Way of the Devil

A reed bush outside of Moling Prefecture’s Capital.

The yellow dried reeds swayed with the wind. Every single one was as tall as a person, and they looked like a swath of yellow plains as they stood together. Faint snapping sounds could be heard as they bumped into each other.

The cold, yellow light of dusk shined on the bush at a slanted angle, creating a narrow shadow.

A beautiful, slim woman in pitch-black armor half kneeled in it. The lower part of her body was covered by a metallic sword-shaped dress. She was covered in something akin to black stockings from her legs to her hip, vaguely visible beneath the dress.

The most eye-catching part was her legs, which were clearly no longer human. They were filled with black, sharp spikes as if she was born with natural leg armor.

“Divine Bell?” A young man walked out of the reed bush. He carried himself like nobility, while his clean, square face had a vigilant expression on it.

“It’s me.” The woman also raised her head in the shadow, exposing a pretty face that evoked pity. She was Shangyang Fei, who had previously disappeared from the Great Song.

“How is it going? Everything ready? It wasn’t easy getting myself here. I even accepted a few other missions to avoid His Imperial Majesty’s, my father’s, attention,” the man said in a low voice.

Shangyang Fei stood up, still trying to hide as much of her body inside of the shadow as possible.

“Your Highness worries too much. Everything is ready. As long as you fulfill your part of the promise, we will take care of everything you want for you.”

The man was silent for a bit. “…I might have to trouble you with my seventh and fourteenth brothers.”

“All part of the deal. As long as you could complete your promise. But aside from that, I have another small personal favor to ask from Your Highness…” Shangyang Fei smiled.

“Since it’s a personal favor from the Divine Bell, I will try my best if it’s within my power.” The man nodded.

Shangyang Fei laughed lightly. “One of my old acquaintances will be attending Your Highness’ feast tonight. If I may, I would like to chat with him in private.”

“Not a problem.” The man nodded. Of course, he knew it wasn’t going to be as simple as a “chat”, but he was desperate to get Divine Bell’s help. Besides, it wouldn’t be a problem at all in a small, remote prefect like Moling. For him, arresting some person forcefully was only a trivial matter.

“Divine Bell is grateful.” Shangyang Fei didn’t change her expression, still bowing politely toward the man.

“It’s nothing at all, just a small matter. I will call out your acquaintance during the feast. Could you tell me his name?”

“Lu Sheng.” Shangyang Fei’s eyes were cruel. “His name is Lu Sheng.”

Aside from her main mission, her other major goal after being sent here with His Imperial Majesty’s avatar was to capture this man who’d destroyed the seal of the Devil Abyss. After all the scouting and verification, Shangyang Fei finally locked onto Lu Sheng’s position.

She didn’t know how powerful he was; he could not be weak if he’d destroyed the Devil Abyss.

She needed to find a remote and quiet area, immediately release His Imperial Majesty’s avatar, and capture him.

Regardless of how powerful he was, Shangyang Fei didn’t think he could escape. Escaping His Imperial Majesty’s avatar’s pursuit would be impossible even for an ordinary Devil Master.

***

After leaving the temple, Lu Sheng immediately determined the location of Gourd Mountain and went straight for the feast.

Prince Qiong Huan happened to select the inner area of the Thousand Sun Sect to host the feast. Since the Thousand Sun Sect’s headquarters was more luxurious than the other two sects’, and the feast was held mainly for the people of the three major sects, the prince decided to hold it there instead of the mansion of some high-ranking official.

But before entering the feast, Lu Sheng instead entered the Secret Area. He had received a message from Qian Du, Su Ningfei, telling him to immediately meet her in the secret area.

Though he didn’t know why, Lu Sheng also understood now was not the time to have a fallout with Su Ningfei. They both knew who was at fault for the fake slate incident. Even though Lu Sheng did defuse it in the end, it was still wrong.

Lu Sheng had his reasons to keep the peace going, and so did Su Ningfei. And so, the two kept the mutual peace going in an unspoken agreement.

“Rumble…”

The door slowly opened, and Lu Sheng walked into a dark room inside of the cave.

Su Ningfei was lazily lying on a long chair with a strange, white long knife beside her.

Su Ningfei didn’t even turn her head as he entered, and asked casually, “You plan to hunt Devils during the Devil Calamity?”

“Does Master have any advice?” Lu Sheng cupped his fists.

“Not much. I just want to ask you about something. Are you familiar with the Three Sacred Gates of the Black Alliance?” Su Ningfei suddenly asked a question seemingly out of nowhere.

“No.” Lu Sheng immediately denied it. “I have never seen anything called the Black Alliance or Three Sacred Gates before.”

“Are you sure?” Su Ningfei turned her head and stared at Lu Sheng.

“I’m sure.” Lu Sheng’s expression didn’t change. He accidently left the Wei River Sword in his room before entering the Secret Area.

“Then be careful on your own. The Black Alliance is going to make a move during tonight’s feast.” Su Ningfei, for whatever reason, decided to warn Lu Sheng.

