Grasping the Evil

Chapter 1057: Ancient Kingdom Trade Array

Wu Laoba shook his head and sighed, leaving a few pieces of silver on the table, and left the tavern. After wandering through several small markets in the city, he bought some materials and then departed from Sanyan City.

As soon as he left the city, he sped all the way to the depths of this Sixth-Level Fiendish Domain Continent, reaching a huge valley within the depths of the continent.

As he approached the valley, several beast roars immediately echoed from inside, followed by four dragon-shaped demon beasts, as large as small mountains, flying out of the valley with murderous intent locked onto Wu Laoba. All four beasts exuded a newly ascended Immortal Venerable’s aura. Faced with the murderous intent of four demon beasts, Wu Laoba, despite his cultivations, couldn’t help but feel like he was facing a formidable enemy.

Fortunately, once these four demon beasts saw that it was Wu Laoba, they retracted their murderous intent and flew back into the valley.

Only then did Wu Laoba regain his composure and enter the valley. The valley reeked of the stench of demon beast excrement everywhere, with over a thousand demon beasts lurking here. Clearly, this valley was a demon beast lair!

"Ah, the star of misfortune really knows how to choose a place, hiding in the nest of Immortal Venerable level demon beasts to recuperate. It’s certainly a way to avoid the patrols of the Sanyan cultivators, but... this place is unreasonably stinky. Especially with the heavy Demonic Qi here, I can barely withstand it with my evil cultivations, yet he chose this place to heal..."

Wu Laoba complained silently while navigating the paths in the valley with ease. Occasionally encountering demon beasts in the valley, they would all retract their murderous intent and not attack once they saw it was him.

In the deepest part of this demon beast lair was a huge natural cave. This cave was originally the habitat of some Immortal Venerable level demon beast but was now forcibly taken by Ning Fan as a healing place.

The cave entrance was protected by an exceedingly mysterious Formation, keeping the stench of the valley from invading. Moreover, the Formation gathered Demonic Qi, making its concentration inside the cave almost tenfold or even a hundredfold that of the outside!

Fortunately, the Demonic Qi seemed to be controlled by someone, dispersed on both sides of the path, leaving some vacuum space for people to pass. If not for this, Wu Laoba would absolutely not be able to withstand such Demonic Qi and would be unable to enter the cave mansion enduring it.

"Mr. Wu, you’re back. Did you buy all the materials Sister Burying Moon needs?" came the voice of Ouyang Nuan and Burying Moon sensing Wu Laoba’s return, stepping out from the deepest part of the cave to inquire.

Wu Laoba sighed at this, "Ah, still haven’t got them all. This Fiendish Domain Continent is too desolate. Although there are several Sanyan Cities on this continent, the cultivations of the local Masters are generally low, and the materials sold in the city’s markets are mostly low-grade goods. I only managed to buy a few items on Madam Yue’s list..."

"It’s already not bad to get a few items; Daoist Wu need not blame himself." Burying Moon slightly frowned, then relaxed her brow, and said calmly.

"Though I did hear some news, but I’m unsure whether to pass this news to my master..."

Wu Laoba recounted the news he gathered from the city in detail, Ouyang Nuan and Burying Moon both furrowed their brows upon hearing it.

The empress who protected Ning Fan that day was actually captured and taken to the Holy Mountain...

Though the two women knew little about the Emperor Butcher, they could tell the connection between the Emperor Butcher and Ning Fan was deep; otherwise, why would the Emperor Butcher risk his life to save Ning Fan in his dire moment?

Ouyang Nuan immediately understood why Wu Laoba was hesitant.

Ning Fan had many beauties but was protective of each one around him; the Emperor Butcher was captured for saving Ning Fan, and knowing Ning Fan’s stubborn nature, there is no way he would ignore the Emperor Butcher...

"That sister suffered misfortune to save her husband; both emotionally and logically, her husband wouldn’t stand by idly. Even if Mr. Wu doesn’t tell him, the husband would certainly have his ways of finding out this news. Given his abilities, he probably already knew. This explains why the Evil Qi from him these past few days has been terrifying, probably already genuinely outraged..." Ouyang Nuan sighed.

