Grasping Evil

In ancient times, there were fiendgods whose bodies were much bigger than the star domains. Each of the stars residing within their glabella or eyes were already so large that it could contain a chiliocosm.

In the world of magic, there lived a kind of abnormal creature which existed in different forms, with most of them feeding on the power of starlight. Besides, when their master needed them, they could temporarily leave their stars and fight for their master.

Since this place has long been inhabited by star spirits, this Star Palace itself was very likely to be the item which was eagerly sought after by the group of experts – the Star of the Celestial Emperor!

Ironically, many of the demons who came to the Third World harboring that intention were unaware that the item they were looking for was just right beneath their feet.

"If this Star Palace is the Star of the Celestial Emperor, how should I obtain its power and break through to the Mid Divine Transformation Realm… Perhaps I will get to know more about it after finding Lu Wu's remnant soul! The Heaven Hall…"

Ning Fan mumbled to himself for a while. When he pointed his finger at the ten newly obtained puppets, each and every one of them turned into clay figurines and flew into his storage pouch.

After that, he stood guard at that area to protect Lu Sheng and Lu Ao from danger while they were treating their wounds. Seven days later, their conditions stabilized.

The compass possessed by Lu Sheng was specially made by Lu Daochen himself. From the positions of the luminous spot on the compass, Ning Fan guessed that Lu Daochen probably had already reached the Heaven Hall.

The injuries of the two generals couldn't completely recover within a short period of time. Fortunately, there was no one else at the palace they were staying in right now. Therefore, it was not dangerous for them to tend to their wounds here. Since both of them were already injured, Ning Fan could only choose to enter the Earth Hall by himself.

After pushing open the massive gate of the Human Hall, Ning Fan transformed into a cloud of purple smoke and flew into the Earth Hall. Each time he propelled forward, he would directly move for a distance of fifty thousand li*.

The Human Hall comprised of lands and was surrounded by palaces. The Earth Hall, however, was a vast starry sea. Other than the star islands which occasionally appeared along his way, it was rare to find any place to land.

There were quite a lot of demon beasts hidden within the star sea. All of them were transformed from the star spirits. Once any living beings passed by, they would pop out and sneak attack them. For Ning Fan, naturally, there was nothing to worry about regarding the star spirits which were below the Divine Transformation Realm. By simply wielding his Separation Slayer Sword, he cut every one of them down with ease.

What made him feel slightly concerned was those thousand zhang* tall Wild Beasts which emerged once in a while along his way.

Among those Wild Beasts which were transformed from the star spirits, most of them were basically of Mid Divine Transformation Realm. It was rare to find some of them which were at the Early Divine Transformation Realm. There were even Wild Beasts at the Late and Peak Divine Transformation Realm!

However, Ning Fan did not really hunt all of them down. He only acted occasionally to kill some of the Mid Divine Transformation Realm ones which were left alone after having been separated from its group. In that manner, throughout the four months he spent flying in the Earth Hall, he had actually killed more than ten of the Mid Divine Transformation Realm Wild Beasts and obtained some demon pills.

Of course, the danger he faced was extremely great. The riskiest occurrence of all was when Ning Fan was being pursued by a large group of Wild Beasts which was led by a Half-Step Void Refinement Realm Wild Beast. Luckily, Ning Fan straight away summoned the golden flame chariot and used it to shake off the group of pursuers without much effort. When he picked up speed and forged ahead of his path, the beasts stared at his back in bewilderment. None of them had expected that an Early Divine Transformation Realm expert would actually be able to move at a speed comparable to that of a Void Refinement Realm expert.

Each of the battles he encountered throughout the journey made his aura force became even more steady and refined. Once in a while, he would set foot on an island to assimilate the power of the demon pills and enhance his power. Within four months, he had managed to increase his demon power by 700 units.

Most importantly, after killing more than ten Wild Beasts, Ning Fan had actually obtained a Dao Fruit glittering in silver light!

The presence of the Dao Fruit was absolutely meaningful to him because it, without a doubt, indicated that his luck had truly returned.

This Dao Fruit could at the very least increase his demon power by one thousand units. At the moment when he arrived at the end of the star sea, his demon power had already reached 20150 units.

Compared to the common experts at the same cultivation level as him, Ning Fan's demon power was obviously more vigorous and forceful than the rest.

At the end of the sea, there was a star island hanging high up above the sky which stretched into millions of li*. At the center of the island, there was a giant gate made of starlight. Anyone who entered the gate would straight away be led to the Heaven Hall.

