novelraw Chapter 626: The Butterfly Breaks Its Cocoon, Mortal Defies Immortal...
Chapter 626: The Butterfly Breaks Its Cocoon, Mortal Defies Immortal...
The Rain Emperor never expected that the sudden giant rogue devil was neither a Demon World cultivator nor an Upper Realm cultivator, but merely Ning Fan’s puppet.
Even if Ning Fan told him personally that the rogue devil was his puppet, he would never believe it.
To take a rogue devil as a slave, one must either be a mighty Immortal or a disciple of a top-tier force from the Upper Realm.
The Rain Emperor would never believe that Ning Fan, a mere ant, could take a rogue devil as a puppet.
The rogue devil shattered the cloud lion’s attack with a single blow, leaping from the sky and landing on the barren earth with a roar.
Its powerful aura was suffocating the Rain Emperor.
Even the cloud lion at the Shattered Seventh Realm was terrified by the powerful aura of the rogue devil.
The Rain Emperor and the cloud lion both noticed that the rogue devil seemed to have suffered some severe injuries, as its cultivation had fallen to the Shattered Void Eighth Layer.
Even so, neither the man nor the puppet felt any relief, only boundless pressure.
Ning Fan stood on top of Nieli, his gaze sweeping over the cloud lion below, speaking solemnly.
"A cloud lion puppet at the Shattered Seventh Realm, and this cloud lion seems different from the other two cloud lions of the Rain Palace. Is this Yun Zongxuan’s trump card..."
To deal with such a formidable enemy as the cloud lion, Ning Fan had no choice but to use the Dispelling Demons Auxiliary Formation.
With the Mourning Ancestor Puppet Strings damaged, Ning Fan could only forcefully control the rogue devil three times, and today was the rogue devil’s second strike.
The rogue devil stomped forward with giant steps, rumbling toward the altar, crushing many formation statue eyes along the way.
But when it reached one of the ninety million statues, the rogue devil suddenly stopped, kneeling and holding up that statue.
It was a stone statue of a Feathered Demon, over a person tall, with characteristics pointing to the oriole clan’s Feathered Demon.
The rogue devil respectfully picked up the statue, stood up, a flash of black mist in its palm, and the statue suddenly disappeared. In the next instant, in front of Ning Fan a flash of black mist, the statue lightly fell on the Tian Ling of Nieli, in front of Ning Fan.
Ning Fan quietly observed the Feathered Demon statue, his formerly cold gaze gradually softened, then grew extremely tense.
He reached out his hand, caressing the cold statue, releasing his Medicine Soul into it.
Upon sensing a slight trace of warmth in the heart of the Feathered Demon, Ning Fan’s heart relaxed,
"Thank goodness, the soul hasn’t dissipated... luckily, there’s still hope for rescue..."
Ning Fan smiled with relief, stroked the Yuan Yao Jade between his fingers, and stored the Feathered Demon statue into the Yuan Yao World, placing it with Mu Weiliang’s green jade coffin.
This Feathered Demon turned into a stone statue, was his mother... her name was Ning Qian, a oriole Feathered Demon.
"Odd! Why would a dignified rogue devil bow to a blood formation stone statue! Why cautiously take the statue away!" The cloud lion was puzzled.
"Previously Ning Fan mentioned entering the forbidden grounds to find someone, could it be that he was merely seeking this statue..." The Rain Emperor speculated.
The reason the rogue devil specifically took away Ning Qian’s statue was naturally due to Ning Fan’s control.
Ning Fan’s killing intent had already been stirred, intending to eliminate the Rain Emperor in the third layer forbidden grounds. Since the ensuing battle would have widespread aftermath, naturally rescuing his mother first seemed prudent.
Thus, he could unleash his full strength to slay the Rain Emperor.
As for the cloud lion, Ning Fan was determined to kill it as well!
The cloud lion’s cultivation was too high, Ning Fan’s lifespan too short, unable to subdue it. The cloud lion had developed spirit awareness, and was not benign; if left unchecked, it would indeed nurture a future threat, so must be slain early.
"You strike, kill the cloud lion first, then the Rain Emperor."
Ning Fan manipulated the faint puppet strings between his fingers, commanding the rogue devil.
He let the rogue devil eradicate the enemy, while he guarded the entrance to the third layer, not wanting to give the Rain Emperor any chance of escape.
The rogue devil alone was enough to kill the Rain Emperor and the cloud lion.
The Rain Emperor used the Cloud Duel Talisman, allowing his escape speed to rival that of an Immortal for two hours.
