Grasping Evil

Chapter 405: Advancement. Half-Step Void Refinement Realm!

“You’ve actually defeated my second primordial spirit. Little Cucumber, you really are a monster!”

They were in a gloomy corridor which seemed long and endless. Yue Lingkong was guiding Ning Fan to the secret area of the Divine Space Island. Up until now, she still found it somewhat unacceptable that Ning Fan had won against her second primordial spirit.

By drawing a bow and firing an arrow, he could eliminate someone at the Void Refinement Realm. The might of that single arrow was indeed a little too terrifying.

Condensing the star power of ninety-nine natal black stars into a star bow… Ning Fan’s means was surely not any bit weaker than Early Void Refinement Realm cultivators.

“Light…certainly…wins…” The female corpse glanced at Yue Lingkong with a hint of dissatisfaction.

To her, Ning Fan was omnipotent. There was nothing he was not capable of accomplishing. Hence, there was nothing strange about him gaining victory in the fight earlier.

Ning Fan wore a pleased smile.

This little lady’s improvement is not bad. Her spiritual intelligence has recovered to a level where she can argue with another person.

Perhaps when he visits the Six-Winged Clan in the future to borrow their Revival Platform and treat the female corpse, her Sea of Consciousness might recover even faster.

After Yue Lingkong’s second primordial spirit was sealed, she was handed over to Yue Lingkong. Of all the female cultivators on the island, only one-third of them could still be considered alive. The rest of them had already been turned into moon puppets and were nothing more than living corpses…

There were seven Divine Transformation Realm human cauldrons which, of course, needed to be plucked. They had betrayed Yue Lingkong in the first place. Even though they were turned into moon puppets, they deserved it as a consequence for their actions. Thus, Yue Lingkong would also not harbor any guilt in letting Ning Fan pluck them.

Within the secret area on the island, there were also four Divine Transformation Realm Dao Fruits which Yue Lingkong had gathered in the past.

Aside from that, there were two types of Heavenly Cold Qi inside the body of her second primordial spirit.

All the spiritual medicine and immortal jade of the island were Ning Fan’s reward for his victory.

Even if Ning Fan wants to take all of them away with him, Yue Lingkong would not hold any resentment towards him.

She looked at the Divine Space Island which was nearly turned into ruins and sighed with emotion.

The Divine Space Island which was once the pinnacle of power in the internal sea in the past had met its inevitable downfall today. Too many treacheries had transpired in this place. At first, she thought she could slaughter every last one of the traitors and re-establish the prestige of the Divine Space Island.

In the end, however, she realized that there was nothing here at all which she could cherish.

“After cultivating the Dao for four thousand years, there is nothing in the end, just like drawing water with a sieve… Little Cucumber, what path should I follow in the future…?”

“If you’ve lost your direction, just continue to follow me. After all, you have yet to compensate me with the ‘service’ you promised. So why bother going faraway so insistently?”

“Alright.”

Yue Lingkong nodded her head. It seemed like she was going to stay by Ning Fan’s side for quite a long time.

Yue Lingkong’s storeroom was located at the end of the secret area. All the precious items that she had gathered in her entire life were stored inside. Even her second primordial spirit was unable to access them.

Inside, Ning Fan obtained four Divine Transformation Realm Dao Fruits. Even so, he did not feel excited at all.

Four Divine Transformation Realm Dao Fruits were only equivalent to four thousand units of magic power. In the past, he went hither and thither for Divine Transformation Realm human cauldrons and Divine Transformation Realm Dao Fruits. Now, with the current intensity of his magic power, the effect of consuming Divine Transformation Realm Dao Fruits was rather insignificant.

Thus, he did not consume them. Instead, he stored them in his storage pouch, planning to give Xu Qiuling one of them while bringing the rest to his hometown for Zhihe and the others.

As for the seven Divine Transformation Realm human cauldrons, he, of course, would pluck them himself.

Yue Lingkong stayed inside the secret area to refine and assimilate her second primordial spirit whereas Ning Fan went outside to deal with the female cultivators of the Divine Space Island.

After plucking the seven Divine Transformation Realm female cultivators dry, he gained an extra seven thousand units of magic power.

He did not touch the other female cultivators. Instead, he lifted the moon puppet seals of all the affected female cultivators.

