Way of the Devil

‘Finally, it’s time to open the door.’

Lu Sheng summarized what he gained from his recent experience. He calmed himself down, focused his spirit, and held his breath.

His consciousness slowly slipped into an ethereal, effervescent realm.

He quickly saw the door of the limit.

It was a great black door with two savage-looking bat-like creatures perched on top.

The door was in the deepest parts of his consciousness. All the essence of what he’d learnt was carved on the door in densely packed rows.

The essence of the Infinity Technique was converted into simple runes that were engraved on the door.

The lower bodies of the two bat-like monsters were merged with the door. They seemed to be the guardians here.

Lu Sheng slowly got close and raised his hand. He wanted to touch the door.

“Hiss!”

The two black bat-like monsters immediately hissed furiously at him, baring their fangs.

‘What kind of conditions have to be met?’ Lu Sheng hesitated.

Nobody pointed out the way for him. Hence, when he was here, he had no idea what he should do.

At this moment, the bat on the left slowly said, “We’re the obstacles in your heart.”

“We are a part of you. There’s no point in suppressing us. You should use your heart to convince us,” the bat on the right continued after it.

“Convince the two of you?” Lu Sheng was stunned. He had not expected there to be such an obstacle to overcome to rank up to a Weapon Grandmaster. Could he not overcome this by brute force alone?

“In that case, how should I convince the two of you to let me pass?” Lu Sheng questioned.

“I’m the beast side of you,” said the left bat in a sharp voice.

“I’m the devil side of you,” said the right bat in exactly the same voice.

“Together, we’re you!” said the two bats at the same time.

“…” Lu Sheng.

“What about my human side?” He was immediately amused. “Are you telling me that the complete me is just a devil beast?”

“Do you think that you still have any humanity left? Give it up, you’ve been a devil beast for a long time now,” the devil-side bat chided him.

“Impossible.” Lu Sheng shook his head slightly. “I can still feel it in the depths of my heart. I’m still a human. No matter how many forms I take, I’m still a human.”

“So, tell us. What is the definition of a human to you? Is it the form of a human, or is it a human heart?” asked the beast-side bat in its sharp voice. “If you’re only looking at the heart, then how is a human different from other intelligent life forms? You’ve consumed so many devils and other species. From a certain point of view, how are they different from humans? Are you sure that you weren’t consuming humans?”

When faced with that question, even Lu Sheng fell silent. In truth, he could sense that these bats were not wrong in what they said. They were actually him, they were a part of him. Rather than viewing this as him being barred by them, he was the one who was stopping himself here. He had not completely persuaded himself and faced his own distracting thoughts.

“If you’re only looking at the outer appearance, then your current main body is no longer human. Are you still a human? Really?” the devil-side bat chimed in.

“Isn’t desire the nature of life? Go and let loose. Throughout the entire Nine Bright Province, there are countless humans and demons under your protection. You can have a go at any of them that catch your fancy. This includes your cousins in the Lu Manor, Lu Qingqing and Lu Yiyi, your disciple… all the members of the opposite gender in the Autumn Moon County are yours for the taking. If you grow tired of them, you can just eat them up to replenish your nutritional requirements. There won’t be any waste.”

“You’re the master here. Nobody can stop you if you do what you want. Free yourself from the shackles of your heart and follow the most primal of your desires.”

The two bats spoke in lower and lower voices. They sounded more and more tempting.

“Go and find the deepest desires of your heart. Let it out, satisfy it… You’ll soon discover that the world is like a gourmet course before your very eyes. You’ll learn that after doing away with responsibilities, logic, and morals, everything will become wonderful…”

Lu Sheng drew a deep breath. His eyes started to slip into a daze.

“Yes… My power is unbelievably powerful. What’s wrong with satisfying myself once in a while? The weak are meant to serve the strong… I’m the overlord of everything…”

“Yes… Go ahead… It’s meaningless to keep suppressing yourself. Go and find everything that you want most…” the two bats tempted in their soft voices. “Enjoy… Wreak havoc…”

As their voices resounded, Lu Sheng’s body started to shift.

Six sharp, threaded dark red horns grew from the top of his head. Fierce-looking, peculiar flame patterns surfaced on his skin.

“Pcchht!”

A pair of black feathered wings spread out from the sides of his arms. Shortly after, a thick black spiked tail grew out from behind him.

“Hahahaha!” The bats laughed shrewdly.

“See that? This is who you really are! The real you— ah!”

“Bam!”

The two bats were suddenly held by two big hands which covered their mouths.

“Rip.”

The two bats were directly torn away from the door. They were stuffed into Lu Sheng’s huge open mouth, skin and blood. They were swallowed in a matter of seconds.

“What a noisy pair…”

Lu Sheng sucked on his fingers and looked at the great door before him again.

‘I feel like I’ve eaten something that I shouldn’t…’ He felt a slight pain from the depths of his heart as if something was being torn apart.

