Way of the Devil

The Heart World was like a huge piece of cloth; the rules were like threads, whereas the living beings were small rags.

The more rules he had, the more rags he could sew onto the large cloth, which would increase in weight and thickness.

Currently, this was Lu Sheng’s state. The state of ordinary Heart Worlds of Heavenly Devils was mentioned in the East Park Autumn Dew Fertilizing Method.

The Confusion Realm was divided into three levels. At the first level, a Heavenly Devil’s Heart World could usually accommodate 300-500 living beings.

At the second level, it could accommodate several thousands.

At the third level, it would be able to accommodate tens of thousands, or even more. At this stage, it was said to have formed a complete cycle.

However, Lu Sheng was at the third level from the beginning.

He had gained insights on too many rules in his Heart World. The others would have needed several years just to gain enough insight on a single rule to have it near the crest formation level; some even spent decades.

Meanwhile, he had gained insights on several hundred rules in one go. If this had happened to any of his peers, they would have instantly saved several thousand years of painstaking cultivation.

With the remaining time he had, Lu Sheng followed the instructions laid out in the East Park Autumn Dew Fertilizing Method, and modified the overall structure of his Heart World. At the same time, he prepared the formation for his return.

After confirming his nine cornerstones, he easily reached the third level of the Void Underworld method, the East Park Autumn Dew Fertilizing Method. After Lu Sheng absorbed more living beings, he swiftly progressed to the fourth and fifth level.

Now that the living beings increased in number and a natural cycle was formed, he naturally progressed to the fifth level in this cultivation method of his.

The main function this cultivation method served Lu Sheng was to aid him in structuring the natural cycle of his Heart World.

It was a way of incorporating power from the outside world into his Heart World without harming the living beings and structure within.

The next step was to rank up his radiant disk and merge all the crests into one to form a Divine Vein unique to him. After that, he would have to build up the reincarnation cycle in his Heart World.

However, that step was extremely difficult. Lu Sheng had attempted to incorporate it several times according to the method; however, all his attempts failed.

The success rate was extremely low.

Also, it seemed that he needed an extremely powerful Spirit Power. Everything returned to square one.

He would have to rank up his spirit and assimilate more Spirit Power!

Lu Sheng finally understood why many Confusion Realm experts continued to carry out Arrivals.

‘So, this works for the Confusion Realm as well. Breaking through to the Confusion Realm merely meant my own life structure is improved and I’ve overcome the shackle of improvement.’

Three months passed by in the blink of an eye…

“Hiss… Hiss… Hiss…”

Dark red energy threads flowed and glowed along the veins of the formation on the ground.

Lu Sheng sat cross-legged in the center. He wielded an oval gemstone which resembled diamond. Threads of dark red energy were being continuously extracted from underneath the gemstone.

Lu Sheng adjusted the position of the gemstone from time to time so that the energy threads would flow out in a more balanced manner.

‘After this rank-up, it’s about time for me to return to Yellow Springs Planet.’

Even in Libra City where experts gathered, a Confusion Realm expert was regarded as a top elite. There were not many Confusion Realm experts here.

Moreover, Yellow Springs Planet was a relatively backward planet. If a Confusion Realm expert had appeared in Great Yin, besides the handful of most powerful elites under the Yellow Springs Mother, nobody else would have stood a chance.

However, the Yellow Springs Mother oversaw a wide area. She had to manage many planets. Even if a Confusion Realm expert was assigned to each planet, Great Yin was but a small area on Yellow Springs Planet.

If the experts were spread out, Great Yin would consider itself flourishing just by having Weapon Grandmasters.

Lu Sheng believed that it would be an easy task for him to just take a look around when he returned to the planet. As long as he did not make any grand moves, he would be fine.

“Pchht!”

In an instant, a gray rift opened up above Lu Sheng’s head.

He did not even look up, but his body shrunk to the size of a watermelon. With a swoosh, he shot into the gray rift and disappeared.

Within the contorted seven-colored space-time vortex, Lu Sheng hugged his knees close. His formation propelled him forward.

However, this time was different from the previous experiences he had. This time, Lu Sheng clearly felt that his own body was also instinctively emanating a layer of pale, colorful radiance which stopped the colorful radiance from outside from invading his body.

At the same time, he could feel his immense Spirit Power swiftly reducing with the formation of this layer of colorful radiance.

‘Does this mean that I’m now capable of passing through the space-time vortex directly?’ Lu Sheng was astonished. Before he could even react, he was already within the room in his house in Libra City.

He barely sat still when the rift above his head started shrinking. In the blink of an eye, it vanished.

Lu Sheng quickly sat cross-legged on the formation, and instantly plunged into his Heart World. He wanted to see if this travel through the space-time vortex somehow enabled these living beings to adapt to the world’s rules.

All was quiet in his Heart World.

It was not affected by the huge changes in the outside world at all. Lu Sheng felt slightly relieved by it.

He could constantly feel the substantial changes taking place as he transitioned from a Weapon Grandmaster to the Confusion Realm. Besides his physical body, there were also faint traces of fluctuations in his Heart World.

These fluctuations were referred to as flummox, which were spirit-confusing smoke formed naturally by an expert at the Confusion Realm.

According to the records on the skill formula, Lu Sheng started harvesting these fluctuations with a special artifact. He cultivated them with Yin Flames, and released them into his Heart World again.

With this, he had completed the cultivation of the flummox, and was now a genuine member of the Confusion Realm.

This was a key characteristic which differentiated a Confusion Realm expert from a Weapon Grandmaster. If the target pulled into a Confusion Realm Heart World was of a lower rank than the user, then the target would lose all his memories when he came in contact with the flummox, and would turn into an honest-to-God resident living being of the Heart World. The target would forget everything about his present and past, and would continue to live there.

