Grasping the Evil

Chapter 1176: Ning Fan! Ning Fan!

"Brat, your aura seems quite different lately. Did you perhaps grasp some kind of powerful Realm Transference Technique? Can you take me to the Western Heaven once?"

"No, you sensed wrong. I haven’t mastered that level of Realm Transference Technique."

"You little punk, you actually lied to me! You clearly know it! You clearly know it!"

"Senior, please be patient. After this junior finishes the matters in the Northern Heaven, I’ll find some time to take you flying to the Western Heaven!" At the instant he stepped into the Six Paths Portal, Ning Fan smiled faintly and sent a voice transmission to Niu Manshan.

"Ahhhh! How long do I have to wait, at least make it clear! You little punk—no, Young Friend Ning—don’t go yet, wait a bit, ahhhh!"

...

Until the very end, Niu Manshan was still dreaming of going to the Western Heaven to look for that old nun lover of his from back then. Unfortunately, Ning Fan had no intention of wasting time to take Niu Manshan flying to the Western Heaven.

It wasn’t that Ning Fan was unwilling to help and let Niu Manshan owe him a favor, but that he had only just learned the Six Paths Portal, and there were still many problems with his technique.

Though he had the help of the blood spirit in the Black Wind Gourd, Ning Fan had only polished this art for a brief five years. In the end, that time was still far too short. For such a heaven–defying Realm Transference Technique, to have only increased its proficiency by a little over a thousand years’ worth was clearly far from enough.

If the Four Heavens Boundary River were not blocked by a sealing of Immortal Emperor level, this bit of proficiency in his Divine Skill might still be sufficient.

But the reality was that the Four Heavens Boundary River was cut off and interfered with by a strand of Fourth Step Power! With only this level of Divine Skill proficiency, if he tried to fly across a Fourth Step seal, Ning Fan had at least a ten percent chance of failing the teleportation halfway and being torn to powder by the Force of Time and Space.

And according to Ning Fan’s estimation, he would need to increase his Spell proficiency by at least several hundred thousand years just to lower that ten percent risk to five; to completely avoid danger, he would need to cultivate the Six Paths Portal to beyond the Great Achievement Realm. Obviously, he did not have that much time to slowly polish the Six Paths Portal...

Under such circumstances, Ning Fan was willing, for the sake of the Northern Heaven’s affairs, to risk that ten percent and use the teleportation, yet he was not necessarily willing to stake his life just to help Niu Manshan look for an old lover.

If possible, he would rather take Niu Manshan to the Northern Heaven, but he simply did not feel at ease about this person. For this man, merely not wrecking the world was already quite the feat. Asking him to go with you to the Northern Heaven to protect the world—hard, hard, hard...

Leaving this man in the Eastern Heaven, Ning Fan could still use his father–son relationship with Wu Laoba and the others to keep an eye on him and prevent him from destroying the world.

The Northern Heaven was different. That was where the chaos of the Boundary River was at its worst, the very place where the mastermind behind this Boundary River turmoil was hidden! If, once in the Northern Heaven, Niu Manshan were bewitched by the mastermind behind the Boundary River chaos and directly defected and turned coat, wouldn’t Ning Fan end up with an extra enemy of Great Cultivation Level...

"The Dark Clan has vanished from the Eastern Heaven as a whole tribe; it’s almost certain they went to the Northern Heaven. The Dark Clan’s Old Ancestor is an Ancient Great Cultivator—just from that alone one can conclude that the Northern Heaven’s situation is definitely countless times more severe than the Eastern Heaven’s. Behind this matter, there even seems to be the shadow of Demon-Sealing Peak. And behind Demon-Sealing Peak, we already know for sure there is a Black Wing Great Demon of Great Cultivation Level who once charged into the Divine Tomb and let out a heaven–shaking roar. I don’t know if, besides this Black Wing Great Demon, there are any other Great Demon–level old monsters involved..."

"Why do the Dark Clan and Demon-Sealing Peak want to stir up this Boundary River turmoil? Are there other unknown forces intervening behind the scenes? Among the ten great secret clans, could there be other secret clans that have betrayed the Zi Dou Immortal Domain... Hopefully I’m just overthinking all this..."

"After Master Chaotic Ancient revived, he didn’t stay in the Eastern Heaven; perhaps he went to the Northern Heaven..."

