The Purgatory Calamity
Chapter 324 - 305: Discussing Heroes by Talent_1

Chapter 324: Chapter 305: Discussing Heroes by Talent_1

"123. Wu Yuan, he has one more strand than you!"

Chen Lushi was also stunned.

She frowned slightly and glanced at Wu Yuan, who was cultivating silently, unaffected, and said, "No wonder I was no match for him."

Defeated by Pang Jian, she felt frustrated and depressed, unsure how to comfort herself.

Upon hearing that Pang Jian’s Divine Sense count was even higher than that of Wu Yuan from the Heaven Demon Sect, Chen Lushi immediately felt a bit better.

"It’s not Pang Jian, it’s the bearded man you wanted to teach a lesson."

Wu Yuan said with closed eyes.

"How is that possible?!"

Sitting on the meditation cushion, Chen Lushi suddenly stood up, staring at the bewildered Zhou Qingchen in the distance.

She observed carefully; she activated her power and listened attentively.

Then, with mixed feelings and a resentful look in her eyes, she said, "It’s really him, a youth from the Lower Realm of Red Mountain, actually has more Divine Sense than you."

"Pang Jian, from the Fourth Realm, from a place called Solitude Mountain Range."

Wu Yuan said indifferently.

"Why would this happen? How can a guy from the Lower Realm suddenly burst forth with such explosive talent?"

Chen Lushi couldn’t comprehend it and shook her head in self-pity, her mood immediately plummeting to rock bottom.

"123!"

Xiao Yu, Chang Li, and others were similarly shocked.

On the other side.

Zhou Qingchen, sitting under a tree, scratched his head and mumbled in confusion, "Don’t look at me, I also didn’t know I had such talent."

"Damn it!"

Fang Boxuan couldn’t help but swear under his breath.

Pang Jian thought for a moment, then softly said, "Is this the limit?"

"It seems... not yet."

Zhou Qingchen honestly replied.

The gazes fixed on him suddenly turned even more horrified; nobody could fathom how someone with an ordinary Spiritual Sea in his dantian could display such a vast sea of consciousness!

"It’s not the limit yet, he hasn’t reached his limit!"

Chen Lushi, who was secretly listening, felt an overwhelming sense of suffocation, her complexion turning dark and dreadful.

"My heavens!"

Xiao Yu covered her mouth and gasped softly.

In her eyes, this Red Mountain man with a rugged face and a thick beard suddenly became dazzlingly brilliant!

Fang Boxuan sighed in discomfort, "One Luo Yuan, and now you, such freaks..."

Dong Tianze said coldly, "Pang Jian is Luo Yuan."

"What? Pang Jian is Luo Yuan?!"

Fang Boxuan exclaimed in shock.

Qi Qingsong, Zhuang Yuyan, and others only then learned that the person with 128 strands of Divine Sense, highly praised by Ye Fei of Black Valley, was none other than Pang Jian, who was right beside them.

Looking at Dong Tianze, then back at Pang Jian, they immediately realized the truth.

"You little rascal, you’ve hidden it well from us!"

Qi Qingsong cursed.

"So it is."

Zhuang Yuyan suddenly understood, she nodded with a smile and said contentedly, "No wonder the Tower Master took you as a direct disciple; he saw your talent and knew you had already surpassed Lu Lingchan."

"Luo Yuan? Pang Jian is Luo Yuan!"

On the side of Sky Water Swamp, Lu Xiangyi was stunned for a moment and said, "The Electric Chaser from Cloud Thunder Forbidden Zone, is also him!"

Not far away, Chen Lushi glared over, "How did Pang Jian become Luo Yuan?"

"Ye Fei of Black Valley once told me, Luo Yuan... with Divine Sense count surpassing Lu Lingchan’s, was the strongest talent she’d seen in Hollow Profound Realm," said Lu Xiangyi, purposefully provoking her, raising her eyebrows, "The Luo Yuan we encountered during our trial in Cloud Thunder Forbidden Zone was Pang Jian under a pseudonym."

