Way of the Devil

Chapter 429: Stability (2)

In merely five years, the Prime Devil Sect rapidly absorbed all factions that could be absorbed, and had almost developed into an enormous sect that encompa.s.sed the entirety of the Moling Prefecture.

Meanwhile, Lu Sheng returned to the Lu Family Mansion after taking care of the Devil Master in the beginning. According to rumors, he spent most of his days treating his sister Lu Qingqing’s brain, and rarely traveled.

But in reality, not only was he treating Lu Qingqing’s brain trauma, but he was also constantly cultivating the mind technique Tong Sheng gave him. His instincts told him the technique would be of great use.

He also occasionally traveled, sometimes into the World of Pain to join sacrifices, and at other times to Outer Worlds to complete Divine Weapon extraction missions. As for his own world, he had long since stopped collecting Divine Weapons in fear of appearing suspicious, and instead tried to collect extra Divine Weapons that he could keep himself during his missions for s.h.i.+zi Xing.

s.h.i.+zi Xing never minded it. As long as the mission was completed, she didn’t care what her subordinate kept, provided Lu Sheng didn’t cross the line.

In the last five years, Lu Sheng traveled to at least 10 or so Outer Worlds, and extracted all kinds of so-called ‘finished’ Divine Weapons. He even traveled to the Devil World occasionally. As a result, he was able to acc.u.mulate more and more Divine Weapons for himself, and the Mental Energy he gained from absorbing Divine Weapons likewise increased.

Unfortunately, most of the Divine Weapons were Golden Leaf grade, and only very, very rarely a Jade Star would appear. As for a Divine Intellect one, he’d only seen it once before. That time, he didn’t even complete the mission, and s.h.i.+zi Xing had to make a move herself.

Lu Sheng was fortunate enough to witness the fight between two Divine Intellect levels during that incident.

The Mental Energy he’d gained during all these years was all piled on Death Blaze.

Death Blaze, which was evolved from Yin Flame, consumed about 200,000 units of Mental Energy, but aside from a slight increase in damage, it showed no other signs of change.

Vast amounts of Mental Energy gained from consuming Divine Weapon were all invested into the Death Blaze. Lu Sheng was attempting to improve Death Blaze to Origin Power level with brute force through this method.

But years of determination yielded no result despite his instincts telling him that Death Blaze was waiting for an opportunity to undergo an explosive and fundamental change.

The Great Yin Capital had put out a decree, inviting all Divine Lords of the Great Yin to the capital to battle against the Devil World, but Lu Sheng completely ignored it.

He had many privileges as a Divine Lord. Since the Great Yin didn’t really give him anything nor was this place his home, he wasn’t in the mood to be a selfless savior like Li Shunxi.

After discovering that Death Blaze made no progress, he tried all kinds of ways to delve into Death Blaze, and through the scientific method he’d learned in his previous life on Earth, he was able to record many characteristics of Death Blaze in detail. He attempted to break through the bottleneck through this method.

The situation in the Great Yin had also been tumultuous during these years.

Multiple cities near the Great Yin Capital fell, while three of the Devil Army’s Gates of Flesh and Blood also collapsed. During the attack on the Great Yin’s immense protection matrix, many Devil Generals and Kings were wounded or killed. Overall, both sides had their wins and losses.

The Great Battle of Dianhua two years ago was especially brutal. The number of Devil Masters and Divine Lords lost on both sides approached two digits.

Two Weapon Grandmasters were defeated, and were forced to heal in seclusion. Both nearly fell, while the army under their command had collapsed. But in return, one Devil Emperor was greatly wounded, while another disappeared. With an additional loss of 150,000 Devil Army soldiers, it was a Pyrrhic victory for the Devils.

The Great Yin utilized almost all of its powers during that fight, and the three major families fell into a slump as a result.

At this point, the war could not be stopped. After a series of b.l.o.o.d.y battles, five Gates of Flesh and Blood were successfully established, which turned into five battlefields that endlessly ground up flesh and blood for both the Great Yin and the Devil World.

Countless Devils and human soldiers were sent to the field, their blood and flesh nouris.h.i.+ng the ground. The Great Yin’s acc.u.mulated resources were being depleted rapidly, while Devil Emperor Vera and his alliance with two others were likewise in an awkward situation.

Citizens constantly complained about the constant exhaustion of supplies and lack of necessities, as well as the Devil Kings and Weapon Masters’ constant battles that messed up the climate. The unstable climate, in turn, destroyed the Great Yin’s agricultural industry, making food and other supplies increasingly scarce. Toward the end, almost 90% of the supplies came from Outer Worlds.

Meanwhile, the control the Great Yin Capital exerted was getting increasingly weak, especially after the Weapon Grandmasters were severely wounded and forced into seclusion. Most local powers started to become semi-independent, basically becoming kings in their own areas. Powerful demons seized this opportunity to cause even more turmoil, ancient families appeared once more in public, and warlords even tried their best to gain control of lands.

The Great Yin Dynasty almost instantly became fragmented.

The most severe part was that the royal family in the Great Yin Capital seemed to have a hand in this fragmentation as princes and princesses battled for power. The conflict had reached an extremely dangerous point.

In such chaotic times, Lu Sheng’s Prime Devil Sect actually became a prosperous and peaceful place in Moling Prefecture.

A power that could repel the Devil Army and wouldn’t extort private properties of citizens or increase taxes for no reason was, of course, very popular.

