Way of the Devil

‘I shouldn’t worry about it anymore! We’ll take it one step at a time. If Zhen Family really loses the fight, then perhaps a big city like Mountain-Edge City is the safest place to be.

The government’s backing is the Emperor’s family. The Emperor’s family must be powerful enough for it to rule over such a large territory, even if only in name. When the time comes, it wouldn’t hurt to hide in Mountain-Edge City. Moreover, senior apprentice brother surely has a contingency plan in mind.’

Lu Sheng thought no further on that subject and rode at full pelt towards the moat.

‘The only thing I can do now is to quickly gather as many items with Yin Qi as I can to upgrade my skill! The safest policy is to depend only on myself for safety.’

He hurried back into the city through the night. His subordinates in Crimson Whale Sect had already moved the corpse into a pharmacy in the city owned by the sect.

He made a beeline for the corpse and finally saw Lu Chenxin and a few other corpses in the backyard of the pharmacy.

“Swish…”

Lu Sheng unveiled the white cloth and could not help but step back, covering his nose with his hand.

A sharp acrid, rotten stench gushed at him, as disgusting as if he had licked the filth stuck on the walls of the gutter with his tongue. Beside him, the sect disciples similarly covered their noses, looks of disgust on their faces.

Lying in the coffin, Lu Chenxin’s head looked as if it has been slashed by a knife, leaving only the segment under his eyes. The segment with his forehead was missing. His limbs were like shriveled branches, black and dry.

More importantly, his torso was highly decomposed. Worms and maggots crawled all over his skin. On some areas, mold had grown and pus oozed out. The different odors mixed in the air to form a choking stench.

“Has the corpse been moved?” Lu Sheng frowned.

“No, sir! We put him into the coffin the way we found him. We didn’t move him at all,” Ning San replied on the side.

“Men, cover it up. Lift it and follow me,” Lu Sheng instructed.

The sect disciples hurried forward to close the coffin. The stench thinned significantly after the coffin was sealed and everybody could finally suck in a deep breath of air.

“Let’s go. To Lu Manor,” it had been a long time since he last felt that the situation was so dire.

***

Lu Manor.

In the brightly lit backyard, blood-curdling cries rang out incessantly.

“My son! You’ve died such a tragic death~~!” Wang Yanyu sat on the ground, her hands waving in the air melodramatically. Tears and mucus flew all over from her and her robes were messy.

Around her, many of both the younger and the older generation were gathered. Lu Tianyang, Lu Yingying, as well as many distant relatives were all present. There was more than twenty of them.

Lu Quanan sat aside, his face, neck and arms covered in streaks of blood caused by scratches.

“Wang Yanyu! What are you going crazy over! So many elders and juniors are here staring at you. Have you any shame?” Fury filled his heart. He felt like vomiting blood.

“My son is gone… GONE! I’ve got no more hope, Lu Quanan! You still have two sons though you lost one. But I’ve got only one! Only ONE son!!!” Wang Yanyu cried.

“Chenxin’s my son too. I’m equally sad as you that he’s gone missing! But there’s so many of us in the Lu Family, old and young. A few dozens of us. We can’t possibly stop living on because of Chenxin, can we? How can you face Little Hong? How can you face Tianyang!?”

Lu Quanan clutched his chest in grief and pain.

“So what? How’s it fair that my son is gone, yet Lu Tianyang lives on? They live in the same house. How’s it fair? Old Master, tell me! How’s it fair!? Wang Yanyu’s eyes were bloodshot and swollen like peaches, venom undisguised in them.

Lu Quanan had no words in reply. Indeed, Lu Tianyang and Lu Chenxin shared the same house. How was it that Lu Chenxin had gone missing, yet Tianyang was completely fine?

“See! See! Don’t you have anything to say? Hehehe… Lu Quanan, when I married you, what did you promise me? When you wanted to screw me on the bed, you sounded so sweet. You said that as long as I was willing, you would give our son an inheritance and name… in the end? In the end?!” Wang Yanyu turned increasingly hysterical. “My son is gone… gone… can you still give me another son? Can you?? HAHAHAHA!!! Why don’t I look for Big Bro and let him screw me? Maybe I can still get a new son! Or any man around. You!”

She rose to her feet and tugged at a middle-aged man on the side.

“Steward Zhao, haven’t you always been stealing glances at me? Do you want to screw me? Come on! Here! Right here! I’ll let you screw me!!! Ha… hahahahha!!!”

The man’s face turned as red as beetroot. He tried to wrestle free, but could not pry her grip off his robe. The guards wanted to intervene, but dared not for fear of hurting Wang Yanyu.

Momentarily, the entire backyard was locked in tension.

“BOOM!”

“WHERE’S YOUR DECORUM!” Lu Sheng strode into the backyard, his face ugly. On both his sides, Crimson Whale Sect disciples rushed in, forming two lines.

“Pry her away!” He glared at the hysterical Wang Yanyu.

Two men immediately stepped up and pulled away Wang Yanyu, who was cackling in laughter maniacally.

Scratched all over his face, Lu Quanan fell to his butt on the side, sighing.

“Yo! Isn’t this our high and mighty Eldest Young Master? You’ve been living in Mountain-Edge City all by yourself for so long, but no accidents have happened to you…” Wang Yanyu giggled, unbothered by the fact that she was being restrained.

“PIAK.”

Lu Sheng delivered a slap right across Wang Yanyu’s face, flinging her face to the side forcefully. Shocked and dazed, she turned dumb.

“Third Mistress is tired. Take her to rest. Shut the doors tight.”

“Yes, sir!” Two housemen hurried forward, took Wang Yanyu, and dragged her away.

