Grasping the Evil-Chapter 972: Dao Scripture Volume I
The memories surged continuously, gradually enlightening Ning Fan, who looked contemplatively at the ancient pine within the magic symbol.
He recalled the snow in Seven Apricot City, the plum blossoms blooming amidst the snow, carrying the warmth of home, deeply imprinted into his very bones like a brand...
He remembered the Ming Luo Ancient Tree within the Dark Sparrow’s Grave of the Sinister Sparrow Sect, recalled the bamboo sea in the Tree World, wherein there was also a profound affection...
He thought of the Undying Tree within the ruins of the Heavenly Court; this tree was born because he ignited his wings, yet wilted because he saved someone... beneath the Undying Tree, he fought in past lives and battled in this life. That day, sacrificing himself to demons, alone against many, he fought valiantly without hesitation...
He remembered the willow tree within the Blood Realm of Slaughter Hall; that was planted by the young Killing Emperor Jumen. Under it, he meditated for ten thousand years, sighing at the time when his enlightenment came, saying ’wood remains thus, but how can one endure’...
This pine, no, it’s not right...
Throughout his life, he has had too many memories connected to trees, yet none related to pine trees...
The ancient pine within the magic symbol indeed contained profound insights into wood, but these insights were all from others.
With his extraordinary comprehension, Ning Fan could borrow others’ insights incorporating them into his magic symbol, yet he could not capture the emotions that moved others and fuse them in.
Just as he could imitate Mu Weiliang and draw the shadow of Little Siyue into his magic symbol, but he couldn’t depict Mu Weiliang’s deep-seated emotions for Little Siyue...
Why could Mu Weiliang’s Buddha Talisman evoke a trace of palm position power, yet other tree spirits couldn’t achieve this?
Is it because within this Buddha Talisman, there resides Mu Weiliang’s deepest heart movement...
Heart movement... heart movement...
Ning Fan frowned; his magic symbol lacked that heart movement...
"The method of palm position taught to Mu Weiliang by Daoist Wood Pine is called the Heartless Method... The first step requires merging the deepest heart movement with Dao insights and drawing them together into the Buddha Talisman. The second step seems to require completely erasing that heart movement from the heart, thus reaching a void state where heart movement turns into heart extinction... These are roughly the steps; I haven’t used this method, I can only speculate vaguely..."
"Mu Weiliang achieved heart movement, but could not achieve heart extinction... He could evoke a trace of palm position power, yet could not have his own palatial void... If I were him, I could probably draw heart movement into the magic symbol, but I wouldn’t be able to achieve heart extinction either..."
"People are not plants, who can be heartless? If truly reached the heartless realm, then one would not count as human anymore... Daoist Wood Pine’s method might assist me to palm position step by step, but ultimately this method isn’t suitable for me... Moreover, I have always felt this method has flaws, yet can’t precisely identify them at the moment..."
"If I were Mu Weiliang, I would retain that heart movement within the magic symbol, yet absolutely wouldn’t erase that initial heart movement..."
Ning Fan’s gaze gradually became clear, and with a lift of his hand, he gradually corrected the patterns within the magic symbol.
The pine was erased by him, replaced by a tree carrying his cultivation memories.
It was a plum blossom standing solitary and proud in the cold!
Replacing pine with plum didn’t change the strokes of the magic symbol, yet the feeling it evoked was different, that plum seemed to harbor deep emotions, enough to resonate with the observer...
"Plum carries the warm memories of my cultivation place; having plum means having home. No matter how long one wanders, one isn’t alone..."
Wu Laoba and the others were stunned, feeling Ning Fan’s newly drawn plum tree possessed indescribable mystery. Specifically why, they couldn’t say...
Adding strokes is merely a quantitative change; changing from pine to plum represents a qualitative change.
Mu Weiliang gazed at Ning Fan’s magic symbol with the plum tree, and only he could discern some of the mystery. That plum tree contained Ning Fan’s emotions, yet those emotions lacked sadness...
