Grasping Evil

Countless devil spirits carried out a wide search for Ning Fan's whereabouts within the vicinity of the one hundred thousand colossal mountains but their efforts bore no fruit.

The only thing the devil spirits could ascertain was that Ning Fan had yet to leave the Mist Horn Broken World.

Xi Mo was the one who planned the collapse of the broken world. Now, all space within that world had broken apart, leaving only several hidden places that had void passages connected to the outside world.

Of the 14 Void Refinement Realm devil spirits, only the one with the strongest cultivation base, Qian Gui, knew about these passages.

He was the one responsible for destroying the broken world. However, while he was destroying this small chiliocosm, he had a secret plan in mind and secretly kept a few passages that led to the outside world intact. He did not want to be trapped within that world forever after killing Su Yan.

If he ever finds a chance, he would leave the broken world and get rid of his identity as a devil spirit. He wanted to become a reputable Void Refinement Realm old monster that would be respected by many in the outside world and stop becoming someone's slave.

While they were eager to kill Ning Fan to vent out their anger, the 14 Void Refinement Realm devil spirits could not help but feel terrified of Ning Fan's strength that allowed him to kill a Void Glimpse Stage expert instantly.

In the process of searching for him, even a Void Inquiry Stage old monster did not dare to act alone. They were afraid that they might stray too far from their group and get killed by Ning Fan who was hiding in unknown places.

Well, all of them were pretty diligent in looking for him. Unfortunately, Ning Fan's Heaven Deceiving Cloak was too profound and it was impossible for them to find him.

Ning Fan who was under his invisibility cloak was flying straight towards the Devil Mist Pond while holding Su Yan in one arm.

The reason why he headed towards the Devil Mist Pond was, of course, not because of the pond itself but the fourth devil slate which was sealed somewhere near the pond.

Since they were now trapped in the broken world without any way to leave temporarily, Ning Fan felt that he might as well get the slate first and then only look for a way to get out from there later.

As long as he obtains the devil qi of the final devil slate, he would certainly break through to the Golden Body Refining Realm in a single try. He believed that with the strength of the Golden Body Refining Realm, eliminating this group of devil spirits was not difficult.

When he eliminates the 14 Void Refinement Realm devil spirits, he could probably find a way out of this world by searching their souls and memories.

However, when they arrived at the Devil Mist Pond, Ning Fan could not find where the devil slate was even after he had spread out his spirit sense. It would seem that he had no other option but to ask Su Yan about it.

Su Yan had no idea what Ning Fan was up to. She merely thought that the reason why he brought her to the Devil Mist Pond was because he was set on cutting off their soul connection.

This made her feel rather speechless. Millions of devil spirits were now looking for them both but he still had the mood to sever their soul connection. Doesn't he know a thing or two about priorities?

Even though their original purpose in coming here was to sever the soul connection between them, other than feeling grateful to Ning Fan, Su Yan began to waver from her initial thoughts after he saved her from a hopeless situation.

If it was the old Su Yan, she certainly would not like to have a soul connection with anyone.

Now, however, she did not oppose the soul connection with Ning Fan as much as before.

Under her guidance, it only took them half a day to arrive at an enormous black lake. Ning Fan took off the invisibility cloak and revealed them both.

The black lake occupied thousands of acres of land. It was none other than the Devil Mist Pond which Su Yan had mentioned before. Devil qi rose from its surface, creating a huge black mist which covered the skies.

Su Yan needed the help of the pure and boundless devil qi to establish a binding contract with the devil spirits using her identity as the clan leader.

However, after arriving at the Devil Mist Pond, Su Yan surprisingly discovered that one-third of the devil qi had mysteriously gone missing.

As for the bank of the lake, there were signs left by a large-scale formation technique and the traces of it were still fresh. Looking at those traces, Su Yan found it rather familiar. It seemed to be a lost ancient formation technique of the Mist Horn Clan and its effect was to alter the contracts of the devil spirits…

Xi Mo's thick qi remained within the area where the formation technique was set up.

There was 80% probability that Xi Mo was the one who set up that formation and used it to change the ownership of the devil spirits' contracts Su Yan signed with them to himself.

However, what Su Yan could not figure out was how Xi Mo entered the Mist Horn Broken World because no one would be able to enter it without the clan leader's token.

