260 Banquet 3

Under this seemingly painful self-burning, Lu Sheng gazed peacefully at the screen of Deep Blue.

His consciousness had clicked on the Enmity Fire Devil Body secret art multiple times in that short period of time.

The Enmity Fire Devil Body had three levels, but under Lu Sheng's unending modifications, it had already reached the second level, needing just a little push to reach the third.

But he didn't click on it again. He had used up all his Devil Qi, and although it was quickly regenerating—fast enough to bring him to the next level—he didn't do so.

"Cultivating like this... I feel like my body is getting stronger and stronger..."

Lu Sheng waited patiently. The Destruction level Poison Flames kept burning his body, and the Nine Great Yin Devils supplied him with continuous flow of Devil Qi. At the same time, they were quickly devouring the Devil Qi from the River of Poisoned Fog, converting and storing it.

This was a very strange feeling. It felt as if all the impurities in his body were burned up and then replaced with Devil Flames, creating a whole new flesh and body.

Lu Sheng could feel himself getting stronger.

His originally six meter tall frame was enlarging again, growing to seven meters. His body was also widening. His arms were getting thicker, his countless muscles growing and pushing their way out. Only his face didn't change much, still centered in his body.

It seemed like he was becoming more and more like the huge mythical monsters he had seen before.

"I'm becoming uglier and uglier…" Lu Sheng's expression was blank. Even without a mirror, he could tell how ugly he had to look right now. This was also why he didn't like transforming into this Yang form.

The black flames continued burning, destroying the parts of his body that didn't have much fire resistance and growing out new parts that had a much higher tolerance.

Lu Sheng's size was also increasing. He got bigger and heavier. Large amounts of Hatred level flames flowed out from his body, turning the whole cave black and into a stronger structure.

All impurities were burned into black smoke, leaving hard, dry black power behind.

"The third level… let's start." After getting used to his new body and making sure he could control everything, Lu Sheng reached out with his left arm and grabbed at the air.

A black flame formed in his palm and shot straight up, hovered in the air for a bit, then suddenly exploded, forming three ropes that started revolving around Lu Sheng.

"Whoosh!"

"Whoosh, whoosh!"

The three ropes suddenly grew tiny thin tentacle-like feelers, completely covering Lu Sheng's head, making him almost unable to breathe.

The thin feelers formed a black mask, covering Lu Sheng's face.

"Buzz... "

The mask started trembling, giving off a black-purple glow.

***

White Bell City, Wisdom Garden.

On the east side of White Bell City, the Wisdom Garden was located right next to the moat. It was a small forest bought by a private personage and used for people to have fun and enjoy the scenery.

The garden took up almost the entire eastern corner of White Bell City. The city wall was even cut open so that the garden could connect to the rural area outside.

When Lu Sheng got there, the sky was already dark. The entrance to the Wisdom Garden was a white stone arch, with statues of phoenix-like birds on both sides.

There were soldiers dressed in city guard uniforms standing outside, with a lot of carriages and red sun carriages parked everywhere.

The red sun carriages were just normal carriages pulled by red rams. The rams were cleaned and washed carefully, and multiple groups of three were pulling each carriage. For the nobles in White Bell City, this was the most popular form of transportation.

Lu Sheng and Chen Quansong got off the carriage. Looking at the multitude of people in the Wisdom Garden, the two had very different expressions.

Although they were both invited, Chen Quansong barely qualified to be invited. But Lu Sheng was invited by Shangyang Fei herself. There was a huge difference.

But Chen Quansong couldn't even be jealous. For both current and potential strength, he was way below Lu Sheng.

"Only now do I understand Brother Lu's perseverance…" Chen Quansong watched the unending stream of people walking into the Wisdom Garden. Even the weakest of them were at least three or four veins; he barely made it in.

But people like Lu Sheng were the real stars of this banquet.

All these years, he had fought for power and wealth. But maybe everything he wanted could be easily achieved here in just one night.

Lu Sheng chuckled. If it wasn't for Shangyan Jiuli telling him to come, he wouldn't even have given such boring parties a second thought.

Shangyang Fei was very powerful, but what did it have to do with him? With the time wasted here, he could have been cultivating and refining the new Devil Bodies he had received.

'If what Li Shunxi said was true, then what's the point of such banquets anyways?' Lu Sheng glanced at the people.

There were young men and women from the Noble families using handsome boys and girls as stepping stools when getting off their carriages.

There were people loudly discussing current events, while others walked quietly without attracting attention.

But the one common thing among all these Nobles was that they were all very young. There were a few middle-aged people, but not a single elderly person.

"This Wisdom Garden is very famous. I hope Brother Lu can get a beautiful girl tonight," Chen Quansong said with slight envy.

"What?" Lu Sheng asked in confusion.

Chen Quansong was about to answer when someone cut him off.

"Brother Chen, I haven't seen you in so long. How are you doing?" A short, fat man with a long beard walked towards Chen Quansong with a smile beaming on his face.

"Ah, turns out it's Brother Zhao." Chen Quansong couldn't do anything except to return the greeting.

