Grasping Evil

Dao Yan's death was beyond Moksha Sovereign's expectation. He never expected that one of his proud top ten devil generals would actually fail to kill a Harmonious Spirit Realm junior…

Moksha Sovereign did not think that Ning Fan was the one responsible for killing Dao Yan. From his perspective, Dao Yan was quite capable. Someone who could kill him would have to be at least a Void Pierce Stage expert in the Rain World.

As for the Void Pierce Stage experts in Rain World, every single one of them would have to pledge their allegiance to the Rain Palace to a certain extent.

This was just how unique the Rain World was. There was only one sovereign and one palace ruling over the entire world. Unless one breaks through to the Void Fragmentation Realm, no one could disregard the Rain Sovereign's orders.

"Was it the Rain Sovereign? When I personally descended to the Rain World back then, I had already offended him. Is that why he secretly sent someone to eliminate Dao Yan to demonstrate his power to me? Humph! Yun Zongxuan, you really have guts! How dare you kill one of my men?!"

Yun Zongxuan was the current Rain Sovereign's true name.

Moksha Sovereign was already 99% sure that the one who dared to openly kill Dao Yan in the Rain World must be a member of the Rain Palace.

Well, he also had his suspicions on Ning Fan killing Dao Yan. However, he refused to believe that a Harmonious Spirit Realm junior would attain the Void Inquiry Stage and possess the strength to kill Dao Yan in just forty years.

It would be extremely absurd. According to Moksha Sovereign's appraisal, forty years was far from enough for Ning Fan to sever his heart's devil and form his gold core.

"It certainly can't be that insignificant ant. It must be the Rain Palace wanting to hinder my plan. Yun Zongxuan, I will not forget what you've done!"

Moksha Sovereign kept the string of beads and closed his eyes once again. He sat quietly within the large hall. He suppressed his rage so well that none of it was discernible from his face.

If Moksha Sovereign found out that Ning Fan was responsible for killing Dao Yan, he probably would send more subordinates to hunt him down.

Unfortunately, since he already deemed the Rain Palace responsible for Dao Yan's death because he could not believe that Ning Fan would have such a high cultivation base, he clearly would not continue on sending his subordinates to the Rain World.

After all, how are they supposed to go there and kill Ning Fan since the Rain Sovereign is going to secretly kill them once they arrive there? Would it not be equivalent to sending the subordinates whom he had painstakingly trained to their deaths in the Rain World?

However, the feeling of unease in the depths of Moksha Sovereign's heart became even more intense.

"That ant… Is he really still at the Harmonious Spirit Realm…?" Moksha Sovereign suddenly opened his eyes. He could not get rid of that feeling.

After being absorbed in his own thoughts for quite some time, he smirked and shut his eyes again.

"No way I can believe that!"

…

Ning Fan had no idea that he had already involved the Rain Palace by killing Dao Yan. It made Moksha Sovereign believe that the Rain Palace was behind his subordinate's death and prevented him from recklessly sending any of his subordinates into the Rain World.

Ning Fan returned to the silver boat and asked Su Yan to activate it to continue their journey to Si Kong Demon Island. Then, he went inside the cabin on the boat and entered the Yuan Yao World to regulate his breathing and essence qi and sort out what he obtained from the two successive battles he fought.

The first harvest he obtained was cutting down a capable subordinate of Moksha Sovereign. To him, it held a unique meaning.

He did not just take Dao Yan's life because of his enmity with Moksha Sovereign. In fact, he had given it some thought.

Even if he didn't kill Dao Yan, it was impossible for him to let him go. At most, he could capture Dao Yan's primordial spirit and imprison him inside his storage pouch.

When Dao Yan does not return to Devil World after a long time, Moksha Sovereign would certainly know that he went missing. If that happened, Moksha Sovereign would probably send more people to find Dao Yan's whereabouts or kill Ning Fan.

If Dao Yan dies, Moksha Sovereign would probably still send people to hunt Ning Fan down. However, he would likely have doubts and would probably be afraid of recklessly sending more subordinates into the Rain World.

There was not much difference between the two outcomes. To Ning Fan, from the day he made Moksha Sovereign his enemy, there was no way he could avoid facing him one day.

The solution to solving the grudges between him and Moksha Sovereign was not to run away and hide from him. Instead, it all hinges on getting stronger. Ning Fan had to become so strong that he could kill Moksha Sovereign and settle their old scores once and for all!

