Grasping Evil

When the two black-armored demon generals shouted a command, the black spiritual puppet immediately turned into a black line and rushed towards them. Although it just threw a normal punch, it created a strong gust that nearly caused the hollow space before him to collapse. Its momentum produced waves of black air blasts.

All of a sudden, the spiritual puppet had already appeared in front of the demon fox and landed its punch on him!

The demon fox's pupils dilated in shock. It was impossible for him to evade that strike in time. Upon impact, he let out a shriek of pain and his bones were all broken.

However, after his body was pulverized, there was no fresh blood flowing out from him. Instead, there were flashes of lightning which engulfed his presence. Standing a thousand zhang* away, Lu Sheng whose white robes were now stained with blood reappeared with a deathly pale face. His expression was exceptionally serious.

"A Late Divine Transformation Realm spiritual puppet. It sure is hard to defeat it… If I didn't use my wind lightning phantom body to withstand its punch, I would have died just now. The strength of its single punch is more than enough to take my life…"

He had summoned eight clones using wind lightning. However, when he was dealing with the Wild Beasts just now, six of them were destroyed. Now, the spiritual puppet had destroyed another one, making him have only one more left…

Before he even had the time to contemplate his next move, the spiritual puppet transformed into a cloud of black smoke, emerging in front of his body and landing another punch on him!

Lu Sheng's eyes were filled with surprise. It was at this moment when he was at his weakest as he had just exhausted his strength. He could not reactivate his remaining clone once more to take this punch.

If it lands on my back, I will definitely not survive it!

"Be careful!"

A red shadow flashed past and stood behind Lu Sheng. Facing the incoming attack from the Late Divine Transformation Realm spiritual puppet, he showed no signs of fear.

One of his hands was covered with jade-colored flames, emanating the aura of the Second Level of Jade Life Realm. Without reservation, he hurled that fiery hand and collided with the punch from the spiritual puppet.

"Blood Ignition!"

Lu Ao was also putting his life on the line!

The power of his palm was nearly comparable to that of a Mid Divine Transformation Realm expert's all-out attack. However, as soon as his palm met the puppet's punch, his palm collapsed immediately like rotten wood!

A sudden tremor spread throughout the air. With a loud bang, Lu Ao was severely injured by the punch of the spiritual puppet. As for Lu Sheng who was worn out, he was sent flying away while spurting blood from his mouth by the shockwave of the collision.

Looking at the two grievously injured beings, the two black-armored demon generals wore evil smiles.

"Aren't the members of the Luo Yun Tribe very proud of themselves? Apparently, other than that Lu Bei, the other generals are just useless beings who can do nothing other than feasting and drinking…"

"Detestable…" Lu Sheng and Lu Ao stabilized their stance with difficulty. If it was not because their opponents had a Late Divine Transformation Realm spiritual puppet, the two of them would not have suffered such a terrible defeat. Moreover, if they fought in that desperate manner earlier, they would at least be able to inflict heavy damage on them.

Unfortunately, their opponents were just too cunning. They only used their spiritual puppet without involving themselves as if they had already seen through Lu Sheng and Lu Ao's intentions.

Although there was only a single puppet, the both of them were already unable to cope with it. Besides, there were still two Mid Divine Transformation Realm experts awaiting the proper time to take action. Therefore, for Lu Sheng and Lu Ao, they had no chance of winning at all.

"We are probably going to die here today…" Lu Sheng's tone was calm but his eyes were blazing with a frenzied battle intent.

"As generals, death is inevitable. So what is so scary about it?!" Lu Ao harshly wiped out the blood stains on his beard and smiled while his eyes were burning with anger.

The light from their blood ignition became brighter and stronger. The black puppet took a step forward and mercilessly threw another punch!

They could not take it. They could not receive that punch head-on at all… But just like what Lu Ao said… as generals, what was so frightening about dying?!

The two of them had made up their minds to detonate their demon souls at this moment as their final attacks before they died!

The punch of the black puppet formed into a massive squall that enveloped the vicinity of ten thousand zhang* around them, tearing the space apart.

