Chapter 502: Human Purgatory

At that moment, someone at the inn suddenly exclaimed, "Look, what's that!"

A group of people instinctively looked up, following the direction of the person's finger, and saw a dazzling light in the sky.

Liu Yao gazed at the meteor streaking across the sky with a trail of fire, muttering, "An unusual celestial phenomenon like this must herald the arrival of a great treasure!"

As soon as he spoke, many people in the area cast eager glances.

Only Zhu Xie Chixin's expression remained calm. He watched the meteor suddenly burst into a dazzling light, bright as day, and then said, "Let's go, let's check it out."

Chu Chuyan hesitated, worried about the safety of Zu An and Pei Mianman. After all, they might not have escaped the Mosquito Daoist's pursuit, so she wanted to use this opportunity to find them.

At that moment, Sang Qian approached her and said, "Sister Chu, although I haven't known Zu An for long, I understand him well. If he's being chased by the Mosquito Daoist, he'd most likely head towards where the meteor fell. That spot is prominent enough to attract others, who could then help counterbalance the Mosquito Daoist, whom he can't deal with alone."

Remember, Zu An had no reason to reveal he possessed the Nirvana Sutra of the Phoenix, yet he deliberately did. This was clearly to muddy the waters and force other factions to constrain the Emperor. He's incredibly audacious, yet meticulous, and would undoubtedly realize that heading towards the meteor would offer a better chance of escape.

Chu Chuyan looked at her in surprise. "I've long heard of your resourcefulness, Miss Sang, and today it truly lives up to your reputation. If we find A'Zu there, I'll owe you a great debt of gratitude."

"It should be me thanking him for laying these people to rest," Sang Qian said, looking at the corpses of the dead soldiers on the ground. She had just requested Zhu Xie Chixin's permission to rebury them and then arrange for their bodies to be transported back to their hometowns after returning to the capital.

Chu Chuyan's expression softened considerably. "Although there's much criticism about A'Zu, at heart, he's actually a kind person."

Sang Qian hummed in agreement. "I can feel it."

Sang Hong, standing nearby, secretly sighed. He had always admired Zu An. If only he had taken his daughter to Brightmoon City earlier, Zu An would likely be his son-in-law by now, and his son wouldn't have met such a tragic end...

Zhu Xie Chixin and his group had no time for sentimental reflections. They left some people to guard the imperial prisoners at the inn and rushed with the Embroidered Uniform Guards towards where the meteor had fallen.

Prince Liang and Liu Yao, unable to suppress their curiosity, also followed. Chu Chuyan, worried about Zu An, trailed closely behind them.

However, when the group arrived, they found only a large crater filled with meteor fragments, and a grim-faced Zhu Xie Chixin standing there.

"Lord Zhu Xie, have you seen Zu An?" Chu Chuyan eagerly asked. As the most powerful among them, he had arrived first and might have already found something.

Zhu Xie Chixin looked glumly towards the pile of fragments and said, "We arrived a step too late. I just saw them jump into a light portal, and the Mosquito Daoist followed them. Unfortunately, the portal vanished too quickly for me to intervene."

That light portal was likely the entrance to a secret realm, but he had never seen an entrance vanish so quickly. He had no idea what kind of realm it was, and only heaven knew if Zu An would return alive after entering. It was well-known that unless a secret realm had been fully explored and developed, it would be quite dangerous, with most being extremely perilous from the outset.

The thought of how he would report to the Emperor upon returning to the capital gave him a severe headache.

"The Mosquito Daoist went in too?" Chu Chuyan's expression changed slightly, and she immediately grew worried.

"You don't need to worry about that. Secret realms are usually very complex, and they might not be teleported to the same location," Zhu Xie Chixin replied.

***

After Zu An and Pei Mianman entered the light portal, they experienced a sensation of weightlessness. This feeling wasn't new to them; they had a similar experience in the secret realm behind the academy.

When they regained their senses, they found themselves in a foggy world, surrounded by swirling grayish-blue mist.

"I think I vaguely saw the Mosquito Daoist chasing us in," Pei Mianman said, looking worriedly behind her, though there was no one else there.

Zu An said, "She did follow us in. She must have been teleported to a different location."

He also felt a headache coming on; that woman was truly relentless, even managing to seize such a fleeting opportunity.

Pei Mianman realized that many secret realms indeed worked this way: while the entrance was the same, people were teleported to various random locations. To stay together, they would have had to hold hands upon entering.

