novelraw Chapter 716: Hundred Mechanisms Formation, Three Flowers Gathering at the Top
Chapter 716: Hundred Mechanisms Formation, Three Flowers Gathering at the Top
"So it’s the people from Medicine Sect again..."
A chilling voice suddenly echoed from outside the stone cave.
The speaker was a young man in white, standing coldly at the entrance of the cave!
Caught off guard by someone getting so close without notice, the Danpao Fate Immortal was initially startled. But upon seeing who it was, he sneered coldly.
"So it’s you! Millennium Child! I didn’t expect I wouldn’t need to come kill you myself, and you’d come seeking death on your own! Die!"
The Danpao Fate Immortal stomped heavily on the ground, sending an unimaginable force of collapse sweeping across the entire Abandoned Star!
With a loud rumble, this already fragile Abandoned Star was shattered by a single stomp from the Danpao Fate Immortal!
The force of collapse formed from that stomp rushed towards Ning Fan, accompanied by countless deafening roars.
Ning Fan’s gaze remained unwavering, surrounded by a faint black starlight.
He did not dodge or evade as the force of collapse struck him.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The fierce Void Realm quickly engulfed Ning Fan’s figure.
"Heh, just an ant!"
The Danpao Fate Immortal sneered coldly, stepping forward towards the center of the storm.
In his eyes, Ning Fan was just a Void Fragmentation ant, incapable of withstanding even the power of his stomp.
Reports indicated that Ning Fan carried a chiliocosm, and Ouyang Nuan was traveling with him, likely hiding inside the treasure at that moment.
The Danpao Fate Immortal was about to claim his spoils, retrieve Ning Fan’s chiliocosm, release Ouyang Nuan, and kill her.
"Soul Extraction..."
A faint voice suddenly emerged from the Void Realm!
Ning Fan, bathed in black starlight, walked out step by step from the Void Realm, completely unscathed!
He raised his hand to extract a Void Realm soul, swallowing it, his aura climbing steadily, just a step away from reaching the Human Profound Initial Stage!
Unfortunately, it was the bottleneck of immortality; no matter how strong the Soul Extraction Technique was, it could not elevate Ning Fan’s cultivation to the Life Immortal Realm.
As for the avatar technique, it wasn’t necessary to use it for now.
"Starlight Healing Technique! And it’s the legendary black starlight!"
The Danpao Fate Immortal was first shocked, then showed a look of greed, licking his lips, "Good! Good! Junior, if you obediently hand over the cultivation method of the Black Star Technique, this old man might spare you, kill you, then let your soul re-enter reincarnation!"
"Let my soul re-enter reincarnation..."
Ning Fan was silent, did he still have the qualification to re-enter reincarnation? He had long been abandoned by it.
Ning Fan did not know of any cultivation method for the Black Star Technique. The reason he could cultivate the first Natal Black Star was purely due to heavenly chance, without having any cultivation technique in hand.
Even if Ning Fan possessed the Black Star Cultivation Technique, he wouldn’t give it to the Danpao Fate Immortal.
He would never spare this Danpao Fate Immortal!
Of course, after this battle, Ning Fan would learn a lesson, no longer openly showcasing the Black Star Healing Technique, at most keeping the starlight hidden within himself for secret healing, to avoid attracting other old monsters’ covetous gazes...
"I give you three breaths to consider! After three breaths, if you don’t hand over the complete cultivation method of the Black Star Technique..." Danpao Fate Immortal’s cold smile suddenly turned to shock and anger.
Seeing Ning Fan’s figure flicker, he had directly disappeared from his original spot.
The next moment, he appeared behind the Danpao Fate Immortal, a black-gold long sword in hand appeared out of nowhere, slicing down on the latter!
A strong sense of crisis immediately surged in the Danpao Fate Immortal’s heart, cold sweat pouring down his back, as his form scattered into Dan shadow, narrowly avoiding Ning Fan’s sword strike.
A swing of the sword, and the boundless void was cut with a hissing sound by the black-gold sword light!
Layer upon layer of void revealed an ever-deeper darkness below!
The Danpao Fate Immortal’s shadow reformed, placing a spanning distance of ten thousand zhang between him and Ning Fan, watching the layered cuts in the void, with a look of astonishment.
"It really is a Dao Weapon! I didn’t believe a mere Void Fragmentation child could possess a Dao Weapon, but it turns out to be true! Fortunately, this Dao Weapon hasn’t been refined yet, its power still weak. Otherwise, even if I used the Dan Shadow Avatar Technique, I wouldn’t have been able to avoid that sword’s power, certain death!"
