Way of the Devil

The disciples of the Prime Devil Sect soon disappeared into the shadows. Everyone else dispersed to pack their belonging and flee from this place.

Shangyang Jiuli and her followers stayed put. She organized the plan for any next steps before walking toward the next destination.

They went through the opening, then turned a corner and returned to the plaza. Shangyang Jiuli could vaguely hear the roars and screams of the devils fighting.

“The devil army has broken through! Everyone, get ready!” Her expression darkened as she waved her hand.

Everyone went on high alert.

“Crap, the elder’s team is still behind us!” someone shouted.

Shangyang Jiuli’s face sunk. She had led the Shangyang Family’s elites to break through the blockade. The weaker men were left behind to protect the survivors while they evacuated the city. If they were caught by the devil army, the situation would be dire.

But now there was nothing she could do. She wouldn’t be able to reach them in time. They were on their own now.

“Hurry, hurry, hurry!” she yelled.

Everyone sped up, charging into the tunnel that led out of the Prime Devil Sect.

But, oddly, no matter how much they sped up, the voice of the devil army was still in front them. They couldn’t even see the shadows of any devils.

Dead bodies of devils occasionally appeared on the ground, with black and red blood sprayed everywhere. But strangely, there wasn’t a single one alive. All the devils left behind only bodies, and aside from a few that had lost their head, the rest looked like they died randomly. If it weren’t for the body already starting to turn gray, they could be mistaken to be alive.

Shangyang Jiuli was the first to notice, so she slowed down and took a careful look at the bodies.

“Spike Devil? This is a spike devil!??” Her whole body shook after seeing one of the devils’ headless body.

This was a black humanoid body that was covered in spikes like a porcupine. Both of its eyes were bulged out, taking up over half of its face. It held a giant hammer in its hand, still wearing a pitch-black armor covered in spikes.

This was a Spike Devil at least at the Six Vein level, but somehow, it died here without making a sound.

“Scarlet Devil! Scarlet Star Devil!!!?” Another disciple realized that something was wrong.

Even many Scarlet Star Devils, which were infamously hard to kill among the devil army, had died here.

Shangyang Jiuli hurried over, and was shocked herself.

Many bodies of devils were stuffed inside of a dent on the side of a rock. At the first glance, there seemed to be at least 30 of them, with the most obvious of them being the 4 Scarlet Star Devils, which were each wearing scarlet red demonic armor.

“What happened! What could have…?!” Shangyang Jiuli’s heart was racing, but she still forced her expression to remain calm.

“Keep going! Be on high alert!”

“As you wish!” The crowd slowed down, but continued on.

They walked forward a while longer, and reached the end of the tunnel. Shangyang Jiuli finally saw the battle going on in front of her.

Lu Sheng had changed into all black clothes, casually walking through the horde of devils from the devil army. Everywhere he went, the soldiers instantly froze like husks without souls, and would fall without a sound.

He Xiangzi and the rest just stood in the back with strange expressions. All of the devils had been dying this strange death ever since Lu Sheng started to lead them.

Even if this was the devil army, everyone still felt cold in their heart. They had no idea how Lu Sheng was able to kill devils simply by walking near them. If they were the ones being targeted, the result would probably be the same.

Even though He Xiangzi had often heard her master mention Lu Sheng’s astounding talent, she never had a clear understanding of it. Only now was she able to see what this “astounding talent” looked like.

Even the few devils that gave her an extremely dangerous feeling couldn’t resist Lu Sheng’s power. She finally understood the disparity between the two of them.

Fortunately, Lu Sheng was already considered extremely powerful even before joining the sect, which made this feat still seem reasonable.

“This looks like… the secret art Master once demonstrated, Absorbing Sound and Stealing Life…” He Xiangzi suddenly remembered the source of Lu Sheng’s power. “But doesn’t that require cultivating the Ghost Face Mantra to its final stage??”

Karmaless, Ghost Face, Phantom Path, and Devil Heart. These were the steps of the Phantom Listening School’s secret arts. The final stage was the Devil Heart Dao’s completion, and formation of the Phantom Listening Devil Body. But how much time did Lu Sheng have to spend to cultivate it? It was impossible for him to have reached the final stage of the Ghost Face Mantra.

“Whoosh!”

The last horse-faced devil in scarlet armor was thrown aside by Lu Sheng, losing all signs of life quietly.

He Xiangzi finally couldn’t bear it any longer, so she asked Lu Sheng loudly, “Senior Apprentice Brother Lu! Did you… complete the cultivation of Ghost Face Mantra??” Her voice was shaky as she asked her question.

She was only at the final stage of the Karmaless Skill, still miles away from the Ghost Face Mantra. She would need at least 10 more years to reach the final stage of the Ghost Face Mantra.

To completely cultivate the Ghost Face Mantra, it would require at least 30 years of hard work for a normal disciple. Even if the disciple had an above-average talent, at least 20 years should be required. But Lu Sheng only joined the sect a year ago.

When she asked her question, not only her, but Umbrella Girl, Zhan Kongning, Zhan Hongsheng, and everyone else all stopped to listen to the answer.

Especially Zhan Kongning. He had been planning on working with Lu Sheng to break through the blockade, but he’d never thought that Lu Sheng would be so fierce and cruel, killing everything on sight.

