Grasping Evil

Chapter 506: Chapter 506: Ancient Golden Sword

To Ning Fan, the level of the cultivation resources in the Endless Sea was no longer suitable to increase his cultivation base further.

It had already been forty years since he left Yue Country. Now, his pill refinement realm had reached the Sixth Revolution while his cultivation base had reached the Reckless Devil Realm. He had already made up his mind to leave this place.

However, before leaving the Endless Sea, he had an old score he must settle once and for all!

“If… If I don’t take the medicine, will you also feel sad?”

“T-Then I’ll take it…”

“Brother-in-law, you are the only person who managed to find me… You are the only person who could hear my heart…”

The figure of a stubborn young lady who was unable to speak appeared before his eyes. Since Feng Xueyan had called him her brother-in-law, there was no way he could cast her aside and watch her suffer!

Since she was in trouble, he certainly had to return to the Giant Devil Clan as soon as possible!

“Fellow Daoist Dan, the Giant Devil Clan and I have an important relationship. I can’t just brush Feng Xueyan’s matter aside. I must go back to the Giant Devil Clan immediately. It’s all thanks to your Soul Washing Pond during the past four months that my pill refinement realm broke through to the Sixth Revolution. I’ll keep your kindness in mind. In the future, I’ll repay you for your help!”

Ning Fan threw a meaningful glance at Su Yan and Ming Que. He wanted to directly rush back to the Giant Devil Clan without planning to stabilize his Sixth Revolution Pill Refinement Realm which he had just achieved.

Venerated Pill was slightly stunned. Clearly, he did not expect Ning Fan would actually leave in such a hurry after hearing that the Giant Devil Clan was in trouble.

Even though Ning Fan’s pill refinement realm had just reached the Sixth Revolution, it was not really necessary for him to stabilize his pill refinement realm as he could just allow it to automatically stabilize by itself. The only bad thing about letting it stabilize on its own was that it would take a longer amount of time.

Usually, it was certainly the best choice for a pill refinement master to immediately stabilize their new pill refinement realm once they achieved a breakthrough.

Ning Fan, however, did not even hesitate to give up that option in order to return to the Giant Devil Clan as quickly as possible. It was fairly obvious that he was extremely worried about Feng Xueyan.

Although Venerated Pill had heard that Ning Fan had a friendly relationship with the Giant Devil Clan, he did not expect their bond would be so deep and intimate.

“Fellow Daoist must be joking. You have saved my life. Compared to that, allowing you to use the Soul Washing Pond is not even worth speaking of. However, you don’t have to hurriedly leave. Since the two old men, Dong Xu and Ju Qing, have asked for my help, I will naturally take a trip to the Giant Devil Clan. If you don’t mind, let this old man join you on this trip.”

“Join us? But you still haven’t fully healed, have you?” Ning Fan was also surprised.

“Hehe. Dong Xu and Ju Qing are very close friends of mine. When both of them encounter trouble, I obviously have to help them with all I can. These injuries aren’t even a problem! Moreover, all I need to do is to show my face. I don’t need to fight anyone. Whoever comes to seek trouble with the Giant Devil Clan, they will need to give me face because I am a Sixth Revolution Pill Refinement Master!”

Venerated Pill’s speech was sincere and affectionate. Besides, it also contained his pride.

For a second, Ning Fan stared at Venerated Pill in admiration. Even though this old man was still suffering serious injuries, he insisted on going to his friends’ aid. Setting aside the question whether or not he would be of help to them, his intentions alone were already moving enough.

Venerated Pill was truly a genuine friend.

He might not have a high cultivation base, but he was still the seventh best pill refinement master of the Rain World. His reputation alone was powerful enough. Everyone in the world would need to pay him respect. Therefore, bringing him there would certainly be somewhat useful.

“Alright then. We will go to the Giant Devil Clan together, Fellow Daoist Dan! Let’s set out now.”

“Fellow Daoist, there is no need to rush. I have two items here which I want to give to you as gifts.” Venerated Pill patted his storage pouch and took out two things.

