Grasping the Evil

Chapter 1047: Ancient and Future, a Maze Within the Game

"Indeed, I’ve fallen into an illusion!"

Ning Fan suddenly looked up at the sky, which was now intact unlike the shattered appearance he saw before.

The sky isn’t the same as before!

The color of the sky is not azure, but red! Like the color of flesh and blood! As the sky contracts and writhes, it resembles an animal’s esophagus, writhing in an extremely bizarre manner!

The writhing of the sky caused large waves of acid fog to wildly sweep towards Ning Fan from all directions.

Ning Fan didn’t know what supernatural ability this acid fog possessed, yet he could sense a deadly danger. This acid fog is too strong! Even a Quasi-Saint would instantly dissolve into blood water upon contact! This technique is not something he can withstand!

Death awaits!

"Xuelingzi, with your mere three cycles of reincarnation at the Initial Saint cultivation, you are not qualified to make my master act! Get lost!"

Before Ning Fan could apply defensive measures, the Heavenly Dog at the third step under him spoke and then opened its mouth, swallowing the acid fog that filled the sky.

The beast’s mouth of the third step Heavenly Dog is dark and deep, with stars sparkling inside, as if a starry sky is hidden within. With one swallow, it easily consumed all the acid fog in the world.

The elder who was chasing from behind instantly became furious, shaking his body a few times as he pursued and finally blocked the Heavenly Dog’s advance.

The elder’s body was surrounded by a blood light, which condensed into a massive blood ring behind him, emitting a terrifying pressure!

Ning Fan’s gaze suddenly stiffened.

With his cultivation, he couldn’t see the elder’s appearance through the blood light, but he could recognize the blood ring behind the elder’s back as the Ring of the Initial Saint!

Unlike the one Senluo cunningly used in the past, the elder’s Ring of the Initial Saint gave Ning Fan a feeling of invincibility, as if the power of the ring could wipe out all life below the third step in an instant!

"Hmph! I was wondering who it was. Turns out it’s the Ya Tiangou from the Immemorial Yin Mountain. No wonder you could silently pass through the Yin River and ambush this place. I never expected someone as proud as you to serve a master, to bear a rider. And the master you serve is actually a criminal wanted by the Three Great Realms! Are you going to betray your former master and our Hunkun Holy Sect’s agreement, and become an enemy of our sect?"

"Cut the crap! Whatever that old guy agreed with the Hunkun Holy Sect has nothing to do with me! All I know is, if not for my master Nifan’s rescue, your Hunkun Holy Sect would have caught me and sacrificed me to the Cause and Effect Disk. If you guys are unjust, don’t blame me, Ya Tiangou, for being unkind! Today, no matter what you say, I’m going to cause upheaval in your sect’s land! Eat all your disciples!"

"Beast seeking death!"

"You’re the one seeking death, dammit!"

Just as the third step Heavenly Dog beneath him was about to battle with the saint-level opponent, Ning Fan suddenly felt his vision blacken, accompanied by the shattering and disappearance of all the images...

...

A cool breeze blew through, Ning Fan shivered and awoke, breaking free from the illusion.

At this moment, he was no longer within the illusion nor on the back of the Heavenly Dog, but rather sitting on a gigantic voyage ship, floating on the Netherworld Great Sea.

He sat on the deck, beside him, Emperor Butcher displayed a solemn face as he exerted Divine Skills, frantically pulling him out from the illusion...

"Hehe, kid, you’ve got quite a life, actually managing to get you back..."

As soon as the words dropped, Emperor Butcher coughed up blood, his aura withered to the extreme, it was clear that due to forcefully utilizing his cultivation, he suffered immense injury!

"After I fell into the illusion... you forcefully used your cultivation to save me?"

Ning Fan slowly stood up, looking at Emperor Butcher with a complex expression.

The recent illusion arrived quietly, without Emperor Butcher’s rescue, he would have had no chance of escaping such an illusion. With his meager cultivation, encountering a saint within the illusion would most likely have led to his death...

He owed Emperor Butcher his life.

Emperor Butcher’s aura weakened, so faint that he didn’t even bother to speak, just nodded, which was a response.

"Your injuries seem severe... I’m sorry, it’s all because of me..." Ning Fan sighed.

"I only saved your life because I needed you; it’s part of our deal, so you don’t need to feel any guilt. Come, help me suppress the injuries!"

