Chapter 1276: Chapter 1276: Return from the Dead!

Leaving aside for now what exactly Stone Ghost Zhenren asked for, just say that Ning Fan was gone for several days before he finally returned to the guest cave‑dwelling.

During the days Ning Fan was away, Bai Ling didn’t go anywhere, just stayed quietly in her room, practicing chess alone.

She more or less understood that Ning Fan had something important to do; even so, she just couldn’t fully concentrate on her replay practice these days.

And when Ning Fan finally came back, though she still put on an air of studying records with full focus, the stone in her hand slipped to the wrong spot without her noticing.

"Here, that’s wrong. You should play at fourteen-seven, a clamp. If you play here, that big Black Dragon of White’s will escape."

Ning Fan had only just stepped inside when he saw Bai Ling quietly playing through a game. He’d been about to sigh with emotion, "A true Chess Master really is hardworking," but with just a casual glance he saw that her mind wasn’t on the board at all.

[Ah? Thank you for the reminder, Senior Brother.] Bai Ling was mortified inside and hurriedly moved the stone to the correct point.

She forced herself to hold back her curiosity and didn’t dare ask much about where Ning Fan had gone these past few days, afraid she might annoy him.

However, human curiosity can’t really be suppressed.

Since Ning Fan could hear the thanks in Bai Ling’s heart, how could he not hear all the strange thoughts swirling in her deepest mind.

[Ai, where exactly did Senior Brother go these few days, why hasn’t he come back for so long? Could it be that my asking him to play all night long made him fed up with me?]

[Or did Senior Brother run into the once‑in‑a‑million‑years avalanche of North Pole Mountain?]

[Or was it that some powerful person coveted Senior Brother’s superb chess, and abducted him to play?]

[Could it be that Senior Brother happened to encounter his Tribulation of Measure?]

[Could it be that Senior Brother was carried off by Su Yao?]

[Could it be that Senior Brother...]

Things along those lines.

Forget it, I’d better at least toss out a casual explanation or two.

"I was gone for several days because Stone Ghost Zhenren asked me for help with something, and it happens to be rather troublesome..." He only brushed the surface with his words and did not mention the specifics.

[Oh, oh.] Judging from Bai Ling’s inner voice, she seemed to accept Ning Fan’s explanation and didn’t plan to pry further, very tactful about knowing when to advance and when to retreat.

Yet how could a woman’s heart be only a single layer?

If you listened carefully to her inner voice, you’d find that what you were hearing now was only the first layer; her real thoughts might be on the fifth, the ninth, or even the hundredth layer... Mm, these were all lessons Ning Fan had distilled from years of eavesdropping.

[Good, good, Senior Brother wasn’t carried off by Su Yao.]

[So he went to help someone?]

[What exactly is he helping with?]

[Could that person be a woman?]

[Could it be Senior Brother ran into the once‑in‑a‑million‑years...]

Ning Fan: ...

Even if he could see her true thoughts, in the end, he should still pretend not to know...

He thought for a moment, then continued explaining.

"...This matter isn’t really some huge secret, so it doesn’t hurt to tell you a bit. It’s that Stone Ghost Zhenren asked me for help. In the chess circle, it seems quite a few people have heard about what happened to him. This time he contacted me because he wants me to help him find someone."

[Oh, oh.] Find someone? A man? A woman? An enemy? A lover? Surely he’s not looking for his Dao partner from a past life, right? I really want the gossip! Gotta eat this melon!

"He’s not looking for a Dao partner from a past life..."

[Ahhh. I, I...] Senior Brother can even see the nine hundred and ninety‑ninth layer of thoughts hidden in my heart! Shocked!

"He wants to find his big brother."

[Oh, oh.]

"His big brother’s Dao title is Stone God Zhenren. All his life he was obsessed with the Dao, and once came to the Northern Barbarians Kingdom to seek friends and discuss the board. But on a certain ill‑omened night, he was seized by a mysterious demon and vanished without a trace."

[So there really are demons that abduct people!] I actually guessed right! Shocked!

"At the time there were a few companions who witnessed the scene of the demon taking him away, and not long after, the witnesses in turn met with misfortune. Now the only clues that can be found are just a few rumors about this matter..."

[Please explain in detail, Senior Brother!] Now that the melon was getting juicy, how could Bai Ling still bother to hide her curiosity; she was impatient to hear more.

"There are three suspicious points in this case."

"First, when Stone God Zhenren disappeared, he was only a step away from breaking through to Immortal Emperor, and the incident happened in the Northern Barbarians Kingdom—according to Stone Ghost Zhenren, the ancestors of the Northern Barbarians Kingdom include a Saint, and though that Saint usually doesn’t manifest, he still lives in seclusion somewhere in the Northern Barbarians Kingdom. If what Stone Ghost Zhenren says is true, it’s hard to imagine what kind of existence could silently abduct a Quasi‑Emperor right under a Saint’s eyelids..."

