Grasping the Evil

Chapter 1049: Call Me Grandpa... Let Me Hear It

Ning Fan never expected that the dangers beneath the Netherworld Great Sea were even more intense than he imagined, even though he activated the God-Extinguishing Shield’s body-protecting golden light the moment he entered the sea, he still met his demise...

What surprised him even more was that this ragged Pig Face Treasure Box actually reversed time, returning him to the moment he leapt into the Netherworld before his death.

So, time reversal was real...

It turns out that once Divine Skills are powerful to a certain extent, they can indeed defy the heavens...

Before jumping into the Netherworld Great Sea, Ning Fan was somewhat skeptical of the power of this Pig Face Treasure Box, but now he had no doubt about it.

Simultaneously, Ning Fan could also feel that after using the time reversal, the power of the Will of the Saint within the Pig Face Treasure Box had diminished somewhat, evidently having been consumed...

"With this, the time point here has been set by the treasure box. If you truly encounter an accident, you can reverse time and return to this place. But I must remind you, the use of this treasure box is not without limitations. You can only resurrect ten times within one day, which means you can only die up to ten times in these Netherworld depths. Do you remember?"

Oh, this was the reminder Emperor Butcher gave him before he jumped into the Netherworld. Because of the time reversal, Emperor Butcher told him once again...

"I’ve remembered, but... it seems that I only have nine time reversal usages left within my remaining day..." Ning Fan replied helplessly.

"What! Could it be that you’ve already reversed time once?" Emperor Butcher slightly startled, then frowned and asked, "The Buddhist Scriptures record that beneath the Netherworld Great Sea, there are a total of nine Nether Palaces. This Netherworld is not complete, only a part of it, and below seems to be only one Jiuyou Palace. Have you found that Nether Palace, and could you locate the item I need there?"

Ning Fan pondered, recalling that upon his first death, he seemed to have reached an ancient palace at the sea bottom. The plaque of the palace seemed to be inscribed with ancient god script, spelling ’Secluded Palace.’ After contemplating, he replied.

"I did find the palace, but I hadn’t entered yet before being killed by a group of formidable ghosts. With all my defensive skills, I couldn’t fend off their attacks... As for the item you seek, I have not found it yet. According to the indications your left eye gave me, the item should be inside the palace..."

"So it is inside the palace, just as seen in the dream... What should we do now? Are you going to take a rest or shall you immediately re-enter the Netherworld to search?" Emperor Butcher queried.

"No need to rest, this treasure box is quite mysterious. After reversing time, I have fully recovered to my state before entering the Netherworld, with abundant mana, no need for rest."

"Very well, this time, be cautious. Although this treasure box can aid in reversing time, it is not something to be used without limit. Furthermore, if you encounter suppression by the power of the Third Step, you cannot reverse time. I don’t know if there is a force in this Netherworld capable of suppressing this treasure box, yet it cannot be ruled out. Consider this treasure box as the last resort on your deathbed, but do not rely on it. Do you understand?" Emperor Butcher solemnly reminded.

"Understood, I definitely won’t overuse this treasure box as long as I can avoid dying! In case the treasure box malfunctions, haha, then there would be no chance to live again..."

Seeing that Ning Fan took her advice to heart, Emperor Butcher nodded with satisfaction.

Ning Fan then transformed his breathing into embryonic breathing and jumped into the Netherworld Great Sea once again.

Even though this was already the second time jumping into this sea, the coldness of the seawater still made Ning Fan involuntarily shiver. Furthermore, at the moment he leapt into the sea, a powerful restrictive force on the sea surface immediately activated, and in an instant, the seemingly dead-silent seawater erupted with a tsunami-like impact, the excruciating feeling penetrating his soul, spreading throughout his entire body.

This restrictive force would hinder all entering masters, with the strength of the restriction varying greatly depending on the level of the cultivations, generally one tier higher than the sea entrant.

If a master above the level of Immortal Emperor jumped into the sea, the restrictive force of the seawater could become strong enough to obstruct a Quasi-Saint! If a Quasi-Saint entered, the restrictive force could strengthen to the Third Step level, causing Quasi-Saints to panic and not dare to venture in!

With Ning Fan’s cultivation, entering this sea generated a restrictive force capable of blasting away an Immortal King. Fortunately, he immediately activated the God-Extinguishing Shield’s protective golden light to barely resist the surrounding seawater’s restrictive force with this defense far surpassing his own level.

