386 Future 1

"Snap!!"

The blade was instantly filled with countless cracks, starting where Lu Sheng took the bite and all the way to the back of the knife.

"NOOOO!!" Immortal Radiance let out the scream of a little girl. Its whole body trembled violently, desperately trying to escape Lu Sheng's grasp.

"AGHHHHHH!!!" As Deep Blue improved his physical body, Lu Sheng felt a scouring pain as if he was being boiled alive. 

His body, which was at the Devil Master level to begin with, was being evolved to a new, unfathomable level. Especially when it came to raw strength.

He continued to bite down with all his force, his three rows of teeth clamping down tightly against the blade, making the sound of grinding saws.

"NOOO!!!" The knife Immortal Radiance continued to tremble violently as more cracks climbed up on its surface. Finally, with a crisp snap...

"Crack…!"

The knife suddenly stopped trembling before promptly exploding.

"Snap, snap, snap, snap!" Countless Divine Weapon shards shot out and attempted to disperse away from Lu Sheng, but were all quickly captured one by one by three arms made of black flame.

"Crack, crack, crack…"

Lu Sheng feasted on Immortal Radiance's shards. The sharp metal scraps were like popcorn for him, only slightly harder to chew.

"Gulp."

Lu Sheng swallowed everything at once. He felt as if he just swallowed a jet of heat. The moment the shards entered his belly, countless amounts of Devil Essence, Inner Qi liquid, and True Qi started to concentrate and revolve around them inside his stomach. Every ounce of power was being concentrated into one point, attempting to forcefully digest the shards.

No one knew how much energy the shards of a Golden Leaf Divine Weapon could hold.

Divine Weapons and Devil Blades were mysterious to begin with. Because of their different natural powers, some Divine Weapons might be in a lower grade, but could possess immense amount of energy. Meanwhile, some might in a higher grade, yet not be able to store much energy due to the nature of its power.

The knife Immortal Radiance was obviously the latter type. Its power and strength were mostly focused on influencing thoughts and controlling the mind. It might not have much power or energy, but what little amount it did have was extremely high quality.

"Please, no…" Immortal Radiance begged with a scream. The shape of a black-haired girl started to loom beside the knife.

The shape was not as clear as before, and was even shaking a bit. Clearly, Lu Sheng's bite truly scared her.

She could feel that part of her was being digested rapidly inside of Lu Sheng's body. It didn't feel like she was being eaten by a monster, but rather being consumed and absorbed by a more powerful Divine Weapon.

Many big families had similar ways to sacrifice weaker Divine Weapons to be absorbed by more powerful ones. The knife Immortal Radiance had received this privilege before, and had absorbed many weaker Divine Weapons or Devil Blades, but she'd never thought she would be on the opposite end of it one day.

Unfortunately for her, it was too late.

Lu Sheng's eyes were filled with greed. He got more than he could imagine from that one bite of Divine Weapon shards.

The Divine Weapon shard gave him at least 1,000 units of Mental Energy! 

"Huh… Why didn't I find out about this earlier…" Lu Sheng licked his lips. At the moment, his black tongue was slightly split into three and filled with hooks. 

"I… I wouldn't do it again… I wouldn't dare…" Immortal Radiance begged in a sobbing voice.

"Your heart is not loyal, and that won't change no matter what! If you can betray me in a life and death situation like that once, who knows when you would decide to do it again! It's easier to eat you!" Lu Sheng ruthlessly rolled another pile of Divine Weapon shards and stuffed them in his mouth, then swallowed after a few chomps. Immortal Radiance's plea was completely ignored.

"Your servant… wouldn't dare...!" Immortal Radiance's voice was getting weaker and more fearful.

Lu Sheng, however, completely ignored her, and ate four-fifths of the knife. He only left a little bit above the hilt before reluctantly stopping.

In reality, he only wanted an excuse to take another bite. He didn't expect a Golden Leaf grade Divine Weapon to possess so much Mental Energy.

He took four bites. That converted to nearly 5,000 units of Mental Energy.

And that was only a Golden Leaf level Divine Weapon.

'With so many Divine Weapons in this world, if I eat every single one of them, I wonder what kind of terrifying power I could achieve?'

Greed filled Lu Sheng's heart.

He couldn't completely destroy the knife Immortal Radiance yet. After all, it was given to him by Su Ningfei, and he still needed to put up an act.

After casually sheathing Immortal Radiance, Lu Sheng finally remembered he still had the Wei River Sword.

The Wei River Sword must have seen the power of his true form already. But why would that matter? As long as it wouldn't hinder him, he wouldn't care. 

He looked around the ruined field. Lu Sheng then looked at his tattered robes, and instantly released True Qi that turned into a faint gold halo to surround his body. Then he tapped his feet and jumped into the sky, flying into the distance.

After eating a good part of the knife Immortal Radiance, the rest of it posed no threat anymore. Even the mind of Divine Weapon was nearly destroyed. Lu Sheng finally relieved his anger.

