Grasping Evil

Meanwhile in the dark grave, little Bright Sparrow held a big bag of medicinal pills. Her eyes were filled with slight reluctance as she looked above the ninth level of the grave, clearly entranced.

Little Bright Sparrow had long woken up. She had stood beside Black Robe and protected him for three months.

She could not understand why this black-robed Ning Fan was so cold and never smiled. However, upon her pleading, the Black Robe had concocted pills for little Bright Sparrow . This action alone allowed her to understand that even though he was cold, he still was gentle inside.

“I am reluctant to eat these pill cookies… cookie brother has already left…”

Bright Sparrow’s heart felt stifled and tears fell from her eyes. This made her panic.

“Grandpa, why are my eyes peeing…?” She impatiently asked.

“Silly girl, those are not pee, those are tears… when you miss someone too much, tears will fall, for example, when you feel homesick because you miss home too much, you will have tears too…” The short Old Ming Luo’s eyes were filled with slight lamentation.

“What are tears? What is “missing”….? And what is home?” When the word “home” came up, Bright Sparrow’s heart tightened.

“Home… is a place where no matter how far you are, you will keep on thinking about… Your home should be this dark grave. As for grandpa’s home, hehe… it’s a faraway place… called the “Tree World”… hehe… that Ning Fan is talented and was able to split his incarnation while only at the Harmonious Spirit realm, and was even able to advance it towards the Nascent Soul realm… he will be a heaven’s chosen figure even in the Tree World…”

“…”

Bright Sparrow skewed her small head while eating her cookie pills. She could not understand the sadness of Ming Luo.

However, she vaguely felt that Ming Luo’s words were incorrect. Her home shouldn’t be this dark grave…

Bright Sparrow had been having the same dream recently. Within the dream, she was called Si Cang. She has a home in a distant land and another home that was not far away…

“Grandpa, I want to leave this dark grave…” When the word “Si Cang” popped up in her head, she felt somewhat sad, but could not understand why.

“What nonsense are you talking about! Aside from the special law of this place that restricted the demons from leaving. There is no way you can leave. Even if you can… you must know that you are just a Pill Devil! A Fifth Revolution Pill that has come to life and has a chance to evolve into a Ninth Revolution or maybe even higher revolution pill! If you leave this dark grave, you will lose the protection of grandpa and will be eaten by the humans outside! Those humans do not fear you as much as the demons inside the dark grave…” Ming Luo reprimanded with a stern expression.

“Oh…” Bright Sparrow replied in an undertone, though her heart still had a question.

Are humans really that scary?

Was cookie brother not gentle?

That Old Man Xue Qing, although timid, was not considered a scary one right?

Plus, in her dreams, those people that were worshiping her…with their sincere eyes, did they look frightening at all?

“I still want to leave the dark grave…” She said it softly within her heart, but not a word has been spoken out loud.

…

All of this happened after the black-robed Ning Fan had left the dark grave.

At this moment, Ning Fan had combined both his incarnations together, returning him back to his old appearance.

Both the white robe and black cloak existed. Both smiling and the murderous intent radiated from him were ice and fire, circulating within the immortal vein. Righteousness and evil, god and devil were shifting in his eyes.

The white robe was the god and the black robe was the devil. Both Yin and Yang merged into one! Everything corresponded with the Great Dao of Yin and Yang!

An ancient battlefield that was situated thousand li away from Ning City was filled with ruins. This was where the black corpse had led Jing Zhuo and Suqiu.

The shadow sword of the Immortal Execution had almost dispersed. But the black corpse still survived under the violent sword qi, by using some kind of technique!

Black puddles of blood could be seen all over the floor, signifying his grave injury! The ruthlessness within his eyes grew much more, however. This injury had caused his corpse devil realm to slide down, but had increased his heart realm exponentially!

Old Ancestor Jing Zhuo was flabbergasted that the sword shadow had been exterminated. If he was the one who was attacked by this Immortal Execution Sword Qi, it would be a sure-death. It was a wonder how Ning Fan was able to execute such a sword qi. Moreover, he had gained an understanding about the sturdiness of the black corpse.

