Way of the Devil
chapter-649

"That's easy. You can become so powerful that your opponent would have to pay a great price for doing away with you. This way, it won't even matter even if they know that it's you. They can't pay the price of dealing with you," Mi Guangying said this casually.

"There's another way. Find a powerful backer for yourself. Your opponent will certainly refrain from shooting at the rat for fear of breaking the vases[1. A Chinese proverb, it means that dealing with a problem is too costly.]."

"Can I ask you something? Do you know how many Iron Flag Council Members there are in the stellar zone I'm currently in?" Lu Sheng seemed to have asked an unimportant question.

"I'm not sure. However, when you rank up, you can join different circles depending on your location. You won't know the exact locations of the members, but the members of the circle are from the same galaxy." Mi Guangying laughed. "Also, a word of caution. The Iron Flag Council is only an above-average organization. There are many other organizations that are more powerful than us. Don't be too careless."

"I understand…" Lu Sheng nodded slightly.

"Well then, have you decided what you need my help for?" Mi Guangying spoke casually. "I'll have you know that I can't deal with anyone at the Void Underworld tier. Don't even think about suggesting that."

"It's alright. You'd only have to deal with people of the Confusion Realm at most. Your main job will be to protect my kinsmen," said Lu Sheng drily.

"No problem. I don't have much to do in the next three years. As long as you can help me rid my uncle of the poison, I can even help you out for 30 years!" said Mi Guangying forthrightly.

"Good to know." Lu Sheng nodded. He had sniffed the poison. It was truly a troublesome compound. However, he was a man of poison—his body was already equivalent to a walking store of toxins. On top of that, he had his higher-than-rank-800 Tu Style Healing Art.

Even if he could not get rid of the poison, it would not be a problem for him to manage its effects.

"When that time comes, just issue the mission with your origin stone. I'll reach you directly through your Transport Door," Mi Guangying suggested.

"Alright. I'll leave it to you." Lu Sheng nodded.

After the call ended, he started researching the poison and blood in the vials.

After running some tests on them with the Test Formation he bought at the Iron Flag Council's marketplace, he learned the nature and details of the poison.

It was a cocktail of 320,000 different types of toxins. The toxins were linked together, forming a complete and immense Toxic Rune Formation.

This poison was just like a combination of poison and formation.

It was fortunate that Lu Sheng was quite knowledgeable regarding formations as well. Although he was no expert in biochemistry, with Deep Blue and his reading of the materials he purchased from the Iron Flag Council, he quickly replenished his lacking knowledge to its peak.

He spent more than 300,000 Mental Energy units for this ordeal. Lu Sheng finally grasped the knowledge system he needed to undo the poison.

More than 40 martial path cultivation methods which specialized in profound knowledge of detoxification were gobbled up by Deep Blue. Then, it sent the information to him to have them connected.

It was fortunate that he had more than enough Mental Energy units at this moment. Even though Deep Blue was only capable of differentiating martial path skill formulas, Lu Sheng could still navigate through the loopholes and set the cultivation methods and arts which required meticulous studies as the goal of the modification. This way, when the cultivation of the various knowledge and cultivation methods were completed, he would have already mastered all other related knowledge.

Lu Sheng stayed more than three days at the iron Flag Council before he derived the avid antibody to the poison.

Then, he brought the avid antibody to Mi Guangying. The two of them discussed the tasks they had for each other in detail.

Mi Guangying would Arrive in Yellow Springs Planet #3 via the origin stone, and locate Lu Sheng's kinsmen in Great Song and the members of the Prime Devil Sect. Then, she would bring them all out of the Yellow Springs Galaxy to Libra City.

At the same time, Lu Sheng would have to increase his authority as quickly as possible to earn the right to bring more people into the main city as residents.

Otherwise, the Fourth Ward would not be enough to protect his kinsmen.

