Chapter 512 - Striking Awe Into One Hundred Sects (6) (1/2)

King Lan Ling stood at one side of the jade platform. His appearance was handsome and elegant. He was clad in a set of dark purple python robes and wore a golden purple crown. His outfit made him look like a young emperor. The dash of cinnabar on his glabella added a hint of malevolence to his disposition.

As he stood in the snow and wind, countless orchids fell down from the sky around him, making him as ethereal as the child of a deity. His presence captivated the hearts and minds of many female cultivators in the audience seating…

Compared to King Lan Ling’s good looks, Ning Fan appeared to be rather less flashy. He wore a set of simple and plain white robes while his unrestrained long, black hair cascaded down his shoulders. His piercing cold eyes were like a dark quiet pool that could never be seen through.

His white clothes were besmeared with blood. On his glabella, the star which flickered eccentrically filled his presence with grimmer killing intent.

A rush of Reckless Devil Realm domineering intent gathered between his brows, making his aura force so strong that ordinary cultivators could not breathe normally. It also made many women around the platform fall for him.

King Lan Ling was the strongest individual among the cultivators below the Void Fragmentation Realm in the Rain World. As for Ning Fan, he was the strongest devil lord of the internal sea… If Ning Fan fought King Lan Ling’s second primordial spirit without using any Void Fragmentation Realm jade slip, who would win in the end?!

Perhaps King Lan Ling would have greater chances in winning the fight against Ning Fan. After all, his true body was the most powerful expert among all cultivators below the Void Fragmentation Realm in the Rain World! How could Ning Fan withstand the combat power of his second primordial spirit?

The cultivators of the one hundred plus sects held their breath in anxiety. All of them were staring at the jade platform with full attention.

Today, there had already been eleven Void Refinement Realm experts who had died in Ning Fan’s hands. This news would surely shake the entire world! As for those who had witnessed Ning Fan’s terrifying means, who else would still be daring enough to plot against Feng Xueyan…?

Ning Fan’s expression was calm and composed from the beginning, just like an unfathomable abyss.

Even though he had already killed Marquis You Gui and had full assurance that he could win the fight against King Lan Ling, he still felt slightly uneasy inwardly…

That kind of feeling was as if he had overlooked something. It was like he failed to notice some of his enemies and they were still scheming their evil plans in the dark…

“Big Brother acted forcefully to suppress the Ghost Eye Clan and strike fear into the one hundred plus sects which harbored ulterior motives, deterring them from acting rashly. I suppose Younger Sister Xueyan’s time of tribulation should be over today… However, why do I still have this feeling of unease…?” Xu Qiuling’s brows were slightly drawn together with worries. Similar to Ning Fan, she also sensed a strange and uncomfortable ambience.

Is Feng Xueyan’s tribulation really going to end like this…?

“Hmm? Elder Sister Yue… What is she doing?” Xu Qiuling’s eyes suddenly flashed with surprise. She took out a jade pendant which contained a trace of Yue Lingkong’s qi. She could know whether or not Yue Lingkong was safe and where she was going using that qi.

According to the jade pendant, Yue Lingkong seemed to have gotten out of her seclusion…

“Did Elder Sister Yue successfully break through to the Void Inquiry Stage…? However, if she gets out of her seclusion, why didn’t she come and find us? Where is she going now…?” Xu Qiuling could not understand why.

Ning Fan and King Lan Ling stood ten thousand zhang* (3.33m per zhang) away from each other and occupied one side of the platform. While facing each other, they were resisting each other’s aura forces.

King Lan Ling only came with his second primordial spirit that did not have a powerful aura force. Ning Fan, on the other hand, had killed eleven Void Refinement Realm experts including Marquis You Gui who was at the Absolute Void Stage successively. The strength of his baleful qi nearly made King Lan Ling suffocate!

By just exchanging glances with Ning Fan for a few breaths, King Lan Ling already could not endure the latter’s aura force and took the lead to attack.

As soon as he made the first step, sond of sighs were heard from the audience around the platform. Clearly everyone was able to tell that King Lan Ling had lost to Ning Fan in terms of the intensity of the aura force… This scene did not seem compatible with their previous guesses.

King Lan Ling’s handsome face was burning with embarrassment, as if losing to Ning Fan in terms of aura force was a great humiliation to him.

His feet trod on the ripples in the hollow space. With a skip, he travelled across ten thousand zhang* (3.33m per zhang) and got to the other side of the jade platform. He raised his hand and pushed one of his fingers towards Ning Fan. His finger was sharp like a sword and its power was nearly on par with that of a Void Pierce Stage attack!

He wanted to defeat Ning Fan in a single move to redeem his reputation!

