The Purgatory Calamity
Chapter 459 - 436: The Mantis Stalks the Cicada, Unaware of the Oriole Behind_1

Chapter 459: Chapter 436: The Mantis Stalks the Cicada, Unaware of the Oriole Behind_1

The beings of the Purgatory World naturally harbor a deep reverence for the Mysterious Fog, including the Dragon Race.

Hidden in the shadows, Long Zhan was somewhat surprised when he saw Pang Jian rush headlong into the Mysterious Fog.

Since the Saint Spirit Continent and the Absolute Sky Forbidden Land were so close by, he naturally knew the rules of this Mysterious Fog—it only allowed members of the Human Race below the Spirit Condensation Realm and creatures of the Demon Race below level six.

Beings surpassing this threshold, if they forced their way into this Mysterious Fog, would be subjected to a suppression stronger than divine laws.

Therefore, when Pang Jian stepped into it without returning quickly, confusion arose in his mind.

Unaware of the situation inside the Mysterious Fog, Long Zhan revealed himself, intending to forcibly question the White Fox, seeking a breakthrough from this White Fox Demon King whom he had deliberately let go.

But he hadn’t expected the White Fox to be so decisive.

Merely seeing the sudden appearance of the golden light he condensed, and just smelling the unique dragon’s breath he released, the White Fox—who was also extremely cautious of the Mysterious Fog—dashed into it without a second thought.

"Pang Jian, White Fox, since both of you dare to enter the Mysterious Fog, perhaps the laws have changed."

The golden robe on Long Zhan disappeared.

Only after his human form was completely covered with palm-sized Golden Gleaming Dragon Scales did he step cautiously into the Mysterious Fog.

"There’s no heavenly punishment targeting the violators of the rules."

Once inside the Mysterious Fog, Long Zhan gave a carefree and indifferent smile, immediately putting his mind at ease.

"Swoosh!"

He spread his hands and casually patted the air on both sides.

Pieces of golden light with distinct dragon patterns flew off in all directions.

Within that light, the dragon patterns twisted into long, slender dragon bodies, combining into a variety of bloodline secret skills that could sense and probe life and soul magnetic fields within a certain range.

"Acting here is naturally the best and most secure choice."

Smiling brightly, Long Zhan muttered to himself in the Mysterious Fog, "The Sword Command held by the Direct Disciple cannot communicate with the outside world within the Mysterious Fog. Pu Zhaotian, along with the other Elders and Disciples from the Sword Tower, cannot break through the power of the Mysterious Fog. Thus, if he dies here, it will become an unsolvable mystery, and no one will be able to trace it back to the Dragon Cave."

"Fan Chen, that Divine Artifact from the Taiyi Divine Kingdom, and a few other golden Strange Treasures."

"With these items, the Ancestor facing Fan Ao will be more confident and secure when it comes time to slay Fan Ao."

Greed gradually intensified in Long Zhan’s eyes.

...

"Let go of me!"

The White Fox swung her sharp claws and teeth.

After breaking free from Pang Jian’s embrace, she suddenly saw a Golden Bee Insect hovering above Pang Jian’s head.

Filled with affection and remembrance, the Bee Insect’s eyes clearly showed its familiarity with Pang Jian.

"A Bee Insect hiding in the Mysterious Fog, and an old friend of his, this fellow..."

In the mind of the White Fox, rumors about Pang Jian and his group in the Absolute Sky Forbidden Land emerged.

Many brilliant geniuses, including Fu Wangchen from the Desolated Terrains, died after venturing in.

In the end, only a few, such as Pang Jian, Zhou Qingchen, Dong Tianze, emerged.

Because the Saint Spirit Continent bordered this place, the White Fox, as a local Demon King, had also heard a bit about the incident.

Now, seeing the Golden Bee Insect suspended above Pang Jian’s head, she knew that Pang Jian’s survival was not mere luck.

"Go!"

With a light command from Pang Jian, the Golden Bee Insect instantly flew away.

