Grasping Evil

Purple Yin’s warning was too late.

Old Monster Ji Mo, who was cunning and sly, realized that the situation was going against himself and activated the ship’s defensive formation. The elders of the other two ships who were slow to react had caused their ships to suffer a devastating damage.

Try imagining the Yin Pearl’s Blood Light, which was able to shatter two Nascent Realm Grand Formations, but with 30% increase in power being reflected to the disciples of Extreme Yin Gate. It was undoubtedly a terrible nightmare for them.

There wasn’t even time for the disciples to scream while being devoured by the Blood Light, transforming into mists of blood, dying instantly. The only thing that was left was the foul smell.

The ships, which were refined using the essence of gold, were corroded by the Blood Light, leaving countless holes on the ships’ bodies. The ships were half destroyed.

On board the ships, amongst the thirteen Harmonious Spirit elders, nine perished from the counter attack, only four were able to escape with severe injuries. Meanwhile, there were two other Gold Core Elders who had escaped from the Blood Light, however, they also suffered serious injuries.

The ships were no longer being controlled and fell to the ground, smashing against the rocks. Gradually, the light of the treasured ships dimmed.

Those fortunate Extreme Yin Gate’s disciples who barely escaped death ran out of luck this time. As the ship was crashing into the ground, they fell to their deaths. The scene was so horrible that one could hardly bear to look at it. At the same time, abundant corpse qi started to spread around Ning City.

The sudden change of the situation startled both the righteous and evil old monsters who were observing the battle from a far distance. They were all astounded to see that there was actually a formation in the world that could literally reflect the attack.

In Ning City, including the Three Black Devil Armies, silence was the only element that could be found. Previously, all of them believed Ning Fan had a way to deal with the Blood Light. None of them was able to figure out the method which was as strange as the one just now, however.

A big doubt rose in everyone’s mind… What kind of formation really was that?  How could it possess the heaven defying effect of rebounding attacks!

Unfortunately, Ning Fan would never provide an explanation to clear people’s doubts. He gazed on the formation which was vanishing gradually, shaking his head gently, feeling rather regrettable.

This formation was similar to Purple Yin’s guess. It was an Immortal Void Realm Formation. But, what made Ning Fan regrettable was that this formation was only a remnant. It could only deliver a single strike. With Ning Fan’s capabilities, he could only deploy a formation up to Nascent Realm, which allowed the formation to have a trace of rebounding effect.

The level of such formation started from Spirit Realm, followed by Dan Realm, Nascent Realm, Transformation Realm, Void Realm. Void Realm Formation was the most advanced formation, and is divided into Mortal Void Realm and Immortal Void Realm. Mortal Void Realm Formation, such as the Mountains and Rivers Reversed Motion Formation, could injure Void Fragmentation experts. However, all it could do was injure them. If the Void Fragmentation expert was skilled and powerful, such a formation might not work on them.

In contrast, Immortal Void Realm Formation had a greater power. Even if the expert was a Ninth Level Void Fragmentation expert or an expert who broke through the ninth level, but failed to become an immortal would discover that the power of an Immortal Void Realm Formation was not something that they could easily match.

Immortal. This word could literally wipe out all the cultivators of all the seven realms of the cultivation world.

Star Vortex Ancient Formation, was the rare attack-rebounding formation amongst all the ancient Immortal Void Realm Formation. In Ancient Chaos’ memory, it belonged to the extremely advanced formation. A trace of its power was enough to receive acclamation from the Immortal Emperor. Again, what made Ning Fan regrettable was that, this formation was incomplete.

“Sun as Saint, Moon as Emperor, Star as Fiendgod…” Ning Fan looked at the slowly dissipating star vortex and stroked the star on his glabella, in thought.

Star as Fiendgod… Innate Abilities of Fiendgod… Were they represented by stars? Immortal Emperor. Emperor was one of the words in the name. So, did that imply that the innate abilities of Immortal Emperors was represented by the moon? As for the saint, what exactly was its representation?  Ancient Chaos’ memory did not mention a single word about it. Perhaps the Immortal Emperor had no idea about it, or he was just obeying the rules from Emperor Sun and dared not to tell the descendants.

