Grasping Evil

Chapter 144 (1): Affection

The Old Devil had kicked all the sword cultivators out of Si Fan Palace right after they left the underground. He had already promised that he would return to the sword world with Xiao Mei and Little Dugu.

In the end, Little Dugu must leave, her sword soul had already left her body for too long…

The night was filled with thick snow, and in the midst of the raining snowflakes, Ning Fan stood in the courtyard of the palace he had once lived. He was looking at the Apricot tree, the bluestone and the grave.

His heart felt something was amiss and raised his hand. His heart raised an intention and the One Heart Sword Seal appeared at the back of his hand, the seal shone a dim sword light.

The One Heart Sword Seal was a seal of oath for the men and women of the Sword World. Once the seal was sown, their hearts would forever be tied, together forever… Ning Fan had no qualms on being sown by such a seal, since he did not have to swear on his heart devil. However, this would trouble Little Dugu because she could only be married to him in this life… If she were to have sexual intercourse with other men, the seal will be destroyed and death was the only thing that awaited her…

“Lady Dugu… I say… Shouldn’t we have a proper discussion on this matter… It looked like you have just become my wife, now that the One Heart Sword Seal has been sown…”

“Bullsheet! Little Devil Ning! Who is your wife! Also, my name is Dugu, it is not my surname…” Little Dugu’s voice that was both ashamed and angered could be heard from within the grave mound. Her voice suddenly stopped when she talked about her surname…

The women of the Sword World have no surname, they would only have it after inheriting their husband’s surname after they get married.

For example, Dugu’s sister Xiao Mei only had the word “Mei” in her name. Hence, after she privately made a pledge of marriage with the Old Devil (without the approval of her parents), Xiao Mei then called herself ‘Han Mei’ which she liked very much because the name had the meaning of an apricot tree that stood upright and proud even in the winters.

If Little Dugu were to get married to Ning Fan in the future, wouldn’t her name be called Ning Dugu…?

The women of the Sword World had to follow their husband’s surname after marriage. If they never get married, they would never have a surname for their whole life… The Old Ancestor of the Sword World in the past was a woman. She stayed alone her whole life, vowed to never love, and in the end did not have a surname until her death…

There was a saying that described this girl… White bones as tall as a mountain but the surname was forgotten…

The topic at hand mystically diverted towards the surname of Dugu, and Ning Fan surprisingly asked,

“Your surname is not Dugu, so what is your surname…? What is your clan’s surname?”

“It is “Ling” but I do not have the surname “Ling” because my father did not allow it… and it is the tradition of my world…” Dugu said with a dissatisfied tone.

“Then… When you're married to me in the future, you can have whatever surname you want, it could be Ling, Little Pig, and Little Dog too. As long as you like it, isn’t that great?” Ning Fan teasingly said.

“Pooh! Why should I marry you?! Little Ning Devil, I am warning you! You better stay away from me as far as possible!”

“Okay… Let's talk about serious business…”

Ning Fan stopped teasing her and became serious. The One Heart Sword Seal was obviously a method for Little Dugu to get away from the wedding arrangement back in her world. Ning Fan would not be shameless as to force Little Dugu to marry to him with just a sword seal.

His teasing was just a way to warm up the awkward atmosphere between them. But most importantly, he had a request that he wanted to ask.

“What serious matter did you want to discuss with me…” Little Dugu felt slightly weird.

“My master will follow you and return to the Sword World… Could you help me take care of him? Do not let him be harmed by others… This is my request. As for compensation, if you have any trouble in the marriage arrangement you once had, please let me know and I shall go to your world and solve the problem for you. However, I could only help you a hundred years later…”

This was perhaps the first time Ning Fan treated a matter so seriously with Little Dugu. His gaze made Little Dugu’s heart shook, her face blushed and secretly thought,

It was rare for Ning Fan to ask a favor from me…

When she heard that Ning Fan was willing to assist her in acting as her fiance and solve her troublesome marriage arrangement, Little Dugu was relieved yet also had a shred of disappointment which she did not realize.

It would’ve been great if Ning Fan were to marry me because he liked me, and not just for the sake of helping… No… Father would definitely not approve of this.

Her wisp of soul gently fluttered out of the grave and stood below the apricot tree. Her cold eyes showed a faint smiling expression.

“I will help you since you’ve helped me. Even if I do not like Han Yuanji, but he was passionately devoted to my sister. She wouldn’t be willing to see him get hurt if she were to wake up in the future. No small fries would dare to hurt Han Yuanji in my presence. His status as the Deacon of the Four Oceans is enough to keep the Divine Emperor experts at bay… The only thing that we need to be wary of is the assassins from the Demon World. I will request father to pay attention on this matter…”

Little Dugu did not explain what the ‘Deacon of Four Ocean’ was, but it did not stop Ning Fan in understanding it. It looked like the Old Devil had another status in the Four Heavens. Other than the sect leader of the Black Demon Sect, his other status was enough to make the Rain World’s Divine Emperors treat him courteously…

The status of deacon may not be high in the Four Heavens but it was enough for the Old Devil not to be plotted against in the lower realms.

Ning Fan’s gaze of gratitude fell upon the face of Little Dugu. He then carefully looked at the cold and lonely girl that stood in front of him.

No matter if it was fake or genuine, or to deceive others, this girl had already become his wife.

She was just like a fairy in a painting, yet this fairy had mingled with a barbaric fellow like him.

But now that he was faced with such a beautiful fairy, he did not blush and panic like he before.

He still remembered when he was still a young boy in Hai Ning. He once accidentally saw a young lady from the main family bathing in the lake. He panicked and shouted because the lady was too beautiful… yet the young lady did not blame him. However, because of what he did, a few young masters from the main family secretly gave him trouble.

Everything had changed… Ning Fan’s fate had changed, his heart too had changed. The feelings of an immature youngster had disappeared. The experience of those bloody battles, killings and the fifty-year dream of the Ming Luo fruit had made Ning Fan’s heart become mature, calm and collected.

His spying gaze made Little Dugu’s cold expression become both ashamed and angered. She then averted her gaze and secretly blamed Ning Fan’s gaze to be frivolous.

He clasped his fist and saluted towards Little Dugu.

“Thank you so much. Your sword qi had saved me on many occasions… And now you even promised to protect my master. Hence, I owe you two favors!”

“Is it…” Little Dugu turned her back and lightly pressed her pale lips together as if she was in a dilemma.

She took out an ancient scroll from her clothes then turned around again.

“For you…” she said, but her eyes showed a faint nervousness. Then she immediately added on,

“I am only loaning it to you to have a look. It is not a gift… Do not think too much…”

The ancient scroll had a lingering human warmth and a peck of virgin fragrance when Ning Fan received it.

However, Ning Fan only cared about the content of the scroll and not the fragrance.

He had a shocked expression right after flipping a few pages of the ancient scroll. He then immediately closed the ancient scroll and returned it to Little Dugu.

“I could not accept such an expensive gift!”