The Purgatory Calamity
Chapter 254 - 239 World Tree_1

Chapter 254: Chapter 239 World Tree_1

"Of course, the noble families are nothing but lapdogs to the sects, and would naturally never dare bark at their masters."

A lone cultivator named Wang Yun sneered mockingly from the side.

Pang Jian didn’t reply.

The vast majority of passengers on this ship were not visiting the Xuan You Continent for the first time, so they weren’t too curious about this continent.

The others sat quietly on the deck, either silently cultivating or quietly conversing with one another.

Unlike the rest,

Pang Jian often stood at the edge of the ship, gazing into the distance at the grandeur of rivers and mountains below, overlooking the majestic cities one by one.

Coming to a real and complete continent for the first time, his emotions did not match the indifference on his face; he was, in fact, a bit excited.

——After all, he was not from the Third Realm.

It had only been a little over two years since the Ning family forcibly took him on horseback through the fences to the Solitude Mountain Range.

Two years ago, he was still in his family’s courtyard, looking up at the sky, occasionally daydreaming about the sceneries above.

Universe Heaven and the Xuan You Continent, the two magical continents standing in the Third Realm, were his intangible dreams, seemingly within sight but beyond reach.

He had never imagined that he would be able to set foot on what he saw as the sacred lands of the Upper Realm in such a short time span.

Now, he was a mid-Hollow Profound Realm cultivator with boundless potential.

If nothing unexpected happened, the Sword Tower in the Second Realm would soon acknowledge his identity as a disciple of the Sword Tower.

"It’s like a dream."

Pang Jian was filled with emotion.

Taking a deep breath, he savored the spiritual energy present in the air, and once again looked at the towering cities that the ship, Cloud Sail, was navigating past.

All along the way, he had come to realize how vast the Xuan You Continent was; perhaps even the combined area of dozens of Sky Fortune Fragment Lands could not compare to the immensity of Xuan You.

The colossal Xuan You Continent, home to numerous famous mountains and rivers, also housed dozens of cities, constructed by the Human Race, which were scattered across the continent like stars in the sky.

These cities were ruled by the major families allied with the Blood Moon and the Star River Alliance.

In every city, nature’s spiritual energy was relatively concentrated, and both the ordinary people and cultivators living there could feel the wonder of spiritual energy.

Ordinary people, even without embarking on the path of cultivation, could almost all live to be about a hundred years old just by dwelling in such cities.

Cultivators who absorbed nature’s spiritual energy into their bodies, if they didn’t die in battle along the way, could live for about two hundred years upon reaching the Meridians Channeling and Marrow Cleaning Realms, and those with higher realms lived even longer.

It’s no wonder that those living in the Fourth Realm longed to come to complete continents like Xuan You and Universe Heaven.

That day.

Having gained some understanding of the Xuan You Continent, Pang Jian sat in a corner of the deck, still focused on mastering his Divine Sense.

At that moment, he could control over fifty threads of Divine Sense with his thoughts and intent.

With a thought, not only could his Divine Sense converge towards a single spot, but it could also drift about haphazardly in response to his fluctuating thoughts.

——This was the limit of what he could achieve at present.

Out of the one hundred and twenty-eight threads of Divine Sense, he could currently manipulate only two-fifths. Only when he could control all of his Divine Sense at will would he have the chance to advance to the late Hollow Profound Realm.

Suddenly, while singularly focused on harnessing his Divine Sense, he perceived a cry for help from the Cloud Marsh Sapling.

The last time the Sapling sought help, it was because Li Yuqing intended to destroy a fragment of the Sky Fortune land, forcing the Sapling into a corner and to actively seek assistance from him, its master.

This was the second time.

Pang Jian dared not take it lightly.

"Eh!"

The moment a connection was established, the Sapling forcefully drew power from the strands of Divine Sense in Pang Jian’s Sea of Consciousness.

The fingers-thick Divine Sense suddenly began to thin, the contained spiritual power rapidly draining away.

With a stifled grunt, Pang Jian quickly observed the situation of Sky Fortune Fragment Land to see what emergency had arisen.

"Whoosh! Whoosh whoosh!"

The branches, as thick as giant dragons and releasing verdant divine radiance, burst into his view, shooting out from the edges of Sky Fortune Fragment Land and extending into the distant cloud seas.

The verdant, dragon-like branches were numerous, lining up and stretching far into the cloud seas.

Pang Jian observed closely with a quiet surprise.

He saw deep beneath the land of Sky Fortune Fragment Land, the tangled roots of the Corrosion Boundary Vine, like a small mountain entrenched deep within the earth, exuding an intense concentration of Plant Spirit Energy.

At this moment, all the flora of the Fragment Land was channeling its power towards the roots of the Corrosion Boundary Vine.

Deep below, tender green waves of light were converging along the vine’s roots.

The surface world.

The Wood Tribe people, who regarded it as their God Spirit, sat quietly under its lush foliage, holding the hanging branches with their palms, their faces filled with excited expressions.

It was marshaling the power of all unusual flowers and plants spawned by Sky Fortune Fragment Land, as well as concentrating the Wood Tribe people in one place.

This was a move to annex another fragment of land!

The verdant, dragon-like branches served as its endlessly growing tentacles, allowing it to reach another fragment of land and merge the two fragments into one.

Throughout this process, it had marshaled all the powers it could muster, so the Plant Spirit Energy was actually sufficient.

But it was still slightly lacking in mental strength.

"Understood!"

Without a second word, Pang Jian immediately cooperated, allowing it to seize the alien spiritual force within his Sea of Consciousness.

In the Cloud Thunder Forbidden Zone, if not for its and the Mysterious Turtle’s selfless help, he would’ve been blasted to death by that White Crane with Thunderous Lightning long ago.

