Way of the Devil

“You!! Why?!” The man was shocked and angered at the same time. He retreated rapidly, but suddenly realized that everyone around him, including his sister, were all standing stiffly still.

When he moved again, a cold breeze blew by. The 10 or so people present fell one by one before slowly disappearing.

“Why are you doing this!?” The man continuously retreated, his eyes filled with disbelief as he saw the exposed Thousand Sun Sect marking on Lu Sheng’s chest.

“Don’t blame me. I can only take out my frustration on you since I can’t deal with your Elder Yuan Chengdao.” Lu Sheng had a brilliant smile on his face. “Since he wanted to deal with me slowly, who am I to disagree? Of course, I need to return the favor….”

“Puff…”

His knife abruptly struck out at a strange angle and easily penetrated the man’s neck. Vast amounts of True Qi surged into his body, destroying everything inside.

“You… I…” The man never understood why a Thousand Sun Sect disciple was powerful to the point where he couldn’t even resist. He didn’t even have the time to process the situation before Lu Sheng eliminated him in one strike.

Lu Sheng was too fast. After improving the Star Moving Knife Mantra to the 189th level, the speed increase effect was also improved to level 189.

Even an ordinary human’s speed would become absurdly fast after it had been improved to level 189, let alone that of someone with a horrifying physical strength like Lu Sheng’s.

He tried his best to suppress his speed already, but still annihilated the crowd of fourth or fifth vein-level Spirit Bind Sect disciples before they could react.

He sheathed his knife and glanced at the handsome man on the ground, still wearing a smile on his face.

***

The outer layer of the Black Seal Temple.

“Slap!”

Yuan Chengdao accidently dropped the bronze ball in his hand. Scratch marks appeared on its patterns as it hit the ground.

He wasn’t moving at all, and didn’t even look at the bronze ball he loved to play with. Instead, he was focused on the scene above his head, wearing a livid expression on his face.

Lu Sheng, wearing a disdainful smile on his face, had just eliminated six more Spirit Bind Sect disciples.

“If the first time could be counted as accidental, the second and third time were clear targeted moves.”

“He mentioned an Elder Yuan? Could it be our Spirit Bind Sect’s Elder Yuan Chengdao?”

“Who else would it be? I don’t know how he provoked this ruthless killer. I counted, and at least 30 people fell by his hand. The whole sect only sent in less than 100 people…”

Yuan Chengdao listened to the chatter all around him and knew full well they were targeting him on purpose. He stared at Lu Sheng on the screen. He’d originally planned to let him live so that he could make him suffer, but now all he wanted was to immediately kill him!

An elder whose disciple had just been eliminated approached him with an unfriendly expression and asked, “Elder Yuan, is this Lu Sheng from the Thousand Sun Sect telling the truth?”

Not just him, but even other palace masters and elders whose disciples and relatives had been eliminated all glared at Yuan Chengdao with visible hostility.

Yuan Chengdao’s expression also turned ugly. He clenched his hand, relaxed it, then clenched it again. “I didn’t expect him to grow so quickly…” He’d never heard himself sound so dry and bitter before.

“WOW!”

Suddenly everyone from the three sects let out an exclamation.

Like they had seen something shocking.

Yuan Chengdao hurriedly pulled his focus back to the screen, and saw it had changed to a field of black mud.

The three Buddhist towers, at least ten stories high, rose up into the sky. The surface of the golden towers was tainted by black and gray stains, but that didn’t affect their grand and brilliant appearance at all.

But it wasn’t the towers that shocked the crowd from the three major sects—it was the three people facing off in the middle. They were shocked as soon as the three of them met.

The two men and a woman on the screen wore the marks of the Spirit Bind Sect, Youyin Sect, and Thousand Sun Sect, respectively.

These were the strongest inner sect disciples within the Moling branch of each of the three sects.

Sun Rongji of the Spirit Bind Sect, Li Mai of the Youyin Sect, and Zhangsun Lan of the Thousand Sun Sect.

Sun Rongji appeared solemn and concentrated. He wore a skin-tight brown leather armor and carried a dark-blue halberd on his back. He had thick eyebrows, sharp eyes, and a square face. Combined with his tanned skin and sturdy muscles, it gave people the sense that he definitely wasn’t friendly. Right now, he was staring at the gloomy man across from him, and completely ignored the woman on the other side.

“Give first place to me, Li Mai, and I will take care of your situation for you. How does that sound?” Sun Rongji’s face was calm, and his clear confidence rung through his voice.

The gloomy man was the strongest inner sect disciple of the Youyin Sect, Li Mai. He wore black tight-fitting clothing and a silver blue belt with a silver card hanging from it on his waist. His long hair was tied into a ponytail, and his legs were wrapped in black cloth. He also carried a pure white short sword on his back, forming a stark contrast with his black clothing.

“No thanks. None of the three of us would give up the golden key. If you want it, fight for it.” Li Mai’s voice was cold. Assessing other disciples from other areas was just a bonus; the true reward of achieving number 1 rank in Moling was the 100,000 pieces of Devil Gold. Unlike the Thousand Sun Sect, the Youyin Sect was poor in the first place. No one knew what kind of absurd improvement 100,000 pieces of Devil Gold could help them achieve.