It was then that she realized their hands were still clasped tightly together. Feeling the warmth from his palm, her face flushed slightly. "How long do you plan to hold my hand?"

Zu An gave an awkward laugh and quickly released her hand. "The situation was critical just now; I wasn't trying to take advantage of you."

"I know," Pei Mianman replied, her captivating peach-blossom eyes sparkling. "Otherwise, I would have burned you with my black flames already."

"Please don't. If your black flames touch someone, even those with slightly weaker cultivation could be burned to ashes," Zu An said, startled.

"Silly, how could I use black flames against you?" Pei Mianman mumbled softly.

Zu An looked around and also noticed the pervasive grayish-blue mist. Unlike ordinary fog that dispersed with a breeze, this mist seemed exceptionally dense. He even doubted that even a Wind Elemental Master continuously summoning tornadoes could disperse it. "Be careful," he warned. "This place is a bit strange, and we don't know where the Mosquito Daoist is hiding. It would be troublesome if we accidentally ran into her."

Due to the mist, visibility was limited to only a few meters in all directions; their sight couldn't penetrate very far. If the Mosquito Daoist was hiding nearby, they wouldn't be able to detect her in advance.

"Mmm." For some reason, Pei Mianman wasn't very scared. She felt a sense of security around this man, even though his cultivation was clearly lower than hers.

"How are your injuries?" Zu An asked, offering her another pill. She had just been wounded by the Mosquito Daoist and was visibly weakened.

"It's fine, I'm much better now," Pei Mianman said, shaking her head to decline. "The previous medicine is still working, and I'm slowly recovering."

Zu An couldn't help but marvel at the miraculous effects of Ji Dengtu's medicine. He made a mental note to discuss it thoroughly with Xiao Xi next time they met.

"By the way, how did you recognize the writing on that stone tablet?" Pei Mianman asked curiously, the memory of that moment still vivid in her mind.

"Naturally, I'm just exceptionally knowledgeable and have a powerful memory," Zu An said proudly.

Pei Mianman snorted. "I've read records of various tribes throughout the world since I was little, but I've never seen writing like that before."

Zu An knew she was a scholar, and a casual excuse about it being from his hometown wouldn't fool her and would only arouse unnecessary suspicion. So he replied, "Actually, I don't know either. It seems I've seen such characters in a dream; when I saw them, I just recognized them."

Pei Mianman was surprised. "The ancients said some talents were heaven-sent. I thought it was just a legend, but I never expected it to be true."

Zu An breathed a sigh of relief. It was precisely because there were similar historical records that he had concocted this somewhat mythical excuse, and he was surprised it actually worked.

Despite his relief, his mind was filled with doubts as to why he would encounter the Yin Ruins and oracle bone script in this world.

Thinking of Qin Shi Huang and others he had seen in the previous secret realm, he couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

"Ah!" Pei Mianman suddenly shrieked, instinctively grabbing his arm.

"What's wrong?" Zu An's heart raced. He vigilantly scanned their surroundings, thinking the Mosquito Daoist had come to attack. But all was quiet as usual, and he saw no danger.

"Blood..." Pei Mianman pointed at the ground beneath their feet. "The soil is dark red, as if it's soaked in blood."

The pervasive grayish-blue mist limited visibility to only a few meters, already making the atmosphere oppressive. Now, seeing the dark red earth made them feel an involuntary chill down their spines.

How much blood would it take to stain the soil so deeply red?

Zu An stared at the ground for a moment, then reassured her, "It might not be stained with blood. It's likely due to a high concentration of iron oxide."

"Iron oxide?" Pei Mianman paused, looking somewhat confused.

"You can think of it as iron, like rust," Zu An explained. Although he tried to comfort her, he wasn't entirely sure himself if it was truly caused by iron oxide.

Pei Mianman said, "Regardless, we need to stay extremely vigilant. This secret realm is likely very dangerous."

This was actually common knowledge in the cultivation world: the danger of a secret realm could be discerned from its environment. If it was a place of clear skies, gentle breezes, and lush green mountains and waters, it was likely peaceful, and even if the core was dangerous, one would be fine as long as they didn't approach it.

However, if a secret realm was eerie and terrifying, it was almost certainly an extremely perilous place.

Clearly, their current environment belonged to the latter category.

The two continued to move forward cautiously. The grayish-blue mist made it easy to lose direction, rendering them unable to distinguish north, south, east, or west, so they could only proceed step by step.