Old Monster Purple Yin was different from the cold-thinking Ning Fan. At the sight of two thousand disciples’ death, he went ballistic and roared angrily. As for Tian Yi Zi, the corner of his mouth curved in malicious pleasure, as if everything was within his calculation.

The bloody scene made Zhi He nauseous. The popular old ancestor of Yue Country, Suqiu, also showed her intolerance to such a brutal situation.

However, all of these did not affect Ning Fan. His facial expression remained calm and cold. Ever since the day he met his mentor, he had been through all sorts of scenes involving bloodshed.

He stood still, using his spirit sense to check on Tian Yi Zi, leaving no stones unturned. Every movement and every expression were all captured by him.

After absorbing the corpse qi from the two thousand disciples of Extreme Yin Gate, Tian Yi Zi’s qi became denser. It was no mistake this time. And, the qi within the black coffin seemed to have become even more dangerous.

Ning Fan’s heart sank. Tian Yi Zi must have the immemorial evil vein, and that… that was a rare evil vein. Corpse Devil Vein!

In fact, Tian Yi Zi was not a human, but a living corpse! The master was undeniably hiding within the black coffin. He must have cast the Corpse Transformation Technique, turning all of the experts, including the sect leader and disciples into living corpses… Being able to transform Tian Yi Zi who was already a half-step Nascent Soul into a living corpse was not an easy matter. His cultivation base perhaps had already reached the Nascent Soul realm! However, there must be a reason for him not taking action, and showing himself. If he was in severe condition, then he was, for sure, at the most critical moment of “Corpse Devil Transformation”! Such a technique had three transformations. First, the expert would be turned into corpse. Second, the corpse would turn into devil. Third, the devil corpse would become immortal. Given his scrupulous moves,  he was most probably between the first and second transformation. He must be stopped from absorbing anymore qi. Otherwise, the consequence of him breaking through to the second transformation and become a devil corpse was unthinkable.

That moment, Ning Fan did not twitch a single muscle of his face, but there was a slight fear in the bottom of his heart as he had 70% assurance that his guess was accurate.

Devil Corpse. These two words reminded Ning Fan of the female corpse lying under the lid of the coffin in his Cauldron Ring.

Between the Heavens and Earth, there were countless fiendgod successors. And, that expert hiding inside the casket, perhaps was the first Fiendgod successor whom Ning Fan would certainly have a hard time fighting.

Suddenly, Ning Fan’s eyes turned cold and he thought, “So what if it is a Fiendgod successor? So what if it is a Nascent Soul cultivator? Compared to the Bone Sovereign, how powerful could it be? Even if it is the clone of Bone Sovereign, I was also able to cut it, right? 

His eyes shone and said coldly, “Nan Gong, inform the experts from Sinister Sparrow Sect and Fire Cloud Sect to come to our rescue immediately through the fire vein. Any experts whose cultivation base are below Harmonious Spirit realm should not intervene in this battle. The less people, the better!

“This…Yes!”

Nan Gong hesitated for a moment, then responded to Ning Fan’s order, taking out the sound transmission stone. The original plan was that all the experts from Fire Cloud Sect and Sinister Sparrow Sect would come to their aid through the fire vein. Together, all the experts would eliminate Extreme Yin Gate and Heavenly Dao Sect. However, judging by the situation, the plan had to be changed, causing Ning Fan to decide that cultivators below Harmonious Spirit realm had to stay out from this war.

What made Nan Gong admire Ning Fan was the idea of using the fire vein as a passage. To avoid people knowing about the reinforcements coming to Ning City, Ning Fan gave an order to hollow out a few hundred kilometers of  fire veins underground. With the help of the fire vein’s spiritual qi, the qi of all the cultivators was camouflaged, enabling them to arrive without a single significant trace.

This method had never crossed Nan Gong’s mind. His experience might be richer than Ning Fan, but Ning Fan was indeed slightly better than him in the aspect of wisdom and resourcefulness.

“Is this the sect master of Sinister Sparrow Sect? Things have changed…” Nan Gong was speaking in an undertone at the side within the sound-insulated formation light.

