Grasping Evil

Spirit iron obtained! Also… Cauldron Ring?

Lace1010 (TL)

Jiem (E)

Wayfinder (E)

That night, Mo clan prepared a banquet, the four clan heads took turns toasting and entertained young lord Ning Fan.

If before there were people unconvinced by Ning Fan, right now, there was nothing they rejected about him.

At the dining table, Ning Fan smiled amiably and chatted casually with those around him, making the eyes of Wu Lan and Mo Rushui shine brightly, but Ye Huan and Fang Nuo, these two old men, were extremely dissatisfied with Ning Fan.

Ning Fan couldn´t hold his liquor at all! He was already tipsy after two glasses. An evil cultivator that can´t hold alcohol was far too shameful!

Of course, nobody is perfect...

As the moonlight dissipated from the sky and the banquet dispersed, the three clan heads left one after another. Inside the grand hall, there was only Mo Rushui who was slowly sipping on a glass of wine, and an unconscious Ning Fan sprawled out on the table.

Mo Rushui slightly pursed her red lips and suddenly smiled, "All the people have left, has the dignified young lord of Seven Apricot decided to stay the night in the house of this subordinate while pretending to be drunk? "

As Mo Rushui's words spilled out, the originally drunk Ning Fan´s eyes flashed brightly. With a wave of magical energy, he expulsed the alcohol from his body, laughing, "I have a strong tolerance to alcohol. If I didn't pretend to be drunk, I'm afraid it would have taken forever to discuss business. Goddess Mo, can you now tell me about the matter of the Soul Burning spirit iron?"

"Young Lord surely wants that Soul Burning spirit iron?"

"It´s not like I must have it, I only want to augment the spirit of my treasure. If it's too troublesome for you, it´s fine to use a different divine power."

Ning Fan opened his mouth and starlight flew out, transforming into a long sword that was translucent and sparkled like water in his hands. This was of course Separation Slayer, which was then handed to Mo Rushui.

"Goddess Mo, would you please assess this sword and tell me what kind of divine power is most appropriate to augment its spirit? I don´t know anything about Spirit Augmentation"

Mo Rushui took Separation Slayer. At first she didn´t mind, after all she was a Spirit Augmentation Master of the Dan Treasure rank, even refining Gold rank spirit equipment wouldn't be difficult. But with just a glance, she noticed this sword was just that of a low inferior rank.

Internally, she felt slightly displeased. If the grand 'Soul Burning' spirit iron were attached to an inferior treasure, wouldn´t it be like dragging the name of 'Soul Burning' through the mud?

But after she took the sword, Mo Rushui became startled. The sword was very light! It was not that the sword was weightless, but rather when held, it felt as though she had become one with the sword, like it was an extension of her arm and she naturally couldn't feel its weight.

"'One with the sword'...the one who refined this sword is an expert far above me..."

She sincerely praised the sword and dared not look down on Separation Slayer again, then started to examine it in every detail.

As bright as the stars, as cold as autumn rain, as thin as a cicada´s wings, as imposing as a flying dragon...this sword was clearly a low inferior rank weapon, but the feeling it gave to Mo Rushui cannot even be described by the word 'shock'.

She sometimes frowned, other times opened her mouth, at times appeared joyous, and at other times puzzled or perplexed, or even surprised... as if she were using all of the expressions she'd ever learned throughout her life, and it was all shown on that charming face.

Her beautiful eyes were fixated on the sword, that eye catching starlight made her feel increasingly shocked.

"This is, this is...can I ask Young Lord, if you know the origin of this sword?"

"This sword was refined by me, how could I not know of its origin..." Ning Fan grabbed his chopsticks and casually ate the leftovers on the table without the slightest disgust.

He was poor all his life. In the most difficult of times he even fought with pigs and dogs for food, why would he care about it being leftovers.

