Grasping the Evil

Chapter 647: Ice Phoenix Clan, Cold Star Secret Tome

Ning Fan shook his body and entered the Xuan Yin realm.

He didn’t rush to refine the Yuan Cleansing Pill but first went to see Luo You.

In the thatched cottage, Luo You was sitting cross-legged in cultivation, and his strength had recovered to the peak of the Third Heavenly Layer of Void Fragmentation.

If the Dragon can find more items to restore the Spirit within three days, Luo You’s cultivation can recover even higher.

Seeing Luo You safe and sound, Ning Fan put his mind at ease, choosing a place far from the cottage, and cross-legged on the dark clouds.

He inwardly viewed the five hundred Lifedeath Dao Patterns on his Spirit, reminiscing about his journey to the Ascension Tower, Ning Fan felt a bit poignant, "Unity of Heaven and Man, truly a terrifying Great Divine Power..."

The Unity of Heaven and Man is an extreme realm, once entered, comprehension can be elevated to unimaginable heights in an instant.

Including this time at the Ascension Tower, Ning Fan had entered this state three times in total.

The first Unity of Heaven and Man, he wandered Myriad Miles Wander, using Golden Core Stage spirit sense to wander the North Heaven, attracting the attention of the Tablets Master Immortal Emperor, Meng Xuanzi.

The second Unity of Heaven and Man, he created Divine Skills with Nascent Soul cultivation and borrowed mana from the Lightning Emperor Tai Su to battle Evil Luo Mountain.

The third Unity of Heaven and Man, he used his cultivation at the First Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm to pierce through Lifedeath in a glance, sweeping away the entire Ascension Tower with just one look.

Such Great Divine Power is as rare as destiny encounters, even for Immortal Emperors, not many can master it.

After all, this Divine Power is closely linked with Dao Enlightenment and equally linked with Dao affinity.

If one’s comprehension and Dao affinity are insufficient, no matter how high the cultivation, this technique remains out of reach.

Collecting his scattered thoughts, Ning Fan took out a golden jade bottle from his storage pouch, with a Yuan Wing Totem embossed on it.

This jade bottle is exceptionally uncommon, crafted by the Earth Yuan Palace specifically for storing Seventh Revolution pills, holding ten Yuan Cleansing Pills.

Yuan Cleansing Pill, ranked as Low Grade Seventh Revolution, can significantly enhance the spirit sense cultivation of First Heavenly Layer Void Fragmentation cultivators.

If consumed by a Second Realm Cultivator, the efficacy halves.

If consumed by a Third Realm Cultivator, the efficacy halves again.

In this way, the higher the cultivation, the weaker the effect of consuming this pill. If the cultivation has reached the Fifth Heavenly Layer of Void Fragmentation Realm, the effect is minimal.

It’s similar to when Void Fragmentation cultivators absorb the power of Dao Crystals to elevate their cultivation.

A typical First Heavenly Layer Void Fragmentation cultivator can increase their yuan magic power by refining ten Dao Crystals.

For a Second Realm, the effect is halved. For a Third Realm, halved again. By the time it reaches the Fifth Realm and beyond, absorbing 160 Dao Crystals is required to increase their yuan magic power.

The higher the cultivation, the weaker the Dao Crystal effect, reaching Fate Immortal level, absorption of Dao Crystal power becomes impossible.

Take Yu Huang, Yun Zongxuan for instance; before his death, his cultivation stopped at the Fifth Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation realm. He needed 5 Yuanhui of mana to break through to Fracture Sixth, requiring the refinement of 8 million Dao Crystals.

million Dao Crystals, equating to 40 trillion immortal jade...nearly the fortune of ten Rain Palaces combined. Yu Huang sought other means to raise his cultivation, knowing the futility of using Dao Crystals to break through to Fracture Sixth.

Ning Fan took out another smaller golden pill bottle, which contained a Yuan Cleansing Pill, given to him by the Dragon.

To the Dragon, Yuan Cleansing Pills are indifferent, since he has already reached the Crumbled Void Seventh Layer.

"Eleven Yuan Cleansing Pills in total... Quite a chance of the spirit sense breaking through to the Second Heavenly Layer of Void Fragmentation!"

