Grasping the Evil

Chapter 1202: The Second One!

"This woman can actually summon karmic fire to harm her enemies!"

Ning Fan’s expression changed slightly; the renown of karmic fire was simply too significant. The Calamity Beast Fire on his body was said to be unparalleled under the heavens, yet it ultimately was still in the realm of fire.

Karmic fire was different; it existed only in legends, transcending the existence of ordinary fire and was not on the same level as flames.

Karmic fire was not something that a cultivator at the second step could wield; Honglian certainly couldn’t do it either. If Ning Fan had not seen it wrongly, Honglian could only use a very small amount of the karmic fire’s power.

Karmic fire is the flame that dissipates sins, weakening when encountering goodness and strengthening upon meeting evil. It is the supreme skill of the Black Buddha Sect and one of the common means used by the Saints of the Black Buddha Sect to subdue the Ancient Chaos Grand Emperor.

Ning Fan had never been a virtuous person; his cultivation path could be described as a bloody road with sinful karma as immense as the sky. He possessed methods to kill without incurring karma, but that didn’t mean he could rid himself of being entangled by karma.

Killing without incurring karma was merely a way to deceive the Heavenly Dao’s reincarnation and break the Rebellion of Heaven’s prediction, but it was ultimately deceit and not eradication. The sins of oneself would not be cleansed by deception.

Moreover, karmic fire is not merely an existence that uses karma to harm people; it uses karma as fuel but transcends above karma. Even if Ning Fan wasn’t afraid of karma’s attachment, he couldn’t claim to be unafraid of karmic fire. If there were truly a clever method to face karmic fire, buddha cultivators throughout the ages wouldn’t fear the punishment of karmic fire for violating precepts.

Faced with the approach of karmic fire, Ning Fan once again felt the sensation of being countered.

His Reverse Sea Sword was countered by Honglian!

His entire sinful karma was also countered by this woman!

He had always been the one to counter others; this time, however, he was countered at every turn. This feeling of vulnerability was not to his liking!

"If this woman were a Saint and attacked with an infinite amount of karmic fire, perhaps I would truly have to resign to fate. Alas, she is not a Saint; the karmic fire she summons is far too few in number!"

Ning Fan sprang into the air, his face revealing a ruthless expression, rushing head-on towards Honglian!

The Cross Halo, activate!

The Eternal True Body, manifest!

The illusory Extermination Divine Shield Aura transformed in his true self’s left hand. With a thought, the shield aura expanded infinitely, causing the rolling karmic fire to be forcefully blocked by the Extermination Divine Shield Aura.

If the approach of karmic fire would cause harm, then... he simply wouldn’t allow karmic fire to approach him!

"Impossible! Even though the karmic fire I summoned is limited, even an innate mid-grade treasure cannot block karmic fire. Your shield aura is clearly not even a magical treasure; how could such an illusory thing possibly block the karmic fire directly!"

Honglian was utterly astonished.

She originally intended to give Ning Fan a powerful encounter from the very start, using her trump card, karmic fire, at the first exchange, not expecting her fire to be unable to penetrate Ning Fan’s defense!

"This is not just shield aura; it is the Shield Soul, something you wouldn’t understand!"

Ning Fan’s eyes darkened slightly, his golden body grasping the illusory giant shield, as if returning to the days when the God-Extinguishing Shield rampaged.

The shield dies for its master, its soul endures! Even just a wisp of Shield Soul is also the Heaven-opening Spirit! Furthermore, it is the soul with a ferociously illustrious reputation on the Heaven-opening List! Such a minimal amount of karmic fire, how could it consume its soul, extinguish its existence!

Holding the shield, he charged!

Ning Fan turned into a golden light, with the illusion of the God-Extinguishing Shield, his whole person like a cannonball, directly charging towards Honglian.

It was a strategy he often used in the past; now, using the God-Extinguishing Shield for both main defense and attack, he naturally applied this move again.

The sea of karmic fire was easily pierced through by the rushing golden light, unable to hinder his steps in the slightest!

Honglian instinctively wanted to avoid Ning Fan’s collision; no one is willing to be hit head-on by a Barbarian Ox. However, her pride didn’t allow her to retreat; even merely dodging was unacceptable!

She wanted to meet strength with strength, to break hardness with hardness, and have a head-on collision with Ning Fan until both burst with blood, only then could she eliminate the hatred in her heart!

"Gather karmic fire!"

With a delicate wave of her hand, all the heavenly karmic fire rolled back instantly. Since it couldn’t burn Ning Fan, then don’t let it burn, avoiding a wastage of fire!