On the way through teleportation, Ning Fan’s brows were tightly knit; he was far from optimistic about the situation in the Northern Heaven.

...

The Northern Heaven Immortal World—people also called it the Northern Sea. "Sea" here meant ocean. Clearly it was one of the Four Heavens, yet it bore the name of a sea; it was truly bizarre.

In the cultivation world, there was another saying: the Southern Heaven values Doctrine, the Northern Heaven values Technique. It meant that Beitian Cultivators revered the study of Spells and miscellaneous arts, while Southern Heaven cultivators revered the study of Dao.

But this did not mean Beitian Cultivators were truly uninterested in the word "Dao."

At this moment, on a Lower-Level Cultivation Star in the Northern Heaven called Turtle Immortal Star, there was an old monster of the Void Fragmentation realm opening a forum on Dao for his disciples.

That Void Fragmentation old monster’s surname was Chu, known as Chu Daoist. Around Turtle Immortal Star, his name was quite renowned. What made his name resound, of course, was not his Void Fragmentation realm, but his Dao Enlightenment and his identity.

Rumor had it that this person came from the Great Chu Family, with an illustrious lineage.

There was also a rumor that although his cultivation was not high, his Dao Enlightenment was even more profound than that of some Fate Immortal Old Monster.

There was yet another rumor that this person was actually not in the Void Fragmentation realm, but an old monster of the Second Step concealing his cultivation. Those who held this view did so because they had personally witnessed a Northern Heaven Enlightenment cultivator come to take out his anger on this man, only to be scared off by a single flash of his astonishing aura.

In the eyes of the cultivators on Turtle Immortal Star, Chu Daoist carried countless mysteries on his body and was a Senior expert they absolutely could not afford to offend.

Chu Daoist loved nothing more in life than traveling out to seek Dao and opening forums to transmit the law. Even now, when the Northern Heaven’s situation gave little cause for optimism and every sect and clan lived in fear of impending beast tides, Chu Daoist still clung to his principles: so long as his head remained upon his shoulders for one more day, he would seek Dao for one more day, without slackening!

"Senior Chu, our Northern Heaven is clearly a Heaven, the starry sky. Why then do some people call us the Northern Sea? ’Sea’ means ocean, but in this vast starry sky, there is not a single drop of seawater. Why then do we call ourselves a sea?" Below the high platform, a local Nascent Soul cultivator of Turtle Immortal Star was utterly puzzled and raised his hand to ask.

"That’s a good question. In truth, it’s not only you who have pondered this; many famous figures of the Northern Heaven have pondered it as well. Ever since I could shatter the void, this old man has roamed between Heaven and Earth, visiting many famous teachers, and I have heard many different answers. In my own Chu Family, there is a certain view passed down: they believe that before the four Heavens collapsed, the Northern Heaven was not a starry sky, but an ocean. Only because Heaven and Earth collapsed did the seawater finally dry up and vanish without a trace. But this is a minority view; there are not many who share my Chu Family’s opinion. More of the Northern Heaven’s old monsters believe that the ’Sea’ in Northern Sea is actually a phonetic loan character. What is a phonetic loan? ’Sea’ is a loan for ’Nether.’ Does the Northern Heaven’s starry sky not resemble a vast, boundless netherworld?" Chu Daoist patiently explained.

"So that’s how it is. So there are actually two different views about the origin of the name Northern Sea. Since Senior was born of the Great Chu Family, I imagine you also hold the first view, right?" someone else asked.

"No, this old man does not believe the Northern Heaven was once an ocean..."

"Then Senior holds the second view?"

"Neither... This old man likewise does not believe that the ancients calling the Northern Heaven ’Sea’ was some kind of mistaken usage..." Chu Daoist shook his head again.

"Could it be that Senior has a third view regarding the origin of the name Northern Sea?" someone asked curiously.

"There is indeed a third view, but that view was not proposed by me. It was proposed by a certain Senior of the Light Clan..." When Chu Daoist mentioned the Light Clan, he suddenly became evasive and fell silent.

"Light Clan? I’ve never heard of such a force. Do we have this race in the Northern Heaven?" Quite a few cultivators of Turtle Immortal Star asked in confusion.

