Grasping Evil

Chapter 493: Chapter 493: Si Kong Demon Island

The Slaughter Palace was not a force to be trifled with. They were not at the same level as Moksha Sovereign and the White Devil Sect.

Fortunately, Fu Linglong had already passed away a long time ago and the Blood Slave Garden had lost its owner. Even if Ning Fan kills his way into the garden and abducts all of the female cultivators to turn them into his human cauldrons, his actions would not offend the Slaughter Palace.

As for the unique purpose which motivated Fu Linglong to raise those flower devils, Ning Fan did not need to find out. He only saw each of those flower devils as high quality human cauldrons.

The current problem he faced was as to how he should get inside the Blood Slave Garden since the passage connecting this world and that realm was destroyed by the Two Elders of Ling Nan while the ancient remains was destroyed during their battle.

Even the red-haired lady was at a loss. She did not know how to return to the Blood Slave Garden.

Moreover, with Ning Fan’s current strength, he did not have any confidence of capturing a Void Fragmentation Realm female expert. Even an Absolute Void Stage human cauldron would be rather troublesome for him...

“It seems like I still have to wait until the day my cultivation base improves before visiting the Blood Slave Garden to capture human cauldrons. Currently, I can’t take down the Void Fragmentation Realm flower devil at all. If I go there recklessly, I will likely be ganged up on by those flower devils and get myself killed...”

“The top priority right now is still to take care of the matters in front of me by heading to Si Kong Demon Island and help Ming Que obtain the inheritance.”

Just as Ning Fan was deep in thought, the red-haired lady suddenly trembled within his arms. Her beautiful appearance turned pale and she grimaced in pain, as if she was enduring an extremely excruciating torment.

“Ah!” The lady wailed in agony. Her condition became extremely unusual.

Ning Fan, of course, would not feel protective of her. He just looked at her indifferently like he intended on watching by the sidelines, coldly studying the abnormal condition of her body.

The reason why she would be in this much pain was because she had left the Blood Slave Garden for far too long. Her lifespan was being drained multiple times faster than usual which pushed her to the brink of death.

Flower devils like her that had been created through an accelerated process would only have a lifespan one-twentieth of that of a normal cultivator if they live in the Blood Slave Garden.

However, if they go outside the garden and lose the protection of the grand formation, their lifespan would drain thousands of times faster than usual, causing them to die of old age very quickly.

This was the principle of the Heavenly Dao. If someone tries to take a shortcut in obtaining power that exceeds their own cultivation base, they would have to bear the costs.

The only way to resolve this situation was by crippling and dispersing the affected person’s cultivation base!

The red-haired lady was in so much pain that her pupils dilated. There was by no means anything beautiful in her at this moment. She only looked appalling and horrifying.

Ning Fan, however, was not bothered by itat all. He began to take off her clothes.

“Y-You... What do you want to do to me?!” The lady was extremely terrified. She had never touched a man before since the moment she was born a flower devil, let alone being fully undressed by a man.

“To pluck you!” Ning Fan did not talk much and directly pressed himself against her.

“How dare you?!” The lady was in a rage but she was deprived of the strength to resist.

She screamed as soon as a tearing pain ran across her entire body.

Then, she felt the pain gradually lessening as Ning Fan fondled and rubbed her erogenous zones ranging from the top of her head to the tip of her toes.

Her cultivation base was flowing into Ning Fan’s body in endless streams.

Fury filled her heart again when she realized that Ning Fan was really plucking her. However, she immediately discovered that as her cultivation base dropped, the pain she felt due to her declining lifespan was also slowly being reduced.

Even though she brimmed with killing qi since she was born, she also realized that what Ning Fan was doing to her if taken from another perspective, could completely eradicate the hidden trouble in her lifespan and save her life.

She was originally a tuft of Blood Burial Grass that had successfully developed into a flower devil. She cared little about her purity. All she knew at that moment was that if Ning Fan did not pluck her, she certainly would not live long after leaving the Blood Slave Garden.

When she thought that she would survive if Ning Fan did that to her, she no longer struggled or resisted. Instead, she began to go along with his actions.

Her enmity against Ning Fan did not reduce. However, she still understood the advantages of what he was currently doing to her and had stopped showing any resistance.

