Grasping the Evil-Chapter 827: Entering the Ninth Layer

The Seventh Layer of the world was vast beyond measure, yet with Ning Fan’s cultivation speed, after a few days, he finally reached the edge.

Throughout his journey here, Ning Fan had still not found the transmission portal that led to the Eighth Layer.

He stood in a valley, his brow slightly furrowed.

On this journey, he had slain numerous Fate Immortal creatures, but had not encountered any creatures above the Crossing Truth Realm.

At this moment, in Ning Fan’s Soul Bag, there were already 236 Fate Immortal Nascent Souls. If he detonated them all, even a Peak Crossing Truth Realm cultivator would have to be wary.

Two Fate Immortal Dao Fruits had also emerged, but to Ning Fan, they were no longer precious items.

"Did I go the wrong way... The Seventh Layer of the Divine Tomb is so vast, yet there’s no map, leaving me to wander aimlessly in search of the Eighth Layer’s entrance..."

Ning Fan shook his head; he did not possess a map of the final three layers, nor did Qingyangzi.

According to Qingyangzi’s memories, only masters above the Shattered Thought Realm in the Godly Void Pavilion knew of the maps of the final three layers.

Naturally, within this Divine Tomb, a rare few creatures above the Crossing Truth Realm also possessed the map.

"Had I known the final three layers were this vast, I would have requested a map of the Divine Tomb from Lv Wen that day. For him, engraving a map would be finished in the blink of an eye... It’s too late to say this now."

"Qingyangzi’s memories contain much intelligence about the final three layers of the Divine Tomb, many of which I was unaware of. For instance, once the creatures here cultivate to the Crossing Truth Realm, there’s a small chance they’ll gain spirit awareness... The higher their cultivation, the greater the chance of gaining awareness..."

"These creatures with awareness have cultivated here for countless years and naturally know the map of this place. If I can capture one of these creatures with awareness, it would save me a lot of trouble..."

Ning Fan pondered for a moment, then his gaze stirred slightly, looking towards the single withered tree within the valley.

After a moment, he seemed to understand something, stepping on Black Flame, and flew away.

Long after he left, the only withered tree in the valley suddenly flashed with demonic qi and transformed into an old man at the initial stage of the Crossing Truth Realm.

The old man was half human, half demon, with half of his body’s skin like bark.

His eyes were unlike most creatures here; they were not vacant. He was one of the few creatures within the Divine Tomb that possessed spirit awareness.

Watching the direction Ning Fan had flown, a cruel glint flashed in the old man’s eyes as he said coldly,

"This person should be the cultivator who recently entered the Seventh Layer... The delicious aura the Revered Snow smelled should be emitted by this person. Keh keh keh keh, I just approached him and savored the scent. This person’s blood essence is far too perfect, an absolute nourishment to the Revered Snow! The Revered Snow has not smelled wrong!"

"The Revered Snow is just one step away from Shedding Void. As long as he devours this boy, he will definitely become the ninth Shedding Void Stage Heavenly Demon in this Seventh Layer!"

"Let me send out a message to inform the Revered Snow that the cultivator he wants to eat is right at my location! Alas, this person’s Evil Qi is too heavy. I have just broken through to the Crossing Truth Realm and am not confident enough to take him down. If not, I would have struck when he arrived! Never mind, it’s more prudent to let the Revered Snow take action personally!"

The old man sneered, raising a hand to form a spell, immediately sending a message-flying sword shooting into the sky.

However, just as the message-transmitting flying sword took to the air, it suddenly exploded without warning.

At the site of the explosion, a white-clad youth who had long since returned stealthily appeared slowly.

"Trying to notify your Revered Snow to come and eat Ning Fan, are you? Quite a loyal demon creature you are..."

The white-clad youth raised his hand, and immediately ten thousand and eighty phantom sword shadows formed a Sword Array, trapping this old man of the initial Crossing Truth Realm within!