"..." Chu Daoist merely stayed silent and did not utter another word about the two characters "Light Clan." He had no intention of revealing matters related to the secret clans to low-level cultivators of the Northern Heaven.

"Senior, do tell us about the third view. What exactly was that Senior’s third view?" someone asked.

"That day when I went out to seek the Dao, I chanced upon that Senior. When I raised this question, that Senior only answered with one sentence: You can see the stars, but you cannot see the sea. The people of this world live within the water, yet spend their entire lives searching for seawater—how could they possibly find it? As expected, the world that this old man sees is one that you all cannot see."

When Chu Daoist brought up the third standpoint, his expression grew somewhat desolate.

The world that Senior of the Light Clan saw—could he himself not see it... What exactly was the sea of stars in that Senior’s eyes like...

Silence.

The entire altar suddenly fell utterly silent, made speechless by the third standpoint Chu Daoist had proposed.

Anyone with eyes could tell that in those few brief words, Chu Daoist had contained a heaven-shaking Dao Enlightenment; but with the comprehension of this group of low-level Masters, no matter how they pondered, they could not grasp the true meaning within and could only give up.

In the end, everyone wore the same lost, wistful expression that Chu Daoist had revealed earlier.

As the crowd was steeped in melancholy, a thunderous rumble suddenly came from high above Turtle Immortal Star.

All of a sudden, the illusory starry sky split open with a rift from which Demonic Qi surged to the heavens. That crack grew larger and larger until it finally turned into a thousand-zhang demonic gate.

"This is..." How could low-level Masters know what this demonic gate was.

But what keen eyesight did Chu Daoist have? With a single glance he could tell that this demonic gate was extremely similar to the Demonic Channel of Moro the Great Emperor’s clan!

"Could it be an Ancient Demon Cavity! Could it be that yet another peak Demon-Sealing expert wishes to use this technique to descend with a beast tide!" Chu Daoist was shocked at first, then his gaze softened slightly as he hesitated.

"No, this is not an Ancient Demon Cavity. Though similar, its underlying principle is not quite the same."

Chu Daoist watched that black gigantic door which had appeared out of nowhere with full vigilance. He stared at it until the door vanished, yet never saw any beast tide charging out from within it.

He was just about to let out a sigh of relief when a deafening boom suddenly sounded, and that black gigantic door actually exploded!

The shattered demonic light submerged the nearby starry sky around Turtle Immortal Star in an instant.

Only after a long while did the demonic light subside. No one knew what had caused this explosion; even Chu Daoist did not know the specifics.

"In that instant just now, it seemed as though something blasted out from within the demonic gate... but it also felt like it might have been this old man’s illusion..."

"No, I must report what happened here to the Four Oceans Sect! Better to be safe than sorry. If it truly is a peak Demon-Sealing expert invading..."

With that thought, Chu Daoist no longer had any mood to continue preaching. He dismissed all those who had come to listen to the Dao and turned into a stream of light, flying away from Turtle Immortal Star.

He had to rush back to the Great Chu Family immediately and use the clan’s Magic Artifacts to contact the Four Oceans Sect!

Fortunately, True Flame Star of the Great Chu Family was not far from this Turtle Immortal Star. With his ’Eternal Ages’ cultivation speed, it would not take him long to return.

"Help, help!"

Halfway there, Chu Daoist suddenly saw that not far off, a certain Lower-Level Cultivation Star was shrouded in boundless flames of war!

White Fortune Star!

Chu Daoist spread out his spirit sense and immediately perceived that above White Fortune Star, an Ancient Demon Cavity had presently been opened.

Different from that mysterious demonic gate from before, the Ancient Demon Cavity before his eyes was a true one-way Demonic Channel of Moro the Great Emperor’s clan! An unending tide of Boundary River beasts was currently pouring out from the one-way channel, wreaking wanton slaughter upon this White Fortune Star!

"Damn it! Right under this old man’s eyelids, the thirteenth beast tide descent event has actually occurred!"

Chu Daoist’s gaze immediately sank.

Fortunately, among the beast tide attacking White Fortune Star, the highest cultivation was only Life Immortal; the rest were mostly some Second Step different race beings. With his ’Eternal Ages’ Cultivation Level, it would not take him long to slaughter all the invaders of a different race here.

