Way of the Devil

‘In the end, I still need a main cultivation method…’ Feeling helpless, Lu Sheng left the room and sat down under a tree in the courtyard.

The cold evening breeze was slightly moist. It brought with it the water vapor from the little river nearby.

The water vapor was slightly aromatic. It might have come from a passing flower boat.

Lu Sheng took out some candied fruit and honey. He mixed the honey with some water which he drank as he ate the candied fruit. They tasted special.

Lu Sheng sat on the stone bench with his back against the stone table. He began organizing the possible pathways through which he would be able to obtain his main cultivation method.

‘With the Red Moon Disciples, I can buy anything with money. That’s one way. However, anything I get from them can only be used as a reference. I’m certain that they’re full of loopholes. I can’t use them as my main cultivation methods.’ Lu Sheng had decided on this path for now.

‘The second way is by apprenticing myself to a tutor. I’ll be able to easily obtain a complete main cultivation method. The difficult part is actually getting a tutor. However, if I manage to achieve this, having a teacher is the best option. The cultivation methods here are different from those on the Yellow Springs Planet. The main cultivation methods here are balanced, whereby the physical body and spirit are improved at the same time. On the other hand, in Great Yin, everyone’s only focused on cultivating the spirit. Nobody cared about anything else.’

In his heart, Lu Sheng knew that this was the proper path of the Heavenly Devil. After all, beyond the Weapon Grandmaster tier, he would have to constantly Arrive in small worlds, devour his other selves in the Other Worlds, and attain the state of returning everything to one.

In that case, his physical body would not be as useful as his spirit. Hence, it was only natural to make the cultivation of the spirit a priority.

However, this was different for the other systems.

Other matters aside, the system in Libra City was a complete mess. There were beings from various worlds and tribes there.

However, there were five main categories here.

They were Mortal, Spiritual, Army Raising, Confusion Realm, and Void Underworld. The Spiritual category consisted of the Vein level, Snake level, Weapon Master-tier, and others. Perhaps it was because this location was near stellar zones where Heavenly Devils were the majority, but the division of the systems here was heavily influenced by the systems used in the other stellar zones.

However, in this place, these categories were not used to classify cultivation bases into tiers. Instead, they were used as a method of evaluation of combat strength.

The classification in Libra City was simple. The cultivators who were capable of fighting against Heavenly Devils of different tiers were grouped together.

‘I can’t even carry out derivations… Looks like I really have to find a main cultivation method. However, I don’t think it’s possible for me to obtain a Heavenly Devil’s main cultivation method of the Weapon Grandmaster tier and above in a short amount of time. The rarity of a cultivation method of that tier is beyond imagination. By the time I grinded and got my hands on the cultivation method, the Yellow Springs Planet would have been done for.’

Lu Sheng sighed inwardly. Even in Libra City, only the middle- to high-ranking experts such as the elders and advisors to the various tribes could attain the Confusion Realm tier.

‘Libra City is an extremely accessible place. This is a city of commerce. Information flows freely here. If I complement this with Zhao Family’s force… I might just be able to accomplish my goal in the near future.’ Lu Sheng started to form a plan in his heart.

The crucial point of this plan was to obtain Zhao Shengying’s complete trust.

She was the key person of the entire Zhao Family. Her parents were great figures of the Confusion Realm tier. She was definitely a person whom he should invest in.

Lu Sheng calmed himself down and inspected his Heart World again. As he expected, the world’s surface area had expanded again.

His Heart World expanded alongside the growth of his spirit.

It was now more than 30 kilometers in diameter. This sphere-shaped dimension was huge enough to contain a small town.

It had been the size of a residential area before this. Compared to before, its current size was much bigger. However, without any direct lighting, there were many spots in the Heart World which were still cold as ever. It was impossible for any natural cycle to take place here.

On the second day, Lu Sheng went to the Zhao Family early in the morning. He continued purging Zhao Luoying of the heavy planet pollutants.

After the standard procedure was carried out, Zhao Shengying, who had been feeling impatient from the wait, had someone go in and call Lu Sheng out immediately.

Lu Sheng went to the adjacent courtyard, the same one he’d gone to the last time he visited. However, a wealthy-looking old lady with white hair was standing beside Zhao Shengying.

“Teacher Lu, come here.”

Lu Sheng barely entered the courtyard when he saw Zhao Shengying beckoning him to come over with a cold expression.

He maintained his current expression and quickly went over to her.

“Is there anything you need, lady cousin?”

