Grasping Evil

Ning Fan had finally grasped the Second Finger of Sword Finger, though it still contained some flaws. If he uses it in battle, he would definitely suffer injuries himself too.

A few days later, Ning Fan gained the recognition of the seven pieces of the silver armor.

Within the Yuan Yao World, he donned the armor. The silver helmet and the silver mail made him look like a celestial being from the heavens. With the addition of the Wind Lightning Wings which had black feathers, his presence emanated a strange demonic qi.

With a single thought, the seven parts of the spiritual armor set together with the Wind Lightning Wings, disappeared and went into his body.

And when he willed it, a silver light radiated from his body and he was covered in silver armor with a pair of black wings on his back once again.

"Light…is…impressive…" The female corpse's eyes twinkled like stars.

As for Stone Warrior, he was overwhelmed when he stared at Ning Fan who was armed to the teeth.

"It's a complete set of spiritual armor… A complete set of Low Profound Earth Grade Spiritual Armor like yours is even more expensive than a single piece of Peak Profound Earth Grade spiritual armor. It's very obvious that Xu Rushan is trying to befriend you by giving you such an expensive gift… Zhou Ming, what exactly have you done to touch Xu Rushan's heart, making him be so willing to befriend you?" Stone Warrior could tell that he had missed a lot of things when he was sealed into a stone statue.

"I killed some men… and Xu Rushan took a fancy to my capabilities…"

Ning Fan just told him half of the truth as he did not want to reveal anything about the Evil Luo Mountain.

At first, the reason why Xu Rushan befriended him was maybe because he wanted to obtain his help to hunt the Fake Wild Beasts.

After the incident in the Sparrow Ascending Stage, Xu Rushan's attitude towards Ning Fan greatly changed. He almost granted whatever Ning Fan requested. The only possible reason that Ning Fan could think of was the mysterious image – Evil Luo Mountain!

But there was no need for him to tell Stone Warrior about it.

Currently, Stone Warrior felt inhibited by just facing Ning Fan who was fully armed.

Ning Fan who had now attained the Jade Life Body Refining Realm was able to fight against Stone Warrior.

After comprehending the Second Finger of Sword Finger, Ning Fan was capable of even killing Stone Warrior!

Not only that, the complete set of Armor of the Silver General that Ning Fan wore also gave a huge boost to his power. His strength, magic power, speed, defense… The complete set of spiritual armor was specially made for cultivators who practiced the martial arts of immortals. In other words, the most suitable cultivators to wear this spiritual armor were those cultivators who focus on refining their bodies and techniques.

Suddenly, an illusion appeared in Stone Warrior's mind.

With this set of armor, his defense becomes so strong that it can directly take a hit from my Gui Technique, Seven Kills.

Besides, after every part of the armor recognized him as the master, he seems to have unlocked some kind of offensive skill of the armor.

A body of silver armor with a pair of black wings was indeed impressive. But something seemed to be missing.

I need a weapon.

Ning Fan's eyes moved and sensed the activation of the ability - Spiritual Formation. Now, his absorption speed of the Primordial Power of heaven and earth increased by one fold.

Originally, Ning Fan was not able to condense his Primordial Power into Heavenly Spiritual Energy to perform a Divine Transformation Realm ability with his current cultivation level.

But with the help of the Spiritual Formation, he had a feeling that he would be able to grasp the Heavenly Spiritual Energy which was freely floating in heaven and earth!

He recalled Xu Rushan saying that after gaining the recognition of the full set of armor, he would be able to condense Heavenly Spiritual Power and form a Heavenly Spiritual Sword!

"Condense!"

He reached out his hand out to the air and grasped. When he opened his palm again, a silver vortex emerged from his hand. Traces of Heavenly Spiritual Power was pulled out from the air and gradually congealed into a one zhang* and eight chi* long silver serpent spear, beaming with bright silver light.

With the newly-formed spear in his hand, his forehead was beaded with cold sweat.

This silver spear sure is terrifying!

If I become the least bit careless, I might get killed by this spear because of the backlash that is more than capable of immediately eradicating a Late Nascent Soul Realm cultivator like me.

Silver Armor, black feathers, silver spear.

They actually made him resemble the Divine General of the Ancient Heavenly Court.

