Grasping Evil

The battle between Zhou Ming and the two Nascent Soul Realm Cultivators was like a thunderclap, quickly spreading across Wei.

Meanwhile, Ning Fan quietly left Yuanjue Valley amidst various rumors.

He didn’t kill the Old Scholar. He would only be equally matched against him even if he had gone all out. If he wanted to kill the Old Scholar, he needed to sacrifice his blood essence to do so or even… use the stored attack of the Demon General!

It was not worth it no matter which option he chooses and aside from that, he would anger the Rain Palace if he really killed the Old Scholar. It’ll only cause him unnecessary trouble.

Scaring the Old Scholar off was enough, he did not need to go all out on such a minor matter.

He didn’t take notice of the matter in Wei anymore and arrived at the Desolate Hill of the Founding Ancestor in the heart of Wei.

It was a peaceful mountain range shaped like a magnificent dragon with the topography hiding a formation that was hard to detect.

Ning Fan hesitated slightly deep within the mountain range. The formation had already assimilated with Heaven and Earth that it couldn’t be easily detected. The grade of the formation was — Mortal Void.

Wei’s Founding Ancestor must have arranged the formation just before he died. The earth veins linked together towards his eternal resting place under the effect of the great formation.

Ning Fan was quick to find the entrance of the mountain range due to the information he had gathered earlier.

There was an opening of a dangerous crevice on a dragon shaped hill which leads directly towards the earth vein. There were several Wei cultivators gathered at the entrance with treasure hunting and training in mind.

These cultivators weren’t able to go into the deeper levels, but the Spirit Herbs and Spirit Ores that could be found at the outer areas was enough to make them excited. These resources in particular, were of extraordinary quality as they emitted buddhist light.

At the entrance, there were cultivators trying to gather companions to seek for opportunities within the earth vein.

Those that gathered companions at the last minute were mostly rogue cultivators. Cultivators that belonged to sects would move together without having to form a new team.

Ning Fan looked at the entrance and wasn’t the least bit interested in forming a team.

He had spent too much time in Wei so he needed to acquire the Founding Ancestor’s legacy as quickly as possible.

He closed his eyes and probed his divine intent into the earth.

There was many intertwining limestone caves and canyons deep within the earth enveloped with dense fog. Those who carelessly venture into the cave would certainly be lost. The earth vein was dangerous as those cultivators who had died in the past would become ghosts and there were also demon beasts that were born in the caves.

That is only the first level… There’s a path that leads to the second level located in the inner level of the first level. The second level is much more confusing and narrow, with only a few Harmonious Spirit Realm Cultivators searching for treasures in there.

There are several Gold Core Realm cultivators in the third level. It didn’t look like they were looking for treasures, but using the pressure of the Founding Ancestor to improve their Body Refinement Technique instead. These Gold Core Realm old monsters felt cold sweat drip down from their backs after Ning Fan’s divine sense swept through them. They were slightly shocked but couldn’t understand the reason why.

No humans were present in the fourth level. Ning Fan searched the small area of the fourth level with his divine intent but he could no longer search deeper.

The fifth level had became much more mysterious…

The Wei’s Founding Ancestor was a Peak Spirit Severing Realm cultivator and was a strong existence in the Rain World. He founded the Wei Country and slept eternally in this place… This kind of cultivator should have left an extraordinary legacy behind.

Compared to other cultivation countries, Wei was incredibly uncommon to be able to preserve its Founding Ancestor’s desolate hill…

Ning Fan then immediately moved towards the entrance.

A teenage girl wearing yellow garments stood at the entrance was looking slightly hesitant but she then blocked Ning Fan’s path. Her white teeth bit her lips while her nervous little face didn’t dare to look Ning Fan in the eyes.

“Th… that…” the teenage girl’s voice was as tiny as mosquito stuttered a little.

She was originally already shy and Ning Fan’s handsomeness only caused the girl to panic.

“Yes?” Ning Fan said indifferently.

“That… Do you want to form a team with us and enter the first floor of the earth vein to search for treasures…” she carefully said. She had a clean appearance, with smooth silky skin, had a cultivation base of the Fourth Level of Vein Opening Realm, she also had pure eyes and was somewhat immature. It was painfully obvious that she had just entered the cultivation world recently.

This immaturity was you would take pity on and together with her looks, many young masters would certainly want to look after her. But for Ning Fan, this girl was just average. He wouldn’t spend another second to mingle with this girl.

