Way of the Devil

“It must be because I’ve forgotten to set up the connecting formation veins on myself. Let’s do it again. I’m sure it’ll work this time. I know that the formation’s runic chains appear intact on me, but their insides are already fraught with holes created by my formation’s true spirit. It’s already at the end of the road. One more strike and I’ll easily break free.” Lu Sheng wore a calm expression.

“…”

The two-headed strange man looked at him with a poker face.

“Very well, after many years of painstaking cultivation to the grandmaster level, this penniless priest shall show you his peak level of formation mastery!” Lu Sheng felt as if he could no longer maintain his own expression.

“Summon! Primordial stag spirit!”

There was a loud explosion sound, and a black stag shot into the skies. It instantly vanished within the thick cloud layers.

The runic chains on Lu Sheng’s body shone with glaring golden radiance.

Lu Sheng lowered his head, and looked at the seal on his body. He suddenly smirked. “Interesting. Looks like this penniless priest has to show his true skills.”

Black Qi gathered around him again.

In no time, there was another rumble. The cloud layers were parted again. Three giant serpents shot upward and vanished into the distant starry sky.

Lu Sheng stood where he was, panting slightly.

“This penniless priest… This penniless priest has underestimated you lot… Looks like I can’t hold back anymore…”

He turned and looked at the two-headed strange man nearby.

The strange man was looked at him with great pity in his eyes.

“I’ve forgot to tell you… This Qianling Recovery Formation is personally controlled by the avatar of a Higher Realms bishop. Even if the 13 Heavenly Masters of the Spring Autumn Sect were here today, they wouldn’t be able to get out once they got in, let alone you…” said the two-headed strange man as he shook his head.

“Alright. Someone take him away.” The two-headed strange man looked behind him. Of the group that was looking on at the scene from the sidelines before this, only the black-bearded Taoist was still waiting for him.

“Hurry up. I’m in the middle of refining a furnace of purple-golden pills. If the fire stones aren’t replenished soon, this furnace will fail as well!” urged the black-bearded Taoist.

“I know! I know!” the two-headed strange man replied, slightly helpless.

He hastily stepped forward, grabbed Lu Sheng, and flew back.

Lu Sheng looked up at the skies. He knew that he was doomed this time. He’d initially thought that he would be able to buy some time from the Indefinite Cult by coming here and test out his current strength.

Alas…

However, he had prepared a foolproof plan before he came here. This body’s appearance was not his as well.

‘As expected, there’s more to this place than meets the eye…’ He heaved a long sigh inwardly. He had merged his formation with his Devil Qi, and erupted with all his strength just now. However, he could not even break free from the mountain’s protective formation. In the end, he exhausted his strength, and was now about to be carried away into a dungeon for the very first time.

“Clang.”

The sound came from the metal door. Lu Sheng was tossed into a spacious and clean dungeon.

The metal door swung shut, and was locked again with a flurry of movements.

“You should wait here for the time being,” said his captor, the two-headed strange man, then turned and left the dungeon.

Lu Sheng scrutinized the interior of the dungeon around himself. Obscure formation veins were carved into the walls. They were both the same shade of gray, and they were quite numerous. Even with his level of mastery, he could only recognize a small portion of them.

‘Looks like I’ve kicked an iron board this time…’ A chill crept into Lu Sheng’s heart.

The faint energy waves sent out by the formation vein seal here alone made him feel as if he was carrying a heavy burden. Besides his Devil Qi and Pure Qi, even his reincarnation heart which he had gained insight upon was being interfered with.

Although he did not activate his reincarnation heart, and had purely fought against the great formation with his main body’s Confusion Realm strength, the result of being captured this easily had still exceeded Lu Sheng’s expectations.

Also, he had a feeling that even if he used his half-Void Underworld-ranked heart image, Qianshen, all it would have done was to buy him more time.

The Taoists were not too powerful. However, this formation was too unreasonable.

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Higher Realms. Indefinite Cult’s Immortal Paradise Palace.

Within the spacious pure white palace, there was a clear pool which resembled a lake. Before the pond stood an old man in white clothes, with colorful radiance hovering behind him.

The old man had white hair and a ruddy complexion. His eyes glinted with profound silver radiance just like the ocean. A seemingly insignificant thick white cord was tied around his forehead. It made him appear simple and unsophisticated, yet distantly mysterious at the same time.

He was currently looking at the pool before himself with a shocked expression. The scenes of Lu Sheng’s various attempts to break through the great formation before this were displayed on the pool’s surface.

“It’s no wonder I’ve sensed a disturbance in the space-time vortex before this… Someone from the Heavenly Devil World is here…” The old man shook his head slightly and laughed despite himself. He scrutinized Lu Sheng.

“Interesting. As long as the heart image survives, the body will never die, huh? No wonder he’s so fearless, he’s only sent a clone here…” he muttered to himself. A white strand fell naturally from his beard.

The white whisker floated to the middle of the pool. In the blink of an eye, it formed a white flowing light and plunged into the pool.

In the skies above Indefinite Cult’s Kongying Mountain.

There was a strong gale. Countless Spiritual Power formed a cyclonic storm which tore open the layers of clouds.

The clouds bore no semblance to the gentle peace on land. Countless fine bolts of lightning branched and streaked among the clouds, occasionally merging into a huge thunderbolt.

“Swoosh!”

Suddenly, a fine white beam of light came from outer space. It moved in a straight line as it penetrated the clouds, the lightning, and everything about the air flow vortex and the Spiritual Power storm which stood in its way.

It shot mercilessly into the vast golden great formation of Kongying Mountain below.

