Way of the Devil

“Thud.”

As the person came closer, clear, charred footprints were left on the floor of the tavern behind Lu Sheng.

The scarlet-eyed man drew two bone blades from his back and wielded them.

A clear distortion had already enveloped Lu Sheng and the tavern around him before anyone noticed.

“Is this the Void Underworld Reincarnation Field?” Lu Sheng put the tankard down. He looked around himself with a curious gleam in his eyes.

“That’s right. This is the Void Underworld Reincarnation Field. External Elder Lu, unlike us, you’re a Void Underworld Heavenly Devil, that’s why you might not know this.” The newcomer’s voice was hoarse, like a leaky bellows. The sound of his voice was thick with breath.

“After attaining the Void Underworld tier, our mind, Qi, and spirit are merged as one. We gather insight on Origin Power, and assimilate that as well, forming a reincarnation cycle and a virtual world. Void Underworld, an underworld of misty void. That’s how the name came to be,” explained the newcomer in a dull tone.

“So, this is the power you’ve mastered after forming your own reincarnation cycle, the Void Underworld Reincarnation Cycle?” Lu Sheng asked.

“That’s right. While the Reincarnation Cycle is in effect, our powers will be greatly enhanced. At the same time, we’re granted endless stamina on top of suppressing our opponents’ powers,” said the newcomer icily.

“If the initial difference between our strengths was three to five, after the Reincarnation Field is activated, it has become three to 10, 20, or 30, even!” The man sent his blade in the air, and two dark red marks were left in the air.

“In the end, remember the name of the man who killed you… My name’s Zheng. My title’s Seven Soul… Asura!” His voice barely faded when he suddenly spun. He appeared beside Lu Sheng as if he had just teleported there and brought his blades down.

“Boom!”

The tavern exploded. Its fragments scattered everywhere like bits of broken toys. The ground on which it once stood caved in, and a deep, immense pit with a diameter of several hundred meters appeared.

Clouds of dust and smoke billowed and spread outward, obscuring the depths of the pit from view.

“Fuh!”

Suddenly, a gaze blew the smoke away. The sight of the center of the pit was now visible.

Lu Sheng grabbed the bone blades in Zheng’s hands. Blood dripped down from his palms.

Before the drops of blood reached the ground, they were devoured by a blood-red energy in the air.

“It’s useless. You’re only at the second stage of the Void Wheel. Your physical body can’t hope to block my Reincarnation Field’s slashes.” Zheng was expressionless. He turned around suddenly. The assortment of bone blades on his back shot toward Lu Sheng.

Lu Sheng retreated with lightning speed. Two light yellow blades instantly appeared in his hands. He launched Spirit Massacre at him.

With a crisp ring, the light yellow blades shattered. Caught off-guard, the bone blades connected with Lu Sheng’s shoulders.

“Hiss!”

His formidable physical defense was suppressed by the Reincarnation Field. The bone blades easily left two deep gaping wounds in his body. His bones were nearly visible through the wounds.

His blood spurted out uncontrollably. It was devoured by the dark red energy and vanished midair.

“Even if you’re a Void Underworld Heavenly Devil, all I have to do is destroy all of your cells, and you won’t have anything to regenerate yourself from!” Zheng growled as he swerved his body to the left and right. The bone blades on his body hacked away at Lu Sheng continuously from all angles. His grandmaster-level martial skills were unleashed at this very moment.

Lu Sheng was also a peak grandmaster of martial arts. He could amplify his own advantages and cover up his shortcomings at the same time.

Perfect control over one’s body and unleashing of the limits of one’s strength through the perfect combination of power and limbs. This was the true terrifying might of a grandmaster.

Lu Sheng unleashed his Instant Shadow Fist. He leapt and moved with lightning speed, making him appear like a specter. He would only exchange blows with Zheng if he had no other choice.

“If this is all you have, I suggest that you turn around and leave this place right now.” Zheng’s relentless attacks which seemed like quicksilver spilling all over the ground kept creating deep gashes in Lu Sheng’s body.

“Otherwise, you’ll surely die after three moves!” He suddenly retreated. He drew two bone blades and connected them with a click before himself, forming a strange crucifix-shaped weapon.

Lu Sheng took several steps back. He licked a deep wound on his wrist. A strange smile was on his face.

“I can’t even tell if it’s possible for me to die. Three moves? You’re welcome to try.”

His body enlarged swiftly, and he turned into a big and tall monster with a tail and three faces. The monster lunged.

“Bam!”

The two of them clashed with lightning speed. A dozen pairs of arms protruded from Lu Sheng’s body. Every arm wielded long black blades which lashed out with loud cracks. For a moment, it seemed as if a black storm had been whipped up.

Seven Soul Asura Zheng roared. More bone spikes grew out of him. With deft movements of his body, he used the bone blades on his back as a sort of weapon as well to parry the blades wielded by Lu Sheng’s numerous arms.

With every clash of their blades, thunderous booms could be heard. The terrifying force field spread outward and exerted a great pressure. The force field bounced backward when it collided with the inner wall of the Reincarnation Field and pressed inward.

This internal pressure absorbed the power spread by the fight between Lu Sheng and Zheng. Then, it formed a pressure which bore down on Lu Sheng alone.

This was the effect of the Reincarnation Field. The longer the fight went on, the greater its suppression became. Compared to the Void Underworld Heavenly Devil’s undead attribute, the powerfulness of an ordinary Void Underworld being could be seen here.

