Way of the Devil

Panda Novel

“Morning, Father. I’ve been awake for a long time.” Lu Sheng nodded. He stood to the side as he silently observed Luo Di practicing his swordplay.

After observing for a while, he noticed that this body’s father Luo Di had extremely messy sword skills—every stroke of his sword erupted with a force that was slightly stronger than an ordinary man.

Although the difference was not much, in a fight to the death, the slight difference in strength and agility would be as great as the difference between the heavens and the earth—between life and death.

Also, Lu Sheng noticed that this father had a great endurance. He was almost in his fifties, yet he was able to maintain such a strong physique. He had to have possessed some secret within his body.

After finishing his messy swordplay, Luo Di heaved a sigh. He returned the slightly mottled silver chopper into its sand skin scabbard.

“What’s the matter, Ah Sang? I thought you couldn’t stand the sight of me training with the blade? I’m surprised that you showed such patience today. I heard something fall inside your room. Are you alright?” Luo Di asked in detail.

“I’m alright, Father.” Lu Sheng shook his head. His expression was slightly tired. “It’s just that… I’m having nightmares again. I’m not in a very good mood…”

“It’s alright, everything will be fine.” Luo Di walked up to him and ruffled Lu Sheng’s hair with a gentle expression.

“Alright, let’s go have breakfast. It’s already prepared on the table.”

“Alright.” Lu Sheng nodded.

The two of them walked into the living room in single file, and sat down at a rectangular stone table. The black stone table was ice cold and hard. When Lu Sheng’s elbows brushed the sides of the table, he felt a bone-chilling cold.

Lu Sheng sat down. On a ceramic plate before him, there was a dark yellow sludge that seemed like mud. It carried the aroma of beef mixed with potatoes, and there seemed to be pepper and chili mixed with it as well.

He had taken another look at Luo Di’s notebook yesterday. It was only a peek. He even returned everything to its original position, and did not leave a single trace behind.

Although Luo Sang’s temperament had room for improvement, he took care of these details quite well. He even wiped away his fingerprints carefully.

According to the notebook’s contents, Luo Di would soon be preparing to leave the manor to exact revenge on the town.

He did not intend to bring his son with him. Hence, he said nothing about this to Luo Sang.

Currently, Luo Di sat silently in his chair. He scooped a big spoonful of mashed potatoes, sending them into his mouth. He occasionally took a sip from the cup of milk on the side.

He did not wipe his sweat nor wash his hands. The living room was filled with a strong sweaty odor.

Lu Sheng sized Luo Di up secretly. He knew that this cheap[1. Not literally cheap. It’s sort of ‘darn’, carrying more irritation than intending to curse the person.] father would be leaving the manor soon. Although he was not sure when, he should be making preparations himself before his father left.

According to Luo Sang’s memories, the reason why Luo Di was able to repeatedly foil the town monsters’ attacks was—other than his resourcefulness—his crucial skill with the sword.

Although there were no special abilities behind his sword skills, they gave him powerful explosive force, flexibility, and enduring stamina.

At the same time Lu Sheng was sizing Luo Di up, Luo Di was also keeping an eye on his own son.

All this while, he had hoped that his son would be more mature. Perhaps one day he would be able to share his burden. However, with the passage of time, he noticed that his son had no interest in his skills.

Whether it was the poison-concocting skills he took the trouble to learn from a primeval tribe outside the country, or the Secret Medicine Sword Skill he learnt during his apprenticeship under the Gelailo Sword Style, he had attempted to teach his son, but the latter showed no reactions whatsoever.

However, starting from today, when he first laid eyes on Luo Sang, he noticed that his son’s gaze that had always fearfully scurried around had finally changed. In its place was an unexplainable calm and steadiness.

It seemed as if something had happened last night that changed his temperament greatly. It was as if he had some steady support in his heart.

Luo Di’s brows scrunched up slightly. He thought about his son’s social circle in detail.

Perhaps it was Jia Lin from the nearby Meise Manor? Or perhaps it was the daughter of the county’s tailor, Angel?

Other than those two, he could not think of anybody else that could suddenly toughen up his timid son.

“Although I don’t know what happened last night, but I like the way your eyes look now,” said Luo Di drily.

Lu Sheng was stunned. He did not expect this Luo Di to have such sharp eyes.

“The officers from the police station have been here.” He paused for a moment before speaking according to Luo Sang’s memories. “They said that they’re investigating the sudden disappearance of de Carron.

“Now that’s some big news.” Luo Di smiled. “The world is always so dangerous. Even the tax collector can be harmed. As a manor lord, you can’t hope to rely on the tenants who only know how to use shovels and wood splitters. So, do you want to learn a move or two from your old man?”

He had found a method that could probably isolate the mark on his son. If that succeeded, he was prepared to leave this place and go exact vengeance on his own.

If he succeeded, he would return and spend the rest of his days with his son. If he failed, then he would bring with him all the pain and grudges of the past. He would bury it all along with the town. He would not allow Luo Sang to carry the same burden on his shoulders.

However, his preparations were not complete yet. He would have to delay his plans slightly as he ran out of doubles recently. Those monsters might come running up his doorstep at any moment. He still had some preparations to take care of regarding the nearest double. He would have to make a trip in a few days to lure the monsters away for a while.

“Learn that ordinary sword skill of yours that doesn’t seem to have any flair to it?” Lu Sheng said with a frown as he mimicked Luo Sang’s tone.

“It is bland, but it’s practical,” Luo Di responded with a smile.

“Is it?” Lu Sheng muttered to himself for a moment. “How does it compare to Jake’s Imperial Sword Skill?”

