Grasping Evil - Chapter 232

Chapter 232: Chapter 232 Are You Willing?

“Oh? Senior was able to figure out my true name?”

Inwardly, Ning Fan put up a wry smile.

The All-Heaven Relic seems to be unable to conceal information about me from Venerated Dong Xu’s divination.

Contrary to what he felt inside, his facial expression did not appear to be surprised at all.

He assumed that Dong Xu would not harm him as he was now involved with the Giant Devil Sect.

But if his assumption turned out to be wrong and Dong Xu really wants to hurt him, he could always enter into the Yuan Yao World to avoid a direct confrontation.

Besides, Ning Fan still had a Rogue Devil to use if he really has no choice but to put up a fight against Dong Xu.

However, those who were of high status should be able to recognize who Ning Fan actually was by looking at the Yuan Yao Jade on his hand.

He, Ning Fan, was Bei Xiaoman’s “husband”!

Dong Xu’s eyes turned solemn and eventually burst into a hearty laughter.

“Good fortitude! When I was at your age, I was still fighting against Gold Core Realm cultivators for treasures, though I forgot which part of the sea it was at… But you… You were able to send Yan Zhongze flying away with just a punch… You really are an interesting young man… Demon blood, devil marks, divine power, the Imperial Lightning Divine Star, the Palm Wood Demon Star, the Earth Controlling Devil Star… Especially the last one, it was something that Giant Qing has been searching for his entire life… But don’t worry. I don’t harbor any malice towards you. I concealed my identity and hid around here to live a free and happy life. This young girl has no idea who I am, although I made her my apprentice. Moreover, her father, Xu Rushan, could not recognize me. You better not reveal my true identity.”

Dong Xu’s eyes kept looking at Ning Fan from head to toe. The longer he stared at Ning Fan, the more strangeness he felt.

“Just now I lied that I wanted to kill you and rob you of your treasures, trying to scare you. Do you know why I did that?”

“No idea.” Ning Fan faintly smiled and took another sip of tea.

“It’s revenge! A few days ago, I was shocked by you when you extracted half of the total spiritual power of the Joint Joyous Island. That time, I thought there was a Void Fragmentation Realm expert from the Rain Palace who came to punish me for leaving the Internal Endless Sea without permission…*Clicks tongue* It is a serious crime for any of the Venerated Seven to privately leave the Internal Endless Sea. Tell me, wasn’t your act scary for people like me?! When I performed divination, it was then that I found out that the person who caused troubles on the island was you…”

“I apologize for my misconduct.” Ning Fan put on a wry smile.

So this is what it meant by getting shot even when you are lying down. Though his intention was solely to extract the soul of the island, he frightened an old ancestor from the Internal Endless Sea without him being aware of it.

I guess I have to be really cautious when I perform Soul Extraction.

If I draw the attention of a Void Refinement or Void Fragmentation Realm expert who’s residing somewhere in the dark, I surely would invite myself big trouble.

For instance, if the person was not Dong Xu but Venerated Demon of the Demon Sealing Sect, I would be doomed.

“Soul Extraction…Incarnation…Among the three Void Refinement Realm techniques, you have learnt two of them. With your capabilities, your future is limitless. Hai… But still, my advice is that you must never break through to the Divine Transformation Realm, otherwise, you will not escape death!”

“Oh? Why?” Ning Fan’s eyelid twitched.

“Because…you chose the path of a true devil: The Path of Defiance! Divine Transformation Realm is also a process of Divine Transformation. However, there’s no such thing as ‘Divine Transformation’ for a devil cultivator like you. The only thing you can do is ‘Devil Transformation’! Even so, your ‘luck’ is rather strange. I can’t see through it…”

“Devil Transformation? Luck?”

Ning Fan’s eyes turned serious.

It was his first time hearing the phrase, ‘Devil Transformation’. In the past, he always thought that Divine Transformation Realm meant Divine Transformation. As for ‘luck’… It was briefly mentioned in the memories of Ancient Chaos Emperor. However, since it was a concept for True Immortals, it was not explained much. Therefore, Ning Fan did not know much about it.

But Dong Xu seems to have a lot of knowledge about “luck”.