"Do you also comprehend the art of spatial escape?"

The White Fox was taken aback and suddenly realized what had happened at that moment.

She observed carefully, sensing that Pang Jian’s Spiritual Soul was surging, as if he was using some sort of soul secret skill to communicate with different Soul Spirits.

Realizing that Long Zhan wanted to kill him, Pang Jian, after entering the Mysterious Fog, seemed surprisingly calm and composed.

Compared to his cautiousness in the Saint Spirit Continent, Pang Jian in the Mysterious Fog seemed to be back in his own territory, his furrowed brows now smoothed out.

Suddenly, the White Fox felt that Pang Jian was shrouded with mystery, sensing a significant secret related to him buried within this Mysterious Fog that enveloped the Absolute Sky Forbidden Land.

"One, two, six, nine!"

Through his Spiritual Soul’s perception, Pang Jian found that within this vast Misty Sea, there were nine Golden Bee Insects he could sense.

He didn’t ask the Bee King for help but tried to command and gather the bees from the hive on his own. More Bee Insects heeded his orders and dove deeper into the Mysterious Fog, approaching his location.

Meanwhile, he held the Origin Demon Sword and continued to sense the whereabouts of the other half of the broken sword.

He sought through those Golden Bee Insects!

The threat of Long Zhan did not concern him much, knowing that with so many Bee Insects around and the hive in the Absolute Sky Forbidden Land as a beacon, evading Long Zhan wouldn’t be difficult.

Before long.

The first Golden Bee Insect he had sent out saw ripples of golden light drifting through the Mysterious Fog everywhere.

It also saw Long Zhan, standing near the border of Purgatory within the Mysterious Fog, using those golden ripples to search for him.

Long Zhan himself was also limited within the Mysterious Fog, not daring to move recklessly, fearful of getting lost and unable to find his way back to Purgatory.

Ever since he had come in, he hadn’t moved, only releasing the golden light to search everywhere.

He was convinced Pang Jian was nearby and would soon be found by him.

"You really did come in."

Pang Jian snorted coldly, controlling the numerous Bee Insects with his Spiritual Soul and spreading them further apart in the gray, foggy sea.

Bee insects active in the Mysterious Fog gave him a vision akin to that of a god spirit. Others might get lost in the Mysterious Fog, but he assuredly would not.

Without fear of getting lost, and able to teleport continuously with the bee insects, he naturally had no fear of the ninth-level Long Zhan.

Even...

With a mere thought, the golden bee insect situated a hundred feet above Long Zhan, undetectable by the dragon slayer, was instantly imbued with a wisp of Pang Jian’s divine sense.

The bee insect suddenly spoke, "Long Zhan, whom are you looking for?"

"Pang Jian!"

Long Zhan, covered in golden dragon scales, abruptly looked up, his sharp gaze, fierce as a blade of golden light, instantly fell upon the golden bee insect.

Intent on striking immediately, Long Zhan held back upon realizing the speaker was not Pang Jian, but a golden bee insect, quelling his murderous intent.

Killing the bee insect instead of Pang Jian would obviously be of little significance.

"I’m looking for White Fox. I received new orders from the Dragon Cave, they still hope she can return to the Saint Spirit Continent," Long Zhan said with an indifferent smile. "Pang Jian, have you seen her?"

"I haven’t,"

The bee insect spoke in Pang Jian’s voice, "The God Son Fan Chen of the Taiyi Divine Kingdom entered the Saint Spirit Continent at my invitation. You killed him right in front of me; I have taken note of this matter."

Long Zhan let out a big laugh, "And then what? Even before your master Pu Zhaotian achieved True God status, he wasn’t necessarily a sure bet against me. If he’s become a True God, and I could become a Demon God, I would still have no fear of him. Pang Jian, I dared to kill Fan Chen because his ancestor Fan Ao blocked my path."

"And this True God Fan Ao definitely wouldn’t dare to come to the Dragon Cave himself, wouldn’t dare to battle our slumbering elder ancestor."

