Way of the Devil

Chapter 539: Hidden (2)

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

‘Let’s start deriving this power and see what kind of reaction I’ll get.’ Lu Sheng started to swiftly adjust his breathing, heartbeat, and steps. He put himself in a balanced and well-replenished state.

He looked at the new frame in Deep Blue’s interface.

‘Frost Power cultivation method, not mastered yet.’

There were only three simple words there.

Lu Sheng tapped the modifiable button below the frame with familiar movements. Then, he switched to the frame again. However, to his disappointment, he did not see the word “derivable” behind the frame.

‘So, I only have this, it seems. Let’s give it a try.’

Lu Sheng focused his gaze on the Frost Power cultivation method.

“Pcchht.”

A unit of Mental Energy disappeared. It turned into a cold flow which spread to Lu Sheng’s limbs from his chest.

Lu Sheng suddenly paused in his steps, but he quickly reverted to his natural look.

The base of his fur all across his body started to turn grayish-white. It was a unique kind of white, just like the one of White Ash. Hints of cold air started spreading from under his feet.

“Ugh...”

Beside him, Gold could not help but shiver.

“It’s suddenly so cold...”

Lu Sheng swiftly retracted the cold. With his Divine Lord’s spirit, he had understood how to release and retract his Frost Power in an instant.

When he looked at the frame now, the contents had already changed.

“Frost Power cultivation method, mastered. (Special traits. Ice-cold strengthening. Ice Claw.)”

‘Ice cold strengthening?’ Lu Sheng studied his own body carefully. The structure of his body’s muscles, bones, and internal organs was slowly undergoing a unique change under the encirclement of this Frost Power.

Some parts of his body were starting to decay from frostbite. The other parts were being strengthened. With encouragement, his body was starting to change in a certain direction.

‘My strength has increased by 30%, my agility has increased two-fold, the strength of my fur, skin, and muscles was all increased by roughly 10%. Is this Ice-cold strengthening?’ Lu Sheng suddenly raised his hand and swung it about.

It felt lighter. Also, he did not feel cold.

His strength also flowed more smoothly. His fur felt silkier as well.

‘And there’s Ice Claw...’ Lu Sheng studied the tips of his own sharp claws. They were giving off vague hints of ice-cold air. He touched it with his paw. It felt much stronger than the cold air on his body. It had to have been the coldest spot on his entire body.

‘It’s actually just low temperature damage, right? However, for a slash wound, this might be beneficial to stopping the enemy’s bleeding. It’s not very practical.’ Lu Sheng shook his head.

This Frost Power would enable him to strengthen this body and establish himself within the tribe, but he would still be trampled on by the other species.

‘Fortunately, I have the Essential Essence Art.’ Lu Sheng had a thought, and a new frame immediately surfaced on the interface.

‘Essential Essence Art, Uninitiated.’

‘I should improve on this Essential Essence Art first. Let’s see how far I can go with one push.’

*******************

Inside a palace on an ice-cold and gloomy mountaintop.

A colossal ice blue winged dragon opened its three sapphire-like eyes. The long dragon eyes were like three sharp blade wounds which were imprinted in the middle of her huge triangular head.

“Ashes is here.” The ice dragon’s voice was like a human female’s, sharp and grand.

“The single-horned shadow dragons are only his scouts. He’s still keen on getting its hands on my eternal cold spring.”

A slightly smaller blue ice dragon with a height of about a dozen meters slowly walked out of a cave on the side of the palace.

“He came here once 2,000 years ago, and was defeated. 600 years ago, he came a second time, and was defeated again. 100 years ago, he paid a third visit, and still he was defeated by your wings. There’s nothing to be worried about. Ashes’s strength is already at the limit, yet he’s not a match for you,” said the blue ice dragon with praise.

“No... I’m not worried about him. I’m concerned about the Scorching Sun Tribes behind him,” said the three-eyed ice dragon slowly. “I understand Ashes. I’ve known him since we were young dragons only a few years old. He’s definitely not a dragon who’s willing to repeat his failures.”

“Well then, we can gather the other beasts in the entire mountain range and probe them for their intentions,” said the blue ice dragon slowly. “There are many subdragon species, such as the western dragons, single-horned dragons, poison dragons, and the others. They can be wonderful vanguards.”

“Mm-hm, go ahead. I’ll be waiting for your news.” The three-eyed ice dragon slowly shut her eyes.

“Yes, My Queen.”

****************

Lu Sheng felt as if he was about to explode.

His muscles were intensely enlarging, his bones were shaking, and his heart was beating at more than 15 beats per second. Fortunately, his thick coat of black fur helped conceal the abnormalities. In addition to that, Gold was a boorish character to begin with, and hence did not notice his current condition.

On Deep Blue’s interface.

‘Essential Essence Art. Level one.’

Advancing a single level had consumed one Mental Energy unit. The Essential Essence converted by his Mental Energy immediately spread and surged into Lu Sheng’s body.

The result was his current condition. A mere Mental Energy unit had caused his body to be in an extremely wretched state where it could explode at any minute.

Fortunately, his Divine Lord’s spirit was able to suppress his internal organs and bodily structures that were jumping and shivering.

Under Deep Blue’s control, a huge amount of Essential Essence swiftly modified his main digestive system. It was a unique method Lu Sheng developed just for this body.

This method was capable of extracting Essential Essence from the food he ate to strengthen his body. Under the control of his Divine Lord’s spirit, there would not be any danger as long as this method did not exceed the limits of a Divine Intellect Divine Lord’s control.

