The Purgatory Calamity
Chapter 316 - 298: The Stranger in the Forest_1

Chapter 316: Chapter 298: The Stranger in the Forest_1

"Swoosh! Swoosh swoosh!"

Zhou Qingchen brandished his long blades and, as the wine-red gourd descended, he slaughtered several armored alien tribe warriors.

When the long blades returned to him, he looked ahead at Zhao Yuanqi with her silver hair fluttering and her slender back standing straight as a sword, and said, "Senior Sister, you also believe that Pang Jian wouldn’t be wrong, right?"

"If it weren’t for Pang Jian’s guidance, the people of Demon Sect, Sky Water Swamp, and that Fu Wangchen from the Desolated Terrains would still be waiting in vain inside the Mysterious Fog for a slim chance of survival."

"We would be the same."

As she spoke, Zhao Yuanqi’s delicate white hand pressed down through the air.

A mountain, deep red throughout, abruptly materialized and threw itself toward several scorpion-bodied alien tribe members.

"Boom!"

The mountain fell like a real peak, crushing those alien tribesmen, who shrieked as they scrambled to flee.

Those who could not escape fast enough had their bones shattered by the mountain’s overwhelming pressure.

"We don’t need to concern ourselves with the people from Sky Water Swamp, Demon Sect, or Black Valley anymore; just keep an eye on Pang Jian."

The gourd followed Pang Jian’s figure, also flying towards the forest filled with towering trees.

Above, Qi Qingsong, Dong Tianze, and Fang Boxuan, aboard a dark warship descending from Black Iron Mountain, coordinated with the people from the Desolated Terrains and the Ghost Clan warriors in combat.

Fu Wangchen and Zhuang Yuyan, both in the Spirit Condensation Realm, were joined together to fend off a ferocious Ghost Clan general, using the Ancient God Dharma and the soul projection of an Alien God to combat him.

Zhao Yuanqi surveyed the situation, and thinking of Zhou Qingchen’s early Hollow Profound Realm cultivation and relatively weaker combat strength, she chose what she felt was a safer battlefield for him.

Then, considering the relationship between Pang Jian and Zhou Qingchen, she felt it would be more appropriate to follow Pang Jian.

So the gourd flew over

...

"Wu Yuan, you stay by that wrecked Landscape Spiritual Boat; I’ll come find you to regroup."

Chen Lushi’s alluring figure was adorned with fluttering ribbons.

Countless bright demonic characters, carrying the bewitching power of Illusion Skill Evil Power, fluttered above her head and behind her in the air.

However, those aliën tribe members, known as the Back Armored Tribe, who had antennae growing from their heads and wore heavy armor, were completely unaffected by her soul illusion skills.

About a dozen members of the Back Armored Tribe kept a close watch on her without pause.

Because the Landscape Spiritual Boat had been shot down and destroyed by a light arrow from an octopus giant, their pre-detached escape lands were different.

Chen Lushi, knowing Wu Yuan’s prowess, was now desperately trying to reach his side.

"Senior Sister Chen..."

As she passed a small hillock, she heard someone calling her.

Upon closer inspection, she realized that the caller was a girl from the Demon Sect whose name she did not know.

To that thin, shriveled girl from a branch of the Demon Cloud Sect, she only had a vague impression.

Her gliding figure paused briefly, and she nodded, saying, "It’s good that you’ve woken up; you can come with me to find Wu Yuan."

"Okay."

The girl nodded obediently with a bewildered expression.

Just as Chen Lushi turned around to fly towards Wu Yuan again... the girl from the Demon Cloud Sect casually tossed out a bronze crown.

The Coiling Dragon Crown, made of bronze and engraved with dragon patterns, was surrounded by dim green ghostly lights as it shot straight at Chen Lushi’s back.

Feeling that something was amiss and turning her head abruptly, Chen Lushi glared at the Demon Cloud Sect girl who had attacked her: "You dare!"

A sea of green ripples appeared in the girl’s empty eye sockets.