After the seals were nullified, the female cultivators who were in a deathlike state faded one after another and turned into moonlight. They could now pass away and return to Samsara.

As a matter of fact, it was Yue Lingkong’s request. She decided to let go of all the goodwill and grudges of the past and hoped to let everything return to what it originally was, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. She was no longer emotionally attached to the Divine Space Island.

Since goodwill and grudges are already not important, then one shall let the dead return to Samsara.

There were just 2000 female cultivators who were not turned into moon puppets. Ning Fan planted demon seals in each and every one of them and took them into the female guards of the Ning Clan.

The rest would be handed over to Bing Ling and Yue Ling.

Eventually, only Ning Fan and the female corpse were left on the Divine Space Island which was split and broken apart. Both of them stood guard outside the secret area to protect Yue Lingkong during her assimilation.

Once they settled down to guard the secret area, it lasted for ten consecutive months.

Yue Lingkong attempted to completely devour her second primordial spirit and abandon the idea of having double primordial spirits in order to avoid the previous incident from happening again.

The two types of Heavenly Cold Qi in her second primordial spirit were filtered out from her body. They were then given to Ning Fan for him to devour.

The two types of Heavenly Cold Qi were the Snow Moon Mist which was ranked fifth of the twelve Heavenly Cold Qi and the Orchid Tomb Frost which was ranked seventh.

After devouring both of them, Ning Fan’s magic power increased by another 2000 units. Currently, he already accumulated 8 types of Heavenly Cold Qi.

There was still one trace of Profound Yin Qi with the little pill devil which he could definitely obtain in the future. That is to say, Ning Fan would only need to look for the other three types of Heavenly Cold Qi and he would then have all twelve of them.

In regards to the Earth Vein Demonic Flames, he had already devoured seven of them. There were still three other types in the Rain Palace. If the types of Earth Vein Demonic Flames in the Rain Palace do not overlap with the current ones that Ning Fan already had, he would just have to find two more and he could then complete the collection of the twelve types of Earth Vein Demonic Flames.

As the Heavenly Cold Qi and the Earth Vein Demonic Flames in his possession combined, the current might of his Yin Yang Flame was at least equivalent to an Intermediate Seventh Grade Immortal Void Flame.

Using this flame to refine pills, not only would the quality of the pills be higher, but the speed of the refinement would also be incomparable.

During these ten months, other than keeping guard for Yue Lingkong, he spent most of the time refining pills.

Now, his pill refinement technique was already on the verge of breaking through to the High Grade Fifth Revolution. For the past ten months, he had been refining the Consciousness Repairing Pill and Thunder Profound Pill.

A single Thunder Profound Pill was able to raise an Early Divine Transformation Realm being’s magic power by a hundred units. However, Ning Fan could only gain 50 units of magic power from consuming a single pellet with his current Peak Divine Transformation Realm cultivation base.

Despite that, he did not bother thinking about it. Taking advantage of the realm within the Profound Yin World where he could refine pills one hundred times faster than in the outside world, he refined Thunder Profound Pills energetically.

There was certainly a single cooldown day where he could not access the Profound Yin World after using it for three consecutive days. Nonetheless, spending ten months refining pills was similar to 750 months worth of effort to others.

Ten months later, Ning Fan’s success rate of producing a complete Thunder Profound Pill had reached ninety percent and he produced 240 pellets of Thunder Profound Pill in total throughout all the pill refinement sessions.

After he consumed and assimilated every single pellet of the Thunder Profound Pill, his magic power increased by 8000 units. It was nearly 4000 units less than what he had estimated to gain.

Presumably, it was already not far from turning the Thunder Profound Pill into a candy without any effect.

Currently, he has amassed 419500 units of magic power in total.

As for the Consciousness Repairing Pill, he had also produced over one hundred pellets. They helped the female corpse’s Sea of Consciousness recover by quite a lot.

Now, the day when Yue Lingkong would come out of her seclusion was about to come. Apart from waiting for her to come out, Ning Fan was waiting for the breakthrough of his Medicine Soul.

His Medicine Soul was already at the critical point of breaking through to the next level. His pill refinement technique could advance into the High Grade Fifth Revolution anytime. All he needed was just an opportunity.