Ning Fan withdrew a Yuan Cleansing Pill from the bottle and began to refine it.

With the Xuan Yin realm’s hundredfold refining speed, combined with Void Fragmentation cultivation, refining Yuan Cleansing Pills happened swiftly.

A day passed, and Ning Fan had completely refined the 11 Yuan Cleansing Pills.

In this moment, within his divine sense, there were eleven clusters of clear energy, gradually assimilating into his divine sense.

With each cluster assimilated, Ning Fan’s divine sense grew increasingly stable, his spirit sense immensely heightened.

Gradually, Ning Fan’s spirit sense reached the peak of the First Heavenly Layer of Void Fragmentation Realm.

Gradually, the bottleneck of spirit sense was breached by the clusters of clear energy, allowing his spirit sense to naturally break through to the Second Heavenly Layer of Void Fragmentation realm!

Ning Fan suddenly opened his eyes, a flash of keen light, then deeply concealed.

"The Yuan Cleansing Pill, indeed a fine pill. For me, the stronger the spirit sense, the stronger the combat power. If I could obtain the dan refinement for the Yuan Cleansing Pill, even better. Of course, acquiring more finished Yuan Cleansing Pills would be ideal..."

Even with the dan refinement, only The Pill Sovereign, Li Cangtian currently can refine this pill; Ning Fan’s dan refinement skills are not yet up to the task.

If it’s finished pills, direct consumption is naturally preferred.

The Earth Yuan Palace, with profound resources, indeed houses Seventh Revolution Pill Masters, and there is no shortage of Yuan Cleansing Pills in stock.

After contemplating briefly, Ning Fan considered, he had given the Dragon 1 trillion immortal jade, leaving 2 trillion in hand.

The money idle wouldn’t increase its value, leaving some for formation and using up the rest seems sensible.

Using these 2 trillion immortal jade to purchase Yuan Cleansing Pills from the Earth Yuan Palace, how many could that buy?

If insufficient Yuan Cleansing Pills can be bought, exchanging immortal jade for Dao Crystals is a viable alternative, considering Dao Crystals can be used for cultivation.

However, this exchange price surely exceeds 1 Dao Crystal at 5 million immortal jade.

After advancing his spirit sense, Ning Fan adjusted his condition for another day, ensuring complete stabilization of the spirit sense, then with a sleeve flick, retrieved ten star-like shining stones.

The White Feather Clan’s Star Stones!

Each star stone contained potent star power, based on Ning Fan’s estimation, one stone can form ten Natal Stars, with some remaining.

With ten, over a hundred Natal Stars could be formed.

Refining ten star stones allows Ning Fan’s Natal Star count to exceed 200.

Such a multitude of Natal Stars ensures a faster recovery speed.

However, with 200 Natal Stars, it’s still insufficient for surviving a Void Fragmentation siege, only making Refinement injuries negligible.

"The number of Natal Stars must reach at least a thousand, to potentially instantly heal Void Fragmentation injuries. In ancient times, many strong demon race members cultivated the Path of Starry Sky and healed with starlight, a period when star cultivation techniques were prevalent. In later generations, such techniques mostly vanished..."

"Although I gained great fortune and comprehended the most powerful black star technique within the Star Healing Technique, I didn’t obtain any star cultivation technique, unable to increase star numbers through cultivation, reliant only on chance acquisition and absorbing star power from natural treasures to passively augment star numbers..."

"Star cultivation techniques are rare, even in places like the Land of Demons, perhaps only the True Spirit Race holds such techniques..."

Ten star stones whirled around Ning Fan, he reached out to capture one stone and intended to absorb the starlight power within.

After absorbing a strand of starlight, he suddenly changed his gaze, ceasing the absorption.

Staring at the star stone in his grasp, he displayed a puzzled look.

Throwing that star stone back into the air, Ning Fan reached out to capture another, choosing not to absorb the star power, and instead closed his eyes to feel the flow of power inside the stone.

The third, fourth, fifth...

Ning Fan scrutinized all ten star stones, finally seemed to affirm, with a focused look,

"Interesting, within the star stones of the White Feather Clan lies a faint trace of formation power... Without mastering Heart Formation Technique, I probably wouldn’t detect this subtle formation power."

