The Purgatory Calamity
Chapter 240 - 225 Opportunity Arises_1

Chapter 240: Chapter 225 Opportunity Arises_1

A disciple from Sky Water Swamp, who had calmed down, noticed that Pang Jian wasn’t wearing the Sword Tower’s customary blue robe. After pondering for a moment, he added, "Young brother, could I take a look at your token?"

The woman from Sky Water Swamp was taken aback and exclaimed in surprise, "Brother Xiao, are there actually people bold enough to impersonate disciples of Sword Tower in the Third Realm?"

"Indeed, there have been precedents."

Xiao Hang, who was composed in nature, stared into Pang Jian’s eyes as he spoke, as if trying to detect any trickery.

"Alright."

Knowing there was nothing wrong with his token, Pang Jian casually tossed it over.

Xiao Hang caught the token and discreetly channeled spiritual power into his palm, immediately sensing the sharp essence unique to Sword Tower within the token.

The next moment, Xiao Hang’s face lit up with a smile. He stepped forward, handed the token back to Pang Jian, and explained in a gentle tone:

"I have spent some time in the Lower Realm and know that there are some bold individual cultivators who purposefully have tokens from Upper Realm sects replicated to swindle others. I am Xiao Hang, an outer sect disciple from Sky Water Swamp."

He bowed slightly and pointed toward another man, saying, "This is Lin Ruilin, who, like myself, is also an outer sect disciple from Sky Water Swamp."

Lin Ruilin nodded slightly in greeting.

Xiao Hang then looked toward the woman with a pair of bright eyes like autumn waters, skin so white that it seemed as if it could be broken by a blow, and silky black hair cascading down.

He smiled mildly, and this time, without pointing or gesturing, said softly, "Lu Xiangyi, an inner sect disciple of Sky Water Swamp."

Lu Xiangyi, shapely and slender, with a touch of pride, thrust out her chest slightly, and said, "My mentor is Yuan Xi."

Pang Jian, not knowing who Yuan Xi was, falsely bowed his hands and said, "I’ve long heard of you."

Back in Cave Dwelling Number Fifty-Six, he listened to Qi Qingsong ramble on about some of his personal circumstances while they drank together.

Thus, Pang Jian also knew that there were indeed differences between sects of cultivators in the Second Realm and the Third Realm.

In the Third Realm, the five major sects did not differentiate between inner and outer disciples. Disciples like Jiang Li, Zhou Qingchen, and Zhao Yuanqi were all collectively known as Red Mountain Disciples.

All Elders of Red Mountain could pick and teach any new disciple they took a liking to.

The Star River Alliance, Blood Moon, Raging Sun Sect, and Yin Spirit Temple were much the same.

The Second Realm was different.

Sects with long legacies such as Sword Tower, Demon Sect, Black Valley, and Sky Water Swamp all had the distinction between inner and outer gates.

When new disciples entered the sect and were entered into the record books of identity, they would be immediately tested for root bone, realm, talent, perseverance, and other qualities and character traits through a strict selection process.

Whether they would be inner or outer disciples was determined from the start.

Those judged to be outer sect disciples could choose spirit spells and secret skills within certain permissions to cultivate in the sect, participate in some of the sect’s activities, and were allowed to act outside under the identity of Sword Tower.

Inner sect disciples were often those whose talents and potential were proven exceptional from the beginning; upon becoming inner sect disciples, they would be taken under the wing of Elders or Great Cultivators.

Inner sect disciples were usually led by their mentors in cultivation, and mentors would elucidate the difficult and obscure spirit spells.

If the mentor took a special interest in them, considering them materials worth crafting, resources for cultivation like spiritual artifacts, secret skills, and pills would be accordingly provided with bias.

For this reason, the future achievements of inner sect disciples were almost always beyond those of outer sect disciples.

"And you are?"