As the sword shadow broke, Jing Zhuo immediately felt his hair standing on its end. He did not leave because he wanted to finish off the black corpse while it was heavily injured.

If the black corpse was eradicated, there would be no need to run away to other country, as both Yue Country and Fire Cloud Sect could avoid absolute destruction.

He had gifted Ning Fan the Fire Cloud Sect because he could see that Ning Fan would treat the Fire Cloud Sect well. However, deep down in his heart, he still had a strong sentimental attachment towards the sect.

“Suqiu Xianzi, let us combine our power and eliminate this devil…” said Jing Zhuo via spirit sense.

“No need, he has arrived…” Suqiu lifted her bright eyes and looked at the sky with a smile.

Ning Fan’s figure could be seen from several hundred li away. If Jing Zhuo did not fully release his spirit sense, he would not be able to detect Ning Fan’s qi.

However Suqiu had felt it. She was able to sense it because of her special female senses at first then it was her spirit sense.

Undoubtedly, the black corpse managed to break off the sword shadow and shattered the four illusory sword shadows one by one, violently. He then stood in the sky, but his eyes weren’t looking at Jing Zhuo and his comrade.

He had been gravely injured, but it wouldn’t be too difficult for him to eliminate Jing Zhuo, because he still had unlimited hidden aces!

However, his heart was filled with vengeance. The thought of eliminating Jing Zhuo became insignificant as his heart had been occupied by one person… It was precisely Ning Fan who was flying towards him in the form of a flickering black light!

“Ning Fan! So it turns out that you are a Nascent Soul cultivator! It finally makes sense now that you were able to destroy Tian Yizi!” The black corpse said.

“…”

Ning Fan who came to the rescue was wearing his old attire, standing upright in the sky. He didn’t waste time to converse with the black corpse, his gaze swept the ground then gazed briefly towards Suqiu and Jing Zhuo.

“Thank you for the hard work… I will take over everything now, you two retreat further away from this area…”

Although the voice was ethereal, it had much more power compared to Jing Zhuo’s! This was the true qi of a Nascent Soul!

The bizzare thing was that Ning Fan’s magical force was only at the realm of a half-step Gold Core.

Jing Zhuo hesitated slightly, but ultimately left.

He recalled the Divination Old Man telling him that Ning Fan could easily kill him. He only half believed it in the past, but now he was 90% sure of it.

Suqiu also looked up to Ning Fan in the sky and smiled brightly.

“The safety of Yue Country is in your hands now… little fellow.”

Suqiu liked to put up her seniority, but the smile she gave was ten thousand times more charming and warmer than the average teenage girl.

This smile was the smile that had been earnestly sought after by a Nascent Soul expert of Rain Palace, but had never succeeded.

The two of them left.

Only Ning Fan and the black corpse were left on the ancient battlefield.

Ning Fan’s cold gaze swept at the black corpse. Aside from fear, he also had 90% confidence of winning this fight!

It was only the spirit sense of the black robe that managed to reach the early Nascent Soul realm. Overall, it did not gave Ning Fan a big leap on his magical force, however it had endowed him with two divine abilities!

The first was the Instant Movement, but the black light instant movement that he used was quite strange. Instead of consuming his magical force, it consumed his energy of spirit sense. Even so, it could still achieve the same speed as the instant movement of an average Nascent Soul cultivator. Ning Fan had a hypothesis: if the white robe managed to breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm and master the secret art of Instant Movement Technique, the Instant Movement Techniques of the black and white robe would combine, allowing his speed to far transcend the speed of his peers!

The second was the Black Turbulent Separation Art – a spirit sense ability that could make the body of the black robe burst into tens of thousands of black sword sense.

This spirit sense had the same principle as the sword sense. However, it had the power to injure an early Nascent Soul cultivator. He managed to eliminate Tian Yizi with just this technique.

The reason Ning Fan was able to eliminate Tian Yizi was not only because Tian Yizi was merely a Gold Core expert that was used to store the magical force of a Nascent Soul, it also reflected how powerful the Black Turbulent Separation Art was!

