Grasping Evil

Many teleportation formations had been established in Bei Liang Country.

Hence, Ning Fan did not need to personally fly to travel across the country which was seventy million li* (500m per li) large.

After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Ning Fan and his group arrived at the capital commandery of Bei Liang Country. Zhao Shuai and the others went to hand over the ice ginseng and report their progress in their tasks. Ning Fan, Yue Lingkong and Fen Chi headed to the Evening Snow Pavilion under the guidance of Great Elder Fu Bai.

The Evening Snow Pavilion stood in the middle of thousands of snow mountains. Indirectly, its name carried the meaning of the evening snow of the one thousand mountains.

Layers of formations were set up outside the pavilion. Guards were also stationed there to take care of the pavilion. Outside the formation light stood an ancient stele. A few lines of ancient words were written on it. They were the Gu Tuo devil characters.

"O World! What is love? It makes these birds bond until death do they part.

"From South to North together they flew, how many seasons have they been together?"

"Being happy when staying together and devastated when separated. Their devotion to each other surpasses even the most loving couples."

"The gentleman must have realized only he alone is left to fly over those thousands of miles of clouds and across the evening snow of the thousands of mountains."

These several lines of devil words were written there a long time ago. The person who inscribed the words on this stele was the first ancestor of the Giant Devil Clan.

There was also a line of words on the signature located at the bottom of the stele.

"Ju Mo and Liu Yi will never abandon each other, be it in life or death! Since my husband has become the slave of the devil, this wife naturally will follow him."

From these lines of words, it's clear that the earliest ancestor of the Giant Devil Clan was a person with strong affection. That person never regretted even though she was being chained by love.

Ning Fan's understanding towards the Giant Devil Sect became a little deeper.

This Giant Devil Sect really is a devil clan that cares about friendships and love.

He even noticed that the final line of words that the earliest ancestor of the Giant Devil Clan wrote had mentioned <anno data-annotation-id="66585d7e-fa5a-89d1-a131-161664d5f1c5"><strong>Ju Mo</strong></anno> and <anno data-annotation-id="b3cbadb7-1b56-aa2c-68c4-1c832cc35c39"><strong>Liu Yi</strong></anno>. The 'husband' probably referred to the earliest ancestor of the Six-Winged Clan. As for the 'wife', it was actually how the earliest ancestor of the Giant Devil Clan addressed herself.

"The earliest ancestor of the Giant Devil Clan… is actually a woman…" Ning Fan sounded surprised.

From this insignificant stone slab, he managed to guess the gender of the earliest ancestor of the Giant Devil Clan.

After reading the final sentence on the stele, he already had some guesses in his mind about the four great devil slaves of Mo Luo.

Perhaps Liu Yi became a devil slave of Mo Luo before Ju Mo in the past. Despite the latter's frustration and disappointment, she still chose to follow Liu Yi's path and willingly became Mo Luo's slave.

If Ning Fan's guess was correct, the earliest ancestor of the Giant Devil Clan would indeed be a woman who held strong affection towards her lover.

When coming into contact with secret information such as that, Ning Fan would just casually think about it without actually being concerned.

To Yue Lingkong and Fen Chi, however, they felt rather sad after reading the poem of farewell on the stele. They were women after all.

The group walked into the Evening Snow Pavilion following Great Elder Fu Bai. A stern and cold vibe emanated from within and the sound of argument could be heard faintly.

Along the way, Fu Bai had already told Ning Fan about the entire matter. Hence, he obviously knew what the members within the Evening Snow Pavilion were fighting about.

The country lord of <anno data-annotation-id="99f620e9-eb5f-c374-ec55-15da133d7a96"><strong>Shi Le Country</strong></anno>, a Void Grade cultivation country of the Rain World, had arrived at the Giant Devil Clan.

The country lord, Shi Kun, was a Void Glimpse Stage cultivator. While possessing a strong physical body that was at the first level of the Golden Body Refining Realm, he had also completely mastered a fiendgod cultivation method called Ghost Stone Divine Vein. As he cultivated both magic techniques and body refining, he rarely met a worthy foe among the cultivators with the same cultivation level as him.

He claimed that the reason why he came to the Giant Devil Clan was to look for Feng Xueyan to help inscribe devil marks on his son.

While being the eldest mistress of the Giant Devil Clan, Feng Xueyan was also a famous tattoo master in the internal sea.

From birth, she contracted a strange illness. Her body would be feverish from time to time, making her unable to cultivate. Hence, her cultivation base was only at the Tenth Level of the Vein Opening Realm.

Her body was weak and she fell sick very frequently. Aside from that, she was rumored to be mute.

