Grasping the Evil-Chapter 928: Deal Reached
The Eye Orb Monster spoke with certainty, not like a baseless rumor.
Ning Fan’s gaze slightly focused; after entering the Ninefold Celestial Towers, he did indeed receive rewards from the ancient monument elder.
The elder on the ninth level gave Ning Fan a considerable amount of Barbarian Blood, which helped Ning Fan swallow the Calamity Blood and greatly enhanced his level.
That ancient monument elder repeatedly invited Ning Fan to the ninth level, claiming to bestow upon him the Barbarian God’s Blessing...
Could that elder be the Yin Mo Ancestor referred to by the Eye Orb Monster?
Could it be that he had unknowingly been calculated by that ancient monument elder?
Ning Fan was half-doubtful, and when he internally examined his Spirit, he found it sitting steadily in his Dantian, its aura calm, seemingly with no anomalies.
"Just looking won’t reveal any anomalies in the Spirit. The Blessing Technique of that Yin Mo geezer is not such a simple Divine Skill... Kid, you understand the Severing Fate Sword Technique; you should be a successor of the Ancient Chaos Grand Emperor. You possess the powers of God, Demon, Fiend, and Calamity. Hehe, you even have an extra Calamity Thought compared to Ancient Chaos; you’ve really surpassed the old."
The Eye Orb Monster’s gaze was terrifying, as if it could see through all the secrets on Ning Fan’s body.
"Try letting your Spirit leave the body... Once you try, you’ll know there’s something wrong with your Spirit." The Eye Orb Monster added.
Upon hearing this, Ning Fan nodded, closing his eyes. The Spirit Ning Fan, sitting cross-legged in the Dantian, opened his eyes at that moment.
The Spirit Ning Fan tried to fly out of his physical body, something extremely simple for any Master above the Divine Transformation Realm.
But the next scene left Ning Fan greatly shocked.
As his Spirit attempted to leave the body, it was immediately blocked by an invisible force, unable to exit the physical form!
"Hehe, finally realized it? Your Spirit can no longer leave the body. You’ve fallen into the Yin Mo geezer’s trap! The Barbarian Blood he rewarded isn’t something easy to take. Taking it comes with a price!" The Eye Orb Monster said gleefully.
"Try again and see if you can let your Spirit enter the cultivation state." The Eye Orb Monster continued.
Hearing this, the Spirit Ning Fan calmed down, sitting cross-legged inside the physical body, starting to run the Universal Mana Suspension.
One cycle, two cycles, three cycles... with each additional cycle, Ning Fan could increase a trace of mana through cultivation.
The increase in mana was minimal, but it was still growth.
However, when Ning Fan reached the 46th cycle, the Spirit suddenly experienced severe pain, his face turned pale, and he coughed up blood.
The mana cultivated in the previous 45 cycles unexpectedly vanished entirely in this 46th cycle!
"Continue!" The Eye Orb Monster urged.
The Spirit Ning Fan took a deep breath, beginning the 47th cycle. Everything went normally until he reached the 96th cycle, where he coughed up blood again, the previously cultivated mana once more vanishing completely!
46! 96!
"When you cultivate to the 156th cycle, the mana will dissipate again! After that, it’s 226, 306, 396, 496, 606, 726, 856, and 996. In the Barbarian Clan, a thousand is a cycle. A thousand is a reincarnation. From 46 to 996, a total of 11 numbers divide a complete reincarnation into twelve parts. A reincarnation must experience twelve Tribulations of Measure, which is the Barbarian Clan’s deduction of the Heavenly Dao."
"You have fallen into the Blessing Technique of the Yin Mo geezer, which in truth is a curse art. You’ve heard of curses, right? The strongest aspect of these Divine Skills is killing invisibly, making them hard to guard against. Among mortals, there’s a kind of witchcraft where one writes the birthdate of the target on a doll and stabs it with a needle, killing the target from a thousand miles away. This witchcraft is a type of curse."
"The doll itself has no issue, but once the birthdate is written, it becomes causally connected to the cursed. Similarly, the Barbarian Blood granted by Yin Mo has no inherent issue, but by taking it, you create a causal connection with him. That Barbarian Blood is the medium. If he wishes to curse you, it’ll be hard to escape."
