Chapter 1163: Chapter 1163: A Fool for Life

Ning Fan looked at the torrential autumn rain, at the thunder-split sky, and at the still more distant depths of the nebulae; the aura Transformed Dragon Elder had left on this star in former years was washed by the rain into the soil, seeped into the earth, annihilated within reincarnation, little by little dispersing until at last it could no longer be traced.

That rain was the manifestation of Ning Fan’s Divine Skill.

The scene was as if Ning Fan were deliberately holding a funeral of rain for Transformed Dragon Elder, sending him off on his far journey.

Only after a long time did Ning Fan return from his silence; the rain had stopped, and his heart once more returned to calm, as though the question he had voiced earlier had never occurred.

"It is time to take the spatial secret art on Transformation Dragon Star. Using the Treasure-searching Compass, I searched the entire Starry Sky of Eastern Heaven for spatial secret arts and secret treasures, and uncovered over a thousand points of light; among them only six were truly dazzling, and only these six things could harmonize with the Ancient Demon and offer immense aid in developing a False Demon Chant Divine Skill for myself..."

Murmuring to himself, Ning Fan gazed into the distant mountain ranges.

This was the highest peak of Transformation Dragon Star; seen from afar, the mountain resembled a slumbering lightning dragon, crouched upon the earth.

Azure Spike covered Ning Fan’s eyes as he looked upon the surrounding peaks; his limpid gaze seemed able to pierce through all secrets hidden between the mountains. He moved his feet slowly, following the mountain path to the cliff at the summit, and at the instant he neared the edge, he suddenly leaped, jumping off the cliff.

Ning Fan’s body plummeted toward the foot of the cliff; for an Immortal King cultivator, a fall from such a height carried no danger whatsoever.

The post-rain mountain wind bore a trace of chill, howling past Ning Fan’s ears!

Ning Fan’s mind raced, calculating the distance of his fall; when he had dropped to a certain height in midair, his ten fingers suddenly flew, forming several hundred spirit seals in the space of a single breath!

By using several hundred spirit seals to unleash a Divine Skill, he could greatly enhance its power. What Ning Fan used was the Heavenly Bull Space Skin Pattern of which he had grasped only the rudiments; when the Divine Skill was activated, strange patterns instantly appeared on his palm, the back of his hand, and even his entire right arm, like tattoos etched into the skin.

At the instant these tattoo-like Heavenly Bull Hide Patterns manifested, Ning Fan’s right hand gave a fierce tear, and he actually ripped open, in midair, a small spatial gate that radiated Demon Light!

On this star there was actually such a hidden spatial gate! Even the former master of Transformation Dragon Star—Transformed Dragon Elder—had not known of this. If not for the Treasure-searching Compass revealing this information, even with Ning Fan’s eyesight it would have been hard to perceive that some secret land existed upon this star.

At the moment he tore open the spatial gate, Ning Fan flashed within; first his sight was filled with darkness, and after he passed through a narrow spatial passage, the view before his eyes suddenly opened up, and there was light.

This was a secret land hidden within Transformation Dragon Star; within it lay an entire ancient burial complex of indiscernible age. Innumerable ancient tombs were set here, no one knew whom they buried; and on the four sides of the burial complex stood a straight, sky-piercing burial peak in each direction, like Tomb Guarding People eternally erect, their presence soaring to the heavens.

"Who... dares intrude upon... the Heavenly Dragon God’s... resting place..."

Ka-ka-ka!

The rocks of the four burial peaks suddenly fell away, transforming into four mountain puppets that rose from the earth, revealing murderous intent toward Ning Fan.

Each of the four mountain puppets possessed the cultivation of an Immortal King; one could imagine that the Heavenly Dragon God buried in this tomb complex was no common existence, and in life was very likely an Immortal Emperor, perhaps of even higher cultivation.

"I know of Heavenly Dragons; they seem to be a certain branch of the True Dragon Race. But ’Heavenly Dragon God’—this is the first time I’ve heard of such a title; that character ’God’ seems to denote a race. From the largest tomb here, I sense a decayed ancient Fiendgod aura that carries the breath of a True Dragon. Could it be that the Heavenly Dragon God who rests here was a powerful demon race expert who discarded the ancient demon path and cultivated the Fiendgod path instead..."

When an ancient demon cultivates the Divine Path, it becomes a Divine Beast!