It was only after a week, after Lu Sheng had made all the preparations, that he received word from Mi Guangyin.

**********

“It’s barricaded?”

Lu Sheng frowned as he looked at the message in his hand. He was feeling slightly frustrated.

Mu Guangyin’s hologram appeared above the letter.

“Near Yellow Springs Planet Number Three, the Mother of Pain’s Black Measure Web is fully extended. No living beings can enter or leave the planet. My friends and I dare not force our way through. We can only wait outside the barricade. However, we’ve waited for so long, and there weren’t any opportunities to get in.”

“Is this because of the fight against the Green Branch Sect?” Lu Sheng asked.

“It is. The Green Branch Sect has launched several decapitation campaigns before this, and beheaded several Confusion Realm generals under the Mother of Pain. The army suffered great losses as well. They even lost two planets,” Mi Guangyin said helplessly. She did not like the feeling of being unable to deliver on her promises.

“Besides the Black Measure Web, is there any other way to get in and out of Yellow Springs Planet Number Three?” Lu Sheng asked again.

“I can’t think of any.” Mi Guangyin shook her head. “However, Yellow Springs Planet Number Three can be considered one of the Mother of Pain’s core planets now. The destroyed planets were all peripheral. I reckon that unless this is a large-scale war, it’s quite impossible for this area to come under any harm.”

Lu Sheng kept quiet. He knew that the reasoning was logical, but the fact that his family and subordinates were under someone else’s control did not sit well with him.

“What are the consequences of forced entry?” he suddenly asked after a moment’s silence.

Mi Guangyin was startled. Then, she answered, “The security system would be triggered, and the Mother of Pain’s army would be deployed. If we can settle everything within two hours, we won’t be surrounded by any of the Confusion Realm generals, at the very least.”

She was not from this area in the first place. Hence, she did not mind crossing the Mother of Pain. After all, when everything was done and she had repaid the favor, she would be directly transported back to the Iron Flag Council. Hence, she made it sound easy.

“Two hours, huh?” Lu Sheng mumbled to himself.

“You must think about this carefully. The Mother of Pain will surely notice the exodus of people from the planet. That means that you’ll completely expose your own existence. If you’re not sure that you can withstand the resulting retaliations, it’s better not to follow through,” Mi Guangyin reminded him out of kindness.

“I get what you mean, but time waits for no one…” Lu Sheng said with a frown.

“Actually, I’ve got an idea.” Mi Guangyin smiled.

“Oh? Tell me.” Lu Sheng was curious. She was not a person from that stellar zone; what kind of good idea would she be able to come up with?

“You have the Scarlet River Seed on you, right? I reckon that you’ve joined the Red Moon Disciples. The Red Moon Cult isn’t a force that should be messed with. If you can climb your way up the ranks to become a bishop, which is a rank lower than that of master, it’ll be very easy for you to head over and bring your people out,” Mi Guangyin said with a smile.

“You might not know this, but the Red Moon Cult is everywhere. Some say that they are connected to the legendary Nothing Root. It’s one of the most mysterious forces in our Heavenly Devil universe. Even the primal beasts dare not easily provoke this cult, let alone the Mother of Pain.”

Lu Sheng was slightly shaken as well.

“I’ll give it a try.” Ever since he joined the Red Moon Disciples, he had never attempted to mingle with the other members.

He joined the occasional gatherings, but those meetings were inconsequential.

If Mi Guangyin had not told him, he would not have known that this cult was this formidable.

It seemed as if he did not join this money-centric cult for nothing.

“Alright, I’ll give it a try. You guys should head back. I’ve troubled you enough. Consider the favor repaid.”

“It’s alright. I wasn’t able to be of any help to you this time, so it doesn’t count.” Mi Guangyin sounded slightly frustrated. “I owe you two favors, after all. I’ll be staying here for now. Call me if there’s anything.”

“Okay!”

Lu Sheng nodded and ended the call.

After the call ended, he raised his arm. The Scarlet River Seed was still planted on his forearm.

‘Come to think of it, I have yet to carry out my assisted hunt for this year. If I want to raise my rank within the cult, I’d better start getting to work.’

Even Libra City could not do anything against those who killed under the name of the Red Moon Disciples.

Lu Sheng acted immediately. He tapped the Scarlet River Seed.

“Pchht!”

A rectangular widescreen popped up and hovered before him. Densely packed messages flashed across the screen.

Some messages disappeared as quickly as they appeared. Some were static, and remained on their spot.

Lu Sheng took a casual glance. There was various information about assisted hunts and business trades. It was much messier than the Iron Flag Council. There were no functions to sort or filter as well. It was much cruder.

He browsed the information for a bit, and found some assisted hunting missions.

These missions were pinned to the top. Most of their targets were members of great organizations.

A few of them were vengeance-related.

The simple missions were taken soon after they were posted. Lu Sheng kept at it for half a day before he managed to get his hands on a vengeance-killing mission which suited him very well.

‘A member has gone missing near the Green Branch Sect. An acolyte has moved out. At least five other novices needed to participate.’

A novice was the lowest rank among the Red Moon Disciples. However, this was only a title used internally.

An acolyte was an elite a rank above the other disciples, a small leader of sorts.

Higher up the ranks was the imam, and finally the bishop.

It was not a problem to become an ordinary member of the Red Moon Disciples, but if a cult member wanted to raise his or her rank, they would have to be either exceptionally rich or exceptionally powerful.

‘This is perfect. I’ve just achieved a breakthrough in my strength. Let’s see if I can gain anything useful from this venture.’ The Red Moon Disciples were basically people who would take advantage of every opportunity to benefit themselves, and would never yield a single inch of their land. While they participated in the assisted hunts, their main focus was still on earning money.