Grasping Evil

Chapter 16: Exterminating Wu

After leaving Seven Apricot City, Wu Dongnan headed straight towards the west while covertly flying at a fast speed.

As an outer elder of the Heavenly Beast School, a transcending cultivation school in the land of Yue, countless cultivators would be frightened with just one mention of the name “School Master Wu Xie.”

If this was any ordinary day, Wu Dongnan could tread across Yue without any fear. Only the foolish would make a move against him and offend the Heavenly Beast School.

But this time was different. With the Gold Core Dao Fruit in his possession, he couldn’t be sure that some desperate old devils would not kill him and seize the treasure in the dark.

As a result, Wu Dongnan couldn’t afford to not be cautious. He activated the stealth defense talisman that he had been saving for many years.

Although there were actually old devils who wanted to make a move against him, but because of the stealth talisman, they were unable to find his whereabouts.

Wu Dongnan had spread many Tracking Mice outside of Seven Apricot City, hiding in the snow-capped mountains. These Tracking Mice would inform Wu Dongnan through a special sense whenever there were cultivators on his tail.

At first, no one could track his location.

But later on, there were many Tracking Mice that suddenly issued many alarms.

This caused Wu Dongnan’s heart to become heavy. He knew there were people watching him intensely, but he didn’t know which old devils were after him.

To be able to cause so many Tracking Mice to warn him at the same time, the pursuers must be numerous in number, and they clearly came prepared.

“Hmph, I didn’t think that despite all of my caution, I would still be targeted.”

Before, Wu Dongnan didn’t dare to send out his spirit sense for fear of being noticed. However, once he confirmed that there were pursuers, he immediately spread out his spirit sense, wanting to see those who were following him.

Once he looked, cold sweat started to pour from him.

Not far behind him were almost one thousand evil cultivators riding strange beasts while carrying weapons, chasing him with murderous intent.

“How do they know my location!”

Wu Dongnan was frightened. He realized that his strength alone could not withstand the entrapment of one thousand cultivators.

‘If I’m not wrong, behind me is absolutely a trained army, and it seems to have Harmonious Spirit commanders. It would be very dangerous if they caught up.’

‘This is Seven Apricot City’s people, I’m certain of this! I am not mistaken, that is the Seven Apricot crest. This Seven Apricot City… I am quickly bringing the Dao Fruit back to the school and didn’t cause trouble for you, yet you are to cause trouble for me first! If I do not die, I will come back to the school and beseech our Gold Cores to destroy your Seven Apricot City!’

Wu Dongnan cursed in his mind and hurried his feet. He even constantly changed directions and tried his best to shake off the pursuit of this army.

However, it was a pity that this army seemed to be able to lock onto him and were getting closer. After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, he could clearly hear the rumble and cries of the incoming army.

“Not good, they caught up!”

Wu Dongnan lamented and felt his undershirt becoming cold as his frightened soul took off from his body.

An extremely powerful sword energy — without any warning — slashed down from the sky. It emitted countless sword blades, that were like the flying locusts or the rain, or even the tilting galaxy, that all cut at Wu Dongnan!

Wu Dongnan alarmingly dodged but was still hurt by the sword energy. He fell down to the snow-covered forest, but the sword energy swept below and razed the forest into the ground. Wu Dongnan was forced out from his hiding spot and coughed out fresh blood as he lifted his head that was filled with ominous clouds!

In the sky, there were two Harmonious Spirit experts void stepping in up above! Wu Dongnan recognized them. They were Seven Apricot City’s Apricot Guard Commander and Sword Guard Commander.

He had seen the honest and unsophisticated Commander Yuchi several times and never put him in his eyes. But this time, he had seen Yuchi carrying a purple pig, hovering in the air, with a grin on his red face. His cultivation even broke through to the Intermediate Harmonious Spirit realm.

“Imposible! I know that this Yuchi, with his cowardly personality, would not be suitable for evil cultivation. How could he advance to the Intermediate Harmonious Spirit realm!”

Then, he glanced at the other person and became shocked!

Sword Guard Commander — Situ! This person, when did he break through to the Late Harmonious Spirit realm! Was he the one who slashed the sharp, dangerous sword earlier!

Impossible, when did this person make it to the Late Harmonious Spirit realm!

Wu Dongnan’s expression changed. Before, he had hopes of good fortune, but at this moment when saw Yuchi along with Situ, he finally realized that, today, he might be facing his death right here.

With his strength alone, he definitely was not a match for one thousand cultivators along with two Harmonious Spirits, and one in the Late realm at that!

“Hmph! Such great prestige from Seven Apricot City. Using one thousand troops to deal with this one old man — truly amazing!”

The implication, of course, was to make fun of Situ who was using many people to bully the few.

