The Purgatory Calamity
Chapter 149 - 134 Great Stone Hall_1

Chapter 149: Chapter 134 Great Stone Hall_1

The fierce sun hung high in the sky.

A regular cloud sail, carrying people and goods, rose from an unknown fragment land and flew towards the Three Immortal Islands.

Compared to the Unstable Ferry and Fire Cloud Ship, the cloud sail was much simpler; it didn’t have specially crafted cabins or multiple floors.

Because of its slow speed and fragile body, the cloud sail didn’t possess the power to travel between two realms.

All passengers, along with their belongings, were placed on the deck, where they found spots to sit at will.

At this moment, Pang Jian lay at the forefront of the cloud sail, gazing down at the fragment land where the Mysterious Turtle lay hidden.

"Mysterious Turtle, Spirit of the Earth..."

Full of anticipation, he quietly entered the state of the "Pot Heaven Nourishing Qi Spell," attempting to communicate with the tiny turtle.

He was immediately amazed to find that his view... wasn’t limited to the depths of the earth where the Mysterious Turtle was located!

With his eyes closed, through the Mysterious Turtle that had left the bronze plaque not long ago, he could see parts of the fragment land!

Volcanoes, the meandering flow of molten magma; when he gazed through the eyes of the Mysterious Turtle, it was crystal clear!

And his field of vision was still expanding!

The Mysterious Turtle, hidden deep beneath the ground, seemed to be slowly merging with that unknown fragment land, its aura and power diffusing from the earth’s depths, filling the fragment land.

It appeared it wouldn’t be long before it could cover the entire fragment land!

"Spirit of the Earth!"

With ripples in his heart, Pang Jian opened his eyes, realizing the weight behind these four words.

The Mysterious Turtle, called the Spirit of the Earth, truly lived up to its name, exerting an unimaginable influence over the land.

Pang Jian suddenly felt that the unknown fragment land would undergo a delightful transformation due to the Mysterious Turtle’s dormant refuge!

"Spiritual land, it can even form Blessed Land Cave Heavens, nurture veins of minerals, and grow magical flora..."

Pang Jian’s eyes grew brighter and brighter.

"Ahem, you two..."

The steward of the cloud sail approached, stopping a few meters away, displaying a flattering smile.

"Is there something you need?"

Luo Hongyan, who sat beside Pang Jian on an exquisitely carved carpet, had a veil hiding her radiant beauty and looked suspiciously at the steward with her beautiful eyes.

Pang Jian, returning his mind to the present, also turned around, looking at the steward in surprise.

He immediately noticed, behind the steward with a goatee, there stood a dozen individual cultivators of varying realms, staring intensely at Luo Hongyan.

A few of them, with a "gulp," seemed to be swallowing salivatingly.

Luo Hongyan’s face was covered by the veil, revealing only a fair forehead and a pair of bright eyes, yet these exposed features, along with the perfect figure she displayed on the way, had already made those men drool.

The cultivators became disinterested in practicing, staring at Luo Hongyan in a daze, yet not daring to entertain any profane thoughts.

"Here’s the thing; I’ve got some news to share with you both for free..."

Gao Yuan, the steward, glanced at the storage bracelets on their wrists, and said with a deliberate attempt to please, "About the Lower Realm."

After Luo Hongyan and Pang Jian arrived and paid a hundred spirit stones, Gao Yuan noticed the storage bracelets on their hands and casually inquired about their origins.

Luo Hongyan told Gao Yuan that the siblings were from the Second Realm; she was accompanying her brother to travel around the Third Realm.

Gao Yuan saw them in a new light immediately, thinking that it was no wonder they dared to expose their storage bracelets openly.

"What’s happened to the Lower Realm?"

Luo Hongyan asked coldly.

Facing her gaze, Gao Yuan felt the pressure and replied with his head slightly lowered, "You come from above, so you probably haven’t heard the news yet. I also stumbled upon this news that... is currently being sealed off by various parties."

He set the stage with a few words, intentionally provoking the siblings’ curiosity before saying, "In the Fourth Realm below, the territories of the Ouyang Family and Shangguan Family have been contaminated by the filth of the Fifth Realm!"

His face was grave as he said in a low voice, "The numerous fragment lands within the two families’ territories are now suffering, like a purgatory on earth!"

Pang Jian’s expression remained unchanged.

Luo Hongyan feigned surprise in her eyes and exclaimed, "How could this be?"

"That I do not know."

Gao Yuan shook his head and kindly advised, "I mean no harm, I only wish for you to be aware. It is fine to wander around the Third Realm, but do not venture to the Fourth Realm any time soon."

After saying his piece, he tactfully withdrew.

Not many knew about this news at present, but in time it would spread throughout the entire world. He was sharing it for free now, seeking to form a good bond.

After all, with the siblings being from the Second Realm, he was hoping to earn a bit of their favor.

Should he, Gao Yuan, ever encounter great destiny and have the fortune to travel to the Second Realm, and by chance meet these siblings again...

The good deed he planted today might bring him some benefits.

His ability to own a cloud sail, as an individual cultivator, which enabled him to roam around the many fragment lands of Universe Heaven and Black Nether, was based on that kind of foresight.

...

Two days later.

"We are almost there."

Gao Yuan uttered a light shout, and the scattered people on deck all stood up.

Many who had never been to the Three Immortal Islands walked to the edge of the Cloud Sail, leaning over in the cool light of the stars and moon to look down at the islands.

Pang Jian also opened his eyes from his meditative state.