When Ning Fan landed on the island, Ning Fan's facial expression became serious. On the exterior zone of the star island, there were lots of traces and marks left from battles. Moreover, there were a few massive corpses that belonged to Wild Beasts lying on the ground. All of them had began to decay. Presumably, they had been dead for a few months already.

After searching for the vicinity of hundreds of thousands of li*, Ning Fan discovered that this island had at least about one hundred types of spiritual herbs which were ten thousand years old and above. However, most of them had been taken away by someone.

The similarity between the spiritual herbs on this island and those in the Human Hall was that most of them had thick medicinal ashes beside them. However, the medicinal ashes seemed to have been collected by someone else too.

"Interesting. Mere medicinal ashes are useless in concocting pills yet someone was intentionally gathering them. I wonder who would do such a peculiar thing. Besides, the time when the medicinal ashes were collected was different from the time when the Wild Beasts were killed. Some of them were collected a few months ago while some of them were just collected recently… In other words, there must be someone else on this island!"

Ning Fan activated his All-Heaven Relic and carefully travelled on the island with his presence concealed. The closer he got to the center of the island, the stronger he could sense the qi left by the people who had arrived before him. Moreover, judging from the qi, there were not just a few of them and apparently, all of them were females.

A few days later, Ning Fan was already approaching the central zone of the island. Here, he could feel traces of activity from somewhere nearby.

All of a sudden, a deafening roar of a Half-Step Void Refinement Realm beast echoed across the vicinity, causing countless birds which had low cultivation levels to fly out from the forest in shock like black clouds.

Moreover, a few Wild Beasts were so terrified that they scattered and fled in different directions.

After that frightening roar, a silver bear beast which was nearly three thousand zhang* tall ran with heavy stomps that shook heaven and earth, trampling over mountains and ravines as if he was chasing after something.

In front of the gigantic bear, a woman clad in green-feathered robes was riding on a seven-colored huge crane, trying to escape from the beast with her brows knitted together in anxiety. On top of the crane, there was also a little loli who was dressed in yellow robes. She seems to have suffered grievous injuries and was unconscious.

Both of them were experts at the Late Divine Transformation Realm. The rainbow-colored crane which they were riding on was a type of extremely profound traverse technique.

However, since the woman who was controlling the crane was also injured and was running out of strength, the giant crane's speed decreased as it gradually became illusory.

When Ning Fan noticed her appearance from afar, his face turned grim and instantly dashed towards her in a ray of light.

"Imperial Concubine Wu Yan…"

Four months ago, Imperial Concubine Zi and the other imperial concubines had broken through the Human Hall and entered the star sea of the Earth Hall. After scouting around and finding that the island contained a concentrated spiritual qi as well as multitudes of spiritual herbs, she left Wu Yan alone on the island to gather the herbs while bringing the rest of the imperial concubines with her into the Star Gate.

Gathering spiritual herbs were Wu Yan's duty at first. As such, there was no way she would reject. However, there were still many areas on the island which had yet to be explored. Most of them had quite a number of ferocious beasts residing within. Of all the beasts she encountered, many were much stronger than her and she could not possibly face them all by herself. Imperial Concubine Zi's intention of leaving Wu Yan alone on the island was rather sinister.

If Wu Yan dies on the island, perhaps Imperial Concubine Zi would be extremely pleased about it.

The only person who was willing to accompany Wu Yan on the island was the little loli, Imperial Concubine Xi. She still had some kindness left within her heart. Therefore, she was reluctant to see Wu Yan risking her life alone on this place and hoped to stay together with her to help.

However, the two of them had never expected that the island would breed that type of spiritual medicine not to mention a Half-Step Void Refinement gigantic bear which was guarding it.

Carelessly, Imperial Concubine Xi had mistakenly entered into the den of the bear and was nearly killed by that creature. Wu Yan had to spare no effort in order to save Imperial Concubine Zi but in the end, she also suffered serious injuries.

Originally, she thought of escaping into the Star Gate. Unfortunately, after Imperial Concubine Zi and the others entered the gate, it had to wait for a few months before it could reopen again.

Feeling despair and hopelessness, the only option Wu Yan had was to keep flying in order to avoid falling into the claws of the bear. Now, she had been flying in the sky for a few days consecutively.

"Is my life going to end here…"

From top to bottom, Wu Yan's body was drenched in sweat while her elegant appearance was covered with a hint of hopelessness.

