Chapter 535: Chapter 535: Achieving the Void Inquiry Stage in Ten Years, The Three Phoenix Maidens

It was unknown how many years had already passed since the true body of the tree demon, Min Luo, was trapped within the Dark Sparrow’s Grave.

He was just a Void Fragmentation Realm demon cultivator and his lifespan should already be over a long time ago.

Fortunately, Min Luo Treant created a heaven-defying method himself to turn his original body into a tree. He had completely transformed into a tree and he lost the chance to return to the form of a human again.

He extracted his demon soul and produced countless clones to move around the Dark Sparrow’s Grave using them.

Because his original body had degenerated into a tree, his abilities were greatly weakened but he gained an everlasting lifespan in exchange. He had gone through years of suffering and improved himself through his growth.

As long as his true body did not die, his clones would not perish. As the years went by, Min Luo Treant’s cultivation base also increased steadily and he eventually ‘grew’ to the level of a rogue demon.

Even though his original was a rogue demon, he was a rogue demon that could not move or change his form. He was literally rooted in the Dark Sparrow’s Grave and unable to leave this place forever.

If he ignites his demon soul and strives to leave this place, he might be able to leave the grave for a short period of time but he would certainly perish right after that…

There might be ways that could allow Min Luo to return to his original form or leave the grave but Ning Fan did not know any of them.

The Heavenly Dao was fair. Since Min Luo Treant had survived countless years in the form of a tree, the chance of him returning to his demon form was naturally slim.

The only thing that Ning Fan could do was to bring Min Luo Treant’s clone out of the grave.

It was a method that he learned from Bone Sovereign. Since his true body was unable to leave the Demon Sinister Forest, he made his true soul clone and sneaked out of the forest in that body.

Thus, Ning Fan imitated his method. He just needed to concoct some Low Grade Sixth Revolution ‘True Soul Pills’ for Min Luo and help him to condense his true soul clone within the shortest period of time. That would be enough.

Min Luo Treant’s true soul clone was different from Bone Sovereign’s. Because Bone Sovereign’s original body was perfectly intact, his true soul clone could move around freely without any restraint in the outside world after leaving the Demon Sinister Forest.

Min Luo’s original body, however, had degenerated into a tree. His clone could not leave too far away from his original body, or else it would be like a fallen leaf that could never return to the branch but wilt and die…

Min Luo’s true soul clone could at most move within five thousand li* (500m per li) of Yue Country.

In Dark Sparrow’s Grave, Ning Fan told Min Luo his whole plan and both of them made an agreement.

After that, Ning Fan took away the corpses of the nine Void Fragmentation Realm beasts from Min Luo’s hands as well as a large amount of spiritual herbs that were at ten thousand years old and above and left the place.

He did not immediately bring Ming Que away with him.

Since Ming Que had reunited with his grandpa, Min Luo Treant, after being separated from him for many years, she probably had many things to tell him.

Ning Fan quietly returned to Seven Apricot City all alone. After seeing the transformation of the city today, he gradually set his mind at rest.

The members of the four clans of Seven Apricot City were put into different divisions by Su Yan and Yue Lingkong.

The divisions included the Weapon Refinement Palace, Pill Refinement Palace, Body Cultivation Palace, Sword Cultivation Palace and Demon Cultivation Palace…

The Three Divine Armies of the Black Devil became the Black Devil Palace.

The Sinister Sparrow Sect joined Seven Apricot City and became the Sinister Sparrow Sect.

The Fire Cloud Sect joined Seven Apricot City and became the Fire Cloud Palace.

Each of the large sects were still in their old locations. To put it in a more appropriate way, the entire Yue Country was within the range of Seven Apricot City’s forces after the integration of countries.

Ning Fan did not ask anything regarding the affairs of the forces’ development. He let his women be fully responsible for them and he trusted them amply.

Inside the Cauldron World, the Ning Clan Female Guard was also building the world vigorously.

Everyone had their own matter to be busy with. Of course, there were also a few bored women who passed their days leisurely.