Ning Fan had, by chance, encountered several such Divine Beasts that had abandoned the ancient demon path to cultivate the Fiendgod path; thus at this moment he could make such a conjecture, faintly approaching the truth.

The Heavenly Dragon God who slumbered here had long since died so thoroughly not even scraps remained; to Ning Fan, who had intruded into this tomb realm, the deceased posed no threat whatsoever.

The only ones intending to obstruct his actions were the four mountain puppets. Four Immortal Kings only—Ning Fan had no need to put them in his eyes at all. However, he could not determine whether the Heavenly Dragon God buried here was one of the fallen heroes of Zi Dou Immortal Domain. If this person had once died in battle to protect Zi Dou Immortal Domain, then Ning Fan’s intrusion into the tomb was already disrespectful; to steal that one’s secret arts was still more discourteous; and if he then killed that one’s tomb-guarding puppets, he would truly be unworthy of being called a Purple Astral Immortal Cultivator.

With that in mind, Ning Fan, rare for him, acted courteously toward the mere four Immortal King puppets.

"This junior has come not with the intention of disturbing the slumber of the seniors of the Heavenly Dragon Clan, but only wishes to borrow a certain relic of senior’s for a look; there is absolutely no malice. I humbly ask the four senior puppets to make some allowance..."

Boom, boom, boom!

The response to Ning Fan’s request was the discourteous attack of the four puppets.

The four puppets’ spirit awareness was far too low; they knew only to carry out the command to guard the tomb, and would never permit Ning Fan to steal treasures here. As their Divine Skills were urged, countless mountain-and-stone secret arts blasted toward Ning Fan at the center from the four directions.

"Words are useless then. In that case, forgive my offense..."

Ning Fan first unleashed the Grievance Technique!

The Grievance Technique was reputed to be the secret art in this world that most restrained puppets; though the Grievance Technique that Ning Fan had obtained back then was but an incomplete fragment and could not control high-tier puppets. In recent years, however, Ning Fan would occasionally spare the time to improve this art. He very much wished to know whether his improved Grievance Technique could control Immortal King-level puppets.

If it could...

Ning Fan was quickly disappointed.

After he activated the improved Grievance Technique, the four Immortal King puppets were indeed controlled by the art for the briefest instant; a Black Moon Mark appeared between their brows—that was proof they were being forcibly manipulated by Ning Fan.

Sadly, the improved Grievance Technique only restrained the four Immortal King puppets for a single instant before being broken by them. Fact proved that even with Ning Fan’s improvements, this art still could not be put to use when facing high-tier puppets.

Thus, Ning Fan could only roughly unleash the Heaven Sealing Art, immobilizing the four mountain puppets where they stood. With his Mana of thirteen thousand five hundred tribulations, if he fully focused on sealing four Immortal Kings, he could at least hold them for several hours.

No matter how the four Immortal King puppets struggled, they could not break free from the Body Locking, and were appalled. Their spirit awareness was too inferior, and it was difficult for them to comprehend what was happening before their eyes: Ning Fan clearly appeared to be merely an Immortal King, so how could he subdue four mountain puppets in a single move—something even Ancient Immortal Kings found hard to accomplish...

With the mountain puppets no longer interfering, Ning Fan descended to the center of the burial complex. The arrangement of the tombs here formed a pattern of stars encircling the moon; at the very center of this formation lay the resting place of that unknown Heavenly Dragon God.

Ning Fan did not immediately disturb this senior’s slumber. First he took out incense and offerings, performed a round of worship, and only then did he tear open the restrictions on the tomb gate with his vast Mana, flashing into the burial chamber.

A long time later, Ning Fan emerged from the underground tomb palace, and together with him came an ancient piece of dragon scales.

This is an inherited dragon scale of the Heavenly Dragon Clan, within which is inherited a space secret art called [Heaven’s Book Transmission].

The great powers of the Heavenly Dragon Clan are mostly well‑versed in the power of space; those with exceptionally high talent can even use space power to manifest a [Spatial Heaven’s Book]. As long as they collect spatial coordinates from all over the world into the book, then when they need to use it, they flip to the page with that set of coordinates and can directly teleport across domains to that location.

