Grasping the Evil

Chapter 1209: Annihilating the Immortal Stone

When the mountain of Dao stopped rising and the Saint’s Soul Dispersion no longer got in the way, Ning Fan easily set foot upon the summit of the mountain of Dao.

On the summit of the mountain of Dao stood an incense table, upon which an ancestral spirit tablet was enshrined. There was not a single character on the tablet at first, but the instant Ning Fan’s gaze touched it, wisps of incense aura coiled up from the tablet, and then a line of ancient characters manifested upon it.

[First came Hongjun, then came Heaven]

Ning Fan blinked and looked at the spirit tablet again; this time, however, the words had changed.

[Eternal First Immortal]

He glanced again in a daze, and when he refocused on the spirit tablet, it had already changed into a new line of words.

[Supreme of Boundless Clarity]

It changed again.

[Xuan Sect Celestial of Creation]

It changed again.

[Only I Confer Divinity]

It changed again.

[Great Luo Saint]

It changed again.

[Ancestral Power Talisman]

It changed again.

[Dao]

It changed again.

The spirit tablet returned to a blank state, and then, it turned into specks of shattered light and vanished.

"This spirit tablet was most likely set up by the Ant Lord for her master Hongjun. The changing words on the tablet seem to be introducing Hongjun’s life. ’First came Hongjun, then came Heaven’ speaks of this person’s birth—when he had only taken the first step on the path of cultivation, he already dared to tread the heavens and act; ’Eternal First Immortal’ is this person’s Second Step; ’Supreme of Boundless Clarity’ should be the Third Step; ’Xuan Sect Celestial of Creation’ is his Fourth Step; ’Only I Confer Divinity’—those two words, Confer Divinity, seem related to spirits, and should be some deed of his after the Fourth Step; ’Great Luo Saint’, its meaning is unclear, but I suppose it is what he experienced after completing the Confer Divinity; afterward, this person ascended to the peak of methods of Dao and thus became the Ancestral Power Talisman; further refined, with no ancestor in his heart, no source nor flow, no beginning nor end, he himself became Dao; and then, it seems he stepped into an even higher level, no longer something that the single word Dao can describe, and so the spirit tablet returned to blankness and ultimately disappeared..."

Azure light flickered in Ning Fan’s eyes; merely from the changes of that spirit tablet, he had actually seen so many things.

"This brat truly is a freak. He’s clearly not one of the People of the True Realm, and he’s never even heard much of my master’s deeds, yet just from the changes on the spirit tablet he could roughly deduce my master’s glorious life." The Ant Lord, within Ning Fan’s divine sense, could easily see his immediate memories and could not help but be somewhat shocked.

Ning Fan could not be bothered to pay attention to the Ant Lord; instead, he walked toward the incense table.

Besides the spirit tablet, three other items were laid out on the incense table: talisman papers, clear water, and a jade scroll.

There were three talisman papers in total, each one exuding an immense Saint Pressure, though their purpose was unclear.

The clear water looked like mere water on the surface, but it was in fact Clear Water Wine, the final resting place of wine after passing through a life of reincarnation. Ning Fan had already seen Clear Water Wine before, but the medicinal power of the Clear Water Wine here was clearly not comparable to those that Tantai Weiyu possessed; after consumption it would seem to have tremendous effects, though its exact use was unclear.

As for the jade scroll, Ning Fan had heard the Slime Monster speak of it; this jade scroll was called the [Heaven-Opening Jade Scroll]. Though it was called Heaven-Opening, that did not mean the scroll was a Heaven-Opening–rank magical treasure; on the contrary, the scroll itself was not a magical treasure at all, but merely a book that recorded the merits of the Real Realms.

According to the Slime Monster, the Heaven-Opening Jade Scroll was something that had existed since the very beginning of the Real Realms’ creation. Throughout endless reincarnations, there could only be three thousand Heaven-Opening Jade Scrolls in existence, not a single one more. If someone’s scroll was destroyed, then Heaven and Earth would generate another scroll to make up the number.