For instance, Zhi He, Mu Xiaohua, Bai Su, Feng Xueyan…

In Seven Apricot City, Ning Fan stood under the falling snow and recalled his mortal life which seemed like a dream.

He finally could somewhat slow down his pace and stay in Seven Apricot City for some time. No killings, no fights, only a moment of peace and tranquility.

“Starting from the Void Refinement Realm, the further improvement of every minor cultivation realm will be extremely difficult. The fastest time it’ll take for ordinary Void Glimpse Stage cultivators to break through to the Void Inquiry Stage is one thousand years. For those who have slightly weaker innate potential, they might need a few thousand years. While for those who have weak Dao Comprehension, they probably won’t be able to reach the Void Inquiry Stage successfully for their entire lives…”

“I want to achieve the Void Inquiry Stage in ten years!”

Ning Fan said while holding the blood wine gourd in his hand. Ten years were the amount of time for the blood wine to be completely brewed!

He poured the essence blood of the nine Void Fragmentation Realm ferocious beasts into the Xuan Wei Bloody Gourd. When the blood wine is completed ten years later, it would be the aid for Ning Fan to break through to the Void Inquiry Stage!

“It’ll still need ten years for the blood wine to be completely brewed. In this period of time, I still have many things to sort out. For example, improving my cultivation methods, spirit sense and… making preparations for withstanding the Void Inquiry Stage heavenly tribulation!”

“Before this, I have to concoct the True Yang Pills and True Soul Pills first to bring Little Black and Min Luo Treant back to Seven Apricot City…”

Ning Fan then began to concoct the two required pills.

The two types of pills were Low Grade Sixth Revolution Pills. They were not easy for Ning Fan to concoct.

During the day. Ning Fan would enter the Dark Golden Pagoda to refine the pills.

When night fell, he would return to Seven Apricot City to rest and spend a peaceful and sensual night with his women.

Ning Fan led such a life for one month. After he had finished making two True Yang Pills and twenty True Soul Pills, he returned to Demon Sinister Forest and Dark Sparrow’s Grave again.

When he returned to Seven Apricot City ten days later, he had brought two people and a sable home with him.

Min Luo’s true soul clone possessed a cultivation base at the Fifth Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm. He had promised Ning Fan to guard Seven Apricot City but he disliked the hustle and bustle of that place. Hence, he chose to stay all alone in a desolate mountain located one thousand li* (500m per li) away.

Mu Xiaoliang was one of Mu Weiliang’s three souls. Therefore, she blended it very quickly with Zhi He and Mu Xiaohuan and became close sisters with them. They were so intimate with each other as if they shared the same mind and body.

From then onward, Mu Xiaoliang was added to the group that was sponging off others in Seven Apricot City.

For now, Mu Weiliang’s three spiritual souls had been found and only her seven physical souls[1] were left…

Mei Chen did not appear in her human form. Instead, she stayed in Seven Apricot City in the body of a little sable.

During the day, she would linger in Ning Fan’s empty room. When Ning Fan returned at night, she would leave looking unappeased. Apparently, she was still angry at him as she completely ignored him without even sparing a glance at him.

Others just thought that the little sable was Ning Fan’s demon pet. However, only Su Yan and a few other women knew Mei Chen’s true identity as a demon cultivator with a frightening cultivation base at the Void Fragmentation Realm.

Ever since Seven Apricot City had Mei Chen and Min Luo’s protection, Ning Fan became more and more at rest and he gradually grew accustomed to life in the city.

His heart became calmer as days went by. The tranquility he felt was a feeling that he had never felt before throughout all the seas of blood he had been.

Ten years flashed by after settling down in Seven Apricot City!

Ten years of quietness, ten years of peace, ten years of dullness and ten years with his loved ones.

Ning Fan had never killed a single person in the past ten years. He nearly forgot that he was once a devil lord who travelled unhindered in the Rain World.

Each and every day, Ning Fan would only spend half a day for cultivation and pill refinement and the other half of the day in monotonous meditation.