Without doubt, this is an extremely profound spatial teleportation technique; its spatial transmission principles are far more advanced than the vast majority of cross‑domain Teleportation Formations. Of course, compared to the Ancient Chaos Grand Emperor’s Demonic Channel, this art is still far inferior. Just the process of collecting spatial coordinates is extremely cumbersome and complex, requiring an enormous amount of time to complete, far less practical and convenient than the Ancient Chaos Grand Emperor’s Demonic Channel.

And this art has a huge side effect: every time the Heavenly Dragon Clan uses the Spatial Heaven’s Book to teleport, they must consume millions upon millions of years of immortal lifespan. One could say that this art directly uses a Master’s lifespan as fuel to carry out the spatial teleportation; the price is anything but small.

For Ning Fan to rely on the spatial secret art of Heaven’s Book Transmission to directly teleport to Ning Fan, there are too many prerequisite conditions that he cannot fulfill; this is clearly unrealistic.

Ning Fan did not plan to cultivate this art in depth, only to achieve an initial mastery. His goal was to borrow the spatial subtlety of this art to develop a False Demon Chant unique to himself; as for the Heaven’s Book Transmission itself, he did not value it that highly.

"My apologies..."

Ning Fan undid the Body Locking on the four Immortal King Puppets, apologized once, then flashed away from this world and resealed the little door to this portion of space.

"This man... is so strong..." The spirit awareness of the four mountain puppets was low, yet they were still shaken by Ning Fan’s vast Mana. They remained silent for a long time before recovering from their fear, helplessly turning back into four burial peaks and once more falling into slumber.

...

Ning Fan left Transformation Dragon Star all the way, casually found an Abandoned Star, and went into closed‑door cultivation there for the time being.

Several months later, a massive spatial storm suddenly erupted on this Abandoned Star, directly shredding the star into dust.

Ning Fan, covered in blood, escaped from the spatial storm, inwardly shocked at the danger of cultivating [Heaven’s Book Transmission]. He had merely made a small mistake in the cultivation process, yet almost suffered severe backlash from this art. Spatial secret arts truly are one of the hardest and most dangerous classifications of Divine Skills in existence.

Ning Fan had no choice but to change to another Abandoned Star and continue his closed‑door cultivation. Half a year later, this Abandoned Star exploded again because of a single error on his part.

After that, Ning Fan found a third Abandoned Star. After several more months, the planet exploded...

Then came the fourth, the fifth, the sixth Cultivation Star...

Time flickered past; eleven years went by.

After sacrificing more than twenty Cultivation Stars, Ning Fan finally succeeded in cultivating Heaven’s Book Transmission.

And when he spent another six years integrating the spatial subtlety of Heaven’s Book Transmission into his own False Demon Chant, the development progress of the False Demon Chant reached thirty percent!

To be able to develop the False Demon Chant to thirty percent in only seventeen years, Ning Fan’s talent in Divine Skills was beyond all doubt. If those eons‑old Ancient Chaos Grand Emperors who have lived to this day learned that Ning Fan could develop a False Demon Chant without anyone teaching him, and that his progress was actually so fast, they would definitely have their jaws drop.

But Ning Fan was still dissatisfied with his development progress.

Seventeen years, and he had only gone from ten percent to thirty percent—too slow! He was a Master of the Second Realm of Tianren; developing a single False Demon Chant, not even cultivating the genuine Demonic Channel, could it really be so difficult!

In these seventeen years, how many more people would have died in the war‑torn Ning Fan at the Boundary River? Would his women also have become among the countless sacrifices...

He had to speed up!

"There are still five spatial secret arts and secret treasures I can take..." Ning Fan took out the Treasure-searching Compass, and after a round of searching, confirmed a new direction. With a single step he disappeared without a trace.

Unlike his previous Escape Techniques, the one Ning Fan was now using faintly carried an emerging sharpness of spatial power, giving his flight speed a geometric increase, almost several times faster.

One could say that Ning Fan’s current speed, placed among First Order Quasi-Saints, was already at the peak stream; among the First-Stage Quasi-Saint of the Decline who could match his speed, there were very, very few...

...

Several days later, Ning Fan appeared at the Red Rainbow Star Sea.

The Red Rainbow Star Sea was a renowned True Immortal Forbidden Land of Eastern Heaven. Every year, many Second Step Immortal Cultivators would come here to temper themselves and seek treasure, but those who could truly enter the depths of the ocean of stars were few. Even Eternal Old Freaks who rashly entered the depths of the star sea would face considerable peril.

