Grasping Evil

Chapter 527: Chapter 527: The Immemorial Fisherman’s Raincoat Painting!

(Unedited)

Two elderly men, Fang Sheng and Fang Si, appeared. They both stepped above the ocean of void and their aura force was like that of a deity.

King Jun, who only had a breath of life, raised his head and looked at the two old men. His face was filled with the excitement that one would feel after they had survived a calamity.

“These two palace lords, quickly save me! I am of great use to the Sixth Prince. The two of you must not watch me die without doing anything!”

“Shut up!”

The vice palace lord, Fang Si, made a cold snort. A wave of magic power which was as black as ink rushed toward King Jun. It formed into strands of black fishing lines that pierced into King Jun’s limbs and bones. They created multiple fine blood pores on his body.

No one knew what function the black fishing lines had. They managed to extract traces of abnormal black qi from King Jun’s body and suppress the latter’s life-threatening injuries.

The palace lord, Fang Sheng, clawed at King Jun’s direction with a neutral expression. Strands of white magic power were immediately interwoven into a large abstruse fishing net.

Fang Sheng cast the net at King Jun’s direction and retrieved it by pulling it back. Despite being ten thousand zhang* (3.33m per zhang) away, he dragged King Jun from the latter’s original spot toward him.

In the next instant, King Jun had already appeared in the large net and was brought to Fang Sheng’s side. Then, he tossed the net as well as King Jun to the masses of immortal clouds behind him.

“Marquis White Robe! Since you wish to take King Jun’s life, you have to fight us first!”

The two of them stared at Ning Fan coldly. The atmosphere heightened as a fight was about to begin.

Ning Fan’s eyes turned solemn. Fang Si’s fishing lines were extremely strange. He could not see through his exact abilities.

As for Fang Sheng, his actions were extremely quick and the fishing net he summoned was also very mysterious. If it was not for his incredible eyesight, he was nearly unable to see how he summoned the fishing net and brought King Jun away.

Within a matter of seconds, Ning Fan was convinced that the palace lord and vice palace lord of the Serene Heaven Palace were extremely strong opponents.

At the same time, Ning Fan was rather skeptical about the intention of their arrival…

These two individuals don’t seem to come just to save King Jun. In fact, they seem to have some other plot in mind.

On the surface, they wanted to protect King Jun and battle against Ning Fan. However, their actions were rather self-contradictory.

They had clearly saved King Jun but they just cast him aside randomly… It was unreasonable!

If what they said about King Jun’s importance to the Sixth Prince was true and they must save him no matter due to his importance, what they should be doing first would be bringing King Jun away right after saving him. They should see King Jun’s life and safety as their first priority instead of staying back to fight against Ning Fan which would put King Jun in danger.

The two individuals’ words were also quite questionable. What did they mean by telling Ning Fan that he had to fight them first before taking King Jin’s life?!

It seemed to be implying Ning Fan that if he wins against the two of them, he could kill King Jin however he likes… Hence, if he wants to kill King Jun, he must fight them!

Apparently, the two of them want to use King Jun as bait to tempt me into fighting them…

Is the reason why they revealed themselves because of me?

Ning Fan slightly narrowed his eyes and began surmising the reason behind their decision.

He did not engage the two old experts at once. Instead, he moved a few steps backward, observing them coldly from the sidelines.

“Since this man is useful to the Sixth Prince, I’ll then give face to the Sixth Prince and spare his life. You all can bring him away.” Ning Fan said while deliberately pointing at King Jun.

“Erm…”

Both Fang Sheng and Fang Si were stunned for a second. They clearly did not expect that Ning Fan would actually give up the thought of killing King Jun. It was completely different from the information about Ning Fan’s personality that they received.

Logically speaking, after they had threatened Ning Fan several times, the latter should be charging at them at all costs. Why would he choose to compromise?

If Ning Fan did not fight with them, wouldn’t their plan be unable to work out?

Just as Ning Fan had expected, the reason why the two of them would reveal themselves at this place was not because they wanted to rescue King Jun but because they had received an order from the Sixth Prince, You Yumu, to probe into Ning Fan in order to find something…

Indeed, the reason why the Serene Heaven Palace supported Great Jin and brought up King Jin was because King Jin was useful to the Sixth Prince.

