Grasping Evil

During the night, Ning Fan moved around in the Inner Sect without the need to conceal himself. With his identity as an elder, he was naturally granted the permission to wander around without the need to purchase another Inner Sect Pass.

With this identity, he was able to roam almost all of the palaces except for a few forbidden areas.

After plucking the arrogant Bai Lu, he felt refreshed and all of his fatigue was gone. The punishment he gave to Bai Lu was merely returning what she intended to do. Instead of seizing Bai Lu’s cultivation base, he seized the girl’s Yin Element instead.

That girl has a good talent, but her attitude was too poor. If she was trained and nurtured properly, she would certainly be a popular figure in Sinister Sparrow Sect.

Ning Fan was currently on the mountain road in the Inner Sect. He released his spirit sense,searching for Black Yin Qi. However, he found nothing except for some denser Yin Qi.

The night-patrolling disciples didn’t stop him when they saw him searching for something in the middle of the night.

The dawn was breaking and yet, there was no luck in his search. Initially, he thought of visiting Lan Mei, but decided to drop that thought later because he couldn’t treat her yet. He had yet to concoct the pills that could treat her genital tract.

He strolled leisurely back to Dual Cultivation Palace. The daylight was beginning to shine. Someone must have swept the floor and planted some rare vegetation in the courtyard.

He guessed that those things had to be done by those female disciples of Dual Cultivation Palace, who now feared him very much after knowing how he punished Bai Lu.

The room was in a mess, which made him sigh. On top of the bed were three girls covered in body fluid. It seemed like the female disciples didn’t dare to come into the room and tidy it up. As for Bai Lu who was laying like a lump of mud earlier, she had already left, leaving only the blanket stained with blood.

“Have I gone too far with my punishment?”

Looking at the patch of blood on the blanket, he felt a little sorry for her. In the devil path of Dual Cultivation, many girls were destined to be his victims and he would have to bear the ill name for the rest of his life. If he couldn’t take people’s criticism of him, then he shouldn’t continue this path.

“It was nothing. That girl has already become my cauldron. As long as she doesn’t do anything suspicious, I will be benign to her.”

As the sky was brightening gradually, he walked out of his room, and saw two female disciples were already there holding some toiletries, including a basin of water and tea cup. The water in the basin was melted from some kind of ice and the tea was the East Mountain Moonlight Tea.

This was the tea which Haining Ning family used to treat their guests. He remembered the time when he accidentally spilled a little tea while serving, he was beaten up so badly by a young master in Ning Family that he was bedridden for half a month.

Today, this precious tea was used as his mouthwash and this basin of water would be used to wash his face.

This is extravagant…but, in this world of cultivation, strength is always the one that determines the level of treatment one receives. 

He sighed faintly which made the two kneeling girls on the ground shake, fearing that their hospitality wasn’t satisfying enough and that Ning Fan would punish them.

Before the two of them decided to come and serve Ning Fan, they had already braced themselves mentally. If this elder were to do what he did to Bai Lu, they would rather choose death.

Ning Fan could see what the two girls think based on their terrified expressions.

“Act dutifully and I won’t harm you.” After he finished speaking, he gargled using the tea and washed his face with the melted ice. With an exertion of his magical power, all the water on his face dried up, and then he walked out of the courtyard.

Now the courtyard was only left with two girls. They heaved a sigh of relief, as if they had been granted amnesty. They wouldn’t forget how the beast-like Ning Fan crushed the pride of Bai Lu.

“We are fortunate that Elder Ning didn’t pluck us today.”

…

It was still early in the morning. Everything in Dual Cultivation Palace was arranged neatly and all the female disciples had assembled here today in an orderly manner.

This was the first day that he officially became the elder of this palace, and naturally, he was required to impart some of his knowledge about cultivation to his fellow disciples.

He was standing on the dais while the over two hundred female disciples were standing below, naked.

He frowned, he didn’t know that the female disciples had to strip naked during lesson.

The only one who wasn’t completely naked was Bai Xiu, the deacon disciple of Ning Fan. She wasn’t a dual cultivator, so the guidance that Ning Fan would give wouldn’t help her, however, she had already taken off her blouse, leaving only the Dudou on her body. Her eyes were staring at Ning Fan grudgingly.

As for Bai Lu, whom they admired the most, she hadn’t arrived yet.

Although Bai Lu was an arrogant woman, she wouldn’t dare come after knowing Ning Fan’s capability. The reason could also be that she was suffering from the pain after her hymen was broken during sexual intercourse, and wasn’t able to get out of her bed.