The Taoists who guarded the Indefinite Cult did not even notice this. The 13 immortals were attending to their own matters. There was only a handful of members left within the headquarters. After all, as long as the great formation was still functioning, nobody would be able to invade the core of the headquarters.

The white light moved with incredible speed. Before the guarding Taoists noticed, it had broken through the resisting layers of formations and reached the dungeon.

Rather than breaking through, it was more like the formations parted naturally for the white light, making way for it to pass through.

The white light instantly plunged into the dungeon, and broke through countless wards. It passed by many rooms which imprisoned great demons and cultivators, and reached the latest addition to the dungeon.

The white light suddenly landed and morphed into an old man in a white robe with white hair and white beard. His appearance was exactly the same as the old man’s in the Higher Realms.

The old man wore a genial smile as he slowly turned toward Lu Sheng, who was getting to his feet inside the dungeon.

“My little friend, do you know the roots of this world?” His voice seemed to penetrate a person’s spirit. There was no need for words. He could instantly make another person understand what he meant.

Lu Sheng’s expression grew solemn as he stood up inside the dungeon. “May I know who you are, sir?”

The old man smiled, and gave no reply.

A series of guesses flashed past Lu Sheng’s mind, but he maintained his expression. He had somehow expected that he would land himself in such a situation before he came here. After all, this was only a clone. If he could actually defeat the entire Indefinite Cult, that would actually surprise him.

Being imprisoned in the dungeon was also within his expectations. He had initially intended to do something to probe the strength of this Indefinite Cult. However, to his surprise, he had barely warmed the cell when a boss-like figure had instantly taken notice of him.

“Sir, do you perhaps have anything to teach me by coming here?” Lu Sheng narrowed his eyes.

The old man smiled, and softly said, “Little friend, your spirit is unlike those of the other Heavenly Devils I’ve encountered before. Come to think of it, the Heavenly Devil World is connected to 10,000 worlds. Although it isn’t as vast as this Mystic World, many Devil Gods have been produced there. However, judging by the qualities of your spirit, little friend, I’m sure that you did not originate from the Heavenly Devil World, am I right?”

Lu Sheng’s heart shuddered.

Not only did this old man know about the Heavenly Devil World, he also knew that his spirit was not native to the Heavenly Devil World.

He was feeling slightly frightened now. Who was this old man? Since this was the Indefinite Cult, the only person who could possibly wield such knowledge was the cult master.

Lu Sheng put on a solemn expression. In a deep voice, he said, “You must be making fun of me, Senior. I have just arrived recently, and unintentionally disturbed you. Please forgive this humble junior. However, since you’ve come all the way to look for me, please tell me what’s on your mind.”

He would not believe that this peak expert would visit him without a cause. Also, although this old man was powerful, the instant their spirits touched, he could vaguely gauge that his tier was around the peak of the Void Underworld tier.

The Void Underworld tier was also divided into several ranks. The peak was called the Underworld Net tier, and the beings of that tier were referred to as Masters.

There was no doubt that this old man had to be of the Master-rank.

Also, this old man did not have much Spiritual Power in him. It was clear that the old man had employed some cloning technique as well.

“It’s been 367,000 years since I’ve founded the Indefinite Cult. I’ve encountered many Heavenly Devils throughout the years. However, this is my first time seeing a peculiar spirit such as yours, little friend. I’ve descended into this realm with the hopes that you might help me in achieving something, little friend.”

“Oh? With your capabilities, you want my help?” Lu Sheng was stunned. He somehow understood who this old man was right now.

He was Indefinite Cult’s master, one of the two most powerful immortals in the region.

“It’s not the same, it’s not the same at all.” The cult master smiled and waved his hand. “You might not know this, little friend, but Empress Wa is facing a turning point. Her spirit has morphed and experienced an unprecedented, substantial change. However, she’s too powerful. Even after working together with my friend, we barely managed to corrode a small part of her body. However, if you, little friend, help us as a Heavenly Devil God, we might achieve better results.”

“Empress Wa? Corrode her body?” Lu Sheng was stunned.

“You might not know this, little friend… This West Cliff Dynasty, along with the eight great nations around it, are only situated on the left shoulder of Empress Wa’s true body. It’s only an area as large as her fingernail,” said the cult master with a smile.

“If this works out, we will naturally gain a sea of benefits. You won’t be returning empty-handed, either, little friend. Empress Wa’s real body was formed from the condensation of the space-time storm’s essence for over 100,000,000 years. Even among the primordial beasts, Empress Wa was also regarded as one of the extremely few most powerful high primordial beasts.” When he said this, the cult master opened his palm with a smile. A dark yellow puff of smoke swirled slowly in his palm.

The smoke seemed to have some kind of life force as it kept attempting to form the human-torso-serpent-tailed Nüwa.

“This is a sliver of the essence of Empress Wa’s true body. Take it as a gift. Although it won’t be much, you should be able to experience the genuine effects of this treasure,” said the cult master as his eyes narrowed in a smile. He tossed with his palm, and the dark yellow smoke shot precisely toward Lu Sheng.

Lu Sheng reached out and grabbed the smoke. After inspecting it, he made sure that there were no catches. He could clearly see that there was only one kind of energy rolling and struggling in the smoke.

He opened his mouth and inhaled.

The smoke instantly surged into his mouth, and vanished deep within his throat.

At seemingly the same time, in a thatched hut deep within mountains thousands of miles away from Yingkong Mountain, the eyes of Lu Sheng’s main body snapped open. He looked at Deep Blue’s interface which hovered before his eyes with shock.

“It’s only a sliver of Empress Wa essence, and it’s already…!?”