Grasping the Evil

Chapter 551: A Snow White Beast’s Shadow

One day after Ning Fan departed from the Yang Heaven Palace, he returned to the Scarlet Heaven Realm’s cloud mountain.

When the cultivators of the Scarlet Heaven Palace saw Ning Fan up above the cloud mountain, each and every one of them was as silent as cicadas in winter. They bowed to him with utmost respect and did not even dare to neglect him in the slightest even though the seventh prince had told them many times not to be respectful toward Ning Fan.

But now that Ning Fan shook the entire Heavenly Cloud Country, which low-level cultivator would dare to disrespect him?

"Welcome, Palace Lord..."

Hundreds of the Scarlet Heaven Palace’s revered elders and divine messengers came out to respectfully welcome Ning Fan. Ning Fan, however, merely swept his gaze at them and then indifferently said.

"Get lost."

With just a single look, he made all the revered elders and divine messengers there break out in cold sweat as his eyes still contained the piercing and fearsome aura force of defeating all the other eight palaces!

Ning Fan then headed directly to the palace located in the inner part of the mountain. No one dared to stop or disturb him.

Once he entered the palace, he went straight to the Scarlet Heaven Rain Stele.

The stele contained an extremely thick rain intent. It was the best place for him to comprehend the rain technique.

At this moment, his white robes were stained with blood. His injuries were very serious.

Even though he had managed to defeat Yun Ling using his Black Tempest Rupture Art, he was also hurt by his Rain Sealing Pagoda.

Yun Ling was just an ordinary Absolute Void Stage expert. Despite that, he still managed to inflict serious injuries on Ning Fan.

He had to admit that if he were to face an Absolute Void Stage expert who had already converted their unital magic power to yuan, his chances of winning would be slim.

And if he were to face a Void Fragmentation Realm expert, he would only be able to put up a fight against them by using his trump cards like the heavenly tribulation puppets.

He did not have time to heal his wounds now. He only took a Sixth Revolution vulnerary pill and immediately got to work.

He sat down in a meditative posture below the rain stele and raised a finger to point at the direction in front of him. Nine faint silver masses of light instantly appeared.

Each of the masses of light contained an incomplete set of the rain technique.

Thus, the nine masses of light contained nine sets of the rain technique in total.

Vast Heaven Rain, Yang Heaven Rain, Scarlet Heaven Rain, Vermilion Heaven Rain, Complete Heaven Rain, Serene Heaven Rain, Profound Heaven Rain, Altering Heaven Rain, Great Heaven Rain...

He had succeeded in obtaining the rain techniques of all the nine heavens. Now, all he needed to do was to cultivate the Rain Ancestor’s famous technique – Heaven Prying Rain.

As long as he successfully learns the Heaven Prying Rain, it would not be difficult for him to cover the entire Central State with his Absolute Void Stage spirit sense. He could then start searching for the person he wanted to look for within the range of Central State.

At this very moment, Ning Fan only had one single thought in his mind. This thought was what drove him to defeat the eight other palaces and study their rain steles...

I must find my mother!

In order to achieve that, he did not care how many trump cards he had to expose or how many people he would offend.

Recalling the memories of the Weeping Blood Forest, Ning Fan closed his eyes in silence.

When he opened them, he became calm. He then muttered to himself.

"There are three requirements to cultivate the Heaven Prying Rain. Firstly, one must possess powers of the divine, demon and devil races!"

"Secondly, one must successfully comprehend the nine types of rain techniques of the rain steles and comprehend them!"

"Thirdly, fuse the Nine Heavens Rain into one and display it which would then become the Heaven Prying Rain!"

"I possess the powers of the three races and have obtained the nine types of rain techniques. Moreover, I’ve already mastered the Scarlet Heaven Rain which belongs to the third heaven. Next, I will learn the rain techniques of the other Eight Heavens in proper order..."

Ning Fan opened his mouth and inhaled, swallowing the third mass of light into his abdomen.

After that, he waved his palm and held the first mass of light at the center of his palm to learn it.

Even though his severe injuries had yet to heal, Ning Fan paid them no attention. The shadows of his fingers were rapidly moving as he bitterly cultivated the Vast Heaven Rain Technique from the first mass of light.

One month later, he successfully learned the Vast Heaven Rain Technique. He swallowed the mass of light and pulled the second mass of light into his palm to comprehend it.

After he learned the Scarlet Heaven and Vast Heaven Rain Techniques, he only spent twenty days learning the third set of rain techniques.

When he completely mastered the first three types of rain techniques, he tried to display the Vast Heaven Rain and Yang Heaven Rain simultaneously and fuse them into one.

Each type of rain technique could extend Ning Fan’s senses up to a range of seventy million li* (500m per li).

However, if he combines two types of rain techniques into one, he could sense things that were at least three hundred million li* (500m per li) away.

