The Purgatory Calamity-Chapter 115 - 101 Fragment Land Sky Fortune_1

Third Realm.

Universe Heaven Continent, Red Mountain.

The setting sun was like blood, shining on the completely red, bare mountain, adding a touch of bloodthirstiness to this famously remote range.

The surface of the mountain had many caves chiseled into it, and at a glance, the whole mountain resembled a massive beehive.

From the bottom to the top, the spiritual energy inside the caves became increasingly rich, and the status of the inhabitants, increasingly high.

At the foot of the mountain, there were also quite a few villages built in reliance on Red Mountain.

The people there served Red Mountain, some preparing meals for the disciples and elders, others cultivating medicinal herbs in the surrounding mountains and forests.

In one of the villages.

Zhou Qingchen, Han Duping, and Jiang Li were sitting in the courtyard enjoying the cool air, staring at a sky that resembled a field of red clouds, lost in thought.

After a long moment.

Jiang Li, seeing the porcelain jar in Zhou Qingchen’s hand was empty, passed a new one over and whispered, "Don’t think too much, Pang Jian is a man with great fortune; he will surely return safely."

In this period, Zhou Qingchen had neglected his cultivation and had not stayed in his own dwelling. He often came to drown his sorrows with Han Duping’s wine.

She frequently accompanied them, watching Zhou Qingchen’s spirit decline, she had already tried to persuade him many times.

"The scene keeps flashing through my mind, him pushing me towards the Mirror Tunnel while he himself stayed by the pool,"

Zhou Qingchen took the new jar of wine and took a big gulp, slurring, "I can’t forget it; every time I meditate and cultivate, I can’t help but think of that moment."

"When I left, there were still Dong Tianze, Qi Qingsong, Lin Beiye, and two disciples from the Demon Heart Sect in the dwelling."

"Pang Jian, he..."

Zhou Qingchen shook his head, his eyes red and his voice hoarse.

"The Star River Alliance checked afterwards, and the whole Solitude Mountain Range was enveloped by the Mysterious Fog. So far, no sect dares to explore under the fog," Han Duping sighed and consoled, "Pang, born and bred in the Solitude Mountain Range, a hunter, perhaps..."

The words that followed, Han Duping himself couldn’t quite bring himself to say.

When Zhou Qingchen came out and told him about the situation, while admiring Pang Jian’s loyalty and sense of duty, he had already resigned himself to the likelihood that Pang Jian’s chances of survival were slim.

"Squeak."

The gate was suddenly pushed open rudely.

A person clad in blue, with a lazy demeanor, stepped in and said, "After asking around for half a day, I finally found out you weren’t up the mountain but hiding here."

"Qi Qingsong!"

The three people in the courtyard changed color abruptly, immediately took out their weapons, and prepared themselves for a desperate fight.

Jiang Li was even paler; she never expected this harbinger of doom to dare to barge into a village at the foot of Red Mountain!

Did disciples from the Upper Realm truly act so recklessly, not taking the people of the Lower Realm seriously at all?

Jiang Li, panicked and confused, was about to scream for help, urging the nearby disciples of Red Mountain to come quickly.

"Stop!"

Qi Qingsong hurriedly maintained his composure and yelled, "This is Red Mountain! I haven’t gone insane, nor do I have the spare time to come down from the Upper Realm just to seek vengeance on you three."

He shook his empty left sleeve sadly and said, "I severed my entire left arm to compensate for that girl’s lost limb. And there’s also..."

Qi Qingsong, wincing, took out a jar of ointment from his bosom and handed it to Jiang Li while bitterly saying, "This is a jar of Jade Ointment for Bone Regrowth, which can regenerate your amputated arm. It cost me a fortune to obtain just this one jar, and I’m using it for you first. As for the second jar, I’m still gathering resources."

Jiang Li stood petrified, staring at the jar of "Jade Ointment for Bone Regrowth," not daring to reach out and take it.

Zhou Qingchen angrily glared at Qi Qingsong, "What are you playing at?"

"I’m really not joking," Qi Qingsong said with a wry smile.

Looking at his missing arm, Zhou Qingchen suspiciously accepted the jar of "Jade Ointment for Bone Regrowth" and then asked, "What happened?"

"The boy from the Heaven Treasure Li Family said he would supervise me, and I was afraid he would take this matter seriously."

