Way of the Devil

They went to the oval courtyard furthest in. Two wry-necked trees as red as blood were planted in the courtyard. Black fruits which beat like hearts grew on the tree. The fruits were constantly sucking in the grayish-black mist in the surroundings.

However, these fruits were utterly inadequate. Huge amounts of grayish-black mist were still pouring out from the small iron house in the center of the courtyard.

Zhao Quanmo brought the three of them nearer until they were a dozen meters from the iron house. He stopped and pointed at a faint yellow line on the ground.

“This is the Restriction Seal Formation. The three of you will be required to purify the heavy planet pollutants that emanate from within at this spot. There will be dedicated staff to calculate the exact amount that you’ve purified. There’s no need to worry that you’ll be underpaid for your efforts.”

The hunch-backed old man nodded. “This method is good. I wonder if the family has employed the White Shadow Tribe for security purposes? If this heavy planet pollutant leaks out, only elites of their level will be able to deal with it.”

Zhao Quanmo nodded, and said, “You have quite a thorough understanding, Elder Gu. Indeed, we have White Shadow tribesmen guarding this place. There is no cause for worry!”

The old man’s expression relaxed.

When the Taoist nun saw that Lu Sheng was perplexed, she projected her voice to him and explained, “Dear Taoist, you may not know this, but only several thousand individuals are actually in charge of the billions of clansmen. These thousands of individuals are divided into four ranks according to the tribe’s standards. They are the Gray Shadow, White Shadow, Scarlet Shadow, and Ink Shadow. The White Shadow is a lower-middle rank. However, in the outside world, they’re already top Confusion Realm elites.”

A chill immediately crept into Lu Sheng’s heart. This Zhao Family was truly formidable. Several thousands… Even the lower-middle ranks were of the Confusion Realm.

The Taoist nun seemed to have picked up on Lu Sheng’s astonishment. Smiling, she explained, “That’s nothing to be surprised about. The Zhao Family has flourished for hundreds of thousands of years. It’s only natural for them to possess such a force.”

“Thank you for enlightening me, Taoist nun.” Lu Sheng nodded slightly.

“Well then, if there are no more questions, shall we begin?” Zhao Quanmo said in a deep voice. “Try and purify the by-products of the heavy planet pollutants. This can be regarded as a little test as well.”

The old man and the Taoist nun nodded at the same time.

“I’ll go first.” The old man took it upon himself as his own responsibility. An emerald-green short staff materialized in his grasp. He stepped forward and tapped the grayish-black ground lightly.

“Hiss…”

Dark green smoke started emerging from the tip of the short staff. The smoke gathered into a huge strange-looking face with a diameter of several meters.

This face had six eyes and no nose. Instead, it had two small nostrils. Its mouth was comprised of countless soft tube-like tendrils.

“Tree Spirit, it’s your time to shine,” the old man said in a deep voice.

“Leave it to me. Although this is more troublesome, it’s still manageable,” the strange face responded loudly.

Lu Sheng and the Taoist nun took a few steps backward.

The strange face floated out for some distance. Then, it suddenly puffed out dark green smoke, which mingled with the grayish-black smoke in the surroundings.

Hissing sounds could be heard. The two types of smoke were fighting hard against each other.

The strange face spouted out mouthfuls of dark green smoke to negate the grayish-black smoke in the surroundings. However, the others could see that two to three puffs of dark green smoke were required to negate one small cloud of the grayish-black smoke of the same volume.

Time passed by. The grayish-black smoke in the courtyard merely thinned slightly. However, the strange face was at its limit. It swiftly returned to the old man’s staff and did not reemerge.

“Very good!” Zhao Quanmo quickly applauded with a smile, and said, “The amount you purified and the methods you employed were suitable. As expected of an experienced medical grandmaster. Elder Gu, you have my respect.”

In truth, the doctors who managed to enter Libra City’s main city with their medical skills were basically grandmasters of the medical path.

In Libra City’s main city, doctors were not merely doctors. They were a kind of abbreviation for medical grandmasters.

Without sufficiently formidable strength, one could never hope to stay here. It would have been impossible to pass the main city’s evaluation as well.

Most of the cultivators could heal themselves to certain degrees. When the Pill Masters and Formation Masters started their own businesses as well, it became tough for the doctors to earn a living.

If they did not have one or two unique skills, they would not be able to establish themselves in the main city.

“I’m up next.”

When she saw that the old man had passed, the Taoist nun took a step forward. With a whoosh, she produced a semi-transparent horsetail whisk in her hands.

“Condense.” She swung her arm. Countless clear water droplets sprayed into the air.

The water droplets shot into the grayish-black mist like raindrops. When the two substances came into contact, a deafening corroding sound could be heard.

At the same time, the grayish-black smoke was swiftly and visibly weakening.

“Good!” Zhao Quanmo could not help but display a smile. If Elder Gu’s performance had been outstanding, this Taoist nun’s performance was amazing.

The amount she purified and the rate at which she purified alone was equivalent to three doctors formerly employed by the family.

It should be known that the grayish-black smoke was the by-product of the heavy planet pollutants. Even if a nail-sized portion of it leaked to the outside world, it could easily cause the death of hundreds of thousands of individuals.

The threat it posed struck fear into anyone who heard about it.

There were many doctors in Libra City and the Zhao Family. There were even medical grandmasters among them. However, there were not many medical grandmasters who were capable of purifying heavy planet pollutants.

Under such circumstances, some of the doctors employed by the Zhao Family had accidentally got themselves contaminated by the pollutants and died themselves.

