Grasping Evil

Chapter 426: Slaughter the Tower (2)

Translator: GE_Team Editor: GE_Team

Two hundred Divine Transformation Realm experts advanced into the Zhong Mountain and began a large-scale massacre. Wherever they pass by would turn into rivers of blood.

This incident had alerted all of the undead spirits of the eleventh floor. Messaging-transmitting flying swords were already sent out either to the upper or lower levels.

The faces of the ten Void Refinement Realm experts and one thousand Divine Transformation Realm cultivators who were idly waiting for their “prey” at the teleportation formation of the ninth and tenth floor were filled with sheer surprise after they received that information.

They had been tricked by Ning Fan!

They had been waiting at the teleportation formation for him to fall into their trap. Even though Ning Fan had killed the two Void Glimpse Stage experts in the lightning palace of the tenth floor, they had never left the teleportation formation.

It was because they had thought that Ning Fan was creating a distraction by attacking the lightning palace of the tenth floor in order to lure them away from the teleportation formation so that he could escape to the ninth floor.

However, they did not expect for Ning Fan to actually kill his way up to the higher floors. What went beyond their expectations the most was that Ning Fan was still bold enough to brazenly issue a challenge to the Void Inquiry Stage lightning lord of the eleventh floor!

An old monster at the Void Inquiry Stage could defeat a few Void Glimpse Stage experts and instantly kill countless Half-Step Void Refinement Realm cultivators.

Ning Fan’s cultivation base was only at the Half-Step Void Refinement Realm. Thus, these old monsters found his act of challenging Zhu Feng really hilarious.

“This young man is really uncultured and arrogant! When I was not around on the tenth floor, he actually slaughtered my two Void Glimpse Stage subordinates. However, before I can settle that score with him, he actually walked the path that will lead him to his own doom by attacking the lightning palace on the Zhong Mountain of the eleventh floor. He is blatantly courting death!”

The lightning lord of the tenth floor felt rather resentful. That day, he had led many troops to pursue Ning Fan and hunt him down. However, Ning Fan slipped away using a strange and unusual concealment technique and killed his two Void Glimpse Stage subordinates in return. That matter remained as an unresolved grudge in his heart.

“A Half-Step Void Refinement Realm cultivator challenging a Void Inquiry Stage expert is nothing but a suicidal act. However, I find it hard to understand why the Myriad Treasure Pavilion would join him to attack Zhu Feng... What price did he pay exactly to rope Lei Shiyi in...?”

One of the Void Glimpse Stage old monsters’ eyes were filled with doubts. According to his understanding, other than the lightning lord of the eleventh floor, Zhu Feng, Lei Shiyi was the strongest being on the eleventh floor.

However, this Lei Shiyi’s personality was rather weird and erratic. He sought nothing but profit and it was very rare for him to establish friendly relations with others, much less help someone by putting his own life at risk.

Why would this Lei Shiyi offend Zhu Feng because of a mere Half-Step Void Refinement Realm junior...?

“Humph! This brat is too arrogant. I’m afraid he is going to die this time on Zhong Mountain. The stormy weather on the mountain is the grand formation of an astronomical phenomenon that was established by a Void Pierce Stage grandmaster tens of thousands of years ago. It’s nothing if that formation isn’t activated. Once it is activated, no matter how strong that Zhou Ming’s concealment technique is, it will be impossible for him to continue hiding. Besides, he may even be killed by the grand formation directly. He will certainly die on Zhong Mountain for attacking Zhu Feng. There is no doubt about that. There’s no longer any meaning for us to continue staying here, waiting for him to present himself to us.”

“Fellow Daoist Qin is right. We should quickly go up to the eleventh floor and head to the lightning palace on Zhong Mountain and kill him right then and there! This is a massive contribution and it will certainly make King Ying Long satisfied. We can’t let Lightning Lord Zhu Feng take all the credit.”

After assembling the troops, the ten Void Refinement Realm experts abandoned the place and hurriedly rushed to the eleventh floor with their large army of Divine Transformation Realm cultivators.