Not all Saints of the Real Realms were qualified to own a jade scroll, and those who possessed a scroll were not necessarily Saints.

This particular scroll had been bestowed upon the Ant Lord by Ancestor Hongjun; only one who held a jade scroll could collect merits of the Real Realms. Without a jade scroll, there was fundamentally no possibility of becoming a Saint through the merits of the Real Realms.

The Ant Lord had spent her whole life toiling for the Hongjun Holy Sect, naturally rendering countless services in the Real Realms. However, for the sake of sanctifying through merits, she had used up the vast majority of her accumulated merit, so the merits of the Real Realms remaining within the jade scroll were already only a small portion of what they had initially been.

Ning Fan opened the jade scroll, and at once a strange fragrance wafted toward him—that was the scent of merit.

[Twelve thousand four hundred merits.]

Ning Fan had no concept of merits of the Real Realms, and so did not know whether this amount was considered much or little.

"Damn it! You are not allowed to touch this palace’s jade scroll! I spent many years saving up those merits—how can they be allowed to benefit you!" came the Ant Lord’s enraged voice.

"Don’t make a racket in my divine sense, or I don’t mind letting you taste the pain of a bewitching technique again."

"You... hmph!" The Ant Lord compromised once more, but inside, her heart was bleeding.

Ning Fan temporarily put away the Heaven-Opening Jade Scroll, then looked over the talisman papers and Clear Water Wine on the incense table with great interest.

He did not know what functions these two items had. No matter; he could have a little chat with them and ask.

"What’s your name, little talisman paper?"

[My name is Jade Pure Divine Thunder Charm.]

[My name is Shangqing Divine Thunder Charm.]

[My name is Great Pure Divine Thunder Charm.]

Oh? So the three talisman papers were of different types.

After chatting for a while, Ning Fan figured it out: these three talisman papers were all single-use talismans. Once used, they could unleash a Saint Level thunder skill whose power was infinitely close to the Third Step.

To the Ant Lord, these three talismans were not of much use; when she made them back then, it had only been to commemorate the three senior brothers of the Hongjun Holy Sect—Jade Pure, Shangqing, and Great Pure.

But to Ning Fan, these three talismans were practically his strongest life-saving trump cards!

How many in the Era of Decline could take a single Saint Level thunder skill head-on and live? Even Ancient Great Cultivators, if struck by one of these talismans, would likely have their skin peeled off; as for First Order and Second Rank Quasi-Saints, Ning Fan did not believe many could survive a single blow from such a talisman. Of course, if they could not block it, they could still dodge; whether these talismans would truly be effective in real combat remained to be seen.

"Excellent, these three thunder talismans are mine."

"Tch, you won’t even spare three inferior Heaven-Opening Talismans. How utterly petty." the Ant Lord said with disdain. From her Saint’s perspective, she naturally looked down on Ning Fan’s pettiness.

"Come to think of it, when you were dealing with me at first, if you had used these thunder talismans, I would have had no choice but to flee." Ning Fan sounded as if he had confirmed a guess.

"I did not take them simply because a Scattered Soul Form cannot use them. The limitations of a Scattered Soul are far too great; otherwise, do you think that this palace, a dignified Saint, would lack methods to deal with a junior like you? You should have felt it—if this palace still had her Divine Skills, I could kill you with a single glance!" the Ant Lord said irritably.

"So it really is like that."

With three thunder talismans in hand, Ning Fan slightly refined them and directly stored the three thunder talismans near his primordial spirit in his Dantian, so he could sacrifice them at any time to save his life if he ever fell into a desperate situation in the future.

Afterward, he started chatting with the Clear Water Wine. Only after talking did he learn that this was no ordinary wine, but Dao Wine that the Ant Lord had received back then when she attended the Dao Fruit Conference of the Hongjun Holy Sect.

Drinking this bowl of Dao Wine could increase one’s Saint cultivation by roughly one-tenth of an epoch. It was precisely because this wine was too precious that the Ant Lord could not bear to drink it back then, intending to save it for a critical moment when she charged at a bottleneck; yet unexpectedly, an accident occurred, and she never had the chance to drink it.

