Grasping Evil

The Second Step of Intent Realm

Before he could even feel happy that Ning Fan was finally heading to the exit of the area that displayed first level spiritual wines, he saw him enter where the mortal wines were.

This time, Ning Fan made up his mind to only drink mortal wine.

Cao Kang felt like weeping but no tears came out of his eyes. The reason he offered to guide Ning Fan was to get some delicious and powerful wines, not plain mortal wines!

“My young friend, Yun, mortal wines aren’t good to drink. I have a good friend at the Harmonious Spirit Realm in the Green Bamboo Palace who can brew extremely smooth and delicious second level spiritual wines. How about I take you there to have a try? If you like it, you can just purchase a few bottles. It’ll be better if you can buy a few for me as a gift too. Don’t worry. I have a very close relationship with that person. It won’t be difficult for me to get a discount…” Cao Kang sounded as if he was begging.

“No need. I think mortal wines are not bad.”

“Hai…” Cao Kang heaved a deep sigh.

Inwardly, he began to think that Ning Fan must be a person who did not know much about wines. Even a fool knew that first level and second level spiritual wines were better than mortal wines. However, he still insisted on drinking mortal wines…

It can’t be wrong. He must be a person who has no knowledge of wine. He just toys around and drinks whatever he likes!

Cao Kang really wanted to leave Ning Fan behind and go to the area where second level spiritual wines were with his yellow grade bamboo plate to have a good drink.

However, when he thought of Ning Fan who did not know much about wine, he was worried that the latter would be cheated by others and spend lots of money on buying mortal wines.

“Fine. I will follow him for the moment so that he won’t be cheated by others… *Sigh* It seems like I won’t be able to drink even a sip of second level spiritual wines today…”

Naturally, it was impossible for Cao Kang to know what Ning Fan was thinking.

Ning Fan’s mind was still absorbed in the Wu Country wine that was brewed by the young boy. He patted his storage pouch, took out a bottle of wine and drank it clean in one gulp. His demeanor was rather heroic.

“Good wine!” Ning Fan praised.

“You definitely haven’t tasted a genuinely excellent one…” Cao Kang criticized him internally.

What Cao Kang cared about was the medicinal power of the wine. As for Ning Fan, however, what mattered most to him was the new comprehensions and insights hidden within.

With a mouthful of wine, he suppressed his past hatred and grudges and puked out a clump of blood that had been residing within him for years. Then, his thoughts became clear and bright.

“The wine of Wu Country revived my past memories. As such, I puked out a clump of blood that suppressed my Heart’s Devil. Wine can help one diminish sad memories and allow one to preserve their happy memories. Wine can help one forget worries while inspiring joy. The former is about forgetting while the latter is about preserving…”

“Forgetting means erasing memories. Preserving means freezing and holding memories. There are three thousand great principles within a wine. However, I am only able to discover the Dao of Preserving!”

“Memories! I suppose my new divine intent is about memories!”

Ning Fan finally understood why his divine intent would increase whenever he drank wine.

It was because after his three types of intent realms had combined, his brand-new intent realm was memory!

Memory was a type of intent realm which was completely different from other intent realms such as his rain intent, mountain intent and etc.

Rain was tangible while mountain was also a physical thing. Memory, however, was intangible and invisible!

If the intent realms of the nine grades were considered as First Step Intent Realms, then Ning Fan’s brand new memory intent that he created from combining his three types of intent realms was a Second Step intent realm. In other words, it was an intent realm that was much greater than the Demon Intent of Fu Li!

It was a process where his intent realm turned into an incorporeal state from its former physical state.

Meanwhile, Ning Fan was thinking if a Third Step divine intent existed in this world where he had to turn his incorporeal divine intent back to a physical state!

Only then would it conform with the path of cultivation that was opened up by the Immortal Sovereign!

The Divine Intent of Rain could alter the weather. The Devil Intent of Evil Luo Mountain could simulate lofty mountains.

As for the Divine Intent of Memory, it could change and distort a cultivator’s memories and mess up their minds, eventually causing them to lose themselves.

In the mortal wines section, Ning Fan walked past each of the stalls.

The alcoholic drinks that were displayed for free tasting were all mortal wines. No cultivators had ever set their eyes upon these. To Ning Fan, however, these mortal wines were incomparably precious. He took up cup after cup and drank all of them clean in one gulp.

Although these wines were ordinary, they were able to bring back his memories.

Scenes of vengeance and killing surfaced in his mind. Just as his memories interchanged, his Divine Intent of Memory was improving gradually.

From the Large Accomplishment level, it was slowly advancing towards Perfect Accomplishment.

The memories which he cherished the most were the days when he was still a very ordinary person.