Chen Lushi was shocked and speechless, "Talent stronger than Lu Lingchan’s?"

Zhou Qingchen’s talent was already frightening enough, being just one strand short of Lu Lingchan’s Divine Sense, yet Pang Jian possessed talent exceeding that of Lu Lingchan – it was like a sharp blade piercing straight into her heart.

— She was in utter pain now.

Even Wu Yuan, who was meditating with closed eyes, opened them now, looking at Pang Jian in amazement.

"When the world is in chaos, talents emerge in great numbers, not limited to the higher realms," said Chang Li from Sky Curtain Cliff, "It’s said that whenever Purgatory opens and the Outer Realms’ Alien Gods turn their gaze here, there will always be dazzling figures from an era that emerge."

"Zhou Qingchen, Pang Jian, and Fu Wangchen, perhaps they are the ones destined to arise."

Chang Li expressed his sighs.

"What makes them comparable to Fu Wangchen?!" Chen Lushi angrily shouted, her mind in utter chaos.

Fu Wangchen from Desolated Terrains had become her target, the ideal partner she coveted, and she racked her brains on how to win him over.

Comparing Zhou Qingchen, whom she looked down on, and the irritating Pang Jian, to Fu Wangchen, made her hair stand on end.

"That’s true..."

Chang Li forced a sheepish and insincere smile.

He didn’t dare to offend this vindictive and venomous woman from Demon Heart Sect, so he had to agree with Chen Lushi’s tone to avoid her bearing a grudge.

"Enough, focus on your recovery,"

Wu Yuan intervened impatiently.

The crowd immediately fell silent once again.

Several more hours passed.

Through the vision of the Golden Bee Insect, Pang Jian noticed survivors, silently hidden elsewhere, gradually emerging from caves in the mountains, from burrows beneath the ground, and from the depths of river valleys.

"The alien warships have retreated!"

"We’re finally free of the aliens hunting us down everywhere."

"People from Desolated Terrains, Sword Tower, Demon Sect, and Sky Water Swamp have come to rescue us."

"..."

Some scions and individual cultivators who had arrived on high-grade Cloud Sails communicated with each other as they surfaced.

After a brief observation, Pang Jian realized there were still more than a hundred of these people and thought to himself that the proposed Heavenly Phoenix Guard mentioned by Dong Tianze might be hiding among them.

"Jiang!"

"You finally made it!"

Represented by Lu Xiangyi, members of Sky Water Swamp suddenly shouted in the distance, greeting Jiang Chao, who had escaped from the clutches of the living dead.

"You all did well, very well."

Jiang Chao, his clothes damp with moisture, reached the center of the Sky Water Swamp members and nodded, "When I was surrounded, you followed Wu Yuan into this forest instead of coming to aid me."

At these words, the disciples of Sky Water Swamp felt somewhat ashamed.

"Brother, it was the Demon Sect who said there were too many aliens between us and you; it was too dangerous to come."

One person spoke while glancing at Chen Lushi, the implication heavy in their gaze.

Apart from Wu Yuan and Chen Lushi, there were only three Demon Sect disciples left alive; clearly, those three were not in a position to give orders, and Wu Yuan didn’t care much about it.

Obviously, it was Chen Lushi, who relished being in charge, who had made the decision for the Sky Water Swamp members.

"It was me who told you people from Sky Water Swamp not to come looking for you."

Chen Lushi, who had reached the Absolute Sky Forbidden Land and no longer relied on the Landscape Spiritual Boat, said coldly, "I was trying to preserve as many living people for Sky Water Swamp as possible."

"Jiang Chao, because of your reckless guesses, I was attacked by the minions of the Alien God, and I still haven’t fully recovered from my wounds."

"Everyone should take responsibility for their own actions, and you, Jiang Chao, are no exception."

Her aloofness and coldness were very apparent.

Jiang Chao looked at her as if he were seeing her for the first time, finding it difficult to reconcile her with the personality and temperament he knew before.

