Way of the Devil
Chapter 677: Crane King Cave 4

The Moon Prince listened to the memorial to the emperor as he slowly swept his gaze across the entire imperial court.

There were 100 respectful-looking chancellors gathered here. On the surface, they put on a show of being loyal civil servants; however, many of them were actually demons and devils who shamelessly sought personal gains.

Even the honorable divine general would have died a gruesome death if he had not had shady individuals protecting him from the shadows.

The Moon Prince remembered the threat of that person and his eventual safety. Then, he thought about his only son's abnormal calmness. He had his own guesses now.

However, he could not be sure yet.

The morning assembly ended soon enough. The emperor appeared exhausted. Perhaps he had one too many concubines sleeping with him last night.

It was said that the emperor had built a Nature Hall in the White Jade Palace. Only beauties with outstanding looks were allowed to enter. If the women who entered were caught by the emperor, there would be an erotic wrestle on the spot.

If it had not been for the divine general's reprimands, the emperor would have carried out more of such licentious acts.

Even so, he had been stopped by the divine general countless times.

When he thought of this, the Moon Prince could not help but look at the other two princes leading the military. The Writ Prince was not here yet, while the Bright Prince looked tired. His back was hunched, and he appeared emaciated. He was only in his forties, and yet he was in such a decrepit state. It was clear that he was under immense pressure.

The Bright Prince seemed to have noticed the Moon Prince's gaze. He stroked his beard and nodded toward him.

At this moment, the divine general, Zhu Chengguo, finished reading the memorial, and began his customary advice against licentious acts toward the emperor. He advised the emperor to put more effort into managing the empire's affairs.

However, he barely spoke two sentences when Imperial Tutor Yang cut him short. He switched the topic of the conversation to the earthquake relief efforts.

The two of them began their customary bickering. Zhu Chengguo flung his sleeves and left, infuriated.

Imperial Tutor Yang, on the other hand, was smiling with his hands behind his back. He clearly had the upper hand again.

The assembly ended. The Moon Prince did not waste any time. The capital was not far from the Moon Prince Mansion. He only needed half a day on horseback.

He brought his guards with him, and they were about to leave the imperial palace.

"Brother," the mysterious and unpredictable Clear Prince suddenly called out to him.

The Clear Prince wore a genial smile. He appeared to be a harmless middle-aged man. He looked serene with his plump body and huge belly.

However, as time went on, the others would instead be filled with an unexplainable discomfort as they looked at his unchanging gentle smile.

"Do you have any wisdom to impart, brother?" The Moon Prince hastily stopped in his tracks. He waited for the Clear Prince to walk toward him.

The Clear Prince wore a smile and spoke in a gentle tone. "Brother, you have been tiring yourself out for the empire for so long. You must take care of your own body."

"Thank you for your concern, brother," replied the Moon Prince. "You should take care of your own health as well, brother. Now that the empire is shaken and there are disturbances everywhere…"

"It's precisely because of this that we should keep each other close." The Clear Prince suddenly extended an olive branch. "I'm sure our deepest thoughts are similar. As long as we communicate more, it's not impossible for us to achieve greater things, wouldn't you say?"

However, the Moon Prince could not understand what he was talking about. His mind was in a mess. He could not tell what the Clear Prince wanted.

When the Clear Prince saw this, he said nothing else. He merely extended a hand and patted the Moon Prince's right shoulder.

His pat was heavy. As a general who led an army, even though the Moon Prince was not overly skilled in martial prowess himself, he did train his body regularly. However, when the Clear Prince patted his shoulder, he felt half his body go numb.

"Be careful on your way back." The Clear Prince ended the conversation with that. He passed by the Clear Prince and left.

The Moon Prince's expression remained unchanged as he flexed his right shoulder.

"Let's go," he ordered softly. He quickly boarded the carriage. His guards hastily followed behind him.

As long as they exited the capital, one of the three great generals of the Moon Prince Mansion, Sun Hai, would be there to escort them back.

However, what surprised the Moon Prince was that the journey back was uneventful.

