The Purgatory Calamity
Chapter 493 - 469: Refining Genius_1

Chapter 493: Chapter 469: Refining Genius_1

Within the Demon Abyss, as Li Jie described his foe, a glow gradually suffused his round face.

Especially when speaking of the woman’s appearance, her seductive figure, and the infinitely beautiful silhouette when she moved, his face was utterly intoxicated, completely forgetting the disarray he had just been in.

"Really, she is a very attractive and charming woman."

Casually tossing aside the juice bottle, he descended with a flap of his arms like the wings of a roc, grasping behind him, and the Kirin Bell disappeared into his Storage Ring.

"With you by my side, I’m safe."

After many years, he felt no strangeness at all, walking up to Pang Jian with a radiant smile, glancing at the Origin Demon Sword carried on Pang’s back, and said, "Is this the sheathless longsword, the same Origin Demon Sword that was once suppressed in the lowest level of the Sword Tower?"

"Eh, wasn’t it a broken sword? I remember my sister mentioning that she too was attracted to this sword once, but because it was just a broken sword, she was a bit disdainful and did not choose it."

Li Jie’s thoughts shifted rapidly, one moment he was full of longing as he recounted the adversary who had captivated him, and the next moment, as if having forgotten everything, his attention was entirely on the Origin Demon Sword.

"In the Mysterious Fog outside of the Absolute Sky Forbidden Land, I found the other half of the broken sword and restored it," Pang Jian explained offhandedly.

It might be the goodwill that Li Jie had proactively shown in Bagua City, or possibly the connection with Li Yuqing that made him feel especially close to Li Jie.

And he felt he was trustworthy.

"A sheathless sword is easy to hurt others, and it might also hurt oneself," Li Jie hinted before touching his chin and looking at the dark gold longsword.

The sword’s form, its original length, width, thickness, including the sharpness of its blade, and other details, were all captured by Li Jie’s eyes and instantaneously modeled in three dimensions in his Spirit Sea of Consciousness.

Within his Sea of Consciousness, an illusory dark gold longsword was displayed from multiple angles.

As the sword slowly rotated, Li Jie took note of even the finer details that Pang Jian, the sword’s bearer, had not noticed.

He soon surpassed everyone else in understanding the outer structure of this sword.

"Wait here, I will immediately forge a scabbard for you, so you can carry this sword," Li Jie said, clapping his hands with an idea.

"Whoosh!"

The Kirin Bell reappeared suddenly.

The many kylin patterns on the cauldron’s walls abruptly changed into clusters of flame patterns, as if the kylins had transformed into blazing holy beasts.

Even the bell itself, right under the eyes of Pang Jian and Wu Yuan, instantly became a furnace.

Li Jie’s hands formed seals as he leaped back into the bell, and shortly after, he busied himself with a "ding ding dong dong" of activity.

"He is the most powerful Artifact Refiner of this era in the Li Family, and all artifacts he creates are coveted and fought over. His status in the artifact refining world is more or less on par with Li Yuqing’s in the Cultivator world," Wu Yuan explained indifferently.

Pang Jian nodded slightly.

After taking the Origin Demon Sword from the Sword Tower, many had advised him to visit the Heaven Treasure Li Family and custom make a scabbard for the sword.

This sword, possessing an Artifact Soul and the Source Demon, could not be stored within a Storage Ring.

If carried normally without a scabbard to conceal its edge, it would be easy to recognize, and the inherent Source Demon could stir evil thoughts in the hearts of living beings, drawing power from within them.

When he was in the Sword Tower, Su Yue and others scheming against him had exploited this very aspect.

If there were a scabbard to hide the sword’s distinctive features and to seal the Source Demon’s ability to tempt evil, it would certainly be most desirable.

"Tempting evil..."

As this thought arose, Pang Jian looked toward the center of the Demon Abyss and felt that the mysterious power of the Demon Stone and the force of the Source Demon shared a similar enigmatic effect.