In the end, this incomparably precious Hongjun Dao Wine fell into Ning Fan’s hands.

"According to what this Dao Wine itself claims, this wine must not be drunk by anyone below Saint, otherwise they will be lost in endless reincarnation, forever cut off from true cultivation; from ancient times until now, there has never been an exception. Who knows how many Great Cultivators of the True Realm tried it rashly and ended up having their existence erased by this wine. With my current cultivation, drinking it would be seeking death; and if I do become a Saint one day, with my aptitude, I may not even need this additional tenth of an Epoch of cultivation. Unlike the three Thunder Talismans, although this wine is extremely valuable, to me it’s actually a bit tasteless."

Of course, even if it was tasteless, Ning Fan would never let it go, and still put this Hongjun Dao Wine away.

The Ant Lord was grinding her teeth in hatred, yet completely powerless to stop Ning Fan from snatching her treasures. She had thought Ning Fan would be done after robbing these things, but Ning Fan was too much! Taking away these dead objects wasn’t enough, he actually wanted to snatch away her Dao as well!

"Madman! You damned madman! That is this palace’s mountain of Dao! How dare you pillage it! What use is it to you? My Dao is useless to you!" the Ant Lord said furiously.

"Useless? Chatting with her once in a while, does that count as a use?" Ning Fan laughed. The more unhappy the Ant Lord was, the happier he was; as for this mountain of Dao, he had already decided to take it.

"Hmph! Who do you think you are! You think a Saintly Dao Mountain can just be moved if you want to move it! Can you even move it! When Ancient Great Cultivators are struck by this mountain, they’ll be suppressed by its weight and unable to escape!"

Oh? This mountain of Dao can be used like that as well? It can even be used to suppress Ancient Great Cultivators? Does it have to be this overpowered?

The more the Ant Lord said so, the more Ning Fan wanted to take the mountain of Dao away.

"You really ought to properly flip through my memories and see my conversation with this mountain of Dao. Even Ancient Great Cultivators can’t bear the weight of this mountain, of course I can’t move it either. But if she herself is willing to leave with me, why would I need to ’move’ her?"

Thus, under the Ant Lord’s man‑eating glare, Ning Fan chatted a few more lines with the Dao Mountain and directly tricked it into the Xuan Yin Treasure.

At the instant the Dao Mountain left, the entire Earth Abyss fell into violent tremors, and countless booms rang out as well, but those booms did not last long before subsiding again.

"The gains from this trip aren’t small. Though I’ve picked up the Ant Lord as a lifelong curse, I also got quite a few good things. All in all, the gains still outweigh the losses, I suppose."

Ning Fan’s mood became quite good again.

The Ant Lord’s mood, on the other hand, was a complete mess, utterly dark. She had lost completely; Ning Fan truly was her destined nemesis!

She had originally thought that once Ning Fan robbed the Dao Mountain, he would stop. But she was wrong; she had underestimated how ruthlessly Ning Fan would strip the place bare!

"Speaking of which, this Light Tree is also a treasure. After all, even I, in a moment of carelessness, was calculated by it; I ought to take it, and it can be used to cooperate with my Godhood of Wood. I imagine it’ll be a rare treasure, not weaker than the Seven Treasures Marvelous Tree."

"Hmm? The orange trees and trifoliate orange trees here can also be cut down a few, transplanted into the Shennong Hundred Herbs Garden for occasional research."

"This river flow is somewhat mysterious as well; I can intercept some of the river water and study it a little..."

"The soil here is quite good too; speaking in terms of Dao Soil, it’s first‑class quality. I can also take some away..."

"Don’t go too far!" The Ant Lord was driven mad with anger.

"Silence!" Ning Fan’s brows creased, and the Ant Lord could only obediently shut her mouth again, letting Ning Fan strip the place clean, not daring to utter another word.

After a long time, Ning Fan finally finished scraping the ground bare.

"It’s time to leave. Bottomless Boat, carry me against the current, and take me out of this realm."