In this world, there are not few masters who can challenge higher levels, but those who can reach Ning Fan’s level of surpassing are rare. Even characters like Emperor Butcher and Supreme Ox Demon cannot contend with seawater restrictions one tier higher than their own cultivations. If not for this, Emperor Butcher wouldn’t have had to specifically enlist Ning Fan’s help, as no one else could accomplish this task, and only Ning Fan gave her a glimmer of hope.

Now, Ning Fan perfectly responded to her expectations, successfully reaching the Netherworld sea bottom, further solidifying her belief that the effort along the way was not in vain, but was worthwhile.

Under the protection of the golden light, Ning Fan continuously dove toward the depths of the Netherworld. As he delved deeper, the surrounding seawater gradually shifted from light yellow to dark yellow, and eventually even acquired an oily and sticky sensation.

After an incense stick’s worth of time, Ning Fan dived to the bottom of the Yellow Springs Sea. Guided by the faint sensing from the Emperor Butcher’s left eye in his arms, he proceeded in a certain direction at the sea bottom. All around him was the oily yellow seawater, making visibility exceedingly low. Even his spirit sense was greatly suppressed here and couldn’t spread very far, at most twenty zhangs. This was the result of Ning Fan’s greatly advanced spirit sense. If it had been at his prior level of an average Immortal Venerable, he would have been blindly stumbling around, unable to see anything after entering the seabed.

Not far away, the coral reefs stood towering as peaks. Under the embrace of numerous coral peaks, a submarine valley was formed. In the valley, an ancient palace stood, with a plaque inscribed with the three ancient god characters ’Secluded Palace’. The jade-railing carvings outside the hall still stood but were mostly severely damaged, seemingly destroyed by the flames of war. Hundreds of ancient corpses lay on the ground, some intact, some incomplete, all decayed to mere white bones. Even the bones had fossilized, making it impossible to ascertain the cultivations of these ancient cultivators from their skeletons.

Fragments of magical treasures and weapons were scattered all over, all corroded into scrap iron. There were also numerous battle flags, lying scattered around, long decayed to the point of disintegrating at a touch. Yet, the ancient god script embroidered on the flags could still be vaguely discerned.

Hunkun Nethersea Sect... Without exception, the battle flags here all bore these five words.

Upon seeing the words Hunkun again, Ning Fan couldn’t remain indifferent. He secretly speculated that these ancient cultivators, during their lifetimes, should have been Real Realms residents, possibly closely linked to the Hunkun Holy Sect...

However, speculations remained mere supposition, as no evidence could be gleaned from the ruins scattered everywhere.

Ning Fan’s gaze turned towards the palace itself, unusually heavy. The first time he entered the Netherworld, he died inside this palace. Though the palace appeared devoid of life, if one set foot inside even half a step, a large number of ghosts would rush out from within.

Those ghosts were particularly skilled at illusion attacks, and this was precisely the God-Extinguishing Shield’s blind spot, unable to counter it. Despite the God-Extinguishing Shield’s strong defenses, its protection was limited to physical and spell attacks, with no recourse against illusions, which fall under the category of mental attacks.

Because of this, even though Ning Fan previously activated the God-Extinguishing Shield, he was still killed by the ghosts in the palace. If it weren’t for the time reversal of the Pig Face Treasure Box, his existence would have already been erased from the world!

"If I had not overlooked previously, in one glimpse, a total of seven hundred and six ghosts rushed out from the palace. This number precisely matches the number of skeletons outside the palace. This should not be a coincidence. Those ghosts are likely formed from the dead ancient cultivators outside the palace. It also seems that the power of the seawater’s constraint in the Yellow Springs only affects me, while the ghosts remain unaffected, moving freely..."

This time, Ning Fan did not rush into the palace but instead assessed his surroundings.

The Emperor Butcher’s left eye in his arms emitted a faint sensing towards the Secluded Palace, as if something inside was attracting it closer...

It should be what the Emperor Butcher was seeking.

"The God-Extinguishing Shield can block the baneful force of the seawater on me but cannot stop the illusion attacks of those ghosts. As such, I can only counter their illusions with my own illusory powers..."

"Seven hundred and six ghosts, none at the Immortal Venerable level, the highest cultivation being the Fate Immortal Enlightenment level, with not much spirit awareness. Yet, each ghost possesses spirit sense as powerful as an Eternal Immortal Venerable! Seven hundred and six Immortal Venerable spirit senses jointly deploying illusions, forget me, even an Immortal Emperor would be unable to withstand their combined illusion attack head-on! A frontal breakthrough is impossible. The only solution is to defeat them piecemeal... The question is, how to divide them..."

