Grasping the Evil-Chapter 811: First Battle Upon Entering the Tomb
Ning Fan’s gaze slightly shifted, sweeping over to the newcomer.
The beautiful woman in front of him was just someone with a Void Fragmentation Realm cultivation, and although she was beautiful, her Yin energy was no longer present; she was no longer untouched.
There was a faint alluring fragrance emanating from her body. Generally speaking, among the Four Heavens, only some wanton demonic cultivator women would adorn themselves with such a fragrance...
"You want to be my guide?" Ning Fan retracted his gaze and asked indifferently.
"Yes. I have cultivated in the Tomb Realm for many years, and I am very familiar with this place. Senior only needs to pay me one thousand Dao Crystals, and I can be your guide. Of course, even if Senior has ’special requests’ of me, I would comply..."
When she mentioned ’special requests’, the woman’s eyes fluttered charmingly, gazing with a soul-stirring appeal, her red lips slightly parted as she blew a faintly ambiguous red mist towards Ning Fan.
Ning Fan’s brows furrowed slightly, and his gaze turned sharp. The red mist immediately dispersed, and the beautiful woman was taken aback, her face turning slightly pale, and her stance unstable as she looked at Ning Fan in disbelief.
This red mist was supposed to be her well-honed bewitching technique, coupled with her naturally striking beauty, used to seduce powerful old monsters into sharing a bed with her. It had never failed before.
But when used on Ning Fan, it was dispelled with just a look from him...
Without a doubt, Ning Fan was a master of the bewitching arts, far surpassing her meager cultivation level!
"Don’t engage in unnecessary actions! You only need to serve as my guide!"
Ning Fan cast a warning glance at the woman, then raised his hand to produce a storage pouch containing one thousand Dao Crystals and handed it to her.
The woman received the storage pouch, immediately expressing her contrition to Ning Fan, no longer daring to randomly seduce him.
By now, she was convinced that Ning Fan was a powerful demon cultivator, not to be trifled with despite his gentle appearance.
Having calmed her mind slightly, she respectfully asked Ning Fan, "Senior, have you come to purchase the ancient fiendgod cultivation methods, or to challenge the various tomb palaces? If it’s the former, I can guide you to the market in this place where you can purchase any Cultivation Technique or Crystal of Inheritance. If it’s the latter, I can explain the rules and benefits of challenging the tomb palaces."
"First, take me to see this cultivation market," Ning Fan said indifferently.
He had heard long ago about the various ancient fiendgod cultivation techniques circulating within the Divine Tomb of Eastern Heaven, and today, he could finally see them firsthand.
The woman obediently assented, immediately leading Ning Fan into the market of the area, elaborating in detail.
In this market, generally, there were only two types of shops.
Shops opened by foreign cultivators typically sold one to three-star fiendgod Cultivation Techniques and Crystal of Inheritance at best.
Shops opened by Godly Void Pavilion cultivators sold one to six-star fiendgod Cultivation Techniques.
Naturally, there were also many shops selling expensive pills, providing supplies for those challenging the tomb palaces.
Ning Fan used his spirit sense to briefly scan the shops in the area, his gaze gradually becoming moved.
Here, jade scrolls with ancient fiendgod cultivation techniques were as plentiful as cabbages, filling the shelves of each shop.
One to three-star techniques were relatively inexpensive, generally available for a few thousand Dao Crystals.
Four to six-star techniques, however, were quite expensive, ranging from tens of thousands to tens of millions of Dao Crystals.
He stepped into one shop after another, his gaze carefully examining each shelf.
On the shelves of a certain shop, Ning Fan even found the four-star cultivation method he had previously practiced, the Corpse Devil Record, priced at only ten thousand Dao Crystals...
This place even had the six-star cultivation method practiced by the Moksha Emperor, the Nirvana Scripture, priced at fourteen million Dao Crystals...
Occasionally, there were shops selling half-star techniques, like the Yin Yang Transformation, priced at merely tens of Dao Crystals, yet no one paid them any attention...
The Five-Star technique, Black Evil Law, did not have a complete copy available, only some incomplete versions, but even those were priced over thirty million Dao Crystals each.
There were even people on the streets setting up stalls, trying to purchase complete Black Evil Law techniques, offering a hundred billion for it, a price sufficient to purchase seven or eight-star techniques...
The one wanting to purchase the complete Black Evil Law was an old monster with a cultivation level nearing Enlightenment.
He had placed a sign on the stall, with a partial introduction of the Black Evil Law.
