Chapter 610: Deep Abyss Descent

Seeing this scene, Chen Ling's heart skipped a beat!

Hadn't he already done what they wanted, left the theater, and dealt with these Crimson Sky cultists? Why were they suddenly reappearing now?!

Wait...

A thought suddenly flashed through Chen Ling's mind. He looked down at his feet, where the blood-red ritual circle, prepared by the Crimson Sky cultists for their suicide ritual, was beginning to glow.

Chen Ling felt the object in his hand lighten. The heart, as if ablaze, dissolved into thick smoke, passing intangibly through the ceiling and ascending directly into the sky!

"A Crimson Sky ritual??"

Chen Ling's face contorted, as if he had guessed something terrible.

The Crimson Sky cult's suicide ritual seemed to involve sacrificing their organs within a prescribed area to summon a Grey Realm convergence. When Chen Ling saw them remove a lung earlier, he was puzzled. With so many organs in the human body, why did they painstakingly cut through flesh, break ribs, and use a lung for the sacrifice?

Furthermore, Chen Ling had previously wondered how the Crimson Sky cult managed to have so many cultists summon simultaneously in different areas, yet always draw the "Wailing Wilderness" instead of other disaster zones like the "Forbidden Sea" or the "Fiend's Abyss." Now, this question seemed to have an answer.

Was it not that only sacrificing a lung could summon the Grey Realm, but that only sacrificing a lung could specifically summon the "Wailing Wilderness"?

Chen Ling's appearance had undoubtedly disrupted the cultists' original plan. He hadn't used his own lung to summon the "Wailing Wilderness" for the convergence; instead, before his death, the "Audience" had extracted his heart...

If sacrificing a "lung" allowed the Crimson Sky cultists to specifically summon the "Wailing Wilderness," then what would sacrificing a "heart" summon now?

A name surged into Chen Ling's mind. He abruptly looked up at the sky outside the pharmacy, where a grey haze was gradually spreading!

"...No way?"

Chen Ling murmured to himself.

"Tsk... Just stepped out for a stroll, and now I can't get back?"

Amidst the chaotic ruins of buildings, Nine of Hearts scratched his head, sighing helplessly.

Beside him, Jack of Clubs, two meters tall and cloaked in black, stood out prominently in the ruins. He spoke languidly, "Before we left, you said you knew the way."

"No, buddy, I *can* recognize the way, provided there *is* a way!!"

Nine of Hearts pointed at the surrounding desolation, grumbling, "Forget recognizing the way; now there isn't even a single intact path to see... How is anyone supposed to know how to get back?"

Jack of Clubs was about to say something when he suddenly turned his head towards the ruined building beside them.

*BOOM—!!*

A thunderous roar erupted beside the two. The small building, half-collapsed, was shattered into dust by an incredibly swift white shadow. Nine of Hearts and Jack of Clubs were instantly engulfed by the shadow, disintegrating and dispersing into the air.

Amidst the rising dust, the white shadow darted nearly a hundred meters before slowly coming to a halt. It was a slender, three-meter-long skeletal creature, resembling a cheetah in outline. Its bones were incredibly light compared to a rhinoceros, offering almost no resistance to the wind, making it exceptionally fast.

It turned its head back towards the direction where the two had been shattered, tilting its head slightly, as if confused why they hadn't exploded into gore, leaving only scattered playing cards swirling in the air.

"Close call... almost got torn apart," Nine of Hearts' voice came from not far away.

"Your vigilance is too poor."

"What do you mean my vigilance is too poor... I was looking for the way just now! Besides, my rank isn't as high as yours, so being a half-step slower is perfectly reasonable, isn't it?"

"So, did you find the way?"

"...Let's talk about this big cat instead. Are you going to kill it, or am I?"

"It's a leopard."

"That's not important!"

The leopard looked in the direction of the voices, seeing the two still perfectly intact, standing in an open space over a hundred meters away, seemingly arguing about its species.

A low growl emanated from its hollow skeleton. Its four limbs slightly bent, clinging to the ground like a hunter, every bone taut like an arrow on a bowstring, poised to strike.

After a brief pause, its body shot through the air, leaving trails of afterimages as it once again charged towards the two.

Jack of Clubs, who was seriously discussing the skeletal differences of felines with Nine of Hearts, subtly tilted his head and glanced their way, his hands smoothing over his wide black trench coat.

The next moment, a large flock of white doves unexpectedly flew out from under his trench coat, like a fluttering white cloud, surging towards the charging leopard!

The leopard did not evade at all, continuing straight ahead, rushing wildly through the doves. Agile, it didn't touch a single one... But as Jack of Clubs slowly raised the back of his hand, which bore a tattoo of a burning skull campfire, a crisp snap echoed across the sky!

*Snap—*

The next moment, the doves fluttering around the leopard miraculously transformed into thick chains, passing directly through the gaps in its bones, binding it in mid-air!

Jack of Clubs' fingertips slowly rose. The last white dove flew out from his coat hem, fluttering its wings to land on his fingertip. With a flick of his finger, the dove instantly became a black magician's top hat, which he elegantly placed on his head.

"It would be too late if I waited for you to kill it... I'll do it," Jack of Clubs said calmly.

He raised his fingertips and gently made a grasping motion towards the leopard, which was struggling wildly in the chains.

"Cutting Trick."

The instant Jack of Clubs' words fell, the space around the leopard was suddenly folded into sheets of metal, dividing its body into more than a dozen different sections. Then, as if torn apart by five horses, these sections slowly moved outwards in all directions...

These sections cut through the leopard's body, yet the creature did not die immediately. Instead, each piece remained active, seemingly unfazed, appearing bizarre, like a flawless magic trick.

As Jack of Clubs' fingers gradually came together, he casually pulled at the empty space. The more than a dozen separated sections instantly spread out hundreds of meters. A sharp, explosive sound erupted from the leopard's severed skull, and the next moment, all its bones shattered and burst apart, scattering across the ground.

"It's done," Jack of Clubs said, taking off the magician's hat, which transformed back into a white dove and flew into his sleeve.

"Did you find the way back?"

"..." Nine of Hearts was speechless for a moment. "What do you think? Is our situation now any different from before?"

"So, what now? Do we just wait for Ten of Diamonds to pick us up?"

"With disasters rampant here, it's hard to say if the Startled Swan Building is even still standing... It might have already been flattened by some calamity."

"Be optimistic. Isn't there still a part of that area not covered by the Grey Realm convergence?" Jack of Clubs pointed to the distance, to the only patch of sky still shrouded in night.

The moment his words fell, a wisp of thick smoke rose from under the night sky. Lead-grey clouds spread out like a tide, enveloping the entire sky in an instant!

Jack of Clubs: ...

"Are you a jinx? If you can't say anything helpful, say less," Nine of Hearts couldn't help but retort.

Jack of Clubs was about to defend himself when he suddenly froze, turning his head in confusion towards the area experiencing the Grey Realm convergence...

"Wait... This isn't the aura of the Wailing Wilderness, is it?"

"Not the Wailing Wilderness? Then what could it be?" Nine of Hearts shrugged, looking in that direction. The next moment, he suddenly found the aura there somewhat familiar. "Wait..."

"That's..."

"The Fiend's Abyss???"