After witnessing the silver spear, the eyes of Stone Warrior widened and they were both filled with absolute astonishment.

"There's no way I can withstand this spear…The power of this spear is even greater than Heaven Breaker which is still incomplete!"

Stone Warrior's power was almost on par with Xu Rushan.

Xu Rushan said so himself that if Ning Fan gained the recognition of the Armor of the Silver General, he would not want to become Ning Fan's enemy. It was because not even him could take a single strike of the silver spear!

"What great power…"

Ning Fan felt that all his power and strength had been emptied and channeled into the spear.

If he throws the spear, the mountains and rivers within tens of thousands of li* would probably be razed to the ground in an instant, destroying every possible living creature within the vicinity.

The next moment, he dispersed the silver vortex in his hands as well as the silver spear. With just a thought, the spiritual armor vanished.

After landing on the ground, he moved his fingers to calculate the days and found out that the auction had already been initiated three days ago.

However, he felt just as well because only Gold Core Realm items and Nascent Soul Realm items would be auctioned on the first few days.

I guess the last auction for the Peak Nascent Soul Realm experts has yet to begin.

I wonder if Su Yao would join the auction to buy the Dao Fruit as she had mentioned…

He took out two Fourth Revolution Pills, one was gold while the other was silver and consumed them both. Both of them were pills given by Xu Rushan.

The golden pill was the Heart Primordial Pill, which could restore a great amount of magic power. As for the silver pill, it was the Silver Blood Pill, which could recover his strength and heal his injuries.

After setting Stone Warrior aside, Ning Fan held the female corpse and a portal congealed by the power of the Yuan Yao World appeared.

"Weiliang. It's time for us to leave!"

Immortal's Abode Tower. As the name implied, this tower was an auction tower created using an Immortal's Abode Magical Treasure.

The last auction for Nascent Soul Realm items was being held at this place.

The surrounding area of the tower was sealed off, leaving only a path for the cultivators to move. Occasionally, some cultivators would exit the tower and leave Joint Joyous Island after successfully acquiring the items they wanted.

Yu Long had already been waiting outside of the tower after handling the registration for Ning Fan. As soon as he caught sight of Ning Fan, he immediately led them inside the tower.

Ning Fan was inwardly amazed when his eyes landed on the internal hall of the tower.

This Xu Rushan used an Immortal's Abode Magical Treasure to hold an auction? The backing he has sure is impressive…

If Ning Fan was correct, this Immortal's Abode Magical Treasure and the golden house that Xu Rushan showed him in the past were made by the same person.

The quality of the magical treasures is comparable to that of my Cauldron Ring.

After all, with the memories of the Ancient Chaos Emperor, Ning Fan also inherited all the Treasure Refinement Techniques that the emperor learnt prior to achieving the Void Fragmentation Realm.

The person who made those Immortal Abode's Magical Treasures can't just be a nobody in the Endless Sea.

"I heard that one of the Venerated Seven, the old ancestor of Heavenly Abode Sect – Dong Xu, is proficient in techniques which manipulate the Gimmick Puppets. Aside from that, he also excels in creating Immortal Abode's Magical Treasures and a master of divination. On the Board of Devils, this person secures the top ranking with his ability to perform divination. However, this person is secretive in his movements and doesn't leave much of his traces as he always acts alone. Rumor has it that not more than 10 people in the Endless Sea has actually seen his face… If my guess is not wrong, only he possess the skills and techniques to build and refine the Immortal Abode's Magical Treasures. The reason why Venerated Giant of the Giant Devil Sect was able to obtain the magical treasures from Dong Xu was probably because of their strong friendship…Therefore, Xu Rushan who is allied to the Giant Devil Sect was able to obtain two Immortal's Abode Magical Treasures…"

Countless thoughts surfaced within his mind. From just the Immortal's Abode Tower, he deduced that the Giant Devil Sect was very likely to have a strong tie with the Heavenly Abode Sect.

After clearing his thoughts, Ning Fan turned towards Yu Long and asked, "About the information I asked you to gather, how is the progress?"