Once he achieves the breakthrough in his pill refinement technique, he would then be considered as a High Grade Fifth Revolution Pill Master and he would then be able to refine High Grade Fifth Revolution pills.

He left the Xuan Wei Bloody Gourd within this secret area.

There is no one else in the Divine Space Island. Except for Void Fragmentation Realm experts, there is literally no one who can pass through the moon mist and enter this place.

Hence, there won’t be any problems in keeping the bloody gourd here for ten years to brew the blood wine. Besides, I can also avoid interrupting the fermentation process of the blood wine by frequently entering the Profound Yin World.

When Ning Fan carefully calculated it, he found out that his magic power was only eighty thousand units away from attaining five hundred thousand units.

There were still three Peak Void Refinement Realm Dao Fruits with him. All of them had been given to him by Wei Xuan and each of them contained sixty thousand units of magic power.

When he was still at the Late Divine Transformation Realm, he could only absorb one-third of the power in the Dao Fruit after consuming it.

Now, his cultivation base had reached the Peak Divine Transformation Realm. He could take in at least two-thirds of the total power contained in the Dao Fruit.

The remaining power of the Dao Fruit was the portion that his current cultivation base was unable to endure. In the past, if he were to forcefully assimilate that extra portion, he would only bring harm to himself.

However, after he had condensed ninety-nine natal stars, his heart was filled with assurance when faced with the Dao Fruit. He was confident that he could now absorb the power of the Void Refinement Realm Dao Fruit in its entirety.

He was not afraid of harming himself in the process. With the ninety-nine natal stars to protect him, he could already withstand Void Refinement Realm attacks without suffering injuries. How would he be afraid of the backlash from consuming a Void Refinement Realm Dao Fruit?

If it was the Void Fragmentation Realm, he would not dare to consume it. But for Void Refinement Realm Dao Fruits, he was nearly at a level where he could consume it without suffering any injuries.

“I may as well break through to the Half-Step Void Refinement Realm in one go!”

Inside the Profound Yin World, Ning Fan summoned his ninety-nine natal stars. Ninety-nine rays of starlight shone upon him, shielding his body.

He consumed the three Void Refinement Realm Dao Fruits one after another and a massive amount of magic power surged within his body, nearly causing his physical body to explode.

However, under the blessing of the starlight, his physical body immediately became normal again as soon as it showed signs of exploding.

Three Peak Void Refinement Realm Dao Fruits containing one hundred and eight thousand units of magic power in total were eventually assimilated by Ning Fan thoroughly!

Ning Fan suddenly rose to his feet in the Profound Yin World. His magic power had reached a total of six hundred thousand units. The Half-Step Void Refinement Realm aura spread out from his body, making earth and heaven shatter at once.

Up in the sky, the Heavenly Tribulations emerged. Several ten thousand traces of silver flames took form and fell upon him. They were much vigorous than all of the Heavenly Tribulations he had previously encountered. Each trace of the silver flames was enough to instantly destroy an Early Divine Transformation Realm.

Facing ten thousand traces of silver flames, even an ordinary Half-Step Void Refinement Realm expert would not dare to withstand it directly at all. They would at most use their magic treasures to block the Heavenly Tribulation.

Ning Fan, however, was different. He had the Stele of Sun and Moon which allowed him to restrain all types of flames.

Seeing the vast amount of traces of silver flames descending on him, his eyes were filled with excitement. He opened his mouth wide and sucked them all in, turning all of them into nourishment for his Stele of Sun and Moon.

Ninety percent of the soul of the stele was replenished. He just needed a bit more and he could then condense the soul of the stele again and possess a Void Fragmentation Realm strike under his sleeve.

As his cultivation base had advanced to the next level, the opportunity that his Medicine Soul was lacking to achieve its breakthrough had finally arrived.

It felt so natural like the saying which goes, where water flows, a channel will form. A feeling of warmth flowed across his entire body as immense medicinal qi surrounded it. Without a doubt, his Medicinal Soul had already broken through to the High Grade Fifth Revolution.

Now, his cultivation base was at the Half-Step Void Refinement Realm while his pill refinement technique had attained the High Grade Fifth Revolution!

Ning Fan’s eyes lit up with joy but there wasn’t the slightest hint of pride in them.