With the respected Eldest Young Master Lu Sheng’s command, coupled with the sect disciples he brought with him, the situation was firmly brought under control. Even Wang Yanyu was dealt with and taken away.

Lu Sheng looked at his Old Dad Lu Quanan and sighed. He had grown old and lacked the resolve to deal with his pillow mate, resulting in the embarrassing turn of events.

“Sheng’er…” Lu Quanan sighed. In that moment, he seemed to age by a few years.

Lu Sheng glanced at Lu Tianyang as well as Fourth Mother Lu Hong, who was also Lu Tianyang’s mother.

This poor mother was presently hugging her son’s arm tightly, tears welling up in her eyes.

“Brother Sheng. Wang Yanyu, she… she poisoned Tianyang’s supper!” The tears in Lu Hong’s eyes were finally uncontainable. They flowed down her cheeks.

“She’s so heartless…” she sobbed.

Lu Tianyang’s face was pale, his breath rising up and down messily. He stood dumbly on the spot, allowing his mother to hug him.

“Enough!” Lu Sheng snorted coldly. “Crying and sobbing all day. Where’s your decorum?!”

Instantly, Lu Hong shook with fear, not daring to cry any further.

“All of you, disperse now! Lu Tianyang, Uncle Zhao, Steward Zhao, stay behind. Squad A, stand guard outside. The rest of you, go back! Get back to whatever you were supposed to be doing!” Lu Sheng’s gaze swept around the backyard, his eyes cold and sharp. Apart from Uncle Zhao, all who met his gaze averted it, bowing their heads.

Presently, he had a thicker aura of might and power about him. Coupled with his muscular and huge stature, and perhaps because he had taken many lives, he naturally carried with him an air of ferocity and savagery. Once he turned fierce, the average person would lose even the courage to meet his gaze.

At his order, everyone hurried out of the backyard, leaving behind only a small group of people.

Very soon, the door to the backyard was shut. Outside the doors, Crimson Whale Sect’s men stood guard. Only then did he found out from Lu Quanan what had happened.

It turns out that after waiting for such a long period of time, Wang Yanyu sensed that her son Lu Chenxin had likely come to a nasty end. Moreover, Lu Quanan had long since lost his reproductive ability. Without an heir, she was filled with despair and venom.

This led her to lace Lu Tianyang’s supper with lethal Rubber Flower Poison. Thankfully, she was found out by Uncle Zhao while he was doing his rounds.

After listening to what had happened, Lu Sheng fell into silence.

“This matter… no one could have seen it coming. Chenxin has indeed met with his demise. I’ve recovered his corpse…”

“Found it???” Lu Quanan was dazed.

Aside, Uncle Zhao sighed as well. The rest of them including Lu Tianyang bowed their heads wordlessly.

“He’s right outside. But he’s a nasty sight. Dad, you guys can go take a look,” Lu Sheng whispered.

Lu Quanan fell silent for a moment. After a few seconds, he said coarsely, a shudder in his voice,

“Let’s go take a look together…”

“Wait till Third Mother has calmed down before telling her about this,” Lu Sheng reminded.

“Mm,” Lu Quanan agreed and no longer spoke.

The company of men left the backyard and went out of Lu Manor’s side entrance. In an alley nearby, a giant black coffin was placed.

Lu Sheng had his men open the lid of the coffin so they could peer inside.

Lu Quanan went forward and took a look. Before a few breaths’ span, tears streaked across his face as he turned aside and vomited.

Lu Tianyang, Uncle Zhao, and the rest went up to take a look as well. Each of them stepped back in disgust and some of them could not help but vomit as well.

“Ai…” Uncle Zhao sighed. “Brother Sheng, I can tell you’ve established some foundation for yourself in Mountain-Edge City. Can you investigate who did this to Young Master Chenxin?”

At this question, Lu Quanan and the rest all turned to look at Lu Sheng.

They had only just arrived in Mountain-Edge City and did not recognize Crimson Whale Sect’s insignia. They merely assumed that Lu Sheng must have met with favorable circumstances.

“It’s hard to say…” naturally, Lu Sheng knew who was the murderer. But what use was there even if he told his family?

“How about the authorities?” A look of pain appeared on Lu Quanan’s face. “Is there any use in reporting this matter to the authorities?”

Lu Sheng did not reply.

Lu Quanan suddenly understood what this answer meant. Unlike Uncle Zhao and Lu Tianyang, he had been one of those involved in Nine Links City’s closed-door discussion among the city’s elites. Naturally, he knew about many secrets—including information about ghosts.

Looking at Chenxin’s corpse, he roughly understood how complicated the situation was. It didn’t seem like a human had done this to his corpse…

“You guys… should not have come to Mountain-Edge City at this time…” Lu Sheng sighed slowly.

“It’s not that we wished to. Rather, we had no choice but to…” Lu Quanan sighed. “Nine Links City isn’t safe… and it’s gotten much quieter. Many people have left and businesses are closing down. We’ve got so many to take care of… so many employees needing to be hired. With our dwindling numbers, we can’t even plow the land.”

Lu Sheng understood the difficult situation his Old Dad was in.

The huge explosion in Nine Links City had taken its toll on the city and it was unable to recover from it. This severely weakened Lu Family that depended greatly on Nine Links City. If the situation was allowed to continue, the family would fall into poverty and ruin. Hence, he had set his mind on relocating.

“Since you’ve come, then let’s settle down first. Old Dad, have you decided which industry to enter?” He asked. As a member of Crimson Whale Sect’s highest management, it would be a waste if he did not use his power to take as much care as he could of his family.

“No idea yet. We’ll have to take a look first,” Lu Quanan replied helplessly.