The Purgatory Calamity
Chapter 168 - 153: The True Cultivation Genius of the Third Realm_1

Chapter 168: Chapter 153: The True Cultivation Genius of the Third Realm_1

Third Realm.

The morning sun was rising, and the red glow of dawn was steaming up.

Pang Jian, still half-asleep, was gently awakened by Luo Hongyan. He asked in a daze, "Have we arrived at Cao’s Yuan Mang Fragmented Lands?"

"Almost."

Luo Hongyan shook her head with a light chuckle.

Her bright eyes shone with surprise as she pointed behind Pang Jian and said, "We’ve encountered someone familiar."

Pang Jian, who didn’t wake up on his own, still had a foggy mind. He stood up upon hearing her and looked in the direction her delicate hand was pointing.

A ship basking in the dawn’s glow, its body also radiating an iridescent red light, was floating above the thick clouds and moving swiftly forward from behind them.

The ship, built with some kind of strange fine iron, appeared dazzling and miraculous, as if the red dawn’s light was lifting it up as it soared through the sky.

Above the ship fluttered a giant black flag which bore the image of a majestic mountain radiating red light.

The black flag with the Red Mountain was a unique emblem of the Red Mountain in the Third Realm.

The ship, also heading towards the Yuan Mang Fragmented Lands like theirs, was going in the same direction, but at a much faster speed.

Because it was too far away, Pang Jian couldn’t make out the specifics of the people on the ship.

He could only vaguely see a proud, lone girl with black clothes and silver hair at the forefront of the ship, standing with a wine-red gourd that was almost as big as her torso on her back. Her silver hair was tied into a ponytail as she gazed into the distance, lost in thought.

Pang Jian, who could only see her blurry side profile, couldn’t discern her true face. However, he sensed an aura of loneliness and haughtiness about her, a coldness that seemed to ward off strangers.

"I don’t know her."

Pang Jian shook his head.

Luo Hongyan rolled her eyes at him and reminded, "Look in the middle of the Red Rosy Clouds Boat!"

Pang Jian looked again.

On the deck of the Red Rosy Clouds Boat, similar in design to the Cloud Sail, a group of people were scattered about, some standing, some sitting.

Though they all seemed young, due to the distance Pang Jian only felt one girl looked familiar, but couldn’t remember who she was immediately.

Seeing his puzzled face, Luo Hongyan no longer teased him and said, "It’s Jiang Li."

"Huh!"

Pang Jian’s emotions stirred as he said, "Zhou Qingchen and Han Duping ..."

"Are not there!"

Luo Hongyan, knowing what he was about to ask, gave the answer straight away and continued, "Jiang Li’s broken arm has regrown."

Pang Jian was startled and asked, "You mean?"

"It could be that Zhou Qingchen and Red Mountain helped Jiang Li regenerate her arm, or it could be... Qi Qingsong has kept his promise." Even Luo Hongyan couldn’t be sure.

Gao Yuan, also in the Cloud Sail, listened to their somewhat vague whispers and said with a smile, "Do you know Zhao Yuanqi?"

"Zhao Yuanqi?"

Luo Hongyan was taken aback.

"Isn’t she the one you were discussing? Black clothes, silver hair, carrying a big red gourd, not yet twenty years old, and already at the Hollow Profound Realm!" Gao Yuan said reverently.

Pang Jian’s eyebrows rose as he said, "Not yet twenty, and in the Hollow Profound Realm?"

Luo Hongyan also expressed surprise, nodding her head and saying, "Placed in the Second Realm, she would also be an extremely eye-catching talent. Surely she’s well-known in the Third Realm."

"Of course!"

Gao Yuan stood up.

He moved to the edge of the ship and also gazed at the distance at the Red Rosy Clouds Boat, admiringly saying, "Just one more step to the Spirit Condensation Realm, and she could become an Elder of the Red Mountain."

"However, her future is definitely going to be in a higher world. She won’t limit herself just to Red Mountain."

"Red Mountain is well aware of that too. They know she has a more dazzling future ahead. Right now, they are pouring resources into her cultivation, hoping that when she rises to great heights one day, she will still remember Red Mountain’s kindness."

