Grasping Evil

"Lu Bei! Do not think you can monopolize this mission alone! The Min Luo puppets—this old man is set on having them!"

The white-eyed old man sneered without cease. He addressed Ning Fan as Lu Bei; clearly he had seen the wanted notice issued by the Vine Sovereign and knew Ning Fan was Lu Bei.

Having his identity exposed did not surprise Ning Fan. As a Void Refinement cultivator, the other party having channels to obtain a wanted notice was nothing strange.

Ning Fan did not fear being wanted by the Vine Sovereign. All along his flight he had not concealed his appearance, nor deliberately hidden. If enemies came, he need only kill them.

Ning Fan's gaze swept lightly. Among the nine puppet masters, eight looked unfriendly, as if they had long recognized his identity.

Only the Void Glimpse young woman in green robes—whose gaze had been as calm as still water—now held a trace of astonishment.

She seemed not to have expected that the elegant white-robed youth before her was the devil lord who had enraged the Vine Sovereign.

Yet the moment she thought of Ning Fan intending to monopolize the mission and seize all the Min Luo puppets, her gaze toward him carried a thread of enmity.

"If I insist on monopolizing the mission, what will you do?"

Ning Fan's gaze shifted to the white-eyed old man as he spoke faintly.

The white-eyed old man paused, seemingly not expecting Ning Fan's tone to be so hard, daring to ignore his threat.

His old eyes narrowed to slits. He snorted coldly. "On the path of cultivation, the strong are honored. If you wish to monopolize the mission, then produce strength that can convince this old man and the others!"

With that, the white-eyed old man suddenly stepped forward. His skin withered at terrifying speed; his eyes shot two dazzling rays of white light that swept toward Ning Fan.

Struck by that white light, Ning Fan felt his body gradually stiffen. Signs of wood-transformation appeared on his skin; a layer of white bark rose as if he were about to become a wooden puppet.

Ning Fan had once looted Vast Frost City and seen many tree race arts; he knew the technique the old man used was an extremely formidable eye art of the Tree World.

This art was called the Wood Transformation Eyes, a secret technique of the Wood Transformation Race. Cultivated to the highest realm, a single glance could turn a Void Refinement cultivator into wood.

The art was extremely hard to cultivate; that this white-eyed old man had achieved it meant no small fortune.

With the white-eyed old man's Absolute Void cultivation, using the Wood Transformation Eyes, a single glance could wood-transform even a Void Pierce cultivator.

But relying on this art to wood-transform Ning Fan was not enough.

"Break!"

Ning Fan's magical power shook once. Sheet after sheet of bark peeled from his body; his form returned to normal, breaking the wood-transformation.

At once he stepped forward. White light flashed on his right arm as a silver armguard appeared. His figure leapt; his hand reached to seize the white-eyed old man's eyes!

This strike did not unleash the White Tiger Armguard's attacking divine ability, yet even so, its force was comparable to a single blow from a Fourth Realm Golden Body body cultivator!

"Divine Profound Spirit Armor!" Everyone in the main hall started.

The white-eyed old man's eyes filled with shock. He had not expected Ning Fan's physical body to be so formidable, still less that Ning Fan held Divine Profound Spirit Armor.

He was a puppet master, skilled in puppet arts; most of his divine abilities were tied to puppets. With his physical body alone he could not take Ning Fan's blow.

He had no time to think further. Retreating half a step, he patted his storage bag and brought out countless puppets.

In an instant, two hundred sixteen Peak Divine Transformation puppets appeared one after another in the main hall, arrayed before the white-eyed old man.

The white-eyed old man then took out a formation disk. The moment he urged it, a huge silver-white formation diagram appeared beneath the two hundred sixteen puppets' feet; strands of formation light linked every puppet's body.

At the same time, all two hundred sixteen puppets punched together. Formation light flashed; their fist lights fused into one!

"Wood Transformation Puppet Formation!"

The strike of two hundred sixteen puppets, fused with the formation light of the puppet array, became an extremely dazzling fist light whose power rivaled an Absolute Void strike.

