Grasping the Evil-Chapter 828: Chaotic Ancient Phantom

For ten consecutive days, Ning Fan stayed within the Gloomy Yin World, using a secret method to refine his soul, while waiting.

In his storage pouch, he already had nearly 600 souls, among which 19 were Enlightenment Primordial Spirits.

With his current quantity of souls, if he unleashed the Divine Blast Technique, even a Thought-Shattering Cultivator at the Initiate Realm of Shekong would have to retreat immediately!

After ten days, Ning Fan stood within the Gloomy Yin World, casting the Ice Rain Technique across dimensions.

Once he discovered nothing unusual outside, not even a detection technique from the red-eyed elder, Ning Fan finally used his power of stealth to cautiously appear in the outside world.

There were no anomalies outside, and the red-eyed elder seemed not to have followed...

With a trace of sensing from the Yin Yang Locket, Ning Fan searched for the direction of the Chaotic Ancient Tomb Palace.

Upon reaching the ninth level, the Yin Yang Locket could finally slightly guide him to the Chaotic Ancient Tomb Palace, sparing Ning Fan the trouble of seeking a map for the ninth level.

Determined in one direction, Ning Fan sped along stealthily, in this level, he could sense countless hidden yet terrifying auras.

There were Shedding Void Stage, Thought-Shattering Cultivator, and even presences beyond Eternal Cultivators...

It was said that within this Divine Tomb, there is a Well of Covenant, directly connected to the Demon World. The Quasi-Emperor resembling Moluo on that day came to the Eastern Heaven Immortal World through this Well of Covenant.

The demonic creatures here partly come from the Demon World, while others are naturally formed demonic creatures.

In this world, mountains can become demons, rivers can become demons, vegetation can become demons, and even expensive pills can become demons; anything infused with spiritual energy has the potential to become demonic.

The ninth-level world is divided into two regions, east and west. The further west, the more demonic auras there are and the stronger the creatures; the further east, the less demonic presence.

Ning Fan advanced eastward all the way; on the first day, there were still quite a few Shedding Void Stage and Thought-Shattering Cultivators along the way.

On the second day, there were no more demonic creatures at the Thought-Shattering Cultivator level.

On the third day, there were no longer any Shedding Void Stage.

On the fourth day, even Enlightenment or Fate Immortal-level demonic creatures were rarely seen.

By the fifth day, there were no demonic creatures at all in the vast sky and earth.

Ning Fan exited his stealth and raced through the skies of the eastern domain, but the vast mountains and rivers held no trace of a demonic creature.

After flying for another day, Ning Fan began to see a few scattered tomb palaces emerging before him.

The tomb palaces of the ninth layer inherit Nine-Star Techniques, and their owners were renowned figures during their lifetimes.

Any one tomb palace exudes an immortal aura, capable of suppressing eternity.

Ning Fan landed casually outside a certain tomb palace; with his current cultivations, without summoning the Innate Ghost Mask, he couldn’t withstand the aura of the tomb palace, unable to approach within a thousand zhang!

He then summoned the Ancient Demon Puppet, yet even with its cultivation, he couldn’t approach within a hundred zhang...

"In other words, even Masters entering the ninth-level holding a Void Command, if they cannot withstand the aura of the tomb palace, they cannot approach nor open the tomb palace..."

With a wave of his hand, Ning Fan summoned the Ghost Mask, tested again, finally withstanding the tomb palace aura and approached the tomb gate.

He did not open this tomb gate; he only had five Void Commands on him and would not waste them casually.

Moreover, opening a ninth-level tomb gate is fraught with dangers. Even in the Chaotic Ancient Tomb Palace, Ning Fan was unsure if he would encounter danger inside and therefore would not enter other tomb palaces lightly.

Outside this tomb palace, fifteen shattered bones lay, along with some shattered Dao Crystals, expensive pills, magical treasures, and storage pouches...

These fragmented bones were of Masters who attempted to break into the tomb and failed, dying tragic deaths with incomplete remains...

Flying eastward for another two days, tomb palaces became increasingly numerous. After another two days of flying, they became fewer and fewer.

Gradually, no more tomb palaces were visible atop the mountains and plains.

After another day of travel, in a desolate deep mountain, a solitary tomb palace silently endured.

Upon approaching this tomb palace, Ning Fan’s Yin Yang Locket nearly lost control, flying out of his body.

Ning Fan’s gaze shifted, immediately operating the Yin Yang Transformation cultivation technique to suppress the Yin Yang Locket’s instability. As he looked at the tomb palace, his expression became increasingly grave.

