The few of them disappeared in a flash within the Void Force, and reappeared 300 000 meters below the ground.
It was the Dark Sparrow’s Grave, the underground world!
The first thing they saw was darkness. Desolation could be felt from all directions. The dull sky was drizzling. The place was stuffy. Every 3000 meters, there stood an ancient black tower carved with mystified Dao Marks, emitting a faint fiery light that illuminated the underground world.
Ning Fan instantly felt a sense of coldness as soon as he walked out of the formation light. He didn’t feel the coldness from his body but from his heart.
The strange thing however was that the magical power inside his Yin Yang Evil Vein began to flow two times faster.
This indicated that the speed of Evil Cultivation here would be at least twice as fast compared to the outside world!
“This cold Qi is somewhat profound…”
Ning Fan shivered slightly, but with a sweep of his spirit sense, the coldness in his heart was gone. But for the others, it wasn’t as relaxing.
Despite being an early Gold Core expert, Xue Qing couldn’t help but shiver under the coldness. Little Zhi He and Lan Mei who were merely Harmonious Spirit experts felt like freezing in this chilly place.
“Brother Fan, I’m very cold…”
Zhi He murmured. It wasn’t because she couldn’t stand the coldness at all, but she just liked to act coquettishly.
“Silly girl… According to the Sect Master, the coldness in the second level will be doubled and in the third level, the coldness will be two times stronger than the previous level… So you all shouldn’t go any further. It’s better for the two of you to stay here and cultivate. I will leave the Dan Fragmentation Cauldron and this fire here to keep you all warm. And take these pills… Xue Qing and I will have a look in the third level…”
Ning Fan patted Zhi He’s vulnerable head gently, and then patted his storage pouch and took out the Dan Fragmentation Cauldron. He hesitated for a moment, then took out several fires of high quality and threw them into the cauldron. He left all the pills given by Yan Bai to Zhi He and the other girls.
All these fires were above Second Grade. Some were even Third Grade Spirit Fire. They were all given by Old Ancestor Jing Zhuo.
For Ning Fan, these spirit fires were dispensable, however, it was just the right fire to keep the girls warm.
He didn’t release the Black Demon Flame. Firstly, it was because the Black Demon Flame was too violent. If Ning Fan wasn’t with them, the Earth Vein Demonic Flame would lose its control and go violent. Secondly, he had already decided to devour the Black Demon Flame entirely!
By incorporating the Black Demon Secret Art in devouring the Black Demon Flame, Ning Fan wouldn’t have a problem reaching the half-step Gold Core realm! And the power of his Fire Elemental Magical Art would become even more terrifying!
This extremely gloomy and cold place had met one of the three conditions to devour the Black Demon Flame. Furthermore, the requirement on his cultivation method had also been fulfilled and he had already prepared sufficient amount of Heart Curing Pill. Therefore, he had decided to venture into the Third Level for two reasons. One was to have a look on the Pill Devil that Xue Qing mentioned. Second was he naturally had to devour the Black Demon Flame!
In the drizzle, Ning Fan and Xue Qing trod in the mud and their silhouettes were gradually fading away as they walked. The spiritual fires in the Dan Fragmentation Cauldron were reflected in Zhi He and Lan Mei’s eyes, turning into a trace of warmth. As for Si Wuxie, she was staring at the Dan Fragmentation Cauldron and felt somewhat familiar…
“Where have I seen this cauldron before…?”
…
There was no ghost in the First Level of the grave and the coldness here was unable to cause any harm to Ning Fan. The drizzle in the area didn’t seem to be stopping. As he walked, he gradually discovered a trace of intent within the surrounding.
There was a very indistinct and faint… Void God Intent…
Feeling this trace of Void God Intent, he quickly withdrew his magical power, allowing the rain water to drench his robe.
“Master, there will be rain from the First to the Ninth Level. It’s extremely cold and will seep into one’s body… so the best way to protect oneself is by using magical power…” Xue Qing said respectfully.
