Grasping Evil

The news about Ning Fan subduing the Mist Horn Clan, one of the Four Clans of the Hidden Sea, shook the entire External Endless Sea overnight. Information about it spread everywhere even in the remotest corners of the world like the falling snowflakes.

Inside the Zhou Clan, Hong Yi who was currently in seclusion in a small chiliocosm to heal her wounds looked at the jade slip in her hands. It contained news of what Ning Fan had done to the Mist Horn Clan. After reading it, her blood-red eyes curved into a faint crescent moon-like shape.

"Suppressing the Mist Horn Clan? Furthermore, it's different from what I did in the past. All I did was merely suppress them but this young man enslaved the Mist Horn Clan completely. His skills aren't weak. If he were trained and nurtured with care, he would become a great help to me when I attack the Rain Palace! Guards!"

As Hong Yi's call resounded outside the small chiliocosm, three Void Refinement Realm experts with overflowing qi immediately went inside the realm.

One of the three individuals was the Third Elder, Zhou Chen. The other two experts looked rather unfamiliar. They should also be Void Refinement Realm elders of the Zhou Clan. Their qi was even stronger than the Third Elder's!

"Lord Thunder Sovereign, is there anything you need?" The three experts bowed before Hong Yi in unison. Their expressions were filled with absolute respect.

As for the way they addressed Hong Yi, it would certainly shock the entire Rain World if it were to spread in the outside world. Moreover, news about Ning Fan subduing the entire Mist Horn Clan was nowhere near as shocking as this!

Hong Yi was actually the Thunder Sovereign!

However, wasn't the remnant soul of the Thunder Sovereign sealed inside the Sovereign's Tomb? Wasn't it in a state that was neither dead nor alive? Wasn't it unable to leave that tomb? How come it turned into Hong Yi and appeared in the Internal Endless Sea?!

If the Rain World found out that the Thunder Sovereign had gotten out of the Sovereign's Tomb, wouldn't they be greatly shocked by this?!

"Zhou Wei, Zhou Tong, Zhou Chen, my plan has some changes. The day of my 'resurrection' will temporarily be postponed. I'd like to change the person chosen to help me 'return the soul to my primordial spirit' in my plan. I want to wait for another person to help me return my soul in person!"

"What?! My Lord, returning your soul to your primordial spirit is an extremely significant matter. We cannot afford a single mistake. We are the most suitable candidates for it. My Lord, why do you intend to change the person responsible for that?"

"There's nothing much to discuss about this. I have my own considerations. That young man will be more suitable than every single one of you."

As soon as Hong Yi finished speaking, she gently shut her blood-red eyes and went quiet.

The three elders exchanged glances among them. They seemed to have things they wanted to say but they could not muster the courage to persuade Hong Yi in the end. After making a light sigh, they excused themselves and left the place.

As the plan had changed, a lot of things would need to be adjusted. The three of them would have tons of work to do.

Inside the broken world of the Giant Devil Clan.

The Eight Ancestors were looking at the news in their hands. The expressions on their faces were filled with surprise.

"This kid actually has the ability to enslave an entire clan! This is too unbelievable! We have spent our entire lives in order to break free from our slave marks. He, however, easily undid the slave marks on the members of the Mist Horn Clan and planted a new one on them, turning them into his slaves instantly. This young man's skills are actually so heaven-defying. Should we ask for his help to erase the slave marks on our clan?" A Void Inquiry Stage old ancestor spoke in amazement.

"When we met him in the broken world the last time, he clearly was still at the Half-Step Void Refinement Realm. How did he break through to the Void Inquiry Stage in just a few months? Could it be that he has stored a massive amount of magic power inside his body while restraining his cultivation at the Divine Transformation Realm so that he could attain the Void Refinement Realm in one go?"

Another old ancestor sucked in a cold breath. The minimum amount of magic power that a Void Inquiry Stage expert had was incredibly massive. It was at least three million units. Ordinary Divine Transformation Realm cultivators could not hold such a huge amount of magic power within them at all…

"Humph?! So what if he breaks through to the Void Inquiry Stage?! So what if he had subdued Xi Mo, Yin Gong, Gui Jiao and the others?! Even if he possesses peerless strength among Void Inquiry Stage experts, he will still be at our mercy. Out of the eight of us, two are Void Pierce Stage experts! There is an insurmountable gap between the Void Pierce Stage and the Void Inquiry Stage. Only outstanding experts like Yun Tianjue and King Lan Ling can put up a fight against Void Pierce Stage experts when they were still at the Void Inquiry Stage. Thus, there's nothing to be afraid of about this young man!"