…

*li – one li = half a kilometer

Old Monster Purple Yin’s rage did not diminish. He stared fiercely at Old Monster Ji Mo, as if he wanted to devour him together with his skin and bones.

Two thousand disciples died in vain because of Old Monster Ji Mo’s careless mistake.

With a sudden twist of his mindset, he thought, “No, not him. Ning Fan is the one who needs to shoulder the blame!”

“Good! Perfect! Excellent! Ning Fan, you do have the guts… I hereby order all experts above Harmonious Spirit realm, annihilate Ning City at all costs!”

At this moment, Old Monster Purple Yin was as angry as a mad beast, rushing towards the walls of Ning City in a flash. His plan was to catch Ning Fan alive, while the other elders would slaughter the people to vent their hatred!

Most of the elders’ eyes blazed with fire when they thought about the two thousand casualties involving their descendants.

42 Harmonious Spirit cultivators and 7 Gold Core experts rushed towards Ning City in a flash!

On the other hand, all the experts from the Heavenly Dao Sect did not move a single muscle except for Tian Yizi. When Tian Yizi wanted to make his move, he paused. His eyes widened with surprise and cast his sight to the direction of the fire vein below the ground.

“This is…” Tian Yi Zi was startled. However, that mad man, Purple Yin, who only had the intention of capturing Ning Fan in his mind, was still not aware of the changes occurring below the ground.

The hatred of 17 concubines being seized and the tragic death of two thousand disciples blinded his common sense! The desire of manipulating a Fourth Revolution Pill Master in secret and dominating the future of Yue Country clouded his judgement! With these thoughts running in his head, he became so excited to the extent of laughing despite the wrath previously.

Purple Yin took the lead, appearing a few hundred metres away from the city wall. With just a flick of his sleeve, the devil cultivators of the Four Armies who came forward to protect Ning Fan were all swept away by a roll of yin wind!

As for the attacks of the magical weapons from the experts, Purple Yin took them all in with his Purple Alms Bowl.

“Get over here!” he shouted loudly. Then, at a few hundred metres away from Ning Fan, he spewed out a mouthful of qi circulating within his dantian while the five fingers of his hand turned into claws, slashing at Ning Fan’s direction. In the blink of an eye, the dense magical force transformed into yin wind. Within the wind, a faint soul force was drawn out, reshaping into an illusory yet fatal wind claw, slashing towards Ning Fan.

Nascent Realm Magical Art, Wind Soul Claw! This claw was a Nascent level magical skill. It drew out the soul force, transforming it into a claw. It was more than enough to capture any Gold Core experts. That was because other than the Old Ancestors experts, any ordinary Gold Core experts could not even touch the side of the claw, let alone withstanding such a skill. Old monster Purple Yin believed that Ning Fan would never be able to escape this attack as Ning Fan was not even a half step Nascent Soul expert!

The only worry that Purple Yin had was that Ning Fan was a quick-witted opponent with lots of tactics. If Ning Fan slipped and fled, it would be very troublesome.

However, something unexpected came up. Ning Fan did not have the idea of escaping.

Stepping onto the ice rainbow, Ning Fan did not dodge, but charged directly at the claw. Cold light shone from his eyes, the star on his glabella shone. He struck the Wind Soul Claw with his palm, creating a thunderous resonance.

“Imperial Thunder!”

His five fingers grasped resolutely. The Wind Soul Claw was destroyed!

The scene was completely beyond Purple Yin’s expectation. He did not expect that Ning Fan would have a way to withstand that attack. What surprised him the most was that Ning Fan actually destroyed the Wind Soul Claw which was condensed from the Nascent Realm Magical Art with just a single palm attack!

“Being able to shatter a Nascent Realm Magical Art… This kid, is really a Silver Bone cultivator! Not good!”

Earlier, Purple Yin still did not believe that Ning Fan had such a Body Refining Technique. Right now, he had no choice but to believe it.

Due to his carelessness, Ning Fan was approaching him and the distance between the two of them became shorter until they were only a few meters away. Facing the air current from Ning Fan’s palm made him feel scratching pain, his expression changed.

