novelraw Chapter 589: The Third Challenge Letter
Chapter 589: The Third Challenge Letter
Ning Fan sat atop the Incense Carriage, chatting along the way with the Third Elder.
The Third Elder was an eminent figure of the Void Fragmentation realm, who would not ordinarily lower himself to converse with a Void Refinement cultivator.
But Ning Fan was a High-Level Sixth Revolution Alchemist, so naturally, the Elder treated him with utmost respect and courtesy.
The Incense Carriage proceeded under the watchful gaze of all the cultivators in the city, heading towards Jishui Palace.
On this day, every cultivator in the city learned of Ning Fan’s grand entrance into the city...
Some astute individuals recognized Ning Fan as someone wanted by the Vine Emperor, and were greatly alarmed.
No one expected that Ning Fan, wanted by the Vine Emperor, would boldly come to the Eastern Tree Ocean and openly arrive at the Bamboo Hall.
No one expected that Ning Fan, wanted by the Vine Emperor, was a High-Level Sixth Revolution Alchemist!
Some old monsters from the Western and Northern Forest Seas, in the Void Fragmentation realm, secretly recognized Ning Fan’s identity and initially wanted to kill him to claim a reward from the Vine Emperor.
But upon learning of Ning Fan’s identity as a High-Level Sixth Revolution Alchemist, and seeing the aura of the Absolute Void Stage about him, no one dared to make a move openly.
Some cultivators from Hancang Kingdom in the Eastern Tree Ocean recognized Ning Fan as the formidable force that had single-handedly destroyed the Snow Cedar Four Clans.
As such, Ning Fan’s legendary feat of obliterating the Snow Cedar Four Clans also spread throughout Jishui City. Many rumors speculated that Ning Fan’s true power might rival that of the Return to Origin Grand Void Stage...
Those old monsters who initially thought of assassinating Ning Fan for the reward gave up their plans upon hearing the terrifying extent of his power.
Though the bounty from the Vine Emperor was tempting, their lives were more precious, and there was no need to offend a master alchemist renowned across the Tree World, whose combat prowess was on par with the Return to Origin stage...
Inside Jishui Palace, the Bamboo Sovereign had shed his usual indifferent demeanor and, unusually, wore a slight smile as he hosted a banquet for Ning Fan.
At this banquet, besides the absence of the Fusang Old Demon who was not in Jishui City, all seven Fragmented Void Elders of the Bamboo Hall attended.
If Ning Fan were merely a Low-Grade Sixth Revolution Alchemist, the Bamboo Sovereign would have valued him, but not as highly.
But Ning Fan’s dan refinement had reached High-Level Sixth Revolution, enough to be unparalleled in the Tree World, even the Bamboo Sovereign dared not underestimate him.
Among the seven Fragmented Void Elders of the Bamboo Hall, four expressed goodwill towards Ning Fan, while three showed hostility.
The Sixth Elder was an inflexible devil cultivator, who practiced the divine way of tree spirit cultivation and rarely engaged in conflict throughout his life, disliking those like Ning Fan who were quick to kill.
The Fourth Elder was a First Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm cultivator with ties to the Baili Clan. Presently, the eight Fragmented Void Elders of the Bamboo Hall each held three nomination slots to recommend candidates for the Eighth Elder succession. Among those recommended by the Fourth Elder, one of them was the Chief of the Baili Clan...
The Fourth Elder gazed at Ning Fan with a hint of hostility.
However, due to Ning Fan’s status as a High-Level Sixth Revolution Alchemist, he did not pose any difficulties for Ning Fan on the spot, but it was unlikely that they would become allies.
The Great Elder was a cultivator at the Third Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm and similarly looked unkindly upon Ning Fan.
In his youth, he had received some favors from a former clan leader of the Stone Tree Clan.
The Stone Tree Clan was originally one of the Twelve Clans of Hancang, but it had been destroyed by Ning Fan... thus the Great Elder regarded Ning Fan with hostility.
After the banquet, the Bamboo Sovereign summoned Ning Fan and promised once again that if Ning Fan could cure the Ancestral Bamboo, he would certainly reward Ning Fan with enough Tree Ancestor Fruit to help him break through to Second-Grade Rain Intent.
When Ning Fan left the Royal Palace Hall, it was already the third watch of the night, and the night was deep.
Currently, within Jishui City, aside from Ning Fan, there were no other High-Level Sixth Revolution Alchemists present.
The Bamboo Sovereign decided to wait for another month, until other Alchemy Grandmasters arrived, to let everyone help cure the Ancestral Bamboo together.
Ning Fan pondered in his heart, it seemed he would have to stay in Jishui City for a month. After curing the Ancestral Bamboo and receiving the reward of the Tree Ancestor Fruit, he could leave the Eastern Tree Ocean...