Also, as Mi Guangying had said, as long as he was powerful enough, he would be able to make the forces on Zhuang Jiu's side refrain from shooting at the rat for fear of breaking the vases. It would be difficult for them to do anything to him.

If he was truly a great Void Underworld being, even if it was discovered that he destroyed Green Branch Sect's planet and killed Zhuang Jiu, nobody would dare provoke him.

A Void Underworld Heavenly Devil was not as simple as another being with Void Underworld strength. Heavenly Devils possessed the extremely troublesome attribute of being undead.

Also, a Void Underworld expert powerful enough to destroy Zhuang Jiu and a planet was certainly not someone ordinary experts could hope to compare with.

Lu Sheng did not detoxify Mi Guangying's uncle directly. Instead, he formulated the antidote, diluted it, and sent it to her in batches.

He would not go there in person.

The effects of the antidote were observable soon enough. As a reward, the relaxed Mi Guangying transferred about 300,000 contribution points to Lu Sheng on her uncle's behalf.

Through this incident, Lu Sheng discovered a better and quicker way for him to earn contribution points.

Unfortunately, he had spent so many Mental Energy units, and the only thing he mastered was a single antidote to this poison.

About five days later, Lu Sheng had completed the production of the antidote and sent it to Mi Guangying.

Another 300,000 contribution points came from her side as the final payment.

The sheer amount made Lu Sheng understand that the uncle behind Mi Guangying was most probably some peak expert with formidable strength.

At the very least, he would be a great Void Underworld being.

However, no matter what tier the uncle was at, at the very least, Lu Sheng now had enough contribution points to buy a volume of the main cultivation method.

Although it was the cheapest, Lu Sheng did not care much about the price. As long as he could somehow squeeze into that tier, Deep Blue would derive and perfect it for him and strengthen a cultivation method to its limits.

All he needed was enough Mental Energy units.

.....

The light screen scrolled downward. Void Underworld cultivation methods kept sliding past before Lu Sheng's eyes.

He fixed his gaze on the light screen. He wanted to look for one with the best value for money.

In no time, he reached the end of the long list.

It was the final of all Void Underworld cultivation methods.

He had been spending and earning contribution points at the same time. Sometimes, he had to buy various materials and potions he needed to complete the missions.

His expenses aside, the amount of contribution points he actually had was more than 1,300,000.

In the list of cultivation methods, there were only three that cost less than 1,500,000…

Two of them were clearly labelled as volumes, while the other was defective. Naturally, he chose the complete volumes.

"I hope that this will do it. I don't mind even if the main cultivation method is slightly unconventional, as long as it gets me to the Void Underworld tier."

Although he said that, when Lu Sheng saw the titles of the three volumes, he could not help but feel helpless.

"East Park Autumn Dew Fertilizing Method. Some random Void Underworld expert blazed a new trail and came up with this unique skill formula. Perhaps he was inspired with a smack to the head. Perhaps this was an original and different skill formula some great being created for some special purpose. At Full-mastery, all material life within a radius of several hundred thousand meters would reach the limits of fertility. This is the best skill formula needed for a flourishing civilization. It's suitable to be used in tandem with an auxiliary-type main cultivation method. Price: 1,310,000 contribution points."

"Charming Fragrant Red Caltrop Method. A unique method created by master Tian Xiang. With its unique otherworldly fragrance that is both far-reaching and profound, a living being's natural charm will be amplified, mesmerizing all others. Price: 1,360,000 contribution points."

"…These two skill formulas, I can't even choose between them…"

In a bout of helplessness, Lu Sheng could only look toward the final, incomplete skill formula.

"Poison Sand Nine Phoenix Method. A unique method mainly cultivated by poison cultivators, who have gone extinct millions of years ago. They did not leave much behind. This skill formula is one of the few such things. Because of its popularity, many great sects of the Devil and Wicked Paths would take parts of its ideals and essence, incorporating them into the foundations of their secret and forbidden arts. This method's specialty lies in the swiftness of mastery. In the early stage, improvement will be extremely quick. In the middle stage, the improvement will be extremely slow. If the cultivator manages to break through to the late stages, improvement will be extremely quick. Price: 1,000,000 contribution points. (Note: This is only a third of the entire volume. The whereabouts of the remaining parts of the volume are unknown.)"

