Grasping the Evil

Chapter 644: Stopped at Three Traces

Ning Fan knew where his limits were.

He defeated Yun Xiaoxiang by relying on the might of the Thunderquake Artifact.

He defeated the Vine Emperor, Rain World, Moksha Emperor, cloud lions, and the Tri-Realm Sect Master, also through the power of external objects.

His true strength could sweep away those in the Second Heavenly Layer of Void Fragmentation, yet he would undoubtedly be halted at the Third Layer Realm.

Facing a master of the Third Layer Realm, Ning Fan had the strength to battle, but the outcome was uncertain.

"If I can win, I’ll rely on my strength to fight all the way down. If I can’t win, even if I have to use external powers, I will seize all the abodes here!"

Ning Fan only cared about the result, not the process.

He stepped on ten billion sword rains, flying towards the 22nd level.

The 22nd level cave was a huge ocean, with the abode built at the seabed.

Sitting in the 22nd level cave abode was an elder who had cultivated the Xuanwu Demon Bloodline, known as Old Monster Donglin.

This was a fat elder with a rather comical appearance, who had suffered slight injuries in the process of competing for the top 20 cave abodes.

This was a Yin Yang Evil Vein master of the Third Heavenly Layer of Void Fragmentation, whose Xuanwu Demon Bloodline fighting power was exceptionally formidable.

He was meditating to heal, suddenly opened his eyes, revealing indifference.

"Another contender for my abode..."

Old Monster Donglin slowly stood up, his expression slightly tense.

He walked out of the abode, parted the sea, stood on the sea surface, and looked up at the sky, his expression becoming even more solemn.

High above, a youth in black clothes stepped on ten billion sword lights, like a relentless, unstoppable sword, charging straight at him.

With his keen eyesight, Old Monster Donglin instantly recognized that this youth was not to be underestimated.

The sword momentum on the youth was overwhelmingly strong.

It was a momentum accumulated from defeating numerous masters all the way.

"This person clearly only has the cultivation of the First Heavenly Layer of Void Fragmentation, yet through his clone and Soul Extraction—the two Great Divine Powers—his aura is infinitely close to the Third Layer Realm. This person steps on ten billion sword lights, and if all these lights were to attack, even I would likely struggle to cope... This kid’s strength rivals that of a master in the Third Layer Realm. If I weren’t injured, facing him the battle outcome would be fifty-fifty; but now, my chance of winning is less than thirty percent..."

"Even if the chance of winning is small, I will not easily yield my abode!"

A true master possesses indomitable pride.

Old Monster Donglin’s appearance was uninspiring, but he was extraordinarily competitive.

"I am Donglin, and who are you!" Old Monster Donglin asked in a deep voice.

"White Feather Clan, Baimu!"

Ning Fan halted the sword lights suddenly up in the sky, casting a fierce glance at Old Monster Donglin standing on the sea surface below.

This gaze was as sharp as a sword, and if ordinary masters were pierced by that gaze, their divine sense would be in intense pain.

But Old Monster Donglin was no ordinary person and would certainly not fear Ning Fan’s gaze.

"So it’s Daoist Baimu, let’s see whether I am stronger or Daoist Baimu is superior, attack!"

Old Monster Donglin, without further ado, directly flicked his sleeve, and from within it, a water-blue light burst forth.

It was a water-blue ruler treasure, three feet long, named the Wave-Turning Ruler, Old Monster Donglin’s life treasure, and also an Immemorial Divine Weapon.

Once this ruler appeared, it immediately triggered monstrous waves across the entire sea region.

As soon as the Wave-Turning Ruler hovered, it split into a million ruler shadows, attacking Ning Fan.

The ruler shadows were indeed powerful; even ordinary Third Layer Realm masters, if careless, would be knocked off their clouds, skin torn apart.

With Ning Fan’s physical defense at the peak Reckless Devil Realm, comparable to the First Heavenly Layer of the Nirvana Body Refinement Realm, he dared not directly accept this strike.

Without hesitation, Ning Fan pointed his sword, and ten billion sword rains slashed towards the million ruler shadows.

Though the sword rains were many, and the ruler shadows fewer, this round ended in a perfect tie.

Ten billion sword rains recoiled back, and the million ruler shadows were repelled.

Old Monster Donglin said nothing more, as if he had anticipated such an outcome.

