Inside Seven Apricot City, Zhihe was asleep with a peaceful expression under the night's curtain. Ning Fan got dressed and left the bed. He pushed out the door and met the moonlight which only made him recall Ning Gu several thousand miles away.
"There will come a day…"
He stretched a bit with a warm expression. Even the coldness of Seven Apricot City could not permeate through him.
After coming back to the city, the old monster continuously destroyed cauldrons day after day. Ning Fan — on the other hand — was happy to wait for the old monster to come to him for help with the dan refinement.
Basking in the moonlight, he sat in the courtyard and rearranged the various storage pouches at his waist. There were things given to him by the old monster and also stuff that he personally robbed.
Ning Fan didn't care for the Magical Treasures inside. He already obtained the Separation Slayer sword. In the future, his life protecting treasures would not be any of these items. After all, this sword was refined from Immemorial Stars, and it could rank up with extraordinary potential.
Ning Fan also looked down on merit laws. With the Immortal Emperor's inheritance, even Gold Core merit laws were useless to him. If they were Void Fragmentation, then they would be useful because the inheritance only went up to this level without any higher ranked merit laws.
He was not lacking in dan medicines either, and later he could make them for himself.
There were a few pieces of Spirit Equipment as well. In the Nine Grand Immortal Worlds, Spirit Equipment was divided into six ranks: Silver, Gold, Jade, Earth, Sky, and Divine.
Divine Spirit Equipment was only usable by Void Fragmentation old devils. The Fiery Jade Ring that accepted him as a master, before, was only of the silver rank.
From his war bounty, there were two Gold Spirit Equipment; they were comparable to Gold Core level Magical Treasures. One was an Ancient Beast Protecting Wristband, the other was a Cyan Silky Ribbon.
The Ancient Beast Protecting Wristband could increase a Gold Core expert's wrist strength by 30%. Don't look down on 30%. Physique refinement cultivators with 30% extra wrist strength was enough to fight level surpassing battles.
On the other hand, the Cyan Silky Ribbon's effect was stealth. It is similar to the "Body Concealing Art," but it did not consume magical power.
Even the complete "Body Concealing Art" had flaws. It wasted magical power and because of the movement in magical power, people would normally be able to detect it. However, Spirit Equipment was different. It didn't use mana (1) and could be used passively.
Ning Fan wore the wristband and tied the ribbon up around his long hair behind his back. He used spirit energy in his immortal veins to imprint a master seal on both of the Spirit Equipment to complete the master process.
It was not difficult, and Ning Fan suddenly felt his strength growing quite a bit right after the process.
His right wrist strength was now increased by 30%. The sword energy within his sword techniques must be a lot more powerful now. As for the stealth effect of the ribbon…
Ning Fan's mind suddenly stirred, and a green light flashed as his figure disappeared amidst the snow and wind.
After a short while, above the snow, a ghastly row of footprints were left behind as if a ghost was walking.
"Ah! A ghost!"
A scream came from outside of the wall, and it seemed to be Little Dugu.
Ning Fan removed his stealth and was speechless. Was him being in stealth that scary? Was it as if someone had seen a ghost? Moreover, Little Dugu herself was a ghost. And not to mention that ghosts were extremely normal in the cultivation world. Even a level one Vein Opening cultivator dared to exorcise demons and ghosts…
Was Dugu such a scaredy cat and afraid of ghosts? Interesting!
Ning Fan smirked and left the courtyard to head over to the quiet solitary grave.
Under an apricot tree, a female ghost wearing white clothing with shapely shoulders, waterfall-like hair, and a soft thin waist stood in the cold snowy wind. Adorned above her ear was an apricot flower; a pair of beautiful eyes that resembled serene orchids in an empty valley were perfectly proportioned on her cold and pure appearance. She stood there mirroring a lonely apricot tree…
However, her cold expression — at this moment — carried a hint of embarrassment. It seemed as if she was tricked by this little demon Ning before her...
"You didn't say anything while you were concealed, I actually thought I saw a ghost…" Dugu raised her beautiful brows and glared at Ning Fan before drifting back to the grave like a spirit.
"I actually didn't know a female ghost would be afraid of ghosts… Say, why did you die at this place? And what is your relationship with Master?" Ning Fan stretched, producing cracking sounds.
"Why do I have to tell you?! Han Yuanji isn't a good person, and you aren't either. You are with that little girl every night… Don't you ever get tired? I can't sleep because of the noisy sounds…" Dugu's indignant voice came out from the grave.