Qi Qingsong first cited Li Jie and hesitated for a moment before explaining with a pained expression, "A lot happened after you left. Pang Jian vanished into the Darkness, and who knows what he encountered—he killed the Demon Sect’s Lan Xi in the alleyways and turned Yuan Lengshan into dust and bone, forcing me to sever my own arm to survive..."

Qi Qingsong spoke of the events that followed.

The three of them took a while to recover from the shock of his account.

It was a long time before Zhou Qingchen, emotionally stirred, asked, "Where is Pang Jian now?"

Qi Qingsong shook his head and said, "Before I left, the atmosphere in the residence had already become strangely tense. Whatever happened between him and that boy Li Jie later, I have no clue."

"Moreover, the entire Northern Qi of the Fourth Realm is shrouded in Mysterious Fog. If he managed to survive and reappear in the Fourth Realm, he would likely be trapped in Northern Qi."

The three, initially moved by Pang Jian’s valor, were stupefied once more upon hearing this.

...

Fourth Realm, Sky Fortune Fragment Land.

In a village named Cloud Marsh Town, which lay outside Sky Fortune City and consistent with the Fragment Land’s name, sat adjacent to the Thousand Miles of Cloud Marsh.

The Cloud Marsh, covering a thousand-mile radius, was perennially shrouded in miasmatic poison fog, featuring numerous marshlands and home to various kinds of poisonous insects, ferocious beasts, and spirit beasts.

Cloud Marsh Town was situated between Sky Fortune City and the Thousand Miles of Cloud Marsh, with several similar towns scattered around.

That day, within a large estate in Cloud Marsh Town,

"I am Meng Qiulan. Starting from today, I’ll be in charge of all affairs concerning the Dark Ghosts inside and outside Sky Fortune City," said an old woman with a cane, dressed in a loose grey robe, standing with two beautiful young women, as she suddenly appeared at the Dark Ghosts’ branch.

Inside the dim hall, she looked at a group of cultivators with varying realms and stated, "Hong Tai has perished in the Solitude Mountain Range of Northern Qi, along with Xu Rui and the entire Jin Yang who accompanied him, all meeting with misfortune."

The Dark Ghosts in the hall, having more or less received the news, did not find this surprising.

Seeing everyone silent, Meng Qiulan took the initiative to say, "I am new here. I would like to hear about the recent events related to our Dark Ghosts that you have encountered."

The crowd started to report various incidents concerning Sky Fortune City, mentioning the emergence of some formidable ferocious beast in the Cloud Marsh and highlighting any noteworthy individual cultivators, asking whether she would like to recruit them into the Dark Ghosts.

"Master Meng, Hong Tai’s nephew came half a month ago, claiming that Hong Tai arranged for him to join the Dark Ghosts. He also brought Hong Tai’s token, and there is no issue with his identity, but I’m not sure..."

Fan Liang, the most senior among them, suddenly remembered something and immediately reported it to Meng Qiulan.

"Hong Tai’s nephew?"

Meng Qiulan was astonished.

"Hmm, there was indeed such a matter."

Fan Liang sighed and said, "Before Hong Tai was dispatched to Solitude Mountain Range, he had informed us that he would arrange for a distant nephew to join the Dark Ghosts. Sadly, his nephew, Hong Jian, arrived, but he died in the Solitude Mountain Range."

Glancing covertly at Meng Qiulan, Fan Liang lowered his head and said, "At that time, Hong Tai had not returned, and we didn’t know that he had already passed away, so we made arrangements for him."

"Where was he placed?"

Meng Qiulan asked.

Fan Liang said, "He was settled at one of our bases in Cloud Marsh."

After pondering for a moment, Meng Qiulan said, "How is this Hong Jian’s level of cultivation?"

"They say he’s in the Meridians Channeling Realm, seemingly in the late stages, and not very old either."

Fan Liang answered conscientiously, with no detail spared.

"Meridians Channeling Realm..."

Meng Qiulan nodded lightly, and looked back at her two disciples who had followed her for many years.

The two women shrank their heads a bit, apparently a little embarrassed.

"I must meet him before I can decide whether to keep him or not. Because of the incident in the Solitude Mountain Range, the seven great families are hunting our people everywhere; we must be cautious."

Meng Qiulan spoke prudently.

"Shall I arrange for someone to bring him here?"

Fan Liang hastily said.

"No need, I’m about to head to Cloud Marsh, I’ll meet him at that base."