Silver Bone! There was no mistake! When the palm attack got closer, Purple Yin discovered that its power was too terrifying. His instinct told him that he must not take on the attack directly with his body.

In that instant, he opened his mouth and spit a cold round marble which was as big as a bowl without hesitation. With a flick of his sleeve, he conjured up a handful of red sand, swirling them towards Ning Fan.

The round marble was the Yin Pearl that Purple Yin had been refining for years. It was a treasure that had fused with the Gold Core inside his body. Extreme Yin Gate’s signature technique was refining Yin Pearl. As soon as the expert broke through the Gold Core realm, one could integrate the Yin Pearl with the Gold Core in the body, refining the Gold Core into the strongest magical weapon.

The power of a Yin Pearl was stronger than any ordinary Peak High Grade Magical Treasure. It even could unleash a trace of Supreme Grade Magical Treasure’s power.

On a different note, the red sand was not something that could be taken lightly. It was called Consciousness Breaking Sand. It contained blood qi, and was specialized in attacking the cultivators’ sea of consciousness. From Purple Yin’s view, the Yin Pearl was enough to fight Ning Fan while the red sand could easily break Ning Fan’s sea of consciousness.

After all, Ning Fan’s sea of consciousness was weak no matter how strong his body was.

To Ning Fan, each technique that was used by Purple Yin was laughable. The red sand was scattered by Ning Fan’s palm with ease while the Gold Core Yin Pearl which power was comparable to that of a Supreme Grade Magical Treasure was engulfed by Ning Fan. His eyes turned cold and his hand grasp firmly!

The Gold Core was broken!

“Ah!”

Old monster Purple Yin shrieked as his Gold Core was crushed, causing his cultivation base to go down to late Gold Core realm. There were also signs indicating that his cultivation base would drop a realm lower.

He looked at Ning Fan with fear in his eyes. He had never expected that Ning Fan’s body would be so strong. It seemed to be much stronger than the Silver Bone Realm he had heard from the rumours.

Besides, why did the Consciousness Breaking Sand which specialized in crushing the cultivators’ sea of consciousness and was also known as a grain of gold have no effect on Ning Fan?

It was because of the fact that Purple Yin did not know that the Ning Fan standing in front of him at this moment, was White Ning, the white-clothed incarnation. How could it be crushed since the incarnation had no sea of consciousness? Even if Ning Fan’s sea of consciousness was here, with the strength of his sword consciousness, how could it be broken by the mere red sand.

As for the technique of fusing the Yin Pearl and the Gold Core, it was indeed mysterious as it was able to increase the strength of the Gold Core… However, Purple Yin had attended to trifles and neglected the essentials. The reason the ancestors of Extreme Yin Gate created such method to strengthen the Gold Core was actually not for the cultivators to use them as magical weapons, but to increase the Gold Core’s defense, preventing the other Gold Core experts from harming their Gold Cores during battles. Moreover, this method was for laying a strong foundation for the Gold Core experts during Nascent Formation. The stronger the Gold Core was, the better the chance of Nascent Formation!

This way of integration made Ning Fan’ eyes shine with interest. However, the way Purple Yin used the Gold Core as a magical weapon perhaps, was his biggest mistake in life.

The Gold Core shattered and Purple Yin spurted a mouthful of blood. He forcefully suppressed the drastic drop of his cultivation while retreating with all his might!

Run! I have to run! Definitely, I can’t catch Ning Fan today. In contrast, if I did not suppress the drop in my cultivation,  it would fall to intermediate Gold Core realm or even lower!

Although Purple Yin wanted to escape, Ning Fan wouldn’t allow him to do so. Ning Fan  transformed into an ice rainbow and flicked his sleeve, wielded a Peak Intermediate Grade whip, striking towards Purple Yin. A peak Intermediate Grade Magical Weapon should not be intimidating to Purple Yin, but all his focus had been put on stabilizing his cultivation base while driving the Immortal Cloud to escape as fast as he could. He had no idea that his actions would receive a sneak attack from Ning Fan. When Ning Fan whipped him, he lost control of his magical force and his cultivation base started to fall once more. Although he was not seriously injured, his breath was already in a state of a mess.

“Ning Fan! Don’t you go too far!” Purple Yin roared with rage.

