Chapter 1150: Chapter 1150: The Secret of the Demonic Channel

The Half-Saint is hard to kill, because a Half-Saint’s skills have already reached a mystical level. Even if they can’t defeat their enemy, they have many means to escape the battlefield.

However, if all the escape routes of a Half-Saint are blocked, then the Half-Saint will also die. The fall of the Water Buffalo God and others is proof of this.

This was Ning Fan’s first time using the Wood Command Domain. The invisible walls of various layers of Wooden Control Positions sealed off all escape routes within the domain, and only the Profound Tail Daoist could escape.

The transformation of the Profound Tail Daoist’s Second Stage True Body could increase his magic power to fourteen or fifteen thousand tribulations. Unfortunately, at this moment, Ning Fan, by using the power of the Slaughter Technique, boosted his magic power to sixteen thousand tribulations. In the last battle, Ning Fan activated the Slaughter Technique too late. In this battle, he would not make such an error.

Though the Profound Tail Daoist’s Green Wave Fire Poison was formidable, it couldn’t withstand Ning Fan’s numbers. A single Destroying Path Thunder Infant could make him struggle bitterly, and with the combined assault of Ning Fan and the Wansheng Dragon King, he was soon heavily injured.

Yet he is, after all, a Half-Saint of ancient times. Even facing a dead-end, he lived up to the name of Ancient Demon, gritting his teeth and fighting Ning Fan to the death, with not a hint of surrender.

A day passed, and the Profound Tail Daoist was beaten to a state of heavy injury nearing death, yet he was still desperately fighting.

Two days passed, and the Profound Tail Daoist’s flesh and blood were exhausted, leaving only a massive skeleton to fight Ning Fan, with his spirit residing in the skeleton, his fighting spirit undiminished.

On the third day, the Profound Tail Daoist finally could not hold on any longer. Even the skeleton was shattered by Ning Fan and others, and his spirit was finally seized by Ning Fan.

He didn’t beg for mercy in the slightest, but instead cursed loudly, though he truly felt some regret in his heart.

Originally, he thought that retrieving the Primordial Thunder Cauldron would be an easy task, but he did not expect to fall into Ning Fan’s hands in the end.

"Hmph! The victor is king and the loser is a bandit. Kill me then! But the Demon-Sealing Peak warriors will surely come again to reclaim your Primordial Thunder Cauldron!" The Profound Tail Daoist sneered coldly.

Ning Fan somewhat admired the Profound Tail Daoist. He always respected those who do not yield in death. Even if that person is an enemy, they can still earn his respect.

No wonder he is an Ancient Demon. This is what makes an Ancient Demon. If you submit to your enemy, how could you still be called an Ancient Demon?

Of course, this bit of respect is not a reason for Ning Fan to spare the Profound Tail Daoist. Sparing him would be akin to letting a tiger return to the mountain. Ning Fan couldn’t just quake his tiger’s body and have his enemies prostrate themselves in admiration. That kind of scene only occurs in mortal theatrical plays...

Conducting a Soul Search, Ning Fan extracted a vast amount of memories from the Profound Tail Daoist.

Through Spirit Refinement, he transformed the spirit of the Profound Tail Daoist into a large pile of Blood of Ten Thousand Spirits.

After destroying the Profound Tail Daoist, Ning Fan did not immediately clear the battlefield of corpses and spoils. He extinguished the massive sea of flames over the ruins of Xuanwu Pass and sat cross-legged among the clusters of Netherworld Ghost Flowers, chanting under his breath, commencing a ritual.

Today, he slaughtered over five million, and these numbers upgraded the summon from a basic to an advanced level performed by the Netherworld Ghost Flowers.

Under the conditions of advanced summoning, Ning Fan could choose one of the slain to turn into an Eternal Ghost Soldier.

The base success rate for creating an Eternal Ghost Soldier is fifty percent. If the target’s strength is below Ning Fan’s, the success rate can increase to some extent; if higher, the success rate decreases.