He thought so, and he did so. Half an hour later, Chu Daoist had wiped out all the invading different race beings here, then shattered the Ancient Demon Cavity above this star, cutting off any possibility of more different races descending upon this place.

But even if he killed all of these foreigners, so what?

Even with his intervention, over ninety percent of the Masters on this star had still been devoured by the beast tide army, and the Spirit Veins of this entire Cultivation Star were completely destroyed.

According to past experience, once a Cultivation Star experienced a beast tide descent, there would be a second time, a third time... This star could no longer be inhabited; all spatial passages had to be sealed!

In the end, Chu Daoist used the Sealing Skill passed down from the Four Oceans Sect to seal the entire White Fortune Star.

As for the survivors on this star, he summoned out a Star Boat and transported them back to the Chu Family’s refugee camp.

This was already the thirteenth batch of refugees.

"From the time the peak Demon-Sealing experts and the Northern Heaven Exotic Clans formally allied until now, only a few years have passed, and yet there have already been thirteen beast tide descent events in the territory under my Chu Family’s governance. In the boundless Northern Heaven, how many more people are now being—or about to be—slaughtered by the different races..."

"This is no longer something that the Clan Leaders and Young Sect Leaders of the Chu Family across the generations can handle. Even I, the founding ancestor of the Chu Family, had no choice but to crawl out from the Heaven Evading Coffin and once more step into the mortal world..."

"Ai..."

Chu Daoist let out a sigh, and with a group of refugees in tow, made his way back to the Chu Clan on True Flame Star. He did not notice that among this batch of refugees he had rescued, there was actually one person who was not a Beitian Cultivator.

Ning Fan!

Ning Fan was also among this batch of refugees!

He had successfully passed through the Six Paths Portal and descended into Northern Heaven!

But at the final juncture, just as he was about to reach Northern Heaven, something went wrong with the teleportation!

"I didn’t expect the sealing power of the Primeval Immortal Emperor to be this formidable. I avoided more than four hundred Yang Sealing Marks in the spatial rifts, and slipped past over seven hundred Yin Sealing Marks invisible to the eye, and yet I was still ambushed by the most deeply hidden [Formless Seal]... Unless one knew of this Formless Seal in advance, it would be absolutely impossible to evade it. Those old Ancient Chaos monsters who crossed the starry skies of the Four Heavens using the Demonic Channel must have long been aware of the existence of this final seal..."

Right now Ning Fan’s limbs and bones hurt everywhere; his whole body was covered with sealing runes from the Primeval Immortal Realm, even his face was mottled with them, making him look utterly bedraggled.

No one had anticipated that within the seals laid down by the Primeval Immortal Emperor to cut off the Four Heavens, there was a hidden Formless Seal, specifically restraining Realm-shifting techniques such as the Demonic Channel from crossing the seals.

At the instant of descending into Northern Heaven, Ning Fan was ambushed by the seal and nearly perished within the spatial rifts...

This was precisely why his Six Paths of Reincarnation Gate exploded.

Fortunately, Ning Fan’s Divine Spirit Body was powerful; even after being struck by the primeval runes, even after encountering a small-scale storm of the Force of Time and Space at the final moment, he still survived.

In that blast-wave, Ning Fan was blown away by the impact and was hurled all the way from Turtle Immortal Star to White Fortune Star.

Logically speaking, a living person being blasted to White Fortune Star by an explosion like that should have caused quite a commotion here.

But White Fortune Star was unlucky—it happened to run into a beast tide invasion.

When innumerable fierce beasts of different races borrowed the power of the Ancient Demon Cavity to invade White Fortune Star across the distance, how could the cultivators of White Fortune Star have any leisure to care whether Ning Fan lived or died?

No one noticed Ning Fan falling from the sky at all!

Everyone was busy exchanging fire with the different races!

Thus, after Chu Daoist pacified the beast tide here, he casually took Ning Fan along, treating him as a refugee...

Speaking of which, with Ning Fan’s body full of wounds at this moment, head caked in dust, and runes covering his flesh, he really didn’t look any different from a refugee.

"This is a lesson. Since I now know that within the Primeval Immortal Emperor’s seals there is, besides the Yang and Yin seals, a Formless Seal, from now on, no matter what, I will not be taken by surprise by this Formless Seal again... The next time I cross the Four Heavens, it will definitely not be like this. Moreover, though this Formless Seal is formidable, with my skills, breaking it isn’t difficult; what I need is merely time..."