The Immortal Talisman’s power could last a long time, and in an open area, the Rain Emperor could randomly pick a direction to flee, and Ning Fan would have no chance of catching him.
But unfortunately, this was the third layer forbidden grounds, surrounded on all sides by sealing formation light, with no escape route. Furthermore, the Rain Emperor was not Ning Fan, lacking the Wind Mist Finger technique to break free of the formation and escape.
If the Rain Emperor wanted to escape, he could only flee back to the second layer forbidden grounds through the entrance, all the way out.
Thus, Ning Fan only needed to guard the forbidden grounds entrance.
If the Rain Emperor didn’t escape, the rogue devil alone was enough to kill both the Rain Emperor and the cloud lion.
The Rain Emperor utilized the Cloud Duel Talisman, and within two hours, his speed rivaled that of an Immortal in flight.
However, this speed was useless since there was no escape from the large formation for the Rain Emperor, as he did not possess the Wind Mist Finger skill to break through it.
Should the Rain Emperor wish to flee, he only could through the entrance back to the second level forbidden grounds and escape from there.
Therefore, Ning Fan only needed to guard the entrance to prevent the Rain Emperor’s escape.
If left with no escape route, the Rain Emperor had no choice but to run.
If Ning Fan didn’t act, cloud lion and Rain Emperor would launch their moves.
"Unbelievable! The mighty Divine Beast can’t even withstand a single punch from the rogue devil?" The Rain Emperor’s eyes were filled with inexpressible fear.
At the sight of the demon fog arriving, a roar of extreme rage erupted from the vacant edge of the barren desert.
"Are you determined to annihilate this blood formation statue, sir?! Why would you so cautiously remove the statue?"
He had previously said he entered the forbidden grounds to look for someone, so could it be that he sought only this single statue..." The Rain Emperor guessed.
The rogue devil’s intentional retrieval of Ning Qian’s stone statue was, of course, the result of Ning Fan’s manipulation.
With murder in his heart and fate dependent on rescuing his mother from the third layer forbidden grounds before the battle could begin, the aftermath would naturally spread widely.
This way, he could fight with all his strength, entirely focused on slaying the Rain Emperor.
As for the cloud lion, Ning Fan had no choice but to kill it as well!
The cloud lion’s cultivations were too high, and Ning Fan’s lifespan was too short to subdue it. The cloud lion already had spirit awareness, it was no innocent and would undoubtedly pose a future threat if left unchecked, thus it was best to eliminate it early.
"You make your move, kill the cloud lion first, then the Rain Emperor!"
Ning Fan did not wish to risk the Rain Emperor escaping, so he stationed himself at the entrance of the forbidden grounds.
The rogue devil was formidable enough alone to vanquish the Rain Emperor and the cloud lion.
The Rain Emperor used the Cloud Duel Talisman, enabling him to escape at a speed matching an Immortal for two hours.
It was nearly impossible for him to breach the formation’s exit without the Wind Mist Finger spell, as he was trapped within.
And so, the only way for the Rain Emperor to flee was to go back through the entrance, towards the second layer forbidden grounds and escape from there.
Therefore, Ning Fan needed only to keep watch at the forbidden grounds entrance.
Cloud lion, at the mercy of Ning Fan’s command, was fated for death!
The rogue devil’s footfalls echoed like thunder, and with a blur of movement, it transformed into a massive demon fog, instantly appearing before the altar.
With disdain, the demon eye glanced at the cloud lion and the Rain Emperor, lifting both fists to strike, transforming into layers of demonic fog, traversing numerous distances in a single leap, manifesting immediately before the altar.
As the demon’s fist hammered down, the Rain Emperor was struck dumb with fear. Leveraging the Cloud Duel Talisman’s power, he mounted the clouds and fled a great distance in an instant, barely avoiding the blow aimed at him.
That single punch from the rogue devil was more than the Divine Beast could withstand. The Rain Emperor’s gaze was filled with indescribable fear.
The earth trembled as the demon fog billowed like a surging tide towards the remote corners of the barren land.
Amidst the oncoming magical fog, an enormously angry roar erupted from the desolate ground.
"Must Your Excellency pursue this blood formation relentlessly!"
Before the mighty demon fog, the vacant desert erupted with an overwhelmingly angry roar.
"Do you have to take away the stone statue?"
The cloud lion’s true form emerged from the rubble, as it had cast off its stone skin.
Yet its sharp horn was destroyed by the blow from the demon fog.
Enraged, the cloud lion initiated the Ten Thousand Spirits Blood Formation with a blood-red glow that shattered ninety million stone statues upon the barren ground.
