Grasping Evil

Chapter 54: Late Harmonious Spirit Realm

The stench of rotten leaves lingered within the sombre Demon Sinister Forest. While walking inside, you would be pounced by a sinister ghost that let out low and obscure howls at any time.

Some hissing sounds were heard from the inside or somewhere around the forest. There had already been a number of disciples who were killed in this two hours’ time.

The ghosts in the first region didn’t have intelligence and feeling. They were very ferocious towards those lower grade cultivators as if they weren’t afraid of death. Killing ghosts could be easy but being unhurt wasn’t.

Somewhere in the forest was a girl in yellow clothes stumbling across the trees while running for her life. She was merely a Level One Vein Opening cultivator. Her magical strength was insignificant for three Level Five Vein Opening ghosts chasing her.

“He…lp!”

The girl’s face was oval and bright. Due to fright, her legs had gotten lots of bruises after losing her embroidered shoes.

As she ran, she would bumped into some other candidates but none of them could and would save her. No one would risk their lives by getting themselves into trouble.

She was losing her hope when the ghosts were getting nearer. Her back hit an old tree and she fell, sitting on the ground. The ghosts exuded green lights from their ferocious eyes, and they cackled and let out the cry of ghosts.

“Any…one? Help me… I will… do anything for you!”

She stuttered in low tone, but no one responded. Then, she just closed her eyes in disappointment.

The thing that shocked people the most happened. It wasn’t the scene where the girl was ripped into pieces by the ghosts, it was the wails of the ghosts that immediately came out after the cool and icy air blew.

The girl had lost her wits. She opened her eyes and saw a young man with a graceful bearing. His eyes had obvious black and white. His hand was holding the Starlight Shadow Sword. The ghosts were immediately incinerated by his sword.

This young man was very strong.

When the girl saw his face, it shocked her. This young man was the one who cultivated the Dual Cultivation technique and came from an exceptional background. His name was ‘Ning Fan’.

‘Oh, this is Ning Fan. Not only did he have a strong background behind him, he is also an expert.’ Her eyes became radiant.

A moment later, she shook her head hard. Her sisters had talked about him. He was an obscene devil.

Why did Ning Fan choose to save her?

‘Could it be that he wants me…’ She blushed, feeling some resistance in her heart but she bit her lips.

She had made the promise that anyone who saved her life could ask her to do anything.

If Ning Fan made a move on her, should she resist? But then she couldn’t take back her promise.

The girl was contradicting herself. Unfortunately, Ning Fan didn’t even gave her a glance. His eyes fell on those three dead ghosts and frowned when he found no Sense Beads.

“This isn’t a place where you should come.”

Ning Fan said with a cold tone. He then turned and left, showing no interest in her.

After Ning Fan was gone, she heaved a sigh of relief.

Finally, she concluded one thing, Ning Fan was a powerful expert and wasn’t an obscene devil like how others described him.

Furthermore, Ning Fan had an attractive demeanour.

…

Ning Fan didn’t bother to ask for the name of the girl, she was merely an interlude in the entire film.

A passing traveller was like a cloud. Who would remember who?

He took the Separation Slayer Sword, stepped onto the icy light after activating his invisibility equipment and headed towards a desolate area in the first region.

The present Ning Fan was reeking blood. Some parts of his clothes were torn but his eyes were even more ferocious than before.

He had gained huge rewards after the two hours of massacre.

Separation Slayer Sword had the feature of ‘soul burning’. Plus, being an Intermediate Harmonious Spirit expert, no ghosts could stand a single swing from his sword. However, there were several Level Ten Vein Opening ghosts which exploded before they died, causing him some injuries.

Even the rabbits would bite people, let alone these violent ghosts.

After killing three hundred ghosts, he was awarded with 754 contribution points, and he obtained 19 Sense Beads. As for the Separation Slayer, it advanced to Early-Intermediate Rank right after a Level Ten Vein Opening ghost was killed.

Demon Sinister Forest was a perfect place for trial to Ning Fan.

After the two hours of massacre, most of his magical power had been expended. Now was the time for him to replenish his energy and consume the Sense Beads.

In the forest, at a river bank where no one seemed to care about, Ning Fan appeared. He took out the silver disk formation gifted by Lan Mei. He touched the centre of the disk with some magic. A layer of blue light extended from it and a huge light curtain around 300 meters wide was formed. In this instant, a ‘spirit’ rank formation was set at the river bank.

A ‘Spirit’ realm formation could defend against the attack of Harmonious Spirit experts. As such, no one in the first region could destroy this formation.

