Grasping Evil

Dong Xu introduced the entire flow of the Pill Ceremony in great detail.

This ceremony was jointly organized by the Giant Devil Clan and the Pill Island. Moreover, having Void Inquiry Pills as prizes for this competition, made it an unprecedentedly grand occasion.

Countless old monsters and pill refinement masters who usually seclude themselves from the world had come to the Endless Sea to either participate or spectate in this competition.

The splendor of this time's Pill Ceremony was nearly comparable to the Pill Conference that was held once every fifty years in the Middle State by the Rain Palace.

Pill refinement masters of all grades were qualified to sign up for the Pill Ceremony. However, those whose pill refinement skills were below the Third Revolution would very likely be disqualified in the first round.

This Pill Ceremony was separated into three rounds of tests. The first round was called 'Grade Testing with the Pill Tablet'. The so-called pill tablet was an item the Pill Island had provided for this grand competition. It could test the grades of the pill refinement masters ranging from the First to the Fourth Revolution. Those who had yet to attain the Third Revolution would be directly disqualified.

The second round was called 'Melting Spiritual Herbs'. In this round, pill refinement masters would be tested in their speed of melting spiritual herbs and the purity of the end product after their refinement.

Commonly, the process of pill refinement consists of three steps.

The first step would be melting the spiritual herbs and turning them into medicinal liquid. Then, keep refining the medicinal liquid with fire.

The second step would be mixing the medicinal power of different spiritual herbs.

The third step would be turning down the fire and forming the pills.

During the melting process, the medicinal power of the spiritual herbs would more or less dissipate. Hence, the faster the spiritual herbs melt, the less medicinal power would dissipate.

After completely melting the spiritual herbs, one would need to purify the medicinal liquid by getting rid of the impurities. The more purifications done, the better the quality of the medicinal liquid. Consequently, the quality of the pills that are refined from the medicinal liquid would be better. Of course, the longer the purification process, the greater the difficulty. If one makes just a single careless mistake, all of the medicinal liquid would be ruined.

For an example that incorporates the level of mastery in pill refinement, a Fourth Revolution Pill Refinement Master could carry out purification on a one thousand years old spiritual herb up to 5 to 10 times. It was rare for pill refinement masters of such level to purify a one thousand years old spiritual herbs up to 11 times or more.

As for a Fifth Revolution Pill Refinement Master, one could carry out the same process on a one thousand years old spiritual herb up to 50 times or more!

In the second test, those who fail to carry out the required number of times of purification on the given spiritual herbs within the specified amount of time would all be disqualified.

As for the third round of the tests, it was called "Uncover the Furnace and Concoct Pills". In this round, the participants would have the freedom to choose what pills to concoct. Then, the appraiser would assess the quality of the pills they refine. After that, the rankings of the competition would be decided based on the assessment.

Those who get into the top three would not only win generous prizes, but also gain the qualifications to accept a mission from Ju Qing. The mission was to concoct a life-saving pill for Feng Xueyan. If the pill is successfully concocted, each of them would then receive a Void Inquiry Pill as a reward.

Other than the top three, the participants of the third round could also win different prizes depending on their ranks. The prizes include precious pill recipes, rare spiritual herbs and so on. To common pill refinement masters, these prizes were quite attractive.

Without doubt, many old monsters came for the Void Inquiry Pills and they aimed to get into the top three.

Nevertheless, most of the pill refinement masters who were aware that they had no chance of getting into the top three would still give their best shot for the other prizes.

News about the Pill Ceremony had already been released and spread around since a few years ago. Many pill refinement masters from all corners of the Rain World had come to the Internal Endless Sea for it.

For instance, one of the most outstanding young cultivators of the Rain Palace, Yun Niansu, had come to participate in this Pill Ceremony. He had met Ning Fan once in the past and he even invited him to stay on the Pill Island for a while. Unfortunately, Ning Fan ignored his offer.

There was still one month before the start of the first round of selections.

The Giant Devil Clan had thrown a banquet which was celebrated with hundreds of types of fruits to welcome Ning Fan and his group. After the feast, Ning Fan left along with his women with the reason of making preparations for his participation in the Pill Ceremony. They settled down in a guest house in the province.

