Way of the Devil

Yellow Springs Planet Number 7.

The pale yellow planet swiveled slowly in the pitch-black universe. A bright yellow light belt surrounded the planet.

About a dozen spots of light could be seen glowing with white fluorescent light among the light belt.

This was the area under the Mother of Pain’s jurisdiction. It was the planet located nearest to the edge, and it was also the planet closest to the Green Branch Sect.

Time ticked away…

After an uncertain period of time, a dozen light greenish spots of light suddenly appeared in the dark starry skies.

In the beginning, these spots of light were dim. One would even miss them unless one paid attention. However, a few minutes later, they grew brighter and closer.

“Whoosh!”

A huge green flying warship suddenly emerged from the dark void like a flying sword. It was as if the flying warship had jumped from a faraway area to the vicinity of the Yellow Springs Planet.

There was a layer of slanting and transparent barrier on the flying warship. Through the barrier, countless densely packed green runes could be seen. Also, a white-haired old man was sitting in an upright position with his hands on his knees.

The old man wore black combat outfit. His shoulders were adorned with exquisite patterns of green three-leafed clovers, which was the emblem of the Green Branch Sect. His body was also well-built.

However, the most eye-catching feature was a pitch-black third eye which was slowly opening in the middle of his forehead.

This person was merely sitting stately on the flying warship, yet he was giving off a powerful aura that was unshakable as a mountain and as profound as a deep lake.

“Pchht!”

A rectangular protrusion on the ship’s inner wall slowly glowed silver.

“Bzz, bzz… Elder, we’ll reach the border planet of the Mother of Pain soon.” A calm man’s voice came from the silver light. It sounded exceptionally steady despite the slight disturbance from the static.

A hint of silver flashed across the old man’s third eye.

“All hands, get ready. Get into the wind formation! Rifle Art!”

“Roger!” Instantly, a dozen voices sounded from the flying warship’s inner wall.

There were a dozen green flying warships in the starry skies in total, and this included the flying warship the old man was currently on. Transparent rings rose from the flying warships. Unstable silvery-black radiance started gathering on the points of their bows.

“Fire!” A deep shout suddenly sounded.

“Pchht!”

The clusters of radiance seemed to have morphed into spears as they poured out. The silvery-black spears instantly converged and formed a giant spear which was tens of thousands of meters long.

The spear merely appeared for an instant in the void before stabbing into the surface of the Yellow Springs Planet.

A black spot started appearing on the dark yellow planet. Then, the black spot kept enlarging.

“Boom!”

The black spot instantly erupted into a cluster of silvery-black flames. At least a sixth of the planet was blown away.

The three-eyed elder led the armada of a dozen flying warships in a dive into the Yellow Springs Planet’s atmosphere.

The Green Branch Sect started the war without an official declaration all of a sudden. It brazenly invaded Yellow Springs Planet Number 7 which was under the Mother of Pain’s jurisdiction.

The war seemed to have spread throughout the entire Yellow Springs system in just a few days. There was a total of 13 Yellow Springs Planets. At least two of them were completely destroyed in the first day of the conflict.

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

Lu Sheng cleaned up the remaining traces of his Arrival. When he reemerged, it was already the afternoon of the next day.

He designed a simple temperature-maintaining formation to condition his own courtyard’s temperature.

Then, he went out and bought some ordinary materials he needed to set up a simple isolation formation.

Lu Sheng spent the entire night to completely seal off this house he’d bought in Libra City’s main city with formations.

Although his formations were not too powerful, and he merely set up ordinary formations, they were still capable of sealing off sound and smell.

He spent all his ice money savings to buy this house. Lu Sheng planned to make this his base and settle down in Libra City.

Although he joined the Red Moon Disciples, there were no obligations. All he had to do was to attend the Red Moon gathering once a month and listen to the preaching of the head disciples.

One month in Libra City lasted forty days. There were no such things as longer or shorter months. Every month was of the same standard length, forty days.

On the third day after his recent Arrival ended, Lu Sheng went out on his own to gather information.

He had enough Mental Energy, but he needed various materials to improve and achieve breakthroughs. The next stage of his Infinity Technique required rarer materials. He had to look for them carefully.

Fortunately, almost everything could be found in Libra City. Unless it was some super rare object, most of the things that the customers looked for were sold in larger shops.

However, after carrying out a single Arrival, Lu Sheng had spent all his ice money. On top of that, he had to pay a monthly fee as a Red Moon Disciple. He also needed a huge sum of money to purchase the Scarlet River Method. Hence, he had to earn more.

Coincidentally, there was a shop with flourishing business in an area of Libra City close to his house. The shop’s name was Eight Things. The shop sold various cultivation materials needed by all sorts of cultivators.

There was a dedicated information booth at the entrance to Eight Things. Various important information in Libra City was freely distributed there. Lu Sheng had limited sources for news. When he discovered this place, he frequently came to check the information there.

It was early in the morning on the tenth day of his return.

Lu Sheng slowly assimilated the Instant Destruction Fist Art he’d obtained from his previous Arrival into his main body’s system. His martial path tier, which had been stagnant up until now, finally broken through to the grandmaster level.

