Grasping Evil

The Promise of The Next Life

One day, ten days, one hundred days… 

Within the world in his mind, Ning Fan had already been sitting alone for a hundred days and swallowed fifty thousand crystals.

The world was filled with complete darkness and only his body emitted a faint black star glow.

“Just a little more… ”

Ning Fan slowly got up as he murmured to himself while standing in the sky. The devil qi within his body had already reached 83470 units.

With such a vigorous amount of devil qi, he broke through to the Mid Divine Transformation Realm just based on his devil cultivation alone.

Combining all his divine, demon and devil powers, he already has more than 150 thousand units of power. In other words, even if his cultivation base had yet to break through to the Late Divine Transformation Realm, he already attained the standard of that level with just his magic power.

If he cast the Soul Extraction Technique now, perhaps it would be enough to raise his power to the Peak Divine Transformation Realm.

Not only did his devil qi increase, but also the body refining realm of his physical body. Currently, he has achieved the Third Level of the Jade Life Realm.

Originally, his body was a corpse demon body which had unlocked the limits of the human body, enhancing his strength and physical defense.

At this moment, after his body was tempered by the starlight, the strength and hardness of his physical body improved greatly once again.

With his current body which was at the Third Level of the Jade Life Realm, he would be able to go neck and neck with other cultivators who are at the Fourth Level!

With just the strength of his body alone, he would be able to put up a fight against a Peak Divine Transformation expert in direct combat!

These were all just the improvements he attained in terms of cultivation base. What delighted Ning Fan the most was the other benefits he got.

Standing in the sky, his hair fluttered in the whistling wind. He suddenly raised his head and pointed to the sky.

In his right eye, the second black star had completely formed. Its name was the Body Tempering Star! Its function was to heal one’s wounds and cure one’s illnesses with the aid of star power!

At the direction where his finger pointed above the sky, five jet-black stars appeared one after another and radiated black starlight.

Basking in the five rays of starlight, the wounds on Ning Fan’s body were all healed immediately.

A trace of the starlight had an effect equivalent to consuming a Fifth Revolution Pill.

As such, having five traces of starlight to treat his wounds was nearly equivalent to taking five Fifth Revolution Pills!

“If I manage to condense one million stars, even if my cultivation base is low, not even common Immortal Emperors could kill me! This technique has great potential. If I practice it well, it will definitely become one of my indispensable trump cards in the future!”

Ning Fan nodded, pleased. He was very satisfied with the inheritance of this emperor’s star.

Throughout the journey from the Broken World to the current Star Palace, his intention was to increase his strength. Currently, his harvest was extremely obvious.

Except for his main cultivation, his magical power was still his weakness as it had yet to achieve the Divine Transformation Realm, while his demon and devil power were all at powerful levels. 

Even if he returns to the outside world and enters the Internal Endless Sea, his current power would be enough for him to dominate without fearing the Demon Sealing Sect.

Besides, when the sect master of the Demon Sealing Sect - Lu Jiefen meets Ning Fan, it would be impossible for him not to retreat and avoid any confrontation!

“In the past, I entered the Endless Sea and got myself into trouble with the Demon Sealing Sect in order to save Su Qiu. Now, however, the Demon Sealing Sect no longer makes me afraid…”

Ning Fan’s tone was flat. He had indeed become much stronger. Even if he returns to Yue Country, he would be able to occupy a big part of the country, proclaim himself as an old ancestor and then annex all the other states. The current him was already invincible among the cultivators below the Void Refinement Realm!

“After I return to the External Endless Sea, I shall deal with the things I have to do there and then enter the internal part of the sea again to help Yue Er recover her Divine Space Island. Perhaps I can then go home… Home… I have been away from home for far too long…”

Ning Fan looked at the stars above his head and his eyes softened.

Even though he was carrying a tremendous burden and responsibilities and had been practising hard all the way, it could be said that he had a more blissful life than most people.

