Grasping Evil - Chapter 544

Ning Fan dashed straight toward the Cloud Mountain of the Scarlet Heaven Realm in a ray of light while carrying Yu Chong Er with him. At the same time, he took out a cloth bag and captured several hundred thousands of cloud lion puppets. As for the cultivators of the Scarlet Heaven Palace, he did not even spare them a glance.

He was the palace lord of the Scarlet Heaven Palace. However, every single member of the Scarlet Heaven Palace was Yun Jinghong’s trusted subordinate. He could not use any of them.

These puppets, however, were quite useful. They would be excellent guards for Yue Country.

Ninety thousand zhang* (3.33m per zhang) up above the sky, a ray of travelling light went by. There was a floating sea of clouds as far as the eyes could see. As for the area beneath him, there were cultivation cities which looked as big as ants from his current view.

All the cultivators within the Scarlet Heaven Realm had to move to other realms because the cloud lions had gone out of controls. The massive territory had now become deserted and uninhabited.

An hour later, a ninety thousand zhang* (3.33m per zhang) tall cloud mountain loomed before his eyes. Countless cloud palaces and buildings were built on the top of this mountain.

Ning Fan kept his travelling light and descended on the summit of the cloud mountain with Yu Chong Er in tow. Both of them stood outside a gigantic gate.

The gate had been inscribed with four large golden words – Scarlet Heaven Cloud Palace!

This place was the Scarlet Heaven Palace. However, because the cloud lions had gone out of control, not a single cultivator dared to remain in the Scarlet Heaven Palace. All of them had taken refuge in other realms.

“We’ve arrived…”

Ning Fan gazed at the empty cloud palace and stood with his hands clasped behind his back. Looking at the sea of clouds which was ninety thousand zhang* (3.33m per zhang) tall, he sighed emotionally.

Ninety thousand zhang* (3.33m per zhang) above the sky, red-crowned cranes were flying and dancing in the air while colorful clouds would sometimes be visible and would sometimes be hidden from view. It felt like one could touch the sky just by raising their hands.

“Fifty years ago, I was still in Wu Country. At that time, I had thought that Ning Bi Hill, which is one thousand and four hundred zhang* (3.33m per zhang) tall, was the tallest mountain in the world…”

“Standing on this ninety thousand zhang* (3.33m per zhang) tall cloud mountain today, I realized that there must be countless mountains higher than this in the whole wide world…”

“At the end of the road of cultivation, no one knows those who are at the peak… Immortals are those who stand at the top of the mountain but no one really knows how tall a mountain one must climb to glimpse the path of the Great Dao and become an immortal with a single step..”.

Yu Chong Er stood behind Ning Fan and looked at his back. She could feel that the current Ning Fan seemed to be becoming one with the sea of clouds and had a temperamen like that of an immortal.

She was taken aback and could not help but take a second look at Ning Fan. When she came back to her senses, she lowered her head and bit her lips with her face red.

“Ning Fan, thank you… Back in the Blood Dragon Pool, I nearly lost my life trying to get my hands on the Blood Dragon Moss. Luckily, you were there to rescue me… I brought the Blood Dragon Moss back to the family and had let my mother eat it. Her illness has already been fully cured… Thank you… I’m indebted to you and I will surely repay you.”

“I once saved you but you already gave me the Heaven Deceiving Cloak. Which is why you don’t really owe me anything and there’s no need for you to repay me. It’s a good thing that your mother has recovered from her illness. As the saying goes, a tree might wish to remain quiet but the wind will not stop… It’s great that you still have the chance to be filial to your own parents when they are alive.”

Ning Fan sighed and asked her a question.

“Mistress Yu, you’ve already brought me to the Scarlet Heaven Palace. Now, do you plan on returning to the Serene Heaven Palace or staying here temporarily in my Scarlet Heaven Palace?”

“I have to return to the Serene Heaven Palace or else my elder brother will scold me.” Yu Chong Er stuck out her tongue and lightly chuckled. A five-marked immortal cloud appeared out of thin air when her lotus feet gently leaped off from the ground.

“I’ll come looking for you when I figure out how to repay you. I, Yu Chong Er, never owe anyone a favor. I’ll certainly give you something that will satisfy you!”

“Really? I’m looking forward to it.” Ning Fan gave her a smile in return.

“Then… I’ll take my leave now…”

Yu Chong Er steered the immortal cloud to turn around and flew away. Inwardly, she actually felt a hint of reluctance.

