Before I went up to grind the worm clouds, I checked my equipment durability and found it to be in better condition than expected. The Xuanyuan Sword sat at 17% durability, and the Guardian Dragon Armor and Cyan Dragon Shield at below 5% durability because they had suffered the most abuse. Everything else was between 10% to 20% as well. I was going to enter the fourth floor of the Purgatory anyway, so I might as well repair them now.
I took out a couple of Magic Repair Oils and used them on my weapon, helmet, chest armor, necklace, wristguard, legguards, boots and cloak. The only thing I didn’t repair was my ring because it still had over 50% durability. Rings generally wore out much slower compared to the other items.
……
After I was ready, I looked at the bloody cloud that was really millions and millions of Level 324 Laiquitoes. Their numbers were absolutely insane, but they were only dread-rank mobs, and they only had 1 million HP. With my DPS, I should be able to take them out in just two strikes. Moreover, they were so tiny and densely packed that the Xuanyuan Sword could hit hundreds and thousands of them in one swing. Right now, it was the perfect target for me to grind experience!
I bent my knees a bit before pushing myself off the ground. Like a loose arrow, I shot into the cloud and stopped right in the middle of the Laiquitoes. The moment they sensed my presence, they immediately surrounded me and bit me like crazy. I lost nearly 25% HP in just an instant, and just two seconds later my HP had fallen below 50%!
In this case, no amount of healing would be enough to offset the damage. The only way to survive this was with the 50% lifesteal of my Xuanyuan Sword!
Whoosh!
My sword became wreathed in deadly flames as I shredded the bloody cloud with three fiery swings. At least a thousand Laiquitoes died to my Burning Blade Slash and increased my experience by 0.1%. Hell yeah!
I swung my sword left and right as I floated in the sky. Laiquitoes both close and far kept swarming toward me. Since the Ancient Divine Dragon buffed my stats, and Unusual Physique mitigated much of the damage I would’ve received otherwise, I was in a sense completely untouchable by these Purgatory-style mosquitos. That I could fire sword auras was a very welcome bonus as well. On a related note, every time I swung my sword and killed a bunch of Laiquitoes, they would erupt into countless magic stones and equipment. It wasn’t long before the ground beneath me became a hill of equipment and magic stones. They failed to distract me in the slightest, however. The best loot I saw was only Earth-grade, and dread-rank mobs couldn’t drop Divine Crystals. Therefore, the hill of loot might as well be a hill of trash.
My experience jumped very quickly. Just one and a half hours later, a column of golden light surrounded me and increased my level to 256. If the other first-rate experts knew how fast I was leveling, I bet they would be tempted to delete their accounts.
The massive experience income wasn’t without its cost, however. At some point, the durability of all of my equipment fell below 10% and forced me to return to the ground and repair it with my Magic Repair Oils. While doing so, I checked out Uldan and saw her still closing her eyes and leaning sleepily against my tent. It looked like she wasn’t getting up soon, so I returned to the sky and aimed for Level 257 next!
Another two hours later, my level jumped to 257. Extremely pleased with this result, I returned to the ground and repaired my equipment once more!
……
“Hmm… how long have I been resting?”
Finally, Uldan opened her eyes and favored me with a smile. Her beautiful eyes had regained their usual spirit as well.
I thought for a second before answering, “Not too long. It’s only been half a day or so.”
“In that case, shall we continue into the fourth floor of the Purgatory, the Soulless Realm?”
“Of course!”
……
I took the lead and jumped into the lightning abyss first. From my point of view, the hole truly looked like a black hole without an end. Heaven knows how deep it was because not even my Dark Pupils was powerful enough to see the bottom.
“Let’s go!” Uldan said.
I immediately sped up to the point where the Cloak of Divine Fervor flapped wildly behind me. After Uldan caught up to me, she narrowed her eyes and warned, “This lightning abyss is a spatial rift torn open using the power of the Purgatory. We may encounter many unexpected things in this place, so be ready to deal with anything!”
“Understood!”
I immediately unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and summoned the Cyan Dragon Shield on my left arm.
Less than a minute of flight later, a fiery red light suddenly filled my vision! It was not the exit!
Uldan summoned a black shield of her own before warning, “Watch out! It’s the Nether Flame!”
“Hmm!?”
I activated the Battle Astral Wind but discovered that more eldritch flames were flying our way. Without hesitation, I fired a huge number of sword auras at them and dispersed them all. However, there were simply too many of them, and at least a dozen or so Nether Flames slipped through my web of firepower and hit my armor. After my Battle Astral Wind dispersed, I began taking massive amounts of damage—
316,726!
312,388!
322,839!
