Chapter 522: Chapter 522: I Will Never Regret Even If My Wings Are Burned to Ashes, I Will Defy Samsara with My b.u.t.terfly!
Ning Fan stood in the fire cauldron of heavenly tribulation. Columns of fire sea that appeared in the form of a qilin engulfed him. The runes of the flames interweaved with each other and the power of Great Dao suppressed him.
He hurled punches, trying to disperse the fire sea. However, even if he had used his Stele of Sun and Moon that had the ability to restrain fire, he could not scatter the flames. All he could do was to protect himself from being injured.
The sea of flames that was infused with the ancient runes was far too strong. The runes had increased the power of the void flame to a frightening level, making Ning Fan unable to move a single step.
This was the fire tribulation that was personally given by a Dao Guardian. Ordinary Void Glimpse Stage experts would definitely die within the cauldron!
It was already extremely unbelievable for Ning Fan to protect himself from injuries temporarily.
Everywhere around him was occupied with flames. Neither could he get out of the sea of flames nor break the fire caldron, much less escape from it. Hence, there was no way for him to execute his plan of capturing Giant Zhi Huo.
He carefully travelled amidst the sea of flames. However, the flames would follow him wherever he goes without giving him a chance to flee at all.
*Roar*
In the sea of flames, columns of deep red flames suddenly transformed into thousands of fire qilins. All of them charged at Ning Fan while letting out angry roars.
Ning Fan immediately stopped moving and activated his essence qi to throw punches. His actions were blazing fast, killing each of the fire qilins that tried to approach him. At the same time, he was inwardly surprised by how difficult it was to deal with these fire qilins.
These creatures were produced by the flames. Each of them had a cultivation base at the Divine Transformation Realm and above.
Ning Fan kept killing the fire qilins. Each of them would break down into columns of flames after they were killed. However, the flames would condense into the form of the beast moments later and continue charging at him.
Ning Fan could not completely kill any one of the fire qilins. As for his magic power and essence qi, they were quickly depleted every time he attacked.
“This fire caldron is the tribulation cauldron of the heavenly tribulation that is summoned by Giant Zhi Huo. It contains the eight trigrams. As long as the eight trigrams are not broken, the tribulation cauldron will not disintegrate! The flames within the cauldron are tribulation flames. All of the flames were infused with ancient runes by the giant. As long as the runes are not destroyed, the flames will never extinguis.h.!.+ Now, this giant uses the Qilin Technique and commands the flames to turn into qilins to attack you. This technique doesn’t kill you in one try. Instead, all it does is to deplete your magic power and cause you to be killed by the tribulation flames. You must find ways to leave this cauldron as soon as possible. Don’t spend too much energy on these fire qilins which will just waste your magic power for nothing!”
“The arrangements of the fire sea within this cauldron are actually the Yin Yang Eight Trigrams Formation Technique. I also can’t see through the mystery of this grand formation. You must be careful. If you make a single misstep in this sea of flames, you will be burned to ashes even if you have the Stele of Sun and Moon protecting you!”
Inside the Yin Yang Locket, Luo You warned Ning Fan.
Ning Fan nodded. He also understood that he could not break the tribulation cauldron and flames by attacking them forcibly.
He activated the power of Heart Formation and his eyes were fixed at the marks of the formations. Gradually, he saw through the grand formation that was hidden in the sea of flames.
The fire sea might seem disorderly but it actually contained a formation technique. Every wall inside the cauldron was carved with the runes of the eight trigrams[1] which included the Qian[2],Kan[3],Gen[4],Zhen[5],Xun[6],Li[7],Kun[8],Dui[9]. Unless these eight trigrams were broken, the tribulation cauldron will never break.
Li was the trigram of flame. The power of flames at this trigram was the strongest.
Xun was the trigram of wind. In this direction, there was only wind but no fire. Even so, it produced ma.s.ses of smoke that could blind a Void Glimpse Stage cultivator’s eyes.
Kan was the trigram of water. Water and fire were incompatible elements. This direction was the weakest part of the sea of flames. Thus, it had the most fire qilins standing guard in this direction…
After dismissing the network of his Heart Formation, he made up his mind.
Why don’t I kill my way out from this sea of flames through the trigram of Kan?!
As long as Ning Fan gets closer to the wall and uses all his magic power to attack that area, he had high a.s.surance to break the cauldron in a single try!
Ning Fan stepped on the abstruse formation without making a single misstep across the sea of flames. His level of formation technique was so profound that even Luo You was too inferior to bear comparison.
