The Purgatory Calamity
Chapter 574 - 542 Disaster Strikes_1

Chapter 574: Chapter 542 Disaster Strikes_1

The Goddess of Cold Crystal’s expression bore a rare tinge of sorrow and helplessness.

In the Upper Realm among the gods, She had no friends, except perhaps for Ying Yue.

Had it not been for the desire to conspire with Ying Yue and Her to seize the Star Devourer from the Dark Prison, She would have never been willing to reveal Her innermost thoughts.

For this venture, She had quietly slipped away from Her own Divine Realm and entered this long-desolated Star River, certainly not to get a share of the spoils from Purgatory.

She was self-aware.

With the Great Demon God Hemo Tian and Ti Wei present, with Zimo of the Ghost Clan in command, what could She possibly accomplish?

The reason She had come was that with many gods gathered here, the pursuing High God would not dare to intrude into this world to lay hands on Her.

Even gods have to abide by moral principles and rules, that One would think twice before facing godly beings like Hemo Tian or Zimo.

"I have never heard you speak of these matters," said Ying Yue, her expression stern and serious. "Who is He? What exactly does He want to do to you?"

"I shall not speak His name."

The Goddess of Cold Crystal sighed bitterly and after a moment’s hesitation, She continued, "During the phase when I ascended from a Low-rank God to a Middle-level God, He did offer me some help. It is just too bad that I was too naive at the time to realize that there is no such thing as a free gift."

"The Extreme Cold Divine Path that I have comprehended is conducive to the augmentation of His strength, and as a Low-rank God, I was not capable of assisting Him."

"Once I became a Middle-level God, He came seeking me, subtly revealing the idea of ’joining divinities.’ He is a High God, and I am but a Middle-level God; if we were to cultivate together, it would only result in Him endlessly drawing on my Divine Power to achieve His own ends."

"I have few friends and even less powerful support; I had no choice but to flee from my own Divine Realm and seek refuge in this world to avoid Him."

"However, once the great calamity of Purgatory ends, regardless of the outcome, all the gods will depart. And I, too, can only return to my Divine Realm."

"By then, I will ultimately have to confront Him."

The Goddess of Cold Crystal gave a desolate, helpless smile, looking at the illusory altar before Her, and said, "If I could obtain some Strange Treasures from the Star Devourer, or some exquisite rarities from within the Mysterious Fog, perhaps I could find a strong backing."

"That way, I might be able to break free from Him."

For the Goddess of Cold Crystal, advancing to High God in the short term was somewhat unrealistic unless some earth-shattering serendipity ensued to give Her a sliver of hope.

What She was thinking of was to use the Strange Treasures to curry favor with another powerful godly being, earning Her more time to breathe.

Yet, it might also lead Her to fall from one abyss into another.

"I will help you!"

Ying Yue, also a female godly being, empathized immediately after hearing this, and said, "If you can cause the beings of that world to manipulate the Altar of Praying to God to summon us, I’ll take the risk with you!"

...

The Dark Prison

The eight segments of the Star Devourer, having failed to capture Pang Jian, did not return the way they came.

The bizarre, serpentine limbs stopped above the skies of those intact continents.

Out of them, five segments appeared like five walls on a piece of land.

And that piece of land was where the powerhouses of this realm gathered.

"Howl!"

A piercing scream from the ash-yellow stars sounded again in the heavens.

The five segments, neither gold nor crystal, stabbed into a mountain range, penetrated a lake, sank into a secluded pit, invaded a city, and sprawled across a forest.

Three Dark Spirit Clan Bloodline Fighters of rank nine, one rank nine of the Shadow Clan, and one rank nine powerhouse of the Sea Clan were instantly targeted by the limbs of the Star Devourer.

And thus, the calamity struck!

Five Bloodline Fighters, whose souls exuded a vast and distant aura at rank nine, suddenly experienced their world spinning.

Five soul shadows abruptly flew out of their flesh and bodies, absorbed one by one by the limbs of the Star Devourer, perishing instantaneously.

On the other three continents, a rank nine powerhouse each from the Mountain Goblin Clan, the Earth Spirit Clan, and another from the Shadow Clan, also met their demise at the same time, their souls sucked away by the Star Deviver.

In the current Dark Prison, a total of eight Bloodline Fighters of rank nine from various clans perished in an instant.

Cries of anguish arose from every corner.

The families that were protected by those rank nine powerhouses, their young children sobbed around the lifeless remains that were now devoid of souls.

One after another, the young people looked up at the eight segments of the Star Devourer’s limbs slowly reascending into the heavens with a gaze filled with intense hatred.

There were only eight surviving rank nine fighters in the Dark Prison, and the Star Devourer had precisely divided into eight limbs.

From the beginning, it intended to compensate for its losses by consuming the souls of the rank nine fighters of this world.

No matter whether it could catch up to Pang Jian, or what the final outcome would be, those eight rank nine Bloodline Fighters were doomed to die.

Because its meal had been disturbed, because at the time of relishing its feast, an outsider suddenly emerged.

Just for that, it redirected its fury at all beings in the Dark Prison.

To it, all creatures in the Dark Prison were soul food it had bred, to consume whenever it wished, however it saw fit.

Had Pang Jian not appeared, it could have waited a few more years, fattening up those rank nine fighters even more, until their souls could gather even greater power, evolve and ascend to a higher level.

The souls of the mighty are naturally more savory.

