Grasping Evil

There was a 'shackle' on the heart of every cultivator known as the Dao Heart.

Evil cultivators tried to break the shackle and rebuild it again for their lifetime's cultivation while ancient cultivators were desperate to strengthen that shackle.

However, everyone did not need to toil in reality. One only needed to persist in one's Dao.

The spiritual qi in Song Country might not be as thick as that of Yue Country but its size was twice the size of it. According to Ning Fan's estimate, the journey to the northern boundary of Song Country would at least need three months.

Within that three months, the cultivators of Song Country had inspected their ship forty-one times. Every time that happened, Ning Fan would order Bing Ling to show the cultivators the jade locket they got from Song Jun. Therefore, no one dared to put the voyage ship in a difficult position.

In the past three months, the Red Flower Old Demon had tried to ambush their ship seven times. The demon acted cautiously and only attacked using her spirit sense or demonic arts every time.

Demonic arts differed from magical arts being a special technique that could only be used if the caster possessed Demon Veins. And, the power that was used to fuel the technique was not magic power but mind power!

The cultivation of a demon was separated into body cultivation and arts cultivation. For body cultivation, the demon would normally maintain its demon form. Even if it had broken through Gold Core Stage, it might not be able to shapeshift into human form. It would keep its demon form as the body of a demon was obviously stronger than a human body.

As for arts cultivation, it cultivated the demonic arts that was inherited from the memories of the bloodline. These spirit sense arts which could only be casted using mind power, was no different from normal magical techniques. However, some special demonic arts could be attached to one's body, attacking one's Sea of Consciousness. It would be very troublesome to withstand such attack.

Real demon cultivators were rare in the Rain World. Therefore, this Red Flower Old Demon's background was really interesting.

When the demon attacked the ship by surprise for the first time, the demon was at a distance of 500 li from the ship. She casted a number of Core Realm demonic arts which were probing attacks to test the defense of the voyage ship. With the Nascent Realm Low Grade defensive formation, her attacks were meaningless.

During the second time, she stayed 800 li away from the ship. This time, she was much more cautious than before. She used seven types of Nascent Realm Low Grade demonic arts and managed to pierce a hole on the ship's grand formation. However, the shadow of the Starlight Sword flew out from Ning Fan's glabella. Ning Fan stood on the demonic sense of the of the old demon. Then, all the demonic arts that were casted by the demon were incinerated to nothingness by Ning Fan.

That surprised the old demon. She was inwardly shocked as the young Harmonious Spirit cultivator possessed the Sword of Soul Burning.

During the third time, the demon distanced herself a thousand and a hundred li away from the ship. At that range, Ning Fan's spirit sense was not able to sense her. However, it was the old demon's maximum limit for her spirit sense… After all, the old demon's spirit sense was still better than Ning Fan's.

This time, the old demon did not hold back. She casted a Nascent Realm Middle Grade demonic arts, also known as the 'Demon Starfall'. It borrowed the power of the starlight, fusing it with her demonic arts. Its power was extraordinary and it was her ultimate technique.

Within a few breaths time, the grand formation of the ship was crushed! However, the crushing of the formation did not shock Ning Fan. Instead, Ning Fan's eyes turned cold.

"Three times! You have already exceeded the limit of my patience. If there is the fourth attack, you will regret it!"

Suddenly, a slightly dark spirit sense as though there were dark shadows of swords spread out from Ning Fan's mind. It went towards the demonic arts to break the 'Demon Starfall'.

Demonic arts were well-known for the difficulty in defending against them although their power might not compare to magical arts of the same level… Ning Fan used his sword sense to scan through the demonic arts and tore the spirit sense within the arts.

'Demon Starfall' which was the old demon's ultimate technique was crushed itself eliminating the need to defend against it!

"This is… sword sense! This is bad! Sword sense is equivalent to the natural enemy of demonic arts and could restrain my demonic arts easily… How is it possible for a mere young man to have sword sense? Furthermore, the sword sense that he possesses is rare. What type of sword qi constitutes his sword sense? It actually made me, a Nascent Soul demon, to feel dreadful of it…"

After the third attack, Red Flower Old Demon held a greater fear towards Ning Fan's ship. She realized that the success rate of attacking the ship forcefully and grabbing the three female cultivators successfully was only fifty percent. Therefore, she gave up on keeping track of the Seven Apricot Voyage Ship.

As for Ning Fan, he thought that it's a pity the demon stopped following their trails.

It was because the Nascent Soul demon was in fact, a female demon.

He was not interested to know the reason why the female demon was victimizing other female cultivators. However, he was interested in making her into his own cauldron. It would be a great to have a Nascent Soul demon to dual cultivate with.

Unfortunately, the female demon was very cautious. She was aware that her spirit sense surpassed Ning Fan's and her instant movement speed was faster than Ning Fan's speed. Besides, she did not dare to stray close to the ship and casted demonic arts at a distance to attack by surprise. After knowing that she didn't have a hundred percent assurance to defeat them, she immediately gave up.