Those qilins seemed to understand Ning Fan’s intention and rushed towards him with angry roars, trying to stop him from approaching the wall of the trigram of Kan.
Ning Fan did not show any mercy toward them. He opened his mouth and blasted out columns of black devil flames, commanding them to transform into thousands of black b.u.t.terflies and collide against the fire qilins to perish together with them.
Trampling upon the corpses of countless qilins and ashes of b.u.t.terflies, Ning Fan slowly got closer to the direction of the Kan trigram and smashed mercilessly against the wall.
In an instant, one hundred and eight layers of palm imprints combined into one, heavily blasting upon the wall on the Kan trigram. That attack directly destroyed the runes of the Kan trigram and emitted a deafening bang.
The entire tribulation cauldron began shaking violently. A large opening was created on one side of the walls. Right afterward, the entire fire cauldron began and the other walls were breaking successively.
Giant Zhi Huo who had blank eyes firmly believed that he had already eliminated Ning Fan.
However, what he saw next was completely beyond his expectations. After the loud bang, the tribulation cauldron he summoned was actually destroyed by Ning Fan!
“Impossible!”
The giant could not believe his own eyes. He could only watch Ning Fan step on countless layers of fire waves and soar into the sky, flying at him with immense killing qi!
The giant waved his hand. He seemed to be summoning the next fire tribulation to trap Ning Fan.
This time, however, Ning Fan did not give him another chance to do so.
He performed a series of hand seals with his ten fingers. In the meantime, his eyes suddenly became indifferent and dignified.
His eyes stared at Giant Zhi Huo with a glint of coldness. Then, he pointed a finger at him, using the Heaven Sealing Technique!
“Seal!”
With Ning Fan’s current cultivation base, he was definitely not strong enough to seal the giant’s movement with a single move.
However, he had infused this technique with his persistent belief. He did not wish to seal the giant’s movement. All he wished was to prevent the giant from summoning the tribulation again.
As Ning Fan pointed his finger, blood threads suddenly grew out from the giant’s body, tightly binding his arms.
Giant Zhi Huo roared in fury. He gathered his strength in his arms and broke all the blood threads, breaking free from Ning Fan’s Heaven Sealing Technique.
Even though he was not sealed by the technique, he could not summon the second wave of heavenly tribulation in time when he was interrupted by it.
When Ning Fan’s technique was forcibly broken, blood flowed out from his seven orifices, making him look like a deranged devil.
Without even wiping off the blood stains on his face, he dashed toward the giant, displaying his second magic technique on him.
He closed his right eye and only opened his left eye. At that moment, the mark of a black crescent moon appeared in his left eye!
It was his first time using the Life Imprisoning Technique using his strength at the Peak Void Inquiry Stage!
This was the Grievance technique of the Ancestral Emperor of the Northern Heaven! This technique allowed him to sacrifice his life force and lifespan to seal a puppet’s life!
Back in the Lost World Tower, his cultivation base was still weak and he did not have a long lifespan. Thus, he could not seal a great number of Void Refinement Realm spiritual puppets.
Now, however, there was only a puppet he needed to deal with. On top of that, his cultivation base was widely different from before and his lifespan was extremely long!
Since this giant dared to summon the heavenly tribulation to eliminate him, there was no need for him to hesitate capturing the giant and turning it into his slave!
Facing Ning Fan’s cold and imposing eyes and the black crescent moon in his left eye, Giant Zhi Huo sensed an exceedingly dangerous feeling from him for the first time!
The look in his eyes was truly terrifying. It was as if he ruled over every puppet in the world, standing at the pinnacle above all living beings! It was as if the person who was standing in front of Giant Zhi Huo was not Ning Fan but the Ancestral Emperor of the Northern Heaven who once controlled all the puppets in the world!
Fear!
As the messenger of the Heavenly Dao, Giant Zhi Huo actually felt a hint of fear for Ning Fan!
His instinct told him that he must never let Ning Fan get closer to him! He must never let Ning Fan display the complete crescent moon technique! Otherwise, even if he was a Void Fragmentation Realm spiritual puppet and had a stronger cultivation base than Ning Fan, he would also be in danger!
He opened his large mouth and shot out a crimson-red void flame that covered the entire sky. The flame condensed into a colossal mountain of fire. The light of the fire s.h.i.+elded the sky within one million li* (500m per li). Then, the mountain fell upon Ning Fan at high speed!
Giant Zhi Huo had infused the colossal mountain with all his magic power. Even if a Void Fragmentation Realm was knocked by the mountain, they would also be severely injured!
