Way of the Devil

“Rumble!”

A flash of white light suddenly erupted within the cave.

Taoist Huanshan retracted his sword at the final moment, and grabbed Bai Songzi’s neck with one hand to stop him.

“Immortal master, please have mercy!” Three figures rushed into the cave at this moment.

The leading person was Longhe Zhi, Clear Crane Sect’s master.

When they saw Taoist Huanshan grabbing Bai Songzi’s neck with a single hand, their hearts raced wildly as well.

Longhe Zhi thickened his face as he stepped forward and explained, “You might not know this, immortal master, but this Crane King Cave is of the same lineage as my sect. They are guardian divine beasts of my Clear Crane Sect…”

He was hoping that Huanshan would show mercy since they were both Taoist sects.

“Clear Crane Sect?” Taoist Huanshan was stunned. “I can easily wipe out an unknown minor sect like yours, yet you dare come here and meddle in my affairs?”

“Immortal master, would you not consider to be lenient whenever it’s possible? Although my Clear Crane Sect isn’t some grand sect, we do have patriarchs and seniors who have gone wandering and have not yet returned… If news of this matter were to reach the ears of our Clear Crane Sect patriarch…” Longhe Zhi tried to explain even harder.

Taoist Huanshan started laughing. “Hahahaha! You’re just a minor sect. What kind of elite can you produce even if you’re given 10,000 years? So what if word of this gets out? Please spread it out. I’d like to see what kind of expert backing your Clear Crane Sect will be bold enough to stand up against me, Huanshan!”

Longhe Zhi’s face flushed red. The temperament of cultivators was complete, but they valued their face the most. This Taoist was blatantly looking down on the entire Clear Crane Sect.

Although Clear Crane Sect was small, it was still a veteran sect which had survived through many generations. Although he did not know the background of this Taoist before him, he had to possess some unusual skills for him to act this savagely.

“Alright.” Taoist Huanshan’s gaze fell on Bai Songzi, whom he was clutching in his hand. “Tell me, what’s your choice? Surrender, or die?”

Bai Songzi’s strength was shackled by the Spiritual Power. He could not even hold a candle to this person. He was rendered powerless just by using the pressure generated from Spiritual Power, and became fish and flesh for the sacrificial vessels.

“First… let… everyone else… go!” He struggled to speak.

“Looks like you love this Crane King Cave and the Clear Crane Sect very much.” Taoist Huanshan smiled. “That won’t do. What if you’re still stubborn after they’ve left? I’ve decided now. If you’re being stubborn, I’ll kill off the Crane King Cave and the Clear Crane Sect. Don’t worry, I’ve concealed this mountain forest before I came. Even if anything happened, nobody will know that it was me.”

This was only a minor sect with a few centuries of inheritance. He could easily wipe it out. He did not have to waste his breath on meaningless chatter.

Bai Songzi was immediately enraged. Blood slowly trickled out of the edges of his eyes.

“Pchht!”

At this moment, behind Longhe Zhi, a white feather-shaped beam of light suddenly shot out from Bo Ruqing’s hand.

The beam of light shot out of the cave and exploded in the skies. It dispersed like a firework and scattered downward in speckles of light.

“Is that your call for reinforcements? I’d like to see what level of secluded elite you can manage to summon here. I’ll be waiting here. Have your Clear Crane Sect elite come and find me,” Huanshan said as he laughed.

“Boom!”

Suddenly, the ground shook violently.

The intense swaying and the shock wave made Taoist Huanshan sway as well. The others looked frightened.

“Boom!”

There was another loud explosion.

“What’s this!?” There was a slight change in Taoist Huanshan’s expression.

With a quick shuffle of his feet, he flew lightly out of the cave and gazed outward from the cave’s entrance.

A grayish-white giant several hundred meters tall was slowly making its way toward the Crane King Cave.

On the giant’s right shoulder stood a handsome man in white feathers. The man’s skin was translucent white, and his build was strong. The feathers on his body were slender. It was as if a living crane was standing on the giant’s right shoulder.

What awed Taoist Huanshan the most was that a huge character “crane” was clearly imprinted on the giant’s chest.

“Looks like I came back just in the nick of time.” A pure white diamond-shaped gemstone surfaced behind Lu Sheng. The gemstone was like a totem as countless pitch-black crack marks spread out like countless branches.

“Boom!”

In an instant, the giant extended its right arm toward Taoist Huanshan with lightning speed. It moved so fast that it covered a kilometer in an instant.

The air exploded and the mountains shattered. For a time, the land in a radius of a kilometer shook violently. The mountain range where the Crane King Cave was situated suddenly broke.

From a high vantage point, it was as if a huge dragon was having its back snapped in two on the spot. The mountain range which had maintained its shape for thousands of years was instantly broken.

**********

**********

Great Yin. Yin Capital. Moon Scar Palace.

In the pure white palace, a white-haired old man who was taking a nap suddenly shuddered. He opened his eyes slowly.

“Finally… It has appeared… After crossing over into countless worlds, I finally sensed it…” The old man’s huge body of a dozen meters slowly left the seat adorned with sculptures of flora and fauna.

He walked slowly to the palace’s observation terrace, and gazed outward past the Yin Capital’s gray skies. His murky gaze seemed capable of penetrating countless gray clouds and seeing an extremely distant story.

“Jing Hui.” A beautiful woman in a pure black dress slowly appeared behind him. Their heights were similar.

The woman’s lips were of a deep purplish-black. The only feature on her face was a single eye which covered half of her face. Her single eye glowed with scarlet fluorescent light. Although her face did not appear human, the woman’s body was exceptionally seductive. The lines of her body were almost perfect.

