Grasping Evil

Chapter 487: Chapter 487: Bestowal of the Title of King and Becoming Nobility

The news about Ning Fan subduing the Mist Horn Clan which was one of the Four Clans of the Hidden Sea shook the External Endless Sea overnight. Information spread everywhere including the remotest corners of the world like falling snowflakes.

In the Zhou Clan, Hong Yi who was in the middle of her seclusion to heal her wounds in a small chilliocosm looked at the jade slip in her hands. It contained the news about what Ning Fan had done to the Mist Horn Clan. After reading it, her blood-red eyes curved into a faint crescent moon-like shape.

“Suppressing the Mist Horn Clan? Besides, it’s different from what I did in the past. All I did was just suppress them but this young man enslaved the Mist Horn Clan completely. His skills aren’t weak. If he is trained and nurtured with care, he will become a great aid for me to attack the Rain Palace! Guards!”

As Hong Yi’s call resounded outside the small chiliocosm, three Void Refinement Realm experts with massive qi immediately went inside the realm.

One of the three individuals was the Third Elder, Zhou Chen. The other two experts looked rather unfamiliar. They should also be the Void Refinement Realm elders of the Zhou Clan. Their qi was even much stronger than the Third Elder’s!

“Lord Thunder Sovereign, is there anything you need?” The three experts bowed before Hong Yi in unison. Their expressions were filled with utter respect.

As for the way they addressed Hong Yi, it would certainly shock the entire Rain World if it is spread in the outer world. Moreover, the news about Ning Fan subduing the entire Mist Horn Clan would certainly be nowhere near as shocking as this!

Hong Yi was actually the Thunder Sovereign!

However, wasn’t the remnant soul of the Thunder Sovereign sealed inside the Sovereign’s Tomb? Wasn’t it neither dead nor alive? Wasn’t it unable to leave that tomb? How come it would turn into Hong Yi and appear in the Internal Endless Sea?!

If the Rain World finds out that the Thunder Sovereign had gotten out of the Sovereign’s Tomb, wouldn’t they be greatly shocked?!

“Zhou Wei, Zhou Tong, Zhou Chen, my plan has some changes. The time for my ‘resurrection’ will be postponed temporarily. I’ll like to change the person that is chosen to help me ‘return the soul to my primordial spirit’ in the plan. I want to wait for another person to help me return my soul in person!”

“What?! My Lord, returning your soul to your primordial spirit is an extremely significant matter. Not a single mistake is tolerable. We are the most suitable candidates for it. My Lord, why do you intend to change the person?”

“There’s nothing much to discuss about this matter. I have my own considerations. That young man will be more suitable than every one of you.”

As soon as Hong Yi finished speaking, she gently shut her blood-red eyes and kept silent.

The three elders exchanged glances among each other. They seemed to have something to say but they could not muster up their courage to persuade Hong Yi in the end. After making a light sigh, they excused themselves and left the place.

As the plan was changed, a lot of things would need to be readjusted. The three of them would have tons of work to do.

In the broken world of the Giant Devil Clan.

The Eight Ancestors were looking at the news in their hands. The expressions on their faces were filled with surprise.

“This kid actually has the ability to enslave an entire clan! This is too unbelievable! We have spent our entire lifetime in order to break the slave mark. He, however, undid the slave marks on the members of the Mist Horn Clan and planted a new one on them, turning them into his slave instantly. This young man’s skills are actually so heaven-defying. Should we ask for his help to break the slave marks for our clan?” A Void Inquiry Stage old ancestor spoke in amazement.

“When we met him in the broken world last time, he clearly was still at the Half-Step Void Refinement Realm. How did he break through to the Void Inquiry Stage in just a few months? Could it be that he has stored a massive amount of magic power in his body while restricting himself at the Divine Transformation Realm so that he could attain the Void Refinement Realm in a single attempt?”