Karmic fire began to coalesce in Honglian’s palm, and within moments, it formed a wind lamp engraved with the pattern of an eight-petaled lotus flower. It turned out the karmic fire summoned by Honglian was merely the small flame within this wind lamp, no wonder the quantity was so small!

The design of the wind lamp contained numerous Black Buddha Sect decorations, resembling the lanterns used by temple monks for illumination. It was unknown how Honglian obtained this item.

The lantern itself wasn’t a magical treasure; it was merely a tool for illumination using karmic fire—of course, the materials used to construct the lantern were surprisingly rare, neither resembling wood nor metal, existing outside the Five Elements.

Illuminating with karmic fire, crafting lanterns from materials outside the Five Elements, such grandiosity wouldn’t be found in any temples during the Era of Decline; most likely, it’s something only found in the Real Realms.

As the Red Lotus Divine Power unfolded, the lantern immediately grew with the wind, and the pole holding the lantern suddenly stretched to a length of a thousand zhang—this was precisely the locking distance of the Cross Halo; she did not want to give Ning Fan any chance for close combat. She held the pole like this, swinging the lantern fiercely towards Ning Fan, her posture devoid of any celestial elegance, instead filled with brute force.

Boom!

With one strike, both were sent flying backward; Red Lotus was pushed back less than a hundred steps by Ning Fan’s collision force, secretly astonished at Ning Fan’s strong physical strength, which completely contradicted his outward frailty.

Ning Fan’s Golden Body flew back hundreds of steps, and immediately, the difference was evident.

His physical strength was inferior to Red Lotus’s! It was not the God-Extinguishing Shield that lost to this broken lantern, but Ning Fan lost.

"I’ve completely seen through your heretical methods. Trying to use this collision to get close to me and secretly employ bewitching techniques? Wishful thinking! You won’t get another chance to ambush me!"

Red Lotus laughed triumphantly, displaying her divine powers, similarly activating the Eternal True Body!

This time, she would no longer underestimate him!

She wanted to crush Ning Fan completely with the strongest, strongest power!

Red Lotus’s true form was not humanoid, but a scarlet, thousand-legged, hundreds of thousands of zhang-long giant ant, with the Karmic Fire lantern held in its mouth.

With the unveiling of her true form, Red Lotus’s aura instantly surged, her mana forcibly increasing by a thousand tribulations, directly heading toward fifteen thousand tribulations.

This was not the end. Following closely, she activated the Second Stage True Body, and her true form changed again, becoming even more hideous and vicious, entwined with fierce flames, transforming into a flame ant.

Under the Second Stage True Body, Red Lotus’s aura surged again, comparable to sixteen thousand tribulations of the Quasi-Saint!

"Second Stage True Body... This woman’s true form is so gigantic that my Cross Halo’s thousand zhang locking distance can hardly lock her entire body. Even in close combat, I can’t gain any advantage... This woman’s true form has an especially strong carapace that seems to be able to defend against the intrusion of bewitching techniques and other heretical methods..."

Ning Fan frowned, knowing that this battle could not involve any trickery.

It’s going to be hard!

"Do you think this is my strongest form? You are mistaken! Ant Ancestor Power, initiate!"

Red Lotus sneered, shockingly able to grow stronger!

Her giant ant body manifested golden armor, which was not physical but formed from the soul power condensation of the Dao Soul Clan!

This is... Soul Armor!

Ning Fan’s gaze immediately changed. The Netherworld Ghost Flower had previously told him the secret about the Ancient Demon Ancestral Technique and mentioned some other clans’ highest secret techniques.

The Ancestral Regression Technique is the highest secret technique of the Ancient Demon Clan. Similarly, the highest secret technique of the Ancient Divine Race is the God-Sealing Technique; the Ancient Demon Clan’s highest secret technique is the Spirit Armor Art. The Dao Soul Clan opposes Ancient Demon Clan in yin and yang, and their highest secret technique is similar to the Ancient Demon Clan’s identity, called Soul Armor.

As a supreme secret clan, naturally, not any Dao Soul Clan member can practice Soul Armor. At this moment, Red Lotus entirely relied on the residual strength of her ancestors to summon Soul Armor forcibly, rather than using her own methods.

This half-baked Soul Armor naturally wouldn’t be overwhelmingly strong, but it was sufficient to further boost Red Lotus’s strength.

With the Soul Armor equipped, Red Lotus’s defense significantly increased, allowing her to resist even more heretical ambushes!

Bewitching techniques can be directly bounced back with Soul Armor’s power. A series of heretical divine skills such as Body Locking, dizziness, and toxins would severely decrease in harm, rendering Ning Fan’s Heaven Sealing Art completely non-threatening to Red Lotus.