Feeling refreshed, he decided to sit down at the information booth less than 30 meters away. He enjoyed his drink while he browsed through the various information flyers available at the information booth.

There were many others who did the same. However, unlike him, the other inhabitants had been living here for decades or even centuries. The conversations they had were casual and relaxed.

Even if there were others who joined Libra City afterward and bought a house to stay in, they were the minority here.

At least 90% of those rich enough to buy a house here were old people who had been living here for quite some time.

Lu Sheng sat down and ordered two cups of iced dates syrup. Then, he took a stack of the Libra Daily and various advertising flyers, which he placed on his table. He started to filter through the available materials in search of jobs that could bring him money.

Inside the main city, he could not be as unscrupulous as he was in the other Wards. They were under strict supervision here. The strength of the upper echelons was formidable. The surveillance network and police network were virtually flawless, and no loopholes could be found.

Lu Sheng decided to find an actual job and work to support his expenses.

“Blood Spirit Collector. Head to the planets around Libra City to collect and refine blood spirits there. The quota is 10 individuals per month. The payment will be 3,000 ice money per month, and payment will be issued annually.”

“Suppress Evil Spirits. Hands are needed at five major Evil Spirit leaking points in the city. Calling elites to go as reinforcement. The salary is 5,000 ice money, and the spoils will be distributed according to one’s contribution.”

“Ten Thousand Dew Army Recruiting…”

“White Stream Army Recruiting…”

“Era Merchant Alliance’s Cordial Invitation…”

Lu Sheng kept placing the advertisement flyers to the side. These either paid too little or were too far away that he could not return to the main city easily.

Currently, Lu Sheng’s greatest skill was his medical skills. If he could find a job related to healthcare, he reckoned that he could earn more ice money.

“I heard that the Yellow Springs Planet Number 7 is destroyed. I wonder if it’s true.” The casual conversation of some of the civilians reached Lu Sheng’s ears.

“The Green Branch Sect is amazing. The sect master has great skill and strategy, while his subordinates are highly talented. Also, they’ve been recruiting new members every year, it’s no wonder that they wanted to expand their territory.”

“However, that move was slightly uncalled for. Quite a number of planets have been destroyed just like that. I heard that one of Green Branch Sect’s three great deputy sect masters had personally led the attacks.”

The conversing people were young individuals in good-looking clothes. However, their cultivation bases were nothing to be impressed with. Libra City did have extremely strict standards, but the official inhabitants who passed the tests had their own families as well. Although these family members would not enjoy the same benefits as the actual inhabitants, they were allowed to stay here indefinitely.

These few people did not have profound cultivation bases and they spoke with careless attitudes. They were clearly the family members of the official inhabitants. In truth, people like them made up the bulk of the population in Libra City.

“These great Void Underworld beings had lived for tens of thousands of years. They truly had no scruples. They would just attack on a whim. They would not even care about the face of the other party. Aren’t they worried about the war between them escalating into a full-blown war?”

“You’re thinking too much. For the great beings of the Void Underworld-tier, especially the Heavenly Devils, if you can’t find their Heart World, you can kiss killing even one of them goodbye.”

The people continued their casual discussion.

Lu Sheng had found it strange at first. He wondered why they did not discuss this with voice projection, since this was such an important piece of information.

However, when the customers from the other tables started discussing this matter as well, Lu Sheng understood that this matter was not a secret. Someone had intentionally leaked it out.

The Green Branch Sect was far away from here. For news of them to reach this place, someone must have promoted it behind the scenes. Regardless of the person’s objectives, this matter was definitely not simple.

He calmed down and continued browsing the advertisements for a while. In the end, he could not find a suitable job.

Lu Sheng remembered the dagger Mi Guangyin gave him.

He did not use the dagger when he returned. He was worried that he might run into trouble by going there rashly.

Also, he needed more time to research this Iron Flag Council.

However, throughout his investigation, whether he actively approached people or flipped through the various newspapers, nobody knew anything about the Iron Flag Council.

He did not find any job, but he did hear much about the fight between the Green Branch Sect and the Mother of Pain.

Lu Sheng put the advertisements in his hands down on the table. He could already guess why the Green Branch Sect was acting against the Mother of Pain.

After he’d set up the Eight-Headed Griffon, the Sky Cloud Pavilion and the entire planet was destroyed. There was no way that the Green Branch Sect would leave it at that. He reckoned that this issue was only a catalyst. On top of that, there had been many conflicts between the two sides, and that was why they suddenly engaged each other in war.

However, with the start of this war, Lu Sheng was starting to worry about his family and sect members on the Yellow Springs Planet.

He sat at the information booth for a while longer. He gained nothing today. Lu Sheng stood up and was just about to leave.

A staff member of the information booth walked up to him.

“Excuse me, sir. According to your registration profile, you’re quite established in the medical field, am I right?”

Lu Sheng nodded. He wanted to find a job, so he registered himself at the registration booth and listed his specialty. If there were suitable jobs, the information booth would distribute the tasks to the matching talent.

This was also a special investment move by Eight Things.

“There’s a request for talents in the medical field. The pay is handsome. If you’re willing, why don’t you take a look at the requirements?” The staff member passed Lu Sheng a flyer.