Another old ancestor sucked into a cold breath. The minimum magic power that a Void Inquiry Stage expert had was incredibly massive. It was at least three million units. Ordinary Divine Transformation Realm cultivators were unable to hold such a huge amount of magic power within them at all…

“Humph?! So what if he breaks through to the Void Inquiry Stage?! So what if he subdued Xi Mo, Yin Gong, Gui Jiao and the others?! Even if he possesses an unrivaled strength among Void Inquiry Stage experts, he is still at our mercy. Among the eight of us, there are two Void Pierce Stage experts! There is an insurmountable gap between the Void Pierce Stage and the Void Inquiry Stage. Only outstanding experts like Yun Tianjue and King Lan Ling could put up a fight against Void Pierce Stage experts when they were at the Void Inquiry Stage. Thus, there’s nothing fearful about this young man!”

A gloomy Void Inquiry Stage woman spoke with a mean voice. She might be saying that Ning Fan was just a worthless and insignificant cultivator, there was a strong jealousy in her words. She clearly envied Ning Fan’s strength and skills.

“That’s it! Stop talking about him!”

King Ju Lu’s deep and hoarse voice echoed across the area, carrying a powerful Void Pierce Stage aura force which caused all old ancestors to quiet down obediently.

“Even though this young man is able to break the slave mark, we, the eight ancestors are also able to undo the slave marks using our own means thanks to the effort from the eight generations. We don’t need to seek help from an outsider. We will still continue with our original plan. Ten years later, we will use the devil blood in Feng Xueyan’s body to lift the slave mark on our clan.”

“But, Old Ancestor, since Zhou Ming can break the slave mark with ease, why do we still need to sacrifice Feng Xueyan. We could just ask for his help directly while promising him great rewards. After all, Feng Xueyan is my granddaughter. I don’t want to see her die…” Old Ancestor Ju Yan raised an objection.

“Ju Yan, are you doubting my order?!” King Ju Lu’s eyes turned solemn. The look on his face immediately silenced Ju Yan’s objection.

“Ju Yan doesn’t dare to… But Feng Xueyan…”

“That’s enough talking! This is the final decision regarding this matter! Our plan is flawless. We don’t need to use an outsider’s help. All of you have to understand that Zhou Ming is still an outsider no matter what. Even though he has a way to break the slave mark, he also has the power to plant it. What if he plants a new slave mark on us after he breaks our old slave marks? Aren’t our people going to serve him for eternity after that?”

“What Old Ancestor said is correct. It’s me being not thoughtful enough.” Ju Yan could not rebuke. All he could do was stay silent and obey King Ju Lu.

“Mm. It’s good that you are aware of your mistake. The plan will go on. Let’s just wait for that kid to refine the Sinful Ocean Pill for us. Hehe. Ten years. I just need to wait ten more years…”

King Ju Lu’s eyes flashed with a hint of gloominess but no one around him noticed it.

The reason why he put himself through a torturing wait of eight generations and made painstaking efforts was not just to save the Giant Devil Clan from the slave marks. In fact, he had his own personal objective.

“As long as the plan goes smoothly, not only can I gain the conferral as a true devil and cultivate the great path of the ancient devil, but also use the ‘artificial ancestral blood’ in Feng Xueyan’s body to obtain at least the true grade devil bloodlines! No. Perhaps I will have the chance to obtain royal grade devil bloodlines and become the legendary King Devil! In the past, my foundation was injured by the heavenly tribulation and that’s why I had no chance to break through to the Void Fragmentation Realm. However, if I can really obtain at least the true grade devil bloodlines, I’ll be able to attain the Revered Devil Realm very soon! The Revered Devil Realm is much stronger than the Void Fragmentation Realm! In front of my ancient devil race, all cultivators are ants and food!”

King Ju Lu stroked the old and unadorned jade box in his hands, feeling an upsurge of excitement inwardly.

What the jade box contained was a Low Grade Seventh Revolution Pill – Revered Blood Pill!

The function of this pill was to fortify the cultivation base of a Revered Devil Realm being. The price of a single pellet of this pill was immeasurable.

“If I didn’t obtain this Revered Blood Pill in the past, I would never think that I would have the hope of becoming a Revered Devil in my life. Hehe. In the entire Rain World, no, in all Nine Worlds, who is as lucky as me to have the chance to consume the Seventh Revolution Revered Blood Pill of the ancient devil race?!”

The Revered Blood Pill in King Ju Lu’s hands was just an imperfect item. Even so, he saw it as a priceless treasure.

Unfortunately, he did not know that Ning Fan had obtained 10 complete pellets of this pill after completing the tests on the Devil Conferral Summit and he had also consumed every one of them, allowing him to stabilize his Reckless Devil Realm in a very short period of time.