Gao Yuan revealed the profoundness of it all.

Luo Hongyan hummed in agreement and objectively said, "Such a character, once reaching the Second Realm, will surely be highly valued by all parties. So young and already at the Hollow Profound Realm, she might even make a name for herself in the First Realm!"

Pang Jian inwardly marveled, involuntarily recalling the heartfelt words Zhou Qingchen had spoken to him on Lake Heart Island.

Zhou Qingchen said that his own talent for cultivation, placed in the Lower, Fourth Realm, would also be considered extraordinary and exceptional.

However, when compared to the more dazzling talents of the Third Realm, he wasn’t that outstanding.

Now it seemed that the true geniuses of the Third Realm Zhou Qingchen was talking about referred to prodigies like Zhao Yuanqi.

No wonder that in the Solitude Mountain Ranges’ pile of rocks, Zhou Qingchen had comforted himself sincerely.

He must have learned about a figure like Zhao Yuanqi in his own sect after going to Red Mountain and felt a sense of defeat.

While Pang Jian was still in deep thought, the Red Rosy Clouds Boat sped up even more. By the time he wanted to take another look at the talented girl named Zhao Yuanqi, even the boat itself was nowhere in sight.

"Compared to the sturdiness of the Golden Chariot, the breadth of the Fire Cloud Ship, and the luxury of the Unstable Ferry, the Red Rosy Clouds Boat excels in speed!"

Seeing him stretch his neck to look, Gao Yuan explained in a grave voice, "Above the Red Rosy Clouds Boat, there are no houses for people to live in. It looks quite rudimentary, and the ship itself seems somewhat small..."

"But it’s the fastest flying spirit artifact in the Third Realm!"

"It’s also one of the most expensive flying devices among the major sects. The cost of a single Red Rosy Clouds Boat is said to be around a million spirit stones!"

"Out of the five major powers in the Third Realm, only Red Mountain’s Red Rosy Clouds Boat are truly purchased from the Heaven Treasure Sect!"

Gao Yuan said enviously.

As an individual cultivator who was a boatman, if he could commandeer a Red Rosy Clouds Boat, who knows how prestigious he would be!

"A million spirit stones for one, and it’s a product of the Heaven Treasure Sect..."

Pang Jian noted it to himself.

Seeing Gao Yuan’s envious look, it seemed that flying devices from the Heaven Treasure Sect were considered top-notch goods.

The Fire Cloud Ship, the Unstable Ferry, and the like, are all lower-level products.

...

The Red Rosy Clouds Boat.

"Sister Jiang, we’re about to reach the Yuan Mang Fragmented Lands, you should come and take a look too,"

Zhao Yuanqi, who stood alone, suddenly turned around and looked at Jiang Li who was sitting quietly on the deck, talking with a group of fellow disciples.

The tranquil Jiang Li stood up gently upon hearing this and walked towards her with a smile.

All disciples of the Red Mountain Sect looked enviously at Jiang Li, who alone was favored.

Zhao Yuanqi was destined to soar to the heavens and was bound to enter the Second Realm one day, enjoying many privileges within the Red Mountain Sect.

For example, this Red Rosy Clouds Boat that nominally belonged to the Sect, was actually her personal property.

The Sect Master of Red Mountain and all the Elders treated Zhao Yuanqi almost religiously, knowing that she would look after Red Mountain in the future!

However.

When Zhao Yuanqi had first joined Red Mountain to cultivate and her astounding talent had not yet revealed itself, many had shown malice towards this proud girl.

Zhao Yuanqi, who was too precocious from a young age, had silvery hair at just twelve or thirteen years old.

The young girl with white hair became an anomaly as soon as she joined the Red Mountain, and people often mocked her for it, whispering behind her back.

The silver-haired girl was even more solitary than now, without even one person to talk to.

Only the gentle Jiang Li took the initiative to befriend Zhao Yuanqi, and it took a long time to open Zhao Yuanqi’s closed heart and earn her trust.

Jiang Li thus became Zhao Yuanqi’s only friend.