He changed the hand seals, and the million ruler shadows converged into an enormous Ice Xuanwu Phantom.

The Xuanwu opened its mouth to absorb all the rolling sword light.

"The Myriad Sword Style isn’t so easily broken. Explode!"

Ning Fan formed a seal with one hand, changed the hand seals, and the golden sword light swallowed by Xuanwu exploded one by one.

When the sword light exploded, Xuanwu immediately showed a painful expression, screamed, the phantom gradually weakened, and eventually reverted to the Wave-Turning Ruler, falling from the sky, slightly damaged in power.

Old Monster Donglin’s gaze deepened, putting away the Wave-Turning Ruler, then he took out forty-nine shimmering flags, all summoned to the sky.

At the moment of summoning the numerous flags, Old Monster Donglin suddenly formed a seal, speaking with respect, "Please, Ancestral Spirit!"

In the instant he finished speaking, the forty-nine flags fired beams of icy light, converging together, and forming a phantom of a black-armored giant.

The giant had no mouth or nose, only one eye on its face.

He had a corpulent body, with an aura comparable to the Third Layer Realm, but his bloodline pressure was extremely formidable.

He was the ancestor of Old Monster Donglin, long deceased but had sealed his divine skills into the forty-nine flags, granting it to the descendants.

With Old Monster Donglin’s cultivation, he couldn’t summon an ancestral spirit with greater strength than himself to attack enemies.

But the ancestral spirit’s bloodline pressure was from the prestigious king beasts’ blood, being a Royal Xuanwu. Just relying on his king blood line’s prestige could scare away ordinary Yin Yang Evil Vein masters.

The giant phantom did not attack, simply standing with hands behind his back, his single eye disdainfully surveying Ning Fan.

Suddenly, cold light flashed from the single eye, and an overwhelming king blood pressure suppressed the entire dimension.

Old Monster Donglin looked respectfully; cultivating king blood was his lifetime aspiration, but he knew he was unlikely to achieve it.

"This Baimu isn’t weak, but unlikely to withstand the king blood line’s pressure; he’s bound to suffer some injuries..."

As Old Monster Donglin mused, he observed an incredible scene in the next instant.

Under the fierce pressure of the king blood line, Ning Fan suddenly raised his head, his left eye flashing with a sinister purple-black light, clashing with the gaze of the black-armored giant.

At the moment their eyes met, intense awe appeared in the black-armored giant’s single eye!

With just one look, the giant’s Royal Xuanwu pressure collapsed irreversibly!

The giant’s phantom shattered into fragments, the forty-nine flags were all greatly diminished in power, falling from the sky.

In the battle of pressure, the giant was completely defeated!

"How could this be! This Baimu actually broke the Royal Xuanwu’s pressure!"

Old Monster Donglin could never have known that Ning Fan possessed Ancestor-level Fu Li Demon Bloodline, which wouldn’t fear any Royal Xuanwu.

If exposing the Ancestor-level bloodline wouldn’t provoke enormous trouble, Ning Fan, with the prestige of his ancestral blood, could steadily suppress Old Monster Donglin and claim victory.

"It seems I can only use the Xuanwu clan’s innate divine skill to stand a chance at victory... Ice Domain!"

Old Monster Donglin fiercely formed mystical hand seals, his face visibly paled.

His Xuanwu bloodline was impure, making deploying innate divine skills exceptionally difficult.

But Old Monster Donglin was convinced that if he had a thirty percent chance of defeating Ning Fan, it would rely heavily on this divine skill!

Crackle! Crackle!

The entire dimension suddenly turned chillingly cold.

Underneath Old Monster Donglin’s feet, tens of thousands of miles of ocean were instantaneously frozen; even the waves were halted.

All around seemed to form countless barriers; within this expanse of barriers, Old Monster Donglin’s aura gradually heightened, strengthening by nearly twenty percent.

Ning Fan’s aura conversely was greatly suppressed, retreating from the peak of the Second Heavenly Layer of Void Fragmentation, back to an ordinary Second Layer level.

"Freeze!"

Old Monster Donglin formed the final hand seal, suddenly shouting loudly.

At this moment, the entire space of the 22nd level became his domain.

At this moment, all the chilling air here obeyed his commands!

Countless cold airs surged toward Ning Fan, his body began stiffening, blood nearly freezing.

Just then, his body suddenly ignited with black dragon evil fire, incinerating all cold ice.

