The Purgatory Calamity
Chapter 212 - 197: It Begins!_1

Chapter 212: Chapter 197: It Begins!_1

"Boom! Rumble!"

The level-six Cyclops charged furiously under the dim sky curtain.

Huge boulders, drawn by his strength, suddenly soared up from the gully.

Many millstone-sized rocks, like stars, orbited around him, enhancing his incredibly imposing aura.

Several level-five Cyclops, with a resigned-to-death attitude, followed him, mobilizing the power within their bodies.

"Bang! Bang bang!"

Thousands of meteorites of various sizes turned into a meteor shower, raining down on the valley where Huang Qi and others were gathered.

The Individual Cultivators and the scions of aristocratic families swore incessantly at this time.

They summoned powerful Spiritual Artifacts to fend off the meteorites falling from the sky, then fought against the Ferocious Beasts that charged at them.

"It’s started!"

Pang Jian squinted as he surveyed the whole situation.

Not specifically looking towards the summit of the first peak, he, who had already integrated with the Yuanmang Fragmented Lands, exercised his "demigod"-like privileges with a bird’s-eye view of the battlefield from above.

He saw a level-six female warrior from the Wood Tribe, riding on an Ice Roc towards the first peak. She wore a Thorn Crown on her head and murmured an incantation.

Inside this Wood Tribe warrior, thick blood and vitality flowed together into the Thorn Crown she wore.

The thorns pierced into the fine blood vessels of her scalp, as if drinking thirstily from her essence.

Giant trees reaching to the sky erupted from the ground, their branches and leaves gracefully flying towards the sky as if they were an army commanded by her, heading toward the summit of the Yuanmang first peak.

A warrior from the Devil Scale Tribe, riding a level-six black-winged dragon, burned the boiling blood within his body.

"Whoosh!"

A blood rain spilled out from his body, blanketing the sky.

In each drop of blood, there was a scorching aura of the magma from the Fifth Realm’s Earth Fire, mixed with a dense, filthy energy of destruction.

The "Heavenly Killing Spirit Array" intertwined at the summit of the first peak sizzled as it was drenched by the blood rain, eroded by his power.

Regrettably, the blood rain was soon filtered through a net woven by Spiritual Power and fell upon the cold, hard ground.

The Spiritual Power light net, which was eroded and fragmented, quickly recondensed once the blood droplets disappeared.

"Beneath the ground..."

Upon focusing his thoughts, Pang Jian saw the Spirit Vein deep beneath the first peak shining brilliantly at this moment.

God knows how many Spirit Jades were piled up next to the Spirit Vein, as if adding to the might of this miraculous Spirit Vein.

Thousands of beams of Spiritual Power stretched from the summit of the first peak all the way down into its depths.

The beams, like meridians, hung above the Spirit Vein. The Spirit Vein coordinated the power within the Spirit Jades, channeling it all the way to the heart of the first peak, into each cave dwelling, and into the Spirit Arrays within the stone paths.

Dozens of women loyal to Madam Hua, dressed in white, followed the underground passageways into the hidden location of the Spirit Vein.

They took out Spirit Jades one by one, laying them out in sequence near the glittering Spirit Vein, and then discarded the Spirit Jades that had been exhausted of their power.

Like a slender and crystalline Spirit Snake, the Spirit Vein was entwined deep at the heart of the first peak, acting as the soul and hub of the "Heavenly Killing Spirit Array". It was enveloped by the array, constantly channeling Spiritual Power to the summit above.

"There must be tens of thousands of Spirit Jades."

Pang Jian was secretly amazed.

He realized clearly that a war on this scale would certainly lead to heavy losses for Cao Mang.

Tens of thousands of Spirit Jades, that’s millions of Spirit Stones, being squandered away continuously.

Once a Spirit Jade was depleted of its power, a new one had to be inserted immediately to maintain the operation of the "Heavenly Killing Spirit Array" and prevent any momentary halt in the array’s function.

The warriors of the Alien Tribes, led by Yu Gu, had attacked the summit several times, each time consuming a huge amount of Spirit Jades.

Cao Mang must also be secretly spitting blood.

Thinking this, Pang Jian observed other areas, watching the movements of the Alien Tribes and Ferocious Beasts.

