Way of the Devil

Panda Novel

Processing the white thread fungi was easy. There were only 13 steps involved. Then, all that was left was to soak them using a certain method.

For a real beginner, it might have been difficult to remember every single step. However, for Lu Sheng, remembering these steps was a simpler task than breathing with his extremely powerful Weapon Grandmaster spirit.

Tu Jin had only demonstrated it once, and he had already remembered everything. However, in order not to arouse suspicion, he asked many questions and had Tu Jin demonstrate it again before attempting to process them himself.

After he processed one fungus, Tu Jin was slightly shocked, but he nodded with satisfaction.

“Finish processing all these in two days. There won’t be a problem, right? They must all be of this quality at least,” he said, pointing at Lu Sheng’s product.

“No problem.” Lu Sheng nodded.

Just as well. He needed some time to investigate his surroundings.

Three days were enough for him.

After Tu Jin gave his order, he turned around and left. Lu Sheng was left processing the white thread fungi in the hut alone.

He continued working from the morning until the afternoon. The fat girl Chenchen had brought him some food. Lu Sheng quickly finished his meal, and continued processing the white thread fungi again.

When he practiced martial arts back then, he had also processed many medicinal herbs. This process was no challenge to him.

He continued processing the herbs slowly until the night. Although Lu Sheng tried his best to dally, he still managed to finish processing the white thread fungi already.

He slowed his pace as much as possible, but the results still surpassed his expectations.

During the night, Tu Jin went out to buy some groceries. When he opened the door to the ingredients room, the processed white thread fungi were lined up neatly in the room. Every single fungus was packed in a small wooden box. They were all processed as he had asked. The end products were of similar quality.

“You… did all this?” Tu Jin stood at the door and stared at Lu Sheng.

“Mm-hm. Fruits of the day’s labor. Are they up to your expectations?” Lu Sheng asked in a casual tone.

Tu Jin glanced at him and fell silent for a while. He only spoke slowly after a long pause. “They are…”

“In that case, can I be your assistant?” Lu Sheng asked with a smile.

Tu Jin gave it some thought. “Do you know how to brew simple medicine?”

“A little.”

“Good. Starting from tomorrow, you’ll help me brew medicine.” After he said this, he turned around, and left the room.

Lu Sheng smiled. This was a good start.

Early next morning, Tu Jin dragged a cart of medicinal herbs behind him, seemingly with ease, and went out. His usual activity was to leave early in the day and return at night.

Lu Sheng had also received a few tasks—brewing the medicine. It was easy for him. With his spirit’s power, it was a simple feat to sense the completion of the medicine and the strength of the fire.

After he finished his tasks, he started looking around the wooden hut and strolled in its surroundings.

Libra City suppressed the spirit’s senses greatly. His Weapon Grandmaster’s spirit could only cover an area of several dozen meters. Ordinary cultivators might not even be able to separate their spirits from their bodies.

However, this was already sufficient for Lu Sheng.

He found out where he was exactly in no time.

The location of Tu Jin’s hut was called Net Dragon Horn. Rumor had it that someone caught a dragon with a divine net in this area a long time ago. Due to the topography of the land which resembled a horn, the people started referring to this place as the Net Dragon Horn.

This area was somewhat remote. There was only a single sect to the west, the Scarlet Cloud Sect. It was the martial sect closest to this place.

Lu Sheng had also found out about the mode of existence of this Libra City.

Libra City was actually an immense organization formed by the gathering of a group of merchants and ascetic cultivators. The merchants believed in absolute equality, while the ascetic cultivators believed in absolute justice and fairness.

Both parties complemented each other, and they built a relatively fair environment. As a result, they attracted more and more rogue cultivators to join their ranks. The descendants of the rogue cultivators even started to settle down and live here.

Several hundred thousand years later, it gradually became a small independent world.

From the elderly who lived nearby, Lu Sheng learned that the most respected individuals of Libra City were those who stayed in the main city. Other than the main city, the inhabitants of the four wards were all second-class citizens. They were the weaker members of society whose role was to provide various services and resources to the people of the main city.

Here, the identity jade certificate was the most important document one could have. Without it, it was difficult to go anywhere.

From the conversations of the people around him, Lu Sheng could see their desire and wish to live in the main city.

However, the amount of contribution points needed to become a citizen of the main city was shockingly high. Only those who became cultivators and involved themselves in extraterrestrial campaigns would earn many contribution points.

After having a general idea of the situation here, Lu Sheng continued processing the herbs and brewing the medicine. Everything went smoothly.

At that moment, a letter that came from afar immediately made Tu Jin feel helpless.

The letter was intended for his daughter and great disciple.

His great disciple Decheng had invited Chenchen to join the Scarlet Cloud Sect. Now that the scarlet goldfish monsters were wreaking havoc, the Scarlet Cloud Sect was summoning its disciples to gather and repel the onslaught of the scarlet goldfish monsters.

The two of them were worried that Tu Jin would not allow them to leave. Hence, they left the letter behind and went away. When Tu Jin realized this, he was so furious that he could not eat any food for two days.

Fortunately, De Yun was there to help. With his and Lu Sheng’s persuasion, Tu Jin gradually got over his anger.

However, the once lively wooden hut’s courtyard was now silent.

