The Purgatory Calamity
Chapter 191 - 176: The Dwarf Cao Mang_1

Chapter 191: Chapter 176: The Dwarf Cao Mang_1

Luo Hongyan’s heart trembled slightly.

"Pang Jian?"

Trapped inside the angular crystal, her bright eyes struggled to move, searching hard for that figure which was unlikely to appear.

"Impossible, he couldn’t have come. It must be my hallucination; I must have heard wrong..."

She murmured to herself.

Having been confined by Cao for many days, she had long been cut off from the outside world. The Spirit Evils she had refined were either dead or had been collected by Cao.

——She had lost all her informants and sources of perception.

Previously, she had always been in a dim cave and had no idea what had happened in Yuanmang lately.

Pang Jian...

She thought that Pang Jian, having waited for her return in vain for so long, would have left with Gao Yuan by now and would not wait until the last day.

She even suspected that because her identity had been exposed, Pang Jian and Gao Yuan might have suffered at Jiuyuan’s hands as well.

"Pang Jian!"

Another gloomy shout suddenly rang out.

Luo Hongyan was startled and couldn’t help but look at the person next to her — Jiuyuan from Blood Moon!

It was Jiuyuan who had called out Pang Jian’s name. It seemed that Jiuyuan too had seen Pang Jian, maybe it wasn’t her illusion!

She was stunned, and while still harboring doubts...

"Whoosh!"

A tall and refined black silhouette abruptly entered her field of vision, appearing right in front of her.

The familiar black-clad youth’s expression was cold, his angular face as charismatic and memorable as ever.

"Pang Jian!"

Luo Hongyan inwardly cried out.

However, she couldn’t make any sound with her mouth, her beautiful eyes conveying urgency and clear anger. She thought to herself, "How dare you come? Pang Jian, you shouldn’t have come!"

Having lost all hope, the sight of Pang Jian didn’t fill her with joy but with anger and blame for his appearance!

She desperately wanted to speak, to curse Pang Jian fiercely, but she was powerless to do anything.

Pang Jian said softly, "I let you suffer."

His chest heaved violently, his breathing was abnormally heavy, and he struggled to calm his emotions.

Having spent so much time together, he understood too well what Luo Hongyan’s gaze meant. Even though she couldn’t speak, Pang Jian knew she was angry.

She was blaming him for losing his composure again, for showing up at today’s trading event, and even more for... appearing before her.

Pang Jian took a deep breath.

Luo Hongyan, confined by the great crystal, was already in such a dire situation, yet she was still worried about his safety, afraid that he would meet the same fate.

Forcing himself not to stare at Luo Hongyan any longer, he turned his gaze to Jiuyuan and the cold, menacing Lou Yunming beside him.

Confronted by his look, Jiuyuan bared his teeth with a sinister grin, while Lou Yunming frowned slightly.

"Suffering..."

Luo Hongyan’s deep and mysterious eyes quietly welled up with moisture, her defenses breaking because of his words.

Regaining his composure, Pang Jian looked at her again and said earnestly, "You will survive, you won’t have any trouble, trust me."

The mist in Luo Hongyan’s eyes grew denser.

"Kid, having a million Spirit Stones doesn’t guarantee you can win her,"

Jiuyuan at his side sneered with a hideous smile, "Moreover, even if you succeed in winning her and take her away from the first peak, don’t even think about leaving Yuanmang unscathed!"

Before Pang Jian could speak, Jiuyuan glanced at Qi Qingsong and mocked, "A mere Inner Sect Disciple of Sword Tower doesn’t qualify to rescue someone from our hands. Besides, she’s a remnant of the Blood Spirit Sect!"

"Qi, even if your master himself came, he would have to weigh whether it’s worth rescuing a remnant of the Blood Spirit Sect!"

Hearing this, Qi Qingsong touched the token at his waist, smiled nonchalantly and nodded, "Hmm, hmm, you make a good point. Blood Moon and Yin Spirit Temple are formidable; I cannot provoke them."

