Grasping Evil

Chapter 488: Chapter 488: Devil Subduing Hoop

Since Ning Fan could not restore these jade slips completely, it was impossible to make them recover their original destructive power of the True Immortal Realm.

However, there was one method Ning Fan would like to try. That method could probably let the jade slips recover a portion of their original power.

Every single one of these jade slips were left behind by the early ancestors of the Mist Horn Clan who cultivated the ancient devil path in the past. Each of these jade slips contained a powerful magic attack that was on par with Immortal Techniques.

Due to the dissipation of the devil qi from inside of them, the power of these Immortal Techniques were greatly weakened. If they were given a certain amount of devil qi, all of them could recover a considerable amount of their original power.

“Well, there is one source of devil qi in my hands… The rogue devil!”

Ning Fan’s eyes flashed with seriousness. During his trip to Wei Country, he obtained a rogue devil but had never had the chance to use it before.

In the past, he once envisioned that he could start trying to control and manipulate the rogue devil once his cultivation level reaches the Peak Divine Transformation Realm. However, the risk of doing so was without a doubt extremely high. Ning Fan could not guarantee whether the rogue devil would overwhelm him instead.

The higher the cultivation level he had, the lower the risk he would face in controlling the rogue devil. Thus, he certainly would not risk his life just to activate that rogue devil unless he is pushed to the brink of certain death by a Void Fragmentation Realm expert.

Besides that, the All-Heaven Relic that was vital for controlling the rogue devil was accidentally absorbed by the Heaven Deceiving Cloak when he was assimilating it.

After losing the All-Heaven Relic, Ning Fan was even more unsure whether or not he had the ability to control the rogue devil.

Luckily, he had broken through to the Mid Reckless Devil Realm today and his cultivation level sharply rose. Moreover, he had even mastered the method of planting a slave mark. Hence, he could give it a try this time.

If he really was incapable of keeping the rogue devil under his control, the only option he had was to try it again when he attains a higher cultivation level.

However, it would be wonderful if the power of the jade slips were to recover. Using the rogue devil’s devil qi to replenish them would surely make it successful.

“A rogue devil, rogue immortal or rogue demon are beings of at least the Ninth Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm. If I have the All-Heaven Relic, I have at least a 30% success rate of manipulating the rogue devil using my Reckless Devil Realm cultivation base. However, without the All-Heaven Relic, I don’t even have a guarantee on how likely I am to succeed. Therefore, I have to be extremely careful in choosing the place to subdue the rogue devil…”

Ning Fan contemplated in silence for a brief moment. Then, he activated his Yin Yang Locket and entered the Profound Yin World.

No other living creature was capable of entering the Profound Yin World. Once the world senses other living creatures, the force that keeps this world separated from outside would produce pressure, restricting any foreign living creature from entering this world. This characteristic of the Profound Yin World was something that Ning Fan could make use of.

Ning Fan had made several attempts to summon the female cultivators in his Cauldron Ring inside the Profound Yin World but all of his attempts were fruitless.

To this day, Ning Fan has yet to master a single trace of the Profound Yin World’s boundary force. Otherwise, he should be able to allow foreign living creatures into this world.

For now, Ning Fan was the only one who could enter the Profound Yin World. As for Luo You, she was an exception.

By applying the same restriction of the Profound Yin World, even if the rogue devil has a frightening cultivation level, the boundary force would certainly be beyond its endurance. It would restrict him inside his storage pouch, making him incapable of getting out of it and going inside the Profound Yin World.

Hence, even if Ning Fan fails in his attempt to subdue the rogue devil in the Profound Yin World, he also would not face any danger with the help of the boundary force.

Inside the Profound Yin World, Ning Fan appeared in a flash of light and hovered in midair.

In the vast and boundless world that seemed to have no end, there was only a thatched cottage floating in the sky and a giant stele hanging in the air.

“When my cultivation level reaches a certain level someday in the future, perhaps I will be able to control the Profound Yin World’s boundary force at will and allow others to enter this world… As for helping Little You Er get out of this world, I will probably only be able to do so after achieving the Void Fragmentation Realm.”

Ning Fan spread his spirit sense to check the thatched cottage. When he saw that Luo You was still sleeping soundly, a faint light flickered across his eyes. Then, he smiled and shook his head.

The cultivation level of Luo You’s primordial spirit had already recovered to the First Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm. However, it did not show any signs of advancing towards the Second Heavenly Layer.

