Way of the Devil

“Dang!”

Inside the room, Lu Sheng lightly flicked the Immortal Radiance’s blade.

He just finished the three rituals required, and unlike the Wei River Sword, Immortal Radiance somehow absorbed all of it without much trouble. Lu Sheng felt even more confident about the Divine Weapon after that.

Blood Ritual, Ceremonial Ritual, Mind Ritual.

He only used True Qi and nothing else during the Ceremonial Ritual, and only used one tenth of the normal requirement during the Mind Ritual. Hence, in reality, the three rituals were actually not complete. That was Lu Sheng’s plan all along as he wasn’t about to fully accept an unknown Divine Weapon from Su Ningfei, who probably had some malicious intention.

“Aside from a single knife move there was nothing else, probably because of the incomplete Mind Ritual. Immortal Radiance knife… Immortal Radiance knife… Yet this is a Divine Weapon without a mind?” Lu Sheng stroked the cloud pattern on the long knife.

“The knife’s natural power is Radiant Ray. It will release a kind of light called Radiant Ray, and everyone who sees it will fall into a brief period of unconsciousness, during which time, the wielder can do anything to them.

“A very dominant power for sure, worthy of the Golden Leaf grade. But…” Lu Sheng thought back to when Su Ningfei had handed him the knife. Her eyes had a hidden scorn within it. If it hadn’t been for his extremely acute senses, he wouldn’t have noticed it.

“There must be something wrong with this knife.” Lu Sheng stabbed the knife back into the ground and quietly stared at it from the side. “As I recall from the previous records I studied, a Divine Weapon without a mind shouldn’t exist. According to the Prime Devil Sect’s record, our ancestral masters had discovered that any power a Divine Weapon or Devil Blade possesses is simply a projection of its mind.

“Which means, if Immortal Radiance has the Radiant Ray ability, it must also have its own mind.”

Suddenly, the Wei River Sword hanging on the wall said in a solemn voice, “Lu Sheng, where did you get this Divine Weapon from?”

“What? Is there a problem with this knife?” Lu Sheng finally remembered there was an ancient Divine Weapon who had lived for thousands of years and managed not to die.

“Yes there is, and a very serious one at that!” The Wei River Sword’s tone was serious. “This bright and positive air on the outside is hiding a scent of evil. This isn’t a Devil Blade or a Divine Weapon—it might very well be an Evil Weapon!”

“Evil Weapon?” Lu Sheng blanked. “What is that?”

“Something that could bring disaster to all lives, a weapon that shouldn’t exist in this world,” the Wei River Sword explained. “If you don’t have urgent need of it, I suggest you sell it immediately. Every Evil Weapon will bring its own unique kind of trouble. Even though it might possess great power.

“If I was still in my full form, our bond could prevent you from bonding with any other Divine Weapon. Yet, my body was shattered…”

In reality, Lu Sheng’s bond with the Wei River Sword was only a bond with a Minor Divine Weapon, basically the same as wielding weapons with embedded Divine Weapon shards. The only difference was the increased power.

But Immortal Radiance was truly a Divine Weapon in its full form, and had accepted Lu Sheng as its master after the three rituals.

“Never mind. I can’t find anything wrong with this knife for now anyway, might as well use it.” Lu Sheng was never someone to worry too much about consequences. In his view, there was no such thing as “evil” power—it was all determined by the person who wielded it.

The important thing to do during this free time was to inspect in detail how much Mental Energy the Wei River Sword and the knife Immortal Radiance possessed.

He hadn’t forgotten one of the crucial reasons why he’d bought a Divine Weapon in the first place.

Taking the Wei River Sword off the wall, Lu Sheng lightly stroked the blade inch by inch, suppressing the natural power of the Divine Weapon emitting from it with his mind.

As the Divine Weapon’s power grew weaker, another strange energy was slowly exposed as he expected.

“There really is Mental Energy here! Luckily, I was right.” Lu Sheng felt ecstatic. He slowly closed his eyes and started to absorb this mysterious energy.

“Hiss….”

Slivers of Mental Energy quietly flowed into Lu Sheng’s body through the Wei River Sword.

He happened to have spent all his Mental Energy that he had stored not long ago. The energy within the sword was like clear water flowing into a dessert, quickly being absorbed by Lu Sheng’s body to refill its storage.

The Wei River Sword felt very weird after being stroked so passionately by Lu Sheng, yet he felt a slight change on his blade. He knew Lu Sheng wouldn’t waste his time on pointless endeavors. This mysterious wielder was stronger and more mysterious than any other he’d had before. At the end, he simply retracted his mind and decided to go to sleep in a deeper part of the blade.

The absorption of Mental Energy lasted a full one hour. By the time Lu Sheng regained awareness of his surroundings, it was dark outside.

“Deep Blue.” He called out the Cheating Device without any hesitation to check how much Mental Energy he absorbed.

The light blue window popped up in the middle of his view. The “evolve” and “improve” button was everywhere he looked.

He roughly estimated how much Mental Energy he had by taking into account the amount needed for his previous evolution of True Qi techniques and Devil technique such as the Ultimate Eight-Headed Devil way.

“At least 300 units… A steady flow, not a bad harvest.” Not as much as he had imagined, but still a substantial amount. Lu Sheng was content. He lightly put the Wei River Sword on his back, then looked at the knife Immortal Radiance on the ground.

