A ball of golden Yang Essence quickly wrapped around the whisk, and pinned it to the back of his belt. Without looking at the priest’s remains, Lu Sheng jumped up and disappeared into the distance after turning into a black light.

He didn’t care about the identity or level of this Taoist priest. As long as they didn’t reach Divine Lord, his new Eight-Headed Golden Lava could take care of them.

As for the expression the priest had had at the last moment, Lu Sheng didn’t care, either. In these past two months, he had killed over ten thousand devils and humans. A human wasn’t worth him paying attention to.

Even if he had a Jade Star level Divine Weapon.

***

Shoumin County, Penghao Town.

“What’s wrong? Little De.” Qiong Shang felt his companion suddenly stop, so he did so as well. He looked toward him in confusion.

Huo Chengde’s expression showed a flash of pain.

“Nothing… My heart suddenly hurt. Maybe it’s because I’ve been too tired recently. Some rest will fix me.”

“Come to think of it, we won’t bring any trouble to your house if we go there, right?” Li Shunxi asked quietly. “After all, Uncle Huo is one of the four famous water elders. If he was found hiding us…”

“I trust my father. Since I was young, he has never disappointed me.” Huo Chengde shook his head.

His father, Huo Xinyuan, created this new Huo Family out of nothing. He possessed the Heart-calming Whisk, White Deer, and had extreme power.

Even though he was the youngest and wildest son, he could still use his dad’s name to get out of trouble. This showed how powerful Huo Xinyuan’s name was within Shoumin County.

But Huo Chengde heard rumors recently that his father seemed to be secretly contacting the Devil Army and exchanging something.

This time, when he came home with his friends, one reason was to find a hiding place for them, and the second was to try to persuade his dad to stop trading with the devils.

Although the royal family had no power right now and the three sects didn’t care, humans and devils were meant to be on two opposing sides. Once the war quieted down, those like his father who tried to make money off the war would definitely be punished.

Walking on the right side of the street, the three friends could hear gossip about things happening in the district.

Li Shunxi’s strength had increased, and his five senses had also been altered by the Divine Weapon, becoming very sensitive. So, naturally, he heard the few fellows in front of him talking about what recently happened.

“It was so tragic… It was good you didn’t go. I couldn’t help myself and went, but, sigh, the entire family, all one hundred and eight of them, were completely cooked. Most of their meat was also gnawed clean, leaving only bones and things that were inedible…”

“Devils?”

“Unlikely. The army from the city came and said it wasn’t the devils, but some monster the Huo Family kept. It seemed to have died along with the matrix within the Huo house.”

“Who’s gonna believe something like that?”

“Well, the monster had already escaped. Even if it decided to return, it would go for the soldiers first. We’re just normal citizens. There’s nothing to be scared of…”

Hearing this, Li Shunxi’s expression changed. Huo Chengde was one the companions he’d brought when he went to pick up Qiong Shang from the Devils.

In these two months, the three of them and the little devil girl underwent much hardship. Its toll was most obvious on the little devil girl. Originally curvy and pretty, she was now very, very skinny.

And now, Brother Huo’s family died? Why were the heavens so unfair!

Huo Chengde’s footsteps slowly stopped. He also heard the gossip among the fellows.

After a pause, he suddenly started running, rushing in the direction of his home.

“Little De! Wait!” Li Shunxi and Qiong Shang were both scared as they tried to catch up.

The three of them quickly arrived where the Huo mansion was supposed to be. However, there was no long a busy, wealthy mansion—just bits and pieces of broken walls and windows.

Huo Chengde walked to the front gate blankly, then fell on his knees and covered his face.

***

Autumn Moon City, the monastery of the Thousand Sun Sect.

Lu Sheng played around with a whisk, hearing the Divine Weapon’s consciousness begging for mercy. But, his expression remained the same, and his emotions didn’t change.

Hung on the wall, the Wei River Sword also kept silent. He had seen Lu Sheng bring in Divine Weapons into the secret room across from him. But, no Divine Weapon which went in ever came out.

He didn’t know where they went given that he couldn’t feel their presence at all. But this was Lu Sheng’s secret, and he shouldn’t ask.

This whisk was the only one left. Lu Sheng carefully held it, trying to understand it.

“What’s the difference between Gold Leaf and Jade Star? How does one determine if a Divine Weapon is Gold Leaf or Jade Star?” Lu Sheng asked in a low voice.

“I am not sure. I have lost many of my previous memories…” the Wei River Sword answered after a slight pause.

Lu Sheng didn’t expect the Wei River Sword to know the answer. This was like asking a normal person what was the difference between them and a prodigy.

During this period of time, he had stolen many Divine Weapons and Devil Blades. Every time he devoured them, he kept away from the Wei River Sword and his subordinates. With the number of weapons he devoured, a weird scent started hanging around him. It wasn’t sweet nor foul.

It seemed like the rusting of metal, but not completely.

“Whatever. Go out.” Lu Sheng made a grab in the air at the Wei River Sword, and threw him out the window.

The Wei River Sword instantly shot out and flew into the weapon room next to them.

Lu Sheng stood up. He was about to take the whisk into the secret room and devour it.

Suddenly, a flash of white light appeared outside the window. A tiny bird like a sparrow, but pure white, shot over and flew through the window lightly, landing in front of Lu Sheng.

