Grasping Evil

Chapter 470 - Ancient Devil Cultivation Realm

Chapter 470: Chapter 470: Ancient Devil Cultivation Realm

Translator: GE_Team

Traces of a ferocious battle still lingered around the dilapidated area inside the heavenly dwelling. By using his Wind Mist Finger, Ning Fan got rid of them all.

Even if someone came here to investigate in the future, no one would be able to find out that Ning Fan was the one who killed the Fourth Elder.

Gu Shiniang looked at the area where the Fourth Elder had shed his blood for quite some time without speaking a single word. She seemed to be reminiscing and feeling sad at the same time.

She was reminiscing the times when she was still living with her loved ones.

She felt sad about all of those who had once protected her but had perished in doing so..

All of a sudden, she fell to her knees with both hands clasped together. Her mouth was muttering some unknown ancient devil mantra. She looked like she was bidding farewell to her deceased relatives, telling them that justice had finally been served.

Ning Fan stood aside without disturbing Gu Shiniang. When she had finished her ritual, he walked up to her and helped her up.

“From today onwards, you will follow me.”

“Alright.”

Gu Shiniang stared at Ning Fan directly in the eye. She still found it a little hard to believe. The young man standing in front of her eyes looked just like a weak scholar but actually possessed a terrifying strength that was able to kill the Fourth Elder.

Since he had accomplished what she had asked him to do, she would now belong to him starting from today.

She made an oath to pledge her loyalty to Ning Fan and tell him all she knew about a devil concubine’s divine abilities.

According to what she told him, Ning Fan found out that she was similar to Fen Chi as she also knew a way to awaken one’s devil mark.

After devouring the slate of the Six-Winged Clan, Ning Fan’s devil mark evolved into a pattern of six-wings. Then, Fen Chi helped him awaken his true six wings.

After consuming the slate of the Giant Devil Clan, his devil mark evolved into the symbol of a devil giant. Similarly, he could also get Feng Xueyan to help him awaken the divine ability of that devil giant.

If he devours the devil slate of the Ghost Eye Clan, he could already tell that his devil mark would probably improve by another quarter and evolve into the symbol of a ghost eye.

Later, Ning Fan temporarily kept Gu Shiniang into his Cauldron Ring. She still could not be revealed in front of others. Otherwise, the fact that he abducted the devil concubine of the Ghost Eye Clan would be exposed.

At this moment, You Guihou was having a discussion about the matter of exchanging the slate with the elders of his clan whereas King Lan Ling was resting somewhere in the clan.

If the devil concubine were to be abducted and the slate stolen, who would be the first person they would think of?

If King Lan Ling’s dark golden pagoda were to also be stolen, would the misunderstanding between the Ghost Eye Clan and him still be reconcilable?

A smirk formed on Ning Fan’s lips. For him, there was another reason to kill the Fourth Elder.

He patted his storage pouch and took out the Fourth Elder’s primordial spirit sealed within his spiritual puppet. After contemplating for a brief moment, he searched his soul and memories which gave him tons of information about the Ghost Eye Clan.

Then, he swallowed the primordial spirit into his abdomen. Using the effect of his Heaven Deceiving Cloak, he concealed his own qi and only released the qi of the Fourth Elder’s primordial spirit.

As he activated his devil cultivation method, his body was seething with massive devil qi.

Right after that, he took out a High Grade Fifth Revolution Pill, Face Changing Pill. His appearance changed as quickly as he consumed the pill. He now actually looked exactly the same as the Fourth Elder.

The effect of the pill would last for two hours. Within this period of time, no one would be able to tell that this Fourth Elder was a fake except for genuine Void Fragmentation Realm old monsters.

Even the qi which Ning Fan was releasing was exactly the same as the Fourth Elder’s. The current Ning Fan had actually turned himself into the Fourth Elder.

Ning Fan’s eyes glinted faintly. Since the dark golden pagoda was still with King Lan Ling, he would hoodwink him into giving him the pagoda using the identity of the Fourth Elder...

That’s when the Ghost Eye Clan would realize that they had lost their devil concubine, devil statue slate and one of their strong elders whereas King Lan Ling would have no pagoda to give to them.

