Grasping the Evil-Chapter 904: The Qualification to Wield the Arrow
Crafting the Six-Colored Incense Fire Arrow is merely a test, a test to see if Zhu Gong Elder’s words are true.
Ning Fan bent his palm in a summoning gesture, calling forth the Purple Gourd. With a point of his finger, the gourd began to swirl around and slowly drift towards Zhu Gong Elder.
Its flight was exceedingly slow, yet as it approached, it gave Zhu Gong Elder an immense pressure, as if a mountain bore down upon him.
Zhu Gong Elder reached out to catch the gourd, only to feel an instant heavy pressure in his palm. The weight exceeded his ability to bear. With a loud bang, his entire bow spirit form was crushed and shattered into fragments of phosphorus light.
The gourd landed with a boom on the floor of the cave dwelling, causing the entire mountain to shake. The phosphorescence reconvened, and Zhu Gong Elder’s form reappeared, a look of shock in his eyes as he regarded the Purple Gourd once more.
He naturally recognized that the gourd was an Innate Spiritual Object, but he hadn’t expected it to be so heavy. This heaviness came from the Innate Purple Qi within; the more weight, the stronger the Innate Purple Qi contained within the gourd.
"Master! This gourd is extraordinary. If refined into an Innate Treasure, it would certainly surpass the Mortal Grade!"
"...This gourd has yet to condense into a treasure shape. The Little Bow does have a way to gradually shape it into a bow form..."
"A Gourd Bow! To possess such an Innate Gourd Bow... hehe... in such a manner..."
Zhu Gong Elder’s eyes darted around, and he chuckled licentiously, his gaze growing increasingly fervent.
He was sealed by Ning Fan, unable to escape, and the seal, beyond his strength to break, had gradually entrenched itself deeper into his spirit over time.
Without external assistance, he was convinced he had no hope of breaking the seal in his lifetime.
But if he could nurture an Innate-class Gourd Bow, even just a prototype, he had considerable confidence in using the bow’s power to break the seal.
"Hehe, as long as this star of misfortune gives the gourd to this old man for nurturing, it would only take at most a millennium to nurture it into a bow form. By then, borrowing the bow’s power to tear the seal wouldn’t be difficult, and I could escape this star of misfortune’s clutches..."
"I must find a way to get the gourd from this star of misfortune! This concerns my grand escape plan! Gourd, oh gourd, my future happiness depends on you!"
Imagining the day he could regain his freedom, Zhu Gong Elder’s smile became even more licentious, his face blooming like a chrysanthemum.
Zhu Gong’s words made Ning Fan’s eyes flicker slightly, as if he was contemplating.
The first step in refining an Innate Treasure is to let the refining materials absorb the mighty force of heaven and earth, the essence of sun and moon, to naturally evolve into a treasure prototype.
This step must follow nature’s course, with no external assistance, or it would affect the Innate Treasure’s power.
The treasure forms on its own, a process extremely slow, consuming a short thousand years, or perhaps millions. But with a higher-rank Artifact Spirit infused into the refining materials to nurture the spiritual object from within, the forming time can be greatly reduced.
Ning Fan had never considered what kind of magical treasure to refine the Purple Gourd into. A Gourd Bow seemed like a good option.
However...
Ning Fan’s gaze slightly hardened as he glanced at Zhu Gong Elder, whose little schemes were naturally not hidden from his eyes. After contemplating for a moment, he spoke in a deep voice,
"We’ll speak of the gourd later. Quickly refine the Six-Colored Incense Arrow!"
"Ah, master, let’s discuss this gourd a bit more..."
"If you prattle on, I’ll feed you to the Blood Bow!"
"Please, master, calm your anger. I’ll start refining the arrow immediately, right away..."
Zhu Gong Elder reluctantly glanced at the Purple Gourd on the ground, understanding that this wasn’t the time to be plotting for it.
"Ah, better focus on refining the arrow! As long as I preserve my life, I can slowly scheme about the gourd..."
Zhu Gong Elder raised his hand and pointed at the Purple Gourd on the ground. The slaughter incense within the gourd immediately billowed out like smoke.
Upon seeing this, Zhu Gong Elder sat cross-legged, gathering his hands. The slaughter incense converged before him, slowly forming an illusory arrow shadow.
In just a moment, the illusory arrow shadow solidified. As Zhu Gong Elder deftly manipulated a complex series of spirit sense gestures, the arrow was caught in his hand, its colors transforming.