He thus shared his doubts with Wu Yuan.

"Not just the Source Demon, all Demon Gods from the Outer Realm, all Great Demon Gods, are adept at manipulating the human heart, understanding how to bewitch the souls of all beings. I’ve studied the Purple Demon Eye for many years, only to realize that the more evil thoughts and actions abound in the hearts of the beings across myriad worlds, the greater the power the Outer World Demon Gods can harvest," Wu Yuan said, taking a gentle breath. "For instance, during the most chaotic and turbulent times in the Purgatory World, entities like the Source Demon in your sword and He Motian in my Purple Demon Eye can gain an enormous amount of power from the evil in people’s hearts."

"This is a common trait of all the Demon Gods from the Outer Realm."

"Wuu wuu!"

"Help!"

Screams of terror and agony suddenly came from dozens of miles away.

Wu Yuan frowned: "She’s killing again!"

"Li Jie is here forging a scabbard for me, so I won’t go and have a look," Pang Jian mused for a moment, his voice tinged with worry. "Li Jie, like you, is of the Soul Wandering stage, with many means to preserve his life, which is why he has managed to survive. For the others in the Demon Abyss, being attacked by such an individual, survival would be difficult."

The implication was clear: even if Wu Yuan hurried over, it might be too late.

"I still have to go and take a look eventually. Pang Jian, the Demon Abyss is an independent and enclosed world, and the Sword Command is unusable here, so I can’t communicate with the Elders outside either. Stay here and don’t move," Wu Yuan advised.

"Wait here for me for a while."

Wu Yuan vanished like a wisp of purple light.

"Both of you are of the Soul Wandering stage, but you..."

By the time Pang Jian uttered these words, Wu Yuan had long since disappeared.

He worried that Wu Yuan, sharing the same Soul Wandering cultivation level, might be unable to withstand that terrifying woman upon encountering her.

However, at this moment, he could not leave; if he did, Li Jie could be in danger.

Within the Kylin Bell which had turned into a blazing furnace, Li Jie was still bustling around feverishly, while Pang Jian pondered for a moment before simply sitting down on the spot, seizing the opportunity to ponder over the wonders of the Demon Abyss.

He closed his eyes and with his golden Spiritual Soul, he thoroughly observed the miniature world around him.

Gradually, he saw blue-black Demon Light, invisible to the naked eye, rippling outward from the depths of the Demon Abyss like water, possessing an oppressive force of its own.

As a cultivator like him advanced step by step towards the deeper parts of the Demon Abyss, he felt the blue-black Demon Light pushing against him like an upward current.

The deeper he ventured, the more turbulent the encountered Demon Light became. Moreover, the stronger the cultivator, the deeper and heavier the pressure of the Demon Light felt.

The Demon Light that emanated from that mysterious Demon Stone varied in pressure according to the distance and individual strength of the cultivator.

Without advancing, Pang Jian who merely sat and observed with his Spiritual Soul on the spot, sensed some enhancement in his coverage of Divine Sense.

Yet, his Soul Power was draining rapidly.

After swallowing a Soul Nurturing Pill, he replenished the lost Soul Power and silently observed the Mysterious Turtle and Corrosion Boundary Vine, confirming they were just as Wu Yuan had said, without any sign of activity.

He once again focused his senses on his surroundings, continuing to extend the reach of his perception, and soon, he noticed someone sitting still just as he was.

A few dozen miles to his left, a disciple of the Demon Sect was struggling to fend off a succession of intensifying internal demons, trying to maintain a clear and rational mind.

"Whoosh!"

A sharp and bright silver blade light flashed by like lightning.

That disciple, who was likely also of the Soul Wandering Realm and belonged to one of the branches of the Demon Sect, was bisected by the blade light.

Both body and Spiritual Soul perished instantaneously.

The woman whom Li Jie had described before appeared out of nowhere, holding a familiar serrated longsword in one hand, her eyes dismissive and haughty.