Compared to Ning Fan’s luck, his inferior luck was nothing worth mentioning at all.

In the Middle State – Rain Palace.

The Rain Sovereign’s expression changed when he read the news in his hands.

It showed that Ning Fan had broken through to the Void Inquiry Stage. However, how could this be possible? A few months ago, Ning Fan was still just a Half-Step Void Refinement Realm cultivator. How could it be possible for him to successfully attain the Void Inquiry Stage in just a few months?

“Could it possibly be that this kid has been blessed with a great opportunity? Or could it be because someone who has equivalently outstanding potential as the Thunder Sovereign and Yun Tianjue has…”

The Rain Sovereign’s eyes were filled with uncertainty. He was not sure if he would produce a sovereign level enemy by letting Ning Fan continue progressing.

According to the information he had, King Lan Ling had yet to ‘teach’ Ning Fan and it made the Rain Sovereign extremely dissatisfied.

Based on his personality, there was no way he could allow a devil cultivator who did not belong to the Rain Palace to grow without limit. However, what gave him a headache was that the stronger Ning Fan gets, the greater the success rate of him entering that place.

The Rain Sovereign was unwilling to let Ning Fan grow influential anymore but at the same time, he was also hoping that he would get stronger so that he could pass through the sea of Immortal Flames and retrieve that item for him.

His thoughts were really self-contradictory and it really vexed him.

Besides, Ning Fan had now broken through to the ‘Void Inquiry Stage’. As the reputable Rain Sovereign, should he fulfill the promise he made last time by making Ning Fan the palace lord of the Scarlet Heaven Palace?

The Rain Sovereign had a lot of subdivisions. Every one of them was guarded by a Void Refinement Realm palace lord. However, among all the subdivisions, only nine of them were the strongest and they were known as the ‘Nine Heaven Divine Palaces’. All of them were named after the Nine Heavens and each of them was under the supervision of a Void Fragmentation Realm expert.

The identity as one of the nine palace lords was extremely venerated. If it wasn’t because Ning Fan was of great use to the Rain Sovereign, how would the latter let him go freely after he had killed Mo Xiu, the dignified palace lord of the Scarlet Heaven Palace?

“Perhaps it’s a good thing if I make him the palace lord of the Scarlet Heaven Palace. When he comes to the Middle State in the future, Jinghong can keep an eye on him. With Jinghong’s skills, he is suitable enough to keep this kid under control and stop his skyrocketing momentum. By tempting him with benefits appropriately, I probably can keep him for my own use… This way, it’s nothing to give him the palace lord post. With his potential, he will definitely be a great aid to me when he attains the Void Fragmentation Realm. However, I still have to observe him to see whether he has the intention to become a sovereign and betrays us. I need to see whether he is going to leave the Rain Palace in the future to create his own faction and become the second sovereign of Rain World…”

“Well then, I shall test whether he has the intention to become a sovereign himself by conferring him a title.”

When cultivators attain the Void Refinement Realm in Rain World, all of them would be given a unique title by the Rain Palace if they had remarkable potential.

Be it King Lan Ling, Marquis You Gui[1] or King Ju Lu, all of them were given the title of king and nobility after they had attained the Void Refinement Realm.

The Rain Sovereign picked up his pen and wrote two titles on the paper in front of them. They were the titles that he was prepared to let Ning Fan choose.

One of them was King Ming, a king title using Ning Fan’s pseudonym, Zhou Ming.

The other one was White Marquis. It was a title derived from the white robes which Ning Fan wore all the time and his impressiveness in committing killings in the world.

The Rain Sovereign’s eyes turned grim. If Ning Fan chooses the king title, it would mean that he was likely to harbor the intention of becoming a sovereign being. If he chooses the marquis title, there would be a chance for the Rain Palace to recruit him.

The Rain Sovereign wanted to see which title Ning Fan would choose.

