Grasping Evil

Chapter 172 (1): Gaining the Wind Lightning’s Recognition!

Ning Fan went into seclusion for seven days in the Han Yi Sect before Jie Xiu received an order from the nation.

This order was immediately spread across each and every cultivation cities of Great Jin via ten thousand li sound transmission stones.

There were two news, one good and one bad, both of them shook the people to the core!

The good news was… The Revered Snow of the Rain Palace had personally come to Great Jin to take command of the country’s forces!

The bad news was… Revered Snow went into the center of the demon tide -- The Dragon Vision Pond, and came out with an injury a few days ago!

The culprit was… A Spirit Severing Realm Demon General!

Many old monsters had guessed that the rise of the demon tide may have been linked to the Demon General’s ‘awakening’ and many of them panicked when they found out that there really was a Spirit Severing Realm Demon General.

There really was a Spirit Severing Demon General in the center of the demon tide and it will not end until this demon perishes… And this demon was even able to injure Revered Snow. Could it be that his abilities were much stronger than Revered Snow?!

Both hope and dejection spread across Great Jin. With Revered Snow wounded, the demon tide launched a counterattack causing three big cultivation cities to fall, giving rise to a casualty of almost a million Jin cultivators…

“Revered Snow and the Ruler of Jin orders all the commanders to immediately depart for the Dragon Vision Pond to assist the frontlines!”

Jie Xiu was extremely shocked after he had received the order. With the impending crisis that was looming on Great Jin, he wished he could rush towards the Northwest part of Jin to protect his country.

But he did not leave immediately and patiently waited for Ning Fan to go out from his seclusion.

“Notifying Sect Leader, Old Ancestor Zhou Ming informed us before he went into seclusion that if you came for him, we should notify you that he's refining a piece of spirit equipment that'll be useful for the subjugation of demons. I hope Sect Leader will wait…” A Han Yi Sect disciple that was working in the inn said respectfully.

“Refining spirit equipment? Could it be that item…”

Jie Xiu's blind eyes were without any reaction but his facial muscles moved a little.

A piece of spirit equipment that even Zhou Ming needed a few days to refine, could it be… the Wind Lightning Wings that was given by the Ruler of Jin?!

Profound Earth Spirit Equipment, Wind Lightning Wings… Even the king tried three times to take control of that spirit equipment and all ended in failure.

The king once said that this Profound Earth Spirit Equipment could not be refined into one's body unless they've reached the Spirit Severing Realm… A pair of wings that were made by both Wind and Lightning energies… It is not a feat that could be accomplished by a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator.

The king bestowed this item to Ning Fan as if it was a precious gift. But he never expected in the beginning that Ning Fan can make the spirit equipment recognize him as its master.

Yet Jie Xiu stood at the doorstep and felt a hint of power that was controlling the Wind and Lightning energies through the heavy formation light and the control was getting better and better!

“This person is really refining the Wind Lightning Wings and is on the verge of succeeding in the process of master recognition?! How is this possible?!”

Truthfully, with Ning Fan's Half-Step Gold Core Realm cultivation base, it was impossible for Ning Fan to gain a Profound Earth Spirit Equipment’s recognition.

But was there ever a time he lacked the impossible things on his path of Demonic Ways?

“Gaining a Profound Earth Spirit Equipment’s recognition must be hard, but there’s no such thing as impossible in my dictionary!”

Ning Fan said such words a week ago, right before he started his seclusion with the goal of refining the Wind Lightning Wings!

“…”

Ning Fan had the Wind Lightning Wings placed on his palm, closing his eyes and meditated for three days.

He tried using ice, fire and thunder magical force to imprint his intent on the spirit equipment for three days now, but all had ended in failure… When he tried to imprint a mark, that mark would easily be erased by the spirit equipment.

There must be a spirit existing within the spirit equipment that disdained being controlled by Ning Fan’s weak cultivation!

And to have this Profound Earth Spirit Equipment to recognize him as its owner was much harder than he initially thought.

A Profound Earth Spirit Equipment was similar to a Spirit Severing Realm cultivator. There was a domain existing within the spirit equipment and its name was -- Wind Lightning!