[As you command!]

...

Twelfth Layer of the Earth Abyss.

"Eh, why have the tremors of the Earth Abyss calmed down... Could it be that the Ant Lord failed to awaken?" On the Twelfth Layer of the Earth Abyss, the All‑Knowing Elder secretly let out a breath of relief. If the Ant Lord truly awakened, even if he had confidence in resealing her, he would still have to pay quite a price; it was really not worth it.

...

Thirteenth Layer of the Earth Abyss.

"Hmm? The tremors have stopped. Looks like that brat who stole my umbrella is about to come back up from the lower layer. Immortal Stone, as soon as that brat returns to the Thirteenth Layer, you and I will strike together and kill him!" Fu Suchen ordered.

"Relax, little Daoist, I only need one punch to send that brat west!" Immortal Stone boasted.

The acidic rain on the Thirteenth Layer had long since stopped.

When Ning Fan returned to the Thirteenth Layer, there was no need to hold an umbrella anymore. Just as he stepped back onto the Thirteenth Layer, he immediately felt killing intent lock onto him. Almost at the same time, two attacks, one before and one behind, pincer‑attacked him.

Stone Art, Star Stone Fall!

Rain Art, Rootless Rain!

Ink‑green corrosive rain fell from the sky. This was not naturally formed acidic rain, but someone unleashing a Rain‑Walking Divine Skill!

Ning Fan casually flicked his sleeve and swept away the ink‑green raindrops filling the sky; this level of rain was not enough to make him even slightly serious.

But facing those meteorites crashing down from the sky, Ning Fan could not be too relaxed; he had to go all out, because these meteorites were an attack at the Quasi‑Saint level!

Raising his hand, he summoned the Reverse Sea Sword. Every time Ning Fan’s sword marks slashed out, a meteorite was forcibly hacked apart; in the end, not a single meteorite actually managed to slam into his body.

"Rats, get out here!"

Ning Fan’s gaze turned icy cold. With a demonic roar infused with his full Mana, he forced the hiding Fu Suchen and Immortal Stone out of concealment.

He was unhappy! No one likes being ambushed!

He didn’t want to hear Fu Suchen or Immortal Stone’s explanations! He was a spirit of Communication with All Things; his perception of killing intent would never be wrong! Since the other side wanted to kill him, he had no need to know who they were—just kill them!

"Impossible! This brat’s Mana actually reaches 17,000 Calamities! Though his Mana Purity isn’t that high, the quantity is way too much!" Immortal Stone was dumbfounded. This seriously did not match the intelligence provided by the Light Ant Clan! Could it be that Yin Mu lied to him? After all, no matter how you looked at Ning Fan, he didn’t resemble some weakling.

Not only was he not a weakling, Immortal Stone even felt a hint of pressure from Ning Fan; this was enough to show that the other party’s strength was above his, and not just by a tiny margin!

"His—his bone age isn’t even two hundred thousand years? What’s going on, this child’s Mana is terrifyingly high, yet his bone age is ridiculously low to the point of defying common sense!" Fu Suchen saw even more than Immortal Stone did!

He cultivated the Rain Master Divine Eye, able to ignore the Secondly, and see through the enemy’s true bone age and Cultivation Realm!

A bone age of a little over a hundred thousand, an Immortal King Peak realm, and 17,000 Calamities of Mana! There were too many things about this youth that violated common sense! He no longer knew what part he should be surprised by!

"Little Daoist, what do we do now! How about... we retreat first." Immortal Stone swallowed hard, a bit scared. All the way swaggering here, he had suffered losses several times in a row and finally learned to behave.

"It’s not ’we’ retreat, but that this Daoist will take his leave first! You stay here behind this hall; if you can take him, then take him. If you can’t, flee by yourself."

"What? Little Daoist, you’re ditching me and running off alone again?" Immortal Stone cried out.

"That’s an order!"

With that, Fu Suchen’s figure blurred and turned into a sky full of rainwater, scattering away.