"Reporting to Master. According to my findings, there are at least 17 Peak Nascent Soul Realm experts from the External Endless Sea and 74 Peak Nascent Soul realm experts from the Internal Endless Sea participating in this auction. For experts at the Divine Transformation Realm and above, other than Old Ancestor Xu - Xu Rushan, there are also Yan Zhongze from the Cloud Treading Sect and Zhuo Tong from the Purple Charm Gate. However, due to some personal matters, Old Ancestor Zhuo had left earlier…"

"Mm-hmm… How many Divine Transformation Realm experts came from the Internal Endless Sea?"

"I have only discovered four of them on the surface. They are the Divine Transformation Realm elder of the Zhou Clan, Zhou Qi, who was brought along by the ' Son of Heaven of the Zhou Clan', the third elder of the Sword Island, Guan Xiong a.k.a 'Sword Slave', the third elder of the Demon Sealing Sect, Purple Gu Taoist and the vice sect master of Black Buddha Sect, Evil Light Monk… However, I wasn't able to find out if there are still some hiding in the dark. As Master had specially ordered me to keep an eye on the people from the Demon Sealing Sect and the Black Buddha Sect, I have collected some information about the two Divine Transformation Realm experts without being noticed. Regarding the Divine Transformation Realm human cauldron, the woman's background is a mystery. Please forgive me, Master. Yu Long is unable to find out anything about this woman… The only thing I know is that this woman is not easy to pluck…"

"If there is only the Black Buddha Sect, it would have been fine. However, three out of the seven forces of the Venerated Seven had come. The Zhou Clan of the Internal Endless Sea; the Sword Island; the Demon Sealing Sect… If it's just about the Secret Realm of the Broken World, the Divine Transformation Realm experts would not have appeared. But it is a little unreasonable to have so many Divine Transformation Realm experts from the forces of the Venerated Seven coming for just a Divine Transformation Realm human cauldron. However, other than the Black Buddha Sect, none of the Spirit Divine Transformation alm experts among the small forces came, as if they smelled danger and did not dare to come… Perhaps Xu Rushan did not lie to me. There must be some problems with the identity of the Divine Transformation Realm human cauldron…Not even a single detail can be found?"

Ning Fan knitted his brows. The reason why he ordered Yu Long to find out the details about the auction prior to his arrival was because of the Divine Transformation Realm human cauldron.

If he could obtain the human cauldron, he would at the very least gain 500 units of magic power. Despite knowing the fact that that human cauldron had a mysterious background, Ning Fan could not remain unaffected by her.

Suddenly, Ning Fan stopped walking and eventually the female corpse and Yu Long who was also following him did the same.

He took a glance at Yu Long's body and his eyes turned cold.

"Yu Long, you were targeted… After all, it is still too dangerous to ask you, an Early Nascent Soul Realm cultivator, to pry into the details of Divine Transformation Realm old monsters..."

"Wha..What?!" Yu Long was stunned. He did not have the slightest idea that he had been marked by some people.

In the next moment, Ning Fan pointed his finger at the middle of Yu Long's forehead which was the center of the latter's Sea of Consciousness. Immediately, he released a trace of Primordial Energy, immobilizing Yu Long. Yu Long was inwardly astonished by his Master's means.

He is unimaginably strong. By just using the Primordial Energy of heaven and earth, he restricted the movements of my body.

When Ning Fan withdrew his finger from Yu Long's forehead, Yu Long's expression turned pale at what he saw. There were four spirit sense seals planted on his Sea of Consciousness without him knowing!

The four spirit sense seals were of course planted by the four Divine Transformation Realm experts.

It would be impossible for them not to leave anything on a junior Nascent Soul Realm cultivator who tried to gather information on them. However, they did not immediately eliminate Yu Long because they were fearful of the person who was backing Yu Long – Zhou Ming. Instead, they gave a warning to him by planting the seals.

Among the four traces of spirit sense, one of them was akin to lightning as it was left by the expert of Zhou Clan. The second trace of spirit sense had the shape of a sword, indicating clearly that it was planted by the expert of Sword Island. The third one contained immense demon power. It was rather vicious as it might crush Yu Long's Sea of Consciousness when extracting it. Without a doubt, it was planted by the expert of the Demon Sealing Sect. It seems that the Divine Transformation Realm expert of the sect was not really afraid of Zhou Ming after all. Besides, this spirit sense was able to stimulate the purple qi within his All-Heaven Relic.

