Grasping Evil

Chapter 273 (1): Turbulence of Luo Yun

Chapter 273 (1): Turbulence of Luo Yun

Showing no clemency, his hand smacked the body of the black dragon. The strength he exerted was not strong. However, he initiated the restrictive effect of the Demon Seal at the same time, causing the black dragon to let out a shriek of agony and eventually coughed out a glob of black blood. Within it, there was a dark red crystal the size of his palm.

That crystal was the blood crystal condensed by the black dragon after spending eleven years in refining the blood essence of the dark beasts with much effort.

Ning Fan’s eyes glittered.

“Blood crystal! Rumor has it that only the True Spirits of the Dragon Race could congeal such crystal due to the power of their royal bloodline when they were in their Wild Beast forms… This sinful dragon might not possess the royal bloodline but he was capable of producing the blood crystal. At the end of the day, this dragon was still quite useful…”

“However, this dragon is too tyrannical in nature. He even harbors rebellious intention. It would be good to just use him once. If I allow him to stay by my side for a long period of time, he might bump into some kind of opportunity that could enable him to break through to the Void Refinement Realm in one go. When there is a big gap between our cultivation levels, he will surely break free from my Demon Seal and turn against me…”

“Killing him is a waste whereas keeping him invites troubles… The only method to put things right once and for all is to refine that creature into a corpse puppet!”

His eyes flashed with a hint of cruelty. At the same moment, the black dragon which was immobilized after being bound by the Demon Seal was gripped by the feeling of horror for no reason.

This malefic being must have thought of some dreadful methods to deal with me…

It’s over, it’s over… My words were too aggressive and they have provoked him for real…

“Big…Big Brother… This little brother has already given you the blood crystal of the dark beasts… Erm… So… Could you please let this little brother go back to the golden flame chariot? From now onwards, this little brother will surely devote my heart and soul to pull the chariot for you and never dare to betray you, not even harboring those thoughts anymore…”

“Pull the chariot? The chariot will of course have to be pulled by you. However, it won’t be the ‘living’ you. Instead…it will be the ‘dead’ you!”

When Ning Fan had captured the black dragon, he was already aware that the black dragon would be difficult to truly subdue. At the end of the day, the Demon Seal was just a precarious means.

To him, it would be a waste to kill the black dragon while keeping it by his side would be equivalent to letting cancer grow into one’s body. The best solution was to refine that creature into a puppet. If he is turned into a puppet, Ning Fan would then be able to control the dragon’s movements and actions at his will. Most importantly, the sinful dragon would never have the intention to commit treason…

Since Ning Fan had the Corpse Devil Record which was a devil technique, it was not impossible for him to turn that dragon into a refined corpse. Besides, after the process of refinement, the cultivation level of the dragon would be fused with his body, enhancing his combat power. As a living dragon, he was a failure. Among the members of the same level as him, he was considered feeble and frail because he had lost the overbearing aura of the Dragon Race. But as a corpse puppet, his dragon corpse would be a peerless thing.

However, there were two difficulties in turning the black dragon into a corpse puppet.

Firstly, this dragon was just in the form of a soul. Thus, the first thing that needs to be done was to recover his physical body.

Secondly, the memories within the Sea of Consciousness of the dragon must be erased. But in the past, Ning Fan was not able to peek into the dragon’s memories, let alone wipe out his memories.

However, after attaining the breakthrough to the Divine Transformation in the Sea of Clouds, there was an extra seed within his heart - the seed of samsara. It stored all his understandings towards the power of samsara.

The comprehension he had towards it was very miniscule. In fact, it was not enough to enable him to search the dragon’s memories. However, it’s terrifying properties were sufficient to wipe out his memories!

Samsara! The power of samsara was capable of seizing everyone’s memories. Moreover, it was a power that even the Immortal Sovereign could not fully control.

“You will be…a fine corpse puppet…” The corners of Ning Fan’s lips curled into a smile. However, that smile made the black dragon feel the chills penetrating into his bones.

What? It’s impossible!

This malefic being intends to turn me into a corpse puppet?! How dare he?!