“Damn it. Damn it. Damn it… Why am I feeling reluctant to leave…? I really must be sick…”

“When he asked for something in return the last time, he took away my Heaven Deceiving Cloak… He seems to be fond of Profound Divinity Grade spiritual equipment… What if I request a Profound Divinity Grade spiritual equipment from my master and then give it to him?”

…

Ning Fan wore a subtle smile while looking at Yu Chong Er who was disappearing into the distance.

He had read all of her thoughts using his Mind Reading Technique.

“That silly little girl wants to give me a Profound Divinity Grade spiritual equipment, huh… I’m truly looking forward to it…”

He took his eyes off of her and turned around to walk into the Scarlet Heaven Cloud Palace. The empty cloud palace did not have a single cultivator present. The defensive formation, however, was still activated.

As the Scarlet Heaven Palace Lord, Ning Fan possessed the palace lord’s token which allowed him to directly go past the formation.

Even though there were currently no cultivators in the palace, the problem with the cloud lions had already been resolved. Naturally, the cultivators who had left the palace would soon return to the Scarlet Heaven Realm.

At the end of the day, he did not really care whether or not there were any people in the Scarlet Heaven Palace.

Even though he was the palace lord of the Scarlet Heaven Palace, he showed absolute disinterest in managing the affairs of the Scarlet Heaven Palace.

The only thing that concerned him was how many benefits he would actually receive by being the Scarlet Heaven Palace Lord.

As far as he knew, the palace lord of the nine great divisions occupied a single respective realm of the country. They could freely use all of the magic treasures and pills and read the secret techniques and cultivation methods within their realms.

Even though all the cultivators of the Scarlet Heaven Palace had gone to seek refuge in other realms, it was only temporary as it was all part of a plan to give Ning Fan a display of Yun Jinghong’s authority. The treasure vault and the scripture pavilion still remained.

Layers of formations had been set up around the treasure vault and the scripture pavilion. However, since Ning Fan had the palace lord’s token, he could naturally enter those places freely.

Even if he did not have the token, he still had the Wind Mist Finger. With that technique, would there be a formation below the Immortal Grade which could stop him?

He first entered the treasure vault of the cloud palace. To the cultivators of the Scarlet Heaven Palace, all the items inside the vault could be obtained by exchanging some contribution points for them.

The cultivators of the Rain Palace would be given contribution points each year which was their salaries. If they accomplish the missions assigned to them by the Rain Palace, they would receive additional contribution points.

However, since Ning Fan was the palace lord, he could take any of the treasures in the vault away freely without needing to exchange his contribution points for them.

There were a total of 5.5 billion immortal jade, 72000 tufts of spiritual herbs of ten thousand years old and older, 400 bottles of Fifth Revolution Pills, 3 bottles of Sixth Revolution Pills, 4000 lumps of four-marked immortal clouds, 70 lumps of five-marked immortal clouds and 4 lumps of six-marked immortal clouds…

Apart from that, there were also twelve thousand sets of magic treasures at the Nascent Soul Realm and above, more than seven thousand sets of spiritual equipment at the Profound Jade Grade and above, 500 Nascent Soul Realm puppets, 42 Divine Transformation Realm puppets and 1 Void Glimpse Stage puppet…

Naturally, he took them all away. This was the benefit of being the palace lord.

As for how the revered elders and divine messengers in the palace would cultivate after he took away all of those items, what does it have to do with him? After all, all of them were Yun Jinghong’s people.

The treasure vault was rather empty when he left.

He then entered the scripture pavilion. This place had many cultivation methods and magic techniques of the Rain Palace as well as pill recipes.

Ordinary cultivators of the Scarlet Heaven Palace would need to spend some of their contribution points just to read those scriptures. Ning Fan, however, could randomly browse through all of the magic techniques and pill recipes there because of his status.

The lowest grade cultivation methods in this place were of the Spirit Grade, while the highest were of the Mid Rank Mortal Void Grade.

As for the pill recipes, the highest level was at the Mid Grade Sixth Revolution.

Pill recipes and cultivation methods of higher grades could only be found in the main palace of the Rain Palace. To read the magic techniques and pill recipes of the main palace, even the palace lords of the nine divisions would need to pay contribution points.

Naturally, Ning Fan did not spare a glance at the low-grade cultivation methods and pill recipes. He only made a copy of the high-grade jade slips and took them away.

