Grasping Evil

The month long examination was finally over. There had never been an examination that had attracted the attention of many elders as this one.

It wasn’t only the Sinister Sparrow Sect’s elders, but also the elder across the whole Yue Country. Numerous pairs of eyes were fixed on Ning Fan now.

They couldn’t believe that Ning Fan gained 2,000,000 contribution points in one kill.

They also failed to believe that he could break the record of 2,150,000 contribution points after his continuous killings of Gold Core ghosts.

“Something must have gone terribly wrong with the Merit Monument. It has to be it!”

Countless elders were eagerly waiting for Ning Fan outside the Demon Sinister Forest to clear their doubts! In such an impoverished country, they had a hard time believing that such a heaven defying figure would emerge; they needed to see Ning Fan with their own eyes to be convinced!

He was merely a 17-year-old intermediate Harmonious Spirit expert. It would be really astonishing if he could kill nearly 1,000 Gold Core ghosts because that meant that his sole strength was enough ravage the whole Yue Country to the ground!

Every disciple who walked out of Demon Sinister Forest was extremely lucky that they survived. As a matter of fact, only 75 out of 160 came out alive.

Several of the deacon disciples that were there to ensure the safety in the forest died.

Leaving the Demon Sinister Forest alive was equal to passing the examination. So, every one of these youths who walked out of the formation, either male or female, whose clothes had become ragged and had a terrified bloody face, had succeeded in becoming an outer disciple.

To their surprise, they found hundreds of elders, namely Harmonious Spirit and Gold Core elders, waiting bitterly in front of them.

Facing this huge group of masters that emitted massive and astounding auras made the disciples who came out of the forest nervous.

What happened? Why is every one of you gathered here?!

Li Zhihuan’s facial expression changed immediately after he got out of the forest.

He was struck by surprise seeing not just the Harmonious Spirit elders of Li Clan, but all the Harmonious Spirit elders of Sinister Sparrow Sect present on the scene. This was absolutely the first time he had witnessed such a scene.

What was even rarer for him was that their are so many Gold Core elders standing in front of him; not even Li Clan had this many Gold Core experts.

His senses were heightened as he headed towards the medicine-receiving section to exchange the spiritual herbs he acquired for contribution points.

“Your name? And how much spiritual herbs have you acquired?” asked an Outer Sect elder named Meng Zhiqiu, the one who was in-charge of this section. The way he spoke showed that he was somewhat absent-minded.

“Li Zhihuan, I’m offering 200 kilograms of spiritual herbs.” Li Zhihuan replied, looking conceited.

200 kilograms of ten-year-old spiritual herbs was enough to exchange for 10 contribution points. Adding the 91 points which he had obtained through killing ghosts, his total points would exceed one hundred. If it wasn’t because he got injured through the course of his battles, he was confident that he could’ve gotten more points.

He also believed that this number of contribution points was enough to gain the attention of the sect.

“My contribution points perhaps isn’t as much as Lu Ziqiao, that guy has the Soul Tempering Streamer, but my total points shouldn’t be very far away from Ning Fan’s, who merely practices Dual Cultivation.”

Yet, he was surprised when Elder Meng responded only with a nod and by saying the word ‘Not Bad’ coldly, despite him getting a total of 101 contribution points.

That’s impossible! My contribution points should be considered as one of the geniuses’ in the records. How could Elder Meng be so indifferent to my achievement?

He felt that his heart slightly tilted off balance, guessing that perhaps Elder Meng didn’t have a very good relationship with Li Clan.

Obviously, Li Zhihuan had misunderstood Elder Meng. After a month of staying inside the Demon Sinister Forest, he surely didn’t know that Ning Fan’s name and his 2,150,000 contribution points had already spread all over the country. This explained why Elder Meng wasn’t affected by his 101 points at all.

After the registration, he turned and saw Lu Ziqiao coming over for the exchange. The smile on his face wasn’t as dull as Li Zhihuan’s.

“I wonder how many points Brother Lu obtained.”

“Humph! It will be more than yours of course!”

Lu Ziqiao had always been a haughty youth because he was a once-in-a-century genius, compared to Li Zhihuan who was only a once-in-a-decade genius.

He saw the whole scene where Li Zhihuan was treated coldly by Elder Meng and knew that he had only gotten 101 contribution points, which gave him no reason to put him in his eyes.

“Name? Grams of your spiritual herbs?” said Elder Meng indifferently.

“Lu Ziqiao, I have 23 century-old spiritual herbs and a total of 1423 contribution points after killing some ghosts.”

Lu Ziqiao curled his lips, strongly believing that his contribution points was enough to frighten Elder Meng, and the fact that he could harvest century-old spiritual herbs proved that he had entered the Second Region.

He also believed that even the experienced Ning Fan and the Corpse-seizing cultivator, Li Zhiuan, wouldn’t dare enter the Second Region.

But to his surprise, Elder Meng only widened his eyes for a second when he saw the century-old spiritual herbs. Then, after slightly shaking his head he said, “Not bad for getting 1423 contribution points… You would’ve been regarded as the son of the heavens in the previous years. But it’s a pity that that young man also entered the forest this year. Your achievement will go unnoticed…”

Elder Meng’s words shivered the hearts of Lu Ziqiao and Li Zhihuan.

101 contribution points might not be enough to shock Elder Meng, but how could 1423 contribution points also fail to make an impression in front of Elder Meng? Both of them were clueless about what just happened. Furthermore, they sensed that Elder Meng was implying something in his words. Something about a man who made his 1423 points insignificant. However, who could possibly be so strong enough that he could gain an even higher contribution points than Lu Ziqiao?