However, his importance was negligible. He was far less important than Ning Fan whom the Sixth Prince wanted to test this time!

The Sixth Prince had ordered Fang Sheng and Fang Si to battle against Ning Fan and find out something during the battle. He would not mind even if he has to give up King Jin to execute this plan.

Fang Sheng and Fang Si had no idea that Ning Fan already suspected them of having impure motives.

As Ning Fan decided to spare King Jin’s life, the two of them no longer had a reason to fight Ning Fan. Fang Sheng let out a cold harrumph and took a step forward directly, blocking Ning Fan’s escape path. His aura force turned into a gigantic black mountain that fell upon Ning Fan right above his head.

“Marquis White Robe, what’s the rush? I’m the vice palace lord of the Serene Heaven Palace, Fang Si. I’ve heard that Marquis White Robe possesses great powers and remarkable abilities. Thus, I deliberately came forward today to seek your advice. However, Fellow Daoist refused to battle. Instead, you chose to back off. Are you afraid of me?!”

Fang Si had clearly rescued King Jin. However, he still insisted on having a fight against Ning Fan. Without a doubt, he harbored an ulterior motive!

Ning Fan narrowed his eyes. He was just testing the two palace lords by pretending to say that he decided to let King Jin off.

At this moment, he could be a hundred percent sure that Fang Sheng and Fang Si appearing here was coming at him!

Saving King Jin was nothing more than an excuse!

Since Fang Si wanted to battle, Ning Fan might as well fulfil his wish. He wanted to see what plot Fang Si was having up his sleeve!

“Since you want to fight, then come at me!”

Ning Fan’s eyes glinted. His aura force pierced through the clouds, just like an ancient sword that was hanging in midair. It cut the black mountain that Fang Si summoned using his aura force into countless fragments!

Fang Si was indeed very strong. However, Ning Fan might not necessarily be unable to defeat him with his current strength.

Fang Si’s old eyes flickered with surprise. He did not expect that Ning Fan could break his aura force so easily.

His original ignorance of Ning Fan’s capabilities completely disappeared. It was at this moment that he realized that Ning Fan was a strong opponent. Thus, he no longer reserved his strength. He soared into the sky and pulled out a treasure.

“Taiyi Five Elements Scroll!”

Fang Si did not plan to reserve his strength. Without hesitation, he took out five ancient scroll paintings. They were the magic treasures of an ancient cultivator that he chanced upon on a secret area.

Each of the five paintings had different diagrams and they represented the five elements.

When the five scroll paintings were unfolded, a massive force of five elements rushed out from the diagrams, turning into five mountains of different colors. They were golden, green, blue, scarlet and yellow respectively and all of them fell upon Ning Fan right above his head.

Each of the mountain was at least ten thousand zhang* (3.33m per zhang) tall. The intensity of their magic power was capable of suppressing any Void Inquiry Stage cultivator.

When the five mountains fused into one, it could even be a Void Pierce Stage expert!

All the cultivators in Lin Shui City were terrified by the terrifying magic treasure that Fang Si used.

If the five mountains crash into the ground, the entire city which covered an area of one hundred thousand li* (500m per li) would be flattened and nothing would be left behind!

Zhi He, Lan Mei and Bai Lu who were also sitting on the Yue Country’s seats were looking at Ning Fan with concern.

Ning Fan looked at the groups of cultivators around him and sighed gently.

Many of them were his old friends. Furthermore, his beloved women were here too. Thus, it was impossible for him to evade Fang Si’s attack no matter what. The only option he had was to confront Fang Si. He must never let the five mountains fall and harm the people he loved and cared for!

“Yellow Dragon Seven Token!”

Ning Fan flew into the sky and used the seven yellow dragons’ tokens, summoning seven layers of yellow skies. He carried the seven layers of yellow skies using great magic power, causing them to rise against the heavens and collide with the five falling mountains!

The mountains were broken one after another while five layers of the seven layers of yellow skies were destroyed. The collisions between their attacks emitted an earth-shattering bang and produced a forceful blast that demolished the walls surrounding the city. A big part of the mountains in Song Country had also collapsed due to the burst of force from the collision.

