Grasping Evil - Chapter 235

Chapter 235: Chapter 235 A Female Child

“3.5 million!”

“4 million!”

“5 million…”

Thousand Swords Heart Separation Grass would only be useful to swordsmen. Although there were not many swordsmen present, there were still a few of them among the Peak Nascent Soul Realm experts. Doubtlessly, they too, were eager to obtain the grass.

But as soon as Ning Fan shouted 5 million, the entire hall fell silent.

In other words, his influence was still able to affect the cultivators currently at the scene.

Ning Fan floated to the stage and took away the grass after paying the required sum of immortal jade. However, Yan Zhongze put on a forced smile on his face.

Usually, it would not be difficult for the grass to be sold at 7 million and above. But when Ning Fan’s voice was heard, everything seemed to have been finalized. No one dared to bid against him.

Guan Xiong, the Divine Transformation Realm expert from the Sword Island, was also prompted to bid for the grass when he heard of its function. However, because of his intention of maintaining a friendly relationship with Ning Fan, he chose not to act against Ning Fan for a mere spiritual grass.

Therefore, in the end, the grass landed into Ning Fan’s pocket.

After that, most of the items for sale were ordinary ten thousand years old spiritual herbs. Ning Fan did not actually bid for anything unless the herbs which were what he needed. However, as long as there was a Fifth Revolution Pill Recipe for auction, Ning Fan would definitely bid for it with no hesitation.

As the profits that they would earn from the auction needed to be handed over to the Giant Devil Sect, Xu Rushan was unable to give Ning Fan any discounts.

After a series of bidding, Ning Fan splurged nearly 200 million immortal jade, including the money he got from Evil Light’s storage pouch. Now, there wasn’t even 50 million immortal jade in his own storage pouch…

Therefore, he did not care much about the auction for the Profound Heaven Spiritual Treasures and the Profound Heaven Defective Treasures…

For the rest of the Peak Nascent Soul Realm cultivators, it truly was a relief.

They were all unaware that Ning Fan was actually a Fifth Revolution Pill Master. But even if they were, it would be difficult for them to believe anyway. Possessing combat power comparable to that of a Divine Transformation Realm could be considered heaven-defying at the age of 340. How could it be possible for him to possess Fifth Revolution Pill Refining Technique at the same time?!

About Ning Fan’s considerable wealth, people like Yang Zhongze were inwardly astonished.

For Divine Transformation Realm experts in the Endless Sea, they would be considered wealthy by just having tens of millions of immortal jade with them. After all, in the cultivation world, pills and magical treasures would cost a fortune, not to mention the price for establishing formations and refining weapons.

However, the Divine Transformation Realm experts in the eight hundred cultivation countries were much poorer as compared to those in the Endless Sea.

At the auction, many of the Peak Nascent Soul Realm experts were keen to acquire a Profound Heaven Spiritual Treasure for themselves even though they had to use up all their fortunes.

This time, with Ning Fan out of the competition of bidding, it was obviously the most cheerful scenario for them.

But unfortunately, experts like Guan Xiong were also occasionally moved to buy magical treasures of such grade.

“Heavenly Purple Rope. A Profound Heaven Defective Treasure. The starting bid is 10 million!”

“Red Cloud Ancient Sword. A Profound Heaven Defective Treasure. The starting price is 15 million!”

“Sun Falling Tower…”

“Ten Million Soul Tempering Streamer…”

Countless magical treasures stirred up scenes of aggressive competition in the auction hall. Even so, Ning Fan remained unperturbed.

Three Profound Heaven Defective Treasures were already enough for him.

After the auction of the magical treasures, it was now the sale of spiritual armor and spiritual iron.

Since the Pleasure Devil Sea was a place blessed with large amounts of spiritual minerals, the spiritual irons were not uncommon.

Profound Grade Spiritual Equipment, Divine Transformation Realm Spiritual Iron. There were a few sets of items at the mentioned grades ready to be auctioned.