"The Blessing Technique of the Yin Mo geezer traps your Spirit within your body and causes issues with your mana operation. Every thousand cycles, there will be eleven cycles of backlash, making it impossible to increase your mana through hard cultivation, unless you can break the Blessing Technique."
The more the Eye Orb Monster spoke, the colder Ning Fan’s gaze became.
He had indeed been set up! Without the Eye Orb Monster’s warning, he might not have discovered the anomaly of his Spirit being unable to leave the body so soon.
"The Yin Mo Ancestor you speak of, is it this person?" Ning Fan’s consciousness returned to his body, opened his eyes, and pointed before him.
With a point, a projection immediately appeared in front of him, replaying the scene he had seen previously on the ninth level.
A gray moon, countless eerie, deathly silent statues, and a statue elder seated on a throne.
"Indeed, that person is Yin Mo. So, do you believe you’ve been calculated by him now? Want to tear him apart for revenge? Hehe, team up with me, and let’s destroy him together! How about it?" The Eye Orb Monster sneered.
"Senior should be able to see through my true cultivation, right?" Ning Fan asked instead of answering.
"Hehe, naturally I can see through it. Ancient God Realm, Mid Stage Enlightenment; Ancient Demon Realm, Human Profound Initial Stage; Ancient Devil Cultivation Realm, First Nirvana of Heavenly Demon. Calamity Blood Realm, True Blood One Star. Although you possess four types of powers, they haven’t ’merged into one,’ it’s a pity. If you could merge..." The Eye Orb Monster’s eyes twirled, calculating something.
"What is Senior’s cultivation?" Ning Fan asked again.
"Me? I’m just a broken eye orb, with no cultivation to speak of. But if you insist, my cultivation is probably equivalent to an immortal emperor of the Eternal Seventh Calamity, yes, one in Control Positions," the Eye Orb Monster replied.
"And what is the cultivation of the Yin Mo Ancestor?"
The Eye Orb Monster suddenly went silent; after hesitating for a moment, he sighed, "I’ve been separated from him for many years, and I don’t know his current cultivation. One thing’s for sure, he can’t break into the Saint Level, but below that... he’s probably invincible... At least within your Dreamland Realm, no one is his match. Perhaps a joint effort of ten Quasi-Saints in the Dreamland Realm could barely hold their own against the present Yin Mo."
Ten Quasi-Saints would have to join forces just to barely match the ancient elder!
Ning Fan’s eyes showed surprise; that ancient monument elder was much more formidable than he had imagined.
"Since you know my cultivation is low, why ask me to help kill someone? With my mere Taoist abilities, I probably can’t help you at all."
Ning Fan’s expression was ice-cold.
He disliked being calculated. With his vengeful nature, if someone set him up, he would strike back.
However, the one who calculated him was too powerful. The Yin Mo Ancestor alone could rival ten Quasi-Saints. He didn’t have the ability to retaliate.
"Ah, your cultivation is indeed lacking. In Yin Mo’s eyes, you’re probably nothing more than an ant. Not just you, even I, in the eyes of Yin Mo, am probably just a grasshopper. If we faced him head-on, even if we teamed up, it would amount to nothing more than marching to our deaths, no chance of killing the Yin Mo Ancestor. But I don’t intend to confront Yin Mo directly. I have a plan to trick Yin Mo! The success of this plan depends on your Severing Fate Sword Technique! That’s the main reason I seek your help!"
"Given your current state under the Blessing Technique, if you join hands with me, there’s a 30% chance to kill Yin Mo! If I help you break the Blessing Technique, the odds can increase to 40%! If I further assist you, using the Tower of Time Seal here to merge the four types of powers within you into one, your strength will greatly increase, and the chances could rise to 50%!"
"A 50% chance to kill Yin Mo! So, do you want to team up with me and give it a go?"
"Hehe, don’t be in a hurry to refuse. I can tell you clearly, if you don’t help, there’s definitely only one path, death. Take this jade scroll and take a look, it’s for you. Take your time to read it, think carefully about my proposal, no rush. This copper tower seals ten years of time; I can wait here for you for ten years, giving you ten years to consider!"
A gray light flashed from the Eye Orb Monster, and immediately a gray jade scroll appeared out of thin air before Ning Fan, flying towards him.
Then, as if performing magic, the Eye Orb Monster produced a large pile of magical treasures, handing them over to Ning Fan. Among them were the Candle Bow, Incense Arrow, Separation and Union Sword, and other magical treasures, all things that had been taken from Ning Fan before.
