Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
A few years had passed, and Jiang Yi noticed that these ‘old friends’ had progressed. There was a huge improvement in strength at the very least.
She Fei was the one with the most impressive change. After he failed in his pursuit of Jiang Yi, She Fei had been in seclusion in Evil Thearch City, and there was no news of him. This was the first time he appeared in front of everyone after such a long time, and the speed of improvement in his strength had made everyone astonished.
During the Mystic Divine Palace treasure hunt, Jiang Yi was 18 years old while She Fei was 25 years old. Right now, Jiang Yi was 23 years old, and She Fei was 30 years old. In these five years, Jiang Yi’s name had resonated throughout the world while She Fei secluded himself and vanished from everyone’s vision for five years. With this reappearance, his strength had reached the peak stage of the Heaven Monarch Realm!
Jiang Yi had caused She Fei to lose his reputation and allowed him to learn a lesson from failure and setback. He concentrated on cultivation and broke through gradually. Similarly, Jian Wuying’s strength had also improved drastically. The descendants of the Nine Thearchs Clans were indeed different from regular clans. They had this pride in their bones and drive that didn’t allow them to admit defeat.
Just last the previous them, they admitted their defeat without any intention to conceal it. They simply cultivated diligently in order to strive and earn back their reputation. This was the spirit of the Nine Thearchs Clans, and it was also one of the reasons why the Nine Thearchs Clans were able to tower in the East Imperial Continent without falling after more than 700,000 years.
Even though they were enemies—when Jiang Yi read the information, he was still filled with admiration for She Fei, Jian Wuying, and Wu Ni. At least, it was worthy to learn from their mentality and unwillingness to admit defeat.
Yin Ruobing and the others had also improved greatly in their strength. Yin Ruobing was around the same age as Jiang Yi and should be a high-stage Heaven Monarch now. Yi Chan’s age was around the same too and was similarly a high-stage heaven Monarch. Tu Long, Ling Qijian, and Wu Ni were all high-stage Heaven Monarchs too. Only Ling Shiya was slightly inferior for being a middle-stage Heaven Monarch.
This time, there was indeed a purpose that the Buddha Thearch opened up the Purgatory Ruin.
In fact, there was an error in the information. The one who ordered the opening of the Purgatory Ruin was the Buddha Emperor—not the Buddha Thearch—who was also Yi Chan’s father. The Buddha Thearch had gotten married and had kids during the later stage of his life and was relatively old now. In another three months, it would be the 100th birthday of the Buddha Thearch.
The Buddha Emperor had ordered the opening of the Purgatory Ruin so that all the Heaven Monarch youths in the world could enter it. Firstly, it was to celebrate the Buddha Thearch. With more people here, it would naturally be livelier as many various clans’ young masters and ladies would come and offer their wishes. Secondly, he wanted to use this chance for the Yi Clan to recruit some outstanding youths to strengthen the Yi Clan. Those that could walk out of the Purgatory Ruin alive would be the youths with competent strength. Thirdly, it was indeed to choose a husband for Yi Chan.
Yi Chan was the Buddha Thearch’s favorite granddaughter, and the Buddha Emperor wished that Yi Chan could pick an exceptional husband so that the Buddha Thearch would be happy on his 100th birthday. Yi Chan had always been a proud woman and basically wouldn’t fancy the young masters from the Nine Thearchs Clans. After learning many years of Buddhism with the Buddha Thearch, she seemed to have seen through the worldly affairs. The Buddha Emperor was rather concerned, and so he ordered for the opening of the Purgatory Ruin and hosted such a grand occasion.
The Purgatory Ruin. The name suggested that it was a ruin and a very horrific ruin.
It was rumored to be the place of residence for an ancient great race during ancient times. This great race had countless experts and a myriad of abilities. They were one of the major factions that clashed against the great demons.
Because of an unknown reason, this ancient great race was suddenly extinguished, and this place of residence for the great race had turned into a ruin. This race had hundreds of cities and it stretched out for millions of miles. This ruin had even sunk underground while the top part of the ruin was filled with horrific astral winds for long years. The density of the astral winds was comparable to the density in the high altitude of million kilometers. Not even the Buddha Thearch dared to directly enter it.