"It seems I underestimated this child too much earlier. No wonder Elder Gu, Elder Gao, and the dark-pawn Wei Qi buried within the Medicine Sect, were all defeated by this child!"
The Danpao Fate Immortal’s gaze grew fierce, his spirit sense abruptly changing, as a vast aura rose around him, exclaiming, "Seven Puppet Formation!"
At his command, seven originally motionless Loose Immortal Puppets suddenly showed an azure glow in their eyes, wielding swords above, arranged in seven directions, surrounding Ning Fan!
Whiz! Whiz! Whiz!
The seven Loose Immortal Puppets simultaneously cast sword seals, seven flying swords suspended in seven directions, forming a Sword Array, engulfing Ning Fan with countless sword lights.
"Loose Immortal Puppets, huh..."
Ning Fan didn’t even look at the Sword Qi piercing his body; at that moment, he was enveloped in black starlight, preventing any of the Loose Immortal sword lights from injuring him one bit!
Seeing the seven puppets unable to harm Ning Fan, the Danpao Fate Immortal’s expression darkened.
He was a Master of the Medicine Sect, but not a high-level Alchemist, rather a Puppet Master, a rare sight in Eastern Heaven.
As a Puppet Master, he is well-versed in spiritual puppet art, but his own Divine Skills are not very strong, nor does he have a powerful magical treasure to protect himself.
The previous stomp was almost his strongest attacking Divine Skill, yet it didn’t harm Ning Fan in the slightest.
With his own Divine Skills, it’s difficult to kill Ning Fan, but he has Loose Immortal Puppets and excels at the Puppet Killing Technique.
He is confident that he can easily destroy Ning Fan with puppet manipulation!
Seven puppets aren’t enough, so he will bring out more puppets to show Ning Fan a good fight!
"Hundred Mechanisms Formation!"
He slapped his storage pouch, and beams of azure light suddenly flew out, transforming into gigantic puppets, surrounding Ning Fan, totaling 93.
The original seven Sword Cultivator puppets suddenly had their skin turn azure, bodies enlarged, abandoned their swords, and transformed into giants.
Adding it all together, there are one hundred giant puppets encircling Ning Fan in the center!
Each giant puppet possesses the cultivations of a rogue immortal!
In the void of the starry sky, a hundred giant rogue immortal puppets surrounding one Master is an incredibly shocking sight!
The Danpao Fate Immortal held a puppet technique with his fingers, coldly sneering at Ning Fan trapped in the center of the puppet cluster.
Being surrounded and attacked by a hundred rogue immortal puppets, even a normal Human Profound Initial Stage Master would have to avoid the sharp attack and not confront the puppets head-on!
The Danpao Fate Immortal’s own Divine Skills are indeed not strong, but with the Hundred Mechanisms Formation Technique, his strength is truly formidable!
"A Hundred Mechanisms Formation... These hundred giant puppets can be useful in the Slaughter Hall contest."
Ning Fan nodded with satisfaction, showing no concern about being encircled by the hundred puppets.
A hundred giant puppets simultaneously held their fingers empty, condensing Dharma Seals, and a sense of crisis rapidly rose in Ning Fan’s heart.
Ning Fan suddenly looked up, a domineering black Moon Seal appearing in his left eye!
His gaze, indifferent as if to disdain all beings!
His aura, cold as if to freeze the mortal world!
With just one glance, the actions of a hundred giant puppets suddenly halted, frozen in place.
Then all the giant puppets had a black Moon Seal surfacing on their faces, submerged within the puppet bodies...
"Hundred Mechanisms Formation!"
Ning Fan’s gaze was icy, holding a sword in one hand, using a puppet technique with the other hand.
A hundred giant puppets transformed into azure light and disappeared.
The next moment, they suddenly revolted, surrounding the Danpao Fate Immortal!
Each giant puppet held their fingers, condensing Dharma Seals, and abruptly raised their hands, casting azure Dharma Seals towards the alarmed Danpao Fate Immortal!
The Danpao Fate Immortal was utterly terrified to realize that the hundred rogue immortal puppets he spent tens of thousands of years refining had all lost control and no longer belonged to him!
"Black... Black Moon! This is the Mourning Technique of the Ancestral Emperor of the Northern Heaven, why do you know it! What kind of person are you!"
The Danpao Fate Immortal became fearful, panicked!
His greatest reliance was on these hundred loose immortal puppets!
Unfortunately, he encountered Ning Fan, the Hei Yue Shen Tong, and the Mourning Technique of the Ancestral Emperor of the Northern Heaven!
