Grasping Evil - Chapter 408
Chapter 408: Chapter 408: The Daughter of the Thunder Sovereign
The lady in red robes calmly looked at the golden leaves disappearing one after another.
The longer she looked, the more she found it hard to comprehend. She had immense doubt towards the identities of the intruders.
“What cultivation base does that intruder have? This individual seems to be a bit different.”
“If the intruder is just a Divine Transformation Realm or even a Void Refinement Realm cultivator, it is impossible for me not to see through their concealment. However, if the intruder is a Void Fragmentation Realm expert, it is, of course, beyond my capabilities… However, which Void Fragmentation Realm expert in the Rain World will hide his head but show his tail when they take action and steal lowly golden bamboo leaves? Besides, if they want to steal, they should instead be stealing the ‘dark golden bamboo leaf’ of the small chiliocosm… It’s illogical…”
“If this person is not a Void Fragmentation Realm expert, then is he just a Void Refinement Realm cultivator? A Void Refinement Realm cultivator who can avoid being discovered by my spirit sense… This person’s concealment technique is certainly somewhat profound. If this person can be recruited to be of use to us, he will be quite useful. However, what is this intruder’s background…? Could he be an assassin from the Palace…?”
“Somehow, I can feel a hint of familiarity from this person’s qi. It’s as if I have met him somewhere before…”
“In the past, my physical body was destroyed. My primordial spirit dispersed into ten thousand tufts of thunder grass in order to hide herself from the world. Now, I have already gathered all ten thousand tufts of thunder grass and have completely condensed my primordial spirit. Unexpectedly, my mind was flooded with ten thousand traces of new memories… Among all of them, nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine traces of them are the recollections of being a grass or a plant. However, there is one trace of memory which was different from the rest. That single trace of my primordial spirit accidentally changed its form and turned into a ghost… When all ten thousand traces of my scattered primordial spirit reunited, the tuft of thunder grass which took the form of a ghost eventually dominated the whole entity…”
“Ning Honghong. It’s almost time for me to abandon that identity… I have to erase those irrelevant and unimportant memories in my mind… Otherwise, my Sea of Consciousness will surely collapse carrying ten thousand traces of different memories and ten thousand traces of consciousness.”
The lady in red robes raised one of her hands as arcs of silver lightning sizzled around her fingers. When she waved it across her Sea of Consciousness in her mind, fragments of her past memories vanished like smoke in thin air.
She did not need those memories. She did not need to remember that there was a point in her life where she lived under the alias of Ning Honghong!
It was because she still had a more highly respectable identity!
“If this person who has such a heaven-defying concealment technique is just a Void Refinement Realm cultivator, I can team up with him to get the dark golden bamboo leaves in the small chiliocosm. It’s as clear as day that this person is extremely interested in mere golden leaves. I can give him all the golden leaves in this area as a present and it will certainly make him delighted and would sincerely be willing to work for me! Of course, this person has to be able to get enough dark golden bamboo leaves for me first!”
The lady in red robes took a light step in the air. In the next second, she was already standing by Ning Fan’s side. Countless thoughts flew across her mind.
If he doesn’t know how to appreciate kindness, I won’t mind spending some effort to make him regret it.
She was also concealing her presence and her concealment technique was not weak either.
She could not see Ning Fan and the latter could not see her as well.
She could sense that Ning Fan was right there and Ning Fan could also feel that there was an obscure qi approaching him!
Instinctively, he could tell that the person who had gotten closer to him was probably the red-robed lady who had entered this secret area prior to him!
Ning Fan could not help but to feel somewhat shocked.
The profoundness of my concealment originates from the Heaven Deceiving Cloak. As for the red-robed lady, however, what supreme treasure is she depending on to give her a concealment which is not any weaker than mine?
Perhaps this lady is proficient and skilled in concealment techniques?
Ning Fan’s mind was full of thoughts. The next thing he knew that he had to do after being spotted by the lady was to retreat and get out of this area as fast as possible in order to avoid unwanted trouble.