“It doesn’t matter…although this rain is cold, such coldness has great benefits…”
Ning Fan closed his eyes while walking in the rain. His urge to get to the Third Level was slowly being washed away by the rain water.
This rain could awaken the memories from the bottom of one’s heart. This was the Divine Intent of a cultivator who was above the Spirit Severing realm!
Scenes of the past were emerging before his eyes and his mental state was improving at an indescribable rate. This rain could nourish one’s heart…
His facial expression remained unchanged, but a hint of shock was stirred in his heart.
He couldn’t believe that the Old Ancestor of Sinister Sparrow Sect actually had such a high cultivation. No one could tell exactly how many thousands of years this Rain of Divine Intent had existed, and it had yet to disappear. Additionally, it could nourish people’s heart.
In the dense sound of rain, Ning Fan’s heart was as calm as water, and then, it seemed to condense into an old voice, ringing in his ears.
“Rain is given birth by the sky and dies in the earth. Its life lies within the period it fell from the sky down to the earth…”
This line of words contained disappointment that was hidden within the Void God Intent inside the rainwater. Ning Fan was able to hear it with his calm mental state.
Well said!
He stopped in his tracks all of a sudden, lifted his head and stared at the rain! As he was observing the drizzling rain, he seemed as if he was absorbed in his thought. A moment later, he revealed an inexplicable smile and trotted into the rain curtain.
“Xue Qing, let’s go to the Second Level. Look out for the rain!”
“Yes!”
No edges or boundaries could be seen in the First Level, but there was a deep, dark pit of 3000 meters wide somewhere in the area. That was precisely the entrance to the Second Level.
Both of them leaped into the huge pit. It was only a moment of zero gravity before they felt some kind of mysterious force – the force of the forbidden space.
Two people fell downwards, like meteor showers. Below was a 3000 meter wide rain pond. The rain pond was profound. Despite of the powerful falling force, it vanished without a trace when it was blocked by the rain Qi of the pond.
When the forbidden force vanished, Ning Fan and Xue Qing made a few steps in the air, flying out of the rain pond and landed on the nearby shore.
Likewise, it was drizzling in this level. In the darkness of the surroundings, there was a glowing blood-red eyes of a beast.
“The Second Level of the grave. There are some Harmonious Spirit monsters here, which made it not suitable for cultivation. Master, let’s head over to the Third Level quickly. Don’t get entangled with these monsters.”
Xue Qing looked at those glowing eyes in the darkness intently. There might be more than a few hundred of them, and each of them had at the Harmonious Spirit realm.
If a few hundred Harmonious Spirit monsters struck at the same time, not even Xue Qing could defend himself against such a massive attack. The only thing he could do was to immediately flee from the scene.
However, when he observed the monsters closely, he could see a trace of fear from within their eyes.
“Don’t be afraid. They won’t dare approach us… This rain pond is interesting… The rain in the underground grave originated from this rain pond… This place has a very rich Void God Intent!”
Ning Fan’s gaze fell on the thousands of meters wide rain pond. Not only had the Qi of rain risen from the pond, but also the Qi of clouds. Immortal Clouds with extremely high spiritual Qi was forming one after another.
His eyes then swept the Immortal Clouds. All of these clouds were formed naturally. Every cloud was engraved with two wavy cloud marks. Given the quality of the clouds, each of them was good enough to be refined into a Natal Immortal Cloud. However, every cloud seemed illusory and dissipated moments after it was formed.
All of a sudden, Ning Fan’s eyes widened a little!
Of all the illusory Immortal Clouds, there was one cloud that had yet to disperse!
This cloud seemed to have existed for countless years. As to why it hadn’t dissipated yet, Ning Fan had no idea. Additionally, he discovered that the reason the clouds dissipated right after they were formed was because their Qi of cloud was seized away by this independent cloud to feed its cloud marks.