“Fate has seven colors. Likewise, luck is categorized into seven colors. Red, orange, yellow, emerald green, jade green, blue and purple. The lowest point of luck is red while the highest point of luck is purple. Mortals are not blessed with luck. A Vein Opening Realm cultivator’s luck is red while the Void Fragmentation Realm expert’s luck is purple. For ordinary Nascent Soul Realm cultivators, their luck should be emerald green. The closer they got to the bottleneck of the Divine Transformation Realm, the darker the color of their luck. As for Fellow Daoist’s luck, it’s also emerald green at the moment. However, the closer you get to the Divine Transformation Realm, your luck turns more yellowish, as if your luck is getting worse…”

“Getting worse? What do you mean?”

“That is to say, due to some reasons, your luck is slowly being lost… While you are busy increasing your cultivation level, your luck is slipping away bit by bit. If I am not wrong, Fellow Daoist’s body was once a mortal body which was not blessed by any luck. Because of an opportunity, your luck immediately shot up to the highest point and was once purple. However, I don’t know why the purple qi of your luck became poorer day after day. It’s as if someone is plotting against Fellow Daoist and is secretly taking away your luck. If this situation goes on, when you attain the Void Fragmentation Realm, your luck will run out and it will be the end of your life…”

“…”

Ning Fan knitted his brows.

The more he talked, the more it got ridiculous. However, I can tell that he is not talking nonsense.

It’s true that I am originally a mortal who got into the cultivation world after obtaining the Yin Yang Locket and inherited the memories of the Ancient Chaos Emperor. I could say it was the luckiest period of my life after the incident. By just walking inside the Seven Apricot City, I was able to obtain the Jade Royal Grass and the Coiling Evil Grass. By just killing a few Gold Core Realm cultivators, I was able to get a few Dao Fruits.

But the higher my cultivation level was, the more troubles I faced. Perhaps, my luck really is worsening. I can’t even find a single Dao Fruit after killing so many Nascent Soul Realm experts.

Maybe what Dong Xu said is true. My luck really is gone?!

But if it’s gone, who is the person that’s plotting against me?

“The most difficult thing for this old man to understand is Fellow Daoist’s lifespan… Your bone age is only 340 years old. However, according to your lifespan, you’ve been living for more than 1300 years… It’s my first time seeing such a strange situation where your lifespan does not tally with your age… Speaking of which, this situation is quite similar to that of the sleeping demons in the Land of Demons. A demon general’s lifespan can never exceed a few thousand years. Despite that, they could sleep for hundreds of thousands of years without reducing any of their lifespan… But since Fellow Daoist is not a demon general…Hmm. This is rather weird…”

Dong Xu muttered to himself. The more Ning Fan listened, the harder he understood Dong Xu’s words.

He gently shook his head, thinking whether Dong Xu came to find him to talk nonsense with him.

“Is Senior not going to talk about proper business?” Ning Fan reminded.

“Oh! Yes! I almost forgot about the reason why I came to find you. What I mentioned just now was actually a trivial matter. In fact, I have nothing to do with your death. Actually, the reason why I came to find you is to request for your help to cure my apprentice. I suppose you have noticed the unusual condition of Qiuling’s body, haven’t you?”

Dong Xu’s eyes turned clear.

“Yes. I have noticed something… Her body was born to be deficient of the gold element. She should be dead when she was 16 years old. The reason why she could still stay alive and even achieve the Peak Gold Core Realm was because someone shattered an extremely domineering ancient sword into sword qi packed with gold element spiritual power and inserted it into her body, allowing her to survive… Junior is thinking where the ancient sword comes from. No matter how strong Xu Rushan may be, there is no way he could get such powerful sword qi. It would be more reasonable if it was Senior Dong Xu who helped Qiuling… But I have a doubt. Why does Senior want to keep her as your apprentice and even save her life with the sword qi?”

“I did it on a whim. I was just too bored!” Dong Xu’s answers made Ning Fan not know whether to laugh or cry.

The reason why Dong Xu chose to keep her as his apprentice might be because he was really bored. However, his intention of saving her was not something that could be faked.

He liked flowers and so did Xu Qiuling. Perhaps it was because of the similar interest they shared that made him take her as his pupil.

