Grasping Evil

Chapter 539: Chapter 539: The Ning Clan of Hai Ning

Incomplete. This chapter should be finished by tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Chapter 539: The Ning Clan of Hai Ning

Qiuhan DaoLü left with a group of rogue cultivators.

After Ning Fan had told the women the details about his breakthrough of the Void Inquiry Stage and sent out a message-transmitting flying sword toward the Dong Xu Island of the Endless Sea, he turned around and left Seven Apricot City.

He needed to head to the Ning Clan of Hai Ning at once to avoid missing a meeting with Yun Ruowei. Before heading to the Middle State, there were some questions that Ning Fan hoped to find an answer.

His travelling speed was extremely fast. With just a few skips, he had traversed one million li* (500m per li), crossing the country-locking grand formation and appeared on the land of Wu Country.

Beside the Cui Tang River that was green like emerald in Hai Ning City of Wu Country, Ning Fan descended by the reeds.

There were a few fishing boats on the river. In the distance, some woodcutters walked down from the Ning Bi Hill. All of them were mortals and they were humming and singing the folk songs of Wu Country.

Ning Fan’s eyes filled with nostalgia. It had already been fifty plus years since he left Wu Country. When he heard the songs of his native place, he felt slightly sentimental.

There was once a mortal young man who walked past the bank of the Cui Tang River while carrying a bamboo basket and climbed the Ning Bi Hill to harvest medicine plants times after times.

In Ning Bi Hill, that young man saved Mistress Qing of the Ning Family and offended Young Master Tian from that same family…

In Hai Ning City, that young man was once adopted by Ning Daniu and spent thirteen years of peaceful life with Ning Gu…

Filler Words to Make Up the Approximate Word Count

Ning Fan stepped on the ancient golden sword with a cold glint in his eyes as he went straight after the three demoness.

The three of them had been spying on him. Besides, they did not conceal their killing intent against Ning Fan at all. Since they harbored ill intentions against him, it was impossible for Ning Fan to let them go.

The speed of his ancient sword was close to the Void Fragmentation Realm. The three demoness could not outrun him at all. Within just a few breaths, Ning Fan had already caught up with them.

Ning Fan kept his ancient sword and stood coldly in front of them, blocking their escape route.

“This is bad! We’ve been caught up by this malevolent being!”

“We can’t run away from him. The speed of the golden ancient sword that he rode is too terrifying. There is literally no way we can escape from him!”

“He doesn’t summon his Void Fragmentation Realm spiritual puppet. Let’s fight him with all we have!”

The three demoness were already aware that there was no hope in escaping and the only choice they had was to fight a desperate battle against Ning Fan.

Without hesitation, each of them took out their natal magic treasures and delivered an attack at Ning Fan.

“Demon Bone Fan!”

“Yin Phoenix Stings!”

“Poisonous King Cauldron!”

The three magic treasures were all High Grade Mortal Void Realm treasures. They went straight at Ning Fan’s head. Their vigorous momentum caused heaven and earth to shake.

Ning Fan, however, still remained a neutral expression. With a flick of his sleeve, he took out a blood umbrella and pointed it at the three incoming treasures.

As the blood umbrella spread open, it gave off faint red halos of spirit wheels that pulled all the three magic treasures into the umbrella.

The three demoness were immensely surprised. The blood umbrella that Ning Fan used was too unusual. Besides, despite his Void Inquiry Stage magic power, he actually could handle High Grade Mortal Void Realm magic treasures so easily!?

Judging from the situation, the three demoness could not put up a fight against Ning Fan at all unless they use Peak Grade Mortal Void Realm magic treasures!

Furthermore, if Ning Fan breaks through to the Void Pierce Stage, he probably could directly take away every magic treasure below the Void Fragmentation Realm and Immortal Void Realm magic treasures using his blood umbrella!

“Since our magic treasures can’t hurt him, we’ll use our demon techniques to kill him!”

Panic-stricken, the three ladies made a series of hand seals together. A massive void sea appeared beneath their feet and roiling demon power began filling the sky.