The only thing that slightly piqued his interest was a puppet crafting technique which explained the steps to make a low-level cloud lion.

As such, Ning Fan nearly emptied the entire Scarlet Heaven Palace.

“Hehe… Well, you didn’t come here to be the palace lord, did you? You obviously came here to be a bandit. But are you really going to dig three feet deep here in this place before you stop?” Luo You mocked him inside the Profound Yin World.

“Digging three feet into the ground, huh…? It is as you said. This cloud mountain seems to be hollow. I wonder if there’s something hidden inside the mountain…”

Ning Fan smiled and ignored Luo You’s mockery. He was palace lord of the Scarlet Heaven Palace in name only. So long as Yun Jinghong still remained in the Scarlet Heaven Palace, he would never truly be able to take control of the Scarlet Heaven Palace.

So what if he is going to dig three feet into the ground? After all, the land here belonged to Yun Jinghong.

Ning Fan displayed the Earth Movement Technique and dived deep into the cloud palace, heading straight into the core of the cloud mountain.

The inside of the ninety thousand zhang* (3.33m per zhang) tall cloud mountain had been hollowed out and the space was built into an extremely vast palace.

The walls inside the mountain were embedded with moonlight stones that would give off faint light to illuminate this place.

Peak Mortal Void Grade formations were established in every direction of the palace and only the palace lord of the Scarlet Heaven Palace could enter there.

“Oh? Is this the place where the former Scarlet Heaven Palace Lords entered seclusion…?”

Ning Fan entered the palace all alone. The palace had forty-nine stone chambers. In the main hall, there was a large ancient stele.

That ancient stele was nine hundred zhang* (3.33m per zhang) tall. It gave off an extremely faint cloud light. Mysterious and abstruse runes had been etched on its four corners while four words were carved into the body in Divine Seal Writing.

Scarlet Heaven Rain Stele!

Ning Fan walked toward the giant stele. The closer he got to it, the stronger the feeling of an irresistible damp and humid force coming straight at him. All of a sudden, his clothes became soaking wet.

He found that humid force extremely familiar. It was the Divine Intent of Rain. However, it was slightly different from the rain intent that Ning Fan had comprehended.

The owner of this intent realm was terrifying. He left behind a trace of his intent realm power by only carving four letters on the ancient stele which made someone as powerful as Ning Fan unable to resist the rain intent even though an unknown number of years had already passed.

“The cultivation level of the person who carved this on the stele is far beyond my original cultivation level…” Luo You said with her beautiful eyes filled with seriousness.

“When you were at your prime in the past, you should have been a true immortal at the Shedding Void Realm, right? If that person is stronger than you, what kind of cultivation base would he have?”

Ning Fan caught sight of the stone wall beside it. Ancient words had been carved there which introduced the giant stele.

The giant stele was a rain stele. It was left behind by the ancestor of the Rain World – the Rain Ancestor. The cores of each of the cloud mountains of the nine divisions contained a respective rain stele.

It has been rumored that the nine rain steles contained one of Rain Ancestor’s abilities. The reason he left these rain steles behind was to let his descendants learn that technique.

Unfortunately, ever since the Rain Ancestor passed away, no one in the Rain World had managed to learn the technique.

“No one has ever managed to learn this technique, huh…? How difficult is this technique exactly…?”

Ning Fan’s expression turned serious as he continued reading those words on the stone wall.

According to the information written on the wall, the technique the Rain Ancestor left behind was called the ‘Heaven Prying Rain’. It was an extrasensory perception type of magic technique.

The perception range of a cultivator’s spirit sense was limited. However, some secret techniques could extend the range of one’s spirit sense by tens of times, hundreds of times or even more.

When Ning Fan was in the Sinister Sparrow Sect in the past, he inadvertently became one with the world which allowed him to display the Myriad Miles Wander Technique. Even though he was still a mere Harmonious Spirit Realm cultivator at the time, he managed to stretch his spirit sense into an extremely fine line, enabling him to go beyond the Rain World and explore the Northern Heaven Immortal World.

The Myriad Miles Wander Technique was an extremely powerful perception ability. Even an individual with True Immortal Realm spirit sense might not necessarily be able to successfuly master this technique.

With Ning Fan’s current cultivation base, he certainly could not display the same technique again. It nearly cost him his life the last time he did it.

Back in the Star Palace, Ning Fan had once been pursued by a realm beast. That realm beast merged its spirit sense with the entire world within the Star Palace, allowing it to spread its spirit sense across every corner of it.