To catch such female demon, Ning Fan was incapable. Unless the female cultivator offered herself to him. Come to think of it, since Ning Fan could not catch the female demon, would it be possible for the Gold Core experts in Song Country to catch her?

Now, the thing that Ning Fan concerned about was the evil blood-red rune between her eyebrows. It seemed to be a character of the demon race.

Within the rune, there was a blood-red Divine Intent. A savagely brutal killing intent was fused within the Divine Intent. However, it did not belong to the female demon. It should've been planted on the female demon by a powerful Divine Transformatino Realm demon.

The rune had a similar function as the Mental Seal. It was one of the methods to control servants during the era of the ancient demons. Aside from that, there was another function for the rune. It could be activated to deliver a magical arts attack when the servant faced danger.

Perhaps the spell within the female demon's eyebrows was her life-saving skill in times of danger. Ning Fan did not have certainty in defending himself against the attack. Therefore he gradually suppressed the desire of capturing the demon to be his cauldron.

Even if Ning Fan caught the female demon, Ning Fan would never be affected by her ugly appearance. He was able to ignore her ugliness…

"My master once told me that when the light is switched off, everything would look the same," said Ning Fan with a serious expression.

Since Ning Fan did not have the ability to capture the female demon and she was not going to attack the ship anymore, the ship was considered temporarily safe.

For three months, Ning Fan cultivated day in and day out. Only during sunset would he listen to Suqiu's music. The flute's symphony could quell the Heart's Devils. It was very beneficial for Ning Fan. As for Suqiu, she did not question Ning Fan about his personal matters anymore ever since Ning Fan told her his thoughts. She also stopped reprimanding Ning Fan. Now, it seemed that she would not be as frivolous in talking and joking anymore.

What Ning Fan was cultivating bitterly was the "Colossal Bone Secret Arts". If he successfully mastered this technique, he could transform into a giant with a height of ten *zhang. With the body refinement of Silver Bone First Realm, he would be able to fight it out with Early Nascent Soul cultivators. Next, his magic power had already reached its limit, encountering a bottleneck. He did not dare to cultivate his magic power anymore, unless he reaches the Core Formation Realm.

The first level of "Colossal Bone Secret Arts" was known as Vein Burning. At this stage, one needed to use the prescribed spiritual herb for making a medicine soup. After drinking that soup, the medicine must be controlled under magic power to circulate within the Immortal Veins.

The spiritual herbs that were specified in the book were those herbs rich in fire spirit. Luckily, Ning Fan happened to have the herbs. After he mixed them together, the medicine soup looked like the magma in a volcano. Hot bubbles started to form on the surface of the soup. The medicinal properties of the soup was terrifyingly strong.

Once the medicine soup entered one's mouth, one would feel the burning sensation in their throat. When it moved into the immortal veins, the burning sensation intensified as if the immortal veins were going to be reduced to ashes.

However, it was the painful burning sensation that was needed for cultivating "Colossal Bone Secret Arts". he pain from that was unbearable for ordinary people. Even the black corpse was forced to transform Tian Yi Zi into a living corpse, immune to pain before allowing him to cultivate this technique.

For Ning Fan, the pain that one needed to suffer to cultivate this technique was comparable to the pain that he had endured after he took the third Jade Royal Dan. However, Ning Fan did not even let out a sound when he cultivated this technique. He merely frowned when he was enduring the pain. Since he had already successfully endured the pain of taking in the third Jade Royal Dan, he could obviously endure the pain of cultivating the "Colossal Bone Secret Arts"!

But it was a pity that the pain he was experiencing was still not painful enough. If the pain was twice as painful, he would be able to take the fourth Jade Royal Dan as it could only be used when the cultivator was in a painful situation. The secret behind consuming the Jade Royal Dan was to suppress the internal pain with the external pain from the Dan, increasing his body refinement realm.

"If only there was a little more pain, it would be better…"

Ning Fan heaved a sigh while frowning.

If the words that Ning Fan mentioned just now was heard by the members of the sect who also cultivated the "Colossal Bone Secret Arts", they would be astonished as there was not a single cultivator who would cultivate the technique without using anesthetics to numb their sensitivity towards pain.

Only a month passed by when Ning Fan completed the Vein Burning stage. Upon completion, he broke through every realm in the first level of the "Colossal Bone Secret Arts". Now, he was on the verge of stepping into the first realm of the second level.

In his current realm, he had the ability to increase his height to nine *zhang. But this achievement was not sufficient for him.

The second level of "Colossal Bone Secret Arts" was known as Bone Calcination. One would need to convert the magic power within the body into flames and incinerate each of the bones in the body in order to cultivate the technique.

For Gold Core Realm experts, they could solidify their gold cores in their bodies, converting the magic power into core fire. For Harmonious Spirit Realm cultivators, they could only transform their magic power into fire if they are cultivators of the fire element.

Other cultivators could only swallow the spiritual fire from the external world and burn their bones slowly to achieve the same result.

For this technique, the fiercer the flames, the stronger the efficiency of cultivation. For ordinary cultivators, it would take at least a year to a few years in advancing a small realm. For Gold Core Realm experts and fire-based Harmonious Spirit Realm cultivators, it would only take at least half a year to achieve that.