The next moment, an unbearable agony as if his mind was splitting apart hit his Sea of Consciousness, causing him not to doubt Ning Fan’s decision.

If the black dragon behaves obediently, he would have been in a fine condition. But since he was successfully turned himself into a potential threat, it just made Ning Fan more determined to eliminate him.

“I curse you, malefic being, you’re going to die very horribly! You won’t die a natural death!”

“This Elder Brother is the young master of the Black Dragon Race. I am a heaven-defying dragon which nearly awakened the royal bloodline. I refuse to obey you! I refuse!”

“You don’t ever think that you can refine me into a corpse puppet! Because you won’t be able to erase my memories at all, haha!”

The black dragon laughed in a frantic manner. Afterwards, he started to forcibly break the Demon Seal within his Sea of Consciousness, struggling to break free with all his might even if it might cost his life.

“Exactly. Unless you are correct this time…”

The coldness within Ning Fan’s gaze dissipated and the color of his eyes varied radically.

It was as if a seed began to sprout. Sometimes, his eyes were filled by complete blackness whereas sometimes they became pure white and that two extremely contrasting colors abnormally interchanged with each other from time to time.

That bizarre change of colors within Ning Fan’s eyes had caused the black dragon to feel puny and insignificant for the first time.

He was startled and his body began to shiver without his control.

“What…What is that look…”

“No, it can’t be! It’s the power of samsara!”

Before samsara, all living creatures were equally lowly without exceptions.

As Ning Fan placed the tip of his finger on the head of the dragon, a gust of golden purple mist encircled the dragon. In a flash, the creature’s memories vanished like mist and clouds.

All his former glory and rancor were turned to naught by that finger.

“What divine ability is this…” After muttering the final line, the black dragon emitted a painful howl. His memories were wiped out and his Sea of Consciousness was emptied.

Moreover, that Wind Mist Finger had even erased the Demon Seal that was planted earlier.

Ning Fan narrowed his eyes in seriousness.

The Mental Seal and Demon Seal aren’t reliable means after all. Ultimately, the most reliable dependable factor is still my own power.

Other than eliminating enemies, the Wind Mist Finger was capable of erasing one’s memories including the Mental Seal or Demon Seal that was planted within them or even the seals that were imprinted on magical treasures by other cultivators with ease.

If there comes a Void Fragmentation Realm expert who had been planted a Mental Seal by someone else, Ning Fan might also be able to help him or her break free from it and then receive rewards for his deed…

Well, it was just an idea that Ning Fan briefly thought about. He did not know whether such an idea would come true somewhere in the Internal Endless Sea…

Currently, he looked at the dragon soul which was giving him a vacant stare after having his memories erased and muttered, “Next, I’m going to rebuild the dragon’s body…”

He inserted different kinds of heavenly materials and earthly treasures into the dragon soul, forming a flickering dark orb. Gradually, the physical body of a dragon formed.

What made Ning Fan feel strange about it was that at the moment the demon body of the dragon was growing, the demon bloodline which seemed to be dead and inactive within the black dragon simmered.

It was inching forward to the level of the royal bloodline, as if it was trying to evolve.

But that advancement was eventually obstructed by a vague barrier.

A while later, the dragon’s body was fully congealed but its bloodline had yet to achieve the breakthrough. Every time, it would stop right before the point of breaking through to the grade of the royal bloodline, as if there was something lacking.

“What’s missing…”

Ning Fan brought his eyes back to focus. When the purple star within his left eye emerged, he finally understood.

“It lacks…the spirit!”

He might not know what a spirit was to the demons, but he was aware that the Fu Li Race possessed it.

He then injected a trace of his own demon power into the dragon corpse.

As soon as his demon power circulated within the corpse, the demon bloodline began to seethe more vigorously at that very instance.

At the same time, a frail, shimmering black ray surrounded the dragon corpse. If Ning Fan was not wrong, this dragon corpse had already possessed the royal bloodline of the Dragon Race, even though there was only a fine, thin strand of it…

Ning Fan’s eyes flashed with surprise.

My Fu Li demon power actually has the ability of helping the True Spirit Races reawaken their royal bloodlines!