This tomb was indeed the Chaotic Ancient Tomb!

The journey to the bottom layer of the Divine Tomb was fraught with dangers, and Ning Fan’s goal was merely the legacy within this tomb.

This tomb, unlike other tomb palaces, did not emit any domineering presence; it just stood there, seeming quite ordinary.

Had it not been for the over three thousand piles of shattered bones stacked outside the Chaotic Ancient Tomb, Ning Fan might have thought this tomb was unusually easy to conquer, devoid of any peril...

Amid these shattered bones, there were remains of Shedding Void Stage and Thought-Shattering Cultivator, and even the fragmented remains of Eternal Cultivators, smashed beyond recognition, stripped of any spiritual essence.

Over three thousand skeletons lay outside this tomb palace, even Ning Fan felt somewhat appalled.

"On my way here, more than ten skeletons outside a tomb palace are already rare, but outside the Chaotic Ancient Tomb, three thousand Masters left their remains... This not only emphasizes how much this tomb is valued by others but also indicates that the dangers within are incalculable, incomparable to other tomb palaces..."

These over three thousand skeletons seem to remind Ning Fan that with his low cultivations, hastily entering the Chaotic Ancient Tomb is indeed unwise...

Perhaps, just perhaps, if his cultivations grew higher, his power of self-preservation stronger, it might be more rational to revisit this tomb...

These thoughts, once they emerged in Ning Fan’s mind, rooted deeply, causing him to ponder in silence.

When his gaze swept over the stele outside the tomb, reading its introduction, Ning Fan’s eyes flickered, his heartbeat quickened, and he was even more startled!

"The Chaotic Ancient Tomb Palace, inheriting the Nine-Star Technique ’Chaos Ring Art’, was hailed in ancient times as ’Among all Empires, first in attack’!"

"No cultivation restriction for the tomb palace. No limit on the number of people. To open this tomb, one Void Command must be consumed."

What made his heart move was that the ’Chaos Ring Technique’ was reputed as the top offensive cultivation technique among ten billion Emperors of Antiquity.

What startled him was that despite no limit on the number of challengers or their cultivations, so many formidable cultivators still perished here, silently illustrating how perilous and terrifying this Chaotic Ancient Tomb Palace is...

If Ning Fan initially had some confidence in challenging the tomb, by now, almost all such confidence had vanished.

The jade scroll bestowed by the Slaughter Emperor cannot be opened here. With his current means of self-preservation, entering the tomb rashly might result in a great chance of directly falling...

"The ’Chaos Ring Technique’, I am determined to obtain it. But if it’s truly so perilous within, it’s probably more suitable to increase my cultivations further before entering the tomb again..."

Ning Fan sighed slightly; just as the sigh emerged, his gaze suddenly changed.

At that moment, the Chaotic Ancient Tomb Palace unexpectedly emitted a faint divine radiance, and an elderly voice, as if calling, softly echoed in Ning Fan’s ear.

"Outsiders enter the palace, only to die. But as for me, I grant you entry. Because you are the successor of me, the Great Emperor!"

As soon as this voice rang out, a Void Command flew out from Ning Fan’s storage pouch on its own, heading directly toward the tomb door.

Outside the tomb door, the Void Command suddenly ignited spontaneously, and the eyes of the two stone statues on both sides of the tomb blazed with Violet Flame.

With a booming sound, the tomb door opened by itself, and a beam of light flashed in front of Ning Fan’s eyes.

Ning Fan’s gaze was startled, just about to resist the light, but the Yin Yang Locket within him directly dragged him into the tomb door.

In the next instant, the tomb door closed...

In sight is an empty palace, with bronze lanterns in all four corners, initially extinguished, but upon Ning Fan’s entry, each lantern instantly flared up, surging with purple flame.

Inside this palace, there are altogether twenty-seven bronze statues lined up.

Beneath the bronze statues stood an elder with a phantom-like figure, hands behind his back, gazing at the twenty-seven bronze statues without uttering a word.

The silhouette of this phantom elder gave Ning Fan an exceedingly familiar feeling.

Ning Fan briefly reminisced, immediately recalling that this silhouette was something he had seen in the memories of Ancient Chaos, remarkably resembling the appearance of the Ancient Chaos Grand Emperor...

The phantom elder’s cultivation was incomprehensible to Ning Fan; he merely stood with his back facing Ning Fan, without releasing any pressure, yet even so, Ning Fan’s Innate Ghost Mask trembled slightly on his face, seemingly fearing this phantom elder like a tiger...

