The sun hung high in the sky above Wyvern's Heart city, the sky devoid of even a single cloud. Were it not for the ever-present smell of blood and the naturally tense atmosphere that pervaded all of Purgatory's Cradle then the city would surely welcome a lovely day. But in a land like this, such a thing was naturally nigh impossible.
The best you could ever achieve here was a fragile truce, hollow peace. Like a pack of hungry wolves eyeing each other, no one willing to make the first move lest they show a moment of weakness and ended up beset by the rest. But a fragile truce was never bound to last for long, it could be shattered with a single tossed stone.
But the thing that shattered the fragile truce of Wyvern's Heart wouldn't be a stone. No, there wouldn't even be any shattering of the truce. After all, when calamity arrived and erased the entire pack of wolves, could you really say that their truce had ended? And on this bright and warm day, a calamity like that arrived outside the city, taking the form of a young youth accompanied by a winged serpent.
Liang Chen raised his head slightly, gazing upon the city that stretched out in front of him. It still didn't have any defensive walls but it was clearly grander than the ones he had visited so far, several of the buildings also showed signs that some sections had been added over the years. As his gaze wandered down the various streets, he also had to admit that it was probably the most peaceful city he had visited so far.
It still carried the same tenseness as the rest of the land, but the people here weren't eyeing each other as vigilantly as everywhere else. Of course, Liang Chen knew that it was only like this because everyone living in this city belonged to the same sect.
Here, you were technically only allowed to kill outsiders, it was the last stop before you would reach what could truly be called the depths of Purgatory's Cradle so there was no shortage of such outsiders hoping to reach Purgatory. Granted, as long as you knew how to cover it up then there would certainly not be a problem if you killed your own sect members, in the end, this was a land where everyone lived for themselves.
"So this is the first one, huh? Looks more normal than I expected, but I hope that the insides run as clean as the outside. Can you bring them out now? Just leave Little Lan inside, I'll just suffer the headache of appeasing her later on when things are less dangerous."
Liang Chen stepped forward as he spoke to Yumao, his arrival inevitably drawing the attention of the city. He was an outsider so he was fair game, the problem was that he had reached the early Primordial Immortal realm so he wasn't game they could hastily attack. Liang Chen paid no mind to the looks he got, nor to the hushed whispers and messages that started to fly about in secret.
He kept walking calmly as Yumao vanished into his interspatial ring, returning with Jiao Hui Xin and the other disciples he had recently picked up in the Mystic's Hidden Realm. The appearance of this additional group obviously drew even more attention, they were all just too weak for a place like this, they should have been pruned long ago.
But quite frankly, it didn't matter much to the surrounding people why these people had survived, seemingly having received Liang Chen's protection. No, what mattered was that the 1 fair game had suddenly turned into 53, it had become a veritable smorgasbord that they could use to hopefully receive a new reward from the cradle.
The disciples were understandably a bit nervous now that their training had been halted and they had been brought out again. And those nerves only got worse when they saw the people around them, not a single one of them had a cultivation that they could properly discern, meaning that they were far stronger than them. Hui Xin was a bit better thanks to the pain her life had been up to this point, she at least didn't show any of her nervousness on the surface as she turned to Liang Chen, her ruined eyes roaming over his general area.
"What lesson may we learn this time, Storm Sovereign?"
In the past she had used the title Wolf Sovereign or Wolf Lord, he led the Storm Wolf sect after all, but it seemed like she had taken Lan Yun's previous mutter to heart and changed the titles to be more storm-based. She didn't bother asking any pointless questions, just looking at the previous time he had brought them all out was enough to tell her that he was going to teach them something heavy again. The other disciples quickly steeled themselves, using Hui Xin's voice to bury their nerves as deeply as they could while they prepared themselves for Liang Chen's orders.
"Last time I taught you death, the weight of blood on your hands. This time too I will teach you death."
Liang Chen obviously hadn't brought out the disciples just so that they could see this city and experience its air, there were things he had to teach them so that they could walk the paths they had chosen for themselves. He raised his head slightly, using his chin to gesture towards the centre of the city, where they could just barely see seven large spires rising above the rest of the city.
"That place is Wyvern's Wrath Sect, one of the seven subsidiary sects belonging to the Nine Wraths Sect, it's what they consider the Ninth Wrath. They control this entire city, everyone you see around you belongs to them. They will try to kill anyone that wants to head deeper into the cradle, only those who can overawe them with strength can pass. You guys lack that strength so you'd best just consider all of them your enemies."
Liang Chen had made his preparations before he came here, organized and summarized every piece of information he had acquired after entering Purgatory's Cradle. That was why he knew about Wyvern's Wrath and its affiliation with the Nine Wraths sect, it was also why he strode into the city so blatantly.
The Nine Wraths sect could be considered the rulers of Purgatory's Cradle, they were the ones currently holding Purgatory. They were also the ones who were most fervent about following, and enforcing, the bloody nature of Purgatory's Cradle. They wanted to nourish Purgatory with all the bloodshed, feed it all the death in hopes of helping it grow.