‘Oh well, what’s use of thinking about it? Didn’t they want me to follow my deepest desires? My current deepest desire right now is to rank up. Since they were in my way, they were practically asking for it.’

He quickly walked up to the door. He gave it a push, but the door stayed put.

He quickly saw a row of words in the Language of E appearing on the door.

‘You can only push away everything with your heart.’

“My heart…” Lu Sheng seemed to have understood something.

He stretched out both hands and looked at his ten fingers which were as sharp as blades. He looked at his pitch-black armor of scales as well. It was reflecting everything around him like a mirror.

“My heart…”

He closed his eyes slowly.

He replayed the scenes from since he came to this world. Everything that happened, his experiences, his struggles.

Hesitation, despair, dilemma, pain.

Struggle, distortion, madness, fury, and… destruction.

From the Nine Links City to the Autumn Moon County, everything that happened in between replayed in his mind like a movie.

“So… I’ve never forgotten…” Without him noticing it, his face was already streaked with tears.

When he opened his eyes again, all that was left of the great door which stood before him were the two final pieces in his hands—he had eaten the rest.

“I…” Lu Sheng could not help but grip the final two black fragments. Tears blurred his eyes. “I… when did I f*cking eat this?!”

This was bad. He could say goodbye to ranking up. He had accidentally consumed the Boundary Door!

It tasted… good?!

“Bam!”

The final two biscuit-like fragments completely exploded, and were reduced to nothingness.

‘This seaweed-flavored door… Oh no! I’ve f*cking followed my deepest desires, and now the door is gone! What am I supposed to do now?!’ Lu Sheng did not know whether he should cry or laugh. He had been looking forward to ranking up to a Weapon Grandmaster for so long, yet he had ruined it just like that.

He suddenly felt that something was wrong with his surroundings.

‘Shouldn’t I be kicked out from the depths of my spirit? The Boundary Door has clearly disappeared.’ Lu Sheng snapped back to the present and took a look at his surroundings.

He was still surrounded by darkness. However, there seemed to be something floating and dispersing slowly within the darkness.

Lu Sheng drew a deep breath to calm his emotions. He started exploring this space in his heart.

There seemed to be something supporting his feet in the dark.

“Tap… tap… tap…”

Crisp footsteps resounded throughout this space.

He had no idea how long he had been walking.

Suddenly, everything brightened up before him.

He felt as if he had just walked out of a pitch-black alley. There was a deserted but well-lit street before him.

Lu Sheng stopped in his tracks and looked behind. The alley was pitch-black and deep. It led to where he came from.

A streetlight that was more than three meters in height stood before him. Its pale yellow light shone on a silent path flanked by grass.

The path was grayish white in color. Rubble and bits of grass were strewn across it.

“This is…” Lu Sheng was stunned. His pupils dilated and contracted.

“The road… near my house…” He stood among the darkness and cast his gaze beyond the streetlight. He looked far beyond it.

A row of modern residential houses with red roofs and white walls vaguely appeared. The eight-story residential building was slightly battered with some parts of the wall’s coating peeling off, revealing the gray concrete underneath.

He was silent for some time. He walked slowly out of the darkness. He passed the streetlight and went right toward the residential building in which his home was.

‘Building number 17… Apartment number 503?’ An old memory welled up in his heart.

Lu Sheng followed the sense of familiarity in the depths of his memory. He walked into the area along an empty path and slowly came to the building in which his apartment was located.

Other than the streetlights, the buildings in the area were pitch-black without any light. There was no sound, either. Other than his hollow footsteps, there was no other movement.

Lu Sheng quickly shrunk his body to the size of an ordinary human. Then, he walked along the pitch-black corridor and quickly went up to the fifth floor.

The pitch-black corridor was deserted and cold. It felt as if the stairs continued endlessly above and below him.

Lu Sheng stood before the security door. He reached out a hand and placed it lightly on the ice-cold door.

Everything was too real. It was as if he had actually returned to Earth, to the time before he traveled to another world. If it were not for the abnormal surroundings, Lu Sheng would have thought that he had actually returned to Earth.

“Clack.”

The door opened. To the current Lu Sheng, all he had to do was to use a bit of his Devil Qi to unlock the door.

However, the scene beyond the door was not an empty house as he had first expected. A big, tall square-faced guy with a gentle smile was standing at the door with his eyes fixed on Lu Sheng. At the same time, the man barred the entrance.

Lu Sheng silently stared at this person in the dark. The familiar face of this person was one which he had looked at in the mirror for more than 30 years.

Other than being slightly paler, this person looked exactly as his memory of himself on the day before he traveled to another world. He had just come home from work.

‘What’s the meaning of this?’ Lu Sheng reached out and wanted to touch this man’s face.

In no time, his fingertips touched this man’s skin. However, what he felt was an ice-cold and hard sensation.

He quickly placed a finger under the man’s nostrils.