“Sorry, I prefer to go solo…”

“Bu… But the first floor of the earth vein is extremely dangerous!” She anxiously said. But Ning Fan walked away further and deeper as if he couldn’t hear anything and vanished into the earth vein.

Having been rejected by Ning Fan, she bit her lips with her white teeth, feeling slightly frustrated and suddenly a pressuring voice came from behind.

“Wen Qing, any luck? If there aren’t ten people in the group, this treasure hunt is cancelled! ”

“Big Brother Zhang, please wait for a little more time. I’ll try to look again. There should be people willing to form a team with us…”

If there were less than 10 people grouped together… Vein Opening Realm cultivators would find it extremely dangerous to enter.

But she would certainly regret it in her whole life if she couldn’t enter.

She was a rogue cultivator and only had her younger sister.

Her sister was stricken with fire poison, and to get rid of it, she needed to obtain a certain crystal from a beast in the first level of the earth vein.

She was timid and was afraid of death. But to save her sister, she needed to enter such dangerous place….

This was her own fate and it did not concern Ning Fan.

“…”

Ning Fan swept across the first floor under the effect of an icy light while he slashed and eliminated ghosts that blocked his way using sword qi.

These ghosts would sometimes drop crystals after their spiritual bodies dispersed. These crystals were cold and could help increase divine intent power by a bit if one consumed it but the effect was very miniscule. One hundred of these crystals were still inferior to a single Sense Bead. However, there are certain uses if these crystals were to be used as medicine.

The first level had Spirit Herbs that were ten plus years old, but he was not interested with them and ran straight towards the second level.

Several Harmonious Spirit Realm cultivators could sometimes be seen in the second level, and these cultivators’ expressions would drastically change and quickly evade after they see Ning Fan’s escaping icy light.

Ning Fan was not the least bit bothered by those Harmonious Spirit Realm cultivators. He felt even less concern on those hundred year old Spirit Herbs and ghosts. He stopped his escaping light at the edge of the second level after five minutes, and then looked at the formation in front of him as light flashed in his eyes!

The Mortal Void formation was unique and had a barrier that could detect and identify the qi of Wei’s Sect Master Token.

Only Gold Core Realm Cultivators and above can enter the third floor if there was no token. The token can reduce the strength of the formation by half.

Ning Fan carefully looked at the token and found that it was forged by a rare jade mineral. That jade mineral could only be found in the fourth level and only existed in Wei…

He placed his arm on the light barrier, but was unable to enter. Having a cultivation of just Half-step Gold Core Realm, he has yet to form his core which was not enough to enter the third level… But the token was able to immediately reduce the formation strength by half and allowed him to enter.

But he could no longer enter after he kept the token away. He closed his eyes and became silent as the demonic power in his body activated and his qi increased. With both magical and demonic power fused together, his magical strength had reached the level of Early Gold Core Realm…. This was the benefit of cultivating demonic power! Now, there was no stopping him from stepping inside the formation!

There were several Gold Core Realm Cultivators meditating on the earth vein in the third level. They would sit there for tens of years without a care in the world, hence they naturally did not know who Ning Fan was and what he had done in Wei.

These Gold Core Realm old monsters sensed there was someone coming in and immediately raised their brows. But after discovering that this person’s qi was but a mere Early Gold Core Realm, they immediately lost interest in him.

“A mere Early Gold Core Realm cultivator coming in the third level to cultivate, don’t you think it’s too dangerous?!”

If these Gold Core Realm cultivators knew that it was the powerful Old Ancestor Zhou Ming that they were mocking, what kind of shocked faces would they make?

Ning Fan was not interested in these Gold Core Realm cultivators. His escaping light continued onwards. These Gold Core Realm ghosts and demons that had successfully cultivated spiritual wisdom hastily moved out of the way after sensing Ning Fan moving closer towards them.

The instincts of demons and ghosts were much keener than cultivators, and could vaguely feel how terrifying Ning Fan was.

On his way, he picked up several hundreds of years old Spirit Herbs that he needed.

One hour later, he stopped at the intersection point of the third and fourth level. He gazed at the other side and began to feel serious for the first time in this trip.

The fourth level’s formation was covered by a pale golden radiance and sanskrit words could barely be seen moving above the formation.

Ning Fan could not enter the fourth floor with his current cultivation base while holding Yuanjue Valley’s Sect Master Token.

He hesitated briefly and closed his eyes. The moment he opened his eyes, layers of jet black sword sense enveloped his body as his eyes turned ice-cold and his black hair danced wildly!

“Shatter!”