When it was time to auction the Mortal Void Realm Spiritual Iron – Power Drain, which was first out of the four most precious items, everyone including Zhou Qing were tempted to bid.

The Zhou Clan of the Internal Endless Sea excelled in a secret art which focuses on the Nascent Soul of cultivators. He also owned a weapon which resembled Ning Fan’s Spirit Crushing Whip, though its power wasn’t as domineering as Ning Fan’s.

If this spiritual iron was used to augment his weapon, the power of his techniques would certainly increase by a huge amount.

“‘Power Drain’ was a unique type of supreme grade spiritual iron among all Mortal Void Realm Spiritual Irons. By using it to augment a magical treasure, it enables the magical treasure to secretly drain your enemy’s magical power during a fight. The starting bid is 20 million…”

“21 million.” Ning Fan’s voice was finally heard again in the hall.

Zhou Qing’s eyebrows knitted together. But immediately, they loosened.

“Young Lord, should we bid?” Zhou Qi asked.

“Let’s give him face…” Zhou Qing spoke without revealing a hint of anger or joy on his face.

A Mortal Void Realm Spiritual Iron was something that Divine Transformation Realm experts would fight for. Naturally, the price would surely be exorbitant. However, with Zhou Qing’s status at the Zhou Clan, he still would have means to get one for himself. Therefore, it was not necessary for him to have a fallout with Ning Fan just for it.

After the auction of the spiritual equipment, it was the auction of pills. Fourth Revolution and Fifth Revolution Pills obviously made the experts at the hall bid competitively against each other. Ning Fan did not have much immortal jade left. Therefore, other than Heavenly Primordial Pills and Profound Primordial Pills, he never bid for anything else.

At the end of the pill auction, the second most precious item, the Divine Intent Stone, was put up for sale!

Yan Zhongze held a jade box on his hand. Within it, there was a blood-red, round-shaped stone with some engravings on its surface. As soon as it was revealed to the public, everyone’s attention was pulled towards it.

The Divine Intent Stone could actually be categorized into four grades: Heavenly, Earth, Profound and Yellow. The Nascent Soul Realm divine messengers of the Rain Palace were entitled to be granted a Yellow Grade Divine Intent Stone. However, Profound Grade Divine Intent Stones like the one being auctioned right now could only be obtained by the Divine Transformation Realm revered elders of the Rain Palace. The starting price of the stone was 30 million.

Peak Nascent Soul Realm experts who had yet to attain the Divine Transformation Realm would never waste tons of their wealth to purchase this stone. Only massive forces like the Rain Palace would be willing to give their Nascent Soul Realm divine messengers to consume such a precious stone.

The three Divine Transformation Realm experts of the fourth floor were regarded as veterans among all of the experts at the same cultivation level as them. As such, they did not need the stone either.

Ultimately, Zhou Qing was the one who bid for the stone.

Ning Fan did not intend to bid against him since there were a few Profound Grade Divine Intent Stones in Dong Xu’s hands, though they would not belong to Ning Fan until he saves Xu Qiuling.

After the Divine Intent Stone, the auction continued with a few more pills. Then, it was the third most precious item of the auction – Dao Crystal!

It was a green crystal stone which had a lotus mark on its surface. A Dao Crystal contained a tremendous amount of spiritual power which was equivalent to a total of 5 million immortal jade.

“This is a Dao Crystal. It is an item needed by Void Fragmentation Realm experts to become immortals. Besides, it can be used to establish an Immortal Void Realm Grand Formation. Not only that, it is the currency used in the Four Heavens of the Immortal World. The starting bid is 5 million immortal jade…”

This item indeed sounded important. But in actual reality, it would only be useful to Void Fragmentation Realm old monsters as well as in setting up an Immortal Void Realm Formation. For Peak Nascent Soul Realm experts, however, it was not that tempting.

“A currency of the Four Heavens of Immortal World…” Ning Fan gently shook his head. He did not need such a thing. If he has the chance to ascend to the Four Heavens, he could amass a sufficient number of Dao Crystal by killing others and robbing them of their treasures.

