Grasping Evil

The black cloud dispersed and an elderly man in black robes appeared.

This person had silver white hair with a body that was thin and bony. Despite that, his body emanated a heavy aura. It was not fierce. Instead, it was as thick and heavy as a mountain. It made Ning Fan feel that he could break the heavens and pulverize the earth with just his finger or fist.

The old pair of eyes on his wrinkled face were sharp like those of an eagle.

On the center of his forehead, there was an illusory half-formed black star, glittering faintly.

When he stood in the sky, anyone would feel that he was like nature itself.

A trace of Primordial Magnetic Force disrupted the magnetic force of the mineral veins at the bottom of the ocean. It even pierced through Ning Fan’s Sea of Consciousness, inflicting a mild pain on his spirit sense.

Early Spirit Severing Realm… Xu Rushan!

Ning Fan’s face turned somber. The expert before him gave him an extremely strong sense of pressure, making him feel that the person in front of him was not a person but an enormous mountain.

He knew the power that inflicted pain to his spirit sense was the Primordial Magnetic Force.

It’s really extraordinary.

The half black star in the center of his forehead resembled an Immemorial Devil Star.

Even though he did not possess Immemorial Devil or Divine Veins, he still managed to congeal half of an Immemorial Devil Star. He might just have half of the star, but it was enough to prove that he was an expert with great talent.

Ning Fan pondered about the intention of his sudden appearance without any fear.

To him, Xu Rushan was much more powerful than the rest of the cultivators he met in the External Endless Sea. He alone could have wiped out all the Nascent Soul Realm experts in the External Endless Sea. In terms of the aura he emanated, it was much stronger than the spiritual puppet, Stone Warrior.

Of course, Stone Warrior’s combat power should be comparable to him as aura was just an external factor. In fact, his combat power might even be slightly weaker than the female corpse. Even if Ning Fan faces him alone, he had 30% assurance of finishing him off with his Yuan Yao Jade. However, there was a higher chance that he would die in his hands as well… A Nascent Soul Realm cultivator battling against a Spirit Severing Realm expert… If he could not win, then he would definitely be dead. There was a 30% chance of winning, but 70% chance of dying as well.

From Late Nascent Soul Realm onwards, there would be an immeasurably vast difference between each of the small cultivation realms.

As for Xu Rushan, he was an expert who had a higher cultivation level than Ning Fan by a large and small cultivation realm. 

(Late Nascent Soul Realm [Ning Fan’s current cultivation realm],

 Peak Nascent Soul Realm [a small cultivation realm gap from Ning Fan’s],

 Early Spirit Severing Realm [a large cultivation realm gap from Nascent Soul Realm])

This person’s attitude is rather weird…

He wants to ask for my help and promised to give me 50 drops of Profound Liquid of Mother Earth as a reward for helping him…

500 units of magic power. If Ning Fan acquires this much magic power, he would even try to break through the bottleneck of the Peak Nascent Soul Realm and become a true expert of that realm.

This person is a respectable Spirit Severing Realm expert. The only possible reason that made him request for my help is either he knows that I am a Fifth Revolution Pill Master or something regarding the Secret Realm of the Broken World.

Other than those reasons, there was nothing worth it for a Spirit Severing Realm expert like him to specifically seek for Ning Fan’s help. As for the Secret Realm of the Broken World, any expert at the Spirit Severing Realm would be forbidden to enter. Since Ning Fan was the strongest cultivator below the Spirit Severing Realm, he would be the most reliable person to seek help from.

But this Xu Rushan had been hiding in this place for quite some time. Maybe he was already here when he knew that Su Yao and the group of female cultivators faced danger. After all, he also belonged to one of the top ten sects of the External Endless Sea. He would not want the sect master of Bi Yao Sect to be humiliated in his territory.

However, Ning Fan’s emergence made him give up on his thoughts of saving them.

He did not act immediately and helped Ning Fan eliminate his enemies because of two reasons.

Firstly, he wanted to observe Ning Fan’s power to see whether this cultivator was qualified to rope in.

Secondly, he wanted to borrow Ning Fan’s hands to kill the black monks and make the latter the great enemy of the Black Buddha Sect.

After searching Milian’s memories, Ning Fan found out that one of the Spirit Severing Realm old monsters from the Black Buddha Sect would be present at the Pleasure Devil Sea… His presence was due to the auction of a Spirit Severing Realm human cauldron.

It was a secret that only a few top-ranking officers and elders of the Black Buddha Sect would know. Besides, before Ning Fan came, he did not even have a single clue about the auction of a Spirit Severing Realm that was going to be held soon. The important point was that the Spirit Severing Realm of the Black Buddha Sect who would arrive a few days later should have already known that the experts from his sect had been killed. In other words, he was going to find trouble with Ning Fan when he arrives.

Xu Rushan is probably planning on using the Black Buddha Sect to threaten me…

The so-called request he has is actually just a combination of threat with inducement…

“Oh? I wonder what request Senior Xu has for me. Junior is all ears to listen.” Ning Fan smiled and cupped his fist towards Xu Rushan while maintaining his calm.

Xu Rushan did not change his expression but secretly, he sucked in a cold breath.

