Grasping Evil

"What an incredibly strong sword finger! If it's just the first stage of the technique, I can still resist it without suffering any injuries. But after he unleashed the second stage which produced a million sword qi, it will be extremely difficult for me to endure it!"

Dong Xu's eyes widened with great surprise.

Since Ning Fan's return to the External Endless Sea, he could see that Ning Fan's power had tremendously improved within these twenty years.

However, Dong Xu had never thought that the current Ning Fan would be so strong that he was able to hurt a Half-Step Void Refinement Realm expert with one finger!

What particularly shocked Dong Xu was the twenty-five Divine Transformation Realm spiritual puppets that Ning Fan possessed.

He was the one who provided seventeen of the puppets, but the remaining eight were not from him.

Without a doubt, the other eight spiritual puppets were originally owned by Ning Fan. The strongest spiritual puppets among them had even attained the Half-Step Void Refinement Realm. Even Dong Xu would not dare to underestimate it!

"It's merely twenty years, but this man has become so strong! If the Alliance of Ming Assassins had not provoked him, he would not have revealed his true strength and no one would know that he is already strong enough to be on par with the Venerated Seven of the Internal Endless Sea!"

"After this battle, he would definitely be recognized as the Venerated Eighth of the Internal Endless Sea!"

Dong Xu was overwhelmed with amazement while the others had even turned pale with fright.

After witnessing this technique, Zuo Tong felt chills running down his spine, making him even feel hesitant to offend Ning Fan in the future.

A feeling of frustration rose within Yun Niansu's heart. This was the second time he felt that he was not able to compare with Ning Fan.

The first time he had that feeling was when he was overwhelmed by the level of Ning Fan's state of mind.

The second time was when he was mentally overpowered by the mightiness of Ning Fan's sword finger.

Yun Niansu sighed with emotion. If it weren't for the fact that he was still a Low Grade Fifth Revolution Pill Master, he might no longer have any confidence to hold his head up in front of Ning Fan.

However, Yun Niansu had no idea that even his pill refinement techniques were inferior to Ning Fan's.

Dong Xuanzi's immortal veins were completely broken and his cultivation base was nearly destroyed by Ning Fan with a single finger.

Falling heavily to the ground, Dong Xuanzi endlessly coughed out blood. He was already in a state of utter stupefaction.

It was just too powerful! The power of the technique Ning Fan used literally blocked the combined attacks of a million cultivators of the alliance, the Eastern Profound Sword Formation and Dong Xuanzi!

All the cultivators of the alliance who contributed their power suffered a great backlash after having their sword qi broken.

Four thousand and seven hundred sword hills on the Ying State Immortal Island began to tremble violently.

Ning Fan descended on the island, his sharp piercing gaze sweeping across the surroundings coldly like a sharp sword. The souls and guts of several low grade cultivators were directly broken by his terrifying gaze causing them to die on the spot!

After taking a good look at his surroundings, Ning Fan spread his sword sense. It was as if a droplet of thick black ink had dripped on the Ying State Immortal Island, transforming into thousands of ink-black swords!

As Ning Fan activated his sword consciousness, every black sword emitted a shrill and dispersed to all directions like black lightning bolts, sweeping across the area!

"I'm now here in front of you all. Whoever wants to assassinate me, draw your swords, step forward and fight me!"

*Rip*

Just as his voice fell, his black sword sense spread everywhere. The cultivators of the alliance who had been drawn into the sword sense cried out in pain and were shredded into pieces right afterwards!

After making a single sweep on the area, ten thousand cultivators perished!

When he made ten sweeps across the area with his sword sense, one hundred thousand cultivators bit the dust!

After making one hundred sweeps, only a few thousand cultivators survived the sword sense by luck.

These cultivators were either Nascent Soul Realm cultivators, Late Gold Core Realm or Peak Gold Core Realm cultivators who had secret techniques to protect themselves. They only managed to stay alive after giving their all in surviving.

However, even though they survived, most of them were severely wounded. Moreover, they became even more fearful of Ning Fan after witnessing his method of killing large groups of their comrades!

"S-Sword sense! Devil Lord Zhou Ming is actually proficient in the Art of Sword Sense!"

"The Art of Sword Sense is great at causing damage to a large area. If the one million cultivators were in a firm formation, they might not need to be afraid of the sword sense. But this Devil Lord Zhou Ming shattered the one million rays of sword light and threw all the cultivators into confusion… Once the defending formation was broken, regardless of how many low-level cultivators there are, they are nothing but victims of his sword sense!"

The faces of the surviving cultivators were all distorted in fright.

Several breaths ago, the cultivators on Ying State Immortal Island were still as many as clouds.

Just a few breaths later, nearly a million cultivators were all slaughtered by Ning Fan alone!

*Boom*

Ning Fan made a step forward and the massive force of his footstep caused a violent tremor on the island.