As Lu Ziqiao was still lost in his contemplation, a grey-clothed youth with a deathly pale face walked out of the formation caught his eyes.

He somehow remembered who this man was, not because how strong he was, but because of his powerful background.

He was Wang Yao. His clan was one of the most powerful clans in the east of Yue Country, named Wang Clan.

Though Lu Ziqiao could feel a faint hint of gloomy Qi from Wang Yao, he felt odd that an intense fear bloomed inside of him for no reason.

With the cold expression on his face, Wang Yao moved towards Elder Meng to hand over the spiritual herbs.

“Name and your amount of spiritual herbs?” Elder Meng paid a little more attention compared to the previous two, but still not as enthusiastic as he should be.

“Wang Yao, offers  five-century-old spiritual herbs. The total contribution points from the killings and the herbs are 31,855.”

His voice was extremely cold, causing many disciples and Harmonious Spirit elders to suck in a breath of cold air.

His achievement was beyond anyone’s expectation. At the beginning of the month, he only obtained 7 points after barely killing two First Level Vein Opening ghosts.

But on the last day, his contribution points skyrocketed like crazy. No one had any idea how many Harmonious Spirit ghosts he had killed.

“You cannot be underestimated! But it’s still not as good as Ning Fan…” Elder Meng took a deep breath and said in a more polite tone as he was just a late Harmonious Spirit expert and couldn’t ignore the young man who had the strength to kill so many Harmonious Spirit ghosts.

After reporting his harvest, Wang Yao went to the group of young disciples. His expression was still as cold, as if he wouldn’t welcome any conversation at all despite standing beside some Harmonious Spirit experts, but his eyes kept on looking around as though he was looking for someone.

“Who is that man? I’m afraid that the one who could take down my incarnation must be at least a peak Harmonious Spirit expert. And, that man must be one of these young disciples.” Wang Yao was certain that his target was just somewhere around.

On the other hand, Wang Yao’s contribution point had shocked Lu Ziqiao and Li Zhihuan enormously.

Lu Ziqiao remembered that Wang Yao was merely a Second Level Vein Opening expert. So how was it possible that he had gained over 30,000 contribution points? He had to at least kill over hundreds of Harmonious Spirit ghosts in order to achieve this much.

This Wang Yao must have hidden some kind of secret inside of him! What is his actual cultivation base?! His contribution points must’ve drawn so many Harmonious Spirit and Gold Core elders already.

Lu Ziqiao thought that he had found the reason why there were so many elders gathered here, but he found that most of the elders did not even notice Wang Yao. Their eyes were looking unblinkingly at the formation light – the entrance to the Demon Sinister Forest, like they were still waiting for someone else.

For a moment, an absurd idea sprouted in his mind.

Could it be there was still someone in the forest who was more powerful than Wang Yao? Otherwise, why weren’t these elders paying any attention to him?

How much contribution points did this unknown young man get to be greater than Wang Yao?

And who could that young man be?!  

Could it be…him?! 

The appearance of a young man in white robe and black cloak emerged in his mind, but he couldn’t believe it would be him.

Even if Ning Fan had an exceptional background, he didn’t think that the Dual-Cultivation that Ning Fan practiced would make him any stronger than him.

No! It must not be Ning Fan! 

Lu Ziqiao’s eyes were now fixed straight at the forest, expecting an absurd truth that he couldn’t believe.

Then, after seeing a flash on the formation light, a youth in white robe and black cloak emerged on the scene.

Every step and gesture he made was like a leisurely stroll, accompanied with a lingering charm; his eyes were composed and calm.

Moreover, something strange happened to all their magical swords the instant this youth appeared.

Every one of their swords were quivering lightly, as if the sword itself was feeling excited or intimidated or was quivering in fear.

And now, Elder Meng who had been indifferent to Li Zhihuan, Lu Ziqian and also Wang Yao rose to his seat for the first time. His face was overflowing with excitement. He cupped his fists at Ning Fan and even left his section, moved forward and welcomed Ning Fan with a smiling face.

“Haha! Little friend Ning, I have waited for you for quite a while. Do you have any spiritual herbs you want to exchange?”

“There is none.” Ning Fan smiled faintly, but beside the registration section was a 9 meter ordinary white stone that looked as clean as a mirror shot out a white column of light skywards.

The Medicine Mirror Stone shined! Rumor was that only tremendous amount of millennium-old spiritual herbs would trigger the stone to shine. In other words, Ning Fan must be carrying a huge amount of millennium-old spiritual herbs with him. What kind of massive harvest did this brat get in the Demon Sinister Forest?

Even with all the doubts, Elder Meng didn’t continue asking Ning Fan. Since Ning Fan refused to offer spiritual herbs in exchange for points, he turned a blind eye to it and continued respectfully.

“So are you registering your final contribution points?”

“Yes, thanks elder.”

“Then, I will announce that Ning Fan who has gained 2,150,000 contribution point is now the disciple and the number one disciple in Sinister Sparrow Sect. Sect master has given the order that Ning Fan will be promoted to elder rank the moment he leaves Demon Sinister Forest.”

What?! 2,150,000 contribution points?! And he has been promoted to elder rank?!

Lu Ziqiao staggered a few steps back, staring at Ning Fan in disbelief.

Not just him but also all the other disciples who weren’t informed of Ning Fan’s contribution points were shocked. They were all gaping like an inanimate statue at Ning Fan, except for Wang Yao whose eyes were glittering coldly. This confirmed the doubts that he had earlier on.

The one who killed my incarnation must be this Ning Fan! Humph! I won’t let him go this time!