Only warmth...
Amidst that warmth, perhaps there were bitter memories, like the old monster, like his parents, like Ning Gu...
Yet reflecting on the past, Ning Fan found no sadness in his heart. This point, was something Mu Weiliang at present could not achieve regardless.
Replacing pine with plum, the strokes of the magic symbol remained 178 strokes, yet compared to the previous magic symbol, the contained Dao principle of wood power increased significantly, vaguely spreading a trace of palm position power.
According to Daoist Wood Pine’s method, merging heart movement into the magic symbol can cultivate a trace of palm position power; if heart extinction is attained, a palatial void can be thoroughly cultivated...
Heart movement, Ning Fan can easily achieve.
Heart extinction, Ning Fan recognized the difficulties inherent, not something achievable overnight, nor did he wish to pursue it.
That plum harbors his deepest emotions; erasing this emotion and thought would go against his Dao heart. Without this emotion and thought, perhaps he could achieve great Dao, yet he wouldn’t be himself anymore.
Heart extinction or not, he doesn’t care; what he wants now is to integrate that heart movement with insights, finely merging them into the magic symbol.
The Great Dao of Wood before him became increasingly clear, and following the path he came on, he seemed... to have seen his own Great Dao of Wood...
"What is wood? Wood is the root of Five Elements. Without roots, trees cannot survive; without roots, people have no home..."
Ning Fan gazed at the plum tree within the magic symbol, finding his roots within it.
His roots in the Rain Immortal World, in Yue Country, in Seven Apricot City, amidst those countless windy, snowy days...
His Great Dao of Wood is also a root, without roots, there is no him...
Wu Laoba felt bewildered; he seemed to see memories of his youthful home within Ning Fan’s drawn plum tree.
He recalled the adobe house of his homeland, remembered the giant mulberry tree in the courtyard, remembered the year he was just a mountain village boy without cultivation, without having killed, without being full of scheming, without having the notorious name shaking the Four Heavens, yet having... home...
In countless dusky evenings, he sat under the mulberry tree outside the earthen house, waiting for his parents to drive the donkey cart back from the city, waiting for his father to lift him high up, waiting for his mother to wash her hands and cook... The faces of his parents were already blurred in his memory, hard to discern. Yet some things were etched into his bones, never forgotten no matter how many years passed...
"Little Tiger, are you hungry?"
"The weather’s gotten cold. Is my boy chilly?"
"...Once Mom saves a little more money, I’ll make you a new coat..."
Wu Laoba’s eyes welled with hot tears. Three and four tens of millions of years of lonely cultivation journey had been too, too long, so long that he had forgotten he once had a home. As fierce and cunning as he was, there was still a soft spot in his heart that no one was allowed to bully or touch.
Monk Songguo was also lost in thought, looking at the apricot blossom pattern. He too thought of the trees in his hometown, remembered his home before cultivating, remembered his mother staying up late by the oil lamp, sewing him new shoes, remembered those reminders...
"My son has prospered, once the year passes, he will go to the city to study... Don’t be frugal with silver when you’re out, don’t worry about things at home, listen to your master..."
And then what happened later...
Later, he went to the city school, studied diligently for four years like a day, and later, caught up in war chaos, later, his mother passed, and so did his home...
His heart was ashen, he turned to become a monk, by chance stepping onto the cultivation path, step by step reaching the Immortal Venerable Realm. In today’s Eastern Sky cultivation world, if he stomped the ground, the heavens would tremble three times. He held high position and power, yet he had long forgotten where his mother’s desolate grave was buried...
As a monastic, there was guilt in his heart, and... sorrow...
As a tree has roots, does he too...
One by one, members of the Mu Island Sect revealed a bewildered expression, recalling the trees in their hometown, recalling old memories with faces both yellowed and vivid...
"What is it that this child comprehends! Such tremendous power that can draw so many cultivators into it!"
Mu Si was somewhat startled.