“If it wasn’t because this sinful dragon has nearly awakened his royal bloodline, if it wasn’t because I decided to erase his memories, I would not have discovered such fascinating ability hiding within my Fu Li demon power…”

He immersed himself in his thoughts for a while and then withdrew his previous expression, wearing back the calm look. This time, he landed another slap on the head of the dragon corpse without showing mercy anymore, and completely shattering his Sea of Consciousness.

The Demon Soul disintegrated!

As such, this dragon would only be just a Peak Divine Transformation Realm dragon corpse which was a hair’s breadth away from the Half-Step Void Refinement Realm.

In Ning Fan’s right eye, a dark-colored star emerged. It was the Earth Controlling Star.

It was a devil star. As for the devil cultivation method that Ning Fan practiced, it was the Corpse Devil Record. The Corpse Refinement technique contained within the record was definitely not weak.

The only unfortunate element was that there were only a total of 11 traces of the devil intent and corpse qi accumulated within the right eye. In other words, he only possessed 11 units of devil qi in total.

As the devil star blinked, a cloud of corpse qi enveloped the dragon, and it transformed into a devil flame which began to burn the whole dragon corpse. At the same time, it was fusing his corpse qi and devil intent into the dragon corpse, making it into a true refined corpse.

Three days later, when the process of corpse refinement was only halfway through, it was unable to continue.

The 11 units of devil qi that Ning Fan had could only refine the corpse up to that point. It was because he did not have sufficient devil qi to proceed to the next step in corpse refinement.

As such, he had to temporarily bring the process to a halt. As he lingered his gaze at his semi-finished work, he scanned through the surrounding black dragon pond and his eyes sparkled.

The corpse qi of this place is very concentrated. It’s the perfect place to cultivate the Corpse Devil Record as well as increasing my devil qi.

There isn’t just an ancient dragon corpse lying down here, but also countless Peak Nascent Soul Realm cultivators who lost their lives here for the past thousands of years. Other than that, there are also thousands of dark beasts that were hunted down by the black dragon, leaving a deep and strong unresolved resentment at this place.

“Absorb!”

The Earth Controlling Star within his right eye rotated rapidly, as if it had formed a black vortex, sucking every last trace of the corpse qi found in that area.

The fallen dark beasts and demon cultivators were at least at the Nascent Soul Realm. Besides, since they were dead beneath the abnormal landscape of the Dragon Pond, the yin qi and resentment left by them were intensified.

Thousands of traces of yin qi were absorbed into his eye and eventually turning into not more than a hundred units of devil qi.

They only managed to make up 98 traces of devil qi… Adding together with the previous 11 traces, Ning Fan now only had 109 traces of devil qi, which were equivalent to 109 units devil power.

Devil Qi, 109 units, Mid Nascent Soul Realm…

With Ning Fan’s current perspective, a hundred units of devil power was no longer able to excite him.

There should be tens of thousands of cultivators including Peak Nascent Soul Realm cultivators and even Divine Transformation Realm cultivators buried down here. However, there is only this little amount of devil intent. I’m afraid it would be very difficult to amass ten thousand traces of devil intent and reach the Divine Transformation Realm… Unless there is a burial mound which is as large as the Internal Endless Sea with at least hundreds of millions of cultivators being buried beneath and the yin qi is protected by the landscape of that place… Only then could I attain the Divine Transformation Realm…

Speaking of which, how is it possible that such a place would exist?

…

No. Perhaps, a place like this really does exist!

“The Ancient Heavenly Court!”

Ning Fan’s eyes brightened up. The Ancient Heavenly Court had fallen after being assaulted by someone, leaving only a desolate wasteland. However, no one knew how many True Immortals were buried there and how strong the yin qi and resentment of that place was.

If I am able to enter the Ancient Heavenly Court, not to mention the opportunities that I might bump into, the yin qi of the deceased alone will be enough to allow the cultivation of my Corpse Devil Record to attain a terrifying level…

Clearing off his thoughts, he continued burning the dragon corpse with devil flame using his newfound devil power.

Translated by Tommy, edited by Roel