Even though a perception type ability could not be used for battle, it was definitely an incredible ability.

According to the information on the wall, the Rain Ancestor had once entered the Northern Heaven Immortal World during his prime. With the help of his Heaven Prying Rain Technique, he commanded his spirit sense to envelope countless star domains of the Northern Heaven which shocked several immortal emperors!

It was said that as long as one successfully masters this technique, it would allow them to envelop the entire Central State with their spirit sense even if their spirit sense was only at the Void Refinement Realm!

“The magic technique hidden in the rain steles… is actually the Heaven Prying Rain Technique! Heaven Prying, Heaven Prying… A drizzle of rain allowed the Rain Ancestor to pry into the entire Northern Heaven. That’s how this technique got its name! It’s the technique that made the Rain Ancestor famous!” Luo You sounded surprised. She seemed to have heard of this technique before.

“Silly younger brother, hurry up and get closer to the rain stele. Put your spirit sense into it and try to learn the technique! Once you master it, it’ll be extremely advantageous to you!” Luo You urged.

“Ever since the creation of the Rain World, not a single cultivator of the Rain World has ever managed to successfully master it. I don’t think I can learn it… According to the stone wall, if one fails to master the technique, they will receive a backlash from the rain stele which will seriously damage their Sea of Consciousness… If I can’t learn this technique, I will be grievously injured for sure. But if I manage to successfully master it…”

Ning Fan was struggling with indecision.

If he masters the technique, even if he could not cover the entire Rain World with his current spirit sense, he certainly would be able to envelop the Central State with it.

If he could spread his spirit sense over the entire Central State, he could probably find Ning Qian in one single try…

She was in the Central State!

Even if he only had one in a billion chance of mastering this technique and might even suffer a serious backlash from the rain stele, he still would not mind it!

“Let me see how difficult this Rain Ancestor’s ability is that no one in the Rain World had ever mastered!”

Ning Fan took in a deep breath and walked toward the bottom of the rain stele. Then, he stopped in place, staring at the nine hundred zhang* (3.33m per zhang) tall giant stele.

He closed his eyes and entered the stele using his spirit sense.

An extremely thick Divine Intent of Rain suddenly assailed his spirit sense. Instantly, Ning Fan’s spirit sense in the rain stele was completely crushed, inflicting a sharp pain to his Sea of Consciousness. At the same time, his chest felt like it had taken a serious blow which blew him one hundred zhang* (3.33m per zhang) backward. His body crashed heavily into the stone wall, nearly breaking all of his bones and muscles!

“Did it fail…?” Luo You sighed gently. Apparently, Ning Fan did not have any luck of mastering the technique.

She wanted to comfort Ning Fan but she then discovered that his expression looked quite complicated.

There was confusion, surprise, bewilderment, disappointment as well as a hint of joy.

“Perhaps I have a chance to master this technique… The reason no one has ever mastered it isn’t because it is obscure and difficult to understand. The biggest reason is… one will need to possess devil, demon and divine power in order to use this technique!”

“The Rain Ancestor wasn’t a pure divine cultivator… Because of some lucky encounters, his body possesses the power of the three races at the same time! The first condition in mastering this technique is to fuse magic power, demon power and devil qi into one! No one in the Rain World met this criteria… That’s why no one has been able to learn this technique ever since the creation of the Rain World…”

“The reason why I was hurt by the rain stele is because the rain intent that I comprehended has yet to achieve the minimum requirement for cultivating this technique… The rain intent I comprehended in the past is a divine intent. It isn’t a demon intent nor a devil intent… However, the Rain Ancestor’s rain intent contained the Divine Intent of Rain, the Devil Intent of Rain and the Demon Intent of Rain…”

“This technique is divided into nine different parts. The inheritance in this stele is just one-ninth of the complete magic technique…”

Ning Fan stopped talking and sat down below the rain stele in a meditative pose. With a wave of his hand, he summoned his ninety-nine natal black stars to heal his injuries using their starlight.

One day, two days… On the seventh day, Ning Fan suddenly stood up. All of his injuries were now completely healed.

He looked at the rain stele, feeling the network of the rain intent in the rain stele. After staying silent for a long time, he spread out his spirit sense again and put it into the stele.

He was once again sent flying away by the rain stele. However, he managed to regain his footing after retreating for one hundred zhang* (3.33m per zhang). The damage he took was also not as serious as his previous attempt.