A gloomy Void Inquiry Stage woman spoke with a malicious voice. She might be saying that Ning Fan was just a worthless and insignificant cultivator, but there was a strong jealousy hidden within her words. She clearly envied Ning Fan's strength and skills.

"That's it! Stop talking about him!"

King Ju Lu's deep and hoarse voice echoed across the area, carrying a powerful Void Pierce Stage aura force which made all old ancestors quiet down obediently.

"Even though this young man is capable of erasing the slave mark, we, the eight ancestors, can also undo the slave marks using our own means thanks to the combined efforts of eight generations. We don't need to seek help from an outsider. We will still continue with our original plan. Ten years later, we will use the devil blood inside Feng Xueyan's body to lift the slave mark on our clan."

"But, Old Ancestor, since Zhou Ming can let us break free from the slave mark with ease, why do we still need to sacrifice Feng Xueyan? We could just ask for his help directly while offering him great rewards upon doing so. After all, Feng Xueyan is my granddaughter. I don't want to see her die…" Old Ancestor Ju Yan raised an objection.

"Ju Yan, are you doubting my order?!" King Ju Lu's eyes turned solemn. The look on his face immediately silenced Ju Yan's objection.

"Ju Yan doesn't dare to… But Feng Xueyan…"

"That's enough out of you! This is my final decision regarding this matter! Our plan is flawless. We don't need an outsider's help. All of you have to understand that Zhou Ming is still an outsider no matter what. Even though he has a way to let us break free from the slave mark, he also has the power to plant it. What if he plants a new slave mark on us after he gets rid of our old slave marks? Won't our people need to serve him for eternity after that?"

"What the Old Ancestor said is correct. It's my mistake for not giving it much thought." Ju Yan could not rebuke him. All he could do was stay silent and obey King Ju Lu.

"Mm. It's good that you are aware of your mistake. The plan will proceed. Let's just wait for that kid to refine the Sinful Ocean Pill for us. Hehe. Ten years. I just need to wait ten more years…"

King Ju Lu's eyes flashed with a hint of gloominess but no one around him noticed it.

The reason why he put himself through a torturous wait of eight generations and made painstaking efforts was not just to save the Giant Devil Clan from the slave marks. In fact, he had his own goal.

"As long as the plan goes smoothly, not only will I be conferred as a true devil and become able to cultivate the great path of the ancient devils, but I will also be able to use the 'artificial ancestral blood' inside Feng Xueyan's body to obtain at least a true grade devil bloodline! No. Perhaps I will have a chance of obtaining a royal grade devil bloodline and become a legendary King Devil! In the past, my foundation was harmed by the heavenly tribulation and that's why I did not have the chance to break through to the Void Fragmentation Realm. However, if I can really obtain at least a true grade devil bloodline, I'll be able to attain the Revered Devil Realm very soon! The Revered Devil Realm is much stronger than the Void Fragmentation Realm! In front of my ancient devil race, all cultivators are merely ants or food!"

King Ju Lu stroked the old and unadorned jade box in his hands, feeling an upsurge of excitement inwardly.

What the jade box contained was a Low Grade Seventh Revolution Pill – the Revered Blood Pill!

This pill had the effect of fortifying the cultivation base of a Revered Devil Realm ancient devil. The price of this single pellet was immeasurable.

"If I didn't obtain this Revered Blood Pill in the past, I would never think that I have hope of becoming a Revered Devil in my life. Hehe. In the entire Rain World, no, in all Nine Worlds, who is as lucky as me to have the chance to consume the Seventh Revolution Revered Blood Pill of the ancient devil race?!"

The Revered Blood Pill in King Ju Lu's hands was imperfect. Even so, he still saw it as a priceless treasure.

Unfortunately, he did not know that Ning Fan had obtained 10 complete pellets of this pill after completing the tests on the Devil Conferral Summit. He had also consumed all of them, allowing him to stabilize his Reckless Devil Realm in a very short period of time.