As his cultivation base had reached the Half-Step Void Refinement Realm, it was definitely not easy to advance to the next cultivation realm. Breaking through to the Void Refinement Realm was still something that was not within the foreseeable future. Even if the blood wine finishes brewing and he amasses enough magic power, he does not know how long he would need to meditate in seclusion in order to successfully attain the Void Refinement Realm.

Similarly, it was extremely difficult for his pill refinement technique to rise to the next level after it achieved the High Grade Fifth Revolution. Fortunately, Ning Fan remembered that there was the Medicine Soul Pool on Pill Island.

I wonder if my pill refinement technique can break through to the Peak Grade Fifth Revolution with the help of the Medicine Soul Pool.

Everything was uncertain. After roughly stabilizing his cultivation base, he left the Profound Yin World. When he went to the outside world, his eyes turned serious all of a sudden.

The sky above the Divine Space Island was also filled with layers upon layers of silver-colored fire clouds.

This abnormal phenomenon naturally showed that Yue Lingkong had already completely devoured her second primordial spirit and regained her Void Refinement Realm cultivation base.

Those fire clouds were the Tribulations of Flames that would befall one when they break through to the Void Refinement Realm. The might of those flames was by no means insignificant!

“L-Little Cucumber… Help me… block the tribulations… I am facing a problem here…”

Yue Lingkong’s voice echoed out from the secret area intermittently.

Ning Fan’s eyes flashed with surprise. He did not have the time to figure out what kind of problem Yue Lingkong was facing. He instantly soared into the sky and stood facing the one hundred thousand traces of silver flames.

The current Yue Lingkong had met an unforeseen circumstance which rendered her unable to block the tribulations herself.

One hundred thousand traces of silver flames were nearly comparable to a full-powered attack of a Mid Void Refinement Realm cultivator. Without Ning Fan’s assistance, Yue Lingkong would literally die under the Heavenly Tribulation this time.

“Absorb!”

With the power of his Stele of Sun and Moon, Ning Fan swallowed all the silver flames of the Heavenly Tribulation and crushed every layer of fire clouds.

However, he had underestimated the destructive power of the Heavenly Tribulation this time. Even though he had the Stele of Sun and Moon with him, he was unable to completely absorb the flames of the Heavenly Tribulation.

As the might of the Tribulation of Flames increased, the effect of the Stele of Sun and Moon in restraining flames was reduced.

Ning Fan’s eyes turned gloomy. He flicked his sleeve and summoned his ninety-nine natal stars. Dazzling black stars rose to the sky and shone upon him.

He stood in the middle of the Tribulation of Flames but his injuries were being instantly healed. Even though he experienced great amounts of pain, he did not care about it at all.

Two hours later, the fire tribulation ceased.

The Heavenly Tribulation of the Void Refinement Realm was at least tens of times greater than the Heavenly Tribulation of the Half-Step Void Refinement Realm which Ning Fan encountered earlier.

Inwardly, Ning Fan thought to himself.

I’m afraid that the Heavenly Tribulation which I will face in each advancement I make after the Void Refinement Realm will be more terrifying than before…

Before attaining the Void Refinement Realm, he could still disregard the Heavenly Tribulation. However, after achieving that cultivation realm, perhaps he would also have to make some preparations in order to block the Heavenly Tribulation beforehand.

When the fire clouds of the Heavenly Tribulation dispersed, Ning Fan let out a sigh of relief. He performed an internal check in his Profound Yin World and discovered that the soul of the Stele of Sun and Moon was completely replenished. His eyes instantly lit up with excitement.

By using up the soul of the stele, he could call upon the Stele of Sun and Moon and unleash power equivalent to a Void Fragmentation Realm attack. As such, he could now be considered to have enough strength to protect himself against a Void Fragmentation Realm expert.

However, just as the excitement rose within him, the feeling immediately vanished from his heart.

He descended outside the secret area and his eyes were filled with sternness. He was eager to know what circumstance Yue Lingkong encountered that caused her to be unable to even block the Heavenly Tribulation.

“Yue’er, are you alright?”

“I’m still… fine… but…”

A beautiful woman who was completely naked was seen limping her way out of the secret grounds.

