thenovelthief Chapter 1183: Sparrows in the Rain...
Chapter 1183: Sparrows in the Rain...
Ning Fan quietly left Yin Yang Star and went off to search for the Multi-Layer Soul Sealing Technique.
He imagined dozens of possible situations he might encounter, but didn’t expect the secret technique he wanted would be in such a place.
Ancient Rain Star Sea, Sinister Sparrow Sect!
The Ancient Rain Star Sea is one of the many ocean of stars in the Northern Heaven. Oceans existing in the starry sky are already considered a marvel, and even more amazing is that this sea has never ceased raining since ancient times. Many water-type Masters love to come to this star sea to comprehend the Way of Rain and Dao Enlightenment.
Above the Ancient Rain Star Sea, there is a sect established by the Northern Heavenly Power, Sparrow God Kidd.
Sparrow God Kidd is a great legend of the Northern Heaven. This person reached Harmonious Spirit at sixty, and in the beginning, his fellow disciples thought of him as a waste. But subsequently, Sparrow God Kidd reached Core Formation at seventy, Nascent Soul realm at eighty, became an Immortal at two thousand, then reached Enlightenment after another two thousand years, and four thousand years later achieved the Shedding Void Realm. In total, it was less than ten thousand years, making him a rare prodigy.
Rumor has it, Sparrow God Kidd’s road of cultivation was smooth sailing, with only one setback happened before he reached the Shedding Void Realm. He violated the laws of the Four Oceans Sect, thus was banished to the nine mortal worlds.
At that time, the Four Oceans Sect punished Sparrow God Kidd, demanding him to break through the Shedding Void Stage in the lower realms, otherwise, he would never return to the Four Heavens.
But this is where Sparrow God Kidd was truly defiant!
As everyone knows, the cultivation resources in the nine mortal worlds are scarce; cultivating to become an Immortal is challenging in the lower realms, let alone achieving the Shedding Void Stage; this was practically an impossible feat!
The Four Oceans Sect set the requirement "Not breaking through Shedding Void, unable to return to the Four Heavens" precisely because they didn’t want Sparrow God Kidd to return.
Yet no one anticipated that Sparrow God Kidd forcefully broke through the Shedding Void Stage in the Rain Immortal World, earning the opportunity to return to the Northern Heaven!
When Sparrow God Kidd returned to the Northern Heaven as a Shedding Void powerhouse, the entire Northern Heaven was shocked, and the Four Oceans Sect fell silent! The Four Oceans Sect realized they had misjudged! A person who could achieve the Shedding Void Stage in the lower realms, as long as fortune didn’t fail, could at least reach the Immortal Emperor Realm in the Four Heavens, and surely would become an extremely powerful Immortal Emperor!
Sparrow God Kidd’s return to Northern Heaven instantly caused a sensation, even the Immortal Kings and Immortal Emperors couldn’t underestimate Sparrow God Kidd.
Everyone knew, when Sparrow God Kidd returned this time, he would undoubtedly rise dramatically, ascending forcefully!
Sure enough!
A thousand years later, Sparrow God Kidd broke through to Shedding Void Mid Stage!
Another thousand years, Sparrow God Kidd advanced to Shedding Void Late Stage!
Another thousand years, Sparrow God Kidd was at the Peak of Shedding Void Cultivation Level!
The True Immortal circle of Northern Heaven speculated how many years Sparrow God Kidd would take to break through Fragmented Thought and then advance to eons.
However, an astonishing matter occurred.
To comprehend the bottleneck of Fragmented Thought, Sparrow God Kidd traveled to the primitive and wild. Upon return, his cultivation was permanently halted at the Peak of Shedding Void, with no further advancement.
His cultivation stagnated for a full five million years!
Someone capable of breaking through Shedding Void in lower realms, would he be halted by the bottleneck of Fragmented Thought for five million years? This matter seemed unbelievable.
Some old monsters familiar with the primitive and wild secretly speculated that Sparrow God Kidd might have encountered some incident that injured his foundation there? If so, the difficulty in advancing cultivation would have an explanation.
Not without reason, some Eternal Old Freaks, aiming to befriend Sparrow God Kidd, offered to assist in repairing his foundation.