"Alright."

This time at the Fire Soul Tower, because of certain reasons, the Emperor Butcher was not supposed to recklessly use her cultivations. Yet, she had exerted all her strength to rescue Ning Fan from the Illusory Art, causing an extremely severe backlash, even damaging her foundation. More troublesome still, was the injury caused by the Illusory Art that Ning Fan was ensnared in, which was the most terrifying damage, nearly costing the Emperor Butcher her life!

At this moment, she had no extra energy for self-healing, and the instant Ning Fan awoke, she sealed all her cultivations once again.

For healing, she required Ning Fan’s assistance. This time, she disregarded the boundaries between men and women with Ning Fan, directly removing her clothes, presenting herself naked before him. Unfortunately, this presentation held no beauty, as her whole body was covered in hideous and terrifying wounds!

Ning Fan gasped slightly.

The severity of the Emperor Butcher’s injuries far exceeded his imagination and the scope of his current healing techniques! Such horrifying injuries were not just the result of a reckless use of cultivations backlash; vast areas of flesh were directly obliterated by some dreadful Divine Skills, exposing the bones beneath, revealing even the internal organs through her back...

"This can’t be injuries caused by backlash!" Ning Fan said gravely.

"Of course not... I’m truly curious what you saw in the Illusory Art. I only reached out to pull you back yet got injured by Saint Level Great Divine Power in the illusion, almost eroding all my flesh... What exactly did you see?"

The Emperor Butcher asked with great interest, her calm demeanor as if the riddled body wasn’t hers.

"The Illusory Art content of the Six Paths Yellow Springs varies from person to person, as it possesses the Divine Skill to deduce past and future. Hence, the Illusory Art here often manifests the past and future of the Master. Depending on the content, the illusory effects may slightly differ. But mostly, the differences are not too vast..."

"When I came to the Six Paths Yellow Springs once, the illusion I saw was being swarmed by a multitude of Immortal King-level Bee Demons... With my half-step Immortal Emperor cultivations back then, I nearly died within the illusion and could only escape."

"And you... an Illusory Art depicting the impact of Saint Divine Skills appeared! Could it be that such a dreadful event will happen in your past or future..."

The Emperor Butcher could hardly imagine what Ning Fan saw that caused her to suffer such severe injuries.

"I saw Ya Tiangou, Xuelingzi... They were fighting at the third step cultivations... I heard Xuelingzi’s roar, also Ya Tiangou and Xuelingzi’s conversation... and I heard my two wives’ voices..."

Ning Fan recollected the particulars of the Illusory Art bit by bit, narrating it to the Emperor Butcher.

As for himself, he pondered over the strangeness of the Illusory Art...

This Illusory Art truly has some connection to the caster’s past or future, doesn’t it...

The paper crane and Weiliang are indeed closely related to him; their voices appearing in the Illusory Art is understandable.

But Ya Tiangou, and Xuelingzi... how could a battle between Saints relate to his past or future?

It was baffling. In his past, he should have repeatedly been a butterfly, only entering the human realm in this life. It is hard to imagine himself as a butterfly with no cultivations being involved with a Saint Level existence.

Or, perhaps the scene witnessed in the Illusory Art wasn’t related to his past life as a butterfly, but rather... to his future?

And then, there’s Nifan...

This name is definitely not unfamiliar to Ning Fan. He once obtained a Through-Sky Giant Stone in the Barbarian Wilderness Ancient Domain, which had two ancient demon characters on it, spelling Nifan!

Even during the initial battle when he acquired the Through-Sky Stone, a black mist demon shadow once floated out of the stone, claiming to be Nifan.

Later, he seized the Through-Sky Giant Stone and comprehended the ancient demon tribe Divine Skill Gui Xu Zhi from it...

However, what left the deepest impression on Ning Fan was far from these.

Rather, it was... the peculiar sensation that arose when he reached out to touch the two words ’Nifan’ on the stone.

It was a feeling indescribable and mysterious... it was like a glimpse of the past and future... like a sense of time-space disorientation!

Previously, Ning Fan thought of this odd feeling as an illusion, but reflecting on the mysteries of the Six Paths Yellow Springs Illusory Art now, Ning Fan realized his connection with Nifan is far from simple!