"Is this the result of a Quasi-Saint’s full force explosion? I have fought the Soul-Devouring Tree, fought the fused Quasi-Saint of the Light Ant Clan, fought the princess of the Light Ant Clan, fought the Corpse Puppet King—these individuals aren’t weak, but they all have their own shortcomings, giving me various opportunities to win through trickery. The Corpse Puppet King is needless to say; strength is great, but intelligence is too low, lacking methods, merely fighting with brute force; the fused Quasi-Saint of Light Ant Clan cannot be compared to Red Lotus, should not even count as a Quasi-Saint; The Soul-Devouring Tree and the princess of Light Ant Clan are both half-baked Quasi-Saints... Red Lotus is different from them, she represents the mid-tier level of a First Order Quasi-Saint in the Era of Decline. This is... true Quasi-Saint power."

Facing Red Lotus’s triumphant laughter, Ning Fan’s heart grew increasingly clear, and past victories against Quasi-Saints seemed insignificant.

Only by defeating Red Lotus would he truly have the qualification to stand shoulder to shoulder with Quasi-Saints!

He personally was weaker than Red Lotus, but fortunately, summoning ghost soldiers was also part of his overall power; he had areas where he surpassed Red Lotus!

"Indeed, compared to before, you are much smarter now, knowing to go all out at the start. But you are just as careless as before, seemingly unaware that I have tampered with the heavens and earth here."

As Ning Fan’s voice fell, hundreds of billions of sealing runes suddenly appeared between the heavens and earth here, completely sealing the heavens and earth around Red Lotus!

"Heaven-Sealing Earth-Locking! You despicable! You actually sealed the heavens and earth here, deliberately waiting for me to come! No wonder, no wonder you stayed put, waiting for me to arrive, I thought you were arrogant, but it turns out... it’s like this! Do you dare to face me head-on in a fair duel!"

Seeing the heavens and earth around her sealed, Red Lotus was instantly furious.

She realized that her reckless assault this time had again fallen into Ning Fan’s trap!

Heaven-Sealing Earth-Locking not only severed her escape route but also cut off her connection with the entire Thirteenth Spine Interface!

Of course, Red Lotus didn’t think she needed to flee from Ning Fan, but severing the interface connection truly hit her sore spot!

Her confidence in being able to take out Ning Fan for revenge did not primarily rely on her own immense strength but on the power of the entire Thirteen Vertebrae interface!

The existence of the Thirteen Vertebrae was akin to the Ant Lord’s Nest, allowing her to harness its immense power to easily kill Ning Fan.

Yet, Ning Fan was too cunning, severing her connection with the interface here, instantly rendering her advantage of borrowing interface power null and void...

She had lost her geographical advantage!

Never did she expect Ning Fan to have such knowledge about the Ant Lord’s Nest, indicating it wasn’t his first encounter with it...

"So what if you freeze the heavens and earth! I can still kill you! Threads of Karmic Light, shoot him!"

Hong Lian actually extracted the glow of karmic fire from the lantern, transforming it into hundreds of billions of threads of karmic fire, shooting towards Ning Fan. This ability to extract light and transform it into divine skills truly lived up to her name in the Light Ant Clan.

The opponent attacked with light, while Ning Fan naturally responded with darkness; the power of Dark Yin Yang was activated at that moment, but his darkness was completely outmatched by Hong Lian’s light.

This wasn’t because darkness was restrained by light; rather, there was no absolute restraint in this world. Water can extinguish fire, but fire can just as easily dry up water; the Life-Slaying Sword claims to suppress immortal creatures, but if immortal power is strong enough, the Life-Slaying Sword could be suppressed in turn. The key to restraint is breaking the balance of power and seizing the advantage. Without an advantage, one would only be countered! After many years of mastering the Dao of Yin and Yang, Ning Fan had long understood this principle.

His darkness was no match for Hong Lian’s light!

He unleashed the Ancient Demon Mountain-Shattering Strike, using the momentum of thousands of consecutive strikes to fiercely attack Hong Lian, yet only managed to create small cracks on her soul armor; her soul armor’s defense was too powerful!

The Reverse Sea Sword was strangely suppressed by Hong Lian’s karmic fire lantern, easily nullifying much of the Reverse Sea Sword’s power.

Primordial Thunder Cauldron, Sea-Stabilizing Divine Needle, Seven Treasures Marvelous Tree, Flame Thunder Fire, Sun Moon Stars Stele... all innate mid-grade techniques were utilized by Ning Fan, and the battle lasted for two days and nights!

Through two days and nights of battle, Ning Fan’s displayed attack power made Hong Lian more and more amazed, gradually sensing an ominous feeling.