The injuries that had accumulated in her body when she displayed the secret technique during that day had now healed completely but she still did not awaken.

Before this, Ning Fan only thought that she merely has yet to fully recuperate from her injuries.

Since he had now advanced to a higher cultivation level, his power of observation became sharper. Now, he could see that the reason why Luo You had yet to awaken had nothing to do with her injuries at all. In fact, it was due to her body which made her fall asleep automatically while trying to use the remaining medicinal power of the dark golden bamboo leaves inside of her to break through to the Second Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm. Only then would she truly wake up from her slumber.

That is to say, Luo You would not wake up unless her cultivation level recovers to the Second Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm.

“I still have 4 dark golden bamboo leaves. If I can get 20 tufts of one hundred thousand years old spiritual herbs to harmonize the medicinal power of the bamboo leaves, I can certainly wake her up and help her recover her cultivation of the Second Heavenly Layer. When that time comes, she will be an expert at the Second Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm. With her beside me, even if the Void Fragmentation Realm experts of the Rain World try to harm me, I won’t need to be afraid of them!”

*Chi*

In a flash, Ning Fan travelled far from the thatched cottage. He planned to subdue the rogue devil somewhere ten million li* (500m per li) away from the cottage.

Even though the rogue devil could not escape from his storage pouch, the waves of power that would be produced during its subjugation would certainly be extremely powerful. If Ning Fan were close to Luo You, he might possibly disturb her sleep.

Standing in the middle of the heavy yin qi in the atmosphere, Ning Fan took in a deep breath. He then shook his Cauldron Ring and fished out the storage pouch that had the rogue devil.

The pouch was covered with layers of swastika symbols to seal the creature inside of it. Even so, despite the thick seals on the pouch, Ning Fan could still feel the monstrous amount of devil qi spreading out from it.

With eyes full of determination, Ning Fan made a small opening on the pouch. Immediately, the enormous amount of devil qi inside the pouch rushed out like a flood. At the same time, an evil and wild laughter of an exhilarated devil resounded across heaven and earth.

Then, a black shadow flashed by, dashing violently towards the opening of the pouch. It tried to escape from it and out into the Profound Yin World.

“Hahaha! The storage pouch is finally opened. I can finally get out of this place!”

The black shadow was none other than the rogue devil that the Wei Ancestor raised in the past. His laughter carried the terrifying aura force of the Ninth Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm. It engulfed Ning Fan like a torrent.

Ning Fan’s eyes were filled with shock. He immediately activated the power of his ancestral devil bloodline and ancestral talisman. Only then was he able to withstand the rogue devil’s devil might.

It was his first time experiencing the devil might of a rogue devil in person. It was the aura force of a being who was at the Ninth Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm. Without the ancestral devil bloodline and the ancestral talisman, Ning Fan would certainly have been affected by his aura force!

*Bang*

The rogue devil attempted to get out of the pouch but his head crashed into an invisible barrier at the pouch’s opening, emitting a loud sound that shook the world.

In great shock, he let out a cry of pain. Then, he surprisingly discovered that he was still unable to escape from the pouch even though it had been opened!

“T-This is the boundary barrier of another realm! Besides, judging from the intensity of this barrier, it seems like the ‘Dichiliocosm Realm Barrier’ that could only be formed by a medium dichiliocosm! Without permission from the master of the realm, the realm barrier will stop every foreign living creature from entering the world! Damn it! This is impossible! Why would I be kept inside a medium dichiliocosm?! Who is the master of this realm?! Come out here and face me! Hurry out and undo the boundary force of the barrier and let me out! Otherwise, I will certainly destroy this realm once I get out of this pouch!”

“Silence!”

When the rogue devil was making a tremendous ruckus, Ning Fan suddenly released the might of his ancestral grade devil bloodline, concentrating it on the storage pouch.

The might from the four droplets of ancestral blood was unimaginably massive. Even though the rogue devil was at the Ninth Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm, so long as he was a member of the devil race, he would feel an instinctive fear and inferiority from his devil bloodline.

Upon sensing the compelling aura force from Ning Fan’s ancestral grade devil bloodline, the rogue devil’s expression greatly changed. It startled him completely.

“An ancestral devil?! H-How is this possible?!”

Even though he had been trapped inside the storage pouch for countless years, it also knew that only the nine great devil ancestors were left of the devil race in later times and all of them should have been restrained.

He did not imagine that a living ancestral devil would be right outside the storage pouch!

