Way of the Devil

The Mother of Pain looked up at Lu Sheng.

"Void Underworld Heavenly Devil? Looks like you're the Devil Emperor Shun Ying who rose to fame recently." There was no fluctuation of emotions in her words. It was as if she had foreseen this outcome.

Lu Sheng gave a smile. He leapt down from the ruins.

"My abilities are nothing compared to yours, Senior."

"What? You're intending to take me on as well?" The Mother of Pain's eye displayed mockery. "You with your Void Wheel's strength?"

Lu Sheng shook his head. "Before an Underworld Net master, I won't be so bold as to say that I can win. However, if I'm not even brave enough to test your strength, I'll waste all the time I've spent here…"

The Mother of Pain remained silent. If it were before the fight, she might have looked at Lu Sheng as if he was some insignificant small fry. However, after witnessing him slaying another Void Underworld being easily, she began to take him seriously.

"I'll be using Death of Stars. Please amend my skill, Senior." Lu Sheng reached out and a slender light yellow blade materialized in his hands.

A wave just like the one emitted by his clone spread outward.

"If you're going to unleash the same might, I'd advise you not to waste your time," the Mother of Pain drawled.

"Let's try it." Lu Sheng grinned. His body grew larger.

Muscles bulged all over his body into huge lumps that resembled tumors. The tumors grew in size and number until his body was twice his original size. It kept growing until he was thrice, 10 times…

After a few breaths, Lu Sheng was more than 10 meters tall, and he was still growing rapidly.

10 meters! 20 meters! 30 meters!

100 meters! 500 meters! 1,000 meters!

He grew as tall as 1,000 meters. At the same time, the curved blade in his hand grew to a proportional size as well.

At this moment, Lu Sheng's body seemed extremely bloated. The sides of his three faces were lined with pitch-black curved harp fangs. The fangs protruded close to the faces, almost forming a helmet.

His dozen pairs of arms were extended as well. Slightly smaller black curved blades materialized in their grasp.

His overall appearance bore slight resemblance to a centaur. His four hooves were thick and strong, while the powerful muscles of his tail swayed. There was also a fierce-looking sawtooth-filled jaw opening and closing at the tip of his tail.

His body was also covered in thick and mysterious black scales.

"To show my respect to an Underworld Net expert, I'll unleash my main body's full strength. I hope you won't hold back as well." Lu Sheng looked down at the Mother of Pain with a hint of respect.

Every syllable pronounced with his current voice sounded like low growls.

The Mother of Pain, who was more than 10 meters tall, was but the size of an ant to him right now, insignificant. He might just trample over her if he was not careful.

The Mother of Pain choked slightly, and could not find the words to say.

He was clearly a Void Underworld Heavenly Devil. However, where did this power wave much more formidable than ordinary Void Wheel beings come from?

"Here I come. Instant Destruction, Death of Stars!"

Lu Sheng raised his blade high. A strong gale burst forth from his body.

"Pchht!" The blade vanished.

The Mother of Pain's arm shot up.

"Rumble!"

The ground caved in. For an area of several thousand miles, the ground instantly sunk for several meters.

Dark yellow Soil Qi surged wildly as it fought against plumes of black smoke. The resulting terrifying destructive force shattered everything around the two of them, including the dimension itself.

Black spider web-like cracks began spreading through the air around the two of them.

The Mother of Pain blocked the huge yellow blade, which was several hundred meters long, with a single hand. She felt the power bursting forth from it. Her pupil contracted slightly.

"You… are worthy for me to remember your name…"

She broke into a stance. With her extremely formidable physical strength, the huge blade was shattered with a twang in the blink of an eye.

"Pain of Void." The Mother of Pain looked up. Her huge eyeball turned one round, and then fixed itself on Lu Sheng's chest. A dark blue color flashed past the depths of her pupil.

"Argh!"

Lu Sheng's vision darkened. His colossal body seemed to have come under some invisible attack. From his chest, a blackening rot started spreading swiftly all over his body.

"Bam!"

His body suddenly exploded. His flesh and blood burned in black flames in midair. The pieces of his body were instantly turned to ashes and vanished in the air.

The Mother of Pain looked calmly at this scene. She turned around to look behind herself.

Behind her, in the middle of the city, a huge rift more than 10 meters wide and with a fathomless depth extended toward the horizon.

"Let's go." She retracted her gaze, took a step forward, and vanished into thin air with her servant.

***

"Phew…"

Lu Sheng heaved a long sigh. He continued to gaze at Xu Haobai, who was locked in combat with his opponent.

Fighting against Deputy Sect Master Xu was a strange man with a long neck in gray robes. This man wielded a gray sword that was so fine it resembled a spike. The speed at which he struck was shocking. He seemed to have managed thousands of strikes in the blink of an eye.

Xu Haobai maintained his Reincarnation Field all around himself. He compressed his force field so that it stuck to him as much as possible and conjured up three silver-white flying swords. Working in tandem with the swords in his hands, the swords flashed as he somehow managed to parry the blows of his opponent.

Their Reincarnation Fields pressed against each other. Fortunately, Xu Haobai's field was more complete, which gave him an advantage. This also meant that he was less pressured compared to his opponent, which gave him a greater overall advantage.

That was why Lu Sheng was in no hurry to help him.

His newly regrown body was still weak. He needed time to fortify and stabilize it.