With just one encounter, all his puppets were forcibly taken by Ning Fan!
Everyone in the Four Heavens knows that the Ancestral Emperor of the Northern Heaven is the Mourning Ancestor, the Ancestor of Puppets, and no Puppet Master can defeat the Mourning Technique!
Even when facing a Human Profound Middle Stage Fate Immortal, he wouldn’t be this panicked.
But facing Ning Fan, who knows the Mourning Technique, he couldn’t help but be shocked and anxious. Simply because in front of Ning Fan, all his lifetime cultivation in puppetry would be in vain, and Puppetry Path would become empty!
The Hundred Mechanisms meant to kill Ning Fan turned on him in one encounter.
As the former master of the hundred puppets, the Danpao Fate Immortal deeply understood the perilous nature of being attacked by a hundred puppets!
He must escape! His own Divine Skills are too weak and can’t possibly withstand the frontal attack of a hundred puppets!
"Ancient God Path, Three Flowers Gathering at the Top!"
The Danpao Fate Immortal gritted his teeth, fingers rapidly moving in a technique, using the major secret technique he hadn’t yet mastered.
Suddenly, he pointed to the void, where a lead-colored illusory lotus appeared.
Once the illusory lotus appeared, it instantly transformed into millions of lotus shadows, protecting him.
All hundred giant puppets continuously cast azure Dharma Seals, and the seals struck the layers of lotus shadows, unable to break through the Lotus Shadow Defense for the moment!
Ning Fan’s gaze was slightly surprised. According to his calculations, the combined attack strength of the Hundred Mechanisms should be enough to shatter ordinary Immortal Treasures and injure typical Fate Immortals.
He couldn’t help but wonder what defense technique the Danpao Fate Immortal was using that seemed so formidable.
It’s evident to the discerning that the Danpao Fate Immortal has not yet fully mastered this technique, yet he can already use it for protection.
If the technique is mastered, not even Human Profound Middle or Late Stage Fate Immortals might be able to harm him...
"If Little You Er were here, he would surely know what this technique is..."
"This technique’s defense is astonishing, but the mana consumption is considerable. Let’s see how long this person can sustain it!"
Ning Fan continued to pinch the puppet technique with one hand, commanding the hundred puppets to attack the Danpao Fate Immortal relentlessly.
He controlled the puppets to fight, resulting in minimal mana loss, whereas the Danpao Fate Immortal was desperately casting spells, using the Lotus Shadow for protection, causing significant mana depletion.
Gradually, the Danpao Fate Immortal’s complexion became pale, and his mana was running exceedingly low.
His eyes revealed a determined look, and he suddenly changed his spirit sense, self-exploding all Lotus Shadows, briefly repelling the puppet’s Dharma Seal attacks.
Then he swiftly slapped his storage pouch, retrieved an Eight-Transformation Immortal Pill enveloped in azure light, and consumed it without hesitation!
Instantly, an azure light wrapped around him, allowing him to escape tens of billions of miles away in the blink of an eye!
The pill temporarily enhances escape speed, but the side effects are significant. With each powerful escape, his cultivations deteriorate.
If it weren’t for fleeing for his life, the Danpao Fate Immortal would never have taken this pill!
"Trying to run!"
Ning Fan’s eyes flickered with mockery as he flicked his sleeve, collecting the hundred puppets into his storage pouch, riding on the Black Flame, and, like a ghost, appeared tens of billions of miles ahead on the path of the Danpao Fate Immortal’s escape!
At this moment, Ning Fan’s mana had surged more than threefold compared to a month prior!
With his current mana, using the Black Demon Escape Technique or Sun Moon Monument Technique once wouldn’t fully deplete his mana!
"How is it possible! What escape technique is this, allowing you to escape a hundred billion miles with Void Fragmentation cultivation! No, you’re not Void Fragmentation, definitely not Void Fragmentation! In Eastern Heaven, where is there such a powerful Void Fragmentation!"
The Danpao Fate Immortal was horrified, feeling as if he had lost his soul.
His divine skills couldn’t harm Ning Fan in the slightest, his hundred puppets were seized by Ning Fan, and he took the secret technique pill to escape, yet his escape speed was inferior to Ning Fan!
He couldn’t win, he couldn’t fight, he couldn’t flee!
He regretted deeply, regretting his decision to accept the sect’s task of hunting down Ning Fan!
If he had refused the task at that time, he wouldn’t have been relentlessly pursued by Ning Fan like this!
"Escape again!"
