Dominion-sized ritual.

Liang Chen didn't immediately leave the area after winning the duel, he put away his spear and let out a somewhat drawn out breath. A slightly empty feeling pervaded his entire body, but it was far from as bad as when he fought against the Stone-Soul King, less than an hour would be enough for him to restore all the drained energy. And he did just that, he sat down on the ground and leaned against Yumao, who had flown over the moment he saw that the battle ended.

Yumao had a thick and muscular body, despite having shrunken himself down to an appropriate size, but the feathers Liang Chen leaned against felt as soft as silk. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that Yumao's wings would make for both an excellent bed and an excellent cover, mentally noting down the fact that he should try it with Yan Ling when they reunited.

He swept his interspatial ring and took out two azure pills, throwing one into his own mouth while tossing the other to the battered Shen Fei, who only had to open his mouth to catch the pill. The pill quickly dissolved into a cool liquid inside their mouths, running down their throats and evaporating into lifeforce filled energy that started healing their wounds while also restoring some of their energy.

Shen Fei allowed the medicine to restore a bit of his energy before he sat up, swiping his own interspatial ring and tossing a crimson pill to Liang Chen. He also untied his hair and brought out his two hairpins, fastening them on opposite ends of his head as he started up the conversation again.

"Are you heading directly for Purgatory's Cradle now?"

Shen Fei had already figured out where Liang Chen was heading thanks to the simple fact that Purgatory's Cradle was the only place worthwhile in this entire dominion. And even if Liang Chen hadn't confirmed it earlier, his belief that Purgatory's Cradle was his final goal here would have only solidified further after seeing how strong Liang Chen actually was. Liang Chen thought about it for a second before shaking his head, using his thumb to point at the distant Moonset city while storing the gifted medicinal pill into his interspatial ring.

"I'll be stopping there for a moment first. There's at least three people there who had the heart to worry about me, the least I can do is bid them farewell."

Whether or not it was because Tien Huang sensed something off about him or not, the fact of the matter was that Tien Huang had picked him up when he was wounded and helped him. There were also the young Zun twins, Zun Zhi and Zun Zhao, both had been kind to him and showed a precious innocence he had long since not seen. Leaving without at least bidding them farewell would feel a bit wrong. Shen Fei didn't seem terribly surprised by Liang Chen's decision, rubbing his sore waist while shrugging casually.

"Suit yourself, just make sure you don't get caught up in any petty squabbles while you're there, it would suck if I have to wait for you for too long."

Liang Chen almost just nodded to his words and returned to recuperating, but he quickly caught on to how Shen Fei ended his sentence. One of his eyebrows rose in suspicion, Shen Fei snickering with great interest.

"Hehe, I've suddenly become quite interested in what sort of state Purgatory's Cradle will end up in with someone like you entering it. That place really won't mesh with you, so I'm greatly looking forward to what sort of chaos you'll bring."

Shen Fei's eyes flashed with delight as he spoke, seemingly already envisioning the bloodbath that Liang Chen's existence would spark there. Liang Chen didn't quite understand what Shen Fei meant, but this was a good chance to learn more so he didn't hesitate to ask.

"Oh, can you tell me what you know about it?"

Liang Chen didn't actually know much about Purgatory's Cradle, Chang Yun had never told him too much and most of the information he found in the past was about how to get to Purgatory's Cradle. He really only knew that it was located at the centre of this dominion and that it was a land of death. Shen Fei's snickering stopped abruptly, his gaze shifting until it seemed as if he was looking at a great big fool.

"You trying to say that you came for it but don't even know much about it? If you were weaker, I'd probably call you an idiot, but now I'm worried that you'll just kick my ass again if I do so."

Liang Chen might have beaten him, but Shen Fei wasn't the type of person to show much respect just because of something like that, only truly transcendental existences could force him to show respect. He scratched his head a few times while looking at Liang Chen, organizing his thoughts for a few moments before he decided to just start from the top.

