Way of the Devil

“Objective?” The girl looked at the crystal pillar with a stunned expression. “I’m just here to sightsee. Devil World’s crystal pillar is a place that has given me pain… I just want to come here and reminisce.”

The middle-aged man frowned. Naturally, he did not believe her.

“As the four pillars, according to the clues, you should be involved in this recent invasion of the Evil Spirits, right? What are you actually thinking? The Evil Spirits’ Night Emperor is not some character that’s easy to get along with.”

“…” Anza did not make any reply. She merely walked closer to the crystal pillar, reached out her small hand, and placed it firmly on the pillar’s surface.

“Answer me, otherwise I won’t help you in this venture,” said the gentleman in a slightly stern tone.

“Pcchht!”

Anza suddenly smiled. She rubbed the crystal’s surface lightly with her palm and looked toward the gentleman again.

“Compared to the Night Emperor, we should be on guard against the Mother of Pain who controls everything in the three worlds, right?”

“The Mother of Pain is in a much higher position than us. Even among the cults around her, there are powerful beings that are capable of fighting on equal ground with us,” said the middle-aged gentleman as he shook his head. “In the current Human World and Devil World, it’s impossible for companions to grow to an extent where they can rival the Original World.”

“There are things that we can’t say for sure… If we never do it, we might never understand what’s going to happen.” Anza retracted her smile, and said softly, “Don’t tell me you’re willing to stay in this cycle forever?”

“Of course, not.” The gentleman snorted. “I’m already forging the Star Gate. As long as I’m able to break free from this place and be free from the area of the Original World—”

“Do you think that she wouldn’t notice this?” Anza interrupted him.

The gentleman fell silent.

“Look at our situation now. The next great harvest is upon us. Rather than being harvested by the Original World, why don’t I guide some fresh players onto the field? When it’s just the few of us each time, there are too few variables,” Anza said drily.

“Have you forgotten how Vera’s predecessor fell? Don’t try to do something dangerous,” the gentleman warned.

“I clearly know what I’m doing.” Anza smiled. She turned around and looked at the gentleman. “Actually, we’re not the only ones. Isn’t the Human World working hard as well? The old man in the Thousand Sun Sect seemed to have succeeded, but has he really? Do you think that counts as a success?”

“…”

“So, let me try.” Anza turned back around. She looked up at the giant crystal pillar that seemed to continue forever.

The gentleman fell silent. He did not know how he should persuade Anza.

He had no intention of losing another old friend. He had lost too many of them already. Currently, he was only left with a few of them.

However, he could not persuade Anza as well.

After a long pause…

“What… kind of help do you want me to give you?”

When the girl heard this, she immediately displayed a sweet smile.

*******************

Three Sacred Gates. Holy Palace.

Countless huge mirrors were stacked together to form an immense peculiarly shaped palace.

The palace was situated in the depths of a cavern. Overall, it appeared like a dying human who was struggling on the ground.

Li Shunxi followed Kong Cheng all the way here silently. They followed the straight path to the great doors of the Holy Palace. They looked up at the great mirror door which was a dozen meters tall.

“Weren’t you always curious about the meaning of the Three Sacred Gates’ existence?” said Kong Cheng coldly.

Li Shunxi swept his gaze around the place and swallowed some saliva.

“Please enlighten me, Martial Uncle.”

“After we enter, I will tell you everything, just as the old man has ordered me to,” said Kong Cheng coldly. “However, the premise is that you’re able to pass the Holy Palace’s trial.”

He strode forward and walked right into the mirror of the great door. He vanished from sight.

Li Shunxi took a deep breath and walked toward the great door as well.

“Pchht!”

With a dull thud, he plunged into the mirror as well. It was as if he had plunged into a clear water’s surface.

*****************

“Nine Heads World. The 72nd star of the Yellow Springs…” In the Prime Devil Sect, Lu Sheng watched his son Lu Ning practice his swordplay while he contemplated the letter he received from Weapon Grandmaster Aurora Polaris from Great Song sent via a Transport Formation before this.

‘Since he has a Transport Formation, why didn’t Weapon Grandmaster Aurora Polaris choose to transport himself away instead of staying back here? Could it be that there are Evil Spirits on other planets as well?’

That was a high possibility.

“Golden Oriole Waits!” Lu Ning leapt vertically and stabbed with his sword.

He was a young ball of flesh, and yet he was already able to unleash the fundamental sword skills which Lu Sheng had taught him.

No wonder the Yuanguang Family had wanted to receive him back into the family back then.

“Closing form.”

Lu Ning dropped to the ground. His short blade was quickly returned to its scabbard.

“This set of sword skills is fun, Dad.” He turned to look at Lu Sheng. “Teach me more, Dad. Although these sword skills are fun, they’re too simple. There isn’t any challenge to them.”

“Is that so?” Lu Sheng snapped back to the present and smiled genially. “Next time, I’ll find a difficult and fun set of sword skills for you. However, skills are only about the surface. The true key point is the cultivation of your Spiritual Essence. How’s your Spiritual Essence cultivation coming along?”

“Uh…”

In Great Yin, the people cultivated Inner Qi, or Spiritual Essence. Back then, Lu Sheng had slowly progressed from scratch until he accomplished the Light of the Great Sun Technique and finally cultivated Yang Essence. It could be said that his entire journey was steady without any disturbances.

In comparison, his son Lu Ning was a genius. Without the support of Deep Blue, Lu Ning merely spent two months cultivating, and was already familiar with the Chasing Sun sword technique.

It had to be known that this sword technique was not easy to master even for the disciples of the Thousand Sun Sect. However, in Lu Ning’s hands, he’d merely gone at it for two months, and had already attained the level of mastery which others would have needed a dozen years to attain.

