The Purgatory Calamity

The remains of the Heaven Phoenix stood like a mountain upon the earth, as if it could suppress all the evil demons of the Solitude Mountain Range.

Pang Jian's mind and spirit were both profoundly shaken.

A mere bone exceeded a hundred meters, thick as the trunk and roots of a giant tree, what sort of legendary splendor must the Heaven Phoenix have possessed in life?

Was it not an existence akin to that of a myth?

No wonder that Divine Bird that floated above his household could be so easily slain.

"The Unstable Ferry of the Blood Moon!"

While Pang Jian's thoughts were racing with excitement, Ning Yuanshan suddenly called out softly, pointing behind the dead bones.

Immediately, Pang Jian saw that giant sailboat with dark banners decorated with a blood-colored crescent moon floating up and down, emerging behind the phoenix bones within his line of sight.

"Let's go take a look!"

Accompanying Ning Yuanshan's shout, Pang Jian and the others rode their horses around the skeleton to observe it closely.

They saw a sailboat tens of meters long that had crushed countless trees, now docked on a ground littered with fragments and dried branches.

Around the sailboat lay skeletons stained with blood, among them clothes with Blood Moon patterns still visible.

"These are the real Blood Moon Cultivators."

Ning Yuanshan took one look and couldn't help covering his nose, saying, "After they died, their flesh and viscera must have been eaten by the nearby beasts. Look, beside their bodies, there are blood-stained gold and silver artifacts that have been regurgitated."

Unlike the bones in the pile of stones, those wearing Blood Moon garments in the Yin Spirit Temple, these bones exuded a pungent smell of blood after their flesh was eaten, which was absolutely nauseating.

"Were they killed by the nearby beasts, or by the people from the Yin Spirit Temple and the Star River Alliance? Or is there something else dangerous in the Solitude Mountain Range?" Ning Yao couldn't help but doubt the cause of death of the skeletons.

"The beasts of the Solitude Mountain Range shouldn't have the capability to kill Cultivators," Pang Jian said.

Being familiar with the beasts that prowled the Solitude Mountain Range, he was well aware of their strength.

Even the fiercest of these beasts, he did not believe, could take down figures like Zhou Qingchen and Ning Yuanshan, so the deaths of the Blood Moon Cultivators probably had nothing to do with the beasts of the mountain.

"No, you don't understand the power of the Mysterious Fog."

Zhou Qingchen's expression was grave as he shook his head, speaking with solemnity, "I am quite certain that the Mysterious Fog has already seeped through the Boundary Wall into the northernmost parts of the mountain range. Any beast that strays into it and manages to come out alive will definitely undergo a transformation, becoming a Ferocious Beast or a Spirit Beast many times more powerful than before."

"Such beasts are no longer the same species you were familiar with, and they can no longer be called mere beasts."

At these words, Pang Jian's heart grew chill, realizing that he truly did not understand the "Mysterious Fog."

Although he regularly traveled throughout the Solitude Mountain Range, he had never come into contact with the "Mysterious Fog," and moreover, his father had restricted him, sternly forbidding him from hunting in the far north.

"Whoosh! Whoooosh!"

Suddenly, the wind howled, and the black banner atop the Unstable Ferry flapped loudly in the breeze.

The giant blood-red crescent in the center of the banner, with the fluttering of the flag, released a bizarre blood-colored light that bathed the nearby area in deep red.

Under the deep red blood light, those fleshless skeletons suddenly appeared incredibly creepy.

"None of you should act rashly."

Zhou Qingchen stared at the Blood Moon within the banner, absorbed the sensation for a moment, and then said, "I'll go check whether this fallen Phoenix Bone has any mystical remnants. As for you... wait here for the time being. Do not touch the artifacts left by the skeletons or approach the Unstable Ferry."

"Alright!"

The group, having suffered a harsh lesson among the rubble, was now far more cautious and obediently complied.

Zhou Qingchen dismounted immediately, carefully avoiding larger crevices, or leaping over them entirely, quickly reaching the site where the giant bone lay.

With his back to the others beside the bone, he took something out of his bosom and appeared to scrutinize it intently.

"No."

Zhou Qingchen quickly came to a conclusion.

