Grasping Evil

Chapter 269(2): That Butterfly

Meng Xuanzi’s eyes sparkled. He made a step forward, shrinking the ground below his foot into an inch and in the next moment, he traversed hundreds of millions of li*, appearing above the Sea of Clouds!

The words he uttered earlier echoed through the space below the stage where he stood to preach the Dao.

No one remembered the bizarre bell ring.

Hundreds of millions of cultivators who were in the midst of listening to his preaching were greatly shocked. It was because the Tablet Master Immortal Emperor – Meng Xuanzi who was famously known for his unsociable and demanding traits had actually commended someone. Moreover, the comment he gave was a terrifying one.

A person with monstrous potential!

Meng Xuanzi had never given anyone such an appraisal before, including the Third Mistress of the Lost World Palace – Bei Li. Although Meng Xuanzi had high expectations on her, the comment he had for her was just “a being with satisfactory potential”.

Countless cultivators were curious about who Meng Xuanzi was commending. But in the end, no one would know.

At the Sea of Clouds, Meng Xuanzi descended to the ground in a step!

He stood below the Bell of Samsara, looking at the young man whose palm was placed on the bell without interrupting him.

As for Bei Li, she was taken aback by her master’s appearance and hurriedly saluted to him.

“Master! I wonder if Master has any instructions for me by coming here personally…”

“Leave the Sea of Clouds now! Bring Yi Qing with you! I’ll handle the rest from here!”

Without giving much explanation, Meng Xuanzi ordered in a serious tone.

The current situation could only be personally handled by him, the Tablet Master Immortal Emperor… If the power of Samsara within the bell goes out of control, perhaps the entire Void Realm would be affected, causing innumerable cultivators’ memories to be completely erased!

Bei Li would not be able to withstand it, not to mention Yi Qing!

Thus, the two of them had to leave the Sea of Clouds! ASAP!

“But Master, this Mister has yet to complete the Third Step of Mortal Severance. Bei Li still has the responsibility to guide him…”

“Guide your a**! You little girl, don’t tell me you’ve fallen for this man? Go now and don’t worry! Your master, me, is here and I’ll personally guide him for the Third Step of Mortal Severance!”

Bei Li was perplexed.

It’s the first time she saw her master cursed.

A dignified Immortal Emperor actually also knows how to spit out harsh remarks…

Meng Xuanzi, who was one of the revered Immortal Emperors, was a person who was difficult to meet, even for countless star lords who asked to see him. For the deacons, the Mountain God and the unimportant immortals and gods, it would be nearly impossible to see his true face other than the time he came to preach the Dao.

A person who had such a high status like Meng Xuanzi was willing to guide a mortal cultivator to complete the Three Steps of Mortal Severance and carve his name on the Divine Tablet of Heavenly Dao in person. If this matter is spread, perhaps no one would believe it at all.

But this unbelievable matter truly happened before Bei Li’s eyes. It was a fact.

Her face blushed, feeling slightly dissatisfied.

She just knew Ning Fan for a while. She just wanted to help him to complete his Mortal Severance out of kindness. But her master thought that she had fallen for him… If it was in the past, Bei Li would have replied to her master defiantly.

But now, she felt a shred of solemnity from her master’s eyes and even… a hint of fear!

Master is feeling afraid? What is he afraid of?

Speaking of Mister Ning, he seems to have sounded the bell 107 times…

Bei Li only heard the bell ringing 107th times because when the bell rang for the 108th times, her memories at that point of time was deleted without her being aware of it!

That was samsara!

“Go now!” Meng Xuanzi shouted impatiently.

“Yes…”

Bei Li gave a deep look at Ning Fan, feeling a little unfortunate inwardly. Because of her master’s orders, she had to give up the chance of recruiting Ning Fan after he completes the Three Step of Mortal Severance and attain the Divine Transformation Realm…

After conjuring a ray of purple sword light, she went on top of a sword and left. Along her path, she informed Yi Qing and brought him away with her.