Therefore, killing Dao Yan served as a reminder. He must not be complacent of his current situation. He must raise his cultivation level to greater heights and obtain the power to resist Moksha Sovereign.

"The level of my magic power is still at the Half-Step Void Refinement Realm. If I have enough medicines that increase magic power, I am confident that my magic power can directly advance to the Void Inquiry Stage after a long period of seclusion. After all, back in the Star Palace, I passed the test pertaining to the understanding of the Void Inquiry Stage by chance. Now, what I am currently lacking before I can achieve the breakthrough to the Void Inquiry Stage isn't comprehension about the Void Realm but just magic power instead. As for my ancient devil cultivation base, it's all thanks to the comprehension I gained about the Void Inquiry Stage during that test that I have progressed smoothly and attained the Mid Reckless Devil Realm in one go."

"Unfortunately, be it raising my magic power to the Void Pierce Stage or promoting my ancient devil cultivation base to the Late Reckless Devil Realm, both of them aren't easy for me. All in all, in order to attain the Late Void Refinement Realm or the Late Reckless Devil Realm, my comprehension about the Void Realm has to reach the level where I nourish my qi by piercing the void… It will be quite difficult indeed."

"All the pills that can raise cultivation at the Void Inquiry Stage and Void Pierce Stage are at least of the Mid Grade Sixth Revolution. Even if my pill refinement realm advances to the Sixth Revolution, I will only be a Low Grade Sixth Revolution Pill Master and won't be able to concoct Mid Grade Sixth Revolution pills right away. As for Dao Fruits… one will need to consume Dao Fruits that are at the Void Refinement Realm in order to raise their Void Inquiry Stage and Void Pierce Stage cultivation base. There is only a small number of Void Refinement Realm cultivators in the Rain World. Even if I kill every last one of them, I will probably obtain just one or two Void Refinement Realm Dao Fruits. Therefore, it isn't feasible to increase my cultivation base by consuming Dao Fruits."

"At the end of the day, the only method I can rely on is plucking human cauldrons. Plucking one Void Refinement Realm human cauldron will be much easier than murdering one hundred Void Refinement Realm cultivators just to get one Void Refinement Realm Dao Fruit. As for the source of human cauldrons…"

Inside the Yuan Yao World, Ning Fan sat in a meditative position on the fourth floor of the dark golden pagoda. He summoned an unconscious red-haired lady by shaking his Cauldron Ring. Then, he casually tossed her on the icy cold floor beside him.

She was the first Void Refinement Realm human cauldron that he chanced upon and captured during his journey and it was the second harvest he gained today.

Aside from that, Ning Fan also learned about another piece of important information from his conversations with the Two Elders of Ling Nan.

In the broken world which the two of them accidentally entered that day, there were a large number of cultivators living there and all of them were women!

Each and every one of those female cultivators was brimming with primordial yin. Among them, there was no lack of Divine Transformation Realm and Void Refinement Realm experts. What's more terrifying about that place was that there was actually at least one Void Fragmentation Realm female expert.

All of them had immense killing qi and behaved manically like they were devils. They killed people without distinguishing between right and wrong. None of them was good-natured.

"That broken small chiliocosm where Blood Burial Grass grew all over the place has a large number of female cultivators who cultivate the Dao of Slaughter. All of them are suitable to become my human cauldrons. But how many experts are there exactly inside that broken world? How can I enter there? Is it dangerous to enter that world and what is the background of those women? I don't have an answer for all these questions… Before clearing all of these doubts, it's impossible for me to head over there to capture human cauldrons."

Ning Fan glanced sideways at the red-haired lady. In order to find out everything, interrogating this lady would be the fastest way.

With a wave of his sleeve, he produced a gust of wind which pushed the lady into his arm.

He lifted one of his fingers and placed it on her glabella. She immediately moaned and woke up.

Just as she regained her consciousness and saw herself within Ning Fan's arm, she instantly showed him a ferocious expression filled with killing qi. She opened her mouth and spat out a blood-red lightning ray which went straight for Ning Fan's head. It was an attack meant to destroy his Sea of Consciousness.

"I'll kill you!" The lady's tone sounded cold and merciless.

Ning Fan gently tilted his head and avoided that blood-red lightning ray. Then, he placed his finger on the lady's soft bosom and channeled his Yin Plucking Finger's power into her. It weakened her body, impairing her ability to to use her magic power. However, it did not make her pass out again.