"What... this sword was refined by the Young Lord?!" Mo Rushui´s expression changed abruptly into one of astonishment, she would have never guessed that the refining master she admired was the Young Lord in front of her.

"Young Lord, did you know that inside this sword, there´s a fragment of Immemorial Star..."

"I naturally know, being master´s disciple, I have the Immemorial Evil Veins so I can handle this 'immemorial divine weapon'!"

"So Young Lord knows. It seems that yesterday´s manifestation of 'stars appearing in daytime' was triggered by Young Lord… An immemorial divine weapon, I never thought that I would have the fortune to see one in this life… Young Lord, do you really want to augment the spirit of this sword?! "

Mo Rushui looked a little eager. For a Spirit Augmentation Master, being able to augment the spirit of an immemorial divine weapon was a tremendous honor!

"That's correct. As for what kind of divine power to attach, I will leave the decision to Goddess Mo." Ning Fan had a small smile on his face. Letting Mo Rushui decide was considered a form of respect toward Spirit Augmentation Masters.

"An… immemorial divine weapon, a peerless sword that can advance in ranks… I am extremely willing and sincerely wish to attach the 'Soul Burning' divine power for Young Lord. The Soul Burning divine power is a 'void' rank divine power that only Void Fragmentation old monsters are qualified to use for spirit augmentation. If it is used in this sword, it definitely won't be wasted… With my level being at the 'Dan Treasure' rank of Spirit Augmentation, I can only attach one divine power, and if I were to attach another divine power and not 'Soul Burning' then it would be a waste..."

Mo Rushui mumbled to herself, unable to decide. Ning Fan listened attentively, unsure of the situation. His knowledge of Spirit Augmentation was severely lacking.

Listening to Mo Rushui´s words, it seemed as though it was possible for one treasure to utilize several divine powers, but with her level she could only attach one.

According to Mo Rushui, to augment the spirit of a treasure, 'spirit iron' was needed. As for what spirit iron was, Ning Fan didn´t know, but that did not hinder him from understanding. It must be some kind of special immortal mineral that was essential in Spirit Augmentation.

That 'Soul Burning' spirit iron was actually called a 'void' rank spirit iron, one could imagine how precious it was.

Ning Fan had the memories of an immortal emperor so he had great perception. He could tell that Mo Rushui was a little troubled. It seemed that she had some difficulties and could not attach the 'Soul Burning' divine power to Separation Slayer.

"Goddess Mo, if there are difficulties, it´s fine if you don´t attach the 'Soul Burning' divine power." Ning Fan shook his head and laughed in spite of himself, he didn't actually value the spirit augmentation technique very much, but attaching only one divine power was still better than nothing.

"Difficulties, there are definitely a few… First, that Soul Burning spirit iron belongs to City Lord Han. I must ask you one thing. Young Lord, have you asked yourself if you possess the qualifications to use it?"

"Well, I believe I should have it. My relationship with master can be said to be a friendship that has been through life and death… if I use a piece of his spirit iron, he may make a fuss but he won´t get really mad..."

Ning Fan shook his head while smiling wryly. He could easily imagine that if the Old Monster got wind of Ning Fan using his Soul Burning spirit iron, he would definitely fly into a rage and cry out 'father has suffered!'.

But the Old Monster would only babble about it and wouldn't really get mad, he was pretty generous when it came to matters regarding Ning Fan.

"Is that so, it seems that Young Lord and City Lord are on pretty good terms..." Mo Rushui took a meaningful glance at Ning Fan.

According to what she knew, the Old Monster took in countless disciples. Although he treated them all relatively well, none of them were treated as well as Ning Fan. It seems that the temperament of these two were very similar.

If Mo Rushui were to come to learn the truth that Ning Fan and the Old Monster had exterminated the Heaven Separation School together and were the culprits that countless old monsters of the Rain Immortal World were trying to track down, she wouldn´t have thought of that question.

