"Thanks for making it clear to me, Devil Ancestor. Can you describe how I'm supposed to learn Daos?" I listened well.

"The only way to learn Daos is practice and understanding. Devils learn Daos by practicing Devil Arts. Through practicing and learning these Devil Arts they can improve their understanding of the Dao."

"It's much easier to improve Daos in which one has already begun understanding. Stepping down the road of new Daos is much more difficult than learning a Dao which one is naturally talented with."

"Someone who understands Fire Dao could improve their Fire Dao by practicing Fire Arts much faster than they could gain an understanding of Wind Dao by practicing a Wind Art."

"Devils in the first three realms of devilry improve their devilry by absorbing fel energy and deepening their understanding of Daos."

"There are Myriad Arts that cover many Daos. Devils don't have the time to learn every type of Devil Art when they could improve their devilry the fastest by practicing a Dao they are good at."

The Devil Ancestor felt he had described enough about devilry to make it clear for James to practice. He brought out a Jade slip and handed it to James.

"Here is the [Lumiid Serpesco Scripture] it is a Knight Scripture which has aspects of Soul Dao and Fire Dao. Knight Scriptures are Scriptures that you can practice until the Devil Knight realm."

"They contain accompanying Arts and techniques of the Daos they cover. It teaches a way to form Soulflame qi by taking Soul qi and mixing in a hint of Fire qi."

"The amount of proficiency of Fire Dao needed is small in a Devil Art such as this as the primary component of the Art is the Soul Dao. Once you can create Soulflame qi I can then teach you the Art of Blacksmithing." finished the Devil Ancestor.

The ancestor left after completing his explanation.

I was finally alone and not passing out. My Devil Ancestor had gone back to his normal routine of smithing. I felt much better than before.

I put down the jade slip. I had no interest in learning. My head still hurt from the Soul Eyes experience and my Devil Ancestor had talked my head off!

Why do old grandpas tell you everything? Worrying about powers outside of the Hudson clan isn't my job!

My job is to become a well respected young master. Every young master lives off their parent's hard work, recruiting lackeys and garnering a strong following just because of their birthright!

Devil Ancestor says I'll be cut off from resources when I leave his place because of his master plan. I better find the time to slip out before he enacts his plan and get as many resources as possible to recruit a few lackeys.

Only then can I start my path to becoming a powerful young master. I can't see anything now. My first aim is to learn to adapt to my new vision.

I took a nap, my head still hurt too much, and I figured I wouldn't be able to have any success working with those Devil Arts with a headache.

I finally had a peaceful rest. In my dream I dreamed of having my very own section in a popular tavern. Plenty of beauties surrounded me.

My loyal lackeys held back Mikael as he brazenly tried to get in my VIP area.

"This is the life!" I grumbled in my sleep.

When I finally woke up I sighed. I was back to reality, barely able to see anything. I had my work cut out for me. If I wanted to make my dreams come true, I would have to put in some effort.

My lack of vision is annoying, I must work hard to solve that. I can't enjoy the company of beauties if I couldn't even see them.

I grabbed the jade slip pouring in my Devil qi and the Devil Scripture engraved itself into my mind. The author detailed it concisely.

Someone beyond the realm of Knight wrote this technique from the verbosity.  Either that or some nerd wrote it. Who had time to do all this research?

Life was best spent enjoying the simple things. But to enjoy the simple pleasure I must focus for now.

'Devils used the Soul Dao in Curse Arts, Oath Arts, Death Arts, Reincarnation Arts, and Slave Arts just to name a few. The uses were many, and the powers commanded were powerful. Devils could use many of these techniques with the Devil Dao. Devil Dao and Soul Dao did not have different usages until higher realms.'

I felt my head hurt. Why does everyone tell me a Devil knowing Soul Dao is almost useless? This young master's Soul Dao shall be the best. I must make a name for Soul Dao lest people keep underestimating it. This Slave Art thing will be useful when recruiting lackeys.

I have to pick up one of those. I can even curse my enemies with Curse Arts, if they cross this young master they won't even know who hurt them.

This seems perfect for a young master like me. Zombies can fit into this young master's playbook too. Who dares stop this young master?

To improve Soul Dao, I must study souls in their natural form. To capture souls, I would need a soul orb. A soul flame could purify souls, making them easy to handle and study.

The soul flame made the souls a blank slate, purifying all the resentment and other negative emotions acclimated upon death.  I would then transfer the negative emotions into a resentment weapon.

'Storing all the negative emotions in a resentment weapon would give Soul Dao practitioners a hidden card. Soul Dao practitioners would also delve into the Slaughter Dao as cultivating Soul Dao required killing and processing the souls of many creatures.'