"Second, Stone God Zhenren’s soul plates have yet to shatter and he still lives in this world. So, what was the other party’s purpose in taking him? Was it to suppress him somewhere as a punishment? Or was there a deep grudge, keeping him alive to torment him in every possible way? Or is there some other unspeakable reason?"

"Third, there’s the physical evidence. At the scene of Stone God Zhenren’s disappearance, an item was left behind, seemingly deliberately by the demon; the people who later met with misfortune at related sites also had similar items left where it happened... If the other party really left them on purpose, what’s the meaning behind such an act..."

[The demon abducts people and even leaves physical evidence? I’m so curious! What did the demon leave behind!]

"As for exactly what it was, I can’t tell you."

On this matter, Ning Fan did not intend to explain further; clearly he didn’t want Bai Ling dragged too deeply into such an ominous affair.

Even if everything in front of them was only an illusion of the Saint Heir’s trial.

"In the days to come, I may still be busy for a while longer—maybe for a few days, maybe longer. When I’m not here, don’t go out alone. Otherwise, if you really run into a demon abducting people, I won’t make it in time to save you. Oh, and these game records are for you; I asked for them from Stone Ghost Zhenren while I was at it. They all seem to be famous games that once appeared on North Pole Mountain, they’ll be good for you."

[Even the ancient records from title matches are here! There are actually so many unique manuscripts! Amazing! Thank you, Senior Brother!]

Bai Ling’s thoughts instantly shifted from Stone Ghost Zhenren’s gossip to the ancient master games, and she began studying them in earnest.

In the end, she really was a Chess Master.

Ning Fan nodded in satisfaction.

Who knew whether he was satisfied that Bai Ling was studying so diligently, or that the ominous cause and effect lines almost congealed around her body had been scattered by a few casual words of his.

In the depths of his eyes, a barely visible azure spike flickered; he could see more and more things gathering, perishing—like threads, like strings, like dew, like lightning—linking people to their Destiny.

He could feel that the more he stepped into this web, the more he was evolving, molting, bit by bit, slowly pushing open some gigantic door within his heart...

"Then, I’m heading out."

[Oh, oh, Senior Brother, be safe.] Senior Brother just came back and he’s going out again? Could it be that this time he came back, he specially squeezed out time from his busy schedule just to bring me these game records?

Senior Brother really is a good person!

...

Ning Fan left his room; naturally, it was to carry out a mission.

When Stone Ghost Zhenren made his request to him, the Saint Heir Thunder Scripture reacted, updated in sync, and issued the related main quest "Stone Ghost Seeks His Brother."

Ning Fan was only playing the role of Lu Bei, not truly Lu Bei; he and Stone Ghost Zhenren had never shared life‑and‑death friendship, but because the trial quest existed, he still agreed to Stone Ghost Zhenren’s request.

To repair Duowen Wushuang, he needed at least five hundred stars of score; for the sake of the score, he could only reluctantly help run errands.

[Main Quest: Stone Ghost Seeks His Brother.]

[Quest Reward: Successfully rescue Stone God Zhenren and bring him back, reward 200 stars; successfully locate Stone God Zhenren but fail to rescue him, reward 100 stars; only ascertain Stone God Zhenren’s location, reward 40 stars; only discover a few clues, reward 20 stars; if no clues at all are found, the quest fails, 10 stars will be deducted, and if score is insufficient, the Saint Heir Trial ends.]

This was the first time Ning Fan had triggered a main quest in the Saint Heir Trial.

The term "main line" was something he was hearing for the first time, but that did not hinder his understanding.

A person’s lifetime is entangled with countless cause and effect lines; karma in the thousands and tens of thousands, each different. Yet within the Mirage of the Saint Heir Trial, the vast majority of people had one thick cause and effect line wrapped around them, with the same hue and an extremely intense aura.

Countless cause and effect lines radiated from innumerable people, yet ultimately merged into a single current, which connected to the entire Northern Barbarians Kingdom.

At this moment, Ning Fan could see that within the Northern Barbarians Kingdom, there was a great karma! And this karma affected the final fate of the vast majority of people here!

This country gave Ning Fan a feeling of great calamity looming overhead, of being on the verge of annihilation.

Thinking back to the Stone Ghost letter he had received at the very start of the Saint Heir Trial, he fell into contemplation for a moment.

As expected, if he wanted to complete the quest perfectly, he still had to first figure out the era and background of the quest.

[Brother Lu Bei, as if meeting you upon reading this letter... The Northern Barbarians Kingdom is in urgent peril... I especially invite Brother Daoist to come... the North Pole Dao Fruit Conference... to borrow the renown of the Hunkun Holy Sect disciples... to uphold justice... the tribulation of Ziwei Demon Monarch... nine days later... a Copper Ship will come to receive you... your younger brother, Stone Ghost, respectfully.]