"Hmmm, where to start…? For starters, do you know that this dominion is different from the seven others? It's technically man-made, it's a pocket dimension that came about after two major universes fell from some battle, the bits and pieces that remained merging together. From what I've heard, the lingering hatred and anger that these two universes felt also merged, creating another pocket dimension at the centre of this dominion. This secondary pocket dimension is Purgatory's Cradle."

This was the most basic of information, and it was also something that Liang Chen already knew some of. Of course, Chang Yun had already told him that it wasn't just any two major universes that fell but rather two of the pillar universes, two of the first universes born in this multiverse. He didn't know anything about Purgatory's Cradle being formed by lingering resentment, but he didn't have a way of easily confirming this, unless he wanted to just randomly call upon a Universal Heart, so he tossed the fact to the back of his mind and continued to listen.

"Now, the resentment of two major universes is no laughing matter, so that hatred has infected the entire pocket dimension. No one knows if its because the strong lingering resentment has birthed a new type of consciousness or if its because of some special natural law, but you'll be actively rewarded for killing other living beings inside Purgatory's Cradle. The stronger the being, the more of them you kill, the greater the reward. Some people have lept entire sub-realms in their cultivation after some grand massacres, others were granted special techniques or even guided to weapons and resources."

Liang Chen's eyes narrowed sharply when Shen Fei revealed this particular piece of information, it was one that Chang Yun had never mentioned to him. The rewards themselves didn't matter much to him, but the fact that the place seemingly pushed people to perform massacres was one that didn't sit well with hit. It also made it more plausible that the place had birthed a new consciousness, a rather warped one at that. Shen Fei noticed the sharpness of Liang Chen's narrowed eyes, the corners of his lips curling up as he got to the main allure of Purgatory's Cradle.

"But of course, so far there is no one that has been gifted the greatest reward, the flame of purgatory. The flame is said to be able to burn all creation, even capable of incinerating concepts should the wielder desire it. The flame is currently kept within the Nine Wrath's Sect at the centre of Purgatory's Cradle, but there are plenty of scattered information fragments that point towards one being able to acquire the flame as a reward. So all of Purgatory's cradle is split into three groups, those killing to acquire the flames, those killing to stop others from getting the flames, and those from Nine Wrath's who kill and feed the corpses to the flames in hopes of nurturing them until they acquire a consciousness that can be controlled or reasoned with."

The actual nature of the flames of purgatory wasn't the same as what Chang Yun had told him, but the division of the three groups was quite similar to what he had read in the past. Shen Fei chuckled softly while continuing to observe the sharpness in Liang Chen's gaze, a very faint light blazing in his eyes.

"Now, with a place actively rewarding murder like this, what sort of people do you think gather in Purgatory's Cradle? The place is one big bloodbath where your odds of being able to trust someone are as big as your odds of meeting the Abyssal Demon Saint. In there, innocence doesn't exist, it is the capital of sin, a dominion-sized ritual of Gu."

Gu, the ancient ritual of sealing thousands upon thousands of poisonous insects in a jar. The insects would kill and eat each other until only a single one remained, the king of the jar, the most cursed and poisonous insect of them all. And sitting in front of him was a being that might just be qualified to gobble up a large portion of those insects. He might not become the jar king, but he could definitely carve out a place for himself amongst those countless monsters.

He would likely become a fair bit stronger at that time, and Shen Fei himself also reckoned that he would become a bit stronger after staying in Purgatory's Cradle for a bit. If they were to duel again at that time, what would the outcome be, what would he be able to learn then?

Liang Chen couldn't be bothered to pay attention to Shen Fei's thoughts about their future duel, his brows furrowing slightly. He hadn't expected his trip to Purgatory's Cradle to be easy, the flames of purgatory wouldn't have been ownerless for so long if that was the case. But he hadn't expected Purgatory's Cradle to be brutal to this extent, it was worse than even the training ground on Tripartite God that he visited in the past.