Luo You wanted to help Ning Fan to get rid of the mountain in the first place. However, Ning Fan declined her help directly.
Ning Fan was already able to capture the Divine Transformation Realm Stone Warrior when he was at the Nascent Soul Realm.
Now, his magic power was on the verge of advancing to the Void Glimpse Stage. His ancient devil cultivation realm had even reached the Mid Reckless Devil Realm. Thus, it might not be impossible for him to capture a Void Fragmentation Realm spiritual puppet!
If he borrows Luo You’s magic power, he would certainly suffer a grievous backlash again even if he could capture the giant successfully. He did not want to rest for another few months to treat his wounds.
Looking at the fire giant, he suddenly patted his storage pouch and took out three Void Fragmentation Realm jade slips. Despite his reluctance to use them, he gnashed his tenth and broke all three of them.
When the three Void Fragmentation Realm jade slips were broken, three gigantic shadows of Ancestor Lan Jiao appeared in the sky and hurled their large fists at the fire giant.
*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*
Giant Zhi Huo’s all-out attack was rather extraordinary. Just a Void Fragmentation Realm jade slips certainly could not stop his attack.
However, when Ning Fan used the three jade slips at a time, allowing three giants to attack together, the fire giant was instantly shattered by their attacks!
After each of them had delivered an attack, their shadows gradually vanished. Giant Zhi Huo’s eyes were filled with astonishment. He could not imagine that Ning Fan could stop his all-out attack.
The colossal mountain scattered into columns of fire that continued flying at Ning Fan, trying to stop him from moving forward. Ning Fan closed his right eye tightly while his left eye was glinting coldly. The black crescent moon was on the verge of coming out. Fearlessly, he dashed toward the incoming flames.
*Chi* *Chi* *Chi*
The flames were also infused with ancient runes which made their power extremely frightening. In just an instant, they burned Ning Fan’s physical body to ashes!
Giant Zhi Huo saw Ning Fan vanish right before his eyes. However, before he could rejoice, the sky spread out countless black shadows that transformed into tens of thousands of b.u.t.terflies that were dancing in the air.
When the black b.u.t.terflies combined into one, Ning Fan who was wearing a set of black robes reappeared before him with his long black hair dancing wildly in the air.
No matter how many times the flames burned him to ashes, he had the unyielding persistence that the messenger of the Heavenly Dao also could not eliminate!
“Incarnation Technique!” Giant Zhi Huo was flabbergasted by what he saw.
It was as if the black-robed young man in front of him was not a person but a black b.u.t.terfly.
This b.u.t.terfly was filled with insane persistence. Even if his wings were going to be burned to ashes and he would perish forever from the world, he also wanted to protect the belief in his heart!
I will never regret it even if my wings are burned to ashes. I will defy Samsara with my b.u.t.terfly!
For a second, the giant’s aura force wavered, causing him to move half a step backward instinctively.
At this moment, Ning Fan had already travelled across the waves of flames and emerged in front of the giant!
Ten thousand years. Twenty thousand years. Thirty thousand years…
Ning Fan was crazily sacrificing his lifespan just to unleash the maximum power of the Life Imprisoning Technique!
In one try, he gave up fifty thousand years of life. In the next instant, the black crescent moon in his left eye s.h.i.+ned brightly, making the giant feel that he was undefeatable!
“All puppets in one hundred million worlds. Without the a.s.signment of life from me, your lives shall be imprisoned!”
“Grievance Technique. Life Imprisonment! One finger to imprison your lives!”
The light given out by the black crescent moon in Ning Fan’s left eye magnified greatly!
At this moment, Giant Zhi Huo stared at Ning Fan in disbelief. He could only feel that his entire abilities were going to be destroyed in front of Ning Fan’s indifferent eyes. He could not harbor any intention to resist him!
Unlike Stone Warrior who only had a single moon mark, the giant’s body was densely covered with thousands of black crescent moon marks.
After being plated with the marks, Giant Zhi Huo’s heart felt chills. To his surprise, his life and death was actually controlled by the marks. He now had become a slave to Ning Fan and he could no longer defy his orders!
He was a dignified Void Fragmentation Realm puppet, the messenger of the Heavenly Dao who summoned the heavenly tribulation. How could he submit to a cultivator of the mortal realm?!
“I can’t accept it! I am unwilling to yield!”
He roared in anger, mustering all his strength to resist. However, he could not break free from the control of the moon marks which caused him to lose the control over his body.