“Lord Divine Sovereign, on the world path to the Devil World, a Void Refinement Realm cultivator of the devil race intends to enter the Rain World. He is one of the top ten devil generals under Moksha Sovereign. His name is Dao Yan! He says that the reason he comes to our world is to kill someone!” A subordinate entered the hall and reported to the Rain Sovereign

“Dao Yan? One of the top ten devil generals of Moksha Sovereign wants to enter my Rain World? Humph! Last time, Moksha Sovereign intruded the world path and trespassed on my Rain World as if my Rain World is nothing. Today, he still wants to send his subordinate to my world to kill somebody. Does he really think that my Rain World is the weakest world of the Nine Worlds and I can be easily bullied?! Chase that man off! Don’t let him to enter our world!” The Rain Sovereign’s eyes were cold.

“But…” The subordinate blurted out a word awkwardly.

“Are you doubting my orders?”

“No. This subordinate doesn’t dare to do so! However, that Devil General Dao Yan carries a Sovereign Execution Token…”

“What? A Sovereign Execution Token!?”

The Rain Sovereign’s eyebrows knitted together. A Sovereign Execution Token was something that the divine sovereigns of all Nine Worlds possessed. It allows people from their own world to enter the other world to kill someone. A token gives the user the permission to kill one person.

Since this Devil General Dao Yan came with the token, the Rain Sovereign had no other options but to accommodate him and let him kill a person in Rain World.

“… Fine. Pass down the message to open the world path for Dao Yan. Let him choose a domain himself to descend. He must not commit a large-scale massacre in our world. He is only allowed to kill one person!”

“Understood. This subordinate will execute your orders right away!”

…

In the world path of an empty realm, Devil General Dao Yan held a token in his hands while standing midair in front of a world gate. His body exuded great devil qi.

A few moments later, there were some movements on the other side of the gate. Groups of cultivators from the Rain World appeared and opened up the world gate and allowed Dao Yan to enter Rain World.

“Senior, may I know which domain of the Rain World that you wish to descend on?” A Divine Transformation Realm cultivator asked politely.

Dao Yan did not say anything. Instead, he took out a Harmonious Spirit Realm qi and sealed it into the Sovereign Execution Token.

Immediately, the token sensed the whereabouts of the qi’s owner. Then, Dao Yan said with a deep and bone-chilling voice.

“The farthest east of Rain World.”

“The farthest east of Rain World? Does Senior wish to descend on the Endless Sea?”

That Divine Transformation Realm cultivator of the Rain Palace felt extremely surprised. He did not know who Dao Yan was going to kill once he descended on the Endless Sea.

What he found even more hard to comprehend was the trace of Harmonious Spirit Realm qi that Dao Yan put into the Sovereign Execution Token.

He had witnessed the Sovereign Execution Token before. Throughout the years, he had also seen many experts from the other worlds coming to Rain World to kill the traitors of their worlds with this token.

Each time they entered the Rain World, those experts would put the traitors’ qi into their tokens to pinpoint the traitors’ location.

However, each traitor that was hunted was at least at the Void Refinement Realm.

After all, a Sovereign Execution Token was an extremely precious item. The chance of killing somebody must not be wasted on an insignificant ant.

Thus, this Divine Transformation Realm cultivator from the Rain Palace could not understand why Moksha Sovereign from the Devil World sent a capable general just to eliminate a Harmonious Spirit Realm junior.

However, he knew that Moksha Sovereign’s plan was not something that he, a lowly Divine Transformation Realm, could probe into.

Without saying much, he opened the cloud formation for Devil General Dao Yan.

Dao Yan leapt into the formation with a single step and his body vanished into nothingness.

This cloud formation was the teleportation formation for the domains of Rain World. It could teleport the cultivators who just arrived at Rain World to any part of the world. However, the precision of the landing area was not quite accurate as the user of the formation would be landing in anywhere one billion li* (500m per li) within the targeted location.

“With me taking this mission, that mere Harmonious Spirit Realm cultivator will die for sure!” Devil General Dao Yan sneered.

At the same time, Ning Fan who was having discussions with Su Yan and Ming Que in the Mist Horn Clan suddenly raised his head with a hint of cold light in his eyes.

Just as Devil General Dao Yan activated the Sovereign Execution Token, Ning Fan had a clear feeling that a trace of his qi was being locked on. He even felt a plain and undisguised killing intent targeting him.

“Master, what’s the matter?” Su Yan asked with concern. She was very grateful to Ning Fan for not killing too many members of her clan and just enslaving them. Her attitude towards Ning Fan gradually became more respectful.