This condition lasted for a short while. Then, Lu Sheng finally felt the pain subside.

‘That was close... The non-native power system nearly caused this body to break down... I didn’t feel any problem when I created this method, and I thought that it was perfect. However, when I start to actually use it, that’s when I notice all the shortcomings... Fortunately, this body is weak and easily suppressed.’

Lu Sheng still felt a lingering fear. He had only raised this Essential Essence Art by a level, yet he had almost foiled this Arrival.

He made a mental note to never rashly create a unique cultivation method ever again...

‘Fortunately, the Essential Essence Art succeeded. Although it’s only one level, at least I’m initiated now.’

The inspiration for this cultivation method came from his experience with the Sea-overturning Orb. The Essential Essence Art was able to extract a huge amount of Essential Essence and store it within his body. When the need arose, he could expend it as a substitute for his stamina and endurance.

The more Essential Essence he had, the more vigorous he would feel, and the greater his endurance would be. Also, he would be able to quickly repair his damaged body, increase his cells’ activity, and boost his immune system.

‘Level one of the Essential Essence Art can store about half of my stamina. Not bad.’

When they’d done their rounds, Lu Sheng brought Gold back to the village.

The two of them parted ways. Then, he went to look for the witch doctor White Ash at the first moment.

“I’ve mastered the Frost Power, what’s next?”

Lu Sheng’s primary objective was to get things over with quickly. There was still plenty of Evil Spirits he had to kill back in the Great Yin. Hence, he could not afford to spend too much time here.

That was why he chose to be honest about his progress.

White Ash was ladling some thick black goo into a pot with a black wooden ladle. He was startled by Lu Sheng who dashed in suddenly. His hand slipped, and a huge slop of the black goo flew onto the table.

“Ugh... Who...? Don’t you know that I—”

He turned around, and did not finish his sentence when he saw Black Bone standing at the door. His claws were glowing with faint, white cold air.

“I’m done, White Ash. Tell me what I should do next.” Lu Sheng walked into the earthen hut. A big and tall werewolf behind him seemed to sense that something was amiss.

“How dare you disrespect the witch doctor!” The werewolf growled. He did not see the faint, white cold air. He stepped forward and hurled a claw toward Lu Sheng.

“Pooh.”

He was instantly hit under the armpits by Lu Sheng. His body immediately stiffened, and he fell flat on the ground on his side.

“Black Bone... To think that you’ve actually...” White Ash was currently in a slight daze. It seemed as if he completely did not expect Lu Sheng to actually master Frost Power.

“I’ve mastered Frost Power.” Lu Sheng waved his claws before him.

“I know... You’re now a frost werewolf.” White Ash suddenly snapped out of his daze. “However, we have no way of breaking free from here. Alas... If you’ve awakened sooner... maybe we’d have a chance.”

“There’s nothing to be remorseful about. What’s next?” Lu Sheng asked.

White Ash walked silently to a corner and revealed a hidden compartment in the wall. Then, he carefully took out a pile of small objects.

“The Mangrove Forest tribe is about to be wiped out anyway. Since you’ve awakened Frost Power, I might as well give all of this to you.” White Ash smiled bitterly and passed the objects to Lu Sheng.

Lu Sheng received the objects and looked at them.

They were line patterns similar to the one White Ash had given him before. Every picture seemed like a colossal maze. They were very complicated and elaborate.

“This is what you’ve used before, the first one. The Frost Power pattern of the frost werewolf.” White Ash pointed at the first picture with his bony claw.

Lu Sheng followed his claw. As expected, the pattern was the same as the one on the rag he received.

“This is the second picture, the frost werewolf king.” White Ash pointed at the second picture among the pile. “As for the others, I have no idea as well. Maybe it’s been lost throughout the generations, or maybe they represent other pathways. Nobody can tell for sure. However, no matter what’s the case, these are all your future choices,” he spoke with sincerity.

Lu Sheng lowered his head and scrutinized the picture.

Suddenly, he was shocked. This picture was exactly the same as the web-like structure he saw when he looked into the flow of Frost Power within his body with his spirit!

‘Could it be...’

He separated the different pictures and flipped through them. The further he went, the more complicated the patterns became. The center of each picture was the Cold Frost Divine Vein. However, with the increasing complicatedness of the patterns, the Cold Frost Divine Vein became more complicated as well. Its structure grew heavier.

‘These... are a stack of evolutionary atlas of life!’ Lu Sheng was hit with a sudden realization.

“We’ve lost our ancestors’ bloodline. At most, we’re able to awaken the Frost Power, and that’s our limit. Hence, you’d better not put too much effort into these things. Just take a look at them since they’re passed down to us by our ancestors...” said the witch doctor earnestly.

Lu Sheng kept quiet as he flipped through the stack of pictures.

“Badump.”

His heart was beating. Every picture represented a powerful state of life.

Every state in these pictures represented a higher level of development and utilization of the Frost Power.

‘Since I can use the Mystic Water Divine Vein in the Great Yin, does this mean that I can use the Cold Frost Divine Vein in the Great Yin as well?’ Lu Sheng suddenly had this thought.

‘I know what I should do now...’

He kept silent and looked at Deep Blue’s interface.

He focused his gaze onto the Frost Power cultivation method. With the utilization pathways provided by the various atlases, he was completely able to form his own, unique atlas after combining them!