The Purgatory Calamity
Chapter 298 - 283 Mutual Suspicion_1

Chapter 298: Chapter 283 Mutual Suspicion_1

Qi Qingsong’s expression was cold and stern.

The doubtful gazes of many people fell on Zhuang Yuyan one by one, all believing she had a major suspicion.

Zhuang Yuyan had not shown her face; no one knew what she was doing in her room, and when everyone was suffering from many strange murders, she had never participated.

When Pang Jian found her, she appeared quite calm and composed.

Now, it was the same.

"Was it you?"

Qi Qingsong asked again.

This question shattered the slight bond that had been formed among everyone through drinking and eating meat not so long ago.

"My master is from Guanghe, and the dispensing and allocation of Sword Tower pills, Spirit Swords, and Spirit Spells are all under my master’s control."

Zhuang Yuyan, wearing the blue robe with the Sword Tower emblem and having a serene temperament and gentle smile, said unhurriedly as she smoothed the stray hair on her smooth forehead, "He’s got a bit of a weird temper, and since I’m his only disciple, when I decided to enter Absolute Sky Forbidden Land..."

She paused, tugging the corner of her mouth into a smile as she looked at Qi Qingsong, "He gave me fifty thousand Spirit Jades."

"Additionally..."

"I personally have another sixty thousand Spirit Jades, which makes a total of a hundred and ten thousand in my possession, likely more than all of you combined."

She gracefully descended onto the deck.

"Whoosh!"

The Firm Cover she conjured expanded suddenly by more than tenfold, a huge, pale green, translucent cover that enveloped a large section of the deck.

And then, blocks of sparkling, crystal-clear Spirit Jade filled that space.

"I can’t show you the other items in my wristlet, but let me show you my Spirit Jades."

Standing among the hills of "Spirit Jade," Zhuang Yuyan looked at the people in the stands with a smile, her tone mocking, "Now, do you still think I would lay hands on my fellow disciple Han Lu in the cabin for some Spirit Jades?"

"A hundred and ten thousand Spirit Jades!"

Zhou Qingchen licked the corner of his mouth, intimidated by those dazzling, enormous Spirit Stones, and said, "Compared to Inner Sect Disciples from Second Realm Sects, we’re really poor, Pang Jian."

Pang Jian nodded slightly.

He thought that if it wasn’t for needing to nourish the Spirit Vein of Panshi Fragment Land, to allow the Mysterious Turtle to evolve, he would have even more Spirit Jades than her.

Lu Lingchan from Black Valley, also feeling overshadowed by the wealthy Zhuang Yuyan, nodded and said, "It should have nothing to do with you."

Zhao Yuanqi muttered to herself, "Second Realm, Sword Tower, Black Valley, Inner Gate, Direct Disciple..."

She suddenly felt that she should have found a way to go to the Second Realm earlier, instead of staying in Red Mountain to endure hard cultivation.

No matter how much Red Mountain valued her, due to the lacking foundation of the Sect, they couldn’t bestow tens of thousands of Spirit Jades like Lu Lingchan and Zhuang Yuyan’s master did in one go.

Spirit Jade was the symbol of wealth in the cultivation world, capable of purchasing many high-grade Spiritual Artifacts, and even Holy Artifacts!

She felt somewhat envious in her heart.

"Qi, do you still think it was me?"

Zhuang Yuyan asked again.

Qi Qingsong shook his head with an awkward smile, full of apologies, "I misunderstood you, Zhuang."

Zhuang Yuyan, with ample Spirit Jades at her disposal, had even more than Lu Lingchan, enough for her to hold out for decades in the "Mysterious Fog."

No wonder she had remained so calm all along, not showing any signs of impatience.

"Woosh!"

The hills of Spirit Jade were taken back into Zhuang Yuyan’s possession, and she flew back to the third floor’s gallery, saying with a smile, "Before coming here, my master specifically instructed me to maintain my Hollow Profound Realm cultivation."

"Once inside, whether I reach Absolute Sky Forbidden Land or not, I can try to advance to the next realm."

"As for me..."

She spun a silver jug and cup from among the people to herself and filled the cup with wine.

After sipping a small mouthful, she continued, "Before entering the Mysterious Fog, I was in my room, struggling to suppress my realm to avoid accidentally breaking through to the Spirit Condensation Realm."

Everyone was instantly shocked.

"Pang, I didn’t come out to meet you or greet you because I was afraid even the slightest mental change would compel me to start refining my Spiritual Soul."

She drank the wine in her cup to the last drop, turned the empty cup upside down as a gesture of apology, "To suppress a realm that should have broken through is actually a very difficult thing."

Pang Jian suddenly realized.

"So, as soon as the Sword Boat plunged into the Mysterious Fog, I took the opportunity to condense my spirit at the first moment."

Zhuang Yuyan, with a gentle tone and calm demeanor, continued, "During the critical phase of Spirit Condensation, I didn’t have much leisure to pay attention to the outside world and certainly wouldn’t kill Han off for such a small amount of Spirit Jade, sneaking into the cabin."

Fang Boxuan exclaimed in shock, "You’re in the Spirit Condensation Realm now?"

Zhuang Yuyan nodded with a smile.

The crowd erupted in astonishment.

While they were mired in the quagmire of the Mysterious Fog, each lost and bewildered, various dark aspects of human nature erupting one after another, Zhuang Yuyan had seized the chance to advance to the Spirit Condensation Realm!

Success in Spirit Condensation meant she had surpassed everyone present in terms of realm!

Unless there was a powerful artifact that could narrow the chasm of cultivation difference, no one present could be her match.

Pang Jian also inwardly praised her.

Lu Lingchan, Qi Qingsong, and this member of Sword Tower, Zhuang Yuyan, not a single one of them is a simple character.