After he comprehended the Black Turbulent Separation Art, Ning Fan’s sword senseeven had a trace of blackness that enhanced the power of his sword sense.

There were two kinds of divine abilities: One was the ability to escape or move while the other was the ability to kill. This enabled Ning Fan to have a massive leap in his strength. The only pity was that Ning Fan’s magical force was still too weak, making him unable to engage in a protracted combat. All engagements must end fast.

This was also the reason why the black robe used his strongest technique against Tan Yizi without a moment of hesitation. It was due to his limited magical force that he must succeed in a single strike!

Ning Fan patted his storage pouch and took out a bottle of Bitter Pill. Without worrying about the bitterness of the pill, he swallowed over a dozen pills and left 10 pills within his mouth as he wasn’t in a rush to swallow them yet.

With such speed of the Yin Yang Devil Vein in refining pills, he could still engage in a fight while his magical force was recovering. Of course, there would still be a heaven and earth difference between his magical force and the black corpse’s after such recovery.

Nevertheless, Ning Fan had a 90% chance on eliminating this corpse devil!

This was a form of confidence, and the qi of a Nascent Soul that could move the Heavens and Earth!

The Immortal Emperor’s prestige was just a prestige after all. Without Ning Fan’s insights about his own realm caused him to lack his own aura… Without the aura, it would only be a pretence no matter how strong the prestige was. How could a fox really bring harm to anyone when he was only acting on a tiger’s prestige?

The pressure he exuded at the moment was Nascent Soul, but it was still incomparable to the pressure of the Great Emperor Ancient Chaos. However, this pressure genuinely belonged to Ning Fan, and his killing intent was acquired through all the slaughters.

“You are the successor of Corpse Devil Vein whereas I’m the descendant of Yin Yang Devil Vein… in that case, you can now die peacefully.” Ning Fan’s eyes swiftly changed. His murderous intent soared to the sky.

He opened his mouth abruptly and nine dragons of black flames rushed out of it, crossing the Heavens and Earth, blotting out the skies!

“Yin Yang Devil Vein? What devil vein is that…? Wait a minute, this is Earth Vein Demonic Fire, a genuine Earth Vein Demonic Fire!” The black corpse’s expression changed drastically, he never expected Ning Fan to have such a demonic fire.

He could barely defend himself against such earthen fire even in his prime, let alone now when he already lost his magical force vessel, Tian Yizi and his corpse body had been badly damaged. He would be in grave danger if he used his own body to resist such flame!

“You actually possess such a flame…? Forget it, this old man will surrender now and leave Ning City and Yue country!” For the first time, the eyes of the black corpse showed weakness. As of this moment, his situation did not fare well against his enemy. No matter how deep his hatred was, it must be quelled for the time being. He could only push his vengeance some day..

However Ning Fan’s reply was cold and indifferent.

“Dragon Vortex Fire, First Revolution, Second Revolution, Third Revolution and Fourth Revolution!”

As if at the same moment, the sea of black flame changed into a gigantic flame vortex and sucked the black corpse within.

The force of the vortex was extremely peculiar. The black corpse tried to use a small amount of magical force, and executed instant movement to retreat, but was shocked to find that he could not get away from the force of the vortex!

The Star Vortex could reverse attacks!

The Fire Vortex could lock onto Instant Movement!

The word “Vortex” implied the principle of a circle, the Heaven Dao was a circle, the sun was also a circle! Everything involving circle had to have power that couldn’t be underestimated!

While sinking into the vortex, the black corpse channelled his remaining magical force into his body to forcefully withstand the flame.

The Fourth Revolution Dragon Vortex Fire was powerful, but it was only enough to damage intermediate and late Gold Cores. It was just like a scratch to him

If it wasn’t because of the fear of his body against fire, he wouldn’t even bother warding it off.

“I can defend myself against this flame, but once all of my magical force is expended, I will suffer grave injuries as I have already lost my vessel to replenish my magical force… I better flee today!” Within the flame, the black corpse patted his storage pouch, and then Vein Opening and Harmonious Spirit refined corpses charged towards the sea of fire, one after another, from the storage pouch. They were immediately engulfed by the sea of fire, but this managed to reduce the force of the flame.

