Chapter 497 - Ancient Demons’ Spirit Wheels (2/2)

However, Ning Fan still wanted to try absorbing the spirit wheels on this jade ornament. He wanted to see whether or not they would help him increase the level of his spirit sense.

He gently inhaled while stroking the jade ornament with his fingertips. Afterwards, he traced the contours of the spirit wheels on the jade, slowly extracting the power within them and assimilating it into his body.

Those inconspicuous spirit wheels actually contained an unimaginable amount of power.

As their power got extracted, the radiance of the jade ornament gradually dimmed. As for Ning Fan, after he took in the power of the spirit wheels on the jade, his spirit sense advanced by leaps and bounds.

His spirit sense was originally at the Void Glimpse Stage but when he finished absorbing the power of the spirit wheels, his spirit sense showed signs of advancing to the Void Inquiry Stage.

Other than the great amount of power, the spirit wheels also carried some memory fragments. They seemed to be the memories hidden in the bones of the dead ancient demon.

Those memories contained the record of the jade ornament changing hands several times.

Apart from that, they also showed that a green-robed old man descended to the Rain World with a group of children. That old man in green robes held a blood umbrella with one hand and carried a metal handheld furnace with the other. A jade ornament was hanging on his waist. That person should be the sect master of the Pill Sect.

Moreover, the fragments of memories also contained the childhood memories of the owner of the bones. From those memories, a powerful ancient demon could be seen opening the altar to pass his teachings about the cultivation of Dao to many low level ancient demons.

When these memories appeared in Ning Fan’s mind, he hurriedly activated the power of his memory intent realm, attempting to watch those memories carefully.

He closed his eyes tightly and gradually fell asleep.

His mindscape entered into the memories of that ancient demon, falling into an illusion of past events. He wanted to look into the Great Dao of Spirit Wheels.

That was a strange dream. It was the memories of the owner of the spirit bones when he was alive.

In that dream, Ning Fan was standing on a small continent that floated above the galaxy.

It was a land where a one hundred and eighty thousand zhang* (3.33m per zhang) tall platform made out of white jade was built.

An old man full of white hair wearing a tiger fur coat sat upright on top of the jade platform. His eyes shone with a bright demon light while he was opening the altar to pass his teachings.

Below the jade platform, there were millions of ancient demons listening to his preachings.

Since he was sitting among millions of ancient demons below the jade platform, Ning Fan looked really insignificant.

The place he was sitting should be where the owner of the spirit bones sat in the past.

Each of the demons sitting beside Ning Fan had vigorous qi. The weakest among them was at the Peak Divine Transformation Realm. Clearly, if one wants to listen to the white-haired old man preach about the Dao, they need to satisfy the minimum cultivation base required.

“Your Majesty, if I may ask, what are demons?” An expert whose qi was at the Second Stage of Cultivation gently stood up. He bowed to the jade platform and asked with a polite tone.

“Demons are beings who stand above heaven and earth with an indomitable spirit. Humans, on the other hand, are demons who beset the world with dharma. In the past, there were human sovereigns who became demons there and then. The world became the scripture and all recited it for eons. In ancient times, there were also demon sovereigns who reincarnated as humans. They went through three lifetime’s worth of trials and eventually obtained immortality…”

The white-haired old man spoke with fervor and assurance. His dignified voice resounded across all directions of the jade platform, making many ancient demons silently think.

“Your Majesty, may I ask what is spirit?” Another ancient demon whose qi was comparable to the Shedding Void Realm rose to his feet. He politely bowed to the jade platform and raised his question.

“When heaven and earth have no spirit, demons will have the spirit. When the spirit is returned to the world, the demons’ spirit will vanish.” The white-haired old man calmly answered. His words, however, put countless ancient demons deeper in contemplation.

“Your Majesty, if I may ask, what is the spirit wheel?” Ning Fan suddenly stood up. He made a bow to the jade platform with his hands cupped and asked.

“Spirit wheel?” The white-haired old man suddenly raised his head and looked at Ning Fan. He looked a little surprised, as if he did not expect Ning Fan to raise a question.

