The Purgatory Calamity
Chapter 557 - 529: Unexpected Windfall_1

Chapter 557: Chapter 529: Unexpected Windfall_1

The current state of Hongdu Fragment Land was filled with too many inconceivable occurrences.

True Gods that should not have appeared, Level Ten powerhouses of the Fifth Realm that should not have emerged, one after another, they stepped out from the shadows.

Six hidden Mirror Tunnels dissipated into the void outside the Fragment Land, attempting to capture a True God.

Two clusters of clouds symbolizing Godhood also appeared over the Fragment Land one after another, manipulated by Individual Cultivators practicing extreme Sorcery, ready to forge a complete Godhood.

In the southern underground, Ghost Mother tortured Alien Gods of the Ghost Clan, blasting the Level Ten Wubi.

Another True God of the Gui Sacrificial Sect, Mu Wentao, after defecting from the Human Race, secretly helped Jiang Cen ascend to godhood, while Tian Du San Ren, also a True God, suddenly intervened forcibly.

There were too many unexpected events, too many unthinkable incidents unfolding.

Yet, the most inconceivable event occurred when the cloud cluster symbolizing Godhood, after Jiang Cen’s failed attempt to ascend to True Godhood, once again fell towards Hongdu Fragment Land.

It was actually heading for Pang Jian!

Pang Jian, with his cultivation of the Extinction Realm and not even at the peak of Extinction Realm, what virtue and ability did he possess to attract the cloud cluster symbolizing Godhood?

Purgatory, Mysterious Fog, Godhood each had their own set of unique rules.

Godhood would always condense at the moment when warriors at the peak of the Immortal Realm doggedly struck at ascending to True Godhood.

This had always been its inherent rule, so why did it announce its breakdown today?

"Pang Jian!"

In secret, many extraordinary beings who noticed this scene were all profoundly shaken.

True Gods, Alien Gods from Outer Space, and Level Ten Bloodline Fighters were also drawn by the cloud cluster symbolizing Godhood, and they were observing Pang Jian’s every move.

Below, in Hongdu City.

Pang Jian, with a blank look in his eyes, only thought that this streak of crystalline radiance was being drawn by the "Gate of Prison" in his chest.

The bronze plaque, a symbol of identity of the Purgatory World God, harbored earth-shattering secrets and could revive fallen Level Ten Demon Gods with essence blood.

Since it was the one that opened a crack and triggered the descent of the cloud cluster representing Godhood, Pang Jian was shocked, but he did not find it unacceptable.

On the Gate of Prison, no matter what bizarre events occurred, he always considered them normal.

However, in just a moment, he sensed something amiss.

The "Gate of Prison" that cracked open a gap only emitted a ray of rainbow light, and this rainbow light was somewhat similar to the falling aura.

The rainbow light thus shone upon his Spirit Sea of Consciousness, illuminating his golden Spiritual Soul!

It was as if it was meant to display for that cluster of Godhood, to clearly show that it did have another choice.

And indeed, it saw, and so it plunged down fiercely.

It wasn’t going to be absorbed by the "Gate of Prison" nor attracted by the bronze plaque, but it was aiming to fall into Pang Jian’s Sea of Consciousness, to merge with Pang Jian’s Spiritual Soul!

"How is this possible?"

Pang Jian’s Spiritual Soul trembled, finding it unbelievable.

"Whoosh!"

The Heaven Demon Armor enveloping his Spiritual Soul transformed once again into a dark Sea of Demons, stretching from his brain to the Dantian Fragment Land.

And this time, that dark Sea of Demons was not beneath the Fragment Land.

The dark Sea of Demons truly became a sea, spreading over that piece of Dantian Fragment Land.

"Demon Element Power is like water, without a constant state, and unpredictable. This Sea of Demons, created with Demon Element Power, seems to have completed that missing element of heaven and earth within your Dantian Fragment Land."

The Source Demon’s inner voice emerged quietly: "However, the arrival of this divine position really... still baffles me."