"Stone Ghost Zhenren suspects that his brother’s disappearance was in fact the doing of the Northern Barbarians Kingdom, which was why the other side could act under a Saint’s very eyelids. The justice he wants me to uphold is to first ferret out the true culprit, then use my identity as a Hunkun Sect disciple to pressure the other side, forcing them to agree to release his brother. As for the ’Ziwei Demon Monarch tribulation’ he mentioned, it has little direct relation to his brother’s disappearance; this matter seems instead to be the root of the Northern Barbarians Kingdom’s crisis, its impending destruction. Yet I do not know what cause and effect the Northern Barbarians Kingdom provoked with Ziwei Demon Monarch... Also, because doom is looming over the Northern Barbarians Kingdom, Stone Ghost Zhenren fears that his brother, ’imprisoned by the Northern Barbarians Kingdom,’ will be swept into the calamity as well, thus he is desperate to rescue his brother before the great disaster arrives. For this reason, upon seeing me arrive in Northern Barbarian, Stone Ghost Zhenren said I was a man of righteousness who risked his life."

Ziwei Demon Monarch was probably Ziwei Xian Huang; since he was not addressed as Immortal Emperor, this was likely the name Ziwei Xian Huang used before stepping into Reverse Saint.

The Northern Barbarians Kingdom had a Saint sitting in town; for Ziwei Demon Monarch to be able to bring great calamity upon the Northern Barbarians Kingdom, he was likely already a Saint, and one of the extremely powerful kind.

"In actual history, was the Northern Barbarians Kingdom destroyed by that ’Ziwei Demon Monarch’?" Ning Fan asked.

He was asking Ant Lord and Duowen; these two had broad experience and knowledge, a free source of intelligence—no reason not to use it.

"When this palace achieved Dao, there was no Northern Barbarians Kingdom in the world," Ant Lord answered.

Though the Real Realms had innumerable Immortal Kingdoms, beyond counting, that referred only to the minor kingdoms. Immortal Kingdoms that had a Saint sitting in town were ultimately still countable. By rights, any domain with a Saint should have left traces behind; there was no way Ant Lord would never have heard of it. Unless, at the time she achieved Dao and later fell, the Northern Barbarians Kingdom had not yet been established; or else, by then the Northern Barbarians Kingdom had already been erased from endless reincarnation...

"I do have some accounts regarding the destruction of the Northern Barbarians Kingdom: some say the Northern Barbarians Kingdom was wiped out by Ziwei Xian Huang during his Saint period; others say the matter was actually a scheme by other Saints joining hands to frame Ziwei Xian Huang, that there was hidden truth; still others claim there was actually The Fourth Step intervention in this affair..." Duowen Wushuang replied.

"Ziwei destroying Northern Barbarian? Saints joining hands to scheme? The Fourth Step intervening?" Ning Fan shook his head.

Such uncertain intelligence was of limited use.

Of course, it was not entirely useless; at the very least, it showed that the water here was very deep—more precisely, that the water here had once been very deep. After all, the real Northern Barbarians Kingdom had ultimately been destroyed, leaving only an indelible mark in Ziwei Xian Huang’s Saint Heir Trial.

"Did Bai Ling also run into this national‑extermination catastrophe...? No, that’s not right. If she hadn’t met me, she should have already encountered danger when besieged by assassins in the Big Dipper Immortal Domain, and might not have had any chance to arrive at the Northern Barbarians Kingdom... The Jinbiao Sect disciples escorting Bai Ling would likely have all perished; as for Bai Ling—being a Zong Ze disciple, the other side might not kill her, but at the very least would capture her..."

"As for Lu Bei, in the true history, did Lu Bei successfully reach the Northern Barbarians Kingdom? Or was he captured at the very beginning by assailants encountered along the way? If Zong Ze disciples head for Northern Barbarian, will they all be seized by the attackers?"

"Why would existences of that level set their sights on people with cultivations like Bai Ling and Lu Bei? What common ground do the two share?"

"That’s it. They are all Zong Ze disciples, and they all intend to come to the Northern Barbarians Kingdom, and they also seem to both be Chess Masters..."

Unknowingly, Ning Fan had started to care about the destruction of the Northern Barbarians Kingdom.

Just thinking that Wu Chen, Old Sixth Wu, who had once drunk and chatted happily with him, would actually die at the hands of the Northern Dipper assassins, thinking that Bai Ling in the true history also encountered unfathomable danger because of this matter...

Ning Fan could no longer treat the trial before his eyes as a simple game of farming points.

He even felt a wave of inexplicable irritation!

"Time is limited, so why not finish the mission quickly? If Immortal Emperor has need of it, this little immortal can, relying on his own experience with the Saint Heir Trials, draft a mission strategy for Immortal Emperor to help you quickly complete Stone Ghost’s ’seeking his brother’ mission. In return, this little immortal has a small, presumptuous request..." Duowen Wushuang seemed to want to use his own experience to make some kind of trade with Ning Fan.