"Ten star stones, all with formation power, yet the direction of formation power flow varies, seemingly containing some mystery..."

"Someone left a message within these ten star stones, concealed with formation power... Only by assembling the ten star stones into a formation and unraveling the formation power could acquire the hidden message..."

Ning Fan gazed at the spinning ten star stones, pondering quietly.

The whirling of these ten star stones collectively forms ten moving trajectories, varying in distance, with proximity and elevation.

With Ning Fan’s Dao of formations mastery, he observed that these trajectories are key to unravelling the formation power.

A correct star stone must be placed into a correct trajectory to eventually reveal the formation power!

"Ten star stones, ten diverse trajectories... Arranging them offers 3628800 possibilities... Only one arrangement is correct, testing them one by one is too time-consuming."

Ning Fan didn’t have the luxury of arranging star stones 3,628,800 times.

Closing his eyes, he activated Heart Formation power, sensing the star power within ten star stones.

The ten Star Stones encircled Ning Fan, resembling ten guardian stars moving around the Cultivation Star’s circumference.

The ten Star Stones, each possessing different formation forces, could be connected in a sequence, head to tail.

Ning Fan did not open his eyes for an entire day.

When he opened his eyes again, he had reached a conclusion.

"This star path should belong to this Star Stone..."

Ning Fan murmured softly, pointed his finger, and altered the trajectory of certain two Star Stones.

"This star path should belong to this Star Stone..."

After pondering briefly, Ning Fan took action again, constantly switching the trajectories of the Star Stones.

This scene resembled a simulation of the nine-day star movements.

Gradually, eight Star Stones had their trajectories altered by Ning Fan.

Ning Fan looked at the last two Star Stones, waved his sleeve, and swapped their trajectories.

After the exchange, all ten Star Stones suddenly began to flicker together.

A vast amount of star power surged out from the ten Star Stones, sweeping towards Ning Fan.

As the immense star power enveloped him, a myriad of mixed and chaotic messages immediately transmitted into Ning Fan’s divine sense.

Ning Fan closed his eyes, slowly organizing the chaotic messages.

At this moment, he seemed to be within the ten thousand galaxies.

As the star power gradually dissipated, Ning Fan slowly opened his eyes, revealing a hint of disbelief.

"This is... the Ice Phoenix Clan’s lost Star Cultivation Technique... ’Cold Star Secret Tome’!"

Among the ten Star Stones, there was actually the inheritance of an ancient Star Cultivation Technique!

The White Feather Clan was simply the descendants of the Ice Phoenix Clan, generations tasked with safeguarding this technique!

Unfortunately, no one in the lower realm White Feather Clan could understand the Heart Formation, and thus couldn’t decipher the mystery of the Star Stones.

For generations, clan leaders passed on the knowledge that these Star Stones were extraordinary, though no one knew exactly how.

Only the true Baimu knew!

Baimu’s ancestors were the ones who personally sealed the Star Stones.

The Baimu lineage passed down through generations, preserving the ’Cold Star Secret Tome’ within the Star Stones!

Yet the Baimu family, for countless generations, had never deciphered the mystery of the Star Stones.

Ning Fan silently looked at the ten Star Stones.

The Cold Star Secret Tome he received was an extremely profound Star Cultivation Technique, allowing the cultivation of up to a hundred thousand natal stars.

The so-called Cold Stars refer to stars condensed from absorbing the yin-cold energy in extremely yin places.

The greater the number of stars, the colder the yin place required for cultivation.

An ordinary Master cultivating a hundred thousand stars could withstand attacks from Fate Immortals without dying.

Ning Fan’s cultivation of the most powerful black stars, if able to cultivate ten thousand stars, would remain unharmed even under Fate Immortal attacks!

If capable of cultivating a hundred thousand stars, even True Immortal encirclement would not lead to death!

With a million black stars, he could be like the Heavenly Emperor of old, surviving encirclement by Immortal Emperors!

"This technique holds great significance for me!"

Since Ning Fan acquired the Star Stone inheritance, the formation power of the ten Star Stones dissipated, no longer usable except for digestion and refinement.