“You said you don’t need to use your Void Fragmentation Realm jade slips to fight me? Humph! I think the truth is you no longer have any jade slip left! Very well. If you don’t have any Void Fragmentation Realm jade slip, it’ll be as easy as crushing an ant for me to kill you!”

“This is… the Void Soft Tread!” Someone in the crowd recognized King Lan ling’s travelling technique. The speed of his technique was actually not any slower than that of the Void Teleportation which common Void Pierce Stage experts used.

“White Orchid Sword Finger!” There were also people who recognized King Lan Ling’s finger attack. It was rare to have someone below the Void Inquiry Stage who could withstand the might of this finger!

Looking at the incoming finger sword light, Ning Fan’s eyes were filled with disdain.

When he met King Lan Ling for the first time back in the Six-Winged Clan, Ning Fan only felt that this person was as strong as a colossal mountain and there was no way he could defeat him.

But today when he faced King Lan Ling again, he felt this man was a lot weaker than himself.

That White Orchid Sword Finger that gave out a dazzling white light that was nearly brighter than the sun was as fast as lightning in the eyes of countless people.

In Ning Fan’s eyes, however, it was slow like it was stagnant in the air…

It was not because King Lan Ling had become weaker but because Ning Fan was no longer what he was in the past!

“Break!”

Ning Fan acted like lightning. He lifted one of his fingers and displayed the Heaven Breaking Sword Finger which he had not used for a long time. The mountains, rivers and hollow space in heaven and earth began to collapse and the force of their destruction turned into Ning Fan’s finger power.

The First Finger broke the ethereal island, rivers and mountains, the Second Finger crushed the vast heavens and black sun and the Third Finger pulverized the void space and dead bones. In just an instant, Ning Fan displayed the three styles of the sword finger consecutively!

The sword light of the First Finger struck like lightning. Its power was just enough to neutralize the power of King Lan Ling’s White Orchid Sword Finger.

King Lan Ling’s expression changed. He did not expect that his White Orchid Sword Finger would be broken so easily. What came right after that was the sword light of Ning Fan’s Second Finger which surprised King Lan Ling. He quickly raised his hand to deliver the second White Orchid Sword Finger to offset fifty to sixty percent of the incoming sword light’s power. The remaining amount of sword light power landed on his chest, breaking all of his spiritual armors. Upon impact, he was pushed backwards for tens of steps!

Before he could even regain his balance, the sword light of Ning Fan’s Third Finger was already coming at him like a maggot that was stubbornly clinging to a corpse. The sight of the incoming attack made him break into a cold sweat!

From the third incoming sword light, he felt like seeing countless corpses in the void space walking towards him while the flesh of his body slowly decayed!

*Bang*

The third sword light hit King Lan Ling directly without deviation. He spurted out fresh blood violently from his mouth and could only recover his balance after taking one thousand consecutive steps backwards. Only after dispersing the falling orchids around him could he neutralize a portion of the finger power and prevent himself from being severely injured.

However, his golden purple crown was pulverized, causing his long hair to scatter and fly wildly in the air. The current King Lan Ling looked extremely battered. Even though he was not severely injured, the injuries he suffered were not light. There was no longer the slightest hint of elegance in him right now!

“How is this possible?!”

The cultivators in the audience seating were stunned and confused. In just a single exchange, King Lan Ling had nearly lost to Ning Fan!

Despite the great disparity between their strength, King Lan Ling still dared to taunt Ning Fan by saying that killing him was as easy as crushing an ant. Apparently, he was just slapping his own face by making that self-contradictory remark…

“I don’t believe it! You and I are both at the Void Inquiry Stage. Since we are both at the same cultivation level, how would I lose to you?! Heaven Sacrificial Ruler!”

King Lan Ling took out a ruler and wielded it to strike Ning Fan.

That was an ancient ruler which had existed for eons. It looked like it was made of gold and jade but it was actually made of neither of them. As soon as King Lan Ling wielded it, it produced one hundred thousand ruler shadows that went for Ning Fan’s head. Its power was vast like heavens. A single strike of this ruler could instantly kill ordinary Void Inquiry Stage experts.

Besides, the ancient ruler was also augmented with a Void Grade divine ability as well as the power to deceive a person’s mind.

All of a sudden, countless chants of ancient scripture resounded in Ning Fan’s mind for no reason. The chants seemed to be inducing him to sacrifice himself for heaven and earth and die under the ruler shadows.

The ancient ruler that was hanging high up in the sky suddenly vanished and a massive halo appeared. The shadow of the light ring gave out a trace of the Heavenly Dao’s might!

“This is… the legendary Heavenly Dao’s Ring!”

Ning Fan’s eyes flashed as he recognized the origin of the ancient ruler’s ability.

