432 Aftermath 1

The ceremony of accepting a disciple wasn't grand. Neither the Mu Family nor Lu Sheng wanted to make their relationship public knowledge. Both he and Mu Qingye agreed that it was enough to simply invite several close friends to become acquainted with each other. 

After the feast inside of the Prime Devil Palace, Mu Jueqing officially became Lu Sheng's eldest disciple. 

After the ceremony, Lu Sheng immediately found Mu Jueqing, and officially taught her the technique of the Ultimate Eight-Headed Devil Way as the heir to the Prime Devil Sect. 

At the same time, Mu Jueqing officially joined the Prime Devil Sect. 

Her position as a daughter of a noble family did not prevent her from joining sects or other factions. Mu Jueqing technically had two positions now. 

The Ultimate Eight-Headed Devil Way created by Lu Sheng incorporated the essence of martial arts, True Qi, and Devil Techniques. Aside from its absurd time requirement, it was a never-seen-before peak-level technique. 

After incorporating the True Qi system into this Devil Technique, even though the time investment stayed the same, its power increased drastically. 

A normal disciple provided with abundant Devil Qi would need a year to complete the first tier, two years for the second, three for the third... 

According to this pattern, and under the assumption that no bottlenecks of any kind would prevent smooth progress, it would take 2,628 years of cultivation to cultivate to the 72nd tier. Only then could they reach the peak Weapon Master level that no longer relied on Divine Weapons. 

But because they would lack the key process of evolving Yin Flame into Death Blaze, they would face even more difficulties when they tried to break through the barrier into the Divine Lord level. 

Despite all that, it was definitely the safest of formulaized cultivation. For someone with a Wood Spirit Body that possessed an extremely long lifespan, it was the perfect path to take. 

Lu Sheng explained the workings of this technique to Mu Jueqing in detail. She was initially very much intrigued by its power, but promptly rolled her eyes when she heard the time requirement. A technique that required 2,000 years of cultivation and even then would only reach peak Weapon Master, or Earth Prime... Even if she had the longevity of her Wood Spirit Body, she really shouldn't throw away time like that. 

But if the Wood Spirit Body was truly as the rumors suggested, and could drastically decrease the cultivation time requirement, maybe it would make the Ultimate Eight-Headed Devil Way the viable standard technique of the Prime Devil Sect. 

With nothing else to do, Lu Sheng would occasionally complete missions in the World of Pain, but still spent most of his time with his family to wait for the birth of his child. 

The Prime Devil Sect's expansion began to stabilize too, and several months had passed in the blink of an eye. Chen Yunxi's belly grew with time, but just then the main branch of the Thousand Sun Sect sent out an order. 

***

Prime Devil Palace. 

Lu Sheng sat in his seat. Elder Stone, who just completed a mission, sat next to him. The rest of the newly recruited masters sat on the two sides of him. Among them were three Weapon Masters. 

Beneath his seat stood the Thousand Sun Sect's main branch ambassador, dressed in white robes lined in silver. 

"Prefectural Sect Master Lu, this is the order from the main branch. You have two choices. One is to officially meet the Weapon Grandmaster of the Thousand Sun Sect.

Second… The requirements are in this letter." The ambassador presented the letter in his hands. His manner was very much respectable, though what he had to say was definitely not. 

"Bring it up." Lu Sheng said mildly. 

A Prime Devil Sect disciple stepped up and accepted the letter. After inspecting it in detail for poison or harmful arrays, it was passed one by one, and finally handed to Lu Sheng by Elder Stone. 

As he lightly ripped open the letter, Lu Sheng quickly browsed through its contents. Though his face didn't change, he let out a long sigh inwardly. 

The Thousand Sun Sect was finally getting impatient. 

With his obvious bias toward the Prime Devil Sect and his moves to assist the Prime Devil Sect with the resources of the entire Moling Prefecture, the three major sects had finally decided it was too much. 

This letter from the main branch was an obvious indication of the change of attitude among the three major sects. 

'They are forcing my hand…' Lu Sheng was silent. But he was more than content that the Prime Devil Sect managed to expand to where it was in such a short amount of time. It was time to rest, anyway. 

He folded the letter, and looked at the ambassador. 

"I have received the letter. You may go rest now."

The ambassador respectfully left. 

The atmosphere in the hall was a little heavy. No matter how quickly the Prime Devil Sect expanded, it was still several times weaker than the established powers like the three major sects. No one present wished to completely run afoul of the three major sects. 

Lu Sheng saw all this, and made a note in his mind. 

"Enough for today. Everyone, continue with the previous mission. I will take care of this personally," Lu Sheng spoke. 

"The moment there is a break from the Devil Calamity, something like this happens. Seems like the main branch…" the Great Demon King Medicine Spirit Bai Qi, who joined recently, said in a low voice as he stroked his white goatee. 

"Everyone knows this is an obvious warning. Plus, it seems the Thousand Sun Sect frequently sent people…" another said in a cold voice. 

"I will take care of this," Lu Sheng said flatly. "The meeting is over." He rose and walked toward the back of the palace without even looking at anyone. 