Unfortunately, before he could even make a move, the lady in red robes suddenly revealed herself in the next second. Her baleful qi was terrifying. Her blood-red eyes coldly swept across the area in front of her and then spoke to the empty air with a menacing voice.
“Show yourself, intruder! Otherwise, I will seal off this ‘Golden Thunder Heavenly Dwelling’ and you will never be able to return!”
*Rumble*
The lady in red robes waved one of her hands. Instantly, lightning flashed and thunder rumbled ferociously in the sky. The rumble of thunder was so loud that it was as if the entire area was going to crumble!
That lady seemed to be the lord of this heavenly dwelling. All of a sudden, she summoned countless traces of golden lightning which turned into barriers of electricity, sealing off all the exits of the area.
Ning Fan’s heart sank. The lady in red robes acted as fast as lightning. With just a wave of her hand, she had shut off all of his escape routes!
He did not know this lady’s identity and neither was he prepared to show himself obediently. He had already obtained one hundred pieces of golden leaves. They were enough for Yue Lingkong to heal her wound and the remaining leaves would be able to help Luo You’s primordial spirit recover quite a bit of power. What’s the benefit of continuing to stay around?
The barrier of electricity which now stretched into the entire sky might seem to be terrifying, but they could not strike fear into Ning Fan.
He had the Wind Mist Finger. This mere lightning heavenly dwelling might be strong enough to block an ordinary Void Refinement Realm cultivator, but it could not stop Ning Fan.
To him, he could come and leave this place as he wished!
Moreover, he was capable enough of visiting most of the dangerous places in the Rain World!
Ning Fan flew backwards. A faint golden purple mist began to coil around his body. When the mist he conjured was blown, the golden purple mist permeated the atmosphere between heaven and earth.
Everything disintegrated just like the ancient saying: ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
That horrifying power of samsara was enough to wipe out everything!
Countless rays of lightning were eroded by the wind and disintegrated into samsara. Holes also formed on the exits of the heavenly dwelling which were previously sealed off with dense barriers of electricity.
The cold eyes of the lady glinted with surprise. That golden purple mist gave her a familiar but frightening feeling. She did not expect that Ning Fan had such a scary technique which could weather everything. Now, the latter was about to escape!
She did not mind losing some lowly golden bamboo leaves. However, if she loses Ning Fan’s help, perhaps she would not be able to obtain too many dark golden bamboo leaves in the next realm.
Judging from how the current situation looked like, she needed something else to threaten Ning Fan in order to make him stay.
Since the first plan did not work, she should come up with a new plan.
The eyes of the lady in red robes flashed. She could tell that Ning Fan must have an extremely important reason to intrude this place and steal the golden leaves at the risk of offending the Zhou Clan.
In other words, the golden bamboo leaves were Ning Fan’s weak point…
Since she had figured out Ning Fan’s weak point, she found a way to force Ning Fan to show himself and lend her a hand.
The method might be a little mean and despicable, but… so what?
“Even if you manage to escape, your effort will also be in vain. I can crush all the golden leaves in this area with just a single will of mine. You have to know that each golden leaf here is imbued with my sense power. If you still don’t show yourself and face me, don’t blame me for activating my spirit sense to destroy all the golden leaves here. You should understand the consequences of me doing so!”
“What?!” Ning Fan was inwardly stunned. He instantly activated his Fu Li Eye and checked the golden leaves. Indeed, there was an extremely hidden mark of a spirit sense on the golden leaves.
Not only did the golden leaves have it, even the silver bamboo leaves which grew outside of this secret dwelling had it as well.
This lady in red robes was not lying and she was not joking about her threat.
At the next moment, she spread her spirit sense and detonated the marks of the golden leaves in Ning Fan’s possession. All one hundred pieces of golden leaves in his hands trembled violently and crumbled into golden ashes and vanished into nothingness…
This red-robed lady was also someone who would act without any hesitation. To her, even though the golden leaves were not of great use to her, they still had some worth. However, in order to make Ning Fan stay, she did not hesitate at all in destroying all one hundred pieces of golden leaves he had to instill fear in him.