However, after he observed it carefully for some time, he immediately realized that even though the devil bloodline of the ancestral devil outside was powerful, his cultivation base was still very weak. The qi of that individual was just at the Void Refinement Realm.

He could not understand why a Void Refinement Realm devil cultivator would possess the ancestral grade devil bloodline.

Moments later, he felt that the qi of this ancestral devil was rather familiar and he seemed to have met him before.

“It’s you! You are that little cultivator from the past! Humph! Apparently, you have been blessed with great luck since you managed to break through to the Void Refinement Realm and even cultivate the ancestral grade devil bloodline. In my eyes, however, you are still an insignificant ant! Since you are inside this medium dichiliocosm, you must know the master of this realm. Hurry up and call them out. Tell him to undo the realm barrier and let me out! Otherwise… Humph!”

The rogue devil suddenly recalled that the qi of this ancestral devil clearly belonged to Ning Fan who obtained this storage pouch in the past.

However, he did not expect that it had only been several tens of years since the last time he met him.

What he would find even more unbelievable was that the master of this medium dichiliocosm and Ning Fan were both the same person as he automatically assumed that this realm’s master was somebody else.

Several tens of years ago, Ning Fan merely had Harmonious Spirit Realm qi. However, after this short period of time, he had already attained the Void Refinement Realm and achieved the ancestral grade devil bloodline. To the rogue devil, he could not help but find it a little too shocking.

However, this rogue devil had been born with a wild and arrogant personality. Since his cultivation level was extremely powerful, he was not afraid of Ning Fan at all. The way he spoke to him was extremely arrogant and disdainful, just like having the bearing of an emperor.

“It seems like you still remember my qi. Moreover, your personality is still as annoying as before. I should teach you a lesson. Talisman, appear!”

Ning Fan did not have the intention to talk about old times with the rogue devil. He immediately waved his hand to summon his ancestral talisman. As he activated the talisman’s power, it produced slave mark symbols, sending them into the storage pouch.

Each of the slave marks carried the power to enslave a Divine Transformation Realm devil clan. All of them landed on the rogue devil without exception.

Instantly, the rogue devil cried in agony. He was filled with rage but he also felt a hint of fear at the same time.

“How dare you try to enslave me! You are courting death! Ahh!”

As the slave marks went inside his body, the pain he felt was extremely excruciating. Even the rogue devil found it unbearable.

However, after the slave marks went inside his body, every one of them failed to subdue the rogue devil due to having insufficient power.

Ning Fan frowned. He continued on planting slave marks on the rogue devil for two hours straight without taking any breaks at all.

As for the rogue devil, its miserable cries also lasted for two hours. Eventually, he shouted himself hoarse and ran out of strength due to the tormenting pain. Ning Fan was still unable to subdue him but the rogue devil clearly was now a little scared of him.

From cursing and threatening Ning Fan, he changed to negotiating and begging him while wailing sorrowfully.

“Little cultivator! Stop it now! Let’s talk properly! These slave marks are literally killing me!”

“Little cultivator! Even though I am unwilling to become your slave, as long as you let me out, I promise to help you a few times to kill a few powerful opponents. How about that?”

“Little cultivator…”

The rogue devil constantly tried to entice Ning Fan with his promises but Ning Fan did not believe in any of them.

If he could not subjugate the rogue devil entirely, there was no way he would let him out of the pouch. This devil was arrogant and bloodthirsty. Once he got out, it was impossible for him to fulfill his promise. He might change his mind and then devour Ning Fan and destroy the Rain World.

Ning Fan’s eyes became even more solemn than before. He kept sending out slave marks to the rogue devil but none of them was able to enslave him. Then, he shook his head and made a sigh.

“Apparently, I can’t subjugate this devil using the slave marks using my Mid Reckless Devil Realm…”

Ning Fan stopped using the power of his ancestral talisman, ending his attempt of planting the slave marks on the rogue devil. His current cultivation level was not enough to allow him to manipulate the rogue devil using the slave mark. Continuing on planting slave marks on the rogue devil would just be fruitless.

Since the slave marks were not usable at the moment and his All-Heaven Relic was destroyed, Ning Fan fell into deep thought. In order to subjugate this rogue devil, he only had two options.

The first option was to increase his cultivation level. Then, he can try on subjugating this rogue devil again with the help of a higher cultivation level.

The second option was to forge a ‘slave treasure’ and use it to subjugate the rogue devil.

