Grasping Evil

The Venerated Eighth of the Internal Endless Sea (Part One)

If I die, all of you may live.

If I don’t, you should all forget about even thinking that you can walk out of Ying State alive.

Ning Fan placed Gusu Island down from his shoulder as his gigantic body gradually shrank to his original size.

He patted his storage pouch and produced 25 spiritual puppets with each of them emanating at least Divine Transformation Realm level of aura force. The group of ten black spiritual puppets which he previously obtained was reduced to eight while the other seventeen puppets were a gift to him from Dong Xu.

Before he returned to the Endless Sea, Yuan Yao had also given him three Void Refinement Realm puppets which were refined using the corpses of the Realm Beasts. However, Ning Fan did not summon them in order to avoid unwanted trouble if anyone could see through how they were made.

The moment the twenty-five spiritual puppets emerged, the faces of the seventeen Divine Transformation Realm experts within the grand formation of the Ying State changed greatly.

“He has so many spiritual puppets! What’s more terrifying is that every single one of them is at the Divine Transformation Realm! Zhou Ming is surely crazy! He has actually killed so many experts and turned them into spiritual puppets!”

“It’s no surprise that his baleful qi is so strong. He is actually a devil lord who can crush Divine Transformation Realm cultivators like ants!”

Among the seventeen Divine Transformation Realm experts of Ying State, the one with the highest cultivation base was just at the Mid Divine Transformation Realm. With their current level, they could barely identify spiritual puppets of the Divine Transformation Realm. Thus, none of them actually knew that the puppet with the highest cultivation base was already at the Half-Step Void Refinement Realm!

Besides, the qi of these puppets were concealed with a secret technique. No one was able to see through their cultivation base accurately other than powerful beings like the Venerated Seven of the Internal Endless Sea.

However, even though none of them was able to tell how powerful these spiritual puppets truly were, knowing that Ning Fan actually possessed twenty-five Divine Transformation Realm puppets was no different than hearing the sad news of their beloved’s passing.

This Zhou Ming has twenty-five Divine Transformation Realm spiritual puppets with him!

Is he someone that we can mess with?!

With his strength alone, he is much stronger than the entire Alliance of Ming Assassins!

“Damn it! This Zhou Ming has so many Divine Transformation Realm spiritual puppets up his sleeve. He is not human!”

“However, why did he place the puppets on the island? Could it be that he isn’t planning to use the strength of his spiritual puppets to fight against us?”

Luo Sen’s eyes glinted. From Ning Fan’s act, he could guess that there must be some people who were extremely important to Ning Fan in Gusu Island. As such, he placed all of his spiritual puppets there to stand guard so that Gusu Island would not be affected by the battles of magic power.

If he can enter Gusu Island and capture the person whom Ning Fan valued the most, perhaps he could make a counterattack against him.

However, despite knowing this strategy perfectly well, Luo Sen never dared to sneak into Gusu Island. Once he gets close to the island, he will immediately be surrounded by twenty-five Divine Transformation Realm puppets and instantly die!

“What should we do now?!” Dong Xuanzi1 was already at a loss of what to do next. Even though he was a Divine Transformation Realm old ancestor, he was still an Early Divine Transformation Realm cultivator. In a large-scale battle like this, he was nothing. He was not even worth a fart!

“What else can we do?! It’s too late to say anything now. If we hide within the Ying State, we would still be able to protect ourselves! Once we leave the Eastern Profound Sword Formation, we will certainly be besieged by the group of spiritual puppets and killed. If I’m not wrong, there might even be Late Divine Transformation Realm spiritual puppets among the group!”

Purple Gu’s eyes were filled with terror. If he had known Ning Fan had such strength, he would definitely not establish the Alliance of Ming Assassins to bring misery upon himself.

However, no matter what he says in a situation like this, it would not help anymore. Based on Purple Gu’s understanding of him, the enraged Ning Fan would never show any mercy to his enemies.

Those who tried to beg him for mercy would eventually end up being killed!

“Exactly! We must not leave the Eastern Profound Sword Formation!”

Each of the Divine Transformation Realm experts immediately chimed in while nodding their heads in agreement. Not a single one of them still had the determination and confidence they originally had when they declared why and how they were going to kill Ning Fan.

“Very well! There is still one billion immortal jade in the alliance’s reserves. I believe all of you also have some immortal jade. Please take them out! Although this Eastern Profound Sword Formation is powerful, it consumes a lot of immortal jade. After all, it is a Peak Divine Transformation Realm grand formation. However, no matter how money consuming it is, as long as we can gather two billion immortal jade, it will be enough for the grand formation to last for at least a few years. I don’t believe that this Zhou Ming will continue to lay siege to Ying State for a few years just for a mere mortal’s kingdom!”

“Precisely! If we can stay within the formation for a few years, we definitely can wait for reinforcements from the Demon Sealing Sect! As long as Venerated Demon ends his secluded meditation, he can surely kill this Zhou Ming like butchering a dog with his Half-Step Void Refinement Realm strength!”

