Grasping Evil

The battle of the eons has rarely appeared in past ranking battles. Whenever it does, tickets sold by the Blood Martial Arena often go for more than a million stone currency. Watching a battle of eons for just 200,000 stone currency is surely a stroke of luck!

The previously chaotic battles in the arena suddenly paused.

The originally disordered shouting suddenly unified, leaving only two voices!

Emperor Butcher! Emperor Butcher! Emperor Butcher!

Slaughter Fox! Slaughter Fox! Slaughter Fox!

Common spectators cannot comprehend the horror of Emperor Butcher, only thinking this is an equal duel of Eternal Immortal Venerables. Even the strong individuals present, even those few old freaks on the brink of the Eternity Realm, can only vaguely sense Emperor Butcher’s strength akin to an Immortal King, but cannot perceive more.

Only Ning Fan truly felt the terror of Emperor Butcher! His eyes flashed azure spike, and Emperor Butcher’s secrets gradually became completely exposed before him.

Not only is he a Control Position Great Emperor... he is actually a half-step Quasi-Saint Control Position Great Emperor!

"So it’s you!"

Ning Fan’s face remained unchanged, but his heart shook. This Emperor Butcher was clearly the half-step Quasi-Saint who secretly investigated him during his registration!

Even now, having restored Calamity Blood Cultivation, Ning Fan would never arrogantly think he could defeat such a formidable opponent!

Winning first place in this ranking battle seems implausible. More concerning to Ning Fan is the motive of Emperor Butcher’s appearance here. What reason does such a powerful figure have to participate in mere ranking battles? Could it be... he’s here for him...

"Heh, this Blood Martial Arena must not randomly identify the opponent’s identity, it’s taboo, don’t violate it." Emperor Butcher seemed to laugh in reminder, but inside, he was greatly shocked, obviously not expecting the foreign cultivator before him to recognize even a trace of his aura despite the mask and his concealment!

Unity of Heaven and Man, huh? Heh, seems like he underestimated this person. Indeed, this person can be utilized.

"Words are of no use, you came here before the Battle for the Tomb, you must be a battle-loving and murderous person. Here, you need not disguise your murderous nature, let’s fight freely!"

Shush!

Emperor Butcher’s figure flickered, disappeared from the spot, and almost simultaneously, a shadow appeared before Ning Fan’s eyes, accompanied by the sound of a sharp weapon tearing through the air. Before his eyes could clearly perceive, his body instinctively reacted; with a flip of his hand, wielding his Dao Weapon, the seven stars weight of the Reverse Sea Sword chopped down upon the shadow!

Boom!!!

A loud explosion rang out, resulting in both figures being thrown backward, evenly matched.

Unprepared, Emperor Butcher obviously did not expect Ning Fan’s Dao Weapon to be so heavy, and let out a muffled hmmm, forced back dozens of steps by Ning Fan’s sword. Retreating across the stone floor of the arena, each step left a half-inch deep footprint on the incredibly hard stone ground, before stabilizing his stance, he held his hand with a somewhat real and illusory bronze sword, somewhat unexpectedly looking at Ning Fan as if recognizing him anew.

Neither was Ning Fan relaxed; Emperor Butcher’s attack came too quickly, although Ning Fan instinctively defended with the Reverse Sea Sword, he was caught unprepared, similarly being shaken back dozens of steps.

Strange... this Emperor Butcher, a dignified Control Position Great Emperor, does not seem to have very strong physical strength...

Emperor Butcher! Emperor Butcher! Emperor Butcher!

Slaughter Fox! Slaughter Fox! Slaughter Fox!

The cheers from all around the arena suddenly grew louder; amid the cheers, Emperor Butcher launched another attack. This time, he didn’t opt for close combat but instead offered the bronze small sword skyward. As the sword trembled, it suddenly transformed into a Jiaolong covered in copper rust.

The Jiaolong’s eyes flashed with azure lightning, and it abruptly opened its mouth to spew out thousands of arm-thick azure lightning arcs. The arcs converged, forming an enormous lightning web, which fell downwards, aiming to ensnare Ning Fan.

"Is this Thunder Dao Spell... its power is completely unlike an Immortal Emperor’s might."

Ning Fan held the Reverse Sea Sword in his right hand while he pointed his left hand at his brow. The Tai Su Lightning Star glowed faintly. Then, his left hand rubbed against the sword blade fiercely, imbuing the Reverse Sea Sword with a distinctive Thunder Control Position power. With a swing toward the sky, it easily split the lightning web apart. With another sword, it cut the copper rust Jiaolong along with the subterranean sky, causing the Jiaolong to wail as it shattered into countless light spots and vanished.