Ning Fan did not even feel any relaxed after seeing his Yellow Dragon Seven Tokens successfully withstood the five mountains. All of a sudden, his eyes flashed with a hint of surprise.

The five broken mountains shot out black fishing lines that were as thick as raindrops, piercing the remaining two layers of yellow skies with ease!

Under the attacks of the black fishing lines, the Yellow Dragon Seven Tokens seemed to have decayed. As soon as they broke apart, they were immediately reduced to ashes!

“What exactly is the ability of those black fishing lines? They are so mysterious as if they could erode a magic treasure!”

Ning Fan did not mind losing the Yellow Dragon Seven Tokens. After all, he had lots of magic treasures like that.

However, the ability of Fang Si’s black fishing lines really instilled him with some fear.

Even though his physical body was strong, his body perhaps would also decay if he was struck by the black fishing lines.

Even if he uses a two-star divine weapon, it might not necessarily be able to withstand the decaying power of the fishing lines.

The surprise in Ning Fan’s eyes did not slip past Fang Si’s eyes.

“Humph! Is this all the great and famous Marquis White Robe has?!” Fang Si might be spitting harsh words on the surface but he was feeling disappointed inwardly.

Apparently, this kid doesn’t recognize the ability of my fishing lines. The surprised look on his face doesn’t seem like a pretense… Is it possible that it’s just a coincidence for him to know the Mutual Death Technique of the Shedding Orchid Sect? Could it be that he didn’t actually inherit the teaching of the Shedding Orchid Sect and has no idea about the ‘Immemorial Fisherman’s Mino’ whereabouts?”

Fang Si shook his head gently. He still needed to continue testing Ning Fan anyway.

He pointed at the Taiyi Five Elements Scrolls once again and activated the second phase of transformation.

The Taiyi Five Elements Scrolls were magic treasures that belonged to an ancient cultivator. Their current power was only equivalent to that of a High Grade Mortal Void Treasure because they were seriously worn out. Even so, their abilities were certainly not something that one could underestimate.

The transformations of these scrolls were divided into three phases which were five mountains, five oceans and five dragons.

Just now, Fang Si had released five mountains using these treasures to attack Ning Fan. They were the Attacks of Five Mountains.

Now, what he planned to use was the Attacks of Five Oceans.

“Unleash!”

When Fang Si directed his finger at the five scrolls, each of them released the power of the five elements, transforming into a five-colored sea. The sea waves covered the sky and washed over Ning Fan, quickly drowning him.

While having his body immersed in the sea waves, Ning Fan endured five types of attacks from the five-colored sea.

Coldness from icy water, heat from scorching flames, corrosion from woods, pressure from earth and slashes from gold…

In just an instant, Ning Fan’s body was covered with wounds and blood flowed out from them incessantly.

Ning Fan hurriedly summoned his Primordial Lightning Armor and used the Black Star Technique to heal himself. In the end, he managed to withstand the attacks of the five oceans.

He stepped on the sea waves, ignoring the attacks coming from the ocean. He gathered his essence qi on his arms which gave him the strength to flip mountains and overturn seas. As he suddenly clawed at the air, he directly ripped the ocean waves apart from inside!

“Hmm? His Primordial Lightning Armor isn’t half bad. It actually blocked the second phase of attacks from the Taiyi Five Elements Scrolls. Unfortunately, there doesn’t mean anything. With the current power of his lightning armor, it won’t be able to withstand the decaying effect of my Immemorial Fishing Lines. Even if the Immemorial Fishing Lines that I learned is just an incomplete version, even an Absolute Void Stage expert might not necessarily be able to withstand it!”

Fang Si’s magic power was rapidly draining. He abruptly made a hand seals and countless black fishing lines shot out from the shattered five-colored ocean, rushing toward Ning Fan in masses.

Ning Fan summoned his Eight Black Burning Wings immediately. While retreating as fast as he could, he took out a few Mortal Void Magic Treasures and tossed them at the incoming fishing lines to wear out the power of the fishing lines.

Just as the few Mortal Void Magic Treasures came into contact with the fishing lines, all of them were pierced through by the lines and decayed completely.

Even though Ning Fan retreated at his top speed, the black fishing lines still managed to create some holes on his Primordial Lightning Armor.