Because Lady Guihua’s strength was far below Ning Fan’s, the day Lady Guihua wanted to make Ning Fan into an Eternal Ghost Soldier, the success rate could only just reach thirty percent.

Ning Fan pondered whom to use for making an Eternal Ghost Soldier. His strength far surpassed the Immortal Emperor of the Decline, so if he used those Different Race Immortal Emperors to make an Eternal Ghost Soldier, the success rate would be quite high, reaching at least seventy to eighty percent. But, what would Ning Fan need an Immortal Emperor level Eternal Ghost Soldier for? It was like a chicken rib—hardly worth the effort.

If he’s going to create one, it should be an Eternal Ghost Soldier that is useful.

The candidates he considered were four: Profound Tail, Crane Immortal Elder, Ahuinan, and the Water Buffalo God.

Among them, the Water Buffalo God had the lowest strength. If Ning Fan were to make an Eternal Ghost Soldier out of him, the success rate could reach about sixty-five percent.

Ahuinan would be sixty percent.

Crane Immortal Elder fifty-five percent.

Profound Tail Daoist thirty percent.

Through the contracted connection with the Netherworld Ghost Flowers, Ning Fan easily sensed the approximate success rates for making each into an Eternal Ghost Soldier.

The Eternal Ghost Soldier Ning Fan desired most was, of course, the Profound Tail Daoist. Unfortunately, from a strength standpoint, the Profound Tail Daoist was far superior to him. The fact that Ning Fan could contend with the Profound Tail Daoist in previous battles was merely by leveraging varied tactics to his advantage.

If, during their first battle, the Profound Tail Daoist hadn’t been so cautious and had fought to the death like in the second battle—fighting to the bone, so to speak—Ning Fan would not have stood a chance against him.

A success rate far below fifty percent was, therefore, expected.

"Thirty percent chance, too low. But if successful, the benefits are immense. Like the Immortal King of Decline such as the Wansheng Dragon King, even if transformed into an Eternal Ghost Soldier, at most they only have the qualification to engage a First Order Quasi-Saint in battle, but to defeat a First Order Quasi-Saint is impossible. Yet if it’s someone like the Profound Tail Daoist, once transformed into an Eternal Ghost Soldier, they can absolutely crush most First Order Quasi-Saints of the Era of Decline..."

Ning Fan pondered for a long time and finally decided to take a gamble, choosing the Profound Tail Daoist to create the Eternal Ghost Soldier.

Upon unleashing his divine skill, countless points of light suddenly emerged among the flowers of the Netherworld Ghost Flower, resembling countless fireflies dancing in the air, breathtakingly beautiful.

Those lights were no ordinary objects; they were the residual souls of those Ning Fan had killed today, consumed by the Netherworld Ghost Flower.

The Netherworld Ghost Flower holds power similar to the Fu Li Spirit Wheels, disregarding cultivation laws, ensuring that the soul of an Immortal Cultivator above the Second Step does not disperse after death. However, the purpose of collecting souls differs from the Fu Li Spirit Wheels. The Netherworld Ghost Flower collects souls to create Eternal Ghost Soldiers, whereas the Fu Li Spirit Wheels aim to recreate Fu Li from the deceased.

Even though he was making Eternal Ghost Soldiers using the Netherworld Ghost Flower, at this moment, Ning Fan gained a new understanding of his own Fu Li Spirit Wheels.

Creating Fu Li with the Fu Li Spirit Wheels and crafting Eternal Ghost Soldiers seem to have many similarities.

The sky filled with starlight began to condense and transform.

Although the Profound Tail Daoist had already been slain by Ning Fan, at this moment, the Ten-Tailed Scorpion Giant of the Profound Tail Daoist’s Second Stage True Body gradually emerged amidst the starlight.

Eternal Ghost Soldiers are born for battle, thus they are crafted directly into the individual’s strongest form.

Creating an Eternal Ghost Soldier is extremely draining on the Heart Spirit, but fortunately, Ning Fan still had some God-Returning Rice Grain, and after consuming some, his Heart Spirit was replenished.

Ning Fan noticed the God-Returning Rice Grain in his pocket seemed to be dwindling.