Compared to Ning Fan's luck, his inferior luck was nothing worth mentioning at all.

In the Middle State - Rain Palace.

The Rain Sovereign's expression changed when he read the news in his hands.

It showed that Ning Fan had broken through to the Void Inquiry Stage. However, how could this be possible? A few months ago, Ning Fan was still at the Half-Step Void Refinement Realm cultivator. How could it be possible for him to successfully attain the Void Inquiry Stage in just a few months?

"Could it possibly be that this kid has been blessed with a great opportunity? Or could it be because someone who has an equally outstanding potential as the Thunder Sovereign and Yun Tianjue has…"

The Rain Sovereign's eyes were filled with uncertainty. He was not sure if he would produce a sovereign level enemy by letting Ning Fan continue to grow.

According to the information he had, King Lan Ling had yet to 'teach' Ning Fan a lesson which made the Rain Sovereign extremely dissatisfied.

Based on his personality, there was no way he could allow a devil cultivator who did not belong to the Rain Palace to grow without any limit. However, what gave him a headache was that the stronger Ning Fan gets, the greater his rate of success in entering that place.

The Rain Sovereign was unwilling to let Ning Fan grow any more influential but at the same time, he was also hoping that he would get stronger so that he could pass through the sea of Immortal Flames and retrieve that item for him.

His thoughts being really self-contradictory truly vexed him.

Besides, Ning Fan had now broken through to the 'Void Inquiry Stage'. As the reputable Rain Sovereign, should he fulfill the promise he made last time by making Ning Fan the palace lord of the Scarlet Heaven Palace?

The Rain Sovereign had a lot of army divisions. Every one of them was being guarded by a Void Refinement Realm palace lord. However, among all divisions, only nine of them were the strongest and were known as the 'Nine Heavenly Divine Palaces'. All of them were named after the Nine Heavens and each of them was under the supervision of a Void Fragmentation Realm expert.

Being one of the nine palace lords was greatly respected. If it wasn't because of Ning Fan's usefulness to the Rain Sovereign, how would the latter let him off after he had killed Mo Xiu, the dignified palace lord of the Scarlet Heaven Palace?

"Perhaps it's a good thing I make him the palace lord of the Scarlet Heaven Palace. When he comes to the Middle State in the future, Jinghong can keep an eye on him. With Jinghong's skills, he can keep this kid under control and stop his skyrocketing momentum. By tempting him with enough benefits, I can probably keep using him for my own purpose… This way, it's nothing much to give him the position of a palace lord. With his potential, he will definitely be a great help to me when he attains the Void Fragmentation Realm. However, I still have to observe him to see whether he has the intention to become a sovereign and betray us. I need to see whether he has the intention of leaving the Rain Palace in the future to create his own faction and become the second sovereign of the Rain World…"

"Well then, I shall test whether he has the intention to become a sovereign himself by conferring him a title."

When cultivators attain the Void Refinement Realm in the Rain World, all of them would be given a unique title by the Rain Palace if they had remarkable potential.

Be it King Lan Ling, <strong></strong><anno data-annotation-id="9f1a9d51-29c8-c8f4-b295-8c78d6870e87"><strong>Marquis You Gui</strong></anno> or King Ju Lu, all of them had been given the title of king and became nobility after they had attained the Void Refinement Realm.

The Rain Sovereign picked up his pen and wrote two titles on the paper in front of him. They were titles that he prepared to which Ning Fan will choose from.

One of them was King Ming, the title of king using Ning Fan's pseudonym, Zhou Ming.

The other one was White Marquis. It was a title derived from the white robes Ning Fan wore all the time and his greatness in committing killings in the world.

The Rain Sovereign's eyes turned grim. If Ning Fan chooses the title of king, it would mean that he likely harbored the intention of becoming a sovereign. If he chooses the marquis title, there was a chance the Rain Palace could recruit him.

The Rain Sovereign wanted to see which title Ning Fan would choose.

"Lord Divine Sovereign, on the world path connected to the Devil World, a Void Refinement Realm cultivator of the devil race intends to enter the Rain World. He is one of the top ten devil generals under Moksha Sovereign. His name is Dao Yan! He says that the reason why he wants to come to our world is to kill someone!" A subordinate entered the hall and reported to the Rain Sovereign.