Not long after that, he discovered that this girl’s lifespan was short due to her natural deficiency of the gold element which was caused by Xu Rushan’s excessively strong Primordial Magnetic Power. Therefore, he went to the Sword Island and persuaded Venerated Sword using both hard and soft tactics to borrow from him an ancient sword. It was then that he crushed the sword and inserted the sword qi into her body.

But it was not a permanent solution. It won’t be long before Xu Qiuling’s body could no longer endure the power of the sword qi. When the time comes, it’s either she is killed by the power of the ancient sword or die due to the gold element deficiency.

Perhaps Xu Rushan was not even aware of her daughter’s condition.

Because of her short life, Xu Qiuling developed the mindset of seeing through the emptiness of the material world. She knew that she won’t have much time left but she chose to hide the truth from her father.

As for Dong Xu, although he did not reveal his true identity to Xu Qiuling, he actually performed divination for her.

According to the prophecy, the man whom Xu Qiuling falls for would be her savior!

Dong Xu might not have any idea on how the person is going to save her, but he firmly believed the accuracy of his divination.

His cultivation level might not be the best in the Rain World, but he proudly considered himself as the best practitioner in the path of divination.

From his perspective, Ning Fan was the predestined man to save Xu Qiuling.

But upon meeting Ning Fan, he found out that he could only see through Ning Fan’s cultivation realm but not the latter’s lifespan. Not only that, he did not even know how Ning Fan would save her.

“The sword qi belongs to one of the ancient swords that were collected by the old man of the Sword Island… Among his collection, there is an incomplete piece of a sword which was discovered in the Ancient Heavenly Court. It should belong to one of the Four Swords of Immortal Execution. If I am not wrong, it’s probably a fragment of the Immortal Entrapping Sword… If you are able to save Qiuling, the fragment will be yours. It will greatly benefit your Sword Consciousness and Sword Sense… As for repaying your favor, this old man will use the power of ‘Immortal Blood’ to help you perform divination once! I am also able to pry into any secrets even if it is the secret of Heaven!”

The pair of bottomless eyes on Dong Xu’s face suddenly flashed red.

Ning Fan’s mind felt a sudden jolt. He finally understood why Dong Xu gave him an inexplicable sense of mystery.

Somewhere around his glabella was a drop of sealed True Immortal’s Blood!

It was because of the drop of True Immortal’s Blood that Dong Xu could see the luck of cultivators which none of them would notice. It was also because of the drop of True Immortal’s Blood that he was recognized as the best practitioner of the art of divination in the Rain World!

The spiritual power contained within the drop of blood was much more massive than the total magic power of an Early Divine Transformation Realm expert!

This blood had been refined and assimilated by Dong Xu for more than thousands of years making it impossible to be given to another person. If Dong Xu sacrifices the blood, he would gain the power to seek and predict the inscrutable secret of Heaven.

In other words, he would be able to find out Old Devil’s archenemy, Ning Fan’s origin, the True Immortal whom Ning Fan offended by accident and even the person who was manipulating Ning Fan’s luck in the dark!

Ning Fan and Dong Xu were communicating through telepathy all this while. As such, the other people in the room did not have the slightest clue of what they were discussing.

Yu Long did not dare to interrupt them; the female corpse’s eyes only had the reflection of Ning Fan; Xu Qiuling felt anxious as she was worried about what her master would speak about to Ning Fan.

After a long while, both of them finally stopped their telepathy. All of a sudden, Dong Xu’s facial expression turned serious.

“Are you willing to marry Ling Er2 and save her?!”

“If you are willing, I will help you obtain Giant Qing’s inheritance of Evil Luo!”

“If you are willing, I will sacrifice the True Immortal’s Blood and perform divination for you!”

“If you are willing, I can refine a treasure for you which can hinder experts at the Divine Transformation Realm and even those of the Void Fragmentation Realm from accessing any information about you!”

“If you are willing, I will also teach you all my abilities and even give you thousands of Immortal’s Abode Magical Treasures and seventeen Divine Transformation Realm spiritual puppets, granting you the power to rule the Internal Endless Sea!”

“If you are willing, I won’t hesitate to bring you to every island and cultivation countries within the Internal Endless Sea to search for sufficient resources in order to retain your luck and guarantee the success rate of your Devil Transformation!”