It was a very mysterious Rain Escape Technique, able to evade the vast majority of lethal attacks. Normally, once Fu Suchen used this technique to flee, ordinary people simply couldn’t catch hold of his escaping body.

But he was too unlucky; the one he met was Ning Fan!

Ning Fan had practically half‑stepped into the Rain Control Position; when it came to rain, he had absolute command! That degree of control might not match a true Rain Seal Rank or Rain Control Position, but it was more than enough to deal with a Fu Suchen!

"Heaven and Earth’s rain, heed my command!"

Ning Fan grabbed with five fingers, and the scattered rainwater that Fu Suchen had turned into immediately retraced its path. The rain then recongealed, turning back into Fu Suchen.

Rain Escape, failed!

"Control Position, it’s actually a Control Position! Though this brat is still half a step away from truly stepping into the Rain Control Position, that last half-step is absolutely not far! Just over a hundred thousand years of bone age, how could he have such talent!" Fu Suchen’s worldview was on the verge of collapse.

He had always prided himself as the most outstanding prodigy of the Northern Heavens, but compared to Ning Fan, he was nothing but a firefly, while Ning Fan was that bright full moon!

"Immortal Stone! What are you still dazing out for! With his half-step Rain Control Position here, this Daoist simply can’t escape this place. You and I must go all out and kill him!"

"Yes!"

Freeze!

Unfortunately, Ning Fan had no intention of giving his enemies another chance to build up an attack.

With a single finger pointing to seal the heavens, he froze Immortal Stone in place. Suppressed under a vast amount of Mana, Immortal Stone was almost completely fixed for a full breath!

What is one breath enough for Ning Fan to do?

Enough for Ning Fan to take advantage of Immortal Stone’s immobility and kill Fu Suchen ten times over!

Fu Suchen was just a little Immortal King. He was invincible within his own level, but that "same level" did not include a freak like Ning Fan! His Divine Skills defied the heavens, but could he defy the heavens more than Ning Fan? With just a single Control Position command, Ning Fan abolished ninety percent of Fu Suchen’s abilities!

The remaining ten percent of his abilities were his master’s life-saving trump cards left to him, but even those trump cards still could not save his life.

Reverse Sea Sword Light descended from the sky!

With just one sword, Fu Suchen’s body exploded and he died, yet after his body detonated, the shattered flesh turned into raindrops and bizarrely reconstituted again.

At the same time, a drop of azure blood flew out from the center of his brows, turning into rain threads and dispersing.

"Interesting. I just wonder how many times you can still use this life-saving art."

Chi chi chi!

Ning Fan unleashed nine consecutive swords, killing Fu Suchen nine more times. Adding the initial kill, Fu Suchen died a total of ten times. The azure blood at his brow was finally completely spent, and he no longer had any power to resurrect!

"Do not harm the little Daoist!" One breath passed; Immortal Stone could finally move again.

Seeing that Fu Suchen’s Rain Master soul-blood was used up, he became greatly anxious and wanted to rush over to guard Fu Suchen.

But then something that filled him with fury and despair happened!

Ning Fan pointed again and froze him! For the next breath, he once again could not move at all!

"No, don’t kill him, don’t!" Immortal Stone was in despair, almost begging as he pleaded with Ning Fan, but Ning Fan would of course not sympathize with an enemy’s pleas.

The Reverse Sea Sword once again chopped toward Fu Suchen. This time, if Fu Suchen died again, it would be true death with no more rebirth!

"Summoner of Rain Master’s Image!"

Yet unexpectedly, Fu Suchen still had other trump cards. He crushed a small jade token, summoning a gigantic divine statue to protect his body and block Ning Fan’s sword light.

This was an Ancient God’s Image! It was the greatest supreme art of the ancient divine race, on the same level as the Ancient Demon Ancestral Reversion Technique!

Only now did Ning Fan take note that this Fu Suchen was not an ordinary Immortal Cultivator at all, but actually a Fiendgod, a Fiendgod possessing a Divine Transformation Realm!