"Dao Yan? One of the top ten devil generals of Moksha Sovereign wants to enter my Rain World? Humph! Last time, Moksha Sovereign intruded through the world path and trespassed to my Rain World as if it was nothing. Today, he still sent his subordinate to my world to kill someone. Does he really think that my Rain World is the weakest world of the Nine Worlds and I can be easily bullied?! Chase that man off! Don't let him enter our world!" The Rain Sovereign's eyes were cold.

"But…" The subordinate blurted out a word awkwardly.

"Are you doubting my orders?"

"No. This subordinate doesn't dare to do so! However, that Devil General Dao Yan carries a Sovereign Execution Token…"

"What? A Sovereign Execution Token!?"

The Rain Sovereign's eyebrows knitted together. A Sovereign Execution Token was something that all the divine sovereigns of the Nine Worlds possessed. It allows people from their own world to enter the other world to kill someone. A token gives the user permission to kill one person.

Since this Devil General Dao Yan came with the token, the Rain Sovereign was left with no other options but to accommodate him and let him kill a person in Rain World.

"… Fine. Pass down the message to open the world path for Dao Yan. Let him choose a domain where he wanted to descend. He must not commit a large-scale massacre in our world. He is only allowed to kill one single person!"

"Understood. This subordinate will execute your orders right away!"

…

In the world path of an empty realm, Devil General Dao Yan held a token in his hands while standing in midair in front of a world gate. His body exuded great devil qi.

A few moments later, there were some movements on the other side of the gate. Groups of cultivators from the Rain World appeared and opened up the world gate and allowed Dao Yan to enter the Rain World.

"Senior, may I know which domain of the Rain World you wish to descend upon?" A Divine Transformation Realm cultivator politely asked.

Dao Yan did not say anything. Instead, he took out a Harmonious Spirit Realm qi and sealed it into the Sovereign Execution Token.

Immediately, the token sensed the whereabouts of the qi's owner. Then, Dao Yan said with a deep and bone-chilling voice.

"The farthest east of the Rain World."

"The farthest east of the Rain World? Does Senior wish to descend on the Endless Sea?"

That Divine Transformation Realm cultivator of the Rain Palace felt extremely surprised. He did not know who Dao Yan was going to kill once he descended on the Endless Sea.

What he found even more hard to understand was the trace of Harmonious Spirit Realm qi that Dao Yan put into the Sovereign Execution Token.

He had witnessed the Sovereign Execution Token before. Throughout the years, he had also seen many experts from other worlds who came to the Rain World to kill their world's traitors with this token.

Every time they entered the Rain World, these experts would put the traitors' qi into their tokens to pinpoint the traitors' location.

However, each traitor that was hunted was at least at the Void Refinement Realm.

After all, a Sovereign Execution Token was an extremely precious item. The chance to legitimately kill somebody must not be wasted on an insignificant ant.

Thus, this Divine Transformation Realm cultivator from the Rain Palace could not understand why Moksha Sovereign from the Devil World sent a capable general just to eliminate a Harmonious Spirit Realm junior.

However, he knew that Moksha Sovereign's plan was not something that he, a lowly Divine Transformation Realm cultivator, could probe into.

Without saying much, he opened the cloud formation for Devil General Dao Yan.

Dao Yan leapt into the formation with a single step and his body vanished into nothingness.

This cloud formation was the teleportation formation for the domains of the Rain World. It could teleport the cultivators who just arrived to any part of the world. However, the precision of where they would land was not quite accurate as the user of the formation would land anywhere from one billion li* (500m per li) within the targeted location.

"With me taking this mission, that lowly Harmonious Spirit Realm cultivator will die for sure!" Devil General Dao Yan sneered.

At the same time, Ning Fan who was having a discussion with Su Yan and Ming Que in the Mist Horn Clan suddenly raised his head with a hint of cold light in his eyes.

Just as Devil General Dao Yan activated the Sovereign Execution Token, Ning Fan had a clear feeling that a trace of his qi was being locked onto. He even felt a clear and undisguised killing intent targeting him.

"Master, what's the matter?" Su Yan asked with concern. She was very grateful to Ning Fan for not killing too many members of her clan by just enslaving them. Her attitude towards him gradually became more respectful.