However, Ning Fan did not intend to trade with Duowen Wushuang; he only wanted to leech everything off Duowen Wushuang for free, so he rejected Duowen’s proposal.

"I don’t need any so-called mission strategy. I have my own way of doing things."

Obviously, Ning Fan already had a detailed plan on how to find Stone God Zhenren.

Seeing this, Duowen Wushuang couldn’t help but frown. This was not the plot development he had been looking forward to.

He had originally planned to exchange his many pieces of information and knowledge for getting Ning Fan to run errands and work for him. After all, in this world of the Saint Heir Trials, he had quite a few regrets he wanted to make up for, and he would need someone to fulfill them for him.

Unfortunately, the other party didn’t seem to buy his act at all.

In that case, he could only quietly wait for the right moment to appear. When Ning Fan encountered a problem he couldn’t solve, his chance to jack up the price would naturally arrive.

...

North Pole Mountain, the outer grounds of the Dao Fruit Conference.

Although there were guest cave dwellings provided in the outer grounds, these caves were not located at the best Spirit Veins on North Pole Mountain and could only offer the most basic environment for cultivation and rest.

At this moment, Ning Fan needed to find a place with a stronger Spirit Vein to do something, and thus, he came to a place in the outer grounds called the Snow God Temple.

On North Pole Mountain, there were a total of seven places where the Spirit Veins were the strongest. Six of them were located higher up on the mountain, with only one situated in the outer grounds—where this Snow God Temple stood.

Whenever local Masters were on the verge of breaking through, or needed to refine precious expensive pills or magical treasures, they would come here and rent a Spirit Room.

But because the Spirit Rooms here were extremely expensive, usually only those old monsters of great power would come.

That said, due to the Dao Fruit Conference currently being hosted by the Northern Barbarians Kingdom, these days there were quite a few people coming to Snow God Temple to rent Spirit Rooms.

When Ning Fan arrived, there happened to be many people inside Snow God Temple wanting to rent Spirit Rooms.

Perhaps because the number of Spirit Rooms had been too tight lately and rents had soared, several tenants were currently haggling with the Snow God Temple deacon.

"Lord Deacon! On normal days, renting a low grade Spirit Room for one day only costs two million four hundred thousand Xuejing Stones, so why has it gone up so much today, to fifteen million a day!"

"We are all regular customers; can’t you give us a bit of a discount?"

"Brother Lan! This is a small token of respect, please accept it with a smile. I wonder if there is still any room for negotiation about the rent?"

The deacon in charge of the rentals was a fat old man clad in white tiger hide, surnamed Lan. His eyes were an equally rare blue, and his cultivations had only barely reached the Life Immortal Realm.

A Vermilion Bird feather was stuck in his hair; one hand was a human hand, while the other grew a dragon claw. Sparse Xuan Wu Barbarian Pattern tattoos were drawn across his body, and at his waist hung a large string of beast-bone keys, each corresponding to a Spirit Room.

The old man was so fat that the flab on his face almost squeezed his eyes out of sight. Squinting, he used his human left hand to support his belly, his expression full of impatience.

"Right now is the peak season for the Northern Barbarians Kingdom. Peak season, understand? That’s the price. Rent it or don’t! If you don’t rent today, this old man will raise the price again tomorrow, and then you won’t even get it at this price!" His words were tough, yet he still accepted all the gifts the tenants offered. Take the money but don’t do the thing—so long as I don’t feel shameless, the thick-skinned one is always somebody else.

This left the gift-givers so angry that their faces alternated between green and red, yet they didn’t dare explode, as if they greatly feared this Lan-surnamed deacon’s status.

Fortunately, not everyone could stomach the Lan old man’s blatant price-gouging. Among the tenants, a young-looking Crossing Truth Realm Master stepped forward on the spot, letting out a cold snort without courtesy.

"Hmph! I am the sworn brother of the ninth-generation Inner Sect Disciple, direct line twenty-ninth generation descendant of the grandnephew branch under the Xuanji God General beneath the Northern Barbarian God Throne. You, a mere steward junior, dare to jack up the price on me right on the spot—aren’t you afraid I’ll report this matter to the God General, milord?!"

"If you’ve got guts, repeat what you just said word for word, and I’ll believe you really have some past ties with that brat Xuan Ji. Otherwise, however much you’re supposed to pay, you pay this old man every last coin!" The blue‑surnamed old man looked at him as if he were an idiot.

"Presumptuous! You, a trifling steward, actually dare call the God General a brat, you really don’t—" The renter was just about to curse "don’t know life from death" when his companion viciously clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Do not talk nonsense! This man may be a steward, but his background reaches the heavens. It’s said he has deep karmic ties with the ancient Barbarian Sect’s Four Saints Sect, and even the Barbarian God himself regards this man with favor!" the companion said.

