Chapter 1130: True Form

By: Sanjiu YinyuWord count: 1261

Dim light spilled from the wellhead. With a soft rustling sound, large sheets of red paper drifted down from above, gradually intertwining at the bottom of the well to form Chen Ling's figure.

Upon recognizing the newcomer, the listless Xiaobai immediately perked up and sprang up from the ground!

"My King! You're finally back!!"

Chen Ling's gaze swept across the bottom of the well. Seeing that Xiao Mei and the other two were still unconscious, his brows furrowed slightly:

"Are they not awake yet?"

"No, they haven't stirred all day."

Chen Ling checked their physical condition once more. Indeed, there was nothing wrong with them; in fact, their complexions were rosy even after two days without food. Compared to them, Xiaobai looked considerably gaunter.

Chen Ling took several steamed buns from his pocket and handed them to Xiaobai:

"I brought you dinner. The Scarlet Heaven Sect's food is terrible, so this is all I could bring out."

Seeing the large steamed buns in his hand, Xiaobai immediately started to salivate, but still asked cautiously:

"My King, aren't you eating?"

"I've already eaten. I brought these specifically for you."

"Thank you, My King!!"

A smile appeared on Xiaobai's face. He immediately picked up a bun and began to devour it, as if famished.

"My King, have the Scarlet Heaven cultists outside been dealt with? When can we go back?" Xiaobai asked anxiously as he ate.

"Soon..." Chen Ling raised his head, looking through the narrow wellhead at the dark night sky. "If nothing unexpected happens, I'll be able to take you back tonight."

Xiaobai nodded obediently, as if it didn't matter to him whether it was sooner or later. Whatever Chen Ling said, he would do, and if Chen Ling said they would go out tonight, then they definitely would.

Chen Ling said nothing more. Instead, he walked alone to directly beneath the wellhead, watching the dim starlight occasionally streak across above, lost in thought.

Not much time remained until the Scarlet Heaven Sect's ritual began, and Chen Ling's preparations were all complete. But as for Jian Changsheng and the others, he didn't know how he would face them when the time came.

He was no longer the Chen Ling he once was. Now, he was a Mocking Aspect, a part of the world-ending calamity. When he revealed his true form, it would terrify infants into silence and incite countless people's hatred and pursuit.

Chen Ling could probably guess that Jian Changsheng had come looking for him because he wanted him to return to the Twilight Society, back to the human domain...

But he couldn't go back.

Xiaobai silently finished the three steamed buns. Seeing Chen Ling standing there alone, he hesitated for a long time before finally asking:

"My King... is something troubling you?"

"...No."

"Oh..." Xiaobai blinked, and after a few seconds of silence, spoke again: "If My King finds it troublesome... we don't necessarily have to leave tonight. I can endure hunger and dampness... It's fine to stay here a bit longer."

Seeing Chen Ling's gloomy expression, Xiaobai thought he was troubling Chen Ling by needing rescue, so he proactively explained.

Chen Ling tilted his head slightly to look at him, his gaze complex.

He let out a soft sigh.

The next moment, half of Chen Ling's body began to transform into fluttering red paper, spreading out. Countless long, slender strips of paper extended from beneath him like pythons, coiling into every corner of the dry well. His human face also became flat, like graffiti drawn on a piece of paper, eerie and grotesque.

Dim starlight spilled from the wellhead, illuminating the red paper monster suspended in mid-air with a white outline. Chen Ling simply turned and revealed his true form, allowing it to expand and spread throughout the bottom of the well, wild, bizarre, and chilling.

Finally, a massive single eye, like a sun, opened in the center of the red paper monster, staring intently at Xiaobai at the bottom of the well.

Xiaobai was stunned.

The instinctive fear from his bloodline made him stumble and sit on the ground, but his eyes remained fixed on the red paper monster.

A hoarse sound, like metal scraping, emanated from within the monster:

"Tell me..."

"Seeing my true form... what are you thinking?"

The red python coiled, paper sheets fluttered, and a red cloud monster quietly floated in the starlight, like a creature from another world.

Xiaobai stared blankly at it. Gradually, his trembling body calmed. He remained kneeling on the ground, his pupils gradually filled by Chen Ling's monstrous form. There was no fear, no disgust. At that moment, only pure fascination remained on the boy's face.

It was like an incomplete mud dragon looking up at the sky, seeing a perfect white dragon soaring through the clouds, an organism's appreciation and longing for perfect evolution.

Xiaobai stared blankly for a long time before finally murmuring:

"My King's true form... is so beautiful."

The red paper monster's eye slightly paused.

After a brief silence, all the red paper coiled at the bottom of the well began to retract. The red cloud hovering in the air slowly descended to the ground, and countless red papers overlapped, re-forming the figure of a red-robed performer.

Thin, delicate red papers pieced together to form Chen Ling's handsome face. As he tilted his head to look at Xiaobai behind him, his two earrings swayed silently in the starlight.

At that moment, no one knew what Chen Ling was thinking.

His eyes seemed to melt into the clear, fractured starlight.

After an unknown period, he slowly turned his head away, as if he had found an answer, and softly spoke:

"The human world doesn't belong to calamity... Only aberrations can accept aberrations."

"Teacher Ye..."

"Is this why you founded the Fusion faction...?"

Night deepened.

Numerous red-robed figures began to busy themselves around the bonfire. They quickly built structures on the open ground using dry branches and stones, and the faint outline of an altar gradually took shape.

Jian Changsheng and the other two seemed completely forgotten, huddled on the stone barricade directly in front of the altar. Their expressions turned anxious upon seeing this scene.

"It looks like they're about to begin," Sun Bumian said in a low voice.

Jian Changsheng slightly tilted his head and quietly called out to the ground behind him:

"Senior Jack of Diamonds, Senior Jack of Diamonds? How's the tunnel digging going??"

The ground remained silent.

"Damn it, this guy hasn't secretly run off, has he?!" Jian Changsheng tried several times but received no response from Jack of Diamonds, so he couldn't help but curse.

Whoosh—!!

The bonfire behind the three of them suddenly seemed to be fed by some power. The flames shot several meters high, and waves of heat spread outwards, making the backs of Jian Changsheng and the other two scorching hot.

Shadows danced with the swaying flames. On the road in the distance, the naked Arch-Cardinal, holding a bone staff, was approaching with two Red Cardinals. The busy ordinary cultists immediately dropped their work and moved aside, clearing a path.

"This is bad..." Sun Bumian, holding the stone lock's key between his fingers, turned to look at Jian Changsheng and Jiang Xiaohua beside him. "If this continues, we'll truly have no chance to escape!"

"What do you say? Should we make a break for it??"