Each thousand statues form a magical pattern corresponding to a formation’s eye.
The blood formation, composed of ninety-thousand miniature round formations, created a massive blood-red hexagram formation, reaching the pinnacle of the Immortal Void!
The cloud lion, filled with anger, powered the formidable Thousand Spirits Blood Formation, determining the fate of the rogue devil who merely glances with condescension.
"This formation is not bad, haha! These blood lights are transformed from the souls of ninety million creatures, and to me, they are an immeasurable tonic. Once I’ve devoured this blood rain, my cultivation will be restored to peak condition! Haha! Devour!"
The rogue devil laughed heartily, reversing demonic Qi, his physical body shattering into a towering demon mist, which then transformed into an enormous black skull head.
The skull opened its mouth to swallow, emitting an overwhelming suction force that engulfed all the blood rain.
As it swallowed all the blood rain, the hexagram formation on the ground immediately dimmed in blood light, and the formation patterns disappeared!
The grand formation at the peak of the Immortal Void was devoured in one bite by the rogue devil!
"Impossible!!! This is the ultimate killing formation I’ve spent a hundred thousand years setting up!" The cloud lion couldn’t believe what was happening before its eyes.
And an even more unbelievable scene immediately unfolded.
After the black skull head swallowed all the blood rain, its aura rose continuously.
It let out a sinister laugh and transformed back into the enormous body of the rogue devil.
At this moment, the rogue devil was surrounded by a terrifyingly fierce and bloody aura.
Contained within these blood lights were the souls of ninety million mortals, cultivators, and demonic mounts, being frantically refined by the rogue devil.
The rogue devil’s aura rose rapidly, breaking through the Fragmentation Nine Realm and continuously rising towards the peak of Fragmentation Nine, fully restoring to the realm above Void Fragmentation!
Not a Fate Immortal, yet far beyond a Void Fragmentation cultivator!
When the rogue devil was at Fracture Eighth, it could already crush the cloud lion; now that its cultivation was fully restored, killing the cloud lion was like crushing an ant!
Ning Fan exhibited a conflicted expression.
The increase in the rogue devil’s cultivation was both a blessing and a curse.
Ning Fan could still control the rogue devil once more; now that the rogue devil’s cultivation was restored, Ning Fan could even contend against an Immortal.
But Ning Fan could only control the rogue devil one more time. After the next control, the Mourning Ancestor Puppet Strings would definitely break, and the rogue devil might betray...
"Forget it, let’s deal with the aftermath later... kill the cloud lion!"
"Kill it then, haha!"
The rogue devil laughed heartily, in great spirits, stamping its foot on the ground, causing a torrent of demonic Qi to gush in all directions, turning the entire blood desert black.
On the ground, countless demonic flames suddenly ignited, forming the shape of black lotuses.
The rogue devil stomped the ground once more, and millions of black lotus flames immediately rose into the air, shooting towards the cloud lion like meteors.
This was the rogue devil’s full-force strike; if it faced the Tri-Realm Sect Master again, it would be enough to incinerate him in one blow!
The cloud lion dared not face the overwhelming demonic flames head-on. In shock, it attempted to burrow into the ground to escape, only to find in horror that the earth’s layer had been sealed by the rogue devil’s demonic Qi, preventing any earth escape.
"Run! Let’s see where you run this time, haha, haha!"
The rogue devil laughed heartily, as torrents of demonic flames surged towards the cloud lion at his laughter, transforming into countless layers of a black sea of fire, engulfing the latter within.
Within the sea of fire, a voice of anguished lion’s roar immediately erupted.
But only a moment later, that sound gradually faded, never to be heard again.
The cloud lion was dead!
"Not good! Even the cloud lion is dead, I’m surely doomed!"
The Rain Emperor had been watching the battlefield all along and had thought there was a chance when he saw the cloud lion activating the formation.
Who could have expected that in just a brief moment, the situation would reverse completely?
The rogue devil devoured the blood formation, his power surged greatly. The cloud lion fell in an instant, leaving not even a trace...
The Rain Emperor shivered all over, the fearsome rogue devil left him with no will to resist.
He knew he had to escape this time; he must escape.
If he couldn’t escape, he would die here!
He didn’t attempt to escape through the third level entrance guarded by Ning Fan, nor towards the boundary formation light.
He activated the Cloud Duel Talisman; the escape light was akin to an Immortal, yet could not break through the sealing formation or surpass Ning Fan’s steps under Nieli, both paths were dead ends.
No matter how fast his escape speed was, it was useless, there was simply no path to escape!
"I have only one last method of escape... Rain Gate, open!"