If there were no unexpected developments, this phantom elder was indeed the illusion of the Ancient Chaos Grand Emperor, formed through the tomb palace’s formation!

Just confronting the phantom elder’s silhouette, Ning Fan felt as if he was facing the whole universe; even the likes of Xiang Mingzi, the Quasi-Saint from the Godly Void Pavilion, didn’t give Ning Fan such a terrifying feeling!

It seemed as if with just a thought from this phantom elder, the entire universe would be destroyed!

"No one has ever broken into this tomb; anyone entering the tomb has perished at the hands of the Great Emperor! Because they were not successors of the Great Emperor, those who are not successors are unworthy of obtaining the Great Emperor’s legacy! But you, you are the successor of the Great Emperor, young friend, this old man has waited far too long for a successor to arrive..."

The phantom elder turned around, merely a gaze sweeping over Ning Fan, instantly exposing all Ning Fan’s hidden secrets before the elder!

Ning Fan could hardly believe that inside the Chaotic Ancient Tomb Palace, there existed such a formidable illusion of the tomb master.

With this illusion of the tomb master present, even the Shenhao Twin Emperors, even Xiang Mingzi, could not possibly break through this tomb...

"Four drops of Fu Li ancestor blood, four drops of Moluo ancestral blood, hmm, the grades of demon blood and Demon Bloodline are passable, but the Divine Blood is weak..."

To the phantom elder, Ning Fan’s bloodline grade was merely passable.

His gaze remained calm as illusion, as if nothing could elicit even a hint of surprise in his expression.

Yet after a moment, the phantom elder’s gaze suddenly shifted slightly, as if he had discovered something.

He raised a finger, pointing at the palace floor, causing the entire surface to ripple like water waves, reflecting an image.

Below the phantom elder’s feet, there was no reflection because he was not alive, only an illusion.

But beneath Ning Fan’s feet, there was the reflection of a half-black, half-white butterfly...

Upon seeing this butterfly, the phantom elder finally showed a look of astonishment.

"It’s you, you are that butterfly! That woman came to the Zi Dou Immortal Domain for you. She, too, sacrificed everything to reincarnate for you..."

Ning Fan’s gaze changed, immediately asking, "What does senior mean by this!"

As if something extremely significant had been obliterated in reincarnation, forgotten by him through the generations, when he was just a butterfly...

As the phantom elder’s words descended, there was an indescribable sorrow, like a long river, silently flowing through Ning Fan’s heart.

Not the sorrow of the ancient Heavenly Court, not the sorrow for Weiliang burning to ashes... That sorrow extended further back, to the point he had long forgotten...

The phantom elder merely sighed slightly, shaking his head without speaking.

When he looked at Ning Fan again, there was a rare softness, a look one gives to an old acquaintance.

Ning Fan’s past was repeatedly as a butterfly, always the most ordinary butterfly.

Such an ordinary butterfly was not meant to intersect with the phantom elder, but by coincidence, the master of this butterfly’s first life was once so awe-inspiring.

In the past, he never faced this butterfly directly.

But unexpectedly, this butterfly would reincarnate as a human, and it would become his successor...

Turning back again, gazing at those twenty-seven bronze statues, there was a vague sense of melancholy, suddenly asking Ning Fan,

"Would you like to obtain the legacy of the Great Emperor’s ’Chaos Ring Technique’..."

Saying this, the phantom elder cast a deep glance at Ning Fan, without waiting for Ning Fan’s answer, raised a hand to point at the first bronze statue, speaking to Ning Fan,

"Since you are Ancient Demon, you ought to have been to the Demon-Sealing Peak, and the owner of this statue, you must have seen him..."

Upon close inspection of the statue’s appearance, there were faint similarities to the youth Mo Zhong once encountered.

"He was the seventh immortal emperor under the Immortal Emperor, named Mo Zhong, the only one in this old man’s life regarded as a brother. He was also one of the ’Yin-Yang Demon Body’ and the twenty-seven Yin Yang... Immortal Emperor Mo Zhong, the seventh immortal emperor under the Immortal Emperor, in the battle of Tiandu Realm, was slain by this old man himself! One of the Nine-Demon Yin-Yang... Demon Carp Yin-Yang, which allowed this old man to comprehend!"

Speaking of personally slaying Immortal Emperor Mo Zhong, the phantom elder’s body immediately exhibited an overwhelming killing intent.

His eyes started to turn blood-red, with an enduring sorrow in his gaze...

On that day, he personally slew Mo Zhong, whom he treated as a brother and father!

(3/3) (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations, monthly tickets; your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please go to m.qidian.com to read.)