Two hours later, she was plucked until her cultivation base returned to the Vein Opening Realm. Her entire cultivation base was nearly emptied. Because her body could not endure its weakness after losing so much cultivation base, she passed out.

But the hidden trouble of her lifespan was completely eradicated. As long as she cultivates again from the Vein Opening Realm, she would never face the same problem again.

As for Ning Fan’s magic power, it received an impressive improvement after plucking the red-haired lady.

Currently, his magic power has reached seven hundred thousand units. That plucking session allowed him to gain nearly fifty thousand units of magic power. That amount of magic power was almost comparable to the medicinal effect of one Void Refinement Realm Dao Fruit!

“Indeed, plucking human cauldrons is much easier than searching for Dao Fruits.”

After Ning Fan cleaned up and put on his clothes, his eyes casually shifted to the unconscious red-haired lady.

Since she wanted to kill him, he plucked her cultivation base and felt not a shred of guilt for his actions.

This plucking session could be considered to have benefitted her since it saved her life as well.

Ning Fan shook his Cauldron Ring and placed the naked lady inside that realm. Then, he gave an order to a certain part of space in the ring.

“Bing Ling, Yue Ling, take good care of this lady. Even though she is just at the Vein Opening Realm, she will be of great use to me in the future.”

“Understood!” The two sisters, Bing Ling and Yue Ling, who were diligently cultivating inside the Cauldron Ring immediately replied politely.

After that, Ning Fan sat down on the floor in a meditative posture once again. With the help of the plucking session, he had managed to fully replenish all the essence qi he had used up during the two successive battles.

Besides, he also discovered that his sword consciousness and sword sense experienced a subtle change after plucking the red-haired lady. A small part of his sword sense had turned blood-red.

That color was a result of being stained by killing qi. After Ning Fan examined himself internally, he found out that the killing qi did not carry any side-effects. Instead, it even increased the destructive power of his sword sense. Thus, he stopped investigating it any longer.

He did not immediately leave the Yuan Yao World. He put out the green fire lanterns inside the dark golden pagoda.

In complete darkness, it was like he was falling into a battle with his Dao Heart.

When he was young, he shouldered a blood feud. During that time, however, he was weak and had no connections. The only thing he could rely on was plucking women using the Yin Yang Transformation which led him to walk the evil path.

After climbing and advancing to his current level, be it his pill refinement realm or his cultivation base, both of them were enough for him to cultivate peacefully. He did not need to go against the world to become a devil lord of dual-cultivation anymore.

However, ever since he chose the evil path, how could it be easy for him to turn back?

Two paths seemed to appear in his mindscape. One of them was black while the other one was white. The white path led to the vast and boundless righteous path while the black one led to the evil path strewn with thorns.

Ning Fan sighed gently. He crushed both the righteous and evil paths, combining the two paths into one. Then, he opened his eyes.

“I am neither righteous nor evil. However, if it’s to protect them, I can be righteous or evil.”

*Chi*

Ning Fan suddenly rose to his feet and turned into a ray of flowing light which flew out of the pagoda and the Yuan Yao World.

After returning to the silver boat, the first thing he did was to use the power of his memory intent realm to selectively erase one day of memories of all the Divine Transformation Realm cultivators including Old Man Qu.

The commonly used Soul Memory Searching Technique would inflict severe damage to cultivator’s Sea of Consciousness. As for the memory intent realm which Ning Fan used, it could reduce the damage a little.

All the Divine Transformation Realm cultivators whose memories were erased temporarily fell unconscious.

When they woke up later, they all felt that some part of their bodies hurt a lot but they could not remember anything.

Of course, the place where they felt pain wasn’t their backsides but their Sea of Consciousness.

“Weren’t we driving the silver boat just now? Why would we fall unconscious all of a sudden?” A Divine Transformation Realm servant asked.

“It seems like something had happened but I can’t remember it.” Another Divine Transformation Realm cultivator answered with a strange feeling.

Just like that, Ning Fan erased all of their memories of the day. None of them could remember him capturing the female expert and killing the devil general anymore.

Ning Fan nodded his head with satisfaction. The reason why he erased everyone’s memories was for his safety. For now, the matter about him killing Dao Yan should not be known by everyone in the world.