In an instant, the old man’s face turned drastically, exclaiming in terror,

"You... why didn’t you leave, why did you return... Ah!"

Before he could finish speaking, he screamed miserably, being struck by ten thousand and eighty swords hard.

Before him, memories flashed in succession. In those memories, more and more people wielded black-gold long swords, slashing at him...

After ten breaths, the old man, who had not yet stabilized at the Crossing Truth Realm, burst into fragments of filthy blood, spilling within the Sword Array.

Gathering the ten thousand and eighty sword shadows, Ning Fan extended his hand to capture the wilting black Nascent Soul trying to escape and directly performed Soul Search.

Although it was impossible to read complete memories with destroying this soul remnant, obtaining mere fragments was enough for Ning Fan to map out the general layout of the Seventh Layer.

He killed the old man’s Nascent Soul, refined it with a secret technique, and stored it into the Soul Bag.

After finishing everything, Ning Fan leapt into the sky, firmly setting his direction towards the Eighth Layer.

This trip took six days; passing through, the Fate Immortal Nascent Souls within the Soul Bag numbered 274.

Six days later, Ning Fan finally saw the transmission platform to the Eighth Layer from afar.

However, beyond this transmission platform, within a hundred-mile radius, Second Step demonic creatures were everywhere, at least three hundred of them!

Among these three hundred creatures, fifteen were at the Crossing Truth Realm.

Of the fifteen Crossing Truth creatures, only four possessed spirit awareness.

Among the four was the lord of these creatures, a black-robed youth with a sinister face who was seated on a throne, surrounded by many demons, resting his chin in one hand and sipping from a wine bottle with the other.

The bottle contained not wine, but blood, black blood, the blood of demonic creatures!

"It’s not the blood of a cultivator; unsurprisingly it tastes terrible..." The youth drank a mouthful of black blood, frowned deeply, and tossed the bottle to the ground in discontent.

"Revered Snow, fear not. We’ve gathered intelligence; that delicious cultivator is heading this way! Once he arrives, Revered Snow will definitely be able to taste the most delicious blood!" A nearby intelligent demon creature, seeing the lord’s anger, hastily said with trepidation.

"I’ve been waiting here for six days. If he doesn’t come soon..." The black-robed youth’s words trailed off, a malicious smile appeared as he abruptly stood up, gazing into the horizon.

In that direction, a stream of light was speeding rapidly toward them.

"Kill!"

Without any excess words, the black-robed youth merely lifted his hand, giving it a slight wave.

Immediately, nearly a hundred Fate Immortal creatures beside him, all with a fierce gleam in their eyes, soared into the sky, charging towards the escape light.

Ning Fan’s spirit sense swept over the densely charging creatures, his gaze darkened as he stopped his escape light and stepped into the long sky, advancing step by step!

Walking amidst a hundred Fate Immortal creatures, Ning Fan’s essence circulated through his body; with each raise of his hand, a Fate Immortal creature would be torn to pieces by him.

In a mere ten breaths, all these hundred Fate Immortal creatures had been shredded by Ning Fan, their blood and essence refined into wine, and their Nascent Souls collected entirely.

"Worthless!"

The black-robed youth seemed entirely displeased, snorted angrily, and waved his hand once more, "Kill!"

This time, aside from himself, all the creatures charged towards Ning Fan, including the fourteen Crossing Truth demons.

Among the fourteen Crossing Truth demons were seven at the initial stage, four at the intermediate, and three at the late stage.

Given his current cultivation, Ning Fan naturally couldn’t handle them all alone.

"Are you offering up your Nascent Souls..."

Ning Fan waved his hand to summon an Ancient Demon Puppet, which immediately grew with the wind, transforming into a huge demon.

With a flick of Ning Fan’s finger on the puppet threads, the Ancient Demon Puppet hurled into the demon army, tearing each creature to shreds, storing each Nascent Soul within its belly.

"A Shedding Void Puppet! This is bad!"

