Purgatory Artist-Chapter 427: The First Encounter

Countless nightmare runes rose from the void of space.

They circled around the black scale, constantly changing, overlapping, and piecing together at an insane speed — — -

Finally, they turned into a 9-meter-tall illusory vertical pupil.

The black scale continuously released ink-like mist.

It shot into the air and silently hovered in the middle of the vertical pupil, turning into the deepest darkness within the pupil.

The two Dark Executioners looked up at the vertical pupil in the air.

"How impressive" one of the Dark Executioners commented.

"I only have 10% of the power of a nightmare, but this technique contains 100% of its power, I'm guessing that you won't be able to defeat it" Liu Ping replied.

"No, we're not talking about this technique" the other Dark Executioner said.

One of them stepped back while the other stepped forward, standing in front of the vertical pupil.

Facing the vertical pupil, the Dark Executioner raised its hand to stop them and spoke: "We're talking about you. You're so small and insignificant, yet you managed to come up with such a method"

"Thank you for the compliment, die" Liu Ping replied.

The illusory vertical pupil abruptly shot out a thick black line that instantly pierced through the air and struck the first Dark Executioner

In that split second, the Dark Executioner standing at the back shouted: "Nightmare, dispel!"

As soon as it said that.

Something that Liu Ping couldn't understand happened.

Boundless black light erupted from the Dark Executioner's body, then shot towards the other Dark Executioner that was blocking the vertical pupil as if it was alive.

Boom!!!

The pillar of black light shot into the sky like a waterfall towards the endless void of space.

The Executioner in front of it was enveloped by this power and shot into the sky, disappearing together with the pillar of light.

The illusory vertical pupil instantly disappeared.

The black scale fell from the sky and returned to Liu Ping's hand.

Lines of burning text appeared in front of his eyes:

[The nightmare technique you've awakened is a super powerful technique that targets the nightmare form, it's unstoppable]

[It has completely sealed off all enemies and fell into a deep slumber]

Liu Ping's gaze became heavy.

A voice came from afar:

"Do you find it unimaginable? It clearly possesses 100% of its power, yet it only managed to destroy one of me, while the other 'me' was completely unaffected "

— — the second Executioner.

The dark flowing light on its body was no longer present, so its appearance had also changed.

He was tall and slender, and his face was no different from a human's. His eyes were filled with endless coldness.

It turned into a human male.

His naked upper body was covered with black runes, and his long hair was fluttering behind his head. The only strange thing was that there was a long, faintly discernible rope of light on his back.

One end of the rope was connected to the man's back, while the other end was connected to the deep void.

Dark Play!

Liu Ping's heart skipped a beat and he couldn't help but think.

In the Dark Play, all the cultivators were controlled like this. Little did they know that their souls had long been controlled by the Goddess of Agony.

"What I want to say is that once I withdraw from the Nightmare's Embrace, that spell will naturally not attack me, but at the same time, I won't be able to stay on the Void Pillar for much longer. We need to settle this as soon as possible."

The human male's hands were constantly tapping the void of space, as if he was dealing with something.

"Sequence," Liu Ping whispered.

"That's right, I'm controlling my Sequence to see how much time I have left after everything is arranged properly" the man replied.

As soon as he finished speaking.

A line of glowing text suddenly appeared in the void of space:

[05:00.]

This line of text hovered between the two of them.

"Who exactly are you?" Liu Ping couldn't help but ask.

"Compared to that, I think what's more important is who exactly you are" the man replied.

He clapped his hands.

The line of text immediately flipped over to display a new line of text:

[Battle begin]

[04:59.]

[04:58.]

[...]

The man moved his body a bit, then assumed a fighting stance: "We only have 5 minutes, let me see what you're capable of — — -"

His figure flashed and disappeared from where he stood.

So fast!

This speed had already surpassed Liu Ping's perception.

In that split second, he didn't even have time to think before swinging his Blade behind him — — -

Kih!

The Blade struck a metal gauntlet, causing sparks to fly everywhere.