Compared to Yang Rui of the Raging Sun Sect and Xie Xiwen of the Star River Alliance, these geniuses of the Second Realm indeed surpass them in every aspect.

Zhou Qingchen whispered with a bitter smile, "The pressure is so great."

"You’re still alive, whereas those who were of a higher realm than you have already died in no small number," Pang Jian consoled.

"That’s true!"

Zhou Qingchen felt a bit better in his heart.

"Who exactly is secretly making these deadly moves?" Guo Hongyuan’s suspicious eyes fell onto Pang Jian, Zhao Yuanqi, and Dong Tianze again, feeling that each of them seemed suspect.

"The man died in the cabin, yet the Spirit Jade and the bracelet that should have been found were missing, which means someone benefited."

After looking around at everyone, Lu Lingchan’s gaze finally settled on Pang Jian’s face and said, "The golden Divine Sense you released earlier seemed quite peculiar, perhaps..."

She left her sentence hanging there.

"Pang Jian, he’s been with me in the room all the time; he has never left my sight!"

Zhou Qingchen declared.

"You brothers are close, so it’s possible for you to falsify evidence for him."

Lu Lingchan’s expression was indifferent, and with a light snort, she added, "The person who died was not weak in both realm and combat power, and there weren’t many on the Sword Boat who could have killed him in the chaos."

"And Pang Jian, being able to kill someone from the Spirit Condensation Realm in the Yuan Mang Fragmented Lands, surely makes him a suspect."

"Therefore, my suggestion is."

She looked toward Qi Qingsong and glanced at Zhuang Yuyan, saying, "We should inspect Pang Jian’s, and also Zhou Qingchen’s storage bracelets!"

"Indeed, Pang Jian is a major suspect."

"His relationship with Zhou Qingchen is too close – it’s necessary to check the storage bracelets of both of them."

Ye Fei of Black Valley and Lv Lianchen immediately spoke up in support of her.

"I’m also close with Pang Jian; should my bracelet be inspected as well? After all, I could be shielding Pang Jian too, couldn’t I?" Qi Qingsong said with a sidelong cold sneer.

Ye Fei and Lv Lianchen immediately fell silent.

Lu Lingchan nodded firmly and said, "It’s good to take a look at yours as well."

"Just because you’re a leader doesn’t mean you’re entirely above suspicion. I’ve seen ’thieves shouting to catch a thief’ before, who knows if it was you who killed Han Lu and then pretended to lead everyone to the cabin?"

In her eyes, the ones capable of killing Han Lu were herself, Zhuang Yuyan, and both Pang Jian and Qi Qingsong.

Since she hadn’t made a move and Zhuang Yuyan had an exceedingly high total of Spirit Jade, the most likely ones left were Pang Jian and Qi Qingsong.

"We haven’t done it, so we’re not afraid to check the bracelets!"

Zhou Qingchen immediately removed his bracelet, ready to take out all the Spiritual Materials inside to prove his innocence.

"Zhou, there’s no need for this if we haven’t done anything,"

With a frown, Pang Jian stopped his next move, saying indifferently, "I don’t understand what’s the point of finding out who the perpetrator is? Knowing there’s such a person, everyone can just be more careful. Even if we capture and kill him, it won’t change the fact that we can’t escape the Mysterious Fog."

"I’m afraid he’ll continue to kill," Ye Fei said.

"As long as everyone stays on this platform and doesn’t leave this place, he won’t find an opportunity to make a move," Fang Boxuan stated.

"Wait! I’ve just remembered something!"

Zhuang Yuyan’s expression changed, and she suddenly said, "I felt someone entering the cabin. At that time, I had just succeeded in the Spirit Condensation Realm and didn’t pay much attention to it. Later, I was busy stabilizing my realm and didn’t observe closely. I don’t know what happened inside the cabin."

"When he went to the cabin, two outer sect disciples from Sword Tower were fighting to the death on the deck, attracting everyone’s attention,"

Speaking, Zhuang Yuyan looked towards the deck from the stands, saying, "That person went from the deck of the Sword Boat into the cabin. And Pang Jian and Qi Qingsong, they were both in the rooms on the third floor of the Sword Boat at the time."

"There’s someone... "

Zhuang Yuyan’s expression grew more solemn.

She took a deep breath, her eyes revealing horror: "There’s someone who might have blended in with those living dead! He hasn’t lost hope; he still has a strong desire to survive. If I’m not mistaken, he is pretending to be like those living dead, currently sitting withered on the deck below."

"He is likely an outer sect disciple from Sword Tower and Black Valley. Not only is he powerful, but he is also extremely sinister and terrifying."

This statement made everyone shudder.

Shocked and uneasy gazes fell upon those living dead sitting withered, their bodies stiff, and faces expressionless on the deck.

If what the Spirit Souled Zhuang Yuyan said was true, and someone really sneaked into the cabin from the deck, killing Han Lu and taking his Spirit Jade during the fight between the two disciples of Sword Tower,

Then it’s very possible that this person might be mixed among the living dead.

After all, no one had truly left the Sword Boat.

The thought of a sinister and terrifying individual hiding in the shadows, waiting to hunt and take the Spirit Jade from everyone, weighed heavily on everyone’s mind.

"Luo Yuan!"

Ye Fei stood on the stands and called down to the living dead, "Is it you? Have you changed your appearance and mixed in with those people?"

"Luo Yuan?"

The crowd suddenly recalled his previous statement that an outer sect disciple from Sword Tower had 128 strands of Divine Sense in his Sea of Consciousness.

They all began to harbor suspicions.

If there really was such a person with so many Divine Sense strands, he surely had exceptional skills.

This person, unknown even to Qi Qingsong and Nie You within Sword Tower, and with the status of an outer sect disciple, matched all the features of the murderer.

...