They thought they could get a share of the credit but they did not know that they were just rushing to get into the cycle of rebirth.

On the eleventh floor, other than the Zhong Mountain Lightning Palace and the Myriad Treasure Pavilion, there were still many other powerful forces.

Even though they did not have Void Inquiry Stage old monsters in their ranks, they had at least five to six Void Glimpse Stage experts.

These Void Glimpse Stage experts did not join forces with the Myriad Treasure Pavilion or the lightning palace.

They would not throw their lives away for King Ying Long but they also did not have the intention to help the Myriad Treasure Pavilion. In regards to the battle on Zhong Mountain, they merely remained as bystanders who watched coldly on the sidelines.

No. To be more accurate, not only were they planning on remaining as bystanders who would just quietly observe the battle, but they also had the intention of gaining residual benefits from it after it ends.

Five old monsters stood somewhere that was very far away from the foot of the Zhong Mountain. They secretly spread out their spirit sense and spied on the situation there.

“On Lei Shiyi’s side, there is one Void Inquiry Stage expert and 8 Void Glimpse Stage cultivators. As for Zhu Feng’s side, there is one Void Inquiry Stage expert and 9 Void Glimpse Stage cultivators. In the past several thousand years, Lei Shiyi had lost to Zhu Feng eleven times. This time, I’m afraid he will still end up being defeated again... Lei Shiyi is a smart and shrewd person. I didn’t expect for a brilliant person like him to be deluded by a Divine Transformation Realm junior in the end to fight a life-and-death battle against Zhu Feng. I’m afraid that no one will be able to appease the enmity between him and Zhu Feng this time.”

The person who spoke these words was a Void Glimpse Stage expert that was waiting for an opportunity. When he said those words, Ning Fan had yet to kill and injure the two Void Glimpse Stage experts.

“Fellow Daoist He is right. Lei Shiyi will certainly lose this time. Moreover, he is very likely to die there too. Not to mention Zhu Feng being far stronger than him, that Immortal Void Grand Formation on the Zhong Mountain alone is already something that is beyond Lei Shiyi’s capabilities to withstand. However, *chuckles evilly* whether he is going to lose and die or win and survive in the end, what does it have to do with us?! The reason why we came here is to fish in troubled waters and steal some things...”

“Fellow Daoist Wen’s words really resonate with me! In such a large-scale battle among Void Refinement Realm beings, perhaps one or two Void Refinement Realm experts will die. Hehe. After a Void Refinement Realm undead spirit dies, a golden jade will certainly be produced. When that time comes, the one who can seize that golden jade will depend on our own capabilities.”

The five Void Glimpse Stage old monsters did not harbor kind intentions in the first place when they decided to come and watch the battle.

They did not intend to intervene in the battle and they also did not believe that the Myriad Treasure Pavilion would prevail.

However, in the next moment, they were deeply shocked. They widened their eyes so big that they were bigger than a camel bell.

All five of the Void Glimpse Stage old monsters exclaimed in surprise.

“Impossible! This is definitely impossible!”

The reason why they exclaimed in surprise was because they had seen something that greatly startled them when Ning Fan and the two hundred experts entered the Zhong Mountain.

In just an instant, Ning Fan concealed himself and acted under stealth. With a punch and a slash, he sneak-attacked two Void Glimpse Stage experts, directly killing one of them while seriously injuring the other!

Ma Renwang was dead. His movement technique was regarded to be unequalled on the eleventh floor. However, he was actually killed by Ning Fan with a single slash of his sword without even having a chance to run away with his movement technique.

What is that sword?! It’s extremely sharp and its sword light is extremely swift. Moreover, a single slash can bring out countless sword threads within the victim which can literally instant kill a Void Glimpse Stage expert!

Unless one has put up their guard to defend against the sword beforehand, no Void Glimpse Stage expert would survive if they are sneak-attacked by it!