Additionally, this spirit equipment gave birth to a hint of spirituality after it entered the Profound Earth grade, making it impossible to wield if the owner was lesser than a Spirit Severing Realm cultivator.

It's not easy to equip the Wind Lightning Wings… It's impossible for the average Nascent Soul cultivator to gain its recognition. Not even the powerful Ruler of Jin could control it. In the past, Suqiu forcefully gained the Profound Jade Spirit Equipment's recognition when she was yet to reach the Nascent Soul Realm, which gave her a hard time using it. She would cause injury on herself every time she used teleportation, this was the price of using forceful means…

But it was difficult to even forcefully refine the Wind Lightning Wings…

Three days worth of attempts all ended in failure yet his expression did not contain any anger or happiness.

He opened both his eyes that showed no sign of dejection in them.

“A Profound Earth Spirit Equipment… is definitely hard to refine. I might have a 10% chance to successfully refine it forcefully if I use all of my cultivation strength with a 90% chance of failure and causing injury to myself… I guess doing it the normal way is impossible. Then… If I can't obtain it directly, I will just seize it by force!”

It was extremely dangerous given Ning Fan's low cultivation realm to forcefully refine it.

But he had an idea on how to successfully gain the Wind Lightning Wings’ recognition!

He took out a jade slip that contained the Wei's Founding Ancestor's Spirit Augmentation Technique -- ‘Consecration Technique’.

Buddhism’s consecration was deep and Ning Fan couldn't even understand it. He did not plan to waste any energy to learn it too.

The Spirit Augmentation Technique was too difficult to learn, but there were several secret techniques from the Consecration Technique that allowed cultivators to gain the spirit equipment’s recognition that have a higher realm than them.

Self-Sacrificial Technique required one to sacrifice their own blood essence which will increase the chance of success of forcefully gaining the spirit equipment’s recognition by 30%! But this technique had the strongest effect on the first time and would be reduced by half on the second time and total failure on the third.

Harming one’s own body to attain the Dao, sacrificing one’s own self to attain enlightenment… The Buddhist principle was not something Ning Fan wanted to think about, so he only focused on the potential of the technique.

Adding on the Self-Sacrificial Technique, it’ll reach around 40%… But this percentage is still too small. If it fails the first time, the second time would be much harder and the third would be impossible…

Gaining the Wind Lightning Wings’ recognition was the same as forming the Gold Core that Ning Fan wanted to succeed in the first try!

After giving it thought for some time, he finally activated his demonic force and illusory black wings appeared behind his back.

“My body possesses a shred of Winged Demon blood. Even though the blood is thin, but in the end I am still considered to be a Winged Demon. How could a Winged Demon not possess wings… By using the demonic force on the Wind Lightning Wings, I can probably increase my chance of success by another 10% with my body’s affinity with wings… If the Star of the Imperial Lightning is added on top of that…”

He activated the Thunder Star while he was still contemplating, making the lightning energy that resided within the wings appear scared.

“There’s an increase of 20% if I add in the Thunder Star… I’m now 70% confident that I will succeed in gaining the Wind Lightning’s recognition, and if I add the Yin Yang Locket's ‘Power of Absorption’, I’ll have 90% chance of success … It's enough!”

Thunder Star, Black Wings, Self-Sacrificial Technique and Yin Yang Locket!

Yes, the Ruler of Jin was stronger than Ning Fan in terms of cultivation base. But in terms of methods and techniques, how many are there in the Rain World that could compete with Ning Fan?!

Ning Fan retrieved the jade slip and bit his fingertips, writing Buddhist Sanskrit on the wings using his own blood.

Those Sanskrit formed a secret talisman for the Self-Sacrificial Technique. It was drawn on the spirit equipment as if it was carved upon it, being deeply absorbed into the wings.

The moment the secret talisman was finished, Ning Fan immediately transferred all the magical force that was in his immortal veins into it. Those Sanskrit words immediately changed into living characters that moved in the spirit equipment and finally condensed into a seal!

But that seal immediately shown signs of rejection after Ning Fan poured all his magical force into it as if it was trying to erase the seal.

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