Way of the Devil
Chapter 708: Independence 1

"Bam!"

A huge black rock crashed through the junk at the cave's mouth.

The rock collided with the cave's wall and rolled down with a crash, disrupting Lu Sheng's train of thought.

"Hm?" He looked toward the cave's mouth.

A big and tall man in black slowly walked in from that direction.

"Hehehe, it's here, as I expected, it's in here!" The man was wearing a lecherous smile. The gaze he looked at Lu Sheng with was just as if he was staring at a mountain of gold or a sea of silver. His eyes were filled with greed and expectations.

"A human?" Lu Sheng had spent too many days without seeing another human. He had been living with his fellow seven-colored dragons all this while. This was his first time seeing a human of this world.

"My dear little dragon, please be obedient and don't move. Otherwise, I can't guarantee that you won't be hurt…" The man in black snickered as he unfurled the black cloth in his hands and inched closer to Lu Sheng.

Lu Sheng could not understand him. However, the faint bewildering fragrance coming from the black cloth clearly meant that this man had come with ill intentions.

"Puh!"

The black cloth descended upon Lu Sheng's head with lightning speed.

"…"

Lu Sheng eyed the man with a peculiar gaze through the black cloth.

The man smiled lecherously as he stared at Lu Sheng. He waited for the little dragon to faint.

10 seconds passed.

20 seconds passed.

Lu Sheng allowed the black cloth to fall slowly to the ground.

"You, what's your name?" he spoke in the Language of E.

The man's eyes widened. This was his first time hearing the Language of E. He clearly felt that this was his first time hearing this language, yet he was somehow able to comprehend it!?

"Pandi…" he replied blackly despite himself.

"Sh*t!" He immediately snapped back to his senses. The bewildering fragrance did not work?

This was only a young dragon, yet he had been momentarily stunned. He was a Golden rank-10 Warrior!

This was only a young dragon barely 10 years old!

He drew his short sword with lightning speed and stabbed at Lu Sheng.

"Groundbreaking Slash!" A yellow-colored feather-like energy blade erupted from the short sword and flew toward Lu Sheng.

Lu Sheng was immediately interested. It seemed as if his opponent was not weak. This was a wonderful opportunity for him to test the might of the art which he had just recently derived.

He faced the incoming yellow energy blade and bared his chest. The lump on his chest exploded.

'Go! Dragon Fire!'

A brilliant ball of golden lava-like flames erupted from Lu Sheng's chest. It instantly crushed the yellow energy blade and crashed into the man's body.

"Fuh!"

The golden flames charged out of the cave's mouth and instantly dissipated in less than 10 meters. 10 meters was the maximum distance Dragon Fire could traverse.

The man in black managed to steady his body among the flames. He roared at the golden flames and charged toward Lu Sheng.

"Surely you're not expecting to take me, Pandi Smith, down with a single art!? Hrahh!" he shouted as he brandished his sword toward Lu Sheng.

"Puh!"

The Dragon Fire was shattered by his blade.

The man charged wildly toward Lu Sheng. However, what waited for him was were 998 shots of Dragon Fire which materialized before Lu Sheng…

The almost 1000 shots of Dragon Fire merged into a golden fireball which locked onto the man and surged toward him like a golden river.

"No!" The man's expression changed drastically, but it was too late.

"Boooooom!"

The intense sound of the explosion rocked the entire cavern. The tremble persisted for half a minute before finally dying down.

After his Dragon Fire was completely released, Lu Sheng flapped his wings while coughing. He unleashed a breeze art to clear away the smoke inside the cave.

The only thing left at the cave's mouth were scattered bits of charred remains.

The man from just now was nowhere to be seen.

'Ugh… This is slightly too powerful…' Lu Sheng stroked his chin. He could not control the impact…

'I should modify it again next time…' He suddenly remembered something. Where did this man come from?

When he thought of that, he quickly rushed out of the dragon cave and looked around him.

Then, he happened to see Yati binding the remaining men in black with a faint purplish Sorcerer's Cord and tossing them aside.

The other three young dragons were crying their hearts out together. It was clear that they had been tormented quite badly.

"Lu Sheng, are you alright!?" The dragon queen Eernie flew toward him and slowly landed before him. Her eyes were filled with worry.

"What's wrong?" Lu Sheng appeared perplexed as he looked up. "Did something happen?"

"Someone was trying to attack the young dragons just now. What? They didn't reach you?" asked the dragon queen with slight surprise.

"Attack? Was there an attack?" asked Lu Sheng with slight surprise. "I was learning about the arts inside the cave just now. I didn't encounter any attackers."

He did not want the other seven-colored dragons to know about his overly powerful Dragon Fire.

Also, he had to correct this problem of growing lumps on his chest. Otherwise, while the others could flash their cool and extravagant weapons, he would be appearing with a chest jam-packed with meaty lumps…

That would be awkward.

"You didn't?" The dragon queen eyed Lu Sheng suspiciously. She clearly heard sounds of explosions coming from Lu Sheng's cave.

This young one's actions were making her suspicious.

"Yes, I was very focused on studying the arts just now. You're also aware that I'm about to achieve a breakthrough to become a rank-1 Sorcerer. I didn't notice anything else," Lu Sheng explained.

"Alright, then. As long as you're fine. If you notice anything out of place in your cave, remember to shout loudly for help!" the dragon queen instructed.

In truth, they had intentionally allowed the men to enter the caves and used them as tools to torture the young dragons.

