715 Planning 2

"I can guess the answer just by seeing your reaction." Lu Sheng smiled.

After all, this was only an ordinary organization he'd established on a whim. The actual strength of the Devil Shadow was still too weak.

However, this was acceptable to him. He did not intend to make much progress with the Devil Shadow to begin with.

Throughout all these years, staying in a spot while cultivating painstakingly was not all he was doing.

He noticed that if he used the physical bodies and spirits of living beings as concealment, he could actually implant a small portion of his main body's flesh and blood into the bodies of countless organisms.

On top of that, his Qianshen Method had the abilities of Civilization Transition and Life-nourishing Spiritual Light. With these, he was completely capable of improving the living beings who were implanted with his flesh to unimaginable heights.

On top of that, he had his legendary art, the Animate.

With this, he had many options available to himself…

It should be known that his aim in coming into this world was to amass Mental Energy for a breakthrough.

"There's something else… I heard that the demigod Sardine's avatar has left the deep seas. I also heard that it's headed for the seven-colored dragons' island…"

Jolin could not help but steal a glance at Lu Sheng. She knew that Lu Sheng was a seven-colored dragon. This was no secret. When Lu Sheng attained the ranks of legendary, many of the Devil Shadow's upper echelons knew about this.

Lu Sheng did not do much to conceal this as well.

"Seven-colored dragons' island? Keep an eye on it and keep me up to date about the situation." Lu Sheng waved his hand casually.

"Understood."

"That'll be all. You're dismissed." Lu Sheng was indifferent.

***

Within a barren valley several miles away from Dawn City.

A fine golden thread flew into the hole in the huge tree. It dropped before a golden dragon that was resting.

"The results of the investigation are out!" said the little golden lizard, Nanni, in a deep voice.

"What did you find? I'm sure the owner of that antique store is not mere mortal, am I right?" the sprawled out golden dragon spoke in its deep voice.

"Yes. According to our sources, that Lu Sheng is a member of an organization called Devil Shadow based near Dawn City," the little golden lizard, Nanni, replied swiftly.

"Devil Shadow? That little organization with an early-stage legendary leader?" asked the golden dragon.

Since they were here to retrieve the princess, it was only natural for them to find out about any force that warranted their attention.

As a local organization which spanned half of a province, the Devil Shadow was naturally included in these ranks.

"Yes." Nanni nodded. "Lu Sheng himself has a certain amount of strength. Although we haven't tested him, he should possess peak golden-rank strength. Also, I've sensed some seven-colored dragon aura on him."

"Seven-colored dragon?" The golden dragon narrowed its eyes. Its slender dragon horns shook; it seemed to be puzzled.

For ordinary Dragon Tribes, peak golden strength was already a commendable feat. With this strength, they would be able to pose a great threat to some weaker dragon tribes.

However, it could not even hold a candle to the golden dragons' royal bloodline. Any dragon king with royal bloodline would possess the rank of high legend.

This was especially the case for Shar, who possessed the thickest golden dragons' royal bloodline throughout history. There would be no limits to the heights she would be able to reach in the future.

She might even be able to reach the divine tier. Perhaps she might even reach THAT tier.

"Shall we send an elder over…?" asked the golden lizard Nanni.

The Golden Dragon Tribe was naturally powerful. They could even easily challenge a legendary seven-colored dragon even though they were of a lower rank.

A golden dragon elder was a terrifying being among the legends, to say the least. If one were to compare their average strength, they would be almost at the same rank as a high legend seven-colored dragon.

"There's no need. Just protect her from the shadows. The dragon gods have shown us the way, and all we have to do is to follow it. Since he's not stopping us from contacting Princess Shar, we can just let him be."

"Alright, then."

For them, an ordinary organization led by an early-stage legend was of no consequence.

As the most powerful of the Dragon Tribes, even though the Golden Dragon Tribe was on the wane, they still had dozens of legendary dragons and several divine dragon kings.

With such a formidable force, even if a god had descended into the world, they would still have the courage to rise up and fight against them, let alone a seven-colored dragon.

The highest rank the seven-colored dragons could attain was high legend. A high legend seven-colored dragon was only on par with an elder of the Golden Dragon Tribe.

This was of no consequence.

"It won't matter even if that Lu Sheng is the most powerful primordial dragon among the seven-colored dragons. Just stick to the plan," the golden dragon muttered to himself, and added, "The key is to make sure the princess awakens more of her bloodline powers."

"Understood!"

"If we must, give that Lu Sheng something in compensation after we bring the princess away."

A peak golden seven-colored dragon… It would be best if he would cooperate. If that dragon was oblivious to the ways of the world, he would be chased away rather than killed since he had been taking care of the princess for so many years.

***

"Karna ensido jemai sagraddin…"

There was a muttering of some cryptic spell incantation.

Within the cave Lu Sheng was standing in, purplish-red runic scripts which resembled vines shone.

Clean white wisps of translucent spiritual Qi surfaced around Lu Sheng. Then, they plunged into the runic scripts on the walls around him and vanished.

This was the art, Animate.

As the art Lu Sheng chose after reaching the legendary rank, there was only one function of Animate, and that was supplying inanimate objects with virtual souls.