……
Every hit dealt around 300k damage or so. I was losing HP rapidly, and Uldan wasn’t faring much better either. At some point, I couldn’t delay my emergency measure any longer and had to cast the Life skill of my Xuanyuan Art, healing both me and Uldan by 70% HP. Both of us instantly returned back to full health.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, my vision cleared, and the Nether Flame swarm was behind us. I looked behind our backs in trepidation while swearing, “Motherfucker! What the hell are those things? They’re so powerful!”
Uldan answered with a smile, “The Nether Flames are spirits that reside between the cracks between planes. They are bodies of energy that aren’t truly alive, but will attack anyone and anything that gets close to it. It was the most common enemy a divine expert will face while cultivating in the outer worlds. Of course, a great number of them had succumbed to the Nether Flames and became naught but a pile of ashes.”
I sucked in a deep breath. Once again, I was taught the lesson that the entire Purgatory was a super death trap. I would’ve died countless times already if I didn’t have the Cloak of Divine Fervor to reduce my damage received by 50%!
Ten minutes of flight later, a blood-red barrier finally appeared before our eyes. After we passed through it, the scorching heat of the third floor was replaced by a terrible cold that made me sneeze immediately. I tightened my grip around the Xuanyuan Sword while complaining, “What the hell? Why is it so cold?”
I looked around me. The fourth floor of the Purgatory was a world of ice and snow, and we were floating right on top of it. The fiery red barrier behind us clearly didn’t belong to this world. It was probably the teleportation gate to the third floor.
……
Uldan explained while staring at the world of ice and snow before us, “The Soulless Realm is a lawless world without order. Undead experts who managed to pass through the third floor often fought each other to the death. Whoever survived until the end would become the king of the Soulless Realm. Since everyone who resides here is a super powerful undead, not even Lin Na can be bothered to manage this realm. As for who is the current king of the Soulless Realm, I don’t know. My information is very outdated…”
I smiled. “Who cares? We’re here not to become the king of the Soulless Realm, but to head down to the next floor and find Xinran. Therefore, the real question is where is the entrance to the fifth floor?”
Uldan nodded and pointed in a certain direction. “There is a place called ‘Ice Phoenix Palace’ about fifty kilometers from here. The ice phoenix used to be the symbol of immortality and the divine beast of the Purgatory, and the Ice Phoenix Palace is built atop a spatial rift. If we wish to enter the fifth floor, then we must go through the Ice Phoenix Palace first.”
“Let me guess, the Ice Phoenix Palace is guarded by a lot of guards and powerful undead, right?”
“It is the palace of the king of the Soulless Realm after all. In fact, a lot may not be an adequate description…” Uldan confirmed my suspicions.
I shrugged. “Well, whatever. Let’s go!”
I immediately took off toward the direction she pointed. A chuckle later, Uldan also followed behind me. She might be wary of the guardians of the Ice Phoenix Palace, but I wasn’t. Right now, all I wanted to do was to reach the seventh floor of the Purgatory as soon as possible, find Xinran, and rescue her from this terrible hell.
……
About an hour later, I finally saw a magnificent palace of ice and snow on the horizon. It was honestly more like a castle than it was a fortress, and I could see a lot of high-level undead knights patrolling the castle grounds. There were also scepter-wielding harpies patrolling the air. At first glance, it looked like the Ice Phoenix Palace was extremely well guarded.
Thud!
Uldan abruptly caught my wrist and said, “We can’t go any further. These harpies are psychic creatures; every guardian in the castle will notice our existence if we attack them. Our best plan of entry is to continue on the ground, fight our way into the Ice Phoenix Palace, and slip through the spatial rift before anyone can stop us!”
She looked up at the sky and smiled. “Luckily for us, it’s the middle of winter right now. The snowstorm will provide us the cover we need. If we kill every ground enemy we encounter, no one will notice us even if we go deep into the Ice Phoenix Palace.”
“Oh yeah, I love killing all my enemies dead…”
Uldan: “…”
……
I looked around after we landed one after another. Despite the very very conspicuous reddish orange color of my Cloak of Divine Fervor, the snowstorm was thick enough that barely anyone more than three meters away from me could spot me. However, my Dark Pupils gave me near perfect detection of everything.
I pointed to the front and said, “There is a scout cavalry squad about 80 yards directly ahead of us. They are 10 Level 326 Ancient Immortal Rank minibosses, Hunters. They are a cavalry unit that wields short blades.”
Uldan smirked. “Ah, I know these Hunters. They are the ace legion of the Purgatory. They are so valuable that even Thunder couldn’t bear to use them when he was sieging Vanished God City, and the king would make them the guards of his castle? What a waste…”
I shrugged. “Anyway, I’m going to draw the Hunters over now. The plan is to kill them one by one while stalling the others as long as possible. Er, just shoot whoever I am attacking at the time. Can you do it?”
To be honest, I was afraid that Uldan would reject my idea. After all, any unpredictable element could potentially lead to a wipe. Thankfully, Uldan nodded obediently and said, “I’ll do whatever you ask me to!”