Yue Lingkong and Fen Chi had been following Ning Fan all the way to the Giant Devil Clan. Both of them were already quite exhausted. Hence, as soon as they arrived at the guest house, they went to rest in their respective rooms.

Feng Xueyan insisted on sleeping on the same bed with Xu Qiuling. Both of them truly had a close relationship. However, her decision left Ning Fan no chance to interact with Xu Qiuling privately.

Anyhow, Ning Fan was already aware of the mystery behind the Giant Devil Clan. He handed over the four Void Glimpse Stage spiritual puppets to Yue Lingkong and had them guard outside where the women rested.

He sat alone on the west wing and lit up the candlelight. He looked at the piles of fine writing paper under the candlelight in silence.

Each sheet of paper was filled with the beautiful writings of a lady. They were written by Feng Xueyan in the past.

Since she could not talk to Xu Qiuling, she had to write out everything that she wanted to express on papers. Well, being mute left her with no choice.

In her writings, there was the feeling of loneliness and stubbornness, just like the snow in a cool windy night that no one understood.

She was the daughter of a man who was recognized as one of the seven venerated beings in the internal sea. However, her body was weak while her cultivation base was equally inadequate. All of her peers had already attained the Gold Core Realm or the Nascent Soul Realm but she was still just a Vein Opening Realm cultivator. She felt reluctance in having a slower progress compared to her peers but her fate was beyond her power to change.

The magic power that she gained from all the bitter cultivation she did would eventually become nourishment for the devil blood in her and be devoured by it. She was fated to never attain the Harmonious Spirit Realm in her current life.

Fortunately, she still had her innate talent in engraving devil marks. Thus, she put all of her focus in learning and researching the art of engraving devil marks. She had poured so much effort that common people would not be able to even imagine it and it paid off as she became a tattoo master whose name was widely known in the internal sea.

She engraved the teleportation devil marks on her own body. Thus, she gained the ability to fly. However, that devil mark was some type of general rank devil marks that needed forty plus inscriptions to complete.

Ning Fan found it hard to imagine how a young lady at the Tenth Level Vein Opening Realm could endure forty plus inscriptions on her white silky skin.

Ning Fan had the Stone Warrior Devil Mark. He obviously understood how painful it was to endure forty plus inscriptions.

"Ling Er really has a keen eyesight to have befriended this young lady and treating her like her own sister… The Giant Devil Clan, on the other hand, is trying to sacrifice such an outstanding individual. What exactly are they up to…?"

*Creak*

After blowing off the candlelight, he quietly pushed the door open and walked into the snowy night.

Under the effect of the Heaven Deceiving Cloak, his figure slowly faded and eventually vanished into thin air. No one knew where he went.

The Snow Lotus Pavilion was where the second elder of the clan, Yao Lian, lived.

The pavilion was being illuminated by flickering candlelight. There was also the sound of water flowing. Apparently, Yao Lian was bathing.

Outside the pavilion, a dozen Gold Core Realm maidservants were standing guard with vigilance.

The wind was quite strong and the atmosphere was filled with flying snow.

All of a sudden, a light breeze blew past them and went into the pavilion. None of the maidservants sensed anything wrong.

Elder Yao Lian was at the top floor of the pavilion. She was immersing herself in a wooden barrel filled with bathwater that was sprinkled with flower petals. Behind a veil of steam produced by the hot bathwater, her curvaceous body looked like juicy honey peaches that would make anyone who saw it feel tempted to take a bite.

Her appearance might be common, but her body was extremely alluring.

Bathing in hot water, a feeling of warmth enveloped her whole body.

Meanwhile, her eyes were recalling Ning Fan's figure whom she had just met during the day. She was unable to forget that cool and handsome young man.

She closed her eyes and licked her lips. Within her mind, she visualized her doing erotic activities with Ning Fan while moving one of her hands down into the water, reaching to somewhere below her body.

She imagined Ning Fan tossing her to the bed in a rough manner and violating her fiercely.