After expending several hundred refined corpses, an opening was easily and effortlessly torn open. Immediately, the black corpse escaped through the opening.

Ning Fan observed from a distance and his gaze sharpened… This devil must not be allowed to escape as his cruel nature would certainly lead him back for revenge!

“Fifth Revolution!”

His complexion turned slightly pale after forcing himself to activate the Fifth Revolution of Dragon Vortex Fire. The Fifth Revolution was not an easy technique to activate even with his early Nascent Soul spirit sense. All of his magical force felt like *a clay ox entering, it was rapidly consumed. The magical force that was generated by the dozen of medicinal pills in his stomach was immediately depleted. Bitterness flooded Ning Fan’s mouth as he crunched two Bitter Pills that were kept in his mouth. He then exerted all of his magical force to ensure that it was enough to support the Fifth Revolution Dragon Vortex!

The Fifth Revolution of Dragon Vortex Fire had triggered a shred of power from the Heavens and Earth which increased its power by many folds. Even a Nascent Soul cultivator would be injured if he was caught within the vortex!

The black corpse who had almost escaped from the flame was immediately sucked back into the vortex. He immediately let out a miserable scream when his body was burned by the  Fifth Revolution flame.

“Ning Fan! Do not test my limits!”

“Humph, I’m not testing your limits, I only want to kill you!”

“Very well! I will let you witness how a country will fall before the ten thousand corpses!” The black corpse’s body shivered from anger. Then, he shook his black pouch. Almost a thousand Harmonious Spirit realm refined corpses flew out towards the flame vortex and self destructed, which immediately burst out an opening in the Fifth Revolution Dragon Vortex Fire!

After that, the black corpse did not stop and poured out everything from the black pouch. There were almost six thousand Vein Opening, two thousand Harmonious Spirit and one hundred Gold Core refined corpses that were full of putrid smell. They dispersed the flame and rushed towards Ning Fan!

Ning Fan’s gaze changed after he saw the ten thousand refined corpses! The name of “Ten Thousand Refined Corpses annihilating a Country” of the black corpse was really true!

So what if there were ten thousand refined corpses… Ning Fan closed his eyes briefly, and the moment he opened his eyes, they were filled with the glow of sword light!

At this moment, all the murderous intent within his body converted into the sternness he had when he was exterminating those ghosts in the Demon Sinister Forest!

“Extinguish!”

With a plain word, the wave of dark qi of sword sense spread apart!

Enshrouded by the cloud of sword sense, all the Vein Opening and Harmonious Spirit refined corpses were grounded into meat paste by the sword qi. .

As for the 100 Gold Core refined corpses, 73 of them that were at early Gold Core realm were severed!

Whereas those intermediate and late Gold Core refined corpses were badly injured by the sword sense.

The so called ten thousand refined corpses were broken by a single technique from Ning Fan!

At this moment, the black corpse’s expression drastically changed. He never thought that Ning Fan had the rumoured sword consciousness, sword sense!

If he knew about it, he would not have sent out the refined corpses to attack the young man, he would’ve only sent intermediate and late Gold Core refined corpses to face Ning Fan!

This was the worse nightmare for the refined corpses and Soul Refining cultivators!

“You possess the sword sense! You are absolutely not the bullshit Yin Yang Devil Vein, but the God Vein of Sword. You’re from the Sword World! This old man will go all out to fight you!”

The black corpse eyes were suddenly filled with madness, as if he had a deep-seated hatred for the people of the Sword World. But this did not concern Ning Fan!

Under the black corpse’s control, the remaining 27 intermediate and late Gold Core refined corpses flew towards Ning Fan with a roar and self destructed themselves, with the thought of bringing Ning Fan down together!

Upon seeing this, Ning Fan used the instant movement and retreated 3000 meters away from the scene. A trace of ruthlessness flashed in his eyes

The Fifth Revolution Dragon Vortex was his limit, but not enough to exterminate the black corpse… In that case, he had to to make a gamble!

He bit the tip of his tongue and spurted a mouthful of blood essence at the Black Demon Flame in front of him. Instantly it increased the power of the Black Demon Flame, but there was still a wide gap between the current vortex and the Sixth Revolution.