A slave treasure was an ancient magic treasure that was used to subjugate a demon or devil. Unfortunately, treasures like that had already been lost for a long time. In present times, only a few Buddha sects knew the method to forge such treasures.

In ancient times, the cultivators of many Buddha sects were proficient in forging slave treasures that were specifically meant for turning ancient demons and devils into their slaves.

After taking control over the Mist Horn Clan, Ning Fan took away all the clan’s devil scriptures. Among them, he discovered an ancient scripture which actually contained the method to forge some kind of slave treasure.

That slave treasure was called the “Devil Subduing Hoop”. The Mist Horn Clan’s progenitor left behind the method to forge it.

According to hearsay, there was an almighty monk from a Buddha sect who tried to subdue the progenitor of the Mist Horn Clan using the Devil Subduing Hoop but he was killed by him instead. Since then, the method of forging this Devil Subduing Hoop belonged to the progenitor of the Mist Horn Clan.

This Devil Subduing Hoop was also divided into grades. The higher the hoop’s grade, the rarer the spiritual minerals required to forge it.

Regrettably, Ning Fan could not gather enough spiritual minerals to forge even the Devil Subduing Hoop of the lowest grade. Several of the required spiritual minerals were already extinct in the Rain World.

Otherwise, if Ning Fan could forge the hoop and let the rogue devil wear it, no matter how great this rogue devil was, there was no way he could break free from Ning Fan’s control.

“Whether or not I can forge the Devil Subduing Hoop to subdue this rogue devil will depend on my luck. I can’t force it to happen. All I can rely on right now is to keep on improving my strength and use my own means to enslave this rogue devil. I shall set this matter aside for the meantime. As of now, I need to use the rogue devil’s devil qi to replenish the destructive power of the jade slips! Talisman, absorb!”

Ning Fan patted his storage pouch and took out 15 jade slips. Each of them only contained the residual power of a single attack from the former old ancestors of the Mist Horn Clan.

When he activated his ancestral talisman, it created a vortex which absorbed devil qi and began to continually extract the rogue devil’s devil qi from inside the pouch, channelling it all into the jade slips.

Inside the pouch, when the rogue devil noticed that Ning Fan had stopped sending slave marks at him, he heaved a sigh of relief. Inwardly, he was filled with resentment towards Ning Fan.

“A mere Void Refinement Realm little cultivator like you want to subdue me with the slave marks?! What an insolent and bold brat! Humph! You better not give me the chance to get out of this pouch! Otherwise, you’ll certainly die!”

The rogue devil’s eyes flashed with ferocity. All of a sudden, he realized that the devil qi inside of him was being extracted out of the pouch by an irresistible force.

As he lost his devil qi, his cultivation level also regressed at the same time.

This time, the rogue devil was truly terrified. He finally realized that it was Ning Fan who was extracting his devil qi, weakening his cultivation base!

If it were under normal circumstances, there was no way Ning Fan could extract a rogue devil’s devil qi no matter what he does.

However, since Ning Fan possessed the ancestral talisman and the rogue devil was sealed inside a pouch, it enabled him to extract the latter’s devil qi.

Extracting devil qi to replenish the power of the stored attacks in the jade slips. If Ning Fan could not control the rogue devil completely, he could just use him as a battery to replenish the power inside the jade slips!

In just a few breaths, Ning Fan had already extracted a vast amount of devil qi which increased the power of all 15 jade slips. The power of the Void Refinement Realm attacks in 14 jade slips had been boosted to the First Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm. As for the power of the remaining jade slip which originally had a stored attack at the First Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm, it was raised to the Second Heavenly Layer!

After Ning Fan had seized the pitiful rogue devil’s devil qi, his cultivation level regressed to the Eighth Heavenly Layer from the Ninth Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm.

For the first time, the rogue devil found out that Ning Fan’s kind and compassionate outward appearance was merely a facade belying his inner cruelty that enabled him to extract his devil qi and enfeeble his cultivation level without remorse.

With gritted teeth, the rogue devil performed a few hand seals and spurted out a few mouthfuls of fresh blood to display a blood seal that locked his own devil qi. Only then did he avoid losing any more of his devil qi. However, the backlash he suffered from his actions were definitely not insignificant.

“You cruel brat!” The rogue devil gnashed his teeth in anger. Now, he detested and feared Ning Fan’s means at the same time.

Moments ago, Ning Fan tried to plant some slave marks on him, torturing him with unbearable pain.