"So the noises are bothering you, my bad! I also didn't know Zhihe was so loud…"
"You are still talking!? You, you have no shame! You don't know delicacy! You're not a good person!" Inside the grave, Dugu's voice became a bit frenetic. She was inexperienced and was bothered by the love-making noises of Ning Fan every day, leaving her aghast…
Zhihe was screaming in pain, but why did she also sometimes say "don't stop"? But if it didn't hurt, then why did she shout so miserably…
Dugu's heart felt the chill and decided that Ning Fan was an extreme sex fiend — a devil.
He is indeed the disciple of the old monster… Hmph, he's also a little monster; how annoying, very annoying! Doing that thing every day, why not go a bit further away to do it. Such loud noises and shouts, do they not know other people are trying to sleep...? This lady still hasn't married… but I'm already impure…'
Dugu felt some grievances and considered Ning Fan to be a little devil while cursing him.
"I was never a good person. The two words 'good person' are too far-fetched for me…" Here, Ning Fan didn't say anything else.
He didn't argue with Dugu. He freely sat on the blue boulder to observe the two remaining sword intents on top.
There were three of them, but the "Fire Transformation Sword" was already taken by him accidentally…
Seeing Ning Fan gazing at the swords, Dugu felt worried and softly spoke: "I won't allow you to steal the sword energies…"
"Don't worry, I won't take the sword energy right now. These two sword energies are very strong. Without a Gold Core cultivation, I won't be able to handle the second one. Without being a Nascent Soul, I won't be able to handle the third. Once I have enough power, I will definitely come back to take them!"
"You still can't have them even when your cultivation is enough… If you dare to take my sword energies, I will not let you get off!" Dugu bashfully spoke.
"Why can't I take it? Were they not slashed here so that other people can become enlightened?"
"Correct, this is indeed the case. However… this has something to do with an important promise. If anyone takes away the sword energies, they have to…"
The words "marry me"— Dugu couldn't say them outloud no matter what. It was too unconventional for a girl to speak of such a matter. Not everyone was as thick-skinned as the old monster and Ning Fan who were capable of talking about bedroom matters publicly.
"Fine, I won't ask. Since you have some reservation, I won't take the sword energies…"
Ning Fan stopped talking and took out many types of pills from his storage pouch.
Mysterious Scholar Dan — ten pills. Each pill was able to create a Harmonious Spirit immortal vein.
Suffering Spirit Dan — five pills. Each pill created two Harmonious Spirit immortal veins.
Blood Sucking Dan — four pills. One was enough to form three Harmonious Spirit immortal veins.
These pills were the master-disciple ceremonial gifts from the old monster, and some were from the Heaven Separation elders.
Ever since he reached Harmonious Spirit, he had not created any immortal veins and only had one vein. He simply harmonized ice and fire energies together as the foundation.
A cultivator's first realm was Vein Opening. The meaning was the same as its name, and it required cultivators to open their veins.
The second realm was Harmonious Spirit. This meant that cultivators needed to open veins along with integrating spirit energies inside.
Integrating fire spirit was fire cultivation. Integrating water spirit was water cultivation. The Harmonious Spirit realm determined the future direction of one's cultivation. The five elements (metal, wood, water, fire, and earth) were the easiest to harmonize, and "Five Spirit Cultivators" were the most numerous. Meanwhile, thunder, ice, dark, poison and wind were the rare spirit energies and were called Heavenly Spirit Energies. Only someone with great fortune would be able to harmonize Heavenly Spirit Energy to become a "Heavenly Spirit Cultivator."
For example, after having outdoor sex, Ning Fan was able to harmonize the ice spirit energy.
Ordinary cultivators could only harmonize one spirit into their veins. However, evil veins and divine veins were able to harmonize many spirit energies.
The present Ning Fan being able to harmonize fire and ice was already considered rare.
According to Ning Fan's calculations, if he could harmonize ice and fire into his one hundred immortal veins, then he would be able to break through to the intermediate-stage Harmonious Spirit realm!
Early and intermediate only had the difference of one word, but the discrepancy in magical power was doubled! Normally, an intermediate Harmonious Spirit cultivator would not have a hard time destroying an early Harmonious Spirit cultivator.
Calming his thoughts, Ning Fan took out each dan bottle and slightly smiled, then he ate everything.
The Yin Yang Evil Vein had a terrifying dan medicine refinement rate. Ordinary people wouldn't be able to refine so many pills without several years.
As for Ning Fan? Only one night was enough!
The ten Mysterious Scholar Dan has been refined, and the Spirit Veins in his body reached six.
