Chapter 1120: Chen Ling the Great King!

"Stop! It's me!!"Seeing this, Chen Ling immediately retracted his Calamity Form, his body quickly reverting to his usual appearance, dressed in a large red opera robe. He covered Xiaobai's mouth with one hand and made a shushing gesture with the other.

When Xiaobai saw Chen Ling, his eyes were still filled with terror. He struggled wildly, his eyes even beginning to roll back, showing signs of fainting again.

"Deep breaths, don't be scared...""I'm here to save you! I won't eat you!""If you faint again, don't blame me if you wake up later missing a limb."

As soon as these words were uttered, Xiaobai, whose eyes had already rolled halfway back, forcibly regained his composure. He opened his mouth wide and continued to take deep breaths, finally recovering after a full two minutes.

Seeing this, Chen Ling completely released him, making his voice as gentle and harmless as possible:

"Don't be afraid. Teacher Ye sent me to rescue you. I'm your classmate in the Fusion Faction now... There's no need to be nervous."

"I... no, no, no... I'm not nervous anymore, King Chen Ling... no, Brother Chen Ling!!"

Chen Ling: ...

Everything that happened during their first encounter had become a psychological trauma for Xiaobai. After he woke up in his dorm that day, he had been mentally preparing himself, even secretly observing Chen Ling's every move, telling himself not to make a fool of himself like that again. He had thought he had overcome his fear of Chen Ling, even planning to try walking past him or speaking to him directly... But now Xiaobai finally realized that some things were ingrained in his very being. No matter how much he tried to numb himself, fear was still fear. The good news was that this time he didn't collapse on the spot, which could be considered progress.

"Do you know where you are?"Chen Ling was somewhat speechless at Xiaobai's reaction but could only try to gently guide the conversation, asking about his experience.

To Chen Ling's surprise, Xiaobai paused, looked at the pitch-black surroundings, and stammered for a long time:

"In... in the King's cave?"

Chen Ling was so amused he almost laughed. "How do you know I live in a cave?"

Xiaobai realized he had said the wrong thing and became even more nervous. "I... I don't know... It just suddenly... suddenly came to mind... I'm sorry, King! No... I'm sorry, Brother."

"Alright, alright. Tell me, do you remember what happened before you passed out?"

"Before I passed out..."Xiaobai furrowed his brow. Completely black, he was almost invisible at the bottom of the dark well, only his bewildered eyes flickering.

"I remember, I think I went with Linglong to pick dead leaves... and then... after we finished picking, we were about to go back, and I think I saw something on the way..."

"What did you see?" Chen Ling pressed immediately.

"It seemed to be a messy graffiti, right on the trunk of the Mother Tree."

"Graffiti?"

"Yes, it looked like someone just drew it casually. It wasn't there on the trunk before." Xiaobai finally snapped back. "What about Linglong?! Where is she?"

"She's right next to you. Don't worry, they're all fine."

Chen Ling was still processing Xiaobai's description. He had assumed they were abducted by someone, but it turned out they were entranced just by seeing a graffiti... This explained why Xiaotao and the others had also come here today; they had likely seen the same strange graffiti as Xiaobai. Once they returned, he needed to report this to Teacher Ye immediately, or more people would surely continue to go missing.

After feeling around and finding Linglong and Xiaotao nearby, Xiaobai was visibly surprised, then immediately asked:

"King... no, Brother, can we still go back?"

"Of course we can go back, but the situation above is a bit tricky right now." Chen Ling pointed towards the top of the well. "Above us is the territory of the Crimson Sky Cult. I can't leave quietly with all four of you... especially since three of you are still unconscious."

"The Crimson Sky Cult... What do we do?"

Chen Ling stood up and paced at the bottom of the well, deep in thought.

According to the two Crimson Sky Cultists earlier, the bonfire in the center of the village had a repellent effect on calamities. This meant that even if he sent his army of shadow centipedes, it might not be enough to sweep through the entire village and eliminate all the cultists... And taking all four of them out quietly was also impossible.

"Give me some time," Chen Ling said calmly. "Once I deal with the trouble above, I'll take you back."

"Brother, are you going to deal with all the Crimson Sky Cultists by yourself?"

"...I can try."

Xiaobai showed no doubt at Chen Ling's answer, as if he had absolute confidence in him, nodding heavily as if it were natural for Chen Ling to be able to handle a group of Crimson Sky Cultists:

"Understood. I'll stay here and protect Linglong and the others, and wait for you to come rescue us."

Chen Ling gave him a few more instructions, such as not making a sound and not going outside no matter what happened, then his body shimmered, turning into a flurry of red paper that flew upwards towards the well opening...

Xiaobai stood at the bottom of the well, watching the swirling red paper vanish into the well opening, his eyes filled with deep admiration and longing.

"Still... still haven't shaken them off??"Under the night sky, Jack of Diamonds, panting heavily, trailed at the back and couldn't help but ask.

Jack of Diamonds didn't understand what was going on with this group of youngsters. Their ranks didn't seem particularly high, yet each one of them could run incredibly fast... Not to mention Jian Changsheng, who would give himself a quick slash to accelerate at any moment. Sun Bumian, who soared through the sky with a lion dance head, was ridiculously fast. Even Jiang Xiaohua, who seemed clumsy and slow, ran like a cannonball, still tireless after charging for several hours.

Sun Bumian, suspended above everyone, glanced back.

"Almost! The main group has passed; we'll be safe once we get ahead!"

Hearing this, Jack of Diamonds could only grit his teeth and keep going. The four ran for nearly twenty more minutes, finally arriving amidst a desolate landscape of volcanic remnants.

Sun Bumian, stepping on clouds, slowly descended from the sky, wiping sweat from his forehead as he spoke:

"Alright, we should have escaped them."

Jack of Diamonds collapsed directly onto the ground. He looked back into the distance, seeing a torrent of dust streaking past from another direction. Countless calamity figures, thundering as if their feet struck lightning, vanished majestically into the horizon.

Jian Changsheng, beside him, also gasped for breath and slumped to the ground, muttering softly:

"Damn it, I'm exhausted..."

He looked around, observing the completely unfamiliar terrain in the darkness, and couldn't help but speak again:

"Where have we been dragged to now??"