Chapter 505: Human Purgatory

At the inn, someone suddenly exclaimed, "Look, what's that!"

A group of people instinctively looked up, following the direction of the person's finger, and saw a dazzling light in the sky.

Liu Yao gazed at the meteor streaking across the sky with a trail of fire, muttering to himself, "An unusual celestial phenomenon like this must signal the descent of a great treasure!"

As soon as he spoke, the eyes of many people in the vicinity became fervent.

Only Zhu Xie Chixin's expression remained calm. Gazing at the meteor that had suddenly burst into daylight-like brilliance, he abruptly said, "Let's go, let's check it out."

Chu Chuyan hesitated, worried about Zuan and Pei Mianman's safety. She knew they might not have escaped the Mosquito Daoist's pursuit and wanted to use this opportunity to find them.

At that moment, Sang Qian approached her and said, "Sister Chu, although my time with Zuan has been limited, I understand him well enough to know that if he were being hunted by the Mosquito Daoist, he would likely run towards where the meteor fell. That spot would be conspicuous enough to attract others, who would then help balance the Mosquito Daoist, whom he can't fight alone."

Recall that Zuan didn't need to reveal he possessed the Nirvana Sutra of the Phoenix, yet he did. This was clearly to stir up trouble and force other factions to restrain the Emperor. Such a person is incredibly daring, yet meticulously thoughtful, evidently realizing that running towards the meteor would offer a better chance of escape.

Chu Chuyan couldn't help but look at her in surprise. "I've long heard of Miss Sang's resourcefulness, and seeing it today, the reputation is well-deserved. If we find A'Zu there, I'll truly have to thank you properly."

"It should be me thanking him for laying these people to rest," Sang Qian said, looking at the corpses of the dead soldiers on the ground. She had just requested Zhu Xie Chixin's permission to rebury them and then arrange for their bodies to be returned to their hometowns after returning to the capital.

Chu Chuyan's expression softened considerably. "Although A'Zu is often criticized, he's fundamentally a kind person."

"I can feel that," Sang Qian hummed in agreement.

Standing nearby, Sang Hong secretly sighed. He had always admired Zuan. If only he had taken his daughter to Brightmoon City earlier, Zuan would likely be his son-in-law by now, and his son wouldn't have met such a tragic end...

Zhu Xie Chixin and his group had no time for sentimental reflections. They left some people behind to guard the imperial criminals at the inn and then led the Embroidered Uniform Envoys towards the meteor's crash site.

King Liang and Liu Yao, unable to suppress their curiosity, followed suit. Chu Chuyan, worried about Zuan, also hurried after them.

However, when the group arrived, they found only a large crater, fragmented meteor debris scattered everywhere, and Zhu Xie Chixin standing there with a grim expression.

"Lord Zhu Xie, have you seen Zuan?" Chu Chuyan quickly asked. As the most powerful among them, he had arrived first and might have already discovered something.

Zhu Xie Chixin looked glumly towards the pile of rubble. "We were a step too late. I just saw them jump into a portal, and the Mosquito Daoist followed them in. Unfortunately, the portal vanished so quickly I couldn't stop it."

That portal was likely an entrance to a secret realm, but he had never seen one disappear so rapidly, nor did he know what kind of realm it was. Heaven knew if Zuan would return alive after entering. Most secret realms are extremely dangerous initially, and only those that have been fully developed become somewhat safer.

The thought of having to report to the Emperor upon returning to the capital, without Zuan, gave him a massive headache.

"The Mosquito Daoist went in too?" Chu Chuyan's expression changed slightly, and she immediately became worried.

"You don't need to worry about that," Zhu Xie Chixin replied. "Secret realms are usually complex; they might not be teleported to the same location."

As for Zuan and Pei Mianman, after entering the portal, they both experienced a sensation of weightlessness. This feeling was not unfamiliar; they had a similar experience in the secret realm behind the academy.

When they regained their senses, they found themselves in a misty world, enveloped by bluish-gray fog.

"I think I vaguely saw the Mosquito Daoist chase us in," Pei Mianman said, looking back anxiously, but there was no one else behind them.

Zuan said, "She did follow us in. She must have been teleported to a different location."

He felt a headache coming on; that woman was persistently haunting them, seizing even such a fleeting opportunity.

Pei Mianman realized that many secret realms indeed work this way: the entrance is the same, but participants are teleported to various random locations. To stay together, one must hold hands when entering.

It was then that she noticed their hands were still tightly clasped. Feeling the warmth from his palm, her face flushed slightly. "How long do you plan to hold my hand?"