Li Gui was grievously injured by a single punch from Ning Fan!

Li Gui was a cultivator at the Peak Level of the Jade Life Body Refining Realm. Besides, he was on the verge of touching the bottleneck of the Golden Body Realm. Even so, when Ning Fan hurled a punch at him, he was literally sent flying away with his body severely injured!

No one had expected that just as the Myriad Treasure Pavilion killed their way into the Zhong Mountain, Ning Fan had already acted vigorously by killing and injuring two Void Glimpse Stage experts!

On the Myriad Treasure Pavilion’s side, there were nine Void Refinement Realm experts and a ferocious and powerful being – Ning Fan, whose strength was even greater than ordinary Void Glimpse Stage experts!

As for the lightning palace on the Zhong Mountain’s side, there were only 8 individuals left unharmed after Ning Fan attacked two of their Void Glimpse Stages experts.

The scale of victory of this battle seemed to be leaning towards the Myriad Treasure Pavilion.

“This young man is just a Half-Step Void Refinement Realm cultivator. Why is he so strong? Furthermore, he actually dares to challenge Zhu Feng. Doesn’t he know that Zhu Feng is a dignified Void Inquiry Stage old monster? The difference in strength between the Void Inquiry Stage and the Void Glimpse Stage is completely worlds apart!”

The five of them were filled with shock and could no longer be certain of the outcome of this battle. None of them dared to laugh at Ning Fan for being an arrogant fool.

It was because they had witnessed Zhu Feng with their own eyes instinctively fall back half a step when Ning Fan issued a challenge against him. It undeniably showed that Zhu Feng was afraid of the latter!

Ning Fan flicked his sleeve and swallowed Ma Renwang’s primordial spirit. He then kept the golden lightning jade that formed after his death.

He had already sensed the presence of the five Void Glimpse Stage experts who were spying on them from afar. That was why he acted overbearingly by ambushing two Void Glimpse Stage experts. His reason for doing so was not just to weaken Zhu Feng’s side but also strike fear into the hearts of the five individuals, making them back off from this fight so that they would not disrupt the situation.

With Ning Fan’s current strength, he was still not capable of instantly killing a Void Inquiry Stage expert in direct confrontation. Ma Renwang’s death was purely because he did not expect an unexpected attack from Ning Fan.

The concealment effect of the Heaven Deceiving Cloak was utterly terrifying and the sharpness of his Separation Slayer Sword was also beyond Ma Renwang’s ability to withstand. Thus, there was no way for that Void Glimpse Stage expert to survive his sneak attack.

As for the strength of the punch which injured Li Gui, that was Ning Fan’s true level of strength. Even if Ning Fan delivered an all-out strike that was comparable to the strength of the Golden Body Realm stealthily, he could at most seriously injure Li Gui.

All in all, Ning Fan managed to attack the two of them stealthily and even put down one of them. Who could say that this was not a skill?

“Zhu Feng, fight me!”

Ning Fan’s gaze indifferently swept across the eight Void Refinement Realm experts including Zhu Feng. Li Gui was already unconscious after receiving that heavy punch. The ones who could continue fighting were these eight individuals.

When they met Ning Fan’s gaze, all of them did not dare to resist his aura force even though they were tens of thousands of zhang* (3.33m per zhang) away from him. Even Zhu Feng could not help but fall back half a step. Lingering fear invaded their hearts.

Zhu Feng could not even gain a single clue about the concealment effect from the Heaven Deceiving Cloak. He found it too unreasonable.

If Ning Fan’s target was not Ma Renwang but Zhu Feng instead, even if the latter did not die, he would have still suffered severe injuries.

“This is... a Profound Divinity Spiritual Equipment! Impossible! Only Void Fragmentation Realm old monsters can refine that kind of spiritual equipment. Why is he able to control such a supreme treasure?!”

Zhu Feng’s heart sank. He realized that he had been underestimating Ning Fan from the very beginning.

No. To put it in a more accurate manner, even King Ying long had also belittled Ning Fan.