Unfortunately, there seemed to be an unbreakable barrier between the two types of rain techniques, preventing them from fusing with each other.

Ning Fan sighed dejectedly and gave up on fusing the rain techniques for the meantime. Right after that, he started learning the rain techniques of the six remaining heavens. With the foundation he established from his experience, the cultivation of the remaining rain techniques became a whole lot easier.

He only used twelve days to master the Vermilion Heaven Rain, seven days to master the Complete Heaven Rain and three days to master the Serene Heaven Rain.

As for the Profound Heaven Rain, the Altering Heaven Rain and the Great Heaven Rain, he only spent one day each.

After two and a half months, Ning Fan had finally comprehended the remaining eight types of rain techniques, successfully cultivating all the Nine Heavens Rain Techniques.

There was only one final step before he could truly master the Heaven Prying Rain – fusing the Nine Heavens Rain into one... Would he be able to succeed on this last step...?

"Lonely Heaven Rain!"

With a grim expression, Ning Fan suddenly performed hand seals to display the Vast Heaven Rain which rapidly drained his magic power.

In an instant, light rain began to fall upon the vicinity of seventy million li* (500m per li) around the Scarlet Heaven Cloud Mountain and every tree and bush was now within Ning Fan’s senses.

Ning Fan inhaled deeply and changed his hand seals.

"Twin Heaven Rain!"

He attempted to fuse the Yang Heaven Rain with the Vast Heaven Rain, trying to fuse them into one. However, it ended in failure.

"You failed again, huh... Indeed, the Rain Ancestor’s technique can’t be mastered so easily." In the Profound Yin World, Luo You made a gentle sigh.

Ning Fan gritted his teeth and tightly clenched his fists. He was reluctant to accept the result... He had already obtained the Nine Heavens Rain Technique but he could not fuse all of them into one...

Even though he knew that his mother was obviously in the Central State and he would have a chance of locating her as long as he succeeds in fusing the Nine Heavens Rain, he could not completely master the technique...

Ning Fan could not accept this!

He suppressed his frustration after failing to display the technique and consumed some pills to recover his magic power.

A day later, his magic power was restored to ninety percent. He tried to combine the rain techniques together again but he still could not succeed.

One day. Two days. Three days...

One month passed, two months went by and then three months...

In the fourth month, Ning Fan finally succeeded in fusing the Vast Heaven Rain and the Yang Heaven Rain into one!

The moment the two types of rain techniques fused, the range of the drizzling rain extended to three hundred million li* (500m per li) around the Scarlet Heaven Realm.

Ning Fan could almost see all the living beings beyond the vicinity of three hundred million li* (500m per li)!

However, just as he was about to sense everything clearly, the barrier between the two types of rain techniques appeared once again. Ning Fan felt a sharp pain in his Sea of Consciousness as he suddenly coughed out blood. He failed to fuse the rain techniques again...

"The Nine Heavens Rain can’t be fused together... I can’t use this technique to find her..." Sorrow flashed within Ning Fan’s eyes before he closed them.

He had already become extremely skilled with the Nine Heavens Rain but he still could not command them to fuse into one.

It was not that his comprehension was not good enough but it was because his rain intent was just too weak...

In the past, Ning Fan combined his Divine Intent of Rain, Devil Intent of Devil and Demon Intent of Fu Li into one and created the Second Step of Intent Realm – Memory Intent Realm.

However, if you were to look at the three intent realms individually, the grade of his original rain intent realm remained at the Eighth Grade.

The Heaven Prying Rain was extremely heaven-defying. It fused its intent with the rain and used the rain to pry upon heaven. If one’s rain intent is not powerful enough, they would not be able to pry into the heavens...

Unless Ning Fan increases the grade of his rain intent realm and cultivates it to a higher level, he would never be able to fuse the Nine Heavens Rain into one...

"Ning Fan... Don’t be discouraged. Since you can’t display the Rain Ancestor’s technique with your current rain intent, then find a way to improve it. With absolute faith and sincerity, one can even cut open metal and rocks... One day, you will master this technique. I have confidence in you. Regarding cultivation, haste makes waste..." In the Profound Yin World, Luo You comforted him. It was uncommon for her to act so seriously.

"I understand..."

He understood the logic behind it but it was still hard for him to dispel his sorrow.

In the world of mortals, if someone’s relative passes away, everyone would understand the fact that a dead person cannot be brought back to life. Therefore, they would repress their grief and accept their loss.

However, how many of them could truly repress their grief...? And how could the sorrow in one’s heart be truly repressed...?

With blank eyes, Ning Fan stood there in silence.

After a long time, he dismissed the vacant look in his eyes and slowly regained his calm.

He wanted to find his mother as soon as possible. However, what else could he do if he could not master this technique...?

