The Purgatory Calamity
Chapter 304 - 288: Li Yuanchen_1

Chapter 304: Chapter 288: Li Yuanchen_1

Dizzy and disoriented, Pang Jian swayed along with the constant shaking of Black Iron Mountain.

Yet, the soles of his feet remained firmly glued to Black Iron Mountain, never thrown off by its tumultuous rumblings.

Watching Dong Tianze’s silhouette also violently swaying in the thick smoke, Pang Jian asked again, "Why did you break in?"

Dong Tianze was strenuously using his Spiritual Power and mental focus to control Black Iron Mountain.

Upon hearing the question, he didn’t turn around; instead, after a moment of silence, he said, "The person who helped me kill that Individual Cultivator in the unknown Fragment Land, was it you?"

Pang Jian remained silent.

Both men had posed a question, but neither answered the other’s.

How much time had passed?

Amid the violent tremors of Black Iron Mountain, they seemed to burst from one dimension of space and time into another realm.

The Black Iron Mountain that had vanished above the Sword Boat reappeared!

"Pang Jian!"

Zhuang Yuyan and Qi Qingsong’s spirits lifted.

The reappearance of Black Iron Mountain, along with the unscathed condition of Pang Jian and Dong Tianze, caused these two people’s morale to soar.

"They’ve actually returned..."

The one who had merged several figures into one and impersonated Luo Yuan, however, noticeably flinched.

He swung his Spirit Sword, shattering Qi Qingsong’s woven azure dream sea with one strike, and stabilized his own spirit.

"Huff!"

He instantly shifted away from beneath Zhuang Yuyan’s offensive.

Suddenly landing outside the Sword Boat, his body was enveloped in a thunderbolt and ice storm, resembling a God Spirit wielding the secrets of two heavenly paths.

He furrowed his brow, his gaze sweeping across Pang Jian, Dong Tianze, Zhuang Yuyan, and Qi Qingsong, as if seriously contemplating his next move to break the deadlock.

"Sister Zhuang, Qi Qingsong, are you two alright?" Pang Jian called out.

"We’re fine."

Zhuang Yuyan chuckled and shook her head.

To her left and right, a longsword and a shortsword transformed into the Vermilion Bird and the Kylin.

A world of blazing flames unfolded behind her, with the Vermilion Bird and the Kylin crouching within that fiery realm, glaring at the imposter drifting away from the Sword Boat.

"Huff!"

Atop Zhuang Yuyan’s forehead, a tiny flaming figure appeared, the manifestation of her Spiritual Soul.

Having sensed the Tao of Flame and ascended to the Spirit Condensation Realm, she used the Spiritual Soul manifested on her brow to connect with the fiery world behind her, transformed from two Spirit Swords, singeing the imposter’s eyebrows and hair.

"I’m fine, too."

Seeing Pang Jian’s anxiousness and that he had abandoned formalities by calling him by his name instead of as "Qi," Qi Qingsong smiled gladly.

He knew it was because Pang Jian recognized him as a friend that, in a critical moment, he shed the formal detachment.

"This man is venomous at heart, full of wicked schemes; both of you should be cautious," Qi Qingsong reminded with a smile.

Pang Jian was taken aback.

He had assumed that Zhuang Yuyan and Qi Qingsong were in imminent danger and that their conditions were dire.

After all, the manner in which the man slaughtered Lu Lingchan was too frightening, making him seem very composed and relaxed.

Fearing they couldn’t withstand the assault, he had rushed back in desperation, only to find both of them surprisingly at ease.

"Pang Jian, that man is not as powerful as we imagined!" Zhuang Yuyan’s cheeks were flushed, and her bright eyes shone with an intense flame as she huffed, "Lu Lingchan died so quickly because the Ascension Flute was overpowered by him. Or perhaps, he knows how to break the Ascension Immortal Realm forged by the Ascension Flute!"

"Pang Jian, he is not in the Spirit Condensation Realm; he’s just like us, in the Hollow Profound Realm!" Qi Qingsong interjected.

