Grasping the Evil

Chapter 560: Northern Forest Sea, Vast Frost City!

Chapter 560: Northern Forest Sea, Vast Frost City!

Without a doubt, the white-robed young man who had quietly descended to the Tree World was none other than Ning Fan.

Among the Nine Worlds, the Tree World belonged to the Lower Three Worlds, but it was much more powerful than the Rain World.

In the Tree World, there were at least two thousand cultivation countries and all of them was governed by each of the three sovereigns there. Liu Haoyue, whom Ning Fan had met once, was one of the three sovereigns, the Snow Willow Devil Sovereign.

The Tree World was a huge world, almost twice the size of the Rain World.

Ning Fan was now standing on a place that was surrounded with countless ancient trees that towered into the sky. He had no idea where his current location was.

Beside him were five tiny sword spirits. All of them had been marked with the Sword Seal of Life and Death that turned them into submissive followers of his.

Although the five little girls were not unwilling to be his followers, they were not daring enough to go against the sword seal. Hence, they had no choice but to serve him as their mater.

The first sword spirit was called Jing Jing, dressed in a golden robe.

The second sword spirit was called Mo Mo, and she wore a green robe.

The third sword spirit was dressed in blue and her name was Shui Shui.

The fourth sword spirit was called Hua Hua, and she was dressed in red.

As for the fifth, Tong Tong, was dressed in yellow and she spoke with a stutter.

"Hmph, this Big Sister will not give in fully. You just got lucky! Don’t be too proud of yourself!" Jing Jing said fiercely.

"Hmph, if you dare to keep me in the sword pouch again, I will definitely teach you a lesson!" Mo Mo said with an angry tone.

"Hmph, if you want to learn my sword techniques, better pay me 100 trillion immortal jades first!" Shui Shui said ferociously.

"Hmph, there seems to be a fight going on in the west, but I’m not going to fight on your behalf!" Hua Hua said.

"Hmph... Hmph... Hmph..." Due to her condition, the little stammer, Tong Tong, could only glare at him with her angry eyes, unable to utter a complete sentence.

The five little girls looked pissed off, but Ning Fan ignored them.

He raised his head slightly and gazed to the west across the sea of trees. Noises of fighting were vaguely coming from that direction since he arrived at the Tree World.

He silently used his divine sense and immediately felt a group of cultivators fighting to their deaths in a valley four hundred li* (500m per li) to the west.

"These cultivators will be useful for information."

Ning Fan waved his sleeve and pushed the five sword spirits into the sword pouch on his waist, ignoring them.

It was a cloth bag embroidered with silver sword patterns. Ning Fan tied it next to his storage bag. He specifically used it to keep flying swords. Many sword cultivators were fond of carrying a sword pouch to keep their swords but Ning Fan used it for the five sword spirits.

After that, Ning Fan took a leap and directly went across a great distance. In silence, he arrived at the tree valley that was four hundred li*(500m per li) away.

That place was extremely quiet and secluded since it was in the depths of the sea of trees, rarely visitedby anyone. Today, however, tens of bandits were surrounding three cultivators who seemed lost from their group. The bandits undoubtedly wanted to kill them and take their treasures at this quiet valley.

These bandits were at least Harmonious Spirt Realm cultivators while the strongest among them was an Early Gold Core cultivator.

Although the outfits of these bandits were all different from each other, they all had a silver flower pattern on their clothing. It looked like the symbol of a certain group of bandits.

The cultivators who were being surrounded were an Early Harmonious Spirit Realm girl and two Peak Harmonious Spirit Realm old men.

In her yellow robes, the girl was giving off a faint demon power of a tree demon. Her expression was tense and her breathing was in disorder as she was under attack by the bandits.

The two Peak Harmonious Spirit Realm old men stood in front of the girl to protect her. They seemed to be the girl’s seniors. Despite being in grave injury, they were still trying their best to keep the girl safe from the bandits.

Fighting with their lives, the two Peak Harmonious Spirit Realm old men were exceptionally ferocious, comparable to a tiger who was on the verge of death. Their spirit shook the bandits. For a while, the bandits did not dare to approach them recklessly. Even so, as the two old men were outnumbered, their conditions worsened as the fight continued.

The Gold Core Realm bandit grinned. He was not in a hurry to kill the two old men. Instead, with a relaxed expression, he spoke to the bandits beside him.