A Dao Crystal might be precious in the Rain World but to True Immortals in the Four Heavens, it was just similar to a piece of immortal jade in the Rain World.

At last, it was acquired by Purple Gu Taoist with 9 million immortal jade.

Upon hearing that result, Ning Fan sneered.

I wonder if this Dao Crystal would fall into my pocket when I encounter Purple Gu someday and kill him.

All the Nascent Soul Realm human cauldrons had already been acquired by Ning Fan prior to the auction. Therefore, to replace them, they decided to auction demon pets, spiritual worms and spiritual charms.

Items like demon pets at the same grade as the Fake Wild Beasts and a spiritual charm containing a Spiritual Severing Realm full-attack were able to make Ning Fan’s eyes brighten up with interest. But he did not bid for any of them since they were not of much use to him.

Besides, after saving Xu Qiuling, he would be able to obtain 17 Divine Transformation Realm spiritual puppets from Dong Xu. Demon pets would still need to be fed and cared for. Wouldn’t spiritual puppets be much better than them?

Now, he was waiting for the last and most precious item of the auction.

The Divine Transformation Realm human cauldron!

The auction lasted for three consecutive days. Three days later, it was finally nearing its end.

When a little girl in a bluish dress wearily dragged her shackled limbs to the stage under the supervision of three Nascent Soul Realm experts, every voice and noise in the hall died out.

At this moment, Zhou Qing, Guan Xiong and Purple Gu’s eyes lit up in interest.

She looked just like a loli, dressing up like a slave girl. Her lips were red and her teeth were white, making her look clean and attractive. However, her eyes were vacant like those of a zombie.

All in all, it was difficult to convince everyone that such a child-looking girl was actually a Divine Transformation Realm old monster.

But it was not impossible at all. Some old monsters who cultivated the Virgin Child cultivation method were able to maintain their appearance like that of a child throughout their lives and even after they passed away.

Yan Zhongze’s gaze began to be filled with seriousness. He was now on full alert against the three Divine Transformation Realm experts on the fourth floor who might try to kidnap the girl. In an obscure corner, Xu Rushan broke out with cold sweat, worrying that something bad might happen.

Zhou Qing, Guan Xiong and Purple Gu landed on the auction stage in succession. Each of them spread their spirit sense, trying to pry into the girl’s Sea of Consciousness. However, their attempts were all fruitless, dimming each of their expressions.

Yan Zhongze cleared his throat and suddenly released his Divine Transformation Realm aura, shocking everyone in the hall.

“This is a Divine Transformation Realm human cauldron and it is the last item of the auction. Those who don’t intend to bid for her may leave first!”

Everyone would be entitled for a drop of Profound Liquid of Mother Earth. However, it was something they can get after their journey in the Secret Realm of the Broken World. Before that, the missions of the Peak Nascent Soul Realm experts ended here.

I have to lessen the people present just in case the Divine Transformation Realm experts really discover something from this girl’s memories. If they truly find out some shocking information, it may cause massive changes among the forces of the Internal Endless Sea…

Although the Divine Space Island was low-profile, it has, at the very least, countless forces in alliance with it. If they were to find out any evidence Venerated Moon’s death, those forces would change hands and be divided up…

Xu Qiuling slowly stood up. She knew Ning Fan needed human cauldrons for cultivation. But she thought that he would still try to get his hands on the human cauldron even after her master had told him not to be involved with this woman.

However, to her surprise, Ning Fan did not appear to be leaving as his gaze was constantly fixed on the little girl at the stage.

“Young Master Zhou, I think it’s better we make a move first. Don’t get involved in an unnecessary trouble like this…” Xu Qiuling advised.

“It’s fine. I want to have a look…”

As his words fell, he leaped into the air and landed on the auction stage.

As soon as he landed on the stage, each and every one of the three had their own reactions. Purple Gu frowned, Zhou Qing was surprised, while Guan Xiong felt awkward.