“Four Marks Immortal Cloud… and it has a very high quality. Bai Feiteng’s cloud was nothing compared to this… if I can obtain this cloud…”
Ning Fan was slightly shaken by the thought. The cultivation of Escaping Technique didn’t just take one or two days, but with this Immortal Cloud… if he could acquire this cloud and make it into his Natal Immortal Cloud, almost no experts below Nascent Soul realm would be able to catch up with his speed!
He moved a step forward into the void above the rain pond, heading towards the Immortal Cloud that was far away. However, just as he made the first step, he suddenly thought of something and retreated.
Something wasn’t right. The cloud couldn’t seize the Qi of cloud by itself. Could it be that something was helping the cloud seize away the other clouds’ Qi? What exactly was hiding above the rain pond?
Ning Fan’s spirit sense entered into the rain pond stealthily, and in an instant, his spirit sensewas frozen by a trace of extremely cold force! He caught a glimpse of a giant beast in the rain pond.
His eyes revealed a hint of shock. Despite having sword sense as his spirit sense, his spirit sense was still frozen. What kind of monster would have had such a cold force could be hiding inside the rain pond?
Could that beast be… a Nascent Soul demonic beast?!
This cloud could never be seized… although it was a precious treasure, it was only worth it if one had the life to enjoy it.
He withdrew his blazing eyes and turned to Xue Qing. “Let’s go to the Third Level…”
“We can’t anymore…” Xue Qing responded with a bitter smile.
Those creatures that had been hiding in the dark walked forth, revealing their full appearance. There were hundreds of them. They were all at the Harmonious Spirit realm. Each of them looked monstrous and exuded an eerie demonic Qi. Their eyes were blood-red. Their bodies were covered with white skin and they had a long tail with a hook on its tip that looked like a frozen whip at the end of their body.
“Rain Beast?”
Ning Fan was slightly astonished. Such demonic beasts had only appeared during ancient times. He never thought that he would see this species of beasts here.
However, no matter how many Rain Beasts there were, he didn’t fear them. His sword sense excelled in killing massively. As long as there were no intermediate Gold Core demonic beasts in the group, it wouldn’t matter how huge the army was.
For a moment, a cold light glowed in Ning Fan’s eyes. As he was about to cast the sword sense, an unusual change occurred!
A vague and ethereal spirit sense came down from the rain cloud. When the Rain Beasts sensed the spirit sense, the redness in their eyes faded. They let out a few gentle howls as if to show affection to someone, before they dispersed.
This spirit sense has already reached the intermediate Nascent Soul realm. Xue Qing couldn’t sense it but Ning Fan could detect a trace of it.
Ning Fan’s grim eyes fixed at the rain pond, feeling more assured that something powerful was hiding in the pond.
That was strange… however, Ning Fan wasn’t foolish enough to look into it. Curiosity was the most intolerable thing in the Cultivation World!
“They are gone?! Master, what have you done?!”
Xue Qing was baffled. Those Rain Beasts were about to attack them, but under Ning Fan’s cold gaze, all of them fled the scene. Naturally, he would give the credit to Ning Fan. Also, this made him respect Ning Fan even more.
“I have done nothing… let’s go to the Third Level. This place isn’t good for staying.”
The dread in Ning Fan’s gaze was unnoticeable. He darted a glance at the rain pond and then rushed towards the Third Level of the grave.
After they left, a dissatisfied voice of a girl rang in the rain pond.
“That old bastard. Hadn’t I frightened him off last time? Why did he come again this time? And that human… what magical art did he intend to use? Why did I feel that he wanted to kill all my ‘Rain Treasure’ just now…? Humph! And he was leering at my Rain Sister as though he was harboring some nasty intentions… They are heading to the Third Level, should I go there as well, and scare them a little…? Heehee…”
The girl grinned maliciously. A ray of eerie blue icy light shot out from the rain pond and vanished into the darkness.