The reputation and influence of the Prime Devil Sect, in turn, started to expand into several neighboring prefects, and vast amounts of Demon and human fugitives flocked to them to avoid the war.

***

The autumn breeze was slightly chilly, while the sky was just beginning to brighten.

In the courtyard of the Lu Family Mansion, Lu Sheng stood in front of an old gum tree with his hands behind his back, admiring the beautiful scene of blooming flowers it weaved with its branch.

The face of an elderly man appeared on the old gum tree’s pitch-black trunk, its expression peaceful and tranquil. Two of its branches were holding a brush like a human hand, lightly painting on a canvas in front of him.

About half an hour later, his branches stopped.

“Sect Master, the painting is ready.”

The old gum tree’s voice was booming and low-pitched, reminiscent of a boulder rolling on the ground.

Lu Sheng focused his mind on it, and saw that the canvas was filled with a dense yet detailed swath of at least several hundred kinds of blooming flowers.

“The blooming of one hundred flowers, though truly delicate, lacks a certain charm.” He shook his head in regret.

“True. 10 years ago, I watched the Sage of Painting Pengfei Zi practice his craft day and night. I thought I had learned the essence of his skill, but ultimately, I still lacked the most crucial part.” The old gum tree sighed in resignation.

He joined the Prime Devil Sects three years ago. He had a peaceful and mild manner, and combined with the fact that he was an experienced and old man even by Demon standards, Lu Sheng let him stay after finding out that he was able to answer most of the questions he asked.

“Elder Huai, have you found a solution to the trouble I asked you to consider?” Lu Sheng s.h.i.+fted his attention onto the old gum tree again.

“Sect Master’s physical strength is truly rare in this world… This is the first time Old Huai has seen someone other than peak level Great Demons cultivate his body to such a point, especially a human at that. Though, I did come up with a way.”

“Oh?” Lu Sheng was instantly ecstatic. His mind, long since stabilized from cultivating the Essence Cultivating Technique, was even getting excited.

“If Elder Huai could kindly share it with me.” He was always respectful toward experienced and kind elders. Every little part of the rich experience they shared was a rare and precious treasure for Lu Sheng.

Elder Huai laughed softly.

“Sect Master is too kind. This is the only thing Old Huai can do for you anyway. Sect Master’s problem lies in the fact that his esteemed wife’s body is too fragile, and could not bear his seed.

“We have two solutions. One, allow the lady to cultivate an equally powerful technique, but with the lady’s potential… this will not work.

“As for the second…”

“What about the second?” Lu Sheng raised his brows in antic.i.p.ation.

“The second isn’t really a secret. Has Sect Master thought about why there are so many records and legends of Great Demons producing heirs even though their physical bodies were as strong as yours?” Elder Huai questioned back.

“Indeed.” Lu Sheng thought about this. He knew his place, and even though his body had reached a peak after integrating the Ultimate Eight-Headed Devil Way and was extremely dominant, it was still about equal in strength with peak level Divine Lord and Great Demons.

His physical body had reached its peak. The improvement through Infinity Technique took a different path—the Yin Flame—and didn’t include tampering with the body.

“Because of that, I talked to many of my old friends, and finally traded for a secret from an old acquaintance who was also a Great Demon.”

“Please tell.” Lu Sheng’s expression turned solemn.

“Among the circle of Great Demons, there exists a technique called the Heavenly Demon’s Blooming Channel Technique, made specifically for softening one’s essence and diluting it to the point where it is no longer offensive and enough to nourish one’s partner.

“According to a legend, it was creatively designed by a Divine Lord level Great Demon who fell in love with a mortal.

“Do you have it?” Lu Sheng asked instantly.

“This technique really isn’t precious, as it is a common knowledge among the Great Demons. No need to be impatient, Sect Master, I will teach you right now,” Elder Huai replied with a smile.

Lu Sheng calmed his heart, and let out a sigh of relief.

Since Death Blaze didn’t seem to have any hope of improving any time soon, he had spent all his energy on improving his Infinity Technique and the issue of procreation.

Chen Yunxi hadn’t divorced with him yet. Even if the Great Yin might be a liberal place, it wasn’t easy for a divorced woman to find another husband.

Lu Sheng improved the Yin Crane Net within Chen Yunxi with Yang Essence to prolong her life, and temporarily solved the problem.

But procreation was always a dire problem for the Lu Family. As the head of the Lu Family and the sect master of the Prime Devil Sect, he would need to produce an heir.

Lu Hongying and Lu Yingying were both mortals, and would take forever to even cultivate to Bind level, let alone inherit the position of head of the family.

Lu Sheng only left one Divine Weapon to guard the Lu Family Mansion and irradiate his relatives, but the process was extremely slow, and had no effect in such a short period.

Other than that, everything else was stable. In the World of Pain, Lu Sheng was deeply trusted by s.h.i.+zi Xing, and had basically become her right hand when it came to taking care of the various tasks within the cult district.

He even had the power to utilize all of Black Society’s resources in Moling Prefecture, which inflated his power even further.

That meant he had plenty of time to solve this procreation issue.

How could he say no as a man?

It would be a great tragedy if he cultivated into a eunuch.

Luckily, he finally found a solution, and could resolve the situation with Chen Yunxi.

Elder Huai started describe the Heavenly Devil’s Blooming Channel Technique. Since it was written in the language of the Demons, he had to explain the fundamental workings of it word by word.

After learning the technique, Lu Sheng activated it for a moment, and instantly felt the drastic weakening of the metabolism of his body.

It was designed specifically for suppressing the metabolism of his body.