Ning Fan naturally did not fear the dangers here; his second target was at the deepest part of this Red Rainbow Star Sea.

He had come here for a strand of rainbow.

Not an ordinary rainbow, but a strand of [Grand Thousandfold Rainbow] that would only be born in the depths of the star sea once every eight million years.

According to Ning Fan’s deductions, this star sea still needed four million four hundred thousand years before the next strand of Grand Thousandfold Rainbow would be born.

Ning Fan naturally could not possibly wait bitterly in this star sea for four million four hundred thousand years. If he waited that long, by the time he reached Ning Fan, the cabbage would have long gone cold.

Through the Ancient Kingdom Trade Array, Ning Fan had purchased from the Tongtian (Sky-reaching) Sect a secret art specifically for nurturing and accelerating the maturation of the Grand Thousandfold Rainbow. With the help of this secret art, he would at most need to toil in this star sea for twenty years to obtain a strand of Grand Thousandfold Rainbow...

"If I can obtain this item, my False Demon Chant will gain a trace of Grand Thousandfold attribute, and spanning the Void Realm will become exceedingly easy. The troublesome part is that, even with the aid of the secret art, I still have to continuously cast spells in this star sea for about twenty years..."

Ning Fan was in a hurry to rush to Ning Fan; thus, he felt heartache over wasting even one extra second, let alone wasting an extra twenty years.

Twenty years was very short for an Immortal Cultivator, but for the war situation in Ning Fan, it had far too profound a significance...

Compared to twenty years of time, the various Ancient Fierce Beasts guarding the Red Rainbow Star Sea were actually not that much of a problem.

Even though among those Fierce Beasts guarding the rainbow, there were several Half-Saint Fierce Beasts included...

"It is said that the Fierce Beasts of the Red Rainbow Star Sea are all evil thoughts formed after the death of Evil Immortals of antiquity. Any Immortal Cultivator who enters the star sea, no matter how high their cultivation, will be hunted by these Ancient Fierce Beasts without exception. On my way into the depths of the star sea, I will likely have a bloody battle. Thunder Infant, be ready to join the battle at any time! Miss Afu Luo, for this entry into the star sea, if necessary, I may need you to lend a hand..."

Ning Fan used a trace of Heart Spirit to establish a link and sent a message into the Xuan Yin Treasure.

"Brother Ning, why be so polite... You saved my life; of course I’m willing to help you fight a battle..." In his Heart Spirit, Aflo’s lightly chiding voice sounded, seemingly displeased with Ning Fan’s politeness toward her.

These years living in the Xuan Yin Treasure, the frequency of her erotic dreams had clearly increased; almost every few days, she would dream of doing all sorts of crazy things with Ning Fan...

She had obviously never truly slept with Ning Fan, but she still felt as if she had already done this and that with him tens of thousands of times... And Ning Fan had even saved her life!

Under such circumstances, Ning Fan was still so polite to her; of course she wasn’t happy. To fight for Ning Fan, she was more than willing.

"Master, rest assured, under my training the Thunder Infant can join battle at any time. As for Black Evil Sect, she can also join the fight—please grant your approval, Master. Black Evil Sect doesn’t want to sit uselessly in a corner; Black Evil Sect wants to become the sharp blade with which Master conquers the world." It was not Destroying Path Thunder Infant who answered, but rather Black Evil Sect, who was in charge of training him. Her tone carried a hint of grievance.

She felt wronged that Ning Fan had not made much use of her in recent years.

"How did you even end up feeling wronged now? Forget it. If there’s a chance, I’ll let you go into battle together..."

Ning Fan was, through his Heart Spirit, comforting the dejected Little Kitten when his gaze suddenly shifted slightly, and he hid his figure within the endless void.

At this moment, he had yet to enter the Red Rainbow Star Sea and was still at its entrance.

Just then, a group of Eastern Celestial Cultivators were riding a Star Boat over from the distant starry sky and happened to land at the entrance to the Red Rainbow Star Sea, not far from where Ning Fan was hiding.

This was a group of cultivators who had come to the Red Rainbow Star Sea for experience; there were a bit more than a hundred of them. Apart from the leading cultivator, who was an Enlightenment Old Demon, the others were all just at the first step of cultivation, their cultivations extremely low; the weaker ones were even only at Golden Core and Nascent Soul Stage, completely incapable of surviving alone in the starry sky. They could only hide beneath the protective Formation of the Star Boat, moving cautiously, afraid of being torn to pieces by The power of the stars.

