Grasping Evil

The one walking out from the fiery gate was a giant elder with a withered body, surrounded by a heavy aura of death. Clearly, he was not alive but a Corpse Demon.

The elder was called a giant, but he was merely fourteen or fifteen zhang tall, unlike those giants standing hundreds or thousands of zhang high. His skin was exposed, stiff and dark green, seemingly dead for a long time. He wore a circle of worn-out animal skin around his lower body, though aged, it still retained a trace of fierce beast’s aura, obviously peeled from a very powerful fierce beast.

Between his feet, shackles were locked, making it extremely difficult to walk, and a golden hoop was worn on his head. His wrists were free, holding a saw-toothed giant sword carried over his shoulder. The sword was covered in rust and bloodstains, yet it exuded a stunning aura of killing that seemed to pierce through the ages, evidently a high-tier Primordial Demon Soldier when complete.

His movements were slow and stiff, further restricted by chains. Every step he took seemed to take a long time, yet each step made the ground of Liuli City tremble as if solely through physical force, which was terrifying.

It’s important to know that Liuli City was full of strong practitioners, and formations fortified every area; even in a strategic place like Great Brightness Temple, formations were extremely powerful. Even with all their might, an Immortal Venerable might not make this place shake, but this Corpse Demon giant did it easily.

This physical strength, even if not reaching the Immortal Emperor level, was probably at the high level of Immortal King!

"The second round of the Tomb-Seizing, divided into two phases, one is the trial of strength, and the other is the trial of illusion. This Corpse Demon Elder must be the one presiding over the trial of strength..." Ning Fan thought to himself, slightly surprised as his spirit sense touched the elder’s corpse.

The elder’s skin seemed refined through some secret technique; once touched by the spirit sense, it rebounded, unable to delve deeper.

Though unable to delve deeper, Ning Fan still sensed a deeply hidden breath of Ancient Chaos within the elder’s body...

No wonder this elder’s physical strength was so terrifying, constantly causing the earth to tremble, having been an Ancient Demon in life...

As the Corpse Demon Elder walked out from the fiery gate, the residents of Liuli City outside the plaza immediately sneered, showing contempt, fear, or indifference, varied in their emotions.

This was something Ning Fan couldn’t comprehend.

Once, the one presiding over the first round of Tomb-Seizing for Southern Frontier Steppe was also a Corpse Demon, but when that Corpse Demon appeared, all people bowed, clearly of noble identity.

Whereas this Corpse Demon Elder seemed of extremely humble status, not only did no one bow, but even some not-so-weak residents of Liuli City threw rotten eggs and spoiled cabbages from thousands of feet away towards the elder...

Those with cultivations doing such mundane things of throwing cabbages and eggs, how boring, how ridiculous... Yet Ning Fan didn’t know why, he couldn’t laugh.

The Corpse Demon Elder’s face was stiff, expressionless, just walked out with shackles on his feet from the fiery gate. His spirit awareness was low, gaze empty, not understanding why many were throwing rotten cabbages and eggs at him, but he ignored it completely. He carried the rusty giant sword, his backbone unbent, clearly with egg whites dripping down his face, yet proudly lifted his emaciated neck amidst the contemptuous and fearful gazes of Liuli City’s residents, like a triumphant returning general.

This unyielding spirit must have been the last posture retained before the elder’s death, now dead, reduced to a low-awareness corpse demon, yet still never lowered his head.

As if something from the Corpse Demon Elder infected Ning Fan, unknowingly made his expression solemn, slowly closing his eyes, his hand hidden in his sleeve, again secretly casting a spell to conjure a strong wind, blowing away the rotten eggs and spoiled cabbages thrown towards the elder from afar...

"Damn it, who stirred up the wind and blew away my rotten eggs!"

"Hmph! Could someone be pitying this Shen number Corpse Demon? Ridiculous!"

"Shen number Corpse Demons are all criminals!"

Curses erupted, yet naturally no one knew it was Ning Fan who did it.

Bang!

The Corpse Demon Elder slowly walked to the bottom of the high platform, a bang sounded as he inserted the rusty giant sword into the ground, then slowly and stiffly clasped his fists towards the direction of the Central Continent Five Emperors on the high platform, his back remained unbent.

"Shen... Ershisan... pays respects... to the five Majesties..."