In the Heaven Separation battle, Ning Fan and the Old Monster shared life and death and trusted each other, their friendship could be described as a master and disciple´s relationship but also as friends despite the difference in age. Old Monster was very carefree and Ning Fan was also easygoing.

Mo Rushui faintly sighed. What caused this is the Old Monster´s tragic story. Old Monster took countless disciples, but each of them died a brutal death... and the only one that was still alive had become the Old Monster´s life's grievance...

And this Old Monster actually took Ning Fan as his disciple, treating him like his child. It would seem that regarding the relations between Ning Fan and the Old Monster; there was a destiny between them that was hard to come across.

"Since Young Lord has confidence in using this iron, then I won´t say more. I recommend Young Lord attach the 'Soul Burning' divine power to this sword. But, there´s still one more problem..."

"Oh? If there are more problems you can just say it. Even though my knowledge about Spirit Augmentation is limited, what I know about other aspects is still pretty good, perhaps I can help Goddess Mo to solve some problems..."

"The other problem is… the Soul Burning spirit iron has been polluted by a strange demonic ore… so the effect of applying Spirit Augmentation might be greatly reduced. About this matter, I believe there is a need to tell Young Lord in advance." Mo Rushui looked apologetic. As a Spirit Augmentation Master, if she were to attach a flawed divine power for her clients she would lose her credibility.

"Oh? The Soul Burning spirit iron was actually polluted by a demonic ore? Interesting...Goddess Mo, can you bring me over to take a look at this Soul Burning spirit iron? Perhaps I can purify it, who knows."

"If you can accomplish that then I can attach the most perfect divine power for Young Lord!" Mo Rushui stood up joyously, her pair of beautiful eyes carrying a trace of fervor. Without the patience to wait and also not caring that it was late at night, she immediately took Ning Fan to take a look at the spirit iron.

This made Ning Fan rather speechless. Were all the renowned Spirit Augmentation Masters and Refinement Masters mad-men when it came to refining treasures?

...

Inside Mo clan's treasure room, Mo Rushui ran her hand over something and activated a mechanism, causing a deep tunnel to suddenly appear from the ground that lead to an unknown location.

Ning Fan followed Mo Rushui and walked down the tunnel, seemingly making their way down thousands of zhang deep underground.

In the deepest area, there was a secret chamber made of 'Broken Divine Silver' that was approximately three zhang in size and in the shape of a square. This immortal ore not only possessed a hard and durable quality, it could also block divine sense, thus it was extremely precious. Who could have imagined that it would be used by Mo Rushui to build a secret chamber.

The insides of the secret chamber was practically empty, with only a jade table placed in the center of the room and a piece of half-black half-red ore atop it.

The red half carried a faint trace of blazing heat and Ning Fan used his divine sense to sense it. In a moment of carelessness, a trace of his divine sense was burned by that heat. If he was a little slower in retracting it, he definitely would have gotten injured.

"Is this the Soul Burning spirit iron? I had not expected that it could actually burn divine sense. If this divine power was attached to the sword, a slash would not only cut flesh, it could even cut the enemy's divine sense!"

A void rank divine power truly cannot be looked down upon...

Ning Fan´s eyes then fell onto the black half, this time showing a puzzled expression.

It looked familiar and strange, but after racking his brain for a short period of time, nothing came to mind.

Mo Rushui respectfully stood to the side and waited, not daring to disturb Ning Fan´s train of thoughts.

Moments later, Ning Fan approached the jade table and touched the black ore, his emotions unstable.

His exterior expression appeared calm and collected, but his heart was shaken to it's core.

"Joyous Union iron…a kind of divine iron recorded in the <<Yin Yang Transformation>>... this iron only has one use and it is to be made into a joyous union secret treasure… Cauldron Ring! One of the uses of that ring is to assist dual cultivation, a self-made space to hold cauldrons… with this item, an evil cultivator could kidnap hundreds of thousands of women and bring them along with him easily..."