Initially only one color, the Incense Arrow’s hues increased, turning into two colors, three colors, four colors...
With each additional color on the Incense Arrow, its power significantly increased. By the end, the arrow had six colors, the piercing aura it emitted able to catch the attention of any Shattered Thought Realm True Immortal!
As the Incense Arrow condensed, Zhu Gong Elder suddenly stood up, releasing it quickly, as if fearing to touch it.
The Incense Arrow rose of its own accord, slowly spiraling in the cave dwelling, its arrow intent stifling the breath of those present.
Faintly, there was also the ancient sound of a dragon’s roar emanating from the arrow, carrying an extremely timeless aura.
"Hehe, master, behold, the Six-Colored Incense Arrow is complete..." Zhu Gong Elder spoke cautiously to Ning Fan with a sheepish smile.
The quality of this Six-Colored Arrow was average, neither high nor low, reflecting his usual performance. He wasn’t sure if it would satisfy Ning Fan.
The time spent crafting this arrow was remarkably short, but it did consume ten percent of Zhu Gong Elder’s bow spirit power, requiring time to recover.
One Six-Colored Incense Arrow consumed one percent of the slaughter incense within the gourd, a considerable amount given the incense’s vast reserve.
Ning Fan’s gaze swept over the arrow, his eyes gleaming. With a flick of his wrist, the Six-Colored Arrow ceased its rotation, slowly descending into his palm.
Just by holding it, six-colored flames instantly ignited on the arrow’s body, dazzling and brilliant.
In a trance, Ning Fan seemed to see an illusion before his eyes, as if at this moment, trillions and countless billions of barbarians, with tears of blood, were kowtowing to him!
They unwaveringly kowtowed, not knowing how many millions of years it continued, producing Slaughter Incense, too strong a presence!
The illusion flickered and disappeared, and Ning Fan’s heart spirit was quickly awakened by the scorching heat in his palm.
The Incense Arrow in his palm was terrifyingly hot! As if anything that touched this arrow would be set aflame!
From the arrow, a strong force suddenly emerged, directly shaking Ning Fan’s tiger mouth and flew out of his hand, rising again.
Shaken by that strong force, Ning Fan’s figure swayed, retreating ten steps within the cave, his gaze turned solemn.
Opening his palm, the center had been scorched, emitting a foul stench!
"Just with my Mid Stage Enlightenment cultivation, I actually couldn’t hold this arrow!" Ning Fan’s gaze shook.
Seeing Ning Fan dare to grasp the arrow barehanded, Zhu Gong Elder was slightly startled, then kept shaking his head, sneering coldly.
The six-colored Incense Arrow’s Slaughter Qi was too intense, even Fragmented Thought Elders would be burnt by the power of Slaughter Incense if they rashly touched this arrow. Even the Bow Spirit who crafted this arrow dared not touch it.
This arrow held extremely strong force, with one shot it could kill easily those in Shattered Thought Early Stage, but to wield this arrow requires qualification!
Not everyone has the qualification to wield such an extraordinary Incense Arrow! In the eyes of Zhu Gong Elder, only his first master—Ancestor Dragon Zhuli, had this qualification!
"Master, are you alright! What, you actually got burnt by the Incense Arrow! I truly saw with my eyes, felt the pain in my heart!"
"Damn it! Little Bow truly deserves to die for forgetting to remind Master that this arrow can’t be touched carelessly. With Master’s Mid Stage Enlightenment cultivation, only by consuming expensive pills to resist the Slaughter Qi can one slightly touch this arrow... My former master said that to wield this arrow, one needs qualification..."
Zhu Gong Elder’s face was full of worry, seemingly very concerned for Ning Fan, yet inside, he was gloating.
The joy, naturally, was from Ning Fan overestimating his ability, attempting to grasp the arrow with Mid Stage Enlightenment cultivation, resulting only in humiliation and being burnt by the arrow.
"This star of misfortune truly overestimates himself, just with Mid Stage Enlightenment cultivation, wanting to firmly grasp the six-colored Incense Arrow, even the former master dared to hold it only after reaching Eternal Immortal Venerable Realm."
"The former master said, wanting to wield this arrow, mere cultivation is not enough, also requires a certain insight... It seems only after understanding something can one completely have the qualification to wield this arrow. Otherwise, even using the power of expensive pills to forcefully control this arrow, when drawing the bow, only a little of the arrow’s force can be utilized..."
"Pity, it’s a real pity, this star of misfortune, seemingly does not possess this qualification."
