Grasping Evil

Chapter 543: Chapter 543: That Look!

Incomplete.

Chapter 543: That Look!

Upon seeing Ning Fan who still remembered her, a mixture of joy and shyness rose within Yu Chong Er’s heart. She lowered her head with her ears turning slightly hot.

After dismissing the feeling of astonishment they felt initially, Fang Sheng and Fang Si walked forward to cup their fists at Ning Fan and politely said, “We’ve been waiting for White-Robed Marquis for quite a while to guide you into the Heaven’s Cloud under the sixth prince’s order.”

“The sixth prince’s order, huh…?”

Ning Fan was somewhat taken aback. He did not expect that it would be Yun Youmu who sent his people to welcome him.

Ning Fan could not see through Yun Youmu at all. He just felt that he was a shrewd and deep person. He never did things according to the rules and regulations.

Is Yun Youmu just expressing his kindness or is there some other reason for him to deliberately send his men to welcome me…?

Ning Fan kept his thoughts aside and cupped his fists respectfully toward Fang Sheng and Fang Si. No matter what, he would not cold-shoulder them since they welcomed him with smiling faces.

“Ning Fan greets the two palace lords and the fellow Daoists of the Serene Heaven Palace. It has been many years since we last met. It’s nice seeing everyone again.”

He at most would behave politely toward Fang Sheng and Fang Si. To Yu Bai, Yu Chong Er and the others, however, he felt the closeness of reuniting with his old friends.

Yu Chong Er lowered her head even further downward without daring to make an eye contact with Ning Fan. Her cheeks, at the same time, was slowly becoming boiling hot.

“Damn it. Damn it. Damn it… I can’t breathe at all whenever I look at him… Am I sick? Yes, that must be the reason…”

Yu Bai and the others made the same gesture at Ning Fan, looking somewhat surprised. It was truly their honor to receive a friendly greeting from the dignified White-Robed Marquis.

“*Cough*… If White-Robed Marquis wants to catch up with your old friends, you can do it later. Let’s follow us to head to the ‘Serene Heaven Realm’ for now. The sixth prince has already set up a feast of spiritual fruits and wines in the Serene Heaven Palace to welcome White-Robed Marquis. Some changes have happened to the Scarlet Heaven Palace today, making it uninhabitable temporarily.

Filler word to make up the word count.

Yun Ruowei’s appearance was the same as before. She wore a plain green robes. Her eyes were bright and sparkling like clear spring. Her smile was soft and tender.

Her feet were still bare. She wore a bracelet around her wrist which had a hanging silver bell. When a gentle breeze blew, it would give out sweet-sounding ringing.

“Are you willing to help me look for the jade? The thing that I’m looking for is a piece of Blue Bridge Jade. It’s something that belongs to my elder sister… The true reason why I’m looking for the jade is because I want to look for my elder sister… I knew that she isn’t dead yet. I knew it…” When she heard that Ning Fan was willing to lend her a hand, Yun Ruowei no longer hid her thoughts from him. Instead, she put on a hopeful look.

She was just a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator while Ning Fan was a Void Refinement Realm expert who had powerful capabilities. With his help, it would be much easier to fin dthe jade.

“Is your elder sister the little winged demon that I saw in your dream last time?” Ning Fan asked.

“Yes… Yun Ruowei hesitated for a while and decided to answer truthfully.

“I remember that her name is Ning Qian…”

“Indeed…”

“She and Yun Tianjue are…”

“The two of them… are Dao companions… My elder sister went missing one thousand years ago. Yun Tianjue forwent his emotions at around the same time… Before my elder sister disappeared, she had given birth to a child for Yun Tianjue. It was a premature birth… No one knew what happened after that and my elder sister actually vanished with her child within a single night… After quite some time, that child’s life plate broke. It should have already dead. As for my elder sister’s life plate, it turned grey and dim. Even though she isn’t dead, she should have fallen into a difficult situation… She should not be dead yet. However, I couldn’t find her even after I have painstakingly searched for her for one thousand years. Where exactly is she…? What exactly happened in the past…? Yun Tianjue did not protect my elder sister nor his own child well. However, what’s worse about him is that he has completely forgotten my elder sister after she went missing and he didn’t even remember who Ning Qian was already… He really is a heartless and cruel person!”

