The Purgatory Calamity
Chapter 496 - 472: The Means of a Genius Artifact Refiner_1

Chapter 496: Chapter 472: The Means of a Genius Artifact Refiner_1

After Long Yan had disappeared, Li Jie dared to poke his head out from the Kirin Bell.

"Li Jie, how are you holding up?"

Pang Jian’s expression was solemn, he glanced at him once, then his gaze fell in the direction where Long Yan had departed, saying, "Can you accompany me in pursuit to slay this injured Flame Dragon?"

The trail of fresh blood left behind by Long Yan made it easy to find his location as long as one followed the droplets.

The combat power of this level eight Flame Dragon had deeply shaken Pang Jian; he felt that Long Yan’s bloodline was already at a critical point poised for breakthrough.

After this battle, there was a high probability that Long Yan could achieve a bloodline advancement within the Demon Abyss.

A level eight Long Yan was already exceedingly powerful, and if he advanced to a level nine bloodline, reaching the heights of Long Zhan, Pang Jian would no longer have any chance of dealing with him.

Even wielding a Divine Artifact within the Extinction Realm might not be enough to kill a level nine Flame Dragon.

In other words, his only chance was now, while Long Yan was injured and before he broke through the level eight threshold, to exert all he had to slay him.

"You want to pursue and kill him?!"

Li Jie was shocked, not expecting Pang Jian to be so determined and insane as to doggedly fixate on Long Yan.

"He’s close to breaking the level eight bloodline limit. If he does not die, the two of us will likely not survive unless we receive the protection of the Demon Sect!" said Pang Jian with surging murderous intent.

"Breakthrough?"

Li Jie was no fool. He hesitated for only a moment before hastily flying out from the Kirin Bell.

"Whoosh!"

The Kirin Bell underwent a transformation, turning into a slender and light boat.

"Come on! Quickly!"

After beckoning Pang Jian over, the boat that had formed from the Kirin Bell instantly turned into a dazzling lightning bolt, racing towards the direction Long Yan had left.

A droplet of the crimson blood shed by Long Yan was casually drawn up from the ground by Li Jie and placed into a fist-sized crystal ball.

As soon as the dragon blood entered, the many secret skill patterns within the crystal ball lit up brightly.

"Lock on with blood!"

Li Jie commanded in a deep voice, immediately pinpointing Long Yan’s location, and the boat beneath their feet sped up suddenly.

As the strongest Artifact Refiner of his generation in the Heaven Treasure Li Family, this somewhat plump young man had all top-level methods, aside from personal combat prowess being somewhat lacking.

Whether it was the boat’s speed formed from the Kirin Bell or his blood-locking technique, they were both sharp tools for tracking.

"Pang Jian, I’ll ask one last time, are you confident you can kill that Flame Dragon?" Li Jie took a deep breath and said earnestly, "If you aren’t confident, it would be better for us to retreat from the Demon Abyss straight away, you to your Sword Tower and me to my Heaven Treasure Sect. My journey of heart refinement can end earlier, as my life means more to me after all."

Pang Jian replied with a single word: "Yes!"

"Very well!"

Li Jie gritted his teeth and said, "I’ve long disdained every dragon in the Dragon Cave! Those Great Demons on Saint Spirit Continent, Demon Kings who conduct business deals with our Heaven Treasure Sect, Dragon Cave secretly obstructing us at every turn! We just want to see a new Demon God emerge to challenge that Old Thunder Dragon!"

"Pang Jian, I’ll give you the scabbard later, for now, I’ll put all my effort into helping you kill that Flame Dragon!"

Li Jie first donned a set of Purple Gold Armor, enveloping his entire body.

He then took out a massive black iron shield, preparing to firmly guard himself, and also summoned flag banners laden with lethal poison, arranging them densely by his side.

"Pang Jian, I can’t fight Long Yan head-on like you. You’ll need to take the forefront. Here, swallow this pill first; it will allow you to ignore the effects of nine types of deadly poisons."

"Long Yan’s location will be permeated by a vast expanse of toxins; not to mention he’s just a level eight Flame Dragon, even if he were to ascend to level nine bloodline, these potent poisons would give him trouble enough!"

"Ha! Back in Bagua City, when you guys dealt with those from the Star River Alliance, you also used every trick in the book."

"Pang Jian, I learned all this from you."

"..."

Li Jie was clearly getting excited.

Gesticulating wildly, he began outlining his subsequent plans, involving lethal poisons, various traps for hunting massive Ferocious Beasts, and the coordination of numerous arrays.

Watching his demeanor at that moment, Pang Jian almost felt worried for that level eight Flame Dragon.

"Eh, his direction has suddenly changed, he’s approaching those Demon Stones!"

Just as Li Jie’s exclamation rang out, the direction of the boat under their feet changed accordingly.

The boat sped straight toward the center of the Demon Abyss, heading in the direction of that block of Demon Stones.

This change of direction instantly increased the pressure on both of them; the dark green and black glimmer from that block of Demon Stones was thick and profound, exerting enormous stress on both their minds and bodies.

"Pff! Splat!"

The wounds on Pang Jian’s body that had just healed after being torn apart by Long Yan suddenly burst open again.

The murderous, demonic thoughts in his mind surged violently, and his pupils turned a terrifying deep red, resembling bloody suns bobbing on top of a white sea.

"Kill! Kill! Kill kill!"

With his mind filled with the intention to slaughter Long Yan, his heartbeat became fierce, and his breathing became unsteady.

"Pang Jian, Pang Jian?"

His terrifying appearance made Li Jie’s expression change, and he hurriedly shook Pang Jian’s shoulder, shouting, "Are you alright?"