The man was surprised: "You can't see my movements at all, yet you were able to block my attack?"

He took a step back and disappeared again.

Too fast!

I couldn't see his movements at all!

Liu Ping dodged to the left without hesitation, the Blade in his hand manifested a series of flashing Blade phantoms.

The man reappeared and swung both his fists.

The sound of metal clashing resounded.

He took a few steps back and evaluated Liu Ping again: "Not bad, you can't keep up with my speed at all, but you were able to block my attacks. Seems like you've been fighting for who knows how many generations"

"What do you want to know from me?" Liu Ping asked.

Burning text appeared in front of his eyes:

[The battle has begun!]

[This battle is a duel mode from the ancient era, the set mode is:]

[Time-limited combat]

[In this mode, you are unable to use any Occultism powers]

[This Sequence has recognized this mode of combat]

[Please do your best]

The Heroic Spirit UI has recognized the other party's combat mode!

Why is that?

Liu Ping reached his hand out from the void of space and also drew the Warden Blade.

Wielding both Blades in his hands, he formed a stance and muttered: "I've always thought that nightmares were world-ending demons ..."

"Your understanding isn't wrong. That's why the souls of the True World would flee and search for hope on the Divine Pillars, this is their natural instinct" the man replied.

"Then, your goal is to destroy all the Divine Pillars?" Liu Ping asked.

The man threw a punch from afar.

Liu Ping's pupils dilated as he abruptly raised his Blades.

A formless fist print descended from the sky and smashed onto the twin sabers with a dull thud.

"Die!"

The man's voice resounded in Liu Ping's ears.

In an instant, Liu Ping let go of his Blades, turned around and clenched his fist, striking with his palm.

The sound of fists and feet clashing resounded like a storm.

Bam — —

Liu Ping swung his palm and sent the man flying.

Before the Blades even hit the ground, he once again wielded them in his hands and swung forward.

Complicated saber light burst out from the blade, turning into a spinning arc of light in the air, surrounding the man from all directions.

The man had nowhere to run, but his expression didn't change at all.

At the very next moment.

All the Blade phantoms unleashed a blinding cold light that completely drowned him.

Clang!

With a resounding sound, all the Blade phantoms vanished into thin air.

The man stood where he was, and the glove on his hand had disappeared. In its place was an extremely simple longsword.

"Sword?" Liu Ping was surprised.

"That fist technique you used just now was the Martial Extreme Scripture — — you have this fist technique in your memory" the man said.

"You know it?" Liu Ping asked.

The man casually put the sword behind him and said, "So, you're a real person."

"I don't quite understand what you mean" Liu Ping said.

The man smiled and said, "Let me think about how to put it — — are you familiar with the technological world?"

"Yes" Liu Ping said.

"Prosthetics?"

"I know a little."

"Prosthetics can replace the human body and house the soul, isn't that right?" the man said.

"That's right, but many of the human body's senses will be lost because of that" Liu Ping said.

The man said, "Then, if we go one step further, when we create a biological prosthetics that can perfectly replicate all of the human body's senses and house the soul — — do you think the prosthetics are prosthetics or real human bodies?"

Liu Ping thought for a while and said, "... There's no difference."

The man said, "That's right, the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind, they are all illusions, because they are the prosthetics' senses, not the real Self"

He looked at Liu Ping and said, "You have the real Self, so wherever you are, that is the real world"

[Ting]!

In the air, the continuously flowing time returned to [00: 00].

5 minutes had passed. The battle was over!

The man looked up and said, "Because you have that Blade, you were able to hear such a deep secret, but unfortunately, I don't have time to stay here — — -"

"In short, we're not enemies"

He raised his hand.

Countless runes appeared in the void of space, forming a UI.

The man lightly tapped on the UI.

"I'm going to continue capturing that nightmare and see if there's a way to defeat it"

"— — I hope that the next time we meet, you'll be even stronger"

As soon as he said that.

He took a step back and disappeared into the void of space.