Chapter 93
Nangong > Nan Gong
Nan Wei had already been waiting in the outer hall of Dan Palace.
As a matter of fact, after taking the Profound Spirit Pill, he only spent nine days to break through to the Harmonious Spirit realm. This incident had shaken quite a lot of people in Sinister Sparrow Sect.
The current Nan Wei was wearing a green robe, and was sitting on a rattan chair. He now had a composed bearing that was a lot better than before, somewhat like his father’s.
After breaking through to the Harmonious Spirit realm, a youthful pride was stirred up from his inside. Today, in Sinister Sparrow Sect, he was regarded as one of the first few great experts amongst the youths. Therefore, he wanted to know how much gap was between him and the young master—the number one expert below the Gold Core realm!
While he was waiting strenuously in the hall, Ning Fan and Xue Qing finally came out from the inner hall.
As Ning Fan was walking nonchalantly towards him, his eyes lit up and he slightly released some of his Qi to match with Ning Fan’s. But immediately, the Qi that he released disappeared in Ning Fan’s invisible aura.
It was only a single attempt and all of his confidence were crumbled, making him smile wryly.
I’m no way near Young Master’s ability. The gap is just too wide!
He shook off the thoughts, stood up and greeted Ning Fan with cupped fists. “Nan Wei greets Young Master. Thank you Young Master for giving the pill to Nan Wei!”
Ning Fan could naturally sense Nan Wei’s probing just now, but that didn’t concern him. Instead, he was very satisfied with Nan Wei’s stable Harmonious Spirit Qi.
“Eh? You have broken through to the Harmonious Spirit realm? Not bad. Your Qi is also very stable. There’s no superficiality in your cultivation base after consuming the pill. It seems like you have been practicing hard during these past few days. Very good. In that case, I don’t have to worry about the task that I’m going to entrust to you now. Take this batch of pills and magical treasures back to Ning City and pass them to your dad.”
Ning Fan waved his hand, taking out a snowy-white storage pouch and tossed it to Nan Wei.
Inside the storage pouch were countless of pill bottles filled with various kind of pills and magical treasures. There were also a few lines of spirit sense energy surrounding the storage pouch.
What surprised Nan Wei was that there was a sword intent which he had never felt before within the spirit sense.
Apart from all those things, there was also a letter for Nan Gong inside the storage pouch, explaining how he should distribute the pills and train the Three Black Demon Guards and the systematic planning for the other three general’s cultivation.
If it wasn’t because of the Bone Sovereign trying to take his life, Ning Fan would’ve personally returned to Ning City.
Currently, with Bone Sovereign’s eyes watching them, he would certainly be tracked, putting Ning City in jeopardy which he couldn’t afford to do. Thus, he needed Nan Wei to make this trip for him.
Nan Wei naturally wouldn’t dare refuse the young master’s order. Immediately, he requested a Departure Order from the sect and headed for Ning City.
After Nan Wei left, Xue Qing was still standing in Dan Palace. His face had an incomprehensible and slightly worried look.
He could tell it from his sense of smell that the storage pouch taken by Nan Wei contained some terrifying pills which were concocted by Ning Fan in the concoction room.
This was the first time that he saw Ning Fan spend so extravagantly, which made him wonder why.
Ning Fan was cautious by nature. So why would he allow an early Harmonious Spirit expert deliver so many pills to Ning City?
Anyone should know that one had to travel some routes where numerous bandits appear from Sinister Sparrow Sect to Ning City. Each and every one of those bandits were outlaws that were not afraid of death. Once they found out Nan Wei was carrying a huge number of pills, they would kill him and seize the treasures.
Moreover, the distance between Sinister Sparrow Sect and Ning City almost a thousand miles. So why would Ning Fan not go there by himself? It would only take less than a few days’ time anyway.
“Master, was it not too rash to let Nan Wei deliver those pills to Ning City? It isn’t a safe trip at all. He will encounter numerous ‘bandits’ along the way. There are even Gold Core old experts who were working with the bandits using aliases,” said Xue Qing.
Those bandits were rogue cultivators who specifically kill people to rob their fortune.
A mere Nan Wei wouldn’t be capable enough to deal with all those sneaky bandits.
Ning Fan didn’t provide further explanation to Xue Qing’s concerns, but just said a faint sentence.
“If those bandits dare to rob my pills, they will die…”
Ning Fan said with a smile, however, Xue Qing could feel a fierce killing intent from it.