Situ didn’t care for Wu Dongnan while Yuchi was picking his ears. Then he impatiently said: “Don’t worry! To deal with a trash like you, there is no need to use so many. Our Young Lord alone will be enough!”

“Young Lord?!”

Wu Dongnan felt something and suddenly looked back. In front of him was a young man riding a strange beast, blocking his path ahead.

It was a young man in a white robe with a black cloak. He had a clear and elegant demeanor, but his expression was cold, giving others the feeling of the lack of emotions.

“It’s you! The situation today, you had it prepared for it during the auction!?”

Wu Dongnan was not foolish. He recalled that before the auction began, Ning Fan walked next to him on the second floor as if nothing had happened.

Having thought about it a little bit, this person most likely did something to him at that time. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be followed by so many people even after using the stealth talisman!

“Yes, what about it!” Ning Fan’s expression was cold. This person schemed against Zhihe and even ran to the Seven Apricot boundary to threaten them. No matter the reason, he must make this person pay a large price.

“Hmph, only a little Vein Opening, yet you still dare to speak arrogantly against this old man!” Wu Dongnan angrily smiled. He was afraid of Yuchi and Situ, the two Harmonious Spirit commanders, and the blood thirsty evil cultivators army, but not this young and foolish brat, Ning Fan.

Ning Fan didn’t care about Wu Dongnan as he got off his strange beast. This time was different from the auction; he — at this moment — had a storage pouch. Clearly, before arriving, he had prepared a lot of equipment from Yuchi and Situ.

This was the first time he used a storage pouch. He pat its bottom and removed a flaming longsword from the storage pouch. It was only a low-ranked spirit treasure, but with the sword in his hand, there was a strand of energy comparable to a Harmonious Spirit sword cultivator flying around his body.

Wu Dongnan immediately became serious and no longer underestimated Ning Fan.

His eyes swept around the area and noticed that the one thousand cultivators had surrounded him, but they didn’t look like they were going to take action against him.

This posture felt as if only Ning Fan would fight him, and the rest were only here to hold the formation.

What a joke! Do these people actually think that he, Wu Dongnan, would lose to the hands of a Vein Opening junior!?

“You want to personally challenge me!?” Wu Dongnan coldly asked.

“Correct, it is the perfect time to capture you and test my current strength.” Ning Fan answered emotionlessly.

“You are courting death!” On the surface, Wu Dongnan acted as if he suffered great humiliation. He loudly shouted then turned his hand to take out five talismans, and he threw them towards Ning Fan.

The five talismans immediately turned into five firebirds, the size of one zhang, and swooped straight towards Ning Fan with blazing heat, causing the snow in the surroundings to immediately melt.

Secretly, he was hiding in the sleeve of his other hand a brown talisman, and he secretly activated it.

Once the talisman was activated, Wu Dongnan’s body turned into a brown light that wanted to drill into the earth to escape.

Of course Ning Fan would not give Wu Dongnan a chance to flee. He personally did not have any experience in magical duels, but Ancient Chaotic Grand Emperor’s memories carried plenty.

The five firebirds flew by in a second, but Ning Fan’s body suddenly exerted a mysterious power that was able to devour all of the flames of this world.

Before, the old monster’s Black Flame Dragon was unmeasurably overbearing and massacred everyone at the All Pleasure School, but it was still devoured by Ning Fan’s locket.

Right now, the five firebirds were not as formidable as a Black Flame Dragon. The moment they got close to Ning Fan, the Yin Yang Locket inside his dantian immediately felt them.

Before they could touch his body, a unimaginable force forcefully sucked them inside Ning Fan’s dantian — into the Yin Yang Locket.

Meanwhile, Ning Fan — without a word — slashed one blade towards Wu Dongnan’s drilling spot and simply did not give him a chance to escape. This one sword forced him to unearth.

Wu Dongnan’s face was black from not being able to escape, but he was even more frightened.

Frightened because Ning Fan so easily broke through his firebird talismans. One had to know that even Late Harmonious Spirit old devils would not be able to do what Ning Fan did so easily.

“This child is absolutely not at Vein Opening, he must be hiding his cultivation!”

Wu Dongnan loathingly gritted his teeth. No matter what this person’s cultivation was, as long as he could escape this one time, he would absolutely bring people here to massacre Seven Apricot City and slay this person to quell his hatred.

It was too difficult to escape under the eyes of one thousand people, but didn’t this little brat, Ning Fan, want to deal with me by himself? If I could capture him, then I could definitely cause the others to be wary and have a chance to escape!

With a plan in his mind, Wu Dongnan explosively rushed forward towards Ning Fan with both hands unleashing several palms, creating a few fire palm prints that directly flew towards Ning Fan.

“A truly powerful fire palm spirit technique!” Yuchi’s eyes were surprised. He personally admitted that he couldn’t easily block this spirit technique. Even Situ frowned; clearly, he also felt that these fire palms were very tricky.

