Grasping Evil

Chapter 414: Lei Shiyi

The Heavenly Lightning Bamboo Tower had one hundred floors. The tower was teeming with undead spirits. Their souls were condensed under the help of the lightning power within. Most of them had low spiritual intelligence.

In the first four floors, there were no Void Refinement Realm undead spirits. Undead spirits of that level would only appear starting from the fifth floor but a majority of them were lightning spirits of the Void Glimpse Stage.

The higher the floor one ascends, the stronger the undead spirits they would face. When one reaches the tenth floor, they would then face lightning spirits of the Void Inquiry Stage!

In other words, Ning Fan would not feel difficulty in the first ten floors. As for the floors beyond, however, it would be difficult and risky for him to move up!

Even though he had already gone through the Void Inquiry Stage, he was still a Half-Step Void Refinement Realm cultivator after all, a cultivator who was still within the Divine Transformation Realm. If he faces a true expert of the Void Inquiry Stage, he would have no chance of winning at all!

He placed one of his palms on the door of the Black Lightning Tower. Then, lightning rays flickered and his body turned ethereal. He had already gone inside the tower.

The place where he was transported to was the first floor of the Black Lightning Tower. It was a black desert.

This desert was vast and boundless. Thick, hazy lightning mist permeated the air. The lightning spiritual qi in this place was also extremely dense. It was the perfect place for one to cultivate lightning techniques.

Unfortunately, the reason why Ning Fan came here was not for secluded cultivation. Since he was running out of time, it was impossible for him to stay here for too long.

On his left, he could vaguely sense fluctuations of aura forces within the foggy lightning mist. There seemed to be a fight going on.

Ning Fan spread his spirit sense. Sixty thousand li* (500m per li) west, there were more than ten undead spirits fighting against each other.

That group of undead spirits generally had human shapes. However, they had one eye and sharp fangs. Their bodies were completely naked and their skin was covered with scales. They did not seem to have any sexual characteristics. Thus, their genders could not be distinguished.

According to the information he got from Hong Yi, the undead spirits in this place could only possess spiritual intelligence and manifest both eyes and the basic facial features of a human after they break through to the Divine Transformation Realm.

Each of the undead spirits in the group had at least a Nascent Soul Realm cultivation base. The strongest one among them was actually at the Peak Nascent Soul Realm.

However, so long as they had yet to attain the Divine Transformation Realm, they would have no spiritual intelligence no matter what. Their behavior would be no different than wild animals.

This group of undead spirits were fighting among themselves in order to compete for the remains of a Divine Transformation Realm undead spirit.

The undead spirits achieved their advancements through devouring the remains of their fellow undead spirits.

Whoever could devour the remains of that Divine Transformation Realm undead spirit would have a sharp boost in its cultivation base!

“A bunch of undead spirits competing for a corpse, huh...?”

Ning Fan’s eyes flashed with a cold light. He took a step forward and travelled across sixty thousand li* (500m per li).

When the travelling smoke dispersed, he appeared in the middle of the undead spirits out of thin air. He stomped on the corpse with one of his feet while his eyes remained cold and indifferent.

Seeing Ning Fan who emerged out of nowhere, the group of undead spirits only thought that he had come to compete for the corpse as well. The single eye on all of their faces were filled with rage.

They all turned aggressive all of a sudden. They opened their bloody mouths and spit out powerful lightning rays. Their roars were deafening and frightening.

*Roar*

Each of the lightning rays was strong enough to instantly kill a common Nascent Soul Realm cultivator. However, when all the lightning rays struck Ning Fan’s body, they bizarrely disappeared without a trace.

The current Ning Fan had the Tai Su Lightning Star and he had also condensed the lightning diagram. Even if he faces the lightning attacks from a cultivator of the Void Glimpse Stage, he could also devour them with his new technique. How would he be afraid of lowly Nascent Soul Realm lightning attacks?

He lifted one of his fingers and pointed at them. An arc of blood-red lightning shot out from his finger. In the next moment, that single arc multiplied and turned into ten thousand arcs. Ten thousand arcs of blood-red lightning bombarded the group of undead spirits.