"The Six Paths Yellow Springs can deduce past and future, which means the figures you see are either intersecting with your past or overlapping with your future... Speaking of, regarding the two Saints you described, I recall hearing about one in dreams. I have heard of Ya Tiangou, who seems to be a guardian beast stationed by a major True Realm force at Yin Mountain..."

"Oh? Do you dream of these? Have you dreamed of the name Xuelingzi?"

"Xuelingzi? Haven’t dreamed of. But in the True Realms, Saints are innumerable, and my dreams don’t cover too wide a range, so it’s not strange that I don’t know this Saint."

"Have you heard of the name Nifan? According to the dialogue in the Illusory Art, this person seems to be a criminal jointly hunted by the Three Great Realms..."

"Nifan? Which two characters?"

"The ’ni’ from disobedience, and ’fan’ from cage."

"This name hasn’t appeared in my dreams..."

Ning Fan fell silent, thinking about something. As time slowly passed, Ning Fan finally managed to temporarily suppress Emperor Butcher’s injuries.

At least on the surface, the missing flesh of Emperor Butcher was restored, returning to its previous smooth whiteness. Of course, the breath was still very weak, clearly indicating severe internal injuries, with much of the foundation damaged.

Ning Fan saw a battle between Saints in the Illusory Art, causing Emperor Butcher, who intervened to help, to be affected by the fluctuations of the Saints’ fight. However, the Illusory Art was ultimately just an art, unable to truly mimic the fluctuations of a Saint-level duel. Otherwise, even with full cultivation, Emperor Butcher would not have survived the fluctuations of a Saint battle.

If the injuries were indeed caused by a Saint, they would be impossible for the current Ning Fan to heal.

After healing was completed, Emperor Butcher took out a clean dress and put it on properly, not even bothering to avoid Ning Fan during the dressing process.

Moreover, after dressing up, she teasingly asked Ning Fan if her body looked good.

Ning Fan decisively did not answer this boring question and instead observed the surrounding environment.

As soon as he awakened from the Illusory Art, he was busy healing Emperor Butcher, and only now did he have the time to observe his surroundings.

The Heavenly Dog that carried them here had long vanished without a trace over the vast sea, with no sign of the dog in sight.

This voyage ship seemed to be taken out by Emperor Butcher. Without the ship, he and Emperor Butcher would have had no standing place in this boundless sea.

There were six ancient mountains floating on the sea, which could offer footing, but Ning Fan’s rationality told him it was wise to stay away from those places.

Especially... not to approach the one on the easternmost side!

Ning Fan’s eyesight was exceptionally strong; even at a distance of several dozen miles, he could clearly see the large characters on the eastern ancient mountain.

[Six Paths Reincarnation Without You]

These characters were actually ancient demon characters! And the penmanship... the aura between the lines... Ning Fan felt somewhat familiar with them.

It seemed... to have a certain resemblance to the two characters [Nifan] on that Through-Sky Stone!

Involuntarily, the words he heard in the Illusory Art resonated in his ears.

’Nifan, how dare you! All the Three Real Realms are hunting you down, and you still dare to run to my Six Paths Reincarnation seeking death? Do you really think my Ancient Holy Sect is weak enough to bully? Hmph! Today, let’s make sure you have no return!’

’Enough nonsense! What agreement that old guy made with the Hunkun Holy Sect is none of my business! I only know that if my master Nifan hadn’t saved me, your Hunkun Holy Sect would have caught me to sacrifice to the Cause and Effect Disk long ago...’

Nifan!

It’s Nifan!

There are traces of Nifan in this Six Paths Yellow Springs! He has been here, and left words behind!

Could it be that Nifan forcibly broke into the Six Paths Reincarnation once?

Could it be that after forcibly breaking in, Nifan left this line of carved words beside the ancient mountain on the Yellow Springs?

Six Paths Reincarnation Without You...

Six Paths Reincarnation Without You...

Did Nifan come to Six Paths Yellow Springs looking for someone...

Who was he looking for...

Ning Fan only felt at this moment, facing these ancient mountain words, suddenly experiencing once again that feeling of temporal confusion from years ago.

At this moment, for the first time regarding Nifan, he felt bewildered.

At this moment, he suddenly couldn’t see clearly what was past and what was future...

In his heart, there were thousands of speculations about Nifan, yet ultimately facing these ancient words, he just remained silent, saying nothing more.

Nor was it possible for him to rush over to closely investigate these ancient writings!