He put away Emperor Xia’s Sword, beneath his feet appeared a gigantic black fire formation diagram!

At the moment this black fire formation diagram appeared, nearly all the cold air within the dimension was swept away, layers of ice barriers began to melt, the frozen ocean began to thaw!

"Void Ignition Technique!"

Ning Fan raised his finger, pointing across the void towards Old Monster Donglin.

This finger was wrapped in a fiery glow, and as it pointed down, millions of black fire butterflies erupted from the fire diagram, soaring into the sky. Above Ning Fan’s head, they converged into a gigantic fire butterfly with wings that blotted out the sky!

Ning Fan had already broken through to Void Fragmentation, so the power of this burning butterfly technique was naturally incomparable to before!

The moment this fire butterfly appeared, Old Monster Donglin’s face showed fear for the first time!

"This is an immensely powerful skill, almost on the level of Immortal Technique! That Baimu has actually mastered such a formidable Divine Skill! This is bad, Xuanwu Armor, protect me!"

The rotund Old Monster Donglin’s body shook and transformed into a massive black Xuanwu, ten thousand feet tall.

The moment he assumed his monstrous form, the Xuanwu retracted its entire body into its turtle shell.

And at this moment, the gigantic butterfly flapped its wings!

The first flap, the second flap, the third flap, the fourth flap, the fifth flap!

The gigantic butterfly flapped its wings five times in succession, yet this was still not Ning Fan’s current limit.

The sixth flap... the seventh flap!

Ning Fan’s face began to turn pale, but his eyes revealed an overwhelming battle intent.

The seventh flap was his current limit. Once this technique was unleashed, except for invincible Masters at the Third Layer of Void Fragmentation, no one could withstand this strike of his!

The Xuanwu Clan’s turtle shell defense was exceptionally formidable. Although Old Monster Donglin had already admitted he wasn’t Ning Fan’s match, he didn’t believe Ning Fan could break through his defense.

But after seven flaps of the fire butterfly’s wings, the overwhelming black fire smoke made Old Monster Donglin lose all confidence.

The turtle shell defense, which was so formidable, was turning into ashes before his eyes within the butterfly flames.

Before long, the entire turtle shell was incinerated by the butterfly flames.

In the moment he lost his turtle shell, Old Monster Donglin was forced back to his human form, looking pallidly at the fire-filled sky.

He knew he was completely defeated.

And if Ning Fan didn’t hold back, he, Old Monster Donglin, would directly fall within this butterfly flame skill...

"I concede, I ask Daoist Bai to spare me!"

Old Monster Donglin gritted his teeth, bowed his head, and clasped his fists, ceasing his defense against the butterfly flames.

Even the strongest defense couldn’t withstand the butterfly flames; any defense now was futile.

"Vanish."

Ning Fan withdrew his finger, dispersing the sky-filled butterfly flames.

The gigantic butterfly above his head, however, did not immediately vanish, still glaring fiercely at Old Monster Donglin.

As long as Ning Fan wished, he could kill Donglin with this technique!

But he bore no grudge against Donglin, and there was no need to kill him just to look at a cave dwelling.

"You, retreat!" Ning Fan ordered coldly.

"Yes!" Old Monster Donglin, already drenched in cold sweat, dared not linger a moment longer. Upon hearing Ning Fan’s permission to leave, he instantly felt like he’d received a great amnesty, gratefully clasped his fists, and hurriedly ran towards the upper level.

"This technique is incredibly terrifying!" Zhou Nan exclaimed in amazement.

Such powerful skills like the Void Ignition Technique could likely only be performed by some Loose Demon Level Old Monsters.

Ning Fan, due to limitations in his cultivation, cannot fully unleash the power of this technique.

But if one day his cultivation is sufficient, in the Demon World, perhaps only the three Loose Demons would be able to withstand his Void Ignition Technique...

"If this son’s cultivation advances further, even I would not dare take this technique head-on..." Zhou Nan sighed.

"Great Elder, you’ve been following and watching all along, aren’t you tired? Why not enter the cave dwelling for a rest?"

Ning Fan dispersed the giant butterfly and fire diagram, withdrew from his clone and Soul Extraction state, and returned to his original white-robed self.

Though he defeated Old Monster Donglin, it was not an easy victory.

At this moment, his mana was considerably depleted, making it unlikely he could defeat the Loose Demons of the 21st floor without first recovering his mana.