Occasionally, he would go missing for a few days to half a month and bury himself in the dark golden pagoda for cultivation.

Sometimes, he would stay in Seven Apricot City for ten plus days consecutively without leaving at all.

Ten years went by in the outside world and nearly half of it was spent in the dark golden pagoda. In total, Ning Fan had cultivated four hundred plus years on the seventh floor of the dark golden pagoda.

During his cultivation in the pagoda, Ning Fan had picked up the cultivation of Black Devil Art again, making it a cultivation method of the fire element. Besides, he had carefully practiced the cultivation method belonging to the divine sovereigns of the Rain World – Sovereign Rain Primordial Art and made it a cultivation method of the ice element.

He had concocted a Void Consuming Pill that would be used for consuming the Void Fragmentation Realm Dao Fruit. However, he did not eat it immediately as he was waiting for the blood wine to complete so he would consume everything at once.

Furthermore, he had used the flesh of the nine Void Fragmentation Realm ferocious beasts to concoct Fierce Cultivation Pills. The massive bodies of the nine beasts were actually only sufficient for cultivating nine Fierce Cultivation Pills.

Ning Fan even used the corpses of the realm beasts for pill refinement and it allowed him to make the tenth Fierce Cultivation Pill.

The grade of the tenth Fierce Cultivation Pill was clearly several ten times higher than the first nine pills. After all, the power of realm beasts’ flesh was far beyond that of the Void Fragmentation Realm beasts.

He took the ten Fierce Cultivation Pills successively. Then, he started concocting the pills that would be consumed together with the Void Refinement Realm and Void Fragmentation Realm sense beads.

Ning Fan’s spirit sense was improving day after day. However, no one knew what level his spirit sense had exactly reached.

That was during the third year he stayed in Seven Apricot City. A massive wave of spirit sense secretly spread across a vicinity of four hundred thousand li*(500m per li) around the city.

Except for Mei Chen and Min Luo, no one within the entire Yue Country sensed the wave of spirit sense.

“Absolute Void Stage spirit sense… Even though this kid’s cultivation base is just at the Void Glimpse Stage, his spirit sense has actually improved to this level!” In a desolate mountain, Min Luo’s eyes flickered with amazement.

After the improvement of his spirit sense was finished, the levels of his cultivation methods had also arrived at a bottleneck. Thus, Ning Fan began refining Sixth Revolution Pills that were meant for raising his magic power such as True Void Pill and Wonderful Sound Pill.

From the Demon Sinister Forest and the Dark Sparrow’s Grave, he had gained a vast amount of spiritual herbs that were enough for him to spend lavishly for the next ten years.

He concocted pills during the day and returned to Seven Apricot City at night to rest. As time went by, his magic power and pill refinement realm were rising slowly and steadily.

His medicine soul was already very strong in the first place as it was not far away from reaching the Mid Grade Sixth Revolution.

In the seventh year in the outside world, a vigorous wave of medical soul power suddenly appeared in Seven Apricot City.

In the desolate mountain located one thousand li* (500m per li) away from the city, Min Luo Treant was once again shocked.

“Mid Grade Sixth Revolution Pill Refinement Realm! Even though he still has a young age, his pill refinement realm is already at this level!”

In the four hundred plus years in the pagoda, all the fifty thousand years old and one hundred thousand years old spiritual herbs were completely depleted. After he had concocted a Void Inquiry Pill that was for enhancing one’s insights about the Void Inquiry Stage, he stopped concocting pills.

He no longer entered the pagoda during the remaining time. Instead, he stayed in Seven Apricot City and Yue Country, brushing up his Dao of Formations. He then began creating Mortal Void Realm formation disks.

These formation disks were defensive grand formations that he prepared for facing the Void Inquiry Stage heavenly tribulation.

He had refined his Inlaid Star Compass again and infused it with many formation techniques which were also preparations for facing the heavenly tribulation.

