Way of the Devil
chapter-686-30041322

The skies and the land suddenly fell into darkness.

Black smoke endlessly shot in all directions. Pillars of black smoke appeared like pitch-black tendrils which slowly extended outward. They would drop toward areas several hundred kilometers away.

The giant black crane was Lu Sheng's reincarnation spirit which he had gained insight into through his experience of nearly 100 years.

The reincarnation spirit was the true form of a cultivator's soul after gaining insight into the reincarnation heart.

Lu Sheng had once thought that his soul's true form would be the Eight-Headed Devil Art. However, the instant he gained complete insight, he understood that his soul's true form was constantly changing throughout his Arrivals while he assimilated his own selves through the Other Worlds.

These changes depended on the nature of his heart's image.

The nature of his heart's image had originally been a chaotic dark mess. However, after gaining insight for nearly a century here, he finally decided to use the giant crane Qianshen as the core of his powerful heart's manifestation.

According to the Void Underworld cultivation method, the fertilizing method, the instant a Heavenly Devil understood the reincarnation completely, he would obtain the reincarnation heart.

The reincarnation heart would naturally absorb the reincarnation power of the outside world. However, the full name of the reincarnation heart in the Heavenly Devil World was reincarnation heart image.

The giant crane Qianshen was the name he came up with for his heart image at its origins.

This was also the first time he manifested his own heart image completely.

"Rumble!"

The black giant crane's wings were like two huge rocks which covered the heavens and the earth as they crashed into the black peak which bore down at it.

The gravitational force and pushing force struggled against each other for quite some time.

Then, there was a sudden explosion. From its bottom to its tip, the mountain peak completely shattered and scattered. Countless huge pieces of rock scattered all around like raindrops.

"How's this possible!?" The expression of Taoist Huanshan's primordial spirit froze over for an instant. He turned around to flee.

"Hiss!"

Suddenly, a terrifying surge of black airflow surrounded him.

"No! How's this possible! How can I possibly lose!?" Taoist Huanshan let his Spiritual Power loose. He intended to use this eruption of Spiritual Power to break free from the shackles of the airflow around him.

However, his efforts were futile. The black airflow steadily pulled him toward the giant crane.

His spirit was shuddering intensely. As an immortal, as one of the 13 immortals of the Indefinite Cult, he had never thought that he would find himself in such a helpless situation.

That was an entire mountain!

He had moved it over from hundreds of kilometers away to suppress that black monster. To think that it was…

Even if he was Taoist Huanshan who mainly cultivated his Capacity in moving mountains and overturning seas, it still took him a great deal of effort to move an entire mountain over.

In the battles between ordinary Taoists, rocks with diameter of dozens of meters were already called mountains.

At most, they would be fighting with huge rocks with 100 meters in diameter. However, this time, he actually brought an entire mountain over.

The mountain's main body was several kilometers wide.

At this moment, it was being torn to shreds by a giant black crane up to 1000 meters tall.

From afar, the black crane resembled a mustard seed which penetrated and shattered the huge rock as big as a washbowl.

"No! You can't kill me! I'm one of the 13 immortals of the Indefinite Cult! If you kill me, the cult master won't let this pass!" he shouted wildly. He was desperately trying to cut away the black Qi with the golden sword in his hands.

However, with every strand he severed, another strand of black smoke would entangle him almost immediately. There was no end to them.

"Imbecile." Lu Sheng's expression remained unchanged. Once a Heavenly Devi gained insight on the reincarnation heart, he would have the right to absorb the reincarnation power.

Through the absorbing of reincarnation power, his Heart World would be perfected, and he would be able to achieve the Void Underworld tier.

This entire process was extremely long and winding. However, there was one way to greatly shorten the time needed.

That method was to rob others of their reincarnation power.

Originally, if he relied on his own efforts to wander about and absorb reincarnation power, he would need at least 10,000 years to barely make it.

However, if he could find a being with powerful reincarnation power and absorb its reincarnation power, he would be able to greatly shorten the time he needed to cultivate.

Because of this, the probability of fights to the death between beings of this tier skyrocketed.

Devouring the opponent's reincarnation power to complete one's own Heart World. This was the objective every Void Underworld Heavenly Devil wanted to achieve.

It was also because of this that there were not many Void Underworld Heavenly Devils.

'There are countless worlds. After accumulation over many years, there was only a handful of Void Underworld beings in the Heavenly Devil World. This isn't easy.'

Lu Sheng looked at Taoist Huanshan's primordial spirit that was being pulled over to himself. He was neither sad nor happy.

This was the difference in tier.

In terms of cultivation base and strength, Taoist Huanshan was much more powerful than himself before he'd gained insight on the reincarnation heart.

Other aspects aside, the immense peak which Huanshan moved here over a distance of several hundred kilometers was not something that previous Lu Sheng could fight against.

That was not something that could be defeated even with his Sea-overturning Orb.

Rocks and water. The weight of these two could not be compared. Moreover, the volume of water he released would be much less than the weight of this peak.

Even if he unleashed his main body, he might not even be able to hold a candle against him.

However, things were different now…

The reincarnation heart was a wonderful heart image born from the incorporation of one's reincarnation power with various mysterious void substances.