Ning Fan used another instant movement to retreat as the group of refined corpses were getting close. He then spurt three mouthfuls of blood essence, his face was already pale, yet the power of the flame hadn’t reached the Sixth Revolution.

“Not enough. Again!”

Using instant movement again to increase their distance, Ning Fan wanted to extract blood essence again, but this time by hammering his chest violently. His qi was weakened madly as he spurted out mouthfuls after mouthfuls of blood, without caring about his own life.

The Dragon Vortex Fire danced violently and changed into a gigantic fire dragon that stretched as long as 3000 meters, and the enormous vortex had become the maw of the fire dragon!

At this moment, it was as if the magical force within the 5,000 kilometers of land in Yue Country was circulated by this magical technique.

Every cultivator were both terrified and dumbfounded, looking at the illusory shadow of the black dragon in the sky.

The black shadow had a shred of demonic force of a true dragon’s monstrous energy that was slowly forming. The moment the demonic force formed its shape, the dragon’s eye suddenly revealed an expression that disdained all sentient beings of the world.

That was the Sixth Revolution Dragon Vortex. He was able to condense out an illusory shadow of a true dragon from this magical technique! This level of technique could only be comprehended by a peak Nascent Soul cultivator. The power of such technique, even though Ning Fan’s realm was still low, was more than enough to badly injure the black corpse!

“Lunatic! Why does he want to go all out with me! Since when did this old man have such deep grudges!” The black corpse was slightly frightened, because the average cultivators who confronted him would have acted prudently and made peace him already.

However, Ning Fan wanted to settle this once and for all with the black corpse!

The black corpse was pulled into the vortex and its body deteriorated in a tremendous speed.

He could only forcefully defend himself against the Sixth Revolution Dragon Fire when he was in his prime. Now that he was trapped within the flame, he would either perish or be mortally wounded.

“Die!”

Ning Fan’s qi became unstable after spurting out so much blood essence. His injury was too grave, but it was necessary to eliminate the black corpse!

Under Ning Fan’s control, the gigantic black flame dragon opened its mouth and roared. Multiple black fireballs were spitted out and those fireball exploded as they approached the remaining refined corpses, then later turned into a vortex of fire. The force of each fire vortex was on par with the Fifth Revolution Dragon Vortex Fire!

With just a single blow, all of the refined corpses were burned to dust. The black corpse who was stuck in the sea of fire, situated right in the middle of the dragon maw, had the premonition that he would die for sure.

The flame could give him a critical injury but was not enough to eliminate him. But then when Ning Fan’s murderous gaze fell upon him, he felt a tremor in his heart.

“Black Turbulent Separation Art!”

Ning Fan pointed against his glabella and his sea of consciousness converted into numerous black sword shadows that flew out of the top of his skull and towards the sky.

The sword qi rushed into the black flame like a black tidal wave, immediately stirring waves of roaring tides. It was the same technique that was used against Tian Yizi. Ten thousand swords engulfed the black corpse within.

Shatter, shatter, shatter!

Ning Fan ferociously shattered all the medicinal pills within his mouth and poured all his magical force and force of spirit sense into this technique.

Once an enemy had been made, only one between them shall live… this was the teaching of the Old Devil!

After a series of sword breaking sound and the howl of the dispersing flame, Ning Fan finally could not withstand the backlash of the technique and was sent crashing down towards the ground by the heat wave of the magical art. Blood was coughed out from him incessantly.

A burnt corpse with thousands of holes was revealed after the numerous flame shadows and sword qi disintegrated in the clear sky…

The corpse did not have a shred of rotten meat left. All flesh were incinerated. And the soul within had been burnt to nothingness.

Nevertheless, the frame of the corpse was not completely destroyed yet. So was this the sturdiness of the corpse that had reached the borderline of Corpse Devil…?

If the corpse in his Cauldron Ring was a true Corpse Devil…then how strong would her physique be?

Ning Fan forced himself to stand up after breathing for a long period of time. He looked at the burnt corpse from afar silently.