Burying Moon showed a pondering expression, curiously saying, "That shouldn’t be. The woman who saved the little rascal that day should be a quasi-saint realm Immortal Emperor, stronger than me at my peak by a good margin... When we fled that day, I sensed a bit of the Bright Buddha aura descending inside the Great Brightness Temple. Based on my judgment, the Bright Buddha’s cultivation should be a notch stronger than that woman, but not overwhelmingly so, as both are half-step Quasi-Saint cultivations. Though the woman’s injuries were grave, it’s unlikely for her to be captured alive by the Bright Buddha... Being captured alive is much harder than being killed... Even a First Order Quasi-Saint trying to capture her alive would find it unlikely..."

Is the information false?

Or is the strength hidden by the Bright Buddha far superior to the surface-level half-step Quasi-Saint cultivation? Otherwise, it’s absolutely impossible to capture another half-step Quasi-Saint alive.

"Ah, is the Master still healing?"

"Yes, we shouldn’t disturb him, let’s each do what we must."

"Very well, you two Madams continue to take care of the Master here. Little Ba has gathered seven to eight of the materials needed for the Ancient Altar setup, and I can begin setting it up. By the way, if the Master finishes healing, please tell him that Little Ba has a treasure to offer, but will need his help..."

"Daoist Wu rest assured, we will inform that little rascal when he comes out."

"In that case, Little Ba will go set up the altar. Hmph! Dare to bully my Master Wu Xiaoba, let’s see how I deal with your Thunder Sound Lineage!"

Wu Laoba sneered mischievously, stepping out of the cave while beginning to set up the altar in this demon beast valley, busily humming an absurdly out-of-tune ditty.

Ouyang Nuan, remaining in the cave, was practicing a special secret technique under Burying Moon’s guidance, her spirit sense gradually spreading out like moonlight.

"Since materials are still incomplete, I’ll continue teaching you the Moon Thought Secret Technique of Guanghan Gong. Once the materials are gathered, I’ll rely on Nuan’er to craft some talismans with this technique for me."

"Talismans? Not refining expensive pills? I’m not skilled at drawing talismans and crafting artifacts..."

"Nuan’er need not worry, you’re not required to create highly advanced talismans. Hehe, these talismans are crucial components in our revenge against the Thunder Sound Lineage..."

"Since it’s for this matter, Nuan’er is obliged to contribute."

...

Neither Burying Moon nor Wu Laoba are good-natured. Even without Ning Fan’s orders, they each had their own plans, preparing to secretly retaliate against the Thunder Sound Lineage.

At the very deepest part of the cave, in the center surrounded by black mist of Demonic Qi, a naked man sat cross-legged.

It was Ning Fan.

On the Fiendish Domain Continent belonging to the Sanyan forces, each continent is a land of peril shrouded by Demonic Qi. Setting up a Formation to gather Demonic Qi here isn’t difficult; easily, Ning Fan increased the concentration of Demonic Qi at the cave’s deepest point to a hundred times more than the outside.

If it were any ordinary Eternal Immortal Venerable, breathing would even be difficult at the center of such a vast amount of Demonic Qi.

But Ning Fan is a dignified Ancestral Blood Ancient Demon, and this Demonic Qi not only does no harm to him but is beneficial instead. Under the nourishment of vast Demonic Qi, the recovery speed of the Ancient Demon’s injuries increased by dozens of times compared to the past! Coupled with the triple healing of the Black Star Technique, Nirvana Technique, and Immortal Bloodline, the heavy injuries Ning Fan accumulated in the Fire Soul Tower were healed up to seventy or eighty percent within half a month!

The remaining ten to twenty percent, it is estimated, will be recovered in just a few more days!

While healing injuries, Ning Fan’s Ancient Demon Blood Wine cultivation finally truly stepped into the Demonic Tenth Nirvana. Without the series of life-and-death crises in the Fire Soul Tower, Ning Fan wouldn’t know how much longer it would take to cross the bottleneck of the Ten Nirvana Heavenly Demon.

This is probably the only thing worth celebrating after escaping from the Middle State.

But Ning Fan couldn’t smile!

As Ouyang Nuan anticipated, Ning Fan doesn’t need Wu Laoba to report anything. Wu Laoba’s willingness to run errands and gather information for him is out of goodwill, but in reality, Ning Fan’s Ice Rain Technique could cover hundreds of Fiendish Domain Continents. Although he remains in the cave for treatment, the situation of hundreds of nearby Fiendish Domain Continents is clear to him!

Under the range covered by his spirit sense, there are a total of a hundred and sixty-seven Fiendish Domain Continents, among which thirteen have Three-Flames Cultivator stationed year-round, with a total of eighty-two Sanyan Cities under his spirit sense range!

