Way of the Devil

Unlike the excitement and astonishment the rest of them felt, the trio including Bai Jing only felt their hair standing on end as they stared at the approaching Lu Sheng.

Unknowingly, the previous laid-back atmosphere among them had thoroughly vanished. Especially when they recalled how the muscular hunk had been cleaved into two halves in one clean stroke by Lu Sheng. Even Bai Jing and Quan Huan, who were the strongest among them, were clear that they would not have been able to escape the same fate had it been they who were under those sabers.

“Sect Master Lu… do you really want to start a war with my Ashoka Manor? Are you representing Shangyang Family, or Crimson Whale Sect’s stance here?” Bai Jing took two steps back and asked grimly.

Like a small mountain of muscle, Lu Sheng strode forward with both sabers in hand. Each step he took left a deep footprint behind. The thick carpet of grass was like a swamp under his feet, collapsing under his crushing weight.

“Stance? None of that matters,” he lifted his saber. Inner Qi wrapped around the saber blade like invisible flames.

“What matters now is—all of you must die!”

“BOOM!!”

In that instant, Lu Sheng vanished from his original spot. His massive, lumbering body moved with an unexpected and explosive speed.

In fact, he was so fast that none of the three whose eyes were trained on him could react in time.

“BAM BAM!!!”

Quan Huan and the other Emissary were nearly struck down at the same time. The twin giant cleavers spun like the blades of a fan, breaking their necks with a splat and sending their bodies tumbling away on the ground.

Blood spilled all over the ground, dying the forest ground into a patch of crimson red.

Lu Sheng’s body materialized in the air above Bai Jing, his hulking three-meter frame rising in the air, leaving Bai Jing entirely covered in his shadow. In the next second, both his palms came slamming down at her head from both left and right.

If this blow landed, Bai Jing’s head would be smashed into pulp like a splattered watermelon, killing her in an instant.

Even if she could heal at an accelerated rate, she would have lost her defense once her black membrane was broken. Under Lu Sheng’s incendiary inner Qi, the only fate that awaited her was being burned to ashes.

“Peacock Swallow!!” without time for much thought, Bai Jing screamed. Her body distorted and shapeshifted into a white bird about the height of half a person, narrowly dodging Lu Sheng’s palm strike.

“BOOM!!”

The spot on the ground she had been standing on just now was blasted into a large concave pit. Countless clumps of soil and earth flew all over but were quickly burnt to a crisp by the infernal inner Qi.

“NO! YOU CAN’T KILL ME!!” Bai Jing screamed in hysteria, soaring up into the air at top speed with all her might.

Before she could fly more than several meters, however, Lu Sheng caught up with her and landed his claws on her leg. With one forceful tug, he threw her onto the ground.

“BAM!”

A loud bam rang out.

Only half a bird’s leg was left in Lu Sheng’s hand. The rest of it was smashed into meat pulp. In a large crater on the ground, blood, flesh, and soil were mixed together.

Lu Sheng tossed the bird leg away with a casual flip of his hand. Then, he walked towards the two other Emissaries struggling to heal themselves—Quan Huan and another middle-aged woman.

“Sect Master Lu! Sect Master Lu! Let’s talk it out, talk it out!” Quan Huan’s originally pale face turned even a shade whiter, till it was the pitiful color of snow.

“Our Ashoka Manor has no feud with you, there’s no need and no reason for you to kill us all. If it pleases you, I, Quan Huan, am willing to give you my entire stash of treasures. There’re precious gems, gold, silver, rare items… I’ll give them all to you. All…”

Before he finished his sentence, Quan Huan turned into a streak of black shadow as he dashed off into the distance at lightning speed.

“SPLAT!”

It was a pity that before he could gain much distance, Lu Sheng caught up with him and stepped him into the ground, smashing him apart instantly. Without even the chance to recover, he was thoroughly disintegrated.

Despair filled the eyes of the middle-aged woman, the last of them. She pulled out a knife and stabbed it into the area between her eyes, then turned into a puddle of pus and goo rapidly.