Very dangerous, extremely dangerous, on the surface, this line of words carried an aura very similar to the two-character Nifan from back then, seemingly carved by the same person.

But the emotions contained within were absolutely different!

The two-character Nifan from back then gave Ning Fan a feeling of calm...

While these six characters conveyed to Ning Fan an overwhelming killing intent, and madness!

Draining the heavens above and the Yellow Springs below, unleashing slaughter across the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths!

Ning Fan felt this kind of wild killing intent! If he went near this ancient mountain, there could only be one outcome, which was... to be annihilated by the overwhelming murderous intent of the ancient character!

The pressure of these six characters was even a hundredfold, a thousandfold stronger than the Stele left by the Herb-gathering Sage in the Dabei Clan! The killing intent was equally incomparable in danger!

If the person who carved this was indeed Nifan, then how powerful must this Nifan be, a master a hundred, a thousand times stronger than the Herb-gathering Sage...

"Time is running out. We should attend to business. For the forthcoming period, I will wait for you on the ship, while you need to dive into this Yellow Springs Sea, to the bottom of this sea, and find an answer for me."

"How do I find it?"

"I will lend you one of my eyes. With it, dive to the bottom; it will guide you in the right direction. Of course, without this treasure, plunging recklessly into the depths of Yellow Springs would mean certain death. Hence, I will unseal this treasure next, and set its time-reverse point to just before you jump into Yellow Springs. If you die in the depths, this treasure will make time reverse, bringing you back to life before your death..."

Emperor Butcher opened her graceful mouth and spat out a stream of light, then began to meticulously unseal it.

The true form of the object finally appeared before Ning Fan, surprisingly it was a golden treasure box exuding a moonlit aura, covered with ancient mystical patterns. Furthermore, a pig face was engraved on it, holding a gold ingot in its mouth, its greedy expression vividly portrayed.

This treasure was an Innate Treasure, but being too damaged, its power was severely depleted, making it impossible to discern what first grade it once belonged to.

And the moment the treasure was unsealed, the pig face on the treasure box unexpectedly spoke indistinctly with a gold ingot in its mouth.

"What a beauty, finally willing to release your second grandpa, haha, have you finally realized, willing to become the mountain fort wife of this box spirit? Lucky you got a keen eye, don’t look down on second grandpa simply because I now look like a lecherous pig-headed box spirit. Back when I was intact, I was a dignified admiral of an area’s navy! My beautiful lady, my lady, let’s make a deal. How about I tell you a story of my travels to the west back then, and you let me smell your undergarment, haha, I want undergarments, second grandpa wants lots and lots of undergarments..."

Boom!

The response to this pig-faced box spirit was Emperor Butcher’s cold and merciless punch, which directly smacked the pig face into the box, but thereafter, the pig face sneakily came out again, grinning foolishly and indecently at Emperor Butcher.

At that moment, Ning Fan somewhat understood why Emperor Butcher wanted to seal this treasure tightly.

Probably not out of worry about leaking the treasure’s aura.

Probably... just to seal away this lustful, annoying box spirit!

Ning Fan even secretly speculated that Emperor Butcher generously gifted this treasure to him, perhaps also having the intention to utterly rid herself of the lecherous box spirit...

"Take it! Now this item is yours! This treasure box spiteful as it is, is quite practical. If it speaks insensitively, just punch it, it will behave after multiple beatings!"

Emperor Butcher handed the treasure box to Ning Fan, and the pig-headed box spirit immediately complained noisily, extremely unwilling to be transferred to Ning Fan.

Unfortunately, the pig-headed box spirit’s complaints were completely ignored by Emperor Butcher, who was instead contemplating another matter at the moment, having no time to pay attention to the annoying box spirit.

Recalling the time when Ning Fan performed the Heaven Sealing Art, after some considerations, Emperor Butcher decided to give Ning Fan a reminder.

"Before you enter the Six Paths Yellow Springs, I want to ask you something. Did you learn the Reincarnation-Fixing Technique from the Hunkun Holy Sect of the Three Great Realms? Or, like the Ancestral Emperor from the Eastern Heaven, did you steal it..."

If it was stolen, that could be extremely dangerous, as the Ancestral Emperor from the Eastern Heaven once set a precedent! The so-called self-created art by the Ancestral Emperor from the Eastern Heaven wasn’t entirely accurate, only partially true...