The Purgatory Calamity
Chapter 218 - 203: Devouring "Soul Fire" Again_1

Chapter 218: Chapter 203: Devouring "Soul Fire" Again_1

At the foot of the mountain.

"Pang..."

Xie Xiwen, with her youthful and beautiful appearance, her cherry lips slightly parted, looked after the departing Pang Jian, wanting to speak yet hesitating.

Eventually, she just bit the corner of her lustrous lips, saying nothing at all.

She actually had many doubts, but felt it inappropriate to say anything.

The other protectors and disciples of the Star River Alliance didn’t dare to utter a single word either.

Shen Lei, in the late Hollow Profound Realm, was the strongest after Elder Liang Ying’s departure, an old-fashioned protector of the Star River Alliance.

It was he who, with a somewhat reckless move earlier, was instantly met with a severe injury in return.

And it was Elder Liang Ying’s Star-shattering Umbrella that injured him!

The others, whose realms and combat power were all inferior to Shen Lei, how could they possibly handle Pang Jian?

"Pang Jian, you guys can’t provoke this fella, don’t even think about getting the Star-shattering Umbrella back in the future," warned Fang Boxuan, who had developed a shadow in his heart. "Seriously, listen to my advice. No matter where he goes next, what he wants to do, don’t try to snatch back Elder Liang’s relic."

Shen Lei sighed deeply and said in a low voice, "Have you also suffered?"

"How could that be?!"

Fang Boxuan’s face turned red as he bellowed.

His reaction, on the contrary, made Shen Lei’s expression darken as he coldly said, "Knowing he’s so troublesome, why didn’t you warn me?"

"Would you have believed me if I told you?"

Fang Boxuan gave a bitter smile.

Shen Lei was silent for a moment, then shook his head and heaved a deep sigh.

"He just entered the Hollow Profound Realm, and yesterday came to me to inquire about the mysteries of this realm. If it were me... I wouldn’t believe he was that strong either," Xie Xiwen said softly.

Her sparkling eyes had been fixed on Pang Jian all along, and she suddenly felt that this man was shrouded in a mysterious aura.

"Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Figures, turned into streaks of light, suddenly slid down from the summit of the First Peak, hastily rushing toward the foot of the mountain.

Like Shen Lei, disciples and protectors of the Star River Alliance, because of the sudden anomaly on the First Peak, eventually shifted their attention from Pang Jian.

They focused their eyes and noticed that those sliding down from the summit were scions of great families and individual cultivators with lower realms.

Their curiosity aroused, they couldn’t help but gaze toward the summit, horrified to discover that the "Heavenly Killing Spirit Array" had vanished without a trace!

"Cao’s great array is destroyed!"

"This is bad, once the array is destroyed, those gathered at the summit are no longer safe!"

"With the remaining Alien Tribes and Ferocious Beasts entering the summit, they must have fought with Cao and the others, forcing those people to flee hastily!"

The members of the Star River Alliance were in a frantic uproar.

Fang Boxuan’s face suddenly changed, and then looking at the figure of Pang Jian about to disappear, he thought to himself, "What exactly does he want to do? Could it be, he’s planning to ascend the mountain?"

Pang Jian, from the direction he was heading, seemed to be aiming for the First Peak, and he had more than once spoken of his desire to kill Jiuyuan.

A strong premonition suddenly surged in Fang Boxuan’s heart, believing that Pang Jian, who was now hiding his killing intent, was perhaps about to do something that would shock the whole Yuanmang.

"You’re not really planning to climb the mountain, are you?"

...

"Whoosh!"

The Star-shattering Umbrella’s surface displayed countless stars, a bright full moon, and then an ice pool suddenly appeared, swirling with cold air.

Pang Jian, holding the umbrella handle and moving forward, revealed a hint of surprise in his eyes, and involuntarily looked at the three words on the grip—Heaven Treasure Sect.

"It’s actually a high-grade good crafted by the Heaven Treasure Li Family."

Pang Jian inwardly exclaimed in admiration.

The reason he hadn’t put away the Star-shattering Umbrella but kept it open while walking was to figure out the mystery of the umbrella in a short time and prepare for a series of bloody battles that were to come.

Killing Liang Ying had depended on "Nine Heavens Mysterious Thunder" and "Annihilation Needle." The summit was open, and he couldn’t use such stealthy and deadly items.