“Resorting to tricks?” amused, Lu Sheng lifted a foot and stepped on the puddle, then activated his inner Qi. Instantly, the puddle of goo sizzled and was razed to black ash, the pitiful screams of the woman ringing out from it.

She had attempted to fake her own death, but little did she expect that her trick would be so easily seen through. As a result, she ended up being burnt alive without being able to resist at all.

Now that he had eliminated the four of them, Lu Sheng could finally turn around to look at Li Shunxi’s company, his body rapidly shrinking and turning back to normal.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. Let’s continue. Where were we again?” he looked at the old master Zhang Wuya, whose jaw was hanging open in a daze.

The difference in strength was simply too great. Lu Sheng’s explosive speed meant that there was no escaping him at short range. Whoever he landed his hand on would die.

The vast difference in strength between them deprived the four great Emissaries of any chance of using many of their skills and techniques. They were simply smashed into pulp before they could react. Few and far between were people like Bai Jing, who could react in a second at critical moments to activate their life-saving skills.

Everyone was astonished that Lu Sheng possessed such flexibility and explosive speed despite his hulking frame. But their astonishment lasted only several seconds—that was how long it took for Lu Sheng to end everything.

Guan Nian gulped as he stared at Lu Sheng who was walking towards him with his top bare. Inwardly, he cursed those old fogeys in the intelligence department for being a bunch of useless fools!

According to the intelligence gathered, Lu Sheng was merely a pure martial art practitioner. But what sort of martial art practitioner could ever kill a Double-Veined Ashoka Manor Emissary with a stomp of his foot like this man before him?

But upon further thought, he was deeply thankful for Lu Sheng’s sudden explosive move. Had it not been for him eliminating the Ashoka Manor threat, they might really all end up either as captives or dead.

“Thank you for coming to our aid, Sect Master Lu…” Guan Nian hurriedly cup his fists together.

With a similar look of awkwardness and disbelief, Li Shunxi cupped his fists in thanks as well.

“… Brother Lu,” somehow, he felt that that was no longer an appropriate term of address for him. Lu Sheng’s strength was simply too terrifying to him. What was considered a lethal threat to them was but a child’s play to Lu Sheng.

The difference between their strength was too great for him to relate with Lu Sheng as he did before. He could not bring himself to address him as ‘Brother’.

“Don’t mention it. We just need to hold up our ends of the deal,” Lu Sheng waved his hand dismissively. He had also been able to test out his strength after the breakthrough; both his strength and damage had grown tremendously indeed.

And this was merely the result of activating Yang Extreme Mode. He did not even need to use his full strength to eliminate four Ashoka Manor Emissaries. The gap between each level of strength in the realm of Bind was a huge chasm indeed.

Among them, Bai Jing was about the level of the umbrella girl, whom he had only recently crossed paths with. Still, she had no opportunity to use even half of her skills before she was forced into fleeing with her secret art. In the end, she died in bitter regret.

“Brother Lu, you’re different from us. As the representative of the Shangyang Family, haven’t you previously had dealings with Ashoka Manor? Then why did you…” Li Shunxi was puzzled.

Upon hearing his question, Guan Nian and the rest nodded emphatically.

Unlike them, Lu Sheng belonged to the Shangyang Family’s forces and thus enjoyed a cooperative relationship with Ashoka Manor. Even if his transaction with Martial League had been divulged, there was no need for him to turn against them so thoroughly by killing four Emissaries. Lu Sheng was safe on the basis of his status and backing.

That was Lu Sheng’s initial thoughts as well. But when the murderous intent from the four of them locked onto him silently, he realized instantly that they had come not only for Li Shunxi, but for him as well.

In other words, he had a choice—either not to make a move at all, or, if he were to make a move, he had to make it a thorough one. Hence, he acted decisively, eliminating all of them before they had time to adapt to the power and speed of his Yang Extreme Mode.