Chen Lushi’s mind grew fuzzy, and in a trance, she saw a horrifying scene where her body was dismembered and eaten by the Back Armored Tribe.

Chen Lushi screamed in terror, her spiritual intelligence instantly shattered.

"Bang!"

The Coiling Dragon Crown hit its mark.

Even her instinctively protective ribbons couldn’t completely dissipate the force, and Chen Lushi, with her spirit broken, had several ribs snapped as her alluring body, spattered with blood, flew forward.

"Whoosh!"

A rock stained with alien tribe blood caught Chen Lushi, bringing her safely to the wreckage of the Landscape Spiritual Boat.

On the other side.

"Junior Brother Yao!"

Jiang Chao leaped into the river before him, killing his fleshy fellow disciple who had attacked him at the bottom of the river.

He returned to the riverbank with blood oozing from his nostrils like red worms, gasping for air as he looked at the other members of Sky Water Swamp who had surrounded him.

"He... he was right..."

By the wreckage of the Landscape Spiritual Boat, Lu Xiangyi covered her mouth, wishing she could slap herself a few times.

The Demon Sect disciple who had severely injured Chen Lushi, and those who had encircled Jiang Chao from Sky Water Swamp after secretly attacking him, were all those they had believed would revive as undead.

Now, indeed they had awakened, but they were no longer the people Lu Xiangyi remembered.

"Are you okay?"

Wu Yuan, relieved of his psychological burden, looked at Chen Lushi coldly.

"How could I be alright?"

Chen Lushi forced a smile.

She took out a powerful healing medicine and swallowed it, then wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, biting her lip as she glared at the forest where Pang Jian had disappeared, and said, "He just had to explain a couple more things, that those undead had been tainted by the Alien God, that their thoughts and consciousness were controlled by the Alien God, and we wouldn’t have ended up in such a sorry state!"

"I think..."

Facing this formidable woman from the Demon Heart Sect, known throughout the Second Realm, Lu Xiangyi timidly said, "I think it’s our fault... it’s, Junior Brother Jiang’s fault."

"Jiang Chao is at fault for questioning him, but does that mean he’s blameless?" Chen Lushi said angrily.

Just thinking of how Pang Jian knew what would happen but offered no explanation, his cold disdain, made her fume inside. She felt that she had been severely wounded and that Pang Jian bore an inescapable responsibility.

Wu Yuan remained silent, his gaze also falling on the forest from which Pang Jian had disappeared.

What he was thinking was...

If it weren’t for Pang Jian quietly approaching and telling him that dozens of living dead gathered around him had already been contaminated by an Alien God from the Outer Realm, whom he decisively bombed and killed.

Then what he would have to face, in addition to a dozen warriors from the Back Armored Tribe and the Scorpion Clan, would also include his own people who had been contaminated.

Upon awakening, his fellow clansmen, whose bodies were controlled by the Alien God, demonstrated a strength that was clearly much stronger than that of the Alien Tribes attacking him.

And they could, under the control of the Alien God, feign as one of their own to stage a surprise attack.

This would instantly multiply the level of danger several times.

After pondering for a moment, Wu Yuan said, "Get the survivors to come over, we’ll also go to that jungle where Pang Jian went."

"Why?"

Chen Lushi was taken aback.

"There seems to be something attracting him there," Wu Yuan said.

...

Between trees tens of meters tall reaching up to the sky, Pang Jian sped past like lightning.

The base of the trees was thick and burly, and many of their branches, like swords and spears, were stained with blood.

As he flew by, he saw many cultivators of the Human Race, as well as Ferocious Beasts and Spirit Beasts of the fourth and fifth level, all pierced through by the branches of the trees, skewered in mid-air.

At a glance, the corpses resembled pieces of human fruit hanging from the branches, creating a scene exceedingly horrifying.

The deceased had had their blood and vitality cleanly drained, leaving only their skin wrapped around their bones.

The corpses of hundreds of humans and beasts scattered among each big tree made the forest seem gloomy and terrifying.

