The Purgatory Calamity

The sound of that voice made Ning Yao's face fall like water, knowing that things were not as simple as she had thought.

"Be careful!" Suddenly, Ning Yuanshan screamed.

Numerous long spears and short spears shot out from the bushes and trunks in front of Ning Yao and her companion, turning into piercing lightning bolts.

In a frenzy, the two dodged and parried, and their speed in breaking through the encirclement was immediately forced to slow down.

"Han Duping, if you can get me out of here alive, I... I'll let you have a taste of my charm!"

Shangguan Qin, seeing that the situation was dire and her beauty fled, finally deigned to address the fat man who had been endlessly pestering her, even offering a condition that made her feel disgusted.

Compared to falling into the hands of the Dark Ghosts and suffering indescribable abuse, she found herself willing to grit her teeth and accept Han Duping one time.

"Compared to my precious life, those few pounds of flesh on you are actually not that important."

Han Duping, who had always lusted after Shangguan Qin's body, had more pressing concerns at this life-or-death moment.

Han Duping, corpulent in form, suddenly found himself wrapped in glittering silver armor. He crouched down to make his body compact, rolling along the ground like a shiny iron ball.

The attackers from Dark Ghost, all kinds of weapons hacking on top of the iron ball, only managed to spark a few sparks.

Han Duping, huddled inside the sphere, even took the opportunity to thrust needle-like sharp weapons at the nearest attackers, killing several of the Dark Ghost besiegers.

"Han Duping! You dog, you will not die well!"

Shangguan Qin, ridiculed, cursed loudly while clenching her teeth but still chose to follow Han Duping to break through the encirclement.

At this moment, as those attempting to escape suffered the Dark Ghosts' blockade, only Pang Jian was looking around within a pile of dead warhorses, waiting for the right moment to appear.

"There's still one foolish boy who doesn't see the need to flee."

A Dark Ghost member, small and skinny yet extremely swift, holding a Wolf Teeth Beacon Stick that was even taller than him, slowly approached.

The man suddenly leaped into the air, aiming to smash it down upon Pang Jian's head with the Wolf Teeth Beacon Stick, intending to dispose of him before chasing after Shangguan Qin.

The voluptuous and alluring Shangguan Qin was just his type, and he had been impatient for some time.

"A cultivator in the Qi Refining Realm."

Facing the leaping assailant, Pang Jian suddenly remembered Zhou Qingchen's words, saying that cultivators who had not broken through to the Meridians Channeling Realm couldn't circulate their spiritual power through their whole body, and their combat strength was not much stronger than that of an ordinary person.

With his mind at ease, he was no longer the slightest bit nervous or fearful as he coolly awaited the approaching enemy's arrival.

From childhood to adulthood, he had never been an "ordinary person" who could be easily butchered, and in these familiar mountains, he, Pang Jian, had always been the one hunting beasts!

After taking a deep breath, he quickly entered a state of combat readiness, his heart as calm as his eyes, enveloped by an icy aura of murder.

Seeing the Wolf Teeth Beacon Stick rapidly approaching, he, who was accustomed to using the long blade, chose to abandon the Dragon Pattern Spear in his hand, holding the long blade with both hands to block the strike from the air.

"Clang!"

After a crisp sound, his hands were shaken till they were numb, and he saw the long blade deform upon impact.

He abruptly realized that the rigidity and quality of the long blade were far too poor to be suitable for battle between cultivators.

The next moment, he decisively grasped the Dragon Pattern Spear!

Once he truly wielded the long spear as a weapon, he suddenly found that the Dragon Pattern Spear, which had seemed incredibly heavy the first time he'd picked it up, was now unbelievably light.

He knew well that the weight of the Dragon Pattern Spear wouldn't change, so the one who must have changed had to be himself!

"That dream, the cleansing of my hand bones and breastbone..."

In a trance, he felt a surge of formidable strength emanating from the joints of his hands gripping the spear!

"Huh?"

After striking, the assassin from Dark Ghost was startled to find that Pang Jian had not been cleaved in two and killed, pausing in surprise.

Despite his massive frame, which seemed completely at odds with his huge Wolf Teeth Beacon Stick, he adjusted the angle, readying for another heavy blow.

At this moment Pang Jian, who was much younger but tall and robust, was already charging at him, long spear in hand.

"You still dare to counterattack me?"

His eyes turned cold and he immediately swung the Wolf Teeth Beacon Stick with a whooshing sound, intending to first crush Pang Jian's skull and then smash his entire skeleton to pieces.

"Boom!"

At the instant the Wolf Teeth Beacon Stick collided with the Dragon Pattern Spear, an abrupt and savage force erupted, causing the stick's studded spikes to explode, sending splinters into his face and body, leaving him covered in blood and wounds.

His hands, tightly gripping the Wolf Teeth Beacon Stick, could not withstand such a violent impact and burst open with fine gashes.

"So this is a Cultivator from Dark Ghost? Not so great after all, huh?"

Pang Jian, having gained the upper hand, looked at the horrific sight of his adversary from Dark Ghost and muttered to himself.

Without further delay, he didn't bother to check whether the man was dead or not, and thrust his spear into the assailant's neck.

With a "piercing" sound, the long spear skewered through the neck of the attacker from Dark Ghost.

Seeing how easily the man died, Pang Jian realized that what Zhou Qingchen had said was indeed true: those who had not reached the Meridians Channeling Realm had not achieved a qualitative breakthrough and were indeed limited in combat strength.

"Zhang Zhu!"

Zhang Heng, riding the last surviving warhorse, let out a heart-rending cry of anger after the man was instantly killed.

At that moment, he abandoned his pursuit of Ning Yao and Ning Yuanshan and charged straight at Pang Jian on horseback!

"Little brother!"

Zhang Heng's eyes split with rage as he looked at Zhang Zhu lying among the corpses of the warhorses, trying to discern a sliver of life.

Regrettably, just like the Ning Family's warhorses that he had poisoned to death, his younger brother Zhang Zhu was also dead through and through.

"Pang Jian!"

Zhang Heng, who had recently joined Dark Ghost because of Zhang Zhu, was driven beyond the point of rage, screaming Pang Jian's name and frantically slapping his warhorse.

Pang Jian, who had just survived the first battle, saw Zhang Heng galloping madly on the frenzied warhorse and immediately took up his bow to shoot arrows.

The longbow, usually requiring effort to control, was drawn fully in an instant by him. He fired at Zhang Heng on the horse, his arrows either dodged or blocked with a longsword.

Watching the warhorse and Zhang Heng drawing closer, Pang Jian suddenly shifted his target, choosing to shoot at the galloping warhorse instead.

"Thud, thud!"

The warhorse's eyes, neck, and forehead were quickly studded with several arrows.

The horse, treated as a companion by Zhang Heng, went blind and struggled madly, flinging Zhang Heng into the air.

Before Zhang Heng could land and regain control, Pang Jian burst forth like a bolt of lightning and with his Dragon Pattern Spear, he stabbed at the sky repeatedly, puncturing Zhang Heng's body and leaving it riddled with gaping wounds.

By the time Zhang Heng finally hit the ground, he met the same fate as his brother Zhang Zhu.

"So fierce, I thought you'd be more formidable."

Watching Zhang Heng's body, still spurting blood, Pang Jian murmered with an odd expression on his face.

...