Way of the Devil

 Lu Tianyang was actually Lu Sheng’s brother from a different mother, though he was never too serious, and only enjoyed wine and pleasure, so he was never valued by the family.

After moving into the Autumn Moon County, he was overwhelmed by all kinds of flattery and gifts from all kinds of people, and as a result, let slip of some secrets that would prove very detrimental to himself.

But not only did they not blackmail him, he also received two restaurants as well as a casino, which was why he was visiting it.

“Young Master Xu, this is really not something I can accept…” Lu Tianyang wasn’t dumb. Even though he was the son of a prestigious family, he had also encountered many embarrassing incidents in the North before. He knew very well these gifts weren’t for nothing. They must have been investing in him to accomplish something after getting ahold of his secret.

He trembled at the thought of his terrifying elder brother Lu Sheng, and forgot about all the women, delicacies, and money he received. The only thing he wanted now was to go back home and sleep.

“Brother Tianyang is too kind. As his younger brother, what’s out of your reach within the Autumn Moon County? Your older brother Xu was truly desperate, or I wouldn’t have came up with such a lowly plan,” the “Young Master Xu” said with a bitter expression on his face.

“Worry not, I will pretend nothing happened if Brother Tianyang could help…” Young Master Xu’s voice lowered.

Lu Tianyang had some intention of complying as he heard him speak, but near the end, his face got paler and paler.

“No, no, no!! If something goes wrong, I wouldn’t be spared! Your whole family will be executed! I know my eldest brother’s temper, this will not work!” Lu Tianyang waved his hands with an ugly expression.

“Brother Tianyang, we don’t have any ill intentions. But my daughter has been in love for a long time… She has been waiting in the Jintuo Temple for a long time, and if you could help us with this, we will pretend like that incident never happened.” Though Young Master Xu’s voice was respectful, the threat was clearly conveyed.

“You!! You!!” Lu Tianyang was shocked and his face turned livid.

His brother and father would probably beat him to death if they got a wind of that.

“Brother Tianyang, we were forced into this as well. It would benefit us both if this succeeds, so why hesitate?”Young Master Xu shook his head, and tried to convince Tianyang.

“I… Let me think about this…” Lu Tianyang was still hesitant. But if he was telling the truth, his daughter simply wanted an opportunity to be acquainted with the Lu Family. That was reasonable.

Thinking he would be lucky, Lu Tianyang ultimately agreed after much hesitation.

Five days later, under the suggestion of his son Lu Tianyang, Lu Quanan went to pray for the safety of the Lu Family at the nearby Jintuo Temple.

Because of the intense cold wind within the temple, Lu Quanan caught a cold a day later. The Lu Family invited medicine men and doctors, but to no avail. Lu Quanan fainted after some time, which shook the entire Lu Family Mansion.

***

It was noon, and the sun was burning outside. Inside the room, Lu Sheng kneeled in front of his father Lu Quanan. His eyes were slightly closed, and he had his hand on Lu Quanan’s wrist to take his pulse.

The entire Lu Family waited outside. No one dared speak for fear of distracting Lu Sheng.

A moment later, Lu Sheng opened his eyes. A serious light shone in them.

“An ordinary cold, along with father’s exhaustion and other old illnesses. Nothing major. Second Mother, you need not worry.” His voice wasn’t loud, but his second mother Liu Cuiyu heard him clearly. She was holding her daughter Lu Qingqing, and had tear stains all over her face. No one knew how many times she cried.

Liu Cuiyu was still worried, and asked, “Sheng’er, is your father ok?”

“Don’t worry.” Lu Sheng stood up and smiled. “Only a minor illness. He just needs some rest. I will take care of his responsibilities for now.”

He had taken the time to plant the Yin Crane Net within his father’s body, then injected a sliver of pure Inner Qi into him to circulate automatically and ensure his longevity.

Unfortunately, Lu Quanan was only an ordinary person, and couldn’t bear too much change to his body. Sometimes, less was more.

“That’s good… That’s good.” Liu Cuiyu sighed.

“Also, I have some ideas for curing Sister Qingqing. She could even get better. No need for second mother to be sad,” Lu Sheng comforted her.

Not only Liu Cuiyu, but even everyone else present was shocked.

Lu Qingqing’s mind was damaged by Yin Qi, and she had completely gone dumb, but somehow, the young master still had the confidence to cure her.

“Alright. Second Mother, Sister, take care of yourselves. Father only caught a cold from exhaustion and just needs some rest. I have something I need to take care of.” Lu Sheng comforted them again.

“I know you are busy. Go.” Second Mother was so happy she shed a tear. Her authority within the Lu Family Mansion was in large part thanks to her relationship with Lu Sheng.