This was the manifestation of Lu Sheng's entire soul, spirit, and the reincarnation power he possessed at the moment.

'This is my ultimate move, a result of the eruption of all my power…' Lu Sheng looked at the giant black crane which was howling skyward while rocks rained down all around it. He gained some insight in his heart.

'He's the most powerful and the weakest as well. If anyone manages to kill this giant crane, it means that everything about me, my spirit included, will be killed. I won't be reincarnated anymore.'

"Pchht!"

In an instant, Taoist Huanshan was swallowed whole into the giant crane's mouth. In the blink of an eye, Taoist Huanshan's voice could no longer be heard.

The rain of rocks around them died down as well. The mountain exploded, and its pieces raised the surrounding terrain's elevation. It was now a balanced highland.

The explosion's and vibration's sounds slowly subsided.

Lu Sheng gave an order with his will. The giant black crane dissociated into countless black spots and vanished in the air.

The black spots quickly gathered around him, and slowly diffused into his body. In a few seconds, all the black spots were completely absorbed into his body.

"Father!"

"My lord!"

When all the sounds died down, a dozen figures from the Crane King Cave and the three masters of the Clear Crane Sect rushed over to where he was.

While Lu Sheng launched his attacks before, he naturally took care to protect these people. Fortunately, Taoist Huanshan's strength did not exceed his expectations. He even had the leisure to swat away the rocks which crashed toward them.

At this moment, the Crane King Cave was nonexistent. What was left was a blackish-gray rocky highland.

The ones who arrived first were the 12 crane demons and Bai Songzi.

The 13 figures moved with extreme speed and arrived here in no time.

"Father! You're finally back!" Little Zhen fell to his knees while tears coursed down his cheeks. At this crucial moment, if Lu Sheng had not returned, the entire Crane King Cave would not have survived this ordeal.

Tears streaked down the other crane demons' faces as well. They had resolved themselves to die, but fate was still on their side this time.

Lu Sheng had arrived in the nick of time, and reignited the sparks of hope within them.

Lu Sheng looked at the crane demons. "You've done well. I'll take it from here."

At this current moment, the three masters of the Clear Crane Sect arrived. They had witnessed the terrifying battle which could have destroyed the heavens and the earth.

Although Taoist Hezhen was Longhe Zhi's disciple, his current rank, strength, and tier had far surpassed Longhe Zhi. He was now at an unfathomable level.

The three of them were unsure what expressions they should be wearing while facing him. They merely appeared slightly flustered and complicated.

"Esteemed teachers, master uncles. It's been a few decades, I hope you're alright." Lu Sheng greeted them voluntarily without a sense of awkwardness.

Longhe Zhi's lips trembled. It took him a while before he managed to squeeze out something from his mouth.

"Fine… We're all fine…"

"Where have you been? We've looked everywhere, and couldn't even locate your shadow." Bo Ruqing could not refrain from asking with a slightly anxious voice.

"I… That's a long story…" Lu Sheng shook his head slightly. "Let's look for somewhere to rest and pick up this conversation."

With Lu Sheng's return, everyone looked to him for directions. The crane demons hastily went to dig Taoist Huanshan's corpse out.

However, the corpse was already rotten beyond help. Not an ounce of Spiritual Power was contained within it; it was the same as ordinary corpses.

The only things they salvaged from the corpse were some practical trinkets and some battered sutras.

Lu Sheng put them away and brought the others back to the Moon Prince Mansion.

The Crane King Cave had vanished. Naturally, the Moon Prince Mansion was the only place for them to stay at for now.

Along the way, Lu Sheng was still considering the matters that he had to tend to. He had actually achieved his greatest objective in coming to this world.

Although the West Cliff Dynasty had crumbled, and he was unable to accomplish his host's karma, compared to assimilating his other self from this world, gaining complete insight into his reincarnation heart was the most important thing to achieve.

This signified that he would be able to attain the Void Underworld tier and actually step into the realm where he could destroy planets as long as he absorbed enough reincarnation power.

With his objective achieved, he could go back at any time. However, Taoist Huanshan's strength gave him some ideas about the peak power of this world.

This world was truly very powerful!

Currently, he could be regarded as half a Void Underworld being already. However, Taoist Huanshan was still capable of exchanging blows with him.

That was incredible.

This meant that if Taoist Huanshan was willing, he could destroy the living beings of a whole planet's surface through repetitive processes. He at least possessed the strength of a peak Confusion Realm.

And according to him, there were at least 12 others like him among the Indefinite Cult's elites.

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The Moon Prince Mansion.

Lu Sheng sat up straight opposite the Moon Prince. He stared silently at his wizened face.

Also present beside the Moon Prince were Yuan Yuanyuan and Yuan Liuliu. They were both old almost beyond recognition.

These had once been two green beautiful young girls. Currently, only faint hints of their former beauty could be seen.

After a moment of silence, Lu Sheng softly asked them, "Have you all… been well all these years?"

"The Crane King Cave which you've left behind has protected the Moon Prince Mansion for a very long time." The Moon Prince smiled. "We're not well, but we had peaceful lives. The ones who had it rough were your two little sisters…"