In the two women’s eyes, Ning Fan’s confidence was perceived as arrogance.
Both of them had the hips of a bear and the back of a tiger. Their faces were rough like the surface of a millstone and their eyebrows were thick, making them look extremely ferocious. Both of them made a step forward and their Peak Divine Transformation Realm aura force pressed against Ning Fan like mountains collapsing, stirring up dust and smoke in the air.
However, the two traces of Peak Divine Transformation Realm aura force were actually showing signs of fusing together into one, becoming an aura force as powerful as that of a Half-Step Void Refinement Realm expert!
Ning Fan’s eyes became focused, thinking that the two women were quite strong. Even so, his facial expression did not reveal even the slightest hint of fear.
He, too, moved a step forward and made a stomp on the ground. Immediately, the earth trembled and the mountains swayed. A dark red aura force was sent out from his body, brutally colliding against the aura of the two women.
*Bang*
An ear-shattering bang reverberated throughout the sky. The collision of their aura forces ended up in a tie which was an outcome that really was beyond the two women’s expectations.
As a matter of fact, the two women were the bear demon Man Shan’s wives. Despite their hideous appearance, their power was undeniably strong and should not be underestimated.
Besides, they were originally twins born of the same mother. The spirituality bestowed upon them was equally split into two, enabling them to not only fuse their aura forces but also their demon techniques. With their combined attacks, they could even battle against a Half-Step Void Refinement Realm expert!
Now, they unleashed all their aura forces without any reservations and fused them together, intending to subdue Ning Fan at the first attempt. However, none of them had actually expected that Ning Fan who was only an Early Divine Transformation Realm expert would carry an aura force not weaker than a Half-Step Void Refinement Realm expert’s!
As time passed by, their aura forces began to subside. The victor of the confrontation was gradually becoming more apparent. The aura force from the two women was still just a combination of their two separate aura forces at the end of the day. Now, it began to separate and weaken. On the other hand, the longer Ning Fan’s aura force resisted against theirs, the stronger it got.
“Hmmph! An Early Divine Transformation Realm cultivator has the aura force that could overwhelm the both of us?! I don’t believe it! Let’s use the secret technique!”
“Alright!”
The two women exchanged glances with each other. Although they were still speaking arrogantly and insolently, their eyes were already filled with a hint of gloominess.
The next moment, they bit off the skin on their fingertips in succession and squeezed out a few drops of silver demon blood. Then, they flicked it into the air, making them disappear like a vague blood mist. All of a sudden, the weakening trend of their aura force stopped and started to strengthen drastically instead.
Apparently, they seemed to have used some kind of secret technique on their aura force.
Ning Fan’s eyes narrowed with seriousness. If they were beings of the opposite gender, he would of course not dare to belittle them. Unfortunately for them, because of his Yin Yang Devil Veins, he was the least afraid of women. It did not mean that he underestimated women but he was a natural bane to women and none of them could resist him.
When the purple star in his left eye flashed, the demon wings on his back suddenly appeared!
At the moment his purple star rotated, a tremendous aura force rushed out from his bloodlines, causing the two women who were impudent at first to replace their hideous faces with a look of disbelief!
“The might of ancestor blood… This person’s demon bloodline is at the grade of ancestor blood!”
The demon race valued demon bloodlines. It was because when one’s demon bloodlines has reached a certain level, it would produce a majestic aura force in that particular demon, making the others instinctively submit to him.
For example, the little girl Bright Sparrow in the past. Although her cultivation level was not strong, no demon dared to provoke her.
Now, the same phenomenon happened to Ning Fan. His gaze was filled with an unerasable coldness!
That coldness was a lofty attitude of a being in a high position, just like a person who was standing above a thousand zhang* mountain, looking down upon the women like ants!
*Thump*
The dark red aura force was tinted with a tinge of purple black. Just as this purple black color emerged, a boundless force from three zhang* around Ning Fan spread out, literally crushing the female experts’ newly-enhanced aura force to pieces like glass!
In disbelief, the two women retreated for a few steps. Even so, they were still unable to regain their balance. After receiving the ruthless aura force from Ning Fan, the two women’s faces began to flush red and their qi were in disorder!
At this moment, what made the two women feel disbelief occurred!