Both parties would then suspect each other to be the one responsible for their respective losses. Naturally, it would develop into a violent confrontation between both sides.

“There will be a good show in the Ghost Eye Clan today.”

...

The Devil Prison Palace of Guan Tian City.

Inside the Devil Prison Palace, King Lan Ling was sitting alone in a meditative posture within a hall, regulating his breathing. He was waiting for You Guihou to give him a definite answer.

Layers upon layers of grand formations had been activated outside the palace. Countless experts of the Ghost Eye Clan were also guarding this place with caution, worrying that King Lan Ling might leave the Devil Prison Palace and cause a massacre in the Ghost Eye Clan.

While You Guihou was having a meeting with the elders of the clan, they dispatched nearly all of their clan’s forces to watch over King Lan Ling.

King Lan Ling’s name was just too scary. Even if he came to the Ghost Eye Clan with only his second primordial spirit, the clan did not dare to disregard him at all.

While King Lan Ling was quietly regulating his breathing inside the palace, his eyelids were constantly twitching. He kept having the feeling that something bad might happen today. It made him slightly uneasy.

As a cultivator’s cultivation level improves, their godly instincts would be enhanced as well. Even if they aren’t skilled in divination, they could usually sense some heavenly secrets and avoid disasters.

King Lan Ling gently furrowed his brows. Could this feeling of uneasiness be a sign telling him that You Guihou would refuse to trade the slate with him?

“Humph! I’ve already shown a fair amount of sincerity by proposing to exchange my dark golden pagoda for their devil statue slate willingly. If they still don’t agree to this deal, they would be far too ignorant! When my true body fully recovers from its injuries, I will surely teach them a lesson!”

King Lan Ling did not lower his voice when he spoke those words. Each of the old monsters of the Ghost Eye Clan outside Devil Prison Palace could hear King Lan Ling’s arrogant tone.

All of them were dissatisfied with how King Lan Ling was belittling their clan. However, no one dared to talk back at him as they were only Nascent Soul Realm and Divine Transformation Realm cultivators.

“Greetings to Fourth Elder!”

Several groups of devil cultivators suddenly made a formal and respectful greeting at the same time to someone outside the palace.

The Fourth Elder whom Ning Fan had impersonated had arrived at the palace in an ostentatious manner. He clasped his hands behind his back and wore a haughty expression as if he was a person of great significance.

Mimicking the Fourth Elder’s demeanor and tone, Ning Fan nodded and arrogantly said to the groups of experts there.

“I want to see King Lan Ling. Open up the grand formation!”

“This...this is!”

Even though the experts who were guarding the palace were ordered to not let anyone enter the Devil Prison Palace as they please, the Fourth Elder was one of the Ghost Eye Clan’s Void Refinement Realm experts. His status was high and aloof. Thus, he was permitted to enter the palace.

Immediately, an expert who made an ingratiating smile opened the grand formation for Ning Fan to enter.

Ning Fan kept his proud expression and walked into the Devil Prison Palace without even looking at that expert.

The groups of experts seemed to have gotten used to the Fourth Elder’s unfriendliness which he always showed to others. Hence, they were not bold enough to harbor any dissatisfaction against his behavior.

Inside the palace, King Lan Ling gently opened his eyes and stared at Ning Fan. Then, he opened his mouth and said calmly.

“I wonder what made the Fourth Elder of the Ghost Eye Clan come here.”

“By the Old Ancestor’s order, I’ve come to examine if your dark golden pagoda has any flaws or defects. After the Old Ancestor discussed the matter with the others, many of them found it hard to believe that the proud and mighty King Lan Ling will actually use an excellent and undamaged treasure to exchange for the slate instead of directly seizing it from us. We have to make sure whether the pagoda is truly in good condition!”

King Lan Ling’s expression turned gloomy and his eyes flashed with killing intent. He could clearly hear the hint of sarcasm from Ning Fan’s voice.

The mighty King Lan Ling had always seized whatever he wanted through force. Since when would he go through a fair and square trade?

If it wasn’t for King Lan Ling’s severely injured true body brought by his failed attempt to achieve the Void Fragmentation Realm and his second primordial spirit which had suffered a great loss in the Giant Devil Clan, why would he fear a mere Ghost Eye Clan? Why would he even use a supreme treasure like his dark golden pagoda to exchange for the devil statue slate?

