Chapter 1306: Ghostmock Abyss

"So this is it...""The Abyss of Ghastly Mockery?"Chen Ling gazed with some surprise at the dark chasm that sliced through the earth before him.

In his mind, the Abyss of Ghastly Mockery had always been a canyon-like landform, appearing shorter and more compact compared to vast features like oceans, wilderness, or mountain ranges. However, standing before it now, Chen Ling realized his previous understanding had been quite conservative.

On the Earth as Chen Ling knew it, the widest "abyss" was likely the East African Rift Valley, said to reach a width of one hundred kilometers at its widest point. Yet, compared to the Abyss of Ghastly Mockery, the East African Rift Valley seemed minuscule, like a toy. The chasm before him was at least three times as wide. It was as if a god of nature had forcefully torn the continent in two, with endless darkness spilling out from the earth's core, inciting an urge to leap into it with just a single glance.

Moreover, as Chen Ling drew closer to the Abyss of Ghastly Mockery, he could distinctly feel a chilling, sinister aura wafting up from its dark depths.

Naturally, this aura caused Chen Ling no discomfort; instead, he found it refreshingly cool.

As they neared the Abyss of Ghastly Mockery, the centipede legion, both large and small, grew visibly excited. Even the small centipede that had just lost a leg regained its vitality, its remaining long legs whirling so fast they blurred into afterimages.

They knew they were going home.

Wu Yi crawled to the edge of the abyss but did not stop, instead beginning to descend directly down the vertical cliff face. Chen Ling sat steadily on Wu Yi's back, letting the surrounding darkness envelop him.

One thousand meters, two thousand meters, three thousand meters...

Even on the vertical cliff, the centipede legion moved as if on flat ground. Their shadows continuously delved deeper into the darkness, easily surpassing ten thousand meters.

Even so, there was still no sign of the bottom. The abyss was like an endless black hole, and during the descent, the perception of time and space seemed to cease.

Unbeknownst to him, Chen Ling could no longer gauge their distance from the surface. Thirty thousand meters? Fifty thousand meters?

He only knew that the sunlight from the Grey Realm could not penetrate this far. Yet, in the darkness below, tiny lights began to appear. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that numerous bioluminescent plankton, emitting a ghostly blue glow, lived underground, floating like jellyfish at the bottom of the abyss.

And under the dim illumination of these ghostly blue lights, a rugged underground realm finally appeared before Chen Ling.

This place resembled an underground mountain range, with rugged terrain undulating beneath the abyss. Within the raised and sunken earth and rocks, as well as the towering cliffs on both sides, were countless spine-chilling caves. In the faint glow of the bioluminescent plankton, enormous black snakes, scorpions, and centipedes could be seen crawling about.

Chen Ling knew he had truly arrived at the Abyss of Ghastly Mockery.

"Chiii—"

At the same time, Wu Yi let out a sharp, echoing shriek that reverberated throughout the entire abyss.

Chen Ling could roughly understand its message:—The Great King has returned! Hasten to greet him!!

The moment this sound rang out, all the Calamities in the Abyss of Ghastly Mockery froze.

They looked blankly in the direction from which Wu Yi and the others descended, as if momentarily stunned. Then, as Wu Yi shrieked again, a long-unfelt, familiar, and oppressively powerful aura of world-annihilation swept out from that direction!

At this moment, all the Calamities in the Abyss of Ghastly Mockery seemed to erupt in a frenzy.

Countless black snakes, scorpions, and centipedes frantically crawled out of the caves, surging towards Chen Ling like a tide.

On the seemingly barren cliff surfaces, perfectly camouflaged geckos suddenly opened their eyes and scurried rapidly towards the source.

And at the very bottom of the abyss, huge, mountain-like shadows that had been motionless began to stir one after another. As bits of rock flaked off their bodies, it became clear that these massive dark figures were actually toads!

From Chen Ling's perspective, he had only slightly released his aura of world-annihilation, and waves of shadows surged from all directions. All sorts of bizarre, grating hisses echoed underground, nearly tearing his eardrums!

Surprise, joy, excitement, curiosity...

Chen Ling could distinguish the emotions in the voices of these Calamities. The entire Abyss of Ghastly Mockery seemed to rejoice at his return.

The Abyss of Ghastly Mockery had been without a leader for too long, and its Calamities had almost begun to suspect they had been abandoned by their king. After all, when their previous king was present, his moods were unpredictable: he might invite them to drink together on a good day, or on a bad day, slaughter them and disassemble them into parts to create twisted and bizarre "artworks" for his amusement. Yet, no matter how unstable the king's moods, he was still their king. During Mocking Calamity's absence, the Calamities of the Abyss of Ghastly Mockery had frequently been bullied by others.

Now, with other World-Eradicators leading their domain's Calamities to conquer human territories, and Mocking Calamity still not making an appearance, these Calamities inevitably thought their Great King had abandoned them and run off.

Feeling their Great King's aura reappear now, they were naturally overjoyed.

Their king had not abandoned them.

One shadow calamity after another flocked around Chen Ling, bowing down. Wisely, they did not block his path, but instead opened up a wide passage that stretched straight towards the end of the abyss.

Chen Ling's centipede legion was also incredibly imposing at this moment. Wu Yi, especially, was now the king's mount. Although the Calamities bowed to Chen Ling, Wu Yi also basked in the reflected glory, holding its body ramrod straight as it slowly crawled through the path cleared by the Calamities.

At this moment, in addition to welcoming Chen Ling's return, the Calamities were also curiously examining Wu Yi.

It was known that the Calamities of the Abyss of Ghastly Mockery, regardless of their rank, should be as black as shadows. However, Wu Yi's body actually displayed a slight crimson hue. Retaining color in the Grey Realm was supposed to be a privilege reserved for World-Eradicators!

What had it experienced during its time with the Great King?

And it wasn't just Wu Yi; the centipede legion following Chen Ling also carried a trace of red, more or less, shrouded in a mysterious and powerful veil under the faint glow of the bioluminescent plankton.

The centipede legion reveled in the reverence and curiosity from the Calamities.

But a trace of doubt flashed in Chen Ling's eyes.

With his return, the Calamities of the Abyss of Ghastly Mockery certainly came to greet him. However, upon closer inspection, he noticed that these Calamities were generally not of high rank, most being Rank Seven at most. So, where were the top-tier Calamities of the Abyss of Ghastly Mockery?

Such a vast Abyss of Ghastly Mockery shouldn't be entirely devoid of Rank Eight Calamities.

As Chen Ling pondered, from the depths of the Abyss of Ghastly Mockery, a colossal, mountain-like toad shadow came leaping rapidly towards them!