"I simply picked Fan Chen to kill, and didn’t kill the Liu family girl or Dong Xiaozi because I didn’t want to enrage three True Gods at once. With just Fan Ao, who doesn’t have the guts to set foot in the Saint Spirit Continent, what is there for me to fear?"

"..."

Long Zhan boasted extravagantly.

The arrogance exuding from his words made Pang Jian acutely aware of just how domineering each of those living in the Dragon Cave were.

Suddenly.

"A golden bee insect..."

A gentle voice suddenly emerged from the other end of the Mysterious Fog.

A man dressed in a golden magical robe, sitting on a golden spiritual dais, also appeared within the Mysterious Fog and curiously looked at the golden bee insect.

"Ming Prison Soul Bee!"

The man’s brows moved slightly.

In the next moment, his divine consciousness instantly entered the bee insect’s mind and within the bee soul of the golden bee insect, he saw a hidden thread connected to someone’s spiritual soul.

Just as he was about to trace the source following this thread, his terrifyingly powerful divine consciousness crushed the bee soul.

The Ming Prison Soul Bee, capable of devouring those alien gods from the Outer Realm and releasing divine consciousness in puppet bodies, astonishingly couldn’t withstand his divine consciousness that seeped out like an edged blade for long.

A bee insect died in an instant.

The death of the bee insect also startled the Bee King, undergoing metamorphosis in slumber, causing the hard shell of the bee pupa to crackle and break.

Its consciousness and Pang Jian’s established a connection in an instant and said, "A True God of the human race has entered the Mysterious Fog, and his soul, imbued with the laws of gold, assassinated the bee insect."

"Human True God, the laws of gold!" Pang Jian’s mind was shaken.

In that moment, he understood everything.

Because of Fan Chen’s death, Fan Ao, the True God behind the Taiyi Divine Kingdom, had still decided to take action.

The Storage Ring that belonged to Fan Chen, which he had on him, was likely known by Fan Ao to contain a divine artifact that greatly attracted Long Zhan.

As the direct disciple of Pu Zhaotian, a likely successor to Pu Zhaotian’s mantle, Long Zhan was very eager to eliminate him.

With the divine artifact and him merged together, the likelihood of Long Zhan wanting to kill him skyrocketed, so Long Zhan stealthily followed, ready to find the right opportunity to kill him in an instant before he could use the Sword Command to send a message.

True God Fan Ao was luring Long Zhan out of the Saint Spirit Continent through him and that Storage Ring.

The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.

He was the cicada, Long Zhan the mantis, and Fan Ao the oriole.

After grasping the truth, the golden bee insect that was still talking to Long Zhan flew towards the location of True God Fan Ao without any warning.

"Why are you leaving without finishing our conversation?"

Long Zhan smiled broadly, tossing a piece of golden dragon scale onto the ground as a mark that he would not lose his way.

Immediately after, he gracefully chased after the golden bee insect.

He naturally assumed that since the golden bee insect was connected to Pang Jian, it must be returning to Pang Jian’s side.

On the other side.

Fan Ao, who had inadvertently killed a golden bee insect, sat above the golden spiritual dais with the palm of his hand touching the patterns on the dais, softly speaking, "Seek Dragon."

Countless golden lights poured into the patterns like a torrential downpour.

Fan Ao’s divine sense of perception expanded like a vast and deep ocean, covering hundreds of miles in the depths of the Mysterious Fog and still spreading relentlessly.

"One, two, there are actually three."

Fan Ao was surprised, not expecting to find as many as three such peculiar bee insects near him.

He was very curious about the origin of these bee insects, but just as he was about to capture one for a thorough interrogation, he saw Long Zhan drawn by the third bee insect.

As soon as Long Zhan appeared, all bee insects suddenly became irrelevant; Fan Ao ceased his dragon-seeking and the pursuit stopped.

The golden spiritual dais instantly moved towards the departing Long Zhan.

...