King Lan Ling was clearly aware that he had already lowered his ego and tried to get the slate through a fair exchange. He already gave the Ghost Eye Clan a great deal of respect.

However, the Ghost Eye Clan still dared to suspect him of using a broken magic treasure to exchange for the slate. What they did was way beyond his expectations.

Very well. The Ghost Eye Clan had once again stirred up his dissatisfaction.

King Lan Ling repressed his discontentment and coldly uttered.

“I wonder what the Fourth Elder wants to do in order to ascertain the quality of the pagoda?”

“Just one look at the magic treasure and it’ll be enough!”

“Very well. Since the Fourth Elder is executing an order from You Guihou, it’s not a big deal to let you have a look at it!”

King Lan Ling did not intend to create trouble. All he wished right now was to gather the four pieces of devil slates as soon as possible. Because of that, he did not have any doubts on the identity of the Fourth Elder standing in front of him.

The Fourth Elder whom Ning Fan impersonated did not have any flaws in terms of appearance. Moreover, his qi was directly extracted from the primordial spirit of the Fourth Elder, making his impersonation even more authentic.

The most suspicious detail on Ning Fan that one might argue was his cultivation level that has yet to truly achieve the Void Refinement Realm. However, under the concealment of his Heaven Deceiving Cloak, his qi appeared to be unstable and illusory, making it difficult to truly determine. This fits the characteristics of the Fourth Elder’s cultivation base quite a bit.

Well, the Fourth Elder was originally an expert who was on the verge of attaining the Void Inquiry Stage. It was completely normal for his qi to be unstable.

King Lan Ling patted his storage pouch and fished out the dark golden pagoda. After placing it on the table beside him, he closed his eyes disdainfully and continued to meditate. His actions implied that Ning Fan could take away this pagoda as he wished to assess whether it was in good condition.

Ning Fan reached for the magic treasure. Just as his hand came into contact with it, the two traces of Blood of Time within his body became burning hot all of a sudden.

He was inwardly surprised. As the Blood of Time inside of him reacted to him touching the pagoda, he realized that the flow of time within that magic treasure actually became more slower than it was.

Initially, the dark golden pagoda could slow down the flow of time by up to 16 times. At this moment, however, the pagoda could slow down the flow of time by at least 32 times and still showed signs of slowing down some more.

It turns out that if one uses this dark golden pagoda for a cultivating session while possessing the Blood of Time, the effect on the flow of time was in fact more than just 16 times!

Ning Fan wanted to study this magic treasure carefully right then and there but he also understood that it was not the right time.

“Fourth Elder, did you find any sign of defects or damages on my pagoda?” King Lan Ling opened his eyes and spoke calmly.

“From what I see here, it really has no defects. But...”

Imitating the Fourth Elder’s expression, Ning Fan’s face suddenly became extremely domineering.

“But this pagoda will belong to my Ghost Eye Clan from now on. What Old Ancestor You Gui meant was this – there’s no way you can have the devil slate... Little Lan Ling, you can now get your butt out of my clan!”

Ning Fan activated his Heaven Deceiving Cloak and turned completely invisible along with the dark golden pagoda. In an instant, both he and the magic treasure were nowhere to be found.

King Lan Ling was stunned at first as he could not grasp what had happened and only came to his senses a few seconds later.

He stood up swiftly, seething with rage.

How dare the lowly fourth elder of the Ghost Eye Clan humiliate him like that?!

How dare the Ghost Eye Clan be so greedy as to take his dark golden pagoda without giving him anything?!

He had already swallowed his pride and offered his dark golden pagoda in exchange for the devil slate. What he had done already showed enough respect to the Ghost Eye Clan.

On the contrary, the Ghost Eye Clan not only refused to give him the slate but also used his initial offer to trick him into giving them the pagoda. They had really gone too far this time!

“Give me back the pagoda!”

*Bang*

King Lan Ling’s vigorous aura force swept over the entire Devil Prison Palace, carrying an unquenchable killing intent.

The whole building as well as the several layers of formation light outside were all reduced to ashes under the violent pressure of his aura force.