The back palace had several servants wait there. Someone immediately respectfully greeted him as he walked in. 

"Sect Master, the Secret Area Rock lit up."

"Secret Area Rock…" Lu Sheng's eyes turned cold, and he laughed coldly. "Got it. Prepare the secret chamber."

"Yes, Sir."

The servants left. 

Lu Sheng first checked on Chen Yunxi inside of the Lu Family Mansion. He listened to her stomach before warning her about a few things, then returned to the Prime Devil Palace, and entered the secret chamber. 

After quickly calming his mind, he stepped into the Secret Area he hadn't entered in so long. 

At the cave where Su Ningfei lived, Su Ningfei was dressed in the long black dress, the pale, snow white skin above her chest exposed, delicate like a vase. Her long hair was unbound, like a jet back waterfall. At the moment, she was playing a string instrument similar to a lute at the entrance of the cave. 

Lu Sheng's shape materialized in one corner of the cave.

His didn't immediately alert Su Ningfei upon his arrival, and instead just stood in the corner, quietly listening to the beautiful music she was playing. 

The melody was rhythmic, sometimes soft, and sometimes violent, sometimes rapid, and sometimes gradual. Just as if it represented the fluctuations in Su Ningfei's mood. 

Judging by it, Su Ningfei's mind was really complicated, even mixed in with a sliver of conflict and savageness. 

After half an hour, the music finally stopped. 

"You came?" The woman turned, her misty eyes instantly returning to their usual clear, mysterious way as she looked toward Lu Sheng. 

"Didn't Master summon me?" Lu Sheng lowered his head in respect. 

As a horrifying existence that infinitely approached Weapon Grandmaster, few in the Great Yin could beat her. He hadn't even reached Divine Intellect yet. He stood no chance if he angered her right there and then. 

"You still know that I'm your master?" Su Ningfei said in a cold voice. 

"Why does Master say so? Did your disciple do something wrong?" Lu Sheng said in a confused voice. 

"If you know that I'm your master, have you sought my permission with what you are doing right now?" Su Ningfei continued in an icy voice. 

"What I did? The Master means…" Lu Sheng didn't understand her. 

"Recklessly expanding and fighting for resources, even suppressing the main branch's portion. Do you still have the benefits of the Thousand Sun Sect in mind?" Su Ningfei asked. 

"Your disciple only wanted a better life for his family. Master, you have no need to make such a big deal out of this." Lu Sheng smiled. It was obvious she wanted him to make up stories on the spot. Su Ningfei probably encountered some trouble, or someone reported him to the Main Branch, which then questioned her. 

"You seem to have a lot of excuses…" Su Ningfei put down her instrument and stood up, the black dress turning into countless thin branches that tucked under her dress. The dress became a skirt, exposing more than half of her thigh, appearing simple and sexy.

"Does Master have something that bothers her? Your disciple will try his best to resolve it." Lu Sheng understood clearly that the main branch definitely pressured her since she immediately tried to question him. 

There had to be a trade if he wanted this woman to cover for him. 

He wasn't worried that she would attack, either. After all, he was the Moling prefectural sect master, an important person among the Thousand Sun Sect, and a Divine Lord. According to the laws of the sect, she couldn't use lethal means. 

Seeing that Lu Sheng was so cooperative, Su Ningfei softened her voice. She was always indifferent about this so-called disciple of hers. Sometimes, it was nice to have a Divine Lord level spare card that could be used to take care of certain annoyance. 

There wasn't any fundamental conflict of interests between the two, and she naturally had no reason to randomly weaken her own power. 

Hence, she immediately softened her attitude as Lu Sheng gave in. 

"As long as you understand that. This is a turbulent era. The overt problems are severe already, and the hidden ones are even more chaotic…"

"Master can speak clearly." Lu Sheng was tired of her long spiel. 

Su Ningfei rolled her eyes. "I was careless before, and didn't point you in the right direction after becoming a Divine Lord. But now that you discovered that yourself, your master is more than content. Every Divine Lord has his or her own road. At this level, there is no point staying only in the Great Yin. Do you know why there have been news of battle between Weapon Grandmasters, yet you sensed nothing despite being inside of the Great Yin?" 

"No…" Lu Sheng was actually confused about it before already. 

In theory, if Divine Intellect Divine Lords were a 10, then Weapon Grandmasters were at least 100. The difference between the two was huge. 

This was calculated according to records and legends. A battle between two immensely powerful entities could affect everything within several dozens of thousands of miles. 

And yet, he felt nothing in the Moling Prefecture. 

"That concerns a big secret you might have never heard before." Su Ningfei smiled, her face turning mild. 

"In reality, this Secret Area contains several other Outer World, all little spheres surrounding the main world. 

"The main world is the biggest sphere. It spins around in a pitch-black place named the Star Space."

"Star Space?!" Lu Sheng pretended to be shocked, and started to ponder. He had been right. The peak level masters in this world did have the concept of planets. 

Then, Su Ningfei started to inform Lu Sheng of various things, and clearly pointed out that the entirety of the Great Yin, Great Song, and many other dynasties and kingdoms, including the Devil World, were all on the same planet. 

Even the World of Pain.