Ning Fan got that qi after he killed the Eagle Crane Eagle. Since it responded to the spirit sense, maybe the qi was planted by the same Divine Transformation Realm expert of the sect who had come to the auction.

As for the last trace of spirit sense which had a resemblance of both Buddha and the Devil, it was obviously left by the Divine Transformation Realm expert of the Black Buddha Sect.

The expert expressed an absolute hostility towards Ning Fan without reservation as he afflicted a deadly venom on Yu Long at the same time he planted his spirit sense on him.

When Ning Fan extracted the venomous spirit sense, a voice echoed from it with a contemptuous tone.

"I am Evil Light. You will be a dead man soon!"

The reason why he held such enmity towards Ning Fan was probably because he had found out that the Five Ugly Monks had been murdered by him.

However, be it the vicious spirit sense of the Demon Sealing Sect or the venomous spirit sense of the Black Buddha Sect, Ning Fan extracted all of them with ease.

Currently, he already possess the power to battle against experts at the Divine Transformation Realm. To him, extracting the four traces of spirit sense was just a trivial matter to him.

He conjured four traces of grey flames on the tips of his fingers and incinerated the spirit sense.

After that, his eyes became cold and merciless.

As for Yu Long, he was nearly shocked to the point of collapsing to the ground. He never knew that he had been targeted by the Divine Transformation Realm experts. He could have lost his life if not for his Master.

It's so terrifying…

"Thank you Master for saving my life!" Yu Long was so grateful that he almost shed tears.

"It's nothing. Since you are my servant, I won't let you die in vain."

From the incident that happened to Yu Long, Ning Fan gathered that the Zhou Clan and the Sword Island did not hold grudges at him at the moment. Not only that, they did not even attach a hint of importance to him.

For the Demon Sealing Sect, they seemed to be unaware that it was him who killed the Eagle Crane Elder. Or maybe they were not even concerned about the death of one of their elders.

In regards to the Black Buddha Sect, it had explicitly showed their intention of treating Ning Fan as their enemy.

The reason why Evil Light Monk did not act in the island is probably because he heard that Xu Rushan has associated with me and he is fearful of the influence of Xu Rushan.

If I'm not wrong, Evil Light Monk will definitely pursue and kill me once I leave the Joint Joyous Island!

But he will only have the chance after I have completed my mission in the Secret Realm of the Broken World.

All in all, Ning Fan held no fear towards Evil Light Monk. If he has a chance, he would really want to eradicate people like Evil Light Monk and Purple Gu Taoist.

The Immortal's Abode Tower had four floors. The first floor was for the Gold Core Realm cultivators; the second floor was for the Nascent Soul Realm cultivators; the third floor was for the Peak Nascent Soul Realm experts; and the fourth floor was for the Divine Transformation Realm experts.

Since the auction for Gold Core Realm items had already ended, the first floor became empty. Ning Fan's seat was at the third floor.

Each of the Peak Nascent Soul Realm experts had their own respective room that had a protective layer that hindered any outsider from spying on them using spirit sense. The experts must hold the jade token of their respective rooms before they could enter. Therefore, no outsider was able to sneak into the rooms.

But what surprised Ning Fan was that there were already two people sitting inside his room.

One of them was Xu Qiuling while the other was a dirty old geezer.

Upon seeing the two people who had intruded his Master's room, Yu Long's eyes were filled with fright. It was because before he went to welcome Ning Fan, there was no one in the room.

"Er. Master, these two people…" Yu Long was worried that Ning Fan was going to reprimand him for his blunder.

"Never mind. They are my friends…"

Ning Fan waved his hand, showing that there was no harm for having them here.

It was not surprising at all for the daughter of Xu Rushan to have the means to sneak into the rooms of other cultivators.

"Is there anything I can help you with, Mistress Xu?"

Ning Fan calmly sat down and took a sip of the tea that was prepared on the tea table before them. His expression did not change but deep inside, he was astonished.

No, he was not astonished because of the presence of Xu Qiuling. Instead, he was amazed by the dirty old man sitting beside Xu Qiuling.

This person's aura showed that he was just an Early Nascent Soul Realm expert. But when Ning Fan examined him properly, he found out that this person's aura should be at… Peak Divine Transformation Realm!

One of the Venerated Seven?!