“If you are willing, I will even gift you one-third of the map of the Thunder Emperor’s Tomb! Although it is an incomplete map, but almost every Divine Transformation Realm expert of the Internal Endless Sea yearn for it because within the tomb lies the lifelong inheritance of Thunder Emperor Bu Zhou!”

“Now, tell me, are you willing to marry Ling Er and make her your wife and protect her from death?!”

At this moment, the small room was filled with Dong Xu’s immense aura which was beyond everyone’s grasp, including Ning Fan!

Xu Qiuling’s eyes were filled with disbelief. She never expected that the teacher whom she spent most of her time with was not an Early Nascent Soul Realm cultivator, but an expert who was multiple times stronger than her own father!

Yu Long felt that his Nascent Soul was on the verge of crumbling. Under that powerful aura, he was as insignificant as an ant! After hearing all the benefits that Dong Xu offered to Ning Fan, Yu Long’s eyes were filled with flames of desire. If he were the man who was chosen by Dong Xu, with the abilities, magical treasures, Divine Transformation Realm spiritual puppets and guaranteed resources for attaining the Divine Transformation Realm, he would also be able to become one of the rulers of the Internal Endless Sea and a matchless expert in the External Endless Sea!

As for the female corpse, her gaze never left Ning Fan all this while.

Ning Fan leisurely drank his tea with a smile on his face, apparently impervious to Dong Xu’s aura and his offers.

Outside the room, no one knew that Venerated Dong Xu, one of the Venerated Seven of the Internal Endless Sea, had tried to entice Ning Fan with such temptations.

However, for Ning Fan, those temptations were not really tempting.

After all, he had the memories of Ancient Chaos Emperor. Aside from that, his master, Old Devil, was one of the Deacons of the Four Oceans, a being whom the Sovereign of the Rain World would not even dare to offend.

With regards to the abilities of Dong Xu, they were not something that Ning Fan valued dearly.

“While Senior can help me in my Devil Transformation, I, too, can help Senior attain the Void Refinement Realm… As far as I can see, Senior is stuck in the Peak Divine Transformation Realm although it is only a hair’s breadth away from achieving the Void Refinement Realm. Do you know what is hindering you from breaking through?”

“Er…That’s…Hey… I am the one who is offering you benefits now…”

“About Qiuling, I am more than willing to marry her, let alone save her. Not only that, I am even capable in helping you break through to the Void Refinement Realm.”

“What?! Are you joking with me?! You can help this old man to attain the Void Refinement Realm?! How is that possible?! I have been stuck at my current cultivation level for more than a thousand years already…”

Dong Xu lost his composure as his plan had been disrupted.

Originally, he was the one who offered Ning Fan benefits. But now, it seemed that his role had been reversed with Ning Fan…

This kid whose hair is not even fully grown yet can help me break through to the Void Refinement Realm? Is he kidding me?

Has he even comprehended the power of the Void Realm?

Hmm. Maybe he knows how to refine Sixth Revolution Pills that can help me in my breakthrough?

Wait. How come this kid is trying to help me now? What is he up to exactly?

“The power of the Void Realm…Hmm…”

Ning Fan’s lips curved into a smile. He imprinted what Ancient Chaos Emperor learnt from mastering the utilization of the power of the Void Realm into a jade slip from his memories and passed it to Dong Xu.

Because of the limitation of his current cultivation level, he was not able to comprehend it. The reviews and comments about the power of the Void Realm were alien to him, just like the words of the demon race.

But when Dong Xu glanced through the content of the jade slip, his expression greatly changed.

He was different from Ning Fan. He was stuck in the Peak Divine Transformation Realm for so long and all this while, he had been trying to figure out the power of the Void Realm. However, none of his understanding was on the right track.

With just a glance on the jade slip, Dong Xu found a sense of direction. Unfortunately, the content was half-complete!

With this jade slip, Dong Xu was already able to find the correct direction for his breakthrough.

If he obtains the full content, he would be able to discover the bottleneck that was preventing his breakthrough.

Once he discovers it, he could then progress to the next cultivation level. The resources and pills needed to ensure a higher success rate are just a secondary consideration.