Jack was a childhood friend of his. Because of his family’s poverty, he was sent to serve in the imperial army at the age of 12. He trained and trained since he joined the reserve troops. He was now in his twenties, and was already the deputy to the town’s garrison chief of the nearby Sunset Army.

According to Luo Sang’s memories, Jack’s Imperial Sword Skill was not one that used rapiers, which was the norm of the traditional Eastern sword styles. Instead, he wielded a great sword which had the width of a palm, and was heavy enough to hack a person. The Imperial Sword Skill was the basic military sword skill taught in the army. The moves were simple, but they were lethal enough.

“The Imperial Sword Skill is useful in battle formations. It’s fine if you’re trying to punch through enemy lines, but if it’s one-on-one, my sword skill will be more practical,” Luo Di replied gently with a smile. He did not give details about which skill is more powerful.

“So, do you think that I can make it if I learn it now?” Lu Sheng asked again.

“Of course you can.” When Luo Di saw his son finally relenting, he was immediately delighted. He had always wanted his son to inherit his skills; unfortunately, Luo Sang had no interest in them at all. Luo Di had brought this topic up countless times, and Luo Sang would always intentionally change the topic.

He did not expect his son to respond to him directly this time.

“Since you’re only aiming to protect yourself and not more, the hardening of your joints and tendons might pose some restrictions, but they won’t be much of a problem,” he responded seriously after giving it some thought. “However, if you want to learn, it’s best that you learn the entire thing. Sword skills, shooting skills, riding skills, you’ll learn them all. You shouldn’t wait until your old man is too old to move. It’ll be too late to teach you then.”

Lu Sheng was not overly interested in the others. The real thing that he was interested in was Luo Di’s sword skill. It enabled an ordinary human to surpass the limits of the human body. Although it was just a little, this sword skill surely had its own exceptional qualities.

If he wanted to settle Luo Sang’s karma, the best way was not to use his main body. He would have to use this physical body and the system that was most compatible with this world to finish everything.

After all, if he utilized his main body, even though the matter could be immediately taken care of, he would most certainly be rejected by this world and forced to leave. He would be wasting another Arrival.

Hence, he had to discover what the main energy system of this world was. From the looks of his cheap father Luo Di, there was a high probability that this sword skill contained some secrets.

Lu Sheng seemed to be thinking about something. At this moment, he snapped back to the present, raised his head, and finally answered solemnly, “I’ve decided. I want to learn the sword skill.”

“For real?!” Luo Di straightened his back. He looked at his own son sternly. “You must understand that learning a sword skill is an extremely difficult task.

“I know.” Lu Sheng nodded.

Luo Di was silent for a moment. “Let’s have breakfast first.”

The father and son kept quiet, and started eating their mashed potatoes in silence.

Ten minutes later, the two of them went out of the manor, and walked to a small patch of ground surrounded by a fence.

The ground was surrounded by light red trees on all sides. Their leaves rustled in the wind.

Luo Di brought Lu Sheng to the empty space, then reached behind him and drew out his blade.

“Since you’ve decided to seriously learn this, I won’t hold anything back. The sword skills that I’m about to teach you originate from the Fanna Empire’s Gelailo Sword Style. This set of sword skills is powerful and suitable for one-on-one combat. It’s most suitable to be used with a double-edged straight blade, with a weight that shouldn’t be too heavy for you to swing with both arms…”

He wielded his blade and chopped forward with a heavy swing.

“Swoosh!”

The blade drew a silver arc in front of Lu Sheng’s eyes. It moved very quickly. He hastily pretended to be startled, and took two steps backward.

“Don’t be afraid. The Gelailo Sword Skill’s greatest advantage lies in how you send out your strength. It’s a question of how to unleash the strongest slash without injuring your tendons and bones. This is the main development direction of the Gelailo Sword Skill. Come, we’ll start with this hacking move. I’ll teach you the form and how you should exert force…”

Luo Di started teaching his son the real secrets of the Gelailo Sword Skill.

Lu Sheng listened intently. With Luo Di’s detailed explanations, he quickly understood this sword style’s actual pattern.

This sword style did not emphasize moves. Instead, it emphasized strength and speed. Its creators had researched many skills and training methods which could increase one’s strength and speed. Starting from the user, the style sought to discover the human body’s limits in strength and speed.

Due to them being different worlds, the composition of Luo Sang’s physical body was actually completely different to the human bodies of the other worlds. This was the key point why the other systems did not work well in this world.

However, this sword skill was completely compatible with this world’s Laws and system.

According to Luo Di’s explanation of the Gelailo Sword Style, the sword style was divided into three tiers.

The first one was Practiced Hand. As the name suggested, it was to familiarize oneself with the various techniques. One could be regarded as an expert in actual combat.

The second tier was Independent Hand. This meant that the user was able to summarize and fuse the sword style’s skills and formulate the most suitable skill for the user. From there, the user would develop and unleash his own sword skills to the extreme. An Independent Hand was considered an expert in the sword style. Purely with that skill and experience, an Independent Hand could be considered an elite. A single Independent Hand could take on two or three opponents at a time. That was the kind of level this was.

An Independent Hand was required to meet certain standards in strength and speed aside from skill and experience. According to Lu Sheng’s judgement, Luo Di should be in this tier.

The third tier was Great Master. At this tier, the user would no longer be restricted by the sword style’s skills. They understood the theories behind the skills, and had reached an extremely high level in both strength and speed. They were able to adjust their body at all times to keep it in its best condition. Whether it was their skill or body, they were in a complete state, free from flaws or shortcomings.

This was the Great Master tier, the peak of the human existence.

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