Duanmu Wan nodded. "Everything's settled. The elders are in the vicinity. This is Great Song, not the Great Yin which is full of experts. Even if there's any sudden change, the elders can handle them."
When Liu Shanzi thought about it, he found that it made sense. The current Prime Devil Sect was an immense organization to the Great Song. It had several Devil Kings under its banner. On top of that, there was the Divine Weapon which Lu Sheng left behind to look after things.
The Third Sacred Gate was also taking care of them. They truly had no need to fear any ordinary force.
After all, Devil Kings were peak beings in Great Song…
Liu Shanzi still remembered when he supported the entire sect on his own. Those were dire times. Compared to the present, many elders who were even peak beings among the Devil Kings and Weapon Masters had joined the Prime Devil Sect.
Currently, the Prime Devil Sect had already regained its grandest moment in history.
This did not even include Sect Master Lu Sheng, who had not returned yet.
If the current sect master was taken into account, they were even powerful enough to unify Great Song.
"Let's take care of everything else first. The sect master will surely return. I believe that," said Duanmu Wan with a serious expression.
She was different from the others. She had a Restriction planted within her by Lu Sheng.
The two of them were still conversing when a disciple came running toward them from afar.
"Interim Sect Master, this is a report for you. Someone wants to see you."
"Oh?" Duanmu Wan quickly fixed her expression. They had just arrived, and already someone came to their doorstep. Surely word had not leaked out yet? Who would act so quickly?
She suddenly remembered something in her past. Her gaze flickered.
"Who wants to see me?"
"The person claims to be an old acquaintance of the sect master and that they had an agreement before this," said the disciple, clearly puzzled as well. "Also, the one who spoke looked to be about 12 years of age… It's a she," he added.
"Hm?" Duanmu Wan's expression froze slightly. "Bring me to her."
"There's no need. I'm already here."
A calm and cold voice of a girl interrupted her. At the entrance to the dark cavern, two petite figures in gray cloaks walked in slowly.
The one who walked in front was a fair, little girl with exquisite features. It was just as the disciple had said: she seemed to be in her early teens.
The person who followed behind the girl was a short person with a covered face. The person's gender was indiscernible, but the person gave off a faint, dangerous aura.
"I'm here to look for Lu Sheng. Where is he? He's made me a promise back then." The girl looked around her after she came in. She seemed to be curious.
The Prime Devil Sect disciples in the area immediately acted as if a great enemy had just showed up. Their base had just been invaded by an outsider without them noticing. Although they had yet to exert complete control over this place, such an action was an absolute taboo, no matter which great organization one was in.
For a time, the sharp clang of drawn swords filled the cavern. The Prime Devil Sect disciples closed in on this area with no friendly intentions.
"Uh… Our sect master is currently out… May I ask for your name? We can inform him about your visit the moment he returns." Duanmu Wan waved her hand to signal the others to stop their hostility.
Their visitors did not seem to harbor ill intentions. They were merely impatient. She could not taint the good impression between them.
The girl frowned. "You can call me Anza. When's your sect master coming back? Has he mentioned anything before he left?"
"Unfortunately… He didn't," Duanmu Wan replied.
"Is that so… Very well, I shall return and wait for him." Anza turned around helplessly. Just when she was about to leave, she suddenly froze on the spot.
"Mhm? Who are you?" She cast her gaze toward a pile of ruins in one corner of the cavern. There was clearly nobody there, but she was indifferent. She asked anyway.
Currently, the remaining elders of the Prime Devil Sect had arrived as well. One of them was the King of Shadows who had just returned from the Lu Manor aboveground. The instant he saw Anza, he shuddered and was so emotional that he could barely speak.
These Devil Kings had been shackled and sealed before while no one attempted to rescue them. A great extent of this was because they were former subordinates of Anza. As the only Devil Empress who was sealed, the generals under her charge also suffered cruel suppression and weakening.
The King of Shadows was one of them. Although he was only a lowly commander back then, he had seen Devil Empress Anza's face from afar before.
Hence, he recognized her with a single glance.
However, Anza had no spare time to deal with her former subordinates at the moment. Instead, she locked her gaze on the rubble.
"You plan on hiding forever?" A golden gleam instantly flashed past her eyes.
Immediately, from the rubble, a girl in gray with long black hair stood gloomily and silently among the shadows. She raised her gray eyes and looked toward Anza.
"Lu Sheng is my subordinate. I'm here to see if he's dead. If he's not, I'm bringing him back," the girl spoke with a calm expression.
"Your subordinate?" Anza wore a mocking expression. "You think you're the Night Empress? A peak Weapon Grandmaster is your subordinate?"
The gray girl was slightly stunned. Then, she spoke with puzzlement.
"Is a Weapon Grandmaster that big of a deal?"
Anza felt a shudder in her heart. She already knew where this person came from.
"You…" She gritted her teeth without saying anything else. She turned and brought her companion with her. They swiftly vanished from the entrance and left, just like that.
The girl in gray stared on as she left. She spoke no more.
