Chapter 495 - Cosmos Opening Umbrella (1/2)
Ning Fan did not stay in his guest house but stood under the statue for eight consecutive days instead.
He was Ning Fan, one whose name shook the internal sea. Since he chose to stand there, no one on the demon island would certainly dare to question him about his actions.
None of them knew that the reason why Ning Fan stayed under the statue was actually because he was waiting for the ancient demon to appear.
However, it also didn’t matter to Ning Fan even if the ancient demon does not reveal itself. After all, Ming Que was the one who would be receiving the inheritance while his sole responsibility was to protect her. If that ancient demon dares to destroy the inheritance, Ning Fan would not mind making it pay.
Eight days passed by in a flash. A massive ancestral sacrificial grand formation and countless altars and ancient statues had been set up underneath the princess statue.
The place around it had also been lined with many divine shrines with divine plates placed on top of them.
Countless demon cultivators were kneeling and chanting an unknown ancient scripture. Incense was also burned as they were asking for blessings. And then, they presented the sacrificial offerings to each of the ancient statues.
“Demons are those who stand above heaven and earth with an indomitable spirit. Humans are demons who beset the world with dharma. In the past, there were human sovereigns who became demons on the spot. The world became the scripture and all recited it for eons…”
Ning Fan participated in the ancestral sacrificial demon ceremony with the identity of an outlander. As he heard the group of cultivators reciting the archaic and abstruse demon scripture, his mind gradually calmed down.
Each of the ancient statues was that of a divine bird. Every one of these divine birds had nine tail feathers which had mysterious marks on them. The feathers were like frazil ice. Even if they were merely parts of the statues, they were still enveloped with an inerasable dark icy qi.
These divine birds were none other than the immemorial dark sparrows.
The statues of the dark sparrows surrounded that gigantic goddess statue, just like a myriad of stars twinkling around the bright moon. It was as if the goddess was the queen of all dark sparrows.
“‘Princess Si Cang… When Si Cang was alive in the past, I suppose she must have been as powerful as a queen in the Immemorial Dark Sparrow Tribe.”
Ning Fan looked at the grand scene of the sacrificial ceremony with a pensive look.
It was unknown for how long it had already been when the chants of the ancient scripture in the surroundings suddenly quieted down. As for Ming Que and Su Yan, they were walking towards the ancestral sacrificial grand formation under the escort of several groups of flamens.
The reason why Su Yan was accompanying Ming Que was obviously because of Ning Fan’s orders. Although she still dressed up neatly but plainly, it was difficult to conceal her charming and alluring appearance which carried a hint of mature beauty. It was unknown how many demon cultivators of the island took a gulp upon seeing her but none of them dared to disrespect her.
Well, stop joking around! Every living being in the internal sea was well aware of the fact that Su Yan had decided to follow Ning Fan… Who would dare to disrespect his woman?
As for Ming Que, she was dressed especially grand today and showed up with a splendid outfit.
She no longer dressed herself like a young girl like how she did in the past. Instead, she dressed like a twelve or thirteen year-old maiden. Wearing a skirt woven with fine fabrics, she also draped a feather cloak made with feathers covered by frazil ice around her shoulders. On top of that, she even wore a delicate golden crown on her head which made her look like a petite princess.
The current Ming Que was also not as noisy and childish as she used to be. Her small face was calm and serious, exuding dignity.
“Greetings to the Island Lord!”
All the demon cultivators who were chanting the ancient scripture lowered their heads and bowed down lowly to greet Ming Que when she arrived with her group. Their voices were so loud that they resounded to the skies.
Ming Que nodded her head gently and uttered, “You may dispense with the formalities.”
Then, she continued walking toward the grand formation with gentle but imposing steps. When facing any of the demon cultivators, she maintained a cold and indifferent look. Only when she approached Ning Fan did she mischievously winked at him and said, “Brother Biscuit, when I successfully receive the inheritance today, I will certainly obtain greater strength. Then, I would be able to help you deal with that Moksha Sovereign.”
“Is that so? I’ll be looking forward to it then.” Ning Fan smiled faintly and shook his head, inwardly disagreeing with it.
The incense flame power was something produced by the devout prayers from believers.
The incense flame power within the princess statue was quite potent as it had been accumulating countless generations of prayers from the demon cultivators on the island.
If Ming Que inherits every last trace of that power, her strength would be increased by a great deal for sure. The amount of power would enable her to advance to the late stage or even the peak stage of the Divine Transformation Realm. However, it should not be enough for her to attain the Void Refinement Realm just yet.
Even if she obtains the inheritance power completely, it would still be impossible for her to be Moksha Sovereign’s match.
However, Ning Fan was still very grateful that she had always remembered to give him help.
“Don’t worry. As long as I am here, no one can stop you from taking the inheritance.” Ning Fan patted her head and said affectionately.
“Mm. Brother Biscuit is the best.”
Ming Que suddenly stood on the tips of her toes and playfully planted a kiss on Ning Fan’s cheek. Then, she put on her solemn expression again and walked toward the altar located at the highest part beneath the statue under the escort of several flamens.
Everyone including Su Yan stayed at the lower floor below the highest altar, allowing Ming Que alone to ascend there.
A copper pool was dug at the center of the altar and it was filled with dark red demon blood.
Ming Que stepped into the blood pool directly without even taking off her shoes and clothes and immersed her entire body into it.
At this moment, all the demon cultivators became tense. As for Old Man Qu, he climbed to a tall platform located on the other side and started speaking.
