The Purgatory Calamity

"There is true love found among humans! Tsk, tsk, your tragic love story genuinely moves me,"

the leader of the Dark Ghosts, who always wore a golden-yellow mask, afraid to show his true face, watched Ouyang Duanhai, who now looked like a fierce ghost, while he waved his hand, signaling his subordinates to intercept, and didn't forget to mockingly taunt them.

He took pleasure in Ouyang Duanhai's hideous appearance.

The reason he always wore a mask was not only because he was still hidden within the seven great families and couldn't expose his identity yet but also because the scarred face beneath his mask could not be seen by others.

However, this good-for-nothing from the Ouyang Family was recognized by the seven great families as a handsome man, admired by countless women.

Ouyang Duanhai and Shangguan Qin, the man tall and handsome, the woman beautiful and charming, were long considered a match made in heaven.

The Ouyang Family and the Shangguan Family both had connections with the Blood Moon from the Upper Realm, and the two of them, childhood sweethearts with mutual affection, were close to making a lifelong pledge to each other when they were young.

Regrettably, once the people from the Blood Moon came down and assessed their cultivation talents, everything changed.

The Blood Moon determined that the couple wasn't worth the families' resources to help them transform and step into the Marrow Cleansing Realm.

This also meant that the Blood Moon wouldn't accept them.

Those who were originally thought to naturally become husband and wife upon reaching adulthood were forcibly separated by the powers of their families.

In this world, where strength is paramount, a man's handsome appearance counts for little, while a woman's beauty... can be exchanged for some resources.

Hence, the beautiful Shangguan Qin was forced by her family into marrying a member of the Dong Family with high cultivation potential.

The man, apart from his high talent, was good for nothing else and was also extremely ugly.

No matter how Shangguan Qin sought death or caused trouble, in the end, she was sent by the Shangguan Family to the Dong Family, the strongest in the Fourth Realm, and she was merely a small token of favor for that clansmember.

Years later, that man died during an exploration of a secret place, and Shangguan Qin was arranged by the Dong Family to be another man's concubine.

Her second man perished by deviating into madness during his advancement to the Marrow Cleaning Realm.

Afterward, the Dong Family regarded her as an ill-omened person and simply sent her back to the Shangguan Family.

Upon her return, she was not well received by her family, and the tasks assigned to her were often quite dangerous, like this exploration of the Solitude Mountain Range.

"A pair of ill-fated lovers,"

the retreating leader secretly signaled his subordinates, instructing them to spare Shangguan Qin's life.

Understanding his intentions, his subordinates all shared knowing smiles, surrounding Shangguan Qin and the bizarrely transformed Ouyang Duanhai.

"This Ouyang Duanhai is nothing special; you don't have to..."

The masked leader, seeing the frightening fury in Ouyang Duanhai who was unrecognizable as either human or ghost, noticed his subordinates growing timid, and he was about to remind them that Ouyang Duanhai was well-known within the seven great families as nothing more than a pretty face,

but before he could explain fully, he suddenly furrowed his brows and silenced himself as his expression subtly changed.

He saw Ouyang Duanhai, with his twisted countenance, using the Blood Moon's most basic technique, the "Blood Hand Seal." As a blood-red handprint flew from the palm of his hand, it bizarrely transformed into a feather of blood in an instant.

The eerily blood-colored feather, seemingly weighing more than ten thousand pounds, crushed one of his subordinates, shattering all their bones on impact.

The spiritual power condensed into the blood-colored feather then stealthily burrowed into the subordinate's body, as if gnawing away at their flesh and bones.

"Be careful, he's not the same as he used to be,"

warned the masked leader of the Dark Ghosts, his eyes cautiously fixated on the Divine Phoenix tattoo on Ouyang Duanhai's chest.

"Huff! Huff, huff!"

Ouyang Duanhai exerted his strength again, wildly flapping his hands in mid-air. One by one, blood-colored feathers flew out, slaughtering the encroaching Dark Ghost attackers in close proximity.

In the blink of an eye, seven or eight horribly mutilated corpses lay scattered on the grass beside him.

The blood-colored feathers, carrying evil and bloodlust, continued to burrow into the corpses, and the flesh on those penetrated bones could visibly be seen withering at a rapid pace.

Each body began looking more and more like Ouyang Duanhai, gaunt as though they had been drained of all flesh.

At this moment, the light in Ouyang Duanhai's eyes, which represented Spiritual Intelligence, started to dissipate bit by bit.

It seemed that with each use of the "Blood Hand Seal," with each blood-colored feather refined to consume life, a part of his self would be erased, and the demon within him would grow stronger.

"Qin, quickly... get away!" he roared lowly like a trapped beast, his eyes seeming to bleed, "I can't hold on much longer!"

Shangguan Qin, shocked by his bloody methods, stared at him dumbfounded, feeling an overwhelming sense of estrangement.

Her once brilliantly dressed, now tattered clothing and disheveled appearance made Shangguan Qin seem unkept. She had never imagined her always timid lover to have such a brutal and ferocious side.

The demise of her two previous men, though plotted with Ouyang Duanhai, was carried out by her hand.

Ouyang Duanhai had a naturally timid nature, inherently an elegant and gentle man, and was particularly fussy about cleanliness, never daring to be stained with blood.

She could not imagine that one day Ouyang Duanhai could become so vicious and murderous!

"Quickly!"

Ouyang Duanhai screamed frantically as he charged towards the man with the golden-yellow mask, only to see the blood-colored feathers burst forth from the bodies of the Dark Ghosts lying in pools of blood.

Once freed, those blood-colored feathers attached to the Divine Phoenix Tattoo on his chest as if they had become part of the tattoo.

With each return of a blood-colored feather, Ouyang Duanhai's Spiritual Intelligence faded a bit more, and it seemed he was on the verge of collapse.