After all, Ning Fan had planted a few lines of sword intent on the storage pouch.
…
Subsequently, Ning Fan returned to Dual Cultivation Palace and began to readjust his Qi to restore his magical power and physical strength that had been consumed in the last half a month’s time.
Consuming a pill would make the magical power superficial, but concocting large amount of pill would fortify one’s magical power, like the concept of mutually reinforcing elements.
The Dao of Alchemy was a profound, abstruse and deep path. It was very difficult for one to break through a concoction technique.
Ning Fan used Ancient Chaos’ memory to advance to the Fourth Revolution concoction technique, however, he couldn’t touch the threshold of the Fifth Revolution yet, it was as if something was missing or there was a barrier stopping him from reaching it.
On the bed, he slapped the storage pouch to produce the ancient pill scroll and read the things that the Fifth Revolution Pill Master experienced . Among the record stated that one needed to acquire the Void God Intent in order to concoct a Fifth Revolution Pills.
“Void God Intent…so that was it. I won’t be able to concoct Fifth Revolution Pills unless I break through to the Spirit Severing realm.” Ning Fan forced a smile.
The Void God Intent was also called the Divine Intent. Some cultivators named it Conception. It was a very profound ability that only Spirit Severing cultivators could comprehend!
Every cultivator had their own preferences and experiences. Take Elder Meng Chu of the Merit Hall for instance, if he could break through to the Spirit Severing realm, it would be very likely that he would acquire the Divine Intent of Tea, because he loved to drink tea so much.
As for the elders like Elder Xue Qing, if he could break through to the Spirit Severing realm, the Divine Intent he would most likely acquire was the Divine Intent of Pill, because this dude was obsessed with concoction.
In short, in order to acquire the Divine Intent, except for those who had great luck, one must at least reach the Spirit Severing realm.
Of course, according to Ancient Chaos’s memory, there was a thing called Divine Intent Stone that could grant the cultivator the Divine Intent ability, however, it had already disappeared for many years.
Even if Ning Fan was a person with great luck, he needed to cultivate step by step to reach the Spirit Severing realm before he could acquire the Divine Intent.
In other words, he would have to wait until he advanced to the Spirit Severing realm to break through to the Fifth Revolution concoction technique. This truly made him speechless, but the cultivation path had always been less than satisfying.
He kept the ancient pill scroll and resumed readjusting his Qi until the night approached.
He would go into seclusion soon. He was afraid that this seclusion would last for half a year. As he had promised Lan Mei to treat her illness and he had already concocted the pill for it, it was time for him to resolve her trouble.
It wasn’t suitable for him to carry out the process during day time as he would be treating her private spot. So, he waited until the night came first before taking any action.
Unfortunately, some female disciples had already reported his return to Bai Lu when he just started to readjust his Qi.
Here comes the troublesome woman again.
“Humph! Ning Fan! You have the audacity to disappear for half a month. As a cauldron, don’t you know that you have to be present whenever your master needed to pluck you?!”
There was a hint of complaint and some subtle joy within her eyes.
The moment she saw Ning fan, she instantly pounced into Ning Fan’s arms. Her eyes were blurry.
“Lie down! Sister wants to pluck you!”
You are truly troublesome. Fine. I’ll dual cultivate with her since this will recover my physical strength faster than meditating.
Ning Fan didn’t waste any breath on her. He then turned and pressed against her.
Apparently, Bai Lu didn’t expect Ning Fan’s crude behavior. What surprised her more was that Ning Fan’s cultivation base had reached the peak of Harmonious Spirit realm!
Her beautiful expression changed. She began to realize that she had been fooled by Ning Fan all along.
I’ve never plucked this Ning Fan! Yet, he pretended to be my cauldron to deceive me. It’s totally shameful to go through so many nights with him!
“It’s impossible! I have already plucked you last time and your cultivation base should have dropped tremendously. Wh-why have you broken through to the peak Harmonious Spirit realm? Eh…En…”
She wanted to continue swearing but her mouth had already been blocked. She wanted to push Ning Fan away but her body started to become weak after a series of stinging pain. All her dissatisfaction had turned into moans.
“Ha…hateful…ah, don’t touch that…”
Bai Lu’s long jade-white legs was placed violently on Ning Fan’s shoulders, then…there was no more ‘then’ after that.
As the night fell, Bai Lu passed out on the bed due to fatigue with a pleasant and sweet smile on her face. Ning Fan on the other hand looked refreshed. All the fatigue of the past half a month had been removed. He put on his clothes and headed to the Inner Sect Female Palace to treat Lan Mei’s illness.
