Grasping Evil

There is more than one form of Dao Thought Battle; especially when an Initial Saint participates, the forms become even more complex.

Among them, the combat-type Dao Thought Battle is the most direct, but also the most time-consuming; from start to finish it is simply both sides slaughtering each other. After fighting and fighting, ten years, a hundred years, or even longer may pass in the outside world, unless one side’s Dao Thought can completely suppress the other.

Jichen did not intend to do so. Although he did not know what Fu Li2 was, he could sense that Ning Fan possessed an almost crushing suppression against him.

If they directly clashed with Dao Thoughts, the one to lose would definitely be himself, and he would suffer a miserable defeat in an extremely short time.

Besides the combat-type, there is also the more common debate-type, where life and death are decided by whose Dao Enlightenment is higher.

But Jichen likewise did not feel that he could surpass Ning Fan in matters of Dao Enlightenment.

He had once been a disciple of the Heavenly Human Sect; there were many Heavenly Immortal Practitioners in the sect, but not a single one like Ning Fan who had opened The Third Gate of Tianren—not even the Sect Leader of the Heavenly Human Sect, Ancestor Shehuang!

As for himself, he could not even open the First Heavenly Gate. With his middling Dao Enlightenment, he had once brought innumerable mockeries upon the Xuan Bird...

Initiating a debate-type Dao Thought Battle was a path to death; he would never be so rash!

Fortunately, he was an Initial Saint and could initiate some even more special forms of Dao Thought Battle with others.

The one Jichen initiated was a Dao Thought Battle he had created himself after stealing a wisp of the Four Noble Truths’ power—Switching Dao Battle!

He had once used this technique to win over the Yin Mountain Hundred Clans, allowing the Hundred Clans and Huaiwo to mutually understand each other’s pain, thus establishing a deed of saving the world and winning countless praises for the Xuan Bird.

But now, he was attempting to use the means by which he once saved the world to kill a man who saved the world...

I am sorry...

In Jichen’s heart, a fleeting pang of guilt arose—not guilt toward Ning Fan, but toward the Xuan Bird... He knew that everything he was doing would only disappoint the Xuan Bird. Even if he ultimately resurrected the Xuan Bird, allowing the Tree of Destiny to grow new possibilities, that... was not the story the Xuan Bird had hoped for.

A stubborn flower will never fade its colors because of a torrential rain—that is the kind of person and things the Xuan Bird loved...

Unfortunately, my colors have already faded and can never be found again...

A world without you, to me, is merely the alternation of colorless day and night, black and white turning; I already... can feel nothing at all...

No matter the price, I must trade you back. After all, this is the most selfish thing a mortal can do...

More tears of red wax flowed from Jichen’s eyes as he slowly closed them.

In the Dao Thought Battle to come, Ning Fan would transform into him and experience the reincarnations of his past.

And he would transform into Ning Fan, experience everything, and destroy everything...

To destroy the treasured things in the other’s reincarnation memories and shatter the other’s Dao Thought—this was the way to win a Switching Dao Battle!

This was very cruel, but the Nightmare, in his actions, had always used the fiercest methods to achieve his desires!

It was likewise very despicable! In the Switching Dao Battle constructed by Jichen, Ning Fan started only as a mortal, fundamentally without any strength to destroy the Xuan Bird he cared about, whereas he himself started as an Initial Saint! He had more than enough power and time to destroy everything of the other side!

"But you and I are both men of pure love, so I will not defile the reputation of the one important to you, even if at this moment she is but a segment of memory in your heart. I will give her a swift end; this is the last trace of kindness I can hold onto after receiving the Xuan Bird’s blessing, and also a grace to you, who is likewise a Mortal Cultivator."

"But I will take her life and destroy the her in your memories. Only thus can I shatter your Dao Thought..."

"Or perhaps, I have more than one target to kill on this trip. After all, your obsessions are so entangled; the ones you care about are far from just a single person..."

Jichen slowly opened his eyes, revealing his killing intent.

But what entered his sight was not the woman Ning Fan loved the most.

Instead, it was a Chrysanthemum Demon who was singing, farming, and basking in the sun, with chrysanthemums growing all over his body, making it impossible to tell whether he was human or ghost.

"You’re Daddy’s little~ little Dao Fruit, no matter how Daddy plants you, you never think it’s too much..." the Chrysanthemum Demon sang happily. His song had a strange lethality to it, actually causing Jichen’s eardrums to ache faintly.

