The Purgatory Calamity-Chapter 95 - 82 Reignited Hope_1

In the dark alley,

Pang Jian, who had burst in disheveled, just wanted to leave the City Lord Mansion as quickly as possible and enter the streets he was familiar with.

As for the filthy corruption in the darkness, he could no longer worry about that; he thought to endure as long as he could.

"Bang! Clang!"

Unable to see anything, he suddenly collided with a soft body, knocking over a bunch of tables and objects in the process.

Near the fallen table, there seemed to be many fruit platters and bowls that he had scattered all over the ground.

He felt that he had run into a woman...

A moment later, he thought of that figure lurking in the darkness, the Different Kind he and Li Jie had considered a huge threat.

"So it’s a woman..."

He scrambled to his feet, accidentally touching the body of the woman, and hastily muttered an apology.

Without waiting for the woman to react, he hurried out of the alley and headed toward the street corner he knew best.

In the same darkness,

A girl who had been knocked to the ground could see everything clearly.

She watched Pang Jian rush out of the alley, leaning on the wall to find the street corner and quickly disappearing from her field of vision.

The stunned girl shook herself out of her daze and looked at the fruit platters and pickled dishes scattered on the ground, grumpily sitting up while rubbing her backside.

"Damn thief!"

She grumbled under her breath as she rearranged the table, blocking the entrance to the alley again, and propped up a broad chair before taking out new fruit platters and dishes.

Twisting the cap of an exquisitely small wine flask, she glared at the alley where Pang Jian had vanished and angrily took a big gulp.

But Pang Jian was already nowhere to be seen.

The girl in the darkness turned around in resignation, just in time to see Luo Hongyan shatter the Black Gold knife sea and instantly slay Leng Yuan of the Yin Spirit Temple.

The girl then ignored the departing Pang Jian and hid herself in the dark alley of the Fifth Realm, looking out at the brightly lit courtyard of the City Lord Mansion.

She also cast occasional glances at Li Jie.

...

Inside the City Lord Mansion.

"Who are you?"

Watching Luo Hongyan put away the White Jade Porcelain Bottle that contained the Crystal-clear Snow Lotus, Lin Beiye decided not to snatch it immediately, but to first inquire about the other’s identity.

—Leng Yuan died too miserably and too quickly.

As someone of the Marrow Cleansing Realm like them, the fact that Leng Yuan could stand behind Dong Tianze proved that he was not weak.

The ease with which Luo Hongyan eliminated Leng Yuan was like their routine elimination of those who entered the pool to seize treasures, so casual and effortless.

This proved that Luo Hongyan possessed strength comparable to theirs!

"My name is Ning Yao, from the Ning Family of the Fourth Realm, practicing the techniques of the Star River Alliance..."

"You are not Ning Yao!"

Before Luo Hongyan could finish, Dong Tianze interrupted with a cold huff, saying sternly, "At Wulan Lake, controlling numerous Spirit Evils to self-combust in my mind, setting up that bewitching red lotus in the pit... it was all you, wasn’t it?"

"Eh, so you’re not a fool either, you managed to figure this out?"

Luo Hongyan, revealing her true identity, smirked with pursed lips.

Currently, she was still occupying Ning Yao’s body.

Because she was unsure whether her soul, surpassing the Marrow Cleansing Realm, would be treated differently due to some natural prohibition if exposed in Bagua City.

To avoid unexpected incidents, Luo Hongyan, admitting that she possessed Ning Yao, remained shrunken within Ning Yao’s body, not coming out.

"Hey, you from Black Valley, do you want the Crystal-clear Snow Lotus or not?"

She teasingly shook the White Jade Porcelain Bottle in Lin Beiye’s direction with an air of superiority.

"Not many from the Fourth Realm, or even the Third Realm, can recognize the Crystal-clear Snow Lotus at a glance."

Lin Beiye was taken aback inwardly; he was even more cautious about making a move without understanding her true background.

"Not daring?"

Luo Hongyan laughed lightly, lips tinged with disdain.

With a delicate finger like a pale leek, she pointed to Yuan Lengshan clad in white and said in a voice that was pleasant to the ear, "Well then, I have a proposal, let me share it with everyone."

"I am all ears,"

Seeing her point at Yuan Lengshan, and standing quite close to her, Qi Qingsong was the first one to become interested.

Zhou Qingchen had already escaped, and Pang Jian had charged into the darkness with an attitude of certain death, leaving him battered and without an outlet for his frustration.

The only enemies that remained in the courtyard were from the Demon Heart Sect, Yuan Lengshan and her sister, and Yuan Lengshan was the main culprit!

"The way the Demon Heart Sect operates, even if you haven’t seen it with your own eyes, you must have heard of it,"

Luo Hongyan’s voice was charming and pleasant, but her eyes were full of harsh coldness as she indifferently said, "That Yuan wench has beguiled my companion Pang Jian to strike at you first, planning to start with you and hunt down everyone else."

"So my proposal is, let’s kill the sisters from the Demon Heart Sect first, and after they are dead, we can discuss other matters!"

Back outside the City Lord Mansion, the kind Jiang Li saw Yuan Lengshan alone and even invited her to join them.

Zhou Qingchen had also warned her, saying there was an anomaly in the darkness and to be careful behind him.

It would have been enough if Yuan Lengshan had not appreciated the gestures, but she actually used Pang Jian and Zhou Qingchen as pawns inside the mansion, almost getting both of them killed.

Luo Hongyan’s deepest hatred and annoyance were directed at Yuan Lengshan!

"Agreed."

Lin Beiye was the first to express his stance.

Qi Qingsong nodded, saying, "I was thinking the same!"

