Grasping Evil

Returning To The External Sea

“No. Not me… But my dau… no, sister. Her name is Bei Xiaoman. She’s staying in one of the palaces of the Lost World Palace’s branch in the Rain World. It seems to be a place called the Endless Sea. When I return to the Northern Heaven, I will try to urge her. If you want to ascend to the heavens in the future, you just need to find her and tell her you’re Lu Bei. Then she will help you in preparing the passage and Realm Gates to aid you in ascending to the Upper World.”

“I think I would need to further consider this offer.”

Ning Fan didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this moment. Secretly, he said this in his heart.

With the grudges between me and Bei Xiaoman, that little girl would very likely meddle in my ascension such as collapsing the World Passage or the Realm Gate while I am passing through to kill me during teleportation...

Therefore, Ning Fan would not dare to accept that ascension spot even if Bei Yao was willing to give it to him.

Besides that, Ning Fan had not really considered ascending to the heavens while he was still at the Divine Transformation Realm. At the very least, he would not consider this at all before succeeding in slaying Emperor Moksha of the Devil World.

“Mm, even though we won’t meet again in the future, I still sincerely wish you… to have an infinitely bright future…”

Yuan Yao gently tore off the seal on her forehead. All of a sudden, her aura force returned to the Shedding Void Realm.

In the end, she still had to leave. Ning Fan and her were after all just like star-crossed lovers who were not fated to be with each other forever. What she could feel was the helplessness of meeting the right person at the wrong time.

“Sister Bei Yao, are you leaving now?”

“Bei Yao!”

All women there turned to look at Yuan Yao. Their gazes made Yuan Yao suddenly forget her tired and irritated feelings. She looked up to them, smiling through tears.

These are really interesting memories… 

I, as an immortal expert at the Shedding Void Realm, can actually be sisters with a group of Divine Transformation Realm juniors. Moreover, some of them are even from different races.

“If there is a chance, perhaps we will all meet again…” Yuan Yao sighed inwardly. Even though she had clearly arrived at the stage where she forgot what love is, she still had an emotional response.

As she performed a hand seal, a massive magic power surged. A huge Realm Gate suddenly appeared between heaven and earth. Yuan Yao gritted her teeth and made a step forward, disappearing from their eyes. 

The emotions she experienced throughout the journey had surprisingly loosened the bottleneck of Yuan Yao’s cultivation base.

The Venerated Indifference Realm was not about being heartless… In the past, she was heartless. In the Star Palace, however, her emotions were roused. Perhaps this encounter would cause her power to increase quite a lot.

Of course, that was something that would only happen in the future.

Wu Yan and Yue Lingkong sighed with emotion while Xi Ran felt her nose swell again. 

“Sister Bei Yao is gone…”

“Silly girl! Everything or everyone that meets will part eventually. There is nothing you can blame as meeting and parting aren’t for us to control…" Wu Yan didn't know what to say about Xi Ran.

She slightly raised her head and looked at Ning Fan feeling speechless for a moment.

After a long while, only then did she muster up her courage and said lightly.

“Lu Bei, we need to go back to the Second World first to hand over something to Lu Daochen. Then, we will return to the Spirit King Palace. After that, the Spirit King will probably give an order to move the entire Second World to the Land of Demons in the Upper World using a secret technique… After all, the demons in the Second World were originally members of the ancient demon race of the Land of Slumber. There is nothing wrong for them to ascend to the Immortal Demon World again…"

“Is that so? Then I would need to trouble you to take care of Wan Er and the Luo Yun tribe in the future.”

"Aren't you going back to the Second World with us? Sister Wan Er would probably want to see you too." It seems that Xi Ran treated almost everyone as her elder sister. Perhaps she likes being a younger sister to other people ever since she was born.

"No. Even if I go back, I will also leave immediately and it will only make Wan Er feel sad parting with me once again. Maybe someday in the future when I no longer need to stain my hands with blood in this cultivation world and there is no longer any enemy chasing after me, I might then be able to put down everything and find you all to live a bland but warm mortal life. What Wan Er looks forward to seeing must be my future self that has already let go of all my burdens. She is waiting and I am also waiting for that day to come…”

Ning Fan's eyes shined with hope. Mortal people’s lives were dull and peaceful. Thus, they often long for a passionate and exciting life like the ones in their legends.

A cultivator’s life, however, was centered on fighting. Fighting with the heavens, fighting with other cultivators, and even fighting with their own destiny. In the end, they often find themselves exhausted and eager to have an ordinary life.

While their hearts do feel tired, they would not stop moving forward. If they stop, they will then be trampled upon by others and treated like corpses and bones that pave their paths!

It was a journey with no return.

“Yan Er, Ran Er, I have nothing good to give you both but there are two sword crystals here. Take it with you. Once the single Void Refinement Realm attack within the crystal is activated, even a Peak Divine Transformation Realm expert will certainly die after being struck by it! As for Half-Step Void Refinement Realm experts, they will also run away after finding out about these crystals…” 

Ning Fan took out two sword crystals. These were of course seized from Zi Chuan.

"Isn’t it a little too costly..." Even with Wu Yan's identity as a demon imperial concubine, she was unable to get even one of those sword crystals. Her talent was not bad, but she just was not valued highly within her race.

"Is this a gift ..." Xi Ran eyes suddenly twinkled like stars and a smile bloomed across her face. Since she was the little princess of her own race, she had no shortage of items for self-defense. However, she still regarded this piece of sword crystal as a precious treasure because it was given by Ning Fan.

"This gift can almost offset 50 million immortal jades ... Brother Lu Bei, you still owe me 900 million immortal jades. The next time I see you, I will definitely ask from you… Oh yes!"

She still had not forgotten her one billion immortal jades that Ning Fan took away from her.

