Familiar land.

Liang Chen had no idea about the turmoil and chaos that was slowly starting to spread in the outside world. Contrary to the level of power he had reached, he actually had very few connections, there was basically no one out there that could contact him. Yan Ling was an obvious one, but she was currently in a different multiverse so there was no way for her to contact him.

The newly initiated Storm Wolf sect disciples he had picked up also weren't prone to contact him, how many sect disciples would just call up their sect master on a whim? Yan Ling's brother, Yan Ying, was actually the person who would be most likely to contact him, but he was currently in the territory of the Nine Star Demon God so he was probably more informed on Liang Chen's current whereabouts than most others.

As such, Liang Chen was able to move at his own pace as he made his way through Purgatory's Cradle. His final target was obviously Purgatory itself, but it was currently being kept by the Nine Wraths sect, and he wasn't able to deal with them so heading straight there would just be him signing his own death warrant.

But luckily, Purgatory's Cradle was a twisted land, it craved death and ruination more than anything else. It was to the point that the land itself would reward you for your viciousness, each person you killed would bring you one step closer to the world pointing you towards a reward that would be suitable to you.

But from what Liang Chen had experienced so far it became easy for him to discern that Purgatory's Cradle cared more about quality than quantity. The avatar of the Sky-Piercing Sparrow that he had killed filled up three drops of blood, producing three resonating feelings as Purgatory's Cradle pointed him towards his reward.

But calculating how much progress he had received towards the next reward after killing almost everyone in the previous city he visited, he reached the conclusion that it would take about 100 000 people at the Soaring Immortal realm like them to fill up half a drop. Of course, these rewards and all the killing weren't Liang Chen's goal here, they were merely a by-product brought about by his own morals.

As was to be expected by a brutal place like Purgatory's Cradle, it wasn't exactly sprawling with roads and small villages or towns that could be used during travels. It would be better to compare it to the Myriad Convergence that Liang Chen had entered in the past, an abomination of land that seemed like it consisted of unrelated patches of land that had been stitched together in a haphazard manner.

The place he first arrived in was a rather dense forest, with the city right at the edge of it. But after he left the city and had travelled for a short few hours, the forest gave way to a foul-smelling swamp. Even the earth that wasn't touched by the swamp was murky and soft, more akin to viscous water than it was to actual earth. Liang Chen had just started to traverse this swamp when his steps halted, his head turning as he cast a somewhat curious glance towards the distance.

"Spotted something? Is there a tasty treat we can chew up over there? Or are you just going to burrow your head into a bunch of trouble again? Then again, that generally leads to some tasty results as well."

Yumao poked his head out from a cluster of Liang Chen's hair, his own gaze drifting down the same direction as Liang Chen's. Liang Chen's gaze narrowed slightly as he gazed into the distance, the light in his eyes somewhat uncertain.

"I've got no idea. I just detected a slight surge of energy in that direction and it caught my attention since it felt familiar, I'm just not sure why it felt familiar."

It was quite a strange sensation, to feel that something was familiar but not be sure of why it did. It was a bit like Deja Vu, he just couldn't quite place his finger on it. Yumao understood what a surge of energy generally meant, so his grey eyes started to gleam excitedly.

"So we're checking it out, yeah? Can I call dibs on any mongrels that have lost enough screws to make a move on us?"

He had just snatched up nearly 18 000 people in the last city they had visited, but it seemed like he wasn't fond of the way Liang Chen petrified or withered them away. And who would be, really? They could still be eaten or used for cultivation because they contained energy, but would you really prefer to eat stone or bones when you could eat a proper meal?

"We'll check it out, yeah, but don't go doing anything before we've discerned the situation, I don't need more innocent lives carved into my soul."

Innocent or guilty, cruel or kind, those kinds of things may not matter to Yumao, but they certainly mattered to Liang Chen. And he had already carved enough innocent lives into his soul back when the Sky-Piercing Sparrow tricked him into attacking and practically eradicating the Sword Dancer's sect.

He twisted his body slightly and shot towards the surge of energy he had discovered, he was still considered to be in the outskirts of Purgatory's Cradle so the beasts hiding within the swamp could only be considered extremely weak to him. Over half of them couldn't even detect him as he shot past them, and the few that did detect him didn't even dare to breathe too heavily in front of the sheer terror that his bloodline induced in them.

