purgatory artist

Chapter 68 Hell Spirit
in front of the bar.

The clown put down the wine glass lightly, pressed his hand on his chest, and twitched lightly.

A card was drawn from him, and his attire and makeup completely disappeared, returning to Liu Ping's original appearance.

He looked down at the cards in his hand.

——I saw that it was a colorful card with a laughing clown painted on it.

"……interesting."

Liu Ping murmured.

Suddenly, there was a burst of applause from the corner of the bar.

Liu Ping looked back suddenly, and saw a black shadow sitting on the booth in the corner.

It was a man in a dark gray cloak.

His body and face were hidden under the wide cloak, making it impossible to see clearly.

"Thank you, clown player."

"Over a long period of time, I have seen many terrifying battles, but such a spectator battle like yours is extremely rare."

He said in a hoarse and low voice, and there was no lack of praise in his tone.

"Who are you?" Liu Ping asked.

"You can call me Hell Spirit, I have been waiting here for a long time." said the existence under the cloak.

Just as Liu Ping was about to speak, two lines of small characters appeared above the man's head:

"The spirit of the endless prison pillar."

"The guide of the card master, it will help you complete the last step."

——It turned out to be such an existence.

Liu Ping smiled and said, "It will be my honor if it really brings you some joy."

"Very well, very well, you're not the kind of idiot who only knows how to use violence and doesn't know anything about the beauty of violence."

As the prison spirit said, he walked up to Liu Ping step by step.

It reached out and patted the bar.

In an instant, the cards were neatly placed on the bar counter.

They keep the upside-down look, which makes it hard to see.

The clown card in Liu Ping's hand also flew out and landed on the bar, keeping a neat queue with other cards.

"Let's take a look at the cards you have used in battle—"

The Hell Spirit made a gesture.

The cards were turned over one by one and presented in front of Liu Ping.

Card: Whiteboard.

Card: Hen.

Card: Three of Hearts.

Card: Joker.

Card: Flowers.

Card: Crutches.

as well as--

Three completely blank cards.

"The cards that a card master can draw are determined according to the strength of the soul power. You are taking the path of cultivation, and you are currently in the Golden Core realm, so the cards you can draw are—"

"Six."

"—Exceeding this number, you can only draw blank cards next."

Hell Spirit pointed to the three blank cards.

Hell Spirit picked out "Card: Crutches" and put them together with the other three blank cards.

There are four cards in total.

It was the four cards drawn by the clown in the bar.

"That's it." Hell Spirit said in an appreciative tone.

"Mr. Clown, in the process of walking towards the bar and talking to the bartender, you only activated 'please' once, which means that you realized your limit."

The prison spirit continued: "The really dangerous part of this trial is that you only have the last card left to use, and the ones drawn after that are blank cards."

"So you didn't fight the bartender immediately, but put every card on the table—"

"You start talking to the bartender, tempting him to give up the fight; and as you keep drawing cards and placing them on the table, the pressure on him will only increase."

The prison spirit smiled and said, "Actually, among the four cards you drew, three are empty, and only one is usable."

"After you entered the bar, you never activated 'Please' again. In this way, in fact, there are three cards that cannot be turned into the clown's weapon immediately."

"But the bartender didn't notice this, he was always attracted by your words—"

"He had a great chance to win you, but he was persuaded by you, and finally he took refuge in you."

The prison spirit clicked on the card with the crutches on it.

"The last card wins the bet."

"—A very exciting battle."

The prison spirit applauded.

Liu Ping said: "It's an honor to be appreciated by you, but I guess you're here not just to tell me these things."

"of course."

The Hell Spirit uttered an obscure incantation.

On the bar counter, all the cards were folded back so that their backs were facing up.

Immediately afterwards, a sense of enlightenment emerged in Liu Ping's heart, allowing him to immediately know what to do at the moment.

——Completing the trial is equivalent to passing the rules set by the gods.

He can choose one of the cards used in the battle just now and use it for himself.

Is this still an option?
Liu Ping stretched out his hand and picked up the clown.

call--

In an instant, all other cards disappeared.

Only the clown card in his hand remained.