"So that’s how it is. This person is not his true self but an Illusory Art-formed body, disdaining to battle me with his true Immortal Emperor cultivations." Eyes glancing toward Emperor Butcher, Ning Fan narrowed his eyes, immediately understanding.

Yet Emperor Butcher was taken aback, seemingly not expecting Ning Fan to cleave his copper sword Jiaolong with one blow. Ning Fan seemingly accomplished this because... he utilized a hint of Thunder Control Position Power, thus effortlessly destroying the thunder-attributed copper sword...

"To think such a humble Immortal Venerable cultivation can comprehend a slice of Palm Position Power. It appears sending merely a thousandth of an illusory body to fight this child might be presumptuous... this child, truly intriguing!"

Emperor Butcher flipped his hand again, about to retrieve another magical treasure, but Ning Fan dashed forward first, with the Reverse Sea Sword horizontally slicing in. Even before the sword reached, the heavy wind pressure it generated had already blown away a large pile of participants far behind Emperor Butcher!

The participants were immediately horrified, unable to imagine what kind of heavy sword could stir such wind pressure.

The wind pressure tousled Emperor Butcher’s long hair, yet his body did not move an inch. Facing Ning Fan’s aggressive sword, he didn’t even defend, only allowing his body to become slightly transparent, letting the sword slash directly into him.

Then, the Reverse Sea Sword passed through, unaccompanied by sounds of flesh being cut, and Emperor Butcher remained unscathed!

Ning Fan only felt as if the sword cut through transparency, flipping the sword back, unleashing near a hundred strikes within moments at Emperor Butcher, yet none could injure him, while the frenzied wind pressure blew away countless more participants.

"Illusion Explosion!"

A strange laugh rang out, and Emperor Butcher’s nearly transparent body suddenly exploded, the destructive ripple engulfing Ning Fan and erupting from the center of the arena, drowning all participants in its wake!

"What... it’s the self-destruction of the Eternal Immortal Venerable! We must combine our forces, or none of us can survive this shockwave!"

The Bronze Sparrow Immortal, Sword Corpse, and some other Eternal Old Freaks who had been concealing their half-step Immortal Lord cultivations all shouted in a tense manner. No one had anticipated that the Slaughter Emperor would suddenly self-destruct; indeed, for many, this was their first time witnessing the power of an Immortal Venerable’s self-destruction!

Such a destructive shockwave would even harm an Immortal King caught within, not to mention these ants who hadn’t reached the eons realm!

These people couldn’t even join forces before being consumed by the shockwave, followed by cries of agony resonating one after another.

Death! Death! Death!

Neither the Bronze Sparrow Immortal nor the Sword Corpse, nor even the half-step Immortal Lords — almost none could survive this Immortal Venerable’s self-destruction!

After the shockwave killed all the contestants, it surged towards the audience seats on all sides of Arena Number One, which had a Formation. Yet strangely, the Formation did not activate its defenses at this moment, and the audience seats were wiped out by the shockwave, destroying even the entire arena due to the Immortal Venerable’s self-destruction!

Countless shadows hidden in the dark finally couldn’t sit still, revealing themselves as figures wearing Blood Ox Masks, clad in black, with Fire Bull totems painted on their garments.

These figures belonged to the Blood Martial Arena, including some Immortal Venerable experts. Together, they suppressed the shockwave from the Slaughter Emperor’s self-destruction, preventing it from spreading further.

Despite suppressing the shockwave, the entire arena became a wasteland, with not a single person left alive, and not a complete corpse to be found.

"Revered Snow certainly went big this time; wasn’t the plan to test that foreign cultivator? Now, there won’t even be a piece of that cultivator’s corpse to find next time," sighed an elder wearing a Blood Ox Mask, exuding the aura of an Immortal King.

Suddenly, his eyes filled with shock as a section of the ruins collapsed, and Ning Fan emerged unscathed.

With the God-Extinguishing Shield’s protection, Ning Fan naturally wouldn’t be killed by the Immortal Venerable’s self-destruction. However, this time, facing the Immortal Venerable’s self-destruction, he hadn’t activated the shield’s defense, yet remained unharmed.

"Slaughter Fox, you’re actually still alive!" The elder of the Immortal King was enormously surprised.

"Of course, I’m alive; and not only me, but everyone caught in this self-destruction is still alive, isn’t that right, Senior Slaughter Emperor?"

