408 Evolution 1

Mount Song County, Feiqing Valley.

Angelo stood in the valley, watching the poison dragons circling above him. These filthy, foul-smelling creatures were baring their fangs, patrolling in the air. They'd give fatal blows to any being that tried to get close to the center.

Pulling the brim of his hat down, Angelo once again hid his face and horns underneath his robe. He flipped his hand over and shot out a ball of black Devil Qi. The Devil Qi tumbled in midair, forming the shape of curved jade.

The curved jade floated in front of him, giving off a faint purple light that illuminated an area of about a meter around him.

Only now did Angelo walk slowly toward the center of the valley.

From a distance, he could still hear the deep roars of creatures in battle and the wild laughter of other devils.

"Why do we have to stand guard here while Milan and the others can just drink and eat?"

Angelo heard the guards in front of him complain in a small voice. Without batting an eye, he made his way through multiple layers of guards and came to a light purple two-story building. Blood-red symbols were drawn on the walls.

"The Door of Blood and Flesh has another message, Fugurni, Your Majesty." Angelo's low voice sounded.

But there was no response. The tiny building for the commander was completely silent.

Angelo felt his heart sink. Something was wrong.

"Fugurni, Your Majesty?" he asked again. "Are you okay?"

There was still no response.

Angelo's gaze turned serious. He walked up cautiously. His hand already pulled out the dagger strapped to his thigh.

He walked toward the little house slowly.

"Bang."

He threw the door open.

Although Angelo, a Devil Lord, had seen his fair share of gruesome scenes, the bloody scene within the building still gave him a shock.

His comrade, the commander and Devil Lord of the earth forces, His Majesty Fugurni, was currently lying silently in the center of the room. His chest and abdomen were slashed open. A strong man wearing a black robe was squatting in front of his body, using Fugurni's Words of Destruction blade to poke around at his insides.

Hearing the door open, the man slowly turned around. His face was also covered in a black cloth, leaving only his cruel, faint red devil eyes visible.

"Oh… another one." The man's voice was very low and attractive. Something strange in his voice rippled out, completely locking the surrounding area of a few hundred meters.

Angelo froze for a second, then stomped on the ground. With a bang, the ground cracked, and he shot toward the door with Devil Qi covering him.

But he only made a few steps before a large hand emerged from the door behind him grabbed his hair and pulled him back.

"No!!!" Angelo's voice could not be heard at all. He was pulled back instantly.

"Bang!"

The door shut. From inside, apart from the faint noise of flesh being torn apart, there was no other sound.

***

Autumn Moon City, Yin Yang Agency.

At the delicate light yellow monastery, the sun was just setting. A few men and women wearing white feathered caps were slowly walking along the stone paved hallways.

The man in the front held a serious expression. Deep furrows creased his face, his eyes betraying slivers of resignation.

"The Yin Yang Agency close to us has sent info. Until now, in the closest five cities, five Divine Weapon Masters have gone missing. At least three Devil Lords from the Devil Army have also gone missing with their Devil Blades. Are the detailed reports from the investigations back?" the man asked in a low voice.

"Reporting, not yet," a middle-aged woman next to him answered cautiously. "In normal situations, it usually takes about seven days—a cycle—before information can come back."

"That'll be too late." The man shook his head. "Five days, at most five days for a cycle. We can't be limited by our previous rhythm. Previous investigations have already mentioned that witnesses saw a man dressed all in black entering and leaving the Devil territories. Apparently, all the devils within a certain distance completely ignored him."

"Emissary, are you talking about the mysterious man in black known as the Night Devil?" The middle-aged woman was the current head of the Yin Yang Agency in Autumn Moon City, Zheng Qiuyue. A while ago, the higher-ups suddenly sent over an emissary, who took over all her intelligence and power.

"Night Devil… that's a good name. This person only finds the darkest nights to strike. We must be careful." The emissary thought a little bit more. "When the next reports come out, I'll consolidate them and report to the higher-ups. They will know what we should do with this Night Devil."

"Emissary, you're very hard-working. But about the Night Devil, what is our stance…?" Zheng Qiuyue asked.

"Leave him alone for now. We don't have the power to interfere with him. As long as he doesn't prevent us from fighting the Devil Army, of course." The emissary sighed.

He could not know who this mysterious Night Devil was, but from the current situation, the Night Devil did not seem to be targeting the country.

"But…"

"We'll see… Oh, right. My son has left home recently to gain experience…" The emissary changed the subject. Obviously, he did not want to talk about it anymore.

The Agency head, Zheng Qiuyue, got the hint.

They were seriously understaffed right now. Even if the man in black posed a huge threat, he was only harming the Divine Weapon Masters outside of the army and the three main sects. They were all people from smaller families and tribes.

Along with the overwhelming power he displayed, the emissary did not want to tread that minefield. He probably thought to let it slide for now and see what would happen next. Maybe Night Devil would even stop by himself.

But Zheng Qiuyue had an ominous feeling that the man in black would not stop so easily…

***

"Squelch!"

Lu Sheng beheaded the devil in front of him. The head with black bull horns flew out and rolled across the ground, finally landing in a pool of blood.