Ning Fan never had been a soft-hearted person. To describe it more appropriately, it was fate never giving him the chance to be soft-hearted.

He might be gentle and caring toward many of his beloved women but it did not mean that he would be kind to his enemies.

This red-haired lady tried to kill Ning Fan without any consideration. If Ning Fan were a little weaker and slower, he would have died in her hands.

Thus, Ning Fan did not feel guilty at all in capturing her as his human cauldron in retaliation. Besides, it was impossible for him to be polite toward her.

"Who are you and where do you come from?!"

"If you are brave, kill me. There is no need for us to talk. My palace lord will surely seek revenge for me! Don't even think about getting any information out of my mouth! Even if you try to search my soul and memories, you certainly won't be able to explore the memories in my Sea of Consciousness because it has already completely turned into killing qi!"

The red-haired lady was a strong woman with an unyielding spirit. In fact, she was much stronger than most men. She stared at Ning Fan with a cold expression as if she was indifferent to life and death. When she said those words, she did not even bat an eye.

However, she did not know that Ning Fan had access to her thoughts using his Mind Reading Technique even though she did not answer his questions directly.

This lady's name was rather weird. In the place she lived, she was called 'No. 431'. She was actually named after a serial number.

The small chiliocosm where she stayed was called the 'Blood Slave Garden'. It was a garden where an ancient cultivator resided several million years ago.

In present times, there were 1 Void Fragmentation Realm expert, 500 Void Refinement Realm experts and tens of thousands of Divine Transformation Realm cultivators inside that broken world. All of them were female. Neither men nor Nascent Soul Realm and Gold Core Realm cultivators were there…

When Ning Fan obtained this information, he gently frowned. After merely throwing the first question at the red-haired lady, the doubts in his mind did not reduce but increase instead.

Be it the lady's odd name or the name of the garden in the broken world that did not sound like a common name for gardens, all of them aroused even more suspicions in Ning Fan.

What Ning Fan could not understand the most was that there actually wasn't a single cultivator whose cultivation base was below the Divine Transformation Realm and the absence of male cultivators in the Blood Slave Garden.

That garden had been left uncultivated for at least hundreds of thousands of years. The lord of that broken world was already long gone. All the female cultivators residing in that world were those that were produced in the later generations.

When one wishes to preserve the continuation of life, it would normally require a mating process done between men and women which we all refer to as lovemaking. If there were no men on that world, how could life there continue for millions of years without experiencing extinction? Is it possible that all of the men of that world only died recently? However, it does not seem to be the case.

Except for a handful of unique forbidden lands, the number of low-grade cultivators in every place would usually be greater than the number of high-grade cultivators.

Only when there is an even greater amount of low-grade cultivators would there be a great number of high-grade cultivators.

In the Blood Slave Garden, however, Divine Transformation Realm, Void Refinement Realm and even Void Fragmentation Realm experts existed without any Gold Core Realm or Nascent Soul Realm cultivators there. This was a little too unusual.

Could it be that every last one of the low-grade cultivators in that broken world died in recent years? This did not seem to be probable as well.

"Why are you called No. 431?"

"I was given this name the moment I was born. It's none of your business!" The red-haired lady sounded firm and unshakeable.

"Who is the first lord of the Blood Slave Garden?"

"You don't deserve to know it!" She was as stubborn as usual.

"Why is there not a single male cultivator or low-grade cultivator in the Blood Slave Garden?"

"Humph!" The lady directly ignored Ning Fan.

"Who is the palace lord you mentioned earlier? Is she the Void Fragmentation Realm female cultivator in the Blood Slave Garden?"

"Pooh! The matter of the palace lord isn't something you are qualified to ask!"

After she responded to Ning Fan's final question, she spat out her saliva at his face. Of course, he avoided it effortlessly without taking it seriously.

Ning Fan did not mind the lady's retaliation. His face only wore a solemn look. From her mind, he discovered considerable information.

Why was the broken world called the Blood Slave Garden? Why was there no male cultivator or low-grade cultivator in that world? Why was the place overgrown with Blood Burial Grass…? Ning Fan had found the answers to all of these questions!

He carefully studied the red-haired lady who was in his arms. He had already thought that this lady's killing qi was really too heavy from the start but he had no idea why. Now, he finally understood the reason behind it.

"So it turns out that you are a… flower devil!" Ning Fan said while looking at her with his razor-sharp eyes.