“So what if I bully you?” His sight turned cold and landed a second whip on Purple Yin, literally pulling Purple Yin down from the Immortal Cloud.

The star between Ning Fan’s eyebrow appeared and he raised his palm, stepping onto the ice rainbow. He had prepared to strike a killing blow on Purple Yin. Falling from the sky, Purple Yin, whose magical force was in chaos, revealed fear and obscurity.

He had visited Ning City once in the past. During that visit, he had met the fake Black Devil and also Ning Fan. He did not pay close attention to Ning Fan who was just merely a Harmonious Spirit cultivator back then. He thought Ning Fan was not someone of importance.

In contrast, today, in Ning City , he had experienced Ning Fan’s complete power! He was unable to resist Ning Fan’s power. Even if he had been extremely careful, their battle would still be a deadlock. However, he was careless and his Gold Core was crushed. With his current state, there was no chance of him winning. He would lose or even worse, he would die.

“Ning Fan, you must not push me too far. If you do, I am going to self-destruct and we will both perish together. If you let me go, I am willing to share all of Extreme Yin Gate with you!”

The eyes of Purple Yin revealed insanity. His beautiful dream of ruling over Yue Country was broken to pieces. The current Purple Yin wanted nothing more than to protect his life.

All these moves happened as quick as lightning. The elders who originally followed Purple Yin’s footstep to bath Ning City with its own people’s blood were shocked by the instant defeat of Purple Yin. What was out of their expectation was that Purple Yin begged Ning Fan with a tone that was between threatening and begging.

Each of the elders were rooted to where they were as if their legs were fixed by nails. They stopped their movements in the air, fearing to attack Ning City.

On the other hand, all the cultivators who were observing the battle were dumbfounded after witnessing Ning Fan—who seemed to be very feeble—breaking the wind claw, crushing the Gold Core and defeating Purple Yin. Before these, none of them could think that Purple Yin, who was able to transcend numerous cultivators in Yue Country, would be driven desperate and helpless by a newly promoted Revered Ning of Sinister Sparrow Sect.

Perhaps after today, Ning Fan’ status would rise to ancestor level, or even higher!

Old Monster Purple Yin had tried begging for mercy and even threatened along the way. However, his actions only resulted in a hint of ridicule in Ning Fan’s eyes.

How could Ning Fan spare Purple Yin? As the saying goes, ‘To nurture a tiger invites calamity.’

Almost at the same moment, flames were appearing from the fire vein below Ning City. All the experts flew out one by one from the fire vein. Each of their breath was terrifying!

A loud and vicious voice rang in the sky. “Little friend, let me handle Purple Yin’s life!”

“Sure!” After perceiving the familiar and vibrant breath, Ning Fan’s eyes became relaxed, keeping his wind of palm then flashing away. It did not matter to Ning Fan who killed Purple Yin as long as Purple Yin died. Plus, allowing that man to kill Purple Yin was one of Ning Fan’s promise, wasn’t it?

The group of experts who appeared suddenly had two men in charge. They were, inevitably, Gui Qiaozi and Ancestor Jing Zhuo. The one who shouted just now was, undoubtedly, Jing Zhuo! Once they appeared, Gui Qiaozi immediately led a group of Gold Core experts to surround the elders of Extreme Yin Gate. On the other side, Ancestor Jing Zhuo’s eyes were filled with killing intent. The regret of his entire life transformed into a palm of lightning, carrying a tyrannical qi which was comparable to a Nascent Soul expert’s palm attack. Then, he landed it on Purple Yin’s back. At that instant, thunder clapped and it went through Purple Yin’s heart.

Thunder Palm! This particular palm contained Jing Zhuo’s killing intent which had been with him for a couple hundreds of years.

“Purple Yin, the chance that I have today to kill you had been long awaited by me…. Too long! You, die!”

The strike of the lightning palm crushed Old Monster Purple Yin’s body. A trace of his spirit was struggling within the lightning but Jing Zhuo did not have the intention of letting the soul enter Samsara.