However, almost immediately, Ning Fan cupped his fist towards Zhou Qing and Guan Xiong. “Everyone please proceed. I have no interest in the Divine Space Inheritance at all. Just in case her memories can’t be read and she becomes worthless, I want to buy her as my human cauldron.”

“Oh? Fellow Daoist sure is well-informed. This matter is only known by the influential forces within the Internal Endless Sea. I was also told not too long ago. Perhaps, Xu Rushan might not know about it too.”

Guan Xiong’s eyes flashed in awe. He was astonished by Ning Fan once more.

After hearing Ning Fan’s intentions, Guan Xiong and Zhou Qing nodded in agreement.

Only Purple Gu shot him a cold glance.

It was because he originally had the idea of keeping the girl for himself if none of them could access her memories. However, he did not expect that Ning Fan would come to interfere.

But as he recalled the might of Ning Fan’s finger, he became faint-hearted at the prospect of fighting Ning Fan over the human cauldron on his own.

“Fine… The girl might be a Divine Transformation Realm expert, but she is still a girl who had yet to become sexually mature after all. Plucking her is not any good. So what if I let this kid have her… Besides, plucking a Divine Transformation Realm human cauldron will consume a considerable amount of time. This kid is going to enter the Secret Realm of Broken World within the next few days. Since Divine Transformation Realm experts are forbidden to enter the Secret Realm, he would not be able to pluck her. Furthermore, he would definitely leave this island after exiting the Secret Realm. When the time comes, I will request help from my sect to eliminate him. I would then be able to reclaim my human cauldron and snatch all of his magical treasures!”

After a brief moment of contemplation, Purple Gu Taoist wore a faint smile as if he was not bothered by Ning Fan’s intention at all and nodded his head.

Every other people at the hall left. Xu Rushan revealed himself from a dark corner and joined Yan Zhongze and Ning Fan to look after the human cauldron.

As for the other four experts, they decided to let Guan Xiong be the first one to search the girl’s soul and memories while Zhou Qing would be the second one and Purple Gu would be the last.

Guan Xiong’s secret art resembled a sword sense technique. However, it wasn’t congealed from the Sword Consciousness but his sword qi.

The secret art of soul searching of the Zhou Clan was named White Lightning Memory Extinguisher. They used lightning to form a sense which was mainly used for searching one’s soul and memories.

For Purple Gu Taoist, he congealed his sense completely from the purple worms.

The three of them took turns in probing the girl’s mind with their spirit sense congealed with their respective secret arts.

The strength of the three traces of spirit sense might even be able to probe the soul and memories of a Late Divine Transformation Realm expert.

Deep inside, Ning Fan was filled with amazement.

They truly deserve to be part of the venerated devil forces in the Internal Endless Sea. Their respective secret arts for searching souls and memories sure are exceptional and stronger than my ordinary Soul Memory Searching Technique by a few times.

Gu Xiong’s forged sword sense might be uncommon, but it is clearly weaker compared to the other two secret arts. Purple Gu’s technique is not an easy technique to learn. Even so, it is still slightly weaker than Zhou Qing’s. As for Zhou Qing’s White Lightning Memory Extinguisher, it is the strongest among the three. It’s a technique that uses lightning power but when taking a closer look at it, it seems to contain a trace of demon power within.

A fusion between lightning power and demon power…

“Is it related to the lightning beast? A combination between magical techniques and demonic techniques… The expert who invented this technique must be a person with extraordinary natural talent…”

Ning Fan’s eyes blazed like torches. With his blood lightning and Lightning Star, if he is able to learn that secret art, he would not need to be afraid of any seals anymore when searching a Divine Transformation Realm expert’s memories.

Sadly, all the three remarkable techniques failed after one another.

However, it was not strange to Ning Fan as Dong Xu had said that he also failed when he secretly tried to search the girl’s soul and memories. How could they possibly succeed when even a member of the Venerated Seven failed?