Xiao Hang, having introduced himself, appeared somewhat dissatisfied when Pang Jian did not follow the protocol and reveal his own identity and name.

"Luo Yuan, an outer sect disciple of Sword Tower. I don’t have a mentor,"

Pang Jian said frankly.

At that moment.

"Whoosh!"

The White Crane that had disappeared suddenly returned.

While the four were talking, it projected a malevolent look in its eyes and flew straight towards them.

Xiao Hang cried out in alarm, "There really is a White Crane!"

"Luo Yuan, it seems we have misunderstood you,"

Lu Xiangyi apologized, first flashing Pang Jian a mild smile, then casually raising strips of talisman paper.

The talisman papers floated in mid-air, releasing a hazy mist that instantly turned the space into a spiritual power water domain.

In this water domain, the talismans continued to fly in an array, gradually expanding its range.

"Profound Water Bind!"

The completed spiritual power water domain, pulled by the talismans, surged towards the incoming White Crane.

"Vile beast, how dare you attack a person of Sky Water Swamp!"

Seeing that the higher realm Lu Xiangyi had taken action, Xiao Hang didn’t exercise his power, but instead, he coldly shouted at the strange White Crane.

The White Crane, full of spiritual nature, flouted a dismissive look in its eyes when it approached the bizarre water domain.

It opened its beak slightly, and suddenly expelled a thunderball the size of a thumb.

The small thunderball, upon leaving its beak, suddenly triggered the environmental upheaval of Cloud Thunder Forbidden Zone.

"Boom!"

Numerous thin white lightning bolts, accompanied by thunderous blasts, appeared abruptly, densely intertwined over the spiritual power water domain released by Lu Xiangyi.

The spiritual power water domain, brought forth by the talisman papers, was blasted full of holes, and the special-effect talisman papers were utterly riddled.

"Crack!"

"Boom!"

Constant thunder rolled, and more lightning emerged in rapid succession, enveloping all four of them, including Pang Jian.

The White Crane joyfully cried out, soaring and spreading its wings high above their heads.

The three people in the lower Sky Water Swamp, struck repeatedly by the Thunderous Lightning it stirred up, swore and cursed continuously.

They had long been holding talisman paper, summoning a shield like a transparent water curtain, struggling to withstand the pounding of Thunderous Lightning.

Pang Jian, who didn’t want to expose his wonderful abilities too early, also gathered Spiritual Power to summon the Qingying light shield, resisting the bombardment of Thunderous Lightning.

With a thought, when the Thunderous Lightning came slashing down, he would suddenly deliberately let one or two bolts of thunder and lightning through.

"Crackle!"

Watching a gleaming white ghostly bolt strike his outstretched arm, feeling the sour, numb pain in his limb, he quietly circulated the "Pot Heaven Nourishing Qi Spell," attempting to absorb the power of Thunderous Lightning.

Him, having cultivated to the Hollow Profound Realm, could clearly see strands of thunder and lightning entering his body and being erased by his own power in an instant.

"The self-defense force inside my body will eliminate harmful forces that don’t belong to it," he thought. "I have to forcibly intervene with my mind and will to contain my own strength."

Thinking thus, he allowed the gleaming white lightning to strike his body and actively restrained his own power from countering it.

Upon scrutinizing closer once more, he was astonished to see that truly, there were strands of faint filaments of thunder and lightning, no longer threatening his body and flesh, being gradually absorbed by his Spiritual Sea.

However, the too weak thunder and lightning would exhaust its energy and disappear before being led to the Spiritual Sea.

"In the Cloud Thunder Forbidden Zone, the natural thunder and lightning can definitely be absorbed into my Spiritual Sea; it just needs to be more intense and sustained!"

Far from being discouraged, Pang Jian felt a surprising and thrilling delight.

"Whoosh!"

As Pang Jian’s eyes brightened, the troublesome White Crane turned into a streak of lightning and swiftly flew away from the area.

"This White Crane is very strange!"

