Way of the Devil
chapter-527

Although Lu Ning was little, he understood many things already. He was different from others. As he had been spending a lot of time with Lu Ran, he could sense that Lu Ran's actual personality was extremely strong. The meekness was only a façade.

His father Lu Sheng was also a strong-willed and overbearing person. Although he did not understand that two strong-willed people would sooner or later fight against each other, he instinctively did not want something like that to happen.

Hence, he pleaded with Lu Ran to reduce her contact with Lu Sheng.

Lu Ran might never have thought that her disguise which she thought was perfect was seen through by Lu Ning.

They boarded a carriage heading back to the Lu Manor. While they were halfway through their journey, Lu Ran's body suddenly shook slightly in the carriage. She seemed to have detected something.

'So soon?!'

A hint of helplessness and exhaustion crept onto her face.

"Ningning, remember what I told you," she suddenly said.

Lu Ning was puzzled.

"If you have the chance, you may come and find me in the Forget Sorrows Sea. However, you must remember not to tell anybody about the breathing technique that I've taught you," Lu Ran reminded him again. This time, she projected her voice through her spirit.

Lu Ning nodded his head.

Lu Ran sat within the carriage and slowly extracted Lu Ning's head from her embrace.

"It's fate for us to click with each other. Nobody can say what the future holds, but as long as you work hard, sister Ranran will always be by your side and look after you. I'll be waiting for you at the end of your progress…"

Lu Ning did not really understand what she said. He blinked at Lu Ran before him.

"My lady, it's time." A man's voice resounded inside Lu Ran's mind.

Lu Ran paused for a moment. She suddenly moved her lips forward and planted a gentle kiss on Lu Ning's forehead.

"Sister Ranran, are you leaving already?" Lu Ning suddenly understood something, and raised his little fist. In a low, muffled voice, he said, "Is there someone wanting to harm you? Don't worry, Ningning will protect you!"

"Alright…" Gentleness flashed past the depths of Lu Ran's eyes. "In that case, I'll wait for little Ningning to grow up and protect me.

"Well then… Farewell…"

Finally, she reached out and pinched Lu Ning's face. Her entire person faded, and eventually vanished from the carriage.

Lu Ning was dumbstruck. After a brief moment's stunned silence, he started crying loudly. He stood up and dashed out of the carriage.

"Sister Ranran! Sister Ranran, where are you?!"

He cried.

Mu Jueqing and the others were in the other carriage. When they saw this, they were also stunned. They had no idea of what had just happened.

***

The Devil Palace, the Prime Devil Sect.

"Phew…"

Heavy and scorching Devil Qi was rolling within the side hall.

Lu Sheng sat on the palace master's throne, looking at the reporting messengers coldly.

"In other words, Lu Ran has just departed from this place, and suddenly vanished on the way back? Just as mysteriously as she appeared?"

The reporting disciples kept their heads lowered. They did not even dare to breathe loudly.

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"Wan'er, you know what this means." Lu Sheng's gaze fell on Duanmu Wan on the side.

Duanmu Wan's expression was sour. She naturally knew what this meant.

"Our men had no way of tracking down Lu Ran. Other than the minute Spiritual Essence fluctuations around the carriage, they could pick up nothing else. After a few tracking experts derived the traces, they gave their opinion. It seems likely that another group of individuals has suddenly arrived, forcing Lu Ran to vanish again."

"Lu Ran wouldn't disappear for no reason. There must be something more to this," Lu Sheng commented coldly. "Continue the investigation. I want a complete explanation for this. My son Lu Ning was in the very same carriage. If Lu Ran was able to vanish from the carriage without a trace, this means that she could've brought Lu Ning along with her. I cannot bear such a threat and risk."

The high-ranking officials of the intelligence department bowed, and responded, "Understood!"

"You're dismissed." Lu Sheng waved his arm.

The officials seemed to have been relieved of a great burden as they swiftly hurried off.

When all the others had left and the doors of the hall were closed, Lu Sheng looked at Duanmu Wan.