Zuan gave an embarrassed smile and quickly released her hand. "The situation was critical just now; I wasn't trying to take advantage of you."

"I know," Pei Mianman said, her captivating peach-blossom eyes sparkling. "Otherwise, I would have burned you with black flames long ago."

"Please don't. If your black flames touch someone, even their bones would turn to ash if their cultivation is weaker," Zuan said, startled.

"Fool, how could I use black flames against you?" Pei Mianman mumbled softly.

Zuan looked around, noticing the pervasive bluish-gray fog. Unlike ordinary mist that disperses with a breeze, this fog felt unusually dense. He even suspected that even if a powerful wind user continuously unleashed tornados, it would be difficult to scatter it. "Be careful," he warned. "This place is a bit strange, and we don't know where the Mosquito Daoist is hiding. It'll be trouble if we run into her by accident."

Because of the fog, visibility was limited to only a few meters, and their sight couldn't penetrate far. If the Mosquito Daoist was hiding nearby, they wouldn't be able to detect her in advance.

"Mhm," Pei Mianman responded. For some reason, she wasn't very scared. She felt a sense of security around him, even though his cultivation was clearly lower than hers.

"How are your injuries?" Zuan asked, offering her another pill. She had just been wounded by the Mosquito Daoist again and was visibly weakened.

"I'm fine, much better now," Pei Mianman replied, shaking her head to decline the pill. "The previous medicine is still working, and I'm slowly recovering."

Zuan couldn't help but marvel at the miraculous nature of Ji Dengtu's medicine. Next time they met, he definitely needed to have a good talk with Xiao Xi about it.

"By the way, how did you know the characters on that stone tablet?" Pei Mianman asked curiously, the scene still fresh in her memory.

"Naturally, I'm very knowledgeable and have an excellent memory," Zuan said proudly.

Pei Mianman scoffed. "I've read records of various clans across the world since I was little, but I've never seen characters like that before."

Zuan knew she was a scholarly woman and that casually claiming it was some writing from his hometown wouldn't fool her and would only arouse unnecessary suspicion. So he replied, "Actually, I don't know either. It seems I've seen these characters in my dreams, and when I saw them, I recognized them."

Pei Mianman was surprised. "The ancients said some talents were heaven-sent. I thought it was just a legend; I never expected it to be real."

Zuan breathed a sigh of relief. It was precisely because there were similar records in history that he concocted this somewhat mythological excuse, and he was surprised it actually worked.

Despite his relief, his mind was still filled with questions. Why would he encounter the Yin Ruins and oracle bone script in this world?

Remembering Emperor Qin Shihuang and others he had seen in previous secret realms, he fell into deep thought.

"Ah!" Pei Mianman suddenly exclaimed, instinctively grabbing his arm.

"What's wrong?" Zuan's heart leaped, and he cautiously scanned his surroundings, thinking the Mosquito Daoist had attacked. However, everything remained quiet and no danger was apparent. "Blood..." Pei Mianman pointed to the ground. "The soil is dark red, as if it's soaked in blood."

Surrounded by bluish-gray fog, with visibility limited to just a few meters, the atmosphere was already oppressive. Seeing the dark red earth now sent a shiver down their spines.

How much blood would it take to stain the soil so deeply red?

Zuan stared at the ground for a moment, then reassured her, "It might not be stained with blood. It could be due to a high concentration of iron oxides."

"Iron oxides?" Pei Mianman looked puzzled.

"You can think of it as iron elements, like rust," Zuan explained. Although he tried to comfort her, he wasn't entirely sure himself; was it truly caused by iron oxides?

Pei Mianman said, "Regardless, we must remain extremely vigilant. This secret realm is likely quite dangerous."

This was actually common knowledge in the cultivation world: the danger level of a secret realm could be discerned from its environment. If it featured sunny weather, green mountains, and clear waters, it was likely peaceful inside, and even if its core was dangerous, one would be safe as long as they didn't approach it.

However, if a secret realm appeared eerie and terrifying, it was almost certainly an extremely perilous place.

Clearly, their current environment belonged to the latter category.

The two continued to walk cautiously forward. The bluish-gray mist made it easy to lose direction; they couldn't distinguish north, south, east, or west, so they could only proceed one step at a time.

Suddenly, the ground beneath them gave way. The surface ahead had been deceptively covered, unable to support their weight.

"Watch out!" Zuan and Pei Mianman simultaneously warned each other, then jumped backward.