One of them was a wooden box which contained a Low Grade Sixth Revolution Pill.

The other one was an ancient golden sword. The body of the sword was large and wide but did not have a sharp edge. In contrast, there were many indentations on it. Perhaps because of it being extremely old, many parts of the sword were damaged, weakening its destructive power by a great deal.

When Ning Fan took the box and sniffed the pill fragrance, he was shocked at first. Then, when he inspected the ancient golden sword, his expression changed to that of amazement.

“This is… the Soul Nourishing Pill! And this ancient golden sword… It can’t be wrong. This is an ‘escaping sword’!”

“Fellow Daoist has a good eye!” Feeling impressed, Venerated Pill complimented.

The Soul Nourishing Pill was a type of ancient pill. Its effect was to stabilize the level of the user’s medicine soul. However, Venerated Pill did not know how to concoct it because its recipe had already been lost for a long time. He found it when he was searching for treasures in the Immortal Burning Valley.

As for the ancient golden sword, it was an escaping sword.

An escaping sword was a unique flying sword that could only be found in ancient times. It only had a single function. Just as its name suggested, it was mainly used for flying. It could not be used as a weapon to attack or kill one’s enemy.

The escaping sword focused all its power on its flying speed. Only a sword cultivator would be able to control this sword. One interesting thing about this sword was that a cultivator would need to use immortal jade in order to make it accelerate to its maximum speed.

The indentations on its body were undoubtedly meant for immortal jade.

These two items were both ancient items. Even Venerated Pill could not identify the origins of these items at first glance when he found them in the past.

Ning Fan, on the other hand, managed to identify them without any mistake as soon as he saw them. It was evident that his knowledge and observation skills were incredible.

“If you take this Soul Nourishing Pill, you can immediately stabilize the level of your medicine soul without needing to deliberately enter into a seclusion. As for this escaping sword, its top speed is nearly on par with a Void Fragmentation Realm expert’s speed. Of course, if you wish to accelerate it to its maximum speed, it will require a huge sum of immortal jade …. Hehe. These two items are all yours!”

“Thank you for your gifts, Fellow Daoist Dan.”

Afterward, Ning Fan took the Soul Nourishing Pill. When his body digested its medicinal power, his medicine soul was stabilizing at an incredible speed.

Then, he studied the golden sword in his hand with a curious expression. By using this sword, it certainly would not take him a long time to rush back to the Giant Devil Clan.

“This ancient golden sword can carry a limited number of people at a time. If there are too many people onboard, it will slow down its speed. We’ll do it like this. Huang Tingzi and Yang Gu will follow us and ride this ancient sword with us. As for the cultivators of Pill Island, those with cultivation bases above the Gold Core Realm should immediately get yourselves ready to set out. All of you will go to the Giant Devil Clan on your own without fail!”

Venerated Pill gave an order to the cultivators of the Pill Island. Apparently, he wanted to use the Pill Island’s entire strength to help the Giant Devil Clan.

“Ju Qing is my best friend. He only has a single daughter. If someone wants to touch his daughter, they have to ask for my permission first!” Venerated Pill said firmly and resolutely.

Ning Fan inwardly sighed with emotion. Few people in this world would go to such lengths for their friends and Venerated Pill was certainly one of them.

Old Ancestor Dong Xu, Venerated Giant, Ju Qing and Venerated Pill, Dan Songzi… Being able to know each other in their current lifetimes really made their lives worth living.

Since Venerated Pill was kind enough to bring all the cultivators of his island to go to the Giant Devil Clan’s aid, Ning Fan was also willing to lend them a hand.

“The traveling speed of Gold Core Realm cultivators is too slow. It’s going to take them days or even months to reach the Giant Devil Clan. I have an idea which can ‘carry’ the entire Pill Island over there.”

“Oh? What idea do you have in mind?” Venerated Pill was curious.

“By carrying the entire Pill Island with me and bringing it over there! Let’s go. We will head over to the Giant Devil Clan together!”