The Danpao Fate Immortal was at his wit’s end, losing the puppets left him like a lamb to the slaughter, with his divine skills reduced by ninety percent, he was no match for Ning Fan.
The only thing he could do was continuously draining his cultivations, constantly fleeing, hoping his luck might allow him to escape...
"Still trying to escape... Dismantling..."
Suddenly, Ning Fan’s eyes glimmered with a trace of vicious demon thoughts.
The black-gold long sword in his hand suddenly shattered into Sword Qi, slicing into himself.
His physical body swiftly scattered into a bloody mist, reconvened, transforming into a Blood Pricking Devil Marks form!
All over his body, blood-red sword rays spiraled around!
He once again used the Dismantling Technique, but this time, though his eyes were bloodthirsty, there was still a hint of clarity, his mind wasn’t completely lost.
With Wu Chen aiding him in repressing demonic urges, he could control the thoughts inside him!
Even though Ning Fan’s mana surged several folds, he couldn’t perform the Black Demon Escape Technique repeatedly.
He couldn’t let the Danpao Fate Immortal keep escaping, he had to use thunderous means to strike him down!
"Dismantling... the Dismantling Technique! Are you insane! Willing to self-destruct just to bring me down with you!"
The Danpao Fate Immortal was trembling all over, just as he intended to escape, he felt a sharp pain in his left arm, which then flew far from his body.
The blood demon form Ning Fan had transformed into appeared before him with ghostly speed, raising a finger to slash away his left arm with a Sword Qi!
"Ah!"
The Danpao Fate Immortal screamed in agony, his expression terrified, enduring the pain, his right hand reached into the storage pouch, seemingly trying to find something to save his life.
In the next instant, his right arm was also severed by a blood-colored Sword Qi!
His left leg and right leg followed, and finally, his head!
Slash! Slash! Slash!
One after another, the sword rays cut down ruthlessly and coldly, eventually splitting the Danpao Fate Immortal’s body apart, revealing the Spirit hidden within the corpse!
At this moment, the Danpao Fate Immortal’s Spirit, pitifully trying to perform a spell, but trembling too much to perform the correct spirit sense.
His Spirit was already invaded by Ning Fan’s dismantling demon thoughts, unable to escape or commit suicide!
Unable to control life, unable to control death!
Blood light encircled Ning Fan’s body, his gaze cold as he watched the tiny Spirit of the Danpao Fate Immortal, capturing it in his palm.
In an instant, the Danpao Fate Immortal’s fear skyrocketed to the peak, and he spoke in extreme terror,
"You, you can’t kill me, I’m a Guest Elder of the Medicine Sect... Ah!"
Before he could finish, a scream followed.
Ning Fan didn’t hesitate at all and directly performed the Soul Search technique on this Danpao Fate Immortal.
After a long time, Ning Fan swallowed the man’s Spirit in one gulp, significantly increasing his Evil Qi.
He had no intention of keeping this person’s Spirit for Alchemy. At this moment, Ning Fan only wanted to increase his Evil Qi to better control the demonic thoughts.
Today, while using the Dismantling Technique to forcibly control the demonic thoughts, the process was still somewhat imperfect.
With Ning Fan’s personality, he kills swiftly, not brutally hacking the Danpao Fate Immortal into a human stick before delivering the death blow.
The demonic thoughts still slightly influenced Ning Fan’s sanity; he needed stronger Evil Qi to suppress the demon!
After collecting the storage pouch of the Danpao Fate Immortal, Ning Fan lingered over one item.
It was a broken jade scroll, which recorded a fragment of a divine skill, precisely the Ancient God secret technique that the Danpao Fate Immortal had performed earlier.
"The lost Ancient God secret technique—the Art of Gathering Three Flowers at the Top... The method he holds is just the technique for the First Flower. To master this art, one needs Divine Blood above king beasts’ blood, high perception, and the consumption of a large number of one-million-year-old spiritual herbs. It seems the reason he hadn’t mastered it was due to the low level of his bloodline... I can try practicing it myself..."
Ning Fan put away the worn jade scroll, exited the Dismantling state, looking somewhat pale but not gravely injured.
Under the self-healing of the Black Star Technique, the slight injuries were quickly recovering.
In today’s battle against the Fate Immortal, Ning Fan won without much difficulty; firstly because his cultivation had surged, and he had used Evil Qi to suppress the demonic thoughts.
Secondly, because Ning Fan’s restraint had rendered the opponent’s puppet art useless and thus, the Puppet Master’s divine skills were too weak.
No matter how it’s counted, this Danpao Fate Immortal should be seen as the first Fate Immortal Ning Fan truly killed through his own strength...