He was a monster who could refine a Profound Divinity Spiritual Equipment with just a Divine Transformation Realm cultivation base!

With this spiritual equipment, he could perform a sneak attack or retreat to thousands of li* (500m per li) away at will without being discovered by anyone. Who could find him and hunt him down?

“Judging from this situation, I definitely can’t give him the chance to conceal himself to perform another ambush once again! As long as I can break his concealment, no matter how heaven-defying his techniques may be, it’s impossible for him to be my opponent. As for that Lei Shiyi, he is not worrisome at all... Humph! Activate the formation!”

Countless thoughts ran across Zhu Feng’s mind. His eyes gradually became cold and calm. The fear he had of Ning Fan at first began to gradually diminish.

He patted his storage pouch and took out a gray formation disk.

When he activated the formation disk, the entire Zhong Mountain shook violently. An Immortal Void Realm formation light suddenly cut through the night sky like a flash of blinding light, covering the dark sky entirely.

As the formation light emerged, a strange and unusual feeling surfaced in Ning Fan’s heart.

Ning Fan then found out that inside this Immortal Void Realm formation light, he could not use his Heaven Deceiving Cloak anymore.

“An Immortal Void Realm formation light, huh... This formation is profound and magical. It isn’t a formation to attack or kill at all. Before entering the valley, I discovered that the stormy weather on this place is actually the effect of a formation. However, it’s just an auxiliary formation technique that nullifies one’s concealment. Thus, there is nothing much to worry about. However, I just had not expected that this grand formation of the stormy weather is actually at the Immortal Void Realm. With the activation of this Immortal Void Realm formation, I won’t be able to use the Heaven Deceiving Cloak whenever I want. However, does that mean that I can no longer kill anyone?”

Ning Fan was not concerned about whether or not he could still ambush his opponents.

Performing a sneak attack was just a temporary method after all. After he successfully ambushed Ma Renwang, all of his Void Glimpse Stage enemies had put on all of their defenses. Even if the grand formation was not around, it would be difficult for Ning Fan to perform another successful sneak attack again.

Besides, he actually did not need to ambush his enemies.

He walked towards his enemies step by step. Each step he took brought him closer to Zhu Feng who was ten thousand zhang* (3.33m per zhang) away from him.

This was completely beyond Zhu Feng’s expectations.

Originally, Zhu Feng had thought that the reason why Ning Fan would be brave and confident enough to challenge him was because of the Heaven Deceiving Cloak. As long as he could deal with Ning Fan’s concealment technique, he would not be a formidable opponent.

However, even after he activated the formation light which caused Ning Fan to be unable to conceal himself, the latter acted like it did not matter to him at all. Instead, he still looked as confident as before.

“Where does his confidence come from?! Don’t tell me that he really thinks that a Half-Step Void Refinement Realm cultivator like him can overcome the difference in cultivation levels and kill a Void Inquiry Stage expert?!”

As the lightning lord of the eleventh floor, Zhu Feng was also someone who had been through countless life-or-death experiences. Thus, he still had his pride.

He certainly did not believe that he would be defeated by a junior. He also began to move towards Ning Fan to accept his challenge.

The aura force of the two individuals gradually rose. However, a third trace of aura force suddenly interrupted them.

“Fellow Daoist Zhou, can you please let me deal with Zhu Feng...? I have an absolutely irreconcilable feud against him. Moreover, I have lost to him eleven times. This will be our twelfth battle but I will not lose to him again!”

The person who stood against the two individuals was actually Lei Shiyi.

“...”

Ning Fan stared deeply into Lei Shiyi’s eyes. With his shrewdness, he could obviously see that the current Lei Shiyi was not any weaker than Zhu Feng at all.

It seems like Lei Shiyi really harbors an unresolved grudge against Zhu Feng.

As such, Ning Fan was willing to let Lei Shiyi fight Zhu Feng. He flew away from the battlefield and left Lei Shiyi alone to confront Zhu Feng.