"Hiss! He really knows the Barbarian God?" The renter’s expression turned instantly suspicious and uncertain. He had never heard of any Four Saints Sect, but of the Barbarian God he naturally knew—that was the ruler of the Northern Barbarians Kingdom! After a bout of teeth‑gnashing, the renter finally obediently handed over the money, gave a cold snort, and left pretending to be aloof.

"Tch! Putting on a show! If you’d just paid earlier it would’ve been done with—made this old man waste his time for nothing!" The blue‑surnamed old man cursed as he took the money, but instead of placing it into the deposit platform within the hall, he slipped it straight into his own pouch, brazenly pocketing that rent right in front of everyone.

"Grandpa, that man embezzled the Barbarian God’s money..." Among the renters, a Barbarian Clan child with his hair in a boy’s topknot quietly whispered to his own grandfather. The child’s mind was still unformed; he had only heard adults say that the Snow God Temple belonged to the Barbarian God, and that all income had to be offered to the Barbarian God. Seeing someone pocket the Barbarian God’s money and no one point it out, he thought the adults simply hadn’t noticed, so he reminded them.

Though the child spoke very softly, which Master here did not have profound cultivation? Naturally, they all heard the boy’s words clearly, and their expressions each changed slightly.

His grandfather was so frightened that his face turned pale, and he scolded, "Cease your nonsense!"

He then repeatedly bowed and apologized toward the blue‑surnamed steward who had just been called a "thief of funds."

Unfortunately, the blue‑surnamed steward was never one with a broad mind. His squinted little eyes cast a glance at the child, already etching the boy’s appearance into his heart.

"Hehe, if I remember right, you’re a Pluck of the Fan Family, yes?" The blue‑surnamed steward smiled amiably as he asked the child’s grandfather, but anyone could tell that "amiability" was all an act; the more you looked at it, the more it made your skin crawl.

"In answer to milord, this small one is Fan Shiyun, indeed just joined the Fan Family not long ago." The child’s grandfather replied respectfully, pointedly emphasizing the words "Fan Family," as if hoping the blue‑surnamed steward would show some leniency on account of the Fan Family’s face.

"Fan Family, Fan Family, good, good! Right, what’s your grandson’s name?" the blue‑surnamed steward asked again.

"My name is Ashan! They’re scared of you! I’m not! Before the Barbarian God, you pocketed the Barbarian God’s money, and that’s just wrong!" Seeing how discourteous the blue‑surnamed steward was toward his own grandfather, the child rushed to speak his own name, and mustered his courage to look the steward straight in the eye.

"Insolent! When a lord is speaking, how could a brat like you cut in! Once we’re home today, you’ll be punished with ten days’ fasting, so you learn some rules!" Fan Shiyun shouted angrily at his grandson, but scolding one’s own descendants was, in its way, a form of protection.

"Hehe, Brother Fan, don’t be angry. He’s just a little brat—when you’re truly furious, give him a few smacks, that’s all. Just lecturing him is worth shit; he won’t understand a word. Ashan, hmm, Ashan is a fine name, but it’s only a little name, not fit to be his proper great name. He hasn’t had a Barbarian Master bestow him a Barbarian name and surname yet, has he?" The blue‑surnamed steward asked in a tone of warm enthusiasm.

"Er, not yet, he’s not of age. I do not know why Steward‑lord inquires." A vague sense of foreboding rose in Fan Shiyun’s heart.

"Today this old man will put on some airs and bestow a name on this brat, how about that? Brother, you won’t have any objections, will you?" The blue‑surnamed steward finally dropped the pretense, his hidden blade revealed.

"Th‑this... this wouldn’t be appropriate... This little wretch, how is he worthy of Steward‑lord’s bestowal of a name. Not proper, not proper at all." Fan Shiyun broke out in a cold sweat. A Barbarian name and surname accompanied a Pluck for a lifetime—how could it be lightly conferred. Fortunately, he did not believe that, with no tools or preparations on hand, the blue‑surnamed steward could truly bestow a Barbarian name upon a Barbarian Clan child, so his refusal was not too resolute.

"It’s fine, it’s fine! I don’t know why, but the moment I laid eyes on this brat, I felt a great fondness for him. Since brother has no objections, I really will bestow a name then. What should we call him? Your clan has entered the Fan Barbarian line, so by rights this boy should also enter under Fan. Then should it be Fan Agou? Fan Xiaozhu? Or Fan Sanpang? Eh, lowly lives are easy to keep alive, so the name’s got to be low, don’t you think, brother..." The blue‑surnamed old man chuckled wickedly.

"Yes... ah, no no no, not yes, not yes. This isn’t proper, not proper at all." Fan Shiyun grew frantic. He too agreed that "base names are hardy," but that referred to a childhood nickname, not the proper great name. If his grandson’s great name were set as Pig or Dog, he’d be mocked his entire life.