Ning Fan absorbed the ten Star Stones into his hand, sighed slightly, and completely absorbed their star power.

After absorbing all the star power, his natal stars increased to 212, far exceeding initial expectations.

After a brief rest, Ning Fan’s figure flickered, leaving the Xuan Yin Treasure, heading towards the Upper Nine Pavilion.

With Tan Zixin’s artifact refinement speed, the purple-grade fishing rod must be complete, and Ning Fan naturally came to claim it.

Ning Fan did not suppress his cultivation speed, traveling with Void Fragmentation speed all the way to the Upper Nine Pavilion.

Along the way, anyone seeing Ning Fan’s escape light executed by an elder was filled with awe.

Someone esteemed by the Earth Yuan Palace as a valued guest, someone making Seventh Fragmentation old monsters willing to serve, someone cultivating Lifedeath Dao Light, made any elder dare not harbor animosity!

When Ning Fan landed outside the Upper Nine Pavilion, the pavilion master stood outside as if waiting for him.

Upon seeing Ning Fan arrive, the pavilion master dared not show any indifference, respectfully greeted him with cupped fists, "Greetings, Senior Baimu!"

Previously, when Ning Fan visited, he displayed the Void Inquiry cultivation, so the pavilion master naturally called him Daoist.

Now with Ning Fan openly revealing his Void Fragmentation identity, how could he still be called a Daoist, naturally addressed as Senior.

"Pavilion Master need not be formal, Bai Mou is here today for the purple-grade fishing rod. Has Miss Zixin successfully completed the refinement?"

Ning Fan had already acquired several fishing rods, all taken from the Ascension Tower.

However, he still anticipated Tan Zixin’s crafted fishing rod, given its reputation of excellence in Tianyuan City.

"In response to Senior, Miss Zixin has successfully refined the fishing rod and is waiting for you in the grand hall, having waited for two days."

"Oh? To have Miss Zixin wait two days for me, Bai Mou is indeed flattered."

Ning Fan was slightly stunned; if he merely came for the fishing rod, Tan Zixin need not have specifically awaited his arrival.

Tan Zixin’s actions seemed to indicate a gesture of goodwill from Earth Yuan Palace, or was there another intention?

Recalling the probing incident in the Ascension Tower, Ning Fan thought Tan Zixin’s deliberate waiting must have a purpose.

He followed the pavilion master inside, proceeding to the grand hall.

Outside the hall, the pavilion master discreetly withdrew, leaving Ning Fan to enter alone.

Ning Fan entered the grand hall; at this moment, Tan Zixin stood with her back to the door, holding the Separation Slayer, and caressed the sword’s body with a pained expression.

"Such a fine sword; regretfully, it’s returning to the thief today..." She seemed so focused on the Separation Slayer that she didn’t notice Ning Fan’s arrival.

"Ahem... So in Miss Zixin’s eyes, Bai Mou is seen as a thief..." Ning Fan intentionally coughed lightly, announcing his presence to Tan Zixin.

He was not concerned about being labeled a thief by Tan Zixin.

Knowing her words were not malicious, he understood she merely felt he did not cherish the Separation Slayer, hence her dissatisfaction.

"Ah! You’re here, and you heard everything? I... I didn’t mean any harm, I was just lamenting aloud..."

Tan Zixin exclaimed, turning around to face Ning Fan with embarrassment and nervousness.

Having heard of Ning Fan’s ability to cure the Old Yuan Emperor, she eagerly wished to establish goodwill and seek his help.

Unexpectedly, her casual lament was overheard.

She feared Ning Fan might take offense to her careless words.

Consequences from idle chatter, should Ning Fan refuse assistance to save her grandfather, would lead to lifelong regret...

Ning Fan, however, chose a seat and sat quietly, picking up some Spiritual Tea and sipping idly, while secretly employing the Mind Reading Technique to probe Tan Zixin’s thoughts.

Upon spying, his expression remained unchanged, yet inwardly he was slightly shocked.

"Tan Zixin actually wishes to ask me to save someone! And the person she hopes to save is Old Yuan Emperor, Tan Tianyan!" (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to Qidian (qidian.com) to offer recommendations and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com for reading.)