"The Black Evil Law, the Sect Leader’s technique of the Northern Heaven Black Demon Sect. Whoever obtains the technique becomes the lord of the Black Devil. If anyone possesses a relatively complete Black Evil Law technique, this old man is willing to purchase it for a hundred billion!"
Ning Fan’s gaze narrowed slightly as he murmured, "A five-star technique could actually sell for a hundred billion..."
"Senior, you may not know, some Fiendgod cultivation techniques, despite not being high in level, possess special effects, and therefore are priced extremely high. For instance, this ’Black Evil Law’ is the sect leader’s technique of an ancient force in the Northern Heaven Immortal World, hence the high price. Unfortunately, within the Divine Tomb, there is no ’Black Evil Tomb Palace,’ and obtaining this technique through other means is impossible. The incomplete ’Black Evil Law’ sold here is generally acquired by the cultivators here through other means."
"I see..."
Ning Fan glanced at the elder’s stall again, shook his head, and left.
He naturally couldn’t sell the sect leader’s technique of the Black Demon Sect to outsiders for a hundred billion Tao Crystals... This was an old monster’s imparted technique to him, not to be lightly transmitted...
In this market, cultivation technique jade scrolls are among the lowest-priced items.
The higher-priced category is the Crystal of Inheritance.
The Crystal of Inheritance can directly transmit the cultivation memories of Fiendgod techniques into a cultivator’s divine sense, saving a lot of cultivation time, and thus the price is generally ten times that of techniques of the same level.
Apart from the Crystal of Inheritance, there are also very few shops selling something called the ’Divine Demon Relic’ here.
The Divine Demon Relic is considered the most expensive item in the cultivation market, with any single relic priced at over a billion Tao Crystals.
In a shop opened by a late stage Enlightenment old monster, Ning Fan saw a ’Poison Demon Relic’ priced at five billion Tao Crystals.
Within this Poison Demon Relic, a faint light of rules circulated.
"Relics are something that only a few Heavenly Tombs can produce. For example, this Poison Demon Relic is a trophy obtained by the store owner from conquering the ’Poison Demon Tomb Palace’ some time ago. This relic has infinite benefits for those cultivating the ’Poison Demon Scripture’, but for other cultivators, it is of no use," explained the beautiful woman with three lines.
Ning Fan nodded slightly and left the store.
As two hours passed, he had toured this small market and reached its end, where there was a small square. In the center of the square stood a gigantic jade stele a hundred zhang high.
On this jade stele were thousands of names, each with a score after it. Based on the scores, these names were ranked accordingly.
"This is the Tomb Merit Stele, recording the ’Tomb Merit Values’ of former tomb guardians. The people on the stele were the guardians from the last tomb competition," the beautiful woman explained.
Ning Fan’s gaze briefly swept over the Tomb Merit Monument. The lowest Tomb Merit Value on the monument was only a few hundred points, while the highest surprisingly reached several million.
At the top of the Tomb Merit Monument was the ’Bone Immortal Lord’ — Jun Changdong! His Tomb Merit Value was 3.4 million!
"Tomb Merit Values are earned by challenging tomb palaces and are only available to guardians of past tomb competitions. They can be exchanged for Tao Crystals in the Godly Void Pavilion, or for cultivation techniques, expensive pills, and other rewards. The value has no direct correlation with the specific ranking of guardians in the tomb competition but can reflect their strength to some extent. This round’s tomb guardians have not yet been determined. Once determined, the names on this monument will be replaced with those of the new guardians," the beautiful woman continued.
Ning Fan gazed at Jun Changdong’s name, paused in silence, then inquired about the rules of challenging the tomb palaces before letting the beautiful woman depart.
The Divine Tomb is divided into nine layers, with each of the first six layers containing countless tomb palaces, classified into Heavenly Tombs, Earth Tombs, and Human Tombs.
The Human Tombs contain no dangers and are places for cultivators to retreat and comprehend techniques.
Each Earth Tomb contains different dangers, and passing them grants rewards like jade scrolls of techniques and Crystals of Inheritance.
In the Heavenly Tombs, there are illusions of the tomb owners. Defeating these illusions allows one to obtain the Heavenly Tomb’s specialty, Divine Demon Relics.
Activating a tomb palace requires consuming Tao Crystals.
Different levels of tomb palaces have various cultivation limits, and those exceeding the limit cannot enter the tomb palace.
The number limit for Human Tombs is one person per palace, allowing only one person to cultivate at a time, with absolutely no entry for a second person.
The number limit for Earth Tombs is ten people. If one cannot pass a barrier alone, ten people can jointly challenge it.