Ning Fan's gaze turned slightly cold. He changed claw to fist and punched toward the puppet formation, urging the White Tiger Armguard's divine ability and sending out a white tiger fist light.

Void Art—White Tiger!

In the clash of blows, the puppet formation shattered with a roar. All of Yu Yi City shook violently. Under one tremor of the royal main hall, palace towers stretching a hundred li turned entirely to flying ash and vanished.

White tiger roars filled the whole of Yu Yi City. Countless cultivators were stunned, frightened by those terrible combat fluctuations.

A long while later, the city's shaking ceased and the smoke and dust cleared.

Ning Fan withdrew his fist light and stood with hands behind his back. The white-eyed old man clutched his chest, his aura disordered, a thread of blood at the corner of his mouth, shock thick in his eyes.

The two hundred sixteen Divine Transformation puppets he had summoned had all been blasted to fragments by Ning Fan—beyond any hope of repair!

He swallowed a pill to suppress his injuries. Dread showed in his gaze; he dared not meet Ning Fan's eyes.

He was no match for Ning Fan!

He knew that without the two hundred sixteen puppets blocking in front, he would certainly have been struck by Ning Fan's white tiger fist light—dead or grievously wounded...

In this clash, on the surface the white-eyed old man had not fallen too far behind; in truth he had already lost.

Ning Fan had merely borrowed the spirit armor for one punch, without spending much magical power or physical strength, and remained at ease with room to spare.

The white-eyed old man, however, had lost two hundred sixteen Peak Divine Transformation puppets... nearly all the puppets he possessed!

A puppet master who had lost his puppets meant nine-tenths of his divine abilities were gone. He was not skilled in other spells or body arts; if he continued fighting Ning Fan, defeat was certain.

Having lost so many puppets, the white-eyed old man no longer dared go to Tang Gu to hunt Tree Kings. Without puppets at his side, the risk was too great.

At this moment he had to gather materials anew and refine puppets to protect himself...

"Hmph! Fellow Daoist Lu has fine means! This old man's skill is inferior; I have no face left to contend for the mission here. Farewell!"

The white-eyed old man snorted coldly, turned into escape light, and left Ju Mang Country at once...

Tang Xiong looked deeply at Ning Fan. That white tiger fist light was a blow he himself could not take unharmed. He thought privately that Ning Fan's divine abilities were indeed astonishing.

Tang Xiong secretly guessed that this punch was perhaps not even Ning Fan's strongest divine ability.

With the white-eyed old man gone, among the remaining eight Void Refinement puppet masters, likely none was Ning Fan's match.

"Anyone else who wishes to contend with Lu for the mission, step forward and exchange pointers." Ning Fan's gaze swept faintly over the remaining eight puppet masters.

Caught by Ning Fan's gaze, the four Void Pierce and three Absolute Void puppet masters all grew uneasy.

As puppet masters, they fought by means of puppets. Lose the puppets, and they were nothing.

Seeing Ning Fan's Divine Profound armguard so overbearing that one punch wiped out two hundred sixteen Peak Divine Transformation puppets, how would they still dare bring out puppets to fight him?

Their puppet arts were weaker than the white-eyed old man's, and they had fewer puppets. Even the white-eyed old man was no match for Ning Fan.

If they fought Ning Fan, their puppets would most likely all be destroyed as well...

For a time, everyone fell silent.

The four Void Pierce puppet masters shook their heads with a sigh, turned, and left, abandoning the mission. Master Wan Changkong's refined puppets were rare, yet sacrificing one's entire fortune for a single Void Glimpse puppet was far too poor a bargain.

The three Absolute Void puppet masters each snorted coldly and glared at Ning Fan with hatred. In the end none dared strike again; all flicked their sleeves and departed.

Only the young woman in green showed struggle in her eyes and did not leave at once.

She bit her lip as if wanting to speak, then sighed softly and left at last.

Upon the ruins of the royal main hall, only Ning Fan and Tang Xiong remained.

