The Purgatory Calamity

"Pot Heaven, Lake Heaven."

Pang Jian, maintaining a tranquil and relaxed state, suddenly had an epiphany one day and became acutely aware of something.

The human spirit is like a calm and clear lake.

The water is deep, but because it is clear enough, one should be able to see the things at the bottom of the lake.

However, whenever stray thoughts arise, conjuring whimsical ideas, the clear and calm surface of the lake would be like stones thrown into it, causing ripples to spread continuously.

Once the ripples intermingle, the surface of the lake becomes agitated, and it is no longer possible to see the scenery at the bottom clearly.

Only by eliminating the numerous stray thoughts in the mind, keeping the heart calm, and focusing on oneself can the heart's lake become ripple-free and clearly reflect oneself.

Having realized this, Pang Jian focused on his cultivation for a long time and felt increasingly tranquil while his spirit gradually became clearer.

In such a state, Pang Jian could feel his abdomen gently pulsating with each deep breath, as if giving his inner organs a gentle massage, invigorating them with strength and vitality.

He immediately understood that the ability to thoroughly comprehend one's own innermost secrets was what is termed awakening.

At this point, the "Pot Heaven Nourishing Qi Spell" was an art of cultivation that he had just glimpsed the threshold of.

Just this one step brought great benefits to Pang Jian, who, whenever he emerged from meditation, would feel mentally refreshed and his thoughts clear.

His hearing and vision also slightly improved, and the anxiety and irritability in his heart were greatly alleviated.

"Eh?"

One day, while Pang Jian was focused on meditating and sensing the existence of qi, he felt a warmth in his chest.

After furrowing his brows, he lifted the clothes on his chest and looked at the bronze pendant clinging to his skin.

The pendant was antique and rudimentary, and the side against the skin was smooth like warm jade.

The front, on the other hand, displayed a copper door appearance, filled with unknown patterns, and even had two ring handles, as if one could open the copper door by using the handles.

This object was the only item his father had torn off his own neck before leaving.

Pang Jian had been wearing the bronze pendant for several years without noticing anything unusual or special about it, but since recently practicing the "Pot Heaven Nourishing Qi Spell," whenever he contemplated the movement of "qi," the bronze token would become overly warm.

Grasping the bronze token on his chest, Pang Jian stroked the front with his fingertip, feeling the rough veins and gently pulling the ring handle.

The copper door-shaped pendant did not open, nor did anything odd or peculiar happen due to his action.

The abnormal warmth of the object, however, quickly returned to normal as his tranquil state of mind was broken.

Pang Jian didn't take it to heart. After getting up, washing, and eating, he began another round of focused meditation on "qi."

In the process, the copper pendant on his chest became warm again, but Pang Jian no longer paid attention to it.

...

This day.

Pang Jian, who was absorbed in self-contemplation and focused on cultivation, was disturbed by noises from the outside world.

Stepping out of the stone house, he saw several segments of bones suddenly appear in the dull sky above him, meteor-like, plummeting toward the north of the Fourth Realm.

They vanished deep within the Solitude Mountain Range, causing the land to tremble and roar for thousands of miles, shaking the stone house behind Pang Jian violently.

Despite such a distance, Pang Jian could hear the fear and excitement in the roars of the beasts in the mountains.

Pang Jian involuntarily associated these with the image of a white Divine Bone piercing the Divine Bird Qing Jue and vaguely felt that the bones falling from the sky might have the same origin as that Divine Bone.

The difference was that the Divine Bone that assassinated Qing Jue was as shiny as jade and radiated a sacred light.

The bones falling toward Solitude Mountain Range, on the contrary, were gray and dull, seemingly exhausted of mysterious power, and appeared lifeless and dim.

Pang Jian, alarmed by the anomaly above, thus paused his cultivation of the "Pot Heaven Nourishing Qi Spell" to closely watch the changes in the sky.

After half a day.