She imagined having all of her clothes ripped apart by that man cold-heartedly.

She imagined the scene where the both of them physically wrapped each other while experiencing rapture together.

Soft moans resounded across the pavilion. As she continued to immerse herself in her imagination, she went into ecstasy over the images in her mind, causing her to succumb even more deeply to her sexual urges.

"V-Venerated Ming…My Brother Ming… I want it… I want it…"

Yao Lian who was in the middle of masturbating failed to notice that a young man in white robes had appeared in her room some time ago. His face darkened.

He had never expected that a day would come where he would be remembered by a loose woman to such an extent. He had actually become Yao Lian's imaginary partner during her masturbation…

This Yao Lian is really lustful to the marrow of her bones.

Ning Fan shook his head. Even though he did not despise the likes of this woman who would sleep with countless men, he did not like them either.

After all, he was also a devil lord who practiced dual cultivation. His body might not necessarily be any cleaner than Yao Lian's. That being so, he did not despise her.

However, he would also not try to make out with a woman like her. Why? There's no why.

He doesn't need a reason to dislike a person.

"Lady Yao Lian, what an excellent mood you have…" Ning Fan made a teasing smile and suddenly talked. He then sat beside a wooden table and poured himself a cup of light wine. While looking at Yao Lian, he was slowly sipping the cup of wine.

Yao Lian had no idea at all that someone else was inside her room. Ning Fan's voice made her heart leap to her throat.

Yao Lian's beautiful eyes turned to Ning Fan with a hint of coquettish anger. Then, she gave him a seductive look and said with a breathless but alluring voice.

"This is so embarrassing… When did Venerated Ming come into my room? Why didn't you tell me earlier? *chuckle* Was that live masturbation just now enjoyable?"

This woman truly did not have any shame. Even though Ning Fan had seen her whole naked body, she could still remain so composed. As a devil cultivator, she was not half bad.

"You knew that I would come, didn't you?" Ning Fan played with his cup with eyes that were as deep as the ocean.

"*chuckle* During the day, the way Venerated Ming looked at me was as if you wanted to gobble me down. Therefore, during that time, I figured that you will certainly come and spend a pleasurable night with me."

Yao Lian rose up from the bathwater without wearing a single piece of garment. She got out of the wooden barrel and slowly wiped every part of her body dry in front of Ning Fan. Then, she randomly pulled a thin silk to wrap around her body and sat beside him.

She activated the power of her bewitching art to its maximum in each of her actions. Besides, with the nudity she purposely revealed, it was enough to entice just about any man.

She knew that her appearance was not unique but she had immense confidence in her own physique.

She was good at observing men. From the moment she exchanged glances with Ning Fan during the day, she could tell that he held some desire for her.

However, she naturally could not guess that Ning Fan only wanted to fish for some secrets from her mouth. She just thought that he was hooked by her body, like other men.

She made a deeply passionate expression but inwardly, she felt proud of herself and disdainful towards Ning Fan.

So what if he has great strength? Isn't he just like other men who are obsessed with sex? Didn't he also get hooked so easily like them with just a little seduction?

So what if Yue Lingkong is strong? Didn't her man still succumb to me mindlessly?

"Venerated Ming, I am feeling very uncomfortable right now… *Moan*"

She bent her upper body forward and laid in Ning Fan' arms.

She then placed both of her arms around his neck, pulling herself towards him.

As soon as Yao Lian came into contact with Ning Fan's body, her lust was reinvigorated.

Her body was only covered with a thin layer of clothing.

This is weird… Why would my body be so excited…? It shouldn't be! When I was masturbating earlier, I deliberately made my body excited. The reason was to attain my peak condition. Now, in order to seduce Venerated Ming, I have secretly activated my bewitching power and shut off the sensitivity of my body… But why did my body lose control as soon as I touched his body…?

Suddenly, Yao Lian was filled with shock. It was at this moment that she recalled that Ning Fan was not just a devil lord who cut people down like scything flax but also a devil cultivator who cultivated the Yin Yang Devil Veins and practiced dual-cultivation.