They reached the prince's mansion directly.

...….

"The Clear Prince?"

A dozen candlesticks lit up the underground cavern with a bright and warm glow.

Lu Sheng sat cross-legged in the middle of the cavern. Shadows of white fathers appeared and disappeared on his body.

Little Rong, who was more than two meters tall, was kneeling with one knee on the ground before him. He was reporting about his experience in the capital.

"I sense a faint and unexplainable aura on the Moon Prince, but I can't be sure, that's why I stayed my hand. Also, there seemed to be someone on the Clear Prince's side who's noticed my presence," Little Rong answered softly.

"I didn't expect there to be such mystical matters in the imperial court," Lu Sheng muttered to himself. "I'll go and meet my father later and check up on him. If he's fine, we'll just have to take extra precautions. If something's happened…" He did not finish his sentence.

Currently, Crane King Cave only had 12 crane demons. It was still considered weak.

"Carry on. Keep protecting the Moon Prince," Lu Sheng ordered.

"Understood." Little Rong retreated slowly, and instantly vanished among the darkness.

Lu Sheng sat upright and mused for a while. 'Now that I've modified the White Feather Mantra, my bodily functions are deteriorating as my cultivation base improved. I'm completely dependent on my White Feather Mantra's cultivation base to support my daily needs. Unfortunately, I can't continue to derive this White Feather Mantra. I need more mantras as reference if I want to derive it further.'

His muyuan meridian point had completely connected with his body right now. It became one of the mysterious meridian points of his body.

It was as if this meridian point had existed from the very beginning. This amazed Lu Sheng to no end.

The White Feather Mantra had also recorded that the muyuan was only one of the external meridian points. There was a total of 108 external meridian points which corresponded with the stars. Every successfully cultivated external meridian point signified that the destiny of a star had been accomplished. The result was a great increase in his lifespan.

However, the White Feather Mantra was only an ordinary mantra of the lowest rank. It did not contain any special powers. The only thing it could cultivate was the most fundamental external muyuan meridian point.

'If I can't derive this, it's too much of a waste to purely improve my competence and cultivation base. Looks like I'll have to gather more mantras.' Lu Sheng made the decision in his mind.

He calmed his spirits and stood up. Then, he levitated out of the cavern along the pitch-black rock path. A few minutes later, he emerged from one of the fake hills of the prince mansion's garden.

After he left, his men quickly covered the entrance with a rock slab.

This was a safety tunnel which had once been used by the prince's mansion. It was connected to the underground karst cave. However, it was now used by Lu Sheng to cultivate the mantra.

Lu Sheng stood still in the garden. He patted the dust off his clothes, and strode toward the Moon Prince's side court.

He walked up to the side court's door. A troop of guards passed by while doing their rounds. It appeared that the security here was heightened.

Ever since the assassin strike the other day, the guards of the prince's mansion were affected, although the assassins had been unexplainably repelled.

"Crown Prince." The guards saluted him.

"There's no need for courtesy. I'm going in to meet my father," Lu Sheng said with a smile.

He went through the door. The Moon Prince was wearing a fox fur coat, and was playing chess with someone in the courtyard. His opponent was Garrison General Yuan, who was also Yuan Jikong's father.

Huang Jing's memories did not contain General Yuan's full name. Perhaps he had forgotten, or perhaps he had never bothered to ask.

This person was big and tall, and his arms hung below his knees. He did not appear strong, but was extremely skilled and experienced. He wore simple, fitting leather armor without a saber. He appeared more like a hunter than a general.

"Jing'er, you've come!" When the Moon Prince saw Lu Sheng walking in, he immediately smiled.

"Come here. Your Uncle Yuan has something to tell you as well."

"There's no hurry." Lu Sheng glanced at the Moon Prince's right shoulder. As expected, there was a faint aura slowly emanating from it.

Any Art or method would rely on an external object. As long as it was something that did not belong to a living being, it would emit a disharmonious wavelength.

With a single scan of his unparalleled Spirit Power, Lu Sheng immediately noticed something fishy on the Moon Prince's shoulder.