He flipped his hand to retrieve the Ancient Golden Sword and stood on the sword’s tip, in the silent starry sky, remaining silent for a long time.
Through the memories he extracted from the Danpao Fate Immortal, he learned of the person’s identity and discovered some other matters.
For example, the Dan Sect had meticulously plotted against Ouyang Nuan, intending to kill her and seize the power of the Five-Color Medicine Soul within her.
For example, within the Medicine Sect, more than just Wei Qi had been afflicted by the Heartbreak Pill. There were several hidden ’traitors’, though the specifics were unknown.
Those ’traitors’ from the Medicine Sect did not realize that they had fallen into the Dan Sect’s trap.
Ning Fan also learned the full tale of the great battle seven years ago from the memories of this Danpao Fate Immortal.
On that day, the Dan Sect controlled Wei Qi with the Heartbreak Pill, taking him away from Shaoze Star.
They waited for Ouyang Nuan to attempt a rescue, intending for her to die at the hands of unfamiliar bandits en route, thereby dissociating themselves from responsibility.
Ouyang Nuan inherently had a will to die. Without Ning Fan, she might indeed have ventured alone into the starry path in search of Wei Qi.
But with Ning Fan’s intervention, Ouyang Nuan eventually found Wei Qi; the Danpao Fate Immortal was exposed and could no longer evade responsibility.
When Ning Fan forced a Fate Immortal to death, dismantling himself and tangling with another Fate Immortal, Wei Qi, under the control of the Heartbreak Pill, lost his sanity.
He struck Ning Fan from behind, tearing open the seal on the demonic thoughts within Ning Fan.
Thus, Ning Fan fully transformed into a demon!
Caught off guard, Wei Qi was utterly torn apart by Ning Fan.
The tall Fate Immortal was corroded and severely wounded by the demonic thoughts within Ning Fan, and, in shock, was temporarily repelled and fled back to the Dan Sect!
After that battle, Ning Fan was grievously injured by the demonic thoughts, his life hanging by a thread.
It was Ouyang Nuan who carried him stumbling and staggering to the Ancient Chen Star Domain, using the power of the Five-Color Medicine Soul along the way to prolong Ning Fan’s life and suppress the demonic thoughts...
According to Dan Sect’s intelligence, Qian Kaiyan, hidden within the Ancient Chen Star Domain, is actually Wei Wuzhi, the true master of the Medicine Sect.
Ouyang Nuan took Ning Fan to the Ancient Chen Star Domain solely to seek her master to revive Ning Fan.
She prolonged Ning Fan’s life along the way, sacrificing her own; by the time they reached the Ancient Chen Star Domain, she had already become a white-haired old woman.
Her master, concerned and angry, refused to save Ning Fan, so Ouyang Nuan kneeled outside the Hundred Medicine Sect and did not rise...
It was unrelated to affection; at that time, she probably just didn’t want to owe Ning Fan anything.
Ning Fan looked at the vast starry sky, his gaze incomparably complex for a moment.
No wonder Ouyang Nuan had never told him the truth of that day, fearing that upon learning of it, he would feel gratitude or guilt towards her.
Ning Fan raised his finger to touch the Yuan Yao Jade, seeing a flash of light, Ouyang Nuan cradling little Maoqiu, watching Ning Fan with full concern.
Her Five-Color Medicine Soul was formidable enough that even within the Yuan Yao World, she could slightly perceive the scene of Ning Fan’s previous battle.
"Are you badly hurt?" Ouyang Nuan asked with some concern, her complexion slightly pale.
"Just minor injuries, this Fate Immortal was weak." Ning Fan chuckled lightly, holding Ouyang Nuan’s hand and channeling mana into her.
Though her small, withered hands were in his grip, they felt inexplicably warm.
"Let’s find a place to help you refine the Soul Jade. Your body is still weak, and the Soul Jade is extremely cold; we need to find a Cultivation Star with strong fire veins, using the earth veins’ heat to refine the Soul Jade..."
"Mm, as you say." Ouyang Nuan had no objections.
Ning Fan nodded, taking out the blood-colored jade slip given by Wu Chen, his spirit sense scanned it, his eyes flashing slightly.
"The Slaughter Badge, is it... On this journey to the Blood Sea Star Realm, we might come across a Cultivation Star with strong fire veins. If we reach the Mid-Level Star Domain, it would be necessary to visit the main star to acquire a Slaughter Badge from the Slaughter Pavilion..." (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian.com to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile users please go to m.qidian.com to read.)