"The Devil Palace has certainly been infiltrated. The palace is surrounded by a formation, and even the exchange of air is done at fixed intervals. Unless they possess skills which greatly surpass ours, it's impossible to spread news through the formation to the outside world," Duanmu Wan said with a sour expression. "However, the possibility of that is small. Our formation is built using the Thousand Sun Sect's latest skills, and it has just been recently updated. This formation's makeup hasn't even been publicized yet. It's virtually impossible for someone to break the formation from outside. So, if we can confirm that Lu Ran didn't leave of her own accord, someone inside the Devil Palace must've given her information. In other words, we have a traitor amongst us!"

"Find that traitor." Lu Sheng tightened his grip on the armrest. "The Prime Devil Sect is expanding too quickly, and our members are too mixed a bunch. It's normal for there to be spies. I'll go check on Lu Ning."

"Understood." Duanmu Wan nodded solemnly.

Lu Sheng got up and walked out of the main hall. The two disciples at the sides of the door bowed at him.

He cast his gaze across the area and saw dozens of well-trained disciples scattered around. Among the buildings and booths, faint reddish runes could be seen flickering on them.

'I've been lying dormant for too long, and they're starting to think that I'm willing to just lie here and allow myself to be bullied? I'd like to see just how many of your lives can you afford to pay with for this mistake.' Lu Sheng snorted and conjured up white gas underneath his feet. He then leapt into the air and flew toward Autumn Moon County.

.....

The Lu Manor.

The atmosphere in the manor was heavy. Almost all the servants knew that the master had returned, and none of them dared to breathe heavily.

The master was Lu Sheng, who was also the current head of the Lu Family. He was the most powerful person in the entire Autumn Moon County, and even the entire state.

He was a person who could chat happily with the upper echelons of the Three Sects. His words and actions were capable of affecting countless lives.

There was no room for carelessness around him.

Currently, in the study.

"Father, please help sister Ranran, you must help sister Ranran! She's a good person, I beg you, please, Father!"

Within the manor, Lu Ning hugged the leg of Lu Sheng's trousers and wailed.

Lu Sheng looked at Mu Jueqing and the others within the manor. There was also Chen Yunxi who rushed back. Jade Mother and the others barely had time to put on a thin layer of clothes. Lu Sheng already had a rough grasp on the situation.

Lu Ran's disappearance had merely stirred up a slight shock in the people in the Lu Manor. There were no other ripples.

"That child, Ranran... although it has only been a short while, I can tell that she's a kind-hearted girl. She sets clear boundaries between kindness and grudges. Brother Sheng, if you have the energy to spare, please lend a helping hand. Of course, this is on the premise that you won't affect your own self," Jade Mother chimed in after Lu Ning.

"She's also a person with hard luck," she said with a slight hint of pity.

"A bunch of short-sighted views!" Lu Quanan snorted. "Sheng'er will make his own decisions. There's no need for all of you to butt in from the side. That girl had appeared suddenly and disappeared just as suddenly, there must be more than meets the eye to her. I don't think that this matter is what it seems."

Lu Quanan had always stood on Lu Sheng's side in the family. When he spoke, the others dared not say anything else.

It was uncle Lu Anping who pulled on his beard as he shook his head. He was well experienced at his age. Simply by looking at Lu Sheng, he knew that his nephew had something on his mind already. Outsiders would be hard-pressed to influence him. Hence, he chose not to say anything.

"That girl's origins are unknown, and her background runs deep. It's not as simple as it appears," said Lu Sheng drily.

When he said this, he immediately saw his son Lu Ning's expression become one of dejection.

Lu Ning had always been a smart kid. Naturally, he was able to pick up the unspoken part of the statement.

"However, since Ning'er has personally asked for my help, I'll have to grant the favor no matter what." Lu Sheng suddenly changed his stance. A wide smile immediately spread across Lu Ning's face.

"Sheng'er… Will this affect your grand plan?" Lu Quanan asked in a nervous tone.

"It's alright. In this world, there aren't many capable of foiling my plans left," Lu Sheng replied with a smile.

When he said this, everyone felt a slight shock in their hearts. When the head of the family said that, the hidden meaning behind his statement made their imagination roam wild.