Each and every one of the clan members standing guard outside the palace were also instantly killed by that incredible pressure before they could even understand what was going on!

All of a sudden, King Lan Ling’s killing intent enveloped the entire Guan Tian City but he still could not discover the Fourth Elder’s whereabouts.

Then, a trace of the Fourth Elder’s qi suddenly appeared on the sea current above the city.

King Lan Ling’s eyes flashed like lightning and he pointed a finger at its direction. Countless orchids formed into a ten thousand zhang* (3.33m per zhang) long sword light which cut the sea domain above the Ghost Eye Clan into two parts.

The Fourth Elder’s primordial spirit that was still unconscious was shredded to pieces by King Lan Ling’s attack. A mist of blood spread across the area!

At this very moment, the Fourth Elder’s life plate in the ancestral temple of the Ghost Eye Clan cracked!

All the experts including You Guihou spread out their spirit senses and detected that the Fourth Elder was turned into a mist of blood. As for the massive baleful qi from killing the Fourth Elder, it coiled around King Lan Ling’s body!

“King Lan Ling, why did you murder the fourth elder of my clan?!”

You Guihou burst into anger, sternly questioning him about the murder. He soared into the sky with nine other Void Refinement Realm experts of his clan, dashing towards King Lan Ling.

You Guihou was not stupid. He found it suspicious that the Fourth Elder, someone who should be in his secluded meditation to break through to the Void Inquiry Stage, would suddenly appear outside his private training grounds and get himself killed by King Lan Ling.

He did not take any action against King Lan Ling immediately. Instead, he planned on questioning him about his reasons behind the murder.

At this instant, however, he got a message-transmitting flying sword from the devil guards which reported that the devil concubine of the clan and the devil statue slate had both gone missing.

You Guihou gnashed his teeth in anger. All of a sudden, he felt so angry that he swallowed back the words he was about to say to King Lan Ling.

Does he still need to question him? Isn’t it obvious enough?

From You Guihou’s perspective, King Lan Ling might have claimed that he will use his dark golden pagoda to exchange for the slate, but he secretly abducted the devil concubine and stole the slate while the Ghost Eye Clan put down their guard.

He has gone too far in bullying us!

“Lan Ling, you little brat! You killed the fourth elder of my clan, kidnapped my devil concubine and even stole my devil slate. I hereby declare that my entire clan will fight you until death from this second onwards!”

As soon as You Guihou’s voice fell, he ordered his men right away to activate the clan’s defensive grand formation and sent out every expert to surround and exterminate King Lan Ling.

King Lan Ling, on the other hand, had also blown his top. After losing his dark golden pagoda due to the Fourth Elder’s deception, he suspected that what the Fourth Elder did might just be out of his own personal decision without actual authorization from You Guihou.

Even though he had already killed him, he did not manage to get his magic treasure back. Thus, he initially wanted to question the Ghost Eye Clan about it.

However, he did not expect that the Ghost Eye Clan would accuse him first, blaming him for kidnapping the devil concubine and stealing the devil slate before he could even question them about the Fourth Elder’s actions which might actually be a part of their plot.

Feeling extremely angry, King Lan Ling let out a cacophony of laughter. From what he had seen, the reason why the Ghost Eye Clan vilified him was nothing more than to get his pagoda for free.

“You Guihou, I’ve already shown you a fair amount of respect. You are the one who failed to appreciate my kindness. You chose to make me your enemy!”

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

A gruesome fight between the two parties started. Reconciliation was now impossible between them.

Just as the two parties fought, Ning Fan was in a great mood as if he was watching an excellent show and emptied all of the spiritual herbs and immortal jade in the storehouses of the Ghost Eye Clan while invisible.

Needless to say, he purposely threw the Fourth Elder’s primordial spirit earlier to let King Lan Ling kill him. King Lan Ling had completely no idea that the Fourth Elder whom he had killed was not the person who offended him at all.

After a short while, Ning Fan secretly left. No one knew that he was the culprit behind this battle.

The great battle lasted for four hours. King Lan Ling’s second primordial spirit was nearly killed during the fight but he still managed to flee. One has to admit that King Lan Ling was really strong and tough as he still managed to survive after being surrounded by so many experts...