Purple Yin’s spirit discovered Jing Zhuo’s cultivation base with disbelief. He couldn’t see through it! If he was not seriously injured by Ning Fan, he perhaps would not die after being struck by Jing Zhuo’s palm. But even so, he was mostly not a match for Jing Zhuo.

“You broke through…” Purple Yin asked with doubts. However, there was not enough time for him to complete his question. When the lightning light intensified, his soul was destroyed!

A pitiful yell resounded in the sky!

This yell was like a pot of cold water, splashing onto the heart of all the cultivators who were watching the battle. They glanced at Ning Fan, then at Jing Zhuo. They were all afraid of the both of them.

The brutality of Ancestor Jing Zhuo was still not over.

The other elders of Extreme Yin Gate were besieged by the experts of Sinister Sparrow Sect and Fire Cloud Sect

Revered Black Yan Bai, former Revered White Bai Feiteng, Fire Cloud Sect’s Bu Kuangfen… Each of these famous Gold Core old monsters was enough to take away a few Harmonious Spirit experts’ lives every time they used their magical weapon. After a few breaths, the Harmonious Spirit experts of Extreme Yin Gate were almost annihilated.

After killing Purple Yin, the hatred in Jing Zhuo’s eyes did not recede. With a flash of light, he caught up with the other Gold Core experts. With his own strength, he stopped 8 Gold Core experts of Extreme Yin Gate from escaping. He waved his palm and summoned a fiery red short dagger. Under his Nascent Soul’s magical power, the dagger transformed into countless fiery light, encircling them within.

Other than the five experts including old monster Ji Mo who paid a huge price by using their life-saving means managed to escape the fiery light with serious injury, the remaining three Gold Core experts were burned to ashes in a blink.

Everyone who paid close attention to this battle trembled in fear. Those who were below Gold Core realm could not withstand Jing Zhuo’s qi while those who were above Gold Core realm looked appalled. They could feel the qi of a Nascent Soul from Jing Zhuo!

The feeling of astonishment crept up to their faces. After they exchanged glances with each other, they let out breaths of relief!

They were astonished about the sudden appearance of Sinister Sparrow Sect and Fire Cloud Sect which was too unexpected!

They were surprised to see both righteous and evil sects helping Ning City at the same time!

What surprised all of them the most was that Old Ancestor Jing Zhuo seemed to have successfully become a Nascent Soul cultivator!

“Jing Zhuo had actually…completed his Nascent Soul Formation! Nascent Soul, Nascent Soul…”

Five hundred li away, Bei Hongzi who was on his journey back was stunned too. He just stood there in disbelief.

There was no mistake. Jing Zhuo easily killed three Gold Core experts and seriously injured the other five experts. Other than Jing Zhuo breaking through to Nascent Soul realm, there was no other explanation!

Finally, a Nascent Soul realm cultivator was born in Yue country!

Would Fire Cloud Sect rule over Yue country? Would the sect replace Great Void Sect in becoming the number one sect of the righteous path?

Bei Hongzi was utterly confused, and he ridiculed himself. If Great Void Sect’s master, Zhong Xuanzi, knew about this, he would surely not feel good about it.

Also, things that could surprise him even more happened!

He originally thought that witnessing Ning Fan defeating Old Monster Purple Yin in just a few moves was already amazing enough.

Then, he thought, knowing Jing Zhuo who had broken through Nascent Soul realm was also shocking enough.

However, these events could never be compared to the upcoming event.

After the majestic Jing Zhuo killed Purple Yin and the three Gold Core experts from Extreme Yin Gate, he did not continue hunting down the others. In contrast, he trod on the sky, approaching Ning Fan. When he was at a distance of nine meters from Ning Fan, he did the unexpected. He knelt down to Ning Fan.

“There are no words to express my appreciation for your help! From now on, my life will depend on your will. Those cultivators who came to offend Ning City today are my arch enemies as well. Whether they are righteous or evil, all of them must die!”

An imposing Nascent Soul cultivator, who was going to dominate Yue country, actually knelt down before Ning Fan?!

Revered Ning of Sinister Sparrow who defeated Purple Yin with his palm made Jing Zhuo, a Nascent Soul cultivator, kneel down. Could this person really be a mere youth who hadn’t reached his 20s?!