396 Conspiracy 1

"..." Xuan Mist stood in place, shocked. His entire body had gone cold.

Of course, as a water-type Divine Weapon, he wasn't really cold. He was simply scared.

"I… I…" Xuan Mist's dragon body squeezed out a smile. "I think… we might have a little misunderstanding—"

Before it could finish, a giant hand grabbed it.

"Hair" rose on Xuan Mist's back. The dragon abruptly exploded into a swirl of black mist, and soon reformed his shape nearby.

But he was clearly desperate. Lu Sheng's grab was too sudden, and the shock was so extreme that it hindered his natural power.

"Milord! I promise I held no ill intention toward you! I am not involved in any Black Deer Tribe affairs at all. I only quietly cultivated in seclusion here. I swear I haven't caused any trouble!" Xuan Mist explained at a rapid speed.

"My last two offers still stand. You will live if you obey my orders." Lu Sheng was quite interested in the Xuan Mist Divine Blade. Just its movement technique that ensured it would survive the siege of various attack formations was enough to surprise him.

It must have been very powerful if Lu Sheng couldn't discern its inner workings with his experience in martial arts.

Xuan Mist wasn't dumb. He wasn't smart, either, but he still wouldn't step into such an obvious trap easily. Staring at Lu Sheng, who was leagues ahead of him, he rapidly tried to come up with a way to escape.

"Milord, if you are after Divine Weapons, I could point you to several that were sealed and are sleeping. They are more valuable than me and easier to defeat. The only difficulty is to see through their disguise." He instantly sold out the other Divine Weapons he knew.

"Oh? Really?" Lu Sheng didn't completely believe him, of course.

"With milord's prestigious position, you could very well send a few people to retrieve them. I wouldn't dare lie to milord on such an important matter," Xuan Mist hurriedly assured.

"Aside from that, I want the movement technique you used." Lu Sheng pointed out directly. He was quite pleased by this Divine Weapon, which was very clever. Even better was the fact that the other party was able to correctly guess his wishes and provide suitable advice. He was even considering sparing him.

"Of course, of course! Milord's cultivation is equal to the Heaven, this Xuan Mist wouldn't dare hide anything, haha, um… Aside from that, did the master eliminate the Black Deer Tribe because of their plan to collude with the Devil World? Speaking of which, they seemed to have planned something big inside of the Autumn Moon County and nearly succeeded." To increase his value, he very decisively betrayed his previous ally.

"Devil World?" Lu Sheng was actually surprised this time. He didn't expect Xuan Mist to know so much and be so useful.

"Indeed!" the Xuan Mist replied hurriedly. " Milord…" He glanced at Lu Sheng's grinding teeth within his enormous mouth, and his heart jumped again. "Could you be so kind as to go back to your normal form? I am still very much intimidated by you, Milord. Besides, this place isn't very spacious… I couldn't even say everything I intended to say.

Lu Sheng thought about it, and agreed to the request.

He only wanted to capture one Divine Weapon, and wasn't expecting such an… interesting specimen. Even among Divine Weapons or Devil Blades, there wouldn't be many that were as weird as him. 

He had a feeling this trip was well worth it.

After 15 minutes, Lu Sheng emerged from the pond with a delicate, faint green sword on his waist. He didn't kill Xuan Mist Divine Blade, and instead formed a simple bond with him.

Bonds were only an exchange of power, anyways, and made no guarantee of safety between the two parties.

He glanced at Elder Stone and King of Shadows as he walked out of the pond.

"Change of plans. We are going to Echo Valley."

Echo Valley was where another Divine Weapon hid. Also a water-type one.

That trip went smoothly. Echo Valley was separated by hundreds of Li from the Autumn Moon County, but Elder Stone personally retrieved the sleeping Divine Weapon for Lu Sheng and easily finished the mission.

***

Devil World.

The Imperial Palace to the North.

"Tap, tap, tap, tap…"

In the cold and enormous black palace, a tall figure clad in dark golden armor was sitting anxiously on the throne, his fingers slowly tapping on the arm rest.

The figure was covered tight in armor. Even his face was completely hidden by his helmet.

"You mean Divine Sound hasn't made contact yet?" The armored man's calm voice hid a faint sign of cruelty. 

"Yes, Your Imperial Majesty." On both sides of the court below stood a few shapes dressed in black armor and wearing long capes hanging on the ground.

One of them who was wearing a bull horn helmet stepped up, and went down on one knee. "Judging by the direction she went in, the Autumn Moon County, she must have been discovered and walked into a trap. Lady Divine Sound's team might have fallen into big trouble."

"Bam!"

Emperor Vera slammed his hand on his throne.

"Useless!" He took a deep breath, clearly unhappy about Divine Sound's rash behavior.

"Your Imperial Majesty, we are currently attacking the Gorges of the Two Worlds, and many Devil Masters have been deployed to the Great Yin. Our empire is only guarded with minimum force. We shouldn't attract unnecessary attention, but focus on the war instead." Another figure with a fox-shaped pattern on his chest stepped up.

