Betrayed

One after another, malicious gazes fell on Ning Yao inside the giant net after Hong Tai's words.

Ning Yao, now the focus of everyone's attention, sat motionless in the Silver Net like a soulless corpse.

The bright eyes she'd once had seemed to have lost every trace of luster, leaving only gloom and a dead, indifferent stare.

She had imagined being violated by the Dark Ghosts. She'd even imagined them using her to negotiate with the Ning Family for the release of an important Dark Ghost prisoner.

But she'd never imagined Hong Tai would use her as bait to fish, testing the "Dark Giant Python" from the Fifth Realm with her.

Though she'd been imprisoned the whole time, she'd seen those people test the Blackwater Pool's horrifying corrosiveness with the corpses of Zhang Heng and the others.

She feared the pool's acid poison wasn't limited to its surface. If the same poison lurked in the depths, she would be reduced to a dry skeleton.

She also knew that deep beneath the pool might lurk the "Dark Giant Python" even Hong Tai feared.

Terror consumed her inside, but her face showed little emotion. She understood that the fear she revealed and every plea she made would go unanswered.

All she could expect was the Dark Ghosts' unrestrained mockery.

"Give me the iron chains."

Hong Tai first took the rope connected to the Silver Silk Giant Net from the leader, then asked the others for more iron chains to link together.

He wanted a line long enough for the net holding Ning Yao to sink all the way to the bottom of the pool.

"The Dark Giant Python can't resist the flesh of a young woman as long as it's alive. It'll swallow her, then chew and savor her carefully."

Hong Tai chatted with Jin Yang and the others, not caring in the slightest about the lifeless look in Ning Yao's eyes. "When the Dark Giant Python swallows her, I'll feel it through the rope I'm holding. That'll mean the creature is still down there, alive and well. If that's the case, we'd better leave at once."

"Jin Yang!"

Hong Tai raised his voice and pointed at the python he'd ridden. "If anything goes wrong, you ride it."

Jin Yang, a man of high status, saw that Hong Tai—who had always treasured his spirit beast—was willing to let him ride it. He immediately realized that even Hong Tai lacked confidence and feared the "Dark Giant Python" might suddenly burst out of the depths.

Selfish as ever, Jin Yang exchanged a glance with Hong Tai, understood what he meant, and went to the python.

He knew Hong Tai had another way to escape.

If the "Dark Giant Python" suddenly surged out, the Dark Ghosts still gathered around the Blackwater Pool at Hong Tai's orders would be the first to become its meal.

By then, anyone who couldn't outrun Hong Tai and the python would take the blow for them.

As Jin Yang thought this, Hong Tai finished connecting the iron chains, lifted the giant net binding Ning Yao, and tossed it toward the middle of the pool as if casting a fishing net.

"Splash!"

Everyone watched Ning Yao enter the water. They saw that she wasn't being corroded after all, and hadn't turned into a dry skeleton.

"She's at the Pulse-Opening Realm, so in theory she can hold her breath underwater for a long time. But that might make it even worse. Maybe she'll get to watch the Dark Giant Python swallow her."

Hong Tai held the iron chain and spoke as if at ease, but in truth he was quite tense.

He'd made his preparations in secret.

The moment he felt a powerful tug, he'd know the "Dark Giant Python" had swallowed Ning Yao, proving the fiend from the Fifth Realm was still alive beneath the pool.

He could only abandon this place for now, flee as quickly as possible, and report the matter to the Dark Ghosts' higher-ups, leaving them to figure out how to deal with the "Dark Giant Python."

The leader wearing the Golden Mask and the original owner of the giant net had already begun edging away from the Blackwater Pool the moment the Silver Net entered the water.

Their cold gazes flickered as they watched a group of reckless underlings still craning their necks to peer into the pool.

Both men had reached the Pulse-Opening Realm. They'd known Hong Tai for a long time, and the moment he offered Jin Yang a ride on the python, they knew they could be turned into cannon fodder at any time.

They stayed on their guard, ready to do everything they could to flee the Blackwater Pool if Hong Tai made a move.

At the bottom of the pool.

Pang Jian slowly woke from his cultivation. He felt a faint swelling ache in his Spirit Sea. Focusing his senses, he realized the ache came from the "membrane" surrounding the small world of his Spirit Sea.

—His dantian's Spirit Sea seemed to have expanded considerably under the strain.

The vortex inside his dantian continued to turn slowly, tempering and purifying the spiritual energy it absorbed until it became spiritual power he could truly feel.

Yet the acidic, poisonous energy he'd swallowed with the blue-black "Spirit Pot" had already vanished without a trace.

Recalling what had happened earlier, he realized that what had expanded the Spirit Sea in his dantian didn't seem to be the spiritual energy in the pool, but the acidic, poisonous energy that had flowed from the giant python's mouth.

"It felt like my Spirit Sea filled with power five times, and each time it did, that acidic, poisonous energy expanded it like a conqueror claiming new territory. Could five surges of energy mean I've reached the... fifth level of Qi Refining?"

Pang Jian pondered in silence.

Just then, he noticed that the spiritual energy hidden in the pool had grown extremely thin. Even if he settled down to cultivate again, the gains would be limited.

The Phoenix Bone was still there, and so was the Humanoid Monster, but the mysterious Amber Glimmer he'd been waiting for still hadn't formed.

"The giant python's flesh held too much energy. After the Phoenix Bone ate it, it seems to need longer to digest it."

Pang Jian hesitated at the bottom of the pool.

Since the Blackwater Pool no longer held the acidic, poisonous energy that could help him grow quickly, should he leave?

