Grasping Evil

Ning Fan turned around and looked unscrupulously at the thin old man.

He was only 1.5 meters tall. His body was as thin as firewood. His face was as cold as zombie. He wore black feathered clothes. His hair was so messy it looked like the spines of a hedgehog. Although his eyes were blood-red, his skin was pale-white. Ning Fan anticipated that this might be caused by living in a place with no light over the years.

The emergence of the man instantly gave Ning Fan a strong sense of danger…

Void Fragmentation!

He had offered the Ming Luo Fruit as the price in a threatening way. This old man put forward his request without giving Ning Fan any room for refusal.

Cold light flickered in Ning Fan’s eyes. He didn’t like such threatening feeling, even if this was a Void Fragmentation old expert!

His thoughts raced rapidly. The fact that this old man didn’t speak much indicated that he was unsocial and eccentric. The old man’s eyes glittered with fierce light that captured people’s attention. Judging from the character of this old man, he would never waste time on nonsense with Ning Fan. If he ever wanted Ning Fan to do anything, he could just suppress Ning Fan with his power!

Nevertheless, he still didn’t attack Ning Fan, and only threatened him verbally. Was it because of the little girl, or was there some other reason…?

Vaguely, he felt that this old man was staring at the earth vein demonic fire which he used to concoct pills with dread. Although it was hidden very deeply, Ning Fan was still able to discern it with his eyes.

That was strange…why would a Void Fragmentation old expert fear the earth vein demonic fire?!

He was an old man in black robe. There were black mists around him, seeming to have the spirit sense effect of shielding his cultivation base from being detected. To a Void Fragmentation old expert, such an act seemed somewhat superfluous. However, the Qi of the black mist gave Ning Fan a sense of familiarity. Immediately, he recalled where he had seen it before.

The pit of Ming Luo Fruit contained the same Qi! The formation that sealed the ten-thousand-year-old spiritual herbs in the little girl’s brocade pouch also radiated this Qi!

After having a firm guess, he made a strike with sword sense, slashing away the dark mist blanketing the old man’s body, and finally saw clearly the cultivation base of the old man.

“Sword sense?!”

The old man was slightly startled. When he saw Ning Fan’s expression, his face darkened.

“You saw it!”

“That’s right. I saw it…say it now. What is it that you want my help with? If your rewards are sufficient, perhaps I’ll say yes to it.”

Ning Fan revealed an inexplicable smile, and no longer had as much fear for the old man as before.

This old man was indeed a Void Fragmentation old monster, but he wasn’t his true self. Plus, this old man seemed to have a spontaneous fear of Ning Fan’s Black Demon Flame.

Indistinctly, Ning Fan could already feel the Qi of the old man, and after slashing away the black mist, he discovered the true identity of this old man.

The old man wasn’t human, but a tree! He was an old tree which had developed consciousness, he was the Ming Luo Tree!

The one that came was merely the root hair consisted of Void Fragmentation Qi, coming straight from the ninth level of the Dark Sparrow’s Grave, but its magical ability was only at Spirit Severing realm.

All of these happened because of the special suppression that existed in the different levels of Dark Sparrow’s Grave. Any demonic creature of higher realm wouldn’t be able to cross the boundary of the lower realm.

Ming Luo Tree was an extremely queer tree that couldn’t be exposed to any trace of fiery light, or else it would wither immediately. If this was the true body of the old tree, it might be able to resist the earth vein demonic flame with its magical power, but the one that came was a mere Spirit Severing realm clone of it. In the face of Ning Fan’s Fifth Grade Spiritual Fire—the Black Demon Flame—he was afraid that this clone would just withered by itself!

Within a short period of time, Ning Fan had pinpointed the weaknesses of the old man through various signs, and eliminated his fear for the old man. If the old man was his original self, perhaps Ning Fan would have no other choice, but since the old man had numerous weaknesses, it would only make Ning Fan an object of ridicule if he was threatened by such an old man.

The old man had a cloudy expression. He had been locking on the little girl with his spirit sense, worried about the safety of the girl. Fortunately, Ning Fan didn’t do anything to the girl.

As a matter of fact, he was reluctant to show up, but after witnessing Ning Fan breaking through to the Fifth Revolution of concoction technique, an idea began to rise in his mind.

He wanted to catch Ning Fan, make him stay in Dark Sparrow’s Grave to become the personal Pill Master of the little girl! With the help of a Fifth Revolution Pill Master, the Void Poison in the girl’s body could probably be…

Given his Void Fragmentation cultivation base, he wasn’t able to come to the fifth level due to the suppression of the grave. So, he could only send his root clone to capture this man.

