Way of the DevilWay of the Devil
“I’m merely manipulating my own protective force field, yet my progress is like splitting the bamboo, there’s no resistance here.” Lu Sheng’s expression was calm. However, he was having an increasing realization about his own powerfulness at the moment.
“Boom!”
He raised his arm again. He did not even have to exert any force. He merely expanded his own natural protective force field, and he easily destroyed all living beings within range.
A large group of monsters with lizard tails in heavy black armor were blasted to smithereens before him again. Their remains scattered all over the floor.
“Du! Du! Du!”
The alarm blared in the confined space. Lu Sheng did not stop as he went straight on for the central area.
“Fall back! Fall back!”
“They’re here!”
“How many of them?!”
“Only two?!”
Interrupted shouts could faintly be heard through the walls of flesh.
Lu Sheng looked to the left and right. He was about to take another step forward when a section of the flesh wall collapsed before him.
“Bam!”
The wall of flesh wriggled and tried to bar his way.
“Boom!”
Lu Sheng tapped it with his finger. His transparent force field expanded again, and the wide pathway behind the wall of flesh could instantly be seen once more.
The sides of the pathway were made of a blood-red material riddled with wounds. At the end of the pathway were a few big and tall figures with three horns on their heads. They were staring at them with their blood-red eyes.
“Unleash, instinct!” the few monstrous men roared as their bodies swelled. In the blink of an eye, they grew from a height of more than a meter to more than three meters and a width of more than two meters. They grew into monsters which resembled dinosaurs.
“Kill them!”
Two of the monsters charged forward. Their bodies rippled with layers of colorful light. Trigrams representing Divine Weapons could faintly be seen through the colorful lights.
“Meaningless struggle.” Lu Sheng’s expression remained unchanged. A golden gleam flashed past his eyes.
The two monsters froze mid-charge. Then, as if they were moving through a swamp, their speed fell drastically. Their movements became heavy and dull.
“Aurr!”
They roared and bellowed as they attempted to break free of the shackles of the force field, but to no avail.
“Pooh!”
Soon enough, the two monsters exploded into two lumps of flesh. They met the same fate as the attackers before them.
The remaining two monsters had just finished morphing when they saw this scene. They turned and fled.
At this moment, in the void outside, two semi-transparent figures were slowly leaving the ball of flesh. They wore protective cloaks which concealed their auras. They slowly plunged into a round Artifact parked at the side.
“Quickly!” the Devil Art Master lord Artha urged in an undertone.
Kong Sha followed closely behind him into the Artifact. The round Artifact spun slowly and glowed silver. It was preparing to jump into the distance.
“Bzzt!”
Suddenly, the center of the octopus-like ball of flesh buzzed. A yellowish wave that resembled a blade suddenly stuck out from within.
The wave swiftly split the mass of flesh open and spread outward, cleaving it in two.
Eggs of Pain scattered in all directions like raindrops. Some of them were halfway through hatching. The half-formed hatchlings flailed their wings and limbs as they made their escape.
At the center, Lu Sheng was standing on some remaining flesh as he looked at Artha who was still nearby. He was about to raise his arm again.
Suddenly, he felt a prick on the back of his hand.
“Forget it. Let’s go,” he said drily as he lowered his hand.
“Eh? Aren’t we going after them?” Ouyang Ling finally snapped back to his senses now. He had yet to register what had just transpired when Lu Sheng turned around suddenly and unleashed an attack which completely destroyed the base.
When he saw the Artifact which Kong Sha and Artha escaped in, he realized that they were here to kill these two important people.
However, now that they were so close within their reach, they were…
“Shuzi!”
Suddenly, the space around them rippled visibly. A blood-red ripple spread behind them.
A giant pitch-black tail splashed out of the water and spread out in layers, revealing rows of innumerable sharp teeth. It closed in on the two of them.
“Boom!”
Lu Sheng rolled his eyes. His force field expanded.
The force field and the tail rammed into each other. Countless semi-transparent energy particles erupted in the air like blood flakes.
“Let’s go.”
Lu Sheng grabbed Ouyang Ling’s shoulder. With a tap of his foot, they rocketed away into the distance. In the blink of an eye, they appeared within a small flying ship.
The flying ship blurred for a moment, and vanished within a Transport Formation.
“Rargh!”
The huge tail fell backward from the impact. However, it charged out of the ripples in less than two breaths.
The owner of the tail emerged as well. It was a wild woman with black hair and a body that was 100 meters long.
The woman’s eyes had no pupils; they were pure white. Her legs were practically two spikes without curves typical of ordinary legs.
She glanced at the destroyed base which lay in ruins. Veins and vessels popped all over her face.
“Arrgh!”
She suddenly raised her head and screamed. The sound waves rippled out in all directions.
***
Inside the flying ship.
Lu Sheng stood within the control cabin. He looked at the spreading ripples expanding in space with his hands behind his back.
Ouyang Ling managed to suppress the terror in his heart. He gulped as he explained to Lu Sheng, “That’s one of the Mother of Pain’s most trusted deputies: the Black Gospel’s bishop, Fleyla.”
“Fleyla?” Lu Sheng had never heard the name before.
