Way of the Devil

“Then you’ve come to the wrong place.” Lu Sheng smiled. “The Taoist immortals won’t accept people with incomplete temperaments. Since you came for vengeance, your spirit itself is flawed. There’s a wound that can’t be closed.”

Zhuan Yinxue’s appeared shocked. Ordinary people might not have understood what was said. However, she had been reading books and sutras since she was little. It was only natural for her to understand the words of this mister Lu.

“Sir, you’re saying that…” Her eyes bulged, and she started feeling nervous. This was because she remembered the words of the several Taoists whom she begged to accept her as a disciple when she’d encountered them.

The Taoists seemed to have said the same things.

“If you want to cultivate the path, you should either give up on seeking revenge, or get your revenge, and then come back clean,” said Lu Sheng drily.

“…!”

No matter how thick-headed Zhuang Yinxue was, she knew that this person before herself was certainly more than he seemed.

Her beautiful face was slightly hot at the moment. Her emotions rocked slightly, and she felt more nervous. However, when she heard Lu Sheng’s words, her bright eyes suddenly dimmed.

There was a long pause before she started speaking slowly again. “I… can’t…”

Lu Sheng smiled. “Then, what can you do?”

Zhuang Yinxue bit her lip.

“I can do whatever I can do!” She suddenly fell to her knees. “Immortal master, I beg you, take me as your disciple!”

Right from the start, she’d felt that Lu Sheng was not ordinary. At this moment, she truly understood that this person before her eyes was a legendary secluded immortal, a Taoist elite.

In truth, in the eyes of ordinary people such as herself, anyone who cultivated the path and possessed Capacities was an immortal.

She did not have the time to trouble herself with other matters right now. She would not let go of any opportunity with any immortal master.

“You said that you can do whatever you can do?” Lu Sheng’s gaze swept across Zhuang Yinxue’s body as he smirked.

“Yes!” Zhuang Yinxue gritted her teeth and lowered her head as her body shook. “Please, immortal master!” She brought her head down to knock it on the floor. However, instead of the wooden deck, her head hit a soft air cushion. At this moment, she was surprised and delighted at the same time.

Anyone who could achieve this was certainly among the ranks of the secluded immortals.

“I was just taking a stroll. I guess it’s fate that brought us here in this wilderness.” Lu Sheng smiled. “You said that you can do everything?”

“Yes!” Zhuang Yinxue had an ominous feeling… Could she have encountered a…

However, she dared not give up now. Her hopes were getting slimmer and slimmer. She could barely see it now. She could not give up!

“As long as you take me as your disciple, immortal master, I can do anything!”

“You’ll do anything that I tell you to?” The smile on Lu Sheng’s face thickened.

“Yes!” Zhuang Yinxue gritted her teeth and nodded.

There was a moment of silence.

“Well then, what if I want you to die?” Lu Sheng looked up and gazed at Kongying Mountain which they were nearing.

“Die!?”

The color instantly drained from Zhuang Yinxue’s beautiful face.

She looked up at Lu Sheng to confirm that Lu Sheng was not joking.

“…” She lowered her head. She looked desolate now. Her sliver of hope was dashed.

She drew her a long sword and wiped it across her own neck.

“Pchht!”

Blood splattered everywhere. Zhuang Yinxue’s eyes bulged as she fell limply backward. Huge amounts of blood gushed forth from her neck.

Lu Sheng was stunned as well. He did not expect this lady to be this extreme. He could see that Zhuang Yinxue had not actually committed suicide. She was gambling her final and slim hope on this act of slitting her own throat.

The deck was drenched in blood. Zhuang Yinxue was lying limply on the floor, and could no longer move. Her arteries and windpipe were slit open.

Her lungs were flooded with blood. Deprived of oxygen, Zhuang Yinxue’s face paled even more. She seemed to be on the verge of death.

“Murder!”

Someone on board witnessed this scene from afar and began to shout. There were even those that came rushing over.

With such an incident on board, it was up to the boatman to set things right. Otherwise, this would have an irreparable impact on his business.