There was at least a dozen of formidable elites with strength greater than the Spiritual category outside the courtyard. On Yellow Springs Planet, they were the equivalent of peak Weapon Master experts.

However, in the Zhao Family, they were only fit to be guards of the courtyard.

However, Lu Sheng had a thought. If he had enough Divine Weapons and Devil Blades, on top of a supply of a huge population to pick a person with suitable bloodline, Weapon Masters would not be a rare breed.

Even in the terrible conditions of Great Song and Great Yin, where the population was small, they managed to produce many Weapon Masters. It was only natural for the Zhao Family, which was so huge that it was in control of a number of Other Worlds and planets.

“Mister Lu, you’ve told lady cousin about the methods to improve her own charm. I wonder if you’ve spoken the truth?” the old woman spoke slowly.

When he got closer, a chill crept into Lu Sheng’s heart. This old woman was also a cultivator of the Army Raising tier. The aura which revolved around her could even pose a threat to him in his ordinary state.

‘As expected of the Zhao Family,’ he exclaimed internally.

“Of course I have,” said Lu Sheng as he nodded with a smile. “By the way, I thought that this skill I have is useless. I didn’t expect the lady cousin to have a need for it.”

“She’s my Aunt Mei. When she heard about your methods, she grew curious and wanted to see for herself,” Zhao Shengying explained casually.

“Alright, that’s enough. First, tell me, how will you go about raising my charm? What’s this I hear about increasing muscle mass? If I become well-built, won’t I turn into one of those savages?” After she was duped by Lu Sheng the other day, she went back to her room and gave it some thought. She realized that there were some parts which did not make sense. Hence, she called Lu Sheng over to give her an explanation this time.

Lu Sheng had been prepared for this. If he wanted to dupe and convince Zhao Shengying, he could not rely on his words alone. He would have to show some real skill.

“You might not know this, but this skill that I have isn’t something that remains unchanged. I can use it to design a health-maintenance method to raise your charms, lady cousin.”

“Oh? A customized health-maintenance method?” When he said this, Aunt Mei’s expression changed slightly.

Beside her, Zhao Shengying’s expression froze over as well. She fell silent.

“What’s the matter?” Lu Sheng was stunned. It seemed as if he had touched on some taboo or secret.

The two of them were silent.

When Lu Sheng was starting to feel impatient, Zhao Shengying suddenly slammed her palms on the table.

“Bam!”

The dishes on the table jumped from the impact of her palms. Much of the broth spilled onto the table’s surface.

“What is there to be so secretive about!? Hasn’t this been thoroughly checked already? Since we’re satisfied with Teacher Lu, what are you hesitating for?” Zhao Shengying slammed her palms on the table again. She fixed her serious gaze on Lu Sheng.

“This won’t be any huge secret if it were any other clan. I won’t lie to you, everyone else is saying that I’m lazy and I don’t like to cultivate. Everyone’s talking about how the family has poured an ocean of resources into me, yet I still can’t achieve a breakthrough. However, this is actually due to my special constitution.”

“Special constitution?” Lu Sheng said with surprise. “May I know, lady cousin, what domineering constitution is it that even the vast Zhao Family can’t handle it?”

“The head of the family has given the following remarks on Shengying’s constitution,” Aunt Mei replied to his question from the side of her own accord. “Fight against the heavens, the earth, and the firmaments. Battle against wind, rain, and the universe. The summary of the comment is that it’s a Fight Battle Victorious King Body!”

‘This name…’ The edge of Lu Sheng’s lips twitched. He did not know how he should describe it.

“My father told me that my constitution is the so-called Leak-all True Lord,” Zhao Shengying spoke with a gloomy expression. “Regardless if it’s good or bad, poison or medicine, liquid or gas, anything that enters my body will simply leak out. The reason why it’s called the Fight Battle Victorious King Body is because my constitution will fight against anything. It fights against poison, medicine, vegetables, rice, and even a mouthful of soup. Nothing is allowed to remain within my body.”

“She’s right. This constitution is extremely domineering. If any ordinary person ended up with such a constitution, they would’ve starved to death in three days.” Aunt Mei sighed as well.

“Leak-all True Lord… Fight Battle Victorious King Body… I didn’t know that there’s such an intriguing constitution in the world…” Lu Sheng felt speechless as well.

“The most hateful thing about this constitution of mine is that the more beneficial a thing is for my body, the fiercer it’d fight against it!” Zhao Shengying said with contempt. “So now, I end up accomplishing nothing. I can’t cultivate anything. The most I could do was forcibly improve this body with precious treasures. I haven’t experienced any other improvements besides that!”