However, when he arrived, he discovered that Ning Fan was holding the horrifying earth vein demonic fire – a Fifth Grade Demonic Fire. If it was his true self, he wouldn’t be afraid of that, unfortunately, it was merely his clone. The body of Ming Luo Tree was unusual. Once it was shone by the fiery light, it would wither to death instantly.

Therefore, the old man had eliminated the idea of holding Ning Fan captive. Instead, he would use his fruit to lure Ning Fan into a trap while secretly unleashing his true aura. First, he would force Ning Fan into agreeing to his request. Then, he would bring Ning Fan to the ninth level. By that time, everything would be in his control! It was then up to him whether he should give rewards to Ning Fan. Also, it would be impossible for Ning Fan to leave Dark Sparrow’s Grave by himself!

A threatening word from the old man was no doubt hidden with infinite danger. If it was an ordinary person, he would probably already succumb to the Void Fragmentations’ might, lost his composure and calmness and got caught in the old man’s trap.

Unfortunately for the old man, the Void Fragmentation old monsters Ning Fan had met included Bone Sovereign, Moksha Sovereign, Small Sable and Yun Bushu. Ning Fan also had the inheritance of an Immortal Emperor. How could he be deterred by an old man with an aura of Void Fragmentation?

Ning Fan didn’t panic. Instead, he discovered the flaws from the old man’s words, gestures and Qi.

Ning Fan smiled at the old man, not saying another word. He would like to hear what the request of this old man was. If it wasn’t too difficult of a request, he would be most willing to get a few Ming Luo Fruit out of it.

But, if the old man wanted him to enter the ninth level of the grave, don’t even think about it!

Also, it was impossible for the old man to threaten him with death!

“Grand-grandpa…don’t be angry. Cookie Brother is a good person…” The little girl said timidly. Only by looking at the girl did the old man showed a trace of affability.

“Bright Sparrow, you are still young…when you grow up, you will know the perilous heart of humans… If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have come into contact with the human race!”

Anger stirred inside of him when his eyes met Ning Fan’s.

Despite being threatened by him, instead of showing an angry look, Ning Fan smiled… Sure enough, humans had an extremely deep shrewdness. They were mean and had no sense of shame. No emotions of theirs were written on their face.

In fact, the old man didn’t understand why Ning Fan smiled. Smile was a kind of expression. It was a way to keep one’s countenance, totally unrelated to mood or even happiness and sadness.

“This old man is Ming Luo. Just like what you saw, this old man is merely a root hair clone that won’t do you any harm. I do have something to ask from you…about the details of it, I would like to invite you to the ninth level of Dark Sparrow’s Grave. We can have a proper discussion over there.”

“I’m not going into the ninth level… I will not even go to the sixth level!”

Ning Fan’s smile faded. He retreated three paces and stamped one of his feet, stamping the Black Demon Flame into the ground.

Immediately, a sizzling sound was heard from the ground. A root under the ground was burned to ashes. The old man named Ming Luo let out a groan, as though he had suffered a minor injury.

Sneak attack?! The old man took advantage of the time conversing with Ning Fan and then attacked with his root!

“You wanted to lure me into the ninth level and sneak-attacked me with your roots. How shameless… In that case, I don’t need your Ming Luo Fruit anymore, it’s done… For the sake of Bright Sparrow, I won’t kill your clone, but if you continue to block my way, I have a way to kill your clone and cause your true body to suffer a heavy injury!”

Ning Fan’s eyes turned cold. He kept the Pill Cauldron and extinguished the earth fire. If it wasn’t because this place was under the old man’s control, with countless Spirit Severing demonic beasts watching him, he would never be so courteous to this old man and would’ve killed this clone by now.

“Humph! Wanting to leave?! It’s true that this old man can’t do anything to you, but all the demons on this level listens to my command. Perhaps, this old man may not be able to kill you, but if I won’t let you leave, do you think you can leave?!”

The old man’s eyes were cold. His spirit sense permeated the surroundings, seemingly passing some kind of orders. Immediately, each of the Spirit Severing demonic beasts revealed a ferocious look, stepping towards Ning Fan’s direction. This was a threat! And this threat was obviously harder to deal with than the old man’s clone!

Under this stalemate situation, the little girl stamped her foot urgently. For some reason, she didn’t want to see the Cookie Brother whom she had just met having a fight with Grandpa.

“Enough! Grandpa, if you harm Cookie Brother, I-I won’t take the ‘Pill’ anymore!”

A trace of black light flickered intensely in her eyes. Agony was emerging on her face. Then, a pair of black wings sprouted out from her spine and clothes!