As for some ancient demons whose cultivation realms were at the Void Fragmentation Realm, the Life Immortal Realm or even the True Immortal Realm, they were slightly displeased.

According to the emperor’s rules, only immortals whose cultivation realm had broken through to the Second Stage would have the right to consult with the emperor.

In a grand occasion like this, even Void Fragmentation Realm old monsters had no right to ask the emperor a question.

Thus, Ning Fan’s actions were obviously against the rules. Immediately, a few immortals coldly stared at Ning Fan. Their expressions were unkind and their eyes seemed to be warning him about his actions.

Ning Fan’s face did not have the slightest hint of fear when he faced the warnings of those experts and seniors. Instead, he maintained a neutral expression. He looked at the white-haired old man with his eyes filled with the thirst for knowledge.

The white-haired old man waved his hand, hinting at everyone not to reprimand Ning Fan. Then, he continued looking at Ning Fan and gently nodded.

According to his rules, junior cultivators indeed do not have the right to ask a question. However, Ning Fan’s expression which showed that he wasn’t afraid of power earned that white-haired old man’s respect. Thus, he made an exception for him.

“If the demons who stand above heaven and earth have fear within their hearts, the Demon Dao can no longer be cultivated. You have no fear in your eyes which makes you a great material for cultivating the Demon Dao.”

The white-haired old man gave his praise. Instantly, countless powerful ancient demons looked at Ning Fan in disbelief.

Their expressions were a mixture of shock, admiration and jealousy.

They were shocked because the emperor who was always cold and stingy with his compliments actually praised a junior.

They admired and envied Ning Fan because he actually got the emperor’s favor. He would probably be blessed with great opportunities and fortune in the near future.

“You asked me what the spirit wheel is… Now, these are spirit wheels.”

The white-haired old man lifted a finger. Halos that gave off dazzling white light spread in all directions from the tip of his finger like ripples on calm water.

As the halos shrunk, white light circles which looked like growth rings on a tree coiled around the elderly man’s finger. They were his spirit wheels.

When the old man pointed at the sky, he summoned wind and rain. Using the power of his spirit wheels, he could extract the power of the heavens and turn it into his own spirit sense and demon power.

When he pointed at the earth, he moved mountains and filled up seas. Using the power of his spirit wheels, he could extract the power of the earth and turn it into his own spirit sense and demon power.

When he pointed at the millions of ancient demons below the jade platform, all of their demon blood boiled. Then, they could only feel that they lost control over their demon power which then became the old man’s!

Ning Fan also felt the power of the old man’s spirit wheels. He felt that the old man could seize all of his power with just a single glance!

With the help of the spirit wheels, the elderly man could even seize demon power from other cultivators and make it his own!

If the blood of the ancient devils was said to be meant for fortifying their physical bodies and cultivating their inner bodies, then the spirit of the ancient demons was based on borrowing the power from heaven and earth and using others’ spears to break others’ shields!

At this moment, even though the white-haired man sat on top of the jade platform, he gave others a sense that he was controlling heaven and earth!

The heaven and earth of this area were all under his control!

“Obtaining spirits and turning them into wheels. That’s what spirit wheels are!” The old man added.

The eyes of countless ancient demons burned with passion. Additionally, many of them even exclaimed, “Is this the power of the emperor’s ancestral rings?! What terrifying power! He could even seize the power of our spirit wheels!”

The white-haired old man let out a gentle cough which immediately silenced all the discussions among the crowd. Then, he continued speaking.

“The wheel is the great secret of heaven and earth. It’s the ultimate form developed from Dao. Trees have growth rings. Humans have ring-like fingerprints. Heaven has the Wheel of Dao. Demons use spirit as their wheels and use the wheels to control samsara. All things in the world can’t escape from samsara. If you understand what I am telling you, you will discover the truth and attain your own wheels. If you don’t, however, you will never be able to escape from samsara.

The white-haired old man continued speaking. The expressions of the ancient demons were blank and confused. Only Ning Fan seemed to understand but he could not comprehend it completely.