Without speaking a word, he sat down below the rain stele again to treat his injuries.

This time, he only took four days to completely recover!

After his injuries were fully healed, he stood up again and silently stared at the rain stele for a long time.

This time, he was not in a hurry to command his spirit sense to go inside the rain stele. Instead, he closed his eyes to feel the rain intent of the Rain Ancestor.

The Divine Intent of Rain must contain compassion and benevolence which enabled the rain intent to nourish all things in the world.

The Demon Intent of Rain must be filled with the power to confuse the minds of the people, allowing the rain to cover all living creatures.

The Devil Intent of Rain must carry the intention to kill which would turn rainwater into a flash flood…

Ning Fan stood before the rain stele, carefully studying the characteristics of the Rain Ancestor’s rain intent. Ten days went by quickly!

The disposition of his body changed from time to time. Sometimes, he would be as kind as a god. Other times, he would turn as cold-blooded as a devil. There were even times where he would be evil and seem like a demon…

On the eleventh day, Ning Fan suddenly opened his eyes and placed his spirit sense into the rain stele for the third time.

The rain stele did not send him flying!

This time, an archaic voice resounded in his ears. It sounded like it was preaching Dao!

“The nine heavens has rain which connects the entire world. The clouds are my eyes. The rain are my senses. Heaven and earth fuses in my heart. This is the rain that pries into the heavens…”

“The Heaven Prying Rain Technique is divided into Nine Heavens. The rain in the Third Heaven is named Scarlet Heaven Rain…”

All of a sudden, information regarding the technique flooded into Ning Fan’s Sea of Consciousness.

Luo You looked like she was smiling yet she was not. Ning Fan had truly managed to learn the Heaven Prying Rain Technique even though it was just one-ninth of the complete magic technique…

The corners of Ning Fan’s lips curved upward. He then closed his eyes and began to perform a series of hand seals while standing in the palace within the mountain.

One time. Two times. Three times…

Half a month went by. It was unknown how many times he had practiced the same set of hand seals within the mountain and had become more and more skilled at it.

The cultivators who had left the Scarlet Heaven Realm had already returned one after another.

The cultivators of the Scarlet Heaven Palace that had returned discovered that their palace’s vault seemed to have been looted…

No one expected that Ning Fan was practicing the rain technique inside the mountain at this moment.

However, rain suddenly started to fall within the Scarlet Heaven Realm that was as large as seventy million li* (500m per li).

“It’s strange. The Heavenly Cloud Country is protected by a grand formation. Not a single drop of rain can penetrate through the formation. How can there be rain all of a sudden within our Scarlet Heaven Realm…?” Countless cultivators were confused.

Within the mountain, Ning Fan’s eyes were deep like a bottomless pond. His hands were performing hand seals non-stop.

He was the one who caused the rain to fall!

His Absolute Void Stage spirit sense could only sense what was happening within a vicinity of four hundred thousand li* (500m per li) at the start.

At this moment, however, he felt like his eyes were able to see everything within an area of seventy million li* (500m per li)!

All the clouds above the sky of the Scarlet Heaven Realm became his eyes!

Every drop of rain that had fallen within the seventy million li* (500m per li) of territory became his senses!

Even a Void Fragmentation Realm expert could only sense up to one million li* (500m per li) of area. Ning Fan, however, could truly sense everything up to an area of seventy million li* (500m per li)!

The only downside of this technique was that his magic power had nearly been depleted after only using it once.

Well, powerful abilities always had an extremely high consumption of magic power.

“Silly younger brother, if you master this technique completely, you might even be able to cause rain to fall within the entire Central State… The Rain Ancestor’s Heaven Prying Rain Technique truly is incredible…” Luo You clicked her tongue and complimented.

“Mm. Next, I’m going to completely master this technique. According to the stone wall in the nine palaces, the cultivators of a palace aren’t allowed to comprehend the rain stele of the other palaces. In order to comprehend the rain steles of the other palaces, one must fulfill a condition!”

“Defeat the palace lords of the eight other palaces. Then, the winner can comprehend the technique from their respective rain steles!”

“I have to master this technique. I want to summon rain within the entire Central State and… find her!”

*Chi*

A ray of travelling light flew out from the inner part of the mountain and headed toward the eight other realms while carrying an extremely intense battle intent!

Ning Fan wanted to challenge the palace lords of the eight other palaces with his status of Scarlet Heaven Palace Lord and winning was his only option!

Translated by Tommy, edited by Roel