Yun Ruowei no longer concealed anything from Ning Fan. She even told him some secrets through telepathy. Her eyes were filled with sadness and anger.

She hated Yun Tianjue’s cold-heartedness. Therefore, she was unwilling to continue staying in the Rain Palace and decided to join the Southeastern Cultivator Union.

She could not bear to harm Ning Fan in the past because his smile shared a striking resemblance with her elder sister’s and thus, sympathy overtook her…

“…” Ning Fan went silent. His heart, however, was not quiet. Would he be the deceased child of Ning Qian and Yun Tianjue…?

Yun Tianjue had forgone his emotions for one thousand years and Ning Qian went missing one thousand years ago. If he was the child that was dead in that year, how could he still survive until today…?

Yun Ruowei regarded Yun Tianjue as someone cold-hearted but Ning Fan had a completely different opinion about him. To him, Yun Tianjue was a person who prioritized his loved ones.

Perhaps he might not even bat an eye when annihilating a sect or a country but he definitely was not someone who would abandon his own wife and children…

Ning Qian is nowhere to be found, Yun Tianjue has forgotten everything about his past and the mysterious death of that child… Something must have happened one thousand years ago…

Ning Fan gently closed his eyes. Perhaps he could only find out the truth behind this confusing mystery after finding where Ning Qian was.

As for the clue for searching for Ning Qian, it seemed like there was only the Blue Bridge Jade Pendent…

“I’ll help you find the jade but I have a question for you. Why would you come to the Ning Family of Hai Ning to look for the jade? Is it possible that there are some clues in this place?” Ning Fan asked.

“No. There is nothing here… I originally was following the Southeastern Cultivator Union to head to Seven Apricot City but when we passed by Hai Ning, I felt a intent realm qi within this city. It’s my sister’s qi… That intent realm qi was extremely faint. However, it still lingered around here even one thousand years have passed and it also contained a deep sorrow… There must be something extremely saddening that has happened to my elder sister in Hai Ning! Otherwise, she would not leave behind the sorrowful qi that won’t go away after one thousand years!”

“But I’ve already asked the cultivators of the Ning Family of Hai Ning about it… The Ning Family was established for just one thousand years. Moreover, there isn’t anyone in the family who has live for one thousand years. No one knew whether there was a winged demon lady who came here one thousand years ago…”

Yun Ruowei’s face was filled with disappointment.

The three ancestors of the Ning Family, on the other hand, were extremely sacred. As they could not provide Yun Ruowei a satisfactory answer, they did not know whether it would provoke her who was a Nascent Soul Realm female cultivator.

“You all may leave… Mistress Yun, come with me. I’ll bring you to search for clues around the Ning Family. Mm… Mistress Qing, if you don’t mind, you can also join me.”

Ning Fan dismissed the three ancestors of the Ning Family. The three old men immediately left as if they were given an amnesty and informed the entire city not to stop Ning Fan no matter where he wanted to go.

After the three ancestors of the Ning Family had left, Ning Fan brought Yun Ruowei and Ning Qingqing to start their search in the whole Hai Ning City.

Ning Fan spread his spirit sense extremely far away, making it cover an area of four hundred thousand li* (500m per li). Then, he carefully inspected every place within that vicinity.

He did not notice it before this. However, after Yun Ruowei had told her about it, he indeed sensed an extremely faint sorrowful intent realm within the city…

That sorrowful intent realm was very vague. Even though its power was weak and delicate, it would not go away even one thousand years went by, as if it had been etched into this place.

All of a sudden, Ning Fan was stunned.

This intent realm qi is exactly the same qi from my mother whom I’ve spent day and night with in the illusory realm…

“I’ve already search all over Hai Ning. There isn’t a single clue that my elder sister left behind…” Yun Ruowe sighed dejectedly.

