Grasping Evil

The group of cultivators were all shocked. The grand formation that was taking away their life force was something literally no one had ever heard of!

Taking away someone's life force was a technique of the Great Dao. Even a True Immortal Realm immortal might not necessarily be able to display that kind of technique. This Immortal Void Realm grand formation, however, could imitate the functions of that technique!

Within the grand formation under the lightning flashes and falling rain, the life force of all of the undead spirits regardless of whether they were allies or enemies were decreasing rapidly. Their hair turned white and their faces gradually aged.

A few experts whose lifespans were about to run out lost their final trace of life force and died after being affected by this grand formation.

It was only a matter of time before the other experts who were also trapped inside this formation lost their life force completely.

What a strange grand formation!

Lei Shiyi and the other experts were trying to break the formation light with all of their strength.

However, this formation light was an Immortal Void Realm grand formation in the first place. After it absorbed the life force of the experts within it, its defense increased to a terrifying level. How would Lei Shiyi and his group be able to break it?

"Are we really going to die right here with this Zhu Feng?!" Hopelessness filled the faces of countless experts.

Now, Zhu Feng was already in an indestructible state after he chose to sacrifice his life.

The grand formation could not be broken. The entire mountain range of the Zhong Mountain was the grand formation and each drop of rain was a spirit that seizes one's soul.

Looking at everyone's nervous expressions, Zhu Feng's mouth formed into a satisfied smile.

Yes. This is it. This is what it should be!

He wanted to let these people feel the same hopelessness he had felt before!

To Zhu Feng who faced certain death after sacrificing himself, the hopeless expressions of each of his enemies was the biggest consolation before he would finally kick the bucket.

However, when Zhu Feng's gaze shifted to Ning Fan, he was suddenly enraged.

"Why is he still calm? This is impossible!"

Zhu Feng's heart was filled with rage. The culprit who made him end up like this today was none other than Ning Fan.

What he wanted to see the most was the hopeless expression on Ning Fan's face. Only then would he feel pleased.

However, Ning Fan did not reveal the slightest trace of fear while being trapped inside the formation. Instead, he kept a straight face and behaved calmly. A brief moment later, he even gently closed his eyes and left his three puppets and one refined corpse by his side to protect him.

Even though his black hair turned white strand after strand, his skin turned dry and wrinkled bit by bit, his back became more and more crooked and his lifespan shortened little by little, he did not show any resistance at all. He just allowed the grand formation to seize his life force away.

Life force was the upper limit of a cultivator's lifespan. When one loses their life force, it would not affect their bone age.

The reason why some cultivators were able to still maintain their appearance even though they had lived for tens of thousands of years was because they still had a sufficient amount of life force.

As their life force slowly seeps away, they would gradually get closer to the end of their lifespan. Only then would cultivators begin to age. Of course, there were also cultivators who preferred having an elderly appearance and thus it was normal for some cultivators to deliberately make their faces look older.

From the day Ning Fan entered the cultivation world up until today, his bone age was just around 500 years old by using the time distortion effect to aid in his cultivation several times. As a Divine Transformation Realm cultivator, he could live up to five or six thousand years. Since he had plenty of life force, he would naturally not look old.

However, as he gradually lost his life force to the grand formation which kept on draining it away from him, even he could not avoid becoming old.

Although this Immortal Void Grand Formation was strong, Ning Fan was absolutely capable of creating a crack on the formation using his Wind Mist Finger and leave. However, he did not choose to do that.

Of course, he had his own reasons for choosing to stay inside the formation without breaking it or escaping.

As he connected his heart with this formation, he seemed to have comprehended something but that insight faded away like indiscernible mist.

The Blood of Time that was formed inside of him because he had devoured the time crystal slowly increased at this moment.

"Time, huh… If I can control this trace of Blood of Time as I wish, not only can I prevent the formation light from draining my life force but I can also seize the life force of the grand formation instead"

"I haven't aged before. How do I comprehend what time is…? Thus, to me, letting myself age while the grand formation is taking my life force away is the best opportunity to comprehend the Blood of Time."

Ning Fan had made up his mind to dismiss all of his protective measures and let the formation light seize his life force.