Ning Fan was aware that he had thoroughly offended the Heavenly Dao and the heavenly tribulation he would face this time would be extremely frightening. Therefore, he would not find it strange even if a Void Fragmentation Realm heavenly tribulation would fall upon him when the time comes.

In the remaining three years, Ning Fan used a great amount of Dao Crystals to create one hundred formation disks containing Mortal Void Grade grand formations.

After that, he only had two thousand Dao Crystals left which were equivalent to ten billion immortal jade.

When the one hundred formation disks were activated at the same time, the formation light thy produced was particularly terrifying. Even an expert at the First Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm would also be unable to destroy it within a short period of time.

Ning Fan then gave the powerful magic treasures which he had obtained from the enemies he had killed in the past to his women and only kept most of the broken and second-rated magic treasures. He was planning to use all of them to face the heavenly tribulation…

Time flashed past. Ten years went by and the brewing of the blood wine was complete.

For ten whole years, Ning Fan immersed himself in the windy and snowy weather of Seven Apricot City, living a peaceful and tranquil life.

For ten whole years, Ning Fan never took anyone’s life and stained his hands with blood.

The preparations he did for the past ten years was just for breaking through to the Void Inquiry Stage!

After the blood wine was complete, Ning Fan informed his women about what he was going to do and left Seven Apricot City.

He did not want to repeat the same mistake that Old Devil had made in the past which was facing his heavenly tribulation in Seven Apricot City.

Since he was fully aware that the heavenly tribulation he would face this time would be extremely scary, he needed to find a vast and secluded place to set up one hundred layers of Void Grade grand formations to face the heavenly tribulation on his own!

Ning Fan travelled all the way to the south. After travelling across ten plus cultivation countries, he finally arrived at the South Gazing Sea of the Rain World.

The Endless Sea was located at the farthest east of the Rain World while the South Gazing Sea was situated at the farthest south of the Rain World.

Yue Country was located at the south-eastern continent of the Rain World. To cultivators like Ning Fan, it would not take too much time for them to reach those two sea domains from Yue Country.

The South Gazing Sea did not have as many cultivators as the Endless Sea. Its sea domain was extremely vast and broad. However, it was rare to find cultivators cultivating at this place.

After arriving at the South Gazing Sea, Ning Fan continued to travel to the southern direction and eventually set his eyes upon a desolate island that had an area of one million li* (500m per li). He landed on that island and set up one hundred layers of Mortal Void Grade grand formations.

Then, he sat cross-legged on the peak of a lonely mountain on the island to regulate his breath and adjust his state. Now, he only needed to wait to get into his best condition and consume the Void Fragmentation Realm Dao Fruits, blood wine and the Void Inquiry Pill in one try in order to advance into the Void Inquiry Stage!

…`

On an island that was filled with immensely thick demon qi situated several ten million li* (500m per li) away from the desolate island, there was a spooky cave that was piled up with white skeletons.

Inside the cave, three female cultivators wearing revealing clothes were surrounding a crystal ball, peeping at a scene that was several ten million li* (500m per li) away from them.

If it was a Void Refinement Realm expert who had resided in the South Gazing Sea for a long time, they would certainly be able to recognize who the three female cultivators were and definitely no one would be bold enough to mess with them.

The three of them were the notorious ‘Three Phoenix Maidens’ of the South Gazing Sea. All of them were demonnesses who possessed the demon bloodline of the Phoenix Race. Moreover, they were the three overlords of the South Gazing Sea!

The demon techniques that the three of them cultivated were extremely vicious. They needed to hunt and feed on a huge number of men in order to raise their cultivation bases.

One of the three women was at the Absolute Void Stage while the other two were at the Void Pierce Stage.

Even though their demon power was illusory and unstable due to their frequent feasts on humans, their strength was not insignificant. They had killed several Void Refinement Realm experts of the Rain World by ganging up on them.

Then, they were given an imperial edict from the Rain Palace that allowed them to just kill within the South Gazing Sea and restricted them from doing so outside of that area.