With a flap of his wings, Ning Fan emerged right before the two women with a speed comparable to a Half-Step Void Refinement Realm expert’s and pressed a finger against the two women from each of his hands respectively!
“He’s fast! Compared him to the other Half-Step Void Refinement Realm experts, his current level could be considered strong already!”
After recovering from their shock, they stabilized themselves one after one another. Their eyes sparkling with cold light.
At first glance, they noticed that Ning Fan’s body refining realm was only at the Second Level of Jade Life Realm. As for them, both of them were at the Third Level of Jade Life Realm!
“This man sure is fast. Unfortunately, he chose to fight with us at close range…”
With only a Second Level of Jade Life Body Refining Realm, it was an act of courting death for directly placing his fingers onto the two women!
Honestly, if the two women were of the other gender, Ning Fan would not have acted so boldly to fight them so closely knowing that his body refining realm was weaker than his opponents. However, since they were female, as long as he inserts the power of the Yin Plucking Finger into them, they would then be completely overwhelmed by his bewitching technique. Within just a short period of time, their demon power would be fully gone, making them become vulnerable to anything Ning Fan intended to do to them!
Of course, they were clueless about what Ning Fan had in his mind. They only knew that Ning Fan was just an extremely arrogant and reckless man who had no sense of death or danger.
As such, without making any allowances, each of them threw a punch together to meet Ning Fan’s fingers, intending to pulverize his fingers as well as his arms to powders.
However, at this very moment, a black shadow appeared, directly standing in between Ning Fan and the two women and roared loudly.
“Foolish wives! Didn’t I tell you not to disturb this brother in the southern region? Why are you standing here for? Get back to the house and wait for me on the kang1. I’ll give the both of you a great lesson once I get back!”
The black shadow was actually an honest-looking, boorish black man with fur all over his face. Even though he was scolding and cursing with his mouth, his fists did not remain still. With a punch, he blocked both attacks from the women. Upon collision, he did not budge an inch while the two females were sent flying to nearly one thousand zhang* away. Despite that, the strength he exerted was just right, not inflicting any damage on the two women other than offsetting their attacks.
On the other side, the black man changed the five fingers of his other hand into a claw and slashed at Ning Fan’s direction, tearing off the hollow space to create a barrier of Void Realm before Ning Fan’s fingers to stop him from advancing.
Ning Fan’s eyes slightly widened.
Without a doubt, this black man is that giant bear. His current appearance might be different, but his qi is the same as the bear I met earlier.
Wild Beasts cultivated their beast forms. However, when they were approaching the Void Refinement Realm, they would be able to shapeshift into a human form. As for demon cultivators, they might choose to cultivate their human forms, but they could also transform into their demon forms.
At the end of the Great Dao, everyone would eventually reach the same goal regardless of the means they used.
Ning Fan’s fingers were now at an inch away from the barrier of Void Realm. If he moves a little further, his fingers would then enter into the Void Realm and be shredded to pieces by its power… Ning Fan’s expression remained calm and composed. At this moment, he pulled back his fingers and retreated with a flap of his wings. From a distance, he stared at the black man.
If the black man were to harbor the thought to kill Ning Fan, he could have pushed the barrier of Void Realm towards Ning Fan. However, his actions showed that he did not intend to offend Ning Fan.
As for the reason he sent the two women far away, it was because he had clearly seen through the power of Ning Fan’s Yin Plucking Finger. Even though he was scolding his wives on the surface, he was actually protecting them in a rude and unconstrained manner.
“Husband! Hurry up and kill this person…”
“Shut up!”
The black man angrily shouted at the two women once more. Then, he turned his head and cast a deep stare at Ning Fan with his fists cupped.
“Your Excellency, thank you for showing mercy! If you have used the refined corpse, perhaps my two young and beautiful wives would have met their deaths.”
The black man, Man Shan, had actually seen through that Ning Fan harbored a black dragon refined corpse!
Indeed, Ning Fan had exercised mercy. Otherwise, he could have summoned his refined corpse to attack one of the women while holding the other one by himself. In that case, the two of them probably would not have a good ending.