At the very least, he had a family, a wife, a master, a younger brother and an ordinary but warm past… 

“I probably still have my mother…” Ning Fan was feeling a little hopeful about it.

When he was going through the Three Steps of Mortal Severance in the Cloud Sea, he saw his mother in the illusion. That scene had been deeply etched into his memories and he was unable to forget about it at all. 

That scene gave him the idea that perhaps his mother was still alive somewhere in this world.

Perhaps one day in the future, they would reunite.

“Speaking of which, I haven’t had a father and mother since I was young. I haven’t felt warmth and affection from my parents. To a cultivator, it is rather unfortunate to miss out on this kind of experience… Besides, from the bottom of my heart, I really look forward to meeting my mother.”  

Ning Fan let out a light sigh and then put all his complicated thoughts away. He knew that it was not the time to think about them.

In a way, returning to the External Endless Sea meant a reunion with a certain someone. Meanwhile, it also implied his parting with Yuan Yao, Xi Ran, Wu Yan and the other women.

From Ning Fan’s perspective, it was hard to forget those women who had been through thick and thin with him and even had a few brushes with death during the journey.

He had never once given any flatteries to his own women. What he did was to give them his heart and sincerity which they, in turn, reciprocated with their loyalty.

He loathed parting with them. Presumably, these three women were also unwilling to part with him.

Before leaving, Ning Fan still needed to fulfill Lu Daochen’s request which was to clear the evil seal on Lu Wu.

Once the evil seal is lifted, Lu Wu would then be liberated. He could then be free from the burning pains of the Sinful Mark and enter Samsara and start a new life and cultivation.

“It’s time to go…”

He seemed to be murmuring to himself but the world within his mind immediately shattered like a mirage.

Inside the Cloud Palace, Ning Fan who had stood there for a hundred days opened his eyes. His current aura force’s strength doubled compared to when he had yet to accept the inheritance of the emperor’s star!

“You are awake? Alright, good! You have mastered the initial stage of the Celestial Emperor’s Star Technique. Impressive! If you have the chance to develop and improve this technique in the future, perhaps you may be the next Celestial Emperor!”

The giant beast, Lu Wu, leaned forward and looked at Ning Fan with approval.

“Senior, you must be joking.” Ning Fan shook his head. He was a down-to-earth person. Since he was currently just at the Divine Transformation Realm and there were innumerable cultivation realms more to reach the Celestial Emperor’s level, he would not daydream about it.

“This junior has mentioned my two objectives of coming to this place before. One of them is to obtain the inheritance of the emperor’s star, and the other is to lift the evil seal for you. Since I have obtained the emperor’s star, I just need to break the evil seal that was planted on you and I can then fully accomplish my missions for this trip.”

“The evil seal? Hehe. I believe that you’re able to break it!” Lu Wu looked at him with eyes full of anticipation. This evil seal has been with him for far too long. Every night, it would come to life and torture him, making him feel that his whole body was being burnt with flames. The pain and suffering was unbearable.

His physical body had perished and there was no way he could resurrect, thus leaving only his remnant soul.

But his remnant soul was sealed by the Sinful Mark causing him to be unable to go into Samsara.

To cultivators, death was inevitable. Dying only means that their cultivation over an entire lifetime would be lost and they have to start all over again.

However, as long as their souls are intact and they have a chance to enter Samsara, they will then start their next lives.

To mortals, death is scary, but to cultivators, what was even more frightening than death was losing their complete souls which would then cause them to be unable to enter Samsara.

It was because of the importance of Samsara that only the cultivators who were willing to give up their chances of entering it would be able to impress Ning Fan.

Just like that day where the old ancestor of the Hu Family - Hu Fengzi, a person who did not have a high cultivation base, chose to destroy his own complete soul for the sake of his family and condensed it into a cultivation pill to exchange for Ning Fan’s help in protecting his family.

Translated by Tommy, edited by Roel