"Is this man bringing his younger disciples here to witness the ferocity of Ancient Fierce Beasts? If a cultivator can witness the ferocity of Ancient Fierce Beasts while still at a low level, it’s indeed of great benefit to their courage and the sublimation of their spirit sense. But his disciples are far too weak. Coming here to temper themselves may bring benefits, but the chance of death is even greater. How many of these cultivators will be able to return alive from the Red Rainbow Star Sea? Live or die, it all depends on fortune. This is also the helplessness of the cultivation world—weaklings are destined to be weeded out..." Ning Fan sighed inwardly.

Ning Fan did not want outsiders to know of his whereabouts, so he hid himself to avoid this group’s notice.

Others act according to their own karma; Ning Fan had no intention of meddling at random. He was just about to slip into the Red Rainbow Star Sea while hidden when he suddenly heard two young girls chatting and laughing on that tiny Star Boat. His steps paused slightly; something unexpected stirred in him.

"Hee hee! I never thought that right after flying ascension, we’d get to accompany the senior brothers and sisters of Huanyun Sect on an experience trip. We’ll surely broaden our horizons today; I’m so happy! I’ve never seen a True Immortal Senior make a move before!"

The two girls were actually cultivators who had just flown up from the lower realms!

However, the two were not anyone Ning Fan knew, and they were not from the Rain Immortal World, but from some other lower realm.

Nor had they used a Godly Void Pavilion quota to ascend; instead, they had used an Eastern Heaven Huanyun Sect ascension quota.

Ning Fan remembered that Huanyun Sect was an Immortal Venerable Power in Eastern Heaven. He had not expected that such a force would also possess ascension quotas; this surprised him somewhat.

Still, Ning Fan also knew that ascension quotas were not all controlled by the four superpowers of the Four Heavens at the same level as Godly Void Pavilion. Some Four Heavens sects with ancient lineages likewise possessed ascension quotas. It was just that, compared to superpowers like Godly Void Pavilion, their ascension conditions were cruder, and ascension accidents frequently occurred, directly resulting in eighty to ninety percent of those who used such quotas dying midway.

The failure rate of flying ascension was extremely high.

One could say that for these two girls to successfully ascend to Eastern Heaven using such defective quotas was extremely fortunate.

But they were also unfortunate.

Because they were about to enter the Red Rainbow Star Sea for a trial. Sadly, regarding the dangers of the Red Rainbow Star Sea, the two who had just ascended to Eastern Heaven clearly knew nothing. They were still excited at the prospect of witnessing a True Immortal take action.

Yet such excitement was understandable. After all, what opportunity did cultivators living in the lower realms ever have to see a True Immortal Old Freak make a move?

For cultivators who had just flown to Eastern Heaven, an Enlightenment Old Demon was already an existence of supreme standing. Ning Fan had once thought so back then, and these two newly risen girls were thinking the same now.

But in truth, an Enlightenment Old Demon was far from being a peak expert among the Four Heavens...

"Interesting. I didn’t expect to encounter ascended cultivators here. These two girls carry no Rain Immortal World aura in their bodies; instead, they’re more like the aura of the Four Heaven’s immortal worlds and Earth Immortal World... How rare. How long has it been since I last encountered an ascended cultivator in Eastern Heaven?" While hidden, Ning Fan quietly spread out his spirit sense to investigate. He quickly reached a conclusion and revealed a rare smile.

Cultivators who ascended from the lower realms to Eastern Heaven were far too few. On the odd occasions when there were any, they often died easily in Eastern Heaven’s wars and dangers due to their weak cultivations...

Thus, along Ning Fan’s path through Eastern Heaven up to this day, he had rarely encountered ascended cultivators. Most of them died not long after ascending, and only a very small number managed to gain a foothold in the Four Heavens—and even then, they were mostly not very outstanding figures...

The lower realms seemed to have long ceased producing ascended cultivators capable of shaking the Four Heavens... Ning Fan was merely an exception among exceptions.

Suddenly seeing two ascended cultivators, Ning Fan felt a strong sense of familiarity, and it stirred a trace of homesickness within him.

In truth, given Ning Fan’s relationship with Godly Void Pavilion, it would have been child’s play to ask them for a few ascension quotas and let his wives and concubines in the Rain Immortal World ascend to Eastern Heaven.