He heard about Emperor Butcher’s capture days ago from the discussions of some Three-Flames Cultivators!

After completing a Grand Circulation, Ning Fan slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, his spirit sense deeply exhausted.

The amount of Demonic Qi gathered in the depths of the cave is too vast, and treating injuries with such Demonic Qi requires considerable control. The continuous use of spirit sense to control the Demonic Qi is extremely taxing.

And it’s not only here that requires control of Demonic Qi; he also needs to use his spirit sense to control over a thousand Demon Beasts in the valley.

The reason these Demon Beasts do not attack their group is because... Ning Fan forcibly controlled all the Demon Beasts here with his formidable Illusory Art!

Among these thousand Demon Beasts, four even possess the cultivation level of a Newly Ascended Immortal Venerable but are still unable to escape Ning Fan’s Illusory Art control!

After all, following a trip to the Fire Soul Tower, Ning Fan’s Illusory Art attainments are quite extraordinary, all of his Illusory Art talents were brought out by Emperor Butcher. Now he can forcibly control any cultivator who is one realm lower than him with his sheer Illusory Art strength.

And this increase in Illusory Art strength is all thanks to Emperor Butcher...

Emperor Butcher... Ji Qingling...

During his rest, Ning Fan lifted a hand and summoned a bright Black Gemstone-like eye from the storage pouch beside his clothing.

It was Emperor Butcher’s left eye...

The cold left eye had no body temperature naturally because it had been away from the body for too long.

Ning Fan’s heart harbored complexity, and his expression quickly turned ice-cold.

He harbored no romantic feelings for Emperor Butcher, yet the news of Emperor Butcher’s capture inexplicably triggered the greatest anger he had ever felt.

An uncontrollable, uncontainable fury... like a volcano, ready to erupt, eager to kill, eager to drink blood!

The day when Meng Family Immortal Emperor, Meng Baixiong intercepted him, he wasn’t this furious; despite being angry when the Punishing Ring was calculated and destroyed by the Thunder Sound Immortal Emperor, he wasn’t angry to this extent.

But at the sudden news of Emperor Butcher’s capture by the Bright Buddha, Ning Fan’s heart lost control in an instant, almost wanting to forgo reason, and he felt an overwhelming urge to kill his way to the Holy Mountain to rescue Emperor Butcher!

Why... did he care so deeply about a woman he had only met a few times?

Indeed, Emperor Butcher had shown him great kindness and even sacrificed herself to save him in dire times. According to Ning Fan’s character, whoever sincerely helped him, even if it were Emperor Butcher, Wu Laoba, or just a passer-by, he couldn’t possibly ignore their life or death.

Going to the Holy Mountain to rescue someone is a matter of course! But to have my heart thrown into disorder time and again for the sake of Emperor Butcher, even to the point of being unable to control my own emotions, is truly unusual...

Because whether it’s the paper crane, Mistress Qiuling, or even Mu Weiliang in his past life, the turmoil they brought to my heart seems to pale in comparison to what Emperor Butcher has caused...

Could it be that Emperor Butcher is more important in my heart than the paper crane and others... Is this possible...

Ning Fan always believes that there is a reason behind every unreasonable thing in the world, but this time, he cannot see through the reason behind it.

Only confusion, only bewilderment...

The confusion brought by the Dabei Clan is too overwhelming, like an uncountable mist, obscuring my vision...

Ning Fan had promised to engrave the past that Emperor Butcher wanted to know in his left eye. Now, he has engraved the past that Emperor Butcher wished to know within it, but he does not know when this left eye can be returned to Emperor Butcher.

Ning Fan carefully kept Emperor Butcher’s left eye and sorted out his thoughts.

Emperor Butcher was captured by the Bright Buddha, and this matter seems to have suspicious points... His thoughts were actually the same as Burying Moon, Emperor Butcher is a Half-Step Quasi-Saint, and so is the Bright Buddha, even if Emperor Butcher was severely injured, what Ning Fan worried about was only that Emperor Butcher might aggravate his injuries due to overusing his cultivation, leading to a decline in power...

He never considered the possibility of Emperor Butcher being captured alive by Bright Buddha, because capturing alive is much harder than killing... For a figure of the Immortal Emperor level, killing each other is extremely difficult, let alone capturing alive.

How did Bright Buddha capture Emperor Butcher...