He turned his back to the crowd and first stowed away the item he had taken out before turning around and saying, "It's just an ordinary Phoenix Bone, there's nothing peculiar inside. The death of the Blood Moon Cultivator has nothing to do with this dry bone; they must have been killed by something else."

"All right, now everyone can start looking around, but still, be careful."

In Zhou Qingchen's heart, the remains of the Heaven Phoenix were the most terrifying thing. Seeing they were not as he had feared, his mood slightly relaxed, and he gestured for everyone to search as they wished.

But he still cautioned, "As for... stay away from the Unstable Ferry. You all check the bodies first, see if there's anything strange about the artifacts they left behind."

The crowd swiftly got to work.

Pang Jian knew that he probably was not entitled to the belongings left by those Cultivators, it was better to wait for Zhou Qingchen to offer them voluntarily, so he didn't join the rest in frantically searching and instead quietly waited in silence.

After some time, it was Zhou Qingchen who suddenly frowned and exclaimed, "Someone is coming."

Hearing this, all the busy people stopped immediately, tense and ready for what might come.

Whether it was people from the Blood Moon or the Yin Spirit Temple, they were all Cultivators from the Upper Realm, and most had a higher realm than them.

Those formidable figures were now massively perishing in the Solitude Mountain Range, how much more vulnerable were they?

They had to be doubly cautious.

After a while, accompanied by a deliberately subdued "rustling" sound, a group of people gradually appeared, emerging from behind the woods by the Unstable Ferry.

Seeing each other, both sides let out a sigh of relief.

"It's the Zhou and Ning families!"

"Turns out it's the Shangguan family!"

Amidst the relaxed exclamations, a group of nine people finally felt bold enough to show themselves, appearing even more cautious than them momentarily.

The leader was a woman dressed lavishly as a noble, in bright-colored skirts and her exquisite jewelry sparkling bright.

Her charming features were like a ripe peach, and her body curves were extremely tempting.

At the moment, covering her deep and fair cleavage with her hands, she exclaimed with feigned surprise, "You scared me to death! I thought we had encountered survivors from the Upper Realm, coming to kill us all."

The voluptuous beauty swayed elegantly towards Zhou Qingchen, batting her eyes from afar, "Qingchen, it's been so long since we last met. Seeing that it's you, I feel at ease."

Zhou Qingchen smiled nonchalantly, "It turns out to be Auntie Qin."

"Little Sister Qin, your brother Han is here too," said Han Duping, with his corpulent figure, squinting his small eyes lustfully fixated on the whiteness of her chest, blithely ignoring her face as he spoke, "Others say you bring bad luck to your husbands, but I am not afraid. After all, you've already had two husbands die on you, so why don't we just get together?"

"If little sister gives the nod, I'll immediately split with Zhou here and pledge myself to the Shangguan family," he said, pounding his chest in assurance, putting on airs as if ready to forswear his friendship with Zhou Qingchen that instant and become a vassal under her skirts.

Zhou Qingchen knew what kind of person Han Duping was, and with a look of helplessness on his face, he smiled and said, "After all our acquaintance, if you really intend to do so, Han, apart from seeing you off with a heavy heart, I will also prepare a generous farewell gift."

"Pah! Fat winter melon, keep dreaming!" Shangguan Qin's lovely face, shrouded in loathing, didn't spare a shred of face as she sneered, "You old toad trying to eat swan meat?"

"Ha, you've already caused the death of two men, and you're not getting any younger. Hardly a swan anymore," Han Duping teased her mercilessly.

Angered by him, Shangguan Qin's breathing hastened, unintentionally accentuating the heaving rise and fall of her bosom even more.

"Squeak, squeak!"

A towering man, wrapped in heavy armor, dragging a huge iron cage behind him, appeared last among the Shangguan family group.

Pang Jian, who had been mingling in the crowd from the Ning and Zhou families and not paying attention to this group, suddenly turned towards the grey ape locked in the iron cage.

The grey ape's eyes, a peculiar ice blue, burned with violence and ferocity. Although it was a prisoner, it still radiated an intense murderous aura.

As Pang Jian took note of it, the grey ape, scarred all over, also turned its gaze to Pang Jian.

"You know it?"

Ning Yao, who was next to Pang Jian, followed the gaze of the grey ape's ice blue eyes and turned to Pang Jian, asking in surprise.

...