His sword sense was tyrannical, with the formation shattering followed by a loud ‘bang’ giving him the chance to enter the fourth level before the formation closed off again.

At this moment, those Gold Core Realm Cultivators who had previously ridiculed Ning Fan became extremely shocked!

That sound of explosion was without a doubt a sign of entering the fourth level… Could that person be a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator?!

“…”

There were thousand years old Spirit Herbs and precious Spirit Ores that can be found on the fourth floor with no hostiles to be seen.

But Ning Fan took each step forward with extreme caution, preparing for any eventualities.

A few strong qi stealthily crept towards Ning Fan with killing intent. They were Nascent Soul Realm qi that came from the local ghosts.

Ning Fan occasionally found corpses of Nascent Soul Ream cultivators of the Rain World that had long been left alone. He took all of their storage pouches from them.

Ning Fan quickly took out the blood-colored jade slip when these Nascent Soul Realm ghosts’ divine intent swept towards him.

The jade slip contained a Spirit Severing Realm stored attack that was filled with tyrannical killing intent. Those hidden divine intent immediately withdrew and retracted their killing intent.

“This human, is not to be trifled with…” One gloomy voice said coarsely.

There are a lot of forks in the pathways of the fourth floor that was filled with danger with many powerful demons guarding tens of thousands of Spirit Herbs. After giving it some thought, Ning Fan had to give up on the idea of getting those herbs. He could scare the enemies with the stored attack but it’ll be impossible to eliminate all of them.

He tried to take the shortest route towards the edge of the fourth floor with extreme caution… if there were some fearless demons that would dare come to him… he would immediately activate the Spirit Severing Realm stored attack!

Sometimes there were ten thousand years old Spirit Herbs that were only guarded by Early Nascent Soul Realm demons. After a slight contemplation, Ning Fan summoned the Black Corpse and utilized his strong Silver Bone body to rob the Spirit Herbs off of them. Two experts having the strength of Nascent Soul Realm made the Early Nascent Soul Realm demons fearful and had to helplessly give up protecting the Spirit Herbs… Therefore, Ning Fan managed to obtain several ingredients that were needed for a Five Revolution Pill.

It took him several hours to reach the intersection point of the fourth and fifth floor. The formation that was guarding the boundary was pure gold in color with evil-breaking buddhist hymns circulating nonstop. The formation would pressure those Nascent Soul Realm demons or ghosts that dared to go near the it. Even Ning Fan that had gone through the path of Demon Cultivation felt a slight pressure from the formation.

It was a very strong formation — Mortal Void Grade, and was also infused with a Peak Spirit Severing Realm cultivator’s lifetime worth of divine intent!

That divine intent was of the Zen Faction named Zen Intent, but it was instead imbued with purple killing intent that was not merciful. It was infused with the Founding Ancestor’s slaughter of a lifetime!

The formation immediately reacted as if there was a single drop of water dripping into a pot boiling oil making a thousand purple light ripples when Ning Fan moved towards the formation. It changed into a golden purple Myriad Words Mantra that sends out attacks from the formation!

The Mantras revolved in the air with each circulation causing the void to tear…

The Mortal Void Grand Formation that was infused with the killing intent of a Peak Spirit Severing Realm cultivator was near impossible to go against, even for those mediocre Void Refinement Realm cultivators!

The Spirit Severing Realm cultivator jade slip that was in his hand was slightly weaker than the formation, it would be close to impossible to break the formation with just the Spirit Severing Realm stored attack!

Ning Fan immediately had his hairs standing on edge when the Myriad Words Mantra went towards him.

He clenched his teeth and sighed silently. I guess I can’t go inside the ruins with just my abilities alone.

No wonder…. Those Spirit Severing Realm cultivators would have flocked here if it was easy to enter. Whereas Mid Void Refinement Realm cultivators wouldn’t want to break this formation with great effort just to obtain the legacy of a Spirit Severing cultivator…

The first four levels must have already been searched thoroughly by the Rain World’s cultivators, but no one has yet to enter the fifth level…

“Treasures maybe good, but its not worth it if it’ll cost my life!”

He prepared the force of Heaven and Earth surrounding his body and wanted to teleport away from the formation.

But at this moment, something weird happened and the silent Eastern Ocean Bell rang faintly from his storage pouch.

The Myriad Words Mantra trembled as if meeting their archenemy and immediately shattered from the bell ring.

As for the formation, it opened up a crack large enough for a person to go through and seemed as if it were fearful of something.