While Zhu Gong Elder was gloating, Ning Fan was pondering over the word ’qualification’ in his words.
"Is qualification really necessary to wield this arrow..."
Ning Fan activated Demon Starfall, and the burn on his palm was instantly healed in the starlight, while Ghost Eye Clan conveyed a faint sense of excitement.
Evil Qi gradually emanated around him, Ning Fan raised his hand once again, grasping the Incense Arrow hovering above from a distance, directly drawing this arrow into his hand through the air.
As soon as the arrow was in hand, a strong force emerged again, trying to escape Ning Fan’s palm. The strong force surged, Ning Fan was forced back several steps, yet his gaze was firm, refusing to release, letting the arrow go!
This time, he retreated nine steps, each step leaving an inch-deep footprint in the stone floor of the cave.
His aura was slightly disordered, but this time, the arrow didn’t escape his palm! His hand also wasn’t burnt in the slightest!
"Hiss! This star of misfortune actually succeeded in holding the six-colored Incense Arrow unharmed with Enlightenment cultivation!" Zhu Gong Elder’s heart pounded, somewhat disbelieving.
Even his former master, before reaching Eternal Immortal Venerable, couldn’t hold the six-colored arrow without external help.
But Ning Fan, accomplished this... however, it seemed different from when the master wielded the arrow.
"Could it be this star of misfortune also possesses the qualification to hold the arrow, like the former master?!"
"The former master relied on the power of Arrow-Control Doctrine to wield this arrow, could it be this star of misfortune also gained some insight into Arrow-Control Doctrine!"
"But, something’s not right, the master said, if one had insight into the Arrow Dao Doctrine, one wouldn’t be repelled by this arrow, nor would they retreat..."
With his eyesight, he didn’t see that Ning Fan relied on Innate Ghost Mask’s power to forcibly suppress the Incense Arrow’s power.
Thus, he was somewhat puzzled by Ning Fan grasping the Incense Arrow unharmed yet retreating nine steps.
Ning Fan looked at the six-colored arrow in his palm, his eyes showing a bit of gravity and a trace of confusion.
"Nine steps... I clearly used the power of Innate Ghost Mask to suppress the Incense Flame power of this arrow, yet was still forced back nine steps..."
"The reason I was repelled isn’t because my power isn’t sufficient, but because... this arrow is rejecting me..."
"The reason it rejects me seems to be... related to Dao principles..."
"If unable to truly conquer this arrow, then the arrow’s power will be greatly weakened..."
Ning Fan was silent for a while, then withdrew the Ghost Mask’s power suppressing the six-colored arrow, and immediately felt a scorching sensation in his palm.
He had no choice but to release the arrow once again, letting it take flight once more.
The power of this arrow is indeed not weak, having personally felt its might.
If this arrow were released, it could easily kill a Master in the early stage of the Shattered Thought Realm. This isn’t mere exaggeration!
This arrow is extraordinary! And this is just the Six-Colored Incense Arrow. If it were the Seven-Colored Incense Arrow, how much more powerful would it be...
An arrow that severely injures an ordinary Eternal Immortal Venerable isn’t just an empty boast!
However, Ning Fan also personally felt that the power of this arrow can only be used to target specific foes.
This arrow is condensed from Slaughter Incense, and that Slaughter Incense originates from the hatred of countless perished Barbarians.
Their objects of hatred are not just Fan Lianxiu but include all great enemies who intend harm to the Barbarians.
This hatred is one of tribal annihilation, a deep attachment to the Barbarian Clan, thus amplifying the scope of its enmity.
From this Incense Arrow, Ning Fan sensed a will: anyone who is an enemy of the Barbarians, no matter who they are, is an enemy of this arrow!
Enemies who are not Barbarians, even if hit by the arrow, won’t suffer much damage. This, however, is a limitation of the Slaughter Incense...
Unless one is a cultivator on the path of hatred, it’s impossible to ignore this limitation and use this arrow to kill innocents.
Now, in the great calamity of the Barbaric Wilderness, there are many enemies of the Barbarians, including the Yin Yang Evil Vein, the Barbarian Beast, and the Ancient Effigies of the Barbarian Ancestors, all wantonly slaughtering the Barbarians.
Therefore, in the Barbaric Wilderness, this arrow can shoot Barbarian Beasts, can shoot Yin Yang Evil Vein, and even shoot across generations of Barbarian Ancestors. Though it has limitations, it is still extremely useful.