There was pain, heart-wrenching pain. At the moment when the girl sprouted out wings, she passed out with a painful wail.

The abrupt change in the girl left the old man dumbstruck.

“Not good. She has exerted the demonic force. The symptoms of the Void Poison is beginning to manifest. She has to be fed with medicine now!”

Void Poison was an extremely fierce poison during ancient times, originating from the immemorial Dark Sparrow’s black feather tail wing. It was a lethal poison that had combined with Dark Sparrow’s spatial force. The Void Poison of a full-grown Dark Sparrow could easily poison a true Immortal to death.

Long ago, the old man has discovered the Void Poison in Bright Sparrow’s body. He had done everything he could to suppress the poison, but the fierceness of the poison was far more powerful than he had expected. He was unable to clear it off her body even with his Void Fragmentation cultivation base!

The old man had used various kinds of ten-thousand-year-old spiritual herbs to create some sort of medicinal liquid to bring the Void Poison under control. As long as Bright Sparrow didn’t exert her demonic force, the poison would be under control. Only by taking these pills every once in a while could the poison be suppressed.

Due to his lack of knowledge in alchemy, the medicine he made couldn’t cure the poison inside of her, and gradually, the poison seemed to have created its own immunity against the medicine, making it harder to suppress. Once the poison broke out in her body, she might die…that was why the old man had the idea of capturing Ning Fan after learning that he had broken through to the Fifth Revolution Concoction Technique.

It was just that he hadn’t expected that Little Bright Sparrow would exert the forbidden demonic force just to protect Ning Fan, causing the Void Poison inside her body to manifest ahead of time!

The old man’s heart was burning with anxiety. At this moment, he had lost all interest in detaining Ning Fan… This time, he had no idea if Bright Sparrow could survive this outbreak.

His eyes were blazing with fury, as if he was going to eat Ning Fan alive!

“If Bright Sparrow dies, this old man will rush out of the Dark Sparrow’s Grave and shred you to a million pieces even if that means that I have to burn my own soul and fall into an irrecoverable state. You son of a b*tch! Get out! Get out of the Grave!”

The old man picked up the unconscious girl and prepared to fly back to the ninth level.

However, Ning Fan didn’t seem to be going anywhere. He knitted his eyebrows and called out to the old man. He had very little affection for this old man, but he couldn’t help but care for the little girl.

“Wait!”

“What do you still want?!” The old man turned his head angrily, but after seeing a trace of concern in Ning Fan’s eyes, his fury reduced slightly.

“She isn’t being poisoned by the Void Poison… If I’m not mistaken, the force she exerted earlier should belong to the Immemorial Dark Sparrow of Royal Clan – the Dark Demon Force. I don’t know what kind of medicine did you feed her, but I know that the most it can do is to suppress the effect of the poison. Suppressing it isn’t helping her, but harming her instead!” Ning Fan’s eyes were solemn.

“Dark Demon Force! Dark Sparrow of Royal Clan! Not possible! She’s just a tiny Pill Devil. I have seen her grew up with my own eyes!” The old man felt a tingle in his heart. As one of the demons here, there was no way that he wouldn’t know who the Immemorial Dark Sparrow was and the horror of the Dark Sparrow.

He had witnessed the formation of the Pill Devil and how it grew into a nice and obedient little girl. How could she be an Immemorial Dark Sparrow? How could she be a leading figure? This was nonsense!

But after listening to what Ning Fan said, the old man also felt that the mysterious force in the girl’s body was similar to the force of the legendary Dark Sparrow of Royal Clan – the Dark Demon Force.

The Immemorial Dark Sparrow or the Dark Sparrow of Royal Clan was the head of demon race and a rare existence. Only the Royal Dark Sparrow could produce Dark Demon Force. The other demons could easily be deterred by using this force alone.

When Bright Sparrow was born, she had an inexplicable restraint against demons. Perhaps, this was the thing that made him feel good about her. If this force was the Dark Demon Force, everything seemed to make sense now.

Struggle appeared in the old man’s eyes. After a moment of deep contemplation, he partially believed Ning Fan’s seemingly absurd inference.

How could a Pill Devil become the Royal Dark Sparrow, the old man was confused, but that seemed to be the truth.

If that demonic force was the Dark Demon Force, the poison was supposed to be a great benefit to Bright Sparrow that she could refine bit by bit. A few decades later, even if she wasn’t a Void Refinement expert yet, she could at least reach Spirit Severing. However, the poison had been suppressed by his medicine all the while, which had inadvertently nourished the poison, allowing the poison to grow stronger and stronger.