He now realized that this Heaven Sacrificial Ruler was a magic treasure that contained Heaven’s might and the user could use the power of the Heavenly Dao’s Ring to hurt their enemies. The wielder of this ruler would punish the wrongdoers on behalf of Heaven. Whoever tries to defy the ruler would be equivalent to going against Heaven’s halo.

If common cultivators face this Heaven Sacrificial Ruler, they would certainly be deterred by the Heaven’s might, causing them unable to resist the ruler’s power.

Ning Fan, however, was never afraid of Heaven’s might. To him, heaven and earth was just like a prison.

Moreover, this prison could never incarcerate him who was a member of the Fu Li Race, a Reckless Devil as well as a butterfly!

“Break!”

He suddenly pushed one of his fists upwards and delivered a punch at the sky which gave off immense devil qi. Heaven and earth were immediately filled with the devil dragon fist shadows!

Ning Fan could now display the Double Dragon Void Technique at such proficiency without having any flaws.

When he sent out that attack, the Heavenly Dao’s halos was broken immediately. The one hundred thousand ruler shadows in the sky disintegrated. Under the effect of the massive force of the punch, the entire Northern Cold Country was trembling violently!

With just the power of his single punch, he actually turned the Heaven Sacrificial Ruler that contained extraordinary power to ashes!

The Heaven Sacrificial Ruler was something that King Lan Ling cultivated using his life. The moment the ruler was destroyed, he coughed out blood once more which stained his own python robe.

He then raised his head with discontentment. He could not believe that Ning Fan could withstand his attack so effortlessly.

Even though he refused to admit it, he still had to acknowledge that Ning Fan’s strength far exceeded that of his second primordial spirit.

Feelings of envy rose in King Lan Ling’s heart. It was just like what he felt when he was jealous of Yun Tianjue in the past.

The hatred that was born out of jealousy eventually turned into the most ferocious killing intent!

He summoned an armor that was incredibly close to the Profound Divinity Grade. Even though it was not as strong as the Heavenly Ghost Armor, it was much stronger than Ning Fan’s Primordial Lightning Armor. Now, he no longer needed to be afraid of any of Ning Fan’s attacks.

“My strongest technique isn’t my magic treasure or magic techniques. Instead, it’s my divine intent. A single orchid can contain all the vigor of the world. This is my Dao! Orchids as the Dao – honoring orchids is the Dao of acquiring, shedding orchids is the Dao of losing. Dao should be like an orchid…”

King Lan Ling’s aura force changed dramatically. All of a sudden, countless dark purple orchids fell from the sky

“One orchid, one life; one life, one death – Seven Orchids Technique!”

King Lan Ling grabbed the air with his large hand and innumerable orchids in the air suddenly gathered came together, forming into seven one hundred zhang* (3.33m per zhang) tall dark purple orchids.

At the moment the seven orchids appeared, the expressions of the high grade cultivators of the one hundred plus sects were filled with terror.

Of all the high grade cultivators from the eight hundred cultivation countries, who did not know how terrifying King Lan Ling’s Seven Orchids Technique…?

That was not a type of magic technique. To be precise, it was a kind of curse that was displayed using the power of one’s divine intent.

As long as the orchids remain intact, the user’s enemies would not die. However, if the orchids wither, the enemies’ lives would end…

“One life, one death!” King Lan Ling raised his hand and delivered a sword light to cut one of the large orchids into pieces.

Immediately, Ning Fan felt a sharp pain in his chest for no reason. He was already injured even without knowing the cause of it!

When Ning Fan suffered the injuries, some of King Lan Ling’s injuries, on the other hand, had actually recovered. It was as if he had transferred his injuries to Ning Fan…

“Two lives, two deaths!” King Lan Ling smirked coldly. He lifted his finger and turned it into a sword to destroy the second orchid. This time, Ning Fan felt a pain in his Sea of Consciousness. He took half a step backwards and his eyes sparkled.

He now realized that the so-called Seven Orchids Technique was a kind of magic technique that was similar to the curses that were used in the mortal realm.

When a mortal harbors hatred against someone whom they could never get their revenge from, they would then get their date of birth and the eight characters of their horoscopes and write them down on a tiny human figurine that was made out of grass. Afterward, they would use a needle to prick the figurine. Those who knew how to cast a curse could kill a person after pricking the figurine seven times for seven days.

In the cultivation world, there were also curse techniques such as the Seven Arrows Book.

Without a doubt, the technique King Lan Ling had used must be a type of curse technique and it was a quite vicious and insidious one.

Ning Fan took a step forward, intending to deliver an attack. However, King Lan Ling acted faster than him. He raised his hand and eliminated the third orchid.

“Three lives, three deaths!”