"How did Xi Mo manage to come inside…? The clan leader's token has always been in my hands…" Su Yan gently sighed. There was no meaning in investigating this matter right now since the worst had already happened.

"Is it possible that there is more than one clan leader's token?" Ning Fan suddenly asked.

"This… When the clan's former leaders assumed their positions as clan leaders, they would head to the ancestral temple and kowtow to the ancestral statue to be granted a token. Strictly speaking, every clan leader has a token of their own. Normally, a new clan leader will only be selected when the former leader passes away… Once a clan leader dies, their tokens would self-destruct automatically. In the history of my clan, only the token of the previous clan leader is still being kept… He had committed some unforgivable sins and his status as the clan leader was naturally taken away from him. Since then, he had been imprisoned inside the clan. Of course, it's only imprisonment in name. Other than being restricted from going out, he still has access to cultivation resources matching his cultivation level. When the clan needs his strength, he can still atone for his crimes by making some contributions to the clan. For example, the previous time was when he headed to the Six-Winged Clan in person to join the raid for their devil slate. That's why his clan leader's token is still intact. But someone had stolen it a thousand years ago... Wait a minute. Are you saying...?!"

While Su Yan was answering Ning Fan's question, she suddenly understood the meaning he was trying to hint at her.

Ning Fan was suspecting that Xi Mo used the token of the former clan leader to enter the broken world!

Perhaps Xi Mo was the one who stole the former clan leader's token or it was the former clan leader who willingly gave it to him in the first place.

All in all, Xi Mo already harbored the intention to rebel against Su Yan one thousand years ago… He obtained that token so long ago and had sneaked into the Mist Horn Broken World countless times to set up such a massive plan. He had been holding it back all these years until he had achieved the Void Inquiry Stage before executing his plan to get rid of Su Yan…

"Yes. That must be it. Otherwise, it can't be explained why Xi Mo could enter the broken world to set everything up…"

Su Yan nodded her head. Most of her guesses were close to the truth. However, since everything had already reached this point, so what if she knew the truth?

Her injuries had stabilized as she had consumed some vulnerary pills from Ning Fan while they were travelling earlier. Her qi had returned to normal.

She was now clinging to Ning Fan's arm while her ample bosom pressed against his chest. The two soft and tender lumps were unintentionally caressing his chest with just the fabrics of their clothing being the only thing obstructing contact between their skin. She found this posture rather inappropriate.

She immediately got out of Ning Fan's embrace and stared at the Devil Mist Pond. Her expression looked rather complicated.

"Fellow Daoist Zhou, do you think Su Yan is a failure… My subordinate began scheming to rebel against me one thousand years ago while I failed to notice it all these years and now I even dragged you into this, getting you trapped inside the broken world with me."

Su Yan no longer addressed herself in a formal way. Instead, she addressed herself with her own name while talking to Ning Fan. Unconsciously, her relationship with Ning Fan became slightly closer.

"Are you asking me to comfort you?" Ning Fan raised one of his eyebrows and looked at Su Yan mischievously.

"No, I am not!" Su Yan's cheeks turned slightly pink. To her, Ning Fan consoling her was only wishful thinking as she was not someone important to him after all…

The atmosphere became a little odd. While working hard to remain unaffected, Su Yan changed the topic of their conversation.

"Well, we have already reached the Devil Mist Pond. Does Fellow Daoist Zhou really want to cut off the soul connection you have with me?"

"Are you reluctant to do so?" Ning Fan teased her once more.

"No! I just want to confirm it with you. If Fellow Daoist Zhou truly wants to do so, I will establish the formation at once. The secret formation of the Mist Horn Clan and the pure devil qi of the Devil Mist Pond should be enough to erase the soul connection between us."

Su Yan peevishly rolled her eyes at Ning Fan. Even though her apricot eyes looked somewhat annoyed and angry, they still looked flirtatious in an inexplicable way. Her insanely charming disposition would captivate all living beings. Even Ning Fan's heart skipped a beat as a small part of him was also subdued by her charm.

Su Yan was a beautiful and mature woman. Even though the way she behaved was not as enchanting as other women like Fen Chi, the Wind Demoness or the Flower Demoness, she had a unique kind of grace deeply rooted in the marrow of her bones which made her eyes look as captivating as those of an enchantress.