She constantly needed devil pills concocted from a great amount of demon pills from fake <anno data-annotation-id="458f4a52-d8c0-abd5-30fd-caf6d74d42f4"><strong>wild beasts</strong></anno> in order to survive.

From a young age, she had always been an unsociable person and had an eccentric personality. However, she was somehow gifted in the art of engraving devil marks. Countless body cultivators would request for her to engrave devil marks on their juniors and disciples.

If she was willing to help you inscribe devil marks, she could give you any kind of general rank devil marks. Moreover, she once helped a senior cultivator obtain marshal rank devil marks which made her extremely famous during that time.

If she was unwilling to help out, she would hide herself and refuse to meet anyone.

Even though her cultivation base was weak, she was especially good at hiding herself without revealing the slightest bit of aura. No one could find her. The only option left was to wait for her to show herself.

It certainly was strange.

This time, Feng Xueyan was initially unwilling to help Shi Kun inscribe the devil marks. However, Shi Le Country was a strong kingdom and the Giant Devil Clan could not afford to offend them. Thus, in order to avoid troubling her father, she promised to help inscribe devil marks on Shi Kun's son. However, she suddenly went against her word on the actual day and hid herself.

This matter enraged Shi Kun. He insistently wanted the Giant Devil Clan to give him an explanation as to why they would actually renege on their promise.

Venerated Giant also had a headache because of his daughter. However, he understood clearly that his daughter would never throw a tantrum during an important occasion.

There were rumors saying that on the night before Feng Xueyan suddenly went against her promise, Shi Kun's son had sneaked into her boudoir…

After knowing this, Venerated Giant felt furious and guessed that the reason why his daughter suddenly went missing must have something to do with Shi Kun's son.

Hence, both parties had a disagreement during their meeting.

The country lord of Shi Le Country, Shi Kun, demanded for the Giant Devil Clan to bring Feng Xueyan out to fulfill their original agreement by inscribing devil marks on his son. This matter would then be resolved.

Otherwise, the Giant Devil Clan has to compensate Shi Le Country for breaking their promise.

As for what Shi Kun wanted as compensation, it was actually the Void Inquiry Pill that the Giant Devil Clan was going to use as the reward for the Pill Ceremony!

With Ning Fan's shrewdness, he sensed that there was something fishy about this situation after just hearing the general description from Fu Bai.

The true intention of the country lord of Shi Le Country in this trip was not to seek for Feng Xueyan to inscribe devil marks on his son. In fact, his true objective was the Void Inquiry Pill.

After all, the country lord did require a Void Inquiry Pill to advance to the Void Inquiry Stage, didn't he?

This man was a Void Glimpse Stage old monster. Moreover, he was even an unrivalled expert among Void Glimpse Stage experts.

The Giant Devil Clan might not be strong enough to offend them, but Ning Fan, his spiritual puppets and Yue Lingkong could easily overpower Shi Le Country with all of their strength together.

"We are hoping for Fellow Daoist to give us a hand later and deter the country lord of Shi Le Country on behalf of our Giant Devil Clan. Let him understand that the Giant Devil Clan is not a pushover so that he would stop all of his plots!" Fu Bai pleaded.

"Don't worry. For Qiuling's sake, I will also take action this time. I have my own sense of propriety for what to do… However, I have some doubts. I came across a rumor that claimed that the Giant Devil Clan is under the protection of a Void Pierce Stage expert. If that was the case, why are you still afraid of a Void Glimpse Stage cultivator?"

"*Cough*… Fellow Daoist must be joking. That rumor is definitely fake news. The members of my Giant Devil Clan are weak and our strength is waning. How is it possible for us to have a Void Pierce Stage expert?" Fu Bai let out a dry cough with his expression remaining unchanged. However, Ning Fan caught a hint of surprise that flashed in his eyes.

Why did he have that look of surprise?

Could it be that the Giant Devil Clan really has a Void Pierce Stage expert?

However, if they really had a Void Pierce Stage expert, why did he allow the members of the Giant Devil Clan to be bullied without taking any action?

Ning Fan was just doing a little probing. Although he could not find out whether or not there is a Void Pierce Stage expert in the Giant Devil Clan, he was sure of one thing.

This Giant Devil Clan was indeed not as simple as he expected.

Fortunately, both he and the Giant Devil Clan held no grudges or enmity against each other. Hence, even if the Giant Devil Clan had some unspeakable secrets, they would not target Ning Fan. This reason made Ning Fan less worried.