“Black Alliance?” Lu Sheng narrowed his eyes. The only thing he had done that could attract the Black Alliance’s attention would be the Gate of Pain incident.

“Also, the person I’m trying to find will attend the feast. If you can capture her and bring her to me, I will reward you accordingly,” Su Ningfei said calmly. Although she appeared to be calm, Lu Sheng could hear a sliver of annoyance in her voice.

He had no idea what she wanted with that person, but that didn’t affect their relationship.

“Understood.” Of course, Lu Sheng didn’t believe a single word of it. The slate incident from before had made him suspicious.

Su Ningfei also heard the perfunctory tone in his voice.

“I’ve prepared your reward in advance this time.” She slapped the delicate long knife beside her. “That sword you bought is too weak. I found this knife in an ancient ruin deep within the Snow Lake Mountains. A Golden Leaf grade Divine Weapon.”

Lu Sheng finally smiled after hearing that.

“Master, you are too polite. Of course your disciple will do as he was told. No need for Master to prepare such an expensive gift.”

“Enough, enough. I tricked you before, and I only just realized you were tricking me. I will give you this Divine Weapon, and you’ll bring the person to me. Then we forget about the slate incident, how’s that?” Su Ningfei said seriously.

Lu Sheng looked at the knife. A giant cross shape was engraved onto the hilt, while some strange, hollow pattern that looked like cloud and smoke was cut into the middle of the blade. The whole knife was shaped like the teeth of some savage beast, having a perfect curve.

“The mind of this knife is still in a deep slumber, but his power is definitely not limited to the Golden Leaf grade. In fact, he would be of a higher rating if one could awaken its consciousness. But many have tried and failed, so most simply use it as a normal Golden Leaf Divine Weapon now,” Su Ningfei explained. “Oh, and its real name is Immortal Radiance.”

“Immortal Radiance…” Lu Sheng licked his lips. For someone who could only afford a Minor Divine Weapon, a true Golden Leaf grade Divine Weapon was definitely very tempting.

At the moment, he didn’t really have any way of obtaining Divine Weapons other than by force. But nowadays, all the Weapon Master level cultivators were all either part of the three major sects or three noble families.

If he dared do anything unlawful, he would suffer severely under the laws of the Great Yin, which were even stricter than the Great Song’s. Weapon Master level personals were all registered by the Imperial Court, and robbing the Divine Weapon of someone on the list would definitely cause great turmoil.

Besides, he’d still have to erase their connection with the Divine Weapon, which he had no idea how to do.

Since Su Ningfei brought out a proper Golden Leaf Divine Weapon, he could go through the trouble to spare her a few cuts when he would eventually take revenge…

“There’s no reason for the disciple to refuse if Master puts it like that. Rest assured, I will bring her to you no matter what’s in my way,” Lu Sheng said seriously.

He knew full well that if Su Ningfei entrusted this capture to him, a Devil Master in disguise, there would be a lot standing in his way.

“As long as you understand. That’s all, you can leave now.” Su Ningfei waved her hand. The knife abruptly started to spin and shot toward Lu Sheng’s face.

“Puff.”

Lu Sheng grabbed the hilt at lightning speed. The moment he came in contact with it, a soft, warm scent filled his body. It was a strong and immense scent, many, many times stronger and purer than the Wei River Sword’s.

If the Wei River Sword’s radiation was dense like hair, then this Immortal Radiance’s radiation was constant like a river. The amount of radiation Lu Sheng received in a single breath was ten times more than the combined amount he got from the Wei River Sword over this entire time.

“Wonderful knife.” Lu Sheng took a deep breath and felt as if his body was going through a certain change under this radiation.

“Leave now, don’t forget your promise,” Su Ningfei said flatly.

“Rest assured, Master.” Lu Sheng smiled. His body gradually turned clear, then completely disappeared.

Which left Su Ningfei lying alone in the long chair in the secret chamber.

“He accepted the Nine Nights Immortal Radiance… He truly doesn’t understand the meaning of death…” Her mouth curled in scorn.

“Only a country buffoon like him would. You even clearly warned him that this knife is named Immortal Radiance, yet he made no reaction, which means he actually never heard of this demonic knife before.” The elderly bearded man that reached his feet from before slowly appeared out of the secret chamber wall.

“Even I wouldn’t dare make contact with it for too long. That kid is dead for sure.” Su Ningfei let out a cold laugh.

“He can only blame himself for wanting to kill you.” The elderly man shook his head. “But you truly are generous. You threw away the Nine Nights Immortal Radiance just like that after having it for over a thousand years.”

“This demonic knife might be powerful, but it’s also uncontrollable, which makes it completely useless for me. Even the Great Yin made no progress after years of research and settled on placing it third on the List of Evil Weapons,” Su Ningfei said coldly. “Might as well do an experiment with such a fitting candidate. I want to see what kind of power can be unleashed once someone manages to fully awaken the knife.

“Rest assured, even if something goes wrong, neither the Devil World nor the Human World would allow someone under the influence of Evil Weapons to exist.”

The elderly man sighed and fell silent.