Void God Intent, Killing the Enemy from Thousands of Miles
Tonight, while Ning Fan was having a romantic time, there was bloodshed in other palaces. This had always been in the world of cultivation. There could be places with idyllic beauty as well as places overflowing with blood.
During the night, the ordinary-looking Wang Yao appeared in one of the clans. With a wave of his hand, all of the cultivators in this small clan were slaughtered.
A hundred miles away from Sinister Sparrow Sect was a youth named Nan Wei, he was also related to the bloody event.
Ever since he left the Sinister Sparrow Sect, he had been travelling at lightning speed, but after travelling for a hundred miles, he vaguely felt that he was being followed by someone!
Could it be a bandit who’s following me?
Nan Wei’s expression darkened. He had heard about how savage those bandits were. He just never thought that he would one day be targeted by them. But after a moment, a trace of steely expression was revealed in his eyes.
I wonder how strong this bandit is. If it’s an early Harmonious Spirit expert, I can easily eliminate the person. If it’s an intermediate Harmonious Spirit expert, I can still probably protect myself against him, but if it’s a late Harmonious Spirit realm…humph! No matter what happens, I, Nan Wei, must finish the task given by Young Master. I must deliver the pills to Ning City even if that means facing death!
Nan Wei’s eyes showed resoluteness that replaced his fear while treading with swift speed in the void. He had changed his routes many times, but the tracker was still following behind him.
It wasn’t until he reached a deserted and barren valley that a black shadow emerged in front of him, blocking his path ahead.
He stopped in his tracks and took out his magical treasure knowing that a battle was unavoidable.
Under the moonlight, the figure was an elder in silver robe standing in the void. Although he looked old, he had a tall and robust body. His face was covered with nine scars and his eyes were murderous.
“Humph! A mere early Harmonious Spirit expert is bringing so many pills all by himself? You are certainly courting death! I’ll use my Frenzied Sword to teach you the lesson that an innocent person will get into trouble because of excessive wealth.”
The silver-robed elder snorted, and then pressed his peak Harmonious Spirit Qi against Nan Wei, throwing Nan Wei’s Qi and blood into disorder and almost making him fall from the sky.
Immediately, Nan Wei backed up 30 meters, pulling himself further away from the elder. He didn’t fall from the heap of clouds, but looked very distressed.
At the same time, he was grumbling incessantly in his heart.
The bandit wasn’t an early or an intermediate nor a late Harmonious Spirit realm. He was a peak Harmonious Spirit realm expert—Shen Shangzi with Frenzied Sword.
Nan Wei couldn’t believe that he would be targeted by this elder.
The rumor says that this elder was a rogue cultivator with a high level of Sword Dao and had a vicious attitude. He had killed many disciples of numerous clans and sects, and was wanted by countless of sects.
Therefore, Ning Fan’s name wouldn’t save Nan Wei from this vicious man. Plus, he was certainly no match for this opponent.
There was also a rumor that said that this Shen Shangzi was once hunted by three peak Harmonious Spirit experts, but was still able to escape even after he had suffered heavy injuries. As for the three experts, two of them died and one was wounded. That was also the moment when rumors about Shen Shangzi’s Nine Swords began to spread.
It was an extremely foolish behavior for a bandit to leave his or her name behind after killing and robbing, but Shen Shangzi would definitely arouse the attention of others after every killing. This was because he especially selected every target after a series of consideration. As such, he was sure that the target would be eliminated when he made the call to strike.
However, if he ever doubted his decision, he would never strike. The same thing happened to Ning Fan, who was an intermediate Harmonious Spirit expert at that time. He didn’t dare to attack Ning Fan when he passed by the territory because Ning Fan had given him an unfathomable feeling. Nan Wei, on the other hand, was just too weak. He knew that Nan Wei had just broken through to the early Harmonious Spirit realm recently.
I have Nine Sword Intents, however, only a single sword intent is already enough to kill him!
Shen Shangzi was looking at Nan Wei sneeringly.
He then bent his finger and a sword intent which he had been practicing for many years let out a clear howl before he stuck out the finger.
Instantly, under the waning moon, a 300 meter long sword light mingled with gloomy blue fire slashed at Nan Wei’s direction.
Without a doubt, this was Nan Wei’s end!
His face was brimming with despair. Then, he gritted his teeth and decided to ignite his magical power by burning his Hun and Po*.