A thousand people comprehending the Great Dao of Wood would have a thousand different ways, like how Mu Qi saw pine needles, Mu Liu heard the sound of pine, Mu Wu saw pine patterns...
And what did Ning Fan see!
No one knew!
The Dao has no hierarchy, but there are differences in strength!
It was apparent that the Great Dao of Wood that Ning Fan grasped had already taken shape, and was extremely close to the origin of the Great Dao of Wood, otherwise, it couldn’t have generated such powerful force to resonate with all the cultivators!
After the astonishment came deep sadness.
In a trance, Mu Si seemed to see that wise and charming little girl, step by step walking toward him, talking to him incessantly.
He was a spirit born of grass and trees, without parents, without family, never having experienced warmth. Only Little Siyue had once brought him the warmth of being human...
Facing Little Siyue, he did not dare to have feelings, yet couldn’t be heartless either...
He had almost forgotten the warmth Little Siyue gave him, but Ning Fan’s Symbol of Devil Raising reawakened all those memories...
With her, there was home to rely on, without her, nowhere to return...
People are not grass and trees, who can be void of emotions... He couldn’t extinguish his heart, couldn’t...
"Wood is the Great Dao, using wood as the root can derive the Dao of Pine, Dao of Apricot, Dao of Bamboo... All the trees in the world belong to this Dao... To comprehend such a Great Dao, one must find a point, using this as a breakthrough..."
"Seven Apricot is my root. Extending along this root, I saw more trees like shadows lining up behind me... These trees carry the memories of my journey, and only by integrating these memories into the comprehension can this apricot tree be considered complete..."
Ning Fan continued to raise his hand, adding a few strokes to the Symbol of Devil Raising, sketching the shadow of the Mingluo Ancient Tree, and next to the Mingluo Tree, he sketched the vague image of a sea of bamboo.
Hollow bamboo, with a residing soul, the soul takes root at the heart of bamboo. The root of the soul, the heart of the bamboo, inseparable...
Ning Fan recalled the Dark Sparrow’s Grave, remembered Bright Sparrow, remembered Loose Demon Mu Luo, remembered his rampage through the Tree World...
The brushstrokes on the Symbol of Devil Raising continued to increase.
strokes, 180 strokes, 181 strokes... 198 strokes!
He used 20 strokes to depict the shadow of the Mingluo Ancient Tree and the Bamboo Sovereign. The image on the Symbol of Devil Raising turned into a devil sitting under the apricot tree, the background being the Mingluo Tree and an endless sea of bamboo.
Ning Fan’s hand did not stop. On the background of the Symbol of Devil Raising, he added the shadow of the Heavenly Court’s Undying Tree, within this shadow his unwavering obsession from two lifetimes was embedded.
strokes, 200 strokes...
When the brushstrokes on the Symbol of Devil Raising exceeded 200, Ning Fan’s eyes suddenly focused, for the 201st stroke, he found himself unable to draw further no matter what...
Whether it was the Symbol of Devil Raising or the Buddha Talisman, beyond a hundred strokes, it became an ancestral talisman, but even among the nine great devil ancestors of the Ancient Demon Abyss, few could enhance the Symbol of Devil Raising beyond 200 strokes... Beyond 200 strokes, increasing brushstrokes required not only comprehension but also smearing the talisman with ancestral blood...
Ning Fan did not know this, yet there was an instinct urging him that he must do so.
"After 200 strokes, there seems to be a barrier between me and this Symbol of Devil Raising... The demon blood in my body seems to burn, giving me an ancient demon instinct, wanting to dye the Symbol of Devil Raising with my own blood... As if only by doing so could I continue to draw the Symbol of Devil Raising..."
It seemed there was a voice from his bloodline, constantly urging Ning Fan to stain the Symbol of Devil Raising with ancestral blood.
Ning Fan hesitated only for a moment before bowing to this ancient demon instinct. He raised his hand, biting his fingertip, and painted the 201st stroke with blood on the Symbol of Devil Raising!