Strangely enough, Sparrow God Kidd firmly rejected all goodwill from the Eternal Old Freaks, disrespecting others’ dignity. Eventually, no one was willing to help Sparrow God Kidd.
Later, as time ruthlessly passed, the once-prodigy Sparrow God Kidd who shocked the Northern Heaven, ultimately became a big laughingstock in the Northern Heaven.
Many Northern Heavenly old monsters stuck at the Fragmented Thought bottleneck, seeing no hope of breaking through, often mocked Sparrow God Kidd for amusement, seeking inner balance: Look, Sparrow God Kidd with such defiant talent, couldn’t break through Fragmented Thought either? It’s natural for us not being able to break either.
No one knew, the reason Sparrow God Kidd was stuck at the Fragmented Thought bottleneck for five million years was that he was seized and killed by someone during his primitive and wild travels, thus all his talents went down the drain.
For the subsequent five million years, Sparrow God Kidd was no longer himself but someone who seized Sparrow God Kidd’s physical defense, active in Northern Heaven...
Others didn’t know Sparrow God Kidd’s fate, but Ning Fan did, and even was the one who liberated Sparrow God Kidd by slaying the villain who seized him.
The only thing Ning Fan didn’t expect was that the item he sought was located in Sparrow God Kidd’s homeland, in this Ancient Rain Star Sea.
In the Northern Heaven’s Sinister Sparrow Sect.
The Sinister Sparrow Sect in Rain Immortal World was a small sect established by Sparrow God Kidd when banished to the lower realms, serving as a lower realm branch.
The Sinister Sparrow Sect of Northern Heaven is Sparrow God Kidd’s true home, the upper realm’s main sect.
Ning Fan couldn’t express what he felt at this moment.
Many Northern Heavenly cultivators came to the Ancient Rain Star Sea to establish a residence and comprehend the Rain Intent, often in pairs or groups, chatting casually, and would occasionally talk about the Northern Heaven’s laughingstock—Sparrow God Kidd.
"Heard that during the old primitive and wild calamity, Sparrow God Kidd’s soul plates shattered too, seems like he died in that calamity, what a pity..."
"What’s there to pity, anyway he would’ve been stuck at Fragmented Thought bottleneck, never able to advance for eternity."
"The Yishi Palace’s Three Palaces competition rises again, this time without Sparrow God Kidd’s backing, leaving just a Crossing Truth initial stage girl to hold the sect, they probably can’t keep the ranking of the second round..."
"Ah, life is unpredictable. No matter how talented you are, you may end up as a heap of yellow dirt. What’s the use of high talent? It’s better to enjoy life, even if after dying, life wouldn’t be in vain."
"Brother Daoist speaks truth!"
...
In the idle chatter of those people, Ning Fan heard about the past deeds of Sparrow God Kidd, and how Sparrow God Kidd went from being a genius to a laughingstock.
No one knew that Sparrow God Kidd lost the chance to become an Immortal Emperor because he was possessed.
Even less did anyone know about the sorrow of Sparrow God Kidd, who, after being possessed, only sought death...
Ning Fan took out an urn from his storage pouch and fell silent.
This was the ashes of Sparrow God Kidd he collected after releasing Sparrow God Kidd back then. He had promised to return Sparrow God Kidd’s ashes home, and now, he would fulfill this promise along the way.
But the rain on this sea...
This rain intent is so familiar...
Ning Fan looked up at the rain, seeing the rain here filled with the rain intent left by Sparrow God Kidd’s former enlightenment, very similar, very similar to the rain at Sinister Sparrow Sect’s Dark Sparrow’s Grave in the Rain Immortal World...
Yet ultimately different, the rain intent on this sea, besides Sparrow God Kidd’s constant enlightenments of rain, also contained an indelible sorrow deep within Sparrow God Kidd’s soul.
The rain here is very sad.
It encapsulates the sorrow of Sparrow God Kidd’s unfortunate possession.
And it contains a trace of reluctance.
It seems that somewhere on this sea, there is someone that Sparrow God Kidd can’t let go of even in death...
"Senior, I am taking you home..."
