Grasping Evil

Chapter 171(1)–Wind Lightning Wings, Cold Pine Essence!

After returning to the inn, Ning Fan regulated his breathing for three days. During that time, he didn’t speak a single word.

He was trying to keep his injuries under control. Three days later, he coughed out a mouthful of black blood.

That black blood was caused by the King’s Domination Technique. Until then, he let out a long sigh of relief.

When his name was spread widely in Quwo City, countless Gold Core Realm cultivators came to pay him a visit out of courtesy. However, he rejected them all by giving the excuse of entering into secluded cultivation.

Only those who weren’t willing to leave were entertained by Jing Zhuo.

At the yard of the residence, Ning Fan lied on a rattan chair, bathing himself under the sun while listening to the melody of the flute.

A tight frown formed between Yin Suqiu’s eyebrows. It’s impossible for her to not know about Ning Fan’s injuries after seeing how Ning Fan forced the black blood out from his body. He didn’t suffer that injury back then. It should have been inflicted on him when he was alone with Jie Xiu.

“That Great Jin cultivator went too far! How could they hurt you when you’re trying to help them with good intentions?! His action cannot be condoned! I want to have a talk with them” Yin Suqiu said, failing to calm her thoughts down. She put down her flute, planning to search for Jie Xiu.

But Ning Fan held her hand.

“It was just a trivial matter and did not harm me much. The journey to the Endless Sea takes priority. I can bear it. Furthermore, the reason why I’m helping Great Jin isn’t similar to yours. To be honest, my intentions weren’t good at all.”

“But…” She gently freed her hand from Ning Fan’s grasp and stroked her wrist. The crease on her head still remained tightened.

It’s because of me that Ning Fan offended Yun Kuang, creating a conflict between him and Rain Palace. Now, he’s on bad terms with Great Jin’s cultivators. Furthermore, he’s going to disguise as a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator in order to participate in the War Division. He’ll be involving himself in the battle at the frontlines. If someone tries to plot against him, he might find himself in a dangerous situation…”

There’s no way she could not be worried for him…

If she knew that Ning Fan wasn’t actually quarreling with Jie Xiu but the Great Jin’s King instead, she would never be able to calm herself down.

“Keep playing the flute. It’s truly a pleasure to have a beauty as my company, accompanied by the melody of the flute. Let’s not upset the mood by those trifling matters…”

His eyes shut with a gentle smile on the corner of his face.

That smile pacified her feelings.

It was a genuine smile as he was really enjoying the sunlight.

“Fine. What do you want to hear?”

“How about the ‘Song of Yue Boatman’?”

Listening to the beautiful sound of the flute, the past memories in Yue Country surfaced in Ning Fan’s mind.

I wonder how Zhi He and Lan Mei are doing right now. That evil little girl, Bai Lu, must be diligently cultivating…

Have master and little Dugu reached the Sword World?

Is Ning Gu still always arguing with An Ran?

Does Hai Ning^[1] still look the same? I guess the culprit who framed me up previously should be living a joyful life right now.

Ning Fan didn’t care who exactly the culprit was. He did not even take the old ancestor of Hai Ning seriously. The culprit was only an ant to him now. If I pass by Wu Country one day, I would then eliminate him.

His goal was to achieve Peak Spirit Severing Realm within a hundred years. However, he now decided to let go of his original goal.

After the fight with Great Jin’s King, he lost his inner peace. He then suddenly realized that he had gradually grown accustomed to the life of a cultivator with time.

Even if he didn’t have Emperor Moksha as his enemy, he would still be willing to cultivate the Dao.

It was because if he didn’t began the journey of Dao cultivation, he would be bullied by others just like the earlier scenario where he had almost been killed by the king’s golden light.

“It would seem that the reason I put in tremendous amount of effort for Dao cultivation isn’t to fight against Emperor Moksha. In reality, I am just unwilling to be bullied, suppressed and threatened by others. That is my true Dao, hatred wasn’t. Master should’ve known about it and that’s why he purposely left Yue Country for the Sword World. He wanted to erased the stubbornness in my heart so that I am able to understand my Dao more. My Dao isn’t to defy order, I am just not willing to give in to others. Looking from another perspective, I am quite fortunate. If the king didn’t push me too far, I wouldn’t be able to discover my true nature…”

All his concerns which were as heavy as stones were let go.