"Looks like he really is dead." Beside her, a big and tall man in black clothes and a gray hat slowly appeared. Only half of his body could be seen.
"Since it's confirmed, let's go back," the girl said drily.
"What? You're worried that I'll do something to this trash?" said the man with a mocking tone.
"I just don't want you to die here," said the girl in gray calmly. "The girl just now was powerful. I can't stop her."
The man was stunned. Then, he gritted his teeth and said no more.
He knew who she was now.
One of the Four Pillars of Devil World. A being such as this could not be dealt with by ordinary Weapon Grandmasters. Moreover, he was not a Weapon Grandmaster.
"I don't understand this. Why are you willing to go through this much trouble to help a mere subordinate? Aren't you tired of this?" the man mumbled as he melted into the darkness and vanished.
The girl in gray did not say anything. She merely pursed her lips as she was lost in thought.
Green Branch Sect's Cloud Sky Pavilion was destroyed alongside the planet. Some elites of the World of Pain were also brought down. The culprit was identified. It was the Eight-headed Griffon tribe. It was said that the Green Branch Sect's Taoist palace's system killed the projection of an Eight-headed Griffon.
On the surface, this had nothing to do with Lu Sheng. However, the girl had an unexplainable premonition.
In addition to that, she had been lacking a managerial talent under her charge. Although she found several other individuals, they were not as good as Lu Sheng.
After being silent for some time, the girl released her own aura toward some eager fellows in the darkness.
The tendrils of the World of Pain and the so-called surviving members of the Three Sacred Gates in the Mortal World appeared as if they intended to loot a burning house.
"Go back to where you come from! Even if he's dead, he's not something that the likes of you can touch, you trash that will be cleared up sooner or later… Let's go, we're heading back." When the girl saw the shadows in the darkness were intimidated and left swiftly. She kept quiet for a long time before turning around and leaving herself.
"Hey, what's your purpose for coming all this way, then?" the man immediately spoke with surprise.
"I was here to distribute some goodies to my former subordinate," the girl replied.
"Since when have you become this generous?" The man hastily followed behind her.
*******************
Libra City. Underground cavern at Net Dragon Horn.
Black Devil Qi emanated continuously. Under the bond of the transparent formation, it formed a three-dimensional, web-shaped formation.
The formation was built completely with Devil Qi.
Lu Sheng hovered in the center. He stared at the flame devil crystals wedged into the formation on the ground. He could not get his hands on the unique energy crystals he used in the Prime Devil Sect. Hence, he substituted them with the flame devil crystals which were slightly more temperamental.
Lu Sheng was highly familiar with the setting up of a formation. However, with the flame devil crystals as the energy source, he had to modify the formation slightly.
When he finished setting up, it had been three days. There were 10 days left of the two weeks' leave Lu Sheng had applied for.
'10 days… That's enough. I'll stick to my old plan. Find a world with the greatest difference in time flow, rank up my spirit swiftly, and then return before the Mother of Pain's Harvest.'
Lu Sheng made the plans in his mind. He spread out his spirit. Then, he started to inspect the details of the formation again so that there would be no mistakes.
After going over the entire formation for more than an hour, Lu Sheng finally completed the final test.
"I can start now." His spirit moved. A huge group of moths immediately hid themselves in the area. At the slightest sign of abnormality, they could provide feedback to the underground cavern immediately.
Then, he launched layers of defensive and sound-proofing formations. The protection of the Arrival Formation was done with care.
"There's that Zhuang Jiu… Heh, Void Underworld, is that such a big deal?" Lu Sheng remembered the Heavenly Devil King who had opposed him before this. Killing intent flashed across his eyes.
He had always been the one who took advantage of others. In his last experience, someone had nearly taken advantage of him.
"Wait for me. Soon. I'll be back soon…" Lu Sheng mumbled. He flicked his finger.
"Pcchht!"
The formation below him suddenly lit up with beams of red light. The flame devil crystals wedged into it glowed at the same time.
Heat waves and red radiance converged in one point and swirled along the formation veins.
"Pcchht!"
There was another crisp sound. The gray rift suddenly cracked open. Lu Sheng seized the opportunity and instantly plunged into it.
Within the gray rift, there was no sense of up, down, or any other directions. Lu Sheng merely felt himself floating about in a gray ocean.
Semi-transparent objects shot past him. He kept his spirit close. These semi-transparent objects were actually the rifts and entrances to different worlds.
There were too many entrances. If he as much as poked his spirit out, it was possible that he would be pulled into a completely alien universe.
Lu Sheng felt himself being pushed along by a strong force. He was flying on a set path in a certain direction.
A short period of time passed. It might have been 10 minutes, or maybe it was 20 minutes.
Gray radiance came at him.
"Gugu?"
"Wuwuwu?"
"Wuuuwuuu…"
In a dense and dim forest, there was a large tree hole. Several gray rabbits the size of fist crowded together. They were sleeping soundly and silently. They occasionally made strange sounds.
At this moment, behind the gray rabbit in the middle, a gray rift shot past. Then, the gray rabbit opened its eyes, revealing a set of eyes which looked lost yet filled with human qualities.