He was also silently calculating the right moment to command the Mysterious Turtle.

"Everybody get ready!"

Liang Ying raised her hand, and the Star-shattering Umbrella suddenly grew dozens of times larger, like another sky suspended above everyone’s heads.

The disciples of the Star River Alliance and Fang Boxuan of the Blood Moon immediately shrank under the Star-shattering Umbrella.

Numerous strands of Spiritual Power clearly emerged from the umbrella handle and ribs. Spiritual Power, like splendid divine water, flowed in the channels, igniting each tiny star.

Under the umbrella.

Fang Boxuan looked up at the umbrella canopy that resembled the Star River and complimented, "Does Elder Liang’s high-grade Spiritual Artifact come from the Heaven Treasure Sect?"

Liang Ying laughed lightly and nodded, "I specifically went to the Second Realm and purchased it from a branch of the Heaven Treasure Sect that sells Spiritual Artifacts for forty thousand Spirit Jades."

"Forty thousand?"

Fang Boxuan’s face showed surprise as he remarked, "Forty thousand Spirit Jades, that’s four million Spirit Stones. It seems that if I want to possess a powerful Spiritual Artifact like this, apart from the Sect’s favor, there’s no other possibility for the time being."

He was somewhat envious of Yang Rui.

The Nine Suns Tripod, like the Star-shattering Umbrella, was also a high-grade Spiritual Artifact capable of both attack and defense. The wealthy Raging Sun Sect had long awarded the Nine Suns Tripod to Yang Rui, thus making him the number one person in the Spirit Condensation Realm of the Third Realm.

Among Individual Cultivators, scions, and Sect disciples, no one at the Spirit Condensation Realm level could currently match Yang Rui.

Apart from Yang Rui’s personal realm already being at the late stage of the Spirit Condensation Realm, the main reason was his possession of the Nine Suns Tripod.

"Do not sell yourself short."

Liang Ying frowned slightly and said solemnly, "In the eyes of Blood Moon, your status is equivalent to Yang Rui’s. Blood Moon has not bestowed an equally high-grade Spiritual Artifact on you simply because you have not yet advanced to the late stage of the Spirit Condensation Realm. They are afraid that you won’t be able to bring out the full power of a high-grade Spiritual Artifact."

She gave Xie Xiwen a glance and said, "Xie girl, the same goes for you. Once you advance to the latter stages of Hollow Profound Realm and possess the qualifications to impact the Spirit Condensation Realm, the alliance will find for you a powerful high-level Spiritual Artifact."

She worried that Xie Xiwen might be influenced by Fang Boxuan’s words and harbor hidden resentment towards the Star River Alliance.

"I don’t care."

Xie Xiwen, whose talent for cultivation was off the charts, was not envious of others and spoke with composure, "I just hope the alliance will let me participate in more dangerous trials and explore Forbidden Lands. After advancing to the Hollow Profound Realm, Fang Boxuan, Yang Rui, and Zhao Yuanqi all continually undertook trials in various places, but only I..."

Xie Xiwen bit her lower lip, looking sullen and dejected.

"Isn’t this a wonderful trial?"

Liang Ying said with a smile.

"Yes!"

Xie Xiwen’s eyes brightened as she spoke with a hint of excitement, "This is exactly the kind of arduous forging I’m looking forward to. I don’t want to be constrained to cultivation in my cave dwelling within the alliance every day."

"The alliance is just being considerate of your parents’ worries. They don’t want you to face danger too soon," Liang Ying sighed.

Xie Xiwen was a descendant of the Xie family from the Third Realm, and the Xie family was a top-tier influential clan. She was born with a silver spoon in her mouth; her parents were both powerful cultivators. Though they also came from the Star River Alliance, they were now active in the Second Realm.

Her parents, mindful of their own origins from the Star River Alliance, sent her to the alliance after she was born.

How could the Star River Alliance dare to be careless with Xie Xiwen?

Her not being endowed with a high-level Spiritual Artifact that was astonishing in its lethality was also because they didn’t want her to face danger too early. They just wanted to wait for her to successfully break through to the Spirit Condensation Realm and then let her parents come to take her away.