"Don’t involve our Yin Spirit Temple!"

Lou Yunming, who hadn’t said much, gave Jiuyuan a cold look, his voice as chilly as his expression, "She was originally confined by us, having only escaped from the Solitude Mountain Range in the Lower Realm. I’m here to take responsibility for everyone and bring her back to Yin Spirit Temple for re-confinement."

"She killed Ling Yun, and raided our Beast-Catching Ship in the Lower Realm. I won’t let you take her away so easily," Jiuyuan retorted.

"I was the one who captured her, you two will draw lots later, whoever draws it can take her,"

a boisterous and hearty voice announced.

"Cao the Old Monster!"

"The main arbiter has arrived!"

The audience in the trading venue turned their gazes towards the speaker.

Pang Jian turned to see a bushy-browed, big-eyed man with a stocky build suddenly descending from the sky, landing in the center of the round platform.

He stood beside the smiling Madam Hua, who was seated on the platform, and... was only slightly taller than the sitting Madam Hua.

Cao Mang, clad in golden garments and wearing a feathered headdress, looked righteous and distinguished.

Only... he appeared too short in stature.

"Rustle! Rustle! Rustle!"

One by one, wooden boxes, liuli bottles, and scrolls, each containing strange treasures and precious items, suddenly appeared with his arrival. They settled at the edge of the platform, radiating the luster and aura that rare objects should possess.

Pang Jian looked and saw that some liuli bottles held large pills, some wooden boxes displayed glittering Spirit Swords, and some scrolls seemed to be high-level Magic Spells.

Pills, weapons, Magic Spells, everything was available.

"Pang Jian, Luo... Sister Luo!"

Jiang Li’s astonished voice came from the wooden door opposite Luo Hongyan.

Zhao Yuanqi, timing her arrival perfectly, led Jiang Li into the trading arena, where they both curiously observed the stunningly beautiful woman imprisoned within the hexagonal crystal.

"Truly beautiful, such a pity she’s from the Blood Spirit Sect, otherwise... maybe I could think of some other way."

Zhao Yuanqi thought to herself.

"Luo..."

Jiang Li approached Pang Jian’s side, her lips pressed together as she looked at Luo Hongyan and bowed slightly, her head lowered as she said, "Thank you for taking care of me in Bagua City, but I’m afraid I lack the power to help you."

Luo Hongyan, unable to move, merely glanced at her, then continued to watch Pang Jian.

——Jiang Li’s expression of gratitude, her words, Luo Hongyan clearly didn’t care.

"Yang Rui!"

"Fang Boxuan!"

"Xie Xiwen!"

Following Zhao Yuanqi, three other prodigiously talented cultivators also arrived at the trading arena at precisely timed intervals.

Their appearance likewise elicited numerous hushed voices as many Individual Cultivators from the Hollow Profound Realm and Spirit Condensation Realm, in various sectors, curiously sized up the trio.

Pang Jian, however, was frowning, completely indifferent to who was arriving and how strong their cultivation talents were.

Suddenly, the tall and handsome Fang Boxuan took the initiative to walk up to Zhao Yuanqi’s side.

Without more than a glance at Luo Hongyan, he exclaimed, "Yuanqi, is she the one you asked me to help with? She’s truly beautiful. What a pity she’s the remnant of the Blood Spirit Sect..."

Fang Boxuan shook his head regretfully.

"Fang boy, you’re not thinking of competing with me for her, are you?"

Jiuyuan asked with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

As a prominent member of Blood Moon, he didn’t have high hopes for Fang Boxuan back in the day and made things difficult for him with regard to cultivation resources.

Later, after Fang Boxuan continuously encountered several strokes of luck and made leaps in his cultivation realm, he advanced to the Hollow Profound Realm in a short time and became the most dazzling genius of Blood Moon.