Unfortunately, Pei Mianman was severely injured, and halfway through her jump, her vital energy failed, causing her to suddenly fall. Zuan quickly reached out to grab her, but influenced by her descent, he too was pulled downwards.

Startled, he quickly reached out to grip the nearby wall. He had no idea how deep this unknown place was or if there were any traps below, so he naturally dared not fall.

However, things did not go as planned. For some reason, the surrounding earthen walls were incredibly hard and smooth. With Zuan's current cultivation, splitting stone tablets was easy; theoretically, a full-strength grip should have allowed his entire palm to dig into the wall, stopping their descent.

But to his surprise, his fingers could only make shallow indentations in the wall and couldn't dig in further. Even that slight penetration caused him considerable pain.

With no leverage, he could no longer stop their fall and they plummeted downwards.

Zuan instinctively pulled Pei Mianman into his arms, shielding her with his body. She was severely injured, and a direct impact from such a fall could be fatal.

As for himself, protected by the Primordial Chaos Sutra, his recovery abilities far surpassed those of others.

The two tumbled downwards, and throughout the fall, he held Pei Mianman's head tightly against his chest, covering her with as much of his body as possible.

Fortunately, it wasn't a bottomless abyss. After tumbling for a while, they finally hit the ground.

Zuan groaned, feeling a sharp object pierce his back. However, he had no time to focus on it, quickly cupping the woman's face in his hands. "Da Manman, are you alright?"

Pei Mianman's charming peach-blossom eyes had lost their usual alluring sparkle; instead, she gazed at him somewhat absently. "I'm... I'm fine. Aren't you afraid of risking your life and making Chuyan sad?"

She remembered every detail of what had just happened. In their moment of peril, he hadn't escaped alone; instead, he had fallen into the pit while trying to save her.

Yet, no one knew what lay below. He had risked his life entirely to save her.

Moreover, throughout the entire fall, he had used his body to shield her from stones and other dangers. Aside from some wrinkled clothes and occasional minor scrapes, she had barely sustained any injuries.

In contrast, his clothes were torn to shreds by the rocks encountered during the fall, and his body and even his face were covered in bruises and various scratches.

Zuan chuckled, "What nonsense are you talking about? How could I stand by and do nothing in that situation? You're my friend."

"Just friends, then..." A fleeting look of disappointment crossed Pei Mianman's face, quickly replaced by her usual charming smile. "You're right, I'm Chuyan's best friend. If you hadn't saved me, Chuyan certainly wouldn't have forgiven you."

With that, she playfully punched him with her small fist.

"Hiss," Zuan hissed, drawing a sharp breath. He felt a piercing pain in his back, then let out a gasp and coughed up a mouthful of blood.

"What's wrong? I didn't even use force!" Pei Mianman was almost in tears as she urgently asked.

"It's nothing. Something must have pierced my back when we fell. Can you check for me?" Zuan twisted his head backward, but couldn't see what was behind him.

Pei Mianman's tears instantly fell. She saw a stone spike, as thick as an incense stick, lodged in his back. Judging by its depth, it had pierced his lung, which explained why he was coughing up blood.

Hearing her description, Zuan actually let out a sigh of relief. "That's good. Help me pull out the spike."

Pei Mianman quickly said, "But pulling it out so abruptly could cause severe bleeding."

Zuan reached out and ruffled her hair, comforting her. "Don't worry, even though my cultivation is average, my body is tougher than anyone else's. I'll be fine."

Pei Mianman also recalled his powerful regenerative abilities, biting her lip. "Then be careful."

"Mm!" Zuan straightened his body. To prevent her from worrying, he maintained a calm expression despite the intense pain.

He almost admired himself. He used to find Guan Yu's bone-scraping surgery incredible, but since arriving in this world, he had sustained countless fatal injuries. Forget bone-scraping; his bones had shattered and healed numerous times.

It was also fortunate that this was a cultivation world, where cultivators' bodies weren't as fragile as those of humans in his previous life. Of course, other cultivators would have died long ago from such severe injuries. Ultimately, it was all thanks to the "Rich Lady's Pleasure Ball" from before and later the Primordial Chaos Sutra.

Pei Mianman had been a cultivation prodigy since childhood, with steady hands regardless of the weapon. Yet today, holding a stone spike, her hand trembled so much.

"It's fine, just pull it out." Zuan gently patted her, his warm smile suddenly calming her.

Pei Mianman knew that such an injury couldn't be delayed. She took a deep breath, then slowly pulled the spike from his back. Her movements were very slow, fearing that even a slight mistake might cause massive bleeding or shock.

