Way of the Devil

The skies were dark. The dim moonlight was only capable of lighting up a small area.

The dozen red spots of light were exceptionally bright against the skies.

‘Such strong radioactive signals!’ Lu Sheng narrowed his eyes at the dozen scarlet red spots.

‘Are they some kind of powerful weapons like strategic nuclear warheads?’

He raised his right arm high.

“Whizz!”

The ground shook slightly. Countless black palms exploded into black tendrils formed by crude ores.

These tendrils formed a dense, tangled mess. They kept spreading skyward. In the blink of an eye, they formed a great vine tree with a girth of 1000 meters.

The immense basal root system allowed the vine tree to grow thinner as it grew in height. At the height of 1000 meters, it was already as thin as a spike.

“You want to beat me with these? They’re far from enough…” Lu Sheng spread his palm. The Poison Dragon’s and Bai Shi’s body were lifted high and brought into the huge vine tree. They struggled wildly in an attempt to break free, but to no avail.

They were not the only ones. The four remaining Iron Screen generals were all crippled and being entangled within the root system. They were brought into the huge tree.

The other six members of the Seven Leaves were lifted high on huge mechanical palms. They stood dozens of meters below Lu Sheng.

“Rinrin…” Esha suddenly spoke up. “When I was attacked, that girl… she helped me… Can you?”

Lu Sheng looked in the direction of Esha’s gaze. He saw Quan Shihui with her indifferent look as she was silently being entangled by the vines.

This straightforward girl who had the airs of a hero was currently in a battered state with the look of death in her eyes. The sleeves of her shirt were torn, and her skirt was also torn at a few places. Huge holes were torn in her stockings.

However, at this moment, she showed no signs of struggling. There was an obvious blade wound in her abdomen which was still wet with blood. The wound seemed serious, and her internal organs seemed to have been affected as well. Judging by her looks, the blood loss seemed to have gone on for quite some time.

“Where’s the Light of the North Mountain? Has he run away?” Lu Sheng controlled the black tendrils and brought Quan Shihui toward himself. He placed her on another huge mechanical arm below him.

The entire Platinum Academy had currently transformed into a sea of black mechanical hands.

The black hands appeared in droves as if an entire forest sprouted out of the ground. They kept appearing here and there, and disassembled themselves before merging into the black vine tree.

Some of the black hands which shot into the skies were not disassembled completely. They remained on the ground, resembling huge, ancient trees or pitch-black rock pillars.

In reality, Lu Sheng did not have perfect control over every black hand. With his own power, he could only control a part of the black hands. After all, though he had sufficient Harmonizing Power, this body could not carry too much weight.

Hence, although his body was strengthened with the help of the Modifier as much as possible, it was not an easy task to bear the weight of the entire Grieving King immediately.

Lu Sheng’s tactic was to control them in batches over the different regions.

At this moment, a dozen red spots sped toward him from the horizon. They had already attracted everyone’s attention.

The Light of the Northern Mountain was hiding behind some ruins when he looked up and saw the red spots in the skies. He could not help but clench his spear more tightly.

“Intercontinental Death Beam… How merciless…” He wanted to run, but he knew just how wide of a range the Death Beam’s radiation covered. He knew that he would not make it even if he ran now.

The Death Beam could easily cover an area of several thousand meters.

A large part of the Platinum City would be completely destroyed by the radiation this time. The federation must have been very determined to launch that many Death Beam volleys.

He had no way of knowing.

Currently, the only thing he could do was pray. He prayed so that the colossal figure towering 1000 meters from the ground could actually block these Death Beams.

Otherwise, they would all die together.

“However, even if it manages to block them, I’d still have to make some preparations.” The Light of the Northern Mountain was never a selfless person.

When he rendezvoused with the deputy Screen Master Quan Shihui before this, they were suddenly attacked by the black hands. Out of desperation, he jumped on Quan Shihui, slowing her down considerably. He used her to cover his own retreat while he ran away swiftly.

He had no regrets despite that. He knew just how important a mission he was charged with. As long as he was still alive, the Iron Screen would still live. Hence, there would always be the possibility of the Iron Screen rising up again.

However, if he was dead, then the Iron Screen would most likely…

“It’s time to leave… Please block them for me.” The Light of the Northern Mountain looked at the terrifying and extremely big and tall figure from afar. He turned around and swiftly charged toward a certain underground laboratory.

He made no sound as he moved. It was as if he was the wind that slid slowly out of a cave.

“Screen Master, where are you going?”

Suddenly, he heard a familiar female voice. The voice belonged to a person whom he had seen being swallowed up by the tendrils—someone who should have been dead by now.

“You?!” The Light of the Northern Mountain turned to look in the direction from which the voice came.

Quan Shihui stood silently on a cluster of black tendrils. She looked down at him as if a master was looking at her servant.

“Screen Master… That stab of yours, it hurt, you know…”

The Light of the Northern Mountain met her death-filled gaze. His movements stiffened.

The two of them stared at each other for a moment.

“Pcchht!”

In an instant, he retreated swiftly. He stomped the ground and created a huge pit with the impact. He rode on the reaction force and shot backward. He wanted to get out of the academy.

However, at the same time, countless huge black hands suddenly rose along his trajectory behind him. They were like layers of iron walls.

“Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!”

After a series of crashes, the Light of the Northern Mountain’s momentum was finally exhausted. His body was wedged into the black mechanical hands. He was locked in place by a large number of metallic tendrils, and was being pushed downward.