That incomplete dream ended. Ning Fan vacantly opened his eyes. The white-haired old man’s words were too profound for the current him to understand thoroughly.

“Turning spirit into wheels and using the wheels to control samsara…”

Ning Fan’s eyes gradually regained their clarity and sharpness. He then shook his head and stopped thinking about anything related to the ancient demons.

Even though he could not cultivate the ancient demon path at the moment, he had absorbed the power of the spirit wheels from the spirit bones of the jade ornament. That power greatly increased the level of his spirit sense, making him a hair’s breadth away from attaining Void Inquiry Stage level of spirit sense.

All he needed now was just an opportunity to complete the advancement of his spirit sense.

Currently, except for the jade ornament which lost a great deal of its power after Ning Fan absorbed its spirit wheels, the other two of the three treasures he obtained from the hands of the white tiger were still intact.

The golden handheld furnace was not a big deal. The blood umbrella, on the other hand, was a rare small chiliocosm cosmos treasure. Ning Fan now had another world to enter.

“It’s about time to leave.”

Ning Fan held the blood umbrella, gently activating its spirit wheels. At the next instant, he flew out from the umbrella world and returned to the sky above the demon island.

Each of the cultivators on the demon island only saw both Ning Fan and the white tiger enter into a small chiliocosm. They knew that the two would be fighting a fearsome battle inside that world but they could not determine who would win the battle in the end.

Seeing that Ning Fan came out safe and sound at this moment while holding the white umbrella treasure that should have belonged to the white tiger, it clearly meant that he had gained a victory over that demon.

Immediately, a loud cheer filled the entire demon island.

“What?! Revered Ming is actually so powerful!? Despite being at the Void Inquiry Stage, he managed to kill a Void Pierce Stage demon!”

“Holy crap! A Void Pierce Stage old monster who can be regarded as a peak expert in the Rain World actually lost!? This is just unimaginable!”

Without a doubt, if the battle on the demon island were to spread to the outside world, Ning Fan’s reputation would greatly rise again.

Unfortunately, Ning Fan decided to keep it hidden from the world and prevent the demon cultivators from spreading it…

He descended to the sacrificial altar and nodded at Su Yan whose face was full of worry, signaling to her that she could stop worrying now.

His gaze then drifted to Ming Que. Her brows were still tightly drawn together. Other than the improvement in her cultivation realm, the greatest benefit she would get by obtaining the inheritance was a great amount of Si Cang’s memories before her death…

Ming Que was trying hard to assimilate these memories and might still need a long period of time to complete that process. Naturally, she needed Ning Fan to keep protecting her during this period of time.

“It’s better that I erase the memories of the cultivators on this demon island before Ming Que wakes up…”

The white tiger had exposed Ming Que’s identity as a pill devil which was related to the Pill Sect. Ning Fan did not intend to let the world know about it in order to avoid getting into more troubles.

“Erase!”

He activated his memory intent power with all his might. Then, as he waved his hand, a black snowstorm covered the sky and fell on the island.

Every cultivator on the demon island that was standing under the snow was startled and passed out. All of them had a lot of their memories erased by Ning Fan one after another.

When these cultivators regain their consciousness, they would probably feel a sharp pain on their Sea of Consciousness. Anyway, it wasn’t something that Ning Fan was worried about.

Time flew by slowly. All of a sudden, Ming Que’s body gave off a strange pill fragrance.

That pill fragrance seemed to be at the level of a Low Grade Sixth Revolution Pill…

At this moment, Ming Que opened her eyes. The look in her eyes was sometimes noble and cold like ice and sometimes pure and innocent like a naïve girl.

At the same time, the Immemorial Dark Sparrow Tribe in the Heavenly Demon World fell into turmoil.

In their ancestral temple which enshrined their previous dark sparrow ancestors, one of the ancestral statues suddenly shone forth with a dazzling light.

“Ancestor… Si Cang… What exactly is happening? Why would such a strange phenomenon appear?!”

Translated by Tommy, edited by Roel