The two black-armored demon generals from the Upper World leered at Lu Sheng and Lu Ao. They were looking forward to see the two of them die and then obtain their demon pills without needing the slightest effort!

However, just as the puppet approached them with his deadly punch, Lu Sheng who was determined to sacrifice himself suddenly revealed a look of astonishment.

He untied the compass on his waist and took a closer look at it. On the surface of the compass, a mark glowing in purple light was moving towards them with an unimaginable speed.

"He has come!" Lu Sheng yelled surprisingly.

"Who has come?!" Lu Ao's eyes sparkled with curiosity. At the next moment, the heavy stone gate at the northwest entrance was pulverized to pieces by a dark purple shadow!

Upon seeing that sudden explosion, the two black-armored demon generals from the Upper World were shocked. In a flash, the purple shadow had already flown in front of the black puppet, congealing into the physique of a young man!

The young man had a pair of horns on his head. His body was completed covered in purple scales and his long black hair was dancing in the wind. On his purple wings, there were a thousand shiny black plumes which were sharp like swords! As he just reached out his hand and bent his palm upwards, a jade-colored shield surged and the shadow of a mountain slowly loomed. Emanating an indomitable aura, he used that to block the incoming punch!

Although his body refining realm was just at the Second Level of Jade Life Realm, when the puppet's punch collided against his palm, the sound of mountain crumbling echoed throughout the air. This young man with immense devil qi had actually blocked the punch of a Late Divine Transformation Realm puppet!

"Anyone who hurts the members of the Luo Yun Tribe shall die!"

From his palm, one thousand droplets of rain glowing with blood light shot out like darts and flew as fast as shooting stars. When they landed on the chest of the black puppet, deafening sounds of bombardment were heard, making the earth below their feet quake.

Although they did not manage to completely break the black puppet's defense, the immense strength of the volley of projectiles had struck it down to the ground from the air. A large pit was formed on where the black puppet fell.

What made everyone present feel weird was that even though the puppet had just made contact with Ning Fan only once, the spirituality within its eyes were gone. On the left part on its face, a black mark the shape of a crescent moon slowly emerged.

"Lu Bei! It's you!" Lu Sheng's facial expression was immediately filled with delight. As for Lu Ao, he discontentedly stopped himself from detonating his demon soul and literally fell to the ground on his buttocks due to exhaustion. However, the joy within his eyes was hard to conceal.

Having him here, it will be difficult for the both of us to die here today!

On the other hand, the two demon generals from the Upper World are certainly doomed!

However, what made Lu Ao feel amazed was that Ning Fan actually came in his demon form. Besides, judging from the aura of his demon form, Ning Fan's demon intent had attained the level of Small Accomplishment!

"It can't be wrong! During the battle on the Cloud Platform five years ago, I'm sure that he had just attained the Divine Transformation Realm. Presumably, he completed his Third Bloodline Awakening in recent years. For demon cultivators, they could only congeal their demon intents after completing their Third Bloodline Awakening. In other words, this kid has managed to congeal his demon intent and cultivate it to the level of Small Accomplishment within just five years! He is indeed a monstrously talented person. Lord Honorable Demon General's foresight is really always keen and sharp!"

As for Lu Sheng, he did not think that much like Lu Ao. After calming his feeling of surprise, he warned Ning Fan, "The two generals seem to be extremely proficient in controlling puppets. You must be extra cautious…"

Carelessness contributed to major setbacks just like the saying goes, 'A single wrong step causes one to die in the Wujiang River'. Innumerable experts who had attained high cultivation levels usually lost their lives because of carelessness. In a way, Lu Sheng's warning was actually out of good intentions in this case.

"Don't worry! They can summon as many puppets as they want. None of them would be effective on me!"

Ning Fan trod towards them in his demon body with purple wings. His eyes were filled with pride and dignity as if he was the person who could disregard the Heavenly Dao!

His formidable aura force which was on the level of Half-Step Void Refinement Realm pressured the two black-armored generals to the point of nearly suffocating. Immediately, both of them were panic-stricken.