Since then, Fang Boxuan opposed him at every turn, and the two accumulated no small amount of animosity.

"I’ve something I have my eye on that I want to buy. I don’t have the spare Spirit Stones to compete with you,"

Fang Boxuan snorted, asserting himself with neither arrogance nor humility, "After all, I’m still too young. In terms of resources, I’m not on par with you. Just give it a few more years, when I too have reached the Spirit Condensation Realm, your influence in Blood Moon will only weaken."

As these words fell, Jiuyuan’s expression immediately darkened.

"Senior Cao, could you introduce the woman within that hexagonal crystal?"

Yang Rui of the Raging Sun Sect stood in front of Cao Mang and Madam Hua as soon as he entered, pointing to Luo Hongyan suppressed within the crystal and asking curiously, "Is she also being sold as a Strange Treasure?"

"Indeed, one million Spirit Stones, anyone can try their luck,"

Cao Mang, dwarf-like and petite, spoke without a smile. Against a proud young talent like Yang Rui, he was neither warm nor cold, in stark contrast to Madam Hua’s eagerness.

"Yin Spirit Temple informed me that she is a survivor of the Blood Spirit Sect, her original bones shattered, her Soul Spirit suppressed for hundreds of years."

"After escaping her bind in the Lower Realm, she was fortunate to acquire a Crystal-clear Snow Lotus, with which she cast a new body."

"Her current realm and cultivation level are unknown, but her actual combat power... is roughly in the early stage of the Spirit Condensation Realm. Yang Rui, her true strength is slightly greater than yours, I advise you not to participate in the competition."

Cao Mang kindly warned.

"What is her relationship with Pang Jian?"

Yang Rui asked further.

At this moment, the actual controller of Yuan Mang Fragmented Lands glanced at Pang Jian, who had been standing steadfastly in front of the hexagonal crystal, pondered for a moment, and then said, "They are said to be siblings."

"Siblings?"

Yang Rui gave it some serious thought, and then suddenly said, "I want to participate in the competition!"

Pang Jian immediately looked over.

Yang Rui, his chest emblazoned with a blazing sun pattern, faced Pang Jian’s gaze calmly and stated, "If you had agreed to sell me the pair of Red-eyed Demon Wolf’s pupils yesterday, none of this would be happening."

Handsome and towering, he stood there like a deity radiating light and warmth.

Many high-level Individual Cultivators frowned in secret, their eyes betraying a wariness, clearly not daring to provoke him.

Though younger than Qi Qingsong, his cultivation was already in the later stages of the Hollow Profound Realm and was on the verge of refining his Spiritual Soul.

With his talent and capabilities, if he were not a member of Raging Sun Sect from the Third Realm but belonged to Second Realm organizations like Sword Tower, Demon Sect, or Black Valley, he would be an equally standout individual.

"Yang Rui."

After a brief eye contact, Pang Jian nodded and then withdrew his gaze.

Just as Yang Rui took note of his name the day before, Pang Jian also committed the name Yang Rui deeply to memory.

"Senior Cao, shall we start with her?"

Yang Rui suggested.

Cao Mang, the dwarf-like figure, squinted and glanced briefly at Luo Hongyan within the crystal, asking, "Who else is participating in the competition?"

"I am,"

Pang Jian replied.

"And I am too."

The small-eyed, rat-faced Individual Cultivator Huang Qi stood in an unnoticed corner, chuckling as he raised his voice lightly.

Seeing Pang Jian looking over with an unfriendly expression, Huang Qi explained with a smile, "Little brother, the more people, the more hope. Rest assured, if I get the token, I will sell her to you at the original price."

"Ah, because of a pair of Red-eyed Demon Wolf’s pupils, you’ve made an enemy out of nothing. I really can’t bear it, I must do something for you."

Pang Jian was taken aback for a moment, then nodded slightly.

...

PS: Here’s the second update, asking for monthly votes~