But where should he go after that?
Should he obey the Rain Emperor’s order and head to the Fire Tree Clan of the Western Tree Ocean?
Ning Fan shook his head slightly. He had thoroughly offended the Vine Emperor; heading to the Western Tree Ocean at this moment would be dangerous.
Perhaps the Zhurong Spring of the Fire Tree Clan was a significant opportunity, but this opportunity was located in a dangerous place and might be better left alone.
Should he go to the Southern Tree Oceans and pay a visit to the Snow Willow Devil Sovereign?
After some contemplation, Ning Fan shook his head again. His acquaintance with Liu Haoyue was merely fleeting, and there was no necessity to go to the Southern Tree Oceans.
So, should he stay in the Tree World for a while longer, or head back to the Rain Immortal World after getting the Tree Ancestor Fruit?
Ning Fan sighed lightly. He had just entered Jishui City but was already at odds with three of the Fragmented Void Elders of the Bamboo Hall. The Eastern Tree Ocean was not a place to linger...
"Whether to stay in the Tree World or return to the Rain Immortal World, the pressing matter is to find a way to reach First-Grade Rain Intent... I wonder when my Rain Intent can break through to the first grade."
Ning Fan walked alone in the night streets, without realizing from when, no cultivator was present by his side.
He suddenly stopped, his gaze deepened, and with a sweep of his sleeve, a gust of wind arose, blowing in all directions, causing the street in front of him to shatter into fragments!
"This is... the Immortal Abode’s Magical Treasure!" Ning Fan said with a frown.
Moments ago, he was walking on the streets of Jishui City, and now he had been drawn into this Immortal Abode’s Magical Treasure by someone.
Without a doubt, someone in Jishui City had set him up, daring to trap him despite knowing his unparalleled dan refinement in the Tree World!
Within the Immortal Abode’s Magical Treasure, suddenly a burst of blood-red light emerged, revealing the figures of two elders riding tigers, both were Void Refinement Realm experts.
The two elders stared at Ning Fan, their gazes hollow and indifferent, yet filled with fierce killing intent!
They were assassins sent by the Baili Clan! Planning to assassinate Ning Fan on his way from the Jishui Palace!
Behind the two elders were seven Void Inquiry and Void Refinement Realm assassins, all riding blood tigers, their gazes cold.
The seven Void Inquiry and Void Refinement Realm assassins took out Blood Banners simultaneously, shaking them vigorously, causing the sky to be filled with blood light.
As on the day of Baili Clan’s assassination, all seven assassins’ life force began to deplete rapidly, aging swiftly.
And the two elders at the Absolute Void Stage, each performed secret techniques, absorbing the blood light, temporarily elevating their aura to the Return to Origin Grand Void Stage!
"Kill!"
All the assassins, riding their blood tigers, surrounded Ning Fan and attacked from all directions.
Ning Fan was absolutely certain that the visitors were undoubtedly Baili Clan assassins, and there was no need to hold back.
With a step, he transformed into black-clad, raised his hand for Soul Extraction, surrounded by sovereign qi, golden light emerged, simultaneously activating the Shattered Void Triple Technique, beginning a slaughter within the Immortal Abode’s Magical Treasure...
In ten breaths, within the Immortal Abode’s Magical Treasure, apart from Ning Fan, no one was left, the air was filled with a thick scent of blood.
Out of the nine Baili assassins, Ning Fan directly killed eight. Strangely, the eight of them had no Spirit or Demon Soul, Ning Fan had not captured any assassin’s Spirit or Demon Soul, unable to search their soul and erase memories...
Fortunately, he had specially kept one Void Inquiry assassin alive, capturing him alive.
He attempted to perform the Soul Search technique on this person, to see why the Baili Clan harbored hostility towards him and what their plot was.
But as soon as he commenced the Soul Search, this assassin’s divine sense suddenly exploded, along with his whole body...
"No way to soul search...?"
Ning Fan pondered silently, the Baili Clan’s cultivators without Spirit or Demon Soul, seemed eerie...
As the ninth assassin self-detonated, all nine assassins perished, and in the silent sky, suddenly nine streaks of blood light appeared, forming into a war challenge note.
In the challenge note, there was only one word... ’Death’!
This was the third war challenge note sent by the Baili Clan Chief to him!
Ning Fan’s gaze showed a hint of peculiarity, the Baili Clan Chief had given him a third war challenge note...
The Baili Clan Chief had set nine streaks of blood light in the assassins’ bodies, so when all nine perished, the blood light would converge into a war challenge note.
Did the Baili Clan Chief anticipate the failure of this assassination too? So he used the deaths of these nine assassins to send Ning Fan a third war challenge note?
Since he knew the assassination would fail, why send these assassins to their deaths?