If Ning Fan still does not reveal himself, she would activate her spirit sense again and destroy all the golden leaves in this place to crush Ning Fan’s hope and cause him to be unable to save the person he wanted to.
Perhaps the lady would not be able to force Ning Fan to show himself in the end.
However, no matter what Ning Fan does, he would not be able to obtain even half a piece of a golden leaf, much less save Yue Lingkong!
“Let’s leave. This lady is not simple… She seems to be up to something…”
Yue Lingkong told Ning Fan through telepathy with a frown. Compared to her own injury, she was even more worried of Ning Fan falling into that lady’s trap. She could vaguely tell that the lady’s motive was not good by compelling Ning Fan to show himself.
“If we just leave like this, what about your injury?”
Ning Fan’s eyes turned grim. After hesitating for a while, his expression became determined.
He descended to the ground. With a flick of his sleeve, he removed the cloak and showed his true appearance.
At the same time, he patted his storage pouch and took out three Void Refinement Realm spiritual puppets, trying to intimidate the lady in red robes.
“You’ve won!”
Ning Fan’s face was cold and expressionless like still water. For the sake of treating Yue Lingkong’s injury, he would not let the lady destroy all the golden leaves in this place.
Looking at the lady’s appearance which greatly resembled that of Ning Honghong, Ning Fan’s heart felt even more confused.
“Void Refinement Realm spiritual puppets? You have three of them? These spiritual puppets are quite excellent. They had been refined from Realm Beasts, huh? Unfortunately, they are just half-completed products. Otherwise, these three spiritual puppets alone will be more than enough for you to overturn the entire Rain World.
The piercing cold eyes of that red-robed lady scanned past the three puppets and nodded gently, seemingly complimenting the quality of the puppets.
Then, she glanced at the female corpse and Yue Lingkong. As soon as she gave Yue Lingkong a sidelong glance, she immediately saw through the wound on her broken primordial spirit. Afterwards, she knew that the reason why Ning Fan stole the golden leaves must be because of this woman.
When she shifted her gaze to the female corpse, she was slightly stunned. Instinctively, she felt that the female corpse was familiar to her. However, she had already wiped out her past memories so she could not remember who the female corpse was.
She only thought that the female corpse was just probably someone who appeared in her past life in the mundane world and thus, she did not think about it anymore. The irrelevant past memories were like a puff of smoke. Why should one bother to recollect it?
If she did not erase her past memories, her Sea of Consciousness would have broken apart when the ten thousand traces of memories and ten thousand traces of consciousness existed at the same time.
Eventually, the lady’s gaze fell upon Ning Fan who greatly startled her.
“Half-Step Void Refinement Realm? You aren’t even an Early Void Refinement Realm cultivator?”
She did not expect at all that an expert who could conceal himself from her spirit sense would actually be a cultivator who was not even at the Void Refinement Realm. At first, she thought that the expert would at least be at the Peak Void Refinement Realm.
“The reason why I came here is for the golden leaves. If you have any conditions, you may speak without reservation.”
Ning Fan knitted his brows. His words sounded like he was pleading a little. Well, he had no other choice. Yue Lingkong needed the golden leaves to save her life and whether or not all the golden leaves would be left intact depended on the will of the lady in red robes.
Hence, if he wants to get the golden leaves to treat Yue Lingkong’s wound, he must first obtain the approval of the red-robed lady.
If the lady is stubborn and she insists on not giving them the golden leaves, Ning Fan would not hesitate in activating his Stele of Sun and Moon to subdue the lady with a Void Fragmentation Realm attack and obtain the golden leaves by force.
Even though using the stored Void Fragmentation Realm attack from the Stele of Sun and Moon in this scenario was a little wasteful and this red-robed lady who shared a great resemblance with Ning Honghong aroused Ning Fan’s interest in finding out her background, he could not back off as it was related to Yue Lingkong’s life. To treat Yue Lingkong and save her life from danger, he must obtain the golden leaves.