But she suddenly recalled something which caused her, someone who always says whatever she had in mind, to be a little uneasy.

"Sister Wu Yan, I want to give Brother Lu Bei something in secret. Can you pretend not to see it and don't tell the others?" Xi Ran pleaded with Wu Yan.

"Okay. But are you giving him a gift? What is so mysterious about it?" Ning Fan found the tense expression on Xi Ran’s face rather funny.

"It's a jade slip, just a jade slip… "

Xi Ran took out a delicately-packaged jade slip from her storage pouch and handed it to Ning Fan. Immediately, her small face turned red and hot.

“This is?”

Ning Fan unpacked the package without any care and touched the jade slip with his finger. At the next moment, a soft voice echoed in the air.

"Brother Lu Bei, Xi Ran likes you very much. I just especially like you! You are Xi Ran’s biggest hero! This is the jade slip that I secretly imprinted. Recorded in here is the secret technique of pill refinement of our Profound Medicine Race - “San Qing Remnants Volume”. You have to study it hard and become a great pill refinement master in the future. Then, my dad will definitely not object to our marriage…” 

*Pak*

Xi Ran’s face was as red as a tomato. Feeling angry and embarrassed, she pointed at the jade slip and shut off her recorded voice. Then, she angrily stared at Ning Fan.

"Idiot! This can't be opened in front of other people!"

Xi Ran just wanted to find a hole and hide in it.

This is a jade slip that she secretly made along the way. She had also secretly imprinted all the secret pill refining techniques of her Profound Medicine Race into it.

Of course, these things were not a big deal. However, there were still a lot of sentimental words recorded in it. Those were the words that Xi Ran always wanted to tell Ning Fan but she did not dare to do it in person.

"Idiot! Big idiot!" Xin Ran was so ashamed that she stamped her feet on the ground. On the other side, after hearing Xi Ran’s words from the jade slip, Yue Lingkong laughed so hard that she bent herself over. After that, she imitated Xi Ran’s tone on purpose and said.

"Brother Lu Bei, Xi Ran likes you very much. I especially like you! You are Xi Ran’s biggest hero!”

“Don’t imitate me!”

While the two of them began to argue with each other, Wu Yan’s eyes were filled with surprise. Meanwhile, the same look also appeared on Ning Fan's face.

"This is the record of the secret pill refining techniques of the Profound Medicine Race? You are giving this record to Lu Bei? If this matter is spread, with the domineering attitude of your Profound Medicine Race, they will definitely send a number of True Immortals to hunt Lu Bei down! You are just getting him into trouble!" Wu Yan said nervously.

"If I, you, Brother Lu Bei and Sister Yue Er doesn't spread it and I know Weiliang certainly won’t spread it, who else would know?" Xi Ran denied her statement. She didn't think there was anything wrong with her gift.

"You are really… What should I say about you… " Wu Yan sighed softly. She could feel Xi Ran’s feelings. If she were to have the lofty status of a princess in her race like Xi Ran and got some kind profound secret technique of her clan which could help Ning Fan, she would also definitely be very willing to take risks to give it to him...

"Brother Lu Bei, if you don't want it, then give it back to me!" Xi Ran reached out her hand and tried to take it back. However, Ning Fan suddenly pulled her hand and got her into his arms.

"Of course I want it. Why would I reject? This is a good thing."

It was indeed good stuff. The Dao of Formations was divided into nine factions but there were only two in the Dao of Alchemy. Firstly, it was the "Nine Revolutions of the Rivers" inherited from the Ancient Chaos Emperor. Much of the inheritance was lost. As for the ‘San Qing[1] Pill Condensation Method’ given by Xi Ran, even though it was also incomplete, it was more advanced than the pill refining techniques that Ning Fan currently had.

After having these techniques and with Ning Fan’s talent,  he undoubtedly would be successful in the Dao of Alchemy as long as he makes painstaking efforts in learning and practicing them. 

There was a saying which goes, “If one has the help of his good wife, he can overcome millions of powerful armies…” Now, Ning Fan really felt the meaning of this saying from the mortal world.

Of course, in order to win the hearts of one’s good wives, life-and-death crises were inevitable.

The process was difficult, but as long as the results were fruitful, that was enough. 

"Then, Brother Lu Bei, Sister Wu Yan and I will leave now. You must not forget to miss me!"

"Mm. After you get back, remember to be careful in everything you do." Ning Fan reminded her.

Wu Yan and Xi Ran both gave Ning Fan a deep look. After a long while, each of them took out their own formation disks and activated the formation light. A moment later, their figures gradually faded and they returned to the Second World.

"Lu Bei... goodbye..."

Ning Fan raised his head, looking at the sky where the two of them left and sighed with emotion.

"Light… go… home?" The female corpse gently pulled Ning Fan's sleeve. She could tell that Ning Fan was feeling a little dejected.

"Mm, let’s go home. After leaving the External Endless Sea for more than twenty years Xu Qiuling’s injuries probably flared up again. We shall heal her first.

"Little Cucumber, you have so many young beauties with you. Won’t you feel tired?" Yue Lingkong asked as if she was teasing him.

"Being tired is much better than being lonely."

Ning Fan's words silenced Yue Lingkong for a moment. Ning Fan's path in cultivation might be bumpy and challenging, but he was not alone. As for Yue Lingkong, she might used to be a female tyrant in the Internal Endless Sea, but she never had a bosom friend. Besides, she was devoured by her second primordial spirit and even betrayed by her own apprentices in the end.

"When are we going to the Divine Space Island…?" Yue Lingkong recalled some unhappy past and asked with a frown.

"We will go… soon. "

Ning Fan took out a formation disk. However, that disk was not for returning to the Second World, but to the External Endless Sea.

Translated by Tommy, edited by Roel