In an instant, the black-robed youth’s face changed drastically; without a word, he turned to flee.

He fled straight towards the transmission gate to the Eighth Layer, quickly dashing into the Eighth Layer, his movements remarkably swift...

The other three intelligent demons were also stricken with terror, trying to flee, but they couldn’t escape in time and were annihilated by the Ancient Demon Puppet.

The mindless demons, however, continued to charge towards the Ancient Demon Puppet fearlessly, but were only met with destruction.

In just over ten breaths, the demons at the scene were all slaughtered by the Ancient Demon Puppet alone.

Ning Fan collected all the demonic corpses and blood essence at the scene, a cold gleam flashed in his eyes as he leapt onto the Ancient Demon Puppet’s shoulder, which then transformed into a streak of black light, flying into the transmission gate to the Eighth Layer under the control of puppet threads.

Upon being transmitted to the Eighth Layer, Ning Fan immediately released his Rain Intent, and a fine drizzle soon fell from the sky.

Having chosen a direction, Ning Fan and the puppet quickly flew in pursuit; that direction was exactly where the black-robed youth had fled to.

Sensing the pursuit light behind him, the black-robed youth was almost scared to death.

Earlier, he wanted to savor Ning Fan’s blood, but now he couldn’t wish more for Ning Fan to stay far away, not wanting him anywhere near.

"Damn it! Just a mere Ghost Profound Peak-stage yet possessing a Shedding Void Puppet! Are all the cultivators from the outside world of the Divine Tomb this defiant of fate!"

"But don’t be afraid! My master is a Demon Lord of the Eighth Layer, a prominent figure at the Shattered Thought Early Stage. Not to mention the Eighth Layer, even on the Ninth Layer, he is a well-known figure. As long as I can escape to my master’s cave, and ask him to make a move, killing this person would be as easy as turning a hand!"

This thought had just risen in his mind, but the next moment, his expression turned to shock and despair. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Behind him, the pursuing Ancient Demon Puppet was getting closer and closer, and finally, with one step, it directly crossed over to his path.

Its massive body was like a mountain, blocking the path and preventing any further advance.

"You seem to be quite familiar with this Eighth Layer. In that case, killing you could directly grant me a map of this layer..."

Ning Fan spoke calmly, as he tugged on the puppet thread with his fingers, and the Ancient Demon Puppet immediately lifted its foot, stepping towards the black-robed youth.

The black-robed youth was greatly alarmed. He spat out a black demonic sword from his mouth, fiercely slashing towards the direction of the Ancient Demon Puppet’s step.

Unfortunately, before the demonic sword could display its power, it was directly crushed into fragments by the puppet’s foot.

The foot continued to descend, unleashing a strong force that instantly shattered the mountains and rivers within a million-mile radius.

Numerous demonic creatures were alarmed by this step, while the physical body of the black-robed youth was directly crushed into pulp, leaving only his withered Spirit, which Ning Fan captured.

"Impossible... I was only half a step away from Shedding Void, and this puppet, this puppet..."

Before he could finish his sentence, he screamed tragically and fainted. Ning Fan, without wasting words on him, directly performed Soul Search and destroyed this soul remnant.

With this Soul Search, Ning Fan became intimately familiar with the map of the Eighth Layer and gained some understanding of the distribution of demonic forces in the last three layers.

"In the last three layers, any demonic creature that cultivates to the Crossing Truth Realm would have a few opportunities to awaken spirit awareness. Among the demonic creatures that awaken spirit awareness, if someone breaks through to the Shedding Void Stage, they are qualified to become a lord. Breaking through to the Shattered Thought Realm would make one a Demon Lord... This demon hasn’t broken through to Shedding Void, but he has a master with the status of a Demon Lord, which allows him to dominate as a lord on the Seventh Layer..."

"In the Seventh Layer of the Divine Tomb, there are eight Shedding Void lords; on the Eighth Layer, there are more than thirty Shedding Void lords, and one Shattered Thought Demon Lord, who is the master of this demon..."

