Way of the Devil

“Oh yes, how’s the frequency of the incidents nearby these days?” Lu Sheng has been spending all his time training in the past few days and has not been paying attention to the situation outside in the slightest. He only instructed Ning San not to disturb him unless it was a matter of life and death.

“Lord Jade Lotus goes to the headquarters once in a while for routine meetings. Everything else is the same. Nothing out of the ordinary for now. Once the situation changes, Crimson Whale will dispatch someone to notify you,” Ning San replied.

“As long as everything is in order. Oh, and how about the two beggar girls I brought home?” Lu Sheng asked as he remembered them.

“I’ve run a check. They’re foreigners indeed. They’ve been to Mountain-Edge City for less than a month. But, they’re running the greenhouses really well. The greenhouses under their care are growing better than other greenhouses. They don’t steal or laze around. They’re of good character,” Ning San smiled.

“Observe them closely. Once you detect any anomalies, inform me immediately,” Lu Sheng sensed that the two of them always carried Yin Qi on them. He had taken them in only to observe how they were different from ordinary mortals.

“Yes, sir.”

The two of them exited the greenhouse and sat down in a gardener’s hut beside it to wipe their sweat and rest.

“When we get back, take my command tablet and make a trip to our blacksmith store. I want to forge a fine weapon suited to myself. An average saber isn’t suitable,” Lu Sheng ordered.

“Got it. I’ll send someone to notify the blacksmith store to prepare the materials later. Oh, and Lu Manor’s funeral begins today,” Ning San reminded.

“It’s Lu Chenxin’s funeral?” Lu Sheng sighed.

“Yes…” Ning San whispered.

“I’ll head back a little later,” Lu Sheng shook his head. “Any word from Fine Treasures Hall?”

“No, sir… but why won’t External Head make a trip to the headquarters? I remember the Resident Elder Zhang Baiyu is an antiques collector. Also, the warehouse in the headquarters contains many of such excavated artifacts,” Ning San asked.

“I’ll go take a look later,” Lu Sheng wolfed down his lunch. A huge tub of rice disappeared as if into a black hole in a matter of minutes.

After lunch, Lu Sheng rose and headed straight to his bedroom.

As he passed by a greenhouse, he spotted, through the entrance, the two sisters chatting with the gardener.

The elder sister was surnamed Liu, named Qin. The younger sister was likewise surnamed Liu, named Caiyun. Liu Qin and Liu Caiyun—those were their names.

From his subordinates, Lu Sheng understood that a great tragedy had befallen their family. All their family members had perished, leaving them in destitution.

They did not explain the specifics of what had happened, but Lu Sheng could sense that they were hiding a secret on them.

As he passed by the greenhouse presently, Lu Sheng noticed an exposed stretch of bare skin on the elder sister Liu Qin’s arm, which hung by her side.

What was peculiar was that her skin on her arm was a swollen purple and was almost deformed. But Liu Qin seemed not to notice it at all.

Lu Sheng smiled and nodded at the two of them. The two sisters nodded in response while the gardener bowed his head reverently. Only after Lu Sheng had walked on a distance did he leave in a hurry for his duties after some final instructions to the sisters.

Only the two sisters were left at the greenhouse entrance now.

“Big Sis, can we stay here for a few more days?” The younger sister Liu Caiyun asked in a whisper.

“We shouldn’t. Otherwise, we’ll implicate Young Master Lu,” Liu Qin replied calmly. “It’s now near the time when your arm acts up, isn’t it?”

“Mm,” Liu Caiyun nodded.

“Those things will come again. If we stay here too long, this place will be destroyed too,” a trace of pain flashed across Liu Qin’s eyes.

“But… I like it here. These flowers… they’re so pretty…” Liu Caiyun mumbled softly.

“Me too…” Liu Qin spoke in a hushed voice as well. “But Young Master Lu is but a mortal. So is everyone else here.”

Liu Caiyun fell into silence.

After a long while, she finally replied chokingly, “I understand…”

“It’s not your fault,” Liu Qin embraced her younger sister gently. “I can sense them. They’re coming.”

“…” Liu Caiyun did not speak. She only rested her cheek against her elder sister’s bosom, bursting a patch of blisters on her cheek. Yellow pus oozed our of them, wetting Liu Qin’s robes.

“Creak~”

The door opened and Lu Sheng strode into the room, closing the door behind him. He was about to rest on his bed when he suddenly froze abruptly and surveyed the entire bedroom.

Several stools sat around the black dining table. Half-read books were spilled atop the square study table. The blanket on the bed was messy, just the way he had left them after waking up.

What made Lu Sheng’s face turn dark was that he saw a pale hand lightly gripping on to the edge of the curtain beside his bed.

It was as if someone was sitting on his bed, holding up the curtain to prevent it from falling over the bed.

But from Lu Sheng’s angle, he could only see the hand.

“Who’s that?!” His eyes dangerous, Lu Sheng’s right hands went slowly to the hilt of the saber behind his waist.

There was no reply. Very slowly and gradually, the hand retracted back into the bed. It moved at a tortoise’s pace, without a sound. But Lu Sheng was clear that there was only a wall in the direction of where the hand was retracting.

He humphed coldly. Then, with great agility, he leapt over and ripped the curtains away with force.

“RIP!”

The curtain was ripped away, revealing an empty bed. Nothing was on it.

The bed was placed in the corner of two walls. On two of its sides were walls. The other two sides were empty and visible to plain sight. Lu Sheng’s gaze swept across the entire room again.