Did someone else assist the Bright Buddha?

To capture Emperor Butcher alive, it would at least require a figure of the Dabei Clan’s Five Supreme level, right.

Among the Five Supremes, Ning Fan only knows two people, one is an old man with the surname Niu from the Nan Yao Temple, and the other is a singer who calls herself Afeng.

The other three are unknown...

It can’t be ruled out that after Ning Fan left, the Five Supremes might have intervened in this matter. Of course, it also can’t be ruled out that Bright Buddha might have hidden strength far beyond what appears on the surface...

Speculating further is useless. The news has already spread outside, Emperor Butcher was captured by Bright Buddha, killed many, his crimes are also great and he will be crippled of his cultivation by Bright Buddha!

Crippling an Immortal Emperor class warrior’s cultivation is not an easy thing, to cripple Emperor Butcher’s cultivation, Bright Buddha ordered the 108 Grasslands of Dabei and the Three Thousand Clans to offer up the power of thunder, pooling all of Dabei’s resources, amassing a certain measure of thunder, and Bright Buddha will forge a Primordial Realm Peeling Whip to strip away Emperor Butcher’s cultivation, reducing him to a mere mortal...

The specific measure of thunder refers to the total amount of tribulation thunder an Immortal Emperor would endure in one tribulation of measure!

It must be known that tribulation of measure for an Immortal Emperor is a life and death checkpoint, throughout history, how many Immortal Emperors have died attempting to break through their cultivation? And how many have stagnated at the Eternal Sixth Calamity due to fear of the forthcoming tribulation, not daring to step towards the Seventh Calamity?

Collecting thunder equivalent to a tribulation is naturally not that easy, according to rumors, many Dabei clans are gathering thunder cultivators from within their tribes, generating thunder, and handing over the generated thunder to the Holy Envoys specifically sent to collect it.

Half a month has passed, and the total amount of thunder offered by the more than three thousand Dabei tribes seems to be less than one-tenth of what Bright Buddha requires.

According to the speed of thunder generation of each clan, it will take at least another half a year to gather the amount of thunder Bright Buddha needs.

After that, Bright Buddha will use the collected measure of thunder to forge a Punishing Whip, and conduct a public execution on the Holy Mountain, to cripple Emperor Butcher’s cultivation in front of everyone!

"Half a year left, only... half a year..."

Fierce Qi surged in Ning Fan’s eyes.

Given his current strength, even with half a year’s preparation, it is impossible to rescue Emperor Butcher from under the eyes of countless strong warriors on the Holy Mountain.

Bright Buddha was able to capture Emperor Butcher, how hard would it be to capture him?

But to watch Emperor Butcher’s cultivation be crippled, seeing him reduced to a mortal, is absolutely impossible!

"Half a year is not theoretically enough for an Eternal Cultivator to significantly increase strength. I need more time! If I can open the Xuan Yin Treasure in this Supreme Pill Sacred Domain, and enter it..."

There are still numerous Ten-thousand-year Age Towers within the Xuan Yin Treasure! As long as I can enter, I will be able to use the hundreds of thousands of sealed years within the towers to greatly increase my strength!

However, the suppression of the Xuan Yin Treasure by the Supreme Pill Sacred Domain is too great, with Ning Fan’s cultivation, it is simply impossible to open the Xuan Yin Treasure within the Holy Domain!

The Supreme Pill Sacred Domain imposes great restrictions on foreign cultivators!

The storage pouch and spatial treasure of Daxian Cultivators can be freely used in the Supreme Pill Sacred Domain, but any spatial treasure from the outside world will be forcibly closed and cannot be activated.

This is why foreign cultivators entering the Supreme Pill Sacred Domain need to carry specially made storage pouches.

"The Supreme Pill Sacred Domain seems to reject the activation of the Xuan Yin Treasure not due to rejecting the treasure itself, but rather rejecting me as the foreign cultivator trying to activate it... In the midst of everything, there’s a vast interface power limiting my ability to open the Xuan Yin Treasure..."

"But if a native cultivator from the Dabei Clan were to activate the Xuan Yin Treasure, what would happen then... Would the interface power here still reject this matter..."

"But if that’s the case, then there’s another issue: the Yin Yang Locket is linked to my life, unless I abandon this locket and sever the connection with it, otherwise, no one else can issue commands to activate the Xuan Yin Treasure..."

