Chapter 1118: Jiangtian Branch

Seeing this, the group of small centipedes following behind were dumbfounded.

The centipede caught by Chen Ling was only a Tier 2, like the youngest and weakest descendant in this family. As its body was uncontrollably dragged away by the red paper, the small centipede struggled frantically, emitting bursts of hissing.

The red paper contracted around Chen Ling, forming a sharp and ferocious giant hand, gripping it tightly, and then slowly lifting it in front of himself...

Chen Ling's face magnified bit by bit in the small centipede's eyes. It could clearly see the pupils flashing with red light and the red tongue lightly licking his lips... The fear of death surged into its heart like a tide.

The next moment, its struggles and hissing became even more intense.

Chen Ling clearly felt the big centipede beneath him tremble, its speed increasing, and at the same time, it emitted bursts of hissing... The Chen Ling of the past couldn't understand the sounds of these monsters, but now he seemed to be able to feel the emotions within these sounds.

It was pleading, pleading for him to give it a little more time. If Chen Ling was really hungry, it could even tear off a few of its own legs for Chen Ling to eat first, in exchange for its child's life.

Chen Ling couldn't help but click his tongue.

Chen Ling suddenly felt like one of those heinous villains, using a child's life to threaten the clan to do things for him—a veritable ancient tyrant. After hesitating for a moment, he casually threw the small centipede back.

Although Chen Ling was a bit hungry, he wasn't so insane that he would start eating now. He did this just to put some pressure on these centipedes, and now it seemed the effect was quite good...

As the red paper scattered in the air, the small centipede Chen Ling threw back rolled on the ground twice and lay straight on the spot, as if it had been scared unconscious.

A burst of grateful hissing came from beneath his feet again. The big centipede didn't say a word, cleanly and neatly pulling off a few of its own legs and respectfully handing them to Chen Ling...

Chen Ling: ...

"...There's no need to be so polite."

Chen Ling said, while casually taking the centipede legs. Adhering to the principle of not wasting food, he stuffed them to his mouth and took a bite, making a crunching sound.

Although these chicken-like legs weren't roasted over a fire and lacked texture and aroma, they weren't bad as a snack on the road.

The dense army of shadow centipedes shuttled frantically across the Gray Realm, continuously digging new centipedes out of the earth and spreading them out to search for clues.

I don't know how much time passed, but the centipede beneath Chen Ling suddenly changed direction and accelerated into the depths of the darkness.

Chen Ling raised an eyebrow, guessing that they had probably found something...

Finally, the shadow centipede carried him to a raised hill.

Chen Ling looked forward and saw that in the depths of the pitch-black, barren cliff, there were actually wisps of light flickering, like an ancient human village. Occasionally, one could see shadows shuttling through it...

"There are actually people living in this place?" Chen Ling was incredibly surprised.

Combining Teacher Ye's previous speculation, Chen Ling could roughly guess the identity of that group of people. If nothing went wrong, that was the habitat of the Jiangtian Sect, but there weren't many people living inside; it was probably just a branch.

However, the Fusion Faction lived in the Gray Realm because they had the protection of the Mother Tree. For the Jiangtian Sect to live in such a desolate and eerie place was truly a bit anti-human.

A low hiss sounded from beneath Chen Ling's feet.

The big centipede seemed to be asking Chen Ling if they needed to charge in directly and wipe out that village. The people Chen Ling was looking for were likely inside.

After hesitating for a moment, Chen Ling got off the centipede and said calmly:

"Not for now. You all wait here. When necessary, I will give you a signal."

Since Linglong and Xiaobai were in the village, if he charged in with a group of Calamities, it would inevitably cause a riot. It would be bad if those two children were hurt in the panic... Moreover, this was the first time Chen Ling had seen the habitat of the Jiangtian Sect; it would be a lie to say he wasn't interested in what was inside.

One had to know that the Jiangtian Sect possessed a large piece of the Red Star fragment. What if this small village had one too? Even a small one would do.

Receiving Chen Ling's order, the dense group of dozens of centipedes hid in the darkness, silently staring at the eerie village without making a sound, looking exactly like ancient swordsmen hiding behind a screen, waiting only for Chen Ling's order to slaughter everyone.

Chen Ling reached up and tore at his face, changing the conspicuous bright red opera robe to black, and hid himself in the darkness, approaching the village bit by bit.

This village was built on a cliff and was not large. A rough look showed about a dozen buildings, most of which were made of stone and withered wood, as crude as a primitive village.

In the center of the village, a high bonfire was burning fiercely. When Chen Ling approached the range of the bonfire, his vision blurred. The village, which originally only had black, white, and gray colors, suddenly regained its color, as if the light of the bonfire had dispelled some kind of power in the Gray Realm, making one feel warm.

"No wonder the Jiangtian Sect can survive in the Gray Realm... It seems they still have some strength." Chen Ling hid in the shadow of a building and muttered to himself.

Just as he was about to make a move, a noisy sound suddenly came from not far away.

He saw figures draped in red robes continuously walking out of the houses and gathering toward the entrance of the village, as if something was attracting them there... Chen Ling didn't hesitate much and secretly followed.

Torches jumped in the darkness. Three Jiangtian Sect members, also wearing red robes, were walking from a path on the other side of the cliff, bringing two petite figures with them.

Seeing those two petite figures, Chen Ling suddenly froze in place.

"How is it them??"

The ones brought by the Jiangtian Sect members were none other than Xiao Tao and Miaomiao. But at this moment, their expressions were dull, their steps stiff, and their pupils were occupied by two masses of chaotic black lines, like two puppets being controlled.

"Why did you bring back two more?" A Jiangtian Sect member who walked out of the village frowned upon seeing this.

"Didn't we say? Don't provoke people from the Fusion Faction if you don't have to! There were already two yesterday, and two more today. The Fusion Faction will definitely be suspicious. If they find their way here, it'll be trouble!"

"It's not that! We didn't snatch them! We were just out on a normal patrol, and in the blink of an eye... the two of them suddenly appeared, like ghosts!!" The Jiangtian Sect member holding the torch was quite aggrieved.

Another Jiangtian Sect member stepped forward, staring at Xiao Tao and Miaomiao carefully for a long time, his brows furrowing tighter and tighter.

"Same as the two from yesterday... like they've been hypnotized."

"Once could be a coincidence, but twice definitely means there's a problem!" The Jiangtian Sect member said coldly. "Could it be that the Fusion Faction found us... and is using this method to test us?"

"If that were the case, wouldn't they just attack directly?"

"Who exactly is playing tricks in the dark..."