Guan Xiong sighed and shook his head. Purple Gu’s face became gloomy. In stark contrast, Zhou Qing burst into laughter. He was not vexed by his failure at all. With an uplifting tone, he spoke, “Since this girl’s soul and memories can’t be accessed, it only means that the change in the Divine Space Island is certainly terrifying. It isn’t a bad news if we can’t pry into her memories. On the bright side, maybe we can avoid a fatal disaster having not acquiring the crucial information to enter the Divine Space Island…About Fellow Daoist Zhou Ming…”

Zhou Qing’s gaze shifted to Ning Fan and shot the latter a smile.

“Fellow Daoist Zhou Ming seems to be rather interested in my White Lightning Memory Extinguisher… I am very willing to teach you that technique, however, mine is still incomplete. Besides, this technique is related to the secrets of my sect. Please pardon me for being timid and not daring to teach you. If Fellow Daoist is willing to come to my Zhou Clan, perhaps the old ancestor of my clan might take a liking to you and then pass on the technique to you.”

“Hehe. Fellow Daoist must be joking. No matter how audacious I may be, I would never pry into the secret art of the Zhou Clan…” Ning Fan laughed but in his heart, he felt a hint of eccentricity about that conversation.

Seemingly, Zhou Qing no longer bear any hostility towards me.

Meanwhile, he spares no effort to invite me to his Zhou Clan in the Internal Endless Sea. What’s his true intention…

Although Zhou Qing’s technique was unique, Ning Fan would not be so impetuous to set foot on the territory of Zhou Clan for just a soul and memory searching technique.

He did not want to take a risk before he is powerful enough to do so. Who knows if the Zhou Clan harbors good or bad intentions toward Ning Fan?

The kind intention of the Giant Devil Sect and Dong Xu were clear. The intentions of the Zhou Clan, however, was rather ambiguous…

“Hai…As such, I suppose I have to disappoint Venerated Sword who appointed me for this task… Congratulations to you, Fellow Daoist Zhou, for having this girl as your human cauldron. If there is a chance in the future, be sure to pay a visit to my Sword Island! Farewell!”

Guan Xiong cupped his fist as a gesture of courtesy before he turned into a sword light and disappeared into thin air.

With just a leap, perhaps he was already at ten thousand li away.

It was not Instant Shift. Instead, it was the Sword Blinking Technique that was a unique technique of sword cultivators. A sword cultivator with this technique would be able to travel at a peerless speed among other sword cultivators.

Next, Zhou Qing gently nodded his head towards Ning Fan and turned to his back. At the same time, he spoke to the elderly behind him through telepathy.

“This man is extremely vigilant. It’s fine. There are still a few years before the opening of the Thunder Emperor’s Tomb. Anyhow, he would eventually come to our Zhou Clan for the pass to enter the tomb… Let’s go, Zhou Qi!”

“Yes!” The elderly man answered.

With a wave of his hand, he turned into a cloud of silver smoke and dashed towards Zhou Qing, carrying him away.

The Divine Transformation Realm Instant Shift was different from Nascent Soul Realm Instant Movement. It enabled the expert to bring multiple people with him when travelling with ease.

Finally, Purple Gu was the only foreign expert in the hall.

His eyes stopped at the little girl and shot her a sly leer. Then, he unglued his gaze and cupped his fist towards Ning Fan with a crafty smile before vanishing in a cloud of purple smoke.

As he departed from the tower, the first thing that came into his mind was to search for backup and kill Ning Fan!

Only when everyone had left did Xu Rushan and Yan Zhongze heaved a sigh of relief.

Both of their gazes were filled with awe when they looked at Ning Fan.

They knew that if they were the one who withstood Ning Fan’s finger that he displayed during the battle with Evil Light, they would either die or end up in a critical state!

“Fellow Daoist Zhou truly is unfathomable! I am ashamed to be so inferior compared to you…” Yan Zhongze said.

When Ning Fan strenuously withstood his five palms combo attack in order to break through to the Jade Life Realm in the past, Yan Zhongze had already known that he was holding back his full potential.

If he were to display that technique on that day, Yan Zhongze’s life would surely be at stake. As he put himself into that scenario, he could not help but to agree with Xu Rushan’s comment about Ning Fan in the past.