The black bear was dreadful of Ning Fan while Ning Fan also feared him. There were still a few months more before the Star Gate reopens and the gate was right within the territory of the old bear. If he were to kill his wives, the black man would certainly fight him to the death. By that time, he would need to risk his life in order to get to the Star Gate. Since he had a choice now, there was no need for him to pursue and kill any of them. As for the Extreme Profound Zoysia, it was not too late to decide whether to seize it or not after asking Xi Ran about it when she awakens.
“You should keep an eye on your own wives. If they roam freely outside like this and get hurt, you are going to feel heartache and sorry for them.” Ning Fan indifferently said.
“Haha! Don’t worry. Brother, you can rest peacefully here in the southern part of the island. This kind of misunderstanding won’t happen for the second time! Considering your benevolence for not killing my wives, I am going to give you something good…”
The black bear laughed generously and tossed a jade slip to Ning Fan. He then turned his head back, facing the two women and cast them a fierce stare.
“Let’s go home!”
“…” The two women did not dare to disobey his command. In a flash, the three figures disappeared into the distance.
After the black bear left, Ning Fan held the jade slip in his hand and perused it. He was not in a hurry to open it up. In fact, he first checked if there were any traps or hidden seals placed within the jade slip. When he made sure that everything was normal, only then did he immersed his spirit sense into it to see what was inside.
As he took a glance at it, his eyes instantly turned cold. The jade slip did not record anything else other than a kill order!
The individual who issued the kill order was one of the four holy demons of the star sea – the Holy Kun2, Kun Mo3!
The wanted person looks exactly like me!
If it weren’t for the black bear who notified me about it, perhaps I would still be unaware that I have unknowingly offended an expert.
“Don’t tell me that this Kun Mo is that person…” Ning Fan recalled that in the past four months when he was travelling across the star sea, he had indeed provoked a Half-Step Void Refinement Realm beast after killing quite a number of Wild Beasts.
On that day, that Half-Step Void Refinement Realm beast was leading tens of Wild Beasts to pursue him across the sea. If it was not because of the incredible speed of his Golden Flame Chariot, he probably would have been in danger.
With this kill order, Ning Fan could now be prepared and be on the lookout for any ambush or sneak attacks, although he was not afraid of the so-called Holy Kun, Kun Mo at all!
The Wild Beasts of the star sea attacked him so he killed them in return. It might be difficult to tell whose fault it was in the end, but Ning Fan firmly believed in one thing.
In this world, if you don’t provoke others, the others would never offend you.
“This black bear is rather interesting.”
After clearing off his thoughts, Ning Fan smiled faintly.
This black bear seems to be straightforward and honest, but he is definitely not stupid.
Think about it, the reason why he would express goodwill to me by informing me that I am being pursued is because I have showed concern for his wives without killing them straight away like usual.
“I showed my mercy to him and then he repaid me by letting me know about the kill order… Giving a plum in return for a peach. This kind of incident is indeed hard to find in the cultivation world. Speaking of which, the reason why I did not kill his wives was not because I was being soft-hearted or kind to them but because I was dreadful of them. Similarly, he cozied up to me not because he was grateful. Perhaps, he just wanted to express a bit of kindness to prevent me from creating more troubles in his territory… This kind of relationship really resembles that between me and my master. I chose to become his disciple because I was unwilling to die. The master accepted me and taught me with all his effort because I am able to save his wife. Isn’t this just like the saying goes ‘Giving a plum in return for a peach’…”
“The principle that contains within that relationship isn’t just gratitude or spiritual debt, but… karma! Every cause brings a consequence. This is the fundamental principle for all things in the world. It is just like the two ends of a circle. Because of a single seed, a fruit grows. Because of a single cause, a consequence manifests… And that circle is none other than the causal loop!”
Translated by Tommy, edited by Roel
Note:
The kang (Chinese: 炕pinyin: kàng) is a traditional long platform for general living, working, entertaining and sleeping used in the northern part of China, where the winter climate is cold. Typically, a kang is used for sleeping at night and for other activities during the day. In short, it is like a heatable brick bed. (Click here for picture) [Source from Wikipedia.]
Kun (Chinese: 鲲 pinyin: kūn) is an enormous legendary fish which could transform into a roc.
Kun Mo (Chinese:鲲 魔 pinyin: kūn mó) The meaning of Kun is similar to that in 2. The meaning of Mo (魔mó) is evil or monster or magic.