Lu Sheng strode out of the bedroom and into the scouring sun. Though he felt the heat, his heart was completely cold.

“How interesting… Seems my biggest fear might have come true. Even with all these precautions, someone managed to get through… Interesting…” Of course, it wasn’t a common cold, but poison.

Lu Quanan was poisoned to the point where he would remain unconscious, and had to have various precious herbs applied to him to maintain his life.

It was as sinister as if maggots were clinging onto his bones, and very hard to remove. If Lu Sheng hadn’t achieved a breakthrough and transformed his Yang Essence into other forms, it would have been a dangerous incident.

Lu Sheng made no progress after coming in contact with the living poison. He had to gain its trust by transforming the Yang Essence into a similar substance, then delve in deep to understand its workings to completely eliminate it.

But Lu Quanan still suffered from it.

How dared they touch his family! Lu Sheng felt a fire burning in his chest. If they decided to break a rule like that, there wasn’t any need for him to follow it, either.

After two consecutive failures, Devil Emperor Vera must have had a backup plan in place. Lu Sheng would be lying if he said he wasn’t afraid of a Devil Emperor’s threat. He wasn’t afraid of being hurt, but his family might be endangered.

He could easily escape himself, but the countless ordinary people of the Lu Family would never survive the attack of a Devil Emperor.

Hence, he needed to improve his strength enough to block the attacks of a Devil Emperor.

The Xuan Mist gifted him a water-type Divine Weapon, whose mind was still in slumber, and which was basically picked up by Lu Sheng.

Even though it was an even weaker Golden Leaf grade, it was more than enough to push the Infinity Technique to its next phase.

Aside from that, he was also disappointed after experimenting with the various so-called “powerful” attacks of the Thousand Sun Sect, and had requested access to more advanced True Qi techniques already.

He refused to believe that the Thousand Sun Sect didn’t have a single True Qi technique powerful enough for him with their years of accumulation.

After walking out of the bedroom, Lu Sheng warned the servants outside in a low voice. A plan had formed in his head.

When he was taking care of the poison, he also sensed a very faint sliver of Devil Qi.

It was clearly the work of the devils. Without the Yang Essence’s ability to emulate all kinds of energy, his father’s symptoms would have gotten worse instead of recovering so quickly.

Outside, a crowd of people went in to look over Lu Quanan. Lu Sheng stood outside and looked at Lu Qingqing, who squatted near the door with a foolish smile on her face. She scratched the ground with her finger while muttering something unintelligible under her breath.

“Brother…” She suddenly raised her head and laughed at Lu Sheng.

Lu Sheng rubbed her head, then walked back to his room.

The water-type Divine Weapon he captured thanks to Xuan Mist was called Han Tuo. It was an ordinary Divine Weapon in its power accumulation phase, and was currently in a sealed form. It wasn’t eye-catching at all, and as long as no life-threatening incident happened, it wouldn’t react to anything.

After obtaining it, he wrapped it within his own Yang Essence and locked it with Holy Master level energy. He hadn’t had the time to start consuming it properly yet.

Lu Sheng planned to eat it to quietly push the Infinity Technique to its next phase as soon as he got back. But, he didn’t expect his father Lu Quanan to be poisoned. Since he finally cured his father, he thought it was time to consume Han Tuo.

Especially when the Devil World was closing in.

After the Devil Emperor lost two of its avatars, Lu Sheng knew that Vera would send someone very hard to deal with this time.

That was clear enough from the poison on his father.

After getting back to his room, he again checked the nine Yin Devils scattered around his room. Everything was normal.

He originally thought that with the nine Yin Devils, no devil’s disguise would get past them. But now…

“No sign of Devil Qi…” Lu Sheng frowned.

“Devils don’t need to do everything themselves. Other people could accomplish the same thing.” Suddenly, the elderly voice of the Wei River Sword rang in his head.

He hadn’t talked since Lu Sheng captured Xuan Mist. He must have thought something through today to be talking.

“Other people?” Lu Sheng frowned, and had his suspicions already.

“There are plenty of people within the Devil World that specialize in manipulating people and assassinating powerful humans. They could very well use a special way to control someone within the Lu Family,” the Wei River Sword whispered.

“Within my own family…” Lu Sheng’s expression turned serious. That was what he was the most afraid of. He wasn’t a nanny, after all, and couldn’t guard his family 24/7.

“Actually, there should be a way to solve this,” Wei River Sword whispered.

“There are many ways to take care of this, I just don’t have anyone I trust.” Lu Sheng shook his head. “The conspirator must be among this mansion, I just don’t know who it is yet.”