Chapter 347: Netherworld Purgatory

Thousands of miles apart, the Leader of the Netherworld Sect and Yan Gu emerged from the colorful dragon boat, shrinking the massive 100-zhang-long boat to 20 zhang in size. They stood atop it using the Art of Divine Vessels, allowing them to dodge more flexibly and avoid being hit again by the giant beast.

On the other side, Su Che had no intention of avoiding them in the first place. Now that he saw them using this flying method and summoning the giant beast, he simply hovered above their heads for defense, with no plans to attack them.

As the distance narrowed again, Su Che ordered Tai Wu to slow down gradually until they were only a few hundred zhang apart. Then both sides stopped.

“Still not giving up?” Su Che asked first.

“Meeting you time and time again proves that even heaven is hinting that those two Divine Vessels are fated to belong to our Netherworld Sect,” the Leader of the Netherworld Sect said without hiding his desire for those two artifacts, his eyes gleaming fiercely.

“Your attacks can’t break through my defense, and your speed can’t catch up to us,” Su Che said with a shake of his head, smiling. “I really can’t see how the fate you’re hoping for could come true.”

“Anyway, since we’ve met, we must strive for it,” the Leader of the Netherworld Sect replied solemnly.

“I feel like you’re just an unlucky guy who came over to test my skills,” Su Che muttered softly, only audible to Tian Yin and Tai Wu.

There was no point in talking further; both sides were ready to fight.

Whoosh!

The Leader of the Netherworld Sect summoned his mid-tier Divine Vessel, the Netherworld Demon Dragon Flag. As he waved it, visible ripples appeared in the air, which soon condensed into solid chains of energy that descended toward Su Che and his companions.

Netherworld Chains!

This was a technique mastered by the Leader of the Netherworld Sect for capturing, restraining, and suppressing opponents. Amplified by the mid-tier Divine Vessel, its power was multiplied several times over.

Speaking of which, the giant beast’s defense could withstand strong attacks but struggled against restraining and entangling attacks. If it couldn’t dodge in time, it could easily be trapped in place, unable to move.

However, Su Che didn’t need to worry about these Netherworld Chains—Tian Yin would handle them. Meanwhile, Su Che unleashed a series of punches at Yan Gu, whose face was dark and gaze extremely fierce.

Yan Gu had experienced no less than 300 of Su Che’s Destruction Punches before, so he was already on guard. Yet, out of inertia, he still thought that today’s Destruction Power wasn’t much different from that of half a year ago.

It had only been half a year—his cultivation was still in the later stage of the Golden Core phase. How strong could those punches really be?

Unbeknownst to him, one should view a person differently after just three days apart. At this moment, Yan Gu was once again experiencing the humiliation inflicted by Su Che…
Yan Gu held a low-grade spiritual treasure-level weapon, the Hunyuan Panlong Staff. After Su Che took away his life treasure, the White Jade Bone Claws, he hadn’t returned to Mu Lan Star to seek another weapon. This staff was borrowed temporarily from his senior master, and its properties didn’t match his cultivation techniques, making it difficult to control.
Uuuu…
Yan Gu swung the staff, unleashing over a dozen purple-golden staff shadows to counter the incoming forces of Su Che’s Destruction Fists.
He thought that by attacking in return, he could neutralize Su Che’s Destruction Fists. But after a series of loud explosions, Yan Gu’s expression changed drastically as he was shocked.
The dozen staff shadows, thick as stone pillars, were shattered one by one, and the remaining force of the Destruction Fists continued to rush toward him.
Unexpected!
Yan Gu really hadn’t expected that kid’s fist techniques to have grown in power by several times compared to half a year ago. By now, the fist forces were right in front of him. It was too late to dodge, so he could only resist with his protective energy.
“I was careless! I fell for that little scoundrel’s trick!”
Such thoughts flashed through Yan Gu’s mind as he roared fiercely, channeling his vital energy to wildly swing the Panlong Staff while unleashing his strongest defensive power.
Boom boom boom…
All the Destruction Fists hit Yan Gu. Most of them were blocked by his staff, meaning this low-grade spiritual treasure took the brunt of the attacks. Yet, four fist forces still penetrated the staff shadows and struck his body.
Bang bang bang bang!
Four loud thuds echoed as if Su Che’s fists had broken through Yan Gu’s protective energy and struck his chest like hitting a sandbag, sending him flying.
In mid-air, Yan Gu tumbled uncontrollably. His chest was visibly sunken, his eyes bloodshot and bulging, and fresh blood threatened to spill out, but he managed to hold it back.
Just one encounter left him injured, and not lightly. Although the main reason was that Yan Gu had underestimated Su Che and still viewed him with the same eyes as before, it still proved that Su Che’s Destruction Power had indeed multiplied in strength, making him capable of seriously injuring Yuan Ying cultivators.
Dong! Dong! Dong!
Three consecutive bell sounds rang as the Heavenly Sound Bell came into action, completely destroying the ‘Netherworld Chains’ technique released by the Master of the Netherworld.

The Master of the Netherworld paid no attention to Yan Gu’s injuries. At the Yuan Ying cultivation level, such injuries were trivial and wouldn’t even affect his combat strength. Yet, he secretly resented Yan Gu for being so careless as to make such a mistake at such a critical moment.