Soul Burning was a technique imparted by his father. Once this skill was executed, the person that casted this skill would die for certain unless there was help from a True Immortal. Combusting the soul prevented the person’s soul from entering Samsara for generations. Despite that, it could only enhance one’s magical power by a small realm!
In which case, Nan Wei would temporarily have an intermediate Harmonious Spirit magical strength. It probably wouldn’t be enough to defeat Shen Shangzi, but it would give him 30 percent chance of getting the pills back to Ning City.
After that, he would pass away for generations and wouldn’t be able to enter Samsara and be reborned. The course of his life would disappear within the Heaven and Earth!
However, just as he was about to burn his Hun and Po, an invisible spirit senseenergy radiated out fiercely from the storage pouch. It felt very much like a sword intent!
In the presence of this spirit sense, the 300 meter sword light shivered slightly, as if it was facing the scariest thing under the heavens. The instant the spirit sense swept across, the sword light burst into countless of blue fiery light.
“No way! How could old man’s Blue Flame Sword Qi be pulverized by you?! You despicable brat! What have you done?”
Shen Shangzi’s natal sword Qi was destroyed. Due to the heavy backlash, he spurted a mouthful of blood. But before he could release his wrathful roar, the sword-like spirit sense reached him.
All of a sudden, the frenzied-looking Shen Shangzi revealed a terrified face for the first time. He had a deep understanding of the Sword Dao. He had once obtained a volume about the Immortal World’s sword technique that mentioned an unusual ability which he was seeing now.
“No, this is impossible! This is sword sense!”
Only individuals who had gathered the sea of swords in their sea of consciousnesscould use this kind of skill.
Shen Shangzi was repenting right now. The spirit sense that had blanketed his spirit sense was no doubt the sea of swords. And this spirit sense was powerful enough to wipe out all early Gold Core cultivators!
“Leave…leave me alone…argh!”
After uttering a wail, Shen Shangzi’s robust body was mutilated into a mud of blood. Even the remaining eight natal sword Qi were crushed to nothingness.
It was truly astounding! Nan Wei just stood rooted in his position, including all the bandits who were hiding in different spots, waiting to grab a bit of the benefits from Shen Shangzi after the robbery.
Anyone with a proper eyesight would be able to see that it wasn’t Nan Wei who killed Shen Shangzi. It was the spirit sense emitted from the storage pouch that was bounded on Nan Wei’s waist.
It was common sense that spirit sense couldn’t kill people, but this spirit sense was able to kill a peak Harmonious Spirit expert in one strike! Judging from the sword intent within the spirit sense, it could kill early Gold Core experts and severely injure intermediate Gold Core experts.
What level of cultivation does one have to have such an astonishing spirit sense? Nascent Soul old expert or Spirit Severing…
The bandits who were hiding in the darkness gazed at the storage pouch in terror. There were still a few more streaks of spirit sense on the storage pouch. In other words, Nan Wei could still kill several early Gold Core old experts without using his own strength.
Besides, even if the spirit sense was expended, no one could guarantee that there was nothing else protecting the storage pouch.
Each and every cultivator was having mixed feelings. They watched the man with tremendous pills just went past them, but none of them dared to make a move on him. All of them were rogue cultivators, but they weren’t fools. Anyone who rushed forward like Shen Shangzi would end up just like him.
As such, they lost interest in Nan Wei’s fortune anymore.
“Forget it. Anyone who can plant such a spirit sense must be some peerless expert. Even if we can rob the pills, I’m afraid that we will be hunted down incessantly. The old experts who are above Nascent Soul realm possess numerous kind of abilities. They are able to travel a thousand miles in an instant. If we are targeted by that level of an old expert, I think that all of our lives here won’t be enough for the expert to kill.”
They all put away the thought of robbing Nan Wei, however, it made these old cultivators wonder whether there was a Nascent Soul expert hiding in Yue Country. The fact was no one really knew. Maybe there were some peerless old experts that went into seclusion in the deep old forest.
The warning that was showed from Shen Shangzi’s tragic death gave Nan Wei a safe journey back to Ning City. However, his emotions couldn’t settle down.
He began to realize that the power of his Young Master was far beyond his comprehension.
Using a spirit sense to kill a Gold Core expert?
He sucked in a breath of cold air. Did it mean that his Young Master already possessed the means that only existed in the legends?
Young Master is so powerful. I am truly lucky to serve him as my young master!
This was the true horror of the sword sense, it could kill stealthily from a thousand miles away!