"I am Xu Wei. This is my brother, Xu Dian. We are the demons of the Puppet Spirit Race. Before this, we had no idea that General Bei is here. We are sorry for our offense! We will leave now! We hope the general can have mercy on us!"

The black-armored general who was named Xu Wei was literally horrified at this moment. He could feel that his control over the Late Divine Transformation Realm puppet was completely gone after the black colored crescent mark appeared on its face!

Without a doubt, it showed that Ning Fan had managed to subdue a Divine Transformation Realm puppet without much effort!

What is that technique?! I haven't even seen or heard of it before!

"Have mercy on you? If I am a few seconds later, would the both of you show mercy on them?! Hmmph!"

Ning Fan spread his wings and disappeared, leaving only his afterimage at the place he was standing just now. With an incredible speed, he emerged behind Xu Dian and slapped harshly on his head.

It was just a single smack. However, Xu Dian felt as if there was a one thousand zhang* tall mountain falling upon him. His face was filled with surprise which was replaced by horror as he knew he could not react to it at all. When the tremendous force impacted his head, his skull was literally smashed to pieces!

*Bang*

His skull exploded into blood mist while his lifeless corpse fell upon the ground. However, there was no sign of his demon soul.

Ning Fan emitted a light hum of surprise. Xu Wei then took a step back, patted his storage pouch to produce another spiritual puppet. His brother's demon soul was attached to that puppet.

Puppet Substitution! It was the innate life-keeping ability of the Puppet Spirit Race. At the moment one's demon body was destroyed, they could immediately substitute their bodies with a puppet by transferring their demon souls to a spiritual puppet nearby.

Ning Fan's eyes sparkled with interest.

The innate ability of an influential True Spirit Race sure has its own uniqueness.

However, Xu Wei and Xu Dian did not feel lucky or relaxed. Their expressions were plastered with terror.

The speed that Ning Fan displayed just by travelling with his wings was clearly at the level of Void Refinement Realm!

This kid is just an Early Divine Transformation Realm cultivator but his speed is nearly at the highest top speed which a Divine Transformation Realm expert could reach… He is just too amazing!

However, from the cruel act that Ning Fan did just now, Xu Wei understood that he would definitely not let the two of them go after offending the Luo Yun Tribe.

"Big Brother, let's go all-out!"

"Mm!"

Xu Wei slapped his storage pouch and three black shadows appeared in front of him in succession. Meanwhile, when Xu Dian performed a hand seal, five black spiritual puppets within the storage pouch of the corpse on the ground flew out as five rays of black light, surrounding the area in front and at the back of Ning Fan.

All eight of them were Divine Transformation Realm spiritual puppets with five of them being Early Divine Transformation Realm puppets while the remaining three of them being at the Mid Divine Transformation Realm. Adding Xu Wei who was an expert of the Mid Divine Transformation Realm and Xu Dian whose demon soul was attached to a spiritual puppet which had the same cultivation level as Xu Wei into the equation, Ning Fan was surrounded by ten Divine Transformation Realm experts at this moment!

"There are actually ten Divine Transformation Realm beings!" Lu Ao's expression became stern while Lu Sheng's face was grave. However, they did not look worried about Ning Fan.

After all, they had heard that Ning Fan possessed a Half-Step Void Refinement Realm refined corpse. Moreover, he seemed to have also deployed in the past the Early Divine Transformation Realm Stone Warrior as well as a Mid Divine Transformation Realm female corpse. In short, the fighters he had were not any weaker than Xu Wei's.

To their surprise, Ning Fan did not act according to what they had expected by calling out his black dragon refined corpse and other fighters. Instead, he looked at each of the Divine Transformation Realm black puppets in a scornful manner.

"So what if you have a lot of… spiritual puppets?!"

The next moment, Ning Fan moved his ten fingers to perform a hand seal. An immeasurably strong aura force gradually gathered in his eyes.

With just a glance, the eight spiritual puppets which had no spiritual intelligence gently trembled as if they were afraid.

As Ning Fan continued to change the pattern of his hand seals, traces of black qi began to encircle the tips of his fingers. At the same time, a black mark the shape of a crescent moon surfaced on the left part of each of the spiritual puppets' face!

