Chapter 1139: Thinking of Disaster Whispering

Chen Ling abruptly opened his eyes.

The Crimson Sky Sect, the shadow centipedes, Xiaotao... everything that was previously in his vision vanished without a trace. In their place was a familiar dim sky and the rustling trees of a storm-swept isolated island.

Chen Ling stood on a hill, his gaze slowly sweeping his surroundings, his brow slightly furrowed.

This place was not unfamiliar to Chen Ling; he had dreamt of it before while inside the Mother Tree of the Fusion Faction. However, everything before him now felt more real than in his dream.

"Calamity of Thought... so it was you," Chen Ling murmured to himself.

Chen Ling had found it strange before. The Fusion Faction had developed peacefully in the Gray Realm for so long, so why did anomalies suddenly arise once he arrived? The mysterious ball of threads on the Mother Tree, the Fusion Faction members who disappeared at night, why did they suddenly travel so far alone through the Gray Realm to this remote branch of the Crimson Sky Sect?

The Crimson Sky Sect had not actively attacked the Fusion Faction; in fact, they avoided them. Yet, the sudden arrival of Xiaotao and the others coincided precisely with the timing of the ritual.

It was too much of a coincidence, as if an unseen hand was orchestrating everything.

"You used Xiaotao and the others to lure me here, had me eliminate the Crimson Sky Sect, and then used their brains to summon yourself... Was all this elaborate effort just to have me meet you here?"

Chen Ling had pieced together the sequence of events. The Calamity of Thought likely found it difficult to leave the storm-swept island, and dreams couldn't facilitate communication, so it had to use the Crimson Sky Sect's summoning power to draw his consciousness here.

What exactly did it want?

Howling winds surged across the isolated island, making the dense jungle below heave like ocean waves. Amidst the endless rustling, Chen Ling's body vanished in an instant, like a fleeting thought, teleporting away.

In an instant, he had traversed most of the isolated island. When he regained his senses, a small path through the jungle lay beneath his feet.

Tall, dense trees swayed on either side of Chen Ling. The world was deathly silent, save for the sound of the wind. Chen Ling looked up to see a structure resembling a medieval castle standing at the end of the winding path, like a lost prince's residence from a fairy tale.

Chen Ling's brow furrowed deeper. After a moment of hesitation, he stepped onto the path and walked forward.

His vermilion opera robe moved through the dark-toned forest, the storm whipping his hair about. When Chen Ling finally reached the castle's great gate, a low creaking sound resonated, as if the castle's master was welcoming a guest.

A low hum reverberated.

The ancient gate slowly opened, but no light emanated from within.

There was no entrance hall, no rooms, no stairs, no light... The castle before him was like a hollowed-out shell, magnificent on the outside but empty and dim within, as if harboring a mysterious, abyssal presence.

Chen Ling was not frightened by the sight; instead, he calmly stepped inside the strange castle.

"I'm here," he said.

Chen Ling looked toward the deepest part of the castle, where a pair of hollow eyes slowly opened.

"What do you want with me?"

The hollow eyes stared at Chen Ling. In their depths, chaotic, storm-like lines constantly churned, as if threatening to pull anyone who looked into them.

A moment later, an eerie whisper sounded in Chen Ling's ear: "...Go back..."

"Go back?" Chen Ling raised an eyebrow. "Go back where?"

Overlapping voices echoed in Chen Ling's ear. The Calamity of Thought's words didn't seem to be human language, but Chen Ling understood most of it.

"Go back... to the Ghoul Mockery Abyss...""Everyone else... go back... prepare... for war...""It... has returned...""Don't leave... all will die... occupy... the Blue World... the only... way to survive...""We... need you..."

Chen Ling's brow furrowed even more deeply.

It wanted him to return to the Ghoul Mockery Abyss?

All this elaborate effort just to convey this message?

Chen Ling's mind raced, constantly recalling all the words from the Calamity of Thought: war, the Blue World, the only way to survive... and...

"It"?

What was "It"? Why would it strike such fear into a world-ending calamity?

As the eerie whispers intensified, the chaotic lines in the hollow eyes suddenly began to churn violently!

A thought shot out from the eye, directly piercing Chen Ling's mind. Unprecedented agony flooded his skull, forcing him to let out a low growl and double over in pain, his face contorted.

Fragmented images flashed before Chen Ling's eyes, as if forcibly shoved into his mind.

A crimson meteor streaked across the sky;Like God's zipper, the sky was torn open little by little, and endless grayness poured down from nothingness, eroding the world into a wasteland;Countless grotesque calamities fled in a frenzy. As the crimson star fell, shattering the earth, a visible red tide swept across the planet's surface, and the ground frantically collapsed towards the core;The crimson star did not stop. After plunging into the earth, it seemed to traverse to another world. The material world collapsed around it, and even time was drawn into a vortex, annihilating towards a central singularity, like a flickering candle flame.

"Ugh—"

Just a few images felt like heavy blows to Chen Ling's mind. His consciousness could no longer endure watching, and he began to retch in agony.

Chen Ling struggled to lift his head and look at the hollow eyes of the Calamity of Thought. Just as he was about to ask more questions, everything around him began to fade and dissipate. The portion of the Calamity of Thought's power that the Crimson Sky Sect had summoned seemed to be reaching its limit.

"Go back... go back... go back... go back..."

Simple, repetitive words echoed in Chen Ling's mind. Suddenly, he felt his consciousness being pulled away from the storm-swept island, plummeting rapidly downwards.

Surrounded by numerous shadow centipedes,

The storm around Chen Ling suddenly dispersed. He abruptly opened his eyes, stumbled, and nearly fell to the ground.

Seeing this, the large centipede next to him immediately lowered itself, positioning its body to support Chen Ling. Other centipedes, glowing with a faint crimson light, also coiled anxiously around him.

"Hoo..."

Chen Ling leaned on the centipede's leg, gasping for breath, and it took him a while to recover.

"Xiaotao, Miaomiao, Linglong! You're awake?!"

Almost simultaneously, Xiaobai's surprised voice rang out.

Chen Ling turned his head and saw that Xiaotao and the others had all awakened from their stupor, looking around in confusion, seemingly unaware of what had happened.

Chen Ling took a deep breath, his robe-clad body straightening once more.

For some reason, he had a strong, ominous premonition—as if some monumental change was about to occur.