Way of the Devil

Panda Novel

Three whole days were spent. This time, Lu Sheng was modifying Bai Songzi. He used his Great Clear Crane Enlightened Skill’s Pure Qi, incorporated it with spirit-prompting threads, and made fine tuning with surgical precision using his powerful spirit.

Bai Songzi’s modification was successfully completed. He had incorporated his spirit-prompting threads thrice throughout the process. He used up more than three threads every time.

Qi and blood cocooned Bai Songzi into a red orb of blood and flesh. It swelled and shrunk deep within the cave.

With his free time, Lu Sheng picked another strong white crane from the flock and modified it into a crane demon of the demon elite rank.

As of now, there were three demon elites among the white cranes now. Among them, Little Yun was almost at the demon general rank.

For a small Tribe such as this, they could be considered extremely powerful for just having a demon elite.

If they did not run into the demon-exorcising Taoists who had nothing better to do, these demon elites would be able to live peacefully for 1000 years.

This was how the 10,000-year-old demons came to be.

Lu Sheng reckoned that the Clear Crane Sect’s master, Longhe Zhi, and his junior apprentice brother and sister, had cultivation bases slightly superior to demon elites. It was possible that they were at the demon general rank.

With three crane demons as proof, he was sure that they would factor heavily on convincing them of his abilities.

In the blink of an eye, 10 days had passed. It was also time for the inspection which the Taoist had told him of.

Throughout the remaining days, Lu Sheng successfully created another crane demon elite. In addition to the existing crane demons, there were now four demons.

In this barren and remote land, they were already a Demon Tribe force to be reckoned with.

When the Taoist came, Lu Sheng was examining the health of two cranes. He was treating their internal injuries and venereal illnesses.

“Time’s up. Looks like there’s no need for an inspection to see if you’ve succeeded, Senior Apprentice Brother!” When the Taoist saw the crane flock strolling and drinking around Lu Sheng without a care, he could not help but exclaim with surprise.

Lu Sheng stood up with a smile, and said, “Since there’s no problem, I’ll get ready to meet the esteemed teacher and the other seniors.”

“Feel free, Senior Apprentice Brother. I’m going to unlock the formation’s seal right now,” said the Taoist with a bow.

“Alright, thank you.” Lu Sheng nodded and looked on as the Taoist left.

When the Taoist was no longer visible, he turned around and looked at the four demon cranes who walked out from the shadows.

“Little Zhen, Little Yun, Little Yu, Little Rong, it’s your turn now.”

“Rest easy, Father. We will surely give it our all!” The four crane demons were more than two meters tall. They had all shrunk their sizes with their demonic power.

They appeared no different from ordinary cranes. However, they could revert to their original size by releasing their demonic power at any time.

“Little Yun, you’ll stay here and look after the crane flock. The others, come with me.” Lu Sheng gave it some thought and left one crane demon behind. He brought the other three crane demons and hurried toward the Taoist tower.

…….

Before the Clear Crane Sect’s Taoist tower, a Taoist boy yawned as he placed a wooden bench beside the door where he sat and stayed guard.

The sun was setting, yet its rays were still warm. As the sun’s rays fell on his body, he could not help but feel drowsy.

Just when the Taoist boy was about to fall asleep, faint, crisp footsteps suddenly approached him from afar.

The Taoist boy lifted his head to look.

After a single glance, the Taoist boy’s eyes immediately widened. His mouth gaped open, and he had a blank look on his face.

Under the shine of the setting sun, a strong man brought three other big and tall strong men with crane heads along. They walked toward the Taoist tower.

“That… That’s…” Although the Taoist boy had never seen them before, he had heard the rumors. These monsters with animal heads and human bodies were certainly the legendary morphed demon elites!

“Mo… m-m-m-mo… The Taoist boy stammered as he stood up and shouted.

“Bang!”

Before he could even react, the other Taoist boy turned tail and ran.

“Sect Master! Sect Master!” another Taoist boy cried out as he dashed in.

Longhe Zhi was focusing on his calligraphy work when he suddenly heard the shouts. He was startled, and his hand shook. A huge drop of ink instantly splashed onto the white paper.

Linghe Zhi stood up, and angrily shouted, “What’s all the noise about!?”

A Taoist boy hastily knocked and came in.

“Sect Master, Senior Apprentice Brother Hezhen, who had just joined the sect, has returned… He… he…”

“He what? Say it!” Longhe Zhi placed his brush down, annoyed.

The Taoist boy stammered, and nearly could not speak coherently. “He… he brought… brought!”

Longhe Zhi was speechless. This kid had spent half a day[1. An exaggeration, of course.] standing there, yet he could not even form a complete sentence. He tugged the hem of his Taoist robe and strode out of the study.

He made it to the entrance of the courtyard and glanced outside. The color instantly drained from his face.

He stopped in his tracks, turned around, and quickly went back. He closed the door and quickly changed into his Taoist robes before he sounded the alarm bell.

“Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong!”

The entire Taoist tower was alerted in no time. Taoists big and small, young and old, wielded their spears, sabers, and rods as they charged forth to the main entrance as if a great enemy was upon them.

Sect Master Longhe Zhi wielded his bronze-handle horsetail whisk. He wore his purplish-gold Eight Trigrams Taoist robe. He reemerged from his study with an overbearing air.

Third Master Uncle Zheng Qingjian wielded his twin swords behind him with a stern expression.

They charged toward the main doors.

“Who goes there!?” Longhe Zhi demanded.

From the distance, the others could already see the three strong crane demons behind Taoist Hezhen.

