Grasping Evil

Chapter 502: Chapter 502: There Are Benefits in Having a Long Lifespan

News about Ning Fan successfully opening the divine chests spread across the Pill Island very quickly.

Well, it could not be helped. The self-detonation of the ancient living creature had created too much noise which shocked a lot of experts on the island. After a series of investigations, everyone understood the entire incident.

News of that had left every expert on the Pill Island flabbergasted.

It was not really a secret that Venerated Pill possessed divine chests since he also invited many other Void Refinement Realm experts to help him open the chests in the past. However, not a single one of them succeeded.

Today, however, the divine chests that no one could open for so many years were successfully unlocked by Ning Fan. This, without a doubt, proved how great Ning Fan’s abilities were.

Outside the Purple Qi Palace, those who at first did not believe that Ning Fan could open the divine chests were so stunned that they momentarily lost their ability to speak.

As for the treasures inside the divine chests, they certainly were not something that common people had the right to ask.

In order to avoid any unnecessary misunderstanding, Venerated Pill directly told everyone the reason why he was injured. When he mentioned the part where he was attacked by an ancient living creature, the faces of many cultivators of the Pill Island turned pale.

Who could imagine that a Void Inquiry Stage ancient living creature was actually preserved inside one of the divine chests? This was just too frightening… Opening the divine chests indeed had its risks. If one was not careful enough, they might just lose their lives!

When they heard that Ning Fan had managed to kill that ancient living creature, saving Venerated Pill in the process, they were all filled with profound respect for him.

There were those cultivators who had a lingering fear of that incident. If it was not for Ning Fan who had great strength, perhaps the entire Pill Island would be slaughtered and annihilated by that ancient living creature.

As Ning Fan’s disciple, Yang Gu’s status in the Pill Island also rose due to his master’s great deed. Everyone also became more respectful toward him.

Venerated Pill’s complexion still looked rather pale and weak. The injuries he got inflicted with during the clash with the ancient creature were quite severe. Even though he had taken some pills to suppress his injuries in time, he would still need several days to completely recover.

The attack of the ancient living creature really was an unexpected disaster.

Fortunately, he still obtained two magic treasures which he wanted in the end. At least, he did not feel like he got injured for nothing.

“Fellow Daoist has helped me open the divine chests and even saved my life. I can never repay this debt of gratitude I owe you. If you have anything that will need my help in the future, I will certainly do my best to help you regardless of its difficulty and will never decline it even if I have to die ten thousand times!”

Venerated Pill said solemnly.

“Fellow Daoist Dan is being too serious. However, since you have already said so, if I encounter troubles in the future, I will certainly ask for your help.” Ning Fan replied with a faint smile.

After the incident with the divine chests, the relationship between Ning Fan and Venerated Pill was strengthened.

Venerated Pill had no other option but to immediately go into seclusion to treat his wounds. The mission of unsealing the Soul Washing Pond was fully delegated to Huang Tingzi, Yang Gu and the other elders of the Pill Island.

Before he went into seclusion, he also left Ning Fan an extremely detailed insight about pill refinement. It was the insights he had obtained throughout his life as a Sixth Revolution Pill Refinement Master.

Ning Fan kept the jade slip and returned to the Primordial Heaven Palace on his own. In the palace, all the servants there were dismissed.

Ming Que and Su Yan were the ones who dismissed the servants. In a side chamber of the Primordial Heaven Palace, Ming Que was using her magic power to purify piles upon piles of defective Fifth Revolution Pills. This naturally could not be seen by any outsider.

Su Yan who was beside Ming Que was placing the purified pills into pill bottles. Her apricot eyes were filled with amazement.

She finally understood why Ning Fan asked for defective pills from the Pill Island.

“Little Que Er, I didn’t expect for you to actually have the ability to turn defective pills into regular pills… Your ability is truly amazing…” Su Yan clicked her tongue and praised her.

“Hehe. Is Elder Sister Su shocked? I still have many other abilities.” Ming Que said with a playful smile, feeling pleased with herself.

“Yes. I’m shocked. I’m truly shocked. You really are incredible… Mm? Master has returned.”