Ning Fan suddenly raised his hand and grabbed the sky with his five fingers. The world within his sight was like an oily canvas, torn down forcefully.

As the canvas was torn, the battered Arena Number One disappeared, replaced by hundreds of swaying Blood Lotuses and a perfectly intact arena.

At the center of the arena stood Ning Fan and the Slaughter Emperor.

The contestants and spectators, who were supposed to be dead from the Immortal Venerable’s self-destruction, were shockingly still alive, albeit with confused minds, as if trapped in an illusion.

Illusory Art! The Slaughter Emperor’s self-destruction was an illusion! An illusion even the elder Immortal King couldn’t discern!

But Ning Fan saw through it effortlessly!

"It’s actually the Revered Snow’s Illusory Art!" The black-dressed men were taken aback, then disappeared in shame, hiding in the shadows again.

Being subordinates of the Revered Snow, they failed to realize it was the Revered Snow’s Illusory Art, instead bustling about within the illusion, truly disgraceful to the Revered Snow.

What shocked them even more was that the Illusory Art, which they couldn’t discern, was easily seen through by the Slaughter Fox, qualifying him to command the Revered Snow’s attention — truly remarkable...

"Interesting, I initially thought you would see through this illusion within ten breaths, which would be impressive enough, but you actually discerned it from the very beginning. You know, this technique uses Palm Position Power, an Immortal Emperor might not even break through it swiftly." The Slaughter Emperor suddenly smiled, praising.

"Senior’s Illusory Art is profound; if not for my measures against illusions, I might not have seen through it," Ning Fan smiled slightly, replied.

"But one thing I didn’t expect is that such a demoness filled with Evil Qi like you would break my illusion to save others..."

As the Slaughter Emperor finished speaking, all the confused individuals suddenly spewed blood and collapsed, fainting one by one with severe injuries.

The self-destruction was merely an illusion, but illusions can still be damaging!

If Ning Fan hadn’t broken the illusion swiftly, those lost in the illusion of self-destruction would definitely have died from exploded divine senses!

"Pity, I thought you were like me, fond of slaughter, but it seems we’re not alike," the Slaughter Emperor sighed, somewhat disappointed.

Ning Fan, however, ignored the Slaughter Emperor, swiftly arriving beside the fainted Xianyu Chun, and using Demon Starfall to heal her injuries completely in a very short time!

"Did you save people for her? We might not be on the same path, but this makes you more interesting to me," the Slaughter Emperor admired.

If not for his acquaintance with Xianyu Chun, he probably wouldn’t have broken the Slaughter Emperor’s illusion.

Breaking an illusion from the Control Position Great Emperor is not easy. Even if the Slaughter Emperor was merely a trivial illusion body double of the Great Emperor, Ning Fan still exhausted over seventy percent of his Heart Spirit to forcefully break the illusion. Although he appeared composed, his Heart Spirit was extremely weary!

If such a level of illusion were to occur again, Ning Fan doubted he could break it even if he exhausted his Heart Spirit.

"Now, all contestants have lost their combat abilities, leaving only you and me. Shall we continue this duel, Lady Slaughter Emperor?" Ning Fan, after saving Xianyu Chun, suddenly approached the Slaughter Emperor with a smile, inquiring.

Of course, the last word ’lady’ was transmitted via sound.

Thus, this question seemed completely normal to all the men in black, but in the ears of the Emperor Butcher, it instantly fueled his anger.

"What do you mean by lady this, lady that! I have no idea what you’re talking about!"

Sneer!

It was Ning Fan who took advantage of the momentary disturbance in the Emperor Butcher’s heart, suddenly approached swiftly, and used a Yin Plucking Finger, tapping the neck under the Emperor Butcher’s long hair.

Instantly, the illusory form, which possessed one-thousandth of the Emperor Butcher’s cultivation, collapsed softly into Ning Fan’s arms.

"Now, does Senior understand what I meant? I’ve won this rank battle!"

"Bewitching technique! Haha, truly despicable, but I like it!"

Boom!

The body of the Emperor Butcher collapsed softly into Ning Fan’s arms, suddenly let out a strange laugh, faded, and disappeared. As soon as the Emperor Butcher vanished, the Punishing Ring that had disappeared from Ning Fan reappeared mysteriously in his Dantian, once again locking a large part of his cultivation.

Thus, among all participants in this rank battle, only Ning Fan remained conscious, calmly collected the Holy Blood Lotus Seeds from all the unconscious people, and easily claimed first place.