It was because of the existence of the Three Phoenix Maidens in the South Gazing Sea who liked feeding on men that only few cultivators were willing to come here for cultivation.

It had already been many years that the Three Phoenix Maidens had not tasted the flesh of a Void Refinement Realm man…

“This white-robed young man has quite a handsome face. If we capture him, we can pluck him first and eat him later!” A Void Pierce Stage demoness looked at Ning Fan’s image in the crystal ball and licked her fragrance lips. Her eyes flickered with dark green light, as if she saw a delicious dish.

“We can’t. Didn’t you notice it? He has already set up one hundred layers of formation lights on that desolate island and every single one of them is at the Mortal Void Grade! He must be someone who has a powerful background, putting aside how he managed to get so many Mortal Void Grade formation disks. With the one hundred layers of formation lights protecting him, we certainly can’t break through those formations and capture him!” Another Void Pierce Stage demoness said with worries.

“There’s no need to be afraid. The reason why he appeared in the South Gazing Sea and set up one hundred layers of Mortal Void Grade formation lights is probably for facing his heavenly tribulation. Besides, his cultivation base is just at the Void Glimpse Stage. I suppose he is preparing to break through to the Void Inquiry Stage and deal with the Void Inquiry Stage heavenly tribulation. He actually has prepared so many formation disks in order to face just the Void Inquiry Stage heavenly tribulation. This is evident to tell that he is an extremely timid person. Or it could also mean that his combat power is weak… We only need to wait for him to finish dealing with his heavenly tribulation. No matter if he manages to successfully attain the Void Inquiry Stage or not, he will certainly be worn out and grievously injured. When that time comes, we will sneak attack him abruptly. We will certainly be able to capture him without shedding a drop of blood. Therefore, won’t it still be up to us whether to kill him or skin him?!”

The Absolute Void Stage demoness spoke and licked her lips with her eyes glowing dark green demon light.

She had been staying in the South Gazing Sea for a long time. Since she did not travel to the continents of the Rain World, she had no idea of who Ning Fan was.

Even if she knows, she, with a cultivation base at the Absolute Void Stage, certainly would not be afraid of a Void Glimpse Stage man. Aside from that, she would not be scared of any forces with her unscrupulous personality.

“Let’s wait for him to deal with his heavenly tribulation! The moment after he is done with it will be the time of his death! A lowly Void Glimpse Stage cultivator… *Chuckle*…” The Absolute Void Stage demoness chuckled evilly. She did not put Ning Fan in the eye at all.

…

On the peak of a mountain on the desolate island, Ning Fan suddenly opened his eyes that flashed with a cold light.

“Interesting. It seems like the Void Refinement Realm cultivators of the Rain World have forgotten about my notoriety after I’ve stopped killing people for ten years…”

Ning Fan spread out his spirit sense and inspected the area of four hundred thousand li* (500m per li around him. He did not discover anyone within that range but he could feel that someone was spying on him.

He closed his eyes and checked it carefully. Then, he vaguely sensed that the ones who were watching him were three Void Refinement Realm cultivators.

As he tried to discern them more specifically, he discovered that the three traces of qi belonged to women. They were publicly revealing their killing intent against him.

“Three human cauldrons that presented themselves to my doorstep, huh? Very well. It saves me some effort to catch human cauldrons.”

“After successfully dealing with the heavenly tribulation, I’ll then use their cultivation base to help me stabilize my new cultivation realm!”

Translated by Tommy, edited by Roel

[1] The Three Spiritual Souls and Seven Physical Souls refers to The Three Hun and Seven Po (Chinese: 三魂七魄 Pinyin: sān hún qī pò) From the perspective of Daoism, a human soul is believed to consist different spirits which constitute the Yang aspect and the Yin aspect. The Yang aspect is made up of three Hun (spiritual souls) while the Yin aspect is made up of seven Po (physical souls). Do check out the website below to get a deeper understanding of a human soul. Source: https://daoistgate.com/understanding-the-human-soul/