Chapter 614: Nine Spirit Purgatory
Xiao Lin lived in the Nine Souls Pavilion, and since Long Chen was stationed there, he would sometimes come out and talk to him. But there were also times when Long Chen was completely alone. Long Chen realized that every time Xiao Lin was alone with him, it was a golden opportunity to use Control.
But Long Chen was careful. He needed to be friendly to Xiao Lin until the other party was no longer guarded towards him. Only then could he use Control, or he would fail even though his Martial Soul was strong. If he failed, everything would come crumbling down.
It was a risky move to infiltrate the Nine Souls Pavilion, but it was necessary for him to save Long Yue. Everyone else was waiting for the good news, so he could not fail.
For the next seven days, he stood guard for half a day at a time. Xiao Lin passed by a few times and talked to him every time.
At Xiao Lin’s age, he wouldn’t be able to advance anymore no matter how hard he cultivated, so there was no reason for him to cultivate. He was also more inclined to enjoy his twilight years, so his days were leisurely.
Of the three Martial Emperors, Xiao Lin was the only one Long Chen was on fairly friendly terms with. Not everyone in Martial Overlord City was evil. For example, Lady Mo was a pitiful and innocent woman.
Seven days later, Long Chen was already on good terms with Xiao Lin. Long Chen wasted no time and cultivated as he stood guard. Since he was disguised as someone at the First Earthly Martial Stage, he practiced the second stage of the Earthly Martial Fist whenever Xiao Lin passed. In reality, he had already mastered it.
But with his capabilities, he could feign it by making mistakes.
Xiao Lin started giving him pointers.Long Chen heeded Xiao Lin’s advice and improved his cultivation. Time passed, and Long Chen saw that it was a good time to use Control since they had been talking for so long. Now that he had obtained Xiao Lin’s trust, he had to seize the opportunity as he didn’t know when his next chance would come.
As he spoke with Xiao Lin, Long Chen carefully used Control but started off weak. He planned to slowly increase the intensity of Control over a long period of time. Xiao Lin’s Martial Soul was strong, so it wouldn’t be easy to conquer it.
It wasn't until Xiao Lin’s eyes started to glaze over while they conversed that Long Chen knew that his technique had worked. But this was only the first step—it was still risky to ask for the answer now.
Control was not omnipotent.
Long Chen’s cultivation level was lower than Xiao Lin's, so the chances of failure were high. The moment Xiao Lin sensed any changes in Long Chen’s essence and Long Chen tried to attack him, Xiao Lin would immediately wake up.
Control could only dominate the minds of those weaker than him, and Long Chen could even command them to hurt themselves.
“When did you reach the Earthly Martial Realm?” Long Chen tried to prevent any large fluctuations in Xiao Lin’s emotions, so he asked a simpler question. These questions were also deemed normal to Xiao Lin.
“Twenty-seven…” Xiao Lin answered without any hesitation.
Long Chen then started to ask questions that slowly infringed on Xiao Lin’s personal life. Long Chen had already prepared the questions beforehand, and each one would require an answer that was buried deeper in Xiao Lin’s mind. That way, Xiao Lin wouldn’t wake up from the hypnosis due to shock.
Long Chen saved the most important question for last. “I’ve heard that the Nine Souls Purgatory doesn’t have an exit, but someone told me that you know how to get out of it. I was wondering if you could explain that to me?”
Xiao Lin’s eyes were still glazed over. “Of course I know … Do you want to know?”
“Could you tell me, please?” Long Chen asked in a pleading tone. It was easier for Xiao Lin to answer that way.
“First, you must find a ten-meter-tall hill in the Nine Souls Purgatory. Dig downwards for a hundred meters and you will find a compass. Follow the compass’ direction and finally …”
“Greetings, Martial Emperor.” Just then, Mo Feng entered and greeted Xiao Lin.
Long Chen’s heart skipped a beat.