"This demon doesn’t know the map of the Ninth Layer, nor does he know how many powerful demonic creatures there are, but it’s said that the Ninth Layer contains the Well of Covenant, and thus has the most and the strongest demonic creatures, especially near the Demon Well, where there are even Quasi-Emperor Demon Creatures..."

"Within this demon, there is a mark left by his master. If he dies, his master will definitely sense it..."

Ning Fan slightly frowned, and with a sweep of his spirit sense, he immediately found a mark within the Spirit of the black-robed youth.

This mark was originally black but at this moment gradually turned blood red.

In an instant, Ning Fan’s gaze changed slightly, and without saying a word, he directly discarded the muddle-headed Spirit of the black-robed youth.

Then, he immediately withdrew the Ancient Demon Puppet, wiped his face, summoned the Innate Ghost Mask, and instantly vanished, stealthily heading towards the Ninth Layer.

Just as he discarded the Spirit of the black-robed youth, the mark within it emitted a red glow!

The red glow fell to the ground and immediately transformed into the figure of a red-eyed old man, who held the Spirit of the black-robed youth in his hands, extremely enraged and shocked.

"Who dares to destroy my disciple’s spirit awareness!"

There was one thing he had not told his disciple. In fact, the mark he planted not only sensed the disciple’s death but could also slightly sense if the disciple was in danger, and using the mark, he could directly teleport.

This aspect wasn’t mentioned in the black-robed youth’s memory, but Ning Fan acutely detected the peculiar change in the mark and guessed that something unexpected would happen, prompting his immediate escape.

The master of the black-robed youth arrived just a step too late; otherwise, he might have witnessed the destruction of this soul remnant by Ning Fan firsthand.

"Hmm? There’s still a trace of this person’s aura here..."

The red-eyed old man grabbed at the air with his large hand, sniffed it at the tip of his nose, and then coldly huffed,

"A peak-stage Ghost Profound, with an Initiate Realm of Shekong puppet... turns out it’s an outsider master!"

"I and the Quasi-Emperor Demonic Creature had made a pact with the Shenkong Emperor; my agreement with him was that as long as I assisted him in one battle, I could remain in the Divine Tomb forever, reigning as a king, even if it is his Godly Void Pavilion cultivators, I have the right to kill and devour them!"

"I have spent millions of years nurturing him to the Peak Crossing Truth Realm, intending to keep him useful, but now he’s been rendered useless by an outsider master destroying his spirit awareness..."

The old man glanced at his disciple’s dull-eyed Spirit in hand, a ruthless glint flashed, and he unexpectedly swallowed it whole.

Then his gaze flickered, and with a cold smile, he said,

"The one who harms my disciple is ultimately just a Ghost Profound; in such short time, it’s impossible for them to run far. At this moment, they are either hiding in stealth or have entered a medium dichiliocosm..."

After pondering for a moment, the red-eyed old man suddenly extended two fingers, poked into his eye, and plucked out a bloody red eyeball, which he then offered to the sky, before closing his eyes tightly and sitting cross-legged on the ground.

After that eyeball ascended to the sky, it immediately stretched in the wind and transformed into a hundred zhang in size. Then, circles of red halos, centered around the eyeball, continuously spread across the entire Eighth Layer.

With the power of this eyeball, the red-eyed elder actually extended his vision to the entire Eighth Layer of the Divine Tomb!

"If this child passes through the teleportation gate, there will definitely be fluctuations. If this child cancels his invisibility, there will certainly be a moment when he appears. Even if he hides in the Yin Yang Locket, I do not believe he can hide forever! As long as he appears on the eighth layer, or any fluctuations occur, I will surely detect him!"

"At that moment, it will be this child’s time of death!"

...

Ning Fan concealed himself and sped all the way towards the teleportation gate to the Ninth Layer.

At a certain moment, circles of red light swept across the sky, passing over Ning Fan.