"This girl is the cauldron that the Young Lord has taken a fancy to. Don’t harm her. Capture her

Alive and bring her back to the Young Lord. As for these two old men... We’re running out of time. Just finish them off! In the Earth Abyss Kingdom, the Young Lord’s order is absolute. All sects and clans are nothing but ants to him! "

"Understood!"

Under the command of the Gold Core Realm bandit, at least ten Harmonious Spirit Realm bandits immediately revealed their ultimate techniques, blasting their magic treasures at the two old men, avoiding the young girl.

Under the violent barrage of attacks of the magic treasures, one of the old men immediately lost his defense and was cut into two by a Spirit Realm flying sword in a flash.

The other old man was struck in the chest by a bronze hammer, causing him to fly backward like a kite with a broken string. He fell to the ground, vomiting blood. He was already with one foot in the grave.

"Uncle Xu! Uncle Qin! " The girl screamed with sorrow. Her knees went soft and she fell to the ground.

Looking at the bandits who were approaching her step by step, the girl was filled with despair.

Her clan was only a Harmonious Spirit Realm clan. The bandits in front of her, however, were from a powerful background.

She was not a match for these bandits. Neither did she have the courage to fight them... To put this more accurately, no one in the Earth Abyss Kingdom would dare to go against them.

In the end, she still had to suffer the fate of being captured by these bandits and brought to their young lord to serve him as a human cauldron.

Deep down, she could not accept such a pathetic fate! However, in this cultivation world where only the strong eat, what choices does she have even if she refuses to accept her fate?

Just as she was still overcome by her despair, faint ripple spread across the air in the tree valley.

A young man in white robes appeared in the tree valley out of nowhere. No one could see how and when he arrived.

Upon seeing the young man, the Harmonious Spirit Realm bandits attacked him without hesitation.

"Kill all the passers-by!" The Gold Core Realm bandit ordered with an indifferent tone.

They could not see through the young man’s cultivation base. Even the Gold Core Realm bandit was unable to sense a trace of his Qi.

No one asked him why he was here. After all, why should a cultivator need a reason to kill someone?

The young man’s expression was cold. He didn’t even glance at the Spirit Level magic treasures that were flying towards him.

The girl sighed with pity while looking at the young man.

At first, she thought that she was unfortunate enough to be targeted by the young lord of the bandits. Now, it seemed that the young man who arrived seconds ago was way more unfortunate. He was going to be killed without knowing the reason why... How pitiful...

The girl could not identify the young man’s cultivation base. Hence, she naturally thought that he was definitely going to end up dead being attacked by the group of Harmonious Spirit Realm cultivators.

"Even a Peak Harmonious Spirit Realm cultivator will certainly die in the face of these bandits..." As the girl’s voice faded, her eyes widened in disbelief.

Those powerful magic treasures turned into rays of light and shot towards the young man. However, all of them suddenly stopped a few meters in front of him. Nothing at all could move half an inch forward!

The space around the white-robed young man seemed to have been frozen. All the magic treasures were forcefully stopped in mid-air.

In the next moment, without any warning, all the magic treasures dissolved into ashes!

During the whole process, the white-robed young man did not even lift his hand!

"Who are you?! We are from the Soaring Flower Valley of the Earth Abyss Kingdom"

The Early Gold Core Realm bandit was inwardly guessing if the young man was a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator upon witnessing his strength.

Doubtlessly, he was not daring enough to attack the young man again. Even so, he still wasn’t afraid of him. Thus, he arrogantly announced his clan, hoping to intimidate the young man.

However, the young man’s eyes were calm and deep like a bottomless abyss. There was not a single ripple in them.

He wasn’t frightened at all by the name that was announced.

Moreso, he didn’t even give the Gold Core Realm bandit time to finish his words. By just releasing a small amount of hs magic power, the entire space shook.

That magic power was unfathomably powerful. In front of such power, a Gold Core Realm or even aNascent Soul Realm cultivator was nothing but a speck of dust!

In an instant, all the bandits burst into pools of meat and died a violent death!

"How... How is this possible?!" The young lady and the dying old man were rooted to the ground. Neither of them could believe what they had just witnessed.

They couldn’t imagine how powerful this white-robed young man was. He could crush a Gold Core Realm Realm cultivator by merely releasing his magic power!

