Chapter 1130: True Form

Dim light spilled from the mouth of the well. With a soft rustling sound, a large amount of red paper drifted down from above, gradually weaving into Chen Ling's figure at the bottom of the well.

Seeing who it was, the listless Xiaobai immediately perked up and sat up from the ground with a start!

"King! You're finally back!!"

Chen Ling scanned the bottom of the well and saw that Xiaotao and the other two were still unconscious, his brows furrowing slightly:

"They still haven't woken up?"

"No, they haven't moved all day."

Chen Ling checked their physical conditions again; there was indeed nothing wrong. They were even rosy-cheeked despite not eating for two days. Compared to them, Xiaobai looked much more haggard.

Chen Ling took a few buns out of his clothes and handed them to him:

"Dinner for you. The Jiangtian Cult's food is terrible, this is all I could bring out."

Seeing the large buns in his hand, Xiaobai immediately began to swallow his saliva, but still asked cautiously:

"Is the King not eating?"

"I've already eaten. These are specifically for you."

"Thank you, King!!"

A smile appeared on Xiaobai's face. He picked up a bun and started gnawing on it, as if he were starving.

"King, have the Jiangtian cultists outside been dealt with? When can we go back?" Xiaobai asked worriedly while eating.

"Soon..." Chen Ling raised his head and looked through the narrow well mouth at the pitch-black night. "If nothing goes wrong, I'll be able to take you back tonight."

Xiaobai nodded obediently, as if it didn't matter to him whether it was sooner or later. As long as it was what Chen Ling said, he would do it. If Chen Ling said he would take them out tonight, then it would definitely happen tonight.

Chen Ling didn't say anything more, but walked alone to the spot directly under the well mouth, staring blankly at the dim starlight that occasionally streaked across the top.

There wasn't much time left before the Jiangtian Cult's ritual began, and Chen Ling's preparations were all complete, but as for Jian Changsheng and the others... he didn't know how to face them when the time came.

He was no longer the Chen Ling of the past. Now, he was Mockery, a part of the world-ending Calamity. When he revealed his true form, he would make infants stop crying, and he would attract the hatred and pursuit of countless people.

Chen Ling could probably guess that Jian Changsheng came to find him to get him to return to the Twilight Society, to the human domain...

But he could no longer go back.

Xiaobai finished the three buns in silence. Seeing Chen Ling standing there all alone, he hesitated for a long time before he couldn't help but ask:

"King... is something on your mind?"

"...No."

"Oh..." Xiaobai blinked, and after a few seconds of silence, he spoke again, "If the King finds it troublesome... we don't necessarily have to leave tonight. I can handle hunger, and I can endure the dampness... It's fine if we stay here a little longer."

Seeing Chen Ling's gloomy expression, Xiaobai thought he was troubled because of saving them, so he took the initiative to explain.

Chen Ling turned his head slightly to look at him, his gaze complex.

He sighed softly.

The next moment, half of Chen Ling's body began to transform into fluttering red paper, spreading out. Countless slender paper strips spread out from beneath him like pythons, occupying every corner of the dry well... That human face also became flat, like a doodle drawn on paper by hand—sinister and eerie.

The hazy starlight spilled from the well mouth, casting a white edge on the red-paper monster floating in mid-air. Chen Ling turned and revealed his true form, letting it expand and spread at the bottom of the well—arrogant, bizarre, and hair-raising.

Finally, a huge, solitary eye opened in the center of the red-paper monster like a sun, staring straight at Xiaobai at the bottom of the well.

Xiaobai was stunned.

The fear from his bloodline instinct made him stumble and sit on the ground, but his eyes remained fixed on the red-paper monster.

A hoarse voice, like metal rubbing against metal, came from within the monster:

"Tell me..."

"Seeing my true form... what are you thinking?"

Red pythons coiled, paper pages fluttered. A red-cloud monster floated quietly in the starlight, like a monster from another world.

Xiaobai stared at it blankly. Gradually, his trembling body calmed down. He knelt on the ground, his pupils gradually occupied by the figure of Chen Ling's monster... No fear, no disgust. At this moment, only the purest fascination remained on the boy's face.

It was like an incomplete mud dragon looking up at the sky, seeing a perfect white dragon riding the clouds—it was the appreciation and longing of a creature for perfect evolution.

Xiaobai stared blankly for a long time before muttering:

"The King's true form... is so beautiful."

The red-paper monster's pupils flickered slightly.

After a brief silence, all the red paper coiled at the bottom of the well began to shrink. The red cloud floating in the air slowly drifted to the ground, and countless red papers overlapped, outlining the figure of a red-robed actor once again...

Thin, small red papers pieced together Chen Ling's handsome face. As he turned his head to look at Xiaobai behind him, his two earrings swayed silently in the starlight.

At this moment, no one knew what Chen Ling was thinking.

His eyes seemed to melt into the clear, shattered starlight.

It was unknown how much time had passed before he slowly turned his head, as if he had found the answer, and spoke softly:

"The human world does not belong to Calamities... Only outcasts can accept outcasts."

"Teacher Ye..."

"Is this why you founded the Integration Faction..."

……

The night grew thicker.

Dense red-robed figures began to bustle around the bonfire. They used dry branches and stones to build rapidly on the open ground, and the faint outline of an altar gradually took shape.

Jian Changsheng and the other two, as if completely forgotten, huddled on the stone pile directly in front of the altar, their expressions anxious as they saw this scene.

"It seems they are about to start," Sun Bumian said in a low voice.

Jian Changsheng turned his head slightly and called out softly to the ground behind him:

"Senior Jack of Diamonds, Senior Jack of Diamonds? How is the tunnel digging going??"

The ground was silent.

"Damn it, don't tell me this guy already ran away secretly?!" Jian Changsheng tried several times without getting a response from Jack of Diamonds, and couldn't help but curse.

*Whoosh—!!*

The bonfire behind the three suddenly seemed to be irrigated by some force, and the flames shot up several meters high. A wave of heat spread to the surroundings, scorching the backs of Jian Changsheng and the others.

Shadows danced with the swaying flames. On the road in the distance, the naked High Priest, carrying a bone club, was walking toward them with two Cardinals. The busy ordinary cultists immediately stopped their work and retreated to the sides, clearing a path.

"It's over... if this continues, we really won't have a chance to run!" Sun Bumian pinched the key to the stone lock with his fingertips and turned to look at Jian Changsheng and Jiang Xiaohua beside him.

"What do you say? Shall we make a break for it??"