A ball of white smoke started swirling around the tiny sparrow. The smoke grew, then dispersed, forming a pretty little girl wearing a white feather cape.

“Bai Ying greets Sect Master Lu.” There was a red dot in the center of the little girl’s forehead. There was no demon aura around her at all, making people feel calm and clean when they saw her.

“Does fellow daoist Tong Yi have something to tell me?” Lu Sheng recognized this little girl. It was one of the demons Tong Yi kept around him to act as a messenger.

“Yes. My master said that both humans and devils were slaughtered in the recent assassinations. Even the Divine Weapons seemed to evaporate, with no sign of their presence at all. A lot of the smaller families and sects are terrified. This fear has already spread to neighboring cities.

“He wants Sect Master Lu to send strong people to investigate.”

Lu Sheng’s heart chilled a little. Even Divine Lord Tong Yi noticed the killings?

“Please tell fellow daoist Tong Yi that I received the message.”

“Okay.” The little girl Bai Ying nodded. She squatted down, and once again transformed into a tiny white sparrow, and flew away.

Lu Sheng stood in place. He slowly pulled out the smooth, cool whisk from his wide sleeves, falling into thought.

‘ I have collected enough Divine Weapons and Devil Blades. I should first digest all of them and pause for a bit.’

Letting out a sigh, Lu Sheng floated toward the open door and into the secret room across from it.

The door to the secret room shut slowly. Lu Sheng sat down cross-legged and waved his hand.

Faint yellow lights lit up the four corners of the secret room, and the matrices and runes on the ground flashed golden.

Lu Sheng sat down in the center of the matrix. Suddenly, he lifted his hand and looked at the ‘evil’ character.

“Tomorrow is the start of the sacrifice. Same place as last time. Don’t forget…” Shizi Xing’s voice sounded from the character.

Just hearing this voice gave Lu Sheng chills.

“I won’t,” he replied in a low voice.

“There will be a lot of Evil Art Masters at this sacrifice. A lot of them want to go to the material world. Don’t promise anyone anything, and don’t tell anyone your name or birthday. Remember these points,” Shizi Xing warned.

After a pause, Lu Sheng asked, “What if I accidentally say something?”

“Then I’ll kill you,” Shizi Xing said simply.

Lu Sheng fell silent.

After some contact with Shizi Xing, he finally started to understand the system in the Black Society and the World of Pain.

In the entire World of Pain, there were only two distinctions—Evil Art Masters and Mirror Spirit Masters. Evil Art Masters were the origin of Divine Weapons, and Mirror Spirit Masters were the origin of Devil Blades.

The unsuccessful Evil Weapons made by Evil Art Masters were thrown into the human world. Through blood sacrifices, they became stronger. So, they could recycle them later as materials.

It was the same for Mirror Spirit Masters, except they made Mirror Demons, and would throw the failures into the Devil World.

Their goal, or dream, was to make a weapon strong enough to kill the Mother of Pain and destroy the root of all pain, then destroy the sins of every living being and remake the world.

“I understand,” Lu Sheng answered. Even Xiao Zizhu couldn’t beat Shizi Xing, so there was no way he could.

The ‘evil’ word broke communication.

Lu Sheng became calm again, and sat in place. After a while, he reached out and tugged on the string in the corner.

Very quickly, a Thousand Sun disciple asked, “Sect Master, what do you need?”

“Bring the ordered Three Essences Book, Mixed Aura Sword Manual, Earth Fire Spell, and the rest of the basic arts.” Lu Sheng had previously organized the basic true art manuals he needed. Right now, he was just getting someone to bring it to him.

“Yes.”

The disciple left, and came back quickly, sending the books into the secret room through a special tunnel.

“Sect Master, do you have any other requests?”

“Go. Come back to check on me in three days,” Lu Sheng spoke calmly.

“Yes…”

The disciple slowly walked away, and his footsteps slowly faded.

Lu Sheng waved his hand. Immediately, the five basic true art books were spread out in front of him in a neat row.

‘These are all the basic true art spells the Thousand Sun Sect has. They can convert Spiritual Essence into the five basic true auras.’

Lu Sheng flicked his fingers. A ball of Yang Essence shot out, and started to hover in the area above the five books.

“Mixed Aura Sword Manual,””Earth Fire Spell,””Three Essences Book,””Pine Wood Spell,””Wind Spell.”

The five books slowly flipped open. For Lu Sheng, the methods outlined for separating out the auras were very easy. Even normal disciples who just started could spend about a week and easily obtain these five basic true essences.

After reading through all the books, Lu Sheng flicked his finger again.

The five balls of Yang Essence suspended above the books started changing. After a few breaths, they formed the five true essences.

The half-transparent “sword essence,” bright red “earth fire Qi,” white “Dao Qi,” green “wood essence,” and invisible “Qi essence.”

“Let’s start…” Lu Sheng slowly closed his eyes. “Deep Blue.”

The light blue rectangle suddenly appeared. At the same time, his original Eight-Headed Yin flames also appeared.

Lu Sheng’s consciousness was hovering calmly over the thirty thousand Mental Energy he had. His goal this time was to first get rid of all possible side effects already affecting his body, and then… evolve Yin flames to their max, the highest possible level they could reach!