The only entrance to the Purgatory Ruin was in a canyon. After the Yi Clan had been titled as an Emperor Clan by the Mystic Thearch, they had occupied the nearby regions. Hence, this Purgatory Ruin had naturally fallen into their control, and no one was allowed access in normal days.
Of course, the Yi Clan would occasionally open up the Purgatory Ruin for outsiders to enter and obtain the treasures inside. The Yi Clan wouldn’t go plunder their findings, and all the treasures would belong to the people that ventured into the ruin. This would attract countless youth martial artists to search for treasure in the Purgatory Ruin, and the Yi Clan would be able to recruit a lot of them in the process while strengthening their clan.
How dangerous was the Purgatory Ruin? What kind of situation was it like on the inside? Why were there so many treasures inside?
No one knew about such things because… all those who exited the Purgatory Ruin wouldn’t have any memory of their venture. It seemed like this Purgatory Ruin had a special ability which could wipe out the memories of those people that came out of the ruin.
Everyone felt that this Purgatory Ruin was very dangerous because only one or two out of ten individuals that ventured inside would survive. However, those who survived would have a huge increase in strength, or the strengthening of the soul spirit, or comprehension of a special dao pattern, or obtain mystical treasures. That had happened to six or seven out of the ten individuals that survived.
Thus, the Purgatory Ruin was listed as one of the top ten treasure places of the continent and also one of the top ten treacherous places of the continent!
There was another strange thing about the ruin. Those above the age of 30 wouldn’t be able to enter the ruin unless they found a way to enter from the top. Then again, the top was filled with astral winds, and whoever went in through there would perish.
“Such a mystical place!”
Jiang Yi was overwhelmed when he finished reading the information, and he was looking forward to this ruin. He didn’t know if he would perish if he entered, but he had never considered it as he had promised Ao Lu that he would do everything he could to obtain the Fire Snake Orchid. A man’s promise was worth thousands of gold, and he would never regret the things he promised.
“One month!”
Jiang Yi took out a detailed map and took a few glances. He noticed that the Buddha Resemblance City was quite far from the ruin, and with his speed, he would probably need at least half a month to reach there without any mishaps.
He didn’t dare to have any delays as he stood up and used the Mirage Divine Ability to alter his soul spirit aura presence and his appearance. He had turned into a clean-looking and handsome youth. He had taken off his battle armor and changed into an embroidered white robe while a folding fan appeared in his hand. He had turned into a handsome young master and walked out of the inn.
After turning into a graceful and elegant young master, he had attracted more attention than before. Of course, all those people only took a glance and nothing more. As the opening of the Purgatory Ruin was drawing close, there were plenty of young masters in the nearby cities, making it even safer for Jiang Yi.
After asking for directions, he found a large merchant association and used one billion celestial stones to hire ten middle-stage Heaven Monarch guards. He asked them to escort him to the Purgatory Ruin. How could a young master not have any guards? It would be too eye-catching to go there by himself.
Jiang Yi bought the lowest class Heaven Fate Ship from the merchant association. One which was only 30 meters long and three meters tall and had a dozen cabins. The barrier couldn’t even withstand a single attack from a peak-stage Heaven Monarch. He then strutted out of the north city gate with ten individuals and rode the Heaven Fate Ship to the Purgatory Ruin.
The Heaven Fate Ship’s speed was rather slow and had around the same speed as Jiang Yi. It would need at least two weeks for them to fly from this place to the Purgatory Ruin. Jiang Yi had no other choice as there weren’t any large Heaven Fate Ships going to the Purgatory Ruin. There were astral winds during the day and night at that place, and not even large Heaven Fate Ship could withstand it.
Fortunately, due to the imminent opening of the Purgatory Ruin, the Buddha Emperor had already given the orders. If any of the bandits dared to intercept and kill the martial artists that were heading towards the Purgatory Ruin, the Yi Clan would send their armies to eradicate them. Right now, dozens of Yi Clan’s army were patrolling the surroundings of the Purgatory Ruin, and the journey there should be rather safe.
“Half a month!”
Seated inside the cabin, Jiang Yi didn’t care about the outside matters as the ten hired people naturally arranged everything. These were people from one of the top ten merchant associations in the Buddha Region, and they had sufficient deterring prowess in the Buddha Region. Jiang Yi closed his eyes and cultivated while waiting patiently for their arrival at the Purgatory Ruin.
