Way of the Devil

Xu Yueling was one of the elders who taught the disciples their cultivation method. Her actual job was handing down the cultivation method back in the sect. However, when it was discovered that a peak expert was hiding within this asteroid belt, she and another dozen were the only ones the sect could spare at the moment—the sect was warring with the Mother of Pain, and most of its experts were sent to the frontlines.

Among the personnel, she had the best image. Hence, this task fell onto her shoulders in the end.

She brought two of her own disciples. They had been hovering outside for some time now.

However, none of them showed any signs of impatience.

After all, great experts had their own pride.

Even though she was a Confusion Realm expert from a great sect, she dared not act rashly before a great Void Underworld being. She could only wait obediently and silently.

About half an hour later.

A speckle of yellow light finally appeared in the asteroid belt. A mass of yellow gas shot out and condensed into the face of a solemn-looking man before the three of them.

“Why is the Green Branch Sect looking for me all of a sudden? Declare your business.”

Lu Sheng had nothing to do with the Green Branch Sect. On the contrary, he felt slightly guilty. After all, he was the one who’d cost them an entire planet back then, along with all the casualties.

“My Lord, I am an elder of Green Branch Sect. My name’s Xu Yueling. We’re here on our sect master’s orders to invite you as a guest to our sect.” Xu Yueling said nothing about this being the Green Branch Sect’s territory. She directly invited Lu Sheng over as a guest.

Lu Sheng could tell what this implied.

Since he was hiding in their territory, he would have to pay the master of the land a visit sooner or later. Besides, the three deputy sect masters were of the Void Underworld tier.

This was the upper limit to the strength of this part of the stellar zone.

“Very well. I’ve been here for quite some time, and I should be greeting the master of the land by now. Lead the way.” Lu Sheng nodded. The dark yellow Soil Qi condensed into a strong-looking big and tall figure. It was Lu Sheng who came out of his flying ship.

Another individual followed behind him. The individual had white hair, a beautiful face, and a faint aura. It was Toram Bach.

As an extremely toxic Silverblood, Toram Bach’s ability to survive was something to behold. Even if she was bled dry, she would not die.

Moreover, they were not going over to fight. They were coming over on peaceful terms. Bringing a maidservant along would also help raise his face a little.

The three cultivators only glanced at Lu Sheng as a way of sizing him up. That was the most their courage allowed them to. Then, they lowered their heads as a show of respect.

“Follow me, My Lord.” Xu Yueling flailed her sleeve, and a silver disc flew out.

The silver disc quickly grew green tendrils in space. The tendrils intertwined and weaved into an oval door.

The door shone with green fluorescent light.

“This will bring us to our sect. If you please, My Lord,” Xu Yueling said with a straight face.

Lu Sheng did not worry that this might be a trap. As a Void Underworld Heavenly Devil, he had attained near immortality. He was unafraid of any sneak attacks and traps.

He grabbed Toram Bach’s wrist and strode into the Transport Door.

The green radiance in the door flickered rapidly. When the radiance faded, Lu Sheng’s field of vision cleared up as well.

He was standing among buildings and pavilions designed in what resembled classical Chinese architectural style.

Gray tiles and whiteworks could be seen everywhere. White rock slabs paved the ground. Complicated white formation veins flickered constantly in the skies above.

However, the place was almost deserted. Lu Sheng wondered if this was done on purpose.

“Welcome to our humble sect, Fellow Taoist!” At this moment, a semi-transparent specter materialized before Lu Sheng. “I am Xu Haobai, a deputy sect master of the Green Branch Sect. I heard that you were hiding in our stellar zone’s asteroid belt. I was surprised to learn of this. That’s when I sent some of our people over to invite you here. I beg that you pardon any rudeness on our part.”

The specter seemed to be a bearded middle-aged man 40 to 50 years old. His outfit was no different than any ordinary Taoist’s.