"Indeed, a great name can’t be too base, and a man shouldn’t be too base either. Pig and Dog are no good, and bearing the surname Fan is also not too fitting. After all, in my eyes, that Fan Family old ancestor of yours, Fan Lianhai, is downright base." The blue‑surnamed old man threw his head back and laughed, his laughter wildly arrogant.

But his words shocked Fan Shiyun so much that his face turned the color of ash.

Just what kind of heaven‑toppling background did this man have!

How could he so casually insult their own ancestor—Fan Lianhai, a dignified Second-Grade Quasi-Saint!

And this man had just now cursed the Xuanji God General as well. Was he truly unafraid of stirring up trouble, or was his backing so great he no longer needed to fear the likes of Quasi-Saints!

When the blue‑surnamed old man opened his mouth again, Fan Shiyun’s heart went straight to dead ashes. He hated himself for not watching his grandson more carefully, letting the boy stir up such a calamity, ruining his whole life over a mere Barbarian name!

"The surname Fan is far too base! Your grandson is worthy of the most exalted Barbarian name in all the world!"

"Let this old man decide, and bestow upon this child the most noble Barbarian surname and Barbarian name of the Northern Barbarians Kingdom!"

"Among the Barbarian Clans, Dao is the most revered surname, and among barbarian names, Man is the most revered. From this day forth, this child shall be called... Dao Barbarian Mountain!"

"Hahahahaha, what a fine name, what a fine name!"

The old man with the Lan surname laughed wildly.

The barbaric power between heaven and earth responded to the summons of the Lan-surnamed old man in an instant, howling toward the child, then condensed into the three ancient barbarian characters Dao Barbarian Mountain,

then those barbarian characters collapsed, turning into endless Barbarian Patterns, flying into the child’s body, instantly healing all his injuries and sickness. The body that originally had no foundation at all suddenly opened its Barbarian Meridians, gaining Barbarian Blood and cultivations.

The child who had been granted the name did not yet understand what had happened. He only knew that someone had granted him a name and given him benefits, and that what he received was not those "Pig" or "Dog" names they had mentioned before. He could not help letting out a breath of relief, and was even vaguely a little happy.

However, everyone present who understood the malice hidden in this name all had a drastic change of expression. One after another, their gazes toward the child became filled with sympathy.

"Child, I’m sorry, I’m sorry..." At this moment Fan Shiyun’s eyes were full of sorrow. He only hated that he had not taught his grandson well, had not kept his grandson’s mouth in check, had not forcefully refused at the first moment, had not...

So vicious! This Lan-surnamed deacon, so vicious!

Though the Dao surname is the foremost surname of the Barbarian Clan, the Dao Man Clan had already been wiped out through countless cycles of reincarnation. In the world today, how could there still be a single Dao Man in existence?

A barbarian surname accompanies one for life; once chosen, it can never be changed.

Right now, the most powerful barbarians in the Northern Barbarians Kingdom were the Four Barbarians including the Fan Family. To possess one of these four surnames was to lean against a great tree, a good surname.

But the Dao surname...

His own grandson was very likely to become the last Dao Man in this world, a Pluck without the shelter of any clan.

Even more frightening, Fan Shiyun had heard that this Dao Man Clan was entangled with an immense cause and effect from ancient times, and not a single clansman could ever meet a good end...

"Landao Feng! It was only a single offending sentence from a child, yet you strike like this—far too ruthless, far too ruthless!" Fan Shiyun’s face was mournful and furious. He glared at the Lan-surnamed old man as if looking at a mortal enemy.

"I bestowed a lowly name upon you and you did not want it. I bestow upon you the most noble barbarian surname in this world, and you’re still not satisfied. You truly are hard to serve. Forget it. Who told this old man to be so magnanimous? I won’t bother arguing with you. That said, the rent your Fan Family owes the Snow God Temple must be settled in one lump sum. This old man remembers that your Fan Barbarians owe a total of four hundred ninety-seven point two billion Xuejing Stones. If I inform your family’s Old Ancestor that using this Dao-surnamed brat to pay the debt will erase all the arrears, what choice do you think he will make?" The Lan-surnamed old man said with a wicked smile.

Fan Shiyun was nearly driven mad with rage. "So vicious! You’ve already ruined his barbarian name, yet you still want to harm him further! He is my grandson, you must not lay a hand on him!"

"No, very soon he won’t be. Based on this old man’s understanding of Fan Lianhai, he shouldn’t care about a barbarian child of an outside surname."

"I’ll fight you with my life, aaaaah!" Fan Shiyun had already lost all reason. He unleashed all his Barbarian Blood and charged toward the Lan-surnamed old man.

But he was pinned to the ground by a single finger from the Lan-surnamed old man.