“That’s all I can do.” The Taoist nun put her horsetail whip away. Her face was slightly flushed, and she stepped down while panting slightly.

She had purified twice the amount Elder Gu had. Elder Gu’s expression was starting to darken now.

“It’s my turn.” Next, it was Lu Sheng’s turn.

After the Taoist nun’s performance, Zhao Quanmo did not have too high hopes for Lu Sheng already. In the Zhao Family currently, he had never met more than five who had a purification efficiency such as the Taoist nun’s. He thought that he was very lucky already. He did not dare to hope that he would be able to pick up another person of similar caliber at the same time.

Lu Sheng stepped forward and glanced at the grayish-black smoke in the courtyard.

He moved his fingertips slightly. A hint of Devil Qi shot past. Then, Yin Flames shot past, followed by Yang Essence, which mimicked various kinds of energy.

However, as he’d expected, the instant all the energy came into contact with the grayish-black smoke, it was swiftly assimilated into the latter.

Even the high-ranking Origin Powers Lu Sheng witnessed before this were nothing like the domineeringness of this smoke.

He was about to unleash his spirit-prompting threads as pure life force should possess a strong antagonistic effect relative to the grayish-black smoke.

Suddenly, s peculiar sensation flowed slowly out of his body.

‘What’s this?!’ Lu Sheng’s heart shuddered. ‘Deep Blue!’ He quickly summoned his modifier in his heart.

Shortly after, the changes that were happening on the modifier’s interface shocked him.

His Mental Energy that had stopped rising was suddenly increasing at this moment.

‘Could it be?!’ Lu Sheng’s mind went into overdrive.

The formation of Mental Energy had several prerequisites.

The first one was a strong Spiritual immersion. The best kind would be an immersion of the Spirit Power’s pure will and thought.

The second was that the object had to be kept with the person so that it could absorb the person’s Essential Essence and energy.

This grayish-black smoke…

Lu Sheng felt it carefully. He faintly sensed a domineering aura with a fierce sense of superiority in it. This was clearly the energy attribute of the Evil Spirit Night Emperor.

‘I’ve studied Evil Spirit power before this. There shouldn’t be any type that can be absorbed… Could it be that the Zhao Family’s lady has something to do with this?’

Lu Sheng gave it some thought and instantly understood something.

It was highly probable that, in order to prolong the lady’s life, the Zhao Family had continuously invested copious amounts of Essential Essence, treasures, and resources.

This way, the two conditions for the formation of Mental Energy were met. Coincidentally, they could be devoured and absorbed by the modifier.

‘This is excellent!’ When he made that connection, Lu Sheng was overjoyed. Was this not a huge present that was shoved toward himself? He would never turn down Mental Energy.

His thoughts connected, but his hands never stopped working.

Initially, he planned to negate and purify the smoke directly with his spirit-prompting threads. However, from the way things seemed now, he would be wasting a great resource!

Lu Sheng extended his right arm decisively. He cast a layer of black radiance over his palm to cover it up. Then, he sucked at the smoke.

Without making a sound, the grayish-black smoke in the entire courtyard was swiftly being sucked into his arm.

Zhao Quanmo and the others were slightly surprised by this. Their carefree faces were now taking on serious tones.

Time passed slowly by. Lu Sheng constantly devoured the grayish-black smoke. This smoke had been mixed with impure Mental Energy. If he did not have to conceal his true abilities and purify the impurities, he would be completely capable of devouring all the smoke here in one go.

About 10 minutes later, Lu Sheng acted as if he was pale from exhaustion, and he stopped.

“I’m sorry, I’m at my limits already.”

The volume of smoke he’d purified was already four to five times greater than the Taoist nun’s. This was an unprecedented terrifying display.

Zhao Quanmo’s lips were trembling slightly. There was an irrepressible joy in his eyes.

“Good! Very good! Brother Lu, your medical skills are superb! All three of you have passed! Please follow me into the house!”

“Alright,” Lu Sheng and the others responded.

The three of them followed closely behind Zhao Quanmo into the formation, and they walked toward the iron house.

With a click, the house’s door opened. A rectangular jade bed was inside it. A beautiful young girl in a white dress was lying down on it.

A faint golden light ribbon circled around the young girl. Faint chanting sounds could be heard from the light ribbon.

A dozen doctors in different attires and with different equipment sat cross-legged around the young girl in the house.

Everyone had their eyes closed as they focused. They were giving their all to suppress the pitch-black smoke which spewed from below the young girl.

Dark and dim radiance of various colors kept beating the thick pitch-black smoke back.

However, there were many among them who would occasionally take medicinal pills.

Some of them kept switching out the Treasures in their hands.

Two other individuals stood silently outside the circle of doctors. One of them was also a beautiful, busty young girl. She wore a red dress with black socks, while a red butterfly ornament was placed on her long hair. She slightly resembled the girl on the bed.

However, if one looked closely, it was obvious that she was more lively and pampered.

The other person had a steady look on his face. He was a man who looked to be in his thirties.

Zhao Quanmo brought the three of them into the house. He noticed these two right away.

“Steward Wu, lady cousin. These are the three new medical grandmasters. All of them possess exceptional purification skills.” Zhao Quanmo bowed to the two of them respectfully and gave his report. “One of them was simply outstanding.”

“In that case, go and switch out with some of the current doctors. The Kong spot on the left and the Jiao and Kan spots on the right have been at it for a long time now!” the middle-aged man, Steward Wu, quickly ordered. He did not care about Zhao Quanmo’s emphasis.

“Very well.” Zhao Quanmo nodded. He turned around and gave the three of them a signal. He projected his voice to them and made preparations.