A virtual soul was a temporary soul that enabled an inanimate object to possess a personality of Lu Sheng's design.

This way, anything could be animated as long as he supplied it with sufficient energy.

Naturally, this was not all it was used for. The key was that Lu Sheng could use this art to animate many old objects and obtain a lot of information that would have been lost in the tides of time.

For example, this oil painting before him.

Lu Sheng had sensed some aura which originated from another plane within it. Hence, he bought the painting and animated it. To his surprise, it turned into an ancient scholar with extensive knowledge.

From this oil painting, Lu Sheng learned about many sources of Mental Energy.

Naturally, the price was that he would have to replenish the virtual soul of this oil painting with Animate every five years.

The incantation slowly ended, and Animate died down. The underground cavern regained its peace.

The oil painting was wedged onto the cave's wall. It was protected by a tough silver-colored metallic frame. There were also two huge rock statues of protective deities[1. Think a demon upgraded to a guardian spirit.] on both sides of the painting.

Lu Sheng ended his incantation and looked at the oil painting with its grayish-white surface.

"That's for this year's soul. Tell me, where is the entrance to that place?"

A wizened pair of lips surfaced on the oil painting's grayish-white canvas.

"I've told you the clues, My Lord. The entrance lies within the apple rung thrice by the swing and the moon."

"…It's the same thing, huh?" Lu Sheng narrowed his eyes.

He would ask the painting this question every now and then. The reason for this was no other than the fact that the painter behind this work was a Flame Devil feudal lord from the abyss.

He wanted to look for the coordinates to the abyss and a stable entrance to it. In this era, the abyss and hell were so heavily suppressed by the gods that not even their shadows could be found.

Since he could not find any traces of it with his arts, he could only try his luck at evil sacrifices.

Lu Sheng was highly interested in the abyss and hell. An environment that was chaotic and free from the shackles of rules was one that he liked the most. This was unlike the main plane, where he would have to consider the attention and attitudes of the gods.

Over the past decade, Lu Sheng had gathered more than 500,000 units of Mental Energy. It was not much, but it was not little, either.

If this had been Lu Sheng in the past, he would have been satisfied with this amount. However, he currently wanted to break through to the next stage. He would at least need 10,000,000 units.

"Perhaps you can try carrying out a reverse summon with the sacrificial summoning formation," the painting reminded him.

"Reverse summon…" Lu Sheng narrowed his eyes and mused to himself for a while before waving his hand.

The painting immediately melted into the cave wall on its own. It vanished in the blink of an eye.

Lu Sheng was left alone in the cave.

It had been a year since he carried out a reverse summon. Lu Sheng used Death Finger which he derived to rank-999 and gravely wounded the 19th level's abyssal feudal lord, Zoandtus. He was just about to implant a part of his main body into him when his flesh was forcibly expelled by an incomparably terrifying body of will.

The formation shattered on the spot. Lu Sheng also suffered minor wounds from the face-off with the terrifying consciousness. Ever since that experience, he had his guard up against any reverse summons from the abyss.

Lu Sheng quickly set up the reverse summon formation. Then, he placed the sacrificial offerings before him. The offerings were of the best quality. There was a complete red dragon crystal core and a Dark Devil Bead which was very helpful for the abyssal creatures.

Lu Sheng also threw in some chaos crystals which he had gathered from various sources. This was a consumable the abyssal feudal lords like the most. They could use them to replenish their energy.

Lu Sheng had lured an abyssal feudal lord out with these offerings before. It was the time when he successfully summoned an abyssal feudal lord.

He was confident that things would be the same this time.

"I've gained three Divinities from Zoandtus last time. Since I can't force my way into the abyss, I should focus on getting my hands on Divinities…" Lu Sheng carefully carved out the Sealing Formation around him.

He knew now that the entity which stopped him the last time was a collective force of the entire abyss. It was a terrifying entity known as the abyssal will.

It was a monster of chaos which went against the gods. On its own, it was a greedy body of will.

As long as he was careful enough not to send his main body into the abyss, he should be safe from triggering a rejection from the abyss.

As for the abyssal feudal lords, as long as they were not true gods who could ignite God Fire, they would not be a match for his rank-999 Death Finger.

"Alas… The Divinities I have are all about poison and corrosion. There's nothing about time or ageing." Lu Sheng was practically drooling over Divinities.

Divinities contained countless analyses and understandings about various rules.

Different Divinities represented the understanding and knowledge of different aspects after having reached the pinnacle. He had absorbed some Divinity of poison back then, and his own strength had somehow been unlocked to half its maximum potential.

If he could eat another abyssal feudal lord, perhaps…

In truth, he wanted to kill a demigod expert. These experts had Divinities, but they did not have the capacity to ignite God Fire, nor did they possess Godhood. Even if he ate a few of them, he would not alert the entire deity system.

However, after discovering the demigods and the relationships between the deity systems, Lu Sheng started to shift his attention toward the abyss.

If he could completely unleash his main body's strength, it would be highly possible for him to use his Heart World to devour the entire abyss and obtain unimaginable benefits.