"Someone wants to kill me. However, there's nothing to worry about. It's just a Void Inquiry Stage cultivator and he's very far away from me. This man seems to have come after me all the way without rest. However, he certainly cannot reach me without traveling a few months. But there's one thing that I am quite concerned about…"

The thing that Ning Fan was concerned about was that there were traces of qi from others in the qi of that Void Inquiry Stage expert that was pursuing him. One of them gave Ning Fan a particularly familiar feeling.

"Aiya, who would be so brave to want to kill my Brother Biscuit. I will definitely not let him go! Since there is someone who wants to harm Brother Biscuit, I think it's better we don't go to Si Kong Demon Island for the meantime. Let's go and beat the crap out of him first, alright?!" That little pill devil raised her soft and tender fists with a serious expression as if she wanted to fight for Ning Fan.

"No, we'll still go to that island. Why shouldn't we? We will still need to pay Si Kong Demon Island a visit at the end of the day. According to what Ancestor Qu said, you have yet to obtain the 'Si Cang Statue's inheritance'. The reason why he did not allow you to take the inheritance was because he was afraid that you would not be able to endure it. However, since I am by your side today, you don't have to worry about a thing. I can protect you and keep you safe so that you can assimilate the inheritance of power from Si Cang peacefully."

Ning Fan glanced sideways at Old Man Qu. That elderly man immediately lowered his head in fear.

After subduing the Mist Horn Clan, Ning Fan had deliberately looked for him at once to detain and interrogate him. All he asked was related to the secrets of Si Kong Demon Island.

At first, Old Man Qu was reluctant to divulge anything. However, after Ning Fan let him experience some 'punishments', he revealed all the secrets he knew about the island.

He harbored no ill intentions toward Ming Que. He just wanted to let her accept Si Cang's inheritance and become the ancient demon that would lead them once again.

Ning Fan then let Old Man Qu go after knowing all of this and stopped bullying him. Now, that elderly man was extremely afraid of Ning Fan as he still had a lingering fear for the interrogation he experienced on that day.

"Alright then. If Brother Biscuit accompanies me, I will return to Si Kong Demon Island. From today onwards, my stomach will follow Brother Biscuit wherever you go!"

The little pill devil held Ning Fan's arm with a cute face, trying her best to please him.

She did not want to leave him again. She wanted to eat all the pill biscuits available beneath the heavens.

"Mm. After visiting Si Kong Demon Island, we'll drop by Pill Island again along the way. Then, we will return to the Giant Devil Clan. With the strength that I have now, there are some things I am now capable of dealing with. You all should get some rest. Today, we will set out to Si Kong Demon Island."

As soon as Ning Fan's voice fell, he flew away and returned to his own room.

He then sat on his bed in a meditative position and patted his storage pouch. He took out the bag of loot he gained from the battle and placed it in front of him. His eyes slowly became serious.

Immortal jade, spiritual medicines, pills, pill recipes, magic treasures… None of these items could get Ning Fan's attention.

The only thing that he was interested in was the jade slips.

Each of the jade slips contained a stored full-powered attack of an early ancestor of the Mist Horn Clan.

Due to the passage of time, the destructive power of these attacks had degraded. Otherwise, most of the jade slips could deliver a Life Immortal Realm or True Immortal Realm attack.

After so many years, only twenty plus jade slips still retained Void Refinement Realm and above of destructive power.

Among them, there were 7 Void Inquiry Stage stored attacks, 4 Void Pierce Stage stored attacks, 3 Absolute Void Stage stored attacks and 1 stored attack at the First Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm.

Looking at this collection of jade slips, Ning Fan felt rather bad. If these jade slips could be repaired and restored to their original strength, they would be terrifying trump cards.

"It's pretty unlikely to restore them. However, it seems like these jade slips still have another use."

Ning Fan seemed to have thought of an idea as his eyes sparkled…

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

<annotations style="display: none;"><ol class="tinymce-annotation-container"><li data-annotation-id="9f1a9d51-29c8-c8f4-b295-8c78d6870e87">Marquis You Gui (Chinese: 幽鬼侯 Pinyin:  yōu guǐ hóu)You Gui should be the name of that person. While the word,  侯  (hóu) means his title which is literally translated as Marquis. It is previously translated as You Guihou as there's no information about his title. Hence, it's changed to suit the context better. </li></ol></annotations>",