Neither Gold Core Realm nor Nascent Soul Realm cultivators would be able to perform such an act... Could it be that this young man was actually a Divine Transformation Realm old monster?!

When the young lady and the injured old man were still pondering, the white-robed young man flicked his sleeve and captured the soul of the Gold Core Realm bandit in his hand. Then, he searched his soul and memory.

After that, he vanished without a trace.

"Thank you for saving my life, Senior!"

The young lady knelt towards the direction where the young man left and devoutly kowtowed a few times before getting up to take care of the injured old man.

She of course had no idea that the actual reason why the cold white-robed young man acted was not about saving her life but merely to gather information about this world.

"This is Earth Abyss Kingdom..."

Ning Fan appeared on the top of a giant tree with a pensive face.

In the Tree World, there were two thousand cultivation countries and the Earth Abyss Kingdom was one of them. It was a Void Grade cultivation country and was located in the Northern Forest Sea.

The Tree World was divided into 4 different seas of trees, namely the Northern Forest Sea, the Southern Forest Sea, the Eastern Forest Sea and the Western Forest Sea. In the Northern Forest Sea, the Earth Abyss Kingdom was considered as a somewhat famous country.

The group of bandits that he killed earlier were members of the Soaring Flower Valley of the country.

The Soaring Flower Valley was a large group of bandits. It was rumored to be led by a Void Refinement Realm cultivator. Within the Earth Abyss Kingdom, nearly no one dared to offend the people of the Soaring Flower Valley.

Certainly, Ning Fan was not afraid of them. A lowly group of bandits like them was not able to pose a threat to him at all.

From the Gold Core Realm bandit’s memories, Ning Fan also learned that the Fire Tree Clan, the destination of his current trip, was located at the Western Sea. It was extremely far away from the Earth Abyss Kingdom. He would need to travel across half almost of the entire Tree World to get there.

The Tree World was vast. If Ning Fan wants to head to the Fire Tree Clan the soonest possible, he would first need to find a complete map of the Tree World.

After pondering for a while, he used his Void Teleportation Technique. Every step was as light as smoke. Swiftly, he flew towards the largest cultivation city in the Earth Abyss Kingdom.

The number-one trading place of the Earth Abyss Kingdom, the Vast Frost City!

According to the Gold Core Realm bandit’s memory, the Vast Frost City was the largest cultivation city in the Earth Abyss Kingdom. The city was ten thousand zhang* (3.33m per zhang) tall and the area was ten thousand li* (500m per li) wide. There were countless cultivation shops in the city and innumerable cultivators of the Earth Abyss Kingdom were fond of shopping at this particular place.

Rumored has it that everything that a cultivator could possibly imagine could be purchased in the Earth Abyss Kingdom. Tens of thousands of years ago, a Void Fragmentation Realm Dao Fruit was once sold here. That incident had truly shocked the entire Tree World!

Of course, precious items like the Void Fragmentation Realm Dao Fruit was not something that one could come across every year. Seeing them on sale in the marketplace was just pure luck.

Ning Fan stopped his travelling light and landed outside the northern gate of the Vast Frost City. He paid some immortal jade and entered the city.

The main reason why he entered the city was to purchase a map.

There was not a hint of nervousness in him. In fact, he did not feel any pressure coming to the Tree World.

He briefly glanced through the place. Most of the cultivators in the city were tree demons but there were also tree devils. At the same time, there were also many human cultivators who practiced wood elemental cultivation methods.

Water element cultivators were the most common to be found in the Rain World. Likewise, wood element cultivators were the most popular ones in the Tree World.

In the Tree World, there were divine cultivators, demon cultivators and devil cultivators. All of them were equal, unlike the Rain World where the divine cultivators were respected while the devil cultivators were regarded as a disgrace.

Hence, there was no need for Ning Fan to deliberately conceal his identity when he was in the Tree World.

Upon crossing a street, Ning Fan frowned and stopped walking all of a sudden.

A middle-aged scholar was following him from afar. He had been tailing Ning Fan ever since he set foot in the city.

"Anything?"

Ning Fan turned around and coldly stared at the middle-aged scholar with an emotionless face.

He had been limiting the qi he gave off at the Early Nascent Soul Realm right after entering the city. This middle-aged scholar, however, was just a Mid Gold Core Realm cultivator.