"True Flame Star, the Chu Family. I didn’t expect that I would have just descended into Northern Heaven and already become entangled in karma with cultivators of this clan. Back then in the Rain Immortal World, I once received the help of Chu Youran, the Young Patriarch of the Chu Family. The Chu Family, the He Luo Wei Family, these should all be my master’s friends in Northern Heaven... Yet according to the information I have, the Chu Family seemingly has no Eternal Immortal Venerable, and the former ancestor of the Chu Family who was on good terms with my master seemed to have only Life Immortal Realm cultivations... Since when has the True Flame Star Chu Family ever had an Eternal Immortal Venerable sitting in town..."

"Those Chu Family cultivators seemed to address Chu Daoist as ’Progenitor’..."

"There is something strange about this Chu Daoist. His immortal lifespan should have long been cut off within the Long River of Time, and yet for some unknown reason he has actually deceived the Heavenly Dao and lived until this day..."

In the refugee camp, Ning Fan pondered over all the sights and encounters after arriving in Northern Heaven, then turned his gaze inward to examine himself, beginning to study the Formless Seal within his body.

Very strong! This seal was extremely strong! Ning Fan did have methods to break it, but all of those methods were unorthodox paths; by relying on proper methods, he clearly could not contend with the Primeval Immortal Emperor of the Fourth Step.

As for the injuries on his body, they also needed careful nurturing.

He also needed to gather more information about Northern Heaven. Should he use the Ice Rain Technique?

Ning Fan frowned and did not cast the Ice Rain Technique to probe for information across a realm.

Others might not recognize his Ice Rain Technique, but the Dark Clan, who had dealt with him before, very likely would.

If the Dark Clan learned that he had come to Northern Heaven, would they secretly send people to hunt him down? He could not be sure...

Given that he knew nothing about Northern Heaven, Ning Fan did not intend to take risks and expose his whereabouts.

In that case, he would use another intelligence-gathering technique.

Ning Fan picked up a piece of jade from the ground and asked in a gentle tone, "In the last hundred years, what major events have occurred in Northern Heaven? Could you tell me?"

Before long, he picked up another piece of jade and continued the "conversation."

This action looked extremely strange and eccentric in the eyes of the other refugees, yet no one laughed at Ning Fan.

Among the refugees here, quite a few had been frightened and traumatized by the beast tide invasion and had lost their minds. Acting strangely was not something unique to Ning Fan.

In the eyes of others, Ning Fan most likely had also been traumatized into madness, evoking sympathy and sighs.

"Miss, the refugee camp is filthy and stinks. Why did you come here? You aren’t even a member of the Chu Family..." In a certain corner of the refugee camp, a maid covered her nose, speaking with disgust.

"Little Red, don’t say that again in the future. We are guests of the Chu Family; we cannot just eat and drink for free. Where we ought to exert ourselves, we must exert ourselves..." The girl named Bei Shi replied.

She was a woman with a holy air about her. If Ning Fan saw her, he would instantly sense that her aura of purity was very similar to Wuxie’s. But in terms of appearance, the two women each had their own unique charm, both possessing the qualifications to topple a nation.

"But the Young Patriarch of the Chu Family is going too far! Miss, you are the dignified eldest young lady of Yishi Palace, the one with the highest talent among the Four Immortal Daughters of Bei Family! You living in the Chu Family is giving them face, yet they actually send you out to arrange for these refugees. This is simply an insult to your status." The maid chattered on.

"Status? Heh, in your eyes my status is very noble, is it? In the end I am nothing more than a chess piece... Even my mother is nothing more than..." Bei Shi seemed to recall something; her beautiful eyes dimmed.

Even in sorrow, this woman was so beautiful one could not help but look!

Gazing at such a young lady, the maid Little Red was dazed for a moment, and recalled an excerpt from a classical play she had once heard.

[Two slender brows, as though knit yet not knit, veiled in mist; a pair of eyes, as though smiling yet not smiling, brimming with feeling. From between two dimples is born all her sorrow, upon her frail frame clings all her sickness. Tear-light glimmers, soft breaths flutter. At rest she is like a lovely flower mirrored in water; in motion she is like a tender willow swaying in the wind. Her heart holds one more aperture than Bi Gan, her illness surpasses Xi Shi by three parts.]

