Chapter 1606: Purgatory
“Stop being in such a bad mood and help! These are my principles. When you’re in trouble in the future, I’ll also risk my life to save you!” shouted Long Chen.
“Scram! Your sappiness is sickening. If you were about to die, I definitely wouldn’t save you,” cursed Evilmoon.
Although it cursed at Long Chen, black light flowed out of it and wrapped around Long Chen and Xie Qianqian.
“Little brick, come out too. Your second-rate master decided to throw away his life to pick up a girl. Hurry up and help,” called out Evilmoon.
The Heaven Flipping Seal flew out as well. It was just about to grow in size when Evilmoon stopped it.
“Fool, if you unleash your divine power, you’ll be killed by the laws of this place!” cursed Evilmoon.
“Can you not be so mean to the Heaven Flipping Seal?” demanded Long Chen.
The Heaven Flipping Seal was a very obedient child and did whatever Evilmoon told it to do. However, Evilmoon went too far with its bullying. Long Chen had to support the little fellow.
Evilmoon and the Heaven Flipping Seal revolved around Long Chen’s body. The Heaven Flipping Seal’s cyan light mixed with Evilmoon’s black light, forming a protective barrier.
“Keep your power well-distributed. Don’t go directly against the surrounding laws. Long Chen, don’t slack. We all have to work together…” Evilmoon began to hand out directions.
The deeper they sank, the narrower the whirlpool. By the time they were at the bottom, it was a funnel. Long Chen’s expression also paled here. The Five Star Battle Armor was reaching its limit as well.
However, he had to maintain it. Without it, perhaps he would be able to survive, but Xie Qianqian’s body would instantly be torn apart.
Just as he was at his limit, they reached the bottom. They fell into endless darkness.
“I’m exhausted. You fool, that energy from the gourd last time was all wasted because of you. Long Chen, tell me, are you a pig?!” cursed Evilmoon.
It really couldn’t understand why Long Chen would be so foolish as to almost throw his own life away to save someone he barely knew. Furthermore, the Heaven Flipping Seal wasn’t skilled enough to cooperate with Evilmoon very well, meaning it had paid eighty percent of its energy to protect them.
Its delight at having conned so much energy from the blood gourd of the Corrupt path changed into fury at having lost it all.
Long Chen knew that his actions were the peak of foolishness in Evilmoon’s eyes. However, in the end, Evilmoon had still helped him out so Long Chen didn’t talk back. It would be fine after it vented.
He returned Evilmoon and the Heaven Flipping Seal to the primal chaos space. Everything around him was pitch-black, and he could feel himself slowly descending within the darkness. It was a similar feeling to when he had first come to the Netherworld.
After an unknown amount of time, he felt himself touch solid ground. He opened his eyes and activated his sixth sense.
Through his sixth sense, he managed to ‘see’ his surroundings. It was a ruined palace. He didn’t know if it was because he was too small, but he felt like an ant in a giant’s lair. Based on his estimate, this palace was dozens of kilometers high and hundreds of kilometers wide.
The place he had landed was on two open hands. The owner of those hands was a giant statue.
The statue wasn’t standing but kneeling on the ground. Its hands were outstretched before it, as if it was begging for charity.
Long Chen calmly sat on the two hands and slowly recovered his energy. Using the Five Star Battle Armor was extremely taxing on him.
As he calmly recovered, he examined Xie Qianqian’s injuries. She had lost a grave amount of essence blood. However, when he used Spiritual Strength to examine her mind-sea, he was comforted to find that although her energy was strange to him, she was able to absorb his Spiritual Strength to aid in her recovery.
Just as Long Chen was helping Xie Qianqian recover, an angry roar came from the distance, causing him to jump. He saw the palace gates open.
A dozen figures entered while dragging a large body. Those figures weren’t large. In fact, they were even smaller than Long Chen. They seemed to be dwarves.
They each had a hawk’s nose and a monkey’s face, as well as black hair on their backs. Other than that, they were no different from humans.