At most, Ning Fan would hold back some of the power of the stele to spare this lady and capture her for the meantime so that he could slowly investigate her relationship with Ning Honghong in the future.
Yue Lingkong bit her lips harshly and pulled Ning Fan to walk towards the exit without hesitation. She felt really upset. She disliked seeing Ning Fan beg others for help. As far as she knew, Ning Fan rarely lowered himself to beg people.
The first time he sought someone’s help was for the Star Tempering Purple Zoysia. Because of that zoysia, he begged for the medicine from the old bear’s father-in-law, Man Xiong.
Today, it was Ning Fan’s second time begging others. This time, it was to save her.
She was irritated, very irritated.
How could Little Cucumber beg others?!
He’s a man with pride, a man who is eager to stand out… Letting him beg others is much more agonizing than slashing him with a sword!
“You don’t have to worry.”
Ning Fan stopped his footsteps and gently pushed Yue Lingkong to his back. His icy eyes turned towards the lady in red robes.
He was a man of principle. However, there were some things which were more important than principles.
Besides, he was not just begging her. His request was also laced with a threat.
“My name is Zhou Ming. She is Yue’er. Both of us are two of the eight venerated beings of the internal sea. We originally have the right to obtain the golden leaves. Unfortunately, Thunder Bamboo Island was forced to close down. Since we were left with no other options, we resorted to this method of stealing the golden leaves… It may be an unwise move, but we are very determined to do so. If you stand in my way, you will regret it! No matter what, I must get the golden leaves!”
Ning Fan was already prepared to act at any moment.
Although the lady in red robes seemed to still have some plans in store for him, if the situation really escalates to a point where both of them would have to fight each other, Ning Fan was not afraid.
“*Snort* How dare you threaten me?” A frown formed between the lady’s brows. A corner of her mouth curved upward and formed into a cold sneer.
She had never been threatened by anyone. Ning Fan, however, had done so.
It was extremely ridiculous to her…
According to her what she usually does, she would finish off the person who threatened her with a ray of lightning.
When she faced Ning Fan, however, she felt soft-hearted from the marrow of her bones. She did not understand why.
Even though she had erased her past memories, she had the feeling of having met Ning Fan before. In a way, this red-robed lady was Ning Honghong.
As for Ning Honghong, she had a very intimate relationship with Ning Fan.
Unfortunately, the lady in red robes could not remember Ning Fan at all and she was too lazy to do so as well.
Faced with Ning Fan’s threat, the lady rolled her eyes and ignored his words in the end.
“The internal sea already has eight venerated beings in the internal sea…? Time sure flies…”
“Fine. Since both of you are part of the venerated beings of the internal sea, you guys can be considered as our own people. I can forgive your sin of stealing the leaves. However, there is one condition! If you promise to fulfill this condition for me, all the golden leaves in this place will belong to you. You can take them to save your beauty. I will even grant you some dark golden bamboo leaves which are much more precious than these.”
“Condition? What condition?” Ning Fan’s eyes became less icy. If he could obtain the golden leaves by fulfilling a condition, it could not be better than that.
He noticed that this lady’s identity was rather unusual. Perhaps this lady had some kind of relationship with Ning Honghong. Thus, Ning Fan was not going to kill her.
On the other hand, if Ning Fan hurts and captures her, he would certainly face a relentless pursuit from the Zhou Clan.
It has been rumored that Thunder Sovereign Bu Zhou isn’t dead yet. If I kill this lady and provoke that old monster, he will certainly pursue me until I die. The losses I will suffer are not worth the gains.
Thunder Sovereign Bu Zhou… That’s someone whom even the Rain Sovereign fears…
That’s someone who could fight the three sovereigns of the Sword World all on his own!