Ning Fan patted his storage pouch and took out a blood-red umbrella.

As he activated it using his magic power, the umbrella opened, giving off faint-red halos of spirit wheels.

The halos spread across the entire island. The island trembled for a while and was drawn into the world within the umbrella!

Inside the umbrella world, a gigantic island descended from the sky, landing on the roiling sea of blood… All the cultivators of the Pill Island were petrified!

It was just too crazy. That umbrella had actually taken the island inside including all the people in it!

In the outside world, only Huang Tingzi and Yang Gu were not taken away by the umbrella as Ning Fan let them stay outside on purpose.

The island below their feet vanished in an instant. Only a vast and empty sea was left there with ocean water as dark as ink.

“A small chiliocosm cosmos treasure! Besides, this treasure is somewhat different from the others…” Venerated Pill’s eyes were filled with surprise.

Small chiliocosm cosmos treasures were rare to begin with. Even though that was the case, he still had seen a few of them. Common small chiliocosm cosmos treasures could only draw someone or something inside them within a certain distance.

Out of all the small chiliocosm cosmos treasures he had seen, none of them was as domineering as this blood umbrella that could forcibly drag the entire island into it as soon as it opened!

Venerated Pill naturally had no idea that ancient demon spirit wheels containing immeasurable power had been inscribed on this blood umbrella. These spirit wheels had turned it into an attack-type small chiliocosm cosmos treasure.

The user could not only forcefully drag the user’s enemies into the world but they could also use the blood ocean inside the umbrella world to severely injure them!

This treasure was truly heaven-defying!

“Let’s go!” Ning Fan would certainly not explain about it in great detail to Venerated Pill. He just casted a magic spell on the blood umbrella to restrain the blood ocean inside the umbrella world from attacking the cultivators on the island.

In this way, the cultivators of the Pill Island inside the umbrella world would not encounter any danger. They only needed to wait for Ning Fan to take them out from the umbrella world after arriving at the Giant Devil Clan.

Ning Fan then swung the ancient golden sword. It grew longer in the air, becoming as long as one hundred zhang* (3.33m per zhang).

Huang Tingzi and Yang Gu stood at the back of the sword to help Venerated Pill heal his wounds while maintaining his safety.

Ning Fan, on the other hand, stood at the tip of the ancient golden sword. Behind him, Su Yan and Ming Que were admiring this ancient sword with great interest.

“Can this ancient golden sword really travel nearly as fast as a Void Fragmentation Realm cultivator?” Ming Que asked, finding it unbelievable.

“I’ve seen it. Its top speed is indeed almost as fast as the Void Fragmentation Realm. However, the immortal jade required to make it travel that fast is a little frightening.”

Ning Fan was a sword cultivator himself. Therefore, he fulfilled the criteria for controlling the ancient sword.

When the indentations on this gigantic sword were filled up with five million immortal jade, the sword turned into a ray of golden light and shot past nine hundred thousand li* (500m per li) to the west in mere seconds.

This speed was very close to the speed of a common Void Fragmentation Realm expert who could travel across one million li* (500m per li) in an instant. This escaping sword was indeed fast!

“It’s really fast!” Su Yan exclaimed while stroking the hair on her temple which got messy due to the strong wind. After she became Ning Fan’s follower, she could always witness unimaginable things.

“Silly younger brother, you really obtained a treasure. However, this escaping sword is damaged quite seriously. Currently, the speed it is travelling at isn’t even a quarter of its original fastest speed. I have a way to repair this sword completely. Once it is repaired, you can even outrun the Rain Sovereign or Moksha Sovereign by riding this sword.”

Luo You spoke inside his mind, giving him a tempting offer.

“How can I repair it?” Ning Fan was rather interested in this ancient sword. If what Luo You said was true, wouldn’t it be able to travel one million li* (500m per li) instantly when it is completely repaired? Its speed might even surpass that of an expert who was at the Fifth Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm. With such incredible speed, he could do a lot of things.

“As long as you can gather ‘Green Constellation Gold’ as large as your fist, I will be able to help you repair it.”