Ning Fan’s gaze flickered, contemplating something unknown.

Six days passed, Ning Fan recovered from his injuries, dressed, and stepped out of the cave.

Burying Moon, Ouyang Nuan informed Ning Fan of the words left by Wu Laoba before his departure.

They also shared the news of the Emperor Butcher getting captured. Unfortunately, Ning Fan already knew about this, hearing it again only made his eyes flash coldly without giving much response.

His demeanor was calm, but those who know him understand that Ning Fan sometimes harbors a more terrifying intent than apparent under his calm facade.

"Did Wu Laoba really say that he has an important treasure to offer me?"

"Yes, Nuan’er was also surprised, not knowing what kind of important treasure it could be, maybe it could help you in rescuing Mistress Qiuling, dear husband should go and take a look..."

Mistress Qiuling...

Ning Fan was slightly speechless.

He hadn’t even interacted much with the Emperor Butcher yet, and Ouyang Nuan is already addressing her as his sister... This little girl has seemingly decided the Emperor Butcher is his woman...

Unfortunately, this little girl was mistaken, his relationship with the Emperor Butcher wasn’t that simple...

Ning Fan naturally didn’t bother to explain further. Compared to explaining such trivial matters, he was more concerned with the important treasure Wu Laoba intended to offer...

After giving some instructions to Ouyang Nuan and Burying Moon, Ning Fan exited the cave and found Wu Laoba in the valley.

At that moment, Wu Laoba had already built a large altar in a location within the valley. When Ning Fan arrived there, Wu Laoba was dressed like a shaman in a poop-green robe, wearing his green Imperial Jade Fortune Crown, waving a peach wood sword surrounded by black aura, facing an incense offering table full of colorful straw men, jumping around, chanting unknown spells.

With each wave of the peach wood sword, a large area of black wind swept above the altar, the darkness within it was actually the materialization of Black Fortune!

The straw men on the incense table, each only the size of a palm, were marked with notes. Starting from the first straw man, the notes respectively read [Thunder Sound Lineage, First Ancestor Lei Yun Kingdom], [Thunder Sound Lineage, Second Ancestor Lei Jing], [Thunder Sound Lineage, Third Ancestor Lei Cao], [Thunder Sound Immortal King Lei Sansheng], [Thunder Sound Immortal King XXX], XXX, XXX...

This fellow seemed to be performing a curse against the cultivators of the Thunder Sound Lineage.

Among the many straw men, none represented the Fourth Ancestor of Thunder Sound Lineage, Lei Cang. Ley Cang was the one who destroyed Ning Fan’s Punishing Ring and was killed by the Emperor Butcher, his presence completely erased, otherwise, Lei Cang likely would have been included in Wu Laoba’s curse.

Whether this curse worked or not, Ning Fan hadn’t witnessed it, but seeing Wu Laoba’s serious expression, it seemed the Thunder Sound Lineage might indeed face impending repercussions.

"Uh, when did Master arrive, you’ve unexpectedly come out of retreat? This, this truly is a great thing! Thank the heavens, thank the earth, thank Destiny for giving me back a healthy master! Oh, Little Ba is truly guilty, ever since the Master went into retreat to heal, Little Ba has been busily cursing the Thunder Sound Lineage on behalf of the Master, being so busy that he was in a frenzy and failed to notice the most beloved Master has emerged from retreat and would arrive right here..."

Wu Laoba put down the peach wood sword and excitedly ran down the altar, running up to Ning Fan, spewing flattering words non-stop.

In ordinary times, Ning Fan would feel impatient hearing Wu Laoba’s insincere flattery, but now his attitude towards Wu Laoba had slightly improved, making these absurd flattery not so unbearable.

He simply shook his head helplessly and asked, "You mentioned that there is an important treasure to offer me, what kind of treasure is it? And what effort is required from me?"

"Master, have you ever heard of the ancient holy sect called [Heavenly Sect]? Have you heard of the [Ancient Kingdom Trade Array] that connects countless illusory worlds?"

Wu Laoba asked with a face showing three parts reluctance yet seven parts loyalty, while handing over a heavy storage pouch to Ning Fan.

Inside the pouch, there were heaps of gold and silver stacked like small mountains...

"The Ancient Kingdom Trade Array, also known as the Creation Heaven-reaching Array, is said that as long as one possesses Heavenly Dao Gold or Heavenly Dao Silver, they can purchase anything from the other end of the trade array..."