Wait, sending to death!
Ning Fan seems to have realized something, patting his storage pouch, he took out the first two war challenge notes, contemplating the word ’death’ on the three notes.
These three war challenge notes, each was unreasonable.
Initially, Ning Fan was puzzled why the Baili Clan Chief would send an assassin each time and send out a war challenge note after a failed assassination.
At this moment, he vaguely guessed the chief’s intention.
These three war challenge notes were all imbued with the deep as sea, unyielding killing intent of the Baili Clan Chief!
In the beginning, Ning Fan’s habitual thinking was that the Baili Clan Chief was issuing the war challenge notes to kill him, hence he was confused by the chief’s contradictory actions.
The Baili Clan Chief clearly knew that sending assassins would not kill Ning Fan yet still sent them.
The chief of the Baili Clan knew well that sending a battle post was a bold and brainless act, yet he continued to send them time and again.
Now, he understood!
The endless killing intent within these battle posts was not aimed at Ning Fan, but at... the Baili Clan members!
This word "die" was not intended for Ning Fan to die, but for the Baili Clan members to perish!
To make every Baili Clan member who came to assassinate Ning Fan fall by his hand!
The reason the chief of the Baili Clan sent Ning Fan three battle posts was to ask Ning Fan to kill all Baili Clan members!
Following this line of thought, the chief’s bewildering behavior of sending battle posts could be explained.
But what was the chief’s purpose? As the leader of the clan, why deliberately send clan members to die, what was the meaning behind this...
Ning Fan frowned, sensing a thick atmosphere of strangeness in the chief’s actions...
A flash of inspiration struck him; he suddenly recalled that the Baili assassins did not have any Spirit or Demon Soul within them.
These two matters were equally strange and seemed to be linked somehow.
Ning Fan pondered repeatedly, yet only felt his thoughts becoming confused, unable to understand why the Baili chief would want his clan members dead.
"What is the Baili chief plotting... sending his clan members to death, how does it benefit him..."
"Could it be that despite being the Baili chief, he holds a deep animosity against the Baili Clan?"
Ning Fan crushed the Immortal Abode’s Magical Treasure here with a palm and returned to the long street outside in Jishui City.
On the street, among the passing masters, no one noticed Ning Fan being drawn into the Immortal Abode, nor did anyone realize the carnage within.
Walking along the street, a hint of unease arose in his heart for the first time upon entering the Tree World.
He halted his steps, took out an oracle bone, and used the three battle posts for divination, seeking a hint of Heaven’s prediction.
With Ning Fan’s divination skills, it was impossible to discern the true intentions of the Baili chief.
His divination was only about the two words: fortune or calamity.
He wished to know whether the confrontation with the Baili Clan was fortunate or disastrous.
After a round of divination, the oracle bone suddenly shattered... this was a sign of great disaster!
Ning Fan’s gaze suddenly sharpened.
The Baili Clan is merely a Void Refinement power, yet Ning Fan possesses a Void Fragmentation puppet and fighters; why then would a confrontation with the Baili Clan signal a great disaster!
Ning Fan questioned himself, even if he faced the Bamboo Sovereign and was unable to defeat him, he would likely escape without facing great calamity.
Could it be that behind the Baili chief’s bizarre actions lies a hideous danger, a danger even more terrifying than the Bamboo Sovereign...
As Ning Fan pondered, a haughty young girl’s voice suddenly rang out in the night on the long street.
This arrogant voice caused Ning Fan’s gaze to become slightly cold.
"Humph, you must be Lu Bei of the Min Luo Race! Absolute Void Stage, six revolution upper-grade dan refinement skills, truly outstanding, yet you dared to outright refuse my great-grandfather when he humbled himself to personally invite you to assist my Fusang Clan. Are you looking down on my Fusang Clan, or do you acknowledge your own weak prowess, unfit to choose for the Bamboo Hall’s Eighth Elder! Or perhaps you’re afraid of the Baili Clan and dare not confront the Baili King, such a coward!"
Ning Fan cast a sidelong glance.
The speaker was a young girl in a red dress, seemingly fifteen or sixteen years old, with delicate features, yet her eyes bore an unabashed arrogance.
The red-dressed girl was merely a Nascent Soul cultivator, but the four female guards behind her were all Divinity Transformation masters.
Seeing their young mistress daring to speak disrespectfully to Ning Fan, the four female guards’ faces turned pale, stood in front of the red-dressed girl, and apologized to Ning Fan.
"Master Lu, forgive us! Our young mistress is young and ignorant, speaking rashly without malice! Please, Master, do not be offended by us juniors!"
"Our young mistress is Tang Yuan, daughter of Tang Xiong, chief of the Fusang Clan. We’ve heard that Master Lu has connections with both our ancestor and chief, please, for the sake of our ancestor and chief, do not hold our young mistress’s slip of the tongue against her!"