What was going on?

According to the rules he had set, the butterfly memory that appeared this time should have manifested the woman most important in the butterfly’s heart.

Why had a Chrysanthemum Demon appeared instead! And for some unknown reason, this demon gave Jichen an extremely dangerous feeling; just by that hoarse, jarring song alone, he could pierce through Jichen’s ears, making his eardrums feel as if they would split.

Could this be a Saint Level Demon Sound Technique?

Was there some problem with the rules, or was that butterfly playing tricks?

Or perhaps, everything before his eyes was merely the butterfly’s Illusory Art, attempting to resist his Switching Dao Battle and prevent him from killing the one his opponent cherished?

"It does indeed feel like Illusory Art. I simply didn’t expect that a world constructed with the Four Noble Truths as its four great origins could actually be infected and invaded by illusion... Butterfly! Your Illusory Art, I acknowledge! But before the Four Noble Truths, before these eyes of mine, all illusion is meaningless!"

Be annihilated!

Jichen opened his candle-flame vertical pupils, unleashing his killing intent; with his entire Initial Saint cultivation, he crushed down upon the seemingly ordinary Chrysanthemum Demon.

The colored radiance of the Twelve Arrow Books spread across heaven and earth, transforming into twelve colored arrows that shot down!

The Mystic Bird Light Wings likewise spread open, anchoring the world and giving the Chrysanthemum Demon no possibility of escape!

Day and night began to alternate at an extremely rapid speed; it was the candle flame released from the pupil-world of the Xianzhu vertical eye, burning toward the Chrysanthemum Demon’s divine sense!

The Earth Giant Hound Divine Spear also manifested, and was forcibly elevated by Jichen into the Muddy Dragon Godslaying Spear, which he hurled fiercely at the Chrysanthemum Demon!

"Heh, what kind of wind is this, to actually blow a Little Earth Giant into my dreamscape to kill me, and the Second Divine King Dao Skill he’s using is completely misapplied."

"A sapling that isn’t pruned won’t grow straight, Little Earth Giant; your life must be badly in need of some correction, right? Have you ever been viciously beaten up by the world?"

Jichen’s posturing was fast; the Chrysanthemum Demon’s face-slapping was even faster!

The rain of arrows Jichen shot down could not even break off a single strand of hair from the Chrysanthemum Demon’s Nine Revolutions Profound Art.

The God-slaying Spear that could bury all things into the Lost World Palace could not stand against the other’s Seven Chi Demon Seed, losing all divine might.

The candle flame that could burn through the Great Thousand World likewise could not burn through the other’s Eight Immortals’ Sea-Guarding Immortal Consciousness.

After that, the old man summoned the Black Fire Tripod and smashed it at Jichen three times in a row!

He smashed Jichen so hard that his light wings shattered and his vertical pupils’ flames were extinguished; on the spot, he lost all ability to fight back!

Immediately after, he was suppressed into the One Qi Immortal-Sealing Cauldron, where black fire raged; he was burned so badly he wailed in misery, his heart pounding with fear!

What on earth was this monstrous demon!

To raise a hand and instantly suppress himself—this is something even random Desolate Saints can’t do. This guy is actually much stronger than the Nightmare King Yao Gu in his prime!

"I haven’t even used any strength yet and you’re already down..."

Seeing Jichen get taken out in just a couple of moves, the Chrysanthemum Demon couldn’t help feeling a bit bored: What a pity, what a pity. If the one who came were the real Butterfly Boy and not this path-swapping clown, he definitely wouldn’t croak after just three punches, right? Way too trash!

But you can’t really blame this little Earth Giant. After all, his Initial Saint cultivations were just stolen using Nightmare Qi, not True Saint. He has no Mountain and Sea, and his Holy Heart is far from complete.

"Impossible! This Dao Thought Battle is my own creation; everything in it is under my control! Even if that butterfly messed with a few details, someone as freakishly strong as you shouldn’t exist in here! With your kind of pierce-the-heavens-and-rend-the-earth power, why the hell would you show up in a mere path-swapping battle!" Jichen said unwillingly.