"One year! I want result from the Gorges of the Two Worlds! Go tell the Sand Devil that I will take care of him if he doesn't take care of the humans!" Vera shouted out the last sentence like a roar.

The devils standing beneath him didn't know what to do, either.

Among the four Devil Emperors, Vera was notorious for his short temper and tyrannical rule, which was why he had the weakest subjects. No Devil King or Devil Master wanted to serve an unstable and violent Devil Emperor.

But even so, Emperor Vera was definitely the most notorious among the four. Not because of his power, but because of his cruelty. Some of the most ruthless and violent incidents had been perpetrated by him personally.

"Also, why do I need you all if you couldn't take care of a mere disciple of the Thousand Sun Sect!? Ping Yuge, you wouldn't have a problem with him, right?" Emperor Vera finally started to treat this matter seriously.

Losing two avatars consecutively would hurt even a powerful Devil Emperor like him. After all, the creation of avatars required an immense time investment.

A slim man stepped up, took off his helmet, and went down on one knee.

"Your subject has received your command."

"Be quick. Capture him before the Great Yin can react. Kill him if you can't," Emperor Vera said coldly.

"Understood." Ping Yuge was a name only Vera could call him. He was usually called the Mind-Controlling Devil Master.

He was by a long shot the most powerful Devil Master under Vera, and was also notorious for initiating some of the most bloody incidents in the Devil World. If the strongest Devil Masters were usually at Divine Intellect level, he would be at Divine Intellect of Divine Intellect since he had reached such a level a thousand years ago. His power was even more mysterious now. Some Starry Sky Nobles even boldly theorized he would be the next Devil Emperor.

For him to take care of Lu Sheng personally was like using a knife meant for butchering bulls to cut a chicken, but he didn't dare cross the enraged Devil Emperor Vera at the moment.

He wanted a result he desired. Anything that happened in between was none of his concern.

***

The Great Yin Calendar, year 368, Spring.

Emperor Shi Taozong of the Great Yin passed away from illness, and the empire mourned. One of the Gorges of the Two Worlds had been breached, and the five Gates of Blood and Flesh that were built subsequently expanded the Devil Calamity.

The imperial court fell into chaos as the various princes persecuted each other and tried to form alliances with various ministers and powerful masters of the three major sects. The previous Grand Emperor Muxuan Tuo reappeared under the title Yin level Weapon Commander to stabilize the situation and rewrite the laws of the court. He also led the army to push against the expanding Devil Calamity.

The same year, Divine Weapon Ten Spears of Nefarious Jade Crystal appeared to assassinate General Yuanguang Teng of the Anti-Devil Army. After its success, the army crumbled.

The same year, the Great Marshal Jing Fan of the Great Yin Imperial Court commanded 16,000 Imperial Guards during a surprise attack against three Gates of Blood and Flesh. Four Great Devil Spirits along with one Devil Master were slain. This victory shook the whole empire, and alleviated the desperate situation.

By then, the war between the Devils and Humans had slowed down to a grinding stalemate.

The same year, His Highness, the 27th Prince Qiong Shang, disappeared. After an inconclusive search, it was determined that he was slain by the Devil Army, and subsequently given a posthumous title.

***

Autumn Moon County, Moling Prefecture, Jiuming Province. 

The entire Lu Family Mansion was in a festive mood as soon as Lu Sheng returned, and released all the sons and daughters of the family to enjoy themselves as much as they wished.

Within the Autumn Moon County, Lu Sheng held almost the pinnacle position of power. All subordinates of the Thousand Sun Sect, along with the other two major sects, and even the government, made way for the Lu Family. Some opportunists even attempted to establish a connection with the younger generation of the Lu Family, even to the point of proposing marriage.

Lu Sheng was no longer a mere direct disciple within the Autumn Moon County.

Many thought Lu Sheng would take over as the next Thousand Sun Sect's sect master for the Autumn Moon County. But only the current sect master, Cheng Jingzhi, knew that Lu Sheng didn't even care about the title.

He frequently cultivated in seclusion as of late, and often visited the Thousand Sun Palace's library to research a mysterious movement technique that no one knew where he had learned. His relationship with the Blood Sun in the upper sect also got tighter as if he was planning something.

Well, a few among the younger generation of the Lu Family fell to various temptations because of their lack of conviction.

***

The Peace Casino.

In the hall, shouts, curses, and other voices came from the various-sized tables. Despite that, a hidden order seemed to exist amid the chaos.

The dealers shook their dice skillfully on various tables, and occasionally pushed forward the checks placed on the table.

Outside a side door, a few people dressed in fine clothes quietly watched the bustling scene.

"What's the matter, Brother Tianyang?" A noble-looking man smiled at another beside him.

The young man's face was pale, and his eyes were big. His body was slim and frail as if he had too much wine or carnal pleasures. He was one of the Lu Family's juniors, Lu Tianyang.