Except for Xianyu Chun, whom Ning Fan was acquainted with, and left the lotus seeds untouched, everyone else’s lotus seeds were entirely taken away!

In other words, in this rank battle, only two people had any results.

Second place, Plodding Bull, with 13 lotus seeds!

First place, Slaughter Fox, with 609 lotus seeds!

"What about the adjudicator? Aren’t you going to award the prizes for the rank battle?" Ning Fan asked with a smile towards a hidden direction outside the arena.

Suddenly, an adjudicator with a peculiar look emerged from there.

It wasn’t just him; everyone hiding in the shadows, looking at Ning Fan, also had peculiar expressions.

In their understanding, their Revered Snow was a man, and this Slaughter Fox seemed to be a man too...

The Revered Snow actually collapsed into the arms of Slaughter Fox! Thunderous indeed, truly thunderous!

And faced with the nearly teasing remarks from Slaughter Fox, Revered Snow didn’t feel humiliated but instead said something even more thunderously astonishing.

I like it!

I like it!!

I like it!!!

The Revered Snow actually likes this Slaughter Fox! Indeed, there are many who favor men in Liuli City, but who would have thought Revered Snow would also start to fancy this path...

With this thought, the adjudicator elder showed unprecedented respect when facing Ning Fan. For no other reason, Ning Fan was the first man liked by the Revered Snow since he began to favor men, a very special status, not to be offended carelessly!

"Please wait a moment, Lord Slaughter Fox, I will send someone to award you the winning prizes. Do you want to attend the subsequent ceremony? As per the procedure, once the rank battle concludes, a celebration for the victor should be held. However, this rank battle is somewhat special; only two people won ranks, and the second placer, Lord Plodding Bull, is still unconscious..."

Thump!

The adjudicator elder suddenly felt a flash of anger at this.

Logically speaking, the unconscious Plodding Bull should have had his lotus seeds taken by Ning Fan, thus losing his rank score.

But Ning Fan uniquely spared Plodding Bull and kept his Holy Blood Lotus Seeds!

Why!

Could it be that the Plodding Bull is actually the lover of this Slaughter Fox!

This is not good; Revered Snow’s newly budding affection seems to already have a major rival?

The devoted adjudicator elder suddenly had the thought of giving Plodding Bull another strike while he was unconscious, to eliminate him and clear the rival for the Revered Snow.

But this thought was quickly extinguished; Revered Snow is very disciplined, and the rules of the Blood Martial Arena do not allow adjudicators to take action against participants. If he did this, what awaited him wouldn’t be a reward from the Revered Snow, but annihilation...

Forget it, we should let the Revered Snow handle this affection themselves; as subordinates, we shouldn’t interfere.

Ning Fan frowned slightly, feeling that the adjudicator elder’s attitude towards him was very strange, the way he looked at him very strange as well, but he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was odd.

Pitiful him, who could use the Mind Reading Technique to understand women’s hearts, couldn’t see into men’s hearts, and naturally missed the thunderously wild thoughts in the adjudicator elder’s mind, which had already categorized Ning Fan as someone with an affection for men.

Soon, the prizes were delivered, and after a few simple words from the adjudicator, they were awarded to Ning Fan.

Unfortunately, there was hardly anyone truly listening to his speech. Many of the armored men in the Blood Martial Arena were busy clearing the battlefield and tending to the wounded.

As for Ning Fan, he was not interested in the words of the adjudicator. He just waited for the Night Spirit Ganoderma to be in his hands before leaving.

To his delight, the Night Spirit Ganoderma, which he thought he would miss out on, was successfully obtained. His mood was understandably good, as he had finally found another piece of the Innate Soul-Nourishing Spiritual Medicine.

What surprised him even more was that apart from the Night Spirit Ganoderma, the other prizes turned out to be quite useful as well.

Twelve drops of Nirvana Mother Stone Marrow! Each drop was extracted from a Five-Star or above Nirvana Mother Stone mine, significantly enhancing Body Refinement cultivation. Just how significant, Ning Fan couldn’t yet assess, because in three days, the second round of the tomb war would begin, and time was quite tight. He still needed to recover the Heart Spirit exhausted from breaking the Illusory Arts!

Apart from the Nirvana Mother Stone Marrow, the prizes also included one hundred Thunder Tempering Fruits, which were also excellent for enhancing Body Cultivation.