In the two women’s eyes, Ning Fan’s confidence was perceived as arrogance.
Both of them had the hips of a bear and the back of a tiger. Their faces were rough like the surface of a millstone and their eyebrows were thick, making them look extremely ferocious. Both of them made a step forward and their Peak Divine Transformation Realm aura force pressed against Ning Fan like mountains collapsing, stirring up dust and smoke in the air.
However, the two traces of Peak Divine Transformation Realm aura force were actually showing signs of fusing together into one, becoming an aura force as powerful as that of a Half-Step Void Refinement Realm expert!
Ning Fan’s eyes became focused, thinking that the two women were quite strong. Even so, his facial expression did not reveal even the slightest hint of fear.
He, too, moved a step forward and made a stomp on the ground. Immediately, the earth trembled and the mountains swayed. A dark red aura force was sent out from his body, brutally colliding against the aura of the two women.
*Bang*
An ear-shattering bang reverberated throughout the sky. The collision of their aura forces ended up in a tie which was an outcome that really was beyond the two women’s expectations.
As a matter of fact, the two women were the bear demon Man Shan’s wives. Despite their hideous appearance, their power was undeniably strong and should not be underestimated.
Besides, they were originally twins born of the same mother. The spirituality bestowed upon them was equally split into two, enabling them to not only fuse their aura forces but also their demon techniques. With their combined attacks, they could even battle against a Half-Step Void Refinement Realm expert!
Now, they unleashed all their aura forces without any reservations and fused them together, intending to subdue Ning Fan at the first attempt. However, none of them had actually expected that Ning Fan who was only an Early Divine Transformation Realm expert would carry an aura force not weaker than a Half-Step Void Refinement Realm expert’s!
As time passed by, their aura forces began to subside. The victor of the confrontation was gradually becoming more apparent. The aura force from the two women was still just a combination of their two separate aura forces at the end of the day. Now, it began to separate and weaken. On the other hand, the longer Ning Fan’s aura force resisted against theirs, the stronger it got.
“Hmmph! An Early Divine Transformation Realm cultivator has the aura force that could overwhelm the both of us?! I don’t believe it! Let’s use the secret technique!”
“Alright!”
The two women exchanged glances with each other. Although they were still speaking arrogantly and insolently, their eyes were already filled with a hint of gloominess.
The next moment, they bit off the skin on their fingertips in succession and squeezed out a few drops of silver demon blood. Then, they flicked it into the air, making them disappear like a vague blood mist. All of a sudden, the weakening trend of their aura force stopped and started to strengthen drastically instead.
Apparently, they seemed to have used some kind of secret technique on their aura force.
Ning Fan’s eyes narrowed with seriousness. If they were beings of the opposite gender, he would of course not dare to belittle them. Unfortunately for them, because of his Yin Yang Devil Veins, he was the least afraid of women. It did not mean that he underestimated women but he was a natural bane to women and none of them could resist him.
When the purple star in his left eye flashed, the demon wings on his back suddenly appeared!
At the moment his purple star rotated, a tremendous aura force rushed out from his bloodlines, causing the two women who were impudent at first to replace their hideous faces with a look of disbelief!
“The might of ancestor blood… This person’s demon bloodline is at the grade of ancestor blood!”
The demon race valued demon bloodlines. It was because when one’s demon bloodlines has reached a certain level, it would produce a majestic aura force in that particular demon, making the others instinctively submit to him.
For example, the little girl Bright Sparrow in the past. Although her cultivation level was not strong, no demon dared to provoke her.
Now, the same phenomenon happened to Ning Fan. His gaze was filled with an unerasable coldness!
That coldness was a lofty attitude of a being in a high position, just like a person who was standing above a thousand zhang* mountain, looking down upon the women like ants!
*Thump*
The dark red aura force was tinted with a tinge of purple black. Just as this purple black color emerged, a boundless force from three zhang* around Ning Fan spread out, literally crushing the female experts’ newly-enhanced aura force to pieces like glass!
In disbelief, the two women retreated for a few steps. Even so, they were still unable to regain their balance. After receiving the ruthless aura force from Ning Fan, the two women’s faces began to flush red and their qi were in disorder!
At this moment, what made the two women feel disbelief occurred!