Tang Xiong sighed again and again, then sent more than ten flying sword messages throughout the city, informing his subordinates not to be alarmed—the earlier combat fluctuations were not an attack on Yu Yi City, only a sparring exchange.

He crooked a finger; wood-element magical power spread a hundred li. A giant tree grew anew from the earth; its heart was hollowed out into a brand-new royal palace.

"May I ask when Fellow Daoist will enter Tang Gu to kill the Tree Kings and complete the mission?" Tang Xiong asked most courteously.

"When night falls, I will enter Tang Gu... Farewell!"

Ning Fan took the mission jade slip, cupped his fists lightly toward Tang Xiong, turned into a ray of escape light, and flew toward the city outskirts.

He chose to enter Tang Gu at night because the tree demon race could use sunlight for photosynthesis to heal themselves by day and were rather hard to deal with.

Killing Tree Kings at night was somewhat less difficult.

Leaving Yu Yi City, Ning Fan traveled east. After roughly thirty million li he reached the outside of Tang Gu, retracted his escape light, stood atop a tree mountain, and quietly waited for nightfall.

It was already dusk. The evening breeze brushed his face; the setting sun was about to sink.

Ning Fan's heart was utterly calm. He neither feared the Vine Sovereign's pursuit nor feared having offended nine puppet masters.

The mission jade slip held a map of Tang Gu. Ning Fan carefully planned in his mind how to kill two Return to Origin Absolute Void Tree Kings in the shortest time at the least cost.

Countless tree demons nested in Tang Gu. Their spiritual intelligence was low, their natures fierce; they would indiscriminately attack any cultivator who entered the valley.

These tree demons' physical bodies were tough and suited to being refined into puppets; many puppet masters of Ju Mang Country loved to come to Tang Gu to capture tree demons for refining...

Several years ago, two Tree Kings had been born in Tang Gu and had slain many puppet masters who entered... Hence the Bamboo Sovereign had set this mission, ordering people to kill the Tree Kings.

"Puppet arts... are sometimes very cruel..."

Ning Fan opened his eyes and sighed softly.

When he first heard of people slaughtering the Min Luo Tree Race to refine puppets, he had been extremely angry.

Yet after thinking it over again and again, he felt that killing people to refine puppets was only too ordinary in the cultivation world.

Ning Fan himself was a devil lord who had killed without number; he had no standing to condemn Wan Changkong's brutality.

Wan Changkong slaughtering the Min Luo Race was not essentially different from Ning Fan slaughtering the Demon Ghost Forest, the Star Sea, and the Thunder Tower...

Yet standing on the Min Luo Race's side, Ning Fan would in the end still hate Wan Changkong.

It had nothing to do with right or wrong. In this world there was no absolute right or wrong... only stance.

Ning Fan raised his palm and looked at its clean white surface, yet knew this palm was soaked in blood.

He lowered his hand, closed his eyes again, and murmured to himself in silence,

"If one day there are no more enemies under heaven, I can set aside killing... Only that day is far too distant."

"Beneath the Nine Worlds struggle fills everything; above the Four Heavens struggle fills everything. Even among the ancient Immortal Emperors, war never ceases... No one can avoid struggle. Where there are people, there is struggle..."

"Once one steps into this sea of blood that is cultivation, there is no turning back for all eternity..."

As Ning Fan sighed, the dusk deepened thread by thread.

When star after star rose into the night sky, Ning Fan took a step. He knew it was time to go to Tang Gu.

Just then, a faint killing intent suddenly rose behind Ning Fan's back.

An extremely sharp azure crystal short sword pressed against Ning Fan's spine. A petite figure, somehow having slipped behind him unnoticed, launched a sneak attack.

"So you finally showed yourself? Lu is most curious—why is someone of mere Void Glimpse cultivation so obsessed with the Min Luo puppets." Ning Fan's face showed no surprise at all, as if he had long known someone was lurking behind him in pursuit.

"Enough talk! The Min Luo puppets must never fall into the hands of a devil lord like you!" From behind Ning Fan came a young woman's voice edged with resentment.