“Your elder sister came to the land of Wu one thousand years ago and experienced something heart-rending… Even though Hai Ning has her sorrowful intent realm, it isn’t the place where she really felt heartbroken… I suppose she only passed by this area in that past… The place where she felt saddest wasn’t here…”

Yun Ruowei could only sense a sad intent realm from the land of Hai Ning and determine that it was left behind by her elder sister based on her ability.

Ning Fan, however, could trace the qi of sadness and find the place where it was the most concentrated…

Would there be any clue in that place…?

Even the Void Fragmentation Realm of the Rain World might not necessarily be able to discern the intensity of sadness and look for the source of it.

But Ning Fan was able to do it because the intent realm he learned was the Intent Realm of Memory. It was a Second-Step Intent Realm. Just in terms of the comprehension of intent realm power, Ning Fan was actually much greater than Void Fragmentation Realm experts!

“Come with me!”

He suddenly displayed the void teleportation travelling light and travelled to the north while carrying both Yun Ruowei and Ning Qingqing. In the blink of an eye, he had traversed a distance of forty thousand li* (500m per li).

He descended onto the ground. It was a demon forest with a desolate mountain that was surrounded by blood mist. The place was called the Weeping Blood Forest. It was a quite famous training place of Wu Country. Many bloodthirsty winged demons were born in this place and many cultivators of Wu Country liked to come here to hunt demons and cultivate.

The area outside the Weeping Blood Forest was the place where the sorrowful intent realm qi was the most intense!

“It’s my elder sister’s intent realm qi! It didn’t dissipate even after one thousand years! Is it possible that she is right inside the Weeping Blood Forest?!” Yun Ruowei said in surprise.

“There are many mortal cities within five thousand li* (500m per li) around this Weeping Blood Forest. Wars happened frequently here and many orphans became homeless and destitute. The Ning Family always search for some orphans in this place to adopt… I’ve checked the slave records of the family. In that year, you were also picked up from nearby this place…” Ning Qingqing was deep in thoughts as if she was recalling her memories with her brows slightly knitted together.

“Really…”

Ning Fan sighed gently, sensing the thick sorrowful qi in this place. He already had some guesses about the early stage of his life. Without saying any word anymore, he took the lead and quietly walked into the forest with the two ladies.

They walked past the dry twigs and decomposed leaves. They stepped on the mud and swamp. Along the way, there was not any demon beast which dare to stop Ning Fan.

At the deepest part of the Weeping Blood Forest, there was a small pond which was just one zhang* (3.33m per zhang) deep. The water of the pond was red like blood.

Ning Fan stopped by the edge of the pond.

The pond did not contain any spiritual qi at all. It was just a normal pond that would never be noticed by any cultivators or demon beasts.

However, Ning Fan sensed an inerasable sorrofulw intent realm from the pond.

He gazed into the bottom of the pond and saw a blue jade pendant lying quietly on the muddy floor…

Other than that, there also seemed to be some broken stone chips on the bottom… Ning Fan carefully studied them and discovered that they were the stone chips that were left behind by a broken demon cocoon of the demon race…

With a wave of his hand, the jade pendant below the pond immediately flew out from the water and fell onto his palm.

The warm and wet blue jade pendant had the shape of a mandarin duck. Besides, there was also a line of words in beautiful writing.

When mountains become plain, when the heaven and the earth fuse, only then will I dare to part from you…

Yun Ruowei got closer to Ning Fan and meticulously observed the blue jade. At the next moment, her beautiful eyes flashed with joy.

Those writing were none other than Ning Qian’s writing. It was the Blue Bridge Jade Pendant that belonged to Ning Qian!

“We’ve found it! But where is my elder sister…?”

Yun Ruowei spread out her spirit sense, scanning across one thousand li* (500m per li) around the Weeping Blood Forest. Even so, she could not find any traces of Ning Qian at all.

She isn’t here. She isn’t here… Other than the sorrowful intent realm, there isn’t any of her qi.