Love and hatred dissipated in his thoughts. Now, his focus was all on what happened earlier when he resisted the King’s Ten Decrees of Black Waves. He kept recalling about the feeling he had when he was resisting the technique.

At that moment, his heart was pure without any unnecessary thoughts. His heart was only filled with an unyielding will.

He carried a Dao that stunned the king which destroyed the King’s Dominating Intent!

“The ‘me’ earlier can only be considered as a true cultivator!” Ning Fan’s eyes sparkled. Unknowingly, the realm of his mental state was improving to a level comparable to a Late Gold Core Realm cultivator’s mental state.

Along the journey through the four countries, Ning Fan not only widened his view and gained more knowledge, but also adapted his mental state to a cultivator’s identity.

In the past, I wasn’t happy at all even though I was displaying a smile.

Today, I felt more relaxed and happier.

Ning Fan shifted his gaze to Suqiu’s quiet face while immersing in her melody.

Suddenly, he found that Yin Suqiu from his point of view was extremely captivating.

“Gorgeous!” Without any self-restraint, he complimented her.

Yin Suqiu’s blushed at his unexpected compliment. Inwardly, she blamed Ning Fan for his frivolousness. But in her heart, she felt sweet.

A woman would doll herself up for the man who loves her. For six hundred years, she hadn’t put on makeup. However, after she boarded the ship, she began to wear light makeup for Ning Fan.

All this time, Ning Fan didn’t notice at all it as his mind was occupied by other problems.

Now, he finally noticed it!

“I know how to sing ‘Song of Yue Boatman’. Let me sing for you while you play the flute.”

“What a blessed night is tonight? Drifting down the river wide.”

“​What auspicious day is today? My prince in a dream – right beside!”

“Too bashful to stare, a secret I cannot share.”

“My heart fills with longings, to know you, my dear.”

“The tree lives on the mountain, the branch lives on the tree.”

Since young, Ning Fan learnt to sing the fisherman’s song of Wu Country. As such, he could sing Yue Country’s songs quite good as well.

It was Yin Suqiu’s first time listening attentively to a man singing a song. For her, it was very pleasant to hear.

…

Three days passed. Yin Suqiu, Jing Zhuo and the others were led by the disciples of Han Yi Sect to use the short-range transportation portals, heading towards their assigned cities.

In the lands of Great Jin, there would be a cultivation city built in every ten thousand li. As such, short-range transportation portals were set up in the cities to allow the cultivators teleport for ten thousand li in order to assist the other cities any time if help was needed.

To get to the frontline, one needed to travel at least a hundred thousand li from south to north. For that distance, one would only need hundreds of transportation portals. In other words, one can reach the frontlines within half a month. It was extremely fast that only Spirit Severing Realm cultivator could travel at such speed.

However, each of them was at Nascent Soul Realm. Each activation of portals could teleport a hundred people but the cost would be at least ten thousand immortal jade.

Using the transportation portals for hundreds of times would need at least millions of immortal jade. If it wasn’t for the demon tide, the portals wouldn’t be open for use.

Moreover, a low-rank cultivation country didn’t have the financial support to maintain the facilities and use them frequently.

Jing Zhuo and Yin Suqiu headed to Ju Shan Guan^[2]. The threat level of the city was middle-rank. It was said that a high quality spiritual vein existed in that city. Therefore, the demons attacked the city incessantly in order to seize the vein.

It wouldn’t be dangerous for Jing Zhuo and Yin Suqiu if they didn’t try to be brave and went out of the city alone as their strength rivaled old ancestors.

“Hopefully, that troublesome woman wouldn’t act rashly…” Ning Fan smiled bitterly. After witnessing my injuries that were inflicted by the cultivators of Great Jin, her passion to help the country should have diminished a lot.

When all the Gold Core Realm cultivators left, there were still other cultivators of the same realm passing through the boundary of Great Jin one after another. They too, were led to Quwo City.

Ning Fan was rather unfamiliar to them. They wouldn’t know that the person on the opposite side was the merciless cultivator who shocked the entire Wei Country.

For the next ten days, Ning Fan remained secluded. He was stabilizing the realm that he broke through earlier after consuming the Burning Blood Pill.

In the third level of the Second Realm of “Colossal Bone Secret Art”, Ning Fan could turn into a twelve zhang giant. With that amount of strength, he was rest assured that he could have defeated the Old Scholar using only Body Refining Technique.

Note :

1. Measurements :

   a. li = 500 metres

   b. zhang = 3.13 metres