Ning Fan gained a clearer understanding about the power of the black fishing lines.

Unless his cultivation base breaks through to the Absolute Void Stage, it would be extremely difficult for him to face the attacks from the fishing lines head-on…

“He really does not recognize the Immemorial Fishing Lines Technique… Fine. I shall use the third wave of attack to test him for one last time.”

Fang Si activated his Taiyi Five Elements Scrolls one last time. The power of five elements from the five scroll paintings transformed into five massive dragons which hovered in the sky above!

Fire Dragon. Ice Dragon. Earth Dragon. Wood Dragon. Lightning Dragon!

Each of the dragons was six thousand zhang* (3.33m per zhang) long. Just a single dragon alone had the strength that could make them unrivalled among all Void Inquiry Stage cultivators!

When the five dragons attack at once, even a Void Pierce Stage expert would have trouble withstanding their joint attacks!

What was more critical was that Fang Si would include the terrifying black fishing lines in the dragons’ attacks to strike Ning Fan stealthily.

From Fang Si’s perspective, Ning Fan definitely had no way to resist this attack!

Fang Si did not have the intention to kill Ning Fan. After all, he was still useful to the Rain Sovereign. Without the Rain Sovereign’s order, no one would dare to endanger his life.

His attack would at most inflict some injuries to Ning Fan. His initial objective was just to test Ning Fan out and he harbored no enmity.

“There is no point in continuing this session any longer. This kid is certainly not my opponent. Once this wave of attacks ends, we’ll bring King Jin back to the Serene Heaven Palace and report to the Sixth Prince about our findings.”

Fang Si passed a message to Fang Sheng via telepathy. The way he talked sounded like victory was already in his hands.

As he directed his finger at Ning Fan, the five massive dragons emitted ear-splitting roars and unhinged their jaws. Each of their mouths was gathering a five-colored energy ball. If they blast out the energy blast, Ning Fan would suffer grievous injuries!

Ning Fan did not try to escape or hide from the attacks. Faced with the five massive dragons, he just closed his eyes and countless thoughts ran across his mind.

It was not difficult to neutralize the joint attacks of the five dragons. In fact, it was just as simple as breaking the five mountains and five seas.

The only problem was how he should deal with the black fishing lines that were hiding within the attacks.

“I found those black fishing lines rather familiar. They look like the white Dao line that I saw that day when I sent Ning Gu to his reincarnation… That white line was the Dao Line of Life. These black lines are rather similar to the Dao Line of Life but their power is completely different. Could they be… the Dao Lines of Death?!”

“No. They aren’t the true Dao Lines of Death. Even though the black fishing lines that Fang Si’s displayed resemble the Dao Lines of Death, they aren’t really them. There is no Dao Force in his fishing lines. They seem to be just some intentional imitations… It can’t be wrong. The black fishing lines must be imitations of the Dao Lines of Death!”

“In that case, the white fishing net that Fang Sheng used should be an ability that is invented by imitating the Dao Line of Life… Little You Er said before that the Dao Lines of Life and Death are something that only Life Immortal Realm beings could master. These two individuals could imitate the Life Immortal Realm abilities. That’s why the black fishing lines are so difficult to deal with…”

Ning Fan opened his eyes and raised his palm. He was deep in thought while looking at the traces of white Dao Lines on his palm.

“Fang Si is only able to imitate the Dao Line of Death. I, on the other hand, could see the Dao Line of Life. I might be able to neutralize the power of the black fishing lines by restraining death with life…”

Ning Fan shifted his gaze toward the five howling dragons. Then, he abruptly activated his Fu Li Demon Blood and made a series of hand seals to display a magic technique.

Five enormous black tombstones appeared in the sky above successively. There was a black dragon’s shadow revolving around each of the tombstones.

It was the Five Graves of Dragon Burial Technique!

The five massive dragons represented the five elements while the Five Graves of Dragon Burial Technique specialized in breaking the five elements!

When the five dragons die, the black dragon shall rise! When the five elements vanish, the five graves shall emerge!

As Ning Fan’s hand seal changed, the five tombstones rushed toward the five massive dragons all of a sudden and struck them down, causing each of them to fall down from the sky while spurting out blood!