But Ning Fan didn’t think anything of these fire palms. In fact, along the way, he had heard of news regarding Wu Dongnan, and he knew that this person’s spirit techniques had a lot to do with fire.

This was why he wanted to try the Yin Yang Locket’s ability to stop fire and attempted it once. It was really effective so, at this time, looking at the fire palm seals, he naturally was not afraid at all and left the palms to hit his body. But when they were all at a distance of one foot from his body, a mysterious power forcefully sucked them in and they disappeared without a trace.

“How is this possible! This person didn’t block or dodge yet he was able to destroy my spirit technique!”

Wu Dongnan was greatly shocked. However, he had no other way to go and could only capture Ning Fan to have a chance of escaping.

He was only ten zhang away from Ning Fan! Wu Dongnan murmured in his mouth and numerous flames burned on his body. Like a burning man, he directly rammed towards Ning Fan.

The forceful impact along with the burning flames were enough to make any Late Harmonious Spirit cultivator lose their colors, but Ning Fan was still emotionless and simply was not afraid of Wu Dongnan’s fire spirit techniques.

As the hot winds brushed him in the face, Ning Fan met Wu Dongnan’s charge and, at the same time, swung his sword. All of his power was focused into the sword in his hand.

Wu Dongnan’s fire spirit technique couldn’t hurt him!

And with this one sword he must put in all his strength to deal Wu Dongnan a fatal blow!

With the Flame Transformation Sword technique appearing in Ning Fan’s head, as if the mind became brighter as the fortune arrived, black flames suddenly burned on Ning Fan’s sword, emitting a terrifying heat.

The army that followed Ning Fan in all directions had their eyes wide open. They were shocked from this sword move of Ning Fan.

The black flame flew one thousand zhang into the air, jumping like a normal Black Dragon that bellowed continuous dragon roars, causing the whole earth to shake!

What a frightening sword technique, it was able to create such a terrifying phenomenon!

“Not good!”

Wu Dongnan was surprised by the aura of this sword move and wanted to avoid it, but because his offensive momentum was too strong, he had no way of changing directions.

“Transformation Flame!”

Ning Fan coldly shouted. This one sword technique — without a shadow — had a fierce fire that rose from the sword like a rising black sun. Within several li of the area, everything was burned into nothingness by this stream of fire.

This was Ning Fan casting his most powerful spirit technique as well as his strongest hidden ace. One sword nearly exhausted all of his magical power, but with this sword’s power, such an expenditure was worth it!

This sword — Situ knew that he couldn’t block it, so Wu Dongnan also couldn’t block it!

“Wait! I know my mistake, I shouldn’t have offended Seven Apricot City, and I especially shouldn’t ask for Zhihe… Ah!”

Unable to avoid it, Wu Dongnan wanted to admit his mistakes. Unfortunately, the strength of this sword was too powerful. Once released, even Ning Fan was unable to stop this sword from completing its path.

The flame sword that reached the heavens slashed through Wu Dongnan’s body and directly burned the flames covering Wu Dongnan’s body away completely.

Afterward, Wu Dongnan bellowed pathetically as he was devoured by the flame sword. Fear and astonishment shone on his face as his vision completely vanished.

There was no blood nor screaming as Ning Fan swung his sword across Wu Dongnan’s body. The two people crossed by each other, leaving behind a Wu Dongnan with a sluggish expression like a statue on top of the snow.

In the blink of an eye, Wu Dongnan’s body dissipated into ash due to this sword technique of Ning Fan.

Above the white snow was the remnants of ashes. Wu Dongnan — this person no longer existed in this world!

Amongst the ashes, an immaterial soul flew out that resembled Wu Dongnan. Ning Fan coldly waved his hand and captured this soul in his grasp. He then investigated the soul along with its memories before destroying this soul remnant with one palm.

The Soul Memory Searching Spirit Technique was also learned by him from the Immortal Emperor’s memories. This was his first time using it, and the result was not bad. From Wu Dongnan’s memories, Ning Fan knew Wu Dongnan’s reason for making a move with Zhihe, along with his plans.

This was the first time Ning Fan killed someone. He was clean and swift when using the Soul Memory Searching Spirit Technique as if he was a natural born evil cultivator.

“So powerful! Young Lord only needed one sword to immediately kill this person!”

In the sky above, Yuchi and Situ were both amazed. They put themselves in Wu Dongnan’s position and they both knew that there was a high chance that they would also be killed by Young Lord’s sword below.

The two couldn’t help but have a rising sense of respect and fear towards Ning Fan. Only such a person would be eligible to become the Seven Apricot Young Lord.

The only unexpected thing was that the normally bright and smiling young man, once angered, would have such a heartless way of killing.