“Rest assured. I just want you to help me pluck some leaves and that’s it. Due to some reasons, I need some dark golden bamboo leaves. These leaves are much more precious than the golden leaves. They are hard to obtain. Furthermore, in my current condition, it’s especially unsuitable for me to put myself at risk to pluck the bamboo leaves…”
“You can ask the cultivators of the Zhou Clan to help you get the leaves, can’t you? Why would you choose me to help you…?” Ning Fan’s eyes were filled with confusion.
“That small chiliocosm is a little unique… If one does not have a strong concealment technique, they will not even be able to enter the realm. Even if one has a Void Refinement Realm cultivation base, they might die right away… To be honest, your presence here has solved my problem. If you can help me, not only will I forgive your crime of stealing the leaves, but I will also owe you a favor. In order to repay your kindness, the entire Zhou Clan will become your backer in the Endless Sea with a single command from me. You should understand the meaning behind it.”
“A favor? Becoming my backer? Who are you exactly? How are you able to make the Zhou Clan which has such a deep background obey your command?”
Ning Fan nodded his head gently. This lady was indeed a bigshot in the Zhou Clan.
Having the authority to command the Zhou Clan to protect a junior. This lady was probably someone close to the Thunder Sovereign Bu Zhou.
If Ning Fan has the support of the Zhou Clan, he would not encounter any difficulties in the Endless Sea and it would be much certain that no one would dare to offend him.
At the same time, an even more bolder idea rose in his mind.
If he can gain a favorable impression from Thunder Sovereign Bu Zhou through this lady, like the saying which goes, “follow the vine to get the melon”, he would be able to request the thunder sovereign to confront Sovereign Moksha!
Yun Tianjue could defeat the sword sovereign with a single move. His strength was nearly on par with Sovereign Moksha.
The Thunder Sovereign, however, could combat against the three sovereigns of the Sword World on his own without being defeated. This kind of achievement was much more impressive than Yun Tianjue’s. In other words, the strength of the Thunder Sovereign was probably equivalent to at least three Sovereign Mokshas combined!
If Ning Fan could get the thunder sovereign’s help, he would have greater confidence in eliminating Sovereign Moksha.
For the battle at the Ancient Heavenly Court, Ning Fan would need allies at the Void Fragmentation Realm. He would be willing to give it a try on anyone whom he could possibly recruit.
Even though his idea was great, it was just a casual thought.
Not to mention that the thunder sovereign’s state was strange and he was unable to leave the thunder tomb, even if he could move freely, why would he have to help Ning Fan who was just a junior?
There was no such thing as a free lunch in the world. In order to get the thunder sovereign’s help, getting a favorable impression from the Zhou Clan was far from enough.
This lady requested Ning Fan to pluck the dark golden bamboo leaves. It might not sound difficult but it must entail countless dangers. Ning Fan knew that very well.
However, if it was for the sake of Yue Lingkong, he would be willing to brace himself for danger.
“I promise to help you pluck the bamboo leaves. However, there are some things I want you to enlighten me first. For example, the difficulties in plucking the dark golden bamboo leaves, the possible dangers which I might face or your identity!”
“What does my identity have to do with you?” The lady in red robes sounded cold.
“…” Ning Fan frowned. He just wanted to know her relationship with Ning Honghong and that was it.
“If you insist on knowing, there’s no harm in telling you either. I am the daughter of Thunder Sovereign Bu Zhou, Hong Yi! Are you satisfied now?”
“The daughter of Thunder Sovereign Bu Zhou! May I be so bold to ask Miss Hong Yi whether you know a woman called Ning Honghong?!” Ning Fan cupped his fists and asked.
“I don’t.” The lady’s tone was cold as usual. Since her past memories had been completely erased, she certainly could not remember that she was once called Ning Honghong.
However, so what if she remembers?
Ning Honghong was just one of her ten thousand traces of her separated primordial spirit, a tuft of thunder grass which took the form of a ghost.
Would Hong Yi have a connection or involvement with Ning Fan because of a tiny part of her primordial spirit?
No, she would not.
Her identity was bound to not have any connection with any men.
Ning Honghong was just a past full of blood feuds.
Now, her name is Hong Yi.
Translated by Tommy, edited by Roel