As for the Ghost Eye Clan, 31 of their Divine Transformation Realm cultivators and 2 Void Glimpse Stage experts were killed while 3 Void Inquiry Stage experts were severely wounded. The death toll for the Gold Core Realm and Nascent Soul Realm members exceeded one million.

Shocking news of this large-scale battle immediately spread, surprising the whole Rain World.

Meanwhile, Ning Fan was clearly very satisfied since he had watched a good show and even looted the Ghost Eye Clan.

The only thing he was regretful of was that King Lan Ling did not die in the Ghost Eye Clan.

That was really a waste...

He was already on his way towards the direction of the Mist Horn Clan while staying invisible throughout the journey.

Only after having traveled several hundred million li* (500m per li) away from the Ghost Eye Clan did he reveal himself. The effects of the Face Changing Pill had already faded a long time ago. He then entered into the Profound Yin World.

From his trip to the Ghost Eye Clan, he had not only obtained two billion immortal jades and countless spiritual herbs but also the dark golden pagoda, the devil scripture and the devil qi inside the slate.

Ning Fan spent three days assimilating the third devil qi in the Profound Yin World. Similar to what he had expected, the devil mark on his back evolved once again. This time, the symbol of a ghost eye appeared.

Now, he had completed three-fourths of the advancement in his devil mark!

After taking in the third devil qi, the strength of his physical body drastically improved again, making him nearly as strong as an expert with the Second Level of the Golden Body Realm!

Ning Fan believed that once he obtains the fourth devil qi and enters into seclusion, his devil mark would advance to Marshal Rank completely. When that time comes, he would not only be able to attain the Golden Body Refining Realm but also achieve the Second Level of the Golden Body Realm directly!

Ning Fan’s current physical strength was strong enough to instantly kill any Void Glimpse Stage cultivator.

Aside from the devil qi, the dark golden pagoda was also a great harvest from this trip.

When Ning Fan got out of the Profound Yin World, he activated his Yuan Yao Jade and went into the Yuan Yao World.

This dark golden pagoda was an imitation of the Lost World Palace. The Lost World Palace in Penglai Immortal Island was a silver-grade tower as it only had seven floors. Golden-grade towers were buildings with more than seven floors.

Inside the Yuan Yao World, Ning Fan chose a large and empty plot of land to place the dark golden pagoda in order to avoid disturbing Mu Weiliang from her slumber.

With a flick of his finger, that golden tower grew in the air, forming into a one hundred thousand zhang* (3.33m per zhang) tall gigantic tower and fell down at the foot of a mountain.

Ning Fan went inside the tower and discovered that the flow of time on the first floor was 2 times slower than normal. And every succeeding floor had twice the effect of the previous floor.

This dark golden pagoda did not have any flaws. However, the floors beyond the fourth floor were extremely strange. If ordinary people entered those floors, there was no distortion of time.

Ning Fan possessed two traces of the Blood of Time. When he entered the fifth floor, he felt that the flow of time was slowed down by 32 times. To his surprise, the time distortion on this floor only worked on him.

When he ascended to the sixth floor, the flow of time slowed down by 64 times and it was also only effective to individuals who possessed the Blood of Time.

As he went up to the seventh floor, the time slowed down by 128 times which was the same as the highest floor of the Lost World Palace.

When he tried to go for the eighth floor, he realized that he was not able to do so at all.

After making half a step into the eighth floor, he felt his primordial spirit nearly collapse!

With his current cultivation base, there was no way he could ascend the eighth floor. If he forces himself to do so, he would only end up dying!

In that case, Ning Fan was not able to go up there and check whether a ninth floor existed in this tower and whether there were time crystals hidden on that floor which could greatly enhance his cultivation base.

Ning Fan had destroyed the time distortion on the seventh floor of the Lost World Palace. Today, however, he had obtained a dark golden tower that was much better than the Lost World Palace. That being so, he no longer needed to visit Penglai Immortal Island as he could go into this tower for cultivation purposes in the future.

This dark golden tower had the time distortion effect while the Profound Yin World accelerated one’s magic power. One could continue to benefit from the acceleration effect on their magic power even until the Immortal Realm. The time distortion effect, on the other hand, was extremely dangerous to immortals as it had a lot of drawbacks.