He then stared at the Sovereign Execution Token which he was holding in his hand. His eyes were as sharp and cold as ice. Moments after that, he kept the token.

It had already been used once and was no longer usable. To Ning Fan, the only purpose it would serve from now on was to remind him that he could not be complacent as he still had a great enemy he had to face in a decisive battle!

“Why would you offend someone that significant...” Su Yan’s face was full of worry. Moksha Sovereign, the Sovereign Execution Token, the top ten devil generals... She had seen and heard lots of things. Therefore, she understood the meaning behind Moksha Sovereign’s actions in using the Sovereign Execution Token to get rid of Ning Fan.

Moksha Sovereign viewed Ning Fan as a thorn in his heart...

Moreover, according to what Devil General Dao Yan said, Su Yan could guess that the reason why he used Ning Fan’s Harmonious Spirit Realm qi to pursue him was certainly because when Ning Fan offended Moksha Sovereign, he was just at the Harmonious Spirit Realm at that time...

Su Yan found it extremely difficult to imagine how a young Harmonious Spirit Realm cultivator would have the courage to defy a Void Fragmentation Realm sovereign being and leave a lasting and worrisome impression on the latter.

She had also heard before that Moksha Sovereign forcibly descended upon the Rain World forty plus years ago and retreated unscathed. That incident made the Rain World shamefully lose face.

When she thought about it carefully, she began to form a suspicion regarding Ning Fan.

That time Moksha Sovereign descended upon the Rain World, could it be that their feud started there?

For a while, Su Yan was gloomy. She realized that her understanding of Ning Fan was truly very shallow.

She could even tell that the remarkable achievements Ning Fan achieved were the results of the massive burden he shouldered.

“Although I am just a Void Inquiry Stage expert who is just as insignificant as an ant in the eyes of a Void Fragmentation Realm expert, I will help you no matter what without feeling the slightest regret. You have my word!” Su Yan spoke solemnly to Ning Fan as if she was making an oath.

That day, Ning Fan fearlessly stood up against millions of devil spirits and rescued her from the Mist Horn Broken World. In the future, she was also willing to stand by his side and fight against Moksha Sovereign. Even if she might end up dead, she would have no regrets.

“Brother Biscuit, Ming Que will also lend you a hand!” Ming Que raised her small and tender fist while still wearing a petulant expression on her face.

“It’s just too detestable. Someone is actually trying to kill Brother Biscuit!? There’s literally no way I can tolerate this! So what if that person is a Void Fragmentation Realm sovereign being? So what... Er... But...”

It seems like I can’t even put up a fight against an expert at that level...

Little Ming Que suddenly realized an extremely serious problem. Her cultivation base was too low. She had just broken through to the Mid Divine Transformation Realm so she could not even help Ning Fan in anything.

“Humph! Even if I can’t fight that Void Fragmentation Realm sovereign being, Grandpa Tree can certainly defeat him!” She eventually picked up her spirit when she remembered her Grandpa Tree who was residing inside the Dark Sparrow’s Grave.

She’s right. Even if she couldn’t fight Moksha Sovereign, there was still the Min Luo Treant which could help! The Min Luo Treant was a Void Fragmentation Realm expert. A powerful being like him could at least provide some help, right?

“Thank you.”

Ning Fan gave the two ladies a gentle smile. A feeling of warmth filled his heart.

Even though they knew Ning Fan’s enemy was Moksha Sovereign, they were still willing to help him even if it would cost them their lives. No matter how cold and indifferent Ning Fan was, he could not help but feel touched by their intentions.

Moreover, only after hearing Ming Que’s words did Ning Fan remember the Min Luo Treant in the Dark Sparrow’s Grave. He could indeed ask for his help to fight Moksha Sovereign together.

Anyhow, that treant was still a Void Fragmentation Realm old monster. A powerful being like him would without a doubt be extremely useful in the one hundred years war.

Moreover, the treant originally had a favorable impression of Ning Fan anyway. If the relationship between Ning Fan and little Ming Que were to be taken into consideration, it would not be hard for him to obtain his help.

