Way of the Devil

 “If you trust me… I could make the arrangements,” the Wei River Sword said slowly.

“You?” Lu Sheng narrowed his eyes. Even though the Wei River Sword was under his control, he did not trust the blade.

“I’ll handle this myself. There are only so many ways you could find a mole.” He wasn’t an uninformed person from this world. What had he not seen on the internet on Earth? Combined with how fast his brain worked, it should be easy to find the mole.

“…Ok… But, in my opinion, whoever did this probably is planning to confront you judging by how crude their method was. You should prepare for that,” the Wei River Sword warned in a low voice.

Even though he didn’t know what the Wei River Sword wanted exactly, Lu Sheng wasn’t naive enough to think everything would be over once he found the mole.

Over the next few days, Lu Sheng guarded his home. Using his father’s illness as an excuse, he also started to examine everyone’s health. With his influence combined with his position as the head of the Lu Family, his orders were put out and the elites of the Lu Family, Prime Devil Sect, as well as Crimson Sun Sect all gathered quickly.

Lu Sheng set up in an office, ordered people to come in five at a time, then planted Yin Crane Nets in all of them simultaneously.

Devil Emperor Vera’s threat drew closer, yet he hadn’t made contact with the top leaders of the three major sects all the while. He couldn’t help but feel worried as there weren’t any Weapon Grandmasters standing behind him.

While he planted Yin Crane Net within his family members’ and servants’ bodies, Lu Sheng also observed their reactions.

By noon, after two hours of time, he completely finished inspecting everyone who held top positions among the three sides.

And found a total of three moles working for unknown forces.

All three urgently tried to contact their master, but were promptly detected by the Yin Crane Net.

He immediately informed his father Lu Quanan as well as everyone else immediately related to him after finding one of these moles.

“You are the mole?” Lu Quanan stared at Lu Tianyang, who was begging for mercy on the ground, and felt he was about to spew blood.

The Lu Family spent all this time and effort to move to the Great Yin, yet this bastard started to spy on his own family before they even fully established themselves??

Lu Quanan trembled from anger and roared at Lu Tianyang, “SPEAK!! What happened!?”

Lu Tinayang trembled in cries before finally revealing his secret.

“Father… I didn’t want to, either! They blackmailed me with… I didn’t think it through, and… And…” He recounted the story with frequent sobs.

He had an affair with one of the seniors of the family, but was caught in the act the first time. He was blackmailed to put an aphrodisiac in Lu Quanan’s tea, and had no idea what the senior was blackmailed to do.

Lu Tianyang was shocked too. He thought it was an ordinary aphrodisiac, but it was some kind of very potent, chaotic poison. Clearly, they had lied. While she…

Lu Quanan had lost all hope in this son of his. He pointed at him, and asked in a trembling voice, “Who was she!? Say it!”

“It’s… It’s Mother Yu…” Lu Tianyang lower his head, his face pale, and glanced at Lu Sheng to the side. He finally admitted whom he had an affair with.

“WHO!!?” Everyone present was in an uproar. All of the direct relatives of the Lu Family stood up from shock.

Mother Yu was Wang Yanyu, Lu Quanan’s third concubine. Even Lu Sheng had to call her third mother. She went between deranged and erratic to seclusive ever since her son died. No one expected…

“Where is Wang Yanyu?” Lu Quanan asked in a stern voice. He surveyed his family present, but somehow didn’t find the disgusting woman.

Lu Yiyi stepped up and said urgently, “She brought Second Mother and Eldest Uncle to a temple to pray. They aren’t back yet.”

“Mother Yu went too?” Lu Quanan’s face darkened.

Lu Sheng’s expression turned cold as well. Everyone knew Second Mother Liu Cuiyu was the closest one to him. His enemies finally started to target her.

“Let it be. I’ll take care of this myself. Everyone else stay put.” He stood up, knowing he fell right into a trap. It wasn’t a brilliant plan, but it was fast. As long as it was executed fast enough, all the obvious flaws would be covered.

“Sheng…” Lu Quanan was a little worried.

“Don’t worry, I will be back soon,” Lu Sheng comforted him. This was the first time he had to walk into someone else’s trap. He always crushed weaker opponent with his sheer advantage in strength since he began his journey.

“Be careful. If something goes wrong… don’t worry about anyone else. Your safety… comes first,” Lu Quanan whispered. Tears appeared in his eyes as he thought back to the years of emotion he shared with Liu Cuiyu.

“I understand. Don’t worry, Father.” Lu Sheng’s face was calm.

He stood up and looked around, then walked out of the office.

“Elder Stone, Elder Shadows, come with me.”

“Understood,” both responded at the same time.

“The only temple nearby is the Jintuo Temple. Xu Chui, send people to block off the perimeter, then send word to the Thousand Sun Sect. You only need to inform the messenger of the location.”

“Understood,” Xu Chui answered quickly.

Lu Sheng gave a few more orders, and got both the Crimson Sun Sect and Prime Devil Sect running like a well-oiled machine.