At the moment the third orchid was cut, pain struck Ning Fan’s dantian. Traces of blood flowed out from the corners of his lips.

He held his head up and looked at the remaining four large orchids. His eyes were not filled with rage at all. Instead, he was pondering calmly.

The moment King Lan Ling destroyed the third orchid, his mind seemed to have obtained an enlightenment about the curse technique.

In his mind, he recalled King Lan Ling’s words: Orchids as the Dao – honoring orchids is the Dao of acquiring, shedding orchids is the Dao of losing…

Ning Fan originally felt nothing about when he said those words. However, after witnessing the Seven Orchids Technique, he suddenly realized that the two words, “shedding orchid”, sounded rather familiar to him…

The Shedding Orchid Sect!

If the Orchid is seen as the Great Dao, Lan Ling Sect is, of course, honoring the orchids. Therefore, the essence of this Seven Orchids Technique is to seize and acquire. It’s about forcibly transferring the user’s own injuries to his enemies and seizing the enemies’ lives when cutting down the orchids.

As for the Shedding Orchid Sect, it’s naturally shedding the orchid. Its essence is about giving up first and acquiring later. Even though it’s completely opposite to the main principle of the Lan Ling Sect, both of them are of the Great Dao of Orchid.

Ning Fan lifted his head. His expression still remained calm and collected. If the seven orchids were fully destroyed, he would also suffer grievous injuries even if the technique did not kill him.

However, Lan Ling might be a man with a wicked heart and vicious means, but Ning Fan was not a kind-hearted weakling. How would he allow him to cut down all the orchids?

Ning Fan’s eyes flashed with a hint of cold light and raised his hands to perform an ancient and abstruse hand seal.

Just as King Lan Ling cut down the fourth orchid, he displayed the magic technique that he had learned from the ancient scriptures of the divine chests.

Mutual Death Technique!

“Four lives, four deaths! Lan Ling was sneering coldly. What he wanted to see was the scene of Ning Fan slowly dying.

However, he did not expect that after he had cut down the fourth orchid and inflicted damage to Ning Fan, his injuries were not healed as expected. Instead, both he and Ning Fan were injured!

A massive ancient formation diagram suddenly covered the entire jade platform. The formation diagram was carved with countless orchids.

The moment this diagram emerged, the orchids that were falling down around King Lan Ling somehow disintegrated. To his surprise, he then discovered that his lifespan was actually reducing rapidly!

“One thousand years!”

Ning Fan muttered coldly and continued performing the hand seals violently. Meanwhile, a strand of his temple hair turned gray. It was the sign of him losing his lifespan.

As soon as he made the hand seals, he had lost one thousand years of life. King Lan Ling, on the other hand, surprisingly found out that he had actually lost one thousand and three hundred years of life!

“I-It’s a magic technique of the Shedding Orchid Sect! This is the Mutual Death Technique!” King Lan Ling’s eyes widened with shock. He actually was able to recognize the origin of this technique. Overwhelmed with panic and fear, he hurriedly turned around, trying to get off the jade platform.

How could he not choose to run? The cultivation of his second primordial spirit was done extremely hastily. Therefore, he only had less than four thousand years of life. He did not dare to let this body endure this kind of life-shortening magic power that would mutually harm the user and his enemy!

Even though he was wearing a Half-Step Profound Divinity Grade armor, it could not defend him against that technique!

The cultivators of the one hundred plus sects were at a loss. They had no idea at all about what a Mutual Death Technique was and neither were they aware of how frightening that technique was.

However, when they saw King Lan Ling’s horrified expression, each of them could not stop guessing what kind of technique Ning Fan was using.

In the Lan Ling Sect, the Void Pierce Stage elder of the sect was ready to help King Lan Ling at first. However, after he saw the Mutual Death Technique, the terror in his eyes was much more intense than that in King Lan Ling’s eyes.

The current King Lan Ling was just a second primordial spirit of his true body. Even if it dies, his true body would not perish. The Void Pierce Stage elder, on the other hand, was a living person. He was a Void Pierce Stage old monster who did not have much life span left. At this moment, he only had less than 2500 years of life.

How would he dare to face Ning Fan’s Mutual Death Technique?!

“Try to run? Lock!” Ning Fan pointed a finger at King Lan Ling, immobilizing him. Then, he continued to perform the hand seals.

“Two thousand years!”

This time, he had sacrificed two thousand years of his own life. King Lan Ling’s entire body was in agony. He now lost another two thousand and seven hundred years of life. His black hair had all turned gray-white. His face that was handsome and elegant at first turned dry, wrinkled and saggy. The loss of his lifespan had actually turned him into an old man!

Furthermore, because he had aged too much, all his magic power became hard to muster…

At this moment, King Lan Ling was scared!