...

A corner of Cloud Marsh.

An inconspicuous small mountain covered in vegetation, where a small but hidden cave lay nestled amidst dense weeds on the hillside.

At the center of this cave, there was a pool sunk into the rock, its walls made of rare blood jade.

At this moment.

In that blood jade-crafted pool, the blood of many ferocious and spirit beasts was pooled.

Beside the blood pool, chunks of radiant spirit jade were piled up, maintaining a full and harmonious balance of spiritual energy and qi and blood in the entire pool.

Within the blood water, full of vitality, floated a white jade porcelain bottle, and inside it was a crystal-clear snow lotus of extreme rarity.

Sitting atop the snow lotus was a strikingly beautiful figure.

Streams of refined qi and blood, along with exceptionally pure spiritual power, were entering the bottle, absorbed by the wondrous woman within.

By the side of the pool.

Pang Jian sat at the sealed cave entrance, occasionally opening his eyes to check on Luo Hongyan, who was using this secluded blood pool bestowed by Hong Tai for the reformation of her physique.

It had been half a month since their arrival.

Luo Hongyan, steering the Heavenly Spirit Tower, had used the cover of night in the Fourth Realm to arrive at this Fragment Land known as Sky Fortune without any mishaps.

Sky Fortune in Fragment Land was under the jurisdiction of the Shangguan Family, which had even built a city called Sky Fortune City here.

The Fragment Land had a forbidden place called Thousand Miles of Cloud Land, where the miasma was much more potent than the spiritual energy, breeding a multitude of ferocious beasts and venomous insects, enticing many individual cultivators to come exploring.

A subdivision of the Dark Ghosts was established herein.

Upon his arrival half a month earlier, Pang Jian immediately sought out Fan Liang in Cloud Marsh Town in accordance with Luo Hongyan’s instructions to make known his identity.

After that, he did not return to the place Fan Liang had arranged for him; he spent most of his time procuring fresh blood of ferocious and spirit beasts for Luo Hongyan to rebuild her flesh and blood in the blood pool.

He himself was immersed in cultivating day and night, drenched in the second stage of the Marrow Cleaning Realm, using the vigorous beast blood to temper his organs.

The two of them still had plenty of spirit stones and spirit jade at hand, and he was not at all concerned about his cultivation.

"Pang Jian, you need not stay here. You know I have my ’Spirit Evil’ condensed around here."

From within the white jade porcelain bottle, Luo Hongyan, now miniature in her soul spirit form and perched atop the "Crystal-clear Snow Lotus," smiled winsomely.

The cave, bedecked with many illuminating gemstones, seemed even brighter because of her smile.

"I don’t know where to go."

Pang Jian said placidly.

"You need to interact more with the people of Dark Ghosts, and with those individual cultivators who gather at the Dark Ghosts’ bases, even the teams from the Shangguan Family searching for spirit beasts. I can’t go out at the moment, you should ask the Dark Ghosts’ new Hall Master if anyone has been dispatched."

Luo Hongyan looked at him with a smile and said, "Only the Hall Masters of the Dark Ghosts’ divisions can obtain high-grade beast blood. We are not short of spirit stones right now; what we lack are various precious supplementary spiritual materials."

Pang Jian frowned and remained silent.

"You, when you were in Lingshan Town, did you rarely interact with people?"

Luo Hongyan asked in surprise.

Pang Jian nodded.

"This won’t do."

"Whether it’s the people of Dark Ghosts or those living alone in Cloud Marsh, you shouldn’t completely reject interaction; only by doing so can you keep yourself well-informed."

Luo Hongyan advised softly, telling him that as a cultivator, one could not always be engrossed in arduous cultivation.

She needed to focus on tempering her crystalline bones, and with her condensed "Spirit Evil" patrolling around, and her own strength more than adequate, she wasn’t too concerned about her safety in Cloud Marsh.

Given Pang Jian’s display of power in Bagua City, as long as he exercised a bit of caution, he wouldn’t face any danger to his life.

Luo Hongyan could tell that ever since leaving the Solitude Mountain Range, Pang Jian had become even more resistant to interacting with others.

The path of cultivation was not such, and for Pang Jian’s development, she encouraged him to venture out more.

"Oh, alright."

Upon hearing this, Pang Jian stood up and left the secluded cave, emerging under the Fourth Realm’s dusky Sky Curtain.

...