“I’ve truly learned something new today.” Although Lu Sheng was confident in his Tu Style Healing Art of rank-800, he felt slightly discouraged when he heard about such a domineering constitution.

“So, there’s no need to worry, Teacher Lu. It might not be your fault if your method isn’t working. It’s my constitution that’s being difficult,” Zhao Shengying said with helplessness.

“We can’t say for sure…” Lu Sheng gave it some thought. “Living beings have the mind, Qi, and spirit. No matter how good your body is in leaking anything that’s inside, you still have those three things. If we worked from that angle…”

“Alas… In truth… It seems that Zhao Shengying does not have any mind, Qi or spirit. What she has is only the Leak-all True Lord’s physical body where all essence is merged into one,” Aunt Mei interrupted Lu Sheng helplessly from the side.

“She doesn’t even have any mind, Qi or spirit!?” Lu Sheng was genuinely stunned this time. “If she can’t eat, then what does the lady cousin depend on to…”

“The only thing that I can eat are shadows of living beings.” Zhao Shengying’s expression returned to normal and she practically blurted this out.

“Eating shadows…” Lu Sheng’s eyes narrowed. “First, let me examine your body.”

“How do you plan to do that?” asked Zhao Shengying, sounding slightly nervous.

“Since it leaks everything, I’ll try with my medical path’s inner Qi for now. We’ll see if I can find out the reason here.” Lu Sheng was genuinely intrigued this time. He never knew that such a constitution existed in the world.

Besides, if he managed to settle Zhao Shengying’s problem with her constitution for her, it would be the equivalent of him doing her a huge favor.

Then, it would definitely be easy for him to have her help him in finding a main cultivation method or to introduce him to a teacher.

“No! Shengying isn’t married yet. Even if you’re a doctor, it’s forbidden for you to let your inner Qi flow inside her!” Without waiting for Zhao Shengying to reply, Aunt Mei immediately voiced her objection.

“How about this, let me inspect her hands. That’s acceptable, right?” Lu Sheng suggested.

“…” Aunt Mei glanced at an unhappy-looking Zhao Shengying. “Very well. You’d better be careful. If anything goes wrong…”

“Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing.” Lu Sheng glanced around him. He made some mental calculations regarding the time he would need to deal with all the people around the courtyard.

With his Heart World, he would be able to pull inferior opponents into it in an instant. It would be an instant kill.

As for Aunt Mei, he should be able to take her down with three moves after his transformation…

Lu Sheng was confident that as long as his opponents were not at the Confusion Realm, there would not be any issue for him to defeat them.

He extended a hand, and asked, “Shall we begin now?”

“Wait. Let me have a drink of water.” Zhao Shengying was slightly nervous. She grabbed the water bottle on the table and began gulping the water down.

“Hiss…”

Dozens of water columns sprouted out of her body.

Lu Sheng resisted the urge to laugh. Then, he looked at Zhao Shengying who extended her left hand toward him.

He reached out with his index finger and placed it gently on her wrist.

His spirit-prompting threads swiftly plunged into her wrist. They progressed along her meridians and blood vessels as they spread toward the other parts of her body.

Lu Sheng closed his eyes silently as he examined the condition of her body.

Before he knew it, several minutes had passed.

He slowly opened his eyes and exhaled.

“Teacher… Lu… So… can you… treat it?” Zhao Shengying’s voice reached him in stutters. It sounded strange.

Her tone had changed into something that was slightly distorted.

Lu Sheng looked up at her.

Zhao Shengying sat on her seat with a face full of worry. She was looking toward him with a fixed gaze.

However, her eyeballs were now overgrown with countless densely packed meat lumps. They appeared to be countless small eyeballs which were clumped together into two eyes, the largest he had ever seen on a person.

“Teacher Lu… You… must… help… me…” The skin over Zhao Shengying’s throat was bulging up. It appeared as if something long and slender was intending to emerge.

At the same time, countless red meat lumps quickly spread onto her arms. They were progressing along it toward Lu Sheng.

Lu Sheng shot up to his feet and looked around him. Aunt Mei was nowhere to be seen. He was no longer in the manor. Instead, he found himself in a deserted and battered garden.

A deathly stillness hung over his surroundings. There were no guards or maidservants. There was only Zhao Shengying who sat in an upright position before him. She stared at him blankly as if she was staring at a dead man.