How could it be possible for the group of undead spirits to anticipate such a large-scale and overwhelming attack? Upon seeing the innumerable lightning strikes, each of them hurriedly fled in fear.

However, would mere Nascent Soul Realm creatures be able to escape from Ning Fan’s hands? The answer was obviously no.

When the lightning rays struck, the group of undead spirits were instantly eradicated, leaving only the Peak Nascent Soul Realm undead spirit that was already grievously wounded. Ning Fan deliberately chose not to kill it.

That Peak Nascent Soul Realm undead spirit trembled in fear. There was only horror and shock in its single eye. Since it was not far away from attaining the Divine Transformation Realm, it had already developed spiritual intelligence.

It had survived on the first floor for countless years. Even so, it had never met an undead spirit which had such a terrifying strength like Ning Fan.

Even the lightning lord of the first floor who had Half-Step Void Refinement Realm strength did not have such a frightening aura like Ning Fan’s!

Without giving it a chance to beg for its life, Ning Fan went straight for its head and performed Soul Memory Searching Technique cold-heartedly.

What he got from Hong Yi was just one-sided information after all.

To obtain accurate information about this place, searching the soul and memories of the creatures here was undeniably the fastest method.

After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Ning Fan put down the Peak Nascent Soul Realm undead spirit which had already been turned into a mindless creature. He then pointed a finger at it to eliminate its existence.

From the remaining and broken memories of that undead spirit, other than the complete map of the first floor, he had also obtained quite a lot of information about this tower.

The dark golden bamboo leaves in each of the one hundred floors of this tower was being guarded by a lightning lord. A lightning lord was the strongest undead spirit in each of the floors!

Not only could the undead spirits devour magical items, but they could also cultivate and get stronger with the spiritual qi given off by the bamboo leaves.

It was because of this that the bamboo leaves in each of the floors was being occupied by the lightning lord of that respective floor.

If one wishes to get the bamboo leaves, they would have to kill the lightning lord guarding them.

Ning Fan’s gaze fell on the remains of the Divine Transformation Realm undead spirit. He pointed a finger at it to destroy it and obtained a trace of primordial lightning which was then absorbed by his lightning armor.

Only Divine Transformation Realm undead spirits had primordial spirits which could produce the primordial lightning.

A trace of primordial lightning was just enough to improve his lightning armor by a strand which was currently at the second level of the silver grade.

If he wanted his lightning armor to advance to the third level of the silver grade, he would probably need to slaughter quite a huge number of Divine Transformation Realm undead spirits.

Of course, if he kills an Void Refinement Realm undead spirit and absorbs their primordial lightning, his lightning armor would improve much faster. Presumably, his lightning armor might attain the third level of the silver grade by just devouring a trace of Void Refinement Realm primordial lightning.

Other than primordial lightning, there was actually still another unexpected gain which was beyond Ning Fan’s expectations.

Killing undead spirits would not produce Dao Fruits or demon cores. However, after what happened earlier, a silver-colored lightning jade with the size of a fingernail condensed in front of him.

By just taking a look at it, he was certain that this silver jade contained a significant amount of lightning power. However, it was useless to him as only the undead spirits in this place can devour it.

Even though it was not of any use to him, he chose to keep it for the moment.

“In the first floor of this Black Lightning Tower, the lightning lord is a Half-Step Void Refinement Realm creature. I can eliminate it with just a lift of a palm. In other words, I can proceed unhindered on the first four floors!”

After locking on to a direction, Ning Fan took a step and dashed straight towards it.

There was no value in killing the Nascent Soul Realm undead spirits. Thus, he did not stop to kill them to avoid wasting time.

However, as long as he meets Divine Transformation Realm undead spirits on his way, he would kill every last one of them and devour their primordial lightning without mercy.

When he arrived at the end of the eastern domain on the first floor, he had already killed twenty-four Divine Transformation Realm undead spirits which only took him two hours.

Twenty-four traces of primordial lightning just barely managed to make his current lightning armor advance to the third level of the silver grade by one-fifth.