“Green Constellation Gold… The size of my fist… Little You Er, you really like to joke with me all the time.”

Ning Fan did not know whether to laugh or cry. Green Constellation Gold was a type of rare spiritual mineral that was of the highest grade which was used in forging flying magic treasures. Green Constellation Gold the size of a nail was already extremely expensive and could make countless Void Fragmentation Realm old monsters fight each other over it.

Getting a fist-sized Green Constellation Gold was just as difficult as breaking through to the Void Fragmentation Realm.

Indeed, the matter of repairing this ancient golden sword was something that he could only think about but was not practical for now.

*Chi*

Ning Fan no longer talked much as he concentrated on controlling the sword. The sword might have an incredible speed, but the burden on the spirit sense of the sword cultivator controlling it was quite huge.

In just one hour, the ancient golden sword had travelled ten million li* (500m per li).

However, Ning Fan who had been controlling the ancient sword felt that his spirit sense was extremely exhausted. It was as if he had been constantly flying for countless li* (500m per li) without rest.

Is this the cost of flying at a speed that is greater than what my current cultivation base can afford…?

What made Ning Fan feel even more speechless was that the five million immortal jade that had filled the indentations on the golden sword had actually run out after merely travelling for ten million li* (500m per li).

This ancient sword used up immortal jade way too fast, right?!

By doing the math, it would cost one immortal jade to travel two li* (500m per li). It was just too expensive!

They were still at least several billions of li* (500m per li) away from the Giant Devil Clan. If Ning Fan were to use this ancient sword to travel throughout the journey, it would cost him a ton of immortal jade…

Ning Fan darted a glance at Venerated Pill and saw an unscrupulous smile on the latter’s face just at the right time.

It was the reason why Venerated Pill was willing to give this sword to Ning Fan as a gift. It burned too much money and Venerated Pill could not afford it…

“Fine. I don’t lack money anyway.”

Just immortal jade alone, he had a few billions in his pouch. Aside from that, he still had over ten thousand Dao Crystals which were equivalent to over fifty billion immortal jade.

This ancient sword might burn a lot of money, but Ning Fan was confident that he could keep ‘feeding’ it until they reach their destination.

Moreover, he also discovered that because of the overexertion of his spirit sense while controlling the sword’s speed far beyond his current cultivation base, his spirit sense was slightly improving.

Even though the improvement was miniscule, it really was extremely worthwhile for Ning Fan whose spirit sense was close to the Void Inquiry Stage.

According to his calculations, as long as he kept using his spirit sense to control the sword’s flight, his spirit sense would break through to the Void Inquiry Stage before arriving at the Giant Devil Clan!

“In that case, the money I’ll be spending on this sword is quite worthwhile…”

With a flick of his sleeve, Ning Fan replenished five million immortal jade in the indentations of the sword. In the next second, the ancient sword turned into a golden light and flashed past the vast sky once again.

It was Huang Tingzi and Yang Gu’s first time witnessing such amazing speed.

Both of them could also see how taxing it was to the user’s spirit sense to make the sword travel as fast as the Void Fragmentation Realm.

Common sword cultivators would definitely not be able to endure this level of exertion. Ning Fan, however, managed to pull it off!

Huang Tingzi was already so shocked that he was at a loss as to what to say. As for Yang Gu, his face was full of pride and admiration. Well, Ning Fan was his master. He certainly would be proud since Ning Fan was able to control the ancient sword freely.

The ancient sword continued to drain Ning Fan’s money throughout their trip. It travelled day and night non-stop. In one day, it covered a distance of nearly two hundred and fifty million li* (500m per li).

Based on this speed, Ning Fan estimated that it would only take a little more than ten days for them to reach the Giant Devil Clan.

This sword light flew all the way to the west. Its brilliant golden light and frightening speed had naturally scared countless people.

In the Black Mountain Sea Domain, a group of righteous cultivators were battling against a group of devil cultivators on the desolate Black Mountain Island. Many of them had already died in battle.