With an irreversible momentum, at a constant speed, the cloud cluster aimed for Pang Jian’s Spirit Sea of Consciousness.

At this moment, Pang Jian’s body and spirit seemed to be frozen in time, unable to move at all.

He had no way to dodge and could only passively accept everything.

There was no joy in his heart, only a surge of immense panic and unease.

He knew his realm was insufficient, he acknowledged his shallow understanding, his knowledge of any Taoist Rules and Regulations was far from enough to ascend to True Godhood.

The arrival of this Godhood was like forcing a square peg into a round hole, a kind of coercion.

His Shifu returned gravely injured after failing to become a True God, Jiang Ran fell from his realm after failing and never recovered.

And Jiang Cen...

Struggling to move his eyes, he saw Jiang Cen not far away, now silent after failing to ascend to True Godhood.

The Source Demon remained inactive, not taking the opportunity to strike a finishing blow, which indicated that Jiang Cen was already dead.

Most who failed in their assault to become True Gods, like Jiang Cen, ended up with their Spiritual Souls completely extinguished!

Pang Jian definitely did not want to die.

He resisted the arrival of this Godhood so vehemently, this cluster coveted by countless, for him, was the most terrifying poison in the world.

Touch it, and die!

"My undoing, it turns out, is the Gate of Prison," he lamented one last time before feeling the descent of the cloud cluster, sensing a splendid divine light penetrate his crown, pouring into that golden Spiritual Soul of his.

"Boom!"

Many intricate lights burst open in his mind.

Chaos had always been orderly, the form after the creation of heaven and earth.

Chaos signified unity, complete and indivisible.

Chaos stood for boundlessness, a state of infinite vastness.

Chaos, was indeed a complete Divine Tao to Godliness.

In the cosmos, the utmost number is nine: Qi Refinement, Meridians Channeling, Marrow Cleaning, Innate, Hollow Profound, Spirit Condensation, Soul Wandering, Extinction, Immortal.

Immortal thus is nine, for Immortal is already a divine spirit among humans.

In the Eighth Realm of Extinction, if the Spiritual Soul were pure and untainted, flawless and without blemish, it would have enough qualification to attract Godhood and directly enthrone itself within the Immortal Realm.

So-called purity and untainted, so-called flawlessness and perfection, is but the embodiment of divinity during the refinement of the Spiritual Soul.

When Godhood descended from the heavens, the moment it infused into Pang Jian’s Spiritual Soul, all fundamental knowledge pertaining to the Great Tao suddenly became clear.

Pang Jian suddenly realized that when he advanced to the Spirit Condensation Realm, his Spiritual Soul was forged from three thousand Divine Senses each suffused with divinity.

From the moment the Human Race developed the cultivation system, in theory, the Immortal Realm signified godliness among humans, and what followed, the True God Realm, was merely the perfected form of a god.

In the past, the reason why no one could attract a seat of Godhood in the Extinction Realm was simply that no one’s Spiritual Soul could be impeccably perfect.

Because they had flaws, impurities, and blemishes, they needed to continue to refine and sculpt in the Immortal Realm.

But his Spiritual Soul was already in a perfect state without blemishes; he was qualified to attract Godhood in the Extinction Realm, advancing the act of Divine Enthronement at this stage!

His innate Chaos Sea was already a complete Divine Tao!

The Dantian Fragment Land that entailed elements of metal, wood, fire, earth, thunder and lightning, cold ice, and the movements of the sun, moon, and stars represented the ordered state in which heaven and earth were formed.

The missing element of water was replenished by that Demon Sea formed from Demon Element Power, completing the most crucial five elements.

His Chaos Sea had not yet reached Great Perfection, but its rudimentary foundation was already evident, allowing him to use "Chaos" to forge his Divine Tao.

"I actually, actually qualify, truly have the hopes of ascending to be an Immortal God!"

Pang Jian’s Soul Body trembled, eagerly capturing the Great Tao knowledge in his mind, determined to achieve an unprecedented feat within Purgatory.

—Attract Godhood with the Extinction Realm!