The ancient divine race had clearly lost their hearts, yet this person could cultivate into an orthodox Fiendgod, which indeed counted as a heaven-defying figure. Unfortunately, a small heaven-defying monster meeting a big heaven-defying monster could only end up getting abused.

"If you also possessed Quasi-Saint Power, this divine image might be able to pose a slight threat to me. But if it’s only at this level, it’s not enough!"

Ning Fan still did not resort to any extra methods; he simply used the Reverse Sea Sword to hack at that divine image seven times in a row.

The divine image could not bear the load and was ultimately destroyed. Then Fu Suchen, who was hiding behind the statue, was shredded by Ning Fan’s sword light, turning into a rain of blood and vanishing.

"No—" Immortal Stone let out a grief-stricken roar.

After one breath, he regained his mobility again. This time, Ning Fan did not freeze him anymore, but charged at him with sword in hand.

"You killed the little Daoist and ruined my last chance of returning to my homeland. I’ll kill you, kill you!"

Immortal Stone’s reason completely collapsed!

In his raging fury, he attacked without defending at all, transforming a giant stone sword that actually managed to fight Ning Fan’s Reverse Sea Sword to a draw.

"I don’t know what you’re so angry about. That junior hasn’t truly fallen. Your anger is completely senseless." Ning Fan was rather speechless at Immortal Stone’s fury.

Because he had not truly killed Fu Suchen.

No, to be precise, he had killed Fu Suchen, but only half of Fu Suchen. For some reason, the other half of this man’s Spirit was not here, and thus he luckily escaped this calamity and did not really die.

Immortal Stone had completely lost his sanity. He could no longer hear Ning Fan’s voice at all; he only knew that he had to fight Ning Fan to the death.

Seeing that, Ning Fan could not be bothered to waste words on him.

Whether Fu Suchen was thoroughly dead or not, he did not care.

Whether Immortal Stone was enraged or not, he cared just as little.

He did not even care what background these one man and one stone came from.

He only cared about one thing: if he killed this stone-man Quasi-Saint in front of him, could he use him to forge another Eternal Ghost Soldier.

"It’s a pity the sacrifice is insufficient. Refining ghost soldiers requires enough blood offerings..." Ning Fan was pondering where to find some blood sacrifices to refine ghost soldiers when he suddenly laughed.

He laughed at how sensible Immortal Stone was!

He was just worrying about having nowhere to find sacrifices, and Immortal Stone proactively delivered them to his door!

"Stone men, bite for me, bite this thief to death!" Immortal Stone swung his giant sword across the sky, slicing open the entrance to his Realm of Incense Offering, and countless palm-sized stone little men were summoned out by him.

Those stone little men seemed to carry terrifying poison. Although each individual cultivation was not very high, if they bit someone, even an ordinary Quasi-Saint would truly have a headache dealing with the poison.

"You’re cooperating with me so much I almost feel bad killing you..." Ning Fan opened his mouth and sprayed out a sky full of Flame Thunder Fire. This kind of area-of-effect slaughter easily wiped out most of the stone little men.

But there were still a small number of stone little men that slipped through the net, shuttling through space in a strange fashion. After closing in, they bit Ning Fan.

Although Ning Fan’s physical defense was quite decent, when bitten by these stone little men, his skin was still broken, blood flowed, and he was poisoned.

Fortunately, his poison resistance was astonishing. After this poison entered his body, although it could not be expelled in a short time, it also could not exert any negative effect and could not harm Ning Fan in the slightest.

Chi chi chi!

Flame Thunder and Reverse Sea Sword launched their attacks simultaneously, and those stone little men that had managed to approach were ultimately all slaughtered by Ning Fan one by one.

There were about a million of these little stone men; barely enough to use in refining Eternal Ghost Soldiers, and because it was only barely enough, the success rate wouldn’t be very high.

"If only there were more sacrifices, that way the success rate of refining Eternal Ghost Soldiers would increase accordingly..."

As soon as Ning Fan had this thought, the Immortal Stone cooperated with him!

The Immortal Stone opened another Realm of Incense Offering and summoned out another million beautiful Mountain Ghosts!