She was extremely sure that Ning Fan did not use his bewitching power on her at all. However, just an unintentional physical contact could still arouse her…

What level of bewitching power is that?!

Ning Fan's mastery in bewitching arts was far beyond Yao Lian's ability to comprehend!

She raised her head once again. As she met Ning Fan's eyes that were as indifferent as usual, she was surprised again.

"H-How is this possible? Did my seduction have no effect on him at all?"

At this very moment, Yao Lian began to realize that the man before her eyes right now was different from those whom she had met before. He was a tough one.

The set of calm eyes that had no trace of lust not only meant that Ning Fan was a man whose heart was as cold as iron but also implied that the reason he came to find her tonight had nothing to do with having sex with her.

"I wonder what made Venerated Ming find me at such an hour."

Yao Lian bit the tip of her tongue and shook off the lustful desire in her. She straightened up her back and stopped seducing Ning Fan any longer.

She was not foolish. If Ning Fan did not come to have sex with her, she might probably enrage him by seducing him and end up being smashed to pieces.

Her beautiful eyes were now filled with a strong sense of failure.

She had always thought that she could toy with all men beneath the heavens with her voluptuous body. However, she discovered today that there were people whom she could never mess with.

"I have some questions to ask you, Second Elder. If the questions I ask are related to the secrets of your clan, you can just choose not to answer and act like I have never asked them before. Rest assured, Second Elder. I am close and friendly with your clan. The reason why I'm asking these questions is because of my curiosity after hearing some rumors from the three other clans of the Hidden Ocean. Even if you don't wish to tell me the truth, I certainly won't harbor a single bit of hatred against the Giant Devil Clan."

"*Chuckle* So the reason why Venerated Ming came to pay me a visit at this late hour is because you have something to ask. Well, if you have any questions, just ask them directly. As long as it is something I'm allowed to say, I will certainly tell the truth. If it is related to something I am prohibited to say, I will never dare to tell Venerated Ming even if you force me to. Even if you choose to search my soul and memories, you won't be able to access my true memories."

Yao Lian was well aware of Ning Fan's behavior. Killing people and searching their souls and memories were just common occurrences to him. Hence, she was quite cooperative with him. As long as it is something that she could tell him, she would surely tell him frankly but if it is a secret that could not be told, she would not dare to say it out even if she wants to as she would die after disclosing it.

"Alright. Is there a Devil Concubine in the Giant Devil Clan?!"

The first question that Ning Fan asked startled Yao Lian.

She gave him an awkward look. All of a sudden, traces of seals in her Sea of Consciousness caused a sharp pain in her mind as if they were warning her not to tell anything about it.

She naturally knew that a Devil Concubine had been born in the Giant Devil Clan and the Devil Concubine was the current clan leader's daughter, Feng Xueyan.

However, the Eight Ancestors forbade this matter to be leaked and accordingly, they planted seals on the Sea of Consciousness of those who knew about it.

If Yao Lian divulges any information regarding this matter, her Sea of Consciousness would be crushed instantly, killing her directly.

"…" She kept silent. However, the awkward look on her face had said everything.

She, of course, had no idea that Ning Fan had the Mind Reading Technique which allowed him to read all of her thoughts when she was thinking.

From her thoughts, Ning Fan found out that the Eight Ancestors are the ones who masterminded all of this!

Feng Xueyan is indeed the Devil Concubine of the Giant Devil Clan!

Ning Fan's expression remained unchanged but inwardly, he became more certain of the guesses he had made.

He wished that he could just directly ask Yao Lian who the Eight Ancestors were and the artificial Samsara power.

However, it requires technique in asking questions. When he asked about the Devil Concubine, he did not directly ask whether Feng Xueyan was the Devil Concubine or not. Instead, he asked whether there was a Devil Concubine in the Giant Devil Clan.

In this way, even if the conversation between Ning Fan and Yao Lian tonight was passed on to the Eight Ancestors, it would not expose the fact that Ning Fan knew that Feng Xueyan was the Devil Concubine.

"About the seals on your Sea of Consciousness, who planted them?!"