She did not wear even an inch of clothing. Her black hair was smooth and long like a waterfall. Her eyes were bright and round like the moon while her skin was spotlessly clean like the moonlight. Her eyebrows also carried a hint of icy arrogance. Majesty was the element that could be found at the first sight of her appearance which was mature and elegant. Her bosoms were firm and ample and her waist was so small that it would perfectly fit into one’s arm. A crescent moon hair ornament was pinned to her glossy black hair and a pair of small and delicate earrings hung down from her earlobes. Her presence emanated an Early Void Refinement Realm aura.

She looked rather similar to the Yue Lingkong in the body of a little girl but she was more beautiful than her second primordial spirit.

“Are you Yue’er?” Ning Fan sounded somewhat unsure. Could this naked mature woman with peerless beauty before his eyes be Yue Lingkong?

Wasn’t Yue Lingkong the witless young girl with no bosom and buttocks? Could she be so beautiful when she grows up?

“Little Cucumber…Of course, it’s me… Give me a hand…”

Yue Lingkong’s cheeks were pale. When she walked, she nearly lost her balance. She could not even stand properly now. After Ning Fan reached out his hand to hold her, only then did she avoid falling down on the ground.

Sensing that Yue Lingkong’s was extremely weak internally, Ning Fan asked with a serious tone.

“What happened? Why is your body in such a frail state?”

“It’s just a trivial matter… After I refined my second primordial spirit, I regained my Early Void Refinement Realm cultivation base. Besides that, I have also broken through to the peak of the Early Void Refinement Realm in one attempt, nearly attaining the Mid Void Refinement Realm… Then, I was carried away by a whim and tried to see whether I could break through to the Mid Void Refinement Realm as well. But I failed and then I ended up in such a state…”

“Idiot!”

Ning Fan’s eyes looked stern.

The Void Refinement Realm was not the same as the Divine Transformation Realm, much less the Nascent Soul Realm.

Even if Yue Lingkong had enough magic power to obtain a breakthrough in her cultivation realm after regaining her original cultivation base, she was still at the Void Glimpse stage after all.

Without passing through the Void Inquiry stage, there was no way she could achieve the advancement in her cultivation realm no matter how much magic power she had. If one attempts to force the breakthrough, they would certainly fail without a doubt. If what she did was not an act of stupidity, what else could it be?

Void Glimpse, Void Inquiry, Void Pierce, Absolute Void and then… Void Fragmenting!

Each step was certainly related to one’s comprehension towards the void and each of the steps could never be omitted.

“Fine. I was wrong, okay…?” Yue Lingkong seemed to be avoiding direct eye contact with Ning Fan. Originally, she thought that she could behave domineeringly as her cultivation realm transcended Ning Fan’s after she regained her actual strength.

Unexpectedly, when Ning Fan had just begun to feel angry, she immediately backed off. Moreover, she also did not dare to talk back at him.

Strange. It’s really strange…

Yue Lingkong could only feel strange as it was not her style at all!

What happened to me…? I was obviously reprimanded by this Little Cucumber. Why do I still feel a little delighted…? Could it be that my brain has been damaged?”

Yue Lingkong’s thoughts were chaotic. When she lowered her head at the next moment, her beautiful eyes looked stunned all of a sudden.

It was only now that she realized that she was not wearing any clothes!

All of her clothing was ripped to pieces when her previous body of a little girl grew into her current one.

However, she reacted very calmly. Without embarrassment, she grabbed Ning Fan’s hand and placed it on her bosoms. Then, she spoke with a pleased tone.

“How are they? Are my bosoms large enough?! I didn’t lie to you, did I? My body is especially great. Compensating you with my body definitely is your good fortune.”

“…”

Ning Fan did not know what to say. Yue Lingkong was not an ordinary woman. Thus, she could not be understood based on logical thinking.

However, Ning Fan had to admit that the feeling was indeed not bad. It was tender and elastic.

“Do you want me to compensate you with my body now? I will surely make you yield to me.” Yue Lingkong said proudly, feeling eager to try it out.

“No need. Take a good rest… Stabilize your cultivation base and then accompany me to the Six-Winged Clan.”

Ning Fan shook his head. He was not that lustful to make out with a woman who could not even stand properly.

Though, he had to admit that Yue Lingkong was absolutely gorgeous.

Translated by Tommy, edited by Roel