This middle-aged cultivator should not be harboring any ill intention against him .

Upon realizing that he was being caught by Ning Fan, he nervously approached him. Then, with an honest grin on his face, he said, "Senior, please don’t misunderstand me. I do not have any ill intention following you. Instead, I just have something to ask you. Is this your first time coming to the Vast Frost City...?"

"If yes, so what?"

"Since you have come to the Vast Frost City, I’m sure that you are here to purchase something. Even though I’m a low-level cultivator, I know tens of thousands of shops in this city like the back of my hand. As long as you pay me five hundred immortal jades, I’m willing to be your guide, bringing you to any shop that you want to visit today."

The middle-aged scholar became even more nervous after he finished speaking. He was not sure if Ning Fan would be willing to pay five hundred immortal jades to hire him as a guide.

The Vast Frost City was extremely large. The total number of shops here was at least one hundred thousand. If an ordinary cultivator were to visit every shop, no one could know how long it would take.

Therefore, there would often be Gold Core Realm rogue cultivators leading the way for others in exchange for a payment.

The lifetime savings of a Gold Core Realm cultivator was about one hundred thousand immortal jades. Being a guide for a day could earn them five hundred immortal jades. With that income daily, they could earn at least one hundred thousand immortal jades in one year. It was indeed a huge amount to them.

To Nascent Soul Realm old monsters, five hundred immortal jade was nothing.

To some Gold Core Realm cultivators who were eager to shop, five hundred immortal jades was also just a small amount of money.

Similarly, to Ning Fan, five hundred immortal jade was just like a fleeting cloud.

By just spending five hundred immortal jades, he could save up lots of time traveling blindly. Without a doubt, it was an excellent deal to Ning Fan.

With a pat on his storage pouch, he took out five hundred immortal jade and tossed them to the middle- aged scholar.

The middle-aged scholar kept the immortal jades. Nervousness from his face vanished gradually. Instead, he became even more respectful towards Ning Fan. "May I know what are you looking to purchase in the Vast Frost City?"

"A map."

"A map, huh... If you only want a map of the Earth Abyss Kingdom, you can purchase it with just a few thousand immortal jades. The Flowing Mist Pavilion at the north of the city sells it. If you need a map of the Earth Abyss Kingdom and the tens of countries around it, your budget will be at least several tens of thousands of immortal jades. It is sold at the Qin Yi Pavilion. If you are looking for the map of the other countries in the Northern Forest Sea, it will only be sold at Han Yi Pavilion at the south of the city. May I know what kind of map you are seeking?

The middle-aged scholar explained tirelessly. Well, he seemed to be pretty well-versed in this business.

"I want a complete map of the Tree World." Ning Fan said indifferently.

The middle-aged scholar was filled with shock when he heard Ning Fan’s words. Then, he looked at Ning Fan, feeling weird. "Is the complete map of the Tree World what this senior is looking to buy? I’m sorry but, are you joking with me? Everyone knows that you can’t buy a complete map of the Tree World."

"Why? Is it because there isn’t a complete map of the Tree World in the Vast Frost City?" Ning Fan said with a frown which made the middle-aged scholar’s heart sank.

The moment his eyes met Ning Fan’s, he could only feel deeply terrified. He could not withstand Ning Fan’s devil might at all.

At first, he thought that Ning Fan was just an Early Nascent Soul Realm old monster. Now, it appeared to him that Ning Fan might be concealing his cultivation base. Could he be at the Mid or Late Nascent Soul Realm?

The middle-aged scholar’s cultivation base was not high but he did not lack the ability to discern. After experiencing Ning Fan’s terrifying devil might, how would he dare to offend him? In fact, that discovery just instinctively made him show even more respect and caution to Ning Fan.

The Tree World was divided into four great forest seas, each of which was conquered by three tree sovereigns respectively. All of them were heavily guarded against each other as none of them was on friendly terms with another. Hence, the complete map of the whole Tree World did not exist. Every cultivator of the Tree World knew about this.

The middle-aged scholar did not understand why Ning Fan did not know about this. However, after experiencing Ning Fan’s terrifying devil might, he did not dare to speak recklessly anymore. Inwardly, the only logical explanation he could think of was that Ning Fan probably was a cultivator from a clan who had never left home and rarely learned about the incidents of the real world.

With that thought in mind, the middle-aged scholar could not help but explain patiently.