Pang Jian saw a Golden Coach, bathed in divine light, emerge from the depths of the dense clouds, plunging straight down into the deep parts of the Solitude Mountain Range.

When the coach landed, a booming explosion came from the mountain, with a dazzling column of golden light surging into the sky, slowly receding after a long while.

After a day.

Another massive ship descended from above, its dark, exquisite flags fluttering. The center of these flags bore a blood-colored crescent moon that hovered, casting an eerie and captivating glow.

Soon after, a translucent five-story White Tower gently rotated as it sank from the Upper Realm.

The coach, the ship, the tower—all were extraordinary items of the other realms that left Pang Jian in awe.

Pang Jian gradually realized that something must have happened deep within the Solitude Mountain Range.

The elevated beings of the Upper Realm might have come either in search of the bones or due to the abnormality of the "Mysterious Fog."

Pang Jian, who had hunted in the Solitude Mountain Range for years, was well-acquainted with most areas of the mountains; he knew exactly where dangers lurked, and which areas his father had designated as Forbidden Land and prohibited from entering.

Although he was infinitely curious, knowing that something drastic had occurred in Solitude Mountain Range, he decided to postpone his hunting and focus on the precious Spirit Spell in his hands.

Afterward, he continued to pay attention for a while longer, but upon seeing no more otherworldly objects fall from the Upper Realm, he returned to his house to resume cultivation.

The "qi" mentioned in the "Pot Heaven Nourishing Qi Spell" is different from the air one breathes; it is not supposed to be inhaled into the abdominal cavity but is meant to sink into the Spiritual Sea of the dantian.

This particular "qi" is known as "Spiritual Energy," which possesses wondrous power and is the fundamental source of a Qi Refiner's strength.

Pang Jian, curbing his inner curiosity and suppressing the desire to explore, would often hear roars from deep within the Solitude Mountain Range during moments when he felt the presence of "Spiritual Energy": the shouts and screams of humans, along with the mournful howls and roars of wild beasts.

He was certain that fierce battles must have erupted deep in the Solitude Mountain Range, which made him even more restrained in his urge to explore.

...

"This is the place."

Pang Jian, who had been diligently cultivating that day, was startled by a voice from outside the courtyard and hurried out to investigate.

Outside the fence, a group of seven people rode tall, armored warhorses, which had arrived at his doorstep without notice.

Perhaps it was because he was too focused on cultivating and examining the intricacies within his abdomen that Pang Jian hadn't heard the sound of hooves.

"Crack!"

The visitors had no reservations about riding forward, the heavy hooves breaking through the fence and charging directly into the courtyard.

"People from Lingshan Town say that you, who hunt in the Solitude Mountain Range all year round, are quite familiar with the other side of the mountain. Is that so?"

A gloomy old man with a goatee rode up to Pang Jian atop his armored warhorse, not bothering to dismount to speak, looking down at Pang Jian and stated in a tone that brooked no refusal, "We are preparing to make a trip to the Solitude Mountain Range, and we need someone familiar with the terrain to guide us. That would be you, boy."

"I won't go." Knowing that the mountains had been restless recently, Pang Jian adamantly refused.

"That's not up to you."

The old man bared his teeth in a sinister grin, took off a thick, black rope from the saddle, and prepared to forcibly abduct Pang Jian.

"Let me talk to him!"

Behind the old man, a young girl called out lightly and galloped over on a majestic white horse.

Coming alongside the old man, she also showed no intention of dismounting. Instead, she casually threw a cloth bag to Pang Jian and said indifferently as if bestowing alms, "We're not unreasonable. There's compensation for you."

Atop her white horse, the young girl wore a neat and sporty outfit, with a pretty face and a curvaceous, well-proportioned figure that exuded a spirited aura.

Compared to the young women of Lingshan Town, she was like the bright moon's radiance outshining the faint glow of grains of rice.

