Way of the Devil

Lu Sheng, on the other hand, could hardly be bothered with what the snakes were thinking. All his attention was presently focused on Three Yin Technique.

‘Producing a unit of Prime Devil Qi now takes much more Devil Qi than before. At least twenty units of Devil Qi for one unit of Prime Devil Qi…’

He stretched out his other hand. Wisps of fog-like black smoke materialized out of his hand. Silver threads were hidden in the black smoke which looked completely different from the originally inky black Prime Devil Qi.

He glanced at the Yin Flame again.

At the core of the Yin Flame which had previously been pure green, a drop of viscous liquid could now be seen. It was a black drop of liquid the size of a peanut.

He sensed that this flame should be called Yin Flame no longer. It had gradually transformed into a type of flame he had never seen before.

‘I’ve still got more than fifty units of Mental Energy left. I can continue upgrading… the present Yin Flame seems to have compressed and liquefied itself with my powerful physical body as aid.’ Lu Sheng held his breath in anticipation of what state this Yin Flame could be extrapolated to in the end.

Gathering his thoughts, he clicked on the extrapolate button on the screen.

“Swish!”

This time, the screen was blurred for a long duration, regaining clarity only after several dozen breaths.

The result was that a tinge of crimson red could now be seen at the core of the Yin Flame on Lu Sheng’s palm.

An extremely familiar aura greeted him. Lu Sheng first paused in surprise, then was seized with joy. As he had wished, the Modifier had integrated the characteristics of the Ultimate Crimson Nine Furies Skill with it.

The heat wave roaring towards him was exactly the same as the heat waves conjured by the Ultimate Crimson Nine Furies Skill.

This time, approximately thirty units of Mental Energy had been expended. But the resulting transformation of the Three Yin Technique was outside of Lu Sheng’s expectations.

He had only just generated the idea of integrating the characteristics of his inner force skill with it when the Modifier immediately produced such a transformation. It was hard to believe that it was a coincidence.

“Crack… crack…”

In the darkness, Lu Sheng’s body began inflating. This was not a voluntary transformation, but rather an involuntary change of his body under the tempering of Yin Flame.

Large amounts of impurities were being burnt and expelled from his body, replaced by the new and pure essence of the absorbed Prime Devil Qi. His muscles, veins, nerves, organs, and even his skin and eyes were rapidly undergoing transformation.

Presently, Lu Sheng remained in Yin Extreme Mode. But his body was expanding uncontrollably beyond the ordinary average height. Black flesh tumors grew densely out of his skin on his face and limbs.

In actual fact, these were not real tumors. Rather, they were bulging bands of muscles that had expanded, forming numerous bumps. But because there were too many of them, they looked like tumors.

In a mere moment, Lu Sheng had turned from an ordinary-looking young man to a savage beast with muscles so thick that they looked like a set of heavy armor on him. Two giant bumps of flesh bulged out on his back, with something that seemed to be incubating within them. Two thin gaps streamed across the tumors, like eyes that were shut.

Unlike his previous Yang Extreme Mode, these newly formed muscles were built on the foundation of Yin Extreme Mode.

In other words, they occurred even under extreme pressure to conceal them. Once Lu Sheng transformed into his original body size, the change to his body would be even more massive.

Covered in sweat all over, Lu Sheng could hardly control the mutations in his body even though all his blood vessels were contracting and tightening madly.

Yin Extreme Mode was now no longer adequate to contain the changes to his body.

This meant that he could no longer fully control his own physical body. He could feel that his original body was expanding in a frenzy, becoming massive as it devoured the essence of the River of Poisoned Fog madly to the point that Yin Extreme Mode could no longer contain it.

‘…Since it’s come this far, I might as well upgrade Yin Flame all the way to the end!’

Since he could no longer suppress it, he might as well not bother with it and focus entirely on the Modifier.

‘Extrapolate one more time…’ Lu Sheng did not realize it but his voice was turning lower and thicker, rougher and coarser.

He pressed the extrapolate button for Three Yin Technique once again. The Modifier blurred.

Ten breaths…

Twenty breaths…

Thirty breaths…

Fifty breaths…

The color of the flame on Lu Sheng’s hand was deepening. From green with a tinge of red to a pure crystal purple flame.

The screen regained clarity.

‘Unknown secret art: Level Six. Special Effect(s): Three Yin Flame, Flame Intensification Grade Three.’

Tongues of purple flames burst into life slowly all over Lu Sheng. In contrast to the purple flame on his palm, however, the purple flame on his body was translucent.

“This flame…” Lu Sheng was instantly drawn to the purple flames, clear as crystal. But he did not notice that his body was rapidly enlarging and expanding.

He had already grown up to more than two meters in height. And now he was quickly approaching three meters. A thick black armor covered his body and rows of chilly white spikes grew out of his arms and legs.

As for the two flesh tumors on his back, the cracks began opening gradually, revealing two savage blood red eyes. In those eyes, pupils with a tinge of purple within them gazed at the surroundings.

“Boom.”

Lu Sheng took a step forward into the lake, causing large waves and splashes of water.

‘Such flame is no longer Yin Flame… I can sense that a power that’s completely different from what I previously had is gushing into my body unceasingly right now…’ Lu Sheng shut his eyes, mesmerized by the transformation occurring in his body.