The baleful qi all over his body was terrifyingly strong. With just his baleful qi alone, he was able to derange the minds of the Divine Transformation Realm experts.

His eyes were frigid cold with endless sword qi revolving around him.

Seeing Ning Fan's vigorous baleful qi and brutality in slaughtering a million cultivators, Purple Gu, Luo Sen, Xie Gu and the other Divine Transformation Realm experts were rooted to the ground like stone carvings.

"Fellow Daoist Dong Xuan, hurry up and deactivate the sword formation at once! We must escape from the island!"

Afraid, all of them were afraid and wanted to escape!

However, their words made Dong Xuanzi sigh in despair and spit out blood again.

"There is no way… There is no way to lift the formation! Once the Eastern Profound Sword Formation is activated, it will take at least seven days to deactivate it unless I force it to close using a secret technique. It's not easy to condense swords into a formation and it's even more difficult to scatter the swords and escape! If I deactivate the formation forcefully, we'll definitely suffer a backlash from the sword formation. Everyone within the formation will receive heavy damage from the sword formation indiscriminately!"

"My immortal veins were all broken by Zhou Ming. I am unable to use the slightest bit of magic power at this moment… Therefore, there is no way I can perform the secret technique to deactivate the formation!"

"The only choice we have now is to fight Zhou Ming to death. Within seven days, all of us will have no chance of escaping from Ying State Immortal Island!"

What?!

All the cultivators had the urge to curse in frustration.

Why are there so many restrictions in deactivating the Eastern Profound Sword Formation?!

Doesn't it mean that not only did the Eastern Profound Sword Formation not prevent Ning Fan from intruding the island or kill him, it didn't even help the situation at all but helping him commit a slaughter instead by trapping everyone on the island!

"Dong Xuan! Since you knew that you can't deactivate it, why did you activate the formation in the first place?! You are now trapping all of us here and leaving us at Zhou Ming's mercy! What is your true motive?!"

"Nonsense! How would I know that Zhou Ming could enter the formation without breaking it?! Besides, how would I even know that my immortal veins would be broken, rendering me unable to perform the secret technique to lift the formation?! How would I know we will be trapped on this island?! Instead of questioning me, why not question yourself, Luo Sen?! What is your motive for leading Zhou Ming here? Are you going to get all of us killed?!"

What Dong Xuanzi said was beyond dispute. All the experts began to argue among their ranks. None of them had expected that Ning Fan would be able enter the formation with ease using his Wind Mist Finger leaving all the Divine Transformation Realm experts nowhere to hide or escape!

"Be quiet! What's the point of arguing among ourselves?! Whatever that is done cannot be undone. Since it has played out like this, we have to accept that we no longer have anywhere to run, let alone the chance to beg for mercy. Fortunately, Zhou Ming entered the formation alone without bringing in any spiritual puppet. If we put up a desperate fight against him, we may be able to kill him! If all of you don't have the intention to go all-out, then you just wait for him to get you!"

Purple Gu spoke with a clear voice. His words calmed everyone down.

He was right. Since the situation had gone out of hand and their backs were now against the wall, what's the use of pointing fingers and awaiting their doom?

Excluding Dong Xuanzi, there were still sixteen Divine Transformation Realm experts there and thousands of Gold Core Realm and Nascent Soul Realm cultivators. Perhaps there would still be a slim chance of survival if they fight Ning Fan with whatever they had!

Let's fight then!

This dispute lasted just several breaths of time.

During this period of time, Ning Fan held his sword and walked past the encirclement of thousands of Gold Core Realm and Nascent Soul Realm cultivators.

His steps were steady and his sword gleamed with power. Every time he wielded his sword, blood would spill everywhere with dozens of cultivators flying away with fatal cuts.

His white robes were stained with fresh blood. With Ning Fan at the center, dead bodies began to pile up outward in a circular shape.

Ning Fan's eyes glinted with a cold light. He did not care whether those cultivators would beg for mercy or fight with all their might.

His purpose of coming here was solely to dissolve the Alliance of Ming Assassins. Even if both parties were determined to fight to their death, it was still a death match. What should he be afraid of?!

Every step he took, countless cultivators would definitely retreat in terror, distancing themselves from him!

He deliberately exposed a weak point at his back. Some reckless Nascent Soul Realm cultivators tried to take advantage of this opening and assaulted him from behind but they were stopped by their partners.

"Brothers! Don't act rashly! He's Zhou Ming. It's useless to sneak-attack him! Once we get close to him, we'll definitely be killed by him!"

A Nascent Soul Realm cultivator did not listen. He drew his sword and tried to go for a stab. But when the tip of his sword plunged forward for three chi* (30.7cm per chi), Ning Fan suddenly turned around, his eyes cold as a peerless ferocious beast. His gaze made this Nascent Soul Realm cultivator become motionless in fear!

This scene was like a mortal scholar meeting a ferocious tiger in the remote mountain who became paralyzed with dread!