The days passed, and Lu Sheng finally received the identity jade certificate which Tu Jin helped apply for. However, he needed more contribution points if he wanted to earn the temporary residence rights.

In total, he had earned 13 points, all of which was from processing the medicinal herbs. They were given to him by Tu Jin.

13 points enabled him to stay here for slightly more than a month.

Naturally, in this period of leisure, Lu Sheng kept being Tu Jin’s assistant while learning his methods of healing the various ailing organs.

The outstanding qualities of the Tu Style Healing Art were shown to him in no time.

This Healing Art which had been passed down for many generations had two greatest specialties.

The first one was the three great limitations of the secret art, which Tu Jin kept going on and on about.

The second one was that it was a Healing Art which mainly dealt with organ transplantation.

With the Tu Style Healing Art’s unique cultivation method and skill formulas, the cultivator could cultivate the special energy of the auxiliary Healing Art. This energy was not offensive in nature, and its healing properties were similar to the other cultivation methods which had healing effects.

After Lu Sheng understood the Tu Style’s main system, he immediately knew that this could be extremely helpful to his own martial art system.

This was the main reason why he was willing to stay here so patiently.

He had searched the inside and outside of the wooden hut. Even when Tu Jin was not here, Lu Sheng could not locate the core skill formula here. He attempted Psychological Guidance Healing Art, but to no avail. Hence, he gave up on the notion of leaving after obtaining the cultivation method.

Unfortunately, although he was very interested in the Tu Style Healing Art, Tu Jin had to be willing to teach him. Without any other options available to himself, Lu Sheng waited for an opportunity.

Time passed slowly by. In the blink of an eye, it had been more than a month.

…

Tu Jin was extremely gloomy.

He was dejected that nobody was interested in learning about all that he knew in this generation. This was the greatest mockery for his Tu Style Healing Art.

The powerful healing art which he took pride in seemed to be a relic of the past in this generation, forgotten by the times.

He sat within the wooden hut’s main room. With his cigarette holder in hand, he kept smoking.

De Yun was dealing with a pot of bubbling thick red medicinal liquid to his right.

Lu Yue[1. Lu Sheng’s alias here iirc.] was to his left. He was processing a batch of extremely precious leaves of the red sandalwood flower.

Tu Jin sighed, and asked, “I’ll need both of you to help me today to deal with something troublesome. Do you still remember the Little Cloud Origin Law I mentioned yesterday?”

“Yes.”

“No.”

Lu Yue and De Yun had two starkly contrasting answers. Tu Jin rubbed his eyes helplessly.

Initially, he could bear with De Yun’s stupidity, but since Lu Yue became his assistant, there was a cause for comparison. Hence, De Yun’s lower mental capacity was more glaring now.

Lately, he had to process an extremely important wild medicinal herb. Hence, he required his two assistants to have greater qualities and skills. That was why he tried to show them a plain skill of the Tu Style Healing Art.

However, to his dismay, De Yun was as exceptionally dumb as he had been, while Lu Yue was far cleverer than he had expected.

Tu Jin started considering if he should regard Lu Yue as a heir to his healing art as well.

In truth, he had been trying to recruit disciples who were willing to learn the healing art in the area. Unfortunately, nobody was willing to come.

The extremely high difficulty aside, cultivating the Tu Style Healing Art required repetitive practice for the cultivator to master the most fundamental skills.

Even if one managed to learn it, with the same amount of time and energy, the benefits one would gain were a far cry compared to cultivating martial arts.

A few young people had been tricked before this. They had cultivated for two years, but could not even attain the first level of the healing art.

Their peers who joined martial art sects were already capable of breaking rocks and splitting stones. They were already accepting missions and collecting bounties, and supported their families.

On the other hand, they had spent quite an amount of ice money to learn this healing art.

This was a scam!

After that, nobody wanted to come and learn the healing art of their own volition anymore. As time passed, even Tu Jin’s own great disciple and daughter did not want to learn it.

Hence, his main concern now was not whether to teach it or not, but if anyone was willing to learn it.

Tu Jin sighed, and glanced at Lu Yue.

‘I’ll ask him after this. Young people nowadays… they’re too fickle and impatient… What’s bad about my healing art? You can help the wounded and the fallen. My wife had been saved with this very art many years ago…’

“Sir, the Little Cloud Origin Law seems to be meant specifically for meat excrescence internal herb. It’s only effective on meat excrescence less than 1000 years old, and it won’t work on older ones. I’ve read this in the herbology book you recommended to me last time. This ingredient of yours…” Lu Sheng reminded him softly.

“Oh? There’s such a thing?” Tu Jin himself did not even notice this detail. These days, he had been too busy with his various assignments.

When he was reminded by Lu Sheng, he was first shocked. After recalling his knowledge, he found that it was true.

“You’re right!” Tu Jin stood up and paced around the room. “Your reminder is timely. It’s true that the Little Cloud Origin Law can’t be used here. It’ll affect the potency of the product.”

Lu Sheng’s reminder seemed to have helped him reach a decision.

Tu Jin looked at Lu Sheng, and suddenly thought of an idea. He would disregard this kid’s willingness and force him to learn the healing art from him.

This kid’s residence rights in Libra City were dependent on him. If he was unwilling, he could refuse to extend his stay.

When he thought about this, Tu Jin immediately felt relieved. This might actually work.