If Bright Sparrow had refined the poison completely, perhaps she would have already broken through to the Void Refinement realm…but, such horrifying poison wasn’t something a Golden Core little girl could simply devour!

If Bright Sparrow died, it must be because the poison inside of her went out of control, and this was because he had been suppressing it the whole time!

“How certain are you that her body contained Dark Demon Force…?” The old man closed his eyes bitterly.

“Seventy percent…” Ning Fan said plainly.

“Hehe, after listening to what you said, this old man is 80% certain. No wonder the Void Poison was able to nourish itself by absorbing the medicine I made. This old man understands now…Can Bright Sparrow be saved…?”

“If the Void Poison is unleashed, she will certainty die and all nine levels of Dark Sparrow’s Grave will be turned into a barren land.”

“Hehe, little friend, you have underestimated the power of the Void Poison. If the Void Poison is unleashed, not only all the creatures in the nine levels of Dark Sparrow’s Grave will die, 100 000 miles area of the land, and 300 000 meters above here will perish as well! Little friend, I’m not going to waste time conversing with you anymore. Do you have means to save her?!”

“Yes, 30% of success…”

“30%…” Ning Fan slightly closed his eyes.

Life and death were decreed by fate. He only had 30% certainty in saving the little girl. The girl’s physique was too strange and the level of the Void Poison was still unknown, and there’s also a lot of other variables. As such, having a 30% chance of success in such a situation was already considered rare.

“Is that so…? 30% chance of success…well, this old man doesn’t even have 10%. If you are willing to save Bright Sparrow, what conditions do you have? Say it out!” The old man’s eyes turned grim and he spoke sternly!

“I have three conditions. First, you have to hand over a trace of your true soul. In that way, if you ever do anything to harm me, I can severely injure you at any time!”

“About this…agreed!” The old man hesitated for a moment. He hesitated not because he was reluctant to hand over his true soul, but Ning Fan’s first condition wasn’t to ask for benefits, but for self-protection.

“Second, I want to use your ten-thousand-year-old spiritual herbs, with those herbs, the success rate of saving her will increase to 70%!”

“70%! Of course, you can use them!” At first, he felt disdainful when Ning Fan asked for the ten-thousand-year-old spiritual herbs, but after knowing that this would increase the success rate of saving the little girl’s life to 70%, he immediately agreed to it and was overjoyed.

“Third, I haven’t thought about it yet…if I can save this little girl, I will exercise this condition to ask for reward. If I failed in this attempt, the Void Poison will be released, however I don’t think the poison will destroy the country above, but I believe that I will die in this place.”

Ning Fan looked at the old man solemnly. The fact that the poison would make 100 000 miles of land above to perish was a lie. The purpose of saying this was to eliminate the thought of fleeing away in Ning Fan’s mind, so that he could focus on detoxifying the poison in Bright Sparrow.

Without this threat, the old man couldn’t ensure that Ning Fan would stay in the grave, but he didn’t know that although Ning Fan had numerous shortcomings, Ning Fan was a man who remembers kindness.

However, the kindness shown by the little girl wasn’t worth mentioning, but if she hadn’t helped Ning Fan out of the crisis earlier by exerting her Dark Demon Force, she would have never stirred the Void Poison inside of her, causing her to fall into a dangerous state.

Perhaps, it was fate that Ning Fan met her today. If this incident didn’t happen, Ning Fan might have left this place and wouldn’t know that this girl had such a deadly poison, and one day, this girl would die of the outbreak of the poison.

There was a 70% chance of success in saving Bright Sparrow. If Ning Fan succeeded, he would be safe and sound, if he failed, the Void Poison would erupt, causing death to all beings, including him. The 30% chance of death was enough to draw fear out of any ordinary cultivator, but to Ning Fan, 70% of success rate was still worth trying.

But if he didn’t save Bright Sparrow, he would need to question himself what kind of Dao was he cultivating! If he didn’t save Bright Sparrow, it would make his insistence on kindness ridiculous!

He would save Bright Sparrow not because of the old man’s threat, or to gain rewards, but because of the determination of his Dao Heart!

He gently took out a Voice Transmission Stone, casted a spell and sent his message to Xue Qing.

“Xue Qing, bring Zhi He, Xiao Lan and Sisi out of the Dark Sparrow’s Grave quick!”

He didn’t explain much about it. He decided to take the risk on his own. He would never involve Zhi He and the other girls in this!

This is…my Dao!

A trace of Dao Heart’s metamorphosis was visible in his eyes. It was happening slowly and astonishingly! Similarly, the Divine Intent of Rain also underwent a gradual metamorphosis under the metamorphosis of his Dao Heart!

…