Way of the Devil - Chapter 371

Chapter 371: Greater Scope (2)

“That’s good.

“The true difference between us and Weapons Master lies in the spirit. If the spirit of Weapon Masters is weaker than Divine Weapons and Devil Blades, then us Holy Masters’ spirit is on the same level as Divine Weapon and Devil Blade. Speaking of which, there are legends claiming that Holy Master level life forms created the first Divine Weapons and Devil Blade when they concentrated their whole spirit into one.

“Of course, it’s only a legend, but there is evidence to support it. I’ve never seen it happen though, so treat it like as a joke for now.”

Su Ningfei lightly put the book on the stone table and sighed.

“The greatest advantage Holy Masters have lies in the fact that they can unleash the full power of Divine Weapons and Devil Blades—their full destructiveness. I don’t know what kind of Divine Weapon you possess, but how to utilize your spirit on Divine Weapons is something you would have to figure out yourself. At our level, be it us or the Divine Weapons, there can only be one spirit in charge. Do you understand what I mean?”

“You mean to destroy the Divine Weapon’s consciousness?” Lu Sheng was surprised.

“‘Assimilate’ is more fitting.” Su Ningfei smiled. “Hence why I have two names: Qian Du is the name of the Devil Blade I assimilated, while my actual name is Su Ningfei.”

“I am grateful for Master’s guidance…” Lu Sheng’s heart jumped. He’d never had a Divine Weapon or Devil Blade, so he had to find a way to hide that fact eventually.

In this world where Divine Weapons and Devil Blades reigned supreme, an alien like him who didn’t need Divine Weapons at all wouldn’t end up well if he was discovered.

“Us Holy Masters are ranked based on the tier and power of our Divine Weapons and Devil Blades.

“Divine Weapons are separated into three tiers: Golden Leaf, Jade Star, and Divine Intellect. These are ranked by increasing power. There is another Minor Divine Weapon rank that consists of those that were broken and required repair, which would usually cause a drastic decrease in power. They are trivial compared to the other three tiers.

“I will mainly focus on the three tiers I’ve mentioned.

“The Golden Leaf tier Divine Weapons and Devil Blades are the most common. Many of them would flow out of that world every year.

“Jade Star tier is much rarer. Me, as well as the heroes ranked within the top ten of the three major sects, all have this tier of Divine Weapons.

“While in all these years, a Divine Intellect tier Divine Weapons or Devil Blades have only appeared three times in the Great Yin, and two times in other areas.”

“Divine Intellect…” Lu Sheng narrowed his eyes.

“The Devil Emperor, the Four Pillars… Only the Divine Intellect tier could resist their power. Unfortunately, we haven’t seen any in thousands of years. Even if one appeared, it…” Su Ningfei seemed to have thought of something, but didn’t finish her words.

“That is generally how people see us Holy Masters. The three tiers of Divine Weapons and Devil Blades are the same three tiers used to rank Holy Masters.

“A Holy Master’s level and tiers are completely dependent on the Divine Weapon the integrate. You are forever stuck at the same level as your Divine Weapon. That is something you wouldn’t be able to change,” Su Ningfei continued.

“Is this what ‘talent determines everything’ means?” Lu Sheng frowned.

“Why else did you think the Great Yin was able to stand for thousands of years? The strongest Divine Weapons and Devil Blades produce the strongest Holy Masters. These are the naturally born bloodlines, and the naturally born Divine Intellect level Holy Masters!” Su Ningfei said flatly.

“Then Master… you must be at the legendary Divine Intellect level, right?” Lu Sheng asked carefully in a low voice.

“For a Holy Master, the tier of their Divine Weapon is one of his or her greatest secrets. Do not ask this question again.” Su Ningfei’s face turned cold, and she said flatly, “You should never tell other people the core power and tier of your Divine Weapon, not even to your closest friends and family. This would benefit you in the long run.”

“Understood.” Lu Sheng nodded.

“Now, I will teach you on how you should treat other Holy Masters.” Su Ningfei stood up, walked to a wall deeper into the cave, and knocked three times.

Instantly, a black bug stained with mud similar to an earthworm slowly crawled out from under the rock wall like a fish floating above water. It opened its palm-sized yellow eyes and looked at Su Ningfei.

“Incense.”

“Hiss!”

Immediately, slivers of white smoke streamed out rapidly from a place under the bug’s eyes.

The white smoke circled in front of Su Ningfei and Lu Sheng multiple times like it was alive, then finally spread out and formed a wide white and gray map in mid-air.

Su Ningfei finally pointed at the map.

“I don’t know exactly how many Holy Masters or Devil Masters reside in the Great Yin nowadays, but it should be in the range of 10 to 20. However, most are battling against the Devil World. Between Holy Masters, aside from the necessary exchange of resources, the most common connection is establishing their own sect to make exchanging their offspring for cultivation easier.

“The Great Yin has laws in place where Holy Masters automatically have the right to establish their own sect. As for exchanging offspring, even though their next generations receive the same Divine Weapon’s radiation, the amount of potential they ultimately have is different. In some cases, a mutation would even occur, producing a stronger and more concentrated yet incompatible new bloodline.

“Hence, usually Holy Masters all have many friends and connections. Combined with our thousands-of-years-long lifespans, this amount of connections becomes even scarier.”

“Does that mean that to strengthen our power and influence, we must cultivate as many powerful individuals as we can for our own bloodline?” Lu Sheng nodded.