At this time on the Sword Boat, only this brother and sister pairing remained; Fang Boxuan had long since disappeared.

The two of them had defended the Sword Boat and fiercely battled the pretender together, realizing that much of his talk was nonsense; he had not ascended to Spirit Condensation.

When they truly fought him with all their might, they realized he was far less formidable than his boasts suggested.

"He hails from Eastland of the First Realm, an envoy from the Bright Heaven Divine Kingdom," Dong Tianze revealed the man’s identity, his eyes cold, "Using thunderous methods, he executed Lu Lingchan of Black Valley, giving us an incense stick’s time to consider, all to divide us. His real aim is to prevent us from joining forces, intending to break through us one by one."

"Hmm, you were whisked away by the vortex; following after him was precisely what he had hoped for," Qi Qionsong nodded slightly in agreement, adding, "The departure of Zhao Yuanqi and Zhou Qingchen must also be to his liking."

The man chuckled and clapped his hands in approval, "Not bad, not bad; you folks are clever."

As he spoke, his burned hair and eyebrows quickly regrew, spurred by his robust life force.

"Sssssh!"

He tore off the outer black coat and carelessly discarded it, revealing the golden armor underneath.

Blinding golden light shone from each segment of the armor, smooth as a mirror.

"Crack, crack!"

His bones emitted crisp sounds as his body twisted and contorted, transforming into a slender, slightly gaunt handsome man.

He had long, thin eyebrows and narrow eyes, emanating a gloomy and effeminate elegance, like a pampered young lord who had never known the hardships of the common world.

"Bright Heaven Divine Kingdom, Li Yuanchen, a pleasure to meet you all," he greeted, smiling politely.

At that moment, wrapped in his golden armor and wielding a large, lightning-coiled hammer in his right hand, he appeared mighty and divine.

The mantle of the Spirit Sword that had concealed his identity, however, was tossed aside carelessly.

"Huff!"

An icy Square Seal, resembling a miniature shimmering glacier, settled in the palm of his left hand.

The already handsome man, draped in golden armor, with a silver hammer in his right hand and holding the Ice Seal in his left, now emanated a boundless majesty, like an ethereal being of the divine realm.

"We ventured into Mysterious Fog ahead of you, intending to explore the Absolute Sky Forbidden Land. Little did we expect..."

Li Yuanchen let out a soft sigh, his expression one of sorrow, "Apart from me, hundreds of people on the ship gave up hope, dying one by one before my very eyes."

"What you went through, we have all experienced. I watched them slaughter each other, watched them vent their depraved desires—our ship descended into even greater chaos."

"Suspicions, old grudges... they all exploded into countless unspeakable atrocities amidst the despair that permeated the ship."

He shook his head, seemingly unwilling to reminisce about his past.

"Enough, things have come to this. My identity has been exposed and you, honestly, are a bit of a nuisance..."

He reached out and tugged gently, and the gray-green vortex from which Pang Jian and Dong Tianze had flown, suddenly flew towards him.

The vortex immediately left the Sword Boat, flying into the vast and boundless Mysterious Fog.

He stood upon the vortex, waving his hand, "Let’s part ways here. I wish you all the best and hope you can escape from this place."

The constantly surging vortex seemed like another one of his magical artifacts, carrying him as he disappeared into the vast Mysterious Fog.

Realizing the situation was hopeless and feeling unable to deal with the four people on the Sword Boat, Li Yuanchen decisively left without lingering for even a moment.

"You killed people from my Sword Tower, and no matter which Divine Country you come from, don’t even think about escaping!"

Qi Qingsong pursued with his sword.

"You won’t catch up to me."

Li Yuanchen turned to look back, a smile playing on his lips, "The four of you are quite troublesome together; dealing with you as a group is too complicated. So... haha! I’ll go kill those who’ve fled first!"

The gray-green vortex suddenly accelerated, merging into the vast Mysterious Fog, and in the blink of an eye, it disappeared.