"Who knows, maybe you pissed that kid off, so he tweaked my cultivations into this level! I was supposed to appear before you with my Land of Dreams body heavily wounded, for you to kill with a casual wave. But what can I say, I have a good disciple. He insists on blocking everything, so even if you really kill my Dream World body, my True Realms body won’t suffer a scratch. That kid looks cold on the surface, but inside he’s extremely protective. If you faced him head-on, he might even talk fairness and morality with you. But you just had to cheat first, and you’re even planning to kill his darling. Heh, speaking of courage, you’re truly one of a kind in all heaven and earth! Even if all the Saints of Mount Wansheng gathered together, they wouldn’t dare do what you’re doing, but you dared. That’s some badassery right there..." The Chrysanthemum Demon dug his nose as he spoke in a mocking, yin-yang tone.

Then he casually flicked the booger into the great cauldron, as a "reward" to Jichen.

Jichen was so furious his Three Corpse Gods were jumping, yet he had no way to fight back, and could only swallow the humiliation of that one booger!

"Damn it, damn it! You were supposed to only have First Step cultivations, but that butterfly actually hacked you up to Third Step, almost Fourth Step strength! You only managed to suppress me by relying on external power, so don’t get cocky! I’m a True Saint, while everything you have is fake!" Jichen sneered.

"External power? Heh, you can’t even see through my true form; all you see is the fake chrysanthemum-covered shell, and you still call yourself a True Saint? Pah, what kind of bullshit True Saint are you! Strip off the nine-tenths of cultivations that don’t belong to you, and you’re just some Second Rank brat. And even that bit of cultivations was gifted to you by the Xuan Bird as a blessing! You grew up eating soft rice, and sure enough, you’re still lacking a proper beating! As for that Xuan Bird... sigh, Xuan Bird... Fine, for the Xuan Bird’s sake, I’ll give you a chance to eat prison food. Today this old man will teach you the principles of being human: if you’re weak, train more, stop blaming heaven and others! Today boogers are all-you-can-eat; eat them properly and reflect properly!"

Thus, Jichen’s suffering began.

But all this was merely the beginning...

...

"Qi! Today is our clan’s Blood Awakening Day, all of age are already in Divine Foot City. Why are you still dawdling here? If you miss the awakening, Earth Venerable will beat you again!"

His companion was urging Ning Fan, but Ning Fan simply replied, "You go ahead, I’ll be there shortly," and sent the other off.

In this Dao Thought Battle, he would experience Jichen’s entire life. But he wasn’t in a hurry to head to the Earth Giant Clan to start the main storyline; instead, he intended to confirm a few things first.

He’d played Dao Thought Battles many times before—especially during the thousand-year blood war defending the Northern Barbarian. Many Ancient Emperors couldn’t beat him head-on, so they tried to take a shortcut and kill him via Dao Thought Battle. Of course, none succeeded.

The only one who could fight him to a draw on the Dao level was that mysterious Great Emperor called Gui Zhong...

This Dao Thought Battle, however, was different!

This time, Ning Fan was struck by Yingxuan’s Heart Seal first, then Jichen forcibly initiated the Dao Thought Battle.

It was equivalent to being dragged in by two Initial Saints working together to set up this battle. The situation was extremely unfavorable to him; plus this Dao Thought Battle was Jichen’s original technique, so almost all advantages inside were tilted toward Jichen.

From the start, there was no fairness whatsoever. If Ning Fan foolishly followed the main storyline, trying to beat Jichen through normal progression, he’d only be courting death!

When Ning Fan opened the Tianren Eye Technique, he instantly grasped more details of this battle.

As expected, he started as a mortal, while Jichen started as an Initial Saint, and was even planning to erase the reincarnation memories of the people Ning Fan treasured.

From the beginning, the other side intended to cheat; fairness wasn’t even on the table! Which is reasonable enough—you can’t expect a Nightmare Demon to talk fairness with you.

If it were only cheating, fine, but he even wanted to wipe out Ning Fan’s reincarnation memories...

In that case, Ning Fan had no choice but to play dirty too.

He is Fu Li2, Jichen is Nieli. Because of Bloodline Suppression, even if Jichen tries to use the rules to lock down his cultivations, he still cannot lock everything.

That’s also why Ning Fan can open the Tianren Eye Technique despite starting as a mortal.

But this isn’t the only thing he can do—far from it!

For example, he can forcibly recognize this Dao Thought World as his own and freely rewrite its rules...

If he were having a Dao Thought Battle with Qu Yuan, he wouldn’t cheat like this. Cheating in a fair duel would only leave a crack of fear in his spirit sense. But if the opponent is a cheater like Jichen, then it’s no problem.