If the people in the cities who were killing without regard were the soldiers, then the Nine Wraths sect was the king that gave the orders and revelled in the slaughter. Either way, be it soldier or king, neither would be able to escape Liang Chen's judgment, nor his spear.
"I see, it seems like there will be quite a lot of people for us to save there then."
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Hui Xin and the other disciples quickly caught on, despite not really knowing about the Nine Wraths sect and what it entailed. But if the people of this sect wanted to kill everyone that tried to pass through it then there would definitely be hundreds of people for them to save here, hundreds of people who had suffered fates similar to theirs. But Liang Chen shook his head and squashed the righteous fire that was just starting to burn in their chests.
"No, there won't be anyone to save."
These disciples hadn't gotten to experience Purgatory's Cradle, its nature and twisted rules. They had experienced pain and torment in the Mystic's Hidden Realm, but this land operated on a completely different set of values and rules. And now, Hui Xin and the others would have to learn about them.
"This land is diseased, its core rotten and decayed. Things here work differently compared to the place where I saved you guys from, here death has far more worth than torture and enjoyment. No one will keep people around just to toy with them, hence, there is no one for us to save in this land."
Why would you bother tormenting someone when you could just kill them and take a step closer towards the next reward? Life held no worth here, only death. That was Purgatory's Cradle, death upon death, repeating endlessly until nothing remained. Was it the influence of the Bloodwind Emperor's laws, or was it the lingering hatred of the universes that had died to form this place? Or perhaps it was just a raw representation of life's base state, perhaps no one really knew. But Liang Chen knew one thing, one thing above all.
"There are no lives here for us to save, only souls to avenge and sins to wash away with blood. Sometimes, that's the best you can do, all you can do."
You wouldn't always get the outcome you wanted, wouldn't always reach the best end. Sometimes you had to settle with what you could get, sometimes you just had to accept the result you achieved after giving it your all. And this land, this land was one such situation. Salvation did not exist here, only vengeance, sin that was washed away with more sin.
The disciples couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva when they heard Liang Chen's sombre voice, their stride unconsciously becoming a little heavier. They had been saved by Liang Chen and were looking forward to saving people of their own, to take on Liang Chen's role. But there was no one they could save, and it wasn't even due to their own weakness.
The group kept walking, but it didn't take too long before someone made the first move. It wasn't one of the disciples, they knew that they couldn't beat anyone here so they obediently followed Liang Chen to see what he would show them. No, the first move was made by one of the surrounding men.
He had melded into the darkness as if he was part of it, sneaking up on the rear of Liang Chen's group before singling out an older looking man with a slightly crooked back. He burst out from the darkness without a sound and aimed a clawed hand at the back of the man's neck, it would just take him a single swipe to separate the head from the shoulders.
Be it coincidence or skill, the man happened to turn around at that time, probably sensing something. He came face to face with the incoming attack, his spine tingling and freezing up as he saw the sharp glint of those claws. He felt a warm sensation on his chin and mind as the claw approached him, as if his deceased husband was caressing his chin and beckoning him to follow.
But the claw stopped just as it was about to touch his skin, not even one centimetre away from his throat. A soft white fuzz had appeared around the attacking man's eyes, slowly spreading to the rest of his face and giving him a much softer appearance. But his eyes turned blank and mindless at the same time, something that looked like a long mushroom slowly stretching out from his right ear. It was at this time that Liang Chen's voice sounded out, blowing away the warm touch on the old man's cheek and replacing it with the cold grip of reality.
"Did you feel that? Experience that? That was death, that is what you impose upon the people you fight, those you judge. The moment you step on the battlefield, the moment you dip your hands in evil to fight evil, you must come to terms with the fact that you are also placing your own head on the executioner's block. One wrong move and it will fall, understand that, accept that. And then walk forward anyway, fight on through it while accepting what you must shoulder. Because if you don't, then there will never be anyone to speak up for those silenced voices, the crying children and grieving parents."
To fight evil in the way they did was to become evil, to kill people was to be ready to be killed. Those who couldn't understand and accept that were just petulant children who thought they were larger than life. If you couldn't even lay your own life on the line, how could you possibly think that you had the right to take the life of others? The old man seemed to understand what Liang Chen was trying to teach him, something akin to a bitter smile surfacing on his face.
"What a heavy duty we've acquired."
A portion of the other disciples couldn't help but subconsciously nod their heads at his words. They didn't regret the duty that they got, they simply agreed that it was heavy to bear, both physically and mentally. But Liang Chen shook his head again, his gaze still affixed on those seven spires rising at the centre of the city.
"It's not a duty, it's a choice, one you must make every time you take a step. So take your step, make your choice, I already have."
His spear appeared in his grasp as he spoke, the tip dragging against the ground as the previously clear sky started to darken with thick clouds. The first shot had been launched, a volley was sure to follow. The Wyvern's Wrath versus the wrath of a crying child, this was the start of the battle that would determine if the nine wraths of the Nine Wraths sect or Liang Chen's one wrath would come out on top.