Chapter 1607: Gates of Purgatory
Those dwarves were skillfully cutting off the Magical Beast’s skin. Each time they made a cut, the Magical Beast would let out a hair-raising cry.
It was clearly in immense pain. The dwarves’ blades worked rapidly as they laughed sinisterly.
Their movements weren’t sloppy in the least. It wasn’t long before all the Magical Beast’s skin was stripped off.
The dwarves pulled the pelt and examined it for something. They were speaking amongst themselves, seeming to be discussing something.
They quickly left along with the pelt, leaving only a b.l.o.o.d.y Magical Beast behind that was still crying miserably.
Once the dwarves were gone, Xie Qianqian quietly said, “The reason they aren’t killing it is because they’re waiting for it to grow back its skin so they can skin it again.”
Long Chen’s heart shook. This was too vicious. Just skinning it once wasn’t enough? They would skin it for eternity? If the lifeforms in Purgatory were unable to die, then that Magical Beast’s fate was truly miserable.
“According to the myths, the place we’re in should be the first of the eighteen levels of Purgatory, the Skinner Purgatory,” said Xie Qianqian. Her voice quivered. That Magical Beast’s current state was about to be their future.
“The Skinner Purgatory? I’ve never heard of such a thing in my world?” said Long Chen. He had heard that there were eighteen levels to h.e.l.l, but that was all.
“Who knows why? However, based on what we’ve seen, I’m almost one hundred percent sure that we’re in the first level of Purgatory,” said Xie Qianqian.
“Then good thing it’s not the eighteenth level. We still have a chance to get out.”
“That’s impossible. Once past the gates to Purgatory, it’s impossible to leave.” Xie Qianqian couldn’t help but cry. She was afraid. It was impossible to not be afraid in Purgatory. Thinking of the pain they would suffer if the Skinners found them, she felt faint.
“Don’t be afraid, I’m here. Everything in this world has a weakness or flaw. Even the best cage has to have a hole. There is nothing perfect in this world, so as long as we don’t give up, there should be a chance to escape,” comforted Long Chen.
“I’m sorry, Long Chen. If I didn’t suggest looking for treasures, you wouldn’t have been implicated. You even had a chance to escape, but you…”
The two of them were just cooperating. There really had been no need for him to take the risk, but he had been willing to throw himself in here for her. Other than feeling emotionally moved, she felt terrible for bringing this upon him.
“You didn’t implicate me. Those blood essence stones and blood soul stones are very useful to me. That’s why there’s the expression that man will die for riches. My Dao is called See A Treasure And Can’t Walk Away. I’m used to it,” laughed Long Chen.
He had long since grown used to his bad luck. If he wanted to gain something, he had to risk his life.
“Even at this time, you can still laugh?” Xie Qianqian wiped away her tears. Even at this time, Long Chen was still relaxed. That did comfort her a bit. His smile gave her the slightest shred of hope.
“Let’s just slowly recover. Once we’ve pretty much recovered, we’ll look around to see just how deep Purgatory is.”
Long Chen and Xie Qianqian slowly recovered on the statue’s hands. Eventually, they felt they had recovered as much as they were going to.
They felt like their recovery speed had increased here, but it was also difficult to sense the flow of time. The two of them had barely recovered when they heard a miserable cry.
Long Chen looked out to see that those dwarves had appeared once more. The Magical Beast had also recovered and grown its skin out again.
Its miserable cries were because the Skinners had begun their work again, skinning it.
Long Chen felt a chill. No wonder it was said that people shouldn’t do bad things while alive. This skinning torture was absolutely terrifying. Once they fell into Purgatory, they would have to suffer endless pain for eternity.
With his energy mostly recovered, Long Chen sensed that Magical Beast’s aura clearer. It was at the level of an expert attacking the Netherpa.s.sage realm.
However, such a powerful existence couldn’t resist at all in the hands of these dwarves.