"Here, take it all, your pile of junk metal, all returned to you. Alright, you can go back and think it over, I still have to go into seclusion, won’t keep you for tea," the Eye Orb Monster jovially said.
The Eye Orb Monster activated his skills, and Ning Fan, along with his pile of magical treasures, was instantly sent out of the cave by a gentle gray light.
The Separation and Union Sword, along with a whole pile of Twelve Nirvana Magical Treasures, was dismissed by the Eye Orb Monster as a pile of junk metal... Ning Fan smiled wryly; the Eye Orb Monster truly had a high standard.
Just as he was about to read the jade scroll given to him by the Eye Orb Monster, a noisy voice interrupted him.
"Master! Little Bow finally sees you again! Boo-hoo! Little Bow never wants to leave you again!" The Candle Bow, full of grievance, wished to leap into Ning Fan’s arms to complain, only to be kicked away by Ning Fan.
"Master, you’re ruthless, you’re heartless, you actually kicked me!" Candle Bow was even more aggrieved.
"Disgusting, don’t just pounce around." Ning Fan’s mouth twitched, Candle Bow was a shady old man, and he definitely didn’t want to be pounced on by some creepy old man.
"Master, from now on, I will be loyal to you, please don’t let that Eye Orb Monster catch me again, it was truly terrifying!" Candle Bow said with lingering fear.
After being caught by the Eye Orb Monster, he was locked in a big iron furnace specially for smelting magical treasures.
He almost got smelted along with the Separation and Union Sword and other ’scrap metal’ by the Eye Orb Monster.
Magical treasures can be re-forged after melting, but he was a Bow Spirit, a type of Artifact Spirit; if smelted, he would turn to ashes, leaving nothing behind!
He almost got killed by the Eye Orb Monster!
He was, after all, a Sub-Innate Bow Spirit, having once followed Ancestor Dragon Zhuli to conquer the world, but fell into the Eye Orb Monster’s hands, and was almost smelted as trash!
Sticking by Ning Fan is better after all, as long as he behaves and doesn’t have such a foul mouth, his life wouldn’t be at risk...
Candle Bow decided he must remain loyal to Ning Fan, just in case he betrays and gets picked up by someone else and gets smelted, it would be a huge loss.
"An insignificant Eye Orb Monster actually dared to smelt me! If I get a chance, I’ll definitely teach that Eye Orb Monster a lesson and avenge my humiliation!" Candle Bow thought viciously.
Ning Fan was too lazy to pay attention to Candle Bow, he packed up the magical treasures scattered all around, and resumed reading the jade scroll.
The jade scroll contained an introduction to the Barbaric God Blessing Art. After reading it, Ning Fan’s face turned livid.
This Barbaric God Blessing Art was truly sinister!
A person afflicted by the art would have their Spirit trapped within their physical body, and mana operation would encounter issues. On the 46th day of being afflicted, one-eleventh of the victim’s Spirit would dissolve and nourish the body’s physical defense.
On the 96th day, the Spirit would dissolve another one-eleventh.
On the 156th day, the 226th day, the 306th day... the Spirit would continue to dissolve until the 996th day, when the Spirit completely dissolves.
Complete dissolution of the Spirit means the afflicted will die, but the afflicted’s body will remain perfectly preserved. It would even absorb the power of the Spirit and become stronger, retaining some of the afflicted’s divine skills.
Later, if someone seizes possession of this body, they can perfectly mesh with it and grasp some of the afflicted’s powers.
Yin Mo Ancestor planted the Barbaric God Blessing Art on Ning Fan, intending to step-by-step dissolve Ning Fan’s Spirit, then seize Ning Fan’s body after killing him!
This is supposed to be a blessing!
The Barbaric God Blessing Art is the Barbarian Clan’s strongest corpse-seizing divine skill, rare are those below Saint level who can break the art!
For Ning Fan to break this art, he has only two options: either possess Saint level strength to forcibly break the art, or seek someone else’s assistance.
Seeking assistance comes in two forms. One is finding a strong individual comparable to a Saint to help dissipate his cultivations. The other is finding an Immortal Emperor level Barbarian Clan powerhouse to perform a Barbarian Blood Sacrifice Ceremony to break the blessing art.