Upon sensing Ning Fan’s return, the two ladies immediately put aside what they were doing and stood up to welcome him.

Doubtlessly, they also received the news about Ning Fan opening the divine chests. Su Yan could not help but feel worried for him after hearing that he battled against an ancient living creature in the process.

However, when she saw Ning Fan come back unscathed, she secretly heaved a sigh of relief.

Ming Que, on the other hand, had great confidence in Ning Fan. She did not worry about him getting injured at all. Instead, she was concerned about what kind of secret treasures Ning Fan had obtained from the divine chests.

“Brother Biscuit, what excellent items did you get from the divine chests? Let me have a bite, okay?!” Ming Que’s small face wore a pleading look. She truly was a genuine foodie.

“All you think about is food…” Ning Fan laughed and patted his storage pouch. He took out twelve jade boxes and placed them on the table.

Each of these jade boxes contained a Sixth Revolution Pill. The unique pill fragrance that wafted out from them made Ming Que’s mouth water.

“These are… Sixth Revolution Pills! You actually have twelve of them. This is a lot!” Even though Su Yan was a Void Inquiry Stage expert and a former leader of a great devil clan, she rarely had the chance to see so many Sixth Revolution Pills at once.

Of these twelve Sixth Revolution Pills, five of them were at the low grade, five others were at the intermediate grade while the remaining two were at the high grade. Moreover, all of them were vulnerary pills.

Although vulnerary pills were precious and expensive, they were unnecessary to Ning Fan who had mastered the Black Star Technique. Thus, he would rather let Ming Que have them to increase her cultivation base.

“Little girl, I need one favor from you. If you can accomplish it, you can have all twelve Sixth Revolution Pills.”

“For real?!” Ming Que was already drooling.

“Of course, it’s real. I have some spiritual herbs here which I need your help to purify. You must not eat them as you wish. I have my plans for them.”

When Ning Fan took out a pile of one hundred thousand years old spiritual herbs, the little girl was literally overwhelmed with bliss.

“So many medicine babies! Are they all for me to eat?!” She selectively forgot about Ning Fan’s reminder. They were obviously not for her.

“So many one hundred thousand years old spiritual herbs!” Su Yan was surprised once again. She realized that ever since she had followed Ning Fan, she would always experience surprises after surprises.

Even though these spiritual herbs were contaminated by devil qi, she had never seen so many one hundred thousand years old spiritual herbs in her entire life.

“I’ve already said it. They are not for you to eat… Fine. It doesn’t matter if you want to eat them. But you should answer me first. Can you purify these spiritual herbs…?”

Ning Fan shook his head speechlessly. Once that little foodie set her eyes on this batch of spiritual herbs, there was no way he could keep them.

Anyway, Ning Fan’s pill refinement realm had yet to attain the Seventh Revolution. Aside from saving Luo You, he currently could not use these one hundred thousand years old spiritual herbs for other purposes. Thus, it was fine to let Ming Que eat the rest of them.

Moreover, he still could not be sure whether or not Ming Que could purify these spiritual herbs. She was a pill devil. It was still reasonable that she could purify pills, but as for purifying medicinal ingredients…

“I can purify these medicine babies! Trust me. I really can do it! I will need three days at most. No. Two days! Within two days, I can definitely purify all of these medicine babies!” Ming Que confidently said.

“Alright then. After you finish purifying them, keep fifteen tufts for me. I need them to save someone…”

Ning Fan affectionately patted Ming Que’s tiny head. Faced with this naïve and innocent little foodie, all he could do was compromise.

After all, if it wasn’t for Ming Que, he would not even be able to use a single tuft of one hundred thousand years old spiritual herb. Thus, it was fair for him to give this little girl a reward, right?

Besides, with Ming Que’s current cultivation base which was at the Half-Step Void Refinement Realm, if she eats all of the Sixth Revolution Pills and the rest of the one hundred thousand years old spiritual herbs, she would probably gain enough power to truly advance to the Void Refinement Realm…

This little girl’s pill devil physique sure is heaven-defying.

Sometimes, Ning Fan could not help but think about making a ‘Ming Que Development Plan’.