The elder named Shen Ershisan spoke in a thunderous voice, echoing in this land, leaving some with insufficient cultivation unable to withstand the sound, becoming dizzy.

Moreover, some residents of Liuli City started discussing after the elder spoke.

Ning Fan spread out his spirit sense, listened more, and only then somewhat understood why this Corpse Demon Elder was despised by everyone.

Because, unlike the Corpse Demon presiding over the Southern Frontier’s small competition, he was a Shen number...

Since ancient times, the Great Humble Ones had a tradition of commanding Corpse Demons. Basic defenders were present in each tribe. In the Great Humble Ones, there was a type of Corpse Demon with very high status, acting only by the orders from the Holy Mountain, called Holy Envoy!

Holy Envoys were generally divided into two grades, Jia and Yi. Yi number Holy Envoys were mostly lower than the Timeless Realm, like the Corpse Demon Holy Envoy presiding over the Southern Frontier’s small competition that day, was a Yi number Corpse Demon. Yi number Corpse Demon Holy Envoys had extremely high status, and those beneath the Timeless Realm mostly needed to bow to the Yi number Holy Envoy.

Jia number Corpse Demons had even higher status, were mostly those above the Timeless Realm, even some Immortal Emperors encountering Jia number Holy Envoys needed to show a certain respect, clasping their fists in salute.

The Great Humble Ones had profound research into Corpse Demons. Corpse Demons under the name of Holy Mountain, nominally Jia or Yi numbered, generally had higher spirit awareness than ordinary Corpse Demons, capable of basic thinking and fluent language.

But actually, above the Jia Yi number, there was another type of Corpse Demon labeled as Shen number...

Shen, understood literally, means Jia number Corpse Demon developed a different mind, wanting to break free and gain freedom...

Shen number Corpse Demons mostly originated from Jia numbered Corpse Demons, belonging to aberrant Jia number Corpse Demons, unruly, not respecting their masters, preferring to break their necks rather than bowing to anyone.

This type of Corpse Demon is unruly, so most of them have had their once-high spirit awareness abolished, each possessing very low intelligence, making even basic thinking difficult.

The strong ones of the Holy Mountain are still uneasy about this type of Corpse Demon Holy Envoy, worried that they might rebel based on the unyielding intent inherent in their instincts. Thus, they put special shackles on these Corpse Demons to seal their power. The gold hoops placed on this type of Corpse Demon are also extremely formidable.

The Shen-designated Corpse Demons are generally seen by the Great Humble Ones as traitors among the Corpse Demons of the Holy Mountain, naturally unable to hold any high position, instead being extremely lowly in status.

On the high platform, the full assembly of immortals and Buddhas looked at Shen Ershisan with eyes full of disdain and indifference.

Today is the second round of the tomb-stealing contest, everything led by the Five Emperors, and among the Five Emperors, it’s led by the Heaven Capital. Heaven Capital Emperor didn’t even bother to open his eyes when facing Shen Ershisan, coldly saying, "The test of strength can begin!"

"Yes."

Faced with the superior attitude of the group of Buddhas, for some reason, a burst of violent thoughts abruptly rose in Shen Ershisan’s heart, wanting to break some of the shackles in front of him.

But as soon as this burst of violent thought arose, the dim golden hoop on his head appropriately flashed a light, grandly unleashing its divine power, completely suppressing the violent thoughts within him.

Crack, crack, crack! It was the sound of the hoop continuously contracting, squeezing his skull!

Shen Ershisan’s skull was very hard, so no matter how, the hoop couldn’t crush that skull.

Having been dead for many years, he could no longer feel any pain from the squeezing, only touching his head with some confusion after the violent thoughts were suppressed.

What happened...

He didn’t understand...

Although not understanding, two lines of unwilling blood tears flowed from the eyes that had been dead for many years, but they dried up halfway through, as there wasn’t much uncoagulated blood left in his body...

Seeing Shen Ershisan suddenly go berserk, the spectators here were naturally all startled, but immediately saw that Shen Ershisan was still tamed by the hoop, and they all relaxed again.

Some residents of Liuli City cursed and mocked disdainfully.

As expected of the Shen-designated Corpse Demon, indeed dangerous... but so what, he still has to obediently submit to the Buddhist Law.