But he had not done so. On the contrary, he had even used the power of Godly Void Pavilion to send some letters to the Rain Immortal World, among which were specific requests that the women not ascend, but instead choose to wait patiently.

To wait until the day he returned to the Rain Immortal World, and meet again then.

Compared to the Rain Immortal World, Eastern Heaven was too dangerous. Ning Fan was unwilling to let all his women rush to the most dangerous place. If possible, he even wanted to have all his wives and concubines in Eastern Heaven go to the Rain Immortal World instead and live somewhere more peaceful.

As Ning Fan’s cultivation grew higher and higher, he grew ever more inclined to put this idea into practice.

There was no path in Eastern Heaven that would allow an Immortal King Old Monster like him to return to the Rain Immortal World. Thus, he could only temporarily set aside the plan in his heart.

If one day he returned to the Rain Immortal World, the first thing he would do would be to use his current Supreme Cultivation and numerous heaven-defying methods to open a passage between the Rain Immortal World and the Four Heavens, break the realm limits of the Rain Immortal World, allow second step Immortal Cultivators to be born there, and move his base camp from Eastern Heaven back to the Rain Immortal World—back to Yue Country, back to Seven Apricot City...

"Elder Lin, with a True Immortal expert like you, are you already invincible under heaven?" The two ascended girls were full of worship for the Enlightenment Senior leading the team.

The Lin-surnamed Enlightenment cultivator they called Elder Lin stroked his grizzled beard, his face full of bliss. He was clearly very much enjoying the admiration of cultivators who had flown up from the lower realms.

In that smile, there was also a faint trace of contempt and an overflowing sense of superiority.

Want to be invincible in Eastern Heaven just by reaching Enlightenment? Don’t kid me! Only Masters who’ve just ascended would say something that stupid!

But this Lin Surname Dutrue was born thick‑skinned. Whether intentionally or not, he did not correct the two girls’ mistaken views, and very naturally accepted their worship.

"Ascension is not easy. You ascended Masters must cherish this training opportunity and watch carefully how I, with True Immortal supreme cultivation, fight those Ancient Fierce Beasts to the death. If you can comprehend even a little from it, it will be a great fortune for you! Hard to port! I sense there is an Ancient Fierce Beast in Juvenile Stage in that direction. To fight it to the death will surely be extremely dangerous, but why would I fear! I have already gone through far, far too many such life‑and‑death battles! If one is afraid, then this Dao is not worth cultivating at all!"

The Lin Surname Dutrue said this with great bearing, as if going to fight that Ancient Fierce Beast in Juvenile Stage was a nine‑lives‑lost‑one‑life‑left battle.

In an instant, including the two ascended girls, all the ignorant low‑level juniors on the Star Boat were conquered by the Lin Surname Dutrue’s fearless spirit, and at the same time grew nervous for the coming great battle.

They were somewhat worried that, if the Lin Surname Dutrue was slain by that Ancient Fierce Beast in Juvenile Stage, would they all be buried with him...

"Senior, are we going to die..." The more the two ascended girls thought about it, the more worried they became; their faces turned pale with fright. They were clearly terrified of the Ancient Fierce Beast in Juvenile Stage he spoke of.

"Do not be afraid. With me here, none of you will die! Even if I myself fall, I will never allow juniors to die before my eyes! Those I wish to protect— even if Heaven’s will wants to take them, I will snatch them back!" the Lin Surname Dutrue said, utterly carried away, really taking himself for the Heavenly Healer.

"Senior! Thank you! Thank you for being willing to give up your life to protect us!" Including the two ascended girls, all the clueless Huan Yun Sect Disciples were deeply moved.

The Lin Surname Dutrue was smug inwardly, and was about to continue bragging when, at that moment, a timid, slightly honest‑sounding young voice came over.

"Elder Lin, doesn’t an Ancient Fierce Beast in Juvenile Stage only have Void Fragmentation strength? Why would you, a堂堂 Enlightenment, need to fight a Void Fragmentation to the death, a nine‑lives‑lost‑one‑life‑left battle? So hard to understand, so hard to understand." A dull‑witted, honest‑looking fat guy rubbed the back of his head, utterly puzzled.

Silence.

Deathly silence on the Star Boat.

So the Ancient Fierce Beast in Juvenile Stage only had Void Fragmentation strength!