"You’re not... not of the Life Immortal Realm..." Fan Shiyun was crushed under that one finger, coughing blood again and again, terrified beyond measure.

This was not the weight of a single finger!

This was... this was the weight of the Saintly Dao Mountain! When he was young and traveled the world, he had once been fortunate enough to hear a certain Saint lament and expound the Dao, and had seen that Saint display the weight of his Dao Mountain once!

Why! Why would such a piece of human trash, such scum, be a Saint! In what way is he saintly, in what way does he count as a person!

He wanted to open his mouth and curse, to expose the true face of the Lan-surnamed old man to everyone here, but he could not speak. The will of the Lan-surnamed old man completely crushed down upon him; if he defied it, he would be instantly crushed to death!

"Ai, old brother, what are you doing? This old man showed you such kindness—if you don’t appreciate it, so be it, yet you even come at me with fists and kicks. You can’t beat me in a fight, you can’t best me in a shouting match, you can only anger yourself to death. What’s the point? Forget it, this old man is magnanimous and will forgive you once more. If you provoke me again, I truly won’t be polite." The Lan-surnamed old man chuckled darkly and lifted his finger.

Fan Shiyun immediately felt his whole body lighten. Only then did he force himself up from the ground. When he looked at Landao Feng again, although he still harbored boundless hatred, how could he dare reveal it? How would he dare to resent a Saint.

If he truly enraged this man, not to mention his grandson, even the entire Fan Family would die in an instant.

"Grandpa! Grandpa!" The child now named Dao Barbarian Mountain was crying his eyes red. It was as if he had grown up in an instant, as if he instantly understood how great a disaster his random words had caused.

"Let’s go. We... go home." Fan Shiyun’s eyes were filled with despair and sorrow.

Watching this scene, the blue‑surnamed old man, who always harbored a twisted sense of humor, inexplicably felt elated.

Tsk, who knows why—whenever I see someone else having a bad time, I just feel so damn good. Life really is getting more and more delightful.

"Do you really think something like this makes you happy? Looking at your Dao method, I see nothing but emptiness. You... have no heart, do you? I’m quite curious—who took your heart?"

All of a sudden, a voice rang out, shattering the blue‑surnamed old man’s moment of pleasure.

Always petty and narrow‑minded, the blue‑surnamed old man immediately narrowed his cold eyes, looking toward the speaker. For the first time, a trace of killing intent surfaced in his gaze!

Though he showed boundless malice to the world, he rarely truly struck to kill. But this time was different—someone had seen through his void, his heartlessness, at a glance!

And what he hated most in his life was someone exposing his sore spots!

"Who are you!"

"If I say my name is Ning Fan, you’ll definitely hear it as Lu Bei. So whether I tell you who I am or not... doesn’t really matter, does it?"

"What did you just say? Why couldn’t I hear clearly!" The blue‑surnamed old man vaguely caught the two syllables "Ning Fan," but they were too faint, too blurred.

Mud Flip?

Greasy Rice?

What the hell is this brat actually saying his name is!

Why would reincarnation veil his true name? Could it be this child does not belong to this world, but is a stowaway from another realm of time and space?

The blue‑surnamed old man’s eyes instantly turned icy. If this child really was a temporal stowaway, then killing him would mean no need to fear karmic backlash. If he offered this boy’s head to the Reincarnation Messenger, he might even gain some merit!

What a wonderful thing!

"You may not hear my name clearly, but I want to confirm yours. Not that I really need to—your aura is exactly the same—but I’ll still ask."

"I just heard someone call you Landao Feng. You are indeed Landao Feng of the Four Saints Sect, aren’t you?" Ning Fan said blankly.

"Heh, didn’t think a brat like you would know of this old man. No wonder you know that I’m heartless." Landao Feng said through gritted teeth.

"Is it the Lan of ’Fatty Lan,’ the Dao of ’Fatty Dao,’ and the Feng of ’Fatty Feng’?"

"How dare you, you little cur, insult me!" Landao Feng laughed in rage. Ever since he became a Saint, no one had dared call him "fatty" even once, yet this brat had just called him that three times in a row. Truly seeking death!

"Considering how hard it is to cultivate, I’ll use only one finger. If you can avoid being reduced to ashes, I’ll leave your corpse intact!" Landao Feng said coldly.

"Considering how hard it is to cultivate... forget it. I actually wanted to chat a bit longer with you, to stall for a certain something, but it seems the time’s been dragged out long enough. Soul Manipulation Token, appear!"

With a sweep of Ning Fan’s sleeve, a beam of red light flew out, turning into a token. It was the Dao Man Soul Token he had obtained from Dao Barbarian Mountain back when he received the Fragment of Divine Annihilation Shield from the Ancient Country.

The so‑called Dao Man Soul Token was a special kind of Token whose refining method was known only to the successive Barbarian Gods.