Although the Netherworld Chains had been shattered, the Master of the Netherworld continued to wave the Demon Dragon Flag. With a whooshing sound, ripples spread through the void, as if a curtain were being lifted to reveal a real world.

This world was extremely chaotic and desolate, filled with ghostly shadows of the netherworld, along with a pitch-black, strange sea of fire that devoured everything in its path.

The Netherworld Purgatory!

This was another of his supernatural abilities—a way to create an illusory space, a virtual world using immense magical power. Though it was illusory, if Su Che and the others fell into it, they would be completely trapped within the domain controlled by the Master of the Netherworld. All their abilities would be severely suppressed, and perhaps even their formidable defenses would weaken.

“Show us what you’ve got!” Su Che shouted through telepathy. “Today, we won’t leave until you give up the idea of killing us.”

Boom!

The celestial sound rang out again—deep bell tones like invisible, towering waves sweeping toward the Netherworld Purgatory.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh…

Ripples spread through the illusory space of the Netherworld Purgatory, like ripples on water, and managed to dissipate the sound of the bells this time.

“No, it’s not dissipation,” the celestial voice said to Su Che. “His Netherworld Purgatory is both real and illusory, tangible and intangible. The bell sounds weren’t absorbed by it directly but were transferred through that illusory world to another part of the void.”

“I see,” Su Che nodded slightly. Realizing it was a technique similar to manipulating the flow of cosmic forces to deflect attacks, he asked, “Can we break through it?”

“It won’t be easy to tear it apart in a short time,” the celestial voice replied. “But it doesn’t matter. We just need to be careful not to fall in. Such an illusory world requires a great deal of magical power to sustain—it probably can’t last long.”

“Good. Then let’s keep playing with them for a while longer,” Su Che said calmly, full of confidence.

The little black figure in his dantian was the real trump card today—the ultimate secret weapon. But it wasn’t necessary to reveal it yet. Since it was a trump card, it had to be used at the most critical moment to catch them off guard and achieve a decisive victory.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh…

The Netherworld Purgatory enveloped them, like the maw of a giant beast in the void, trying to swallow Su Che and the others whole.

Boom!

The celestial bells rang again. This time, the target of the shock wave was not the Nether Hell itself, but its controller—the Lord of the Nether. The power of the bell sounds was always irresistible and unavoidable. The Lord of the Nether could only grit his teeth and withstand it. As the shock wave hit, he was sent flying dozens of feet back, and the Nether Hell, which he had been struggling to maintain, nearly lost control. Fortunately, it held on just in time. “These bell sounds are truly annoying,” the Lord of the Nether cursed inwardly, filled with frustration. Although the bell sounds couldn’t hurt him, being pushed back repeatedly by that invisible force was extremely unpleasant. More importantly, it caused him immense psychological distress. On the other side, Yan Gu held his Hunyuan Panlong Staff and charged forward again. With a whoosh, he generated a massive air column over three zhang in diameter, like a pillar reaching the sky, aiming straight at Su Che and the others. From his position, it was clear that Yan Gu’s goal wasn’t to break through their defenses but to push Su Che and the others into the Nether Hell. Whoosh! It wasn’t Su Che or the celestial bells who fought back, but Su Che’s loyal servant, Tai Wu. Tai Wu wielded a serrated long sword—none other than the top-grade spiritual treasure “Dragon Tooth Cutter” obtained from “Yan Lin”. Tai Wu’s original life treasure, the Tai Wu Divine Blade, was also a long sword, and he was quite skilled in using it. Moreover, during his half year on Wu Huang Star, he had already mastered this offensive spiritual treasure thoroughly. At this moment, with his Yuan Ying at the early stage, Tai Wu used a top-grade spiritual treasure to confront Yan Gu, who was at the middle stage of Yuan Ying, along with his less effective lower-grade spiritual treasure staff. Logically, they should be evenly matched. And indeed, with a whoosh, Tai Wu unleashed a giant serrated blade wheel—this was the innate ability of “Grinding Cut” of Dragon Tooth Cutter, capable of cutting through even the hardest metals as if they were mountains. The giant blade wheel spun at high speed, rushing toward Yan Gu’s pillar-like staff. “Dragon Tooth!” Instantly, Yan Gu’s expression twisted in displeasure. How could he not recognize it? It was his junior brother Yan Lin’s Dragon Tooth Cutter. He never expected it to be used against him now. Whoosh! The pillar-like staff was split in two by the giant blade wheel. The extremely sharp cutting power naturally had an advantage over such blunt air force. Any air force disrupted by external force would be like a deflated balloon, instantly losing all its power. Bang! With a casual palm strike, Tai Wu eliminated the remaining air force head-on. Ding!

Tai Wu tapped his fingers lightly, producing a clear and pleasant sound on the blade cut by the Dragon’s Tooth. He then said to Yan Gu, “Your junior brother’s sword is quite good.”
“Die!”
Yan Gu became furious immediately, swinging his large stick and charging forward, intent on delivering an even more powerful strike up close, determined to push the three of them into the Netherhell and reduce them to ashes.
Watching him charge closer, Su Che sneered in his heart, “Come any closer, and you’ll truly understand the karma between us.”