Undoubtedly, this despicable man before her was weaker than her, but why did he have so many hidden techniques! A single innate mid-grade attack wouldn’t be enough to make Hong Lian cautious, but a combination of multiple innate mid-grade attacks was becoming overwhelming for her.

Her incomplete soul armor wasn’t invincible; after being fiercely attacked by Ning Fan for two days and nights, it already had numerous cracks. However, as long as the soul armor wasn’t truly shattered, she could remain unscathed. In contrast, Ning Fan was in a dire state; the God-Extinguishing Shield was ultimately just a shadow, unable to protect him completely unscathed. After two days and nights of fighting, Ning Fan was battered to the point...

Battered to the point...

Battered to the point of losing his human form???

This is impossible! Wasn’t this despicable man gravely injured and on the brink of death after being hit by her second-stage true body, how did he heal after taking a few bites of the Netherworld Ghost Flower’s root sap!

Wait! Since when did this despicable man start emitting such terrifying blood steam! Isn’t this the stage one form of the Ancient Demon Ancestral Reversion Technique! This kid... has such fearsome healing techniques!

And wait again! When did this despicable man summon the Netherworld Ghost Flower! He can actually summon such a forbidden plant! As a disciple of the Hunkun Holy Sect, how dare he disregard the laws of the Three Realms and collude with the Netherworld Ghost Flower privately!

When Hong Lian first arrived, Ning Fan had already dismissed the summoning of the Netherworld Ghost Flower; he didn’t want to reveal his powerful trump card to Hong Lian right away.

After two days and nights of arduous battle, Ning Fan constantly fell behind, his injuries worsening. Forced by circumstance, Ning Fan eventually resorted to using the first stage of the Ancestral Regression Technique, which he had just learned, to heal his severe injuries again and again using the Saint’s Blood transmitted by the Netherworld Ghost Flower.

In his two-day-long battle with Hong Lian, he didn’t summon ghosts, only using Ancestral Regression’s blood extraction for healing, to gauge the gap between his strength and Hong Lian’s.

He wanted to forever remember this gap in strength as a warning!

The place had enough Saint’s Blood for his rapid healing. If he continued at this rate, grinding for another ten days or half a month would thoroughly shatter Hong Lian’s soul armor; after grinding for a few more months, he should be able to severely damage Hong Lian’s Eternal True Body... while his strength was not on par with Hong Lian’s, it didn’t mean he would lose.

Unfortunately, Ning Fan didn’t have the time to slowly grind against Hong Lian; with the saying ’the longer the night, the more dreams there are’, if too much time passed, unforeseen circumstances might occur, or the Light Ant Clan might offer support, or Hong Lian might manage to grind away all the earth and sky seals here, and slip away...

Ning Fan kept relentlessly battling Hong Lian, not giving her a chance to shatter the earth and sky seals here; however, their duel was so intense that the clashes alone continuously weakened the surrounding earth and sky seals...

"I have to admit, you’re very formidable. Although your strength is weak and pitiful, your myriad techniques manage to offset the gap between us! It seems unrealistic to kill you with my own strength alone. Thus, I might as well shatter your earth and sky seals, and re-establish a connection with the world!"

Hong Lian was exhausted!

The fact that Ning Fan instantly healed his injuries dealt a heavy blow to her. She understood that continuing to grind with Ning Fan would only cause her to suffer the disadvantage. Thus, she decided to use her last trump card as well.

"Lotus Seed Avatars, appear!"

She suddenly summoned three Lotus Seed Avatars to attack Ning Fan in a pincer move, attempting to stall Ning Fan’s progress.

These three Lotus Seed Avatars were only at the Semi-Saint Cultivation level, much weaker than the previous self-detonating Quasi-Saint avatars, yet they were still capable of delaying Ning Fan temporarily in a surprise attack.

With just these three avatars holding Ning Fan at bay, she could shatter the earth and sky seals here and re-establish the interface connection, using the entire power of the Thirteen Vertebrae to kill Ning Fan!