In a way, she really resembled a demoness. If it wasn't because of their current shallow relationship, Ning Fan would have wanted to make fun of her by calling her "<strong></strong><anno data-annotation-id="6360a103-2e9b-8bee-0578-81737c1a2b7f"><strong>Su Yao</strong></anno>".

What a bewitching woman.

"Miss Su seems to have misunderstood. I don't have the intention to sever the connection between our souls. You are my devil concubine. It should be very normal for the master to share a connection with his devil concubines."

Ning Fan's words made Su Yan's frown disappear. Deep inside, she actually was a little unwilling to cut off their soul connection.

However, when she heard of Ning Fan's claims of being her master, her apricot eyes widened with a hint of displeasure.

"I really am the devil concubine of the Mist Horn Clan. But since when have you become my master? Why didn't I know about it? Are you teasing me again?"

"I am only telling you the truth. You'll understand in the future. Let's change the topic. The actual reason why I came to the Devil Mist Pond is to obtain the devil statue slate that was sealed somewhere nearby."

"How did you know that my clan's slate is sealed near the Devil Mist Pond?" Su Yan felt surprised. It was a closely guarded secret of the clan. How did Ning Fan find out about it?

"I have my own methods of getting information. Let's make a deal. You let me have a look at your devil slate and I will help you escape from this broken world and kill Xi Mo. How does that sound?"

"A deal?" Su Yan went quiet for some time. Even though the devil slate was precious, the Mist Horn Clan could not decipher the scripture on the slate. Hence, the slate was of no use to them.

Besides, it didn't seem to be a big deal to let Ning Fan have a glimpse of the slate.

On the other hand, she would obtain his help just by allowing him to take a look. This deal seemed to be absolutely advantageous to her.

"It's a deal. However, about my clan's internal affairs, Fellow Daoist Zhou doesn't need to interfere in it. If I can leave the broken world, I alone will be enough to deal with Xi Mo."

"If Xi Mo, Gui Jiao and the former clan leader are all involved in this rebellion, will you be able to handle them all on your own? If the entire clan goes against you, will you be able to deal with them?"

"…We'll talk about that later. I'll bring you to the slate now."

Su Yan was silenced. If all the Void Refinement Realm experts of her clan had really rebelled against her, she obviously would not be able to deal with two Void Inquiry Stage experts and a Void Glimpse Stage cultivator…

However, she did not want to owe Ning Fan too much. She could not ask any more help from him to deal with her problem…

Well, let's see how it goes. Who knows if they really could get out of the broken world safely…?

The devil slate was sealed within an obscure ancient formation. That ancient formation was located one million li* (500m per li) west of the Devil Mist Pond. The grade of the formation technique was quite high. It had been established by an ancient pill master of the Mist Horn Clan.

Having Su Yan to lead the way and activate the formation, Ning Fan got to the slate as easy as blowing off dust and stood right in front of it.

"I am indebted to you as you've saved my life. Even if you want to take the devil slate away, I will still help you cover it up." Su Yan did not believe that Ning Fan would be satisfied with just taking a look at the slate.

The devil statue slate was a supreme treasure. Even though no one could understand its secrets, experts like King Lan Ling would still fight among themselves in order to get one of the slates.

Thus, it was nothing unusual if Ning Fan wanted to take it away.

Su Yan was not an ungrateful person who didn't know how to return a favor to those who had helped her. If Ning Fan really wants to have the devil slate, she would be willing to keep it a secret for him.

"I really don't need to take it away." Ning Fan squatted down. He did not remove the seal placed on the devil slate. Instead, he just placed his hand on the slate across the seal.

His gaze lingered on the scripture on the slate and memorized all of the correct characters. Moments later, he absorbed the fourth devil qi into the devil marks on his back.

The devil scripture from this devil slate filled up all the chants, cultivation direction, secret arts and techniques of the Ancestral Talisman Blood Refinement Technique.

The fourth devil qi and the other three devil qi inside Ning Fan's body resonated with each other.

He felt the devil marks on his back burning, burning away all the devil qi inside his body.