The minor heavenly tribulation and major heavenly tribulation that an immortal would face were determined based on their age.

One’s bone age would stay the same by cultivating in the Profound Yin World but if one does the same activity in the Lost World Tower, their ages would increase by the same amount of years they spend inside the tower.

To immortals, their age would increase by 12800 years if they spend one hundred years on the seventh floor of the Lost World Tower. Once they leave the tower, no one could be sure of how many heavenly tribulations they would need to deal with...

That’s why, in the Four Heavens Immortal World, there was a saying that time was meaningless to immortals.

If Ning Fan could eliminate the time restriction of staying in the Profound Yin World one day, it would certainly be his primary choice for his secluded meditation.

For now, it was best for him to do some activities that only required a short period of time to complete in the Profound Yin World and those that would take a lot of time in the Yuan Yao World.

Ning Fan was very satisfied with the dark golden pagoda and kept it within his Yuan Yao World for the meantime.

Finally, his eyes fell upon the last item he gained from his trip.

He made a copy of the devil scripture of the third devil slate on a jade slip.

This latest piece of devil slate had a written record of the unique categories of the cultivation levels that only the ancient devil race had.

In ancient times, devil cultivators did not learn magic techniques and only focused on the cultivation of their blood. Their cultivation system was entirely different from all of the current ones.

In present times, the First Step of Cultivation was divided into seven realms which includes the Vein Opening Realm, Harmonious Spirit Realm, Gold Core Realm, Nascent Soul Realm, Divine Transformation Realm, Void Refinement Realm and Void Fragmentation Realm.

For ancient devil cultivators, the First Step was divided into five realms which were the Nine Levels of Blood Refinement Realm, Blood Charm Realm, Jade Blood Realm, Reckless Devil Realm and Revered Devil Realm.

As a matter of fact, the current era’s body refining realms was inspired and modified from the cultivation realms of the ancient devil race.

The Nine Stages of Silver Light Body Refining Realm were similar to the Nine Levels of Blood Refinement Realm. The first three levels correspond to the Vein Opening Realm, the next three levels correspond to the Harmonious Spirit Realm and the last three levels correspond to the Gold Core Realm.

The Bone Charm Realm was equivalent to the Silver Bone Body Refining Realm and was the counterpart for the Nascent Soul Realm.

The Jade Blood Realm was the same as the Jade Life Body Refining Realm and it corresponds to the Divine Transformation Realm.

Accordingly, the Reckless Devil Realm was the equivalent of the Golden Body Refining Realm and it matched the Void Refinement Realm whereas the Revered Devil Realm paralleled the Void Fragmentation Realm.

This was the cultivation system of the ancient devil race and no cultivation of magic power was involved.

However, the ancient devil race’s cultivation of blood was similar to the cultivation of magic power of the divine race. To the ancient devil race, the cultivation of blood referred to their devil blood and blood essence.

A powerful cultivator could move stars and alter the moon with a trace of their magic power.

A great ancient devil could crush mountains and rivers with a strand of their essence qi!

The third devil slate Ning Fan obtained only showed the cultivation system of the ancient devil race.

At the end of the devil scripture, it said that when one gathers all four of the devil slates, they could then learn the Ancestral Talisman Blood Refinement Technique which was a genuine blood refinement cultivation method of the ancient devil race!

Ning Fan kept the jade slip and remained silent for a while.

He had never imagined that he would be able to step into the cultivation path of the ancient devil race once he gathers the four slates.

That was a completely different cultivation path from the one he had been practicing up to this point. Through cultivating his devil blood and physical body, it would allow him to realize his Dao and be invincible among the rest beneath the heavens!

The cultivation of blood that the ancient devils practiced was an entirely different concept compared to the body refinement of the cultivators in the present era.

If an ancient were to still exist in this era, they would, without a doubt, be an unrivalled existence among all body cultivators with the same body refining level as them!

“If I gather all four slates, will I be able to step into the path of the ancient devils and become an ancient devil...?”

Ning Fan pondered. If he really could become an ancient devil, he would be able to reign the world with just the strength of his physical body. To him, it was really a great temptation!