Those Mountain Ghosts drifted like wandering souls, one after another flying toward Ning Fan, and then they all released Illusory Arts at him!

This was an Illusory Art jointly cast by a million ghosts; such a large-scale illusion was the first time Ning Fan had ever seen one!

Unfortunately... Ning Fan was also a master of Illusory Arts. His left eye flashed with the demon shadow of Fu Li2, his right eye with the tree shadow of the Dark Reincarnation Branch, and the illusions of the million ghosts were all reflected back on them!

After that, Dark Reincarnation Branches grew out from within each ghost’s body, piercing through them and annihilating them!

The Immortal Stone’s method still failed to work, and for nothing it added another million sacrifices!

"Stop cooperating with me... we’re enemies." Ning Fan said with a smile.

"I’ll kill you! Kill you!" The Immortal Stone went completely mad; he couldn’t hear Ning Fan’s mocking words at all!

He opened the Realm of Incense Offering for the third time, and this time, what flew out from the Realm of Incense Offering was a mountain!

A Suppression Mountain weighing several hundred stars!

Ning Fan’s brows knit slightly; he finally grew a little serious. If he were crushed by this mountain, he did not have enough strength to escape from under its suppression; he would likely suffer considerably.

This Stone Man Quasi-Saint was apparently not entirely useless.

"So you want to play at suppression, huh. You have a Suppression Mountain, and I just so happen to have one too. Mountain Maiden, I’ll trouble you to make a move."

[Don’t be so polite, Tree Demon Brother! We’re good siblings after all; helping each other is only natural, isn’t it?]

Boom!

Ning Fan opened the Xuan Yin Treasure. Ant Lord Tao Mountain, carrying an endless roar, smashed forward to meet the Immortal Stone’s Suppression Mountain!

The two enormous mountains violently collided in the heavens and earth! And then... Ant Lord Tao Mountain directly smashed the other Suppression Mountain into dust!

It completely crushed the opponent’s Suppression Mountain!

"It’s that strong?!" Ning Fan was greatly shocked. He had originally only intended to take in this Tao Mountain and have a chat; he hadn’t expected the mountain to be this powerful, its might not one bit weaker than an Innate Superior Grade Magical Treasure.

But this Tao Mountain wasn’t a magical treasure at all; it was merely the condensed Dao of the Ant Lord. Was a Saint’s Dao truly this terrifying? Just by taking the mountain of Dao itself and smashing people with it, it could be used as an Innate Superior Grade Magical Treasure?

"I originally thought those Three Thunder Talismans at Saint Level were the most useful things, but perhaps this Tao Mountain is actually..." Ning Fan thought to himself.

"It actually shattered my life-bound Suppression Peak with a single blow! Wh-what kind of mountain is this! Why does it have the aura of a Saint upon it!" The Immortal Stone was frightened awake by this dreadful scene, regaining a bit of his sanity.

But facing an absolute difference in strength, in magical treasures and Divine Skills, what use was a bit of regained sanity?

With a single command from Ning Fan, Ant Lord Tao Mountain smashed toward the Immortal Stone, carrying the Saintly aura that swept across reincarnation!

With its first strike, Ant Lord Tao Mountain crashed and shattered the opponent’s Suppression Mountain!

With its second strike, Ant Lord Tao Mountain directly suppressed the Immortal Stone under the mountain!

"I can’t move! This mountain is too heavy! This isn’t weight on the material level, otherwise no matter how heavy it was, I could still escape; this damn thing is a mountain of Dao! This damn thing is a Saintly Dao Mountain! Only after being suppressed can you personally experience the Dao Mountain aura of this mountain! This damn thing is completely Saint Level suppression! Could this brat actually be a Saint? Could he actually be a Saint! Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" The Immortal Stone was pinned under the mountain, unable to move, roaring to the heavens.

"Enough, I’m done playing with you. Even though you cooperated with me a lot, an enemy is an enemy; there’s no way I’d spare you just because of that. Next, the game is over."

Ning Fan’s gaze became emotionless again.