Ning Fan naturally couldn’t find a Saint. Even if he did, he wouldn’t want to dissipate his cultivations.
He himself doesn’t have Saint strength, to break the blessing art, he can only seek help from an Immortal Emperor level Barbarian Clan expert.
If he doesn’t break the blessing art, after 996 days, he will completely die...
In the jade scroll, the Eye Orb Monster shamelessly recommended himself, saying he was an immortal emperor level Barbarian Clan leader, though he had only one eye left.
"Hehe, young friend, think carefully. You help this old man kill Yin Mo, this old man helps you break the blessing art, and even offers you a chance at fortune. If you don’t agree, this old man won’t force you, but once your Spirit is completely dissolved, it’ll be too late to regret it later." The last sentence in the jade scroll was the Eye Orb Monster’s reminder left for Ning Fan.
Ning Fan’s expression slightly darkened, he put away the jade scroll, and sat cross-legged above a large river, attempting to break the blessing art with his own strength.
For an entire month, Ning Fan kept trying over the river, attempting to separate his Spirit from his body, only to repeatedly fail and cough up blood.
With his cultivations, he couldn’t break the blessing art, 30 days had passed, and the 46th day was approaching.
Once the 46th day arrived, his Spirit would dissolve one-eleventh... He could already feel his Spirit showing signs of collapse...
Either agree to the Eye Orb Monster’s request and collaborate to kill Yin Mo Ancestor, or wait for death...
Otherwise, he could forcibly leave this place, leave the Ninefold Celestial Towers, leave the primitive and wild, return to Eastern Heaven, and request help from the Ancient Chaos Grand Emperor.
The Ancient Chaos Grand Emperor’s remaining power wasn’t much, but if helping Ning Fan dissipate his power, he could still break the blessing art.
But Ning Fan didn’t want to dissipate his power; why should he scatter his cultivations that he had worked tirelessly for years, risking life and death to acquire? It was filled with sweat, blood, tears, and the memories of his path in cultivation.
This cultivation was also the only reliance he had to protect those behind him!
Why should he dissipate his power!
Why should he stay here and wait for death!
He once thought the stone statue elder bestowed barbarian blood without malice, and he had checked the barbarian blood for any hidden dangers.
Unexpectedly, he fell victim to someone else’s scheme. Such a defensive blessing art!
Such a Yin Mo Ancestor, such a person who ten Quasi-Saints can barely contend with!
"You want to kill me, it’s not that easy! Since you want to kill me, why can’t I kill you!"
Ning Fan suddenly stood, feet stomping on the raging river, eyes brimming with killing intent, causing the entire river to churn violently.
Miaoyan Immortal Honorific, who was recuperating in a cave, sensed Ning Fan’s rampant killing intent somewhat surprised.
She didn’t understand why Ning Fan erupted with such immense killing intent.
Just that if he needed assistance, she would help him.
The Eye Orb Monster, who was in closed-door training, suddenly sensed Ning Fan’s overwhelming killing intent, and contentedly laughed, "Impressive killing intent. Truly worthy of being a disciple of Ancient Chaos."
He ceased his training, transforming into a grayish light that shot out of his cave, arriving before Ning Fan with a lecherous smile, "Kid, have you made up your mind? Do you want to slowly wait for death, or agree to the old man’s request!"
"Does Senior think this junior has any other choice at this moment! I just hope after collaborating with Senior, Senior doesn’t turn against me and secretly scheme against me!" Ning Fan replied pointedly.
He could only choose to join forces with the Eye Orb Monster, but he remained wary of the Eye Orb Monster.
The cultivation world is precisely like this, those with higher cultivations tend to scheme against others.
Today, Yin Mo Ancestor can plot against Ning Fan; tomorrow, there’s no guarantee the Eye Orb Monster won’t plot against Ning Fan.
Cooperation? It’s possible. But the wariness will not diminish by even a fraction!
"Hehe, then you better be careful, this old man’s life has been full of wicked deeds, sneaky attacks and backstabbing are things I do daily. That one word ’evil’ perfectly epitomizes this old man. If you don’t want to die by this old man’s hand, keep an absolutely cautious heart! Come, I’ll take you to a place, help you break the blessing art, and give you a little benefit." (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation or monthly tickets, your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please access m.qidian.com for reading.)