"You want to use path-swapping to peek into my reincarnation and kill my reincarnation memories, huh..."

"Fine, then I’ll let you see just who there is in my reincarnation memories that you can kill, and let you experience the billions upon billions of failures I went through in all my reincarnations. After all, this path is something you insisted on swapping into; it’s not up to you to regret it."

"Those vast billions upon billions of failures, I can let you experience them once. It’s just that there are far too many secrets inside that cannot be known to others. So exactly how much of my reincarnation memories you get to see—that’s something I decide, not you..."

He struck out the recognition seal, and the authority over the path-swapping battle was instantly seized by Ning Fan.

Under the Tianren Green Light, the Dao Thought Battle world before his eyes turned into a raging flood of data in Ning Fan’s view.

Since he’d already modified the Enlightenment Consciousness Realm, altering a few Dao Thought Battle datasets wasn’t hard for him at all.

After a round of edits, the rules of the Dao Thought Battle were drastically changed. Exactly what he rewrote, only Ning Fan knew.

"I just don’t know how long Jichen can last against Teacher. If he can’t hold out and falls, that’ll be an instant declaration of my victory in the Dao Thought Battle..."

"Hopefully Jichen doesn’t die too soon. After all, although this is only a Dao Thought World, there are some things here that concern me..."

Ning Fan’s expression was grave.

And it wasn’t because of Jichen. Unfortunately for Jichen, he’s already done for. Being beaten up by the Liangyi Sage right now is only the beginning, and there are many more rounds of social beatdowns waiting for him.

You wanted to kill someone important to me, so stumbling right into my important Master Zidou’s hands is only fair, isn’t it?

You wanted to experience my reincarnation journeys, so being brutally pummelled billions upon billions of times by Yue Kun, Hongjun, Bloodline Awakening, ancient Desolate, Shanhai Master in various reincarnations is also fair, right?

Path-swapping, heh... commendable courage, that’s all.

What truly made Ning Fan serious were the other things in this realm. For some reason, there seemed to be ten ancient voices echoing here. Ordinary people couldn’t sense them, but he can communicate with all things, so he could hear them! And once he heard them, his Immemorial Fu Li’s Demon Bloodline faintly felt like it was transforming and elevating, like it was about to form a Demon Form...

That was the ancient echo left here by the Ancient Ten Spirits!

It can let those who fit the criteria cultivate a Demon Form and become an Ancient Demon Spirit!

This was far beyond Ning Fan’s expectations!

He only came to Huaiwo to retrieve the Nightmare Disaster core; he’d never thought he would go from a mere ancient demons to an Ancient Demon Spirit here.

But if there really is a chance to become an Ancient Demon Spirit, Ning Fan definitely wouldn’t pass it up. Who would complain about having too much power? He wishes he could grow even stronger, so he can stab countless holes into Destiny!

He needed to investigate this ancient echo to confirm what he suspected in his heart! Before that, he hoped Jichen could hold on a while longer and not die too fast.

Come on, Brother Jichen! You must hang in there, don’t get casually crushed by cruel reincarnations! The only problem is, I was a bit too casual when I was rewriting the rules earlier, and now I can’t change them back. So even if I wanted to tone down your beatings a little, I still can’t...

Ant Lord: "Liar, you totally can change them back; you’re just looking to get your revenge on Jichen!"

Ning Fan: "So, do you like my tit-for-tat style?"

Ant Lord: "Like hell this Palace likes you!"

Ning Fan: "Is that so. I was just about to say, in those reincarnation memories of mine that might end up being killed, you were actually in them. Punishing Jichen was also helping you vent your anger..."

Ant Lord: "What! Jichen actually wanted to kill even this Palace! Then why didn’t you just hack him to pieces, grind his bones to dust, scatter his ashes to the winds! I’m so mad! Wait... wasn’t Jichen supposed to be trying to kill the one you cherish in your heart, why would this Palace be in there, this this this... Don’t you dare joke about this! This joke is not funny at all! Hey, say something! Aren’t you going to explain yourself to this Palace! What exactly do you mean..."

Ning Fan: "Heh..."

Ant Lord: "No sneaky laughing allowed! This Palace must have really lost her mind to almost fall for your bullshit! You are a complete and utter bastard! Scoundrel! Grasshopper! Cockroach! Maggot! Lowly ant!"