The thing on the Moon Prince's shoulder seemed to be some sort of mark.

Lu Sheng slowly walked up to him. He circulated his White Feather Pure Qi, and instantly suppressed the peculiar aura released by the mark.

He narrowed his eyes, took a few steps closer, and pressed a hand on the Moon Prince's shoulder.

However, the aura on this mark seemed to be alive. It shrunk to a point, instantly increasing its concentration to the extreme, and suddenly erupted.

"Pchht."

His White Feather Pure Qi initially did a perfect job of suppressing it. However, the sudden reaction of the aura completely penetrated the dozen layers of Pure Qi.

The density of his White Feather Pure Qi was like butter against a hot knife before this strange mark. With a single stab, it penetrated deep through the Pure Qi.

Lu Sheng snorted. His immense Spirit Power bore down mercilessly on the mark and crashed into it like a mountain.

The Moon Prince's shoulder suddenly sank.

A scream came out from the mark. Then, it quieted down, and showed no movements at all.

It was only now that Lu Sheng released his hand from the Moon Prince's shoulder.

The entire process took no more than a few seconds. The Moon Prince and Garrison General Yuan were waiting for him with puzzled expressions. They did not seem to have heard the sounds just now.

'Interesting, Clear Prince…' Lu Sheng felt his own spirit. He had permanently lost some of his volume.

It had only decreased by a little. With this margin, even a million times of such reduction would not harm the core of Lu Sheng's spirit.

However, this was permanent damage. It should be known that his main body was of the Confusion Realm tier. He was a peak expert who in theory could leave a planet and travel across galaxies. Although he could not compare himself to the ranks of planet-destroying Void Underworld tiers, his martial power was definitely sufficient to rule over a star.

A being of such a level had his Spirit Power permanently damaged.

'What powerful strength…' Lu Sheng felt that he might have underestimated this world too much. 'Although my White Feather Mantra's competence is profound, its rank is too low, and I can't derive it yet. If I want to play chess under these skies, I'll have to rank up as soon as possible.'

The Moon Prince and Garrison General Yuan were starting to discuss some serious matter now. It was about Garrison General Yuan's daughters, Yuan Liuliu and Yuan Yuanyuan.

Garrison General Yuan was here to offer their hands in marriage. He was implying his hopes that Lu Sheng would pick one of them as his future princess.

Lu Sheng was not interested in these matters. After responding ambiguously, he applied for a leave of absence from the prince's mansion. After he obtained the Moon Prince's approval, he turned around and left.

After he left the courtyard, he looked at his palm.

Some power from the mark remained on his palm. He lifted his palm and inspected it.

There was a dash of black on his palm. It had already spread to his wrist.

'After losing its activity, it's still capable of devouring the White Feather Pure Qi and strengthening itself?' A chill crept into Lu Sheng's heart.

Currently, a black human face with a round dot between its eyes surfaced from the black patch.

Lu Sheng slowly returned to his bedchamber. He activated the short knife formation on the table.

The black patch had spread onto his forearm, which was now as pitch-black as ink.

He entered the underground karst cave from the entrance underneath his bed.

He quickly sat down with his legs crossed. Yang Essence swiftly surged out of his body and mimicked energy of all kinds of attributes to fight against the black aura.

After trying out more than 30 kinds of energy, the black aura was finally suppressed by a mixture of Yin Chill, Earth Fire, and Essential Soul.

Lu Sheng heaved a long sigh. With a wave of his arm, he immediately severed the black patch on his arm along with the polluted White Feather Pure Qi.

"Splat."

A glob of ink-like liquid shot out and splattered on the wall. The rock wall was swiftly dyed black and purple. There was a faint rotten smell in the air.

'This power… has exhausted nearly 100 years of my White Feather Pure Qi…' Lu Sheng's expression was slightly sour. This was his first time incurring such a great loss since his Arrival.

'I'll head out and gather major sutras tomorrow to derive a new White Feather Mantra!' He clearly felt that the current White Feather Mantra was too weak for his liking.