"Senior, you should know that the three sovereigns of the Tree World each occupy the Eastern Forest Sea, the Western Forest Sea and the Southern Forest Sea respectively and they do not connect with each other. The maps of these three great forests are rarely leaked to the marketplace of the Northern Forest Sea... The largest map that my Vast Frost City offers only encompasses the entire northern forest. Such map is only available at the Everlasting Pavilion. Moreover, it has always been sold only to old monsters who are at the Peak Nascent Soul Realm and above..."

"The map of the Northern Forest Sea is extremely expensive. A copy of it usually costs one million immortal jades. Thus, normally only Divine Transformation Realm old monsters and some powerful great cultivators can afford it..."

As soon as the middle-aged scholar finished speaking, he started observing Ning Fan’s reaction.

From his experience, there were also some Nascent Soul Realm old monsters who wanted to buy the map of the Northern Forest Sea. However, they would usually give up the idea after hearing the exorbitant price of the map.

Ning Fan, however, was different. His expression did not change at all upon hearing that the map would cost one million immortal jades. It seemed as if one million immortal jades was just an insignificant amount to him.

This person is definitely not an ordinary Nascent Soul Realm old monster! Perhaps his actual identity is a Peak Nascent Soul Realm great cultivator!

Surprise filled the scholar when he came up with the thought inwardly.

After listening to the middle-aged scholar’s explanation, Ning Fan pondered in silence.

Initially, he wanted to buy the map of the entire Tree World in Vast Frost City. It was until just now did he realize that it was impossible for him to get it since such a map did not exist.

The Tree World was divided into four great forest seas. Each of the three sovereigns occupied a forest sea as their territory. As none of them allowed outsiders to spy on their territories, they strictly limited the sale of the map.

The Northern Forest Sea was the only forest that was not occupied by a tree sovereign. Therefore, it was not difficult to get the map of the place.

"Forget it. I’ll buy the map of the Northern Forest Sea first. Lead the way. To the Everlasting Pavilion!

Determination shone in Ning Fan’s eyes. The scholar was once again shocked.

He could not imagine that Ning Fan would actually decide to spend one million immortal jades to buy the map of the Northern Forest Sea!

In his entire life, buying the map of the Northern Forest Sea was definitely the biggest deal he had ever made!

"At your command. I’ll bring Senior to the Everlasting Pavilion at once!"

...

In the Soaring Flower Valley of the Earth Abyss Kingdom.

In a large hall hidden within the depths of the valley, a young man in black robes stood with his hands clasped behind his back. His eyes were brimming with anger as he stared at the dismembered corpses of the bandit cultivators laid in front of him.

"There is actually someone in the Earth Abyss Kingdom who dares to offend my Soaring Flower Valley. He is simply courting death! I’m really interested to see which person is audacious enough to kill the members of my clan!"

The black-robed young man patted his storage pouch and took out a small silver mirror, which was actually a Mid-Grade Mortal Void Treasure.

Even though it was just a Mid-Grade Mortal Void Treasure, it was extremely unique as it contained a trace of qi left behind by a Void Fragmentation Realm expert.

The black-robed young man waved the small mirror and faced it towards the dismembered corpses. All of a sudden, Ning Fan’s figure was reflected in the mirror.

"He is in the Vast Frost City of the Earth Abyss Kingdom! This is the man who was capable of killing a Gold Core Realm cultivator with just his qi. His cultivation base is at least at the Early Divine Transformation Realm. But there is no way he is at the Mid Divine Transformation Realm. I know all cultivators who are at the Mid Divine Transformation Realm and above in the Northern Forest Sea but I have never seen this man before! So this Early Divine Transformation Realm ant is the culprit huh... Humph! Since the Vast Frost City is not far. I will act myself and kill this Divine Transformation Realm ant with my bare hands! The lord of the city is nothing but a Void Glimpse Stage cultivator. This is a right time as I also have some old scores to settle with him too! "

The black-robed young man took a step forward. A ray of Void Inquiry Stage light shone and it flew towards the Vast Frost City.

The young lord was actually a Void Inquiry Stage cultivator!

In a Void Grade Cultivation Country like the Earth Abyss Kingdom, he definitely was a powerful devil lord who could do whatever he wanted without fear!

Death awaits whoever tries to provoke him! (To be continued.)