"Candle Bow, your Six-Colored Arrow is very useful, so I entrust you with devouring the Blood Bow! After you devour the Blood Bow, proceed with crafting the Seven-Colored Arrow!"
"I wish to comprehend this arrow here; don’t disturb me until you’ve devoured the Blood Bow!"
After handing over the Blood Bow Spirit to Candle Bow, Ning Fan sat cross-legged in the cave, closed his eyes, and began his contemplation.
What he was contemplating was naturally the qualification to master the arrow!
Seeing Ning Fan enter a state of enlightenment, Candle Bow dared not disturb him. Having been told by Ning Fan to devour the Blood Bow already brought him great joy, and he was solely focused on quickly devouring the Blood Bow, not interested in Ning Fan’s affairs.
He chuckled lewdly, stepped closer, picked up the Blood Bow with a very sly look, and licked it inch by inch on its body, seeming to enjoy it a lot.
Each lick reduced the spiritual essence of the Blood Bow a bit, flowing into his body. He dared not make too loud a sound, fearing Ning Fan’s rebuke, and the process was so delightful that luckily Ning Fan had his eyes closed, or he might have been disgusted...
The devouring process lasted nearly three days, and once completed, Candle Bow’s aura had significantly strengthened, with the grade of the Bow Spirit noticeably improved.
Although it was still far from the Innate Grade, its quality was close to the peak within the Sub-Innate Grade level.
Noticing the significant enhancement in his Bow Spirit’s grade, Candle Bow couldn’t stop smiling. As for the Blood Bow, nothing was left of it, not even scraps...
During the three days Candle Bow spent devouring the Blood Bow, Ning Fan sat quietly in the cave, eyes closed and silent.
Throughout the three days, Ning Fan didn’t move a bit, constantly in contemplation.
On the first day, there was a force of Divine Intent flowing through him, as he contemplated the Intent of the Arrow.
Divine Intent is the prototype of Dao, a force that the first step of cultivation strives to comprehend throughout life. With Ning Fan’s Mid Stage Enlightenment cultivation, comprehending the intent of the arrow wasn’t too difficult.
As time progressed, the power of the arrow intent continuously rose, and by the second day, the strength of that arrow intent had completely transformed into the power of the Arrow Doctrine.
On the second day, Ning Fan was comprehending the Arrow Doctrine.
To Ning Fan, the Arrow Doctrine meant that once a bow is drawn, there’s no turning back.
The character for arrow, ’箭 (Jian)’, contains the character for ’前 (forward)’ at its base. This ’forward’ refers to going forward without looking back, never regretting after releasing the bow.
Ning Fan’s Dao is one of persistence, and the Arrow Doctrine shares some shadows of this persistence. Thus, it wasn’t difficult to comprehend.
This was Ning Fan’s first time stilling his mind to comprehend the Arrow Doctrine, and also the first time he felt his nature resonating so well with the arrow.
On the third day, his body still emitted the power of the Arrow Doctrine, but within that strength gradually emerged something indescribable.
His entire being seemed to transform into an arrow, an arrow that once drawn would never look back.
The surrounding world constantly conspired with the traces of the Arrow Doctrine. These were the Arrow Doctrine’s traces within the universe. He could sense them but not control them...
"To master the arrow, as of now, I’m not qualified... yet, one day..."
On the third day, Ning Fan opened his eyes and stood up. Grasping the Six-Colored Arrow again, this time, he only retreated six steps...
He didn’t say much more, sealed away the Six-Colored Arrow, and glanced at Candle Bow beside him.
Seeing that Candle Bow had successfully devoured the Blood Bow and his rank had significantly risen, he instructed Candle Bow to start crafting the Seven-Colored Arrow.
"Hehe, Master don’t worry, Little Bow has devoured the Blood Bow, increasing in strength. The chance of success in crafting the Seven-Colored Arrow is at least twenty percent! With so much of the Master’s Slaughter Incense, Little Bow can at least craft five Seven-Colored Arrows! Once the Seven-Colored Arrows are made, Master, could you perhaps grant that gourd..."
Candle Bow eyed the purple wine bottle greedily, licking his lips, still fixated on getting the gourd.
"The matter of the bottle gourd will be discussed once you craft the Seven-Colored Arrows! Start crafting the arrows immediately!"
Ning Fan’s gaze deepened, and Zhuli immediately shut his mouth, eagerly beginning to craft the Seven-Colored Arrows, with an overconfident demeanor, as if crafting them was easy for him.