Pang Jian was about to make a statement when Luo Hongyan, without listening, said, "Then it’s decided."

"Whoosh!"

At that moment, the mirror tunnel that floated like ice crystals on the water’s surface once again transformed into a liquid pool.

The mirror tunnel, from which everyone had just departed, disappeared without a trace.

Having just made a decision, and as they were about to act, everyone’s expressions revealed a trace of astonishment.

Without the mirror tunnel, even if they were to seize the strange treasure within the pool, they wouldn’t know how to escape.

"You all focus on the matter at hand! Don’t worry, the mirror tunnel will eventually reappear, so no one needs to panic,"

Li Jie, who had been keeping out of affairs, was drinking green fruit juice on a lounger and "kindly" informed everyone amidst the chaos.

Eyes filled with inquisitive wonder focused on him momentarily but, as if by some unspoken agreement, they were quickly withdrawn.

Somehow, no one felt threatened by Li Jie.

They all had the impression that this man had no interest in the strange treasure and would not hinder anyone from doing anything as long as he wasn’t provoked.

"Sigh!"

Yuan Lengshan, a prodigious girl from the Demon Heart Sect, suddenly flew high into the air and landed on the platform where Lan Xi was Stood.

Above her pristine white robe, numerous black demonic characters and red heart-shaped patterns emerged and whirled around her with a loud whoosh.

She slowly took a seat and furrowed her brows, "Sister, don’t you find it a bit crowded?"

The platform was actually quite spacious; even with those demonic characters and heart-shaped patterns released, it wasn’t truly crowded.

"Yes, I feel the same,"

Lan Xi was very understanding. She obediently flew down from the platform and stood silently below.

Even though she was the senior sister, she complied with Yuan Lengshan’s words and even showed a hint of fear, not daring to disobey Yuan Lengshan.

"Thank you, Sister."

Yuan Lengshan showed no gratitude in her eyes and dismissively uttered her thanks before reaching out toward the pool.

The silver long spear at the bottom of the pool reacted to the pull of her fingers, shot up suddenly from the bottom, and landed firmly in her palm.

The moment she grasped the long spear, a strange light gleamed in her eyes as she said to Qi Qingsong, "That boy just now, if he had been holding this silver long spear instead of that long spear, you would probably be dead."

Qi Qingsong simply smiled indifferently, shaking his head, "There aren’t that many ifs. I’m the one who’s alive now, and he will eventually be corrupted by the filth alien power of the Fifth Realm. He will either die or become an unthinking monster, devoid of spiritual intelligence."

"Hmm, that’s also true,"

Yuan Lengshan nodded lightly in agreement, approving of his conjecture about Pang Jian’s situation, and said, "Anyway, since the mirror tunnel hasn’t reappeared, if everyone isn’t in a hurry to fight, why not listen to a little story I have to tell?"

Qi Qingsong replied with a smile, "Sure, I love stories."

"The City Lord Mansion we are in belongs to a family with the surname Yuan,"

Yuan Lengshan was straightforward about it. She looked at the people surrounding the pool with her eyes revealing a fierce glare, and said, "Strictly speaking, all of you are guests in my house."

...

In the depths of darkness.

Blood-soaked Pang Jian fumbled his way to the rear entrance of the City Lord Mansion, to the street corner they had arrived at earlier.

Out of the eight street corners leading to the square, he ultimately chose this one because it was familiar to him.

Even without his sight, he had a rough sense of his surroundings, and if real danger presented itself, at least he knew where to flee.

However, no one pursued him.

Dong Tianze and Qi Qingsong, the two most formidable opponents, did not venture into the darkness of the Fifth Realm as he had, seeming hesitant to place themselves in the sour, foul-smelling, filthy environment.

"I wonder how long I can hold on."

Bearing the pain of his wounds, Pang Jian sat down at the dark street corner, not daring to heal using the filth alien power of the Fifth Realm.

Merely breathing normally, the acidic alien power in the air was eroding his insides, causing a sour and tingling pain in his flesh.

The effects of the magical green fruit juice given to him by Li Jie had already mostly been used up, offering him very little help now.

"It seems I might not last until the moment of Bone Severing Marrow Washing,"

In the darkness, he leaned against the wall like a lone wolf, sitting crookedly, staring coldly ahead.

His field of vision was shrouded in darkness.

Above and all around was the ultimate darkness.

It seemed as if the entire Bagua City, the entire mortal world, had been submerged in infinite darkness.

In the world, it seemed he was the only one left.

An endless sense of solitude, along with the filth alien power lurking in the darkness, slowly permeated his mind, gradually eroding his fighting spirit, diminishing his resilient will.

Hope, vitality, the future.

All the positive thoughts that could inspire the heart, seemed to be erased from within him by the limitless darkness, little by little.

"Upper Realm, Lower Realm..."

Suddenly, in his mind, the indifferent faces of those from the Upper Realm like Yuan Lengshan of the Demon Sect, Lin Beiye from the Black Valley, and Qi Qingsong from Sword Tower, who ignored him from start to finish, emerged.

Those indifferent faces, like a giant branding iron that could sear through bone and melt the heart, filled Pang Jian’s mind.

At this moment, he deeply understood what kind of role he, from the Fourth Realm, played in the eyes of the young geniuses of the Upper Realm.

In the darkness, his eyes began to flash with intense murderous intent and a light of unwillingness!

"Lower Realm, huh..."

Clenching his teeth, he muttered under his breath, enduring the pain in his body as he began to carefully assess his condition.

Just then, he overcame the endless isolation from the darkness; he did not go mad in the shadows, he refused to fall without a fight, and he was not prepared to accept his fate and wait for death!

The fire of hope reignited in his heart!

...