CH 60

The weather in the demon realm was very bad. When Li Fenglan woke up in the morning, he felt the air around him was extremely cold, which even a cultivator couldn’t bear. Li Fenglan didn’t wake up Cheng Huang who was still sleeping and quietly opened the door and went out. However, as soon as he opened the door, he saw a familiar figure in front of him. It was Ling Buyan.

“Master?” Li Fenglan asked in surprise.

In the early morning of the demon realm, the sun had not yet fully risen, so there was only a faint light on the horizon. At the same time, the moisture that had accumulated overnight had turned into small water droplets, which hung in the air and couldn’t be dispersed. The whole world was misty and slightly blue.

Li Fenglan had no idea how long he had been standing there, but he saw that Ling Buyan’s clothes and hair had already been dampened by the moisture in the air.

“Mm.” Ling Buyan smiled and nodded lightly towards him.

Although it was the demon palace and there were many demon cultivators everywhere, unlike human cultivators, demon cultivators did not emphasize asceticism. After the banquet ended last night, most of the demons were still asleep.

The demon realm in the morning was unusually quiet.

Li Fenglan and Ling Buyan stood facing each other in this extreme quietness. The surroundings were so quiet that the only sound in his ears was the “drip, drip” of water droplets falling from the eaves and a few bird cries coming from the distant mountains.

Everything was quiet to the extreme.

And Li Fenglan and Ling Buyan just stared at each other in this silence.

Unconsciously, Li Fenglan’s cheeks turned slightly red.

After a long time of staring, Li Fenglan finally asked carefully, “Master, won’t you come in and sit?”

“Okay.” Ling Buyan nodded.

After Li Fenglan closed the door and poured two cups of hot tea, Ling Buyan asked, “Fenglan, do you have something to tell me?”

It seemed that Ling Buyan had already noticed that Li Fenglan had something to ask him when he looked at him. After hesitating for a moment, Li Fenglan nodded and said, “Um…yes.”

Last time when he saw the endless purgatory in Ling Buyan’s memory, Li Fenglan didn’t tell anyone, including Ling Buyan. So after nodding, Li Fenglan hesitated for a moment and decided to betray Cheng Huang…

Li Fenglan thought for a moment about what he had seen last night and then said to Ling Buyan, “Cheng Huang had a nightmare yesterday.”

His tone was very serious, so when Li Fenglan spoke, Ling Buyan knew that this time the person sitting across from him was not here to share amusing stories about Cheng Huang, but rather to discuss serious matters.

“Mhmm,” Ling Buyan nodded lightly.

Li Fenglan continued, “Cheng Huang said that it dreamt of many fires. Cheng Huang doesn’t know many words, so I was suspicious after hearing that. Later, when Cheng Huang fell asleep, I entered its sea of consciousness.”

From the moment he heard “many fires,” Ling Buyan’s expression visibly became serious.

“Then I saw a place. If my memory serves me right, that place should be the legendary…,” Li Fenglan paused and finally looked into Ling Buyan’s eyes, uttering those words, “Endless Purgatory.”

“Endless Purgatory…” Ling Buyan repeated those words softly.

There was no smile on his face, and his gaze involuntarily dropped downward, as if recalling something.

Just a moment ago, Li Fenglan was still pondering how to describe the images he saw to Ling Buyan, but upon seeing his master lost in thought, he suddenly had an idea.

— he would trick Ling Buyan.

Cough, cough.

So Li Fenglan summarized quickly, “I saw Cheng Huang in Endless Purgatory, and it even swallowed a Du Sheng plaque.”

Without giving Ling Buyan time to think, Li Fenglan threw out the next sentence, “And I also saw… you, Master.”

He did see Ling Buyan in Endless Purgatory, but it wasn’t yesterday.

After uttering these words, Li Fenglan couldn’t help feeling a little nervous. But upon hearing the words, the person in front of him became even more nervous.

Ling Buyan quickly raised his gaze to look at Li Fenglan and instinctively asked, “What did you see?”

Ling Buyan’s reaction was even greater than what Li Fenglan had imagined.

Seeing this scene, Li Fenglan couldn’t help but be stunned… it seemed that Endless Purgatory was very important to Ling Buyan.

Before Ling Buyan spoke, Li Fenglan had intended to only mention that he saw him. But upon hearing Ling Buyan’s tone, Li Fenglan made a decision – he was going to ask about everything he had seen before while he had the chance.

“Baishi Underworld fire,” Li Fenglan slowly stood up and bit his teeth. “I saw Baishi Underworld fire, and also saw our master’s soul. There seems to be a big problem…”

Although he didn’t yet know what the relationship between Ling Buyan and the Endless Purgatory was, Li Fenglan could tell from Ling Buyan’s expression that this memory was probably extremely painful for him.