Ning Fan naturally would not give them a chance to display their magic techniques. He stepped on his ancient sword and turned into a pure golden sword ray, abruptly vanishing into nothingness.

When he appeared again, he was already behind the three ladies. He gathered his magic power in his hand to summon a half-black and half-white rope and cast it at the three demoness.

The three demonesses felt danger from the black and white rope. They wanted to avoid it but they could not make it in time at all.

The rope suddenly sped up. All they could see was a flash of light and they were already bound by the rope.

The power of this black and white rope clearly was not as powerful as Giant Zi Dian’s lightning fetters. However, when it tied around their bodies, it actually sealed off their entire magic power, weakening their bodies and restricting their mobility!

Their expressions paled with fright. All of them realized that the black and white rope was a type of extremely scary bewitching technique that specialized in restraining female cultivators!

This technique was none other than the Yin Imprisoning Rope Technique that Ning Fan used to capture Old Ancestor Bi Tong in the past!

Yin Plucking Finger, Yin Imprisoning Rope… The further Ning Fan’s cultivation in the Yin Yang Transformation, the scarier those techniques would be in restraining female cultivators.

“From today on, you all will be my human cauldrons!”

As soon as Ning Fan finished speaking, he dragged the three demonesses back to the desolate island. After a session of plucking, the three of them were only left with a cultivation realm at the Harmonious Spirit Realm. Then, he put them in the repentance palace of his Cauldron World.

Well, he was not a kind and magnanimous person. If someone tries to harm him, he would certainly not show them mercy.

Ning Fan had fused his magic power, demon power and devil qi together in the past. Even though the human cauldrons he plucked were demonesses, thy still could raise his magic power. After plucking the three of them, his magic power rose by two hundred thousand units, reaching eight million and two hundred thousand units in total.

Combined with nine million units of essence qi in him, the total units of his magic power and essence qi had reached a terrifying figure of seventeen million and two hundred thousand, which made him not far away from the threshold of becoming an Absolute Void Stage expert – twenty million units of magic power.

Theoretically speaking, when Ning Fan accumulates thirty-six million units of magic power, he could then start trying to pushing through the bottleneck of the Void Fragmentation Realm. However, his chances of achieving the breakthrough was extremely slim.

Many Absolute Void Stage old monsters had accumulated eighty to ninety million units of magic power but still only a few of them managed to break through to the Void Fragmentation Realm. The rest of them would eventually die due to the end of their lifespans.

The magic power required to advance to the Void Fragmentation Realm was too massive. At the Void Fragmentation Realm, units returned to yuan. The denomination for the measurement of magic power was no longer a unit but a yuan.

A unit was 60 years but a yuan was 129600 years.

Void Refinement Realm magic power and Void Fragmentation Realm magic power were not on the same level. Hence, it was extremely difficult for Void Fragmentations Realm experts to disregard the difference of their cultivation realms and defeat someone with a higher cultivation realm.

If Ning Fan wants to break through to the Void Fragmentation Realm, he must find some Void Fragmentation Realm arts to cultivate when he is at the Absolute Void Stage to turn his unital magic power into yuan magic power…

As for exactly how many yuan of magic power one would need to achieve the Void Fragmentation Realm, it was different from each and every single person. Ning Fan also was not sure about it.

There were a few Void Fragmentation Realm experts around him. Unfortunately, none of them had the same situation as Ning Fan who fused his magic power, demon power and devil qi into one. Without a doubt, the verbal spells or arts that other Void Fragmentation Realm experts used were already not suitable for Ning Fan.

If he wants to advance to the Void Fragmentation Realm, he must find a Void Fragmentation Realm art that is suitable for all the three races – the demon race, devil race and human race to practice… Well, it probably would take him some effort in order to find this kind of art.