With his prior probing, he had already tested out the depth of the opponent’s methods. The opponent was lacking in offensive means; his strong point lay in his heaven-defying stone-skin defense. Just how heaven-defying? Heaven-defying to the point that he could take the Reverse Sea Sword’s strikes head-on without sustaining the slightest injury; heaven-defying to the point that even though he was suppressed by Ant Lord Tao Mountain, he only suffered minor injuries rather than grievous wounds.

However, the Reverse Sea Sword’s ineffectiveness was not solely because the opponent’s stone-skin defense was heaven-defying; it was also due to the mutual generation and restriction of the Five Elements. The Reverse Sea Sword was a water-element Dao Weapon, while the opponent was a stone man, and stone was a variant of the earth element.

Among the Five Elements, earth overcomes water, so when the Reverse Sea Sword faced the opponent’s stone-skin defense, its power was naturally reduced quite a bit. Coupled with the fact that the stone-skin was already extremely tough, it was no surprise that it didn’t leave even a scratch.

The same logic applied to Ant Lord Tao Mountain; mountains and stones share the same source, so the opponent’s defense against that kind of suppression method was also relatively higher, and that was nothing strange.

Fortunately, among the Five Elements, wood most restrains earth; thus even though stone and mountain are hard, pine and cypress can still drill through rock and draw out all the nourishment of the earth.

And wood just happened to be Ning Fan’s strongest Dao trace at the moment; he had even cultivated the Godhood of Wood that surpassed the Control Positions! Using Ant Lord Tao Mountain to suppress the Immortal Stone was only the first step. If he wanted to kill the Immortal Stone, Ant Lord Tao Mountain alone couldn’t manage it, but there was something that could!

"I see you as a tree. Have you ever tried becoming a tree... have you... seen this gigantic Light Tree behind me..."

As soon as Ning Fan’s words fell, the Immortal Stone let out a miserable scream. Numerous seeds of the Light Tree suddenly burst out from inside his body, and the Mana within his body was locked down by the tree seeds of the Light Tree as if sealed!

After that, his stone body began to turn into wood, forcibly changing from the very root of his Dao traces!

His vitality started to rapidly drain away!

The Light Tree’s killing speed was originally very slow, but after it was merged with the power of Ning Fan’s Godhood of Wood, the Light Tree practically became a great killing weapon not one bit inferior to an Innate Superior Grade Magical Treasure! Its might was simply not something the Immortal Stone could withstand!

It wasn’t that the Immortal Stone was too weak, but that Ning Fan, who had obtained Ant Lord Tao Mountain and the Light Tree, was too strong! Among First-Stage Quasi-Saints of the Decline, there were already very few who could truly compete on equal footing with Ning Fan!

"Trash! To deal with a mere inferior Stone Warrior, you actually used this palace’s Dao Mountain and even the Light Tree. This palace has rampaged for an entire lifetime and has never seen such a weak Immortal King as you!" the Ant Lord mocked.

But in truth, she was extremely shocked.

What shocked her was not that Ning Fan easily defeated the Immortal Stone, but that after Ning Fan had obtained her Tao Mountain and Light Tree for only a short while, he was already able to fully draw out the power of these two things.

Was this the power of Communication with All Things? He could so easily possess such high affinity with treasures that didn’t belong to him! No wonder the primary criterion for selecting an Ancient God King was that one must possess the ability of Communication with All Things. Such an ability was simply an act of defiance against the established order of cultivation!

...

Twelfth Layer of the Earth Abyss.

The half Spirit of Fu Suchen, originally seized by Yin Mu as a hostage, suddenly broke free of the restraints and vanished without a trace.

He had escaped!

He had to flee back to the Sect!

He had to ask his master to take action and avenge him!

Fu Suchen had originally resented Yin Mu for leaving him half a Spirit; now he only felt fortunate!

If not for that remaining half Spirit, he might have been directly destroyed by that heaven-reversed Immortal King, Ning Fan!

"Villain, just you wait! Once my master takes action, your death is certain!"