Perhaps he would still have to kill at least one hundred Divine Transformation Realm undead spirits before he could make his lightning armor advance to the next level completely.

Other than the primordial lightning, Ning Fan had already accumulated twenty-five silver jades in total.

At the end of the eastern domain was a black bamboo forest.

Above the bamboo forest, rain fell heavily and thunder crackled. The bad weather showed no signs of stopping or changing at all. In the middle of the thunderstorm was a massive ferocious beast which gave off a Peak Divine Transformation Realm aura force.

A burly man in black robes sat cross-legged on top of the head of that beast. It was holding a piece of dark golden bamboo leaf to cultivate.

After sensing Ning Fan’s arrival, that burly man suddenly opened his eyes. His eyes revealed a fearsome and violent lightning flash. With a cold tone, he spoke.

“Humph! An undead spirit in the form of a human? I have never seen you before. I suppose you are an undead spirit who has just attained the Divine Transformation Realm. How dare a lowly Early Divine Transformation Realm creature like you intrude this forbidden area of mine without my permission! You’re courting death! I wonder if your lightning corpse will be delicious to eat after killing you!”

That burly man licked his lips and rose to his feet. He did not give Ning Fan any chance to speak. He extended his five fingers to grab some lightning. Traces of silver-colored electricity gathered in his palm and instantly transformed into a huge silver-winged lightning bird. It immediately charged towards Ning Fan with a sharp shrill.

The Half-Step Void Refinement Realm aura force caused the earth to shake and the color of the sky to change!

The lightning might of that incoming lightning bird was enough to make any Peak Divine Transformation Realm cultivator shiver in fear!

He was the lightning lord. On the first floor, he had absolute authority to decide whether or not the others lived. He could kill whoever offended him without hesitation!

If he wants to devour Ning Fan, why does he have to give a reason?

“...”

Ning Fan did not have the mood to talk nonsense with this man.

In his eyes, the so-called lightning lord of the first floor was nothing more than an ant that he could crush with a flip of his palm.

Even though the momentum of that silver-winged lightning bird was great, when it came close to Ning Fan, it dispersed for no reason. Before it could even touch Ning Fan, it had already been absorbed and devoured by his lightning diagram.

The burly man in black robes was filled with surprise. He was fully aware of how mighty his Lightning Bird Technique was.

On the first floor of this tower, there was certainly no one who could withstand that attack from him!

“You don’t belong on this floor. You are... at the Half-Step Void Refinement Realm! You must be the strongest being from the second floor!”

“...”

Ning Fan did not reply. He only made a step forward and his figure disappeared without leaving a trace amidst ten thousand rays of lightning, as if he was completely gone from this world.

At the next moment, he suddenly emerged in front of the burly man out of nowhere, standing right above the ferocious beast and threw a punch.

With his physical body being at the Fourth Level of the Jade Life Realm and his terrifying strength that was enhanced by his corpse devil body, the strength of that punch was very close to that of a strike from an expert with a Golden Body. The might of his punch caused heaven and earth to tremble. The might of his punch scared the burly man in black robes half to death.

Facing that single punch from Ning Fan, the burly man only felt that he would certainly die!

Even so, both of his fists sizzled with lightning power as he had no other choices but to force himself to try to counter Ning Fan’s fist.

However, in just one clash, the bones of both arms of the burly man were completely pulverized. He was sent flying backwards while coughing out blood. His immortal veins were also completely broken. By taking a punch from Ning Fan, he was already grievously injured and he was already on the brink of death!

“I-Impossible! Even an expert of the Void Glimpse Stage does not necessarily have such a powerful punch... You aren’t at the Divine Transformation Realm. You must be at the Void Refinement Realm!”

The burly man was filled with fear. The arrogance and bossy demeanor of a lightning lord in him were completely gone.

He turned into a ray of lightning and fled as fast as possible. He actually abandoned his natal beast!

Not only that, he even directly performed a set of abstruse and mysterious hand seals to trigger the detonation of the demon core of his own pet. A dignified Peak Divine Transformation Realm gigantic beast exploded into a thick mass of blood mist!