With a flap of his wings, Ning Fan emerged right before the two women with a speed comparable to a Half-Step Void Refinement Realm expert’s and pressed a finger against the two women from each of his hands respectively!
“He’s fast! Compared him to the other Half-Step Void Refinement Realm experts, his current level could be considered strong already!”
After recovering from their shock, they stabilized themselves one after one another. Their eyes sparkling with cold light.
At first glance, they noticed that Ning Fan’s body refining realm was only at the Second Level of Jade Life Realm. As for them, both of them were at the Third Level of Jade Life Realm!
“This man sure is fast. Unfortunately, he chose to fight with us at close range…”
With only a Second Level of Jade Life Body Refining Realm, it was an act of courting death for directly placing his fingers onto the two women!
Honestly, if the two women were of the other gender, Ning Fan would not have acted so boldly to fight them so closely knowing that his body refining realm was weaker than his opponents. However, since they were female, as long as he inserts the power of the Yin Plucking Finger into them, they would then be completely overwhelmed by his bewitching technique. Within just a short period of time, their demon power would be fully gone, making them become vulnerable to anything Ning Fan intended to do to them!
Of course, they were clueless about what Ning Fan had in his mind. They only knew that Ning Fan was just an extremely arrogant and reckless man who had no sense of death or danger.
As such, without making any allowances, each of them threw a punch together to meet Ning Fan’s fingers, intending to pulverize his fingers as well as his arms to powders.
However, at this very moment, a black shadow appeared, directly standing in between Ning Fan and the two women and roared loudly.
“Foolish wives! Didn’t I tell you not to disturb this brother in the southern region? Why are you standing here for? Get back to the house and wait for me on the kang1. I’ll give the both of you a great lesson once I get back!”
The black shadow was actually an honest-looking, boorish black man with fur all over his face. Even though he was scolding and cursing with his mouth, his fists did not remain still. With a punch, he blocked both attacks from the women. Upon collision, he did not budge an inch while the two females were sent flying to nearly one thousand zhang* away. Despite that, the strength he exerted was just right, not inflicting any damage on the two women other than offsetting their attacks.
On the other side, the black man changed the five fingers of his other hand into a claw and slashed at Ning Fan’s direction, tearing off the hollow space to create a barrier of Void Realm before Ning Fan’s fingers to stop him from advancing.
Ning Fan’s eyes slightly widened.
Without a doubt, this black man is that giant bear. His current appearance might be different, but his qi is the same as the bear I met earlier.
Wild Beasts cultivated their beast forms. However, when they were approaching the Void Refinement Realm, they would be able to shapeshift into a human form. As for demon cultivators, they might choose to cultivate their human forms, but they could also transform into their demon forms.
At the end of the Great Dao, everyone would eventually reach the same goal regardless of the means they used.
Ning Fan’s fingers were now at an inch away from the barrier of Void Realm. If he moves a little further, his fingers would then enter into the Void Realm and be shredded to pieces by its power… Ning Fan’s expression remained calm and composed. At this moment, he pulled back his fingers and retreated with a flap of his wings. From a distance, he stared at the black man.
If the black man were to harbor the thought to kill Ning Fan, he could have pushed the barrier of Void Realm towards Ning Fan. However, his actions showed that he did not intend to offend Ning Fan.
As for the reason he sent the two women far away, it was because he had clearly seen through the power of Ning Fan’s Yin Plucking Finger. Even though he was scolding his wives on the surface, he was actually protecting them in a rude and unconstrained manner.
“Husband! Hurry up and kill this person…”
“Shut up!”
The black man angrily shouted at the two women once more. Then, he turned his head and cast a deep stare at Ning Fan with his fists cupped.
“Your Excellency, thank you for showing mercy! If you have used the refined corpse, perhaps my two young and beautiful wives would have met their deaths.”
The black man, Man Shan, had actually seen through that Ning Fan harbored a black dragon refined corpse!
Indeed, Ning Fan had exercised mercy. Otherwise, he could have summoned his refined corpse to attack one of the women while holding the other one by himself. In that case, the two of them probably would not have a good ending.