What he wanted to protect the most was his loved ones who had kept him company on his path of climbing towards the pinnacle of the Immortal Dao.

“These wines might be ordinary, but they were able to bring back my memories. I was originally a mortal, an ordinary person. Eventually, I chose the path of cultivation because I was reluctant to suffer humiliation. I chose to defy the immortals because I wanted to protect my mortal loved ones.”

“The Divine Intent of Rain, the Devil Intent of Mountain and the Demon Intent of Fu Li are three completely different types of intent realms. Each of them carries a distinctively different power and it was impossible to merge them into one in the first place. The reason why I was able to combine them into one was because of my memories, my past memories of Seven Apricot City. I drew the scenery of snow and cold plums and forcefully merged the three types of intent realms into this piece of memory… Then, I got the intent realm of memory which was a Second Step Intent Realm!”

“In the past, I had no idea why both mortals and cultivators would be drunk by drinking. Now, I found the answer…”

“Mortals can become drunk and it’s their bodies that are being affected by the alcohol. Cultivators can feel intoxicated and it’s their hearts that are being affected. Magic power can protect a cultivator’s physical body but it can’t protect one’s heart. If one harbors pain and intends to get himself drunk, he will still be intoxicated no matter what. What is being drunk? I have once asked myself and my answer was dying from wine. However, I still have yet to understand what death is. It’s today that I finally realized that it is the heart that is dead! If one’s heart is dead, they are already intoxicated even without wine…”

Ning Fan kept drinking along the way. When he drank the previous cup of wine, he looked intoxicated and dizzy but when he drank the next one, he looked extremely sober without even a sign of intoxication. His mind was interchanging between being sober and drunk.

At the same time, his mind was selecting the fragments of memories that surfaced in his mind, determining which to forget and which to preserve.

He could never forget two things: love and hatred. Other than those, he could forget all of the rest.

Cao Kang was inwardly astonished. When he looked at Ning Fan, he had a false impression that the latter was someone that he could only admire and respect.

Currently, Ning Fan’s presence gave out an aura that could only be seen by Divine Transformation Realm old monsters.

This aura could influence Cao Kang and it was his intent realm of memory.

Cao Kang stood beside Ning Fan. Scenes of past memories flowed into his mind like tidal waves, causing him to be absorbed in his own thoughts.

He began his path of cultivation since he was a teenage boy and bade farewell to his parents. However, when he finally had some achievements, his parents were no longer alive… Past incidents and events resurfaced in his mind. Tears welled up in his eyes which then trickled down. All of a sudden, he only wanted to drown his sorrows with wine.

Slowly, he began to taste mortal wines. Gradually, he became a little drunk.

It was because his mind was now chaotic. The power of Ning Fan’s memory intent had disrupted his thoughts.

After that, Cao Kang had surprisingly discovered that his memories seemed to be changing. It was as if his memories were being literally rewritten by someone!

He had never heard of anyone who was capable of distorting the memories of others.

It was simple to search one soul and eliminate his memories. However, changing one’s memories was difficult!

What was memory? It meant one’s recollections as well as the samsara.

It was one’s recollection of the past that was kept within samsara. Other than the Heavenly Dao and samsara, no one would be able to change memories!

Cao Kang internally surmised that Ning Fan was the one who caused the weird feeling he was having now.

For the first time, he began to have doubts on Ning Fan’s identity and started asking himself whether he was a Vein Opening Realm cultivator or not!

“B-Brother Yun, who exactly are you? Are you a Gold Core Realm senior?! I have a feeling that you aren’t a Vein Opening Realm junior!”

“I am who I am!”

Ning Fan suddenly stopped walking. His eyes turned clear and bright. He withdrew the power of his memory intent. At this moment, his memory intent was only a single step away from achieving a breakthrough.

He did not continue his comprehension because there was a boisterous crowd blocking the path in front of him.

The large group of cultivators seemed to be composed of fourteen ladies. Twelve of them were maidservants while two of them were masters.

“Everybody get out of the mortal wine section now! Please act without fail! Mistress Dan Tai wants to come here to drink!”

Four Harmonious Spirit Realm cultivators stepped forward and cleared the path, driving away the handful of customers within the section.

When the four of them glanced at Ning Fan, they did not feel anything unusual as they thought he was just a Vein Opening Realm junior. When they saw Cao Kang, three of them looked stunned and only the middle-aged man sneered as if he had some old grudges against him.

“Cao Kang, we have some respected guests in the house. Why don’t you hurry up and bring your junior out of this place?!” The person who spoke was Gong Mao. Since he was on bad terms with Cao Kang, his tone was certainly harsh.