Before, he’d thought he was near Lu Sheng’s level. Even if Lu Sheng was stronger, it wouldn’t have been that big of a difference. But now…

Zhan Hongsheng knew Lu Sheng’s strength the best, and she was the one who dragged her brother to seek refuge in the Prime Devil Sect. In her eyes, if Lu Sheng could kill Snake Level monsters without even showing his true power, he had to be the strongest man in the vicinity. Hence, she was also the calmest among the crowd.

“Ghost Face Mantra?” Lu Sheng opened his mouth to absorb the last sliver of Devil Essence, the shapeless essence undetectable by anyone else. “Karmaless, Ghost Face, Phantom Path, and Devil Heart. Three days ago I completely cultivated Devil Heart and formed Devil Body!”

“Boom!!”

A cloud of pitch black Devil Qi dispersed from his body.

Devil Qi gathered to form a black circle. It spread into all directions; everywhere it touched, the dead bodies of the devil army were disintegrated into black dust. The slivers of Devil Essence they contained were then promptly absorbed by Lu Sheng.

“Hiss…” Even though she had prepared herself mentally, after hearing “Devil Body” and witnessing his power, He Xiangzi’s heart still shook as she inhaled sharply.

“You formed… the Devil Body!?”

Not even in her wildest imagination did she imagine that Lu Sheng would break so many barriers at once and achieve the Phantom Listening Devil Body.

Even though she wasn’t familiar with the many details of the Phantom Listening Devil Body, she could recognize the general characteristics.

Liu Shanzi had shown her the horrifying power of the Phantom Listening Devil Body multiple times. But how long had Lu Sheng been in Prime Devil Sect? He somehow broke through all these tiers and reached the end of the Phantom Listening school of techniques, and formed the Devil Body!!

This was just…

Umbrella Girl Ying Ying and the two others had known their sect leader’s horrifying power for a long time. But even they didn’t realize that it was this horrifying. They themselves were cultivating the Prime Devil Sect’s Secret Arts, and knew very well how hard it was to form a Devil Body. The sheer amount of cultivation required would take a normal disciple at least thirty years of hard work before they would even reach such a level.

Of course—this was the legendary skill of the Prime Devil Sect’s that was as strong enough to be in the Snake Level!

Zhan Kongning and his sister, on the other hand, didn’t understand the significance of this. They were from a different sect after all, and didn’t have an understanding of what the “Devil Body” was.

But judging from other people’s expressions, this Devil Body must’ve been really powerful.

“Roarrr!!”

An enormous lion with burning black flames for its mane slowly walked from behind Lu Sheng. It let out an angry roar, and stared ferociously at He Xiangzi and the crowd.

The roar shook the rocks all around. Everyone felt their body turn numb, and instinctively retreated a step.

“Y-Yin Devil!!?” He Xiangzi cried out.

Song Zian looked back at how Lu Sheng charged out all of a sudden and killed the King of Dark Clouds effortlessly, and his heart started to beat.

How could any human break through so many bottlenecks in such a short period? He started to suspect that the Lu Sheng in front of him was actually an Ancient Devil in disguise.

“Alright let’s go.” Lu Sheng no longer planned to hide his power. At this stage, that was no longer needed; all he needed to do was to overwhelm his enemies with sheer power.

“Lu Sheng!” Shangyang Jiuli yelled from far away.

“We will go rescue our people first, then we’ll find you later!” Lu Sheng led his followers up the stairs without even turning his head. Soon, they disappeared on the plains.

Shangyang Jiuli narrowed her eyes, staring at the devils that had turned to dust.

“Aren’t they going to the West Infinity Court, Madam Jiuli? Then we…”

“The West Infinity Court will be the safest place if the sect masters can break through the Great Formation. If not…” Jiuli said in a low voice. “Tell everyone behind us to hurry up, and continue to the Red Seething Palace!”

“As you wish!!”

The team of elites got back on their horses, and rode toward the Red Seething Palace.

********************

The Prime Devil Sect.

Song Zian left Lu Sheng’s team and returned to the ruins of the Secret Art Palace, standing in front of the black boulder.

“Senior Ling…” He touched the surface of the rock gently with a complicated expression.

“That person… had a scent similar to the founder of Prime Devil Sect…” the voice of the Devil King answered from within the rock.

“But compared to his ancestral master… He is many, many times stronger…” he remarked in a low voice.

“Is he… is he actually human?” Song Zian asked, astonished.

“Yes… even though he might not look like one, his scent is definitely that of a human,” Ling answered in a definitive tone.

“Then… Who was that blue giant?” Song Zian felt like his brain wasn’t enough to process all this.

“That was the King of Dark Clouds.” Ling sighed. “A lord among the Moon Devil Tribe once. He was a Devil King, equivalent to your human’s Divine Weapon Master…”

“Divine Weapon Master…” Song Zian’s pupil dilated, finally understanding the level Lu Sheng was at.

“Yes… Divine Weapon Master… Devil King…” Ling fell silent. There was actually one more thing he didn’t say.

In his eyes that could see the strongest and final form of any living being, Lu Sheng’s appearance wasn’t that of an enormous giant.

It was, instead, an elegant, savage, and horrifying slim figure. Behind the figure was the endless silver night sky.