The black bear was dreadful of Ning Fan while Ning Fan also feared him. There were still a few months more before the Star Gate reopens and the gate was right within the territory of the old bear. If he were to kill his wives, the black man would certainly fight him to the death. By that time, he would need to risk his life in order to get to the Star Gate. Since he had a choice now, there was no need for him to pursue and kill any of them. As for the Extreme Profound Zoysia, it was not too late to decide whether to seize it or not after asking Xi Ran about it when she awakens.
“You should keep an eye on your own wives. If they roam freely outside like this and get hurt, you are going to feel heartache and sorry for them.” Ning Fan indifferently said.
“Haha! Don’t worry. Brother, you can rest peacefully here in the southern part of the island. This kind of misunderstanding won’t happen for the second time! Considering your benevolence for not killing my wives, I am going to give you something good…”
The black bear laughed generously and tossed a jade slip to Ning Fan. He then turned his head back, facing the two women and cast them a fierce stare.
“Let’s go home!”
“…” The two women did not dare to disobey his command. In a flash, the three figures disappeared into the distance.
After the black bear left, Ning Fan held the jade slip in his hand and perused it. He was not in a hurry to open it up. In fact, he first checked if there were any traps or hidden seals placed within the jade slip. When he made sure that everything was normal, only then did he immersed his spirit sense into it to see what was inside.
As he took a glance at it, his eyes instantly turned cold. The jade slip did not record anything else other than a kill order!
The individual who issued the kill order was one of the four holy demons of the star sea – the Holy Kun2, Kun Mo3!
The wanted person looks exactly like me!
If it weren’t for the black bear who notified me about it, perhaps I would still be unaware that I have unknowingly offended an expert.
“Don’t tell me that this Kun Mo is that person…” Ning Fan recalled that in the past four months when he was travelling across the star sea, he had indeed provoked a Half-Step Void Refinement Realm beast after killing quite a number of Wild Beasts.
On that day, that Half-Step Void Refinement Realm beast was leading tens of Wild Beasts to pursue him across the sea. If it was not because of the incredible speed of his Golden Flame Chariot, he probably would have been in danger.
With this kill order, Ning Fan could now be prepared and be on the lookout for any ambush or sneak attacks, although he was not afraid of the so-called Holy Kun, Kun Mo at all!
The Wild Beasts of the star sea attacked him so he killed them in return. It might be difficult to tell whose fault it was in the end, but Ning Fan firmly believed in one thing.
In this world, if you don’t provoke others, the others would never offend you.
“This black bear is rather interesting.”
After clearing off his thoughts, Ning Fan smiled faintly.
This black bear seems to be straightforward and honest, but he is definitely not stupid.
Think about it, the reason why he would express goodwill to me by informing me that I am being pursued is because I have showed concern for his wives without killing them straight away like usual.
“I showed my mercy to him and then he repaid me by letting me know about the kill order… Giving a plum in return for a peach. This kind of incident is indeed hard to find in the cultivation world. Speaking of which, the reason why I did not kill his wives was not because I was being soft-hearted or kind to them but because I was dreadful of them. Similarly, he cozied up to me not because he was grateful. Perhaps, he just wanted to express a bit of kindness to prevent me from creating more troubles in his territory… This kind of relationship really resembles that between me and my master. I chose to become his disciple because I was unwilling to die. The master accepted me and taught me with all his effort because I am able to save his wife. Isn’t this just like the saying goes ‘Giving a plum in return for a peach’…”
“The principle that contains within that relationship isn’t just gratitude or spiritual debt, but… karma! Every cause brings a consequence. This is the fundamental principle for all things in the world. It is just like the two ends of a circle. Because of a single seed, a fruit grows. Because of a single cause, a consequence manifests… And that circle is none other than the causal loop!”
Translated by Tommy, edited by Roel
Note:
The kang (Chinese: 炕pinyin: kàng) is a traditional long platform for general living, working, entertaining and sleeping used in the northern part of China, where the winter climate is cold. Typically, a kang is used for sleeping at night and for other activities during the day. In short, it is like a heatable brick bed. (Click here for picture) [Source from Wikipedia.]
Kun (Chinese: 鲲 pinyin: kūn) is an enormous legendary fish which could transform into a roc.
Kun Mo (Chinese:鲲 魔 pinyin: kūn mó) The meaning of Kun is similar to that in 2. The meaning of Mo (魔mó) is evil or monster or magic.