There was a hint of pain in his expression that couldn’t be concealed.

If it were anyone else, perhaps they wouldn’t have noticed, but as someone who knew Ling Buyan best, Li Fenglan could see it at a glance.

At the same time, Li Fenglan’s own heart was also writhing in pain.

The person sitting at the table took a sip of the tea that Li Fenglan had just poured for him, then put down his teacup with a faint smile.

“Yeah…I, like Cheng Huang, spent some time in Endless Purgatory.”

Ling Buyan’s tone was very relaxed, as if he were commenting on how good the tea he just drank was.

“For how long?” Li Fenglan asked softly.

At these words, Ling Buyan paused for a moment, then suddenly furrowed his brow and said, “I don’t remember exactly how many years.”

“Okay.” Li Fenglan nodded and sat back down on his stool.

At this moment, dressed in white, he sat with his chin resting on his hand in front of Ling Buyan. And in the eyes of the man opposite him, his world also shrank infinitely at this moment, shrinking to only this one room.

Actually, before today, Ling Buyan was unwilling to talk about Endless Purgatory with anyone.

The reason was simple, just as Li Fenglan had thought before. Ling Buyan was a genius, a true pride of heaven. People like him didn’t like words or memories associated with “failure.”

But for him, Endless Purgatory not only represented failure, but also pain.

However, today, when these words were spoken from Li Fenglan’s mouth, Ling Buyan inexplicably forgot his previous reluctance to speak about it.

He was willing to share this experience with Li Fenglan.

“Do you remember what Duan Jisu said yesterday?” Ling Buyan raised his head after thinking for a moment.

There were many things that Duan Jisu had said yesterday, but miraculously, after Ling Buyan asked this question, Li Fenglan immediately understood what he meant.

“I thought you were still in the Upper Realm…” Li Fenglan said this sentence unconsciously.

“Yes, that’s it.” Ling Buyan knew that although Li Fenglan sometimes appeared a bit foolish in his daily life, as the number one cultivator in the world, his mind and intelligence were not lacking.

Yesterday, when Duan Jisu said that sentence, Li Fenglan must have deeply ingrained it in his heart.

And now, it seems that it was indeed so.

Ling Buyan smiled and said as he recalled, “I’ve known Duan Jisu for many years, and everyone who knows me, including him, thinks that I have long since attained enlightenment and ascended to the upper realm.”

“Uh-huh.” This was exactly what Li Fenglan had thought before.

Was Master like Qiu Wanyou, suppressing their cultivation to go to the lower realm?

Before Li Fenglan could even finish the sentence, Ling Buyan spoke again, “Actually, that’s not the case,” his tone was still relaxed, but what he said startled Li Fenglan, “I never went to the upper realm in the first place. The places I went to…were always endless purgatories.”

Li Fenglan: !!!

What did Master mean by this?

Even though Li Fenglan was an experienced cultivator, Ling Buyan’s words completely exceeded his imagination.

However, in just a few moments, Li Fenglan’s mind was filled with all sorts of strange ideas.

Could it be that something went wrong when Ling Buyan shattered the void? He didn’t go to the upper realm, but ended up in endless purgatory?

But that didn’t make sense… with Master’s cultivation and abilities, how could he have done such a thing?

Ling Buyan noticed Li Fenglan’s doubts, but this time he didn’t tell him the reason.

Just then, it started raining heavily in the demon realm. Li Fenglan heard the sound of pitter-patter raindrops in his ears. The tea in the cup on the table had also turned cold, but Ling Buyan didn’t seem to mind. He lowered his head and picked up the teacup, then drank all the remaining cold tea in one gulp.

Suddenly, Ling Buyan’s tone changed and became more relaxed.

He said to Li Fenglan, “It was in endless purgatory where I met Cheng Huang. It arrived there many years earlier than I did.”

“What?” Li Fenglan felt that Ling Buyan’s tone was as casual as if he had met Cheng Huang on the street.

The black-robed cultivator’s gaze crossed Li Fenglan and glanced at Cheng Huang, who was sleeping soundly on the bed, then concluded, “There’s nothing about it that resembles its former elegance in the previous life.”

“What was Cheng Huang like in his previous life?” Li Fenglan asked curiously.

Ling Buyan thought for a moment and said, “There wasn’t much difference between it and its kind. If there was any, it was that Cheng Huang, like every other fierce beast in this world, was tired of its own kind, and also tired of endless battles.”

At that time, whenever the Du Sheng plaque appeared, it would disturb the peace of the world, and this situation lasted for at least three or four thousand years. Even Cheng Huang, who wanted to stay away from trouble, was repeatedly involved in the melee.