Pang Jian, who had only ever roamed near the Solitude Mountain Range and rarely visited Lingshan Town, had his gaze fixated on the young girl for a moment, momentarily entranced.

"Keep looking at me, and I'll gouge out your eyeballs."

Before Pang Jian could take another look, a slender white-robed young man on a black horse behind them, his narrow eyes filled with iciness, chided sharply.

Pang Jian stayed silent, quietly withdrew his gaze, and then picked up the cloth bag from the ground.

Upon opening it, he found it to be filled with large chunks of silver, enough for him to exchange for several years' worth of rice, flour, oil, and daily necessities.

Gripping the cloth bag tightly, Pang Jian thought to himself that if the mountains had been silent for a long while, then perhaps the previous upheaval and conflict had already settled.

Curious about what exactly had happened inside, he consequently said, "Alright."

"Heh, turns out you're a greedy little brat." The gloomy old man chuckled, raised his hand to point toward the Solitude Mountain Range, and commanded, "Lead the way in front."

Pang Jian, looking at the snow-white horse ridden by the girl, said, "Walking is too slow; I'd like to ride."

"Ride?"

The chill in the white-robed young man's eyes persisted as he heard this and again became infuriated, "Do as you're told. If you open your mouth one more time, I will cut out your tongue."

Pang Jian glanced at the angry young man, and then at the spirited beautiful girl, guessing that the young man might be infatuated with her.

"Can you ride a horse?" the girl asked coolly.

"I'm a mountain hunter; what do you think?" Pang Jian retorted with a question of his own.

The girl was taken aback, not expecting Pang Jian to dare to question her. Her bright eyes flashed with surprise, and after a slight nod, she instructed, "Yao Qi, you and Zhang Heng share a horse. Give your horse to him to ride."

"Oh."

Reluctantly dismounting, a person led the horse over to Pang Jian, patted the chestnut-colored steed's head, and whispered a couple of words before saying, "It has a fiery temper. Don't blame me if it injures you, boy."

With that, he turned his head with a snicker and glanced at the white-robed young man.

The young man gave an approving look.

Silent, Pang Jian went back into his house to prepare his bow, long blade, and bamboo basket before taking the reins and mounting the horse, promptly whipping the steed and charging towards the Solitude Mountain Range.

"Clang clang clang!"

The chestnut warhorse suddenly ran wild, shaking violently along the way as if it were an untamed ferocious beast.

Pang Jian's upper body swayed violently with the horse's movement, but his lower body remained firmly against the horse's back as if rooted. No matter how much the horse bucked, he wasn't thrown off.

The warhorse, in its frenzy, tried everything it could to throw off Pang Jian, but ultimately none of its efforts succeeded.

A short time later, the exhausted horse, as if resigning to its fate, gradually calmed down.

"There's something about this kid." The old man stroked his beard thoughtfully.

"I hope this journey goes smoothly."

The valiant girl sighed softly, her face full of concern. She did not linger her gaze on Pang Jian and the unruly horse but kept looking deep into the Solitude Mountain Range, saying, "The Blood Moon of the Upper Realm, the Yin Spirit Temple, and people from the Raging Sun Sect ventured deep inside, their fate unknown, not one has made it out."

She paused briefly and then continued, "The extreme northern area of the Solitude Mountain Range is shrouded in Mysterious Fog, nine out of ten times it's become Forbidden Land, concealing untold horrors."

"You shouldn't go. You are destined for the Upper Realm; you shouldn't risk it here," the white-robed young man exclaimed.

"From the moment we began this path of cultivation, neither you nor I can expect a peaceful life," the girl slowly shook her head, her flawless face set with determination, calmly stating, "The cataclysm has subsided, it's much safer now."

"If I die on this mission, it would only prove that I lack the skill and destiny, and wouldn't last long in the Upper Realm either."

"Let's go."

Once she gave the order, she led the way with her horse, leaving the rest with no choice but to hurriedly follow.

...