Inside each Soul Manipulation Token was sealed the soul of a powerful Master, branded with special runes.

As long as one held the corresponding Soul Manipulation Token, one could easily control that person’s life and death, forcing them into servitude.

The First Barbarian God Tao Man Mountain had subdued forty‑two Saint‑realm footmen in his lifetime and planted Soul Manipulation Tokens in them. One of those tokens had been gifted to Ning Fan.

Ning Fan still remembered that the Soul Manipulation Token he’d chosen at the time was one belonging to a Half-step Desolate Saint—the Sect Hierarch of the Four Saints Sect, named Landao Feng.

Given that he was inside the illusory Saint Heir trial, Ning Fan initially wasn’t certain whether this Soul Manipulation Token, personally refined by Dao Barbarian Mountain, would be effective on Landao Feng here.

The token had been refined after Dao Barbarian Mountain achieved Dao. The future Dao Barbarian Mountain had refined the token and enslaved Landao Feng, quite possibly for the sake of avenging what was happening today.

But in the current illusory time and space, Dao Barbarian Mountain was still just a pitiful child who had just been given a name and had just been harmed. Would a Soul Manipulation Token from the future be able to restrain Landao Feng of this time? Ning Fan was deeply doubtful.

So he stood aside, outwardly calm, secretly unsealing and activating the token again and again. Only after confirming that it was effective did he step out to confront Landao Feng, a Saint with Saint Cultivation.

If he wasn’t absolutely certain, then no matter how reckless he could be, Ning Fan did not believe he had any way to face a Saint.

"Th‑this, this is impossible, this is impossible! The Dao Man Clan has been wiped out; there are no more Dao Man in this world, no one can refine a Dao Man Soul Token, and it’s even more impossible that someone has seized my soul and forced me into slavery! This token is fake. It’s fake!"

Landao Feng roared and raised his finger, about to suppress Ning Fan, but a restricting force surged up from the depths of his bloodline, compelling him not to inflict any harm on Ning Fan.

And because he had birthed the thought of killing his master, his knees suddenly disobeyed his will and, with a heavy thud, he knelt before Ning Fan!

A Saint kneels!

Mountains cannot bear a Saint’s kneel! Rivers cannot bear a Saint’s kneel! If Ning Fan were not Landao Feng’s master, then from this kneel alone—even if he didn’t immediately turn to ash—he would suffer a devastating backlash, because there would be effect without cause, reward without merit, creating a severe imbalance in reincarnation.

But at this moment, he bore Landao Feng’s kneel with ease.

Ning Fan didn’t like others kneeling to him. But if it was used as a punishment for an evildoer, then it wasn’t unacceptable.

"This is impossible! Impossible! Aaaaah!" For the second time in his life, Landao Feng felt humiliated.

He wanted to resist the Soul Manipulation Token, wanted to grind Ning Fan’s bones to dust—but he couldn’t!

Because this token had been refined by Dao Barbarian Mountain at his peak, when he could already fight a Reverse Saint! It was the strongest method of the Dao Man Clan!

"Today’s cause, tomorrow’s effect; tomorrow’s cause, today’s effect. From the moment you carelessly uttered that one sentence and harmed a mere child, you should have thought this scene might one day appear." Seeing a dignified Saint kneeling like a dead dog, Ning Fan couldn’t help a vague sigh.

But all of this had been brought upon himself by Landao Feng. Who else could he blame?

The karma had been planted by Landao Feng’s own hands. The barbarian surname of the Dao Man Clan had been personally bestowed upon Dao Barbarian Mountain by him.

And the result? Dao Barbarian Mountain did not fall because of this incident. Instead, he eventually stepped onto the peak, washing away his past humiliation, and, countless years after his death, by chance, he passed this Soul Manipulation Token to Ning Fan.

Thus came the kneel before his eyes.

As if something had been destined from the very beginning!

As if there was a great circle that, from the start, had covered everyone within it—flawless, without a single leak!

"Who... exactly are you!"

"I told you, my name is Ning Fan, but you don’t seem able to hear it clearly. Maybe you need to become stronger before you can."

"Bullshit! This time, this old man definitely heard it clearly! You’re not called Mud Flip, and you’re not called Greasy Rice. You’re called... Nifan! The ’ni’ of ’defying the heavens,’ the ’fan’ of ’cage’! Isn’t that right! Such an arrogant name—I swear I’ll never forget it! I’ll carve it into my bones and blood and hate and curse it, life after life! Aaaaah!" Landao Feng howled in impotent rage.

You heard a damn ghost!

Just as Ning Fan was about to spit a retort, he suddenly shuddered, as if another great circle had long ago silently decided everything.

He said my name is... Nifan?!

Could it be that the name "Nifan" began spreading through reincarnation from this man’s mishearing...?

Could it be that this very moment... is the true beginning of the two characters "Nifan"!

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