"As expected of an Underworld Net being… I was killed in an instant. She's really powerful," Lu Sheng exclaimed.

Not even a single particle was left of the body which had fought the Mother of Pain. It had been obliterated.

He regrew his current body from a piece of flesh he'd stuck onto Xu Haobai's side beforehand.

If he had spread out the range of his Death of Star move, he could have literally destroyed an entire planet.

However, that terrifying force of destruction was easily blocked by a simple gesture of the Mother of Pain.

The destructive Soil Qi contained within his sword's gleam was instantly converted to warm, nourishing energy when the Mother of Pain blocked it. It scattered to the surroundings harmlessly. It had now rejuvenated the planet instead.

In the end, the huge blade merely preserved its pure physical force as it connected with the land, leaving behind a ravine that was not too shocking.

"Is that an Underworld Net being? The power to travel between life and death?" Lu Sheng looked in Xu Haobai's direction. He took a sudden step forward, materializing the yellow blade in his hand, and shot Spirit Massacre at the gray-robed long-necked man.

The gray-robed man was exchanging blows with Xu Haobai in what seemed like a storm of skills. With the unexpected attack, the man tensed up and leapt backward without hesitation. He vanished in midair with a slight pop.

Lu Sheng and Xu Haobai wanted to give chase, but they realized that they could not sense his presence.

"Forget it. Let's go. There's been a change of plans. The Mother of Pain is here. It'd be incredible of we can even make it out of here in one piece!" Lu Sheng spoke quickly as he pulled on Xu Haobai, who clearly wanted to chase after his opponent.

"Alright!"

The two of them morphed into light beams and vanished from their spots.

Soon enough, with the two of them working together, they repelled the blackwater giant fighting against Cheng Huan. The three of them were making their way to where Yue Rulong and the woman were.

"Pooh."

There was a sudden burst of green light on Cheng Huan's body. The green light formed complicated runes in the air.

"This is bad!" When he saw the runes, Cheng Huan's expression changed. A hint of sadness crept onto his eyes.

"What's the matter?"

The others were bewildered.

Cheng Huan closed his eyes and said in a pained tone, "Elder Yue… is dead!"

He had known Yue Rulong for thousands of years. This sudden ill news was drawing a blade across his heart.

"This is not the time for mourning. We must leave this place as quickly as possible," Lu Sheng said in a low voice. "I don't know how, but the Mother of Pain seemed to have picked up on our locations. Fortunately, I've taken care of a Void Underworld being called the Seven Soul Asura before she attacked. Otherwise, we'd be in deeper trouble!"

"Prepare to retreat. We won't make it in time otherwise!" said Xu Haobai with urgency.

"You guys go ahead. Stick to the plan!" Lu Sheng licked his lips. "Fortunately, they didn't notice my backup. We might not be able to kill many of them, but their plan won't be successful, either."

The others did not understand what he meant. They all looked at him, perplexed.

"You'll know when you get back. Retreat for now." Lu Sheng took a step and shot into the skies. He flew toward the huge blood-colored rift in the skies.

Naturally, he would not tell them. The instant the World of Pain's door was opened, he had spread some of his cells into it to lie in wait.

His cells should have spread across a wide area by now.

He had also transferred most of his main body's powers over.

The others flew together. At the edge of the blood-colored rift, Li Shunxi and the others had been waiting for them in a flying ship. They quickly boarded it and shot past the sealing net of the World of Pain.

Without any obstructions from Void Underworld beings, ordinary Devil Art Masters and Mirror Spirit Masters were powerless to stop the flying ship's advance.

The Mother of Pain's figure suddenly appeared atop a pile of ruins. She looked up at the jet stream left behind in the flying ship's wake.

"Running away?" She raised an arm. Gray Qi spread out from all over her body and formed numerous vortexes in the air. The center of the vortexes shone with purple light as if they were all cannon barrels about to fire their rounds. They were all aimed toward the leaving flying ship.

She was about to launch her attack when a sharp alarm sounded in her mind.

"This is bad! The Yellow Springs Diving Palace!" The Mother of Pain's heart skipped a beat. She quickly retracted her arm and tore at the air before herself. A gray rift appeared, and she leapt into it.

Before her eye was a wide stretch of ruins. Countless Devil Art Masters and Mirror Spirit Masters were attacking her base, the Yellow Springs Divine Palace, with dazed looks in their eyes.

In the World of Pain where only the colors black, white, and gray existed, there seemed to be an element of uneasiness in the air.

The Devil Art Masters unleashed their gray Devil Art blades unconsciously. The gray Devil Art blades swiftly merged into a huge gray blade which collided with the protective barrier of the Yellow Springs Divine Palace.

These subordinates who were tasked to guard the divine palace had suddenly betrayed her, and were the ones attacking the divine palace instead.

The Mother of Pain's single eye grew malicious. She could even sense that the other cities were experiencing the same thing. The Qi which controlled her subordinates was exactly the same as that of the Devil Emperor Shun Ying, Lu Sheng, whom she had just defeated.

"Good… Very good!"

She waved her arm, shooting out waves of gray Qi which instantly plunged into the minds of the Devil Art Masters and the Mirror Spirit Masters, freeing them from the mind control.

Even so, nearly half of the Yellow Springs Divine Palace had been destroyed.

Nobody knew how much damage the entire World of Pain had suffered.