Ning Fan: "You just insulted yourself too!"

Ant Lord: "This Palace is angry. This Palace is temporarily taking back your Ring Holder!"

Then come take it, why don’t you!

Why did you quietly increase your Mana output instead—are you worried I might die in this Dao Thought Battle...

Words say one thing, heart says another.

Hm?

Ning Fan’s expression changed; he suddenly lifted his head and looked toward the sky of the Dao Thought World, yet found nothing.

His gaze could ignore wind and snow and see the sky that Huawei Country once had—that was the Immemorial Ancient Starry Sky before the Nightmare Disaster destroyed it, with countless strange ancient stars shining upon it!

The number of ancient stars was more than the Ganges sands, more than the Asankiya, more than Nayuta, the Incomprehensible, the Infinite; it had already reached the Infinite Great Number, and at every moment new ancient stars were being born!

But what caught Ning Fan’s attention was not those ancient stars, but something else.

His conversations with the Ant Lord had always been conducted through Heart Spirit; if the Ant Lord peeked at him, her line of sight would definitely be from the inside out.

Yet just now, he felt another line of the Ant Lord’s gaze from the Immemorial Ancient Starry Sky of this Dao Thought World!

So real, so distant, so familiar, so strange...

And when Ning Fan tried to find the source of that gaze, it quietly withdrew, disappearing without a trace; even with Ning Fan searching with all his strength, he still could not locate its origin. All clues were shrouded by the Unspeakable and The Unknown within the starry sky...

Could it be...

Ning Fan seemed to have thought of some possibility; all his emotions at this moment turned into silence and coldness.

So that’s how it is. This battle of exchanging Daos was never Jichen’s own intent, but your layout, Daoist Manzhi!

[Have you ever been stared at by the Starry Sky Law Eye!]

Those were words Manzhi had spoken before, a thing he had done, and they happened to match the Immemorial Ancient Starry Sky Ning Fan saw at this moment!

Everything at this time was still within Manzhi’s layout!

Even though Ning Fan had broken the twelve layouts on Yingxuan, there was still a far more important layout of Manzhi on Jichen’s body, slowly surfacing bit by bit...

"In that case, I must not be careless! Jichen is nothing to worry about, but if Manzhi has also interfered in this Dao Thought Battle, then the true opponent of this battle will be Manzhi!"

If the opponent is Manzhi...

Ning Fan’s thoughts spun rapidly; in an instant he deduced hundreds of thousands of possible situations of crossing Dao Thoughts with Manzhi in his heart...

And as time went on, what he calculated was still increasing at a shocking speed, growing ever deeper.

"Whether it’s the echoes of the Ancient Ten Spirits, or that inexplicable second Ant Lord gaze I sensed, they’re all baits set by Manzhi..."

"This is an open scheme, and also a probing move by Manzhi. He wants to see how I respond, while at the same time fearing, expecting, and coveting something..."

"This move is one I have no choice but to answer..."

"Even if I’ve taken Jichen down, I still have to follow the mainline process of this Dao Thought Battle once, using the unchanging to respond to the ever-changing—that is the best strategy to deal with Manzhi..."

Pitiful Jichen, who fancied himself the Nightmare Master that controlled everything, was in fact only a game board Manzhi used to play against Ning Fan...

Manzhi, on the other hand, was far more cautious. He did want to personally open a Dao Thought Battle with Ning Fan; the gains that way might have been greater. But even someone as strong as Manzhi worried he might lose to Ning Fan and pay a terrible price, so he laid out everything instead through Jichen...

Compared to Manzhi, Jichen was truly too reckless in his courage, too direct in his charge, and naturally died faster as well.

...

Ning Fan left the Ice River and returned to Divine Foot City to attend the Earth Giant Clan’s Blood Awakening Ceremony.

And after Ning Fan left, that gaze that had previously been secretly watching him descended once again, yet did not dare fall directly upon Ning Fan anymore, instead using its peripheral vision to quietly observe...

The owner of that gaze was a woman in a black dress, named Ji Fuyao. Her cave-dwelling was built right atop the Zhaoyao Star in the Immemorial Ancient Starry Sky.

This star was bestowed by her master Hongjun. It was an Innate Treasure enough to help Ji Fuyao attain a Saint Position, focused on defense, and even bore the protection of a Reverse Saint.

Therefore, even Ning Fan’s Tianren Eye Technique could not see through everything of this star.