Each trace of devil qi inside of him was the culmination of his Devil Dao that he had gained throughout his cultivation. How could they be wasted just like that?

He held Su Yan in his arms and flew into the gigantic Devil Mist Pond in a flash of light, devouring the pure devil qi in the water to replace the devil qi in him that had been burned up by his devil marks.

Gradually, the burning sensation on his devil marks stopped and everything calmed down.

Afterwards, a terrifying devil might was unleashed from Ning Fan's body, dashing out of the Devil Mist Pond and sweeping across the entire small chiliocosm.

In the skies right above where Ning Fan was, the devil mist scattered. Pieces of the heavens started to crack.

Eerie black fluid flowed out from the cracks, emanating immense devil qi. It was the strange phenomenon of devil blood dying the blue sky. It only occurred when the four devil slates appeared in the past!

Now, this abnormal phenomenon was triggered by Ning Fan and it carried his qi!

He knew that his devil marks were on the verge of achieving an advancement. However, he had not thought that he would cause an abnormal phenomenon after gathering the four devil qi from all four devil slates. Moreover, once this abnormal phenomenon appeared, it would follow him wherever he goes.

The Heaven Deceiving Cloak would not be able to hide the phenomenon. Even hiding inside the Yuan Yao World or Profound Yin World would not conceal it.

Not only that, Ning Fan felt like his blood was on fire right now and his qi was in chaos. In his current condition, he could not even use one-tenth of his original strength. It was not an appropriate time for him to fight at all.

Inside the Mist Horn Broken World, all of the devil spirits had seen the strange phenomenon and detected that Ning Fan was the one who triggered it based on the qi emanating from the phenomenon.

All of them swarmed towards the Devil Mist Pond. Even if Ning Fan turns invisible and hides, they would not be able to find his true body but they would still know that he was hiding at the bottom of the pond.

"Devil blood dying the blue sky! How did you trigger this phenomenon?! What have you done to the devil statue slate? You…" Su Yan had too many questions and doubts she wanted to ask Ning Fan.

However, Ning Fan's devil marks were currently advancing and so he was suppressing the devil qi in his body with all his power. Therefore, he did not have any spare energy to talk with Su Yan.

In the distance, countless powerful qi emanating vigorous devil qi were quickly heading towards Ning Fan's direction.

Among them, fourteen traces of strong Void Refinement Realm qi were leading the group. They were dashing towards Ning Fan in a crazed manner. Each of the Void Refinement Realm devil spirits let out roars of anger, all their spirit senses were locked onto the Devil Mist Pond.

"Junior, even though I don't understand how you triggered such a frightening phenomenon which affected heaven and earth, one thing I know for sure is that I will be able to find you wherever you are because of this phenomenon. Even if you flee to the most remote corners of the world, I will still be able to discover your tracks!"

"Big Brother, you don't have to talk nonsense with him anymore. We will charge at them together. After killing him and Su Yan, we will accomplish the mission General Xi Mo assigned to us!"

"How dare a lowly Half-Step Void Refinement Realm junior provoke us?! He's really courting his own death!"

"In his current condition, he can't even use one-tenth of his original strength. It's a great opportunity to strike him down and finish him off!"

"Be careful, everyone. This brat's movement speed is extraordinary. He has an impressive invisibility technique and his combat power is also comparable to that of the Void Inquiry Stage. If we want to pin him down, we must first set up barriers that cancel the effect of his invisibility and slow down his speed. We will form 14 layers of barriers. Let's see what methods he still has to fight against us!"

*Boom* *Boom* *Boom*

The 14 Void Refinement Realm devil spirits arrived in an instant and jointly established 14 layers of barriers around the Devil Mist Pond which completely shut off every possible way Ning Fan could flee to.

Ning Fan's speed was greatly reduced and he could not summon his Heaven Deceiving Cloak as well inside the barriers.

The 14 Void Refinement Realm devil spirits looked at the weakened Ning Fan whose abilities had been disabled the same way they would look at a dead person.

Millions of devil spirits surrounded the area like tidal waves.

"What should we do now…" Su Yan sighed gently. Ning Fan had triggered a strange phenomenon which weakened his strength considerably. Moreover, they were surrounded by their enemies from all sides. The situation looked dire.

"It doesn't matter. Come with me!"