This time, it was different from all the secret arts he had cultivated in the past. Even Ultimate Crimson Nine Furies Skill’s liquefied Qi was being integrated into the purple fire without stop. The two merged to form a brand-new and more powerful flame.

“Mental Energy… I need more Mental Energy to continue the upgrade…” Lu Sheng opened his eyes. Astonishingly, each of his pupils was splitting into three slowly, like three balls of black flames burning continuously.

“And Devil Qi… is running out…” Lu Sheng looked down at the lake of Poisoned Fog, which was nearly sucked dry.

At first, the lake contained plenty of water. But it was unable to handle his whale-like appetite.

Regardless of whether it was for his body’s change, or in search of more Mental Energy, Lu Sheng needed to explore the hidden secrets of the River of Poisoned Fog more deeply.

“Boom, boom, boom…”

He walked to the middle of the lake and stood in the mud, searching for the source of the lake.

Before long, a stone tunnel about one meter wide entered his view. Inky black river water gushed out of the pitch black tunnel incessantly, but it was unable to match Lu Sheng’s speed of absorption.

“That’s the place!” Lu Sheng strode over and grabbed the two sides of the tunnel with his hands and pushed forcefully.

“Bam!!”

Two incredibly hard boulders were broken by his bare hands, then tossed away.

His arms were covered in hard and tough black armor, and his fingers were razor-sharp. One grab at the stone wall gouged out a large stone.

‘The rock here is very hard. But it doesn’t matter. There’s not much of an effect on me.’ Lu Sheng was curious about the origin of the water of the River of Poisoned Fog. What sort of environment could produce such a river of lethal poison?

Chunks and chunks of rock were gouged out. Unknowingly, Lu Sheng’s entire body had tunneled into the hole. The lake water quickly filled up but was soon devoured by the Yin Devils.

After some time of digging, he released the nine Yin Devils and got them to take turns digging. In a joss stick’s duration of work, a deep rock tunnel was formed.

Time trickled by. Lu Sheng had already dug a tunnel several kilometers long. The three meter wide tunnel dipped vertically downwards, then continued horizontally for another few kilometers.

“Dang… dang… dang…”

Faintly, Lu Sheng heard the toll of the bell from a distance. Had it not been for his astonishingly acute senses, he would not have been able to hear Prime Devil Sect’s night bell.

Because his Mental Energy was insufficient, he was firmly resolved to find more of the River of Poisoned Fog and more Mental Energy.

He continued digging forward for a dozen kilometers. Finally, the water flowing out began clearing up and gradually increased in temperature.

The tunnel took a sudden bend and continued dipping vertically downwards.

As Lu Sheng continued digging, he sensed the water becoming warmer and warmer.

Faint purple glow lit up on his body, illuminating the pitch-black tunnel. Nine Yin Devils took turns ramming and eating the stone before him, expanding the tunnel. Black mud and stone pieces broke away in the churning water, turning it murky and reducing visibility.

Lu Sheng had to judge the direction based on the Yin Devils scouting the area in front of him.

‘The temperature here is already near the boiling point of water… if I go on, it may get even hotter.’ He hesitated. He could definitely take on more than a hundred degrees celsius by virtue of this thick skin armor. Moreover, he had high heat resistance and had black membrane to boot and so had nothing to fear. It was just that going any further might lead to ever more dangerous situations.

After a moment’s hesitation, he made up his mind.

‘Even if it wasn’t for Mental Energy, I’ve got to find the source of the River of Poisoned Fog. Otherwise it’ll pull down my upgrade speed.’

Having made up his mind, Lu Sheng accelerated forward.

The water became boiling hot. But at the same time, the water pressure lightened and its color turned clearer. Suddenly, Lu Sheng paused and turned his head to the right and stared at the rock wall.

Half a tragic white arm hung diagonally out of the pitch black rock wall.

Lu Sheng’s eyes narrowed. He approached.

It was a broken arm embedded within the rock. His Yin Devils had dug it out as they expanded the tunnel.

He reached forward and touched the arm lightly. Coarse, hard, icy cold.

The arm was as cold as ice despite being in boiling water.

“Continue.” He chased his Yin Devils forward to continue.

“ROAR!!”

The Lion of Rage refused to budge, turning to roar at Lu Sheng instead. It had been digging rocks for so long that it was now sick of it. It wanted to fight, to rip apart, to unleash its anger!

“SLAP!!”

Without further ado, Lu Sheng gave it a slap in the face. The massive force instantly sent the Lion of Rage flying sideways and ramming into the stone wall. It moaned in pain.

“Hurry up and dig!” Lu Sheng was getting impatient.

The Lion of Rage picked itself up weakly and glanced at him in fear. Limping, it continued joining the team of excavators.

Everybody claimed that there was no way to control Yin Devils. But Lu Sheng felt that it was only because they had not found the right way.

The stone tunnel seemed to continue on indefinitely. Lu Sheng continued digging for an unknown length of time. But given his speed, he had dug at least several dozen kilometers. Finally, the flow of water in the tunnel was receding, and the tunnel was getting emptier.

The stone walls on both sides ahead of him began to glow with a crimson hue, like glowing red hot iron.