Besides, he had even attempted to use the power of time in reverse to send his life force to the grand formation. Thus, his aging speed was nearly tens of times faster than the others.

Thinking that Ning Fan was just pretending to be calm, Zhu Feng's expression was filled with contempt while he was down on the ground on one knee.

From his perspective, Ning Fan was just trying to make things look unnecessarily mysterious by pretending to be calm.

He certainly did not think that Ning Fan would be able to break this dignified Immortal Void Realm grand formation!

No one was able to kill Zhu Feng. Zhu Feng, on the other hand, had also become so weak that he could not even use half a trace of his magic power, causing him to be unable to attack anyone.

He just wished to die together with all his enemies right here. As such, he could still taste the pleasure of revenge.

Ning Fan's life force was quickly being drained away. From having the appearance of a twenty-year-old young man, his face gradually turned into that of a middle-aged man thirty to forty years of age. Then, his face continued to age and resembled that of an old man who was around sixty to seventy years old.

Within his heart, his comprehension towards time became more in-depth as time went by.

One should be independent at the age of thirty, be wise at forty, understand the biddings of heaven at fifty, accept everything obediently at sixty, follow what their hearts dictate without overstepping the boundaries of righteousness at seventy…

As his appearance changed, his heart and thoughts had also grown more mature.

His hair had turned completely white and his face was now full of wrinkles. His movements were slow and his breathing was heavy, just like that of an old man. He opened his turbid eyes and indifferently glanced at the grand formation of the storm. His eyes, however, did not reveal a hint of joy or sadness.

He had already reached a point where he was no longer affected by gains or losses!

Just within this short period of time where he had artificially gone into his later years, his state of mind had a great improvement!

"What is time? The poem of cultivators says, 'Time is just a passing traveler of one hundred generations'… The lifetime of a cultivator is as long as one hundred generations to a mortal. To cultivators, time is the years that have passed by. In other words, time is life. To mountains, time is the cracks that are left on the stones. Time is the marks that are left by weathering and erosions. To flowing streams, lakes and the seas, time is the transformation of the deep-blue seas into vast mulberry fields…"

Ning Fan muttered inwardly. Inside his dantian, the trace of Blood of Time was gradually separated from his blood veins. His primordial spirit which was clad in a suit of golden armor opened his mouth and swallowed that drop of blood.

In the past, he could not devour the Blood of Time as he pleased.

Now, after turning old in a single night, he managed to comprehend the profound meaning of time through the maturity of his heart and the aging of his physical body.

There are some things in this world that you won't be able to understand in your entire life by being subjective and separating yourself from reality without experiencing it personally.

For example, the flowing current of water or time.

Ning Fan's old and turbid eyes suddenly flashed with a hint of clarity. He had discovered the flowing course of time!

"I've now understood time. But I still can't manipulate time at will. All of this is because my cultivation realm is too low and I cannot learn an Immortal Realm technique of that level…"

"However, I have discovered a technique to control time from this grand formation. Seizing one's life force could make them age. Seizing the life force of heaven and earth could make it grow old. As for the method of seizing the life force, it is by taking away their 'time' and replenishing one's own 'time' that has already passed. This will maintain the balance…"

"Because this grand formation is infused with a trace of power of time, it can seize one's life force. Since I also have a trace of the power of time, I can also… take away one's life force!"

Ning Fan's hair was white like snow. He looked calmly at Zhu Feng and said indifferently.

"Thank you for giving me such a great gift!"

"A great gift? Humph! What nonsense are you talking about? When did I give you a gift? What I have given to you is a great tribulation of life and death to take your lives!" Zhu Feng sneered. He thought that Ning Fan must be close to death already. Thus, he became muddle-headed and started to talk nonsense.

"…"

Ning Fan did not give him an answer. He wanted to use concrete actions to tell Zhu Feng that the grand formation that he had activated by sacrificing his own life was a great gift to him!

"Break!"

Ning Fan's old hoarse voice resounded clearly across the Zhong Mountain. His eyes suddenly shot out a fine ray of golden light.

That golden light was not sword qi or golden lightning. Instead, it was a strange and unknown power.

That kind of power was not as profound and mysterious as Samsara. However, when it appeared, both Lei Shiyi and Zhu Feng could not understand what it was.