The blue jade is here but Ning Qian isn’t here… She once regarded this jade like her own life. How could she leave it behind here so carelessly?

“Ning Fan. I beg you. Please help me find her!” Yun Ruowei held Ning Fan’s hand helplessly. How could it just end like that after making so much effort to find a clue about Ning Qian’s whereabouts…?

“I’ll try my best!”

He wanted to find Ning Qian not only for Yun Ruowei but also for himself.

He held the Blue Bridge Jade Pendant and unleashed the power of his memory intent, enveloping the entire Weeping Blood Forest with it!

He took out a pile of Min Luo Fruits. He obtained all of them from the treant. There were twenty of them in total. Without hesitation, he consumed every single one of them!

He did not wish to enter the dream state by taking those Min Luo Fruits. The reason why he released his memory intent was not because he wanted to wipe out anyone’s memories.

A single Min Luo Fruit could allow one to go through fifty years of dream realm. Twenty of those fruits would be equivalent to one thousand years of dream realm!

He just wanted to clearly see everything that had happened throughout the past one thousand years!

He closed his eyes and sat cross-legged on the ground. The scenery in his mind was rapidly changing.

Min Luo Fruits could improve one’s state of mind in the dreams while allowing them to look back at the things in their memories.

Ning Fan had the memories of Hai Ning. That was why he managed to see that his original surname was Yun in the Min Luo Dream Realm.

Ning Fan did not have the memories of the Weeping Blood Forest. Therefore, he could only borrow the memories of the forest to enter the dream!

Min Luo Dream Realm!

In the dream, Ning Fan was not a human but the entire Weeping Blood Forest, the forest in one thousand years ago!

He could not move nor speak. All he could do was to observe all the living creatures using his spirit sense in his territory.

He had become a vast land and mountain forest!

One thousand years ago, the Weeping Blood Forest was not surrounded by a thick blood mist. There also was not a blood-red pond in its deepest part.

The sun rose and the moon fell. Countless demon beasts were born and passed away in this forest. Countless cultivators of Wu Country entered the forest to temper themselves by killing demons. Some of them died, some of them lived.

Ning Fan did not care about these demon beasts and cultivators. He was just waiting for the person he was looking for to come.

One day, a gentle woman wearing light yellow dress stumbled into the forest while carrying an ice cold child in her arms.

“She is…” Ning Fan wanted to speak but he could not make any noise because he was just a piece of land.

She was Ning Qian!

Ning Qian’s body was emanating the Late Nascent Soul Realm qi. However, she was gravely injured and her face was pale.

Her eyes were extremely beautiful. They were bright like the moon but they were filled with sadness and despair. Tears were flowing down her cheeks incessantly.

“My… child…”

Ning Qian was carrying a baby boy that was not even one-month-old. She fell down at the end of the forest, overwhelmed by grief.

The child in her embrace was wearing a cotton jacket with a jubilant color. His soft like hands were still holding to her sleeve but he was already dying and unconscious.

The baby was on the brink of death. His heart meridians were broken and all his essence qi was sucked dry by someone… He could only hang on to life because he had consumed a high-grade pill.

Ning Fan was shocked upon seeing baby’s condition. Who could be so cruel to actually suck a baby’s blood dry?!

Ning Qian felt like her heart was shredded to pieces and her face became even paler.

She stroked the baby’s ice cold baby with her hand and looked at the baby’s breathing that was getting weaker and weaker. She held back her tears with forced a smile.

“I won’t let you die… As long as I can revive you, I’m willing to even give up my life!”

Ning Qian stared at the pond that was one chi* (30.7 cm per chi) in front of her with her eyes flashing with determination.

She bit her finger and suddenly performed a series of hand seals while enduring the pain. She condensed her fresh blood into silks to form a cocoon and sealed the baby inside it. Then, she took off the blue jade pendant she was wearing and placed it inside the blood cocoon with the baby.

“You father said this is the Life Locking Demon Cocoon Technique of the ancient demon race. The demon cocoon can shield a person from the heavenly secret and lock their life force…”

Ning Qian’s face turned paler than before. Apparently, it was extremely taxing for her to display that technique.