Ning Fan caressed the urn, smiling.
Having comprehended Sparrow God Kidd’s rain intent, he owed Sparrow God Kidd a debt of gratitude for passing on his teachings; today he came to this place to repay it.
Masters consider the four seas their home, which is essentially not having a home. To be buried in native soil after death, if Sparrow God Kidd was aware underground, he might be able to rest in peace.
...
Sinister Sparrow Sect still has 120,000 Nascent Soul and Spirit Severing cultivators, six Fate Immortals, and one Crossing Truth Realm cultivator.
The only Crossing Truth Realm cultivator is the Sect Master of Sinister Sparrow Sect, Sparrow God Kidd’s daughter, Que Jiuniang, who is at the Initial Stage of Crossing Truth.
Que Jiuniang is the daughter of Sparrow God Kidd, left behind before Sparrow God Kidd was banished to the lower realms.
At that time, Sparrow God Kidd was an Enlightenment True Immortal. As a True Immortal, wanting to have children was very difficult. However, Sparrow God Kidd always had ways to accomplish things unimaginable to ordinary people. As if in defiance against the Four Oceans Sect: ’You want to banish me to the lower realms? Fine, I can go play there, but I insist on leaving a bloodline in the upper realms to guard my sect!’
Thus, Sparrow God Kidd truly left a daughter in the upper realms, entrusted to his subordinates to take care of, and then went to the Rain Immortal World.
In the Sect Master’s hall, Que Jiuniang leaned against the window, watching the waves outside, the rain that never stopped over the sea, her beautiful face full of bitterness.
Though she appears around seventeen or eighteen, she is far past the sentimental period of a young girl, and is already an old monster with a bone age of five million.
At the Initial Stage of Crossing Truth, it’s supposedly difficult to live this long, but fortunately she has many life-extending secret medicines left by her father and secret treasures to block lightning tribulations, barely managing to survive to this day.
Yet she was still touched by the rain outside the window.
Because the rain on this sea holds the rain intent left by her father.
But why is the rain intent left by her father so sad...
"When I was just born, my father was banished to the lower realms, so my entire childhood, I did not see my father’s face; when my father returned to the Northern Heaven, I was already a 4,000-year-old Void Refinement Realm cultivator and no longer knew how to embrace my father like a little girl..."
"After returning from the Rain Immortal World, my father was always in seclusion, always rigorously cultivating. He said he wanted to reach the pinnacle of the Second Step as soon as possible and silence all those who underestimated him. He was so busy, so busy he didn’t have time to care for me, didn’t have much time to guide my cultivation... The occasional guidance also proved futile due to my dim-wittedness, making it hard to comprehend much, and therefore my cultivation speed was always slow..."
"At that time, my father cared little for me, but I understood that I was in his heart because otherwise, he wouldn’t have stormed the headquarters of the Four Oceans Sect in a rage, demanding justice from the mighty Tongtian Ancient Emperor for someone bullying me..."
"But ever since my father made a trip to the wilderness, everything changed... He no longer cared about the sect, no longer cared about disciples, and no longer cared about me... He seemed to live completely in his own world, always traveling externally, always missing... Ultimately, he died in the catastrophe of the wilderness..."
"Since my father returned from the wilderness for the first time, the rain on this vast sea has carried a tinge of sadness. I know my father didn’t intentionally neglect me, something must have happened to him; otherwise, his rain intent wouldn’t carry unspeakable sorrow..."
"Father, do you know? Without you, Xiaojiu alone finds it really difficult to uphold the Sinister Sparrow Sect, really hard..."
Que Jiuniang muttered to herself, seemingly talking to the wind outside the window, to the rain on the sea, or perhaps to her father who would never return.
Suddenly, a gust of rain intent blew upon Que Jiuniang’s face along with the wind outside the window, a cool touch.
"The wind rises again..."
Que Jiuniang sighed, closed the window, and turned around.
Then was startled!
Behind her unexpectedly stood a young man in white, unnoticed and silent!