They had learned about these men's plan early on. They knew everything about it, including their involvement of the red dragon and that they were Golden Warriors.

Initially, Yati proposed that they take care of these vermin right away. However, the dragon queen Eernie suggested that they use this opportunity to train the young dragons.

The other seven-colored dragons agreed.

The result was this situation. The few young dragons were first kidnapped. Just when the humans were about to succeed and flee from the dragon nest, they would be ambushed by the seven-colored dragons.

In a head-on clash, the humans were easily taken care of by a high-ranked Sorcerer of the dragon elders.

As a high legend primordial dragon, the grand elder's high-ranked art was similar in might to an ordinary rank-9 art. It should be known that a rank-9 art could only be unleashed by a Sorcerer of rank-18 and above.

Against a few rank-10 Warriors, it was like killing a chicken with a butcher's knife for cattle.

The dragon queen had inspected the so-called captives, and when she noticed that Lu Sheng was not among them, she came here to check on him herself. The result was that Lu Sheng did not come under any attack.

A single person was missing from the attackers' ranks. After searching for the missing member all over the caves, the seven-colored dragons had no choice but to give up. They settled for the idea that the human must have seen through the trap and fled.

Lu Sheng remained calm and collected. He was the only who knew about the actual fate of that Golden Warrior.

He did not expect the rank-1 Dragon Fire to be that powerful.

The changes in Dragon Fire gave him more inspiration.

After the incident with the dragon kidnapping, the dragon cavern regained its former peace.

The seven-colored dragons no longer taught the young dragons anything. They occasionally gave them a class and answered their accumulated questions.

Among the four young dragons, Ansaifei and Bog had deeply recognized just how weak they were. They began following the hunter team on their hunts to train their own hunting abilities.

The only female dragon, Sari, devoted her time as Yati's apprentice. She learned wind element arts from her.

Yati was most skilled in wind element evocation arts.

Lu Sheng, on the other hand, followed no one. He remained cooped up in his own dragon cavern. His daily routine was a mystery to everyone.

Time passed by slowly like that.

After many modifications and tests, Lu Sheng finally modified the fleshy lump art-releasing mode with Deep Blue.

He was now capable of storing the elemental energy in his internal organ. His Sorcerer rank was also gradually improving.

In the blink of an eye, three years passed by.

Lu Sheng finally achieved a breakthrough to a rank-6 Sorcerer. He was now a true Archimage.

In this world, regardless of the Tribe, anyone who managed to reach rank-6 in the arts would be referred to as an Archimage.

This was a respectful form of address for Sorcerers of this rank.

This was because a rank-6 Sorcerer was the true dividing line where the Sorcerer could build his own Sorcerer Tower. From this point on, the Sorcerer would no longer be a mere art user. Instead, the Sorcerer could rely on the Sorcerer Tower, which would become a weapon which could play a pivotal role in great battles.

Reconnaissance, war arts, real-time monitoring, high-end art research experiments, and other functions were among its uses. The Archimage might even be able to produce some food and rare products of this world.

In the human kingdom, a Sorcerer Tower symbolized a feudal lord's great hold over his own land.

For Lu Sheng, becoming a rank-6 Sorcerer meant that he was now able to dabble in arts that concerned other planar power.

Without the support from a Sorcerer Tower, rogue Sorcerers would only be able to start learning about arts regarding other planes and dimensions after reaching rank-6.

The Seven-colored Dragon Tribe was about to migrate to another territory again. This was because their nemesis, the experts from the organization Flower Ring, was about to catch up to them.

Flower Ring was the largest slave trade organization on the continent.

After the Seven-colored Dragon Tribe lost the favor of the gods, they were dealt great blows by the other Tribes. This organization saw an opening, and seized it to capture and kill the seven-colored dragons.

Up until now, as many as 100 seven-colored dragons had been either captured or killed by this organization.

They were sold by the Flower Ring to other Tribes and powers. Even the corpses of the dragons were dismembered and sold to many Sorcerer organizations as materials for their arts.

The Seven-colored Dragon Tribe kept migrating to avoid this organization.

***

Lu Sheng's dragon cave.

'After breaking free from the magic net, my progress has been difficult and slow. I didn't expect that it'll get faster in the end. How strange…'

Lu Sheng flipped through the pages of the art book before him under the candlelight. His eyes suggested that he was lost in thought.

He achieved his current art-releasing rank through his own honest efforts. He was much more powerful compared to the other rank-6 Sorcerers.

Also, because of the extremely powerful spirit he was born with, the might of the arts he released was also a cut above the rest.

If Lu Sheng had not suppressed his mind power's output, he would have exposed his unbelievably terrifying progress and talents early on while his teachers tested him.

It had been 10 years since he transmigrated to this world…

Throughout the decade, Lu Sheng had gained a complete understanding of the situation of this world and also the great dangers faced by the seven-colored dragons.

His host's wish was for the seven-colored dragons not to be erased from history and be restored to their former glory.

'So, as long as the seven-colored dragons survive and procreate steadily, I should be able to satisfy this karma easily.'

Due to the existence of gods in this world, it would not be beneficial for him to conceal his identity if he showed off his abilities too much. It was also possible for him to provoke some opponents of unknown might.

All this would happen when he had yet to learn about the upper limits of this world.

Lu Sheng did not intend to strengthen the seven-colored dragons wildly. He chose to conceal his identity and strength while he collected Mental Energy from wherever he could. At the same time, he would lend a helping hand when the seven-colored dragons were about to face a turning point.

"Are you done packing?" Sari's voice came from outside the cave.