Xiao Lin’s eyes regained clarity when Mo Feng called for him. He stared at Long Chen in confusion, and Long Chen thanked him. “Thank you, Martial Emperor Xiao, for your guidance! I’m one step closer to the Second Earthly Martial Stage!”
“Guidance?” Xiao Lin had a feeling that something was wrong with his mind. It was as if he was sleeping and had just woken up.
He never would’ve guessed that there was a technique like Control in this world that could fish out the deepest secrets in his heart. He shook his head and smiled bitterly. “I think I’m getting so old that I’ve started spacing out. You can talk to each other for now. I will go back and rest.”
Xiao Lin left after that.
That was close!
Long Chen’s heart was beating rapidly. Thankfully, he had managed to learn the method to escape the Nine Spirit Purgatory, or else his plans would be wasted.
“Cousin-in-law, why is the Martial Emperor acting weird?” Mo Feng was confused too.
“I don’t know. He was guiding me on the Earthly Martial Fist just now,” Long Chen answered then he continued his cultivation.
Mo Feng dropped the topic and continued to talk to Long Chen. After some time, Long Chen left the Nine Souls Pavilion and returned to his home.
I cannot enter the Nine Spirit Purgatory right now, or it would be too suspicious. I should wait a day or two before I enter.
Two days later, Long Chen decided that it was time to rescue Long Yue. He used Control on Lady Mo one more time so that she would be even more certain that Long Chen was her husband. He tried to minimize the risk as much as possible while he was entering the Nine Spirit Purgatory.
It was Long Chen’s turn to stand guard that day. He could reach the wooden hut without any worry. He used Sight and checked that no one was there before he opened the door.
Before he could react, a strong force pulled Long Chen into the hut. The door closed lightly, and the Hundred-War Martial King disappeared from the world once more.
Long Chen could only apologize to Lady Mo. The death of her husband didn’t concern him, and he only gave her some closure by appearing in front of her as the Hundred-War Martial King. Since she had a cousin who was also a Martial King, Long Chen was certain that her life wouldn’t be terrible. There were people living in worse conditions than her in the world.
The strong force sucked Long Chen into the Nine Spirit Purgatory.
He opened his eyes and was surprised by what he saw.
The Nine Spirit Purgatory was devoid of color. Everything was gray, including the sky. There were no signs of plants, and gray clouds covered the sky. A cold wind blew past the endless wasteland.
“This is the legendary Nine Spirit Purgatory …” Long Chen looked around and realized two important things. One, everything was the same no matter which direction he looked. It was like a massive maze.
The second thing was that there was barely any nature’s spiritual energy here. It was weaker than even Baiyang Town. Long Chen realized that his essence was circulating much more slowly than usual, and he wasn’t able to replenish any essence that had been used up.
Long Chen had a thousand King Crystals that he had plundered from Yang Ninfeng, and he had eight hundred more of his own. Most of the King Crystals came from the Divine Fire Realm. Even the Martial Overlord might not have as many King Crystals as he did.
Each King Crystal contained an enormous amount of nature’s spiritual energy, so he wasn’t worried about his predicament right now.
But he could imagine how those without King Crystals would slowly become weaker if they were trapped here. Since the Nine Spirit Purgatory’s exit was also well hidden, many of them would’ve died here.
It was the most likely reason why the Martial Overlord had chosen this place as his prison.
It was a cruel environment without any resources.
I need to find Long Yue before I search for the compass.
He had a goal, but he could do nothing but smile bitterly. There was nothing in this barren land, so how would he find Long Yue? Where was the little hill? It might’ve been easier to find the hill if the flatland continued infinitely, but Long Yue was a different matter. It was possible that she was already dead.
Long Chen wasted no time and ran as fast as he could in one direction. A gray shadow ran across the barren land.
He didn’t know if he still needed his disguise, so he didn’t take it off yet.
“Huh?” Long Chen ran for a long time but met no one. In fact, the sky and land looked the same as the place he had just landed.
Suddenly, he saw footprints in front of him. On closer inspection, he realized that the footprints were his!