They held strange blades in their hands. They were three-foot-long triangular blades. Although they were extremely far, Long Chen could sense that those strange blades were very terrifying.
The dwarfs were pulling a Magical Beast. The Magical Beast was three hundred meters long and had barbs all over its body. It looked to be an alligator, but it had fur. It was roaring miserably.
Long Chen hid himself and looked around carefully. He saw that the dwarfs were also holding chains that were stabbed through the Magical Beast’s body.
Creepy laughter came from them, and it gave him a chill. Based on their appearance, they seemed very happy.
The dwarves pulled the Magical Beast directly in front of the statue, causing Long Chen to jump. If they came over, he would instantly be exposed.
However, the dwarves stopped right before the statue. The ground beneath them began to sink.
There was actually a hidden mechanism present. The original ground sank and an altar rose. The Magical Beast was chained to the altar by the dwarfs.
“What are they doing? Is it a sacrifice?”
Long Chen was curious. The Magical Beast was constantly roaring, but it was of no use. Despite clearly looking stronger than the dwarves, it could only be manipulated by them.
Just as Long Chen was watching them, Xie Qianqian let out a moan as she woke. Long Chen immediately covered her mouth with his hand.
Xie Qianqian was startled awake. She realized that she was in Long Chen’s embrace, his hand on his mouth and his scent in her nose. She turned red.
Long Chen didn’t notice that as he was staring closely at the dwarves. He had yet to fully recover, and he had no confidence in winning against them if they noticed him. He sensed great danger from them.
Although Xie Qianqian’s voice was cut short by Long Chen and hadn’t been very loud, it had still drawn their attention. The dwarves began looking in every direction.
At this moment, the Magical Beast that they had bound to the altar let out another roar. The dwarves focused on it again.
Long Chen wiped off some sweat. Xie Qianqian had really woken at the worst time. The Magical Beast had been briefly silent at that moment; otherwise, she wouldn’t have even drawn their attention.
Long Chen suddenly felt his hand itch. Xie Qianqian was scratching his hand, indicating that he could let go.
Only then did Long Chen release her. Xie Qianqian looked out through the gap between the statue’s fingers.
“Skinners?”
Xie Qianqian turned pale. She transmitted a message to Long Chen spiritually. Long Chen could sense her terror. “Long Chen… we might have…”
Just at this moment, the Skinners began to wield their blades. They slowly stabbed the beast’s stomach. It seemed they were about to skin it.
The Magical Beast roared as if it was in incredible pain. However, its roars only made the dwarves laugh, as if its tormented cries were their greatest delight.
“We might have what?” asked Long Chen. He had a bad premonition.
“We might have arrived in… Purgatory. This might be the Skinner Purgatory.” Xie Qianqian’s face was as pale as paper.
Long Chen was stunned. How could that be possible? How could a good person like him end up in Purgatory?
“In our myths, there are certain sayings about Purgatory. I was curious, so I read up on those stories. There was a picture in one of those stories that looks just like these dwarves. They’re called Skinners. They are jailors of the first level of Purgatory. Their chains and skinning blades are all terrifying magical weapons. Once they stab the body, they cause indescribable pain. Their skinning doesn’t just skin the body, it skins the soul as well. Have you noticed? That Magical Beast doesn’t seem to be composed of the same substance as us.”
Long Chen nodded. This Magical Beast truly didn’t seem to be in the same form as them. As its body was skinned, its blood poured out, and they could see its innards.
“Rumor is that once the Skinners capture the spiritual body in the Netherworld, they even pull in the physical body from the other world,” said Xie Qianqian. Her entire body was quivering in terror.
Death sometimes wasn’t so terrifying. However, rumor was that once a person entered Purgatory, they wouldn’t die again. Instead, they would suffer endless pain. That was the real terror.
“Fuck, this is definitely my bad luck acting up again. Hmph, it really was vicious this time. It even brought me for a stroll through Purgatory,” cursed Long Chen.