“It’s time to get some Void Fragmentation Realm helpers. I can’t go against Moksha Sovereign and his countless subordinates on my own... Besides, there should not be mere Void Refinement Realm devil generals like Dao Yan among Moksha Sovereign’s underlings. Since he was given the sovereign title, he should have the equivalent position like the Rain Sovereign. I’m afraid he will also have many Void Fragmentation Realm experts as his subordinates as well. Thus, in order to fight him, I will need to gather enough Void Fragmentation Realm experts to help me...”

“Erm... Brother Biscuit, Ming Que wants to eat your medicine babies...” Ming Que suddenly pleaded with a soft tone.

“What medicine babies?” Ning Fan looked stunned.

“Erm... You know... The one hundred thousand years old medicine babies the two old men gave you earlier.” Ming Que hadn’t forgotten about the one hundred thousand years old spiritual herbs.

“I’m sorry. These spiritual herbs will be of great use to me. I need them to save someone. Otherwise, I would definitely let you have them.” Ning Fan spoke apologetically.

“Oh. Then I don’t want to eat them anymore...” Ming Que was a little disappointed but she gulped and behaved obediently without mentioning the one hundred thousand years old spiritual herbs anymore.

Since her Brother Biscuit had big plans for those herbs, she naturally would give up on the idea of eating them.

Doubtlessly, the reason why Ning Fan needed one hundred thousand years old spiritual herbs was because he wanted to let Luo You consume them.

He still had four pieces of dark golden lightning bamboo leaves and would need 20 tufts of one hundred thousand years old spiritual herbs to harmonize their medicinal power. Even if he currently had 5 tufts of the needed spiritual herbs, he still lacked a lot more.

After that, he secretly entered the Profound Yin World and went inside the thatched cottage.

He used the five tufts of one hundred thousand years old spiritual herbs to harmonize the medicinal power of a single dark golden lightning bamboo leaf and helped Luo You consume it.

Right after she consumed the bamboo leaf, her cultivation base came even closer to breaking through to the Second Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm but still needed just a bit more to reach it.

Ning Fan helplessly shook his head. He wanted Luo You to wake up once more but he still needed to search for more one hundred thousand years old spiritual herbs at the end of the day.

If Luo You wakes up, he would then have his first Void Fragmentation Realm helper to protect him. Besides, this Void Fragmentation Realm expert was at the Second Heavenly Layer!

Even though one hundred thousand years old spiritual medicines were precious and rare, if Ning Fan makes a call for spiritual medicines after his pill refinement realm attains the Sixth Revolution, many old monsters would probably carry whatever he wants with both of their hands and present them to his doorstep, answering his call.

The silver boat travelled for another seven days. Only then did they reach Si Kong Demon Island.

During this period of time, Ning Fan had begun to repair and improve his immemorial divine weapons by adding spirit seals on those which needed them. He even added a lot of “Speed” Spirit Seals on his fire wings which slightly enhanced his travelling speed.

To Ning Fan, entering seclusion to circulate his mana would only have little effect on raising his magic power.

Hence, during his free time, he no longer spent any of his attention on cultivation. Instead, he began sorting out his cultivation methods and magic techniques which made the time he spent more worthwhile.

Si Kong Demon Island was an island floating in the sky. A mysterious and immense force enabled the island to float one thousand zhang* (3.33m per zhang) above the surface of the ocean. The island had the shape of an umbrella and had a gigantic stone pillar at the bottom which extended to the depths of the ocean.

From afar, the demon island looked like a massive lingzhi. The spiritual qi of heaven and earth around the island was not weak. Clearly, the spiritual veins in this place were quite excellent.

Even when Ning Fan was observing the island from far away, he could see a humongous stone statue standing erect in the center of the island.

It was a statue of a woman. Because it had remained there for countless years, the changing weather had severely damaged it, making its appearance indiscernible. However, judging from the posture of the statue, the person on the statue must be a peerless beauty.

Beneath the statue, numerous demon cultivators were devoutly worshipping and kowtowing to it while chanting archaic and abstruse demon scriptures.

Perhaps it was merely an illusion but when the silver boat arrived at the sky above Si Kong Demon Island, the eyes of the statue seemed to have flashed one time.

Ning Fan thought for a bit and casted his spirit sense into the island, trying to make it go inside the statue and examine it. However, his spirit sense was blocked by a mysterious force. He could not help but feel somewhat surprised by this.