Ming Que’s physique was really incredible. If she had enough pills and spiritual herbs, just a few tens of years would be enough to cultivate her into a Void Fragmentation Realm expert…

Moreover, she had obtained Si Cang’s memories which equipped her with a strong combat strength. Once she attains the Void Fragmentation Realm…

“A development plan, huh…” All of a sudden, Ning Fan was eager to see what Ming Que would develop into…

Ming Que began to get busy with the spiritual herbs. While purifying the one hundred thousand years old spiritual herbs, she kept swallowing her saliva with anticipation.

Ning Fan then went inside the Profound Yin World.

If everything goes smoothly, he could prepare to wake Luo You after Ming Que purifies fifteen tufts of spiritual herbs.

He walked into the thatched cottage and carefully brushed away the dust on the white-robed lady’s body as a preparation for waking her up from her sleep.

Afterwards, he went out of the cottage and studied the other items he obtained from the divine chests.

A nameplate made out of sandalwood, pill recipes, ancient scriptures and a bronze key… The urn of bone ash was not among them.

Ning Fan took Wei Yang’s ashes as well as his nameplate. Before parting ways with Venerated Pill, he buried the ashes at a quiet and secluded area of the Pill Island and made a small tomb.

There was an erect tombstone on that grave. A few words were written on it – Seeing A Gentleman Off to Death.

Many cultivators of the Pill Island could not understand his actions. They could not understand why Ning Fan would be so kind to an ancient cultivator who had already been dead for countless years.

Only Venerated Pill was able to understand the meaning behind his actions and it filled him with more respect for him.

It was an expression of open-mindedness. Letting go of all of one’s lifelong grudges and resentment after the end of their life, just like the saying: dust to dust and ashes to ashes.

It was an expression of hope that by burying someone today, you are hoping that in return, someone will bury you and set up a grave for your remains in the future.

It was also an expression of helplessness. In the life of a cultivator, fights and conflicts were inevitable. No one knows when you would die in a foreign place without anyone to keep your corpses…

“Shedding Orchid Sect, Wei Yang…”

In the Profound Yin World, Ning Fan’s eyes gradually turned pensive as he looked at the wooden nameplate.

When he saw this nameplate for the first time, he did not pay too much attention to it.

However, that ancient living creature mentioned the ‘Shedding Orchid Key’…

Ning Fan had already inspected that key. It was quite extraordinary. The metal used in forging it was actually the Jade Swimming Tear Gold which was even rarer than the Immemorial Star Iron.

This kind of metal was not as tough as the Immemorial Star Iron. Thus, it was not suitable to forge armaments. However, it served another purpose.

In ancient times, some capable experts usually used Jade Swimming Tear Gold to create keys for secret places.

Keys made out of this metal were always more than one.

And all the keys shared a common trait – if the full set of keys are not gathered together, the door of the secret place can never be unlocked.

If even a single one of those keys is destroyed, the secret place would be locked forever.

Without a doubt, this Shedding Orchid Key was a key to a secret place of the Shedding Orchid Sect.

Countless thoughts ran across Ning Fan’s mind.

There was a myth about the Immortal Burning Valley of the Western Flame Country. The valley was said to be the historical remains of an ancient sect after its destruction. As for what sect it was, none of the ancient books mentioned it.

Since Wei Yang’s ashes were found there, could that unidentified ancient sect that was destroyed in the past be the Shedding Orchid Sect?

Would I be able to get any benefits from the Shedding Orchid Sect using this single Shedding Orchid Key?

Ning Fan shook his head and stopped making any guesses.

It was impossible for this Shedding Orchid Key to be the one and only key of its kind. As for the exact number of keys that existed, perhaps only the annihilated Shedding Orchid Sect knew.

Besides, no one knew what items were being kept inside the secret place.

Whether or not Ning Fan could gather all the keys and if one of the keys had been destroyed long ago, it was unknown to everyone except the Heavens.

With so many uncertain factors, it really was not worth it for Ning Fan to put any focus or energy on the Shedding Orchid Key as it could just be a useless key.