For Heavenly Tombs, the limit is fifty people.
Ning Fan soared into the sky and flew toward the distant group of tomb palaces.
He came this time seeking battle, thus he directly ignored the Human Tombs, letting his spirit sense scan each Earth Tomb and Heavenly Tomb.
Among the millions of tomb palaces, Human Tombs account for ninety percent, Earth Tombs account for ten percent, and there are only a few scattered Heavenly Tombs.
In the first layer of the Divine Tomb World, the cultivation limits for each Earth Tomb and Heavenly Tomb are mostly at the Void Fragmentation level, with a few Earth Tombs having a Human Profound Initial Stage limit.
Having traversed the first layer, Ning Fan sighed slightly. With his cultivation level, he could not challenge the tomb palaces on this layer. Using a gigantic portal at the end of this realm, Ning Fan transported himself to the second layer of the Divine Tomb.
In this second layer, there was no cultivation market, and the number of tomb palaces was reduced to only tens of thousands.
In this second layer, the cultivation limits of the tomb palaces were mostly raised to the Ghost Profound Early Stage, but even with Ning Fan’s current cultivation, he still couldn’t enter.
"Can only go to the third layer..."
Ning Fan’s figure leaped, transforming into a streak of light, heading straight for the light gate leading to the third layer.
Upon entering the third layer, Ning Fan immediately landed, spreading out his spirit sense.
Within this third layer, there are over nine thousand tomb palaces, most of which restrict cultivations to the peak Crossing Truth Realm.
The human tombs here have been opened by many, with countless Void Fragmentation and Fate Immortals closing themselves off in practice.
This layer has nearly a thousand earth tombs, but only four heaven tombs.
Ning Fan’s figure swiftly approached a certain earth tomb palace, observing the large stele outside the palace.
The stele inscribes the cultivation restrictions of this tomb palace and the Dao Crystal amount required to open it.
"This tomb is the palace of the deceased Fire Demon Lianyan, which harbors the Three-Star Merit Law ’Lianyan Scripture’. Opening this tomb requires one person to pay one thousand Dao Crystals."
Ning Fan withdrew his gaze, moving to the gigantic door of the tomb palace.
This gigantic door remained sealed, unable to be opened. Outside the door stood two ancient bronze statues.
Following a beautiful woman’s introduction, Ning Fan retrieved a storage pouch containing one thousand Dao Crystals, offering it to the heavens.
At once, the pouch transformed into two beams of light, flying into the two bronze statues.
The eyes of the statues suddenly ignited with a ghostly purple light, and at that moment, the tomb palace’s gigantic door slowly opened.
Without a word, Ning Fan leapt within the tomb palace, and in an instant, the tomb door shut tight.
The first sight inside is a dim world, dark clouds obscuring the sky. The ground is a vast graveyard within a volcanic valley.
As Ning Fan arrived, the soil of the graveyard suddenly stirred, and from beneath the earth, the undead shrouded in flames continuously crawled out.
These undead varied in cultivation, ranging from Vein Opening to Void Fragmentation, and upon appearing, launched attacks at Ning Fan.
With a glance, Ning Fan discerned these undead as illusions, not physical beings.
Indeed, the entire world within this tomb palace is crafted by illusory arts, everything being false.
Yet, within this illusion world, a single mistake could lead to injury or even death at the hands of the undead... those injuries, that death, are real!
"The earth tombs of the third layer seem quite simplistic..."
With a casual wave of his sleeve, Ning Fan unleashed unimaginable might, obliterating the flame undead...
After annihilating one batch, a second batch immediately emerged.
After wiping out the second batch, a third one appeared...
After two hours, Ning Fan had destroyed precisely one hundred batches of undead.
At this moment, a towering fire demon appeared in the skies, possessing the Ninth Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm cultivation, and it swiftly stepped towards Ning Fan.
Without hesitation, Ning Fan pointed with his hand, immediately triggering the mighty force of the sky, as if directing the entire heavens to crash down on the fire demon, obliterating it.
Upon vanquishing the fire demon, fiery lights flew from all directions, converging into a fiery red jade scroll, floating before Ning Fan.
With a grasp, Ning Fan swept the content of the jade scroll with his spirit sense, revealing a thoughtful expression.
In the next instant, the formation within the tomb palace slightly trembled, transporting Ning Fan outside the palace.
"Three-Star Merit Law, ’Lianyan Scripture’..."
Shaking his head, Ning Fan casually stored the ’Lianyan Scripture’ jade scroll, and proceeded to other earth tombs.