"This is... the power of the Ancestral Blood!"
Wu Laoba and the others gradually awoke from their memories and noticed Ning Fan’s act of infusing the ancestral blood into the demonic symbol, causing a stir among them.
Since the Nine Ancestors, there had been no other ancestor with demonic blood. If word spread that Ning Fan possessed ancestral blood, it would undoubtedly create a sensation in the Ancient Demon Abyss!
With the might of the ancestral blood, Ning Fan acted like lightning, drawing nine strokes on the demonic symbol and sketching the shadow of half of the Undying Tree.
At the 210th stroke, Ning Fan paused briefly and did not immediately continue drawing. The previous nine strokes had consumed an entire drop of Moluo Ancestral Blood!
With the ancestral blood used up, it could no longer be used for blood ignition. However, the ancestral demonic pressure on Ning Fan did not diminish in the slightest; rather, it became richer than before. That ancestral blood power had already merged into his demonic symbol, giving Ning Fan an illusion, as if only by blending the blood into the symbol had he truly become an ancestral demon! Only then did he have the right to cultivate the ancient demon to its peak!
"Infusing ancestral blood into the symbol seems inevitable... perhaps in the future ancestral demon blood will also need to be integrated into the spirit wheels? And ancestral divine blood into the spiritual orifice?"
"I have four drops of Moluo Ancestral Blood; the prestige of one drop is enough for me to add nine strokes to the ancestral symbol... If I want to add more strokes, I need to use the remaining ancestral blood..."
Without hesitation, Ning Fan stained the blood again and drew the ancestral blood into the demonic symbol.
With the second drop of ancestral blood used up, Ning Fan completed the drawing of the Undying Tree.
With the third drop exhausted, Ning Fan drew half of the Giant Willow planted by Killing Emperor Jumen.
With the fourth drop exhausted, Ning Fan drew the complete shadow of the Giant Willow, but with no more ancestral blood available, he couldn’t add more strokes to the demonic symbol.
The strokes of the demonic symbol finally settled at 236 strokes!
Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough ancestral blood... Otherwise, he could have drawn more trees in the demonic symbol, embedding more emotions.
Perhaps, in the future, when he cultivates more ancestral blood, he can continue to stain the ancestral symbol with demon blood, adding more strokes...
"A demonic symbol with 236 strokes! The master’s talent for cultivation is truly terrifying! If he continues to grow, at the very least he will be at the level of the Nine Great Devil Ancestors! If he enters the Ancient Demon Nine Abyss, by the power of the demonic symbol, he could recruit a large number of fervent demon cultivators as footmen!"
Wu Laoba felt immensely satisfied with his vanity. His master was mighty, and he would gain more prestige too, wouldn’t he? Serving Ning Fan felt far from disgraceful. To be a henchman for someone at the level of the Nine Great Devil Ancestors was not shameful at all! In the Ancient Demon Abyss, who knew how many people would envy him!
Mu Si’s sorrow had faded away, replaced by a bitter smile.
"I don’t know what Dao this person comprehends, but I can see that he has immersed immense emotions into past events. Among those emotions, there may not be a shortage of sorrowful past events, but in retrospect, he isn’t sad, only... warm..."
"If I could also let go of the sadness in my heart, perhaps..."
Unknowingly, the moment this thought arose in Mu Si’s heart, a bottleneck that had stymied him for many years slightly loosened!
Mu Si was initially stunned, then he sighed deeply, closing his eyes.
It seemed... he had found the path he should take in the future...
It wasn’t sentimentality, nor its absence, but indifference...
Venerated Indifference...
In fact, every stage of cultivation in the True Immortal Realm leads practitioners toward the path of Venerated Indifference. However, the number of cultivators who can truly achieve Venerated Indifference is very few, often only one or two in ten thousand immortals. Some cultivators might achieve Venerated Indifference in the Shedding Void Realm, like Yuan Yao; others, like Senluo, might attain the Immortal King stage without achieving this state.