The group of devil cultivators only had twenty plus people left. All of them were from the internal sea. There was only an Early Nascent Soul Realm cultivator leading the group while the rest of the group were at the Gold Core Realm and below.

As for the group of righteous cultivators, there were over fifty of them. All of them were cultivators from eight hundred cultivation countries. Their group had two Mid Nascent Soul Realm cultivators.

The reason why these two groups of cultivators fought each other was because they had discovered the grave of a Divine Transformation Realm expert on this Black Mountain Island. They wanted to get the treasures left behind.

Judging from the remaining strength of the two groups, it was obvious that the group of righteous cultivators was going to win the battle.

“Detestable! Why did cultivators of the eight hundred cultivation countries come to the Endless Sea to compete with us for the treasures?!” The Early Nascent Soul Realm cultivator said. He could not defeat the two Mid Nascent Soul Realm righteous cultivators which also put his life in imminent danger. Thus, he could not help but lose his temper from the embarrassment of defeat.

“Humph! The reason why we travelled thousands of miles to the Endless Sea is without a doubt to get a share of the benefits from the Giant Devil Clan! As long as we force the Giant Devil Clan to hand over the devil statue slate and Feng Xueyan…”

While the two Nascent Soul Realm righteous cultivators were sneering, a gigantic golden sword light suddenly dashed toward them at an unimaginable speed.

The black ocean was literally sliced into two halves when the sword light flew past.

Then, it stopped in the sky above the island.

A white-robed young man wearing an icy cold expression was standing at the tip of the sword. He was Ning Fan.

He did not expect to bump into righteous cultivators from the eight hundred cultivation countries along his way to the Giant Devil Clan. It seemed like there were a great number of experts currently heading over the Giant Devil Clan.

I wonder if Feng Xueyan is still safe with so many experts putting pressure on the Giant Devil Clan.

“W-Who are you?! Don’t tell me you also want to compete with us for the treasures hidden in the grave of that Divine Transformation Realm expert? Do you know who we are? We are from the Barbarian Dao Sect of the Southern King Country… You better not stick your nose into our business!” One of the Nascent Soul Realm righteous cultivators said with wavering confidence.

He could tell that Ning Fan was powerful but he was not sure how powerful he was exactly.

Therefore, he just announced his background, hoping that it could intimidate Ning Fan.

Well, their Lord Man Wang[1], the master of their Barbarian Dao Sect, was a Void Glimpse Stage expert.

Whenever the name of a Void Glimpse Stage expert was announced, all Divine Transformation Realm old monsters would be scared half to death.

“I have no interest in whatever you are doing right now. However, how dare a bunch of ants like you try to take advantage of Feng Xueyan?! Humph!”

Ning Fan snorted coldly. A massive aura force rose around his body and enveloped all of the fifty righteous cultivators.

What is this aura force?! It’s so vigorous and formidable! How many did he kill to obtain such terrifying aura force?!

Ning Fan’s aura force was too frightening. It was not something a bunch of lowly cultivators could withstand.

The golden cores of the Gold Core Realm righteous cultivators broke under the pressure of the aura force and died instantly.

The nascent souls of the two Nascent Soul Realm righteous cultivators also burst to pieces, killing them directly.

However, they could not believe even in their death that there would actually be such a powerful person in this world who could kill Nascent Soul Realm cultivators by just using his aura force.

Is this really the Endless Sea? Don’t they only have the seven venerated beings who are just at the Half-Step Void Refinement Realm in the Internal Endless Sea? Why is there an expert with such overwhelming power in this place?!

Clearly this group of Nascent Soul and Gold Core Realm cultivators from the Barbarian Dao Sect did not understand the terror of the Endless Sea at all.

In stark contrast, the twenty plus devil cultivators on the island, be it the Gold Core Realm cultivators or the Nascent Soul Realm leader, were all scared to death the moment they saw Ning Fan’s appearance.

“R-Revered Ming!”

They nearly peed themselves. They had never expected that they would actually meet Ning Fan in person.