Especially Zhu Feng who exclaimed in surprise.

"What is this?! Such frightening power! However, no matter how terrifying this power is, it's only just a fine ray of light. It certainly can't break this grand formation…"

When he was halfway through speaking, he suddenly choked on his words.

Above the night sky, that ray of pure golden light which was as fine as thread pierced through the formation light as easy as piercing tofu with a needle.

*Chi*

At the next moment, the grand formation gave out a bang and became chaotic. It was because Ning Fan had seized the trace of power of time that was originally blessing the formation light!

That trace of power of time was not much different from the power of Ning Fan's Blood of Time. However, the power of time that was left by the grandmaster who created this formation was still slightly inferior after all.

If the power of time that he left in this formation was not benefitting Ning Fan, what else could it be?

"Devour!"

After sending his Blood of Time into the formation light, Ning Fan assumed control over the blood with his will and began to absorb all the power of time within the formation light.

The effect of draining the life force of cultivators from the grand formation on Zhong Mountain was diminishing gradually. In the end, it actually could no longer seize anyone's life force at all.

Ning Fan clawed at the formation light with his five fingers and it shattered and collapsed. He recalled the trace of golden thread into his hand and swallowed it into his abdomen to assimilate into his primordial spirit. Within his primordial spirit, a trace of golden thread separated into two traces of Blood of Time.

There is one more trace!

This additional trace was naturally obtained from the formation light!

"This is impossible! You just broke this Immortal Void Realm grand formation with a trace of golden light! What exactly is that golden light?!" Zhu Feng was greatly surprised. He raised his head and gazed into the sky. Pieces of dark-red crystals were floating in the vast sky. Each of these crystals contained one hundred to several hundred years of life force and there were a few thousands of them in total!

Those crystals were condensed from the life force that the formation light had seized from countless experts.

The cultivators could take away these crystals but they would not be able to regain their life force because they had not comprehended the power of time.

Zhu Feng was filled with disbelief. How could a Divine Transformation Realm junior be capable of breaking an Immortal Void Realm grand formation which no one had ever managed to do!

As the grand formation broke apart, Zhu Feng's life which he had sacrificed to activate the formation had reached its limit. He let out a shriek and died without being able to close his eyes. Even after his death, he still brought benefits to Ning Fan with the primordial lightning and golden jade that he dropped upon his death.

At the moment he died, the entire Zhong Mountain within the area of one hundred thousand li* (500m per li) crumbled. The stormy weather of this place had also stopped for the first time.

The grand formation vanished forever!

The crystals of life force that were floating in the sky were gradually dissipating because no one could refine them.

As the saying goes: A flower may blossom again, but a person cannot get young again. Cultivators who had the same old appearance like Ning Fan were unable to regain their life force and recover their youth.

Ning Fan raised his head and looked at the sky. He had the power of time which gave him the ability to refine these crystals! If he devours these crystals, not only could he recover his youth but he could also obtain more than one hundred thousand years of life force in one go!

While recollecting his comprehensions on the grand formation on Zhong Mountain in his mind, he lifted one of his hands and pointed at the sky. He activated the power of the Heart Formation and drew the formation diagram in the air.

The current level of his Heart Formation was not enough to draw an Immortal Void Realm formation diagram. However, he was able to imitate the grand formation of the Zhong Mountain and created a Peak Divine Transformation Realm formation technique of his own.

Even though the grade of the formation had yet to attain the Void Realm, it contained the profound principle of the transformation of time.

As the formation light flashed, all of the crystals of life force got absorbed into the formation and went into Ning Fan's body.

As Ning Fan walked in the sky, he became younger for every step he took.

From being an old man with gray hair, he gradually turned into a young man in white robes again.

Not only did his appearance become younger but his lifespan had also increased by one hundred thousand years!

One hundred thousand years. Only Void Fragmentation Realm old monsters could live for such a long period of time. Even though Ning Fan was nowhere near the Void Fragmentation Realm, he already had the same lifespan as them.

Besides, as long as he wishes, he could still use his power of time to seize other's life force in the future. It would not be difficult for him to be an immortal who could live eternally!

The power of time was indeed heaven-defying!