That was not all. As long as Lu Ning cultivated skills, he would be able to deduce many things from one point. Nothing was too difficult for him.

Naturally, Lu Sheng would not have the need to worry if that was all there was to it. The most troublesome part about Lu Ning was that he could not cultivate any Spiritual Essence cultivation method.

Lu Ning was incapable of cultivating the cultivation methods of the Thousand Sun Sect, Youyin Sect, Three Sects, or even the Yuanguang Family’s fundamental skill formulas.

It was not as if he could not cultivate them completely. If he cultivated them, he would at most attain the most basic of tiers.

After returning from the Werewolf World, Lu Sheng explored his Heart Devil World as he started searching for various ways to help Lu Ning overcome this problem.

In this dangerous world, it was useless to know martial skills alone. Without the support of a sufficiently domineering Inner Qi, no matter how skilled one became, he would be hard-pressed even while going up against a Black membrane single vein. The Black membrane alone could not possibly be breached without Spiritual Essence.

Even if the opponent stood there while doing nothing, he would not be able to harm him.

To address this issue, Lu Sheng derived dozens of skill formulas with Deep Blue. He had Lu Ning try them out, but his efforts were in vain.

As he felt helpless, he could no longer cover up for Lu Ning. Just as paper could not contain a fire, news about Lu Ning slowly leaked out.

It was still fine within the Prime Devil Sect, but the Three Sects and other Noble Families started spreading rumors among themselves. It was even said that the Yuanguang Family had expressed their relief after actually not accepting Lu Ning as their elite tribesman.

Lu Sheng was unfazed by the rumors. He did not suppress them, nor did he do anything to support their spreading. He merely watched from the sidelines calmly.

“Dad? Dad?” Lu Ning’s voice resounded beside his ears. His voice pulled Lu Sheng’s mind back to the present.

“Don’t worry, even if you can’t cultivate inner force, dad will protect you for a lifetime.” Lu Sheng reached out and ruffled Lu Ning’s hair gently.

“No! I, Lu Ning, will become a man that’s much more powerful than you, Dad!” Lu Ning pouted, and said with scorn, “Remember how you’ve spanked me back then…? I’ll repay the favor sooner or later!” He mumbled on about how dissatisfied he was with how Lu Sheng had hit him.

“Heheh.” Lu Sheng pinched the little fatso’s face. “Alright, go and play with your mother.”

“Oh…” Lu Ning replied obediently. He turned around and ran into the courtyard. He ran toward the courtyard of his mother, Chen Yunxi.

After running for a certain distance, he suddenly turned back to look at his father. As he expected, Lu Sheng was nowhere to be seen.

“He left again…” Lu Ning kicked away the pebbles before him with slight dejection. A dash of silver flashed across his eyes.

“Don’t worry, your father won’t realize your true condition,” came an old voice into his ear.

“I know,” Lu Ning replied internally. “I’m just feeling gloomy, and am not in a good mood. Dad only spends a little while with me before he leaves. It’s like this every time!”

“Your father has some things that he has to attend to,” said the elder gently. “If you wish to spank your father in the future, you’ll have to become more powerful than him.”

“Can I really become stronger than Dad?” This time, Lu Ning was slightly hesitant. “Dad is the most powerful person in the entire province. A single word from him can decide the fate of countless people.”

“Don’t worry, if I can’t even do this, how would this old man dare to become your teacher?” The old man’s words had a faint trace of pride in them. “With the low-level Spiritual Essence extraction skill formulas here, I’m afraid you’ll need a long time before you can catch up with your father. The only way is to increase your pace of improvement in the Mystic Skill which I’m about to teach you.”

“I understand…” Lu Ning nodded seriously. He took one final look at the spot where his father had sat just moments ago. A steeled look flashed across his small face.

Ever since he saved his kin from the accident, a powerful old man with a big mouth to match had suddenly appeared in Lu Ning’s mind due to the mysterious skill formula.

The amazing thing about this old man was that he seemed to know everything, including Buddhist teachings, the heavens, the arts, and geography.

In the beginning, Lu Ning merely followed the mysterious cultivation method to guide some peculiar power within his body as it circulated.

Then, he suddenly noticed that he possessed some extremely special psychic power. Hence, there was the scene of him saving someone. After that, the old man appeared.

“I’ve entered this world by mistake, but I didn’t expect to bump into an unprecedented good seedling such as yourself. Don’t worry, you’ll certainly surpass your father in the future as you reach a never-before-seen glorious future,” said the old man slowly. “When that time comes, you can bring your family with you and leave this place for a more peaceful and wonderful planet.”

“What’s a planet?” Lu Ning was slightly stunned. He had never heard of the term “planet” before. However, from the words of his master, he could tell that it was a wonderful place.

“A good place.”

“Alright… I’ll work hard in my cultivation. I want to bring my family with me as we leave here for another planet.”

The old man said no more. With his previous status and strength, it was not too difficult for him to guide a disciple with good qualities to break through the Star tier. It was only a matter of time.

If it were not for the unique environment… This was the most troublesome and dangerous Yellow Springs Planet, which forced him to increase his pace; otherwise, on another peaceful planet, he would have been completely capable of attaching himself to a cultivator with great potential. Even by just biding his time, he would have been able to break through to the Star tier after tens of thousand of years and leave the world.

However, it was different here… He had to be quick.

After Lu Ning received his guarantee, he happily returned to his study and prepared himself for another round of cultivation.

However, he had no idea that the old man who was attached to him was currently facing a dilemma regarding the unfavorable environment that was Great Yin. The old man was thinking of a way to achieve a breakthrough and leave this planet as quickly as possible.