Fresh blood was still oozing out from the wound on her chest. It was caused by a strong wind attack cast by the gigantic bear using a magical technique. Every time she took a breath in, it would tear her wound apart, making her frown and bite her lips in agony.

Her face was already deathly pale and her lips were purple.

Her vision was getting more and more blurry as her consciousness slowly slipped away. Her fingers were becoming heavier and heavier, making her unable to move them to maintain the hand seal…

As her eyelids fell and covered her eyes, the illusory giant crane disappeared into a mist of demon power.

Unconsciously, Wu Yan felt that she and Imperial Concubine Xi were like kites with its strings cut as they plunged downwards from the sky.

The frenzied gigantic bear was getting closer, crushing each and every mountain blocking its path.

Nascent Soul Realm old monsters were able to become the old ancestor of a country.

Divine Transformation Realm old monsters were able to become a venerated being of a domain!

Half-Step Void Refinement Realm experts were beings rare like the feathers of a phoenix and the horns of a qilin in the entire Rain World. Even in the Rain Palace, they were important beings who held a high position.

As for this gigantic bear, it was one of those Half-Step Void Refinement Realm beings. However, it was at a level much stronger than Dong Xu as it would be able to break through to the Void Refinement Realm anytime as long as it gets the chance!

After being chased by such a formidable expert for a few days, Wu Yan had already used up all her means and still failed to get rid of him. In such a situation, anyone would inevitably feel despair, let alone her who had depleted her demon power!

She did not complain when she was being humiliated by Imperial Concubine Zi.

She did not complain when she was bound by the rules and regulations of the Spirit King Palace.

She thought she was able to endure all the injustices in the world and bravely sacrifice herself anytime for the Spirit King Palace. However, now at the brink of death, she suddenly realized that she had a feeling of unwillingness to leave this world which she was sentimentally attached to.

"Am I going to die… I really envy Sister Wan'er… I don't want to die…" Dizzy, she shut her eyes. But at the next moment, her appearance was filled with shock as she faintly felt that she had fallen into someone else's arms. Moreover, the man's smell which assailed her nostrils entranced her…

Who is this?! Who embraced me at such a moment like this?! Detestable… I am a dignified imperial concubine of the Spirit King… How could… How could my body be sullied by a mortal man…

She wanted to struggle but her wounded body could no longer move a single muscle. She wanted to reprimand that man who had touched her body but she did not have the strength to utter a single word. She wanted to open her eyes and look but she felt that her consciousness was becoming fuzzy, making her heavy eyelids unable to open.

"What do you envy Wan'er for? Your condition is really severe…" The tone of the man seemed to carry a hint of compassion.

As she heard that voice, Wu Yao suddenly had an impulse to cry out loud. Not knowing where her strength came from, she opened her eyes and shouted.

"You've come… I'm truly happy…As such, I can finally die with no regrets…"

"With me by your side, it would be hard for you to die even if you wish for it. Take this pill and rest for a while…"

Ning Fan bent his palm and summoned a purple cloud. The cloud carried the unconscious Imperial Concubine Xi and came to his front. He then placed Wu Yan on top of it and let her consume a pill. After that, he turned and looked at the approaching gigantic bear. His eyes were filled with absolute solemnness.

The sense of danger which the bear gave him was not any weaker than Old Ancestor Dong Xu!

If this bear was lucky enough, it might be able to advance into the Void Refinement Realm in a single go!

Even if he used up all his ten spiritual puppets, the black dragon refined corpse combined with help from Yue Lingkong and the others, he only had a fifty percent chance of winning.

That gigantic bear seemed to have also felt a sense of pressure from Ning Fan and eventually came to a halt.

"You, give me the two women!"

"Get lost!"

The purple star in Ning Fan's left eye flickered. Without hesitation, he displayed the aura force from the four drops of ancestor blood he possessed!

At this very moment, a tremendous aura force surged and dashed towards the gigantic bear, making a look of horror appear on the beast's visage. After hesitating for a moment, it retreated.

In its entire life, he had never witnessed such a terrifying aura force of the royal bloodline before! That aura force actually caused the beast to be afraid of hurting Ning Fan!

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

<strong>Note:</strong>

1. Measurements: a. li(里) = 500 m b. zhang(丈) = 3.13 m c. chi(尺) = 30.7 cm d. cun(寸) = 3.33cm e. jin(斤) = 0.5 kg