He was not a person who liked to sigh in despair. Getting rid of his sadness, he started to face reality.

Since his rain intent was not strong enough, then he would just find ways to improve it!

"The Central State of the Rain World produces divine intent stones in abundance which can slightly raise the level of a cultivator’s intent realm... Countless Nascent Soul Realm and Divine Transformation Realm cultivators also use this item to improve their comprehension of their intent realm... When I fully recover, I will use the power of the divine intent stones to raise my intent realm. For now, I shall first deal with my injuries!"

After he defeated the palace lords of all the palaces in the Heavenly Cloud Country, he obtained extremely grave injuries. However, he had not thought about treating his wounds and spent around half a year learning the Rain Ancestor’s technique.

As his body had the Black Star Technique which was healing his wounds automatically, he was already nearly sixty percent healed after half a year had passed. Unfortunately, he took a backlash from the rain technique several times which then inflicted a serious damage on his Sea of Consciousness...

In that case, he would have to spend quite a lot of time to completely heal his injuries.

Since he had already decided to stop comprehending the rain technique, he naturally no longer needed to stay below the rain stele.

With a shake of his body, he entered the Yuan Yao World and got into the dark golden pagoda. He started to heal his wounds on the seventh floor.

Only after staying inside the pagoda for three years did he fully recover.

Three years on the seventh floor within the pagoda was only equivalent to approximately nine days in the outside world.

He put on some clean clothes and began sorting out the loot he obtained from his battles against the palace lords in the Heavenly Cloud Country.

He still did not have a suitable sword sense to control the five sword spirits. Hence, he let them remain unconscious.

The Rain Sealing Pagoda that he had seized from Yun Ling’s hands was quite an excellent magic treasure.

When he fought him, he had to suffer some losses even with his abilities. Now, with this pagoda in his hands, Ning Fan was confident of putting up a fight even against an Absolute Void Stage expert who had already converted their unital magic power to yuan magic power.

While he was observing the delicate silver pagoda, he gently sighed upon noticing the startling cracks on its body.

On his way back from the Vast Heaven Realm, he had already discovered the origin of this pagoda.

The Rain Sealing Pagoda was once the strongest offensive treasure of the Rain Palace which had a terrifyingly destructive power that could instantly kill an expert at the First Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm. Additionally, it was also the fourth prince’s natal magic treasure.

However, during the day Yun Tianjue broke through to the Void Fragmentation Realm, he murdered him and also partially destroyed this treasure.

But even though the treasure’s power had been greatly damaged, it was still a precious supreme treasure.

When Ning Fan touched the cracks on the Rain Sealing Pagoda, another thought surfaced within his heart.

He continued to stroke the cracks which were caused by a sword in silence. From those cracks, he could feel a crazy sword intent that was overwhelmed with sorrow.

It was Yun Tianjue’s sword intent... When he murdered the fourth prince on that day, nobody knew how anguished he felt inside.

"The fourth prince had already died whereas Yun Tianjue lost his memories. The old man with seven colors of light is the only one left who might know the truth of what happened that year... So this is where the trail ends, huh..."

Ning Fan sighed and kept the Rain Sealing Pagoda. With a leap, he returned to the inner part of the mountain.

After resting for several days within the inner part of the mountain, he had already completely gotten rid of his battle intent of wiping out the Heavenly Cloud Country as well as the sorrow of being unable to locate his mother and regained his tranquility.

Then, he got out of the mountain and returned to the Scarlet Heaven Palace located at the peak of the cloud mountain. To his surprise, Yu Chong Er was waiting for him inside the palace.

She had already stayed in the Scarlet Heaven Palace for one whole month just to wait for Ning Fan to get out of his seclusion.

"Your injuries are all healed?! Great!" Yu Chong Er was overjoyed upon seeing Ning Fan’s qi that had become stable.

"Mm. They were just some minor injuries. I’m fully recovered now." Ning Fan said calmly.

"Minor injuries? You’ve endured the attack of the Rain Sealing Pagoda head-on. How could the injuries you suffered be minor...? That’s the Rain Sealing Pagoda, you know...?" Yu Chong Er stared at Ning Fan like she was looking at a monster.

Even if the person who took a direct hit from the Rain Sealing Pagoda was an Absolute Void Stage expert who had achieved yuan magic power, they would either be killed or grievously injured.

Ning Fan, on the other hand, managed to heal all of his injuries within half a year after withstanding a direct attack from the pagoda... He really was similar to an unkillable cockroach that had endless vitality.

She stared at Ning Fan as hard as possible, trying to find out how he did it. However, when Ning Fan looked her in the eye, her cheeks immediately blushed, making her remember her original purpose of coming here.

"Oh yes. The reason why I came here is to pass you a message. The Rain Sovereign has just exited his seclusion and he is sorting out the comprehensions he obtained from his seclusion. Perhaps he will summon you in a few days."