During this period, the Star River Alliance did not want Xie Xiwen to suffer any mishaps and naturally wouldn’t arrange for her to participate in dangerous activities.

"Swoosh!"

A Golden Coach from the Star River Alliance suddenly rushed out from a newly formed cave on the third peak. Many Ghost Clan warriors riding Ghost Apes immediately entered the Golden Coach.

This hidden Golden Coach, carrying the Ghost Clan warriors, immediately flew toward the deep valley where Pang Jian was located.

The Ghost Clan warriors and their Ghost Apes jumped down to the valley when the Golden Coach reached an appropriate height and immediately began to slaughter those in the valley.

"Woo-hoo!"

As if coordinating with these Ghost Clan warriors, Ferocious Beasts of the fourth and fifth levels surged from the territory where the sixth-level Cyclops roamed, also trying to approach and kill them.

"Pang Jian! Hurry under the Star-shattering Umbrella!"

Xie Xiwen shouted out loud, waving her hands.

She saw Pang Jian standing alone in a place far from the Star-shattering Umbrella and worried he might be slain by the suddenly emerging Ghost Clan.

"I’m fine."

Pang Jian shook his head calmly from afar, declining her kind offer.

"It’s our Star River Alliance’s Golden Coach!"

Liang Ying was gritting her teeth in anger.

As she watched the coach that dropped the Ghost Apes and Ghost Clan fly away, she used her Divine Sense in an attempt to communicate with the Golden Coach. A wisp of Divine Sense just emerging from her Sea of Consciousness was torn apart by a terrifying evil force.

"Spirit Condensation Realm, Elder, Liang Ying..."

The Ghost Clan chieftain squatting on the shoulders of a fifth-level Ghost Ape didn’t even glance at Pang Jian who was away from the Star-shattering Umbrella. His gaze fixed on Liang Ying, who summoned the Star-shattering Umbrella, and he spoke in an awkward Human Race language, "You have something on you that we need!"

The thin and gaunt figure, whose stature resembled a fierce ghost, was only a meter tall.

A notably articulated, pale white Snake Bone was coiled around his lean waist. His small body was wrapped in black snakeskin, and from a pair of sinister, cold green eyes suddenly burst thin, lengthy green lightnings.

"Whoo-whoo!"

He screeched, stretching out his tooth-filled mouth.

Pang Jian instantly felt excruciating pain in his head.

His "Demigod"-like viewpoint from high above was interrupted by the Ghost Clan chieftain’s piercing howl, and he hurriedly steadied his mind.

Suddenly.

A Ghost Clan warrior, as though carried on the back of a Ghost Ape, charged at him during the chief’s screech. They launched at Pang Jian as he grappled with the painful tear in his soul, intending to kill him swiftly.

Pang Jian, somewhat startled, watched their approach and was momentarily stunned.

The Ghost Clan, they were actually attacking him?

A moment later, he came to a sudden realization.

Since he hadn’t drunk a new dose of the medicinal brew for a long time, the specific scent was no longer on him. To the Ghost Clan, he was no different from the rest of the Human Race.

Somewhat surprised, he immediately summoned the Astonishing Spear, focusing his mind in an instant.

He quickly noticed that some strands of Divine Sense in his Sea of Consciousness had become frail due to the loud howl of the Ghost Clan chieftain, rapidly consuming his mental and spiritual energy.

"A piercing howl that reaches directly into the cultivator’s Sea of Consciousness, capable of attacking the brain," realized Pang Jian, as he regained his "Demigod"-like viewpoint and focus. His attention shifted to the Ghost Clan warrior in front of him.

"A fifth level, with the Ghost Ape being fourth level, their bodily strength and vitality are far inferior to those of the Heaven Clan and Devil Scale Tribe. However..."

Pang Jian, seeing many details, noticed that within the internal organs of this fifth-level Ghost Clan warrior, there seemed to be many blurry ghostly images clinging!

He concentrated further and saw that most of those ghostly images were Human Race cultivators’ souls, reduced to one-hundredth their size.

There were also a few Ferocious Beast souls.

The Ghost Clan may not have as strong a body as Devil Scale Tribesmen or Heaven Clan warriors, but by absorbing the enemy’s fragmented souls and storing them within their own bodies, they could also tap into the power of those souls.

...