"Who are you, senior! Trespassing my Sinister Sparrow Sect Master’s hall, for what purpose?" Though Que Jiuniang’s aptitude isn’t sensitive, she isn’t stupid either. Since the visitor can disregard the restrictions of the Sect Master’s hall and directly intrude, he must possess at least Shedding Void Stage cultivation, a caliber she cannot defeat, nor can today’s Sparrow Sect, deprived of Sparrow God Kidd, afford to offend.
"Are you called Xiaojiu? Don’t be afraid, Xiaojiu. I am an old friend of your father. I came today to deliver something and to retrieve something." Ning Fan previously heard this woman refer to herself as Xiaojiu, thus he assumed she was named Xiaojiu, and addressed her as such.
"I... I’m not called Xiaojiu... My name is..." Que Jiuniang wanted to explain her name further, but then realized that if the other party truly was her father’s old friend, he would be considered a senior. It’s not inappropriate for a senior to call a junior Xiaojiu.
"Never mind, it’s fine for a senior to call me Xiaojiu... Is the senior really an old friend of my father?" Que Jiuniang asked curiously.
Her father was solitary and proud, and rarely made friends. After returning from the wilds, he did not associate with anyone.
So Ning Fan claiming to be Sparrow God’s old friend truly surprised her, but she did not doubt Ning Fan’s honesty.
What value does the current Sinister Sparrow Sect have that would make a senior above the Shedding Void Stage defy their spirit sense and lie?
"My last name is Ning, you can call me Senior Ning if you wish." Ning Fan said with a smile.
"Ning? I’ve indeed never heard of it..."
"Many years ago, I received your father’s favor, but the first time I truly met your father was during the previous wild tribulation... It’s not surprising you haven’t heard of me."
"What? You encountered my father during the wild tribulation!" Que Jiuniang’s heart ached, her eyes reddened.
She vaguely guessed that Ning Fan came to the Sinister Sparrow Sect to deliver something, likely her father’s keepsake...
"Could it be that the senior is here to deliver my father’s keepsake..."
"Yes, and no... I came to deliver your father’s ashes..."
"What! Ashes!"
Seeing Ning Fan retrieve the ash urn from his storage pouch, feeling the identical aura to her father’s within the urn, Que Jiuniang’s tears finally fell.
She received the ash urn, overwhelmed by sorrow and complexity. Reasonably speaking, it was fortunate for Sparrow God to return home after death, yet Que Jiuniang could not feel happy. Even though her father’s soul plate shattered, she always harbored a slim hope that it was a Heavenly Dao misjudgment; after all, although soul plate accidents are rare in the cultivation world, they are not unheard of.
But upon truly seeing the ashes, Que Jiuniang knew she had to face this reality.
Her father was truly gone, never to return...
"Senior Ning, your immense kindness will never be forgotten! Right, Senior Ning just mentioned wanting to take something from my Sinister Sparrow Sect? This Sinister Sparrow Sect’s things, whatever you fancy, feel free to take; I absolutely have no objections." Que Jiuniang wiped her tears, expressing gratitude.
"No, you are mistaken. Returning your father and retrieving something are two separate matters. Returning your father is out of gratitude, voluntarily; taking something, however, is compelled. Of course, if I take this thing, I will give you some compensation."
"Senior, I do not require compensation, your kindness to me is immense..." Que Jiuniang stubbornly refused.
"Enough! The elder bestows gifts, and you cannot decline. If I want to give you something, you shall accept it." Ning Fan said, gently patting Que Jiuniang’s head, like patting a child.
In truth, compared to Que Jiuniang’s bone age of five hundred thousand years, Ning Fan was the child.
However, in the cultivation world, seniority is determined by strength. At this moment, Ning Fan, even when encountering Fragmented Thought Elders, had the qualification to be called Senior; Que Jiuniang calling Ning Fan Senior was no loss.
Que Jiuniang’s face still turned red.
She had never been touched so intimately by any man before, not even her father, because her father was always busy, too busy to pay her attention...
Ning Fan’s behavior of treating a junior with a pat on the head unexpectedly made her feel a long-lost elder care.
"Senior Ning, oh no, Uncle Ning, whatever it is you want from the Sinister Sparrow Sect, I’ll take you to retrieve it." Que Jiuniang felt joy inside, growing slightly closer to Ning Fan, even calling him uncle.