One piece of Innate Twelve Nirvana spirit equipment, a claw-like iron gauntlet called the [Nightmare Dragon Claw], made from the claw of a dragon-shaped demon beast of Immortal Emperor level in a Tenth-grade Fierce Domain, is completely black like refined iron. It can greatly increase the attack power of Body Cultivation, allowing the power to be augmented by several degrees and then used to slash at enemies with iron claws.

This spirit equipment is something Ning Fan could refine within three days, so he integrated the Nightmare Dragon Claw spirit equipment into his left hand, adding another method of physical attack.

A Lapis Lazuli Guest Medal. This is the highest status among the guest elders of the Blood Martial Arena, and holding this token allows one to enjoy numerous privileges in the Blood Martial Arena.

What surprised Ning Fan the most was that among the prizes, there was an item, a perfectly round Luminous Pearl the size of a baby’s fist.

This item was not originally listed among the official prizes of the Blood Martial Arena but was added afterward.

The item carried traces of the Slaughter Emperor’s Illusory Arts. When Ning Fan activated the Heavenly Eye and examined it closely, he was somewhat moved.

This Luminous Pearl was actually condensed using the Palm Position Power of the Slaughter Emperor. When worn, it could temporarily dissipate the Punishing Ring within Ning Fan, allowing him to regain his Calamity Blood cultivation for a short period!

The item’s durability was low, probably usable only around three times...

After repeated inspections, Ning Fan did not find any flaws with the item. Remembering various actions of the Slaughter Emperor, he had some guesses and surmised that the Slaughter Emperor would not tamper with the pearl.

"With this item, my chances of success in the second round of the tomb war are undoubtedly higher."

Ning Fan carefully stored the Luminous Pearl and then began a three-day session of meditation.

During these three days, Xianyu Chun visited once, seeing Ning Fan busy with heart spirit recovery, he did not disturb him but cupped his fists from a distance outside the door, seemingly in gratitude.

He also tasked a maid to convey a message to Ning Fan.

’The time of the Yellow Ox has not yet arrived, but when it does, I will inform Senior Ning at the first opportunity.’

No longer addressing him as a Daoist but as Senior, likely awed by Ning Fan’s astonishing power.

With the conclusion of the Blood Martial Arena ranking battles, the feats of the Slaughter Fox and the Plodding Bull spread wildly throughout Liuli City. The Plodding Bull was one thing; those well-informed knew that the Plodding Bull’s achievements included some leniency, but not the Slaughter Fox. This name spread throughout Liuli City almost overnight. By the second day, vendors were already selling fire fox masks identical to Ning Fan’s mask on street corners.

Masks from the ranking battles have always been favored by the residents of Liuli City, especially the fire fox mask, which gained enormous sales due to the Slaughter Fox effect.

Unfortunately, no one knew who the Slaughter Fox truly was. They only knew it was an Eternal Immortal Venerable who achieved a powerful first place in the ranking battles after defeating another Eternal Immortal Venerable, the Slaughter Emperor!

There were rumors that the Slaughter Fox was indeed a contestant in the second round of the tomb war, but few would believe such rumors.

Due to the bone age restrictions of the second round of the tomb war, rarely did Eternal Old Freaks participate. The possibility just wasn’t high, and it wasn’t surprising that people didn’t believe it.

In this atmosphere, Liuli City finally welcomed another grand event—the second round of the tomb war!

Especially after one incident, the attention of the Liuli City residents on the tomb war soared to an unprecedented level!

Lou Tuo’s prime disciple, Sha Bailou, openly issued a challenge to a certain foreign cultivator!

"Ning Fan of the Southern Frontier Tamu Clan, if you participate in the second round of the tomb war, I will take your life!"

A secret was soon unearthed by some: it turned out that Lou Tuo’s prime disciple, Sha Bailou, was the very person who committed a great crime in the Blood Martial Arena thousands of years ago!

There was once a person who single-handedly killed all the contestants in the ranking battle, even slaying the adjudicator, inciting the wrath of the Blood Martial Arena, yet still managed to escape unscathed from underground. Since then, before the start of the Blood Martial Arena ranking battle, a rule prohibiting any action against the adjudicator was added.

It was that perpetrator—Sha Bailou!

And Sha Bailou was precisely the person who, during the slave market, intimidated Ning Fan with the tragic scene of a foreign cultivator’s death.

"Unbelievable! Little Ba cannot stand this! Sha Bailou is too arrogant. A mere Half-step Immortal Lord dares to look down on the master like this! No need for master to take action, Little Ba will fight Sha Bailou to the death!"

In Ning Fan’s room, Wu Laoba expressed his loyalty to Ning Fan, holding the freshly obtained news with fury...