Grasping Evil

It was an ancient forest which was covered with dense fog. Each of the old trees was nearly ten thousand zhang* tall. The atmosphere within the forest was also filled with an archaic, desolate aura.

The trees here were named as Iron Trees and were famous for their hardness. Even a Divine Transformation Realm cultivator's all-out attack would not be able to bring one of the trees down.

Ning Fan's momentum slowed down and he eventually stopped below an enormous, sky-reaching tree. Placing the women down, he gazed into the two traces of engravings on the tree with a pair of serious eyes.

Then, he produced a sword qi with his hand and carved the third engraving on the tree.

They had been flying towards the remains of the medicinal garden for a few days. Within these few days, Ning Fan had nearly travelled hundreds for millions of li* (500m per li). Even so, he has yet to arrive at his destination. Instead, it was his third time passing by this old tree.

"It's our third time passing by here. An illusory formation must have been established on this ancient forest. And it seems that the level of that illusory formation is a little too powerful…"

The purple star within his left eye flashed. That Fu Li Eye which was able to see through illusions failed to discern the fundamental structure of this illusory formation.

Ning Fan's facial expression became a little grim.

If I can't see through this illusory formation and break it, then we can only enter the ruins by strolling around in this forest entirely depending on our luck. However, the probability of reaching our destination using this way is rather slim…

I wonder what kind of luck did the two generals have that enabled them to enter the ruins even when they were on their way to escape.

*Roar*

At one side of the forest, an Early Divine Transformation Realm Wild Beast which had a one thousand zhang* tall body let out a bellow of rage. Following behind it, there were tens of Nascent Soul Realm beasts.

Ning Fan had already grown accustomed to the ambush from the demon beasts. Turning his five fingers into a claw, sunlight condensed into a golden spear. Without hesitation, he slammed his hand on the gigantic spear.

The next moment, golden light permeated the bodies of the group of Nascent Soul Realm beasts led by the Wild Beast. In an instant, every last one of them were pierced through and killed by the Parting Sun Spear.

The group of women were already used to witnessing Ning Fan's power that allowed him to kill an Early Divine Transformation Realm cultivator with a single strike. Instead of watching how Ning Fan dealt with the group of demon beasts, they were more concerned about the illusory formation of the forest.

"If I'm not wrong… the illusory formation of this forest should be the 'Illusory Tree Ancient Formation', an Immortal Formation! Unless one's formation technique has attained the level of Life Immortal Realm, any cultivator who enters this formation would end up getting lost in it. They could only walk out from this formation based on their luck…"

Yuan Yao's phoenix eyes flashed with a hint of worry. Although she recognized this formation, she was not proficient in the Dao of Formations, let alone destroy it.

If I have my storage pouch with me, I should have some magical treasures which could break this illusory formation. Unfortunately, that storage pouch is gone…

"That might not necessarily be the end for us. Doesn't Little Cucumber still have Wu Yan and Xi Ran here? Perhaps they should have some ways out." Yue Lingkong pointedly uttered.

Well, it was rather impossible that the members who were sent by the Spirit King Palace did not even bring items that could ward off an illusory formation.

As soon as her voice was heard, Wu Yan and Xi Ran shook their heads helplessly.

"The Spirit King should have loaned us some treasures that could break the illusory formation. However, all of them are in Imperial Concubine Zi's hands. Both of us don't have anything that could break an Immortal Formation. Otherwise, we would have taken them out by now. There is no point for us in hiding it and keep it a secret."

"If that's the case, the only thing we can do is to move around within this formation… I bet all of you will certainly lose your patience after taking two more rounds." Yue Lingkong shrugged with a desperate expression like Wu Yan and Xi Ran.

"…"

Ning Fan did not say much as he tried to use the power of Heart Formation to study the formation light.

Although he could not completely see through the illusory formation, he was able to get a clearer view on the dense fog within the formation.

When he intended to take another step to activate the power of the Immortal Formation, the female corpse who had been staying quietly by his side suddenly pulled the edge of his sleeve and uttered with a voice as quiet as a mosquito's buzz.

"Light…I…know…the…way…"

The words which she spoke indifferently made all the women present see her in a new light.

"You know the way?"

"Mm…. Stone…"

The female corpse held Ning Fan's hand and began to take mincing steps forward, guiding the rest of them.

She remembered that she had been here before a long time ago…

She should not have been able to have these memories. However, after the purple zoysia recovered parts of her Sea of Consciousness, some of her previous memories were recovered.

"Don't tell me…"

Ning Fan felt a sudden feeling of surprise. Don't tell me that this medicinal garden… is the one that Weiliang always came to linger around in when she was alive!

If that was really the case, it was not strange that the female corpse would be able to recognize the path.

"Weiliang's condition is indeed showing improvements. Her memories are recovering!"

Step by step, they passed by countless ancient, towering trees. The dense fog and the illusory formation were unable to hinder the female corpse's steps.

Her steps were not fast. Sometimes, she would even pause for a while during the journey and ponder.

Even so, after one day, she had led all of them through the dense fog and arrived at the center of the forest.

In here, there was the remains of an old and dilapidated palace. Its architectural style was not like that of the Star Palace. It seemed like it had been deliberately moved to this place by someone else.

At this place, amidst the broken walls and the remains of the building, there was a medicinal garden which had been weathered by wind.

The land within the garden was filled with extremely fertile spiritual soil. It was the precious soil which was used to plant the emperor's medicine in the past.

On the spiritual soil, there were still a lot of marks which were left by the emperor's herbs which had existed before. The only thing was that all the emperor's medicine had turned into piles of thick ashes, gathering above the soil.