“They’ve extracted all your blood. I’ll then give you my blood. You must come back to life. Come back to life…”

Ning Qian embraced the demon cocoon as gently as she was hugging her baby.

She bit her other fingers and pressed them on the rough surface of the demon cocoon, spreading her blood all over it.

When she was rubbing her wounds on the rough demon cocoon, the pain was excruciating but she did not bother it.

“I won’t let you die. I won’t let anyone harm you…” Ning Qian said with a pale smile while rubbing her blood over the demon cocoon repeatedly.

One day. Two days… On the tenth day, all of her ten fingers were covered with wounds. Her blood was nearly drained completely.

She stared blankly at the demon cocoon in her embrace and continuously channeled her demon power into it.

As the demon cocoon absorbed her blood, it gave off faint red glow. However, it could not retain the baby’s life force that was slowly draining away.

Ning Qian shed tears of despair. She was helpless and sad. As her tears fell onto the demon cocoon, it washed away a few droplets of blood.

She hurriedly wiped off her tears and bit her fingers again, trying to repaint that spot with her essence blood.

However, there was already no blood within her meridians… If she were a mortal, she would have certainly been dead. However, since she was a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator, she could still live as long as her nascent soul was not destroyed.

“I have no more blood. What should I do…?”

Panic filled her face. At the next instant, she seemed like she had thought of an idea as she took out a small but sharp flying sword and plunged it into her chest.

“I still have heart blood… It’s still fine. It’s still fine…”

After piercing through her heart, her cultivation base began regressing. From the Late Nascent Soul Realm, it fell to the Early Nascent Soul Realm… Slowly, even her Nascent Soul Realm was started to become unstable…

She did not have time to care about her own injuries and cultivation base. She just took out a jade bottle and filled it up with every drop of her heart blood. After that, she spread it on the demon cocoon.

Even though she had already sacrificed her heart blood, the baby inside the demon cocoon was still dying slowly.

One day, two days… On the third day, Ning Qian was carrying the demon cocoon with her body trembling. The red glow of the demon cocoon was gradually diminishing. As she was sensing the breathing within the cocoon that was weakening by the time, agony drowned her…

On the fourth day, the baby had stopped breathing completely and dead…

“NO—–”

Ning Qian’s voice was hoarse. Her tears dried. Her body was shaking uncontrollably as if her soul had been pulled away from her. It was as if she had lost the whole world…

“I won’t let you die! I won’t let you die!!!”

Her dim beautiful eyes were filled with sadness.

She gazed into the sky, wailing helplessly as if she was about to go crazy… She could not lose her child! She could not!

Her eyes always looked gentle and feeble. At this moment, however, they flickered with an inextinguishable persistence!

No one could seize her child from her!

She was willing to give up everything as long as she could exchange for the child’s life!

*Chi*

A flying sword penetrated through her dantian, piercing into her nascent soul. Ning Qian already could no longer feel any physical pain. Then, she wiped the blood of her nascent soul on the demon cocoon with a blakn expression.

It was the blood of a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator’s life. When her blood was drained completely, it would be the end of her life!

“I beg you… Please return my child to me…”

“Please…”

“Please… I beg you…”

Ning Tian was begging and praying helplessly. Even though she was about to die, all she wished was to revive her child before she breathes her last.

The current Ning Qian had lost all of her cultivation base. Despite her imminent death, the persistence in her as a mother was so stubborn that even the Heavenly Dao could not douse it!

She dismissed all of her demon blood. The blood mist covered the entire Weeping Blood Forest. Even the pond water was dyed red.

The breathing of the baby in the demon cocoon gradually stabilized. All of a sudden, he started laughing in his dream. It was unknown what beautiful dream he had dreamed of…

Ning Qian put on an ashen smile. She had rescued her child from fate…

As such, she would have no regret even if she dies…

The baby was sucking his thumb while chuckling joyfully. Well, how would he know that he was about to lose his mother.

Translated by Tommy, edited by Roel