When Ning Fan went away, Zhu Feng somehow felt a sense of relief from the bottom of his heart. It was as if he subconsciously felt that the former was even more dangerous than Lei Shiyi.

“Lei Shiyi, how dare you come to provoke me?! Humph! Don’t tell me you have forgotten where your name ‘Lei Shiyi1‘ came from?!”

“Haha! How would I forget it?! Ever since the day you devoured my wife, I have tried to kill you eleven times but all eleven attempts failed and I almost threw my life away the same amount of times! I have given up on my original name ‘Lei Tong’ and named myself with the number of times I had been defeated by you. Lei Yi1, Lei Er2... Lei Shiyi! However, rest assured that you won’t have the chance to make me name myself Lei Shi’er3!”

Lei Shiyi’s expression was filled with unprecedented solemnity. His bloodshot eyes carried immense hatred.

“Yes! You won’t have the chance to be named as Lei Shi’er because you will die today!”

“You are the one who will die!”

Lei Shiyi charged forward and hurled a punch at Zhu Feng.

Mountains cracked and rivers split from the clash of their punches. Wind and rain also began to move in reverse.

After their clash, Zhu Feng fell back one thousand steps. Meanwhile, Lei Shiyi only fell back nine hundred steps.

Judging from how far both of them retreated, Lei Shiyi actually had the upper hand in the fight.

“Impossible!” Zhu Feng could not believe this result. Lei Shiyi who was only focusing on his business in the past one thousand years had secretly cultivated to such a level.

Hatred had always been the most terrifying motivation for one to improve no matter how difficult it would be.

Zhu Feng had really underestimated Lei Shiyi!

...

Chu Nanfeng and the other four Void Glimpse Stage experts and Ning Fan’s three spiritual puppets were already fighting against the seven Void Glimpse Stage experts of the lightning palace.

Li Gui had been saved by one of the old monsters at the enemy’s side. After he forcibly suppressed his injuries, he was violently battling against one of the spiritual puppets as if he was venting out his anger.

Spiritual puppets were only non-living creatures after all. Besides, Li Gui’s combat power was not weak. If he was not caught off guard by Ning Fan’s sneak attack, it was definitely impossible for him to be severely injured by his punch!

“Since Zhou Ming has harmed me, I will eliminate his puppets in return!”

“Oh? Are you very pleased with venting out your anger on someone’s spiritual puppet? You, go there!”

Ning Fan who was supposed to be fighting against Zhu Feng on the battlefield suddenly appeared in front of Li Gui.

He gave a command to his spiritual puppet and it immediately ignored Li Gui and assembled with the other two puppets.

The other two puppets were being overwhelmed by two Void Refinement Realm experts. However, when the third puppet joined them, it stabilized the situation of their fight as there were now three puppets against two experts.

Li Gui’s eyes turned grim. He nearly tried to display his ultimate technique and eliminate that spiritual puppet but Ning Fan interrupted him just in time.

When he thought of how he got injured by Ning Fan’s punch, his eyes turned even colder.

“Young man, your concealment technique has already been cancelled by our lightning lord. You no longer have the chance to ambush me again. Despite the severe injuries I have now, I know a type of secret technique that will have a greater destructive power when my injuries are more severe. Its name is the Nirvana Technique and it was created based on the ability of the Nirvana Devil Veins! Its destructive power is remarkably extraordinary! Within ten breaths, I will surely kill you!”

Li Gui coughed out a few mouthfuls of blood essence. The injuries on his body became even more serious than before. His wounds festered rapidly as bloody pus flowed out from them.

However, the aura force within his body began to sharply rise. Evidently, he was using a secret technique to raise his magic power by worsening the injuries on his body in exchange!

After his aura force rose, the current him was at least one to two times stronger than he normally was.

Ning Fan’s mind was filled with thoughts.

This Nirvana Technique is somewhat familiar.

Nirvana Devil Veins... Isn’t that the devil veins which Sovereign Moksha possesses?