This passage might as well have been written to describe the young lady; she truly was a sight that would move even the hardest heart...

"Even if I explained too much you wouldn’t get it. Just remember this: the situation in Ning Fan is dangerous now, so Ning Fan cultivators ought to support one another. Even without the Chu Clan’s request, I would still choose to help them. Look at that young man over there—he’s already gone so mad he’s talking to stones..." Bei Shi gazed in Ning Fan’s direction, a trace of sympathy and resonance flashing in her beautiful eyes.

The maid, a small red horse, followed her line of sight and saw Ning Fan talking to a stone, and fell silent in an instant.

In that moment, the maid, a small red horse, felt the weight of her own shallowness!

There were so many refugees worthy of pity, yet she only knew how to complain this place was dirty, complain it stank...

Her character was far too lowly!

Her soul was far too ugly!

Compared to Ning Fan, filthy from head to toe and acting all insane, she was the one who was truly filthy!

"Miss, I was wrong..." the maid, a small red horse, said guiltily.

"Mm. Knowing you’re wrong is enough. Since that’s the case, you’ll come with me and help settle these refugees. We’ll start with those who’ve gone mad..."

As she spoke, Bei Shi led her maid over, lotus steps light as she walked toward Ning Fan.

At this moment Ning Fan was sitting on the ground, enduring the pain of the runes all over his body while talking with the stone.

Bei Shi, however, squatted down beside Ning Fan, forcing down the sympathy in her heart, and spoke to him in a tone as if addressing an equal.

"Don’t be afraid. From now on, I’ll take care of you—for the rest of your life."

!!!

Ning Fan pulled his Heart Spirit back from Communication with All Things and looked at Bei Shi, completely speechless.

Could someone please tell him what the hell just happened!

He’d only been asking a stone for some intel—how did that end up with some young lady popping out of nowhere and issuing him a lifetime-care card!

This girl actually wanted to take care of him for his whole life...

Ahem, ahem, it probably wasn’t "take care" in the way he was thinking...

Sure enough, when Ning Fan activated the Mind Reading Technique, he effortlessly saw through all of this girl’s current thoughts.

The Mind Reading Technique could read a woman’s immediate thoughts.

The technique needed to be used together with Ning Fan’s verbal guidance. For example, Ning Fan would deliberately ask a certain question to trigger a woman to think. As long as she started thinking about that question, Ning Fan could peek at the information in her heart.

But if Ning Fan didn’t deliberately guide her, he could only see her present mental activity.

"So that’s how it is. I misunderstood—she just thinks I’m some mad refugee and is sympathizing with me, pitying me!"

Ning Fan let out a breath of relief.

He had plenty of women already; he had no desire to provoke more peach blossoms the moment he arrived in Ning Fan.

Obviously, this Bei Shi in front of him was not one of those rotten, clingy peach blossoms.

"Do you still remember your name? My name is Bei Shi, and you are..." Bei Shi asked.

Bei Shi...

He seemed to have heard that name somewhere before, but couldn’t quite recall.

Ning Fan didn’t continue peeking into her heart. After thinking a bit, he still answered out of courtesy, "My name is Ning Fan."

"Ning Fan? That name... I feel like I’ve heard it somewhere..."

Bei Shi’s delicate brows knit together, but she quickly relaxed them.

It was probably just a coincidence.

There were plenty of people in this world with the same name. A cultivator’s life was long, and they would meet hundreds of thousands, even millions of people.

Finding someone’s name familiar—nothing strange about that...

"Good, at least you still remember your own name. You’re not completely insane yet." Bei Shi let out a breath of relief for Ning Fan.

"I’m not insane..." Ning Fan was even more speechless, but couldn’t be bothered to explain the mystery of Communication with All Things to her.

"I’m sorry, you’re not insane, I misspoke..." Bei Shi hurriedly apologized to Ning Fan, afraid she might trigger an emotional outburst in a lunatic.

Forget it, Ning Fan couldn’t be bothered with Bei Shi anymore.

Even if he explained ten thousand times, Bei Shi would still think he was a lunatic...

When a drunk says he’s not drunk, no one ever believes him...