Longhe Zhi had not taken a good look before. However, when he got closer this time, he clearly saw that these were three morphed white crane demons.

Three!?

Longhe Zhi’s heart skipped a beat. In terms of cultivation base, he should be able to handle two of the morphed crane demons himself. However, it was difficult to predict the outcome of an actual battle.

This was especially true of the Demon Tribe. Although they had many shortcomings, once they morphed, many of their shortfalls were removed, while their strong points were greatly enhanced.

Most of the time, morphed demons would turn their best talent into a demonic skill they were most familiar with.

Demon skills born under such conditions were usually more practical.

If they actually fought, cultivation base alone was not a good predictor of the outcome.

Longhe Zhi carefully glanced at his junior apprentice brother Zheng Qingjian beside him. At the moment, he could only hope that his junior brother could take on one of the crane demons. Otherwise…

He clearly remembered that there were only a few small demons in the area. It could already be considered an achievement to have a single demon elite here.

However, before his very eyes, three huge demon elites were standing at his doorstep… How did he not receive any warning?

Lu Sheng looked around himself and wore an apologetic smile.

“My apologies, Esteemed Teacher. These three aren’t enemies. I have something to discuss with you, Esteemed Teacher. I wonder if we could talk in private?”

From the looks of things alone, Lu Sheng knew that these people had mistaken his intentions. However, he could not expose his ability to create demons. Hence, he could not explain this to them openly.

Longhe Zhi studied Lu sheng carefully. After a long pause, he gestured for the men to put down their arms.

Lu Sheng made the three crane demons stay outside as he went into the study with his master for the discussion.

The three crane demons stood outside obediently. They stood guard solemnly as if they were guardian deities.

At this moment, many disciples had already recognized Lu Sheng. He was the direct disciple the sect master had recently accepted, Hezhen. He was also the Moon Prince’s son; he was a highborn.

The others looked on as the three crane demons followed Lu Sheng obediently. Currently, they were stationed at the door, and nobody was allowed to enter or leave. The others could not help but feel worried.

The two of them entered the study and closed the door.

Longhe Zhi glanced at Lu Sheng.

“Are you hurt? What do those three crane demons want by coming here? Do you know anything about that?”

Lu Sheng smiled. “To answer your question, Esteemed Teacher, those three crane demons were personally nurtured by me.”

“Don’t be ridiculous! Now’s not the time to be joking around,” Longhe Zhi said solemnly.

“Esteemed Teacher, I’m telling the truth. When I was cultivating the Clear Crane Enlightened Skill, I got an inspiration, and some of my Qi strayed. However, I didn’t expect that a new, better Clear Crane Enlightened Skill would be created!” Lu Sheng started to wing it.

He began by how he was struck by a sudden inspiration, and his Qi strayed from the Clear Crane Enlightened Skill. When the Qi strayed, it somehow cultivated a purer and more perfect Pure Qi.

Then, he allegedly went swimming in the lake and mistakenly ate a strangely shaped medicinal herb. Then, his Pure Qi ballooned within him.

After that, he cultivated the Twin Spirit Zheng Yuan Mantra with the Pure Qi and attained the twin-spirit relationship with several cranes, which resulted in changes in the animals, and they eventually turned into morphed crane demons.

All his bullsh*tting made Longhe Zhi’s jaws drop and eyes bulge.

This world lacked entertainment activities. Lu Sheng had jammed the possible plots of novels together and made up a believable story. The details his story contained were not something that anyone could come up with in a short amount of time.

This gave Longhe Zhi no room to doubt the details in the story.

“There’s such a magical herb under the heavens!?” A scorching look flashed past Longhe Zhi’s eyes. However, when he remembered that the magical herb had been consumed by his disciple, he immediately deflated.

“In other words, the three crane demons can be regarded as your companions? They are completely under your command?” Longhe Zhi’s voice was slightly trembling.

Those were three crane demons!

If the Clear Crane Sect could have the addition of three crane demons, it would be equivalent to a doubling of their strength. With this, their movements would no longer be greatly restricted while they gathered medicinal herbs from their surroundings.

“No, Esteemed Teacher. There are actually four of them. I had the other crane demon tend to the crane flock,” Lu Sheng said with a straight face.

“Four…” Longhe Zhi drew a cold breath.

How many days had it been? In a few short days, this newly recruited disciple of his had been blessed with an abundance of good fortune. It was one thing for him to complete the enlightened the skill in one go, but he even brought four crane demons out of the air with him.

This was on the level of legends.

However, the truth was laid before his eyes. Longhe Zhi had no reason to doubt it.

He had Lu Sheng lead the way as they went out and inspected the three crane demons who came along with Lu Sheng. The three crane demons’ identities were verified. They were all white cranes Longhe Zhi had seen before in the Taoist tower.

To his surprise, they had instantly moved past several tiers, and directly became morphed demons.

When Zheng Qingjian learned about this, he was greatly shocked as well. After verifying the facts together with his senior apprentice brother, he envied Lu Sheng, but he was more delighted by this entire event. He was happy that his sect received a great boost in strength.

Lu Sheng noticed that although Longhe Zhi and Zheng Qingjian were extremely envious of his having eaten a magical herb, they were not at all jealous.

It should be mentioned that many magical herbs were not completely digested after they were eaten. If someone cruel were to sneak up on him and refine his person into a human pill, the person could still obtain most of the herb’s effects.

However, Longhe Zhi’s and Zheng Qingjian’s eyes were clear right now. They had no intentions that befitted the Wicked Path.

This made Lu Sheng feel relieved.