“Trying to run!?” He laughed coldly. Without warning, he struck the bed forcefully dead in its center with his palm.

A scorching wave of heat radiated across the air, producing a ear-piercing sound of breaking wind.

“BOOM!!!”

The entire bed collapsed. Broken wood creaked as thick splinters rubbed against each other. In the midst of the sound, a faint scream rang out.

Suddenly, a black shadow pounced at Lu Sheng from under the bed.

“Blood web!” Lu Sheng did not move, but inner Qi rolled around his body. Level Seven Ultimate Crimson Mantra activated and immediately, an invisible layer of blood web spread out over the area in front of him.

“BOOM! SZZZZZ!”

A blood-curdling scream rang out in the air.

Soon, a gush of cold air rushed out of the room. The room returned to normal.

After the wind had ceased, Lu Sheng carefully sensed his surroundings before finally putting down his guard.

‘Some filthy thing entered my room? Is it because my Body of Half-Yin has become more powerful? Or is it because of the two little girls?’ He narrowed his eyes as he examined his room. A series of slaps on his door rang out.

“External Head! Are you alright!?”

“I’m alright,” Lu Sheng opened the door. “Carry the bed out and bring in a new one.”

The subordinates entered the room to see a collapsed bed. Instantly, they stared at each other dumbly in shock.

“Yes, sir,” although they did not know what had happened, none of them dared to ask Lu Sheng.

While the subordinates changed his bed, Lu Sheng bent at his waist to pick up a small pink purse on the ground.

The purse was decorated with an embroidery of mandarin ducks playing in the water. The embroidery was coarse rather than intricate, however. It looked like one of the cheap goods from a street hawker.

But Lu Sheng felt that it was cold to the touch.

‘To think that I even have Yin Qi being delivered up to my doorstep,’ a grin cracked open on Lu Sheng’s face. Since there wasn’t much Yin Qi on it, Lu Sheng bit his finger and pressed it gently on the purse there and then.

“Szzz…” after a faint and indiscernible sizzle, a thin strand of Yin Qi flowed into Lu Sheng’s chest through his arm, where it was absorbed.

Very soon, the purse was no longer cold to the touch.

“Who’s that!” Suddenly, the voices of sect disciples standing sentry outside rang out. “How dare you attempt to barge into the External Head’s resting room? Are you courting death?!”

“This Brother, Young Master Lu is in grave danger now! You must wake him up immediately!” Liu Qin’s voice rang out with a tone of unmistakable urgency.

“Danger?” The men laughed. “Only our boss ever puts others in danger. Alright now, you two ugly hags, go back and sleep. Don’t hang around here.”

Liu Qin and her sister?

Lu Sheng overheard the exchange from inside his room. A trace of humor flashed across his eyes. He walked out of his room and immediately saw the two sisters still trying to get past the sect disciples.

“You’re here? What’s wrong?” He walked over and asked flippantly.

“Young Master Lu… you… did you encounter any strange phenomena?” Liu Qin instantly heaved a sigh of relief at the sight of Lu Sheng, as if a huge burden had been lifted off her.

“Strange phenomenon? There was a burglar in my room. I sent her flying god-knows-where with a palm strike, and she left behind a purse. To think it was a woman,” Lu Sheng tossed the purse into the air with a chuckle.

“That’s…!?” Seeing the purse, both Liu Qin and Liu Caiyun trembled in shock.

“Young Master! It’s our dereliction of duty!” The sect disciples hurried to apologize, color drained from their faces.

“It’s nothing. I was bored anyway. I’ve been training martial arts day in and day out… I was just hoping for some excitement,” Lu Sheng grinned as he cast the sisters a meaningful look.

“Young Master Lu…” Liu Qin hesitated, “Aren’t… aren’t you afraid?”

“Afraid?” Lu Sheng waved his hand, dismissing the guards. “Both of you follow me,” he said to the pair of sisters.

Leading the two of them behind him, he went straight to a corner of the backyard of the tower that had just been constructed. It was a deserted spot. Moreover, Lu Sheng had men standing guard outside, forbidding all entry.

He sat on a stone stool without further ado.

“Speak. Who on earth are the two of you. And how is it that you can attract ghosts?”

At the sound of the word “ghosts”, the pair of sisters stared at him blankly. Then, strangely, instead of looking surprised, fearful, or grim, their blank stares gradually turned into looks of liberation and exhilaration.

They were the eyes of hope that could be found on a castaway who finally lay sight on an island after drifting on the sea for a long time. He waited a few seconds for both of them to regain their composure.

“You… you know about ghosts too?” The younger sister Liu Caiyun asked cautiously.

“Of course. We cross paths with the troublesome stuff very often. Otherwise, how do you think we could establish ourselves over such a large region?” A frown appeared on Lu Sheng’s forehead instantly as he saw the pair of sisters behaving differently from how he had expected them to.

“That’s true… since Young Master Lu already knows about them, then we don’t have to beat around the bush,” Liu Qin said, a sense of relief and liberation in her tone.

“All along, we’ve assumed that only we could deal with ghosts and the supernatural. But now we’ve finally met an expert like Young Master Lu!”

Lu Sheng’s mind was befuddled.

“Start right from the beginning. Why am I getting even more confused?”

“Alright, we’ll start right from the beginning for you,” Liu Qin said earnestly.

She began recalling how it all began. A hint of tenderness and pain emerged in her eyes.