...

"Huff!"

The tall figure of the Ghost Mother, clad in a cyan Magical Robe, appeared from the southern desert of the Fragment Land.

A giant pool emerged behind her out of thin air, nearly filling the southern void.

This Dark Pool, deep and immeasurable, as if gathering the souls of all beings, suddenly oriented its mouth towards Dead Spirit Town, Ghost Spirit Town, and Yin Spirit Town.

The three towns, frequented by dead souls and Ghost Cultivators, uncontrollably fell into the pool.

The pool exploded into a millstone of inconceivable proportions and began to rotate slowly.

As the millstone turned, the three tangible towns, including the souls and Ghost Cultivators within, were instantaneously ground into dust, becoming part of the pool.

Jiang Cen’s path to Divine Enthronement first replicated a "Dark Pool" refined from the Reincarnation Pool and then morphed into the millstone beneath him.

But replication is after all, just that, replication.

Although he had groped his way to creating a Netherworld Divine Tao and had Zimo verify the viability of this Divine Tao, it was only during its actual implementation that he understood the numerous difficulties in forging his Divine Tao.

Jiang Cen’s knowledge of the Nether-Dao, his understanding of the Dark Ghost incantations, were not enough to support the successful establishment of this Divine Tao.

Jiang Cen’s road to godhood ultimately failed, not because of Pang Jian’s disruption.

He, like myriad predecessors throughout tens of thousands of years who thought they comprehended a Divine Tao thoroughly yet failed midway, suffered defeat at the hands of his own inadequacies.

Like Jiang Cen, like Jiang Ran, the path to godhood has more failures than successes.

And those successful in Divine Enthronement, are but one in ten.

"The Extinction Realm, attracting a seat of Godhood, this..."

The Ghost Mother’s brows twitched.

Behind her, the "Wheel of Reincarnation" that the pool had become suddenly vanished, and she quietly disappeared, only to reappear high above the Fragment Land.

The "Jiang Ran" in the sky, at the moment she appeared, his pitch-black eyes abruptly disappeared.

Jiang Ran, without any supportive force and holding a sword, plummeted directly toward the Fragment Land.

The Ghost Mother pointed a finger, and Jiang Ran’s corpse was fixed in the void, while she, harboring great doubts, lowered her gaze towards Hongdu City.

She ignored the battle between her junior brother Mu Wentao and Tian Du San Ren.

She simply watched the cloud of colorful splendor that signified Godhood descending, watching as it fell towards the mind of Pang Jian, and then infused into Pang Jian’s Spiritual Soul.

And Pang Jian, to her amazement, did not shatter his soul and die.

The resplendent light filled with complex knowledge settled atop Pang Jian’s skeleton, as it once did on Jiang Cen’s head.

The difference was that Jiang Cen was at the peak of the Immortal Realm, while Pang Jian was only in the Extinction Realm.

The Ghost Mother gazed deeply, thinking over all her knowledge related to Godhood, True God, and realms, combing through it repeatedly in her mind.

...

To the east of the Fragment Land.

In the lifeless silence of the woods, the Woodman, descended from the Alien God, had already exploded, and Mu Weifeng, leader of the Black Wood Sect, also lay in a pool of blood.

All disciples of the Black Wood Sect had perished.

The Alien God, the sect leader, the disciples all dead, with their thick scent of death still seeping into that dry well.

And yet another cloud of splendid color signifying Godhood had also descended into the well.

Standing in the woods at this time was an old man who bore some resemblance to Jiang Ran.

He looked at the corpse of Jiang Ran, fixed mid-air by the Ghost Mother, and sighed faintly, saying, "Victory is always accompanied by sacrifice. In the past, you also sacrificed others, and now that it happens to you, you shouldn’t blame me."

He was Jiang Fan, a True God from the Bright Heaven Divine Kingdom, who once was a steadfast pillar of support behind Jiang Ran.

...

PS: Jiang Fan is a True God from the Bright Heaven Divine Kingdom; this has been corrected.