“My name’s Lu Sheng. I offer you my greetings, Sect Master Xu. I am puzzled, though. If I recall correctly, the asteroid belt I was hiding in isn’t within the Green Branch Sect’s territory,” said Lu Sheng as he cupped his fists in salute.

“You’re being too polite, my friend. Come, let us talk further in the great hall.”

Beautiful ladies appeared and led the way. They brought Lu Sheng and the others through several doors, and they eventually arrived at a middle-sized hall.

A statue of a faceless Taoist was worshiped in the hall. A huge incense furnace from which wisps of incense rose was placed in the center. The smoke formed patterns of flora and fauna in the air.

A bearded Taoist with a serene expression sat cross-legged on a rush cushion to the left of the furnace. The rush cushion was no ordinary rush cushion. It was an individual leaf of a slender lone plant.

The plant had a single stalk which was only the size of a person’s wrist. However, the leaf was as big as a wash basin. With the Taoist sitting on it, the main stalk was slightly bent to the side.

“Over here, Fellow Taoist,” Taoist Xu Haobai said with a smile.

Lu Sheng smiled. With a tap of his feet, he levitated and sat precisely on the rush cushion.

He was very heavy, but the rush cushion merely bent slightly.

“I must apologize for bringing you here rashly, Fellow Taoist. It’s just that we’ve found out some information about you.” Xu Haobai offered his apologies in advance.

“It’s alright. If I were in your shoes, I would’ve done the same thing.” Lu Sheng did not mind.

“From what I know, you come from the Yellow Springs System, am I right? You have also battled the Mother of Pain’s deputy bishop not long ago. Until now, the whereabouts of that deputy bishop remains unknown. It’s believed that she’s dead. I don’t know if this is true?” Although Xu Haobai phrased his words as a question, his tone was filled with certainty.

“Since you’ve looked into it, I won’t hide anything from you. It is true,” Lu Sheng replied magnanimously.

“If that’s the case, you’re enemies with the Mother of Pain. My sect has also warred against the Mother of Pain for a long time now. We both have something to gain and the same target. What do you say to working together?” Xu Haobai smiled. “On behalf of the Green Branch Sect, I sincerely extend an invitation for you to join us as an external elder. Although you won’t have any authority, you’ll be granted the same status as a deputy sect master. You’ll also be supplied with high-grade materials every year.”

“Join the Green Branch Sect?” Lu Sheng was slightly surprised. He even told him his name. He did not think that they missed the information about his growth and history. However, Xu Haobai was clearly ignoring that part.

With his growth rate, it was highly possible for him to be the culprit who caused the Ghost Borneo World’s Devil King Zhuang Jiu’s death. He might even be the source of the Cloud Sky Pavilion’s misfortune of losing an entire planet.

Even so, Xu Haobai invited him over on peaceful terms and offered him the position of an external elder if he joined their sect. His status would also be the same as a deputy sect master…

Lu Sheng had never before felt such a huge change in status because of his strength.

If this had happened earlier, he reckoned that the Green Branch Sect would not have been this forgiving when they discovered him hiding in the asteroid belt. They would have dispatched experts to bring him here and tortured him for information and his secret to achieving such an alarming growth rate.

Things would not have turned out this way; he was sure of it.

When Xu Haobai saw Lu Sheng hesitating and spacing out, he merely smiled without saying a thing. He waited silently.

The sect master had considered this matter thoroughly before issuing this order. Although Lu Sheng was only at the Void Underworld tier, he was a Void Underworld Heavenly Devil who lived up to his name. He would be a peak expert who was extremely difficult to deal with.

A Heavenly Devil would still be a reasonable opponent below the Void Underworld tier. However, at the Void Underworld tier, their survival ability would be off the charts, far surpassing their peers of other races.

After numerous simulations, the sect master concluded that even if he were to take on Lu Sheng himself, there was no guarantee that he would succeed.

The Green Branch Sect eventually came up with the grand position of an external elder to try to win this extremely difficult peak expert over.