Mu Si could not attain this before, but from now on, he would strive to achieve it.
It wasn’t about forgetting Little Siyue, but about burying that affection in his heart. Forgetting only the sadness but keeping the affection eternally in the Buddha Talisman.
Is this perhaps... what the junior brother referred to as the heartless nature of plants and trees...
It’s neither about affection nor emotional extinction, but... emotional forgetting...
"May I ask what kind of Great Dao of Wood this young friend comprehends?" Mu Si suddenly let go with a smile, as if he finally untangled some of his long-standing emotional knots.
"It’s about the root..." Ning Fan was slightly amazed. It seemed Mu Si gained some insight; otherwise, he wouldn’t be so relieved.
"The root?" Mu Si was momentarily moved, slightly dazed, and murmured, "Yes... she is my root..."
"..."
Ning Fan was speechless.
This conversation could not continue, as Mu Si was wholly consumed by the depths of his own emotions, diverting every topic back to his Little Siyue...
But it seemed this person no longer had confusion in his eyes... Perhaps he had figured out how to deal with his inner demons...
"A token of appreciation, for unraveling the knots in my heart, dear friend."
Mu Si handed all of his Jianmu’s Essence over to Ning Fan.
Ning Fan knew that his actions had somehow inspired Mu Si, so he did not refuse this gift of gratitude. He accepted all of Jianmu’s Essence, said his farewells to Mu Si, and along with the others, proceeded to the Third Forbidden Ground.
The Ancient Pine in the Third Forbidden Ground was even more imposing than in the Fourth Forbidden Ground, and the spiritual cultivation of Tree Spirit Mu San was much deeper than that of Mu Si.
Upon hearing Monk Songguo mention that Ning Fan possessed a demonic symbol with 236 strokes, Mu San was greatly moved, declaring that he would willingly offer the essence of Jianmu, just for a glimpse of Ning Fan’s demonic symbol.
A demonic or Buddha Talisman with over 200 strokes was extremely rare. In the Western Heaven, very few ancient Buddhas had forged a Buddha Talisman with more than 200 strokes; in the Ancient Demon Abyss, since the suppression by the Nine Ancestors, it was even less likely to encounter someone with a demonic symbol over 200 strokes.
Mu San asked for nothing but to take a look at Ning Fan’s Symbol of Devil Raising, confident he could gain insight from it.
Mu San also displayed his Buddha Talisman to Ning Fan, who only cast a cursory glance, not taking it seriously.
Ning Fan already had his own understanding of the Great Dao of Wood, and further reference to others’ insights was of little significance. Furthermore, his demonic ancestral blood was exhausted, and he temporarily couldn’t add more strokes to the rune pens. If Mu San hoped to see him adding strokes, he might be disappointed.
After observing Mu Si’s Buddha Talisman, Ning Fan found Mu San’s Buddha Talisman somewhat unimpressive.
Mu Si’s Buddha Talisman incorporated deep emotions and sense, whereas Mu San’s lacked that, even if its strokes exceeded Mu Si’s, it didn’t appeal to Ning Fan.
"Mu Si has already loosened the knots in his heart, perhaps one day he can reclaim Mu Yi’s status..."
After showing Mu San the Symbol of Devil Raising, Ning Fan collected the essence and departed, proceeding to the second and first forbidden areas, likewise only displaying the symbol before leaving with the gifts.
After passing through the seven forbidden areas, Ning Fan bid farewell to the people like Songguo and returned alone to the Zen courtyard. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺
Wu Laoba stuck to Ning Fan annoyingly like glue, seeking guidance on the Great Dao of Wood, only to be turned away by Ning Fan.
Apologies, but Ning Fan had no time to bother with Wu Laoba; he had just created his own Symbol of Devil Raising, incorporating four drops of ancestral blood within, and it was a moment of profound realization that shouldn’t be disrupted.