Worsening one’s injuries in exchange for magic power. It really is a disgusting secret technique.

“The Nirvana Technique which allows one to raise their magic power by worsening their injuries or sacrificing themselves in exchange for gains is the true solution of the Buddha Sect. This technique was developed based on the Nirvana Devil Veins. That is to say, Sovereign Moksha also has the ability of gaining more magic power as he gets inflicted with injuries. The more severe his injuries are, the stronger he will become. Perhaps the injuries he got from me when I sneak-attacked him in the past only made him stronger.”

“You follow the principle of Nirvana and have given up your stubborn determination to gain the supreme body of Nirvana. I, however, maintained my stubborn determination and gave up Nirvana to form the Four Reified Concepts of Existence and chose the path of defying Buddha. The First Concept, Concept of Self Technique!”

Ning Fan performed a few hand seals and his body shone with brilliant golden light.

A single figure suddenly split into two within the golden light.

One of them was his true figure while the other was the golden figure. The true figure was Ning Fan himself while the golden figure had the exact same appearance as him but looked like an Arhat.

Besides, the strength of the physical body of that golden figure was actually at the First Level of the Golden Body Realm!

“The Concept of Self Technique is to create countless genuine copies of me using a strong spirit sense. With my current mastery in this technique, I can only create two golden figures during a fight. These golden figures are only condensed temporarily and had to be used immediately. After using this technique, the golden figures can only last for the time it takes to burn an incense stick. After that, they will vanish. However, within this period of time, unless the golden figures receive deadly attacks, they can disregard any kinds of injuries. In other words, they are immune to them... The second figure, appear!”

Ning Fan performed some hand seals again and another trace of golden shadow split from his body.

One living cultivator and two golden figures surrounded Li Gui. All of a sudden, the cold smirk on Li Gui’s face froze. His expression changed greatly.

“Impossible! What is this technique? How can it be so heaven-defying? It actually allows one to create figures with the Golden Body Refinement Realm?!”

“This young man has obviously yet to cultivate this technique to a high level. If he succeeds in fully cultivating this technique, he will be able to create thousands of these figures. Even a Void Fragmentation Realm old monster will have to avoid confronting him directly!”

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

Without giving any time for Li Gui to think, three fists landed on his body. Each of the three attacks carried strength comparable to a strike from a Golden Body Refinement Realm body cultivator.

The remaining force from their punches shattered layers of hollow space. Li Gui was blasted ten thousand li* (500m per li) away like a pile of mud. His injuries were already so severe to a point where they cannot be any more serious.

He wanted to flee. He was afraid!

Even though he had the Nirvana Technique which allowed him to gain magic power as his injuries grew worse, it still depended on what kind of injuries he suffered!

After being struck by those powerful punches, the injuries they caused nearly took his life.

Given this situation, how would he still dare to aggravate his own injuries.

The so-called secret technique was automatically deactivated without needing to be broken!

“Are you trying to run away?”

*Shua*

Three traces of figures eerily appeared beside Li Gui like ghosts and surrounded him.

Then, they landed another three Golden Body Realm attacks on Li Gui’s body.

“Ahhh!”

Li Gui let out a miserable scream which shocked everyone on the battlefield.

Countless old monsters turned around and looked. All of them were both surprised and terrified.

After Li Gui said harsh words and claimed that he could kill Ning Fan in just ten breaths, he died in the latter’s hands after just two breaths.

There was still a lot of time left before his golden figures disappeared.

With his golden figures around, Ning Fan alone had the combat power of three Void Glimpse Stage experts!

Other than Zhu Feng, who else could stop him?!

This was Ning Fan’s first time displaying the Concept of Self Technique. He was rather satisfied with it.

If I cultivate this technique to a level where I can create thousands or even tens of thousands of shadows, my combat power will be equivalent to ten thousand Void Refinement Realm experts. When that time comes, I can definitely put up a fight against a Void Fragmentation Realm expert!

Translated by Tommy, edited by Roel