“Also, we’ve found out that your kinsmen have ended up in another world during an accident while they were extradited from the Yellow Springs Planet. About this, our elders and disciples stationed in dozens of worlds have begun searching for any signs of them. We’ll receive word from them as soon as they have anything.”

Xu Haobai mentioned another reason for Lu Sheng to join them.

This reason actually moved Lu Sheng. No matter how powerful he was as an individual, he would be no match to a group of people in terms of looking for information.

He mused to himself before asking, “In that case… If I were to join, what’s the price?”

“All you have to do is work with us when we fight with the Mother of Pain.” Xu Haobai sighed. “To tell you the truth, and I’m telling you this because you’re a nemesis of the other side, the Mother of Pain’s forces aren’t limited to the Yellow Springs Galaxy. She had a hidden force backing her as well. Our sect had a great advantage when the war began, but when the force behind the Mother of Pain meddled, the tides of the battle turned almost instantly.”

“The force behind the Mother of Pain?” Lu Sheng narrowed his eyes. He was suddenly reminded about the Ghost Borneo World Zhuang Jiu was from. From the information he had, the Ghost Borneo World seemed to be mysterious as well. It was highly possible that it had relations with the Mother of Pain.

He remembered that when he was in the Sky Cloud Pavilion, Zhuang Jiu had made his move at the same time as the people from the Mother of Pain.

If they were not related, he did not think that they could have cooperated that well.

He thought to himself. Then, he told Xu Haobai about this possibility.

“It’s extremely possible!” When Xu Haobai heard this, his expression changed as well. “This is huge. Please excuse me for a moment, Fellow Taoist. I’ll have to inform the sect master of this.”

Lu Sheng nodded in understanding.

He currently had several identities. He did not mind taking on another as the Green Branch Sect’s external elder.

‘I can disregard Libra City for now. The Iron Flag Council is the most trustworthy organization. The Red Moon Cult is now insignificant to me. The Green Branch Sect, on the other hand, I can use to obtain materials for my cultivation in the future. With the Iron Flag Council as the core, I’ll use the Green Branch Sect as a support to gather more materials and resources. I’ll improve my cultivation base as I search for Ning’er and the others. This is the best choice.’

After waiting for a while, Lu Sheng struck up a conversation with Xu Yueling out of boredom.

Once convinced of his willingness to join the sect, Xu Yueling told him everything she knew.

Lu Sheng soon learned about everything that was happening in the area.

In the war between the Green Branch Sect and the Mother of Pain, the Green Branch Sect had initially obtained a sure ticket to victory after Lu Sheng had killed a deputy bishop.

Just when they were making their way to destroy the Mother of Pain’s main planet, several mysterious Void Underworld experts suddenly interfered with the battle, fending off the Green Branch Sect’s forces.

If those experts had not called off their attacks after fending off the Green Branch Sect’s forces, the Green Branch Sect would have lost some of their territories as well.

Two of Green Branch Sect’s deputy sect masters were gravely injured. Although the sect master was a man of great skill and strategy who was overflowing with talent, a sneak attack left him grievously wounded as well. Naturally, the Mother of Pain was slightly weaker than he was, and he dealt her a serious blow with a palm strike.

Hence, both sides were currently rejuvenating.

Libra City, on the other hand, was a peaceful sight. The main city formed an alliance with the Yujue Empire from another stellar zone. It was now its extended defensive fortification.

It expanded its economic ventures. Countess products of the Yujue Empire flooded into this stellar zone. It was said that Libra City flourished even more than before.

The others, such as the Three Sacred Gates and the Wind Transformation Sect, benefited as well. They gained a lot of resources from all the commercial trade and grew substantially in strength.

Only the Green Branch Sect and the Mother of Pain were left out due to their bitter battle.

Hence, in order to end the battle as quickly as possible, Green Branch Sect’s sect master issued an invitation to experts to join them. At the same time, he exposed the Mother of Pain’s vile plans of colonizing planets so that the others would work with them and eradicate this evil force.