As he spoke, Lu Sheng caressed the faint red mark on Lu Ning's forehead. The mark seemed to be a kiss, but it resembled a crack at the same time.

If he was an ordinary Divine Lord, he would not be able to detect the mysterious nature of this mark. However, he was not an ordinary Divine Lord. His spirit was already at the Divine Intellect tier, and it was at the highest level within the Divine Intellect tier at that.

With his sharp senses, there was no way that he would miss this. Also, there was this mysterious inner aura.

This inner aura was completely different from any mystic method he had encountered before.

***

"Ground Extermination!"

Countless giant yellow machetes formed layers upon each other and eventually merged into one. They bore down on the unbroken mountain forest below.

"Rumble!"

With a loud noise, a terrifying blade mark that was a few hundred meters in length and a dozen meters deep was left in the mountain forest.

The blade mark was only a dozen centimeters away from Lu Ran's long boots.

One step. If she had taken another step, she would have ended up like this ravine-like blade mark and diced into shreds in an instant.

Lu Ran was ghastly pale. A white-bearded old man with a black cloth around his head followed closely behind her. The two of them had their eyes fixed on a big and tall figure nearby.

"It's been a long time. How are you doing, Your Highness, the royal concubine? Hahahaha!" A tall and sturdy figure slowly walked out from the cloud of dust. This person was covered in light yellow armor. Half of his body was exposed, revealing the ferocious and contorted lines of his muscles. In his right hand was a huge machete which glittered with yellow runes.

That impressive skill had been unleashed by him.

"Delin… How could you be so quick?!" The old man behind Lu Ran had an awful expression. "The royal concubine's whereabouts are kept secret. How did you—"

"You're old, Ding Wusheng." The strong man Delin guffawed. "Nothing under the heavens is an absolute secret."

His voice barely faded when two slender figures walked out from behind Lu Ran.

One of them wore a black and white mask like those worn in Beijing operas. The other person had a tiger's head and a human body, and wore exquisite black armor. He was an impressive-looking great demon of the Demon Tribe.

"Lu Fengchou… Hu Jin…" A severe glint flashed across Lu Ran's eyes. "To have persuaded you three Worshippers, I see that you really think highly of me."

The Divine Lords under the heavens were numbered. Naturally, Lu Ran knew all the Divine Lords within the royal family.

Those that were able to make it into the royal family and become Worshippers were naturally individuals with exceptional strength. They were also considered experts among Divine Lords.

Since they had persuaded three such experts to hunt her down, it was apparent just how strong her enemy's determination to have her killed was.

"Your Highness, if you're alive, the master will be ill at ease. Forgive me, Your Highness," the tiger-headed Hu Jin said in a low voice.

A look of despair appeared in Lu Ran's eyes. Her Divine Weapon Teleport was still on cooldown, and she could not activate it now. As for her other self-preservation methods, it would be like a praying mantis trying to block a carriage in the face of the pincer-attacks of these three great Worshippers.

If she used her secret treasure and secret art, she would be able to recover part of her strength. However, that would still do nothing to solve her current predicament.

Behind Lu Ran, Ding Wusheng sternly exclaimed, "I would like to remind you that this is the Thousand Sun Sect's territory!"

Delin shook his head, and said, "The people of the Thousand Sun Sect have given their silent consent on compromise. A wise person would submit to the circumstances. Your Highness, I suggest that you—"

"Plump!"

Suddenly, Delin's expression changed. He grabbed at his heart, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He almost lost his footing back there.

He was not the only one. Hu Jin and Lu Fengchou also pressed their chests at the same time. Their faces paled.

"Who?!" Dellin quickly cast his gaze toward the faraway forest.

The fright he felt just now… It came from there.

Far away, the three of them directed their gazes in the same direction. However, other than the patch of greenery, they could not see anything else.

"This is a matter of the Yin Capital's royal family. Before you intervene, you'd best think about it carefully," Delin warned in a cold tone.

"Since I've decided to intervene, I won't let there be any consequences."

A cold and deep voice of a man reached them.

When Lu Ran and Ding Wusheng heard this, their pupils immediately shrank.

"This voice…"