Speed had always been Liang Chen's forte, so it really didn't take him long to reach the thing that had unleashed the surge of energy. But rather than call it a surge of energy, it would be better to say that it just constantly radiated denser energy than its surroundings, Liang Chen had only spotted it when he did because he finally entered the range of said energy.

As for the source of this energy, it was a circular gate of energy that was about as tall as a tree. It could be described as a gate, but in reality, it was just a mass of energy that released a faint light and traces of suction force, as if it was trying to attract anyone close to it.

The gate was a bit strange in its colour, it had a faint tinge of blue at the centre, but the rest seemed to have been invaded by the crimson of the blood that lingered in this land, turning it a bright shade of purple. Looking at the gate, it didn't take too much thought for Liang Chen to realize what he was looking at.

"You should be the Ascetic's Venturing Abode, correct?"

He posed it as a question, but it wasn't as if there was anyone there that could answer him. He had already learned about the two special areas in the outskirts from the first person he interrogated when he arrived in Purgatory's Cradle. One was the Blood Ocean that had formed after a massive battle several hundred years ago, and the other was the Ascetic's Venturing Abode, a travelling hidden realm that had appeared here about a year ago.

Both were marginally more dangerous than the other areas in the outskirts, but similarly, the rewards they contained were also marginally better. He had mentally noted down the information about them back then, they would both be good places to visit if he got the time. It was just that it had completely slipped his mind after he saw the state of the city he visited, only now that he was in front of it did he remember about it.

And since he had already acquired the information about them beforehand, just temporarily let it slip his mind, it somewhat explained why he felt that it felt familiar. After all, most information mentioning rare occurrences and areas like this travelling hidden realm would include at least a description of their energy signature to make them easier to find.

"Oooh, that's that special little place the first snack spoke of, isn't it? Can we enter? If it's dangerous to the people residing here in the outskirts then it will definitely contain plenty of tasty things, morsels that the mongrels out here can't obtain. It'll be a smorgasbord all to ourselves."

Yumao couldn't help but eagerly prod Liang Chen on, he knew that Liang Chen was looking to raise his strength before heading to the Nine Wraths sect so he felt that there was a good chance that he would accept. And indeed, after rubbing his chin for a bit, Liang Chen agreed to it.

"Yeah, I was intending to check out both places anyway to see what could be found. But be careful, the fact that some people here have managed to leave with information about the hidden realm doesn't mean that there's no danger in there."

Liang Chen was confident in his own strength, and in the strength of Yumao for that matter, but that didn't mean that he would let his confidence get to his head. There were still plenty of places and people that could kill him, and while he wouldn't shy away from entering such places, it didn't mean that he was just going to foolishly throw away his life.

Yumao nodded his head to show his understanding, showing a sufficiently serious and solemn expression. He wasn't someone who didn't understand when you had to be serious, it was just that most situations really didn't need him to be as serious as Liang Chen. Liang Chen was pleased with Yumao's understanding of the situation, his spear appearing in his grasp as he stepped forward into the gate.

The familiar sensation of space twisting and spinning around washed over his body the moment he stepped into the gate, it was as if space was pressing down on every inch of his body as it churned around him. But he was already so used to this sensation that it couldn't even make his eyebrow twitch, a bright light flashing in front of his eyes as space around him returned to normal.

When the light faded, Liang Chen found himself standing inside a forest, the trees so tall that they seemed to touch the clouds. A fine layer of snow covered both the ground and the trees around him, a constant drizzle of fresh snow pouring down from above. But strangely enough, there were no clouds in the sky, and a golden sun hung in the blue sky and showered the land with its gentle warmth.

There was a faint pressure exuded by seemingly every inch of space around him, the pressure even seemed like it tried to pierce into his body and slow down his Qi. But to Liang Chen, the pressure only felt like an extremely gentle touch resting on his shoulder, forget about slowing down his Qi, it couldn't even slow down his normal movements.

Liang Chen once again felt the sensation that things were quite familiar, but this time it was the environment that felt somewhat familiar rather than the energy signature. Yumao curiously and eagerly swept the surroundings with his gaze, Liang Chen rubbing his chin softly.

"Once again, familiar... Well then, shall we go see exactly what sort of place this is?"