Ning Fan gasped in air while sitting cross-legged. He took out some vulnerary and Spirit Restoration Dan. While he was recovering, he was digesting the experiences from his battles.

The ghosts in the First Region had a very low rate of forming a Sense Bead. In average, there was only one out of ten ghosts that had a Sense Bead and the ghost must be Level Seven Vein Opening or above. The higher the grade of the ghost, the stronger the energy of the spirit sense.

Ning Fan muttered as he made a hypothesis. ‘The higher the grade of the ghost, the higher the chance for the Sense Bead to form, as well as the strength of spirit sense.’

It was about time to enter the Second Region. Virtually, all the higher grade ghosts in the first region had already been massacred. Ning Fan wouldn’t want to continue staying here to hunt those insignificant ghosts—Level One or Two Vein Opening ghosts, was time consuming.

After half an hour of recovering, Ning Fan had returned to his peak state. Should he face a Harmonious Spirit ghost, his life would be in danger given his current cultivation realm, especially when he encountered a Peak Harmonious Spirit ghost that would self-explode. He needed to at least get to the Late Harmonious Spirit realm in order to ensure his safety.

He took out the 19 Sense Beads. After a moment of meditation, the bead was refined and consumed one after another.

The first bead, the second … until all 19 were consumed, Ning Fan opened his eyes suddenly. A shapeless energy of spirit sense dispersed out powerfully.

It was merely nineteen Sense Beads but it had enlarged his Shisea*, power of his spirit sense and, ultimately, he reached the edge of the Intermediate Harmonious Spirit realm.

Ning Fan’s eyes sparkled after experiencing the strong effects of the Sense Beads. He could hunt for more of them that was of higher quality in the Second Region. Perhaps it could help him to break through the bottleneck to Gold Core realm or higher!

There were 40 dans from the two bottles of Raising Spirit Dan given by Lan Mei, which was enough to raise the spirit for 20 veins. There were also 17 human cauldrons in his Cauldron Ring waiting for him to be plucked. The 15 Harmonious Spirit female cultivators alone would likely help him raise the spirit of the remaining 50 veins through plucking.

He would be at the Late Harmonious Spirit once a hundred veins’ spirit were raised.

Ning Fan’s eyes twitched. Without any further hesitation, he whisked something off his sleeve. The Cauldron Ring glimmered. In this moment, 15 delicately pretty Harmonious Spirit female cultivators were lying on the ground unconscious. Ning Fan used his Yin Plucking Finger and touched at a point on their bodies. Then, these 15 girls, although they were still in their dreams, could no longer bear ‘it’ and let out moans. Some were gently massaging their bosoms and some have their finger stretching into the spot between their legs.

Ning Fan hesitated for a moment but that was very quickly replaced by coldness. These evil females were his enemies, they needed no mercy!

Ning Fan stripped off his clothes and walked frigidly to those unconscious females.

The ‘activity’ lasted for three days and three nights outside in the wild. After that, his cultivation had made a breakthrough, reaching the Late Harmonious Spirit.

…

On the other hand, Elder Meng Chu of Merit Hall reported Ning Fan to his superiors. It immediately attracted the Harmonious Spirit elders and many deacons.

Their mouths where agape upon seeing Ning Fan’s contribution points. They were only informed of his scary background but not his cultivation grade. Naturally, they were tremendously surprised by his speed of gaining points.

In two hours’ time, he had gained 754 contribution points. These old men didn’t have the confidence to achieve this result even if they were in the forest.

“This young man, isn’t normal…” Elder Li heaved a sigh, diminishing all his arrogance. The representative which their clan was proud of—Li Zhi Huan—was nothing compared to this Ning Fan.

“Hehe, now I’m starting to have an interest in this Ning Fan.” Elder Chu who disdained Ning Fan before chuckled, the latest update had changed her views of him. Her just being in the Intermediate Harmonious Spirit realm made it hard for her to recruit Ning Fan.

All of them didn’t know Ning Fan’s true cultivation grade, it was natural that they were stupefied, but there was one amongst them who knew.

An old man with white beard, brows, robe and sword walked into the Merit Hall slowly while his eyes were slightly shut. Behind him was a good-looking young man in white.

When the crowd inside the hall saw his arrival, their expression turned serious and greeted him with respect.

“Greetings, White Honour.”

This snowy white old man was actually one of the Four Honour Devils in Sinister Sparrow Sect. He was the ‘White Honour’, an Intermediate Gold Core expert. His name is Bai Feiteng.