When Zhao Yuanqi’s explosive talent emerged and she began to rise within Red Mountain like a dazzling star, she looked upon Jiang Li differently than the rest.

"Your hand... Are you okay?"

The delicate and captivating Zhao Yuanqi, with eyes like cold crystal, looked at the arm that had grown back on Jiang Li.

Biting her lower lip, she chided, "I told you, I would have taken care of the Spiritual Materials needed for your Bone Severing Marrow Washing after leaving my seclusion. But you had to go and join those trials!"

Jiang Li smiled faintly, her voice soft, "You have your future, and I have my life. I can’t rely on you to take care of me forever."

This trip, she and Zhao Yuanqi came to Cao’s Fragmented Yuan Mang Lands because they would pass by the Three Immortal Islands along the way.

Zhou Qingchen and Han Duping, having heard that Dong Tianze would definitely visit the Three Immortal Islands, had come over on a Cloud Sail seeking vengeance.

— Refusing to bring her along.

Worried about their safety, she boarded the Red Rosy Clouds Boat, which was unique to Zhao Yuanqi and from which other disciples of Red Mountain also benefited, to head to the Yuan Mang after Zhao Yuanqi came out of seclusion.

On the way, the Red Rosy Clouds Boat specially stopped at the Three Immortal Islands for her.

There, she happened to encounter people from the Raging Sun Sect and learned that Zhou Qingchen had gone to the Lower Realm and hadn’t reached the Three Immortal Islands.

With her mind at ease, she continued with Zhao Yuanqi to Cao’s Fragmented Yuan Mang Lands.

"Qi Qingsong is also in the Fragmented Yuan Mang Lands."

A cold light flashed in the corner of Zhao Yuanqi’s eyes.

"I no longer have any grudge against him, don’t meddle."

Jiang Li raised the arm that had regrown thanks to the Jade Ointment for Bone Regrowth and said with a smile, "Because of Pang Jian, he cut off his own arm. He endured the pain and didn’t use the Jade Ointment but came down to the Lower Realm to heal my arm first."

"Also, at that time in Bagua City, I didn’t fully understand the situation."

"A few months ago, when Qi Qingsong came to me, he also clarified everything, saying that it was another senior in our team who had struck him first."

Jiang Li, who had let go of her grudges after her arm regenerated, mentioned the past events indifferently.

"Pang Jian..."

The reserved Zhao Yuanqi’s eyebrows twitched slightly.

This name... she had heard Jiang Li mention it many times.

Zhou Qingchen and Han Duping had also brought it up more than once, and she naturally remembered it.

Thinking of the current Qi Qingsong, who shocked the entire Second Realm by leaping across two realms and was regarded as an honored guest by Cao, and considering his actions...

She felt increasingly astonished.

What kind of person was capable of driving the now widely regarded Qi Qingsong to the point of amputating his own arm?

After obtaining the Jade Ointment for Bone Regrowth, Qi Qingsong didn’t use it on himself first but specially came down to give it to Jiang Li, only resting easy after her arm had regrown.

"I hope Pang Jian is unharmed, I hope... I get the chance to see Luo’s true face," Jiang Li thought to herself.

The arrival of Qi Qingsong had informed her that Ning Yao had someone else within, and that person’s name was Luo Hongyan.

Luo Hongyan seemed cool and detached throughout the journey, but Jiang Li could feel that Luo Hongyan had always taken good care of her and Su Meng. Besides being grateful for what Pang Jian had done for her, she was also thankful to Luo Hongyan.

She really wanted to meet Luo Hongyan and see what she would look like after leaving that body.

...

Several days later.

On a sunny day with clear skies, where the Fierce Sun hung high in the sky, releasing sweltering heat waves.

A Cloud Sail carrying only three passengers slowed down as it approached a massive Fragmented Land.

"We’re here," Gao Yuan said with a smile as he stood up.

Pang Jian, who had assiduously cultivated for a few days in silence, stood up and leaned against the side of the boat, gazing at the famous fragmented land governed by Cao Mang, one of the strongest Individual Cultivators in the Third Realm.

— Yuan Mang.

...