Yet Elder Lin could blow killing a Void Fragmentation juvenile beast up into a nine‑lives‑lost‑one‑life‑left world‑shocking duel— that took some nerve...

"Senior, so Ancient Fierce Beasts in Juvenile Stage are actually very weak..." Including the two ascended girls, no one worshipped the Lin Surname Dutrue anymore.

In its place was a sense of letdown, a faint disappointment at feeling deceived...

The atmosphere became awkward in an instant.

The Lin Surname Dutrue glared fiercely at that honest fat guy, thinking, whose brat is this, with such a foul mouth. He snapped irritably, "You just have to talk! You just have to talk! Go, run two hundred laps around the boat! Miss even one lap and you can roll off my boat!"

"Ah? Why do I have to run? So hard to understand, so hard to understand." The honest fat guy scratched the back of his head, not knowing what he’d said wrong, but still obediently went to run laps.

"Honestly, where did this fat guy come from, how come I’ve never seen him before?" The Lin Surname Dutrue watched the fat guy obediently running laps, still not appeased, cursing under his breath.

"Probably a Disciple sent over from the outer sect. Outer disciples are all fringe people; it’s not strange if you’ve never seen him." A Disciple replied.

"But for this round of training, I don’t recall anyone saying outer disciples would be arranged to participate. Could this person have pretended to be an outer disciple to sneak aboard?" The Lin Surname Dutrue’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the foolish fat guy running laps, and his heart grew somewhat suspicious.

But he quickly shook his head, rejecting this guess.

It’s not that easy to impersonate a disciple of our sect and join the training. Any non‑sect Master stepping onto a specially‑made Star Boat would definitely trigger an alarm— unless they were an Eternal Level Old Freak, they couldn’t be an exception.

Could this dumb fatty be that sort of Eternal Old Freak, able to bypass the Star Boat’s identity checks? Of course that’s impossible!

"Oh right! I heard this fat guy say his name is Yu Yichi." A Disciple interjected.

"Oh? So there’s a ’Yichi’—’Fool’—in this fatty’s name? No wonder he looks stupid and dull, offending Elder Lin by talking nonsense and not even knowing it." A Disciple said speechlessly.

...

"Yu Yichi... Yu Yichi..."

For the first time, Ning Fan furrowed his brows, growing solemn.

His eyes were covered by Azure Spike as he looked at the gradually receding Star Boat, at that fat guy on the boat running laps, drenched in sweat, and at every trace of his Daoist aura.

This fat guy looked very ordinary.

But for some reason, he also gave Ning Fan an extremely extraordinary feeling.

Yu Yichi, Yu Yichi...

"This person’s true cultivation is indeed not high, but his Dao is very strange. It seems emotionless, yet emotional; seems emotional, yet emotionless. The ruthlessness in his Dao is extremely similar to Senior Mu Song’s ruthless‑eyes method; the emotion in his Dao, however, contains unspeakable mysteries, endless obsessions... Yu Yichi, Yu Yichi, so that’s it... The meaning of this name is ’in the rest of my life, one foolishness’... No, the one who’s foolish is not him, but me..."

Only when the Star Boat had gone far and disappeared from sight did Ning Fan reveal his figure and speak to himself.

It sounded like self‑talk, yet also as if there was some deeper intent, as though he were deliberately saying it for someone to hear.

The instant Ning Fan uttered these words, on the distant Star Boat, the eyelids of the fat guy running laps twitched ever so slightly, but then his gaze returned to blank confusion.

"The foolish see my name and think me foolish; the true see my name and grasp its truth. In the rest of my life, one foolishness— the foolish one is not me, but you. So this Dong Yanluo is actually a man who has fallen into Demonic obsession to such a degree, one who is madly obsessed and never regrets— only such a one is a True Supreme Demon. To think that, without intending to, in this single blooming of a flower, I would encounter such a person— this is the wonder of karmic fate. Is this person also here for the Grand Thousandfold Rainbow? That is somewhat troublesome. In this ’flower‑blooms‑at‑first‑sight’ body, if we compete in martial strength, I only have around Divinity Transformation cultivation, absolutely no match for Dong Yanluo; but if we compete in Daoist Thought..."

The fat guy clearly had not spoken.

And yet, it was as if there was another voice, from another world Ning Fan could not see, using a method Ning Fan could not hear, echoing between Heaven and Earth and spreading forth...