The arrival of Pang Jian had brought a sense of crisis to it, so it decided not to wait for the "fruit" to fully ripen but to harvest and eat first.

...

"Father!"

Within the shuttle-shaped vessel, a young and handsome Dark Spirit warrior collapsed to his knees on the deck, as if they had lost the power to support him, his voice hoarse with sobs.

His father was the strongest warrior of the Dark Spirit Clan in this era.

Had the Star Devourer not existed, his father would have long become a ninth-level bloodline fighter.

To seek a once-in-a-millennium opportunity, his father kept a low profile and patiently tempered his bloodline over and over again while at the eighth level.

All for the chance to ascend to the tenth level in a short amount of time, to break through the Dark Prison Heaven Forbidden.

The high priest of the clan told everyone that only when the Star Devourer was feeding on stars would it spare attention from other matters.

It was then that his father had an opportunity.

Now it seemed that even while feeding, the Star Devourer still firmly controlled the big picture of the Dark Prison, able to decide the fate of all lives at will.

The so-called lack of time to attend to other matters during its feeding period was probably just a beautiful lie made up by the Star Devourer, to give the creatures of the Dark Prison a glimmer of hope.

Only with hope in their hearts and the knowledge of a slight chance would the creatures of this realm continue to strive to strengthen their bloodlines.

Only then would they dare to step into the ninth level of bloodline, daring to fight and struggle once more.

Eight limbs suspended in midair, suddenly strangling eight ninth-level bloodline fighters, tore apart the lie it had woven itself.

And completely cut off the hope of all living beings in the Dark Prison.

From now on, the high priest of the Dark Spirit Clan would no longer harbor any illusions, and the strong fighters of other tribes would no longer refine their bloodline with all their might, not daring to step into the ninth level.

Because there was no hope, not even a sliver of chance, not a hint of possibility.

In fact, there had never been any.

...

At the very bottom of the Dark Prison.

Above the Mysterious Fog.

Pang Jian, in his Immortal Primordial Spirit form, was immersed in a segment of the Star Devourer’s limb, greedily absorbing the abundant energy stored within.

He didn’t pay much attention to the abnormalities above the six continents, nor to the Star Devourer’s subsequent actions.

After all, as long as the Star Devourer’s limb reappeared within a certain range, he would instinctively be aware of it.

Since he could enter the Mysterious Fog at any time, and since the Star Devourer was reluctant to pursue him within the fog, he was in an invincible position.

Time passed unknowingly.

This limb, tens of thousands of feet in length, had all its energy sucked dry by Pang Jian; his Immortal Primordial Spirit was like having consumed a super-sized nourishing holy medicine, glowing with an increasingly dazzling light.

The color of the Immortal Primordial Spirit’s form was no longer just golden, but mixed with a variety of colors.

From a distance, this Immortal Primordial Spirit, enlarged only about a dozen times, looked as if it had been refined from divine radiance and rainbows, dazzling to the extreme, possessing a magnificent beauty beyond the imagination of mortals.

He felt his body grow stronger, and the Taoist patterns branded on his bones flashed more densely.

He also gained a deeper understanding of the special laws of heaven such as plants, earth, stars, Cold Ice and other unique regulations.

He was already imagining how powerful he could become once he returned to his True Body and reclaimed the Origin Demon Sword.

A True God, would a battle be possible?

The Alien Tribes, those tenth-level bloodline warriors, could he confront them head-on?

"Swish! Swish swish!"

"Whoosh! Whoosh whoosh!"

One warship after another descended from the sky, landing in front of him.

Led by the high priest of the Dark Spirit Clan, along with the elders of the eighth level from the Shadow Clan, Mountain Goblin Clan, Sea Clan, and Earth Spirit Clan, all knelt down on the decks of the warships.

Kneeling and touching their foreheads to the ground seemed to be the greatest sign of respect all tribes showed towards their superiors.

"My lord, please help the Dark Prison achieve liberation and slay the Star Devourer," pleaded the high priest of the Dark Spirit Clan, his voice dripping with blood, filled with endless grief and resentment.

He kowtowed resoundingly and burst into tears again, "You are our only hope! With our own power, with the power of the Dark Prison, we will never be able to kill or expel Him."

"Without His death, the Dark Prison will remain eternally dark, with no exit for all beings."

Other elders from the Mountain Goblin Clan, Sea Clan, Shadow Clan, and Earth Spirit Clan also trembled, pleading with Pang Jian, this outsider, to make the Star Devourer pay the price.

For this, they were willing to risk being detected by the Star Devourer and had prepared for death.

"Earth Spirit Clan, Shadow Clan..."

Pang Jian’s eyes were complex.

These two clans also existed in the Fifth Realm of Purgatory; they were instructed by the Alien Gods from Outer Space and participated in the ascent to the heavens, aiming to cast down and exterminate the Human Race from the Upper Realm.

But in the Dark Prison, in this "prison" realm often overlooked by people, they were just a flock of sheep to be slaughtered.

As a god of the Human Race, helping the Alien Tribes of the Dark Prison to kill the Star Devourer seemed to contradict the strategies of the Human True Gods.

But this was the Dark Prison, a place where True Gods could not reach, and he was the only hope for the creatures of this place.

"I will try again, not for you, but because the Star Devourer is precious."

After dropping this remark, Pang Jian, under the expectant gaze of the old creatures of the Dark Prison, suddenly vanished into the Mysterious Fog.

He disappeared, leaving the elders of various tribes of the Dark Prison looking as devastated as if they had lost a loved one.

...