To kill tougher individuals like Lou Yunming, Jiuyuan, and Cao Mang, he needed more confidence and had to make more preparations in advance.

So he was constantly experimenting in secret.

He infused Star Power, Moon Energy, and Extreme Cold Alien Power into the Star-shattering Umbrella one by one, noticing that the visions on the umbrella surface changed with each.

In his vast Spiritual Sea, the countless tiny stars, the miniature round moon, including the ice pool embedded in the Spiritual Sea, all could be materialized by the Star-shattering Umbrella.

With a thought,

"Whoosh! Whoosh whoosh!"

Numerous sharp beams burst forth from the ribs that supported the umbrella surface along the edges.

The beams exploding from the ribs contained Spiritual Power, Star Power, Moon Energy, and Extreme Cold Power, with an incredibly formidable lethality.

As he twisted the handle with his wrist, the Star-shattering Umbrella spun wildly about, with the beams shooting from each rib becoming more numerous and dense, causing the rocks and trees beside him to explode with "puff puff" sounds.

Being able to unleash so many sharp beams in a single breath showed that the Star-shattering Umbrella could perform area attacks.

Once the umbrella surface was closed, both the lower and upper ends of the handle could serve as spear points.

Although the umbrella handle wasn’t as sharp as the Astonishing Spear, it was still a favored weapon for him. Even if the umbrella shattered in battle, the handle could still be used to effect at the very end.

"Bang!"

The ribs were spread open again, and he surveyed with his Divine Sense, sensing that the amber-transparent umbrella surface seemed to be made from the skin of some powerful Spirit Beast.

The rank of the Beast Skin, its inherent natural patterns, further engraved by the masters of the Heaven Treasure Sect into new Spirit Arrays, fused patterns and arrays into one.

This was what created the umbrella surface’s many wonders.

"Whoosh!"

He brought forth his shimmering Spiritual Power Strong Shield, then channeled various Alien Powers into the Star-shattering Umbrella, causing the umbrella surface to once again display stars and the moon, with the Ice Pool also clearly visible.

The glow from the Star-shattering Umbrella fell downward, enveloping him, who had conjured the Spiritual Power Strong Shield, giving him what was effectively dual layers of defense.

"Good for both offense and defense!"

Pang Jian walked on, continuously contemplating the wonders of the Star-shattering Umbrella, gradually coming to understand its novel functions.

After a while.

Just as he was about to arrive where Huang Qi and others had initially been, he concentrated his thoughts to peer with his Spirit Condensation Realm senses and saw a familiar Cyclops lying in a pool of blood.

He still remembered, escaping from Elder Liang Ying’s first pursuit some days ago, relying on this very Cyclops.

At this moment.

Many clan elders and adept individual cultivators, with profound cultivation, were standing on the still barely alive body of the Cyclops, gesturing and discussing amongst themselves.

Beside this sixth-level Cyclops, there were also a few fifth-level Cyclops bodies which had long since grown still in death, along with some fourth and fifth-level Ferocious Beasts’ skeletons.

The individual cultivators and clan elders, took out their sharp blades and began to slice off those invaluable Spiritual Materials from the bodies of the Ferocious Beasts.

Some individual cultivators even started arguing over this.

"Whoosh!"

Another sixth-level warrior from the Ghost Clan, being pursued by a Spirit Condensation Realm clan elder, had already had his arm severed, and his body was still burning with raging flames, now fleeing in Pang Jian’s direction.

Right when that clan elder was about to succeed...

With a thought, Pang Jian exerted his "Demigod"-like power, covertly taking advantage of the Mysterious Turtle to cause mischief.

"Boom!"

The clan elder flying on his spirit sword, along with the sword itself, were pulled by a gravity tens of times stronger, causing him to plummet towards the ground, lightheaded and heavy-footed.

The fleeing sixth-level Ghost Clan warrior, who had quickly moved a distance away, was also restrained by a nameless massive force from deep within the earth.

Suddenly, he felt as if his feet had taken root; each movement from his critically wounded body felt like it required dozens of times more strength than usual, as if magnetically bound to the ground.

At this moment, he saw a young man in blue, with a cold expression, approaching with an umbrella resplendent with stars and moon.

A short while later.

"Pang Jian?"