But he was only a bit stronger than Sun Ronji, almost only by a negligible amount. He would have a good chance of winning if it was a one-on-one as he would be guaranteed to win after about 200 moves. However, Zhangsun Lan was standing on the side, and might affect the outcome of the fight drastically.

Zhangsun Lan bit her lip, her hands tightly gripping her two water-splitting spikes. She knew her chance of winning was slim, but she wasn’t about to give up.

“Lan, stop messing around. You understand how much this golden key means to me and Brother Li.” Sun Rongji looked at Zhangsun Lan. She was the weakest among the three of them. If he could eliminate her first, then he and Li Mai could fight without any interruptions.

Zhangsun Lan didn’t talk, and just stood in place.

Of course, she knew that she was the weakest among the three, but that didn’t mean she didn’t stand a chance at all.

“Brother Sun seems to think you can easily take care of me?” Li Mai wasn’t dumb, either, and a cold expression appeared on his face.

“Brother Li seems to be very confident.” Sun Rongji smiled. “If so, why don’t we eliminate Lan first so that we can have a fair fight and decide who gets the golden key?”

Li Mai glanced coldly at Zhangsun Lan. This woman was pretty and had a nice body, but neither he nor Sun Rongji were the kind of people to be distracted by appearances.

“I agree.”

Zhangsun Lan’s heart jumped the moment she heard that.

“What kind of strength or virtue do I have to deserve the honor of Brother Sun and Brother Li teaming up against me?” She stepped back slightly, her expression alert.

Sun Rongji smiled, and neither spoke nor attacked. Instead, he stared at Li Mai, who was also staring at him. Neither had any intention of being the first to act.

The two men only talked, but when it came to attacking, neither wanted to be the first. Both were afraid they were going to expose themselves and give the other man an opening.

The stalemate went on.

No matter what, neither of the two viewed the Thousand Sun Sect as a threat. Even the strongest Zhangsun Lan among them was like a vase[1. ED/N: Implying she’s pretty but has no strength.] they could take care of in just ten moves. Their true opponent had always been each other.

Zhangsun Lan knew that too, but she could only endure this. Without her, the last shred of dignity for the Thousand Sun Sect would be gone, along with her grandfather Master Yuan Zheng’s. Hence, no matter how other people would view this, she needed to try her best to stand as an equal with the other two people, even if she knew no one would think so.

Like the two men in front her—they hadn’t even made eye contact with her yet, and had treated her like an extra during their conversation.

“Li Mai, if you could be smart like the previous apprentice brothers and sisters who knew how to protect their lives, this would be much easier.” Sun Rongji sighed.

“Be smart? You mean like those pieces of trash that only know how to throw out money?” Li Mai let out a cold laugh.

“You!!” Zhangsun Lan fiercely pulled out her water-splitting spike, her beautiful eyes cold.

“What? Does the Thousand Sun want a piece of the pie?” Li Main abruptly stared at Zhangsun Lan, his eyes filled with tyrannical cruelty.

Zhangsun Lan’s confidence visibly dropped. She clenched her teeth, but didn’t dare make a sound.

Li Mai laughed coldly again and was about to speak. Suddenly, his face changed color and abruptly flew backward in retreat.

Not only him, but Sun Rongji followed suit and rapidly retreated at an even faster pace.

“Boom!!!”

Instantly, an immense explosion rang out as a seven- or eight-meter-wide boulder spun through the wall on the right, flew past the three people, and ruthlessly slammed into the door of the temple.

“Bam!”

The boulder shattered and the door collapsed, along with more than half of the temple.

A tall and muscular figure with a knife slowly walked out of the plumes of dust and into the courtyard.

“Huh… seems I’ve used too much strength…”

As soon as the man came near, he emitted a faint yet intense pressure as he approached. Especially from the knife he held. It emitted constant waves of heat, and contorted the air around it like it was water.

“Who are you…” Sun Rongji looked at the place the boulder slammed into. A calm expression replaced his smile as he looked at the newcomer.

“50,000 Devil Gold. One cent less, and none of you are walking out of here alive.” Lu Sheng cracked open a smile. “Of course, you may also try to escape, but I promise you will simply die faster that way.”

Sun Ronji looked as if he wanted to smile, but realized that he couldn’t no matter what.

Li Mai stopped being gloomy too, and stared solemnly at the man. Only someone powerful enough could sense how horrifyingly powerful the man in front of him was.

Zhangsun Lan, on the other hand, was very much confused. She thought she was hallucinating, especially since she saw the mark on him.

After checking many times and making sure she wasn’t seeing things, she took a deep breath.

“Thousand Sun… you are from Thousand Sun…?” she asked out of curiosity.

“Don’t expect me to give you a discount for that.” The man laughed coldly. “You pay or you die!”

Even Sun Rongji’s face twitched a little when he heard that. He glanced at the Thousand Sun mark on the man, then stared strangely at Zhangsun Lan.

“You two are from the same sect, right?”

Li Mai’s expression was strange too. He finally saw with his own eyes the meaning of “money before friends and family”…