Thus Ning Fan did not see that on this star there was actually a woman exactly the same as the Ant Lord, and that was precisely a certain buried piece of the Ant Lord’s past!

"This really is strange. That boy is clearly just a Mortal Blood Earth Giant, so why does he give me this sudden ominous premonition, making me come out of seclusion ahead of time..." Ji Fuyao’s smiling eyes carried a trace of dangerous aura.

If this boy was the research material that Huawei Country had prepared for her this time, then they were in for disappointment. As for a mere Mortal Blood Earth Giant, she had never been interested...

That being said, Ji Fuyao’s gaze still lingered on the boy. This did not fit her temperament, yet her eyes just could not bear to move away...

The feeling was like a hurricane seeking the shortest path where there was no road, only to suddenly end its search in the "Country of Nonexistence"...

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by noisy voices, forcing Ji Fuyao to truly withdraw her gaze, lest the visitor notice her improper behavior.

"Hi, miss me? Guess what delicious things I brought as a congratulatory gift for Sister Fuyao coming out of seclusion~"

It was a Heavenly Destiny Xuan Bird who had sensed Ji Fuyao’s emergence from seclusion and so came to visit.

Ji Fuyao: "Leave your Wind Cake and Dew Brew, take yourself away, and while you’re at it, take the door with you, thanks~"

Xuan Bird: "Ah, after several thousand years apart, Sister Fuyao’s Lonely Void Skill has grown even more impressive—she got all the answers right in one go~ Only her temper hasn’t really changed; the more stubborn the flower, the more it likes to say one thing and mean another. You clearly also want to drink tea and chat with me~"

Ji Fuyao: "If you don’t want to leave, then sit down and drink tea, but could you please keep that little bird mouth of yours quiet. I came out of seclusion ahead of schedule this time; there are still many experiments unfinished..."

Xuan Bird: "This is a bit troublesome. I really want to say something like ’let me help you’—a choice to bare my heart and raise Sister Fuyao’s favorability—but I can’t understand a single thing in Sister Fuyao’s Dao scroll reports~ This tea is so hot, it burned my tongue; it’s practically like being scorched by the Stone Fire Wilderness Technique of the Primordial Kylin~"

Ji Fuyao: "Correct. This is one of the research results of my recent seclusion, and you are the very first little white bird to test the effect of this tea. Please drink a few more mouthfuls so that I can record it in my Dao report..."

Xuan Bird: "I actually got such an important first slot? That really makes me happy~"

Ji Fuyao: "I’m the one who’s even happier~ The desolate aura in the tea is almost at a lethal dose, yet it still didn’t manage to poison you, this little bird. It seems that using Qilin Tea to dissolve the desolate curse of the Sky Desolate Ancient Realm is truly feasible. This is a major discovery enough to awaken a Reverse Saint~ Or perhaps, you actually never swallowed the tea at all, but instead stored what you drank into the Chi Ming Space, and that’s why you didn’t die..."

Xuan Bird: "Oh no! I forgot to turn off the fire under the Creation Furnace at home..."

Xuan Bird was drenched in sweat and fled in a panic.

Ji Fuyao only curled her lips slightly, not stopping him, quietly watching Xuan Bird’s departing back, no one knew what she was thinking.

At last, she had driven away this troublesome little bird.

Next, she would carefully observe what was odd about that young man...

Had she not looked it would have been fine; but with one look, the smile on Ji Fuyao’s face was instantly covered in frost.

The Earth Giant Clan, to dare go this far...

...

Earth Giant Clan, Divine Foot City.

A Blood Awakening Ceremony was being held.

To awaken blood, one must first test the Blood Awakening Qualification; this was the tradition of the fifth branch of the Earth Giants.

The Earth Giant Clan had been inherited from before the Immemorial, and down to today it possessed six great branches: Heavenly Eye, Heavenly Ear, Other Mind, Destiny, Godly Foot, and Leaking.

The Huawei Earth Giants were the fifth branch, the Divine Foot Lineage, and had their own rules.

When clansmen reached twelve years of age, they had to test their Blood Awakening Qualification in order to participate in the Blood Awakening Ceremony.

The Blood Awakening Qualification was divided into five ranks: Mortal, Crippled, True, King, and Ancestor.

Only those clansmen who reached True Blood Qualification were allowed to enter the Earth Giant Awakening Blood Pool and awaken Earth Giant blood.