As Ning Fan was pondering, the treasure box in his arms suddenly oinked and then laughed mischievously, "Hey, my new master seems to be in trouble, do you need your second grandpa to teach you a way to deal with these Tianhe River Ghosts?"

"Tianhe River Ghosts? Are you referring to the ghosts within the palace?" Ning Fan turned his hand and took the lewd Pig Face Jade Box out from his arms, frowning and asking.

"Tianhe River Ghosts? Oh dear, did second grandpa say that? No, no, no, I meant dealing with these Yellow Springs Water Ghosts, not Tianhe River Ghosts, you misheard..." The Pig Face Jade Box suddenly changed its tune, looking all mysterious.

Ning Fan gave the pig face a long look but couldn’t be bothered to pursue it, just lightly said, "You have a way to deal with these water ghosts?"

"Of course, who is your second grandpa? Before returning to the Lost World Palace, second grandpa was a marshal of the water army of the Yellow Springs... commanding nine great rivers... commanding the Jiuyou water army, as glorious as one can be, as dashing as one can be, as..."

"Speak to the point, how to deal with these water ghosts?" Ning Fan interrupted the Pig-Faced Box Spirit impatiently, while secretly speculating about the origins of this box spirit.

"How about we make a deal? I can teach you how to deal with these water ghosts, but first, you must kneel and call me ’second grandpa’ three times, then give me five hundred taels of Heavenly Dao Silver camellia, and give me ten or eight beauties to enjoy, and..."

Before the Pig Face could finish all its conditions, Ning Fan directly furrowed his brows and, as per the directions from the Emperor Butcher, punched the pig face, turning it black and blue, sending it denting into the box surface.

Kneeling... This pig face’s joke seemed a bit too much.

Then, the pig face popped out again, brazenly laughing, "Rude, really rude! It’s a pity it doesn’t hurt, not one bit! You can’t hurt me, I’m formed from Dao Source Power, impervious to harm! Even if you destroy the jade box, I won’t perish with it, at most just lose my abode! Haha, Master Qing Ling’s way to deal with me isn’t effective!"

Sure enough, he was not mistaken... this Pig-Faced Box Spirit is quite special. It wasn’t formed by the magical treasure itself but was artificially condensed by the Dao Source Power...

Ning Fan recalled the Phantom of Yin Phoenix in the Liangyi Square Seal, which was condensed from the Dao Source Power and is hard for anything to harm; he also remembered the time when the Origin Bridge appeared, and Bridge God Gu Jiang, relying on the power of the Dao Source projection, was extremely arrogant towards him...

Dao Source, the origin of the Great Dao, is power above the Great Dao Laws!

An entity condensed by the Dao Source Power is difficult for anything to harm. However, this doesn’t mean it will absolutely not get hurt, it’s just that in the realms of the Second Step, very few can achieve this.

And the Pig-Faced Box Spirit, the Dao Source Power used during its condensation is unimaginably pure, making its Dao Source Spirit Body even harder to damage than regular Dao Source entities! Even a Quasi-Saint can’t harm it!

Before encountering Ning Fan, the Pig-Faced Box Spirit’s previous masters were always unable to subdue it, which fostered its flamboyant and arrogant personality step by step. Despite calling all the masters as master-servants, it never held any of them in respect in its heart.

Speaking insolently was just a common occurrence. If the master was a woman, this lustful Pig-Faced Box Spirit would have teased even more.

What does it matter if I speak unkindly! Can you hurt your second grandfather!

The most you could do is pretend to destroy this treasure box to scare me! To me, it is nothing more than losing a place to reside; such a trivial place to reside can be found again! To you, however, it’s losing a great treasure—would you be willing to destroy it? Even if willing, what difference does destroying the treasure box make! Your second grandfather will not perish along with the box! Hahaha!

Your second grandfather is invincible!

Second grandfather will do as he pleases!

"Young one, it’s not right to resort to violence indiscriminately; only coarse people do that. Are you coarse? Oh, you actually are! But second grandfather is not! Second grandfather is a famously talented man, a cultured person! Second grandfather won’t be rough with you; he will reason with you. Nevermind, you really want to hit me, right? Then go ahead, come and hit! If you can hurt me even a bit, second grandfather will take your surname!"