Back in his Zen room, Ning Fan immediately entered the Xuan Yin Realm. With a wave of his hand, hundreds of blue clumps of light ascended into the sky, coalescing into a drop of emerald green spiritual liquid.
This drop of spiritual liquid was the true essence of Jianmu!
Moved by the vast energy contained within the Jianmu’s essence, Ning Fan could not claim indifference. The energy in this drop rivaled a complete Heavenly Grade Fierce Origin Crystal!
In other words, just by refining this drop of Jianmu’s essence, Ning Fan could fully cultivate the Wood Yin-Yang!
The only trouble was the lack of a profound wood-attributed cultivation technique needed for this refinement...
On Mu Island, there were several Nine-Star wood attribute techniques available, yet all of them were Buddhist techniques unsuitable for Ning Fan as an ancient demon.
Within the Scripture Tower given by the Ancient Chaos Grand Emperor, there were no suitable techniques either, prompting Ning Fan to consider other possibilities.
His desire was to create a technique that encapsulated all his insights about the Wood Dao!
In ancient times, even lower-ranked Immortal Emperors could create Nine-Star techniques, and with Ning Fan’s current cultivation plus the comprehension from the Second Realm of Tianren, he was more than capable of self-creating techniques.
The Symbol of Devil Raising had already fused with the power of the Wood Dao principle. If he were to create a technique, Ning Fan would aim for a wood-based demonic art. Among the nine major Yin-Yang elements, Ning Fan had mastered three—rain, battle, darkness—it was now time to master one of the demonic Yin-Yang!
"With my lifelong understanding, initiate an ancient scripture..."
Facing the direction of the Xuan Yin Realm Scripture Tower, Ning Fan reached out, and instantly, numerous volumes of Primordial Divine Demon Technique flew out, piling like a mountain in the clouds.
Ning Fan then waved his sleeve, gathering the mountainous collection of techniques, and sped into a Millennium Age Tower.
If self-creating techniques, these countless techniques could serve as references...
...
The ten days agreed upon with Daoist Mu Song quickly passed.
Within the Zen courtyard, two figures emerged seemingly from endless void space—Daoist Mu Song and Xiang Mingzi.
The two had barely appeared when they saw Ning Fan waiting beneath an ancient pine in the courtyard.
Though only ten days had passed, Ning Fan now gave Mu Song and Xiang Mingzi a sense of unity with nature.
It seemed standing before them was not Ning Fan, but a tree, a tree rooted deeply on Mu Island, connected to nature. Even just by breathing, he gave off a sense of vitality.
Undoubtedly, this was evidence of achievement in the Wood Dao!
"Oh? It seems during these ten days, young friend’s cultivations have advanced considerably..."
Mu Song smiled but felt truly amazed inside.
If he wasn’t mistaken, Ning Fan, the inheritor of Ancient Chaos Grand Emperor, had cultivated the fourth type of Yin-Yang in those ten days!
More unexpectedly for Mu Song, the flow direction of Ning Fan’s Wood Dao principle seemed incredibly peculiar, unlike any wood technique he knew...
"This disciple, could it be he’s cultivating some lost demonic art...It looks unfamiliar, never heard of this technique before..."
Curiously enough, Mu Song casually asked, "Could young friend reveal the name of the technique you’re cultivating?"
"The first volume of the Dao Scripture."
Ning Fan quite casually disclosed the name of his self-created technique to Mu Song.
It was called Dao Scripture, not Moksha, because Ning Fan not only wrote the Wood Yin-Yang into the scripture, but also revised and incorporated the techniques of rain, battle, and darkness Yin-Yang from his cultivation.
Rather than piecing together and cultivating twenty-seven techniques, Ning Fan preferred to create a more complete technique covering the twenty-seven types of Yin-Yang he cultivated.
The task was challenging, but not impossible for him, a master from the Second Realm of Tianren.(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you are welcome to cast recommendation votes or monthly votes on Qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com for reading.)