Right at the moment when the black crescent mark emerged, a strange yet startling phenomenon happened!

The eight Divine Transformation Realm spiritual puppets broke free from the Xu brothers' control and knelt down and kowtowed towards Ning Fan.

Even the Late Divine Transformation Realm black puppet which was blasted into the huge pit climbed out from it and kowtowed towards Ning Fan.

Xu Wei was completely stunned whereas Xu Dian began to feel terror and panic!

After Xu Dian's demon body was killed instantly, his demon soul resided within a Mid Divine Transformation Realm puppet. However, when Ning Fan completed his hand seal, a black crescent mark actually manifested on the left part of the puppet's face as well. At the emergence of the black mark, the body of the puppet no longer heeded Xu Dian's commands and knelt down at Ning Fan's direction like the others puppets!

"Why would it be like this? How could my spiritual puppet which was made using the secret arts of my Puppet Spirit Race be a turncoat? Lu Bei! What exactly have you done?!" Xu Wei shouted angrily.

"You will never know!"

Ning Fan's eyes were indifferent and cold. This technique was of course, the Grievance Technique: Life Imprisonment, a technique imparted to Ning Fan by Luo You.

This technique was flawed as it was just an incomplete part of the technique. Even so, it was enough to allow Ning Fan directly subdue a Mid Divine Transformation Realm spiritual puppet at a distance!

Although it was difficult to subdue a Late Divine Transformation Realm puppet, if he was able to have physical contact with it, he would then have a chance of subduing it.

Xu Wei and Xu Dian were members of the Puppet Spirit Race. They had tons of spiritual puppets. However, to Ning Fan, as long as it is not a puppet of the Peak Divine Transformation Realm, there was nothing to be afraid of.

"Ten spiritual puppets. This gift sure is big… Now, die!"

When Ning Fan uttered the word 'die', Xu Dian's demon soul which was staying within the Mid Divine Transformation Realm puppet was literally erased by a black power of the moon. After emitting a cry of pain, his soul flew away and scattered!

"Second Brother!"

Xu Wei's eyes were filled with fear. At first, he thought that by taking out all their spiritual puppets, they could still put up a fight against Ning Fan. However, he had never anticipated that as soon as they summoned their puppets, the situation would completely reverse…

The members of the Puppet Spirit Race were weak and feeble in nature. But they had a unique natural talent in using and manipulating spiritual puppets. In spite of that, once they lost their puppets, their talents could be considered useless…

"I'll die… I'll die! This Lu Bei was already able to kill Wang Xiao by himself. Today, he seized my ten Divine Transformation Realm puppets and kept them for himself. Additionally, he still has a Half-Step Void Refinement Realm refined corpse by his side… I'll die today!"

"Die… Haha. I really did not think that I'm going to die so soon! Fine. Fine… Then, I shall fight you to death! Blood Sun Technique: Broken Sun!"

At this moment, Xu Wei ignited his demon blood. With a hand seal, he detonated his own demon soul!

A self-detonation by a Mid Divine Transformation Realm expert was no trifling matter.

Xu Wei let out the last roar of anger in his life. It roared like thunder, shaking the entire heaven and earth. The aura of his self-detonation turned into a demonic blood light and formed a wild gust of wind. From afar, Xu Wei's body seemed to have turned into a dark red sun, radiating a blinding blood light!

An ear-splitting sound of an explosion reverberated throughout the massive palace instantly hundreds of times, as if the sky had collapsed. With Xu Wei's demon body being at the center, the blood-red sun melted into fire waves, blasting every part of the hollow space into pieces!

Xu Wei was dead! However, the force produced by his self-detonation was more than enough to cause a Late Divine Transformation Realm expert to suffer grievous injuries!

Lu Ao's countenance changed drastically. What he had just witnessed earlier was that Ning Fan actually cornered a Mid Divine Transformation expert to the point of choosing to detonate his own demon soul without attempting to resist. In his entire life, such a scene was absolutely rare!