"I..."

As Pang Jian opened his mouth, he miraculously began to calm down again.

The ascending evil and murderous thoughts, like being sucked away by a magnet, allowed him to gradually regain clarity.

Looking down, he glanced at the Origin Demon Sword in his hand.

Within the small universe of the sword, the Demon Cloud, Demon Light, Demon Flame parts of the Source Demon’s scattered consciousness, including the six Great Secret Realms once absorbed by the Source Demon, were all beginning to reforge and recongregate.

His violent and evil thoughts were also absorbed by the sword, turning into the power that bolstered the Origin Demon Sword.

With the revival of the Demon Soul within the sword and the awakening of its consciousness, it helped him resist the corrosion of the Demon Stone, allowing him to regain his senses in an extremely short time.

"It’s good you’re okay, you’re okay, you gave me quite a scare," Li Jie patted his chest, the Purple Gold Armor clanging noisily, "We’re almost there!"

A quarter of an hour later.

Another once-majestic and grand city, now collapsed into ruins, came into Pang Jian’s view.

Beneath millions of pieces of rubble, dust was still flying about, the smoke not yet dissipated.

"He’s beneath the rubble! Heh, think you can hide from me?"

This time, it was Li Jie who sneered.

The moment the light boat came to a halt, before Pang Jian could rush over on his sword, dozens of flags carrying potent poison were already flying out around him.

The flags expanded in the wind, casting dense fog and powder over the shattered city, releasing toxins that could invade the flesh and spirit.

The large city was engulfed in a cloud of poisonous dust and smoke.

"Despicable!"

The roar of Long Yan resounded once more.

Having fled all the way here, he was about to use a secret blood art, tapping into a ninth-grade Demon King’s heart to recover his combat strength and look for a chance at a bloodline advancement.

He didn’t expect Pang Jian to locate him accurately, nor release those toxic mists and smokes effective even against his dragon body.

"Ao hao!"

The shrunken hundred-zhang Long Yan twisted his body within the rubble, revealing his form.

His red crystal-like dragon scales were cracked in places, exposing the deep red flesh beneath which instantly began to rot upon coming into contact with the poisonous liquid smoke.

After inhaling a breath of the toxic fog, his mind began to spin and blur.

Long Yan was struck with horror.

As an eighth-grade true dragon capable of being immune to most poisons in heaven and earth, those toxic mists and smokes were all effective against him!

"Pang Jian, go kill him. Heh, he’s as good as dead," Li Jie said as the moment Long Yan showed himself, his light boat not advancing but retreating away from the broken city.

He pointed at the hundred-zhang Flame Dragon visible within the toxic smog and yelled, "Don’t let him burst out and kill me, his power is limited everywhere right now, you’ve already fought him to a standstill before."

"Now, it should be as easy as turning over your hand to kill him!"

"Go, quickly finish him off!"

Li Jie, who incited Pang Jian to commit the atrocity, continued retreating on the light boat, cowardly as a mouse.

"Hmm."

Pang Jian deployed the Spiritual Power Strong Shield and rode his sword into the thick smoke and dust of the collapsed city.

His expression suddenly tensed up as he witnessed wisps of poisonous smoke seeping through the Strong Shield to his mouth and nose, causing his scalp to tingle.

This toxic smog could actually ignore the protection of the Strong Shield!

"Pu Zhaotian’s disciple, to think you’re so insidious and malicious! Pang Jian, with a disciple like you, Sword Tower’s reputation will suffer! I’ve never heard of Sword Tower disciples employing such deadly toxins against their enemies!"

With a confused mind in the midst of the thick smoke and dust, Long Yan saw a sword light flashing towards him and roared in anger as he coughed.

The various poisons from Li Jie penetrated into his nostrils and along the cracks in his dragon scales into his flesh.

His strong life force was working to remove and cleanse the toxins within his own dragon body. His Dragon Heart stirred furiously, using its most intense force to eradicate all the toxins harmful to him.

Without Pang Jian’s arrival, without the interference of a second force, he was able to deal with the toxins by himself.

True dragons were indeed freakishly strong; even the deadly toxins collected by Li Jie couldn’t poison him to death within this city.

"The one who poisoned was the one you wished to kill, Li Jie, not me," Pang Jian still took the time to explain patiently to Long Yan before his death, "Of course, I simply don’t possess such toxins. If I did, I would also release them against you."

Once again he swung his sword at Long Yan.

...

Outside the city.

Li Jie, taking joy in watching the scene unfold, suddenly tensed up and felt an intense surge of alertness.

"Whoosh!"

His Purple Gold Armor erupted in layers of brilliance, enveloping his entire body.

A bright silver blade light came out of nowhere, tearing through the brilliance layer by layer, also causing his Purple Gold Armor to be riddled with cracks.

The light boat transformed back into the Kirin Bell before a second blade light struck, and it flipped over to protect Li Jie again.

"Clang!"

After the piercing sound, the woman wielding the serrated Long Blade swiftly departed.

Having missed with her strike, she did not linger and decisively retreated.

Li Jie, who was overtaken by triumph only to meet with dismay, hid at the bottom of the bell, drenched in sweat, daring not to make a sound.

After what seemed like ages, someone knocked on the bell, saying, "Li Jie, I am Wu Yuan from the Demon Sect. That woman left a long time ago, you can come out now."

"Whoosh!"

The walls of the bell suddenly turned transparent, and Li Jie, who had applied numerous sturdy arrays to himself inside, glanced suspiciously at Wu Yuan and said, "I don’t believe you."

"Unless Pang Jian comes out, I won’t leave even if it kills me!"

...