Eventually, there were only Meng Xuanzi and Ning Fan left in the Sea of Clouds.

Meng Xuanzi smiled bitterly.

I’m afraid I have to help this junior from the Rain World for the second time today…

Samsara was a frightful thing. Even Meng Xuanzi was not qualified enough to spy upon the secrets of samsara with his current cultivation level.

This man is really daring. Even though he has yet to fully attain the Divine Transformation Realm, he tried to steal a glance into samsara. I suppose his state of mind should have been consumed by the bell now…

“This old man is going to do you another favor. I’ll pull your consciousness out from the bell… Otherwise, the power of Samsara will lose control because of you. Having your consciousness being consumed by the power of Samsara is just a trivial matter but if the power of Samsara goes out of control, the cultivators of the entire Void Realm will lose their memories together with you… Immortal Technique, ‘Heaven Peeking Dream’!”

Meng Xuanzi performed a hand seal, conjuring traces of purple lines which extracted Ning Fan’s consciousness bit by bit from the bell and placed it back into his body.

After Ning Fan’s consciousness successfully escaped from the bell, the power of Samsara within the bell which was unstable just now gradually returned to normal.

Within the Bell of Samsara, Ning Fan could feel that his consciousness was being saved by someone. Thus, he heaved a sigh of relief.

“Shameful. This time, I’ve gone overboard. If there wasn’t anyone to save me, I’m afraid I could only break free from this bell after fully understanding what samsara is… But I don’t know how many thousands of years it would take me to comprehend it…”

“If my senses aren’t wrong, the person who is saving me isn’t Bei Li. This person’s cultivation level is terrifyingly high… Although this qi is rather familiar. This person seems to be the senior who once saved me in the past when I intruded the Black Tortoise Star… If it really is him, I’ve owed him two favors now…”

Ning Fan smiled bitterly.

“Since there is someone saving me now, then I shall take advantage of this opportunity to have a good look on the incomplete scene of samsara.

The next moment, he found himself wearing a white robe, appearing in a palace. The medicinal qi of that place was extremely concentrated. It seemed to be a medicinal garden.

The cultivators who came and went were either maidservants or military personnel. Each of them were at least a Divine Transformation Realm expert.

There were many Void Refinement Realm experts there and Void Fragmentation Realm experts could be seen everywhere. Besides, immortals whose aura were much stronger than that of a Void Fragmentation Realm being also existed.

However, everyone brushed past Ning Fan without noticing his presence.

This place was just a part of samsara, a fragment of the past. Ning Fan did not belong to this era. Therefore, no one could see him and there was nothing he could change.

In the medicinal garden, a ray of golden light soared towards the sky. It was clearly a golden flame chariot.

Nine demon souls were pulling the chariot while a golden-armored demon general was standing at the front of the chariot.

“Lu Wu!”

Ning Fan uttered involuntarily. This person was exactly the person in Lu Daochen’s portrait.

The golden-armored demon general seemed to have heard someone calling his name. Feeling strange and puzzled, he looked around. After that, he shook his head and mocked himself.

“I seem to be overly nervous today. It just makes me feel like something big is going to happen to the Heavenly Court.”

Staring at Lu Wu who was patrolling the vast sky above the medicinal garden, Ning Fan’s brows were tightly knitted together.

Lu Wu was once the officer who takes charge of the Celestial Emperor’s medicinal garden. Since he is here, is it possible that this is the Heavenly Court of ancient times?

Step by step, he entered the garden. He remembered that the lady he saw earlier was within that area.

Each tuft of immortal medicines were at least more than one millions years old. Moreover, more than half of them were unrecognizable by Ning Fan. Despite that, he knew that he could probably break through the Void Fragmentation Realm immediately by just randomly consuming any one of them…

He reached out his hand, trying to pluck the immortal medicines. As soon as his hand touched them, it shattered into pieces like broken glasses. However, they would reform again at its original position.

This isn’t a place that truly exists. It’s just an incomplete fragment of samsara.