Fortunately, Ning Fan had the Black Devil Flame. With the power of this flame, Ning Fan's speed in cultivating the technique was greatly improved. He was ten times faster than most Gold Core Realm experts. After all, there was not another Gold Core Realm expert who could possess one of the twelve Earth Vein Demonic Flames to refine their bones.

This time, the incineration of the bones hurt even more than the pain of having the veins burned. Unfortunately, it was still not enough for Ning Fan to take in the fourth Jade Royal Dan.

Ning Fan endured the pain and started to cultivate the second level.

After two months, Ning Fan achieved the peak of the ninth realm in the second level of the "Colossal Bone Secret Arts". He could transform into a nine *zhang and nine *chi giant. If he broke through the third level, he could turn himself into a ten *zhang giant!

However, the breakthrough to the third level and the cultivation after that would require a unique pill. It was a third revolution pill, namely the Blood Burning Pill. This pill was not that difficult to refine, but Ning Fan lacked the ingredients which was called "Burning Blood".

"Colossal Bone Secret Arts" only consisted of three levels. If he is able to obtain " Burning Blood" to refine the pill, he would master the technique completely and possessed the ability to transform into a hundred-zhang-tall giant.

A hundred-zhang-tall giant was similar to the terrifying Bone Emperor who eliminated Hu family that night.

Transforming into a hundred-zhang-tall giant was only a single hair from nine oxen of Bone Emperor's Fiendgod body refinement technique. However, it seemed to be the limit of "Colossal Bone Secret Arts". Common body refinement techniques were not good enough for him who possessed the Immemorial Devil Veins. In fact, he needed Immemorial Fiendgod Body Refinement ability for his body refinement technique to reach the level of Void Fragmentation Realm experts.

After returning to his original form, Ning Fan kept the record of "Colossal Bone Secret Arts" and took out another technique called "Sword Finger".

Although the record on the scroll was only a fragment of the complete version, it should still be stronger than the Bone Emperor's White Skeletal Giant. After all, this technique was the inheritance from the sword ancestor of the girl.

The sword qi that was retained on the girl's sword sheath was able to withstand Emperor Moksha's Thousand Zhang Giant Finger.

The girl had once slain the Fiendgods with just a normal long sword.

"If I forgo the sword, none is my match."

It was the message left by the girl. She may seem wild but she was indeed strong.

If Ning Fan succeeded in cultivating "Sword Finger", he would have mastered a trump card with absolute strength. However, the requirement for learning the technique was too demanding and costly. To cultivate the first finger, one would need an amount of Earth Veins and Spiritual Veins which would cover a thousands *li large area. Upon successful cultivation, the veins would all be destroyed!

Those types of veins could only be found in the Nascent Soul level sects in a middle grade cultivation country. Besides, these veins acted as the foundation of those sects. Every member of those sects cultivated using those veins. Therefore, it would be impossible for Ning Fan to use them as he liked.

So, Ning Fan could only wait for the chance to bump into those spiritual veins and act according to the circumstances.

After three months, the journey in Song Country had come to an end.

The voyage ship stopped at the boundary of Song Country.

If the ship moved forward for one more step, it would be considered leaving Song Country. However, Suqiu requested to alight from the ship.

"I apologize for my request. I can't leave them behind without helping them. I have my own Dao. I know your choice is not a mistake because you have your own Dao too. It's just that both of us have different Daos. Therefore, I think it's time for us to part to pursue our own Dao."

Suqiu revealed her angelic smile to Ning Fan for one last time and left for Song Country.

Ning Fan let out a deep sigh. He was not too surprised at her request.

What a troublesome woman. But still, she deserved respect.

"Revered Ning, what should we do now? I don't think it is a good idea to leave Suqiu alone." Said Jing Zhuo with a little confusion. He knew that Ning Fan was in a rush. He knew that Ning Fan would never be willing to waste his time in Song Country. But he also knew that it would be perilous for Suqiu to go to their aid alone.

"She's right. I have my own Dao. If I leave her alone to die, my Dao would shatter. My heart would die. My fellow Daoist, Jing Zhuo, you can just stay here to protect the ship and the girls. Don't be sneak attacked by Red Flower Old Demon. I will return in a short while. It would not take a lot of time."

Killing intent surged in Ning Fan's eyes.

He once made a promise to Suqiu. He had promised to keep her safe. Therefore, he would not do nothing to save her.

Besides, it was a perfect time for him to test his new technique "Colossal Bone Secrets Arts" when Suqiu was alone on the journey.

If that old demon was a male, Ning Fan could fight him using his body refinement technique "Colossal Bone Secret Arts" and save Suqiu.

It was such a pity that the old demon was a female. Even if she was a Nascent Soul expert, she would not be able to escape from Ning Fan once he used the technique to approach her and survived her first attack!

<strong>Note:</strong>

1. *Zhang = 3.13meters

2. *li = 500 meters

3. *Chi = 3313cm

4. *Zhang = 313meters

<strong>Translator Team:</strong>

G-Team [Tommy (TL), Roel (Editor)]