As for my decision to detonate my own demon soul earlier, I only resorted to that means knowing that I am going to lose anyway, after fighting with all my might…

But this Xu Wei straight away detonated his demon soul without even trying to retaliate. That was enough to prove how fearful he was of Lu Bei as he did not even have the courage to fight him…

Ning Fan's eyes narrowed with seriousness. He lifted his palms high as the second blood-red star on his glabella shone. A power that erodes sunlight surged in his palms, forming a bottomless vortex.

"Eroding Yin!"

The power from the self-detonation which was capable of grievously wounding a Late Divine Transformation Realm expert was bizarrely eroded and weakened by the small vortex on his palms.

Within just a brief moment of time, the force produced by the self-detonation was greatly reduced as it could now just hurt a Mid Divine Transformation Realm expert.

Ning Fan did not utter a single word. He slapped his storage pouch and took out a dark golden snake statue which was a few cun* long and hurled it to the center of the explosion.

As it moved along the wind, it grew and eventually turned into a massive black dragon. Its eyes were empty. Facing the force created from Xu Wei's self-detonation, the black dragon opened its mouth and sucked every last bit of it into its abdomen.

"Return!"

After blocking the power from Xu Wei's self-detonation, Ning Fan kept the dragon corpse. With a flick of his sleeve, he produced a gust of wind that blew away the dense blood mist in the air.

The hollow space recovered as a gentle breeze blew past. Ning Fan dismissed his demon form and dispersed his aura force. His black hair was flying in the wind as he stared at the ten new puppets and indifferently said, "The Puppet Spirit Race has really given me a great gift…"

Indeed, it was a precious gift. Even the generals from the Upper World could not easily have ten Divine Transformation Realm spiritual puppets, let alone experts in the mortal world. Perhaps Xu Wei and Xu Dian must be quite reputable among the Puppet Spirit Race for them to have these spiritual puppets. Sympathetically, they met Ning Fan, a person who specialized in restraining spiritual puppets. Naturally, these puppets now belong to Ning Fan.

Lu Sheng and Lu Ao were both stupefied.

The ten Divine Transformation Realm spiritual puppets were all subdued by Ning Fan! The lowest cultivation level among them was the Early Divine Transformation Realm while the highest cultivation level was the Late Divine Transformation Realm.

Moreover, he had even neutralized the power produced by a Mid Divine Transformation Realm expert's self-detonation with ease!

Lu Sheng and Lu Ao exchanged looks with each other. Both of them could notice a hint of respect towards Ning Fan from each other's eyes.

"This Lu Bei certainly is a monster. Although he is just at the Early Divine Transformation Realm, he is already this powerful. If he breaks through to the Mid Divine Transformation Realm or the Late Divine Transformation Realm, he probably will be unrivalled among the experts below the Void Refinement Realm…"

"Come to think of it, Lu Bei, do you know what this place is? According to what I heard from the Wild Beasts, this place seems to be known as the Star Palace!" Lu Ao asked.

"Wild Beasts?" Ning Fan's gaze scanned across the area and discovered the four massive corpses of the beasts which were killed by Lu Sheng and Lu Ao earlier.

However, when he took a closer look at the appearances of the beasts, Ning Fan's eyes were immediately filled with shock.

"They are not Wild Beasts!"

"What? If they aren't Wild Beasts, why would they produce demon pills?" Don't tell me they are something like refined corpses or spiritual puppets? I heard that some historical remains would have these creatures as the guardians of areas like these…" Lu Sheng hesitated.

"No. These four ferocious beasts are not Wild Beasts, refined corpses nor spiritual puppets. If I am not wrong, they are… star spirits! Star spirits are a type of creature that inhabits the Stars of Fiendgods which used to be the place for the strong experts in ancient times…"

However, Ning Fan was unable to understand why the creatures that could only live in the Stars of Fiendgods would appear in the Star Palace!

Once these creatures left the Stars of Fiendgods, they would immediately die.

"Is it possible that this Star Palace is one of the Stars of Fiendgods itself… If that's the case, perhaps the demon star from the Celestial Emperor's left eye has manifested into the Star Palace?"

<strong>Translated by Tommy, edited by Roel.</strong>

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