"Fine, I understand. From now on, everyone will take responsibility for their actions!"

Jiang Chao nodded. He led away the disciples of Sky Water Swamp and parted ways with the people from the Demon Sect.

Beneath the lush ancient trees, after listening to Lu Xiangyi’s account, Jiang Chao was full of suspicion and looked at the group from Sword Tower with flickering eyes.

"Pang Jian, his talent has actually surpassed that of Lu Lingchan."

Jiang Chao’s expression slightly changed.

After a moment of silence, he suddenly called out, "Qi Qingsong, have you encountered anyone from Black Valley?"

"All dead."

Qi Qingsong didn’t hide anything, "The Son of Break Armor Marquis, Li Wei from Bright Heaven Divine Kingdom, infiltrated our Sword Boat and attacked us, killing Lu Lingchan and a group of others including Ye Fei."

"There were others..."

He said bitterly, "Like our Sword Tower, and yours, they either died in infighting or became living dead. In the end, not a single person who entered the Mysterious Fog from Black Valley survived."

Everyone was shocked.

Lu Lingchan, known across all sects for having the best cultivation talent in the Second Realm, was dead before them!

Black Valley was completely annihilated!

"Ye Fei is dead, the people of Black Valley are all dead; who knows what our future will be," Lu Xiangyi mourned, her spirits sinking even further as the future seemed ever bleaker.

Chen Lushi from the Demon Sect, unusually quiet, her expression as deep and still as water.

She knew all too well that as a direct disciple of a Valley Master, Lu Lingchan’s realm, cultivation level, and the Spiritual Artifacts she possessed were all superior to both her and Wu Yuan.

Lu Lingchan had met her fate, and it wasn’t certain that she and Wu Yuan would survive to the end.

"Hopefully Fu Wangchen will be able to turn the tide and lead us through this disaster."

She looked towards the Sky Peng Battleship hovering half in the air, pondering to herself how she might attract the attention of the peerless talents from Desolated Terrains so that Fu Wangchen might take extra care of her when disaster struck.

As for the survivors by her side and those from the Demon Sect, Sky Curtain Cliff, and the Xiao family, she didn’t care about their fate.

Outside the forest.

Survivors scattered throughout the Absolute Sky Forbidden Land were seeking help from the Sky Peng Battleship, hoping the people from Desolated Terrains would take them away.

But Lu Jie instructed them to go to the forest where Pang Jian and others were and to gather there.

Survivors desperate to escape the Absolute Sky Forbidden Land, upon being turned away by Lu Jie, reluctantly poured into the forest.

Gradually, a large number of survivors began to appear in this forest.

"Newcomers are here!"

Dong Tianze quietly came beside the meditating Pang Jian and whispered, "I’ve just sensed it again; he harbored killing intent towards me once more, albeit fleetingly, and I still couldn’t pinpoint him."

Pang Jian nodded, "I’ll try to drag him out into the open."

"Greetings to Master Wu and Miss Chen."

After feeling their way over, the scions from noble families neatly went over to pay their respects to Wu Yuan and Chen Lushi.

There were also followers of Sky Water Swamp who approached Jiang Chao and others, greeting Jiang’s master.

Even more individual cultivators arrived in this forest and were horrified to see the desiccated corpses skewered mid-air, drained of blood and flesh.

They watched nervously, their hearts pounding, observing the situation and looking over at Wu Yuan, Jiang Chao, as well as Qi Qingsong, Zhuang Yuyan, and others.

In the end, the majority of the individual cultivators gathered around the Demon Sect and those from Sky Curtain Cliff and the Xiao family.

They felt that this group was more powerful and the Demon Sect’s name carried more weight.

"Qi, little junior brother, strive harder in the future to reach the pinnacle of the Immortal Realm, all of you."

Zhuang Yuyan snorted dismissively, "In the eyes of those people, the Demon Sect is stronger than our Sword Tower, which is why they so readily go and lick Chen Lushi’s toes."

...