After four more hours, Ning Fan had cleared four more earth tombs, obtaining three sets of Three-Star Fiendgod cultivation methods and one Crystal of Inheritance of a Three-Star Divine Technique.
For him, these Three-Star Fiendgod techniques are useless, and challenging the third layer earth tombs didn’t allow him to exert his full might.
He looked towards the distant four heaven tombs and then towards the teleportation giant door far away, pondering.
Currently, not being a Tomb Guardian, he lacked authority to enter layers beyond the fourth.
If he chose not to challenge earth tombs, the only option was to tackle heaven tombs.
Among the four heaven tombs on this layer, three were dim, only one continued to emit divine light.
Those dim ones had been challenged, entering a dormant state for dozens of years, unable to be opened.
This is the distinct characteristic of heaven tombs compared to other tomb palaces; once heaven tombs are breached, they require decades to recover.
Ning Fan’s figure flickered, swiftly reaching the heaven tomb still shining with divine light.
This tomb, named ’Stonedemon Celestial Tomb’, requires each entrant to pay twenty thousand Dao Crystals.
Outside the Tomb Palace of this heaven tomb had gathered more than forty masters, recruiting allies in hopes of jointly challenging the tomb.
Among these forty masters, besides several rogue immortals, none were below the Second Step Fate Immortal!
Twenty-seven were Human Profound Fate Immortals, and fourteen were Ghost Profound Fate Immortals.
Within the fourteen Ghost Profounds, several were Ghost Profound Peak-Stage in cultivation.
"Today, we gather to challenge this ’Stonedemon Celestial Tomb’ to acquire the Stonedemon Relic. Including myself, there are 44 Daoists here; if we gather 6 more Daoists, we can jointly challenge the tomb... Should we gain the relic, I will certainly express my gratitude for all Daoists’ assistance!"
An elderly man in a yellow robe at the Ghost Profound Peak was addressing other masters when he saw Ning Fan arrive, his eyes immediately brightened.
"I am Huang Xuanzi, an Inner Sect Disciple of the Ancestral Pavilion within the Divine Void Four Pavilions. Daoist, have you heard of my intentions to breach the Stonedemon Celestial Tomb and are here to lend me a hand?"
"No."
Ning Fan shook his head lightly, passing by the crowd, heading alone towards the Tomb Palace’s gigantic door.
Immediately, several Fate Immortals gasped in shock,
"What does he intend to do? Does he plan to challenge the Stonedemon Celestial Tomb alone? With his Ghost Profound Middle Stage cultivation, entering the Stonedemon Celestial Tomb alone would surely lead to death!"
Huang Xuanzi’s gaze darkened briefly, scoffing, "Is Daoist intending to challenge the heaven tomb alone? Does Daoist know, within the Stonedemon Celestial Tomb lies an Illusory Stonedemon near the Crossing Truth Realm. I advise Daoist not to gamble with his life. Joining us to jointly challenge the tomb is the wise decision!"
"An Illusory Stonedemon near the Crossing Truth Realm..." A sharp gleam flashed in Ning Fan’s eyes, yet his pace remained steady.
His goal was to fully battle with an illusion possessing such power!
Only by doing so, could he thoroughly anchor the flames of war and continue crystal cultivation.
Reaching the gigantic door, Ning Fan handed over twenty thousand Dao Crystals needed to challenge the tomb, and as the door opened, he stepped inside.
The scene before him unfolded into a desolate land, scattered with debris and remnants.
On this abandoned ground stands an enormous mountain, silent and eternal.
As Ning Fan stepped into the scene, the mountain erupted with Demonic Qi, sprouting a head, arms, and legs, transforming into a hundred-thousand-foot-tall black stone warrior!
...
Outside the Stonedemon Celestial Tomb, Huang Xuanzi and all other masters looked increasingly apprehensive.
Especially Huang Xuanzi, he had lowered himself to recruit Ning Fan, only to be refused; his kind advice was ignored, leaving him quite displeased with Ning Fan.
"He’s merely at Ghost Profound Middle Stage. With his cultivation, challenging Stonedemon alone is courting death!"
With a cold snort, Huang Xuanzi’s expression was full of displeasure.
At that moment, faint yet piercing screams echoed from within the Stonedemon Celestial Tomb, without being Ning Fan’s voice.
"Inside the tomb palace, it’s the Stonedemon that’s screaming; what on earth is happening inside!"
Instantly, Huang Xuanzi’s expression changed drastically, and nearly all masters outside the tomb wore expressions of alarm!
(1/2) (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support motivates me most. Mobile users, please read at m.qidian.com.)