Lin Yuanfeng of the Third Realm’s Lin Family, flying back on his sword, immediately saw the Ghost Clan warrior who was barely hanging onto life under their siege, having his skull crushed by Pang Jian.

Pang Jian, dressed in a blue robe with the Sword Tower emblem, was holding Elder Liang Ying’s Star-shattering Umbrella!

"A Ghost Clan troop ambushed us, and Elder Liang Ying unfortunately fell in battle. The Star-shattering Umbrella was Elder Liang’s relic; now that it’s in my hands, I wish to kill some more Ghost Clan warriors in her stead."

Pang Jian, holding the umbrella, felt a huge "Soul Fire" diffusing into the many acupoints beneath his Sea of Consciousness.

As a sixth-level Ghost Clan warrior, this one was even stronger than the one who had fought a fierce battle with Liang Ying. The "Soul Fire" that surged out after his death was even larger, causing Pang Jian to be secretly thrilled.

He had a strong feeling that this large emerald "Soul Fire" could help him condense the total number of his Divine Sense to the extreme of this realm!

"Elder Liang Ying is dead?"

Lin Yuanfeng’s expression slightly changed.

Ignorant of the Ghost Clan’s mysteries, he did not care much for what Pang Jian had done but was taken aback by this news.

At this time, he also heard the tumult coming from the First Peak.

Turning his head, he saw many of their Lin Family scions, each running for their lives, tumbling down from the summit.

Because of their low realm, those who he had arranged to be on the First Peak were clearly fleeing for their lives.

Lin Yuanfeng focused and saw that the "Heavenly Killing Spirit Array" had disappeared. At the summit of the First Peak, there were blinding lights, accompanied by thunder, lightning, and flames, with sounds of either muffled or loud collisions of weapons and flesh.

Lin Yuanfeng immediately understood what had happened.

"The Heavenly Killing Spirit Array has disappeared; everyone be careful of alien tribes’ counterattack!"

Lin Yuanfeng shouted as he turned around.

Like him, many people noticed the anomaly at the First Peak. Before his shout, they had already started screaming, their expressions somewhat panicked.

The timing was off!

According to their secret communication with those at the mountain peak, the "Heavenly Killing Spirit Array" should not have disappeared so soon; Cao Mang and those Spirit Condensation Realm Great Cultivators above had not yet fully drained the remaining potential of the alien tribe’s powerhouses.

The alien tribes evidently still had strength left, capable of launching several more desperate counterattacks.

"One hundred fourteen five, one hundred twenty, one... twenty-eight!"

Pang Jian, standing still, silently counted the number of Divine Senses in his mind.

Exactly one hundred and twenty-eight strands of Divine Sense existed within his Sea of Consciousness, swaying like fish.

His perception became increasingly acute. Not looking at the world from a "Demigod" perspective, the range of his Divine Sense inspection continued to expand.

"It’s reached the limit, the Soul Fire still has a tiny bit of strength not fully refined, but no new Divine Sense is being born."

"One hundred twenty-eight, this total is the limit of my Divine Sense. Only by reaching this limit can I attempt to control my Divine Sense; once it moves at will, that’s the middle stage of the Hollow Profound Realm!"

"..."

Pang Jian silently felt it.

Not long after, the "Soul Fire" of the second sixth-level Ghost Clan warrior was finally completely assimilated by his Sea of Consciousness.

But still, no new Divine Sense took shape.

So he no longer waited.

He, holding the Star-shattering Umbrella, looked down to inspect, but did not find any valuable or peculiar Evil Artifacts on the body of this stronger Ghost Clan warrior.

He quickened his pace slightly.

He first came to the foot of Third Peak, glanced briefly at the Cyclops lying in a pool of blood, its one eye now a huge gaping wound.

Then he looked to the side and noticed that all the Cyclops had their eyes gouged out.

The Ferocious Beasts that died here were also butchered by the individual cultivators and clan elders, sealed in special containers, and taken into their respective storage bags and wrist storages.

The scions coming down from the First Peak, the Innate Realm, and Hollow Profound Realm individual cultivators, were all describing the situation above.

Pang Jian, unconcerned, continued onward.

After a while, finally, he arrived at the foot of the First Peak.

While more people kept sliding down from above and fleeing from the summit, Pang Jian, with his Star-shattering Umbrella, became the first climber to ascend against the flow.

Pang Jian began to ascend step by step.

...