In the Evening Snow Pavilion, the main seats were being occupied by Venerated Giant, Ju Qing and Old Ancestor Dong Xu while the right-hand seats were occupied by Xu Qiuling and a few elders of the Giant Devil Clan.

On the guest seats, there were seven individuals. The leader of the group was a burly man in yellow robes. He had a fearless and confident look that complemented his muscular physique. Without a doubt, he was the country lord of Shi Le Country, Shi Kun. His presence emanated a massive aura force which made the atmosphere dull and heavy.

Beside him sat a yellow-faced young man. His outward appearance was not bad but his body was skinny and feeble, as if his strength and energy had been drained away by wine and women. He did not look like a kind person and only had a Peak Nascent Soul Realm cultivation base. He was none other than Shi Kun's son.

The other five individuals were the state instructors who served as guardians of Shi Le Country. Each of them possessed a Half-Step Void Refinement Realm cultivation base.

"Ju Qing, we had an agreement that your daughter will help inscribe devil marks on my son. Because of that, my son has travelled thousands of miles from the eight hundred cultivation countries just to get here. Besides, you have also accepted my gifts. Now, you went against our agreement. This is an utter humiliation to me! You and your clan must give me a reasonable explanation. Or else, your clan will be exterminated!"

"Humph! What kind of explanation do you want exactly?!" Venerated Giant's tone was filled with rage and his eyes were piercing cold.

"Bring Feng Xueyan within three days or… hand over the Void Inquiry Pill!" Shi Kun demanded forcefully.

"Hehe. Could it be that the true intention why the country lord of Shi Le Country spent so much effort to come to the Endless Sea was to seize the Void Inquiry Pill of the Giant Devil Clan?" Old Ancestor Dong Xu gave him a scornful glance. He was not foolish. To put this in a more appropriate manner, no one inside the pavilion was a fool.

Everyone could clearly see that everything that had happened was within the country lord's plans and his objective was to obtain the Void Inquiry Pill.

"Humph! I am having a conversation with Ju Qing. Who are you? How dare you interrupt me?!" The country lord suddenly rose to his feet and took a step forward. A massive aura force that could cause mountains to break and earth to split rushed towards Ju Qing and Dong Xu.

Just the pressure of his aura force made the two of them let out a groan. Their eyes widened with shock. At the next second, they spurted out fresh blood from their mouths. Both of them were already injured badly.

Ju Qing and Dong Xu had never expected for the country lord of Shi Le Country to actually be this strong. With just his aura force, he could injure Half-Step Void Refinement Realm cultivators.

In the face of an opponent like him, the seven venerated beings of the internal sea were nothing but small fries!

This man was an unrivalled being among the Void Glimpse Stage experts!

Even if Ju Qing clearly knew that he harbored ill intentions towards the Giant Devil Clan, he had no strength to resist him!

"Could it be that the only option I have left is to activate the secret area and request help from the 'Eight Ancestors'… However, the matter that they have been ultimately planning to resolve is to save our Giant Devil Clan from the horrible fate of being shackled by the slave marks and to free the earliest ancestor from misery… If I open and activate the secret area, the efforts of eight generations of former ancestors would go to waste…"

Ju Qing clenched his teeth and balled his fists. He certainly could not destroy the efforts of the 'Eight Ancestors' just because of the Void Inquiry Pill.

However, he was really reluctant to give the Void Inquiry Pill away just like this.

It was not because of the pill itself. Instead, it was because this pill holds the hope of curing his daughter.

The reason why he held the Pill Ceremony was to look for three pill refinement masters to use the Three Powers Devil Devouring Formation to concoct a pill to save Feng Xueyan's life.

He had three Void Inquiry Pills in total and all of them had been passed down from the previous generations. They were meant to be rewards for hiring pill refinement grandmasters.

The country lord of Shi Le Country was obviously after the Void Inquiry Pills. If Ju Qing simply gives him a pellet of the pills, he could certainly resolve this issue.

However, if he has one Void Inquiry Pill less to give as a reward, he did not have confidence that he could get anything better to hire three pill refinement grandmasters.

This time, the pill refinement masters he needed must at least be pill refinement masters with High Grade Fifth Revolution pill refinement techniques… Pill refinement masters of this kind were extremely well-known in the Rain World. Each of them were haughtier than the last and naturally arrogant. If there were no attractive rewards, how would they be willing to refine pills for Feng Xueyan…

"Do I really have to hand over a Void Inquiry Pill to Shi Kun…?"

Ju Qing clenched his teeth so tightly that he nearly crushed them. He was a man. He was the head of the clan. He was a fearless and indomitable devil lord. Today, however, he had no other option but to lower his head.