In the middle of the garden, there was a cyan-colored rock. The lady who should be sitting there while doing her embroidery did not appear.

So Ning Fan sat above it, patiently waiting for her appearance.

Zhihe and Mu Weiliang… What’s the relation between the two of them?

After sitting there without knowing how much time had passed, light footsteps echoed from the path outside the garden. While walking, a crisp and clear female voice could be heard, complaining, “*Sigh* I failed to sneak out again from the Southern Heavenly Gate… It’s really difficult to go and have a look in the mortal world…”

Ning Fan lifted his gaze. The person who was walking at his direction was a young lady dressed up in a maidservant attire.

She had a naïve face and her eyes were as clear as crystals. Her hair was tied into a bun, just like that of any young girl.

“Zhihe!” Ning Fan rose up and called.

“Who are you?! How dare you enter my father’s medicinal garden?!” The young girl angrily threw her delicate punches at Ning Fan.

This young girl who looked exactly like Zhihe was able to see Ning Fan?!

Ning Fan was inwardly surprised. But before he could open his mouth, a half white and half black butterfly penetrated through Ning Fan’s body and flew towards the young girl while dancing happily in the leafs of the immortal medicinal herbs.

No, the young lady did not notice Ning Fan.

She was just reprimanding a butterfly…

“I see. She can’t see me after all…” Ning Fan bitterly smiled.

That’s right. How could she see him? This is the incomplete scene of samsara. What Ning Fan is seeing right now is just the past, the unchangeable history…

The expression of surprise on his face faded and his eyes were fixed on the young lady.

What he saw next was the butterfly perching on the young girl’s hand after she beckoned it. Staring at the butterfly, she suddenly cracked up.

“Silly butterfly. Look at you… Don’t be scared. I won’t tell my father that you are ‘stealing’ the medicines here…”

As the young girl made a step forward, a dazzling white light flashed past Ning Fan’s eyes. Basking in white light, the young girl’s appearance changed, looking just exactly like the female corpse.

She was cold-looking and her presence emanated nobility. However, there was still a tinge of innocence on her face which did not match her current identity.

Dressing up like a maidservant was just her camouflage to sneak out from the Southern Heavenly Gate.

Her true identity was actually Mu Weiliang, the daughter of the Celestial Emperor!

“Silly butterfly. Come here. Accompany me to get rid of my boredom. I’m really lonely in this Heavenly Court…”

Mu Weiling gently sat on the stone, not knowing that Ning Fan was just standing right beside her.

Holding the butterfly in her hands, she stared at it with rapt attention.

“Butterfly is a living creature from the mortal world. Interesting. Is it possible that this little butterfly flew up to the Heavenly Court from the mortal world? You really have terrifying willpower. There are so many Void Fragmentation Realm cultivators who failed in ascending here but you succeeded…You are indeed extraordinary.”

“…” The butterfly fluttered its wings which was half white and half black. Of course, it did not have the ability to speak.

“Mm-hmm. Since you are able to make your way up here, I will then grant you a name. Hmm… Let’s call you Little Fan…”

“…’” The butterfly flapped its wings.

“Little Fan. I am not having a good mood today. Can you please talk to me…”

Mu Weiliang smoothed out her sideburns with her fingers while talking mindlessly to the butterfly in her hands.

But Ning Fan was internally flabbergasted.

Because he noticed that the butterfly in Mu Weiliang’s hands had turned towards him and its compound eyes flashed with praise and recollection… as if it could see through samsara and discovered him who was invisible to any other beings there.

Beyond all doubt, it truly saw Ning Fan!

With its weak and tiny body!

Translated by Tommy, edited by Roel

Note:

“Grasping Evil” is being translated on Veratales (Click here) but Liberspark (Click here) is hosting the chapters as well. You are encouraged to read on veratales.com for project updates. ?

Some phrases or expressions of the original are changed for ease of reading.

If a mistake or mistakes were found in this chapter, feel free to comment below.

Some terms are subject to change when better suggestions are selected.

All the internal monologues will be in italic form.