On that day, he obtained a mountain of God-Returning Rice Grain from the Dark Clan, but ever since the battle with them began, he had been consuming large amounts of it. Even with a vast amount of God-Returning Rice Grain, there would be a day when it runs out.

"The remaining God-Returning Rice Grain is probably enough for me to engage in four or five more half-saint level battles. Once the God-Returning Rice Grain is depleted, my Cross Halo will no longer be able to be activated indefinitely, and my combat prowess will be greatly reduced. If I can create enough Eternal Ghost Soldiers before the God-Returning Rice Grain runs out, even if I can’t use the Cross Halo for long, I can still crush those Half-Saints of the Decline..."

Ning Fan held high expectations for the creation of the Profound Tail Ghost Soldier.

But reality is full of irony, the more one hopes for something, the less likely it is to be attained, yet often unexpected rewards come from those unforeseen efforts.

Ning Fan failed in creating the Profound Tail Ghost Soldier!

Thirty percent chance, too low! Even if his good fortune far exceeds that of the Immortal King of Decline, it could only raise the probability from thirty percent to around forty percent.

Forty percent is still very low, and this was Ning Fan’s first time creating an Eternal Ghost Soldier, his method of condensing souls was quite unskilled, with more than ten unavoidable mistakes occurring during the process.

Under such circumstances, success was clearly not possible.

"What a pity, if I could have such a mighty ally as the Profound Tail Daoist at once, I would stand a chance even against a First Order Quasi-Saint..."

Ning Fan felt greatly disappointed.

Still, the disappointment was quickly smoothed out, and his heart returned to a state of tranquility.

The opportunity to create Ghost Soldiers comes only once per major battle; after one attempt, the Netherworld Ghost Flower needs a few days of rest before it can craft another Eternal Ghost Soldier.

Ning Fan began to clean up the battlefield, with his Divine Skills and cultivations, he swiftly tidied up the battlefield resembling ruins.

A large number of low-grade Dao Fruits, several Immortal Venerable Immortal King Dao Fruits, and just one Immortal Emperor Dao Fruit from the beginning.

From the twenty-two Different Race Immortal Emperors Ning Fan confiscated six Innate Treasures, among which two were severely damaged, three were of little use, but the last one caught Ning Fan’s eye.

[Thunderous Monastery’s Bamboo Fence], an Innate Treasure in the form of a bamboo fence, made from the renowned Thunderous Bamboo. According to the bamboo fence’s claim, it was crafted by a monk guarding a vegetable garden at the Thunderous Monastery. The area enclosed by this bamboo fence will automatically generate an Immortal Emperor-class Defensive Formation, significantly accelerating the growth of plants within the formation.

Heh, this treasure is suitable to serve as the bamboo fence of the Shennong Hundred Herbs Garden. However, Ning Fan seems to have heard of the name Thunderous Monastery somewhere before.

Seems like it was an extremely renowned temple in the ancient times...

Shaking his head, Ning Fan suppressed his distractions and began examining the spoils brought to him by the four Half-Saints.

[Heavenly Bull Eye].

This is the Innate Dharma Eye cultivated by the Water Buffalo God over billions of years, capable of discerning most Illusory Arts of the Era of Decline, enhancing the success rate of Illusory Arts.

The Water Buffalo God’s expertise lies in Illusory Arts; Ning Fan knew this when he engaged the Water Buffalo God. Unfortunately, Ning Fan’s proficiency in Illusory Arts is far superior to the Water Buffalo God’s, rendering the Water Buffalo God’s Illusory Arts useless.

So, how should this eye be used?

Ning Fan pondered for a moment and crushed the Water Buffalo God’s eyes, absorbing all the illusive power contained within into his demonic left eye.

It seems the Fu Li Yin-Yang has made significant progress, with notable improvement in both illusion defense and illusion attack power. Not bad.

[Merfolk Divine Pearl].

This is a special pearl that can only be created by male Merfolk. Female Merfolk can cry to form pearls, whereas male Merfolk are quite the opposite, as they will never shed a single tear in their entire lives.