"What?! How did you know about that?!" The lady's expression was instantly filled with shock.

The so-called flower devil was a devil creature that was cultivated from a peculiar plant using a special method.

It was similar to raising a pill devil. In ancient times, there were capable cultivators who raised special devil creatures for their exclusive purposes.

This red-haired lady who was known as No. 431 was a tuft of Blood Burial Grass in the Blood Slave Garden which successfully transformed into a flower devil.

Needless to say, the formation process of a flower devil was extremely difficult. It wasn't any easier than raising a pill devil. Therefore, a terrifying grand formation must have been set up in that broken world called the Blood Slave Garden which could accelerate the growth of the Blood Burial Grass and turn them into flower devils.

The flower devils required by the grand formation needed to be at the Divine Transformation Realm at the very least. And that was why it skipped producing Vein Opening Realm, Harmonious Spirit Realm, Gold Core Realm and Nascent Soul Realm flower devils and directly advanced the production of flower devils at the Divine Transformation Realm and above in batches.

The Blood Burial Grass belonged to the yin element while the grand formation was only set for hastening their production. Therefore, the flower devils produced were solely female.

On the other hand, the Blood Burial Grass was a grass of slaughter. That's why each of the female cultivators it produced would carry monstrous killing qi and heavy violent qi which made them seem like mad devils.

Based on Great Emperor Luan Gu's memories, it mentioned the cultivation of devil creatures which also included a few sentences about flower devils.

According to that information, the cultivation of any devil creatures would need to follow the stipulated order and start from the most basic level which is the Vein Opening Realm. Otherwise, it would leave an extremely significant defect on the bodies of those devil creatures.

For example, the little pill devil Ming Que was raised step by step by a True Immortal Realm being from a pill. That individual did not skip any steps in the cultivation process, allowing Ming Que to obtain a great and profound cultivation base.

As for these flower devils, they possessed Divine Transformation Realm cultivation base as soon as they were born. Without a doubt, the shortcomings they faced were extremely huge.

Ning Fan did not answer the red-haired lady's question. Instead, he directly held her wrist and spread his spirit sense into her body. He wanted to examine her using his spirit sense.

After checking her condition, he discovered that this red-haired lady's lifespan was extremely short. Common Divine Transformation Realm cultivators could live up to four or five thousand years while a Void Refinement Realm expert could live up to ten thousand years or more. She, however, could only live for 500 years. Her lifespan was just one-twentieth of an ordinary cultivator's lifespan.

Moreover, her aging accelerated after she left the Blood Slave Garden. Her lifespan was being drained several times faster than usual. This was one of the disadvantages a flower devil would have when their production was accelerated.

There was only one way to save this flower devil - cripple her cultivation base using a unique method and make her start cultivating again.

Naturally, there were many ways to cripple her cultivation base and one of them was through plucking…

The way Ning Fan looked at the red-haired lady did not have the slightest hint of sympathy. Instead, his brows were drawn together deep in thought.

The information he had obtained from the red-haired lady's mind was far beyond what he learned before.

Just like he had expected, the so-called palace lord was the only Void Fragmentation Realm female cultivator in the Bloods Slave Garden. She was also a flower devil created from a Blood Burial Grass through a hastened process just like the red-haired lady.

However, what exceeded Ning Fan's expectations was the identity of the former master of the Blood Slave Garden. That person's background was rather frightening.

"Fu Linglong, the elder of the Slaughter Palace six million and four hundred thousand years ago…"

Ning Fan had never expected that this broken world would actually be related to the prominent Slaughter Palace.

The Slaughter Palace was one of the many forces in the Four Heavens. But it wasn't one of the four greatest forces.

The four greatest forces were the Lost World Palace of the Northern Heaven, the Godly Void Pavilion of the Eastern Heaven, the Zifu Academy of the Southern Heaven and the Kunlun Jade Pool of the Western Heaven. The Slaughter Palace was not among them.

Even so, the Slaughter Palace was incredibly remarkable. They only accepted one disciple every one thousand years.

But every disciple would certainly become a peerless killer that could travel without any hindrance in the Four Heavens after receiving training from the Slaughter Palace. They could kill an immortal like crushing an ant!

As for the palace lord of the Slaughter Palace, that person's cultivation base was even more unfathomable…

Fu Linglong's identity was undeniably special as she was an elder of the Slaughter Palace. Evidently, the origin of this Blood Slave Garden was certainly significant.

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