After all, they had tested him before. Moreover, Ashoka Manor even ate his trusted aide in his very presence, and had the cheek to ask him if it bothered him!

What a slap to his face!!

Sooner or later, he swore he would drag that Officiator off his seat and chop him into minced meat!

As for the possible threat of being targeted by them, he had already thought of his response. The enemy was already knocking on his door—he would be a cowardly fool to stay passive!

“Naturally, I’ve got my reasons for doing so. Since this rendezvous has been discovered, let’s make haste to leave,” Lu Sheng replied.

“Very well then. This is the original copy of the manual you wanted,” Zhang Wuya hurriedly stepped forward and handed a metal box to Lu Sheng. Then, he took out a yellowed booklet from his robes and stuffed it into his hands as well.

“This is the original copy of a manual this old man has treasured for many years. It is my gift to you, Sect Master, to thank you for aiding us today.”

Lu Sheng nodded and received them. Then, he walked over with the rest of them to oversee the transfer of the grain.

The other section of the woods, where the exchange of grain was taking place, was not affected by the fight. Under the reassurances of the three Crimson Whale Sect Elders, the transfer took place smoothly.

In fact, many of them did not realize that their boss had just been in a fight. All they heard were some loud bams in the distance, which fell silent after a few seconds.

“Brother Li, about these people from Ashoka Manor, I’m counting on you to keep it a secret,” Lu Sheng reminded Li Shunxi.

“That’s of course!” Li Shunxi replied earnestly.

Guan Nian and the rest of them looked grim. Had it not been for a traitor in their midst who had divulged their whereabouts and led Ashoka Manor to them, Lu Sheng would not have needed to make a move at all.

He had turned against Ashoka Manor in order to save them. It would be ungrateful of them to do anything to cause him to be hunted by Ashoka Manor.

“Don’t worry, Sect Master Lu. No one else apart from those present today will ever know of what happened here. I, Guan Nian, swear upon my life!” Guan Nian thumped his chest.

Lu Sheng nodded without saying anything.

“Very well then, we’ll part ways here. If there’s an opportunity in the future, let’s work together again.”

“Farewell, Sect Master Lu!” Guan Nian and the rest cupped their fists together.

Lu Sheng covered his bare top with a jacket. Under the still incredulous haze of Li Shunxi and his company, he swiftly led his men back in the direction of the Crimson Whale.

Everything that happened tonight felt like a dream to Li Shunxi.

First, it was a traitor appearing in their midst who fled after assassinating one of them. Then, it was an assault by four great Emissaries of Ashoka Manor.

Just when he thought that he would meet his end tonight, the real closet freak Lu Sheng showed his hand and cleaved four elite Ashoka Manor Emissaries to death in a completely one-sided battle.

To be sure, they were all elite Bind realm experts who were at least of Double-Vein Level. And yet, they were dealt with by Lu Sheng within seconds as if cutting carrots, and without so much as a chance to show their skills.

However, Li Shunxi understood that it was a mistake to assume that the Emissaries were weak. In actual fact, it was Lu Sheng whose power was too fearsome. In comparison, the Emissaries seemed weak.

Before this transaction, Li Shunxi had once witnessed the power of an Emissary. No matter how he had been ‘killed’, he would never die. Even when his head had been lopped off, he would simply put it back on his neck again. When his body was smashed, it would recover fully within breaths. Nothing worked short of destroying almost his entire body at the same time.

Moreover, every one of Ashoka Manor’s Emissaries were evolved from shapeshifting demons; they each had their unique abilities.

Hence, there was no guarding against them and it was extremely hard to kill them.

As long as one’s strength had not reached the level where one could destroy their black membrane, all damage inflicted on their bodies could easily be healed.

And apart from using an even stronger black membrane, there was no way to destroy their black membrane.

Black membrane—it was not just a layer of toxic defensive barrier on the surface of the body. Rather, it was a formless force that penetrated every inch of the body. Without first destroying that force, all attacks merely damaged the outer surface without landing on the core.