Grasping Evil

Chapter 232 (1): Are You Willing?

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

Inwardly, Ning Fan put up a wry smile.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Devil Transformation? Luck?”

Ning Fan’s eyes turned serious.

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

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

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

“Getting worse? What do you mean?”

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

“…”

Ning Fan knitted his brows.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dong Xu’s eyes turned clear.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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