Right now, Dong Xu had yet to even find the threshold for his breakthrough. Why should he be worried about the means to overcome the threshold?

Dong Xu gulped.

At first, he was the person who held the higher ground in the negotiation with Ning Fan. But now, he was silenced merely by a jade slip from Ning Fan.

Little kid, whose experience is this…

Although Dong Xu had been researching the power of the Void Realm for more than a thousand years, he could at most have a general idea after seeing the content of the jade slip.

But the more his mind lingered on the content, the clearer his understanding of the power of the Void Realm.

When all his doubts about the power of the Void Realm are cleared, he would then be ready to achieve the Void Refinement Realm!

“Little friend… Tell me! What are your conditions for me to exchange for the complete jade slip?!”

Dong Xu completely forgot how imposing he was just now.

Now, Venerated Dong Xu, one of the Seven Venerated of the Internal Endless Sea, showed signs of giving way to Ning Fan for the first time.

He knew that the jade slip given by Ning Fan was imprinted from the latter’s memories.

He could opt to access the latter’s memories by performing the Soul Memory Searching Technique. However, doing so would only make the latter’s memories be fragmented into pieces. If he misses out something crucial, he would then feel regret for the rest of his life.

“Firstly, keep any information about me confidential. Secondly, I am interested in the magical treasure that could resist the sense of the Void Fragmentation Realm experts. Moreover, other than performing divination using your True Immortal’s Blood for me, I want you to help me three times… As for the thousands of Immortal’s Abode Magical Treasures and 17 Divine Transformation Realm spiritual puppets, I want them all. In other words, I want nothing less from what you have promised me earlier. Apart from that, I want you to swear the Great Oath of Heart’s Devil to grant me the benefits that you’ve promised. Only then will I give you the other half of the content!”

Ning Fan faintly smiled.

Now, he had just turned the table around.

Actually Ning Fan was impressed by Dong Xu’s profoundness in the art of divination as well as the latter’s deep understanding about luck. Furthermore, Dong Xu also had high mastery in refining Immortal’s Abode Magical Treasures and the secret arts of spiritual puppets. Ning Fan only had limited knowledge about all the techniques and knowledge mentioned above even though he inherited the memories of Ancient Chaos Emperor.

This man is a rare talent. There is no reason for me not to entice him when I have the means.

Perhaps, in the near future, I might need to rely on his divination to avoid a huge calamity!

“Er…”

Dong Xu grasped the jade slip in his hand, struggling within his mind.

After getting to the Peak Divine Transformation Realm, he would be bullshitting if he said that he did not want to progress into the Void Refinement Realm.

I was the one talking about conditions with him. But how come the tables have turned…

“Erm… About our earlier agreement, you said you are willing to marry Ling Er, right?” Dong Xu suppressed his desire. He would rather prioritize Xu Qiuling’s life rather than breaking through to the Void Refinement Realm.

He is really a good teacher that is hard to come by…

“I , Zhou Ming, welcome all women. I will never reject any of them. But I suppose that Mistress Qiuling may not be willing to marry me… Anyway, even if we aren’t husband and wife, I have already intended to save her. Besides, the sword qi of the fragment of the Immortal Entrapping Sword is rather essential to me. But I have to delay this matter! After the completion of my mission in the Secret Realm, I will certainly come to save her.”

“Very well! Then this old man will swear the Great Oath of Heart’s Devil. Since you promised to save Ling Er and also…will give me the remaining half of the jade slip, I, Dong Xu, hereby give you my word to fulfill all the conditions of our agreement!”

Yu Long was stunned.

Dong Xu? This old man who acts like a lunatic is Dong Xu, one of the Venerated Seven of the Internal Endless Sea?!

He felt his sense of worth plunging deeper as he was not on the level of being able to understand the conversation between his own master and Venerated Dong Xu.

The only idea he got was that the venerated being in the Internal Endless Sea yielded to his master, Ning Fan.

This is way too crazy…

Note:

Ling Er(灵儿) is also Xu Qiuling(许秋灵). Er is a suffix for noun which is used to address someone in a more affectionate manner.
Translator Team:

G-Team [Tommy (TL), Roel (Editor)]