Ning Fan placed his arm around Su Yan's waist which was slender like a water snake. He gave a disdainful glance at the devil spirits and went into the Yuan Yao World with her.

He did not plan on running or hiding there. He would achieve the advancement of his devil marks in the Yuan Yao World. Once his devil marks advanced completely, he would wipe out all the devil spirits!

"What?! How did he escape again?! How is this possible?!"

"No. He didn't escape. Everyone, look. The position of the phenomenon he triggered didn't change. He is still hiding somewhere right here!"

"He didn't turn invisible. He should have hidden inside a heavenly dwelling space."

"Detestable! If he hides inside a heavenly dwelling space, do we have to wait for him to come out right here? Let's just blast his heavenly dwelling space to pieces!"

*Bang* *Boom* *Bang*

The 14 Void Refinement Realm old monsters attacked at the same time, splitting the Devil Mist Pond into two. However, they did not discover any broken heavenly dwelling space on the bottom of the pond.

If Ning Fan really went inside a heavenly dwelling space, he should have been thrown out from it.

Unfortunately, the world where Ning Fan hid himself was a small chiliocosm which was of a higher grade than a heavenly dwelling space. Thus, the combined attacks of 14 old monsters would not be able to force him out.

"Detestable! The place he hid himself isn't a heavenly dwelling space but a small chiliocosm instead! This brat actually has a small chiliocosm cosmos treasure!"

"We've miscalculated! It's surprising for this brat to possess a cosmos treasure. If he doesn't come out, all we can do is to keep on waiting for him here. The most hateful part of this is that he also brought Su Yan inside. Since we can't enter his small chiliocosm, we naturally won't be able to kill Su Yan. How are we supposed to report to General Xi Mo now?!"

"Impudent! Shameless! He knew he had no chance of winning against us so he hid himself inside the small chiliocosm. He's really a shameless brat!"

Each of the Void Refinement Realm devil spirits were burning with impatience while cursing and spitting harsh words aimed at him.

Unfortunately, Ning Fan did not seem to be the one that was shameless and impudent. In fact, these Void Refinement Realm old monsters were the ones who fit the description.

14 Void Refinement Realm devil spirits bringing a battalion of ten million devil spirits to attack a Half-Step Void Refinement Realm cultivator. Wasn't this shameless enough?

The 14 Void Refinement Realm devil spirits only dared to surround Ning Fan when his combat power was greatly reduced. Wasn't this a shameless act?

The ten million devil spirits arrived one after another, crowding the area around the Devil Mist Pond.

There was nothing the 14 Void Refinement Realm devil spirits could do other than wait for Ning Fan to appear.

Perhaps Ning Fan would spend the rest of his life hiding inside the Yuan Yao World. Perhaps the day when Ning Fan comes out from the small chiliocosm would never come.

However, they still had to keep on waiting. As long as he comes out, they were confident that they could leave him with no grave to die in!

"We will wait for them right here! In addition, tell General Xi Mo that Su Yan is already dead…" Qian Gui ordered.

"What?! Are we going to lie to General Xi Mo? Su Yan is obviously not dead yet…"

"What other choice do we have?! Who can kill Su Yan now when she has hidden inside a small chiliocosm? Do you all want to tell General Xi Mo the truth and let him know that we, a group of 15 Void Refinement Realm experts, did such a terrible job? Are we going to tell him that all fifteen of us could not even successfully kill two individuals and had even lost one of our own during the process?"

"But…"

"There's no need to worry! We will wait right here. I don't believe that Su Yan and that little lover of hers would stay hidden here forever!"

Qian Gui's eyes turned grim and ordered his men to build devil cities around the Devil Mist Pond. They actually wanted to camp in this area.

This bunch of old guys truly had no shame for their actions!

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

<annotations style="display: none;"><ol class="tinymce-annotation-container"><li data-annotation-id="6360a103-2e9b-8bee-0578-81737c1a2b7f">Su Yao (Chinese:苏妖 Pinyin: sū yāo)The Su Yao here is different from Yin Suqiu's friend, Su Yao (苏瑶). The Yao (妖)in this name means demon. It's a joking name that the author suggests that Ning Fan might give Su Yan as she behaves like a demoness. </li></ol></annotations>",