“I’ll only need a Void Fragmentation Realm art after breaking through to the Absolute Void Stage. I’ve just attained the Void Inquiry Stage recently and the Absolute Void Stage is very far-off. Hence, there is no need to be in a rush to search for an art that is suitable for me…”

“As I’ve already broken through to the Void Inquiry Stage, none of the female cultivators below the Void Fragmentation Realm will be my match. Male cultivators, on the other hands… With my current cultivation realm, I’m certainly unrivalled among all Void Pierce Stage experts. And, I should be able to put up a fight against an Absolute Void Stage expert who has yet to turn their unital magic power into yuan. However, if I face those Absolute Void Stage cultivators who have successfully obtained yuan magic power, I’m afraid that I won’t have much chances in defeating them…”

Ning Fan muttered to himself on the desolate island. After quiet some time, he left the South Gazing Sea in a flash of light.

At the border between the South Gazing Sea and the eight hundred cultivation countries, Ning Fan suddenly stopped moving with a surprised look on his face.

On the shore of a cultivation country nearby the South Gazing Sea, a lady was quietly standing on a reef, gazing into the sea waves all alone. She seemed to be waiting for someone.

That lady wore a set of snow-white plumage dress and a light veil to cover her face. Her long sleeves made her look graceful and her eyes were picturesque. Her expression, however, was cold and arrogant. She looked like a saintess who looked down upon the mundane world and led a life that departed from common livings.

Her presence emanated the Mid Nascent Soul Realm qi. She had been staring blankly at the ebbs and flows of the ocean waves without speaking a single word.

Only when she noticed Ning Fan’s travelling light passed by did she raised her head and looked into the sky. Her eyes contained resentment, longing and complicated emotions.

“I’ve been waiting for you…” Her tone was ice cold.

“Waiting for me, huh…” Ning Fan also put on an uneasy look. He descended upon the reef and stood facing the lady.

“Should I call you Si Si or Si Wuxie or… Weiliang…?”

The white-robed lady in front of him was none other than the sect master of the Heaven Separation Sect – Si Wuxie…

Her other identity was the seven physical souls of Mu Weiliang…

Because she was a part of Mu Weiliang, Ning Fan could not bear to kill her in the end. He clearly knew that she was his enemy but he still let her go alive…

Ning Fan was always sure that he never owed or treated any of his women shabbily. However, when he thought about it today, the person whom he treated the most unfairly was Si Wuxie.

When he was trying to rescue Ning Gu in the past, he annihilated the entire Heaven Separation Sect and captured Si Wuxie. Then, he wiped off her memories and turned her into a spiritual puppet.

When he thought about it carefully today, he realized that even though Si Wuxie was at fault, it was the elders of the Heaven Separation Sect who plotted against him and Ning Gu and it was not Si Wuxie herself.

Wasn’t there just an innocent reason for why Si Wuxie came to the Lower Realm in her clone…? All she wanted to do was to find back the three spiritual souls of Mu Weiliang. Why would she still go to such great lengths to plot against two mortal young men…?

The grudges and debt of kindness in the past might be difficult to tell but Ning Fan still felt that he owed Si Wuxie to a certain extent.

She was Weiliang’s seven physical souls. No matter what, how could he hurt her…?

“You indeed have figured out my identity…” After hearing Ning Fan call her ‘Weiliang’, Si Wuxie’s body felt a jolt. Her eyes flickered with a hint of sadness.

She was Mu Weiliang’s seven physical souls. Because her seven physical souls were yet to disperse, she still preserved some memories of her previous life. She still remembered her three spiritual souls. She still remembered that butterfly…

In the past, she went against the heavenly laws of the Kunlun Jade Pool in the Western Heaven and secretly descended to the Lower Realm in her clone just because she felt the existence of her three physical souls in the Rain World and she wanted to find them back.

Unfortunately, before her clone attained the Nascent Soul Realm and started to find her three spiritual souls, Ning Fan eliminated her Heaven Separation Sect and captured her, making her his human cauldron and spiritual puppet.

Her memories went blank. She became Si Si. She started to be dependent on Ning Fan. She started to like him.

However, when her memories came back to her, she was in extreme agony after remembering how Ning Fan humiliated her and turned her into a puppet.

During the battle of the devil armies and Yue Country, she had already recovered her memories. She wished that she could give Ning Fan a stab on his back and cause him to die in Yue Country.