Regarding Ning Fan’s true cultivation grade, any elder above Gold Core realm knew about it but none of them had come. It seemed like this matter had given White Honour a food for thought for him to come here in person.

Bai Feiteng nodded, as if replying the crowd’s greetings. His were eyes fixed on the Merit Monument. When he saw Ning Fan’s position, his eyes darted a disdainful glance.

“The disciple of Han Yuanji is nothing more than this. An Intermediate Harmonious Spirit expert but only obtained 754 contribution points after two hours.”

As his word came out, everyone in the Merit Hall gasped in a cold breath.

The ordinary-looking Ning Fan was actually an Intermediate Harmonious Spirit expert? How was this possible?

However when thinking of how fast he obtained the 754 contribution points in just two hours, it made sense to them because he was an Intermediate Harmonious Spirit expert after all.

“An Intermediate Harmonious Spirit expert was trying to act aggressive in front of the Vein Opening newbies? This is merely an act of grandstanding.”

Bei Feiteng smiled coldly and sat on a chair at one side. He didn’t get along with the Old Monster, naturally, he was reluctant to see his disciple to be in the limelight.

Unexpectedly, Bai Feiteng wouldn’t have thought that his disdainful remarks shone Ning Fan even more in the limelight.

There was one thing Ning Fan couldn’t feign and that was his bone age. Despite being only a 17 year old teenager, he was already an Intermediate Harmonious Spirit cultivator. If he was compared across the entire Yue Country or even the Southeast Continent of Rain World, he would without a doubt be recognized as a son of the heavens.

In Sinister Sparrow Sect, there were plenty of elders who were in between early and Intermediate Harmonious Spirit realm. After knowing Ning Fan’s cultivation grade, they were positive that he would be their superior very soon.

The attention towards Ning Fan didn’t reduce but increased instead. They were trying to predict how much contribution points Ning Fan, an Intermediate Harmonious Spirit expert, would get in a month’s time.

But then, they felt disappointed when they saw his contribution point became stagnant after three days. Their attention shifted to Lu Zi Qiao who had accumulated 600 points in three days’ time. He was on his way to exceed Ning Fan’s record.

“What’s that kid doing? Why is his contribution point not increasing?”

The viewers couldn’t understand why. The disdain in Bai Feiteng’s eyes grew stronger every time he came to the Merit Hall in these past three days’.

“Like I said, that kid is only trying to take advantage of the situation. I’m afraid he is now hiding somewhere after being seriously injured. Just wait for him until the trial finishes.”

Bai Feiteng’s remark was clearly full of bias but no one dared to retort. If Ning Fan wasn’t hiding in the forest, why was his contribution point not increasing?

After giving a last glance on the Merit Monument, Bai Feiteng turned and left. He had no intention of staying here any longer, but the moment he turned, the Merit Monument glowed. Then, they saw Ning Fan’s contribution points increased by a hundred, reaching 854 points in total.

It was a hundred points, which could only be obtained by killing an Early Harmonious Spirit ghosts. In other words, he had to enter the Second Region of the forest.

“This is not possible! How dare this kid enter the Second Region? Does he want to die?”

Bei Feiteng’s face changed instantly. This Ning Fan must be out of his mind. He was bold, as bold as Han Yuanji. He was just an Intermediate Harmonious Spirit expert. If he was surrounded by Peak Harmonious Spirit ghosts, he would die for sure.

“This kid, will die…” Bai Feiteng’s surprised face was replaced with solemnity. Unknowingly, his disdain against Ning Fan diminished.

…

It had already been three days, but there was no news about Ning Fan yet. Lan Mei was worried.

In the boudoir, after Lan Mei circulated her Universal Mana Suspension, she stopped practicing and exhaled deeply.

She tried to squeeze out a smile on her chilly face. She needed to practice the smile after Ning Fan said that her smile was unnatural.

While she was smiling like a fool in front of the mirror in her hand, she was frightened by her personal female servant, Ke Er’s sudden intrusion. She immediately hid her smile and saw Ke Er was panting for breath.

She then spoke in an offended tone, “Ke Er, why are you not obeying the rules?! How can you come in without even knocking the door?!”

“Young…Young Miss. Something bad has happened. Young Master…Young Master has entered the Second Region of the forest. The people in the Merit Hall said that he must have killed an Early Harmonious Spirit ghost to have a hundred points increase all of a sudden.”

“What?! Why is he so reckless? Not even a Gold Core elder will go there.”

The mirror fell from her hand and crashed on the floor. Lan Mei quickly stood up as her eyes were full of worries.

“Why is this Ning Fan so good at causing troubles? No, I have to ask for my dad to help him.”