Then, he extracted his devil qi, stripping away his cultivation base.

He no longer dared to spit harsh words at Ning Fan. At the very least, he did not dare to do so in front of him in order to avoid enraging him and pushing him to use any other extreme means on him.

“What a waste. I didn’t expect that you would know how to seal your own devil qi. You truly deserve to be a rogue devil. Originally, I planned on extracting your devil qi until your cultivation level regresses to the Sixth Heavenly Layer in one go and then try to subdue you again. However, judging from the current situation, my plan will not work anymore.”

In Ning Fan’s eyes, the rogue devil was just a tool to fight against Moksha Sovereign. Moksha Sovereign was an expert at the Fifth Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm. As long as the rogue devil maintains a higher cultivation level than Moksha Sovereign, even if he’s at the Sixth Heavenly Layer, it would still suffice. Besides, it would be much easier for Ning Fan to control him if his cultivation level is lower.

If Ning Fan could extract the rogue devil’s devil qi until he regressed to the Sixth Heavenly Layer, the difficulty in subduing him would be greatly reduced for sure.

On the other hand, if Ning Fan extracts all the devil qi of that rogue devil, he could raise the power of the jade slips to the Sixth Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm at the minimum. With such powerful attacks on hand, he certainly would be able to inflict severe damage on Moksha Sovereign.

Unfortunately, the rogue devil sealed his devil qi himself. All of Ning Fan’s plans became impractical.

It was lucky that the power of all 15 jade slips sharply rose after Ning Fan had just extracted a minor cultivation level’s worth of devil qi from that rogue devil. Excluding the stored attack in the Stele of Sun and Moon, Ning Fan already had 17 stored attacks at the First Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm which he could use to protect himself. Besides, he even had a stored attack at the Secondly Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm that was powerful enough to grievously injure an old monster at the First Heavenly Layer of that cultivation realm!

With so many trump cards up his sleeve, Ning Fan would have a high chance of survival even if he faces an expert at the First Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm!

It was really worthwhile to use a small portion of the rogue devil’s cultivation base in exchange for so many trump cards since he could not subdue it at the moment anyway.

Ning Fan sealed the opening of the storage pouch again and kept it inside his Cauldron Ring. The surroundings became silent and peaceful once again.

“Perhaps I’ll stay at Si Kong Demon Island for some time but I won’t linger there for too long. Then, on my way back to the Giant Devil Clan, I can pay the Pill Island a visit. I wonder if I can break through to the Sixth Revolution Pill Refinement Realm with the help of the Soul Washing Pond. With all the trump cards I now have, I am capable of eliminating the Eight Ancestors on my own without any difficulty when I return to the Giant Devil Clan in the near future. As long as I am there, Feng Xueyan naturally won’t be in any danger. Then, I can go home…”

Ning Fan’s eyes unintentionally flashed with a hint of weariness. Even though merely several tens of years in the outside world had passed, he was already reaching five hundred years old after he went through hundreds of years in different time cultivation sessions. He began to miss the scenery and sights in Yue Country.

He once promised Old Ancestor Dong Xu to help him achieve the Void Refinement Realm in the Sovereign’s Tomb. However, there were still ten years before the Sovereign’s Tomb would open.

He still had the incomplete blood wine that would take around ten more years to be completely brewed.

Besides, he also promised Hong Yi to do her a small favor previously. But he would need to wait for at least ten years before she would seek his help.

Within this period of time, he did not need to stay in the Endless Sea. Instead, he could go back to Yue Country and have a look at his homeland.

To cultivators, being able to return to one’s homeland was a luxury not everyone can afford.

Once cultivators began their cultivation journey, it was hard to tell when they could return home.

When Ning Fan thought of the beauties and women in his homeland, he smiled warmly. If he returns to Yue Country, he could probably use his true name again.

He had already grown so strong to the point where he no longer needed to conceal his identity and deceive the world with a pseudonym. He could now be known across the world by his true name.

He was neither villainous nor noble. However, from the beginning of his journey up until now, he did not have a single regret.

*tinkling sound*

Ning Fan took out a tuft of bell orchid. It was something he prepared as a gift for Zhi He.

As the gentle wind blew, the bell orchid emitted a crisp and pleasant ringing sound of a wind chime which put Ning Fan in a trance.

Before dawn arrived, he did not cultivate like he used to. Instead, he just closed his eyes and listened to the gentle ringing sound of a wind chime…

Translated by Tommy, edited by Roel