Ning Fan frowned but didn’t say much.

The first round of the tomb-stealing was a regional mini-contest of various steppes, divided into literary and martial tests.

The second round of the tomb-stealing was the Middle State grand competition, divided into trials of strength and illusion.

The trial of strength mainly aimed to test the physical strength of the participants. Without a certain level of Body Refinement cultivation, it was impossible to achieve good results in the trial of strength.

In this round, the participating teams did not have to fight each other, but each team successively took on the test of the Corpse Demons.

The test content was very simple, requiring each team to cooperate fully to withstand the giant sword strikes of the Corpse Demons. For each strike withstood, the team’s overall score would increase by a hundred points.

The only requirement was that in this round, it was forbidden to use any form of Divine Skills to control treasures from a distance, forbidden to use any spells, or even use Secret Techniques to enhance bodily strength. They had to withstand the Corpse Demon’s attack with pure physical strength.

Obviously, in this round, Body Cultivation practitioners had an advantage, and teams with more Body Cultivators had an even greater advantage. It’s clearly much easier for a group to withstand giant strikes together than for an individual.

"Shen Ershisan’s strength during his lifetime was extremely frightening, but after death, he’s restrained by the hoop and shackles, his power sealed, unable to unleash much of his strength. I wonder how many strikes I can withstand with my Ancient Demon Blood Wine cultivation..." Ning Fan thought to himself.

After paying his respects to the Five Emperors, Shen Ershisan began explaining the rules of the second round of the tomb-stealing contest to the many participants. His speech was not fluent, and his phrasing was peculiarly incomprehensible, occasionally saying many incomprehensible words. But thankfully, the participants were all familiar with the rules and didn’t need to understand the Corpse Demon giant’s explanation. Indeed, few of them had the patience to listen to him speak, and each began to close their eyes and rest, waiting for the trial of strength to begin.

After explaining the rules, Shen Ershisan opened his mouth and spat out a golden light sphere, performing a ritual to the Heavenly One. From within the light sphere, a hundred and eight rays of golden light dispersed, each flying towards one of the hundred and eight teams present.

Among them, a golden light also flew towards Ning Fan. When Ning Fan reached out to catch it, it was a square golden token, inscribed with the words "Southern Frontier Tamu."

This was the scorecard for the second round of the tomb-stealing contest, recording the team’s performance, naturally unable to reuse the identification tokens from the first round.

Ning Fan was a one-person team, so the scoring token naturally fell into his hands. As for those multi-person teams, they were mostly held by the team member with the highest cultivation level.

Suddenly, the scorecard of a certain team erupted with golden light.

It was the participating team from the Cloud Gold Prairie Fuhu Sect. As the light flashed, the participants of the Fuhu Sect immediately understood, stepping out from the crowd and moving to stand in front of the Corpse Demon giant.

The scorecard would randomly light up, and whichever team it shined on would then come forward to compete.

Although the Fuhu Sect wasn’t among the strongest guild in the Great Descendant Three Thousand Tribes, it belonged to the upper-middle tier. The team’s twenty powerhouses all possessed formidable physical strength, not inferior to the aura of the Shedding Void Stage, also having three Shattered Thought Early Stage cultivations with equally muscular physiques.

Clearly, the Fuhu Sect had been well-prepared for the trial of strength, sending skilled Body Cultivation practitioners to participate in the second round.

The leader of the Tiger Subduing Sect was a tall middle-aged man who walked forward almost arrogantly and said to Shen Ershisan, "Please enlighten me!"

"Give me... a gift... or I’ll... kill you..." Shen Ershisan suddenly pulled out a Giant Sword embedded in the ground, rested it on his shoulder, and said in a stiff tone.

"Hehe, a gift, of course, we’ll give you one..."

The middle-aged man coughed a few times and suddenly spat a thick phlegm directly onto Shen Ershisan.

Following the middle-aged man, other strong figures from the Tiger Subduing Sect also stepped forward and spat phlegm at Shen Ershisan with disdainful eyes.

Their stature wasn’t short to begin with, but placed next to the giant-like Shen Ershisan, they appeared very short, and could only spit onto Shen Ershisan’s legs.