Zuan groaned, and a fine layer of sweat instantly appeared on his forehead. It was excruciatingly painful; after all, his lung had been injured.

In his previous life, he knew that one of the most agonizing ways to die was from severe external lung trauma, which would lead to a desperate death filled with pain and difficulty breathing.

He could only be grateful that the Primordial Chaos Sutra granted him extraordinary recovery abilities, otherwise, even if he didn't die now, he would succumb to bacterial infection later.

Finally, Pei Mianman extracted the spike and quickly applied pressure to acupoints to seal the wound on his back. Even so, seeing the massive gaping wound and other injuries on his back, her tears still fell uncontrollably.

She knew clearly that if Zuan hadn't shielded her, she would likely have been impaled by that spike and died instantly. The reason he was so severely injured was entirely because of her.

Due to her mother, she had never truly believed in emotions. For years, she had appeared passionate and amiable to everyone, like a refreshing spring breeze—a complete contrast to Chu Chuyan. Yet, her heart had always been as cold as iron, observing everything in the world with indifference.

Even though her relationship with Zuan had been good before, and at times even somewhat ambiguous, it was merely that: good.

It wasn't until this time, when he repeatedly risked his life to save her, that the beliefs she had held since childhood gradually crumbled, and her icy heart completely melted.

"My dear lady, could you please stop crying for a moment and help me apply the medicine?" Zuan said, feeling speechless. This woman was usually so clever; why was she acting like any other young girl today?

Pei Mianman snapped out of her daze, quickly took the medicine bottle from his hand, applied the medicine, and then tore off her clothes' inner lining to bandage him.

Suddenly, her eyes narrowed. She noticed other bandages on his back, embroidered with small flowers, and faintly smelled a light fragrance. Clearly, these were intimate garments from other women used to bandage him.

However, she was only distracted for a moment before quickly bandaging his new wound and wiping the fine sweat from his forehead.

"Da Manman, I didn't realize your hands were so gentle." Feeling the coolness on his back, Zuan felt much better. It was clear that with Physician Ji's medicine and the Primordial Chaos Sutra, his life was saved.

This time, Pei Mianman didn't smile. Instead, she looked at him seriously. "A'Zu, could you promise me something?"

"What is it?" Zuan was startled.

Pei Mianman bit her lip, repeatedly opening and closing her mouth, evidently trying to choose her words. After a long pause, she finally looked into his eyes and said, "Promise me you won't risk your life to charm women anymore!"

Zuan was speechless.

Pei Mianman continued, "You've saved me several times without regard for your own life, and it was the same when you saved Zheng Dan—you used your body to shield her from attacks. And that Qiu Honglei... If you don't take care of your own body, how can you face... how can you face Chuyan?"

Zuan looked embarrassed. "Actually, I didn't think that much. I just couldn't stand by and watch something happen to you."

Pei Mianman's gaze softened. "I know your good intentions, but you're so reckless every time. You won't be so lucky forever. What if you lose your life next time?"

Zuan whispered, "My body isn't like normal people's..."

Pei Mianman interrupted him, "I know your recovery ability is strong, but there's always a limit. Promise me you won't do such foolish things anymore, okay?"

Seeing her teary eyes, Zuan's heart softened, and he quickly said, "Alright, I promise you. From now on, even when saving someone, I'll ensure my own safety... But if you're ever in danger again, I can't ignore it."

"You, you..." Pei Mianman sighed mournfully. This fool completely misunderstood her meaning. How many women could resist a man who protected them with his life? This guy was going to accumulate so much romantic trouble in the future.

Zuan then picked up the spike. "Let me see what on earth wounded me so badly..."

Mid-sentence, his eyes suddenly narrowed. This wasn't a stone spike at all; it was clearly a human rib bone!

Pei Mianman, whose attention had been entirely on him, now recognized it too. "This... this..."

Zuan quickly stood up, surveying the deeper parts of the pit. Their faces quickly turned ashen.

Zuan said bitterly, "It seems you were right earlier. The ground truly is stained with blood."

The entire pit, possibly due to its lower elevation, didn't have much fog. Looking around, the pit was roughly several football fields in size, its ground densely covered with countless skeletons. Each skeleton was twisted into unnatural postures, and faint expressions of agony from their deaths were still discernible, making the place resemble a living hell.

Today's two chapters have been merged into one. In the future, I might often combine larger chapters like this, depending on the situation. Let's see who still says I write short chapters then!