Lu Sheng fell silent. He hesitated between these three cultivation methods.

In no time, he discarded the charming method. If he cultivated that, he would truly become a pervert.

As for the two remaining methods…

"Looks like I don't have a choice…" Lu Sheng sighed. In the end, he reached out and tapped on one of them.

East Park Autumn Dew Fertilizing Method!

'Even if this is a support-type skill formula with no offensive attributes, it'll be helpful in perfecting my Heart World. At the very least, I'll be able to break through to the Confusion Realm! The poison cultivators' method is a defective product to begin with. If any trouble arises in the later stages because of the defects, it'll be too late for me to cry over it. What I need now is a complete Void Underworld cultivation method that I can use as reference.'

Lu Sheng steeled his heart. He threw away the fruits of his hard work from all this while. All his contribution points were spent in one go. He would be lying if he said that he did not feel his heart hurt.

However, he had no choice.

His contribution points that were more than 1,000,000 were instantly cleared.

A few seconds later, a spot of silver light suddenly flew out of the light screen and shot between Lu Sheng's brows.

Information about the East Park Autumn Dew Fertilizing Method surged quickly into his mind.

From the Army Raising tier to the Confusion Realm tier, it was a substantial change that was akin to the differences in distance from planetary travel to stellar travel.

If an Army Raising being was an expert who could dominate a planet, a Confusion Realm being would be an itinerant monk who took his first step out of the planet and entered outer space.

They were able to soar through outer space and provide for themselves for a long time. They possessed an endless stock for their own requirements. They would not be relying too much on external factors compared to the Army Raising beings.

At this tier, the emphasis of cultivation would be on the cultivator's mind and spirit.

The volume of information contained within the skill formula carried by the silver light was extremely huge. Everything about the Confusion Realm to the part where it was extremely close to the Void Underworld tier was there.

Lu Sheng instantly understood the fundamental reason why he was not able to break through to the Confusion Realm.

Spirit was only a part of the cultivation. Rules played a more crucial role. He had to obtain enlightenment and an understanding of the world.

According to the skill formula, at the Army Raising's peak where his spirit's capacity was at its limits, the first step he would have to take was to temper and strengthen his spirit by understanding the rules, thereby purging his spirit of impurities.

The second step would be for him to condense a Divine Emblem onto his spirit. The Divine Emblem would be formed by combining countless Divine Veins and Marks.

After the formation of the Divine Emblem, another directed tempering step was needed before he could obtain fertilizing power which he could use to make the life and plants around him thrive.

The more rules he understood, and the more perfect they were, the Divine Emblem formed would be more powerful.

However, the Divine Emblem was actually akin to a small energy cycle which he would be able to bring along. Neither the Heavenly Devils or the other tribes could break free from this system.

However, Lu Sheng did notice that the most important part in the final step from Army Raising to Confusion Realm was the understanding of rules by the mind.

Although he had help from Deep Blue, he was greatly lacking in this category.

Compared to the Army Raising beings back in his home on the Yellow Springs Planet, he could be considered to have a great understanding of the rules. However, compared to a Confusion Realm being, who had cultivated for tens of thousand of years, with their countless accumulation and rich experiences, he was too insignificant. These Confusion Realm beings with great organizations backing them had to spend tens of thousands of years cultivating before they finally achieved a breakthrough.

'I have too little time. Looks like it's more worthwhile for me to cultivate in another world. I should look for a world with the greatest difference in time flow. If understanding of the mind is the only important factor, I won't have to mind the energy rank. This way, I can even increase the difference in time flow…'

Lu Sheng started weighing his options.