countless warming flows which were like fine threads as they slowly merged into Lu Sheng’s body.

He stood before his wardrobe mirror. His muscles and skin were trembling. His body had already been at its limits. Under the stimulus of his Mental Energy, it immediately behaved like dried firewood when a match was lit against it. His body immediately burned up.

A peculiar, growing slushing sound as if his blood and flesh were rubbing against each other could be heard from Lu Sheng’s body.

His body was breaking through its limit. Currently, he had an explosive force of nearly 300 kilograms, and the numbers were shooting up.

Lu Sheng looked in the mirror as his body changed with the constant surging in of his Mental Energy. He grew slightly taller, and he clearly could no longer hide his muscles as the contours grew more apparent.

His skin tone was also slowly taking on a light bronze hue.

This Mixed Martial Art he came up with did not have any obvious advantages, but it did not have any obvious disadvantages as well.

Its greatest specialty was that it was balanced. It also had strength, agility, defense, endurance, and a tenacity of the body and internal organs akin to hard body skill.

This Mixed Martial Art resembled outer force. At the same time, it resembled hard body skills such as Metal Bell or Iron Tunic.

Originally, this martial art did not have any specialty because of its moderate nature. However, under the push from Lu Sheng’s Mental Energy, this moderateness became comprehensiveness.

The substantial change was over quickly.

Lu Sheng was now 1.9 meters tall. The explosive muscles were visibly and evenly distributed across his body.

The air about himself clearly had an edge now. This was the influence of the natural aura which the Mixed Martial Art gave.

‘It only took one unit of Mental Energy… Although it being a low-end combat skill is a factor, I think the fact that I’ve cultivated it to the peak myself before this is also a huge factor. That’s why all I needed was Mental Energy to break through the bottleneck.’ Lu Sheng understood it inwardly.

He looked at the contents of the frame.

“Mixed Martial Art, Limit. (Special trait. Silent Fist. Extreme Body.)”

“In an instant, my strength has more than doubled…” He felt his current body about, and displayed a satisfied expression.

This meant that his thoughts before were correct. If he cultivated step by step and only used Mental Energy at the final and crucial step, he could save a lot of his Mental Energy. At the same time, he would not have to worry about his foundations being shaky.

‘What a shame. If I had the time… I really wanted to slowly reach the pinnacle with my own efforts.’ Lu Sheng shook his head slightly. ‘This world’s power has high compatibility. It can quickly blend in even in Great Yin or Libra City.’

Simple, violent, and uncomplicated.

The special characteristics of the martial path here were also clear.

‘Continue. Let’s see what heights I can reach. I’ll aim for the limits, and then I’ll try to probe the strength of Geshas.’

Lu Sheng walked up to the window. He pulled the curtains shut and locked his door.

He sat cross-legged on his bedroom’s floor. He adjusted his breathing and slowly entered his meditative state.

Now that the martial art was at its limit, all he could do was to continue deriving it.

Lu Sheng pressed the derivation button behind the frame easily.

“Derive Mixed Martial Art by one stage.”

He did not reach for the top in one go. The power system of such a powerful world was something that he wanted to experience slowly as he improved.

After two breaths, the frame instantly sharpened. Another unit of Mental Energy was spent.

“Mixed Martial Art. First limit dan. (Special trait. Silent Fist. Limit-break Body. Inner Chain Qi, first dan.)”

‘Inner Chain Qi?’ Lu Sheng was stunned. He slowly felt about himself. Even with his formidable Spiritual Power, all he could sense was a blurry mass of Qi that was extremely tough. It was beating slowly, and just like his heart beat or his breathing, it had a constant rhythm.

‘So, Inner Chain Qi isn’t something fabricated by this world… It really does exist…’ Lu Sheng remembered the martial path grandmasters, martial saints, sword saints, and other experts recorded throughout this world’s history. The experiences of these peak experts were akin to myths. They appeared to be miraculous before, but it suddenly seemed as if they were believable.

‘I’d like to see what stage I can reach with this Inner Chain Qi.’ Lu Sheng was in no hurry. After laying down his foundation all this while, his physical body could cope with this rank-up with no problem.

‘Continue.’