“Look! Zhou Ming has returned to his human form! The ability of transforming into a giant uses up a lot of physical strength. I suppose he might not even have the strength to lift his sword now!”

The discussion of these Divine Transformation Realm experts were overheard by the other cultivators of the alliance.

Each of them sighed with regret. The biggest mistake they had ever made in their entire lifetime was to join the Alliance of Ming Assassins and get themselves into this trouble.

All seventeen reputable Divine Transformation Realm experts were terrified by Ning Fan to the point of hiding themselves within the formation, not daring to make a single step out of it.

Each of these experts was an overlord of a region. However, when faced with Ning Fan, they did not even dare to heave a sigh.

The Alliance of Ming Assassins? Assassinating Zhou Ming’s ass?! Why don’t they just change the name of the alliance to ‘The Alliance of Ming Fearers’ which sounds much more appropriate!

Ning Fan’s gaze swept across Ying State and he spread his spirit sense covering the vicinity of fifty thousand li* (500m per li). When he saw the motley crowd of the alliance who were so scared to even step out of the formation, his eyes became filled with disdain.

Weak! They are too weak!

These so-called Divine Transformation Realm cultivators did not deserve their esteemed reputations. In Ning Fan’s eyes, they could not even compare at all to the five Peak Nascent Soul Realm cultivators who detonated their primordial spirits to protect Gusu City.

Neither could they match the old scholar who faced death with brave composure nor the wealthy generous man who led a dissolute life.

They did not have faith in themselves and the stubbornness to not retreat even if they had to die one hundred times.

Looking at this bunch of so-called Divine Transformation Realm experts which were intolerable to the eye, only a single word appeared in Ning Fan’s mind.

Ants!

The reason why Ning Fan returned to his original human form was totally not because he was lacking strength but because he felt that it was not necessary.

To ordinary cultivators, transforming into a giant would greatly enhance their strength. However, Ning Fan transformed into a giant only to carry the island. His strongest state was not in his giant form but his normal form!

He gently closed his eyes and let go of all his anger.

When he opened his eyes again, they were brimming with sword intent. He seemed to have literally become an ancient sword hanging in the vault of heaven!

He pressed his glabella and took out his Separation Slayer Sword. As he brandished his sword, a ray of sword light which tore the wind and dispersed the clouds struck the formation light. However, it was immediately deflected off the formation light and vanished.

“This ‘turtle shell’ is quite hard…”

Ning Fan knitted his brows.

The Eastern Profound Sword Formation which protects Ying State Immortal Island has four thousand and seven hundred sword mountains as its formation eyes. It is nearly comparable to a Void Realm grand formation.

As for the tens of sword mountains which I crushed just now using my fist, they are now being rebuilt using immortal jade.

By the looks of it, it will take at least a few years to completely erode this formation.

“Purple Technique, Wind Mist!”

Ning Fan jolted his sword and golden purple sand-like mist emerged around its body.

According to his experience in cracking formations, he learnt that the golden purple mist could even pierce a hole on an Immortal Void Realm grand formation, let alone a mere Peak Divine Transformation Realm grand formation.

Amidst the noise of something dissolving, a hole was immediately eroded on the formation light. Right afterwards, Ning Fan made a step forward and entered the Eastern Profound Sword Formation, going inside the Ying State Immortal Island!

The seventeen Divine Transformation Realm experts who had just gotten relieved nearly had their souls leave their bodies upon seeing what was happening before their eyes.

They were unable to understand what technique Ning Fan had just displayed. They could only see a trace of purple golden mist and in the next moment, the mighty Eastern Profound Sword Formation which was a Peak Divine Transformation Realm grand formation already had a hole in it!

“Im-Impossible! This is certainly impossible! We are doomed! We must not let him get near us! My one million cultivators, get into your formations now and kill Zhou Ming!”

Purple Gu felt that his heart was thumping chaotically with his muscles urging him to flee. Ning Fan’s successful break-in just gave him too much pressure.

Without any hesitation, the seventeen Divine Transformation Realm experts turned into seventeen rays of light and retreated, hiding behind the army of one million cultivators.

The cultivators hastily got into their formations. As soon as they got into their positions, they immediately swung their swords at the sky. A million rays of sword light shot out into the air in a whistle, forming a rain of swords.

Ear-piercing sword cries resounded across the island. Just as the cultivators acted in unison, heaven and earth were surrounded by sword light!

Although a single sword ray was nothing special and was only equivalent to an attack at the Harmonious Spirit Realm or Gold Core Realm, when one million of those sword rays are combined together, not even an expert of the Late Divine Transformation Realm would be able to withstand it.

“This old man is Dong Xuanzi. Zhou Ming, you shouldn’t have come within the sword formation!”

Dong Xuanzi revealed a hideous grin. At first, he was overwhelmed with amazement and shock, but now, he only felt proud and pleased.

Translated by Tommy, edited by Roel

Note:      

Dong Xuanzi (Chinese: 东玄子 Pinyin: dōng xuán zǐ)
Dong (东 dōng) means east.
Xuan (玄 xuán) means profound.
Zi (子 zǐ) is a suffix to form a noun.