If it wasn't for the great matter of the Eight Ancestors and erasing the humiliation of the former ancestors, Ju Qing would never be willing to surrender to the country lord even if it would cost him his life!

Ju Qing's teeth cracked and he finally spoke.

"Fine. I will give the pill…"

After he had spoken those words, his expression was filled with disappointment. The strong and forceful image he used to have disappeared. From being an assertive burly middle-aged man, he currently looked as if he had aged quite a lot instantly.

Powerlessly, Old Ancestor Dong Xu witnessed his old friend being humiliated. The rage in his heart could not be vented out. All he could do was to sigh dejectedly.

The country lord of Shi Le Country chuckled. The Void Inquiry Pill was finally going to fall into his hands.

However, before he could get the Void Inquiry Pill, Xu Qiuling gently stood up. Her beautiful eyes that carried a hint of disdain turned towards Shi Kun.

"Country Lord Shi Kun, the Void Inquiry Pill is a life-saving item for Sister Xueyan. We can't give it to you."

"Humph! Who do you think you are? How dare a Half-Step Divine Transformation Realm junior interfere with my matter!" Shi Kun's eyes turned cold. A rush of aura force that was as forceful as raging waves dashed towards Xu Qiuling.

That aura force that was enough to hurt Ju Qing and Dong Xu turned into a cool breeze when it came into contact with Xu Qiuling and brushed past her face. It inflicted zero damage on her.

It's strange! It's extremely strange!

Shi Kun's expression turned slightly astonished. His aura force that was unrivalled among Void Glimpse Stage experts did not actually cause any harm to Xu Qiuling. How could this be possible?

What he found particularly incomprehensible was that Xu Qiuling, who was merely a Half-Step Divine Transformation Realm junior, did not have the slightest trace of fear in her eyes when facing him. There was only disdain in them.

"This junior isn't afraid of me! She could even ignore my aura force!"

Shi Kun's eyes gradually turned grim.

Shi Kun would never know that Xu Qiuling had never been a timid girl. In contrast, she was very courageous.

She had seen through life and death. There was nearly nothing in the world that could make her afraid and yield.

In her current life, she had the body of the Black Flower Empress. In her previous life, she was the ruler of all plants and flowers.

Even though her cultivation base was not that strong, she inherited the aura force of the flower sovereign from her previous life.

Even if she faces a Void Fragmentation Realm expert, the latter's aura force might not necessarily be able to harm Xu Qiuling.

She was such a strange lady.

"Humph! Unexpectedly, you have such a bizarre technique that could evade my aura force. Very well! I've decided that I not only want to obtain the Void Inquiry Pill as compensation today, but you as well. I want to bring you home and properly study the secrets of your body. This will also be a part of the Giant Devil Clan's compensation to me!"

Shi Kun's words immediately lit up the anger within the cultivators of the Giant Devil Clan present there.

However, his words could still not strike fear into Xu Qiuling.

"You can't touch me… because you can never afford to provoke my man."

"Haha! Ridiculous! Who is your man? Is there someone who I can't afford to mess with?!" Shi Kun acted like he had heard a hilarious joke. At the next moment, however, a terrifying baleful qi from outside the pavilion filled the atmosphere. It stopped him from laughing any further.

"I am Zhou Ming and I am her man. Do you really think you can mess with me?!"

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

<annotations style="display: none;"><ol class="tinymce-annotation-container"><li data-annotation-id="66585d7e-fa5a-89d1-a131-161664d5f1c5">I think Ju Mo refers to the name of the first ancestor of the Giant Devil Clan. In Chinese, Ju Mo is 巨魔 (literal: giant devil). So, it should be related to the Giant Devil Clan.</li><li data-annotation-id="b3cbadb7-1b56-aa2c-68c4-1c832cc35c39">I think Liu Yi refers to the earliest ancestor of the Six-Winged Clan. In Chinese, Liu Yi is 六翼 (literal: six wings). So, it should be related to the Six-Winged Clan.</li><li data-annotation-id="99f620e9-eb5f-c374-ec55-15da133d7a96">Shi Le Country: 石勒国Shi (石) means stoneLe (勒) has multiple meaning. As a noun, it means the bridle of a horse. As a verb, it means strap tightly or threaten.</li><li data-annotation-id="458f4a52-d8c0-abd5-30fd-caf6d74d42f4">Wild beast: Divine Transformation Realm beasts. Previously, this phrase is capitalized as it is a unique name for the Divine Transformation Realm beasts. However, this phrase is now presented in an italic format to avoid confusion. (In capital form, people might confuse it as a name for someone.)</li></ol></annotations>",