“Now, I will begin my lesson. The cultivation method you practice is similar to Bai Lu, a rare Dual Cultivation Technique named ‘False Phoenix Art’. I will talk about the key points of this cultivation technique first. Then, if any of you have doubts after that, I will answer them one by one.”

As soon as his voice trailed off, dozens of women immediately let out their lovely astonished voice. Although there were some who didn’t make any sound, their looks were full of astonishment.

“Elder Ning, are you sure that you are going to impart the law to us?”

“What do you mean? Isn’t this the purpose of me coming here? Don’t ask those irrelevant questions. I still have to head over to the main hall later.” Ning Fan knitted his brows.

“Elder Ning, don’t you need to ‘see the blood’ first before you impart the law…” A girl asked shyly but was stopped by a more mature girl.

“What is ‘see the blood first’?” Ning Fan asked confusedly.

“Thirty years ago, Elder Zhu was the one who took charge of Dual Cultivation Palace. On the first day of passing the law, he required all of us to take off our clothes and broke the hymen of the five Huang Ling sisters, because he said that he needed to see the blood. Sister Bai Lu strongly disagreed with what he did, so she ordered the five Huang Ling sisters to pluck the elder to death after that.” The girl explained.

“Oh? Is there such a thing?”

Ning Fan felt slightly stunned. He had not thought that such internal conflict existed in this palace.

It seemed like Elder Zhu had seized the virginity of five disciples 30 years ago. That explained why Bai Lu led the girls to kill the elder.

It also explained why the sect master didn’t sentence her to death after killing Elder Zhu, and why Bai Lu wanted to kill him so badly the moment he was promoted as an elder in Dual Cultivation Palace. He was afraid that the reputation of Dual Cultivation Palace had been bad for a long time. They must have thought that all Dual Cultivation experts were evil men, which gave Bai Lu the determination to end his life at the beginning.

Although it was only a slight clue, he was able to reason out most of the facts.

When he figured that the arrogant girl, Bai Lu, was doing all these to protect her sisters from being harmed by the other males, he had an awkward expression on his face.

That eighteenth cauldron of mine—Bai Lu—is actually innocent? Could she be shedding tears in her room now after losing her virginity?

Ning Fan put his palm on his forehead, a trace of mixed emotion was revealed on his face.

Although she was an ‘enemy’, should I go over to her room and comfort her…? Never mind, I will pass the law first.

By casting the Yin Yang Transformation, it changed his state of mind instantly, making his face and emotion as still as water in an ancient well.

“I have no idea what the other elder did, but my method of passing the law doesn’t require any of you to take off your clothes and break any of your hymens to ‘see the blood’. Put on your clothes quick. My time is limited!”

Ning Fan’s voice was stern and cold, but all of them revealed a face of joy when they heard him.

Before this, they were worried if Ning Fan would be more lascivious than Elder Zhu. But from what they observed today, it seemed like they had been thinking excessively.

However, the next word that Ning Fan said made all of them flush with shame, they quickly left the hall and back into their rooms to change into a decent dress before going back to the hall.

“A hare don’t eat shitty grass. I, as the elder of Dual Cultivation Palace, will no doubt require cauldrons in my cultivation, but I won’t choose any of you as my cauldron. However, if there are some of you who have come to offend me, you will bear your own consequences.”

When all of the girls were dressed properly, he started the lecture about the False Phoenix Art. Given that he had Immortal Emperor’s knowledge, he was able to comprehend everything about the False Phoenix Art in one glance. After his lecture, all of them had a higher understanding of the technique and there were ten of them who immediately break through their cultivation bottleneck.

There were also several females who had unique bottlenecks, but after a few personal advice, they had gotten the answer that they wanted.

From the beginning until now, he had never exploited his authority as an elder by taking advantage of them.

Last night, he plucked my elder sister, Bai Lu, but why did he become so decent today?

Bai Xiu was baffled by Ning Fan’s behavior.

He was the one who did that to my sister… but he doesn’t look like one of those bad guys… Bah! If he isn’t the bad guy, who is?

…

After leaving Dual Cultivation Palace, he paid a visit to Bai Lu in her room. She was crying just like what he had imagined. She was currently in a deep sleep, naked in her blanket. Her face was still red in color, and he could sense a hint of pain from her expression.

She was having a cold! The Harmonious Spirit Bai Lu was having a cold! Her body must have gotten pretty weak to be infected by a disease that could only affect ordinary people. He couldn’t believe that she had fallen sick after just breaking her hymen.

“Don’t, don’t touch my sister…I will kill you!”

She sleep-talked.