In the end, however, she still could not convince herself to do that cruel act and eventually helped Ning Fan resist the invasion of the Heavenly Dao Sect…

She took Ning Fan’s Nascent Formation Pill and left in sadness.

She still remembered that final words she said to Ning Fan on the day she left.

“From today on, we owe each other nothing…”

Owing each other nothing… How wishful that idea was. When she returned to Yue Country, she discovered that Ning Fan had already found the three spiritual souls of Mu Weiliang. Then, she faintly understood something…

How could it possible for the two of them not to owe each other anything? Both of them were already entangled with each other in their previous lives. He was that butterfly, that butterfly who sacrificed itself to destroy one of the immortal emperor’s eyes just to protect her…

While she had been looking for her three spiritual souls, she was also searching for that butterfly she met in her previous life. However, who would know that the butterfly whom she was always thinking of was that young man who hurt her in the past…

Only asking to bid a long farewell but who could guess the two of them owe each other.

Ning Fan let out a sigh and raised his hand. He wanted to touch Si Wuxie’s cheek but when he saw her avoid him like the plague, he put down his hand eventually.

“Do you still hate me?”

“Of course! If I turn you into a spiritual puppet, wipe off your memories and trample your dignity but I am also in love with you, would you hate me…?” Si Wuxie gnashed her silver teeth. The deeper the love one had for the other, the more intense the hatred.

She hated Ning Fan but she could not bear to turn into his enemy no matter what… Because in the end, be it the previous life or the current life, she still loved him.

She suddenly grabbed Ning Fan’s hand and sank her silver tenth into his arm, biting it violently.

Ning Fan did not dare to activate the defense of his physical body. He only let her bit to her heart’s content as he was worried by his ancient devil body would harm her.

Si Wuxie bit his arm until fresh blood was flowing down from his arm in streams. Ning Fan did not say a word nor stop her. He just silently let Si Wuxie vent out her emotions.

Only after a long while did Si Wuxie calmer down a little. Then, she said with a teasing tone.

“I didn’t expect that the young man who only has the Harmonious Spirit Realm in the past would actually reach this level after forty years of training and become a Void Inquiry Stage expert, gaining the title ‘Marquis White Robe’ that shook the Rain World. Such innate talent in cultivation realm is truly shocking. Perhaps the greatest four sects of the Upper Realm will also come to recruit you and aid you in your ascension.”

“However, let me give you an advice. You better not ascend to the Western Heaven Immortal World. You’re an ancient devil, an evil creature that many Buddha sects in the Western Heaven are fond of killing. If you ascend to the Western Heaven, I’ll certainly tell others that you are an ancient devil due to the resentment between us. If that happens, you will be pursued and hunted down by countless True Immortal Realm Buddha cultivators and die without a burial place!”

Si Wuxie’s tone sounded like she was threatening Ning Fan. However, Ning Fan heard the concern she had for him from those words.

Did Si Wuxie just warn him not to ascend to the Western Heaven…?

This woman actually still cared about him in the bottom of her heart, didn’t she…?

Ning Fan was also aware of the endless feud between the Buddha sects of the Western Heaven and the ancient devils. Even if he has the opportunity to ascend to the Upper Realm, he also certainly would not choose the Western Heaven.

“Thank you…”

“What are you thanking for? Let me get this straight. I don’t have slightest concern regarding your life and death.” Si Wuxie turned to one side and said, stubbornly denying her kind intention.

“Did you just want to tell me this by waiting for him at the South Sea today? Speaking of which, how did you find me…?” Ning Fan asked.

“The entire Yue Country knew that the great Marquis White Robe headed to the South Gazing Sea to face his tribulation. So was it very difficult for me to know your whereabouts? As for the reason why I looked for you this time, it’s actually because I have something that I want to discuss with you… First of all, I’m very thankful to you for finding the three spiritual souls…” When Si Wuxie said ‘thankful’, she obviously looked somewhat reluctant and embarrassed.

“I have not only found the three spiritual souls but also the seven physical souls…” Ning Fan deliberately stared at Si Wuxie and said with a faint smile.

Translated by Tommy, edited by Roel