The mysterious force preventing his spirit sense from examining the statue was actually the power of an incense flame.

The demon cultivators on this island had been worshipping this statue for countless years. Therefore, it had accumulated a vast amount of incense flame power.

The incense flame was the perfect nourishment to increase one’s cultivation base. However, no one could absorb the power except for the original individual on the statue.

Countless thoughts ran across Ning Fan’s mind.

I suppose Si Cang’s Inheritance which Ming Que is about to receive has something to do with this incense flame...

However, he could feel a hint of uneasiness. The eyes of the statue which seemed to have flashed earlier still worried him.

The silver boat which was being pulled by twelve silver-scaled horned dragons made a grand and striking appearance.

When the silver boat stopped in the sky above the demon island, all the demon cultivators on the island were greatly surprised by it.

“W-What?! There’s actually someone using twelve Half-Step Void Refinement Realm flying dragons to pull a boat!? Could the individual on the boat be a Void Refinement Realm old monster?!” A Nascent Soul Realm elderly cultivator exclaimed. He had never seen a Void Refinement Realm old monster before in his entire life.

“I’ve seen that silver boat before. It’s what the Mist Horn Clan’s former clan leader, Su Yan, uses!” A quite knowledgeable Half-Step Divine Transformation Realm cultivator spoke in surprise. He obviously recognized the origin of the silver boat.

“What?! Su Yan?!”

After that Half-Step Divine Transformation Realm cultivator’s voice reached their ears, all the cultivators on the island were in a state of panic.

They were not really afraid of Su Yan but were terrified of the person whom she was travelling with instead.

Presently, everyone in the internal sea was aware that Ning Fan had flattened the Mist Horn Clan and had taken away the former clan leader, Su Yan.

If Su Yan was here, it would mean that Ning Fan, the scary and vicious devil, was also right here.

“N-No! This is bad! Did Revered Ming come to our demon island to slaughter us all?! How should we resist him?!”

“Unfortunately, the island lord and the eldest flamen aren’t here. Otherwise, we can probably put up a fight with the help of ‘Master’s Incense Flame’ against Revered Ming...”

“Are you kidding?! That person can even suppress a massive and powerful group like the Mist Horn Clan. How can we be Revered Ming’s match with just some inferior incense flame?”

“It’s over! We’re doomed. No. Perhaps Revered Ming will turn us into his demon slaves and make our lives a living hell...”

Each of the demon cultivators were scared and nervous. All of them did not know what to do next other than to sigh dejectedly.

After realizing Ning Fan’s arrival, the entire demon island was in turmoil, like a barn with dogs and hens frantically jumping and flying around.

Su Yan could not hold back and burst into laughter after seeing the reactions of the people on the island. Meanwhile, Ning Fan looked sullen.

As his notoriety grew more widespread, people would panic wherever he goes...

“What is all this commotion about? It’s me, your island lord. I’ve returned!”

Ming Que stomped her small foot and a five-lined immortal cloud emerged beneath her feet. Then, she flew down from the silver boat, ethereally.

Meanwhile, a profound and unusual aura force of a demon bloodline was released from her body. It sent a jolt to the minds and souls of all the demon cultivators there, quieting them down at once.

Even Ning Fan, a member of the Fu Li Demon Race, also felt his bloodline become gently shaken by Ming Que’s aura force.

His eyes flickered. He quickly activated his Fu Li Ancestral Blood to withstand her aura force. Inwardly, he felt slightly weird.

The level of his demon bloodline was certainly higher than Ming Que’s. However, her demon bloodline was rather unique. It caught Ning Fan off guard and influenced his own demon bloodline.

“Is she an ancient demon...?”

Ning Fan cultivated the ancient devil cultivation path. As soon as he saw what little Ming Que did, he could already tell that she seemed to have cultivated the ancient demon cultivation path.

Apart from that, when Ning Fan thought about it carefully, he realized that in their first meeting, he held an unusually favorable feeling towards her.

Now, it seemed like it was probably because of Ning Fan’s extremely thin winged-demon bloodline being suppressed by her ancient demon bloodline. That’s why he would be extra concerned for her.

Translated by Tommy, edited by Roel