In the end, its newly grown skin was stripped away, and the dwarves left once more.
Once they left, Xie Qianqian and Long Chen jumped off the statue’s hands and approached the chained Magical Beast.
Long Chen reached out and grabbed one of the chains. He instantly felt like his body had been thrown into ice. It felt like even his soul was about to freeze.
“d.a.m.n, it’s just as strong as the blue lake’s Ice Qi. But why does this Magical Beast not seem to react to it?” wondered Long Chen.
“Let’s go,” urged Xie Qianqian.
“I don’t want to let something good get away.”
One of the chains was forcibly torn off by Long Chen. Despite how strong they were, they couldn’t stand up to Evilmoon.
“You’re mad. They’re going to notice!” exclaimed Xie Qianqian.
“Don’t worry, I’ll just sneak away two. These chains are very strange, and I want them.”
After tearing off two chains, the blood-covered Magical Beast that had been on its last breaths suddenly let out a furious roar.
“What a strong baleful aura. Just how many lives did it slaughter?” Long Chen could now sense the endless baleful aura coming from it. That wasn’t its own energy, but the result of all the resentment of the lifeforms that had been unwillingly slain by it.
“Brother, go ahead and cry. We’re leaving.”
Long Chen ignored the Magical Beast. Neither the Magical Beast nor the Skinners were good existences. He had no urge to save it.
He pulled Xie Qianqian out of the palace. Once they were out of the gates, they saw a long promenade. The ground and walls were pitch-black and filled with an aura of death.
Long Chen spread his divine sense and found that there were countless hallways that intersected. It was like a labyrinth.
Even when he spread his divine sense dozens of miles out, he couldn’t cover the entire labyrinth.
“You lead the way,” said Long Chen helplessly.
“Me?”
“Yes. My luck’s very bad. If you had me lead the way, the exit would probably be on the last possible route.”
The only possibility in this maze was to walk around blindly. They would have to draw a map as they went.
Once the map was finished, they would be able to find the exit. Long Chen was so confident in his bad luck that he knew that if he didn’t finish drawing the entire map, it would be impossible to chance upon the exit.
“Alright.” Xie Qianqian nodded and started to lead the way. The two of them were both going carefully. They saw this maze had countless palaces. Some of them were empty, and some larger ones had various lifeforms bound within it. They were strange lifeforms that Long Chen had never seen before.
“Wait!” Long Chen suddenly grabbed Xie Qianqian. He scratched Evilmoon on the wall and rubbed the resulting dust onto his face and body, covering himself with the aura of death.
“Smart!” Xie Qianqian followed along, covering herself in the dust.
They might not have been sensed in the palace by those Skinners, but they had been rather far away. There was no way to tell at what distance they would be able to sense their aura or spiritual fluctuations.
The two of them continued, with Xie Qianqian leading the way and Long Chen recording the path they had taken.
He told Xie Qianqian to follow the right wall and not to skip any corners. That way, they would be able to finish the map faster.
As they were walking, one of the nearby palace gates opened, and Long Chen immediately pulled Xie Qianqian into a dark corner. Another group of Skinners walked past them.
At this close a distance, they realized that the Skinners were even smaller than they had thought. They only reached Long Chen’s waist in height. However, they each held a frightening chain and a sharp blade.
Xie Qianqian felt like her heart was about to leap out of her chest being this close to them. Long Chen was also on high alert as they pa.s.sed by, ready to attack if they sensed anything.
Fortunately, they were excitedly talking to each other and didn’t notice that there were two people hidden in the dark.
Xie Qianqian sighed with relief. Once those Skinners pa.s.sed, they continued. They encountered several more groups, but due to Long Chen’s strong spiritual perception, they managed to avoid them at every turn.
Eventually, they saw a giant pillar ahead of them. Countless runes were flickering like stars within it. It emitted a great pressure that caused the world to quiver.
“That’s probably the exit!” said Long Chen. He could see a winding staircase going up the pillar.