At least there you could surrender and leave the stage, nor did you have to kill your opponent to win. But with surroundings that seemed to actively reward you for murdering, why would you bother sparing your opponent even if they surrendered? It was exactly the type of place that Liang Chen disliked the most, it smothered all innocence in favour of birthing monster after monster.

If the heavens being indifferent was enough to make him angry, the the heavens being actively evil was enough to truly make him furious. Of course, he was also aware of the fact that being angry about it or not didn't matter, the current him didn't have the capital to do anything about it, not yet at least. But if he got even stronger, which was the original goal of this trip, then it wasn't out of the realm of belief.

The Bloodwind Emperor was able to use his law of death to kill the will of the multiverse and two pillar universes so it stood to reason that Liang Chen too would be able to do such things. But that was a thing for the future, so for now he could only close his eyes and continue his recuperation so that he could quickly be on his way again.

Liang Chen sensed Shen Fei stand up after nearly half an hour, but he didn't open his eyes to bid him farewell. They had already said what needed to be said and they would likely meet again in Purgatory's Cradle, they also weren't such close friends that there was a need for any proper farewell. But even so, Shen Fei still left Liang Chen with one final warning.

"You should take care when you go to enter Purgatory's Cradle. You've already been here for a while and that winged snake of yours has seen by plenty of people, some of those with greater information networks likely already know about your arrival. And if I can guess where you're going, then you can be damn sure that they can. If my guess is correct, if the Sky-Piercing Sparrow hasn't sent people to wait for you by the entrance, then the King of Heaven Embracing Justice, or the previous Lord of the Wrathful Abyss most certainly will, and they'll be there in person."

Liang Chen knew who Shen Fei was talking about, he had talked with the King of Heaven Embracing Justice, Kuan De Niu, once before. He contacted Liang Chen shortly after he got his title and wanted him to have a duel with the previous holder of the Lord of Wrath title so that she could have a chance to win it back.

He didn't think that he had done anything worth of either of them obstructing him like that, but he couldn't completely disregard it after thinking back to the personality Kuan Niu showed. The previous justice title holder he met was much the same, neither of them had personalities that sat well with Liang Chen. Of course, the main problem would still be the Sky-Piercing Sparrow, whatever he set up would definitely be extremely troublesome.

He luckily had a Heaven Altering Mask so it should be possible for him to first get a look at the situation before he decided on what to do, he just had to make sure that Yumao hid in the meanwhile. He nodded his head to thank Shen Fei for the information, but Shen Fei merely waved his hand and pulled a wooden board out of his interspatial ring. He swiped the board with his hand, space around him folding and warping for a short second before he vanished.

Liang Chen simply continued recuperating his energy after Shen Fei left, he had three different types of energy to restore so it took him a bit longer than it did Shen Fei. But just as he had calculated, he was fully restored an hour after the battle ended, allowing him to stand up and stretch his body while looking towards the distant city.

"Alright, how about we return?"

He put on the Heaven Altering Mask and changed his appearance until it fit the Cui Song Chen persona he used when Tien Huang picked him up. Yumao flapped his wings and expanded his body a little so that Liang Chen could sit down between his horns as Yumao took to the sky. He quickly shot towards Moonset city, snickering somewhat carefreely.

"Don't worry too much about what he said, Father. If any of those troglodytes try to stop us then we'll just kill em' all! And if that Cradle place really is as brutal as he said then we'll just have to run around and spank a whole lot of asses to make them understand who the real boss is, they'll fall in line quickly enough."

Liang Chen's hand automatically reached for his forehead when he heard Yumao's snicker, but it wasn't because of his carefreeness. No, the reason he rubbed his forehead in exasperation was far simpler.

"Oh come on, we've never even used that word in a conversation before! What exactly did Ling'er teach you?!"

Liang Chen was absolutely certain that he had never used the word troglodyte in the past, it was a word that he wouldn't even have thought about uttering. So for Yumao to know this word, there was only one culprit he could think of. And Yumao didn't deny it, laughing proudly as he tore through the air.

"Only the finest of words, Father, only the finest!"