There wasn’t the happiness of a victor, but only a trace of calmness.

“Moksha Emperor, I am getting closer to you… one day, you will face the same fate of this corpse…” He said in a cold tone.

…

Ning Fan remained calm because he had a much more powerful enemy. So he would never be contented before Moksha Emperor was truly eradicated.

But the cultivators in Ning City all became curious after the intense clash of magical techniques that happened earlier.

The clash of techniques that occured at the ancient battlefield a thousand li away was too fierce. It was a great battle that rarely occurred in Yue Country for thousands of years.

And the result of the battle was what they were most concerned of…

Who won? Was it “Black Devil Ning” and Ning Fan or the black corpse who had annihilated seven countries?

Then those nervous looking cultivators saw Suqiu and Jing Zhuo stepping back to Ning City on their escaping light.

The former’s beautiful face consisted of a hint shock whereas the latter seemed to be sighing, his face full of complex emotions.

Jing Zhuo’s expression made every cultivator’s heart sink. The impetuous Bu Kuangfen couldn’t help but ask.

“Old ancestor, why do you look so worried… could it be Black Devil Ning has lost to the corpse devil?”

“Lost? *cough cough cough…* why don’t you guys see it for yourself…”

Jing Zhuo looked towards the far distance. All the other cultivators followed his gaze. From afar, there was a white-cloaked black-robed teenager flying nonchalantly towards their direction on an escaping light.

The teenager’s magical force was extremely weak causing the escaping light to be slightly unstable. But his gaze was calm and his hands were carrying a charred black corpse as if announcing his war trophy.

Without needing an explanation, all the cultivators on site felt a relief …

Without a doubt! The black corpse had finally been eliminated!

Was the white-cloaked black-robed teenager Ning Fan or Black Devil Ning…? As both of them looked exactly the same.

Bu Kuangfen looked glumly at Old Ancestor Jing Zhuo as he noticed the weird expression on the ancestor’s face.

“Old ancestor, you should be happy about it since Grandmaster Black Devil has won, why are you wearing such a sour face? This will make us worry about you…”

“I’m feeling happy… *cough cough cough*…” Jing Zhuo indeed was happy, but he couldn’t make himself seem happy. He was no match for the black corpse, unlike Ning Fan who was able to execute the peak Nascent Realm magical technique, the Sixth Revolution Dragon Fire, that charred the black corpse…

Jing Zhuo knew that the one who exterminated the black corpse was not Black Devil Ning but Ning Fan…. There is no such nonsense as Black Devil Ning in this world.

As such, he sighed and his emotions were slightly tilted off the balance.… Was Ning Fan really an 18 year old teenager…? He would rather believe that Ning Fan was a Nascent Soul and a Fourth Revolution alchemist who had lived thousands of years.

But then, it was afraid that Jing Zhuo was the only one who had the conflicting mood, the other cultivators were overjoyed at the news.

Right after Ning Fan landed at Ning City, Nan Gong, who had pursued the fleeing ship of Extreme Yin Gate, had returned along with the others.

The War between the Devil Armies and Yue Armies had finally ended. After this, Ning Fan was going to embark on the path of core formation.

Before the weakened Ning Fan had the chance to rest, he was tackled in the chest by Zhi He and almost fell down.

But the one who fell before he did was Suqiu Xianzi…

“Aiya, Brother Fan come quickly. You need to see what happened to Suqiu Xianziu! Why has she fainted?!” Zhi He exclaimed.

“This is…”

Ning Fan spirit sense scanned the fainted Suqiu, his expression suddenly darkened.

Suqiu was poisoned. Although the poison was not strong, but it had gone deep into her body making the process of detoxification harder…

He mentally apologised and touched Suqiu’s feet with his palm.

“This stubborn girl had indeed been poisoned during that time… Why didn’t she mention about her being poisoned… yet she has pushed herself all the way till now…”

Ning Fan shook his head lightly, his respect towards Suqiu increased by another shred.

A girl who had such tenacity was rare… This girl wasn’t bad.

*A clay ox entering the sea – to disappear with no hope of returning. (like a clay figurine dissolving in water)