Crippled Blood did not possess the qualification to enter the pool; otherwise it was purely a waste of awakening resources. But they could still remain in the clan, serving as low-level drudges and demon armies, having some minor use.

Mortal Blood, however, was not allowed to remain in Divine Foot City. After all, the long-held doctrine of the Huawei Earth Giants was eugenics and optimal selection, rather to have none than something inferior. Those who stayed within the clan had to share a certain degree of clan fortune; even if their bloodline was low and they received little, it would still reduce the fortune available to the geniuses who needed clan fortune to cultivate, which was a great detriment to the reproduction of the clan.

You could not accuse eugenics and optimal selection of being a wrong doctrine—unless you were the one who got optimized away...

The former Jichen had once been expelled from the Earth Giant Clan; five Blood Awakenings, five failures, and the highest result was only a Mortal Third Star bloodline qualification...

Each Huawei Earth Giant had five chances to awaken blood in their life, from twelve to sixteen years of age, one awakening per year. If all five times they remained Mortal Blood, they would be expelled.

Ning Fan, at this moment playing Qi, was attending the final Blood Awakening test at the age of sixteen.

"Mortal Grade, Zero Star!"

When the test result appeared, everyone was stunned!

What was going on!

Wasn’t this brat still a two-star, almost three-star, bloodline last year!

How had his bloodline not increased but decreased this year? Just how many heaven-offending, people-resenting deeds had he done to make the Ancient Starry Sky reclaim the already thin Ancient Spirit Blood he possessed!

Since the inheritance of the Earth Giants to this day, no clansman had ever tested such a low bloodline. After all, even if Crippled Blood parents gave birth to a Little Earth Giant, it should still be impossible for it to be a Zero Star bloodline!

What kind of innate trash was this!

He simply refreshed the lower limit of the entire Earth Giant Clan!

It also made the Divine Foot King feel utterly humiliated!

He was the Clan Leader of the Earth Giant Divine Foot Lineage, and also Qi’s father!

He had many women, and even more children; only those born with a bloodline above True Blood could receive his favor. A child with such inferior qualifications as Qi truly disgusted him and was simply the stain of his life!

Yet even a tiger does not eat its cubs.

Even though he hated Qi’s mediocrity to the extreme, he would not kill his son; instead, he would follow the rules of the Divine Foot Lineage, strike his name from the clan, and let him fend for himself.

"You have failed to awaken blood, with not the slightest foundation of bloodline. You are unworthy to continue staying in my Earth Giant Divine Foot City. Be cast away as Qi!"

With a single command from the Divine Foot King, Ning Fan’s main storyline advanced successfully. He could now leave this place and proceed to the next phase of the plot.

But he did not leave immediately; instead his gaze swept past the Divine Foot King and finally landed on one of the countless women beside him.

That woman was Qi’s mother. Seeing her son about to be expelled, she seemed to want to speak up for Qi, but after opening her mouth, she ultimately fell silent.

She did not dare defy the Divine Foot King’s orders. Whatever the Divine Foot King decided, no one was allowed to question or oppose it.

Even if there were actually other reasons for Qi’s bloodline being so low, she did not dare speak for him. Otherwise... whether it was she or Qi, the outcome would only be even more miserable.

Things had come to this point; there was nothing she could do. It was all her fault!

She should never have snuck into the Divine Foot forbidden ground while pregnant, secretly stepping on the gigantic footprints of the Ancient Deity within the forbidden ground...

Qi’s bloodline should never have been like this; it was those divine footprints that took everything away...

From the very beginning, she should never have believed Jiang Shui Taoist’s nonsense! She had been tricked by Jiang Shui Taoist!

That if she just stepped on the footprints in the forbidden ground, this child would possess an Immortal Emperor destiny... It was all lies!

She had stepped onto those footprints with a beautiful blessing for her child in her heart.

But in the end, she harmed him...

"Oh? Why do I feel like I’ve just unlocked some hidden storyline..." Ning Fan’s eyes narrowed slightly. Under the Tianren Eye Technique, he actually saw things that even Qi himself had never known.

Qi’s life did not seem so simple...

Ning Fan had no interest in Jichen’s past, but if Manzhi’s layout was involved, then digging deeply into the karma behind it was the best way to attack Manzhi’s Daoist Thought...

You’ve harmed people so deeply, Manzhi! So Qi’s entire life was your handiwork!