"Only one from the Alien Tribes possesses a Divine Consciousness that is not weak..." Pang Jian muttered to himself.

He had released several Golden Bee Insects, which he had set high in the sky near the Mysterious Fog, to help him observe the four peculiar Fragment Lands.

The Fragment Lands surrounded by Thunderbolts were all broken lands of fiery volcanoes; there were also lands frozen by extreme Cold Ice, all of which were shrouded in some mystery.

——The Golden Bee Insects could not see clearly the marvels inside.

Even with the Absolute Sky Forbidden Land, he could only see the situation on the surface of the ground through the Bee Insects.

Inside the forest, within the swamp, and at the bottom of rivers, the Bee Insects could not see the scenes either.

However, the Bee King, which was still hiding in its honeycomb inside the "Purgatory Gate," seemed to be able to sense items rich with Divine Consciousness.

The Divine Consciousness of an Alien God from the Outer Realm was key to nurturing more Bee Insects, and upon sensing it, it guided Pang Jian towards a target it felt could be resolved.

The target was deep within this forest.

In the heart of the forest.

The surviving fighters who were still resisting stubbornly were being pierced by flowers and plants underfoot and by branches beside them.

Every one of them was dripping with blood, and the ground beneath their feet was also filled with fresh blood.

Blood, flowing down from their bodies, was absorbed by the leaves and drawn up by the roots.

After a while, the blood became very faint until it disappeared.

On the tallest ancient tree, there was a figure wrapped tightly in black veil, revealing only a pair of emerald green eyes.

He sat motionless on a huge leaf, resembling a plantain leaf, coldly watching the remaining dozen or so people.

And two Spirit Beasts.

On the ground, those who had just died were being devoured by leaves snacking on their flesh.

"Swoosh!"

That was when Pang Jian suddenly appeared.

"Sword Tower!"

A cultivator dressed in gray, upon seeing the Sword Command hanging from Pang Jian’s waist, exclaimed excitedly, "I am Chang Li, a disciple of Sky Curtain Cliff. This man from the Green Spirit Tribe, an outsider from the Outer Realm, is about to kill all living things in the forest!"

"This person has a sixth-level bloodline of the Alien Tribes!"

"Whoo!"

A fifth-level Golden Rock Beast and a sixth-level Red-eyed Demon Wolf growled lowly at Pang Jian.

The sixth-level Red-eyed Demon Wolf, bombarded by countless tree branches, shook its dark red fur, ejecting intense flames outwards.

A pair of beastly eyes, as if flowing with fresh blood, twinkled with a plea for help.

It had a high degree of Spiritual Intelligence; it knew the moment Pang Jian appeared that he was its hope for rescue.

It felt that Pang Jian was stronger than all the humans in the forest.

"Red Flame, are you saying... he can save us?"

Spiked on a dry yellow branch, her thigh aching fiercely with cold sweat, Xiao Yu gritted her teeth looking towards the sixth-level Red-eyed Demon Wolf and murmured softly, "Can he really do it?"

The Red-eyed Demon Wolf nodded repeatedly.

The gazes of more than a dozen from Sky Curtain Cliff, scions of the Xiao Family from the Qitian Continent, all fell upon Pang Jian.

Along the way, too many of their companions had died.

Those Individual Cultivators who rushed in response to the news had almost all been killed, turning into frightful dried corpses hanging in mid-air on branches.

If not for Xiao Yu’s Red-eyed Demon Wolf, whose bloodline had broken through to the sixth level and taken most of the fire for them, they would have been among the dry corpses drained of flesh and blood.

Pang Jian’s arrival, carrying the identity of a disciple of Sword Tower, gave them a glimmer of hope for life.

"Another coming from Purgatory..."

The visitor, known as a member of the Green Spirit Tribe from the Outer Realm, had already been aware of Pang Jian weaving his way through, and he had been waiting for a long time.

Now, speaking in an awkward Human tongue, he said, "There is something very special on your body. Because of its existence, I find myself unable to command the vegetation of the forest to skewer you to death."

...