Looking up, he first gazed at the deep night sky where stars twinkled, and a full moon hung high.

For the past two days, he had been secretly trying to guide the power of the sun, moon, and stars into his body using the "Pot Heaven Nourishing Qi Spell."

Indeed, those miniaturized suns, moons, and stars that had solidified above his Spiritual Sea could attract the power of the stars and moon, as well as the power of the sun.

But the efficiency was extremely low, nowhere near as good as when he lay inside the Copper Box.

Inside the box, he could face the sun, moon, and stars directly as if the heavens were within an arm’s reach.

In that state, his efficiency in absorbing moon energy, star power, and the radiance of the sun was incredibly fast.

He secretly assessed that the efficiency inside the box was more than ten times faster than outside.

"The Third Realm is still too far from the heavens," he decided.

He resolved that if he wanted to refine the power of the sun, moon, and stars in the future, he would find a secluded spot and lie down inside the Copper Box.

With these thoughts, he stood up and also leaned over the front to look down below.

Beneath his eyelids lay three pieces of Fragment Land around the same size as Sky Fortune, scattered in a triangular formation and connected by stone bridges.

Squinting at the shape of the three pieces of Fragment Land, Pang Jian felt that if the edges of the three lands were brought together, they seemed like they could merge into a whole.

"The Three Immortal Islands consist of Ice Rock Island, Gold and Stone Island, and Cloud Island. They are called three immortal islands, but in reality, they are three pieces of Fragment Land. It’s said that these three lands were once unified, but were split into three pieces following a battle," explained Gao Yuan in a slow voice as he introduced the areas to those Individual Cultivators unfamiliar with the islands.

"Gold and Stone Island and Ice Rock Island are barren, all rock with not a trace of grass. Gold and Stone Island houses several decent veins of ore, attracting many to mine the stones. Cloud Island is moist with mountains and forests, suitable for planting Spiritual Materials. Some skilled Individual Cultivators plant rare plants and flora on Cloud Island in exchange for the Spiritual Materials they need."

"Ice Rock Island is perpetually cold, and the marketplace created by the Individual Cultivator Cloud Ascetics is located in the Great Stone Hall."

"Our destination for this trip is the Great Stone Hall on Ice Rock Island, where Individual Cultivator Cloud Ascetics’ gathering will commence in three days."

"After the gathering concludes, I will navigate the Cloud Sail to the next Fragment Land. If anyone wishes to continue their journey with us, they will need to pay an additional fifty Spirit Stones each."

"Of course, there are many Cloud Sails near the Great Stone Hall, so you could choose to board another one."

As he spoke, the Cloud Sail they were on began to gently descend.

"Great Stone Hall..."

Looking down from above, Pang Jian saw a ruined city perched on Ice Rock Island, which was about the same size as Sky Fortune Fragment Land.

The city, built of huge rocks, was in complete ruin with all buildings shattered and collapsed, not a single one intact.

Yet, even those collapsed buildings were tens of meters tall!

The fallen windows and doors were unreasonably large and certainly not suitable for regular human habitation.

Living in such a vast and splendid city would make humans appear as dwarfs amidst the land of giants.

Suddenly, an image surfaced in Pang Jian’s mind.

In the Fifth Realm, he had seen a Cyclops towering like a mountain, shooting a deep red light from its single eye.

Within that immensely thick light were majestic mountains and rivers and a grand country constructed of massive stones.

The stony realm below, which had now turned into a ruin, looked strikingly similar to the country in the vision.

"Could it be that the ruins below were once the city of a Cyclops?"

Pang Jian, who had been to the Fifth Realm and seen the Cyclops with his own eyes, was startled by his own guess.

The Cyclops existed in the Fifth Realm, a place forever devoid of sunlight due to the everlasting impossibility of reaching the heavens via the Heavenly Tribulation Pillar.

However, on this Ice Rock Island in the Third Realm, lay a stone country that had fallen into ruins.

"Boom!"

As Pang Jian was lost in thought, Gao Yuan’s Cloud Sail came to a halt, and the passengers began to disembark.

Urged by Luo Hongyan, Pang Jian left the Cloud Sail with her and stood before the Great Stone Hall where all the buildings had collapsed.

He saw many similar Cloud Sails, docked outside the Great Stone Hall, seemingly not permitted to enter the city directly.

Some Individual Cultivators, after getting off other Cloud Sails, headed straight toward the ruined Great Stone Hall.

"Eh!"

Luo Hongyan suddenly exclaimed softly. Coldness swirling in her beautiful eyes, she looked fixedly at a particular spot, murmuring, "Perhaps I should have left them on some Fragment Land in the Lower Realm, instead of bringing them to the Third Realm..."

Pang Jian, puzzled by her strange statement, followed her gaze to a pile of rubble outside the Great Stone Hall.

The rubble seemed to be a place where bodies were piled up.

Many Individual Cultivators who had died for various reasons were discarded there like trash, thrown amongst the stones.

Zhao Ling, Meng Qiulan, Bai Wei, Bai Zhi, Wu Yi, along with several Dark Ghost Stewards that had separated from Pang Jian on an unknown Piece of Fragment Land, were all there without exception.

The Dark Ghosts who had left the Lower Realm before him and came to the Three Immortal Islands aboard the Cloud Sail had all perished there.

Finally escaping the Lower Realm and fortunate enough to have witnessed the Bright Moon and stars, seen what the Fierce Sun looks like, those people had become just another part of the myriad of corpses within the stone heap.

...