Chapter 1308: The Royal Palace

Guided by Wu Yi, the outline of an underground royal palace slowly emerged at the end of the abyss.

This palace, appearing carved out of some mysterious megalith, covered a vast area. Both its interior and exterior exuded a primitive and mysterious aura. Though not as intricately crafted as human imperial palaces, it resembled an earthly totem, imparting a sense of ancient grandeur and impact.

Seeing the underground palace, Chen Ling was somewhat surprised. It was hard to imagine that such a massive palace was excavated by these centipedes and scorpions. Even for human artisans, building an underground palace of this size would be extremely difficult, wouldn't it?

"Who built this palace?" Chen Ling couldn't help but ask Wu Yi.

Wu Yi chirped in response to Chen Ling's question: "The outline of the palace was excavated over many years by all the calamities of the Ghost Mocking Abyss, under your command, great king... As for the intricate details inside, you arranged those yourself. However, because you change personalities every so often, the styles within are a bit... chaotic?"

A scene immediately came to Chen Ling's mind: the former "Mocking Calamity" standing atop, whipping these calamities like Qin Shi Huang, forcing them to build a palace for him.

Turning subordinates into works of art, forcing them into manual labor... The Mocking Calamity, truly a tyrant, wasn't he?

However, Wu Yi's response also brought Chen Ling a crucial piece of information: the Mocking Calamity changed personalities every so often.

Chen Ling wasn't surprised by this. When he liberated the Mocking Calamity in the Mortal Realm and allowed another "Audience" to take the stage, his body had been controlled by that entity for a period... That "Heckler Chen Ling" had a vastly different personality from his own, possessing a completely independent persona and thoughts. As that entity had said at the time, whoever steps onto this stage becomes "Chen Ling."

Or rather... whoever steps onto this stage becomes the next "Mocking Calamity" personality.

Teacher Ye had specifically briefed him on the Mocking Calamity: it was a collective of numerous individuals that would fall into internal conflict every so often. After such conflicts, a "personality" would typically emerge to control the body, and he himself was one such personality...

The only difference between him and other "Chen Lings" was that he possessed the character biography written by the Red King. If other personalities had a default setting of "world-ending calamity," then his own default setting was "human."

To Chen Ling himself, he was Chen Ling; but in the eyes of the calamities of the Ghost Mocking Abyss, "Chen Ling" was merely the personality their Great King exhibited during this period.

Putting himself in their shoes, the calamities of the Ghost Mocking Abyss had it quite tough. As the saying goes, "accompanying a ruler is like accompanying a tiger." Every day, they awoke to face a new Great King. If they didn't serve well, the next moment they might end up as an artwork on the king's bedside table...

No wonder the number of calamities in the Ghost Mocking Abyss was so much smaller compared to the Forbidden Sea. Anyone not strong enough or not resilient enough likely perished.

"While I was gone, who was in charge of the Ghost Mocking Abyss?" Chen Ling asked again.

"The several Venomous Chiefs agreed on matters together. However, Lord Gecko and Lord Toad are quite lazy, so it's usually Old Ancestor Centipede, Lord Black Serpent, and Lord Scorpion who make the decisions."

"Oh." Chen Ling mused.

Wu Yi slowly stopped at the palace entrance. Inside was the king's residence, and given Wu Yi's current status, it wasn't qualified to enter. After lightly dismounting, Chen Ling walked in alone.

The underground palace was indeed vast. As Chen Ling walked through it, he felt a sense of spaciousness, as if he were outdoors.

He spent several hours exploring the entire place. As Wu Yi had said, the decorating styles in different areas were extremely chaotic. Chen Ling saw a completely black throne made of an unknown material, a bloody high tower constructed from calamity skeletons, a human bedroom carved from stone, a bizarre hot spring filled with blood-red water... But seeing these, Chen Ling wasn't particularly surprised.

However, there were some areas Chen Ling truly couldn't comprehend.

For instance, a museum filled with sculptures of sexy human females; a "Lego Land" where all items were constructed from stones of fixed specifications; an outdoor space that was a one-to-one replica of a human basketball court, but where human heads served as basketballs; and even a pink room with walls covered in whips, collars, and candles, and the floor littered with centipede remains...

Chen Ling dared not imagine how bizarre the "Mocking Calamity personality" that had created these rooms must have been.

Chen Ling wandered around inside for a long time, eventually deciding that only the black throne and the human bedroom were suitable for him to reside in. Anywhere else, a prolonged glance would cause him psychological discomfort...

After confirming there were no potential dangers nearby, Chen Ling slowly lay down on the bed.

The bed in the bedroom was unexpectedly soft. He gazed blankly at the cold stone ceiling above, feeling somewhat dazed for a moment.

From now on, this would be his home...

No longer lodging in anyone's home, no longer dependent on any faction; everything here belonged only to him... no calculations, no departures, eternal and unchanging.

To be honest, the bedroom wasn't warm or particularly comfortable, but Chen Ling was simply too tired.

He gently closed his eyes on the bed and fell into a deep sleep.

Outside the palace.

In the deep burrow, the Centipede Venomous Chief's eyes glowed with an eerie light. It stared towards the palace from afar, lost in thought.

Rustle, rustle, rustle—

A faint rustling sound came from nearby. The Black Serpent Venomous Chief emerged from underground, flicking its tongue as if questioning something:

"Centipede, have you gone mad? How dare you block the king's path just now? Even if you don't want him back, you can't be so blatant about it, can you??"

The Centipede didn't reply immediately. After watching the palace for a long time, it finally shook its head: "...The king's condition isn't right."

"Are you talking about his human appearance? The king's personality is inherently random; it's not the first time. What else could be wrong?"

"I saw it with my own eyes back then."

"What?"

"That person, also wearing a theatrical robe, broke into the Ghost Mocking Abyss. I saw it clearly when he used four spirit tablets to restrain the king's body and forced that book into the king's mind... After the book disappeared, the king's aura continuously weakened, eventually vanishing completely..."

"What does that prove? Don't forget, the king is the strongest creature in this world; no one can defeat him! His return now only proves that human in the theatrical robe failed, doesn't it?"

"No, haven't you noticed? This time, when the Great King returned, his aura was very weak..."

"So what?"

"Therefore, I suspect the Great King's weak aura isn't because he changed personalities and hasn't fully awakened... but because he was truly restricted by that book. He now possesses less than Tier 7 strength."