Suddenly, the ground beneath them gave way. The surface ahead had been deceptively covered, unable to support their combined weight.

"Watch out!" Zu An and Pei Mianman simultaneously warned each other, then leaped backward.

Unfortunately, Pei Mianman was severely wounded; halfway through her jump, her vital energy faltered, and she began to plummet. Zu An quickly reached out to grab her, but influenced by her fall, he too began to drop a few feet.

Panicked, he quickly reached out to grasp the nearby wall. He had no idea how deep this unknown place was below or if there were any traps, so he naturally dared not fall.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. The surrounding earthen walls were inexplicably hard and smooth. Given Zu An's current cultivation, shattering stone was effortless. In theory, a full-force grasp should have allowed his entire palm to embed into the wall, halting their descent.

Yet, his fingers could only make a shallow indentation in the wall and couldn't penetrate further. Even that slight penetration caused intense pain in his fingers.

With no leverage, he could no longer prevent their fall, and they plummeted downward.

Zu An instinctively pulled Pei Mianman into his embrace, shielding her with his body. After all, she was severely wounded, and a hard fall like this might kill her instantly.

As for himself, protected by the Primordial Chaos Sutra, his recovery ability far surpassed that of others.

The two tumbled downwards, and throughout the fall, he held Pei Mianman's head tightly against his chest, covering her with as much of his body as possible.

Fortunately, it wasn't a bottomless abyss. After tumbling for a while, they finally hit the ground.

Zu An grunted in pain, feeling something sharp pierce his back. However, he had no time to focus on it, immediately cupping the woman's face in his hands. "Da Manman, are you okay?"

Pei Mianman's alluring peach-blossom eyes no longer held their usual captivating charm; instead, she looked at him somewhat distractedly. "I'm... I'm fine. Aren't you afraid of risking your life and making Chuyan sad?"

She remembered every moment clearly: in their time of peril, he hadn't escaped alone. Instead, to save her, he had fallen into this deep pit.

But before that, no one knew what lay below. He had completely risked his life to save her.

Moreover, throughout the entire fall, he had used his body to shield her from stones and various hazards. Now, apart from some wrinkled clothes and a few minor scrapes, she was virtually unharmed.

In contrast, his clothes were tattered from being scraped by the falling debris, and his body and even face were covered in bruises and various scratches.

Zu An chuckled. "What nonsense are you talking about? In that situation, how could I just stand by and watch you die? You're my friend."

"Just friends, huh..." A flicker of disappointment crossed Pei Mianman's face, quickly replaced by her usual charming smile. "You're right, I'm Chuyan's best friend. If you didn't save me, Chuyan would never forgive you."

With that, she playfully raised her fist and lightly punched him.

"Hiss~" Zu An gasped, feeling a piercing pain in his back, then coughed up a mouthful of blood.

"What's wrong? I didn't hit you hard!" Pei Mianman was almost in tears as she urgently asked.

"It's nothing, probably something pierced my back when we fell. Can you take a look?" Zu An tried to twist his head back, but couldn't see what was behind him.

Pei Mianman burst into tears at the sight: a stone spike, as thick as a candle, was impaled in his back. Judging by its depth, it had pierced his lung, which explained why he was spitting blood.

Hearing her description, Zu An actually sighed in relief. "That's good, that's good. Please pull that spike out for me."

Pei Mianman quickly said, "But if we pull it out recklessly, you could bleed severely."

Zu An reached out and ruffled her hair, comforting her, "Don't worry. Although my cultivation is just average, my body is tougher than anyone else's. I'll be fine."

Pei Mianman remembered his incredible recovery ability and bit her lip. "Then be careful."

"Mhm!" Zu An sat up straight. To prevent her from worrying, his expression remained calm despite the intense pain.

He even felt a bit of admiration for himself. He used to find Guan Yu's bone scraping to treat poison unbelievable, but since coming to this world, he had suffered countless fatal injuries. Forget bone scraping, his bones had shattered and healed numerous times.

It was also fortunate that this was a cultivation world, where cultivators' bodies were not as fragile as those of humans in his previous life. Of course, other cultivators would have long died from such severe injuries. Ultimately, it was all thanks to the "Rich Woman's Joy Sphere" from before and the Primordial Chaos Sutra later.

Pei Mianman had been a cultivation prodigy since childhood, always having a steady hand no matter what weapon she wielded. Yet, today, holding a stone spike, her hand trembled so much.