If the other old monsters had Ning Fan's luck and Dao Comprehensions which would allow them to obtain the power of time, condense the blood of time, completely comprehend the divine ability of time and refine the crystals of life force with the Heart Formation… those old monsters would certainly enjoy immortality as well!

Unfortunately, they were not brave enough to steal the time crystals. They also could not comprehend the power of time, much less the divine ability of Heart Formation.

Moreover, to cultivators who were at the First Step of Dao Cultivation, having eternal life might be precious but to immortals, every single one of them had immortality. Thus, the so-called eternal life was not something to be proud of in the end.

To Ning Fan, having additional life force was something insignificant. He was not lacking in life force. He was just lacking time. He had to be quick in everything he had to do. The time he had was too less and the time limit was quickly coming to an end.

"Fellow Daoist Zhou, what a good technique! What have you done, exactly? You have actually broken this formation as well! Besides, about those crystals of life force… Did Little Friend swallow all of them?" Lei Shiyi asked in confusion.

"Does Pavilion Lord Lei think that I am able to devour those crystals?" Ning Fan did not answer his question but questioned him in return.

"Hehe. It's this old man who had asked so bluntly. After all, it has nothing to do with me whether or not Fellow Daoist can devour those crystals…"

Lei Shiyi hurriedly waved his hands, explaining that he did not have the intention to pry into Ning Fan's secrets.

Zhu Feng was already dead. He had already taken his revenge and he felt rather pleased with it. As for the reason why he could seek his revenge successfully, it was all because of Ning Fan's help.

Lei Shiyi internally promised that he must remember that he owed Ning Fan a great favor. Hence, he would not do such an impolite thing like prying into Ning Fan's secrets.

Seizing one's life force and swallowing it for one's own use. This kind of heaven-defying technique was enough to make countless Void Fragmentation Realm old monsters who were close to the end of their lifespans go crazy!

Whether or not Ning Fan had this kind of divine ability, Lei Shiyi would never find out. Even if he finds out, he would only attract trouble to Ning Fan.

The Void Glimpse Stage experts of the lightning palace on Zhong Mountain had all died. The Myriad Treasure Pavilion had overpowered them and eventually flattened the whole Zhong Mountain.

All the lightning jades belonged to Lei Shiyi, including the golden jades that Ning Fan had obtained.

As for the primordial lightning, all of them belonged to Ning Fan. Each of them took whatever they needed.

If Ning Fan wanted to eliminate the people on Zhong Mountain without Lei Shiyi's help, he would certainly need to exert quite a lot of effort. Thus, giving the latter the lightning jades was something incredibly insignificant.

After slaughtering the last member of the lightning palace and devouring countless traces of primordial lightning, Ning Fan's lightning armor only needed 4000 traces of Divine Transformation Realm primordial lightning in order to achieve the next breakthrough.

In terms of Void Refinement Realm primordial lightning, just 40 traces would suffice.

"What is Little Friend planning to do next? Do you still want to kill all the way up to the twenty-fourth floor? Do you still need this old man's help?" Lei Shiyi gritted his teeth and decided to take the initiative to ask in the end.

"Oh? Wasn't Pavilion Lord Lei afraid of King Ying and also of taking the risk in helping me? Why? Are you not afraid of him now?" Ning Fan stared deeply into Lei Shiyi's eyes. He could tell that Lei Shiyi's face still had a hint of fear and struggle.

Before this, Lei Shiyi was afraid of King Ying Long and he was only willing to help Ning Fan eliminate Zhu Feng.

Currently, he was still afraid of King Ying Long but he was clearly willing to help Ning Fan kill all the way up to the twenty-fourth floor.

It seems like this man wants to repay the favor.

"This old man is still scared of King Ying Long, but… if it wasn't for Little Friend's help just now, all the experts of my Myriad Treasure Pavilion and even me would have died in Zhu Feng's evil hands. That formation light which drains one's life force was just too powerful. If it wasn't for you, no one would be able to break it… I have to repay the favor of saving our lives! All the members of my Myriad Treasure Pavilion could all be considered to have died once just now. Even if Little Friend could not defeat King Ying Long in the end, we are willing to join you and die alongside you in battle!"