Already there were a few guards shouting at and rushing toward Lu Sheng.

“You villain! You dare commit a crime here!?”

“Catch him!”

The shouts spread far and wide.

However, Lu Sheng stayed where he was. He merely stared calmly at Zhuang Yinxue, whose consciousness was quickly fading.

“Alright!”

Suddenly, he waved his right arm, from which a beam of white Qi shot out. It precisely entered the baihui acupoint on the top of Zhuang Yinxue’s head. The white Qi instantly vanished.

Zhuang Yinxue’s cut windpipe and blood vessels immediately closed up. The blood which flooded her lungs was swiftly absorbed and digested. The supply of oxygen was reestablished in her circulatory system.

This scene shocked the people who were charging toward him. They suddenly stopped in their tracks, and dared not take another step. As long as they were not fools, anyone who saw this could tell that Lu Sheng was no ordinary person.

“I…” Zhuang Yinxue touched her neck in stunned silence. The sensation of her throat being slit open and blood flowing freely out of her body still remained within her consciousness.

“If you’re willing, wait for me at the shore in two hours.” Lu Sheng waved his sleeve. Another white light plunged into Zhuang Yinxue’s body between her brows.

After doing all this, Lu Sheng tapped the floor with his feet, and he leapt into the air.

There was nothing keeping him here in this world anymore. He needed to do what he had to and lay some groundwork before he left.

Black Qi automatically spread out under his feet. It carried him along as he flew toward Yingkong Mountain.

Lu Sheng morphed into a black shooting star that crashed into the white mist.

“Who goes there!? How dare you trespass on Yingkong Mountain!?”

A long white figure a kilometer tall swiftly appeared in the mist. It rumbled and vibrated.

The mist scattered, revealing the long figure’s main body. It was a white flood dragon which was nearly a kilometer in length.

It had two horns and no scales on its body. It had four legs armed with golden claws, and its eyes, which were like magnified lanterns, shone with blinding red light.

When it saw Lu Sheng morphing into a black shooting star and speeding toward itself, the white dragon roared furiously, and started swinging its huge tail. Then, it swept it at Lu Sheng.

“Bam!”

The huge sound from the impact sent vibrations through the air, which spread out in the form of white rings.

The white dragon wailed. It was being pulled by the huge impact by the tail and crashed into the ground.

The ground shook greatly. Man and dragon crashed into the foot of Kongying Mountain in the blink of an eye. Huge patches of white pine trees fell. An empty space was forcibly created.

The white dragon moaned. It wanted to struggle to get up, but its entire body was being bound by countless black Qi.

It was surprised and enraged at the same time, and struggled desperately to break free. However, the more it struggled, the stronger the black Qi bound it.

Amid swooshing sounds, white flowing lights shot toward them from Kongying Mountain. They hovered in the air and checked the white dragon’s condition.

A strange strong-looking man with two heads, covered in golden battle armor, stepped forward furiously with a golden mace in hand, and demanded, “What demon is this!? It’s bold to wreak havoc in the Indefinite Cult.”

At the moment, black Qi rose from the ground and condensed into Lu Sheng’s current figure.

He wore a long black robe. His face was covered by the dense mist, and only his scarlet eyes were revealed. Countless sharp sounds of the air breaking spread from his body as if countless sharp objects were slashing away at the air.

“This humble priest is Xuan Kongzi. I heard that the elites in the Indefinite Cult are as numerous as the clouds and immortals pass through here often. Hence, I’ve traveled far to pay you a visit.” Lu Sheng came up with a random Taoist title as a cover-up. After all, he was here to probe and buy some time. It would not hurt to create another Taoist title.

A black-bearded man stepped forward, and coldly said, “And what a visit you’re paying. You’ve just arrived, and you’ve already completely suppressed our mountain’s guardian divine beast. Are you here to show your strength, or are you here to pay a friendly visit?

“Since you’re here to visit us and have an exchange, will you dare respond when I call you!?”