“Not for your own power and influence. It’s for the fight against the Devil World.” Su Ningfei shook her head slowly. “Hence, you would immediately receive a good amount of goodwill from the Holy Masters of the Thousand Sun Sect once you make your power public. Of course, an investigation would be necessary, but once that’s done, everything else should be fine. Unresolvable animosity between Holy Masters is rare. Everyone always tries their best to resolve grudges peacefully.”

“That is because at our level, our spirits are so powerful we are no longer mortals. Even if our physical body is destroyed, we could silently find a new one and live again. Hence, it is very hard to completely kill a rival, and no one wants to have bad blood between one another.”

“I understand.” Lu Sheng nodded. Of course, he wouldn’t accept everything she said as truth, but that didn’t mean her explanation wasn’t helpful.

Su Ningfei suddenly thought of something and felt a little awkward, but still managed a smile. “Also, I don’t know how you broke through to this level, but the fact you can create Spirit Crystal means you are solidly within the Golden Leaf tier.”

She pointed at the map in front of them.

“Since you are a Holy Master now, you could go anywhere in the Great Yin. I will point out to you places troublesome even for us.”

“Of course. Thank you, Master, for your guidance.” Lu Sheng nodded.

Su Ningfei started to point out various forbidden and dangerous places of the Great Yin one by one. Lu Sheng remembered everything in detail. They almost looked like a peaceful pair of master and disciple at that moment.

But after she pointed out all the forbidden places, Su Ningfei didn’t give him any more True Qi techniques, nor did she tell him that the slate was one she’d drawn randomly herself. All she did was leave a few warnings, and then left by herself.

“I still have some things to take care of. It is best for you to go back if you want nothing else. The main sect’s contest begins soon; you should attend it, breakthrough or not. Of course, ideally, you would get out of this as soon as possible so that people wouldn’t get suspicious. When you were at the Weapon Master level, you could put up a somewhat convincing disguise. But now…. The people in charge aren’t dumb.” Su Ningfei shook her head.

“I understand.” Lu Sheng nodded.

“That’s it. I’m leaving now. Go back when you are done.” Su Ningfei turned and jumped toward the cave wall. She lightly collided with it and disappeared instantly.

Lu Sheng’s eyes immediately focused. He seemed to have thought of something after seeing this movement technique.

‘Is that what Laws are…?’ Every Divine Weapon had their own natural power, and these powers were what made them so strong. Everything else was simply a byproduct of it.

The only weapon Lu Sheng had ever seen was Shangyang Family’s Mountain Shepherding Brush. But according to the members of the Shangyang Family, the core power of the Mountain Shepherding Brush was its writing.

Which meant that the words written by it possessed far greater power compared to other Divine Weapons. Because of it, the Shangyang Family was able to produce a large amount of Holy Weapons. That was their advantage.

Meanwhile, Su Ningfei’s Divine Weapon’s natural power seemed even more mysterious.

At the very least, it allowed her to cross cavern walls like a ghost.

Lu Sheng slowly sat down where Su Ningfei had been. He leaned forward and stared closely at the rock wall, his fingers crossed as he fell deep into thought.

***

Gorge of Two Worlds, the Great Yin.

Dark gray Devil Qi boiled up and filled the gorge, while a vague and strange roar came from deep within. Occasionally, human cries and screams would be mixed in.

The mist hid everything in the deeper part of the gorge, and it looked like a sea of gray from afar.

Above the gorge, black chains as thick as arms supported a drawbridge one after another. Elite veteran forces dressed in the gray robes of the Great Yin constantly walked across it.

On one of the drawbridges, a couple young lords and ladies dressed in fine red half-armor stared curiously at the wonderful scenery around them.

“This is the legendary Gorge of Two Worlds that leads straight into the Devil World? What a rare sight.” One of the young lord’s eyes were filled with curiosity. “Legend has it this was where the Devil Army swarmed out of and surprised all of the Human World?”

“Correct.

“The Great Yin has a total of 13 Gorges of Two Worlds, but the one with the most troops stationed is still the Qiluo Gorge of Two Worlds. That place bore the brunt of the Devil Army’s attack. This place is more like a display, and Devils hadn’t came out of it for many years now. Nowadays of course—” a woman with a cold face explained flatly, but she abruptly stopped and stared into the chasm.

Their delicate leather boots also became unstable as the drawbridge started to shake.

“What happened?!”

“The drawbridge is shaking!!?”

The drawbridge, frozen solid by ice, somehow started melting at a rapid rate.

The woman suddenly thought of something and her face changed color.

She violently waved her hands, and three scarlet fireballs started to rapidly spin around her waist, about to shoot toward the signal fire on top of the guard tower.

“Boooom…!!!”

Instantly, a tremor that seemed to come from the soul spread across everyone’s hearts.

A swarm of shadows slowly appeared from the bottom of the abyss.

“Boom!!!”

A black shadow darted out of the gray mist, out from the abyss, and slammed into the drawbridge.

The bridge decks were easily shattered like chopsticks. The people on them flew up, and were swallowed by the gray Devil Qi before they had time to scream.

Black shadows shot into the sky, past the icy mountain peaks to the side, past the grand fortress, and into the clouds.

“Whoosh!”

A pair of dragon wings that spanned thousands of meters slowly expanded from both sides of the shadow, covering the sky and the sun.

“ROARRR!!!”

This shadow was a pitch-black dragon thousands of meters big. It roared in the direction of the Great Yin Imperial Court, and countless black smoke was coming out of his body.

In the middle of the four horns on the dragon’s head stood a majestic shape wearing purple armor.

The cape behind him was made out of a flowing, burning purple flame.