Ning Fan kept both the nameplate and the key.

Then, he began studying the scrolls of pill recipes. His eyes shone for a second but his brows were drawn together right after that.

There were a total of 25 types of pill recipes inside the divine chests. Each of them was a recipe for pills that were at the Sixth Revolution and above. Many of them were for creating pills meant for raising one’s cultivation base. Apart from that, the medicinal effects of the Shedding Orchid Sect’s pills were much stronger than common ones!

For instance, the Low Grade Sixth Revolution Pill – Void Developing Pill could actually increase the cultivation base of a Void Refinement Realm expert regardless of their stage in that cultivation realm.

It was unlike the common pills which had effects that were restricted to the exact cultivation stages of cultivators. For instance, some pills were only meant for Void Glimpse Stage cultivators while some others were just for Void Inquiry Stage cultivators. If one consumes the pills not intended for their cultivation stage, the effect of the pills would be greatly reduced.

Another pill recipe he found would be the Low Grade Sixth Revolution Pill – Soul Tempering Pill. It could increase the medicine soul power of a Fifth Revolution and Sixth Revolution Pill Master which would in turn enhance their pill refinement realm.

Among the pill recipes, Ning Fan had also found a pill recipe for a Low Grade Sixth Revolution Pill named the Void Consuming Pill.

The effect of this pill was even more unique. It could actually help low grade cultivators take in Seventh Revolution Pills or refine Void Fragmentation Realm Dao Fruits…

If a low grade cultivator recklessly eats a Seventh Revolution Pill or a Void Fragmentation Realm Dao Fruit, there would only be a single consequence awaiting them – explode into pieces due to the massive amount of medicinal power…

Even when a Void Glimpse Stage or Void Inquiry Stage expert takes in those items, they would still waste a great portion of the medicinal power due to their inadequate cultivation.

Ning Fan still had a Void Fragmentation Realm Dao Fruit with him. However, even though he had already broken through to the Mid Reckless Devil Realm, he had yet to consume it because he was worried that he might waste some of the fruit’s power due to his insufficient cultivation.

However, if he has the Void Consuming Pill, he could eat the Void Fragmentation Realm right there and then without wasting the slightest bit of the fruit’s power.

Simply put, this Void Consuming Pill was something that could help cultivators digest the medicinal power of high grade pills.

All twenty-five types of pill recipes that Ning Fan got from the divine chests were extremely valuable.

However, after studying every single one of them, his brows were tightly knitted together.

It was because all these 25 types of pills had a great side effect.

Each of them had a severe side effect. By consuming these pills, a cultivator would lose some of their lifespan!

“All of the pills from the Shedding Orchid Sect would need the user to sacrifice their lifespan in order to activate their medicinal power!”

Ning Fan could not help but feel surprised. There were actually pills in this world with such a drastic effect which used a cultivator’s lifespan in exchange for the medicinal power of a pill.

He kept the pill recipes and then began to browse the ancient scriptures.

There were many cultivation methods and techniques of the Shedding Orchid Sect in these scriptures. One of the techniques made Ning Fan’s eyes shine.

However, all of these cultivation methods and magic techniques also required a cultivator to sacrifice their lifespan before they could start cultivating them.

Through reducing one’s lifespan, one can accelerate their cultivation speed and the destructive power of their magic techniques. What an extreme way of cultivation…

The reason why cultivators started to walk the path of cultivation was because they want longevity.

However, the purpose of the Shedding Orchid Sect’s cultivation was completely the other way around. They did not seek longevity and instead reduced one’s lifespan instead.

There was a chapter inside the ancient scriptures that was written by Wei Yan. It was the introduction about himself and the Shedding Orchid Sect.

When Ning Fan read it carefully, his eyes became even deeper and more serious.

Shedding Orchid Sect. The word “Shedding” there was by no means meaningless. In fact, it was the very essence of cultivation the sect cultivators practiced.

The location of the Shedding Orchid Sect was indeed in the Immortal Burning Valley of the Rain World.

In ancient times, this sect was a sect that had made a living through refining pills. At some point in time, there was even an Eighth Revolution Pill Refinement Master looking after the sect.