The five Suffering Spirit Dan has been consumed, and the Spirit Veins in his body reached eleven.
After the four Blood Sucking Dan were dissolved, the Spirit Veins reached seventeen.
Just after midnight, Ning Fan had completely refined all of his dan medicine. His speed doubled his previous expectations.
And the amount of Spirit Veins harmonized was half of his expectations…
He briefly thought about it and came to an understanding. After the Yin Yang Evil Vein harmonized two different spirits, his speed — along with the difficulty of Harmonious Spirit — also increased. Dual spirits required the twice the amount of dan medicines…
During his contemplation, inside the grave, Little Dugu's cute mouth opened with some surprises.
"This little monster Ning, he has such a fast dan refinement speed… I heard Royal Father say that only very few Immemorial Evil Vein experts have such a marvelous speed… I wonder which type little monster Ning has… Bah, bah, bah, whatever type he has, it has nothing to do with me!"
Ning Fan did not know that Dugu was silently cursing him. He calmed his mind and energy. After his magical power stabilized, he raised his palm and took out a golden fruit with the shape of a longan (2).
Dao Fruit! Ning Fan has decided to eat the Dao Fruit to see how much his cultivation would increase by.
Little Dugu was quite shocked to see the Dau Fruit.
"Dao Fruit... This is an item that only comes after killing Gold Core old devils… little monster Ning is only an early Harmonious Spirit realm cultivator, can he even kill Gold Core old devils? Bah, bah, bah, why am I caring about other people's business!? Dugu oh Dugu, you have to remember, this guy is a huge pervert. If you mess with him, then you will be like little Zhihe and will be tortured every night, crying and laughing at the same time…"
Remembering the unsuppressable moans throughout the night from little Zhihe, Dugu's slender hands started to shiver along with the rest of her delicate body. She couldn't imagine what type of suffering little Zhihe went through to have such miserable cries…
It must hurt a lot, a lot…
Ning Fan waited until his mind and energy was calm before swallowing the Dao Fruit in one gulp.
Then, his immortal veins, under the effect of the Dao Fruit, quickly harmonized with the spirits.
18 veins, 19 veins… 30 veins!
40 veins, 50 veins… 100 veins!
One hundred veins were harmonized in just a quarter of an hour. Ning Fan's aura soared as his intermediate Harmonious Spirit momentum caused the snow around him to fly chaotically.
The sun was almost up. He welcomed the rising sun and stood up to breathe in the early morning's air while feeling very refreshed.
There were two things that were the most comfortable in this world. One was dual cultivation. The other was a cultivation breakthrough — such a comfortable feeling!
"This is the intermediate Harmonious Spirit stage ah… Very powerful! I have doubled my magical energy from last night!"
Dao Fruit — truly good stuff yah…
He closed his eyes and stood silently in the snow, quelling his excited mind.
The Heaven Separation Sect was destroyed, and his little brother was saved. From now on, no matter whether it was dao cultivation, truth cultivation, immortal cultivation, or evil cultivation; it was only to pursue the path of the strong, nothing more.
That night above the All Pleasure Sect when the old monster destroyed the sect; the powerful image was imprinted in Ning Fan's mind. This was probably his lifelong pursuit.
"It's almost time to go to the Sinister Sparrow Sect. The heartless old monster seems to have sold me to the Sinister Sparrow's Sect Master as a son-in-law…"
Ning Fan shook his head. He really didn't have any positive opinions regarding Lan Mei. However, if she could become a bit more well-behaved, then it would not be completely unacceptable to suddenly have a wife.
He raised his palm. A glint of steel — like the starlight — moved around in his palm. This sword was named Separation Slayer, and this would not change.
"However, the impurities are too abundant in the Separation Slayer; it is not pure enough… Si Wuxie's refinement skill is truly lacking… I have to open the cauldron to refine it again to make it better…"
The truth was that Si Wuxie's skill was not bad. Instead, it was because Ning Fan's sight was too high.
Having thought of Si Wuxie, Ning Fan's expression turned cold. He turned around and headed toward the refinement room.
Ning Fan trod away amidst the snow and wind. Behind Ning Fan, Dugu came out from the grave as her beautiful eyes gazed at his departure. She faintly felt a little lost for unknown reasons.
"Is being a good person too far-fetched for you… little monster Ning, it would be so nice if you didn't cultivate the Evil Dao… Royal Father would surely like you…
Note:
(1)"mana": same as magical power.
(2) a kind of fruit
Credit: (the former team)
Bao (TL)
Nahct (E)
Lace1010 (TLC)
Wayfinder (E)