Way of the Devil

"That's right… She's lord Zhuang Jiu's biological mother… Also, if I'm not mistaken, you might be lord Zhuang Jiu's younger brother, who he's often mentioned, incarnate!"

"What!?" Lu Sheng bulged his eyes. His aura started fluctuating. "Good sir, are you sure that you're not joking with me?"

"Do you think I'm so bored that I'd joke about such matters?" Ju Ye sighed and waved his hand. "Alas… Now that lord Zhuang Jiu's body was obliterated, and his spirit was destroyed, there's no way to prove this…"

"Hold on!" Lu Sheng's hand suddenly shot up. His face started paling swiftly.

"You're telling me, lord Zhuang Jiu… Big Brother Zhuang Jiu, his... spirit was destroyed!?"

Ju Ye's expression froze. He looked at Lu Sheng's slightly shocked and incredulous gaze. He hesitated slightly, but eventually nodded solemnly.

When Lu Sheng saw him confirm this, his entire person seemed to have been shocked dumb. He bit his lip softly, took a deep breath, and lowered his head. He retracted the dagger he had readied inside his sleeve.

"Big Brother Zhuang… He said that he'll bring me Arriving in the Other Worlds. He even gave me a secret crystal to enlighten my Heart…"

"You…" Ju Ye sighed as well. In truth, among the Shadow Play Assassins, a small group of them, himself included, had been in Zhuang Jiu's care. There were many from the Ghost Borneo World who felt saddened by Zhuang Jiu's demise.

"Forget it. Just live a good life here. Now that lord Zhuang Jiu has passed away, the higher-ups are furious, and want to see what he schemed in this stellar zone. To think that it was because of you." Ju Ye gave some explanation. "I'll act as if I didn't find you. I'll personally verify your story after this to find proof to back your claims."

Lu Sheng closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Can you tell me, how… Big Brother Zhuang died?"

"It was a primal beast, the Eight-Headed Griffon," Ju Ye replied with puzzlement. He could sense the genuine emotions within Lu Sheng's spirit. He could sense the deep sadness that pervaded him, while the initial joy from discovering a long-lost kin had not faded.

There was no way he could fake such complicated emotions.

Shadow Play Assassins were born with the ability to read another person's emotions.

This was why he believed Lu Sheng. Nobody could lie to them.

Shadow Play Assassins could look for the greatest loophole in another person's emotions and assassinate them during that opportunity.

Whenever their target's emotions were unstable would be the crucial time for them to make their move.

Although he believed most of what Lu Sheng had said, he instinctively maintained his guard against him. He had to do some investigating before he could confirm his story.

"Alright, there's no use in your knowing these things. You're only at the Army Raising tier. If your tier is insufficient, it won't make any difference even if I told you more." Ju Ye muttered to himself for a while. "Don't tell anyone about my visit here. Also, don't tell anyone that you might be lord Zhuang Jiu's younger brother. I'll contact the others after this. If we manage to find proof, it'll mean a good thing for you."

Lu Sheng organized his emotions and nodded slightly.

"I understand. If Big Brother Zhuang is really my… Then his enemies and opponents won't let me go this easily."

"Mm-hm, it's good that you understand this." Ju Ye turned to look at Tu Jin and the others. He felt sheepish.

"As for them, I admit that I have acted rashly. Fortunately, things haven't got serious. Please pass on my apologies to them." He produced three small black boxes.

The boxes flew into Lu Sheng's hand on their own.

"These are Huangmeng Pills I produced myself. There's one pill in each box. It'll increase the lifespan of an ordinary person by 10 years. Take this as a token of my apology."

Lu Sheng was immediately astounded. "This might be too much…"

"It's alright. Treat this as my recompense for them. After all, I initially intended to kill them after this ordeal…" Ju Ye smiled bitterly.

"Alright, it's getting late. I'll be reporting back. Take this and keep it with you. If you're in a pinch, you can shatter it. I'll be able to lock on to its location and come to your rescue." He gave Lu Sheng a triangular silver pendant.

Lu Sheng took the gifts and put them away. "Thank you, Brother Ju Ye. I'll do as you say. Please be careful on your journey."

"Mm-hm. I'm a Shadow Play Assassin, leaping through the darkness is as easy as a pie for me. Most of the time, our opponents can't even catch our tails. You take care of yourself." Ju Ye's heart warmed up, and he patted Lu Sheng's shoulder.

"I know." Lu Sheng nodded.

"Well then, I'll be taking my leave." Ju Ye did not say anything else. The volume of information he got this time was slightly huge. It also had a great impact. He had to go back and meet up with his other companions as soon as possible.

Among the Purple Cloth Sect lord Zhuang Jiu established, if the secretly unstable figures learned that a Purple Crystal Tribesman was still alive in the world, they would most certainly be more careful.

However, the conflict between the world master and lord Zhuang Jiu was not something that anyone else could settle.

He had to inform the world master as soon as possible.

After Ju Ye told Lu Sheng everything he needed to know, he drew his hand across himself in the air. A huge rift ripped open before him.

He did not even wait for the rift to be completely open when he leapt. His entire body morphed into black light which plunged into the rift, and he disappeared.

The rift closed up again. Everything returned to normal.

Lu Sheng stood where he was. He glanced at the pendant in his hand as he looked at Ju Ye's receding back.