This sect was built after the annihilation of the divine, demon and devil races. However, some of them still knew some cultivation methods of the ancient divine race. Thus, a few of the sect disciples managed to cultivate the great path of the ancient divine race.

Unfortunately, the cultivation methods of the ancient divine race were all lost after the Shedding Orchid Sect’s annihilation. Wei Yang was just a fourth class elder of the sect in the past. He did not get to touch those cultivation methods and thus he left nothing related to the ancient divine cultivation path.

According to Ning Fan’s guess, the person who sealed Wei Yang’s remains inside one of the divine chests after his death should be an ancient divine cultivator of the Shedding Orchid Sect who had achieved some success in the cultivation of divine techniques.

The pills refined by the Shedding Orchid Sect had extreme effects, the same could be said with their cultivation methods. All of them were based on sacrificing lifespan.

This sect had given birth to many Void Fragmentation Realm experts but very rarely did any of them ascend to the heavens and became an immortal, advancing to the Second Step of Cultivation.

It was because becoming immortal mainly focused on obtaining immortality. And the core principle of the sect’s cultivation was clearly the opposite of immortality… Besides, in the history of the Shedding Orchid Sect, not a single Void Fragmentation Realm expert had ever lived for more than ten thousand years…

A normal Void Fragmentation Realm expert would have a lifespan of one hundred thousand years. The Void Fragmentation Realm experts of the Shedding Orchid Sect, however, only had a fraction of that…

Sometimes, certain things in the world could only be obtained with sacrifices.

As for the Shedding Orchid Sect, however, they obviously were overly enthusiastic in upholding the meaning of the word “Shedding”.

Others were busy seeking longevity, hoping that they could extend their lifespans. The Shedding Orchid Sect, on the other hand, used their lifespans as the cost for rapidly increasing their cultivation bases.

Of course, the reason why they would choose to abandon their lifespans was probably to comprehend the Great Dao of Give and Take.

The founder of the Shedding Orchid Sect, Old Ancestor She Lan[1], had once made a profound statement about his own philosophy.

“Never seek longevity or immortality. Be bold enough to sacrifice the heavens for the attainment of Dao! Let’s see if I run out of lifespan or achieve the Great Dao first! When I attain the Great Dao one day, even the Heavens won’t dare to stop me if I wish to become immortal!”

Ning Fan closed the ancient scripture with eyes filled with respect.

This Old Ancestor She Lan was a strong-willed man. He did not yearn for longevity and had only sought to attain the Dao. Even though his means were a little too extreme, the more extreme the Great Dao was, the more frightening it would be when one successfully attained it.

The ancient scriptures did not mention anything about what happened to Old Ancestor She Lan in the end. He might have successfully become an immortal or died due to the depletion of his lifespan.

As for the Shedding Orchid Sect which he had built entirely on his own, it eventually collapsed and vanished.

Old Ancestor She Lan’s Dao contained a determination which a majority of people never had – the determination to sacrifice everything.

Ning Fan could vaguely understand his determination.

For a second, he realized that the cultivation methods and pills of the Shedding Orchid Sect might really be suitable for him.

In the Black Lightning Tower, Ning Fan had accidentally gained an additional lifespan of one hundred thousand years. Including his original lifespan which amounted to ten thousand years for being a Reckless Devil Realm cultivator, he now had at least one hundred and ten thousand years left to live.

If he breaks through to the Void Fragmentation Realm, his lifespan would increase by another ninety thousand years, giving him a total of two hundred thousand years.

If he becomes an immortal, he would gain immortality and have an infinite lifespan. These two hundred thousand years of life would then mean nothing to him.

Ning Fan knew that he definitely would not need two hundred thousand years to become an immortal.

He certainly could use his remaining lifespan to consume the pills that could be refined based on the pill recipes of the Shedding Orchid Sect and even practice their magic techniques.

Moments ago, he had set his eyes upon a magic technique of the sect that was called Mutual Death Technique. It was a suicidal magic technique that allowed the user to reduce his and his enemies’ lifespans at the same time.