At that time, it was much stronger than the little guy nowadays, who only cared about eating and drinking all day long.

In theory, Cheng Huang should have no problem dealing with its own kind. However, it was extremely tired of the melee. After being surrounded and attacked by a group of fierce beasts, it did not choose to kill other fierce beasts or follow its instincts and perish with other fierce beasts.

It did something that all fierce beasts could not have expected.

The severely injured Cheng Huang chose to swallow the Du Sheng plaque!

“Endless purgatory is the place where all fierce beasts belong, and Cheng Huang itself wanted to disappear with the Du Sheng plaque. But unexpectedly…” Here, Ling Buyan suddenly laughed, “This thing, the Du Sheng plaque, can absorb all the energy around it, and unexpectedly, it can do the same in endless purgatory. In theory, when all creatures arrive in endless purgatory, their souls will be burned by the Baishi Underworld fire, and then everything will turn into ashes.”

Li Fenglan nodded seriously.

Ling Buyan continued, “But unexpectedly, when Cheng Huang brought the Du Sheng plaque there, before it turned into ashes, the Du Sheng plaque absorbed all the spiritual energy in endless purgatory and forcibly repaired its burned soul. And this was repeated over and over again…”

Although the spiritual energy in the endless purgatory was thin, it was called “endless” for a reason. Therefore, the spiritual energy collected by the Du Sheng plaque was still quite considerable.

Speaking of the Du Sheng plaque causing unrest in the world many years ago, it was not just because it could absorb all energies, but also because after it absorbed all the spiritual energy in one place, it would move to another place on its own.

Even after arriving in endless purgatory, it was still the same.

Feeling that there was no spiritual energy around, the Du Sheng plaque attempted to leave Cheng Huang.

Then it was the scene that Li Fenglan saw yesterday—whenever the Du Sheng plaque tried to leave, Cheng Huang would repeat the action of swallowing it back into its stomach, just like what it did “in its lifetime.”

When Ling Buyan spoke to this point, although his tone was relaxed, Li Fenglan’s mood became particularly heavy.

Burn the soul with Baishi Underworld fire, and then be driven by the spiritual energy in the Du Sheng plaque to forcefully repair it?

Although Ling Buyan was talking about Cheng Huang, what Li Fenglan was thinking about was the fragmented and broken soul that he had seen in Ling Buyan before.

….

Many years ago, endless purgatory.

A huge monster repeatedly swallowed the Du Sheng plaque, over and over again.

After who knows how many years, its spirit was no longer afraid of the scorching flames of the Baishi Underworld fire, and it won’t easily shatter anymore.

However, the endless loneliness and the sea of fire that never ended pushed the monster to its limit.

At this moment, a second person finally appeared in the endless purgatory.

That person was Ling Buyan.

Except for Cheng Huang who swallowed the Du Sheng plaque, everyone, including the monsters, would be melted by the Baishi Underworld fire and become part of the endless sea of fire while falling into endless purgatory.

But Ling Buyan was different. Although he didn’t have the Du Sheng plaque with him, he miraculously survived and fell to the bottom of the endless purgatory.

Then, Ling Buyan saw Cheng Huang.

Monsters are different from humans. They are born with less developed and sensitive minds. Especially for those ancient monsters that were born tens of thousands of years ago, they have almost no contact with humans, and their emotions were more primitive.

Therefore, even though it was pushed to the limit, the not-so-“clever” monster only had a strong sense of annoyance.

At this time, Cheng Huang at most thought that if he couldn’t get out, it would be better to stop swallowing the Du Sheng plaque and just die.

And in this state of mind, seeing Ling Buyan, Cheng Huang was just a little curious.

“…You’re Ling Buyan. I recognize you.” The scarred monster walked to Ling Buyan’s side on the Baishi Underworld fire and paused before saying, “I saw you kill my kind.”

Cheng Huang was referring to Ling Buyan killing the last four ancient monsters in the world.

At this point, the monster, whose voice was hoarse and covered in scars, was actually a little happy – after all, the instinct of monsters is to slaughter their own kind.

But what Ling Buyan was concerned about was not this.

The man covered in blood, kneeling in the sea of fire, slowly opened his eyes, enduring the pain of his soul being burned and torn apart.

He looked at Cheng Huang and asked with difficulty, “Cough cough cough… Can you see outside?”

If it were in normal times, this arrogant monster would definitely not bother with humans, but now, it hasn’t spoken for many years. So Cheng Huang, who was no longer afraid of the Baishi Underworld fire, slowly sat down and casually said, “Oh, I can see a little bit.”

This monster was much more eloquent than the current Cheng Huang when it spoke. But it didn’t seize the opportunity to enlighten the heavily injured person in front of it.

After all, the life and death of a human being is not important to it at all.