"Summoning avatars, huh..." Ning Fan sneered, having long prepared for Hong Lian’s move.

```

Almost simultaneously with the appearance of the three Lotus Seed Avatars by the Red Lotus, at Ning Fan’s command, four fierce Eternal Ghost Soldiers tore through the void, revealing themselves and surrounding the Red Lotus once more.

While he was summoning the Netherworld Ghost Flower for healing, he had already secretly summoned the Eternal Ghost Soldiers, hiding them in the endless void, ready at all times. Ghost Soldiers don’t always have to be summoned openly; sometimes using them for a sneak attack can be unexpectedly effective.

"Corpse Puppet King! You even made the Corpse Puppet King into a Ghost Soldier! And you actually have a Quasi-Saint underling from the Soul-Devouring Tree!"

This time, Red Lotus truly felt things were not going well! It’s one thing for the Soul-Devouring Tree, but the existence of the Corpse Puppet King genuinely frightened her. Being one of the rulers of the Light Ant Clan, she couldn’t possibly be unaware of how powerful the Corpse Puppet King was. Ning Fan killed even such a monstrous being and made it into a Ghost Soldier; could she really defeat Ning Fan!

Ah ah ah!

Three screams suddenly rang out. Ning Fan had unexpectedly used the Illusions of the Primordial Rainy Night to instantly kill the three avatars of the Red Lotus.

Half-Saint avatars might delay other Quasi-Saints, but they couldn’t delay Ning Fan! As long as they were not Quasi-Saints, killing them wasn’t difficult for him at all!

"You... you were able to instantly kill three Half-Saints in one move! That’s impossible! Half-Saints aren’t trash, even I couldn’t do it!"

The Red Lotus was intimidated by Ning Fan’s show of robust instant-kill techniques!

She felt a chill in her heart, sensing that Ning Fan had hidden his true strength, deliberately feigning weakness and engaging her in battle, only now showing his true fangs!

"Red Lotus, I told you, you are my Cauldron Furnace, you cannot escape!"

After eliminating the three avatars of the Red Lotus, Ning Fan turned around, joining the four Ghost Soldiers in attacking the Red Lotus.

A day later, Red Lotus’s demon soul was shattered!

Another day passed, and Red Lotus’s Second Stage True Body was pushed back to a First Stage True Body, and then even the First Stage True Body was dispersed.

The weak and exhausted Red Lotus could no longer resist Ning Fan’s capture, being confined by the Divine Spirit Trees summoned by Ning Fan into a wooden cage.

The Red Lotus found in bitter anger that Ning Fan had indeed held back a trump card, using it only at the very last!

Control Positions! These were definitely Control Position level Mu Chi traces! Otherwise, even in her dying state, she shouldn’t have been unable to break this wooden cage! Could this cage really just be extraordinarily resilient and not even considered a spell!

"You... despicable!"

Amidst Red Lotus’s furious curses, Ning Fan placed numerous restrictions on her, confining her into the Xuan Yin World.

Finally, the second Quasi-Saint Cauldron Furnace was captured!

"Again, another Quasi-Saint captured!" Ancestor Leize didn’t know how to describe his feelings at this moment.

How long has it been? Ning Fan has already taken down so many Quasi-Saints from the Light Ant Clan! An Era of Decline peak Quasi-Saint, yet so easily subdued by Ning Fan! This kid doesn’t seem to be an Ancient Great Cultivator, but his strength truly is formidable!

Without any tricks, using various means, he subdued the high and mighty Red Lotus into a weak, captured state... What more could Ancestor Leize say? He, himself, wouldn’t be capable of such a feat.

"Great! Hero Brother has captured the Red Lotus dog thief! Now we can venture deeper into the spine for more adventures!" The Slime Monster cheered excitedly.

"Deeper into the spine, what do you mean... You seem to know a lot about this place..."

Ning Fan raised a slight surprise, returning to his true form and descending to the ground to ask the Slime Monster.

"Eh? Hero Brother doesn’t know this is the Spine of the Ant Lord? Then how did you stumble into this place to rescue me?" The Slime Monster’s big eyes blinked in confusion.

"Would you believe me if I said I entered here by accident?" Ning Fan responded with a wry smile.

"Is this... Is this what those Merit Saints talk about, doing good deeds without seeking recognition! Hero Brother has clearly traveled far and wide to save me, yet doesn’t seek my gratitude, thus telling a well-intentioned lie..." The Slime Monster began to admire Ning Fan even more, letting his imagination run wild about Ning Fan’s noble character.

"...Enough, think what you want. But first, tell me what exactly this place is. And stop calling me Hero Brother..."

"Alright! Hero Brother! Yes, Hero Brother! Oh by the way, I’m called Feng Zhao, the Feng from ’The Phoenix Arrives with Grace’, the Zhao from ’The Phoenix Arrives with Grace’..."

So, you just want to emphasize The Phoenix Arrives with Grace, don’t you? Comparing yourself to a noble and beautiful phoenix bird, this heap of mud is truly narcissistic...

"Get to the point."

"Oh, this place is called the Thirteenth Spine, mentioning these Thirteenth Spines, there’s a long story..."

"Then make it short..."

"Understood! Hero Brother! Yes, Hero Brother!"