“Although it was just a one-night-stand, you have already become my cauldron and I have already promised that I won’t treat you badly.”

He patted his storage pouch and took out a Second Revolution pill named Bright Yellow Pill.

In the Mortal World, this pill was claimed to have the resurrection function because it could cure all diseases of mortals. But because cultivators rarely get sick, this pill was considered not valuable.

He placed the pill inside Bai Lu’s mouth and exerted his magical power on top of her dried and cracked lips to send the pill down to her belly.

Then, the sleeping Bai Lu suddenly bit on Ning Fan’s finger, but it wasn’t painful.

“I will bite you to death, Ning Fan! I will bite you to death! I hate you!”

“Hate me? It will be strange if you don’t hate me, but whether you hate me or not, it is none of my business.”

Ning Fan pulled his finger back from her mouth. Though he knew she was unconscious and couldn’t hear what he said, he said it anyway for some reason.

Bai Lu’s cold would pass when she woke up.

Even though yesterday was a misunderstanding, he didn’t have much guilt about it. If his cultivation base was slightly lower, he would be the one plucked to death by Bai Lu. By then, who would help him seek justice?

As he turned and was about to leave, the unconscious Bai Lu clasped her hand on his arm. Now, half of her body had gotten out of the blanket and her bosoms were full of clawing marks and bruises from Ning Fan.

“Mom, don’t go… Lu Er wants to listen to a lullaby…”

Mom…

This one word made Ning Fan’s heart shiver.

“I don’t have any parents… It seems like your life is happier than mine. What lullaby do you wish to hear?” He suddenly became soft hearted.

“I want to hear, the fisherman’s song… I want to… listen…” She said weakly.

“I only know the fisherman’s song of Wu Country, not Yue Country’s.”

He closed his eyes, recalling every scene back in Hai Ning in his memory. He was a cultivator, a brother and an orphan. He was adopted by Ning Family and had become the servant of this family. Although he wasn’t related to Ning Gu by blood, they were close brothers.

The egret flies in front of Mount Cisser, 

Fat mandarin fish was swimming in the lake under the shade of peach blossom, 

The green bamboo hat, 

And the green straw coat,

Are good at withstanding the wind and drizzle.

He sang slowly and comfortably. Within his tone was the kid Ning Fan, but most of the tone was full of composure that he had gained through the half a year of encounters.

There’s no need to return… the fisherman has the water and mountain, he won’t be willing to return home.

He, on the other hand, had no home, because Haining Ning Family wasn’t his home.

Perhaps he had his own home—the Seven Apricot City, where his master was at right now; Ning City where his young and beautiful wife Zhihe was waiting for him; and, the Nameless Village where his brother Ning Gu was at. But would Sinister Sparrow Sect become one of his residence as well?

After a few rounds of singing, he felt that the grip on his arm was loosen. She had fallen back to sleep.

He then let out a deep sigh before he turned and left.

It was ridiculous for him to sympathize with his enemy. From this aspect alone, he, who was the devil, had failed completely.

If he couldn’t get rid of his homesickness, he wouldn’t fit to practice the devil cultivation.

Must a devil have no sentiments or must a cultivator have no worldly relation?

A trace of uneasiness started to stir in his heart. Such a feeling would only get stronger as he approached the Gold Core realm.

“Heart Devil.” He frowned. Because Devil Path had the fastest speed of advancement, it had most number of Immortals (Devil Immortal) produced. And this cultivation path would easily cause the cultivator to fall into Qi Deviation^[1]. The higher the cultivation base, the stronger the Heart Devil.

There were gains and losses. Though the Yin Yang Transformation had a heaven defying divine power, it also had tremendous drawbacks. He was afraid that he would encounter the first ordeal of Heart Devil during his core formation period. If he failed to overcome this ordeal, he would die for certain.

His Heart Devil was most probably the sentiments he had for his friends and families, so how could he get rid of it?

He was heading towards the main hall of the sect, carrying a glum look on his face.

Along his way, the other disciples who saw his gloomy expression retreated meters away to avoid any conversing with him.

Some False Core elders were shocked by Ning Fan’s expression.

“Could it be true? This Ning Fan hasn’t even reached the peak of Harmonious Spirit realm, so how could he possibly encounter the Gold Core realm Heart Devil now…? Th-th-this brat is truly heaven defying!”

Even those False Core experts had to spend decades of comprehension to encounter the Heart Devil. If Ning Fan could sense his Heart Devil so early, it was only a matter of time before he broke through to the Gold Core realm.

So, how could this not shock the elders?

1. 1. ^{^} Qi Deviation: Being possessed by devil.