What was especially frightening about the five tombstones was that they suddenly produced the black dragon’s sealing power that sealed off all the element powers of the five dragons within the tombstones.

Afterward, the five tombstones produced countless of their own shadows that bombarded upon the Taiyi Five Elements Scrolls.

The five scroll paintings that were floating in midair were all destroyed by the tombstones!

“My Taiyi Five Elements Scrolls!” Fang Si’s expression was filled with shock. He had never expected that Ning Fan could break his precious treasures.

Before the first wave of shock had yet to diminish, the second wave assailed him in a more violent manner!

After the five dragons were sealed off, the countless black fishing lines broke out from them and went for Ning Fan in an unstoppable manner like pouring rain.

This time, Ning Fan no longer tried to run away from the attacks of the black fishing lines. He raised his palm to imitate Fang Si’s black fishing lines and extracted countless white fishing lines. He then scattered them across the air, letting them collide against the incoming black fishing lines.

*Zi* *Zi* *Zi*

There was not an earth-shattering bang upon their collisions except for some strange sizzling noises.

Fishing lines of two different colors were mysteriously offsetting each other!

Fang Si’s black fishing lines technique was directly neutralized!

“How is this possible?!”

Fang Si stared at the occurrence in front of him in disbelief!

He was extremely certain that the white fishing lines that Ning Fan summoned had no relation to the Immemorial Fisherman’s Mino. It was a magic technique that he used right after he learned it at this moment!

What he found difficult to believe was that the white fishing lines that Ning Fan extracted contained an extremely terrifying Dao Force. He completely had no idea what constituted the white fishing lines!

Well, how could Fang Si figure out at his current level that the white fishing lines that Ning Fan produced were the Dao Lines of Life?!

The moment Fang Si was distracted, Ning Fan flapped his Eight Black Burning Wings and charged at him!

Ning Fan gathered all his magic power and essence qi to his palm and delivered one hundred and eight palm imprints at Fang Si’s directions.

The way Ning Fan used the Execution Devil Palm became more and more skilled. When he displayed that palm attack with his current cultivation base, it actually made Fang Si feel that it was difficult to withstand!

“This is bad! This palm attack is not easy to take on!”

Staring at the huge palm imprint produced by the Execution Devil Palm, Fang Si’s eyes widened with shock.

His greatest technique was no doubt the immemorial fishing line technique. However, Ning Fan had cancelled it out completely using his Dao Line of Life, rendering Fang Si unable to condense his fishing line within a short period of time.

As for his greatest magic treasure, the Taiyi Five Elements Scrolls, they were also destroyed by Ning Fan’s Five Graves of Dragon Burial Technique…

The other techniques and weapons that Fang Si had were not powerful enough to withstand the attack of the Execution Devil Palm!

Panic-stricken, Fang Si immediately took out a small green shield and placed it in front of him. Right after that, he retreated in a ray of travelling light, trying to avoid the incoming devil palm imprint.

The small green shield was a Mid Grade Mortal Void Defensive Treasure. Upon impact, it was instantly shattered by the Execution Devil Palm!

Fang Si’s speed was not slow but the speed of the palm imprint was much faster!

At this moment, Fang Si no longer had the calm that he had when controlling the fishing lines earlier. All he could think of at this moment was to run for his life to evade the devil palm attack. However, no matter how hard he tried, he still could not outrun the palm attack.

“Ahh!”

A miserable shriek echoed across the sky. With eyes filled with immense shock, Fang Si spurted out blood and fell down from the sky with grievously injuries!

He, who was a Void Pierce Stage expert as well as the dignified vice palace lord of the Serene Heaven Palace, had actually lost to Ning Fan!

Looking at Fang Si who was falling down from the sky like a kite with a broken string, Ning Fan did not continue to pursue him. He just immediately took a pill to recover his magic power and coldly shifted his gaze to a direction in the sky above him.

“You’ve been spying on me for quite some time. Are you still not going to reveal yourself?”

*Clap* *Clap* *Clap*

Sounds of handclap suddenly resounded from an empty space in the sky above.

This young man’s long hair was tied to one side. His face had a scar so deep that his bone was visible to the naked eyes. His eyes remained partially closed and he wore an ambiguous smile.