The red-dressed girl was indeed the little princess of the Fusang Clan.
Now that the selection process for the successor of the Eighth Elder was about to begin, Tang Xiong, recommended by the Fusang Old Demon and one of three candidates, had traveled from the Ju Mang Country in the Northern Forest Sea to the Eastern Tree Ocean.
This red-dressed girl, named Tang Yuan, was Tang Xiong’s daughter, who accompanied her father to Jishui City a few days ago.
She had heard from her father about Ning Fan refusing to assist the Fusang Clan, which left her deeply dissatisfied.
Having a great-grandfather who is a Void Fragmentation old monster, she was accustomed to arrogance, and despite being a Nascent Soul cultivator, she often dared speak out against Void Refinement old monsters without fear.
She feared Ning Fan not, and dared to speak out rudely, but the female guards behind her could perceive Ning Fan’s intimidating presence...
It seemed a mere glance from Ning Fan could shatter their spirits, leaving them dead without a trace!
The four female guards faced Ning Fan, sensing an overwhelming pressure from him, a pressure no less than from the aged Fusang Old Demon...
Moreover, the four female guards knew Ning Fan was a six-revolution upper-grade Alchemist.
The four female guards were not as arrogant as Tang Yuan; they knew Ning Fan was not someone the dwindling Fusang Clan could afford to provoke!
Hence, when Tang Yuan dared to insult Ning Fan, the four female guards immediately pleaded for her.
Ning Fan’s gaze flickered, and he withdrew his cold aura.
Had this girl been another reckless cultivator seeking trouble, he wouldn’t hesitate to teach them a lesson.
But this girl was the little princess of the Fusang Clan, and Ning Fan owed the Fusang Clan a favor not yet repaid; he didn’t wish to act against Tang Yuan.
He lightly curled the corner of his mouth with a touch of mocking laughter, "Your name sounds delicious. Tang Yuan, right, haven’t had one in a while..."
It wasn’t that it sounded pleasant, but rather tasty...
He didn’t act against this girl, only jested lightly in words as retaliation, and that was all.
Afterward, Ning Fan directly passed the five females before him and walked toward the end of the street.
Tang Yuan’s pretty face flushed crimson, brimming with shame and anger!
Her name was clearly Tang Yuan, not Tang Yuan (soup dumpling), how dare Ning Fan mock her name!
"Lu Bei, you coward! You dare not accept my great-grandfather’s invitation, dare not vie for the position of Eighth Elder, dare not battle the Baili chief, I despise you!"
Ning Fan suddenly halted his steps, looking back with cold eyes.
Instantly, the four female guards felt hopeless, internally blaming their mistress for her rashness.
Ning Fan didn’t argue with you, let you go once, yet you persistently seek trouble... you’re courting death!
Now, your father Tang Xiong is dealing with matters and is not in Jishui City.
Your great-grandfather Fusang Old Demon, though a Void Fragmentation old monster, remains in the Northern Forest Sea and cannot protect you.
You stubbornly provoke him, if you manage to anger him, who can safeguard your life?
"Master Lu, please calm your anger..." The four female guards still wished to plead, but Ning Fan shook his head, indicating no intention of blaming.
His tone became cold, lacking any sense of jest.
That icy voice, like a blade of ice beneath the Sha Jiuyou, entered Tang Yuan’s ears, causing her dainty figure to shiver and fearfully look at Ning Fan.
"I... I merely spoke a few words, what do you wish to do to me! Surely you wouldn’t stoop to a girl’s level, you’re a great hero... should you act against me, all the Tree World masters will mock you..."
One moment she called Ning Fan a coward, the next she changed her tune to call him a great hero when realizing he was not easy to tackle.
This girl had no sense of dignity, immediately cowering when circumstances turned unfavorable.
"Tell Senior Fusang to beware of Baili!"
Ning Fan offered Tang Yuan and the other women his final piece of advice, then vanished in a flicker,
Even respecting the Fusang Clan, Ning Fan would not squabble with a little girl.
He owed the Fusang Clan a favor, hence provided them a warning.
Behind the Baili Clan lies a colossal danger, a danger Ning Fan himself deeply fears and does not wish to confront lightly...
Perhaps it is merely an illusion, Ning Fan faintly feels a chilling calm blanket the air in the Eastern Tree Ocean, like a tempest brewing...
Perhaps after the Baili Clan, a substantial crisis is concealed...
And this crisis might engulf the entire Eastern Tree Ocean in calamity...
Perhaps it’s all an illusion.
Let’s hope the perilous sensation the Baili Clan gives him is merely an illusion... (to be continued. If you enjoy this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets or monthly tickets, your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read at m.qidian.com.)