“If it’s one-on-one, there’s nothing to fear from a Void Underworld Heavenly Devil. The main problem is that they can’t be completely killed.” Outside the Reincarnation Field, a woman in a black dress and a straw hat stood in the street. She gazed at the shocking scene of Zheng and Lu Sheng’s fight.

“It’s as you say, Your Highness. Without the support from the Reincarnation Field, a Void Underworld Heavenly Devil’s strength is surely a rank below that of his peers. It’s not advantageous in a head-on battle,” said a white-eyed man respectfully beside her.

“That’s why I picked a different path and employed this tactic instead,” said the woman in a calm voice as she continued to observe the battle.

At this moment, both Zheng and Lu Sheng were growing tired of their fight, which had gone on for quite some time without the outcome being clear. They backed away from each other with lightning speed.

“Prime Chaste Flame Formation!” Lu Sheng waved his arm. Golden flames sprouted up from the ground around him.

The golden flames kept increasing in numbers.

Some of them even ignited the Primordial Power in midair. They formed innumerable clusters of flames of carrying sizes.

The countless flames floated toward him and covered him.

This formation was not used as an offensive move. Instead, this was a support formation which Lu Sheng had designed to amplify his own combat power.

Zheng took a step forward and raised his bone blades high.

“Blood River Overturns the Road to Hell!”

Blood gushed forth behind him at his feet. The blood quickly spread outward.

Everything the blood touched was corroded away.

Zheng raised his bone blades, and the blood around him rose as well. Some of the blood wrapped itself around his bone blades.

“Underworld Blood Blades!” As he raised his bone blades, the blood behind him formed a colossal dragon serpent which fixed its eyes on Lu Sheng.

“Slash!”

He brought the blades down at Lu Sheng.

“Instant Shadow, Death of Stars!” Lu Sheng’s numerous arms slashed away at the same time. A dozen blades suddenly formed innumerable black lines which found their way toward his opponent from different angles.

“Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!”

The blades from both sides hacked away at each other.

At this moment, the blood dragon serpent ignored the slashes of the blades as it charged toward Lu Sheng. Its jaws connected with Lu Sheng’s torso.

“Crack!”

Amid the sound of broken bones, Lu Sheng’s torso was forcibly torn away from his lower body.

“Boom!”

Purplish-black Death Blaze erupted from the blood dragon’s mouth which instantly destroyed its head.

Blood and flesh swiftly gathered together in an attempt to regenerate Lu Sheng’s body.

Zheng leapt into the air with a great stride.

“It’s over.” The bloodlust in his eyes instantly grew glaringly bright. The crucifix blade in his head was spinning so quickly that it resembled a moon.

“Second Soul! Unlimited Underworld!”

Without a sound, the blood-colored moon descended from the skies to where Lu Sheng was.

“Pchht! Pchht! Pchht! Pchht!”

Every second he was covered in the color of blood, Lu Sheng endured thousands of slashes. Every slash contained half of Zheng’s full strength.

His formidable body attempted to repair itself, but the relentless slashes were slowly whittling away at his body’s powers.

The peculiar energy contained within the blood was negating Lu Sheng’s self-regenerative abilities.

“It’s over. Unlimited Underworld draws its powers from your flesh and blood, turning them into attacks against you until there’s none of you left.” Zheng lowered his bone blades with a calm expression. “Even if you’re a Void Underworld Heavenly Devil, you can’t possibly break free from this shackle. You’d be slowly hacked away until you die.”

“Pa, pa, pa, pa…”

Suddenly, from the other end of the ruins came a series of crisp claps.

“What a wonderful performance.” Lu Sheng slowly showed himself from among the ruins. He appeared to be admiring the sight as he offered his praise.

Zheng’s expression change. His muscles tensed. He wanted to retreat, but it was too late.

A shred of flesh on his shoulder suddenly enlarged, growing into a fleshy spike, which pierced the middle of his back with a tearing sound.

“Pchht! Pchht! Pchht! Pchht!”

The flesh spikes barely pierced his body when they erupted into countless threads of blood which invaded his internal organs wildly.

“Wh… When did this…” Zheng’s body tensed. The bone blades in his hands clanked as they fell to the ground.

“From the very beginning, you’ve been fighting against my clone.” Lu Sheng sat atop the ruins with his legs crossed. He gazed past Zheng at the seductive and slender pitch-black body.

“With a Heavenly Devil senior present here, there’s no way I would dare to waste my time with you here without due reason.”

From the very beginning, his main body was not covered by the Void Underworld Reincarnation Field.

Moreover, with the terrifying Capacity of Qianshen Undead Body, he had spread out bits and pieces of his flesh far away beforehand.

Against a third-realm Void Wheel Seven Soul Asura, he easily ended the fight by occupying him with a clone and sneaked up behind him with some of his flesh.

The Reincarnation Field was powerful, but Lu Sheng was more powerful.

He could freely adjust the strength of every piece of his flesh, from the weakest to the most powerful.

With his Blood Flesh Basic Disc, which contained vast amounts of his flesh and blood, as the foundation, the flesh spike which he used to sneak up upon Zheng had unleashed a destructive power that was 80% of his main body’s powers.

The actual piece of flesh was only the size of a strand of hair, yet it contained a power equivalent to 80% of his main body’s strength.

That was the most terrifying part of the Qianshen Undead Body.

He could regenerate his clones without limits.

This was a formidable Capacity completely different from ordinary Void Underworld Heavenly Devils. Ordinary Void Underworld Heavenly Devils could only regenerate their main bodies.

However, Lu Sheng’s clones could regenerate themselves.