Lu Sheng was quickly introduced into the circle, but because of his indifferent personality, people soon stopped talking to him.

They entered the Wisdom Garden. Immediately, servants came to attend to them. Small dinners and gatherings were scattered around the garden, attracting people to sit down and dine. Different dinners were also hosted in different parts of the garden.

Some placed a few stone tables in the forest, while others started barbecues under the small pavilions.

There were also some that invited musicians to play in a corner of the garden, free for all to watch and enjoy.

A servant girl led Lu Sheng to a small white building, where a few people casually stood around.

"Here." Shangyang Jiuli was also there and raised her cup towards Lu Sheng.

Standing beside her were a few disciples from the Shangyang Family. These people were somewhat similar to her, and had the same cold, indifferent air about them, their expressions calm and unreadable. It was obvious that they were also powerful people.

Lu Sheng walked over quickly and greeted Shangyang Jiuli.

"About what happened last time, one of the gifts had been sent here. I accepted it for you, and I'll send it to the Prime Devil Sect later. This time just relax and don't worry too much. But also don't let any chances escape," Shangyang Jiuli said without explanation and didn't introduce anyone to Lu Sheng.

"Peipei." She signaled to a girl standing to her left.

"Miss Jiuli." The girl was wearing an almost transparent long white dress, with pretty features and a hot, curvy body. Her long silver hair was let down behind her, giving her a unique look.

"This is one of my best captains, Lu Sheng. Today I'm letting you take care of him. Make sure he's happy, or otherwise I'm blaming you!" Shangyang Juili warned.

The girl named Peipei smiled and looked at Lu Sheng.

"Since it's Miss Jiuli's orders, of course Peipei will do her best. Don't worry."

She knew that among the younger generation in the Shangyang Family, apart from their direct bloodline, one of the three people with the most potential was Lu Sheng.

This person was born in the Northern Territories, his bloodline mysterious and unknown. The Shangyang Family had tried investigating his background, but after reaching his mother, they had no more clues. His birth mother was not from the Northern Territories, but was adopted by normal people.

At first, Lu Sheng only seemed like a regular person, but suddenly his Bloodline awakened and he grew rapidly. Some of the elders in the family guessed that he might be the Bloodline of one of the Noble families that went into hiding in the Ice Ocean.

From the talents he displayed, he was probably from a Yang-related Divine Weapon bloodline. Investigators in the family had specially collected information and made predictions.

From how he took care of his family, Lu Sheng wasn't one of those people who would forget his upbringing once he became successful, but remember those who took care of him.

So the plan the family had for him was to try to make friends with him and combine his bloodline with the Shangyang Family's. Only if he was tied to the Shangyang Family would they be able to use him.

This was also one of the reasons the Nine Great Families of the Central Plains were so strong. They would constantly absorb the excellent bloodlines from the outside world, making their descendants even stronger, making it even easier for them to resonate with the Divine Weapons. This way, even if they couldn't become a Divine Weapon Master, it would still be easy for them to control one and possess great strength and power.

Peipei's beautiful eyes glittered and she grabbed Lu Sheng's hand.

"Mister Lu, please follow me. Let's go get your gift first, and then we can meet some of the young men and women from my Shangyang Family. They're at the other end of the small forest, and they're all really strong. Wouldn't it be nice to make some friends?"

Lu Sheng took his hand out of Peipei's.

"You go, I'll follow."

His expression remained calm, completely ignoring Peipei's sexy clothing.

But Peipei didn't mind. She led Lu Sheng through the crowds and onto a small path.

Through the small path, over a bridge, and soon they came to a quiet place in the woods. There were faint sounds of a string instrument, and there was also a person practicing sword skills. The flashing silver lights and swirling white clothes gave people chills.

All around the woods were small hills, with a lot of tables and benches placed in between.

The most special thing about these hills were there were a lot of different sized caves for people to go in.

Outside a lot of the empty caves, Lu Sheng could see many naked men and women tangled together.

Some were half dressed, pretending to resist; some were already going at it against the rocky hills; and some were even more passionate, with multiple men and women in one cave.

Peipei walked in the front as if she was completely used to this.

"The reason why the Nine Great Families of the Central Plains can maintain their numbers is because of this Heart to Heart event."

Lu Sheng heard her, then looked at the group of men and women standing in front of them in the woods, immediately understanding.

Shangyang Jiuli still hasn't given up. Shangyang Ruo didn't work out, so now she was trying to pull him into her family through this. Wasn't this Heart to Heart basically a blind date? And a really open and bold date too, getting it on if the other person looked right.

"Heart to Heart, as long as there are feelings in your heart, it doesn't matter whether you want to get married or not. Here, we only ask for one night." Peipei suddenly stopped. "We're here."

Lu Sheng also stopped and looked around. It was a little dark as they were standing in the deep of the forest where there weren't any light or lanterns.

The instrumental music had gotten much fainter and he could barely hear it anymore.

"Miss Jiuli had mentioned you and Shangyang Ruo to me. As an apology, the family has decided to open up a special place in the Heart to Heart for you, the Red Pavillon," Peipei said gently.