Even though he was just smiling at Ning Fan, he gave Ning Fan chills from the depths of his bones.

This man is dangerous!

“Hehe. Marquis White Robe has great techniques. Even though you are just at the Void Glimpse Stage, you’ve managed to defeat Fang Si who is at the Void Pierce Stage depending on your ancient devil ability. It really impressed me…” The young man with a scarred face was still smiling faintly.

“Beware! This man is a cultivator at the First Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm. Besides, his body contains the Life Qi and Death Qi. It’s a sign that he has comprehended the Dao Lines of Life and Death… You must not underestimate him!” Within the Profound Yin World, Luo You warned.

Ning Fan, of course, knew that this young man was someone significant. After all, he could feel an extremely immense sense of danger from him.

Ning Fan could already guess the man’s identity judging from the reason of his appearance in his place.

“Scarlet Heaven Palace Lord, Ning Fan, greets ‘Poison Cloud Prince’!”

Poison Cloud Prince’s name was Yun Youmu. He was ranked sixth among the seven princes of the Rain Palace and he was the prince who took care of the Serene Heaven Palace.

Ning Fan’s mind was full of thoughts as he was secretly thinking about the reason that brought Yun Youmu here.

From Fang Si’s actions, Ning Fan could tell that Fang Si must have followed Yun Youmu’s orders to test him.

As for what they were trying to find out from him, Ning Fan completely had no idea. However, seeing that Yun Youmu did not seem to harbor any hostility, Ning Fan guessed that they failed to get the thing they wanted from him.

Just as Ning Fan was contemplating, Yun Youmu suddenly opened his eyes. His dark green eyes flashed with cold light, just like the eyes of a venomous snake. Then, he took out an ancient portrait and laid it out in front of Ning Fan.

“Have you seen this portrait before?!” His tone sounded firm, not allowing anyone to lie!

Ning Fan did not expect that Yun Youmu would do such strange actions. Even so, Ning Fan did not look surprised. He just scanned past the portrait indifferently.

Without a doubt, it was a portrait that was produced not long ago as the ink on the portrait was still yet to turn dry.

The portrait was a depiction of a fisherman wearing a black mino. The fisherman held a black fishing rod. Beside him, there was a white fishing net. He was sitting on a river boat, fishing all alone by the cold river under the snowy sky…

“Never.” There was no reason for Ning Fan to lie. His expression was natural and free from any pretense.

“Is that so? So it turns out to be a misunderstanding. Let me apologize.” Yun Youmu narrowed his eyes once again and revealed a faint innocent smile.

However, he suddenly drew a dark green sword from his waist and made a slash at Fang Si and King Jin. His actions were lightning fast.

The slash that King Jin took had literally shredded him into pieces. It was a fatal strike as even his primordial spirit was unable to escape.

As for the slash that Fang Si took, it severed one of his arms.

“Sixth Prince, what is all this about?” Ning Fan asked with a neutral expression.

“Marquis White Robe is the Scarlet Heaven Palace Lord. Fang Si, however, is just the vice palace lord of the Serene Heaven Palace. Today, Fang Si has attacked Marquis White Robe. What he did is considered to be disrespecting his superior. Thus, I gave him a punishment and compensated Marquis White Robe for his misbehavior. Hopefully Marquis White Robe won’t hold grudges against me because of some minor mistakes that Fang Si made…” Yun Youmu seemed like he would only keep his eyes partially open forever.

“Of course, I can give Marquis White Robe some other compensation. As long as Marquis White Robe can name it and I am able to do it, I will certainly not refuse!”

Ning Fan stared at Yun Youmu in silence, as if he wanted to see through the latter’s true intention.

The way this man did things was utterly out of the ordinary and it made people unable to catch what he was really thinking.

When Ning Fan was pondering Yun Youmu’s objective of coming to this assembly, Luo You who was inside the Profound Yin World was in deep surprise after looking at the portrait!

“It’s the Immemorial Fisherman’s Mino! It can’t be wrong. The portrait that Yun Youmu drew is imitating the Immemorial Fisherman’s Mino! The Immemorial Fisherman’s Mino… That is one of the four ancient portraits that is said to contain the ‘Dao Path of Life and Death’!”

Translated by Tommy, edited by Roel