'Looks like I'll have to improve my strength swiftly. Confusion Realm… I'm almost there. I'll have to take care of my contribution points for now. Then, I'll go do business.'

He quickly checked on Tu Jin and the others. They were unharmed. Then, he gave them some treatment.

After he did everything, he laid them down to rest. He went around the surroundings to inspect them and set up some concealed alerting formations.

This way, he would be able to sense anyone who got near.

After he did all that, he waited for the others to wake up.

The three of them only woke up in the medical hall late in the night. As Lu Sheng explained the situation to them, Tu Jin felt at ease, though he still had his doubts.

Lu Sheng even invited him to live with him in the main city. Now that he was a main city's citizen, he had the right to bring his kin into the main city.

With his status of an ordinary citizen, he was allowed to bring five kin, no more.

To his dismay, Tu Jin and the others turned down his offer. They did not want to leave this place.

Lu Sheng did not force them. However, since Ju Ye's side had noticed something wrong with the incident, he was sure that there would still be repercussions. Lu Sheng was worried that they might eventually figure out that he was the one who'd provoked the Eight-headed Griffons.

He might not be able to hide that fact forever. After all, he thought that he had done a perfect job covering his tracks, yet someone had managed to get this information somehow.

Now, Lu Sheng dared not act too confidently in this regard.

After dealing with Ju Ye, he did not dare give the three of them the pills. He had to bring the pills back and run some tests.

After leaving Net Dragon Horn, Lu Sheng hurried back to the main city. Zhuang Jiu's Ghost Borneo World was sure to catch up to him sooner or later.

When that time came and they proved that he was not Zhuang Jiu's little brother, they might even be enraged from the shame and kill him on the spot.

Tu Jin's side might also be implicated. He had to think of a way no matter what.

After returning to the main city, Lu Sheng immediately went to the Iron Flag Council with his origin stone.

...

Iron Flag Council's personal dimension.

Lu Sheng quickly scanned the light screen in front of him. He was on the Market tab.

The section was divided into objects and information. He was browsing the information section. The information on stellar zones was very cheap.

The various common-sense information was just what he needed to fill in the gaps of his understanding about his surroundings.

Beep.

A ball of red light appeared beside him.

"You there? There's some trouble I'd like to ask for your help with. I'll owe you two." A blurry image of Mi Guangying's face appeared in the ball of light.

"What's it about?" Lu Sheng stopped browsing. He looked at the ball of light.

Recently, he had been in contact with Mi Guangying as he went about taking on missions.

He was a medical expert, and a highly skilled medical path grandmaster at that. Although there were many cultivation methods and special racial abilities that had healing properties, some special wounds could only be treated by doctors.

That was why Mi Guangying was willing to get on his good side.

"My uncle was afflicted by Mitian Guangzhen Poison. This poison is ranked the 124th in the ranking of deadly poisons. It's extremely troublesome—"

Lu Sheng cut her short. "Send me some samples of the poison. Also, how does the patient's blood sample look like? Are there any signs of decay or deterioration?"

"Everything's ready. I'll send a set to you," Mi Guangying said in a deep voice.

Her voice barely faded when a smaller red light ball shot out from the ball of light. The light ball hovered before Lu Sheng and morphed into a transparent glass vial the size of a thumb.

A slightly boiling fiery-red liquid was contained within the vial.

"This is the poison sample," Mi Guangying explained.

Then, another light ball floated down. A new vial appeared.

"This is the blood sample." The second vial was filled with blackish-purple goo which resembled mud. It seemed thick and viscous.

Lu Sheng merely glanced at them when he shook his head and spoke.

"He's done for. There's no cure."

"…Can you not be so direct? My uncle is still alive," said Mi Guangying helplessly after the initial shocked silence.

"Very well." Lu Sheng opened the vial containing the poison and took a whiff.

"The effects of this poison can be relieved, but I won't be able to come up with an antidote in a short amount of time."

"It's helpful enough to relieve it!" Mi Guangying immediately looked happy.

"I'll help you manage the toxicity, and I can double your uncle's current lifespan. However, I have a favor to ask of you," Lu Sheng muttered.

"What is it?"

"I'm going to issue a mission. How about you help me settle a problem?" asked Lu Sheng directly.

"How serious is your problem? How do I go about settling it?" Mi Guangying asked directly as well.

Lu Sheng did not answer her. Instead, he asked her a question. "How far is your place from here?"

"I'm not sure, but it's very far away. We might be a few galaxies apart. Why? You want me to kill someone for you?" Mi Guangying could immediately guess at Lu Sheng's intentions.

"That's right," Lu Sheng admitted immediately. "However, it's not as simple as killing the person. I want you to fetch someone. To put it simply, I want you to move people around. If you're in a situation where you must fight, then you should kill the opponent."

"That's easy. I have a huge friend. His racial ability enables him to carry about 10,000 individuals in his stomach. Is that enough?" Mi Guangying asked after giving it some thought.

"That should be enough." Lu Sheng nodded in confirmation. If Mi Guangying could transport people over to Libra City, it would be a good arrangement for the Prime Devil Sect and the other members of the Lu Family.

However, he would have to deal with the trouble from Ghost Borneo World before this.

"Also, I have a question for you," he spoke again in a calm voice. "Let's say you've gotten yourself into some serious trouble, and nobody knows that you're the perpetrator for now, but you're about to be found out now, and your opponents are much more powerful than you are. How would you get out of this pinch?"