The might of its explosion could even hurt a Half-Step Void Refinement Realm being!

That man was indeed cruel. Unfortunately, even though he had already sacrificed his pet, he could not even leave a scratch on Ning Fan. Besides, no matter what he did, he would never be able to successfully run away!

Surrounded by the thick blood mist, Ning Fan stood unscathed as he had the protection of his star power.

He pointed a finger at the direction where the man fled and used his Heaven Sealing Technique to freeze the moving lightning of that burly man. His eyes flashed with a cold light.

When he clawed at the burly man, the lightning surrounding the latter suddenly dispersed, making him fall down to the ground. His primordial spirit was on the verge of collapsing.

“Please spare me! Venerable expert, please let me live!

The burly man in black robes pleaded bitterly. However, how was it possible for Ning Fan to spare someone like him?

When he wanted to kill Ning Fan, did he give Ning Fan a chance to plead?

*Bang*

Ning Fan stomped heavily on him, literally crushing his physical body. With a wave of his hand, he brought the primordial spirit to his hand and searched his soul and memories without mercy.

After letting out a few painful shrieks, the burly man gradually lost his spiritual intelligence and became an idiot. On the other hand, Ning Fan once again discovered a huge amount of information. Besides, a lot of it was related to the second floor.

“Crush!”

He touched the primordial spirit with his finger and destroyed it. A trace of pure silver primordial lightning that had a tinge of gold was then devoured by Ning Fan.

This trace of Half-Step Void Refinement Realm primordial lightning was at least equivalent to ten traces of ordinary Divine Transformation Realm primordial lightning.

In the ruins, a dark golden bamboo leaf broke off from its branch and gently fell into Ning Fan’s palm. The first leaf was now in his hands!

Other than the first bamboo leaf, he had also obtained a piece of lightning jade. Even though it was also silver-colored, it was coiled with a faint golden color. Its lightning power was at least ten times stronger than ordinary silver jades.

Now, he had twenty-six silver jades in total.

Ning Fan scanned through the ruins of the battleground. Other than the remains of the beast and bloodstains, there were no other items.

He also did not linger on the first floor any longer. At the end of the bamboo forest, he found the teleportation formation connected to the second floor. Without hesitation, he went inside it.

Two hours later, Ning Fan trampled on the lightning lord of the second floor and killed 35 Divine Transformation Realm undead spirits.

Another two hours passed. The third floor was cleared and he killed 41 Divine Transformation Realm undead spirits in total.

Another three hours went by. The fourth floor was flattened and he took the lives of 55 Divine Transformation Realm undead spirits in total.

Up until now, he had obtained 4 pieces of dark golden bamboo leaves.

As for the silver jade which contained lightning power, he had already amassed 157 pieces.

After devouring 157 traces of Divine Transformation Realm primordial lightning, his Primordial Lightning Armor broke through to the third level of the silver grade. It could now withstand Late Divine Transformation Realm attacks.

It was about time for him to ascend to the fifth floor. Ning Fan’s face was filled with a hint of solemnity. Since it was a place where Void Refinement Realm beings existed, he naturally would not dare to be careless.

He stepped into the teleportation formation. After a flash of lightning, he appeared on the fifth floor of the lightning tower.

He emerged in a desolate desert. Just as he arrived on this floor, he immediately sensed a trace of powerful qi hidden in this place. That qi was approximately one hundred zhang* (3.33m per zhang) away from him.

“Who is hiding there?!”

The divine star on his glabella flashed. As the might of his Tai Su Lightning Star spread, it literally forced a confused old man out of the hollow space.

After sensing the cultivation base of that elderly man, Ning Fan’s eyes turned grim.

This elderly man is a Mid Void Refinement Realm expert, an old monster of the Void Inquiry Stage!

After that elderly man was forced out of his concealment, he slowly opened his sleepy eyes and yawned. Grumpily, he complained.

“Damn it. Who is so foolish as to wake this old man from his sleep?! I, Lei Shiyi, was taking a rest here without causing any troubles. Who was it that made so much noise?!”

Translated by Tommy, edited by Roel