"It's the medicinal ashes of the emperor's medicine! Sister Wu Yan, our mission is considered accomplished for being able to find all these. Not only that, with such great amounts of medicinal ashes, the Spirit King would definitely consider us to have done excellently on this mission. Perhaps even the members of our families would be given some benefits too!" Xi Ran's little face was brimming with delight.

"Mm!" Wu Yan did not say much. Her gaze was only affixed to Ning Fan as her eyes flashed with appreciation.

If it was not because of Ning Fan, Wu Yan and Xi Ran would never be able to find these medicinal ashes by themselves. Moreover, they might have already died on the star island.

"Thank you…"

"What are you thanking me for? If you really want to thank me, what if…" Ning Fan gave her a playful look. Immediately, Wu Yan's face became pink like a peach. On her blushing face, there was a hint of displease.

"No! We can't… I haven't made up my mind…"

"I just want to say that if you want to thank me, then help me take care of Luo Yun Tribe in the future as well as Wan Er… You seem to have thought the wrong way and misunderstood my meaning."

"Y-You! That's exactly what you meant! I don't want to talk to you anymore! I'm going to gather the medicinal ashes!" After being teased by Ning Fan, Wu Yan's face flushed red. Petulantly, she rolled her eyes at him. Then, she slapped her storage pouch and took out a magical treasure which looked like a flower basket and began collecting the ashes.

She was blatantly and openly flirting with Ning Fan…

With a smile on his face, Ning Fan shook his head. After all, he did not have the intention to pressure her as he just wanted to let nature takes its course.

Withdrawing his playful expression, his gaze shifted to a green stone which was located in the middle of the garden.

The female corpse slowly walked to the side of the green stone. Without showing any concerns on the dust and dirt which had covered the stone, she placed one of her palm on it while her face was filled with nostalgia.

In the past, the female corpse was unable to make such facial expression.

"Butter…fly…"

Even if her broken Sea of Consciousness was sealed temporarily, she could still remember that at this very place, there was once a young lady who had fallen in love with a butterfly.

"Weiliang…"

Ning Fan looked at her with a compassionate look. However, at the next moment, the compassion on his face subsided, being replaced by a cold, merciless face.

A ray of light purple formation light rose around this medicinal garden without showing any warnings.

Within the formation light, countless purple threads had tightly bound the female corpse. Aside from that, there were also some purple threads which came right at Ning Fan.

Who's it?! Who's trying to attack me and Weiliang?!

Without having the time to ponder, Xi Ran, Wu Yan, Yuan Yao and Yue Lingkong took out their magical treasures and readied their stances.

As for Ning Fan, golden-purple sand began to revolve at the tip of his finger, offsetting the purple formation threads. As soon as he warded off the incoming sneak-attacks, he immediately rushed towards the female corpse and neutralized all the formation power that had bound her. Pulling her into his arms, the killing intent within his eyes was as tremendous as the massive clouds in the sky! All of a sudden, he made a stomp onto the ground, causing the great momentum to be in a chaotic situation!

"Show yourself!!!"

His voice reverberated throughout the air like ten thousand blasts of thunder. Under his voice, ten beautiful women revealed themselves after being forced out of the Void Realm. The woman who took the lead was clad in purple robes. A tassel which was tied to her waist fluttered as she stood. Her lips were bright red and her hair was tied upwards. Her appearance looked gentle and refined by her eyes carried a hint of gloominess.

However, aside from that gloomy expression, she looked slightly surprised.

"Lu Bei… I didn't think that such an ant who depended on his refined corpse would have improved quite a lot. Sympathetically, I have already established the formation to prohibit the use of refined corpse or puppets. This time, don't think that you can summon any refined corpse or puppets to help you… Your capabilities without external help are beneath my contempt. Your sin for talking rudely to me on that day will all be returned to you today."

The person who led the group of women who appeared out of nowhere was none other than Nalan Zi, a demon imperial concubine of the Spirit King Palace!

"Xi Ran, Wu Yan! Hand over the medicinal ashes that you have gathered and kill this Lu Bei for me!" Nalan Zi coldly ordered.

"I refuse!" Xi Ran and Wu Yan replied defiantly in unison without any hesitation.

"Hmmph! Then, I shall not show any mercy to the two of you. Just wait for me to finish off Lu Bei. Then, I will detain the both of you and return to the palace. Let's see how the Spirit King would deal with you! Kill!"

Nalan Zi's lips curved upwards, forming a cold, malicious smile. With a wave of her hand, the nine concubines behind her immediately charged at Ning Fan.

However, before they could land a single hit on him, Nalan Zi suddenly revealed a look of disbelief!

What she saw was a pair of Fu Li wings suddenly growing out from Ning Fan's back. With a flap of his wings, he appeared right before Nalan Zi. It all happened just within seconds. With one of his hand holding the female corpse, he performed hand seals with his other hand and pointed out a few times. Ten shadows of fingers were sent towards the ten demon concubines.

"Nalan Zi, you seem to be a little overconfident in yourself… By just yourself, a mere Peak Divine Transformation, do you really think you can take my life away?!"

A tremendous blood-red Baleful Qi dyed the sky within the vicinity of ten thousand li* (500m per li) red!

Under that Baleful Qi, Na Lanzi felt that she was as insignificant as a grain that had fallen into the vast sea! She felt really inferior!

"This is… what grade of killing intent is this?!"

In the past, the Three Divine Armies of Seven Apricot City had also exhibited the same admiration at his killing intent. However, at that time, the killing intent he displayed was borrowed from the Great Emperor Ancient Chaos. At the end of the day, it still belonged to the Great Emperor Ancient Chaos.

Today, this type of Heavenly Baleful Qi was the result of the killings he had been through along his path. It was genuinely his.

He was already different from his previous self!

So what if you are Nalan Zi?!

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

<strong>Note:</strong>

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