“Rumor has it that this Void Underworld being was born in a world devoid of light. There, she relied on her rare talent of sound wave manipulation and killed all the other creatures. She ranked up and came to the Heavenly Devil World. After several hundred thousand years of painstaking cultivation, she finally attained the Void Underworld tier…” Ouyang Ling explained in a low voice.
Lu Sheng nodded slightly without saying anything.
He had fought against Fleyla briefly before he left. He felt that she was not too powerful. He reckoned that given some time, he could finish her off. However, this spot was too close to the Mother of Pain’s territory. If they dragged a battle for too long, they might very likely be surrounded.
Hence, he made the decision to escape.
He was here to display his might and rake in some achievements, not to fight some Void Underworld being just because he could.
“Taoist Lord, where shall we go now?” Ouyang Ling felt that this was the most exciting journey he had ever gotten himself involved in after witnessing the exchange between Void Underworld beings. The slightest mistake would leave him here forever as a slave under the Mother of Pain’s mind control.
“Now that their Void Underworld being is here, we should shake her off first.” Lu Sheng flicked his finger. Out came a yellow arc of electricity.
The electric arc twisted and turned as it spread outside the flying ship, forming a web-like structure which covered the entire surface of the ship.
“All-covering Black Picture!” At this moment, a dark red web suddenly appeared before the flying ship in the darkness.
Up to 100 Mirror Spirit Masters hovered before the black web. A dark golden spider with a 1,000 meters’ diameter planted itself at the center of the web.
The Mirror Spirit Masters bellowed with rage at the same time. They infused their Pain Origin Qi into the huge web and caused it to crash down on the flying ship.
In the blink of an eye, the surface of the flying ship erupted with countless yellow arcs of electricity. The electric arcs crackled as they ricocheted off the web’s surface and found their way to the Mirror Spirit Masters.
“Hiss…”
In a few breaths, all the Mirror Spirit Masters were reduced to ashes.
The giant dark golden spider in the center was charred black. It swiftly crumbled into ashes and dispersed. The flying ship rammed into it, and it broke into pieces of slag.
Lu Sheng retracted his arm with a calm expression.
Being at the Void Underworld tier, he’d gained an almost instinctive level of control over these ordinary powers inferior to Origin Power.
This was especially true after experiencing life as a seven-colored dragon, where he cultivated painstakingly all the way as a Sorcerer from the legendary rank to the Divine Region rank. His mastery over the elements had now surpassed that of other cultivators already.
When his 99 arcane arts were completed, manipulating the elemental energies became second nature to him.
It was as simple as breathing.
Even though there were no elemental energy particles back in the Heavenly Devil World, the basic principles were similar.
After killing off the spider that blocked his way, no other enemies dared show up to stop him. The Mother of Pain’s side seemed to have realized that they had to send out some Void Underworld expert, or they would only be sending their men to their deaths.
If he had been any ordinary Void Underworld being, the Mother of Pain could perhaps deal with him by sending dozens of Confusion Realm experts against him coupled with a powerful formation.
However, Lu Sheng was no ordinary Void Underworld being; he was a Void Underworld Heavenly Devil.
A Void Underworld Heavenly Devil could only be dealt with by another Void Underworld Heavenly Devil.
Even the Mother of Pain was a Void Underworld Heavenly Devil. That was why she could maintain her control over her vast forces even after all these years.
A Void Underworld being was not undefeatable, but a Void Underworld Heavenly Devil was practically unchallenged because of their near-immortal bodies.
The flying ship had an uneventful voyage back to the Green Branch Sect’s defense lines. Then, it returned to Green Mountain Planet via a Transport Formation.
Soon enough, Devil Emperor Shun Ying, or Lu Sheng, traversed the stellar zone. News of him destroying the Mother of Pain’s base behind the frontlines spread throughout the stellar zone like wildfire.
It was said that the Mother of Pain did send a Void Underworld being to intercept him, but to no avail.
For a time, Lu Sheng’s name spread throughout space.
Seizing the opportunity, Lu Sheng sent someone to invite Tu Jin’s family over to join him, but his offer was turned down.
Tu Jin only wanted to live out his quiet life in Libra City. He strictly forbade his daughter and disciples to have anything to do with Lu Sheng.
Lu Sheng could guess what was on his mind.
He had risen to greatness far too quickly, and was now in a high position, while the positions of Deyun and the others were too low. If they affiliated themselves with him while any changes occurred without them having the necessary strength to adapt, they would only be bringing misfortune upon themselves.
In that case, they were better off living their normal lives without bothering with the higher powers.
Feeling helpless, Lu Sheng merely stationed some forces to secretly look after Tu Jin’s family through his relations in the Green Branch Sect. This was the end to this matter. Perhaps he could only pay a visit to his teacher after he had truly established himself.
On the other side, after displaying his might, Lu Sheng had temporarily raised his banners high within the Green Branch Sect. He was now regarded as the fourth pillar of the sect besides the three Void Underworld deputies.
After destroying the Mother of Pain’s base, the World of Pain’s army could only retreat and regroup. The Green Branch Sect pushed their lines forward slightly. The illusion of peace settled down between the two forces once more.
However, anyone with a bright mind could tell that the Mother of Pain was certainly biding her time to return Lu Sheng’s “favor”.