When this technique is used, a barrier would be formed, trapping the user and their enemies inside. Then, all of their lifespan would be shortened at the same time according to a ratio based on their cultivation bases.

For instance, if a person has the same cultivation base as Ning Fan, when Ning Fan loses one thousand years of lifespan, they would also lose the same amount.

If the opponent has a higher cultivation base than Ning Fan, when Ning Fan loses one thousand years of lifespan, they probably would only lose five hundred or three hundred years of lifespan or even lower…

This technique was easy to learn but what it would do to the user and their enemies was pretty extreme.

The reason why Ning Fan was interested in this technique was solely because he wanted to use his inexhaustible lifespan to scare off the others.

Imagine, if Ning Fan gambles with a Void Fragmentation Realm old monster with his lifespan as a wager, sacrificing tens of thousands of life in exchange for that Void Fragmentation Realm old monster’s eight to ten thousand years of life, wouldn’t it scare them to death?

Not every person would think that they have too much lifespan like Ning Fan.

Many Void Fragmentation Realm old monsters had already lived for seventy to eighty thousand years. They did not have much lifespan left. Thus, it was unknown whether they could afford to disregard Ning Fan’s threat of making them lose their lifespans.

If Ning Fan were to face Void Pierce Stage and Absolute Void Stage old monsters, this magic technique would be even more detrimental.

Be it a Void Pierce Stage or an Absolute Void Stage expert, they would only have a lifespan of ten thousand years. Moreover, old monsters at that cultivation realm were usually old already. All of them would not have many years left to live… For instance, many Absolute Void Stage old monsters were only left with one or two thousand years of life.

Under such circumstances, Ning Fan could fully deplete the remaining lifespan of an Absolute Void Stage expert by sacrificing a few thousand years of his own lifespan… This magic technique was really sinister and vicious.

For the first time, Ning Fan felt that having a long lifespan was truly excellent.

Of course, this technique would not just reduce his enemies’ lifespan within an instant. It would take some time for that process to be done.

If the enemies break the barrier and escape during the process, this technique would fail.

Besides, the fact that this technique could not attack many targets at once was its weakness.

And it had its limitation toward immortals who had endless lifespans as it was completely useless to them. It could only be used against cultivators who were at the First Step of Cultivation.

“To me, this technique is quite useful for now. During a critical moment, it will probably have a great effect. As for the Void Consuming Pill, I must make one so that I can consume the Void Fragmentation Realm Dao Fruit without wasting any of its power… The side effect of a single Void Consuming Pill is enough to shorten one thousand years of my life…”

“Well, one thousand years of life is not a big deal to me. The only difficult part about the pill is its grade. The Void Consuming Pill is a Low Grade Sixth Revolution Pill. If I want to concoct one of them, it’s best that I give it a try after I attain the Sixth Revolution Pill Refinement Realm. If I start concocting it now, the only way I can produce it would be to concoct a Peak Grade Fifth Revolution Pill and then raise it to the Sixth Revolution using the Grade Raising Technique. Not to mention the success rate of making that pill, the grade of the pill certainly won’t be as high as what it will be when I produce it after raising my pill refinement realm.”

Ning Fan kept all the ancient scriptures and seemed to have made up his mind.

“Alright. I’ve decided. Regarding the Void Consuming Pill, I’ll think about it after using the Soul Washing Pond. Ming Que is currently purifying the spiritual herbs and had said that she only needed two days to purify all 42 tufts of spiritual herbs. In other words, she can purify more than 15 tufts within a day, which is more than what I need. Before entering the Soul Washing Pond, I will first wake up Little You Er in one single go!”

One day later, Ning Fan got out from the Profound Yin World and went to the side chamber to find Ming Que.

When he saw what she was doing, he did not know whether to laugh or cry.

“This little girl…”

Translated by Tommy, edited by Roel

[1] She Lan (Chinese: 舍兰, Pinyin: shè lán) The word She (舍shè ) means a shed or house as a noun but to abandon or give up as a verb. The word Lan (兰lán ) means orchid. This is the name of the Shedding Orchid Sect’s founder. The sect was named after him and “Shedding Orchid” was the literal translation of his name.

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