Ning Fan was somewhat speechless; he had lived so long yet never been called uncle before... Oh well, previously he was called brother by Pure Yang Elder randomly; uncle is just a name, it doesn’t matter.
"I wish for a skill manual."
"Oh, let me bring you to our sect’s Scripture Pavilion, Uncle Ning," Que Jiuniang said respectfully and courteously.
Thus, under the shocked gazes of Sinister Sparrow Sect’s disciples, the always distant Que Jiuniang surprisingly led a strange young man into the sect’s forbidden Scripture Pavilion!
Numerous people speculated Ning Fan’s identity, wondering if he was a favorite of the sect master.
However, due to Ning Fan’s request to Que Jiuniang not to reveal his identity, Que Jiuniang did not tell anyone who Ning Fan was; if anyone asked, she cut them with a sharp glare, scaring the sect’s disciples into silence.
"This must be the sect master’s favorite..." Those disciples increasingly believed it.
Inside the Scripture Pavilion, Que Jiuniang dismissed the guards and then brought Ning Fan to choose among the tomes.
She initially thought Ning Fan came to choose some profound tome, yet surprisingly, Ning Fan chose a waste book.
Multilayer Soul-Sealing Technique!
This is an extremely shallow divine skill tome. None have cultivated this divine skill, including Sparrow God.
Because the record of the Multilayer Soul-Sealing Technique is too simple, only a mere ten sentences!
Practitioners can only know brief information about the multilayer soul-sealing technique:
Requirements for cultivation: possess more than three kinds of bloodlines.
Steps for cultivation: divide the bloodlines into three, seal two, retain one.
Regarding how to divide the bloodline into three parts, seal two, and retain one, the books do record a simple sealing technique, but nothing else is recorded.
The sealing technique doesn’t seem very advanced, even a Nascent Soul and Spirit Severing cultivator can learn it after looking at it a few times, but when actually using it, the sealing technique seems to have no use.
What’s more frustrating is that although this Multilayer Soul-Sealing Technique clearly states that one needs to possess more than three types of bloodlines to practice it, it doesn’t say what kind of bloodlines are needed, nor does it mention what the cultivation effect will be after mastering it.
When Sparrow God Kidd obtained this book back then, he vaguely saw the extraordinary nature of the book, but who knew it contained too little information to teach? No matter how high Sparrow God Kidd’s comprehension was, he didn’t know where to start practicing this technique. He was also worried that the technique was too incomplete, and practicing it rashly might have hidden dangers, so he ultimately gave up on practicing this technique.
Even something that Sparrow God Kidd couldn’t master was even more impossible for an average disciple of the Sinister Sparrow Sect to cultivate.
As a result, the Multilayer Soul-Sealing Technique, which no one could master, became a useless book, discarded in a corner, with nobody showing interest.
Que Jiuniang never expected that Ning Fan would ask for such a book, and she worriedly said, "Uncle Ning, it’s best not to practice this book carelessly. My father said that this book is incomplete, and it’s unknown what the result will be once it’s mastered. Too many unknowns mean too many hidden dangers. If Uncle Ning gets into trouble because of this book, little Jiuniang would feel guilty for a lifetime."
"Hehe, don’t worry, Xiaojiu, this technique won’t harm my life. On the contrary, if I want to stay alive, my survival might rely entirely on this book..." Ning Fan chuckled, patting Que Jiuniang on her head again.
Perhaps Que Jiuniang was too short and small, making Ning Fan inadvertently treat her like a child and often wanted to pat her twice.
Ning Fan put away the Multilayer Soul-Sealing Technique. It wasn’t the time to study this technique now. He had great faith in Nalan Zi’s three-life fortune-telling. Just because no one has mastered this technique doesn’t mean it’s worthless.
"Uncle Ning, don’t always pat my head... it’s not good..." Que Jiuniang weakly protested.
"Okay, I won’t do it anymore. Hehe, come on, since I took this book, I should give you some compensation."
"No, there’s no need! Uncle just escorted my father home; taking away a useless book is more than enough, how dare I accept compensation from Uncle..."