Xiao Hang, with slightly singed hair, had clearly had his Spiritual Power Strong Shield penetrated and had been struck by Thunderous Lightning.

With a dispirited and begrimed face, he watched the departing White Crane and wondered, "How did a White Crane suddenly appear in the Cloud Thunder Forbidden Zone?"

Lin Ruilin, not very talkative, shook his head.

His arms used to block when the Spiritual Power Strong Shield shattered were now smoking.

Lu Xiangyi was the only one among the three who had not had her protective shield broken under such fierce and concentrated thunder and lightning attacks.

She looked only slightly fatigued.

Pulling a jade pendant from her waist, she held it in her palm, and without concern for Pang Jian’s proximity, shouted, "Everyone, be on guard against a malicious White Crane. It has killed our brother Yao and just attacked us."

"All hands, the moment you see that White Crane, immediately conjure your Spiritual Power Strong Shields and defend with all your might."

"The White Crane seems to be able to control the natural lightning in the Cloud Thunder Forbidden Zone, concentrating it in one place."

"Keep in touch at all times, and it’s better to report anything strange as soon as possible. I feel that this Cloud Thunder Forbidden Zone is far more troublesome than we imagined."

"..."

Lu Xiangyi was relaying messages through the jade pendant.

Listening silently with her mind to the responses coming from inside the jade pendant, she then gave further instructions.

Pang Jian, feeling a bit agitated, deactivated his Qingying shield, glanced at where the White Crane had vanished, and said to the three, "We’ll meet again in the future."

As his words fell, without waiting for the three to speak, he dashed away dozens of meters.

The White Crane that could influence the Thunderous Lightning in the Cloud Thunder Forbidden Zone and gather it in one place became the opportunity in Pang Jian’s eyes to break through his current realm, and he yearned for the White Crane to unleash another fierce attack.

"What’s with this Luo Yuan acting like he can’t stand being with us?"

Xiao Hang frowned, donning a small green cap to cover his somewhat weird burnt hair, and said, "I noticed earlier that his body-protecting shield also didn’t last long before being breached by the numerous bolts of lightning and thunder."

"At the early stage of the Hollow Profound Realm, that’s all he can achieve," said Lu Xiangyi indifferently.

"What I mean is... he doesn’t have the ability to face that White Crane alone, so why not stay with us?" Xiao Hang voiced his doubts, saying, "The way he looks, it seems he’s gone after that White Crane."

"If he wants to seek death, we can’t stop him."

Lu Xiangyi hummed without concern.

"True, his death wish indeed has nothing to do with us."

Xiao Hang nodded and said no more.

...

In the days that followed,

Pang Jian did nothing but pursue the strange White Crane, keeping a close watch on it without relent.

The White Crane attacked anyone who ventured into the Cloud Thunder Forbidden Zone.

Whether they were Individual Cultivators or from the Second Realm’s Demon Sect, Black Valley, and Sky Water Swamp, as long as they came into its field of vision, it attacked without reason.

Its method of attack was also crude and direct.

In the Cloud Thunder Forbidden Zone, where the sporadic appearance of Thunderous Lightning might have been manipulated by it, it could draw them out and concentrate them toward the area it wished to attack.

At these times,

Pang Jian, who never took his eyes off it, would either see it preparing to attack someone, or he would arrive at that person’s location ahead of time.

Or, as those people were bombarded by Thunderous Lightning, Pang Jian would brazenly rush in.

Pang Jian displayed an intense masochistic tendency, deliberately leaping into areas dense with Thunderous Lightning, toughing it out under his protective shield.

His peculiar behavior, his repeated reckless dashes into areas churning with Thunderous Lightning, compelled the White Crane to take notice of him.

While Pang Jian and the other Cultivators in the Cloud Thunder Forbidden Zone considered the White Crane to be strange and eerie,

The White Crane instead found this human who seemed to have a death wish even more odd.

...