Lines of burning small characters floated in the void:

"You passed the trial and officially obtained the qualification to become a card master."

"Next is the last step."

"You must be guided by the spirit of hell, and it will drop a card for you that is specially used to enslave all living beings and all things."

A strange fluctuation gradually appeared around.

The whole world is shrouded in gray, as if it has lost its color.

"Go to the wilderness, I will wait for you there."

After the Prison Spirit finished speaking, he suddenly disappeared from the spot.

Liu Ping felt something, put away the clown card, got up and walked out of the bar.

He stood on the street outside, looking out into the wilderness beyond the town.

"Where is it?"

In the vast wilderness, a majestic dark spire appeared.

The whole world is only gray and white, only the spiers, revealing a crimson fire that makes people palpitate.

Little by little, Liu Ping flew towards the steeple.

Soon.

He reached under the Dark Spire.

I saw that the entire tower was cast from an unknown metal, and it was seamless everywhere, without any windows or doors.

Outside the spire, there are countless black shackles.

Every pair of shackles is not empty.

All kinds of beings were bound by shackles, and their bodies were tightly attached to the outer wall of the minaret, unable to move at all.

Liu Ping came to a human being bound by shackles and observed carefully.

The man was lifeless, as if he had died.

When Liu Ping approached, the man suddenly raised his head and opened his eyes to look over.

"A living person... no, it's a card master!"

He desperately twisted his skinny body, and made a pleading voice:
"Save me! Make me your slave, I will do anything for you, please!"

Liu Ping looked at him and said, "Why are you trapped here?"

The man hurriedly said: "Hurry up, there is no time, I am a powerful existence from the past era, please, let me be your card! I can kill any offenders for you!"

Liu Ping said: "Since you are so powerful, who tied you here?"

The man opened his mouth to speak, and suddenly—

On the entire spire, countless beings uttered wailing sounds, and the sound shook the whole field.

The man's words were overwhelmed by the boundless sound waves, and his face showed eagerness and pleading, as if he wanted to continue talking, but he suddenly let out an uncontrollable wail of pain.

The entire spire began to turn from dark to crimson.

The scorching breath radiated from the surface of the spire, gradually turning the surrounding land into lava.

Liu Ping couldn't help taking a few steps back.

Those beings trapped on the spire burst out wave after wave of painful screams.

The fur and flesh on the surface of their bodies gradually burned away, leaving only a skeleton, but they still couldn't stop opening their mouths, as if they were still venting silently.

For a while.

The steeple gradually returned to the color of darkness.

Those howling beings were all turned into scorched black bone corpses, chained to the outer wall of the steeple by shackles, and temporarily stopped making any noise.

A dead silence.

Suddenly, a voice sounded:
"That's not ordinary flames and lava, but the legendary hellfire, which can bring unimaginable pain and torture to the soul and body."

Ta Ling, it stood not far away, quietly looking at Liu Ping.

Liu Ping asked: "Those beings bound to the tower, what happened to them?"

"You don't have to pity them, because they were all the culprits who destroyed the world, so they are trapped here, enjoying the eternal torture of purgatory." Ta Ling said.

"Destroy the world? I always thought... that it was the gods who brought our world into the eternal night." Liu Pingcheng said.

"The gods you know, they are not responsible for destroying the world."

"That should be those existences on the tower?"

"Yes, only these ignorant and arrogant beings are guilty—they destroy the world, kill their own kind, and slaughter living beings—their unscrupulousness even makes the gods smack their tongues." Ta Ling said.

"What about the gods? Didn't the gods do anything?" Liu Ping asked.

"The gods only guide the world and all living beings into the eternal night after they die—as a card player, you should have seen the world's skyfall and the dark drama of the gods." Ta Ling said.

Liu Ping sighed, and said: "So when we were alive, the gods just watched with cold eyes. They didn't come to harvest everything from us until we were dead."

A few breaths of silence.

Taling's deep voice sounded in the night:
"Everything has a cause, and there must be an effect. Mortals, the moment you live is an eternal dark night before and after, and this eternal night is a feast for the gods."

(End of this chapter)