"You can’t, can you! Haha, I knew you couldn’t! How could you be so ungrateful, being such a big person? Second grandfather kindly wanted to help you, yet you directly punched second grandfather’s face. Coarse, really coarse!"

"If being kind and helpful requires me to kneel and call you three times as second grandfather! I don’t know how your previous masters tolerated you, but I’m different, you better restrain yourself before me. I don’t need unwavering loyalty or reverence as if I am a deity, but if you can’t even show basic respect, then I don’t mind destroying you here." Ning Fan said calmly.

"Haha, young one’s words are not small. You think you can hurt me? Destroy me, haha, what an ignorant lad... I’ve changed my mind! Just now it was calling three times, now I’m raising the price, you have to call twenty times, no... call fifty times! Haha, this is the consequence of offending your second grandfather! If you want me to help you, show some sincerity! If you don’t call, I won’t help you; without my help, you’ll struggle against those Yellow Springs Water Ghosts..."

"I’ve given you a chance." Ning Fan smiled faintly, seemingly harmless, making the Pig-Faced Spirit underestimate Ning Fan even more.

However, if Wu Laoba were here, he certainly wouldn’t think like the Pig-Faced one. Because Wu Laoba knows deeply that whenever Ning Fan smiles like that, he is definitely about to take ruthless action!

"Haha, give me a chance? Don’t say it like you can hurt me, you..."

As the Pig Face was boasting, suddenly its expression stiffened, feeling intense pain in an instant, with a scream its expression significantly changed. Look! Ning Fan was holding the treasure box with his left hand, his right hand’s forefinger condensed a faint sword ray, and he leisurely and gracefully slashed a finger sword towards the treasure box as if dipping a camellia petal in water.

This finger sword did not possess world-destroying power; after slashing through the treasure box, it even left not a scratch on it, just passed right through.

Yet this finger sword directly and accurately slashed its Dao Source Spirit Body, almost splitting its Dao Source Spirit Body into two!

The pain of this sword is indescribable!

The terror of this sword is indescribable!

The Pig-Faced Box stared aghast as it realized its Dao Source Spirit Body, supposedly hard for anything to harm, was collapsing frantically under this seemingly light-hearted sword ray, unstoppable!

Even the previous master of the Supreme Ox Demon couldn’t do this; after all, its Dao Source Spirit Body isn’t just any regular Dao Source condensation! Yet this lad injured its Dao Source Spirit Body with mere Immortal Venerable cultivation level! This... how is it possible!

It will die!

Really will die!

Nemesis!

Today, second grandfather met his nemesis!

"S-s-s-stop! A-a-are you stopping! I-if you dare destroy m-my spirit body, m-my senior brother absolutely won’t let you off!"

Pig Face stammered in fright, regaining a bit of confidence at just the thought of his senior brother, gritting his teeth and saying,

"Tell you, my senior brother is super powerful! His staff is super hard, just one staff can poke you up to the heavens... he..."

Hiss hiss hiss!

The response to Pig Face was the continuous ripping sound of the spirit body, the ongoing sound of the sword ray tearing through!

Ning Fan couldn’t care less about how powerful Pig Face’s senior brother might be, tonight he would subdue this box spirit entirely!

Hence, before the spirit body completely collapsed, Pig Face finally chickened out. Man is the knife, I am the fish, alas, alas!

"Kid, you win! Stop! I promise to help you! I won’t set conditions with you!"

"Hey! Why aren’t you stopping! Second grandfather has already conceded to you, what more do you want!"

"Do not bully the Pig too much!"

"You keep pushing me, and I’ll have to explode!"

"Y-y-y-you... no, no! The spirit is really about to split in two! Master I got it wrong! You quickly stop, quickly stop! I call you grandpa, even call grandpa a hundred times, a thousand times! Grandpa have mercy!"

The treasure box spirit, acting like a king until just now, finally cowered, feeling the threat of death close for the first time in countless years.

In the depths of despair, an old saying involuntarily surfaced.

Retribution for good and evil, the Heavenly Dao likes reincarnation. Look up in disbelief, who does the heavens spare...

Ning Fan finally withdrew his hand, smiling, "Do you know what to do in the future."

"I know, Grandpa! Thank you, Grandpa, for sparing me! You are my real grandpa, you are..."

"Just call me master!" Ning Fan frowned and said.

"Yes yes yes! Master, call me master!"

Pig Face humbly and respectfully yielded.