"It's fine, pull it out," Zu An said, gently patting her. His warm smile suddenly calmed her.

Pei Mianman knew such an injury couldn't be delayed. Taking a deep breath, she slowly pulled the spike from his back, moving very carefully, fearing that any carelessness might cause him to bleed out or go into shock.

Zu An grunted, and a layer of fine sweat immediately beaded on his forehead. It was excruciatingly painful; after all, his lung had been injured.

In his previous life, one of the most agonizing ways to die was from severe external trauma to the lungs, leading to a desperate death amidst pain and respiratory distress.

He could only be grateful that the Primordial Chaos Sutra had granted him superhuman recovery abilities, otherwise, even if he didn't die now, he would surely succumb to bacterial infection later.

Finally, Pei Mianman extracted the spike and quickly applied pressure to acupoints to seal the wound on his back. Even so, seeing the large gaping wound and various other injuries on his back, her tears still fell uncontrollably.

She knew that if Zu An hadn't shielded her, she would have been impaled by that spike and died instantly. The only reason he was so severely wounded was entirely because of her.

Because of her mother, she had never truly believed in emotions. For years, she appeared passionately warm and pleasant to everyone, a complete contrast to Chu Chuyan, yet her heart had remained as cold as iron, observing the world with indifference.

Even though her relationship with Zu An had been good, and even somewhat ambiguous, it had merely been "good."

It wasn't until this time, when he repeatedly risked his life to save her, that what she had always believed in gradually crumbled, and her icy heart completely melted.

"My lady, could you please stop crying for a moment and help me apply some medicine?" Zu An said, exasperated. This woman was usually so sharp; why was she acting like any other young girl today?

Pei Mianman, as if waking from a dream, quickly took the medicine bottle from his hand. After applying the medicine, she tore off her clothes' inner lining to bandage him.

Suddenly, her gaze sharpened. She noticed other bandages on his back, embroidered with small flowers, and faintly carrying a subtle fragrance. It was clearly another woman's intimate apparel used to dress his wounds.

Her distraction lasted only a moment before she quickly bandaged his new wound and wiped the fine sweat from his forehead.

"Da Manman, I never knew your hands were so gentle." Feeling the cool sensation on his back, Zu An felt much better. With Physician Ji's medicine and the Primordial Chaos Sutra, his life was clearly saved.

This time, Pei Mianman didn't smile. Instead, she looked at him seriously. "A'Zu, could you promise me something?"

"What is it?" Zu An paused.

Pei Mianman bit her lip, hesitating several times as she considered her words. After a long moment, she finally looked into his eyes and said, "Promise me you won't risk your life to impress girls anymore!"

Zu An: "..."

Pei Mianman continued, "You've risked your life to save me several times. And earlier, when you saved Zheng Dan, you shielded her with your own body. And Qiu Honglei... You don't take care of yourself at all. Is that fair... fair to Chuyan?"

Zu An looked embarrassed. "Actually, I didn't think that much. I just couldn't stand by and watch something happen to you all."

Pei Mianman's gaze softened. "I know your good intentions, but you're always so reckless. You won't be this lucky every time. What if you lose your life next time?"

Zu An whispered, "My body is different from ordinary people's..."

Pei Mianman interrupted him. "I know your recovery ability is strong, but even strength has its limits. Promise me you won't do such foolish things anymore, okay?"

Seeing her tearful expression, Zu An's heart softened, and he quickly said, "Alright, I promise you. From now on, even when saving others, I'll ensure my own safety... But if you ever face danger again, I can't just ignore it."

"You..." Pei Mianman sighed, realizing this fool completely misunderstood her meaning. How many women could resist a man who would protect them with his life? This guy was going to rack up so many romantic debts in the future.

Zu An then picked up the spike. "Let me see what kind of thing wounded me so badly..."

Midway through his sentence, his eyes suddenly narrowed. This was no stone spike; it was clearly a human rib!

Pei Mianman's attention had been entirely on him, but now she also recognized it. "This... this..."

Zu An quickly stood up and surveyed the distant parts of the deep pit. Soon, both their faces turned extremely pale.

Zu An said bitterly, "It seems you were right before. The ground truly is stained with blood."

The entire pit, perhaps due to its lower elevation, didn't have much mist. Looking around, the pit was roughly the size of several football fields, its ground densely covered with countless skeletons. Each skeleton was contorted, their expressions of agony from before death still faintly visible, making the scene akin to a living hell.