"Pavilion Lord is right! We are willing to help Fellow Daoist Zhou kill all the way up to the twenty-fourth floor!" Chu Nanfeng and Mo Feiyun agreed.

"…"

Ning Fan turned silent for a while.

It's rather rare to find people like the members of this Myriad Treasure Pavilion who know how to return the favor when they receive kindness.

With the help of the Myriad Treasure Pavilion, it would be much easier for him to advance to the twenty-fourth floor. Thus, he, of course, would not reject their offer.

After clearing the battlefield and getting some rest, all of them were prepared to pass through the teleportation formation and enter the twelfth floor.

It was at this moment when a group of cultivators charged at them with fierce and vigorous aura force from the external region of Zhong Mountain.

They roared loudly as they moved.

"We, ten Void Glimpse Stage experts, are late in reinforcing Lightning Lord Zhu Feng. We hope that Lightning Lord Zhu Feng could forgive us! Hehe. We can't just let you take all the credit of killing Zhou Ming all by yourself!"

Ten Void Glimpse Stage experts and one thousand Divine Transformation Realm cultivators were actually coming to get a share of the credit.

All of them travelled here hastily without rest from the tenth floor, worried that they might be late and miss the chance to take some of the credit of killing Ning Fan.

However, just as they arrived at Zhong Mountain, each of the old monsters were stunned.

"What happened here?! What is this situation?!"

The vicinity of one hundred thousand li* (500m per li) within the Zhong Mountain had turned into a wasteland. Countless undead spirits had been killed and blood flowed like a river.

Among those corpses, there were corpses of Nascent Soul Realm cultivators, Divine Transformation Realm cultivators and even… Void Refinement Realm experts!

"Ma Renwang is dead. Li Gui is dead. Yan Daozi is dead. And Gu Feng…" Cold sweat trickled down from the forehead of the lightning lord of the tenth floor. He could not believe the scene before his eyes.

When his gaze landed on Zhu Feng's corpse, his heart nearly leapt out of his throat.

All ten Void Glimpse Stage old monsters including the lightning lord of the tenth floor were filled with surprise.

"Zhu Feng?! Zhu Feng is dead?! This is definitely impossible! He is a Void Inquiry Stage old monster! How can he die just like that?!"

"Why? Hehe. Isn't it better to ask him straight after all of you arrive at hell!"

Lei Shiyi gave them a despicable smile as he brought all the members of his Myriad Treasure Pavilion to surround this group of cultivators.

This group of cultivators were all the ones that King Ying Long had sent after Ning Fan. After killing Zhu Feng, Lei Shiyi could still talk his way out of this using the reason of settling old grudges. Once he kills all of these people, it would be equivalent to going against King Ying Long completely.

However, Lei Shiyi was a decisive person. Since he had promised to help Ning Fan fight King Ying Long, he would never go against his word. Thus, he was not going to let anyone from this group of cultivators run away.

"Kill!"

Ning Fan leapt into the air with a single step. After getting some rest, he could already display the Concept of Self Technique again and created two golden figures.

One refined corpse, two golden figures, three spiritual puppets and he himself were equivalent in strength to seven Void Glimpse Stage experts. They could all be considered as Ning Fan's slaves!

He and his six slaves instantly surrounded the lightning lord of the tenth floor and delivered their most violent attacks. In just a matter of seconds, they had severely wounded their enemy.

"Impossible! When I was hunting you down in the past, you clearly only had the strength to run away. How did you become this strong?! Ahh!"

The lightning lord of the tenth floor found it hard to believe that he would be severely injured in just an instant by Ning Fan and his six slaves.

During the next round of attacks, the injuries he suffered could be said to be already deadly. With a miserable scream, he breathed his last.

Even upon death, he still could not understand how Ning Fan's strength increased so much in just a few days.

He could not close his eyes when he died! He really regretted it!

If he had known that Ning Fan was so strong, there must have been something wrong with his brain when he tried to pursue the latter.

If he had known Ning Fan was so strong, his brain must have gone haywire to have rushed to the eleventh floor as if he was rushing to enter into the cycle of reincarnation.

He really regretted his past actions but he could no longer feel regretful anymore!

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