The sky had turned dark. The body of Immortal Radiance emitted a faint, ghostly blue light, and seemed to have taken on a pale, cold texture. It was uncomfortable to even look at.

Lu Sheng approached and gripped the hilt. He didn’t feel any existence of Mental Energy.

He frowned, then touched the blade of the knife.

Still no Mental Energy.

“It can’t be… why isn’t there any Mental Energy?” Lu Sheng frowned, yet couldn’t think of any possibility. There were too many variables involved with Divine Weapons and Devil Blade, and he was not yet familiar with this field.

He could only pull the knife out of the ground and resheath it.

Immortal Radiance’s blade was extremely soft, and Lu Sheng decided that he might as well wrap it around his waist like a belt.

Then he changed his clothes to prepare for Prince Qiong Huan’s feast in the inner sect.

Since he’d accepted Su Ningfei’s task, he would try to do it. Of course, neither he nor Su Ningfei had pure intentions, so he wouldn’t put all his heart into it. He had decided that the moment it got impossible, he would retreat immediately.

He changed into the standard formal robes of the inner sect disciples—faint, yellow robes with a belt and a big “thousand” embroidered on the back.

As well as a set of hair bands, a belt, and boots.

After putting on the attire, the tiny matrix patterns at the edge of the robes flashed faintly. That meant the cleaning matrix had been activated, and as long as Lu Sheng constantly provided True Qi, even just a sliver of it, the matrix would continue to prevent dust and dirt from tainting the cloth.

But that didn’t mean the inner sect disciples of Thousand Sun Sect didn’t need to shower anymore. Though the dirt and dust from the outside had been blocked, things like sweat still had to be cleaned manually.

After taking care of everything, Lu Sheng walked up to his door and gave it a push.

“Creak…”

Suddenly, he stopped and abruptly turned around. Just a moment ago, he felt as if something furry had touched the side of his hand slightly.

The room was empty and quiet. The only thing moving was the shadow on the ground.

Lu Sheng turned back, tidied his collar, and strode toward the gate.

Completely unknown to him, a girl with unbound hair and dressed in black clothes had tightly attached herself to his back. Back to back, she moved with him.

The girl raised her head and rested it tightly on Lu Sheng’s back, slowly humming a soundless song.

As Lu Sheng moved, the girl’s plump skin started to shrivel while vast amounts of blood flowed out of her ears, hands, feet, and mouth. In a few breathes, the only thing left was a thin layer of human skin, hanging on Lu Sheng’s back.

In the end, even the skin slowly faded and disappeared.

***

Beautiful dancers danced like butterflies amidst the melodious music.

Gourmet food and fine wine had been casually arranged everywhere on the two long tables beside the two walls. A one-man-tall bronze wine pitcher stood in the middle. Fine wine slowly poured out of its mouth, dripping into the circular basin underneath.

The green wine filled with the fragrance of fruit filled the basin, reflecting a faint blue light.

There were quite a lot of people in the hall. The top leaders of the three major sects were all present, chatting with Prince Qiong Huan on the platform. Occasionally, laughter rang through the crowd.

Lu Sheng sat below in the same row with the other Thousand Sun Sect disciples. In front of him and other yellow-robed young disciples were all kinds of alcohol, fruits, vegetables, and other snacks.

A total of 30 people was from the inner Thousand Sun Sect. Most of them sat straight in a row, and even when they were talking, they kept their voices low. Clearly, they received a good upbringing.

The Youyin Sect was completely different. The crowd of disciples ate and drank in an unconstrained manner, occasionally slapping each other on the backs.

Meanwhile, the Spirit Bind Sect socialized with everyone with wine cups in their hands, most of them with a fake smile on their face.

Lu Sheng sat in his place, but his eyes were searching everywhere for a woman that looked similar to his master, Su Ning Fei.

“Senior Apprentice Brother Lu, what’s the fun if you just sit in place? Walk around with me?” Sun Rongji, who clearly had a lot of wine, approached Lu Sheng.

“Sure.” Lu Sheng was just about to walk around himself to see if he could find the woman Su Ningfei wanted. He did receive a Divine Weapon after all, even though it was a strange one. At the very least, he needed to act like he tried.

He stood up and walked out of the hall with Sun Rongji, then looked out of the white jade fence on the balcony to the side.

Many men and women also stood on the grass outside of the hall in groups. Everyone was talking and laughing in harmony.

“Speaking of which, Senior Apprentice Brother Lu, you had all your skills before entering the Thousand Sun Sect, right?” Sun Rongji asked casually with a smile.

“That’s right. But it was a long time ago.” Lu Sheng nodded.

“It happened that I also just met someone important, which according to…” Sun Rongji was still talking, but Lu Sheng was focused on something else.

His gaze fell on a woman walking past not far away.

She wore a white dress and a hat weaved together from a white flower. Like a scared rabbit, she carefully yet urgently walked toward the exit while holding up her dress.

The most important thing was the woman had the exact same face as Su Ningfei. If Su Ningfei’s face was usually cold and apathetic, then this woman’s face was timid and weak.

“Sorry, but I just saw an old acquaintance,” Lu Sheng interrupted Sun Rongji’s rambling and cracked open a smile.

***

“Apologies, I have something I need to take care of.” Amidst the Youyin Sect crowd, a silver-haired girl with a cold face very rudely interrupted the rambling of the man in front of her.

“No problem at all. Please, Senior Apprentice Sister He.”

Sima He nodded flatly and turned to follow the girl in the white dress.