Shen Ershisan, already looking bedraggled with egg yolk and rotten vegetables hanging from him, became even more wretched after being spat upon, yet he seemed extremely satisfied, nodding and saying, "This gift... is good... I like it... I won’t kill you... now... the trial begins..."

"Bring it on!" The people of the Tiger Subduing Sect laughed heartily.

Outside the square, among the residents of Liuli City, many couldn’t help but laugh too.

So foolish, all the Corpse Demons of the "Shen" category are indeed idiots!

Rumor has it that the memories of the Corpse Demons of the "Shen" category were destroyed and altered, and being spat upon was considered a form of etiquette. Now, seeing it with one’s own eyes, this is no baseless tale...

Utterly ridiculous!

"Is there something... funny..."

Ning Fan suddenly felt a sense of desolation.

He did not know what name Shen Ershisan bore in life or what his background was, but he could assume he was a dignified, unyielding Ancient Demon Warrior.

He was renowned in life, refusing to bow even in death, still retaining that unyielding posture until today; in death, he became a Corpse Demon, and if he were a proper Corpse Demon, it might have been bearable, but he suffered humiliation before countless people...

If Shen Ershisan had foreseen such a day, he probably would have preferred to self-destruct in death rather than leave a complete corpse...

No one could hear Ning Fan’s inner thoughts, and while not everyone found this amusing, there were far too few who didn’t, far too few...

The trial of strength began amidst such laughter.

The people of Tiger Subduing Sect had already prepared themselves, standing in formation and facing Shen Ershisan’s direction in a vertical line.

When Shen Ershisan slashed down with his sword, everyone raised their swords in unison, blocking Shen Ershisan’s Giant Sword with tacit understanding.

The strong force was far from Shen Ershisan’s full power, yet it was terrifying.

The Giant Sword was longer than the line of twenty people, and as it slashed down, the weight of the blade stirred a fierce gale, whistling and swirling around the ancient square.

The clash between twenty swords and one Giant Sword seemed like the collision of stars, the mighty force distorting the surrounding space.

On one side was the short line of twenty people, on the other side was the fourteen-five zhang giant, and the scene was indeed quite spectacular.

In this exchange of strikes, Shen Ershisan, towering and mighty, slightly held the upper hand. Although the Tiger Subduing Sect blocked his first sword, six or seven of them either had their swords broken or their sword grip burst with blood, all displaying expressions of shock.

This is the limited strength of a "Shen" category Corpse Demon! Even if not at full strength, to possess such terrifying power is really not to be underestimated!

The strong members of the Tiger Subduing Sect, who had their swords broken, dared not be negligent, hurriedly drawing out new swords. With barely any time allowed, Shen Ershisan struck down with his second sword, still with overwhelming force, causing the fierce wind to roar.

Some strong members of the Tiger Subduing Sect had their hair disheveled directly by the fierce wind, looking extremely wretched in the sword’s wind.

The second sword, the Tiger Subduing Sect managed to block.

Then came the third sword, the fourth sword...

It seemed like Shen Ershisan’s energy was never exhausted, as the Giant Sword descended again and again, and its strength showed no signs of weakening.

Yet, the people of the Tiger Subduing Sect found their strength gradually diminishing, and by the eleventh sword, some couldn’t sustain their strength, helplessly retreating.

By the nineteenth sword, only the three at the Shattered Thought Early Stage had any strength left in the Tiger Subduing Sect.

By the twenty-fourth sword, even those three at the Shattered Thought Early Stage were exhausted, and they had to call off the trial, unable to face the twenty-fifth sword.

Twenty-four swords equaled 2400 points. The middle-aged man leading the Tiger Subduing Sect looked at the scoreboard, sighed slightly, and realized that achieving this result in the first stage is enough. Holding on further would result in exhaustion and injuries...

Seeing the crowd of the Tiger Subduing Sect call off the trial, Shen Ershisan didn’t pursue them further either. He cheerfully placed the Giant Sword down, re-inserting it into the stone ground, and said indifferently.

"Next."

As he spoke, another team’s scoreboard lit up with a golden glow.

Thus, the Tiger Subduing Sect retreated, and the second team stepped forward.

The second team came from the Stream Valley Sect of the Western River Steppe. This Stream Valley Sect wasn’t as strong as the Tiger Subduing Sect and gave up after only taking 14 swords from Shen Ershisan, with the entire process lacking any remarkable points.