After everything was set, Lu Sheng didn’t immediately go to the Jintuo Temple, and instead returned to his room. He sat on his bed and closed his eyes.

His shape soon rippled like water and quickly disappeared.

***

Thousand Sun Secret Area.

Under the setting sun, Lu Sheng was meeting with two people in a spread of maple forest.

He was with two masked women dressed in black robes with blood-red patterns embroidered on the edge.

“Prefectural Sect Master Lu, an emergency request can only be used once per year. If you use it so rashly on something that doesn’t turn out to be very important, you will be punished and demoted by the Grand Elders. Consider it carefully.” One of the women faced Lu Sheng, but didn’t show any sign of respect.

“I am sure. I will use my emergency request bestowed by my title as the Honorary Sect Master.” Lu Sheng’s face was calm. Devil Emperor Vera drew closer every day, and he wasn’t dumb enough to face him head on by himself.

“So be it. As long as you have considered the consequences.” One of the masked women nodded. “We will contact you.”

“I am grateful, emissaries.” Lu Sheng didn’t expect to get a pass so easily, either.

***

Jintuo Temple, Autumn Moon County.

It was the largest Buddhist temple near the County Capital. Xin Yuan, who managed the temple, was both extremely knowledgeable about Buddhist teachings and possessed a shocking level of cultivation. He was quite famous around the county.

But on that afternoon, waves of disciples from the Thousand Sun Sect as well as unknown people dressed in black formed a blockade around the entire mountain path leading up to the temple.

The two groups were distinctively different, yet worked together as if they were one.

At the foot of Golden Elephant Mountain, an ancient stone path appeared, and led to the Jintuo Temple at the top. Lu Sheng, along with Chen Jingzhi and two sect masters from the Spirit Bind and the Youyin Sect, was standing there.

The majority of the head of top powers within the Autumn Moon County had gathered.

“Prefectural Sect Master Lu, why did you summon us so urgently?” The Youyin Sect’s sect master was an elderly man with a white beard. He was in the middle of forging and bonding with a set of formation paintings, but was interrupted instantly by Lu Sheng. He was still mad about that.

It was almost complete! But Lu Sheng’s summons wasted half a month of effort.

“Sect Master Wan, please be patient… Soon… there will be something soon. Within half an hour of me going up the mountain there WILL be something that appears. Simply wait for my message,” Lu Sheng ordered in a concise manner.

The sect masters stared at each other. If it was truly a fight above their league, they would be useless anyway. Higher-level fights depended on the amount of equal-leveled masters present and the amount of experience both sides had. It wasn’t as simple as piling as many people on top of the fight as possible.

Lu Sheng noticed their worries, but didn’t give any further explanation. He was the most powerful man in the Autumn Moon County, after all. No one would dare disobey him.

“It is time. I will go up first. Please remember our plan.” He looked up to the sky and decided he couldn’t delay any longer. He stepped onto the gray rock steps and slowly walked up the mountain.

He went faster and faster as he climbed.

The rustling of pines and the roar of the wind came from the mountain top. Aside from that, both sides of the stairs were deathly quiet. No birds, no bugs, only the echo of Lu Sheng’s footsteps. Just as if he was the only one that existed in the world.

He followed the path all the way to the middle of the mountain. There, Lu Sheng suddenly stopped and glanced up.

On the steps above him, a middle-aged man was standing with his back to him. He had the air of a scholar about him, and the hair around his temples had turned white.

“Who are you? What do you want to accomplish by luring me here with my family?” Lu Sheng didn’t make any meaningless threats. He knew full well who the man was. If they knew who he was and still dared to plan an attack against him, they clearly didn’t care about his background or position.

The man’s robe flapped slightly with the wind.

“Lu Sheng of the Thousand Sun Sect? Do you know what disaster is about to fall on you?” he said with pity in his voice. His thick accent when speaking the official language of the Great Yin was obvious the moment he opened his mouth.

“Disaster? Stop with the meaningless threats. I could count on one hand how many people could cause a ‘disaster’ for me.” Lu Sheng laughed coldly. “You are definitely not among them.”

“How confident.” The middle-aged man turned. His face was handsome, while his back and waist were slim. A merciful light of kindness seemed to always be shining from his eyes, yet a smoky purple-colored shape of a two-tailed scorpion appeared on the center of his brow.

“What a pity… The number one prodigy of the Great Song will fall in my hand today.” The man opened his right palm. A speckle of purple loomed within, like the swirl of tiny tornado. Lightning flashed within.

“What a shameless declaration!” Lu Sheng likewise raised his hand, the dark scarlet winged snake pattern on his brow also lighting up. He could tell the man was absolutely a Devil Master from the Devil World. And not an ordinary one, at that. Though Lu Sheng’s heart sped up, a sliver of excitement and joy sparked within him.

He’d never had an opportunity to use his full power against someone ever since he achieved the Holy Master level. Yet, someone still tried to set up a trap for him here, which obviously meant the Devil World was serious about killing him.