"Is that so...?" Ning Fan muttered, deep in thought. He wondered how the Rain Sovereign would feel after hearing news of him defeating the palace lords of the other eight palaces.

Ning Fan battled against the eight palaces to comprehend their rain steles without killing a single person. Everything he did was in accordance with the World Law of the Rain World.

However, he had revealed many of his trump cards during those battles and had even defeated Yun Ling, an Absolute Void Stage expert with only his Void Inquiry Stage power...

Despite being only nine hundred years old, he actually had become so strong...

Judging from the Rain Sovereign’s limited tolerance of people, if he finds out that Ning Fan had such potential, will he think of him as a threat?

Well, of course, Ning Fan deeply believed that before he outlived his use, the Rain Sovereign would not take any actions against him.

But once the Rain Sovereign is done with him...

Ning Fan shook his head. Perhaps one day he would stand face to face against the Rain Sovereign and be the Rain Palace’s enemy...

Even so, that was not a big deal. Now, he had Min Luo and the little sable protecting Yue Country. Even if the Rain Sovereign personally goes there, he might not necessarily be able to retreat in one piece... Just a single clone of Min Luo was already at the Fifth Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm.

If Min Luo goes all-out, he could ignite his demon soul and enable his original body to temporarily leave the Dark Sparrow’s Grave and wipe out the Rain World using his rogue demon strength.

If Rain Sovereign really tries to plot against Yue Country, he would have a tragic death.

"My master has already come to the Central State. Based on what I’ve heard from my master, when the Rain Sovereign summons you, he will grant you a reward and let you go through the ’Heaven, Earth, Black and Yellow Tests’ at the same time." Yu Chong Er continued.

"Tests?" Ning Fan sounded surprised.

"Mm. During the promotion of the Rain Palace’s division palace lord of all the previous generations, they would be given a test by the Four Great Void Fragmentation Realm Experts. One has to go through at least one of the four tests before obtaining the qualification to be promoted to a palace lord. In the history of the Rain World, you are the only one who was directly promoted as a palace lord without taking the test. However, since you’ve now come to the Central State, you naturally need to catch up on the four tests."

"I see."

Ning Fan nodded his head to express his understanding. When Yun Tianjue gave him the revered elder token in the past, he had also given him a test.

Since the promotion of a revered elder required a test, it was perfectly reasonable for one to be tested before being promoted as a palace lord.

Of the four tests, one would need to get through one of them. It was not that difficult for Ning Fan.

Ning Fan was not worried that the Rain Sovereign was trying to set him up. Before the latter is done using him to accomplish his objective, he would be extremely safe. For example, even if Ning Fan turns against all the princes of the Rain Palace, the Rain Sovereign would still be Ning Fan’s backer...

"And the other reason why I came here to find you is to give you a gift to express my gratitude for saving my life. You must not reject my gift, okay?"

Yu Chong Er lowered her head while her ears burned hot. Only after rummaging in her storage pouch for nearly half a day did she make up her mind to take out a brocade box.

"T-This is your gift. Don’t refuse it!"

Ning Fan took the box from her and shook his head with a smile.

When did he ever turn down someone when they offered him something? He never refuses anyone, okay?

However, just as he touched the brocade box, his expression suddenly became serious.

The brocade box was densely sealed with multiple seals. They had never been opened before. Even so, Ning Fan could still sense a brutal and bloodthirsty qi of a ferocious beast from within the box...

"This is a Low Rank Profound Divinity Grade spiritual equipment. It’s something that I asked from my master with great difficulty... If you don’t want it, you aren’t giving me any face!"

Yu Chong Er raised her head with a hopeful look on her face. She was very afraid that Ning Fan would reject her gift.

Strange. It’s very strange... Wasn’t she just trying to give him a thank-you gift? Why would she feel so nervous...?

Was she sick again...?

"Thank you. This spiritual equipment is just what I need. Thus, I’m going to thicken my face and accept this gift."

Ning Fan thanked Yu Chong Er with a faint smile. The latter, however, averted her eyes and was immediately at a loss for words.

"Y-Y-You... Stop looking at me. Look at this spiritual equipment instead. Do you like it?"

"Mm."

Ning Fan opened a slight gap on the brocade box.

Immediately, a violent snow-white beast silhouette turned into a fearsome white ray of light which flew directly toward Ning Fan’s head!

That beast shadow actually wanted to kill Ning Fan!

"Interesting. This Profound Divinity Grade spiritual equipment is actually so vicious that it even dares to kill its master!"

Ning Fan took half a step backward and landed his finger at the snow-white beast shadow.

Immediately, the snow-white beast shadow let out a miserable shrill, as if it was in agony.

Translated by Tommy, edited by Roel