Who was Ning Fan?! He was a peerless devil lord who committed killings wherever he went. Even in the Endless Sea which was a place where slaughtering and taking lives were commonplace, none were as powerful and vicious as Ning Fan!

The group of devil cultivators immediately fell to their knees and kowtowed to the ancient golden sword in the air while pleading to Ning Fan.

“Revered Ming, please spare our lives! If you want the things in the grave of the dead Divine Transformation Realm expert on this island, we will certainly not compete with you!”

Su Yan burst into laughter. Ming Que also found it pretty interesting.

Ning Fan, however, did not know what to say.

Was he that scary? As soon as he showed himself, the devil cultivators of the internal sea were terrified…

Furthermore, who was he? Was he that bored that he would fight with a bunch of low level cultivators over a Divine Transformation Realm cultivator’s heavenly dwelling?

“Dismiss yourselves…”

Ning Fan was at a loss for words to tell them. After that, he activated the ancient golden sword. It immediately flew nine hundred thousand li* (500m per li) away, vanishing into thin air.

Even though Ning Fan had taken many lives, he was not as vicious as to kill whoever he met. The reason why he eliminated the group of righteous cultivators from the Barbarian Dao Sect was merely because they came to the internal sea with bad intentions – to take advantage of Feng Xueyan.

“Even the Barbarian Dao Sect has come to get a bite out of the Giant Devil Clan, huh…? It seems like the forces heading for the Giant Devil Clan will be far greater than my imagination…”

Ning Fan left in a flash, leaving the group of devil cultivators on the Black Mountain Island looking at each other blankly.

They gazed at Ning Fan’s golden sword light with eyes filled with respect and admiration.

They had never seen such an incredible flying sword in their entire lives. To them, Revered Ming was just way too cool!

However, before Ning Fan left, he seemed to have told them to dismiss themselves…

Even though he only said that unintentionally, none of the devil cultivators dared to disregard his order.

“Revered Ming wants us to dismiss ourselves. Does it mean that he doesn’t allow us to dig the grave of this Divine Transformation Realm senior…?” A devil cultivator said anxiously.

“You are right. Perhaps Revered Ming really doesn’t want us to dig the grave. Could it be that Revered Ming had a relationship with this deceased Divine Transformation Realm senior in the past which is why he doesn’t allow us to dig his grave?” Another elderly devil cultivator said hypothetically.

“However, this is the grave of a Divine Transformation Realm expert! There could be a lot of treasures inside…” A short devil cultivator was reluctant to give up on the grave.

“You fool! Since Revered Ming has asked us to leave, we must leave. Whoever dares to dig the grave secretly will offend Revered Ming. How many lives do you have to want to mess with him?!”

The Nascent Soul Realm devil cultivator scolded. His words reminded everyone about the terrifying scene where Ning Fan killed the Nascent Soul Realm righteous cultivators with just his aura force. All the devil cultivators lowered their heads like chicks pecking grains on the ground and unanimously agreed to give up on the grave.

Well, they had no other options. Ning Fan’s notoriety was really scary. Even though it was just a random order, they did not dare to ignore it.

“From now onward, we have to be kind people. We must keep Revered Ming’s order in mind. ‘Digging someone’s grave is a shameful act’. We must not dig any other graves in the future!”

“Indeed. Digging graves is a shameful act! We must not dig any other graves in the future!” All the devil cultivators said solemnly. They turned to the grave and spat in that direction one after another.

It was as if the Divine Transformation Realm expert’s grave which might contain treasures was just an insignificant junkyard in these devil cultivators’ eyes.

If that deceased Divine Transformation Realm expert were to know that his grave had become a junkyard in the eyes of this group of low level cultivators, would he not be fuming with anger…?

Translated by Tommy, edited by Roel

[1] Man Wang (Chinese: 蛮王 Pinyin mán wáng) Man (蛮mán) is a term to address the tribe of the southern part of China in ancient times. Aside from that, it also means barbarian, reckless, fierce or unreasoning as an adjective. Wang (王wáng) means king or monarch or the leader of a group.