But soon, Zhuli’s confidence dissipated.
Crafting the Seven-Colored Arrows involves adding one more color to the Six-Colored Arrows.
Before devouring the Blood Bow, his success rate for crafting the Seven-Colored Arrows was roughly ten percent. After the devouring, it increased to nearly twenty percent.
A success rate of twenty percent means one arrow succeeds amongst five tries. Failed arrows would remain at the Six-Colored level.
Unfortunately, Zhuli seemed to have bad luck today, failing nine arrows before barely managing to craft the first Seven-Colored Arrow. Then he failed six times before crafting the second arrow, followed by eight failures before barely crafting the third...
Before the fourth arrow could be crafted, the Slaughter Incense inside the gourd had already been used up...
"This is what you call a twenty percent success rate? Didn’t you say you could at least craft five Seven-Colored Arrows?"
Ning Fan swept his cold gaze over, scaring Zhuli into a cold sweat, making him continuously explain why his luck was bad today.
To these explanations, Ning Fan merely scoffed and remained indifferent.
In truth, Ning Fan’s experience clearly showed that Zhuli’s high failure rate today was entirely due to his state of mind.
This fellow lacks depth and sophistication. After devouring the Blood Bow, his confidence soared, leading to continuous mistakes and failures.
To put it plainly, this chap needs criticism, not praise, otherwise, he’ll become overly complacent.
Ning Fan turned his gaze toward the dozens of Incense Arrows swirling in the cave. Zhuli had crafted a total of 24 Six-Colored Arrows and 3 Seven-Colored Arrows.
The power of the Six-Colored Arrows can annihilate the Shattered Thought Early Stage, and in the current Barbaric Wilderness Realm, with the Banishing Immortal Force rampant, it’s feared that no one below Immortal Venerable can withstand a single arrow’s might!
The Seven-Colored Arrows are capable of severely injuring the Eternal Immortal Venerable. With three Seven-Colored Arrows in hand, even faced with Ancestor Dulong or an ancient monument of a Barbarian Ancestor, Ning Fan fears nothing!
With these arrows, Ning Fan now truly possesses self-defense capability while amidst the barbaric and wild lands!
Looking at these Incense Arrows, Ning Fan seemed to envision the perished Barbarians beseeching him to take action and avenge them!
The targets for vengeance, of course, are those murderers responsible for their ruin...
"These arrows, eventually, will find their rightful place!"
Ning Fan waved his hand, sealing these Incense Arrows one by one and storing them in his storage pouch.
Seeing that Ning Fan didn’t blame him for failing at crafting the arrows, Zhuli felt relieved and began plotting for Ning Fan’s Innate Purple Gourd.
"Master, do you need me to help nurture the gourd for you? If needed, I’m willing to serve tirelessly for you."
"Master, this gourd clearly is a great base for crafting bows. Not allowing me to nurture it is simply a waste of such treasure."
"Master... please give me a chance to repay you! Let me nurture the gourd for you!"
The Zhu Gong Elder pleaded desperately, only seeking to obtain Ning Fan’s Purple Gourd to gain a chance to break the seal.
Just as Ning Fan was about to speak, his gaze suddenly deepened, as if sensing something.
A flash of Rain Intent in his eyes, his vision seemed to penetrate directly through the Xuan Yin Treasure, seeing scenes outside the realm.
"Want the gourd? You may! I’ll give you a chance to prove yourself! Slay all incoming enemies, and the gourd will be yours temporarily, how about that!"
Ning Fan pointed his index finger at Zhuli, causing his form to tremble and instantly revert back to the Dragon-Horned Changgong.
Leaving the gourd in the cave, Ning Fan took up the bow and stepped out of the Xuan Yin Treasure!
Though separated by the Xuan Yin Treasure, he sensed two murderous intents rushing straight at him from outside.
These two intents came from two ancient monuments!
The Third Generation Barbarian Ancestor, Fan Chu’s monument!
The Fifth Generation Barbarian Ancestor, Fan Xuanding’s monument!
"The aura of that immortal woman is precisely on this broken continent! Finally, found her!"
In the void, two colossal monuments strode forward towards the Broken Continent.
Demon Yuanzi and others, who were controlling the continent to fly, were taken aback by the approach of the two giant monuments.
If they weren’t mistaken, these two swiftly approaching monuments were highly similar to the monument of the Sixth Generation Barbarian Ancestor they encountered a few days ago.
(1/1) No more updates. Wash up and sleep. (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation votes, monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)