Ning Fan did not ask about the Eight Ancestors straight away. Even so, facing the question that Ning Fan had just raised, she certainly would think about everything she knew regarding the Eight Ancestors.

Even if the Eight Ancestors knew the questions that Ning Fan asked from Yao Lian, they would only think that he was just concerned about her by asking regarding the seals.

No one would expect that Ning Fan had already obtained the information about the Eight Ancestors.

"I'm sorry. I can't tell you about that…" Yao Lian gave Ning Fan a bitter smile. Each of the questions he asked was related to the important secrets of the Giant Devil Clan. She could not answer any of them at all. As soon as she answers, she would immediately die from the destruction of her Sea of Consciousness.

The Eight Ancestors… They were the eight predecessors of the Giant Devil Clan. Each of their cultivation levels was above the Void Inquiry Stage.

The eight of them not only included the current clan leader's father, Ju Yan, but also the seven generations of experts before him.

The Eight Ancestors were overseeing the "Eight Gates, Six Dao and the Boundless Evil Sea Formation". They hid themselves in Ju Mo's remnant world while seeking for the path to save the Giant Devil Clan using their undead bodies.

They intend to wash away the slave marks on the members of their clan and their humiliation after being enslaved by Mo Luo at the expense of Feng Xueyan alone.

They had already extracted the devil slate from the devil statue and had been studying the devil scripture on the slate with great effort. However, none of them could understand it. However, the preserved copy of the devil scripture on the slate had already been circulating within the Giant Devil Clan. It was left by the earliest ancestor of the clan, Patriarch Ju Mo. Now, it was kept in Feng Xueyan's hands.

The strongest being among the eight ancestors was not Ju Yan. Instead, it was another Void Pierce Stage old ancestor. He had managed to create the artificial Samsara power by imitating the true power of Samsara. This showed how extraordinary he was.

All of these were great secrets of the Giant Devil Clan. How could Yao Lian who was the second elder of the clan tell these to Ning Fan who was an outsider?

Besides that, only Fu Bai, Yao Lian and a few elders of the clan knew about this.

Even the current clan leader, Ju Qing, had his memories erased by the Eight Ancestors. He did not have the slightest idea about the real reason for his daughter's suffering and he was still serving them with full loyalty.

Yao Lian would never tell Ning Fan anything about these.

However, Ning Fan found out about all of them by making Yao Lian think with a single question.

His eyes were as deep as the ocean. There was no emotion on his face but inwardly, his heart became even colder.

Very well!

Now, Ning Fan had finally figured out who his enemies were.

The Eight Ancestors or the eight predecessors of the Giant Devil Clan might be honorable individuals of the clan as they had given their all to eliminate the slave marks of the Giant Devil Clan.

However, they intend to sacrifice Feng Xueyan in order to achieve their goal. Ning Fan would not allow this kind of thing to happen.

By exchanging a single person for the entire clan's prosperity, perhaps this kind of sacrifice is worthwhile.

However, if the person who is going to be sacrificed is you or your family, would you agree?

At least, Ning Fan was not going to agree.

He suddenly rose to his feet and nodded to Yao Lian. With a cold voice, he muttered, "Farewell."

He just asked her two questions but he had gained every information he needed.

Even if the Eight Ancestors knew that he asked Yao Lian two questions, they would certainly not expect him to know everything.

*Creak*

The door was opened and then closed. There was already no sign of Ning Fan.

His departure allowed Yao Lian to loosen up her tense body. Ning Fan's aura was truly terrifying. Even Yao Lian who had seen much of life found it a little unbearable.

"He really is a terrifying man. A man like him is not someone I can get… If I try to toy with him, I will certainly end up dead… *Giggle* But I have to admit that this man is the most outstanding man that I have ever seen in my whole life. He's really charming…"

"He was not disturbed even though I was on his lap just now…"

Yao Lian suddenly made a self-deprecating smile.

If I have never been so unrestrained in the past… If I am still a virgin right now, I wonder if I would have the chance to be his partner…

When she asked herself that question, she suddenly felt that she had been living a really bad lifestyle…

I guess it's time to make some changes on my lifestyle and behavior…

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