Weird, extremely weird… the Eastern Ocean Bell is just a Supreme Treasure, but it managed to shatter the Mortal Void Formation that a Void Refinement Realm cultivator would find hard to deal with…

But it was not the time to be curious, Ning Fan immediately leapt towards the formation before the hole closed up.

The formation, then closed up!

The items of Wei’s Founding Ancestor that had laid silent for thousands of years would, for the first time ever, have a new master!

“…”

The fifth floor was small and without any hostile beings. Only a dozen of stone chambers that was connected together could be seen. There was a bedroom, an alchemy room and a cultivation room. There was a Peak Spirit Severing Realm Old Ancestor that had cultivated the Dao in this very place and also died in the lotus position tens of thousand years ago!

A thick layer of dust covered the ground making it difficult to imagine how long this place has been empty.

The magical treasures on the racks were at least of Supreme Grade, but each one of them had already lost their spiritual nature due to the passing of time. It was a pity…

As for the alchemy room, the rack had labels showing numerous Fourth Revolution Pills, but the jade bottles had turned yellow and the pills that were stored inside had become a pile of black powder.

This commonly happens in ancient ruins and Ning Fan did not feel pity nor weirded out by it.

Those magical treasures and medicinal pills that was placed outside were but of average grade. The real ‘good stuff’ must have been well kept if the Founding Ancestor wanted to pass it on to his descendants.

What Ning Fan really cared about was the carvings and murals on the walls of each stone chambers.

These murals could be used to forge the Sword Testing Rock for Void Refinement Realm cultivators as they were extremely sturdy. But the carvings on the murals seemed as if someone used their fingers to carve them, as there were fingerprints left on each of those words.

It must have been Wei’s Founding Ancestor that carved those words. His body refinement realm must have reached a terrifying level…

There was Buddha and a golden world that was filled with lotus flowers drawn on those murals.

Those words were sanskrit, luckily the memories of Ancient Chaos Emperor was able to decipher it.

The sanskrit was a record of the autobiography of Wei’s Founding Ancestor.

It recorded an expert’s bloody journey and his numerous legacy techniques.

Spirit Severing Realm Body Refinement Cultivation Method — Prajna Secret Art

High Grade Spirit Severing Realm Refinement Technique, Offensive-Type — Lesser Thousand Leaves Hand.

High Grade Spirit Severing Realm Refinement Technique, Offensive-Type– Vidyaraja Golden Body.

Other than that, Ning Fan was slightly shocked that the Founding Ancestor of Wei was also a Spirit Augmentation Master. His Spirit Augmentation level was on the Spirit Severing level, enough to forge a Profound Grade Spirit Equipment and augment the spirit on the magical treasure!

The Spirit Augmentation Faction legacy that Wei’s Founding Ancestor left behind was the ‘Consecration Technique’. It was a Spirit Augmentation technique that was unique to Buddhist disciples.

There are monks that consecrate for profit in the world of mortals but those wee scams and nothing more.

The genuine Consecration Technique was broad, deep and profound. Ning Fan could only understand a little even with his superb intellect.

He could not learn this technique, but it wouldn’t be wasted. He carefully took out a jade slip and imprinted a copy of the technique. He then copied the murals into a jade slip after considering it well.

He stopped right outside of the last stone chamber.

The stone chamber gave off an extremely solemn feeling. There was a strong unwillingness imbued within the divine intent that couldn’t be dispersed.

He found out that this stone chamber was a place of meditation A damaged Daoist robe laid on top of the empty praying mat.

There was also a black storage pouch beside the Daoist robe.

Other than that,  there existed a pool of blood within the stone chamber that was bubbling like lava.

His eyes suddenly sharpened after he saw the pool of blood.

Because this pool of blood contained the most precious treasure for body refinement… Burning Blood!

A single drop of Burning Blood was worth a thousand Immortal Jade.

This pool of Burning Blood was priceless!

Burning Blood was a necessary item to breakthrough to the third stage of the Colossal Bone Secret Art.

It was a necessary item to breakthrough to a higher stage for many Refinement Cultivation techniques.

No wonder the Founding Ancestor was so strong. He had obtained a pool of Burning Blood by chance!

If any Void Refinement Realm cultivator knew that a mere Spirit Severing Realm cultivator like the Founding Ancestor had the luck to obtain a pool of Burning Blood, they would be extremely moved and would use every means possible to break the Mortal Void formation to obtain the blood.

There were no “ifs” in this world. They didn’t share the same fate with Ning Fan who was fated to discover this place.