I could naturally understand Slaughter Dao during this process.

This scripture was comprehensive. It detailed how I could create a soul orb and a resentment weapon. To form my Soulflame, I would need to learn the [Flint & Steel Art].

With this Art I would use Devil qi as the flint and steel and Soul qi as the timber igniting my Soul qi turning it into Soulflame qi. Through practicing the Flint and Steel Art, I would temper my Soul qi and Devil qi while understanding the Fire Dao.

This scripture was so comprehensive it also had a soul servant technique, however, to use those would require me to capture some souls. The best souls come from humanoid species or Esquire and above beasts or plants that have gained sentience. The technique required me to capture a serpent demon beast soul.

With the soul I could create a serpent flame soul servant that could protect me and battle in my place. I ignored this part as it was too far away for me. I needed to learn the [Flint & Steel Art] then I could forge my Soul Orb and Resentment Weapon.

My Devil Ancestor sure took my personality into understanding when giving me this technique. It would take me into the doorway to the Soul Dao .and to practice it fully I would have to learn blacksmithing.

That cunning old devil, once I learn blacksmithing I'll be quickly kicked out! I need to improve my vision so I can sneak out. Otherwise I won't be able to swindle some resources from my dear father.

I practiced the [Flint & Steel Art] for now. I had to improve the quality of my Devil qi, only then would my grainy vision improve enough for me to sneak out.

Only with thorough improvement would I be able to escape!

First, I must forge my Devil qi as the flint & steel. I sat in a lotus position creating a floating pea-sized ball of Soul qi in front of me.

I then gathered Devil qi within both of my hands, it was difficult this was my first time controlling Devil qi and Soul qi outside of my body. I could only create a little of each.

The ball of Soul qi I created was only the size of a marble.

I coated my hands in Devil qi then he brought them together at a 90-degree angle. One hand was the flint, the other was the steel.

Swiftly moving one hand over the other, I attempted to ignite the ball of Soul qi!

How could I do all of this if I could not see it?

My qi was a part of my body. Both the Soul qi and the Devil qi I created were like extra arms. I could feel them when they were outside his body. So it was easy for me to practice this exercise.

'Devil qi as the flint and steel, Soul qi as the timber. Ignite the Soul qi!'

I was excited. This was my first time practicing a Devil Art. After my first attempt, nothing happened.

I didn't create any sparks! I was not disappointed. To practice Devil Arts was a process. I wasn't foolish enough to think of myself as some kind of genius.

This will be more difficult than I thought. The key to this technique lies in control. I must properly visualize the Devil qi as flint and steel while viewing the Soul qi as timber. Only then can this Devil Art work!

After a while of failing at my attempt at mastering a Devil Art in a single bound, I took a break and thought about the times I had gone camping within the Wesser forest as a youth. All the devil youths would love these trips. An Elder would guide us to learn of the plants and demon beasts that lived in the Wesser forest.

Learning to live off the fat of the land! It was classic wilderness survival training in the yearly summer camp for Hudson clan youths. We would even get to battle with the mortal realm demon beasts polishing our battle skills.

I had learned to create fire with flint & steel before. I pondered about the difficulty I first experienced while attempting this archaic technique. When I had done this before as a youth and encountered difficulties the best way to solve it was to leave a bit of flint on the timber.

Just a little sprinkle of flint would make igniting the timber much easier. Then you have a small flame going, you would add more timber to stabilize the fire.

It seems I missed several key steps in this technique. If I change it with my experience of using flint & timber in real life it should work better.

I changed the technique to mirror the real-life application of flint & steel. I sprinkled a bit of Devil qi on the Soul qi ball and then tried to ignite it.

'Devil qi as the flint and steel, Soul qi as the timber. Ignite the Soul qi!'

"It worked! The Soul qi caught a fire becoming Soulflame qi!"

The Soulflame qi quickly extinguished itself using up the small bit of Soul qi. It looks like I need to pour Soul qi into the Soulflame qi continually to keep it ablaze, just like a normal fire requires fuel to stay lit.

I quickly attempted the Devil Art again, finally bringing a stable bit of Soulflame qi into his hands.

"I'm a fucking genius!" I yelled in pure excitement.

I quickly put the Soulflame qi out and looked around, hoping my Devil Ancestor didn't hear him. If he caught me with Soulflame qi, I would have to learn blacksmithing.

How could I escape and get resources to recruit lackeys if they forced me to be under that old devil's nose?

I am more cunning than that old devil!