Could he be Venerated Giant of the Giant Devil Sect?!

No. It's not. His body does not reveal an overwhelming body refining realm like Venerated Giant who is well-known for his unrivalled body refining realm.

What surprised Ning Fan the most was the person's eyes which were like a bottomless vortex. He could not stare directly into his eyes because if he did, his mind would immediately be absorbed into the vortex and be eradicated!

Why did Xu Qiuling bring such a powerful expert with her to find me?

"Young Master Zhou, this is Qiuling's master. He taught me all the techniques and knowledge about gardening. Master said he wants to meet Young Master Zhou. Therefore, Qiuling became bold and brought Master here without getting your permission. I hope that Young Master wouldn't mind."

Hmm? Judging from Qiuling's expression, she seems to be unaware that her master isn't just a common Nascent Soul Realm cultivator, not to mention a so-called gardening teacher. He is one of the Venerated Seven of the Internal Endless Sea instead…

It actually makes sense too. If any of the Venerated Seven tries to conceal their cultivation level, no one would be able to see through them, unless they are experts at the Peak Divine Transformation Realm…

Maybe Xu Rushan himself is unaware that there is a terrifying being residing in his courtyard too.

"This old man is Shui Ye. Greetings to Fellow Daoist Zhou Ming… Meeting you is indeed better than hearing about you from the rumors. *Clicks tongue* Fellow Daoist really has great fortitude! Even after meeting me, Fellow Daoist still can enjoy tea without panicking."

To outsiders, his words might be praising Ning Fan for not judging a person by their appearance as Ning Fan did not chase him away because he was a dirty old man.

But to Ning Fan, the elderly man's words were clearly complimenting him.

Being able to drink his tea without losing his calm even at the face of one of the Venerated Seven of the Internal Endless Sea… If that person who did that was not extremely audacious, then the person must have confidence in his techniques, making him be unafraid of the Venerated Seven.

Truth be told, Ning Fan did not pretend to be calm. It was because if he finds anything fishy, he could immediately hide himself inside the Yuan Yao World.

Among the Venerated Seven, the expert who has a favorable impression of me might just be Venerated Giant while the one who holds enmity against me should be Venerated Demon of the Demon Sealing Sect.

Who exactly is this man?!

Shui Ye…

…

He is Dong Xu!

Shui Ye(水(shuǐ)业(yè)) are parts of the Chinese words of his true name, Dong Xu[1]

(洞(dòng)虚(xū))!

If he really is Dong Xu who is an expert who has a close friendship with Venerated Giant, then would it mean he holds no hostility towards me?

However, Ning Fan could not understand why the dignified Venerated Dong Xu did not stay in the Internal Endless Sea and came to the auction at the External Endless Sea instead.

"Greetings from Junior Zhou Ming to Venerated Dong Xu! I wonder why Senior would personally come to meet junior." Ning Fan communicated with him using telepathy.

"Hmm? This child is quite clever as you are able to correctly guess my identity. Why did I look you?... Er… Let me think about it… I guess it's because I have taken a fancy on your Immortal's Abode Magical Treasure and Treasure of the Cosmos. Wait. Do I want to kill you and rob you of your treasures?"

As Dong Xu's words echoed in Ning Fan's mind, a sense of immense danger surged within his heart. He felt that the dirty old man before him was going to kill him at the next moment!

But a moment later, the old man scratched the back of his head and gently shook his head.

"No. It's not… Since I have lots of Immortal's Abode Magical Treasures, why do I still need yours? As for the Treasure of the Cosmos in your hands, it belongs to the Lost World Palace. You dare to take it, but this old man doesn't…Hmm…Let me think again… Oh, I remember now!"

The old man swung his head while closing his eyes. Suddenly, his eyes opened wide and pointed at Ning Fan with his finger. What he said next was truly shocking.

"This old man sought you to tell you, Ning Fan, that you must not form your Primordial Spirit in your entire life, otherwise…you will die!"

Venerated Dong Xu actually knew Ning Fan's true name!

<strong>Note:</strong>

1. Click <anno data-annotation-id="05a0e839-a03a-bda0-a68e-acd0f358e28a">here </anno>to see the explanation of how Shui Ye is derived from Dong Xu.

<strong>Translator Team:</strong>

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

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