Lu Sheng sheathed his sword and looked around. Devil carcasses were everywhere.

It was high noon, and the sun was high in the air. A strong smell of blood rose from the ground. Along with the poisonous blood and foul smell of devils, there were no bugs or other creatures in a very wide radius.

In these past two months, Lu Sheng used the Thousand Sun Sect's intelligence to kill and rob people of Divine Weapons and Devil Blades. It didn't matter if they were devils, humans, or demons—as long as they had a Divine Weapon or a Devil Blade, he would go and take it. If someone was in his way, he just killed them.

His Yin Extreme Mode could hide his aura, so normal Divine Weapon Masters couldn't see him at all. No one would think that a Divine Lord was willing to lower himself to the point where he was killing and robbing people for their Divine Weapons and Devil Blades.

And due to this killing spree, Lu Sheng's Mental Energy finally reached thirty thousand.

What Lu Sheng was confused about was that the Divine Weapons and Devil Blades he obtained contained different amounts of Mental Energy. Some had a lot—around two, three, or even five thousand—but the lower ones had only around a few hundred.

There was a huge difference among some of them. Lu Sheng guessed it probably had to do with the amount of time these Divine Weapons existed and how famous they were.

Shaking off the blood on his sword, the carcasses around him were quickly burned by him using golden flames, and turned into black dust that floated in the air.

Lu Sheng glanced around. Making sure there were no living beings around him, he was about to continue his journey.

He had just gotten back from a Devil camp. There, he found a Devil Blade that was a short dagger. It looked very ancient. He was about to return to Autumn Moon City with it.

Suddenly, the faint noise of something flying through the air toward him sounded.

In the air, a figure in green flew over at high speed with white smoke and clouds trailing after him. He floated right above the area.

"Where's Brother Glenn? Why is it only you?" This man was around thirty or forty, his expression full of suspicion. He was wearing a green Taoist robe with golden edges. There was even a pure white whisk in his hand, making him look pure and holy.

Lu Sheng didn't respond. He faintly remembered that the Devil Lord leading the sect of Devil Army he just happened to come across and kill was called Glenn.

And this person…

Lu Sheng squinted. He probably mistook him for a messenger from the Devil Army.

"Did you bring it?" This Taoist priest didn't wait for Lu Sheng to respond. "Is it just you? Are you going back on your word? Were you trying to trick me?" A green light flashed across his face. The whisk in his hand glowed green, and the faint outline of a white heron started circling around him. The difference was that the heron's eyes were much more alive, and the outline was more solid than that of the other Divine Weapons Lu Sheng had seen.

'Oh? A Jade Star grade Divine Weapon?' Lu Sheng's eyes lit up. This was the first time he came across a Jade Star grade Divine Weapon since he started hunting.

The different grades of Divine Weapons did not really affect the strength of Divine Weapon Masters. They only determined their potential.

In other words, if a Divine Weapon Master got a Divine Intellect level Divine Weapon, he still wouldn't be that much stronger than an ordinary Divine Weapon Master. At this level, what mattered was their control and understanding of their Divine Weapon. Even if there was a huge difference between the weapons, the difference between the Divine Weapon Masters would be at most double. There wasn't that big of a gap.

It was like pouring a bucket of water through a small hose versus pouring a tank of water through the same hose. The pressure might cause a little bit of difference, but the actual amount of water let out was around the same.

Lu Sheng looked at the whisk in this man's hand carefully.

"I'm asking you a question!" Seeing Lu Sheng unresponsive, his expression became even darker.

"Collaborating with the enemy. Die!" Lu Sheng's sword flashed.

A sheet of silver cloth rose up from his hand, the faint outline of the Eight-Headed Griffin embroidered on it. The cloth shot toward the Taoist priest.

"Forget me sweep!" The priest became serious. Although he hadn't touched the cloth yet, he could already feel a force like a huge mountain or wave crashing toward him. So, he hurriedly waved his whisk and counterattacked, protecting his entire body.

The cloth only some twenty meters long actually gave him the feeling that he was facing a deep sea tornado.

The shadow of the sword light enveloped him.

The whisk encountered the silver light, but suddenly wailed. Next, a huge force landed on the whisk, and forced it back onto the priest's own chest.

"Boom!"

His aura exploded into green wisps all around him. A huge, bloody hole appeared in his chest.

The Taoist priest was dumbfounded. He looked down at the wound in his chest. In the center, a bit of golden flames was silently burning.

In that instant, he thought about a lot. He had done many things in this lifetime that others would find disgusting and appalling. Since he was young, he had great ambitions. His talent and wisdom helped him guide his family's development very early on. To help his family succeed, he had done many dirty, unimaginable things. But right now, the only thing he could think about was his young son, who was still immature…

'If I leave… what about him?' That was the priest's last thought.

"Boom!!!"

His entire body exploded, and turned into a ball of golden flame. Then he burned to dust.

The golden flames quickly contracted, then flew back to Lu Sheng and disappeared into his skin.

The whisk fell onto the ground. Lu Sheng swiped at it, and it flew up, landing in his palm.[ED/N: Mount Song is the central of Five Sacred Mountains in China, but who knows whether the author refers to the original one here]