This boy was given birth by the heavens to cultivate the Evil Dao… The most terrifying demons… When dormant, people would even think that they were only mortals. However, once they made a move, a country would be annihilated, and the thousand armies would be destroyed as the world mourned in a white silk dress with its shaking mountains and rivers as the heaven and earth collapsed!

After killing Wu Dongnan, Ning Fan closed his eyes and revealed a wry smile on his lips.

Not long before, he was a mild-mannered young man, but now, he was a cold-blooded evil murderer.

Is this the evil cultivation path? Fine, once one steps onto this road, one could only close their eyes and keep treading forward.

Wu Dongnan’s storage pouch was of fine quality and was not burned away. Ning Fan picked it up and took away all of Wu Dongnan’s treasures.

True Spirit Violet Corral, Tracing Shadow Sword, Middle-Ranked Immortal Cloud, tens of thousands of immortal jades along with the Gold Core Dao Fruit!

Ning Fan’s gaze became slightly strange. He didn’t think that the Dao Fruit sold at the auction would eventually fall into his hands.

“Gold Core Dao Fruit… Mortals eating it would directly break through to the Harmonious Spirit realm. A Late Harmonious Spirit eating it would directly break through to the Gold Core realm. Gold Core old devils eating it could even raise a small level… If I eat it, what will happen!?”

“Young Lord, what to do next?”

“Erase all traces of the battle here!”

***

After three days, a shocking piece of news traveled across the land of Yue. Yue Country’s number one evil school, the Heavenly Beast School’s outer elder Wu Dongnan was killed after participating in the Seven Apricot Dao Fruit Auction!

The killer was unknown! However, many experts from the Heavenly Beast School suspected that this was caused by Seven Apricot City. There were rumors that, after Wu Dongnan left the city, Seven Apricot City’s two godly armies also left the city with strange actions.

This matter caused great anger in the Heavenly Beast School. There were even many Heavenly Beast School cultivators who threatened to wage war against Seven Apricot City for revenge.

This caused panic throughout the Yue Country’s cultivation world. They were afraid that after peace for many years, there would be a second war in the Yue’s cultivation world. However, Seven Apricot City’s cultivators acted like they had nothing to do with it and still went on with their business as they remained unaffected by the Heavenly Beast School’s threats.

Great Commander Nangong hosted a banquet in his palace to entertain Situ and Yuchi, along with the generals of the three guards. He was very excited; this new Young Lord truly had the qualifications to lead Seven Apricot City!

What he was most satisfied about was Ning Fan’s style. Directly killing the enemies without any hesitation — this was exactly like the old monster forty years ago.

With such a Young Lord, they would not be lacking war campaigns in the future. This was great news to a war loving military group.

The only regret was that Ning Fan did not show up to this drinking banquet.

At this moment, Ning Fan was in isolated cultivation in his palace, trying to refine the Gold Core Dao Fruit.

After three months of isolated cultivation, his energy kept on rising from fifth level Vein Opening all the way to tenth level Vein Opening. Just one more step and he would reach Harmonious Spirit!

Once he reached Harmonious Spirit, he would be an expert that could only be counted on one’s fingers in Seven Apricot City!

Regrettably, there were one hundred Yin Yang Evil Veins opened in his body, but he couldn’t find the feeling for Harmonious Spirit.

“What on earth is missing…” He was a bit lost. Even though he inherited the Immortal Emperor’s memories, but once he actually cultivated, he would still meet many problems that were not in the memories.

It seemed that there was a layer of binding that always stopped him from breaking through to Harmonious Spirit.

It was as if his breakthrough method was not correct…

At his time of anguish, Zhihe’s bashful voice suddenly came from outside of the door.

“Big Brother Fan, why not try that thing… Maybe, you could immediately break through…”

“That thing? You are talking… dual cultivation!” Ning Fan became enlightened. So it was like this. He cultivated a dual cultivation merit law. In order to break through, he still had to resort to the origin of this merit law and dual cultivate.

Dual cultivation with Zhihe, perhaps, could really break through to the Harmonious Spirit realm!

Something that was worth mentioning was that after three months had passed, the old monster destroyed a total of fifty-two cauldrons but still was not able to refine a Fourth Revolution Dan Medicine…

His old face became as red as a pig’s liver, and he finally decided to ask Ning Fan for advice only to find that Ning Fan took Zhihe outside to play with the kites.

And after he learned that, when he was refining dan, Ning Fan killed a Heavenly Beast School’s elder, provoking a great calamity for Seven Apricot City, he suddenly became livid with anger without a way to let it out.

Angry, not because Ning Fan caused trouble, but because of something else.

“Smelly brat! This old man is here working hard to refine dan, yet you were simply killing people alone without bringing this old man! Am I still a master in your eyes ah! Your grandmother! This brat alone stole the good fun, and I have to deal with this troublesome outcome!”

So it turned out he was angry because of this.