“Someone wants to kill me. However, there’s nothing to worry about. It’s just a Void Inquiry Stage cultivator and he’s very far away from me. This man seems to have come after me all the way non-stop. However, he certainly could not reach me without a few months of travel. But there’s one thing that I am quite concerned about…”

That thing that concerned Ning Fan was that there were others’ qi in the qi of that Void Inquiry Stage expert that was pursuing him. One of them gave Ning Fan a particularly familiar feeling.

“Aiya, who could be so bold that he wants to kill my Brother Biscuit. I will definitely not let him go! Since there is someone who wants to harm Brother Biscuit, I think it’s better we don’t go to Si Kong Demon Island at the moment. Let’s go and beat the crap out of him first, alright?!” That little pill devil raised her soft and tender fists with a serious expression as if she wanted to fight for Ning Fan.

“No, we’ll still go to that island. Why don’t we? We will still need to pay a visit to Si Kong Demon Island at the end of the day. According to what Ancestor Qu, you have yet to obtain the inheritance power from ‘Si Cang Statue’. The reason why he did not allow you to take the inheritance power was because he was afraid that you would not be able to endure it. However, since I am by your side today, you don’t have to worry about anything. I can protect you and keep you safe so that you can assimilate the inheritance power from Si Cang peacefully.”

Ning Fan glanced sideways at Old Man Qu. That elderly man immediately lowered his head in fear.

After subduing the Mist Horn Clan, Ning Fan had deliberately looked for him once to detain and interrogate him. All he asked about was regarding the secrets of Si Kong Demon Island.

At first, Old Man Qu was reluctant to divulge anything. However, after Ning Fan had used some ‘punishments’, he revealed all the secrets he knew about the island.

He harbored no ill intentions against Ming Que. He just wanted to let her accept Si Cang’s inheritance power and become the ancient demon to lead them once again.

Ning Fan then let Old Man Qu go after knowing these and stopped bullying him. Now, that elderly man was extremely afraid of Ning Fan as he still had lingering fear for the interrogation on that day.

“Alright then. If Brother Biscuit accompanies me, I will return to Si Kong Demon Island. From today onwards, my stomach will follow Brother Biscuit wherever you go!”

The little pill devil held Ning Fan’s arm with a cute face, trying her best to please him.

She did not want to leave him again. She wanted to eat all the pill biscuits that were available beneath the heavens.

“Mm. After visiting Si Kong Demon Island, we’ll drop by Pill Island again along the way. Then, we can return to the Giant Devil Clan. With the strength that I have currently attained, there are some things I am capable of dealing now. You all get some rest today. Today, we will set out to Si Kong Demon Island.”

As soon as Ning Fan voice’s fell, he flew away and returned to his own room.

He then sat on his bed in a meditative posture and patted his storage pouch. He took out a bag of loot he gained from the battle and placed it in front of him. His eyes slowly became serious.

Immortal jade, spiritual medicines, pills, pill recipes, magic treasures… None of these items could get Ning Fan’s attention.

The only thing that he was concerned about was the jade slips.

Each of the jade slips contained a stored full-powered attack of an early ancestor of the Mist Horn Clan.

Due to the passage of time, the destructive power of these attacks greatly reduced. Otherwise, most of the jade slips could deliver a Life Immortal Realm or True Immortal Realm strike.

After so many years, only twenty plus jade slips still retained Void Refinement Realm destructive power and above.

Among them, there were 7 Void Inquiry Stage stored attacks, 4 Void Pierce Stage stored attacks, 3 Absolute Void Stage stored attacks and 1 stored attack at the First Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm.

Looking at this collection of jade slips, Ning Fan felt rather bad. If these jade slips could be repaired and restored to their original destructive power, they would be terrifying items.

“It’s pretty unlikely to restore them. However, it seems like these jade slips still have another use.”

Ning Fan seemed to have thought of an idea as his eyes sparkled…

Translated by Tommy, edited by Roel

[1] Marquis You Gui (Chinese: 幽鬼侯 Pinyin: yōu guǐ hóu) You Gui should be the name of that person. While the word, 侯 (hóu) means his title which is literally translated as Marquis. It is previously translated as You Guihou as there’s no information about his title. Hence, it’s changed to suit the context better.