Despite my Spirit Severing Realm aura and the intimidating pressure of the Primordial Magnetic Force, he could still maintain his composure.

In actual reality, experts at the Peak Nascent Soul Realm would find it impossible to stay calm and tranquil even when they are a thousand zhang* away from Xu Rushan.

But this Zhou Ming did not appear to be affected by him even though he was just within a vicinity of five hundred zhang* from Xu Rushan.

Reputation comes from real distinction. The title of “The Strongest Below Spirit Severing Realm” really fits him.

The more he studied Ning Fan, the more he felt amazed.

From Ning Fan’s body, he sensed countless qi such as the qi of demon blood, corpse qi, devil qi, sword qi… He could tell that this Ning Fan cultivated different kinds of cultivation methods.

Among those different types of qi, there were some that could make him feel threatened.

That is to say, if Ning Fan who seemed harmless on the surface goes all-out to fight him, there would be a high chance that he would be injured.

Now, it was more justifiable that Ning Fan did not fear Xu Rushan.

Xu Rushan tried to probe Ning Fan by approaching the latter step-by-step, shortening the distance between them.

400 zhang*, 300 zhang*, 200*… When there was only a hundred zhang* left, Xu Rushan stopped and his eyes flashed in surprise.

Ning Fan was nearly exposed to all of his pressure without any protection when they were so close to each other. However, Ning Fan did not even flinch. Instead, he was still maintaining the smile on his face.

On the contrary, the imminent danger that Xu Rushan felt intensified when he got closer to Ning Fan.

Moreover, he had an absurd feeling that if he goes to ten zhang* near to Ning Fan, his life might be at risk.

“This man does not just have techniques to hurt me but also methods to kill me.”

Xu Rushan gradually withdrew his aura and his gaze became solemn.

He no longer carried any pride when facing Ning Fan. The way he treated him was similar to treating experts at the same level as him.

He cupped his fists towards Ning Fan in return and said, “Fellow Daoist Zhou really has good calmness and techniques…”

Those who could make him cup his fists out of politeness were only Spirit Severing Realm experts. Among all the cultivators below that cultivation realm, Ning Fan was the first who could make him do so.

“Hehe. Thank you for your compliments, Senior Xu. However, Senior Xu has yet to solve my confusion. What is Senior Xu’s request for me? Could it be something related to the Secret Realm of the Broken World?”

 “This information is confidential. I hope Fellow Daoist Zhou will dismiss any unnecessary people first…” Xu Rushan glanced at the female corpse beside him and shook his head.

This woman did not seem to have any magic power but she could float in the air like them.

She appeared quite strange to him but he thought that she was likely to be Ning Fan’s wife. Anyhow, women weren’t supposed to hear the discussions of men. At least, that was the tradition.

“She is no stranger… In fact, I have dismissed all the outsiders.” Ning Fan replied with a smile.

Su Yao whom he had just met for not more than a few times was considered an outsider. Yu Long, was undoubtedly an outsider. However, the female corpse was not.

“If that is the case, this old man will quit beating around the bush. Let’s talk in my Immortal’s Abode Magical Treasure…”

Xu Rushan took out a golden house which was the size of his palm. With just a slap on it, the golden house grew.

He gestured Ning Fan to go in but the latter shook his head in disagreement.

“Let’s talk here. If anyone dares to eavesdrop, I’ll just kill him.”

Xu Rushan chuckled. He kept his treasure but deep inside, he was shocked for the third time by Ning Fan.

The first time was when Ning Fan, a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator, was not even amazed when he saw an Immortal’s Abode Magical Treasure. In fact, it wasn’t something that could be owned by any ordinary Spirit Severing Realm expert. Furthermore, it was a gift bestowed upon him by the Venerated Giant.

For the second time, he was astonished by Ning Fan’s alertness. The latter refused to enter into his treasure as if he had a clear understanding of the functions of a treasure of that kind. Formations could be established within the treasure as a trap to attack the enemies.

On his third time, he was amazed by Ning Fan’s words. They were cruel and merciless. It proved that Ning Fan was clearly an expert who had been through countless bloodbath and would kill with no hesitation.

With such qualifications and attitude, he will likely succeed in accomplishing the task that I am going to assign to him.

Hai. Besides, he’s the only one I can rely on now. Otherwise, it would be impossible to gather 200 Demon Pills of Wild Beast… Venerated Giant is pressing me for those pills…

Although Xu Rushan did not converse much with Ning Fan, he could understand the latter’s personality and strength well after a series of probing, observation and analysis.

After keeping the treasure, he hesitated for a moment and took out a dark golden jade slip from his storage pouch.

There were three golden marks engraved on the jade slip and one of them was broken. They were the ‘Message Fragmenting Marks’. They were used to prevent others from spying upon the jade slip as not even experts at Spirit Severing Realm could erase the marks.

Three golden marks meant that this particular jade slip could only be read three times. After three times, the golden marks would disappear and the jade slip would self-destruct.

One of the marks was broken because Xu Rushan had read it once.

Other than Xu Rushan, no other people got access to the jade slip. It was enough to prove how precious this jade slip was.

Note :

Measurements :
a. li(里) = 500 m
b. zhang(丈) = 3.13 m
c. chi(尺) = 30.7 cm