Although it didn’t detect Ning Fan’s presence, Ning Fan immediately saw that this red light was a detection divine skill.

And judging from the aura of this spell, the caster was that black-robed youngster’s master.

"This is somewhat troublesome... The distance from here to the teleportation gate to the Ninth Layer is still extremely far. At my current cultivation speed, it would take at least ten days to reach... During this time, the Ghost Mask power of stealth will definitely cease..."

As Ning Fan’s cultivation grew increasingly stronger, the duration of the Innate Ghost Mask’s invisibility extended bit by bit, but still could not remain invisible for ten days in one stretch, at most five days.

If he were to enter the Xuan Yin Treasure before the invisibility ends, alternating like this, he could reach the teleportation gate, but there would be other troubles...

"Even if I could reach the Ninth Layer teleportation gate while staying invisible, once teleported, it would immediately cause a fluctuation, alerting this person... Even transporting back to the Seventh Layer would also be detected by this person..."

A sense of crisis, one that hadn’t appeared for a long time, gradually enveloped Ning Fan’s heart.

As soon as this crisis feeling rose, Ning Fan, flying on a black flame, felt the blood within his three tribes start boiling faintly...

In an instant, Ning Fan’s eyes sharpened, reaching a decision.

He touched the center of his brows, taking out a streak of natal green thunderbolt, consuming it in one gulp.

With his Grand Five Elements Body, refining the green thunderbolt enabled him to continuously restore a vast amount of mana!

After refining just a wisp of the green thunderbolt, the additional mana in his body almost burst his Spirit.

Before the Spirit could explode, his body ignited with golden flames, consuming all the excess mana. Like an arrow released from a bowstring, it pierced through the sky, leaving behind deep furrows filled with golden light, shooting straight towards the Ninth Layer!

If there’s no way to avoid it, then there is no need to hide! Upon reaching the Ninth Layer, he can go invisible again to escape from the pursuit of the red-eyed elder!

"Found him! But how could this person’s speed be so fast! Could he really be an Eternal Old Freak! No, impossible! If he were Eternal, why would he fear me, why would he hide!"

The red-eyed elder’s gaze trembled, and he stood up abruptly. After some consideration, he decided to pursue Ning Fan.

Yet his speed was simply not enough to catch up with Ning Fan!

In the world of the Eighth Layer, numerous demon creatures who had developed spirit awareness, left their cave dwellings and nests at that moment, looking up to the sky.

Seeing the golden spear-piercing sky, flashing past, none were not left shaken.

Ning Fan rapidly refined the green thunderbolt in his body, attempting to replenish the mana consumed by the Vertical Golden Light.

This technique’s speed is astonishing, comparable to eons, but the consumption of mana is equally immense.

With the suppression of the Ghost Mask, Ning Fan forcibly activated this skill, reducing what was originally a six-day journey to just a few breaths!

The golden escape rainbow crashed into the teleportation gate and then rapidly sped through the Ninth Layer world, alarming countless experts there.

As the green thunderbolt in his body was nearly exhausted, Ning Fan collected his rainbow and immediately entered the Xuan Yin Treasure.

Almost two hours later, the red-eyed old creature finally reached the ninth-layer world.

But at this moment, Ning Fan’s whereabouts were long unknown, and not a trace of the previous Vertical Golden Light remained; he simply had no idea where to search for Ning Fan...

"Damn it! That cunning boy actually got away! There are many strong beings on the ninth layer, and here, I cannot recklessly use the Blood Sight technique, lest it provokes other Demon Lords’ jealousy... If searching aimlessly, it will be quite difficult to find this child, it’s better to wait here for a rabbit by the stump!"

"Regardless, in the end, this child is an outer-world cultivator, he will eventually have to leave the ninth layer! Hmph! I will stand guard at this gate, I don’t believe this child won’t show!"

(2/3) (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, feel free to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets on Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read on m.qidian.com.)