Ning Fan’s eyes flashed with indifference. He suddenly jumped into the sky and stood on the head of the giant. Then, he squatted down and activated his memory power to erase all of its memories.
As the messenger of the Heavenly Dao, the giant naturally had spiritual intelligence and memories. By erasing all of its memories, it would only submit to Ning Fan from now onward!
“Zhi Huo… Greetings to Master!”
The giant submissively knelt down on the fire clouds and wors.h.i.+pped Ning Fan with respect.
“W-What?! A Void Fragmentation Realm Dao Guardian actually yielded to the Marquis White Robe? What exactly has happened?!” A cultivator of the Sword Island was startled.
“We don’t… We don’t know! However, if this incident spreads across the world, there will certainly be an unimaginable uproar in the Rain World!” A cultivator of the Pill Island spoke in bewilderment.
Ning Fan then jumped down from the giant’s head and stood in midair. He pointed at the giant to turn it into a fiery-red doll that was as big as his palm and kept it inside his pouch.
Looking at the mult.i.tudes of cultivators on the ground, Ning Fan sighed faintly. The scene of him subduing Zhi Huo Giant was too shocking. Apparently, he really needed to use the power of his memory intent realm to erase the memories of a majority of cultivators.
“I didn’t expect that you could actually subdue this giant puppet… In this case, you’ve completely offended the Heavenly Dao of the mortal realm. However, the Heavenly Dao follows the heavenly principle and it cannot simply land a heavenly tribulation on a cultivator for revenge. The Heavenly Dao will not plot against you. However, when you achieve advancements in your cultivation base in the future, the Heavenly Dao will summon an unthinkably terrifying heavenly tribulation. Perhaps when you advance to the Void Inquiry Stage, the Heavenly Dao will summon a Void Fragmentation Realm heavenly tribulation and toy with you until your death… Hopefully you can withstand that level of heavenly tribulation…” In the Profound Yi World, Luo You sighed with admiration and spoke with a teasing tone.
“Offending the Heavenly Dao, huh…? In that case, I need to be extra cautious when advancing to the next cultivation realm in the future and prepare a great amount of magic treasures and spiritual medicine to face the tribulation, right?”
Ning Fan smiled while thinking otherwise inwardly.
He would accept his fate even if the Heavenly Dao gives him the Void Fragmentation Realm Heavenly Tribulation on the day he breaks through to the Void Inquiry Stage.
After all, he needed to pay a price for obtaining a Void Fragmentation Realm spiritual puppets, right?
With the Void Fragmentation Realm puppet that he just captured, his safety was more or less a.s.sured…
If he borrows Luo You’s magic power, he would suffer a backlash that would make him bedridden for several months. However, if he controls the Void Fragmentation Realm puppet to kill his enemies, he would not face any backlash.
“Next, I will break through to the Void Glimpse Stage in one go…”
Ning Fan looked at the tribulation flames that had diminished in the surroundings. After calming down his mind, he organized his insights of void to find back the bottleneck of the Void Glimpse Stage and then broke through it.
At this moment, his magic power and aura force went beyond the standard of the Void Glimpse Stage. The amount of magic power he had nearly reached one million and five hundred thousand units!
With one million and five hundred thousand units of magic power, his cultivation base reached the Early Void Refinement realm!
With nine million units of essence qi, his ancient devil cultivation realm reached the Mid Reckless Devil!
The total sum of his magic power and essence qi had already exceeded ten million units. Even an ordinary Void Pierce Stage expert only has ten million units of magic power!
“It’s time to do the proper business.”
Ning Fan released the power of his memory intent realm and commanded them to sweep across countless cultivators. The memories of all low-level cultivators were completely erased, except for Venerated Sword and a few cultivators…
The existence of Giant Zhi Huo would be kept as a secret temporarily and reserved as a trump card…
If the heavenly tribulation arrives next time with other Dao Guardians to land tribulations on Ning Fan, he would not mind capturing a few more puppets of the Heavenly Dao.
Translated by Tommy, edited by Roel
[1] The eight trigrams, also known as the Bague (八卦 Bāguà), are the eight symbols used in Taoist cosmology to represent the fundamental principles of reality. Find out more on wikipedia via the following link. Source: 乾 Qián, represents heaven
[3] 坎 Kǎn, represents water
[4] 艮 Gèn, represents mountain
[5] 震 Zhèn, represents thunder
[6] 巽 Xùn, represents wind
[7] 离 Lí, represents fire
[8] 坤 Kūn, represents ground
[9] 兑 Duì, represents lake