It’s no wonder Xu Rushan thinks so highly of this kid. So this is it – the danger that Xu Rushan was talking about. It’s indeed dangerous for Divine Transformation Realm experts to stay too close to him.

Unfortunately, he got the wrong idea.

Xu Rushan stared at Ning Fan with a confused look, as if the latter was alien to him.

Ning Fan knew about the background of the Divine Transformation Realm human cauldron, which was something that Xu Rushan himself had no clue at all.

The longer he knew Ning Fan, the more he felt that he could not see through him.

“He must be the person whom Venerated Giant has been waiting for…”

Xu Rushan took a deep breath. Being able to successfully hold the auction and find Ning Fan for Venerated Giant at the same time would surely give him lots of credit.

My daughter seems to be hanging out with this man for the past few days. I suppose their relationship is not just skin-deep anymore…

“I shouldn’t be controlling how Qiuling behaves. I might as well just let her do as she pleases. Furthermore, this Zhou Ming isn’t bad after all…” In Xu Rushan’s mind, he was thinking about the most important affair in her daughter’s life – her daughter’s marriage.

Ning Fan’s gaze focused on the girl’s blank eyes, pondering in silence.

This girl’s aura truly belongs to an Early Divine Transformation Realm. There’s no mistaking it. But apparently, something is off…

“I wonder how much this girl would cost…” Ning Fan asked in a resolved tone.

“Hehe. Fellow Daoist must be joking. Since her memories can’t be accessed, she is now just a Divine Transformation Realm human cauldron. Apart from that, plucking a human cauldron like her would only give you hundreds of units of magic power. Why would I be concerned about her price since this old man is even willing to gift you 200 drops of Profound Liquid of Mother Earth. Just take her with you. I suppose Venerated Giant would do the same too. However, since I have already expressed my sincerity, Fellow Daoist really must not disappoint me with the task… With Fellow Daoist’s current power, not to mention 150 Fake Wild Beasts, I believe you can even hunt down every last one of them in the Secret Realm if there’s enough time for you…”

“Fellow Daoist Xu sure is kidding. If that’s the case, it is disrespectful for me to decline your kind offer.”

Ning Fan shook his Cauldron Ring and kept the girl within. With his current identity, it was no longer surprising to use an Immortal’s Abode Magical Treasure in public.

Actually, Xu Rushan was just being humorous. The meaning of “enough time” he mentioned in the conversation implied that wiping out all the beasts in the Secret Realm would at the very least take a few years to tens of years. He did not mean that Ning Fan would be able to do that within just 5 months. Instead, he was trying to say that it would not be difficult for Ning Fan to kill 150 Fake Wild Beasts.

However, his joke which was supposed to be only humorous was going to be realized soon.

…

There were 8 days left before the opening of the Secret Realm.

After returning to the Profound Jade Palace, it was still Yu Long who entertained all the cultivators that came by to pay a visit and kept all their gifts.

As for Ning Fan, he brought the female corpse into the Yuan Yao World.

With a shake of his Cauldron Ring, he summoned the Divine Transformation Realm girl.

Plucking a Divine Transformation Realm human cauldron was not as easy as it seemed. Multiple pills were required in order to achieve the greatest effect of the cultivation method.

However, for the time being, Ning Fan did not have any of the pills.

On the other hand, with his current cultivation level, it would take at least half a month for him to completely assimilate the magic power gained from plucking her.

The reason why he summoned the girl this time was just to try prying into her memories.

In actual reality, he wasn’t really uninterested about the Divine Space Island.

No, he did not lie. He really had no interest in obtaining the Divine Space Inheritance.

But he was intrigued by the female cultivators on the island, especially the seven Divine Transformation Realm disciples of Venerated Moon.

“Firstly, I have to try if I am able to search her soul and memory. If that method fails, I will try using Mind Reading Technique to pry into her secrets…Perhaps I might be able to see what the Venerated Seven of the Internal Endless Sea can’t.

Note:

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Translator Team:

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