But he still didn't understand why the Devil Emperor Vera, who was always battling the Great Yin, would send someone specifically for him. All because he destroyed the seal on Devil Abyss and released something?

Also what did Shangyang Fei want? Did she travel all that distance just to ambush him for something so trivial? What had happened to her after the Devil Calamity in the Great Song?

These were all points Lu Sheng didn't understand.

But he did benefit from it. He took care of a Divine Weapon that could betray him at any time and learned about Shangyang Fei's mission from Devil Emperor Vera to target him.

Lu Sheng had always wanted to be independent of the Great Yin and break away from the war between the two worlds, but ultimately hesitated.

He'd originally thought it was none of his concern, but the Devil Emperor Vera suddenly sent someone to capture him. 'Now that it's a personal matter,' Lu Sheng thought, 'don't blame me if I start going against the Devil World in the war.'

After leaving the field where he fought Shangyang Fei, Lu Sheng flew at an insane speed straight toward Autumn Moon County.

After crossing a mountain range, he sensed something very sharp underneath him. It seemed that a very destructive crossbow had targeted him.

"Who's there!?" Amid the dense forest halfway up the mountain, a group of men and women in close-fitting green clothes and armed with knives and crossbows were traveling. As they heard the sound of something breaking the sound barrier, two of them hurriedly aimed their crossbows at Lu Sheng.

"I am the honorary sect master of the Thousand Sun Sect's Moling Branch, Lu Sheng. I was ambushed by a spy from the Devil World while traveling, but he was eliminated. You people can even go and inspect the scene right now," Lu Sheng explained sharply.

"The Thousand Sun Sect?" After hearing he was from one of the three major sects, these people, who clearly worked for the government, quickly relaxed.

"If you could please show the proof of identity from the Thousand Sun Sect." The man in lead took out a dark purple token. It emitted a faint wave, one that Lu Sheng was familiar with. He had sensed the Yangming Army's wave before.

He likewise took out the treasure signifying his position as the honorary sect master of the Thousand Sun Sect—a purple jade token with a golden phoenix pattern engraved in the middle.

The man immediately knew he was from the Thousand Sun Sect, but he had never heard of an "honorary sect master" before. However, Lu Sheng's actions couldn't be faked. Aside from a few other unimaginably powerful people in high places, who else would dare fly so fast and so openly in the wild?

"Greetings, Sir." The group hurriedly went on one knee and greeted Lu Sheng in a clear voice. 

"Don't worry, you are only doing your job." Lu Sheng knew the Yinfu Army and Turquoise Conch Agency must have detected the fight between him and Shangyang Fei and thus deployed some men to check. 

These men all possessed above-average cultivation. The man leading them hid his waves well, so his exact level wasn't known, but he was at least at the lower three tiers of Earth Prime. They were probably all generals or lieutenants within the Autumn Moon County army.

Lu Sheng organized his thoughts. "I was battling a Devil spy sent against me. If it affected other areas, you can find me at Thousand Sun Sect's Autumn Moon branch." He left a way to contact him, then continued to shoot toward Autumn Moon County.

In the woods below, the people from the Yangming Army only slowly stood up after he was out of sight.

"So much power. The whole surveillance network nearby was ripped to pieces. No one knew what happened. He must be some very high-ranked personnel from the Moling Prefecture," the middle-aged man in the lead said in a low voice.

"He claimed to be the honorary sect master of the Thousand Sun Sect's Moling branch. I thought that position had always been vacant? How…" another person questioned. 

"Something must have happened as of late." The man shook his head. "It's none of our concern what the people in charge want to do. I saw that jade token, it was definitely the symbol of the Moling Prefect's Thousand Sun Sect. Only people in high positions have the right to carry it. We can confirm with the Thousand Sun Sect later. Let's go, it's time to inspect the scene."

"Ha! Right on time! The Turquoise Conch Agency's intel suggested that a fight above Earth Prime level, probably at least Weapon Master level, occurred here. I have never seen anything like the battlefield between two Weapon Masters in my life. I must study this in detail."

"Hurry! Why do you talk so much?"

The group left quickly, heading straight for where Lu Sheng took care of the knife Immortal Radiance.

***

Devil World. The Mother Tree of Cloud.

The enormous Mother Tree of Cloud was the birthplace of the Devil Emperor Vera. Its roots were at least several thousand meters in diameter and pitch black, while countless smaller roots rose out of the ground. One after another, uneven-sized black embryos were hanging from the roots.

In an area three branches away from the trunk of the Mother Tree, a one-man-tall oval-shaped black embryo shook down and rolled onto the ground. A small crack appeared on it.

"Rip!"

A sharp nail slit open the embryo from the inside.

A white and delicate arm poked out, not at all similar to the rough structure of creatures from the Devil World, but rather more like a human female's.

With a rip, the black embryo split in two. Large amounts of clear slime burst out and covered the ground, soon being absorbed by the fertile black soil.