And Ling Buyan did not urge Cheng Huang. He used his spiritual power to resist the Baishi Underworld fire, while trying to absorb the spiritual energy from this space.

After an unknown amount of time, Ling Buyan finally pieced together the answer from Cheng Huang’s words – The Endless Purgatory is the ultimate destination of all things, and it is also the place closest to the Heavenly Dao in this world.

If the Heavenly Dao pays “special attention” to something or someone, the people in the Endless Purgatory can also see the things or people that the Heavenly Dao is focusing on in this place closest to the Heavenly Dao.

However, according to Cheng Huang’s words, it has been at least ten thousand years since it has been in the Endless Purgatory. But it has only seen a few of the world’s major events, such as the Great Cataclysms of Heaven and Earth, and the Great Beast Wars. And as for humans, Cheng Huang has only seen Ling Buyan.

Here, Cheng Huang saw Ling Buyan kill four ancient fierce beasts, and also saw him carving the words “Tianmian Daosheng” on a huge rock when he founded the Tianmian Sect.

So for Cheng Huang, Ling Buyan was also an old acquaintance.

…

That time, Cheng Huang and Ling Buyan talked for a long time.

In the end, Ling Buyan made a deal with Cheng Huang.

He used the remaining spiritual energy in his body to send Cheng Huang out, and as a reward, Cheng Huang gave the “Du Sheng plaque” to Ling Buyan when he left.

It’s surprising that the environment in the lower part of the Purgatory was even milder than that in the upper part.

Although Ling Buyan had a way to leave here, his current soul cannot support the entire process of leaving. If he wanted to leave, he must, like Cheng Huang, first use the Du Sheng plaque to repair his soul in the bottom of the Purgatory before attempting it.

At the last moment, the fierce beast’s huge ice-blue eyes looked towards the top of the endless purgatory, revealing a hint of excitement in its gaze.

At that time, although Cheng Huang was covered in scars and had killed many of its own kind, its personality was still as cruel and bloodthirsty as any fierce beast. However, after being trapped in endless purgatory for so long, it had developed a habit of talking too much.

Just before Ling Buyan sent it out of endless purgatory, Cheng Huang first sighed leisurely about its life in purgatory over the years. Finally, it said something it shouldn’t have said, “Now that all my kind have gone extinct, there is finally only me, a naturally born fierce beast, left in this world. When I get out, won’t I be able to run wild?”

Ling Buyan: ?

How could this fierce beast’s personality not have changed at all after being trapped in the endless purgatory for tens of thousands of years?

According to Cheng Huang, now that there were no more of its kind to compete with for territory, it would have even more opportunities to “show off”.

Although Ling Buyan didn’t have much attachment to the newly born world of cultivation, as someone who had personally killed the four ancient fierce beasts, how could he allow Cheng Huang to continue to wreak havoc on the world?

So at the moment when he sent Cheng Huang out of the endless purgatory, Ling Buyan used a little trick.

As the fierce beast moved further away from endless purgatory, its body became smaller and smaller. By the time it returned to the human world, its body was only the size of a palm.

Cheng Huang, a born fierce beast, was born in the cold ice.

“Wait and see, Ling Buyan!” Cheng Huang’s final roar had not even ended before it returned to the depths of the ice once again.

It would wait here, just like many years ago, for tens of thousands of years before it could grow up again and emerge into the world.

Unconsciously, it was already dawn and after listening to the fascinating story, Li Fenglan finally summed it up, “I understand. So after Cheng Huang left, Master repaired the soul using the Du Sheng plaque and finally left the endless purgatory.”

“Yes, that’s right.” Ling Buyan smiled.

“You’re amazing…” As a cultivator, Li Fenglan didn’t treat what Ling Buyan said like a story, just for the sake of listening to a lively tale.

Unlike Cheng Huang, whose intelligence had not fully developed and was slow to perceive the world around it, the endless purgatory was truly a purgatory in every sense of the word for humans.

Repairing the soul was difficult, but overcoming loneliness and maintaining one’s sense of self in the endless purgatory was even more difficult.

Li Fenglan couldn’t help but take a deep breath, shaking his head and saying, “I really can’t imagine what it would be like to survive that time in the endless purgatory.”

What kind of willpower would it take to endure that?

Li Fenglan couldn’t even imagine whether he would give up due to endless loneliness and pain before his soul was repaired if he went there.

“If I were you, maybe I wouldn’t make it past a thousand years, and I’d already reached my limit,” he muttered to himself.

While thinking about this, Li Fenglan didn’t notice that at the same time he couldn’t help saying those words, Ling Buyan sitting opposite him once again slowly lowered his gaze to him.

Ling Buyan spoke with a voice that only he could hear, “Actually, I was like that at first…”