"We can't hold back anymore! It is impossible for these juniors to resist him. We are the only hope!"

Dong Xuanzi struggled to get himself up and ignited his primordial spirit. He pledged to fight Ning Fan without surrendering at the expense of his life.

The other sixteen Divine Transformation Realm experts also ignited their primordial souls one after another. It was a scene of desperation as everyone threw caution to the wind.

Yun Niansu's heart was filled with astonishment. After all, it was rare to find an expert who could force seventeen Divine Transformation Realm experts to ignite their primordial souls with his own power in the Rain World!

In his eyes, the current Ning Fan closely resembled a Sword Devil of the Rain Palace!

That Sword Devil also walked into an army of thousands of enemy troops alone with his sword. Someone would certainly die every time he slashed with his sword. Someone would definitely be startled every time he darted his cold glance.

That Sword Devil had a sword match once with one of the three emperors of the Sword World and he defeated him with one single strike!

When that individual rampaged across the Rain World, no one dared to defy him when he requested something!

"The 'White-Robed Sword God' Yun Tianjue! This Zhou Ming's spirit extremely resembled that person!"

Yun Tianjue would dare to break the heavens as long as he has a sword in his hand!

This Zhou Ming definitely won't be inferior to him in the future!

Yun Niansu had only met Ning Fan twice. Besides, it was only one-sided as Ning Fan had never met him before.

However, despite meeting Ning Fan twice, Yun Niansu had made up his mind to acquaint himself with him after the former finishes dealing with Ying State Immortal Island!

He wanted to see how much more amazement this outstanding young man could give him!

"Kill!"

With Dong Xuanzi taking the lead, three Early Divine Transformation Realm sword cultivators soared up into the sky and raised their swords vanishing into three rays of sword beam. They unified their bodies with their swords and rushed towards Ning Fan like lightning.

Except for Dong Xuanzi, the other two were famous sword cultivators from the Internal Endless Sea. They were known as the 'Two Heavenly Sword Devils' of the Tai Yi1 Sword Sect.

After igniting their primordial souls, the three of them drew their swords as if their lives depended on them. When they combined their attacks, their power was not any weaker than a full-powered strike of a Late Divine Transformation Realm expert.

However, before these three sword beams could even get close to Ning Fan, he wielded his Separation Slayer Sword and its sword light terrified everyone on the island. Their natal flying swords were instantly shattered by Ning Fan and all three of them were sent flying away while coughing out mouthfuls of blood.

Ning Fan then made another slash which destroyed their physical bodies. He then captured their primordial spirits in his hand and kept them after placing seals on them.

He already had Liu Xuan, Wang Kun and Yu Ge's primordial spirits. Now, with the addition of these three experts, he had seized a total of six primordial souls!

"A motley crowd is qualified to kill me?!"

*Roar*

Ning Fan made a roar at the sky and his voice turned into sword waves. Hundreds of cultivators who stood closest to him were directly blasted to pieces by the waves.

His eyes were filled with murderous intent. To him, facing the onslaught from three Divine Transformation Realm experts was child's play!

The remaining fourteen Divine Transformation Realm experts were unable to recover from shock.

This time, no one dared to make a joint attack on Ning Fan in a group of three anymore. All fourteen of them decided to act together and displayed their strongest sword light!

Among the fourteen rays of Divine Transformation Realm sword light, ten of them were at the Early Divine Transformation Realm while the rest were at the Mid Divine Transformation Realm.

The joint attack from the fourteen experts could even hurt a Peak Divine Transformation Realm expert. However, to Ning Fan, these fourteen rays of sword light did nothing but fuel his rage!

"The power of all your sword attacks are mediocre and yet you all still dare to bully and humiliate mortals… Ridiculous!"

"Heart Drawing Sword!"

Ning Fan's sword glowed with a mysterious light. He wielded it so fast that it left no shadows behind and made fourteen semi-circular patterns.

When the fourteen sword attacks approached him, Ning Fan's sword intent had nearly risen to its peak. At the same time, the fourteen experts seemed to feel that their hearts had been pierced through by a sword.

This immense sense of danger caused the four quick-witted Mid Divine Transformation Realm experts to gather their sword qi at their chests, forming a shield around their hearts. Only then were they able to block Ning Fan's technique.

The hearts of the other experts were cut to parts and they all fell from the sky with blood gushing out from their mouths. Their sword lights collapsed by themselves without the need of attacking them!

*Puke*

As a result of the joint attack from the fourteen experts, four of them retreated in defeat while the others were incapacitated!

Astonishment filled Yun Niansu's face.

If he was not wrong, the technique that Ning Fan had just displayed was clearly a secret sword technique of the Divine Sovereign of the Sword World!

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

<strong>Note: </strong>

1. Tai Yi (Chinese: 太乙 Pinyin: Tàiyǐ)

Tai Yi, in literal meaning, is the great second Celestial stem. It actually means primordial unity of yin and yang.