Even though they are deprived of the ability to cry, male Merfolk can instead store unshed tears in their Dantian, condensing them into a Divine Pearl.

The vast majority of male Merfolk possess their own Merfolk Divine Pearl, each with varying strengths. For male Merfolk, the richer their emotions, the more developed their tear glands, and the longer they live, the more powerful their Merfolk Divine Pearl becomes.

Ahuinan is a Merfolk Half-Saint who has lived for eighty million years; his Merfolk Divine Pearl is notably powerful, with its potency near that of an Innate Mid-grade Treasure.

Of course, if it only had this function, Ning Fan wouldn’t pay much attention to the Merfolk Divine Pearl.

The Merfolk Divine Pearl can serve as a magical treasure as well as a supplement and cultivation aid, and its usage is similar to that of female Merfolk’s Merfolk Tears.

This is a treasure bead formed from the tears Ahuinan shed over eighty million years. If consumed all at once, it can increase Ning Fan’s absorption speed of Water Essence Force by a thousand times for several months!

If he were to use this Merfolk Divine Pearl, Ning Fan is confident he could cultivate the Sky-hook Jade to a higher level within a few months!

[One Drop of Red in Myriad Worlds].

Crane Immortal Elder devoted his entire life to cultivate a drop of venom that could kill any Immortal Emperor upon contact. Its potency is slightly weaker than Profound Tail Daoist’s Jade Wave Fire Poison, but not by much.

Craneshead is a deadly poison in the mortal world, and this One Drop of Red in Myriad Worlds is the Craneshead Poison Crane Immortal Elder had practiced since his youth.

Once this poison is unleashed, only a flash of red light can be seen, and then an Immortal Emperor-level existence is poisoned to death. It is truly formidable.

It was precisely due to Crane Immortal Elder’s formidable poison skills that even with the combined efforts of Ning Fan and Wansheng Dragon King, it took hundreds of rounds to eliminate him.

[All the Same Darkness Under Heaven].

This is the peculiar name Crane Immortal Elder gave to his pair of crane wings.

Others cultivate wings mostly to enhance speed.

Crane Immortal Elder’s wings not only enhance speed but can also extinguish all light in the world, plunging it into darkness.

These wings possess a trace of the power of the Dark Control Position? Ning Fan was surprised and extracted the power from Crane Immortal Elder’s wings, swallowing it with Dark Yin Yang.

The Dark Yin Yang also showed slight improvement.

[Three Immortals’ Spirit Array] and the materials for this formation.

This is something Ning Fan discovered in Profound Tail Daoist’s storage pouch, a special Formation that can summon the few True Spirits of ancestors, preserved in the temple of the Clans of the Purple Microcosm, to the Era of Decline.

The summoned ancestors naturally won’t possess their full power from their prime, but even if only an extremely small fraction remains, it’s enough to crush a Half-Saint from the Era of Decline.

If some summoned ancestors have special Divine Skills, they can even somewhat counter Destroying Path Thunder Infant’s thunderous power.

Ning Fan nodded, realizing why Profound Tail Daoist wanted to summon the ancestral spirits to deal with him... this Formation is indeed somewhat formidable.

If it hadn’t been for his surprise attack on Xuanwu Pass, foiling Profound Tail Daoist’s plot...

But there is no "if."

Ning Fan smiled slightly, putting this item aside. He wouldn’t foolishly use these Formation materials to summon the ancestors of the Clans of the Purple Microcosm to play around.

Summoned ancestors have independent consciousness and won’t obey him; instead, due to his identity as a descendant of Purple Dou, they might attack him as soon as they appear...

[Primordial Demonic Medicine], several of them.

Among the Primordial Demonic Medicines, Ning Fan obtained several that specifically enhance physical defense, as well as a large number that have miraculous healing properties, which is considered a great harvest.

[Jade Wave Fire Poison]’s poison sac.

This is what Profound Tail Daoist is famous for, containing all of Profound Tail Daoist’s poison power!