The Rain Emperor took out a Rain Gate jade scroll, crushed it, and instantly summoned the Rain Gate, opening the pathway.
With his cultivation, he didn’t need to spend much time convening the Rain Gate like Ning Fan, he could do it instantly.
He originally had four Rain Gate jade scrolls, of which two were given to Ning Fan, leaving him with two.
One of them was blank, not yet positioned. The one crushed was positioned in the Mountain World.
He had the most friends in the Mountain World, and if he was to flee, it would undoubtedly be toward the Mountain World.
"If I had known that Ning Fan had the rogue devil as an ally, I would never have harbored murderous intent against him, nor provoked him. Truly... regrettable beyond measure!"
"Bah, bah, bah! This child in the Rain Immortal World, I must not stay in the Rain Immortal World to wait for death, I must first escape with my life. If there is a chance in the future, I will return to the Rain Immortal World and settle the old scores with this child..."
The Rain Emperor’s eyes glinted coldly, and he stepped into the Rain Gate.
Ning Fan gazed distantly at the Rain Emperor stepping into the Rain Gate, then slowly closed his eyes.
Even the Tri-Realm Sect Master could not escape using the pathway in front of the rogue devil, let alone the Rain Emperor.
"Leave the Spirit, I want to conduct a Soul Search."
Ning Fan said coldly, and the rogue devil understood, letting out a sharp whistle and transforming into demonic mist to pursue along the path...
One incense stick time later, the pathway collapsed.
The rogue devil returned to the third-level forbidden ground with the Rain Emperor’s Spirit and storage pouch, handed them to Ning Fan, and said with a cold sneer.
"This is the second time I’ve helped you, next time will be the last, haha! By then..."
"Seal!"
Ning Fan couldn’t be bothered with idle chatter with the rogue devil and, with a slap, sealed the rogue devil into the Demon-Sealing Pouch.
What was in the Rain Emperor’s storage pouch, Ning Fan had no interest in looking at for now.
He put away the Rain Emperor’s storage pouch, coldly eyeing the illusory Spirit in his hand.
Struck by Ning Fan’s icy gaze, the Rain Emperor was nearly scared to death, his whole body limp, as he began to plead for mercy.
"I was muddle-headed momentarily to have attacked you, my friend. If you spare my life, I am willing to share the Rain Immortal World with you!"
"No need, right now I only want your memories, nothing more. Soul Search!"
Ning Fan pressed his palm onto the Rain Emperor’s apex and began to perform the soul-destroying memory technique.
Initially, the Rain Emperor screamed, then his eyes turned vacant, and he could no longer scream.
Ning Fan scoured through the Rain Emperor’s memories, finding the events of the Rain Emperor dealing with the Thunder Emperor.
He saw the Rain Emperor’s divination, and he saw the Rain Emperor’s act against the Heaven Separation Sect!
That night, a mysterious old man with the seven colors came to the Rain Palace, looking for the Rain Emperor and the Fourth Prince...
"It’s this part of the memory!"
Ning Fan suppressed his inner rage, closed his eyes, and immersed his mind into this memory of the Rain Emperor.
...
More than a thousand years ago in the Rain Immortal World, Heavenly Cloud Country.
Ning Fan, dressed in white, flew within the night of the Ten Realms of the Heavenly Cloud, unseen by anyone, as he did not belong to this memory.
He flew all the way towards Heaven Controlling City,.
Within Heaven Controlling City, in a top-secret palace, a mysterious old man with the seven colors sat on a throne, the Rain Emperor and another young cultivator stood below.
"I am honored by the Upper Immortal’s presence, what advice do you have for us!" The Rain Emperor bowed with clasped hands, not daring to raise his head to look at the mysterious old man.
The person’s horror made him tremble!
The person’s cultivation surpassed his understanding!
The Rain Emperor dared not offend the mysterious old man!
Ning Fan landed outside the palace, passed through the formation light, and stood coldly outside the palace doors, gazing at the scene inside.
The Rain Emperor could not see him, nor could the young cultivator, only the mysterious old man with the seven colors let out a slight "hmm?" upon Ning Fan’s appearance and pinched his fingers to calculate, but could not make sense of it.
"An illusion, perhaps..." the mysterious old man smiled faintly and continued, "I intended to find a corpse qi in the Rain Immortal World for my disciple, and unexpectedly discovered a divine-grade corpse qi... a destiny of butterfly breaking cocoon and mortal defying the heavens, huh, how interesting, in that case, the corpse needs to be changed. Let this unborn child become one of Si Ming’s seven corpse qis." (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it on Qidian (qidian.com), your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)