With it and the Mysterious Turtle of Panshi Fragment Land, they shared both their fortunes and misfortunes; expending any amount of his strength was worth it.

In just half an hour.

As dozens of dragon-thick branches extended hundreds of miles into the cloud seas of the Third Realm, parts of the miraculous flowers and exotic plants of Cloud Marsh began to wither.

Pang Jian’s one hundred and twenty-eight threads of Divine Sense thinned from finger-thick to hair-like.

The spiritual alien power within had been completely seized by the Sapling.

Yet from the Sapling, there still came a will seeking more, feeling unsatisfied.

Pang Jian, who had become groggy and whose mind was foggy, wanting to fall asleep, knew that the Sapling was at a crucial juncture and thus forcefully rallied his spirits, reaching into his bracelet to fetch a Calming Pill.

He quickly realized that all the Calming Pills he had bought or intercepted had already been squandered.

"No Calming Pills, but I still have Soul Nourishing Pills!"

A pill worth ten times that of a Calming Pill was taken out by him without hesitation and swallowed in one gulp.

As soon as the pill’s medicinal effects began to work, a very distinct aura of the soul dissipated, which he actively gathered and immediately poured into his own Sea of Consciousness.

Every withered and slender Divine Sense slowly swelled, briskly beginning to grow stronger.

"Indeed, it’s far more powerful than the Calming Pill."

Pang Jian’s expression brightened, shaking off his previous listlessness, and the tiredness of wanting to sleep was gone as well.

Consequently, he decisively took out another new Soul Nourishing Pill and swallowed it.

With two pills in his stomach, the soul aura released inside his body became increasingly evident, causing many on the Cloud Sail to take notice of him.

"What a rich soul aura!"

"The soul aura that nourishes the Divine Sense, surely not something the Calming Pill could produce, this is... a Soul Nourishing Pill!"

"Oh my goodness! This man is simply wasteful! A Great Cultivator at the Spirit Condensation Realm, using Soul Nourishing Pills to refine his Spiritual Soul, he actually swallowed them to cultivate his Divine Sense!"

"It’s two Soul Nourishing Pills!"

Many on the Cloud Sail looked at Pang Jian, who was seated and cultivating, with shock and bewilderment.

In their eyes, Pang Jian had suddenly become an extravagant oddity, a fat sheep loaded with treasures.

"Ying sister, what’s the background of this man?"

An Individual Cultivator at the later stages of the Hollow Profound Realm leaned over and whispered to Wang Ying, licking his lips: "Wearing a storage bracelet and able to take out two Soul Nourishing Pills for cultivation, he shouldn’t be an unknown nobody, right?"

Wang Ying, equally surprised, also stared at Pang Jian who suddenly became extremely flamboyant, cultivating with Soul Nourishing Pills.

After hesitating for a moment and with a frown, Wang Ying warned, "Ma Madman, don’t cause trouble on my Cloud Sail."

"On the Cloud Sail, I will naturally give you face. But once off the Cloud Sail... heh heh."

The Individual Cultivator, whose real name was Ma Feng, grinned eerily and asked again, "Do you know anything about him?"

"I only know his name is Gao Song."

Wang Ying also lowered her voice, looking at Pang Jian who was cultivating with closed eyes, and said, "In the Cloud Thunder Forbidden Zone, he was among the surviving Individual Cultivators, but I’ve never seen him make a move; I guess he should be between the early and middle stages of the Hollow Profound Realm."

"Ma Madman, you boarded later and since you don’t know anything about him, you’d do well to leave him alone."

"Anyone who can take out two Soul Nourishing Pills to cultivate at once... isn’t simple, I advise you to think thrice before you act!"

As Wang Ying persuaded, her gaze stayed on Pang Jian, her eyes flickering.

It seemed she too had the urge to try her luck.

"Heh heh, if I succeed, I won’t forget your share."

Ma Feng snickered quietly.

"Ma Madman!"

A few other Individual Cultivators gathered around, joining Ma Feng and Wang Ying in whispering as they looked at Pang Jian.

The Fourth Realm.

"Whoosh! Whoosh whoosh whoosh!"

Dozens of thick, verdant branches stretched from the Sky Fortune Fragment Land, spanning a thousand miles of cloud-sea, and finally penetrated a Fragment Land known as Sky Rampart.

"Crack! Crack!"

The branches long as dragons, like knives slicing into tofu, smoothly pierced into the Sky Rampart Fragment Land.

"Shrriiik!"

As the sharp branches reached deep underground in Sky Rampart Fragment Land, many thorns suddenly sprouted, resembling barbed spikes, pervading the depths of the Sky Rampart Fragment Land.

The next moment.

"Boom! Rumble!"

Sky Fortune Fragment Land and Sky Rampart Fragment Land shook almost at the same time.

The two Fragment Lands, originally a thousand miles apart, began to draw closer to each other as though rushing together from opposite directions.

"It worked!"

"Our faith, our World Tree, has finally taken a crucial step!"

"He is exercising His innate power!"

The members of the Wood Tribe, feeling the gentle undulation of the Sky Fortune Fragment Land, were so thrilled it seemed even their bloodlines trembled.

Some even wept for joy.

In Li Yuqing’s mouth, the evil Sapling was called Corrosion Boundary Vine, but in their mouths, it was the homonymic World Tree.

"Corrosion Boundary, World."

"World Tree."

Pang Jian’s spirit was shaken.

At this moment.

He suddenly noticed that once those thick branches successfully reached Sky Rampart Fragment Land, and the branches fiercely sprouted thorns and barbs, sinking deep into the ground below.

The Sapling no longer sought his spiritual alien power.

Glancing at the state of his Sea of Consciousness, he silently took out a third Soul Nourishing Pill and swallowed it, closing his eyes to continue regulating his breath.

...