Previously, Ning Fan’s poison power only possessed a trace of the toxicity of Jade Wave Fire Poison, but if he were to directly ingest Profound Tail Daoist’s poison sac, his poison power would greatly increase!

[Ancient Chaos Grand Emperor Lost Scroll].

This is the most valued item from Profound Tail Daoist by Ning Fan!

Not just because it records dozens of lost-level Ancient Chaos Grand Emperor’s Divine Skills!

Not just because it mentions the ancient cultivation theory of Divine Skill compatibility! 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

But because among these Divine Skills, there is the renowned secret art of the Moro the Great Emperor—the Ancient Demon Cavity!

Years ago, the sudden arrival of the Black Wing Great Demon in the Divine Tomb was achieved by using the Demonic Channel to cross the starry sky and arrive in Eastern Heaven.

This time, Profound Tail Daoist also used the Demonic Channel to move directly from Ning Fan to Eastern Heaven.

The Demonic Channel is truly incredible! If one learns the Demonic Channel, Ning Fan wouldn’t need to traverse the Boundary River; he could directly cross any starry sky through the Demonic Channel!

This technique is valuable to learn!

[Demonic Channels are divided into Inferior, Medium, and Superior: Inferior Demonic Channels can cross any Void Realm; Medium Demonic Channels can cross any Great Thousand World; Superior Demonic Channels can cross reincarnations.]

Crossing reincarnations! What is that, it sounds so powerful...

[For Inferior Demonic Channels, the practitioner must have at least one drop of ancestral blood of Ancient Chaos Grand Emperor, and also must cultivate spatial power to the boundary of the Control Position...]

The boundary of the Control Position? This requirement is a bit too high; even if it’s not a true Control Position, not every Ancient Chaos Grand Emperor can easily achieve it.

Ning Fan sighed softly; his comprehension of spatial power doesn’t seem to be that profound. The Emperor Xukong of Godly Void Pavilion has a very high comprehension of spatial power, and his teacher Xiang Mingzi, even higher, but neither of them reached the boundary of Control Position in spatial power cultivation.

Spatial power is not easily cultivated; space and time are the two most difficult Control Positions to cultivate, and truly mastering them is rare throughout history.

Ning Fan naturally doesn’t have that ability yet, and he reluctantly realized he seems to have not met the cultivation conditions for Inferior Demonic Channels.

Wait, something doesn’t seem right.

The Black Wing Great Demon in the past and Profound Tail Daoist this time, since they could use Demonic Channels, could it be they both achieved an extremely high level of spatial comprehension?

The Black Wing Great Demon is likely an Ancient Great Cultivator; Ning Fan wouldn’t be surprised if he achieved such heights in spatial power.

But Profound Tail Daoist is just a Half-Saint; how could he have such high spatial talent? If Profound Tail Daoist really had such high spatial talent, how could he be trapped by the Domain of Authority, unable to tear through space to escape?

The boundary of the Control Position is just a step away from true mastery; Profound Tail Daoist doesn’t seem to have profound spatial comprehension at all.

Is it possible cultivating spatial power to the boundary of the Control Position is merely a sufficient but not necessary condition for practicing Demonic Channels?

Or maybe Profound Tail Daoist’s Demonic Channel isn’t even a genuine one, but a weakened version, not even considered an Inferior Demonic Channel...

Ning Fan felt he was grasping the truth.

A genuine Demonic Channel would have already reached the spatial Control Position boundary and couldn’t possibly be sealed by him.

A genuine Demonic Channel isn’t something Ning Fan can achieve now, either.

He somewhat guessed that Profound Tail Daoist practiced a weakened version of the Demonic Channel, but unfortunately, he couldn’t find the method to practice the weakened version of the Demonic Channel from Profound Tail Daoist.

Even a weakened version of the Demonic Channel would be nice; the genuine Demonic Channel is beyond Ning Fan’s cultivation conditions, but he would like to learn a weakened version to directly traverse to Ning Fan’s place and take a look...

Clink, clink, clink!

Right when Ning Fan was sighing, contact from Emperor Cang suddenly rang out...