Of course, just like the people of the Tiger Subduing Sect, before the trial started, Shen Ershisan still foolishly repeated that sentence.

"Give me... a gift... or I’ll... kill you..."

And the gift he received was again a mouthful of thick phlegm from the people of the Stream Valley Sect.

Then, there was Shen Ershisan’s almost stupidly satisfied nodding.

He was very satisfied with this gift...

It wasn’t that he was truly satisfied inside, but his memories were deliberately altered in such a way to make him think that being spat upon was a good thing...

"Whoever altered Shen Ershisan’s memories really has a twisted sense of humor; humiliating a dead man like this, is it truly amusing..." Ning Fan frowned even deeper.

Finding the laughter of those mocking Shen Ershisan’s foolishness grating and annoying.

Following the Stream Valley Sect, the Howling Sun Sect took the stage, with a result of 16 swords.

Next was the Purple Sand Sect with 11 swords, and the Sea Bow Sect with 9 swords... Not all tribes had plenty of Body Cultivation participants; there were also teams that came intending to abandon the trial of strength to focus on the trial of illusions, so they didn’t include too many Body Cultivation specialists, resulting in lackluster strength trial results.

Time passed bit by bit, with more and more tribes achieving scores in the trial of strength, but rarely did any tribe exceed a score of twenty swords.

Seventy to eighty tribes had achieved scores by now, but only six tribes scored above twenty swords, with the highest score being 33 swords.

Up to this point, the trial proceeded calmly without much incident, and the audience watching the trial grew somewhat bored.

Ning Fan, on the other hand, was frowning deeply. He had watched the scene of Shen Ershisan being spat upon dozens of times and, naturally, couldn’t find it amusing.

He didn’t like the disrespect towards dignity.

The only thing that piqued his interest was the Emperor Butcher, disguised as Qingling in the Phantom Sea Tribe, who also refrained from spitting on Shen Ershisan, instead taking out a handkerchief, and unafraid of any dirt, carefully wiping the phlegm off Shen Ershisan’s legs.

This act immediately enraged Shen Ershisan! His limited spirit awareness couldn’t comprehend why the woman named Qingling would remove his gift, and in a fit of anger, he swung his Giant Sword even more violently, making the sword force endured by the Phantom Sea Tribe heavier and fiercer than other tribes.

Naturally leading to a more miserable score!

Poor Phantom Sea Tribe, not skilled in Body Refinement to begin with, and treated with Shen Ershisan’s anger, they only scored a pitiful 4 swords, coming last in the trial of strength.

Ning Fan even deliberately released his spirit sense to catch some rather amusing conversations within the Phantom Sea Tribe.

"Damn it, you little girl, you’ve really gone too far this time! Why go deliberately provoke Shen Ershisan! Don’t you know the nicer you are to Shen Ershisan, the more he thinks you’re up to no good! They’re all stupid, dumb, and you go and act all nice and infuriate him, making us come last. You, you... See what I do to you on the bed when we get home after this tomb-seizing war is over!" This was the angry rebuke from Qingling’s husband—the scar-faced Shattered Thought towards Qingling.

Meanwhile, Qingling looked down, seemingly aggrieved, yet in her unseen eyes brewed an extremely terrifying killing intent.

Watching up to this point, Ning Fan actually laughed for the first time. He could imagine the Emperor Butcher’s inner breakdown at this moment!

To be ordered around like that by a mere scar-faced Shattered Thought man, it must be unbearable...

As Ning Fan guessed, the Emperor Butcher was indeed internally collapsing at this moment, almost revealing her identity to kill if not for the yet unfulfilled purpose of her trip.

Damn it, what kind of lousy identity did her subordinates arrange for her! Becoming someone’s dao companion is one thing, but to be teased and humiliated by being told they’d be handled on the bed! Hehe, hehe, when she finishes her task and returns, she’ll definitely repay those foolish subordinates properly!

Unfortunately, to Ning Fan, the preceding trials only had this one small highlight.

Fortunately, just as the audience started feeling bored, a dark horse team in the second round of this year’s competition took the stage, instantly lifting everyone’s spirits!

Crimson Peak Clan! That was the team boasting a Regimen Level powerhouse like Master Hongzang!

At last, a formidable team entered the stage...