"Oh? Don’t you want to someday break through Shedding Void and go further on the path of cultivation?" Ning Fan smiled and said.
"What! The thing Uncle wants to give could help me hope to reach Shedding Void?" Que Jiuniang was stunned.
With such poor talent, taking five million years just to reach the Enlightenment stage, relying on the various heavenly materials and treasures left by her father. Can such a poor talent truly achieve Shedding Void?
She was very doubtful, very lacking in confidence.
"Talent is not the most decisive factor affecting one’s achievements..." Ning Fan intended to comfort Que Jiuniang about the issue of talent, but as soon as he spoke, he felt it was improper and stopped.
Sparrow God Kidd was someone with outstanding talent. Quite often, when others mocked Sparrow God Kidd, they would use the same words Ning Fan had just said. To Que Jiuniang, these words might not be comforting, but rather a form of harm...
"...in fact, I think your talent is quite excellent, just lacking guidance from a good teacher. And you have been stuck in the Sinister Sparrow Sect handling mundane things for years, having no time to travel and gain experience, which is why your progress is slow." Ning Fan rephrased his words.
"Uncle must be joking, my talent is very poor, not excellent at all..."
"Hehe, I heard you mention to yourself before that you could feel a trace of sadness in the Rain Intent of this ocean, is that so?"
"Yes, yes..." Que Jiuniang felt her face turning red again, realizing that Ning Fan had overheard her previous muttering.
"Do you know, among a million Beitian Rain cultivators, there are less than five who can feel this trace of sadness? Your understanding of Divine Intent is naturally higher than the average person, very much like your father. This is your advantage, and you should learn to use it, then you might have hope to break through Shedding Void."
"What? Among a million people, less than five can comprehend this trace of sadness? Am I really that amazing?" Que Jiuniang exclaimed in disbelief.
"That’s why you’re just lacking guidance from a good teacher. If your father hadn’t fallen into hardship five million years ago, perhaps you would have already reached Shedding Void..."
"My father fell into hardship five million years ago? What is Uncle talking about? I’m a bit confused."
"Nothing, I’m taking you to see the rain."
"Huh? Don’t bother, I see rain every day and am tired of it..." Que Jiuniang weakly refused.
"The rain I am going to show you is different from the rain you see yourself."
With a sweep of his sleeve, Ning Fan instantly whisked the two of them away from the Scripture Pavilion, taking them to a certain sea area in the Endless Starry Sea.
Que Jiuniang was so shocked that her jaw practically dropped!
Even though she was an Enlightenment cultivator, she couldn’t even see Ning Fan’s movements clearly and had already been taken a vast distance away by him.
The extreme speed of movement in an instant far exceeded the cultivation speed of Shedding Void, even far beyond the speed of some Northern Heaven Fragmented Thought Elders she had seen!
"Could Uncle be an Eternal Immortal Venerable! My father actually had such a powerful friend, this, this is unbelievable..." Que Jiuniang desperately wanted to ask about Ning Fan’s cultivation level, but was worried it might be taboo, so she hesitated and didn’t dare to ask more.
Ning Fan noticed Que Jiuniang’s confusion, but he didn’t intend to reveal his cultivation level.
At this moment, he only wanted to watch the rain!
He wanted to show the daughter of an old friend the rain and repay Sparrow God Kidd’s kindness from back then by imparting insights to his daughter.
This would not only benefit Que Jiuniang, but also benefit Ning Fan himself!
According to Daoist Wood Pine’s understanding, there are three methods of Control Positions: the Heartless Method, the Palm Position Dao Fruit Method, and one is the Eye-Opening Method.
At this moment, it seemed Ning Fan discovered another method of Control Position. His current state of mind seemed inexplicably touched by the sublimation of Rain Yin Yang... If sublimated to the extreme, it would be Rain Control Position!
In his youth, at the Dark Sparrow’s Grave of the Sinister Sparrow Sect in the Rain Immortal World, he listened to a brief insight from Sparrow God Kidd, thus grasping what Rain Intent was.
Now, he brought Sparrow God Kidd’s daughter here to see the rain, but what he was witnessing was not the rain, but himself from back then, striving for a... complete fulfillment of the rain!