“What did you see?” the beautiful woman asked softly.

The old man turned around. “Ever since you invited me to stay here 80,000 years ago, this is my third time observing such a change.”

“What kind of change was it? Please be clearer,” said the black dress woman impatiently.

“It’s not the Devil World, and it’s not the people who’re moving in the shadows. The Nothing Root’s fluctuations originated from a huge yet distant world,” replied the old man with a smile. He was not annoyed by the woman’s impatience in any way.

“Is this the Overlord Legend which you’ve foretold long ago?” The beautiful woman narrowed her eyes.

“Yes. I’ve seen the starting point. The Nothing Root is shaking. You should know what this means,” said the old man in a deep voice.

The beautiful woman fell silent.

After a brief moment, she spoke up slowly. “There’s one more variable now… Even so, the position of overlord isn’t set in stone. After all, the overlord is only a person who coincidentally matched the galaxy’s root attributes. If I killed him, does that mean that I’ll be able to snatch the position of overlord away?”

“Of course… The overlord is someone who’s the most powerful of all. The weak have no right to participate in this feast.” The old man smiled and nodded. “Moreover, even without this status, as the Mother of Pain, the Dusk Mother who governs the Pain Galaxy, you have the attributes of an overlord as well.”

“There are four spots, and only the first one has appeared. There’s no hurry…” A fierce gleam appeared in the Mother of Pain’s eye. She turned around and slowly turned into black smoke before vanishing from the palace.

**********

**********

“Boom!”

The mountain ridge broke, and the ground shook.

Countless rubble and soil were being crushed by a huge force and ricocheted in all directions. It was as if a sudden downpour of roil and rocks suddenly came down upon the entire Crane King Cave.

The terrain before the Crane King Cave completely disappeared. The only feature left was an oval crater up to 100 meters deep.

Lu Sheng leapt lightly and landed on the edge of the deep pit. He peered into the pit at the dense white smoke emerging from it.

“That’s boring. Could he have died just from that?” His facial features were now completely different than before.

If he had been cautious with a hint of carefulness and wildness before, he was now full of absolute confidence. He was confident to the point of being savage.

With nearly 100 years of experience, he’d finally seen through reincarnation and also himself.

“That wasn’t even one percent of my strength.” Suddenly, a pair of crane eyes on the white crane feathers which resembled a cape on Lu Sheng’s shoulders shone with red light.

A silhouette suddenly appeared behind Lu Sheng. When it materialized, it was Taoist Huanshan.

He wielded his jade ruyi scepter, and his hair was scattered and loose now. White Qi lingered about himself.

“Heaven and Earth Reversal, Strike of the Sun and Moon! Hit!”

A puff of colorful light appeared at the tip of the ruyi scepter with lightning speed. It shone directly onto Lu Sheng’s back.

However, the colorful light barely made its appearance when a giant right arm descended on him.

Caught off-guard, Taoist Huanshan took a direct hit from the right arm. Countless wisps of white smoke formed round discs that attempted to block the intense impact.

However, they were useless. The white discs were shattered. Taoist Huanshan did not even have the time to snort when he started reeling and crashed into the ground nearby.

The colorful light which shone on Lu Sheng’s back behaved like little insects that attempted to invade his body through his clothes and skin. However, it was held steadily at bay by a thin transparent layer, and dispersed soon enough.

Lu Sheng turned around and looked at where Taoist Huanshan landed.

“You can still fight? Don’t you find it meaningless?”

“Spirits Returning to the Enlightenment! Open!”

In an instant, a huge contorted aura shot into the skies. It turned a circle in midair, and morphed into a colorful little man that was half a meter tall. The little man sat cross-legged in the air.

The little man was like a miniature version of Taoist Huanshan. He wore a full set of purplish-golden armor, while extra arms grew on his back. Each of his four arms wielded a golden sword.

The rock giant hurled a punch, but seemed to have hit empty air. It could not touch this little man.

“Move the Mountains and Overturn the Seas! Turn the Big Dipper and Move the Stars!” The little man lifted his four arms high, and his arms rotated suddenly. The four golden swords shone with red, white, orange, and blue runes.

The runes shot out from the golden swords. They grew in size as they descended in all directions.

In an instant, the skies above Lu Sheng’s head darkened.

In the middle of the four runes, a pitch-black peak of immeasurably immense size was being transported over.

The peak was too huge. Its shadow alone covered the land for an area of hundreds of kilometers.

“Hahahaha! This is interesting! This is too interesting!” Lu Sheng’s eyes bulged. He was getting excited.

He had just ended his secluded cultivation, yet he met such an opponent. His blood was starting to boil over.

It had been too long since he faced a wild battle royale.

“I’ll show you my true strength after gaining insight on reincarnation.” He spread his arms wide.

Black smoke gushed forth from the gemstone behind him. The black smoke instantly spread across an area greater than that covered by the shadow.

The black smoke immediately dyed the entire land black. It was as if a giant black lake had been formed.

“Come on out! Qianshen!” The eyes on Lu Sheng’s feather cape unleashed two red spots of light which resembled two miniature suns.

A rumble could be heard coming from the center of the lake. A terrifying huge crane with a height of several kilometers slowly rose.

Black wings, red crown, golden beak, and pitch-black feathers.

The crane spread its wings. Its pitch-black wings were covered in countless golden eyes.

The more peculiar feature was that only its upper body was that of a crane. Its lower body was still that of a giant human. This was a terrifying monster with a crane’s head and a man’s lower body.

“Screech!”

The giant crane raised its head and flapped its wings. It charged toward the pitch-black peak which bore down upon the land.