If he waited longer, the Phoenix Bone's supernatural power would eventually reappear, and the Humanoid Monster he'd been waiting for wanted that power.

That had nothing to do with him...

Looking down at his arm, Pang Jian examined the wounds that had stopped bleeding and remembered the strange changes in his body during his fight with the Zhang brothers.

He also recalled the strange vision in his dream.

"It must have been that vanished wisp of Amber Glimmer that made me so strong!"

Pang Jian's gaze at the Phoenix Bone suddenly filled with burning desire. Fortune favors the bold. I'll wait a little longer and see if I get a chance to seize that power from the monster!

A long while passed.

He looked up in astonishment and saw a gleaming silver net carrying the Ning Family's young lady down toward the bottom of the pool.

Ning Yao's cheeks bulged inside the net. She seemed to have taken a deep breath before entering the water.

She no longer looked like the noble, proud young lady he'd first met.

Now a prisoner, her face was pale, and her wide eyes were filled with panic and fear of the unknown.

She saw the winding snake bones at the bottom of the pool, the python's head pierced by the Phoenix Bone, and Ouyang Duanhai's ravenous hunger for it.

"Mm!"

Suddenly, she saw a person emerge from the dimly lit rock wall at the bottom of the pool and charge straight toward her.

Pang Jian!

Ning Yao cried out in her heart, scarcely daring to believe her eyes.

So much time had passed, yet this young hunter she'd hired at great expense from beyond the mountains was still alive in the Blackwater Pool!

He... He was here to save her!

Ning Yao was moved. She thought about how she and the Ning Family hadn't valued Pang Jian much, and how she'd threatened him not long ago. Guilt welled up inside her.

As she watched Pang Jian approach, with his sturdy frame holding the Dragon-Patterned Spear and his sharply sculpted face, she realized for the first time that this young hunter had a unique charm.

—A wildness that was unfamiliar to her.

With hope rekindled and a desperate desire to live, Ning Yao still kept an eye on Ouyang Duanhai, who had become a monster.

She began to worry for Pang Jian, afraid that the mindless good-for-nothing from the Ouyang Family might suddenly attack and block his way.

Fortunately, Ouyang Duanhai, now a monstrosity, never once took his eyes off the Phoenix Bone. Ning Yao secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

At last, Pang Jian stretched his lean body and drew near.

She struggled to wave at him through the net and let out a little air, so her cheeks wouldn't bulge quite so much and she'd look a little better.

She even managed what she thought was a pretty good smile, eagerly waiting for Pang Jian to cut open the Silver Net and free her.

In the next moment, the smile she'd struggled to put on froze. Confusion and bewilderment filled her eyes.

She stared blankly at Pang Jian.

She watched him reach through a gap in the gleaming net around her and yank the pouch of spirit stones off her back. Then he waved goodbye before quickly vanishing into the darkness at the bottom of the pool.

Ning Yao stared in bewilderment at the place where Pang Jian had disappeared. The smile that had already been forced gradually stiffened on her face.

"Thump!"

Only when she and the Silver Net hit the bottom did she suddenly snap out of it. Then she burst like a powder keg, struggling inside the net as she desperately crawled toward Pang Jian.

She forgot her predicament, forgot she was a prisoner of the Dark Ghosts, and forgot the many strange dangers at the bottom of the pool.

All she wanted was to find Pang Jian and grind the despicable little thief who had betrayed all her hopes to dust on the spot!

She'd pinned all her hopes on Pang Jian, but he'd only coveted her pouch of spirit stones!

On all fours, she crawled along the bottom of the pool, clumsily reaching through the mesh with both hands. Her bright eyes blazed as she charged toward Pang Jian.

"Crazy woman."

With the pouch of pure spirit stones in hand, Pang Jian returned to the stone door and hid in the darkness, watching Ning Yao's ridiculous antics. This woman's really asking for death.

At the same time, the iron chain outside suddenly twitched.

Hong Tai gripped the chain with both hands. Feeling it move, he trembled slightly and said, "Get ready to retreat! There should be something alive down there. The net's moving violently!"

The two Pulse-Opening Realm leaders had been watching his every subtle move. At his words, they shot off in opposite directions, moving like lightning toward the way out of the ravine.

They didn't look back or wait to hear what else Hong Tai might say. They only wanted to get as far as possible from the blood-soaked ground about to become a slaughterhouse.

Jin Yang couldn't afford to worry about anything else either. He leaped onto the python with black-and-white markings, intending to rely on it to escape.

"No, that's not right!"

"This movement... It doesn't feel like the Dark Giant Python swallowed her! The Dark Giant Python's strength would be far greater than this!"

Hong Tai had been about to drop the chain and use a forbidden art to escape. But feeling the force coming from the other end, he tried giving it a tug.

He could pull it!

"It's not the Dark Giant Python!"

He immediately realized that no matter when the terrifying fiend from the Fifth Realm had bitten the Silver Net holding Ning Yao, it wouldn't have been something he could easily budge.

His curiosity overwhelming him, he pulled hard on the chain, steadily hauling it back.

When Hong Tai began pulling the net back, Pang Jian saw Ning Yao, bundled in the Silver Net and crawling on all fours, suddenly shoot into the air and head toward the surface.

With one more Silver Rank Alliance member and another alliance member, I bow my thanks. Thank you to everyone who still remembers an old fossil like Old Ni, and to every friend who's given a reward or cast a vote.

This book, Purgatory Calamity, is absolutely a labor of love. You can read on with confidence.

Really, I'm not lying~~