“The ancestral sacrificial ceremony begins now! Chant the demon scripture and present the demon offerings!”
Countless demon cultivators hurriedly fell to their knees and began chanting the ancient demon scripture once again.
Some demon cultivators carried different kinds of heavenly ingredients, treasures, and rare beasts and placed them in front of the statues. They killed the beasts and wiped the statues with their blood.
Behind the wooden fences in all directions, countless dark blue bonfires suddenly lit up.
Dense dark clouds covered the sky, turning the world dim. Many flamens started to control the ancestral sacrificial grand formation under Old Man Qu’s command.
Moments later, all the dark sparrow statues suddenly crumbled. A ray of misty light came out from each of them and went into the princess statue standing in the middle.
An ancient and desolate qi gradually rose from within the massive princess statue, affecting the emotions of everyone on the island.
Then, a tremendous amount of incense flame power shot out from the body of the princess statue, directly reaching the skyline. It turned into a humongous shadow of an immemorial dark sparrow.
That large immemorial dark sparrow which descended upon the nine heavens carried an everlasting majesty.
Its nine tail feathers glowed in white radiance. At this moment, Old Man Qu looked quite nervous. He took over the formation compass of the grand formation from the hands of the several flamens to personally activate the formation himself.
As soon as the grand formation was initiated, one of the nine tail feathers of the dark sparrow’s shadow dimmed down.
The white radiance it lost turned into a ray of light which travelled toward the blood pond like a star descending from the sky and entered Ming Que’s body.
Apparently, the inheritance was divided into nine portions and were stored inside the nine tail feathers of the dark sparrow’s shadow respectively.
The white light which had just entered Ming Que’s body only contained one-ninth of the inheritance.
In an instant, the magic power inside her was increased by tens of thousands of units while her aura force greatly rose.
Right after that, layers of fiery red tribulation clouds appeared one after another in the vast sky. It seemed like the heavenly tribulation of flames was about to fall.
The destructive power of the fire tribulation was extremely strong. It was nearly comparable to the destructive power of the heavenly tribulation that one would face after advancing to the Void Refinement Realm.
“This is bad! This is only the first of the nine portions of inheritance and it actually triggered such a destructive heavenly tribulation! This fire tribulation can probably even incinerate a Half-Step Void Refinement Realm old monster!”
Old Man Qu cried out in anxiety. His gaze immediately shifted toward Ning Fan and Su Yan with eyes looking like they were requesting for their help.
All of the demon cultivators felt their scalps tingle when they saw the heavenly tribulation. Even a Void Refinement Realm old monster would not be able to easily withstand this kind of heavenly tribulation!
Of all the cultivators on the island, none of them had the strength to withstand it. This was the reason why they did not dare to let Ming Que accept the inheritance recklessly!
“Yan Er, look after Ming Que. I’ll take care of the heavenly tribulation.”
Ning Fan gave Su Yan an order and then soared into the sky. In the blink of an eye, he had travelled across countless distances and appeared right beneath the fire clouds.
He didn’t even spare the fire clouds a glance. All he did was raise one of his palms into the sky and activate his fire plucking technique.
A vortex of fire which was like a bottomless abyss formed on the center of his palm, absorbing all the fire clouds and channeling them to his Stele of Sun and Moon.
That fire tribulation which was capable of killing a Half-Step Void Refinement Realm cultivator was dealt with as easily as that.
*Hiss*
The cultivators on the island sucked in a cold breath. Despite hearing about Ning Fan’s fame before, few of them had seen him in action.
“Continue the ancestral sacrificial ceremony.” Ning Fan looked down at Old Man Qu and ordered.
“Yes! Continue the ceremony!”
Old Man Qu heaved a sigh of relief after seeing Ning Fan block the heavenly tribulation without much effort and continued to control the formation compass.
In just an hour, the second, third and fourth white rays descended from the tail feathers of the dark sparrow’s shadow and went inside little Ming Que’s body.
Her qi had been greatly improved and she had already broken through to the Late Divine Transformation Realm. The improvement she obtained in her cultivation base in one single hour really made many demon cultivators envious.
Meanwhile, Ning Fan continued to help her destroy the three waves of fire tribulations which were triggered during this period of time, allowing her to progress without any disturbances.
Starting from the fifth ray of light, the destructive power of the heavenly tribulation increased. It was nearly powerful enough to severely injure a Void Glimpse Stage cultivator.
From the seventh ray of light onwards, the heavenly tribulation could almost inflict grievous damage even to a Void Inquiry Stage expert.
When the ninth wave of heavenly tribulation arrived, the intensity of the fire clouds’ qi was extremely terrifying. Even a Void Pierce Stage old monster would suffer serious injuries if they were to withstand that kind of heavenly tribulation!
However, no matter how powerful these heavenly tribulations are, as long as they are still fire tribulations and are not unreasonably powerful, none of them would be able to resist Ning Fan’s fire plucking technique. All of the fire clouds were erased by merely raising his hand and the flames were stored inside his Stele of Sun and Moon.
Ning Fan’s impressiveness astonished the cultivators of the demon island time after time. Moreover, even Su Yan did not expect that Ning Fan could nullify the heavenly tribulation which was capable of inflicting severe injuries on a Void Pierce Stage expert.
Ming Que received every last portion of the inheritance. The magic power inside her was close to reaching one million units, making her a hair’s breadth away from attaining the Void Refinement Realm!
Each of the nine waves of heavenly tribulations were progressively stronger and more powerful than the previous. However, Ning Fan destroyed all of them by just raising his hand!