“Hm?” Lu Sheng found the phrase familiar. However, there was nothing he did not dare to do in the world.

“Of course. Call away, my friend. This humble priest will be here,” he replied with a smile.

The black-bearded Taoist suddenly produced a bottle gourd in his hand. He aimed the opening of the bottle gourd toward Lu Sheng as he shouted thrice. “Xuan Kongzi! Xuan Kongzi! Xuan Kongzi!”

“This penniless priest is here. Thank you for being courteous.” Lu Sheng nodded and smiled.

“Fuh!”

In an instant, scarlet flames spewed forth from the bottle gourd. The flames quickly condensed into a flame chimera that was as tall as three men.

As soon as the chimera appeared, it pounced at Lu Sheng.

“I see. Is this a unique Capacity that’s released when the opponent answers the call? If it’s only a body of flame, this penniless priest can deal with it with one hand.”

Lu Sheng chuckled and flicked his finger. Black Qi shot out and morphed into a white dragon in midair. It resembled the mountain’s guardian divine beast which he had encountered moments ago.

“Rarrgh!”

The white dragon pounced at the chimera.

“Bam!” The white dragon shattered, and the chimera continued pouncing.

Lu Sheng was bug-eyed. Before he could react, the chimera rammed into his torso.

“Puh!” He spat out a mouthful of blood, and reeled from the impact.

“Boom!”

With a loud sound, he crashed heavily into the ground like a shooting star.

Faint golden runic chains materialized out of the air from the white mist around him. The densely packed runic chains wrapped around him with precision and bound him. A huge formation which spanned several hundred meters appeared on the ground before Kongying Mountain.

“Interesting. Haven’t you heard of the Indefinite Cult’s Qianling Recovery Formation? It’s the most powerful ancient formation passed down from the previous generations. It can enhance the might of the arts unleashed within it by 100 times. You thought that you were powerful, and you’ve come here to seek death. Heh, it’s rare to meet a wild cultivator who’s as dumb as you are,” the black-bearded Taoist commented as he laughed hysterically.

“I’ll check if the fellow is dead.” The two-headed strange man gave a few laughs too as he rode his cloud and dropped to where Lu Sheng had landed.

White smoke and black Qi spread about at this moment. The two-headed strange man created a gust of wind with a wave of his hand. The smoke and Qi were scattered. After flying for several hundred meters, the man finally saw the condition of the Taoist on the ground.

The land was cracked as if from drought, and the cracks extended for several hundred meters. Cracks were also visible in the surrounding sea of trees, forming a spider-web-like pattern.

At the center of the cracks stood a pitch-black man whose back was bent from coughing.

“Oh? You’re still alive? What a lucky fellow. Let’s go. Follow me, and you’ll be spared much pain.” The two-headed strange man got closer to him as he smiled.

“This penniless priest has underestimated you lot.” Lu Sheng coughed a few more times and straightened his back. He looked at the thick layers of golden runic chains on his body.

“This formation is interesting. However, this penniless priest has dabbled in formations for many years now. To think that you’re intending to immobilize me with this minor formation. This penniless priest will break it with one hand. Flying Crane in the Mystic Skies, When All is Said and Done!

“Break! Break! Break!” Lu Sheng shouted three times.

A large volume of black Qi shrunk from his body, and erupted with three loud booms. The black clouds formed a giant black tiger which roared at the skies.

“This art allows me to summon a primordial true spirit, which I’ve merged with myself. The moment this true spirit breaks through the formation is the moment when I’ll be free as well.” Lu Sheng smiled.

“Rarrgh!”

The giant black tiger roared at the skies. Countless black threads emerged from its body and connected it to Lu Sheng behind it.

All of a sudden, it shot into the air. It crashed through countless golden runic chains and shot into the skies. It plunged straight into the layers of clouds and vanished from sight.

Lu Sheng looked up at the black tiger as it broke through the formation.

“As expected of a primordial true spirit, such might!”

He lowered his head and looked at the golden runic chains on his body which were still intact.

“But… Why am I still here?” he wondered.