“Boom!”

The ground shook violently. Black mechanical hands grabbed the Light of the Northern Mountain and smashed him into the ground. The terrifying impact shook him so badly that his internal organs shifted positions. Even though he wore an armor on the surface, he was now a bloodied mess.

“The Iron Screen is over.” Quan Shihui walked up to the Light of the Northern Mountain. The short blade in her hand contorted, swirled, and elongated. It was now a slim sword which resembled a spike.

“Aaahhh!”

The Light of the Northern Mountain suddenly broke free of the tendrils. He was covered in a thin layer of translucent white radiance. With the aid of this light screen, he shot into the skies and parried the tendrils which came at him repeatedly from all directions. He charged resolutely out of the academy.

However, he had not gone far when a huge hand more than 30 meters wide pressed down from above.

“Bam!”

Another palm print was instantly added to the ground.

The huge hand lifted and moved away. Quan Shihui walked up to the edges. She lowered her head to look at this big brother whom she had admired before.

“Be careful not to meet me in the next life.”

Her slim sword struck like a venomous snake. It precisely slit into the Light of the Northern Mountain’s breast plate’s left half.

“Pooh!”

Quan Shihui was splattered with blood.

However, she did not let go. She stood there and looked on as the life quickly receded from the Light of the Northern Mountain.

Unfortunately, even at the hour of his death, the Light of the Northern Mountain did not display any hint of regret.

Quan Shihui looked up at the peak of the giant vine in the skies.

Spikes suddenly spread out from the vine’s peak and charged toward the dozen red spots that flew toward them. The instant they got within 100 meters of the red spots, the vines exploded loudly and morphed into countless black tendrils.

In an instant, the land seemed to plunge into darkness. The countless tendrils which erupted from the vines had blotted out most of the moonlight. It was like a black web.

A huge number of tendrils shot out, leaving the main body. Resembling countless spikes, they shot toward the dozen red spots like raindrops.

“Boom!”

The first red spot was completely detonated in the skies.

The glaring scarlet radiance dyed the night skies red in the blink of an eye. A huge hole was blown out in the cloud layer. It was as if they were being burned by fire.

Then, it was the second, third, and fourth…

The spots of light were being detonated by the huge number of spikes.

In the blink of an eye, there seemed to be a dozen glaring red suns in the skies. These suns merely existed for a few seconds, but they lit up the Platinum City as bright as day.

‘Nobody can stop that man anymore…’ Quan Shihui shielded her eyes. She could already see the outcome in her mind.

Whether it was the Platinum Academy or the Platinum City, they were merely fodder for that man’s terrifying name. Even the Intercontinental Death Beam could do him no harm. Was there anyone else in the world that could defeat him?

She was starting to feel the pain from her abdomen now. Although she was curious to see what kind of future this world would welcome, in her current state, she knew that it was impossible for her to witness it anymore.

Quan Shihui let go of the slim sword in her hand. As she finally relaxed her body, she fell backward toward the ground. Her vision quickly blurred.

….

After intercepting a dozen Death Beams with ease, Lu Sheng spread his senses over 1000 meters again to assess the situation.

The Iron Screen’s Light of the Northern Mountain was dead. The deputy Screen Master, Quan Shihui, was dead. The other members were all dead.

The White Feather Army was completely destroyed. The Poison Dragon and Bai Shi were dead.

Jorin’s spirit was slowly merging into his own spirit. Lu Sheng could feel some unique harmonization like a chemical reaction inside him.

‘I’ve finally settled it. That took me less than 40 days. According to the rate before this, it should be no more than a day back home.’ Lu Sheng was satisfied with his own efficiency. This time, he did not trouble himself with other matters. He focused on fulfilling the karmas, and, as he expected, he was efficient.

“Now, it’s time for the final arrangements.” Lu Sheng hugged Esha lightly.

The Platinum City was already his. The ordinary army garrisoned outside the city could not even stand up to the White Feather Army, let alone a peak immense armor like the Grieving King.

Lu Sheng felt his own spirit expanding and enhancing swiftly. He suddenly realized something.

Jorin’s karma and wishes did not include Esha.

He was having some complicated feelings at the moment. Jorin was his other self in another world. Esha had been so nice to him, and given him so much, yet she could not even move him. It was apparent that he was a heartless person by nature.

‘Forget it. I’ll help you do this.’

The battle in Platinum City did not cause the Alan Federation too much damage. However, it was an extremely heavy blow to the federation’s reputation.

The other countries were having exploratory coverages of Platinum City. News spread like snowflakes everywhere.

In a few short days, the entire world was aware of the shocking incident which occurred in the powerful Alan Federation.

Platinum City had changed masters. The administrator was a man who identified himself as Sheng.

Even though the federation executed a lockdown around the territory, it was powerless to stop the large numbers of criminals who flocked into the city in a bid to escape the punishment of the federal laws. They aligned themselves with this man called Sheng.

The federation could do nothing about this. Its most powerful strategic weapon, the Death Beam, was not effective. It was a terrifying weapon that could instantly destroy a large part of a country, but when put against Platinum City, it could not even enter its airspace before being detonated from afar by the towering vine tree.

In the upcoming days, the federation employed various measures against Platinum City. It dispatched special troops and spies to infiltrate the city, stationed snipers to try sniping from afar, sealed off all routes into and out of the city, and had cut off the supply of water, electricity, and food to the city.

The federation was set on completely destroying the terrorist organization, Seven Leaves, in Platinum City.