Pang Jian’s heart trembled. He abruptly stimulated the innate ability of the Mysterious Turtle’s shell, chasing after the distant vortex.

"Whoosh!"

As Qi Qingsong watched the vortex’s trace vanish and was forced to stop halfway, Pang Jian flashed past above his head.

"Pang Jian!"

Qi Qingsong, Zhuang Yuyan, Qi Qingsong screamed out.

"He’s going to save Zhou Qingchen!"

Qi Qingsong reacted.

"I can’t see him anymore!"

Zhuang Yuyan, who was guarding the Sword Boat, knew something was wrong and hastily deployed her short sword that was linked to her divine sense to search.

However, in the world’s most mysterious Mysterious Fog, how easy could it be to find someone?

When Dong Tianze flew to Qi Qingsong’s side aboard the Black Iron Mountain, Qi Qingsong stopped him.

"To find Pang Jian, it’s best if we all search together. If we split up, not only might we not find Pang Jian, but we may also not find our way back," Qi Qingsong said seriously.

In the Mysterious Fog, everyone’s vision was limited to a fifty-zhang radius around people and objects. Since the Sword Boat was of similar length, everyone’s field of vision wasn’t too restricted on the Sword Boat.

But once you moved further away, exceeding a hundred zhang, it would become very difficult to see where the other person was.

Divine Sense was useless, perception was affected by the Mysterious Fog, and there was no sense of direction in it. If one were to separate, it might become impossible to find each other again.

"I’ll come and search with you."

Zhuang Yuyan floated over.

She left a longsword on the Sword Boat, holding a short sword in hand, "This is a set of Bi-Spirit Swords, there’s a connection between the two. I’ll leave the parent sword on the Sword Boat, and after we leave, we can still locate it with the child sword."

"That’s a better idea!"

Qi Qingsong said.

...

In the vast Mysterious Fog.

"Pang Jian, you can’t catch up to me."

Li Yuanchen’s light laughter drifted from a distance, as if guiding Pang Jian, letting him know his position.

"Those who left the Sword Boat, I will eliminate one by one; they are the whetstones for my realm refinement. Once I deal with them, I shall ascend to the Spirit Condensation Realm."

"When my Spiritual Soul is condensed, I will return to the Sword Boat you’re on and eliminate the rest."

Li Yuanchen unabashedly spoke of his plans.

Yet, that gray-green vortex, and even his voice, began to fade away.

Moments later, Pang Jian found himself lost again.

When he realized something was wrong, suddenly he noticed that in all directions, there was only the vast, unbounded Mysterious Fog.

At that moment, he lost his sense of direction and it was too late to turn back.

There was no one beside him, floating in the misty fog, feeling as if there was nothing but void and desolation between heaven and earth.

It seemed as if, in the entire world, only he was left.

An endless sense of solitude slowly filled his soul, giving him the ultimate feeling of loneliness.

And this sentiment, he had experienced it more than once before.

Beneath Ice-rock City, at that broken altar, when drawing the Extreme Cold Power and communicating with the Ice Demon.

When entering the Copper Box without wearing the Purgatory Gate.

—Both occasions gave him a similar feeling.

It was for this reason that he was more capable than others of adapting to this terrifying sense of solitude; he could still think clearly and calmly.

What to do?

Reluctantly, he kept using the power of Qi and Blood inside his body, stirring the Mysterious Turtle’s shell to drift and slide through the Mysterious Fog, trying to find those who had left the Sword Boat.

But after much oscillation, the space and environment he was in didn’t change at all.

Among the eternally obscure fog, neither the people he sought to find nor his energy manifested; the latter was only being depleted for nothing.

"This isn’t working."

Pang Jian stopped with a frown.

He continued to contemplate deeply.

After some indeterminate time, the prolonged and endless feeling of solitude didn’t erode his will; he was still thinking of a strategy.

"Hiss!"

Suddenly, a golden bee insect flew out from the "Gate of Prison" in his chest.

...