Her figure was shapely and clothed in silver robes, with long, straight legs, while her extraordinarily cold and sharp eyes shone on her beautiful and ethereal face.

Like sharp daggers and cold longsword light, her gaze seemed able to pierce through everything.

Her entire body was no longer covered in the bright silver Scale Armor; by all appearances, she was a tall and robust female warrior of the Human Race.

But at first glance of her, Pang Jian knew she was Dazzling Shadow from the Devil Scale Tribe, the strongest prodigy of the new generation from the Fifth Realm.

The miniaturized serrated longsword and those distinctively charming eyes had given her away.

"Dazzling Shadow!"

Pang Jian exclaimed, startled.

In the instant he stood up, all the images revealed by his Spiritual Soul vanished, sending a chill through his heart.

Having realized she was not an ordinary disciple of the Demon Sect but the overwhelmingly strong Dazzling Shadow, he began to worry for Wu Yuan.

As the peerless prodigy of the Devil Scale Tribe from the Fifth Realm, before the Filth Alien Power had pervaded and before her tribesfolk had launched their invasion en masse, Dazzling Shadow had dared to infiltrate the Demon Abyss alone!

Such daring indicated an absolute confidence in her own strength. Considering that Wu Yuan was only of the Soul Wandering Realm, what would happen when he encountered her in the Demon Abyss?

"Whoosh!"

A flame suddenly blazed towards him.

Originally intending to meditate again and probe Dazzling Shadow’s movements with his Spiritual Soul, Pang Jian squinted at the incoming fire and his complexion turned abruptly somber.

The fire was a Flame Dragon, and it was an eighth-level Long Yan!

Long Yan from the Dragon Cave had snuck into the Demon Abyss in secret; he was mostly likely targeting him!

The scene of him slaying Lie Yi in the Qian Tian Continent was recorded by the Fire Crystal Stone and had been distributed by Qi Xu of the Flame Clan to various locations; the Dragon Cave would probably also have been able to obtain a piece of Fire Crystal Stone.

From the perspective of those old dragons from the Dragon Cave, they could clearly detect the significance from the now black-golden Origin Demon Sword.

The blame for the death of Long Zhan was something he could not shake off no matter what.

"Kylin Bell, Heaven Treasure Li Family, the genius Artifact Refiner Li Jie."

Inside the blazing red flames, the eighth-level Flame Dragon, Long Yan, smirked with a sinister grin, saying, "Heaven Treasure Li Family, how dare you meddle in the battle for the Demon God’s seat in the Saint Spirit Continent and secretly support the Four Pupils Spirit Fox—you deserve the wrath of our Dragon Cave."

"Li Jie, you..."

"Eh! Pang Jian?!"

"Heh! It’s like a double celebration!"

Long Yan, who had previously received news that Li Jie would come to the Demon Abyss to complete his ’self-reflection’ journey, had been lying in wait inside the Demon Abyss already.

However, he was unaware that Pang Jian, following Wu Yuan’s invitation, had descended into the Demon Abyss two days earlier.

Initially coming to slay Li Jie, he unexpectedly found Pang Jian there as well, and he could not help but laugh out loud.

He was an eighth-level dragon of the Dragon Cave with a complete Bloodline and Divine Skills, having been immersed at this level for a long time.

Any dragon with complete Bloodline suppressing its peers of the same level from the Human Race in the Extinction Realm, as well as eighth-level warriors from the Alien Tribes, was simply a matter of course.

Long Yan had always known that so-called Extinction Realm Great Cultivators of the Human Race, even if they teamed up, would still not be his match.

No matter how fierce the battle between Pang Jian and Lie Yi was in the Lower Realm, it was still between a cultivator of the Human Race at the Extinction Realm and an eighth-level warrior from the Alien Tribes.

A dragon like Long Yan, with complete Bloodline nurtured by the Dragon Cave, had long developed a sense of superiority, knowing that in the age when the Demon Race was supreme, they were much stronger than other races of the same level.

...