The Shattered Three Realm would be conquerable but would certainly be a hard-fought battle...

According to Ning Fan’s estimation, once he recovers his mana, he should be able to break into the top twenty floors before the grand competition ends.

But to defeat the Fragmentation Four Monster, even as he is, is still far from possible.

"Ultimately, I still have to rely on the might of the Thunderquake Artifact to snatch the cave dwelling from the hands of a Fragmentation Four monster..."

Ning Fan remained silent for a while, diving into the already melted ocean, and entering the underwater cave dwelling.

Upon Ning Fan’s invitation, Zhou Nan no longer concealed his presence, revealing himself and following Ning Fan into the cave to rest.

Upon learning Ning Fan was in Void Fragmentation, he considered Ning Fan a peer, but still didn’t think Ning Fan could rival him.

But after watching the battle between Ning Fan and Donglin, Zhou Nan was filled with emotions.

Ning Fan’s skills were incredibly formidable; even for him to defeat Ning Fan would inevitably involve a hard battle.

If Ning Fan’s cultivation advanced further, even he would likely lose to Ning Fan.

"Incredible youths these days..."

Zhou Nan entered the cave dwelling to meditate, sitting down to discuss the Dao with Ning Fan.

Ning Fan ingested expensive pills to restore his mana; at this point, there was nothing else he could do but discuss the Dao.

After some conversation, Zhou Nan was unexpectedly impressed by Ning Fan’s profound Dao Enlightenment, greatly shaken inside.

After slightly restoring his mana, Ning Fan stood up and, leveraging the power of the Yuan Emperor Jade, comprehended the Dao Enlightenment within this cave dwelling.

The Comprehension of the Dao of Life and Death of the first 20 floors was left by immortals.

The Dao Enlightenment on the 22nd floor was left by a Loose Demon who was nearly immortal.

Although this person could not become an immortal, his Dao Enlightenment instantly absorbed all of Ning Fan’s mind.

This person was not unable to become immortal, just that... he was not interested in becoming immortal.

Ordinary people seek immortality for longevity, but he sought merely the process of becoming immortal.

The process of comprehending life and understanding death.

"Seekers of the Dao, forget life and understand death. Inquirers of the Dao, are born in the morning and die in the evening. I have spent my life cultivating the Dao, only seeking to thoroughly understand life and death, but alas, I cannot comprehend, regrettably!"

His understanding of life and death was sufficient to become immortal, but he wasn’t satisfied.

What he wanted to understand was the essence of life and death, the origin of the Great Dao.

His ideals were too grand, grand enough that such ideals could not be achieved even in death.

Ning Fan closed his eyes, the scene before him changed.

He seemed to transform into that Loose Demon Old Monster, appearing in scenes drawn from those heart-held memories.

The place in those memories was the place where the Loose Demon Old Monster had pondered the Dao for years, a mortal town.

Ning Fan seemed to become that Loose Demon old man’s figure, walking in the twilight of the setting sun.

This was the time when farmers and merchants returned home.

This was also the time when teahouses and inns lit their lanterns.

"Wouldn’t Master Tan like to have a drink, hahaha, today we have your favorite peach blossom brew."

Outside an establishment named Hongxiu Pavilion, a charming and mature woman was beckoning patrons.

"Why not."

Ning Fan stepped into the teahouse. His identity was now that of the Loose Demon Old Monster.

He sat in the spot that old monster liked best, paid the silver, sipped at the stall, but his gaze went through the window lattice, faintly looking at the slanting sunlight.

That Loose Demon Old Monster’s lifelong wish was to thoroughly understand life and death, he lingered among the mortals, seeking to comprehend the Great Dao through them.

"Is this the whole life of this person...is this this person’s Dao Enlightenment..."

Ning Fan sipped the wine indifferently, and a new Dao pattern gradually appeared above his Spirit.

He put down the cup, intending to withdraw his mind and leave this memory mirage.

Suddenly, his eyes sharply focused, incredulously staring outside the window.

Outside the window at this moment, flew a half-black and half-white butterfly!

And that butterfly, upon seeing Ning Fan, suddenly halted, stopped flying, and seemed bewildered.

That butterfly was just an ordinary butterfly, yet it gave Ning Fan an astonishing feeling!

"This butterfly!" Ning Fan’s gaze suddenly shifted dramatically! (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommended and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please go to m.qidian.com to read.)