Chapter 1219: Calligraphy and Painting

Chu Changqing looked back in a daze.

In the largest gray rift, countless branches and roots were surging outward, as if more and more calamities were crawling out. But the gaze looking at him didn't come from them... but from something behind them.

For some reason, the moment he was locked onto by this gaze, a chill ran down Chu Changqing’s spine!

"What’s wrong?"

Su Zhiwei, carrying him, felt the leaves on his shoulders trembling slightly and asked in confusion.

"...I feel like something is watching me."

"Where?"

"In there..."

Su Zhiwei looked in the direction Chu Changqing was pointing, her brow furrowed. "Those are all calamities. Isn't it normal for them to target us?"

"No, it’s different... Sigh, I don't know how to describe it to you, but it seems to be looking only at me?"

Su Zhiwei had no time to listen to Chu Changqing anymore. Countless translucent curtains, resembling blood vessels, descended from both sides like a wave built by swarming saprophytic organisms, closing in madly on the fleeing crowd and making the already tight escape space even narrower.

Because she was carrying Chu Changqing, Su Zhiwei was much slower than the average person. Although she was giving it her all, the distance between them and the wave was constantly shrinking...

"Su Zhiwei, put me down." Seeing this, Chu Changqing couldn't help but say, "If you carry me, you’ll die too."

Su Zhiwei didn't speak.

Or rather, she wasn't listening to what Chu Changqing was saying at all. She just gritted her teeth and ran forward with all her might, sweat beads sliding down her cheeks, her eyes filled only with the perseverance and tenacity she had honed since childhood.

The rolling saprophytic wave closed in. Just as Chu Changqing was filled with anxiety, a figure in opera robes holding starlight descended from the sky!

*Bang—!!!*

The starlight in Chen Ling’s hand swept across, tearing a gap in the saprophytic wave. His red earrings swayed in the foul-smelling wind of the Bitter-Flesh Turbid Forest, his gaze sharp and fierce.

"Director Chen!" Su Zhiwei and Chu Changqing shouted simultaneously.

"Run! We can talk once we’re safe!"

As more and more calamities surged toward them, the pressure on both Chen Ling and Ying Fu was immense. He had no time to talk to the two of them, and dense, scarlet paper extended from his body as he charged toward the other side.

The red paper sliced through countless roots, and Chen Ling carved a bloody path through them, only then seeing Shen Nan and Fu Kun entangled and bound.

After the high-level calamities entered the fray, most people’s combat power was no longer enough. If not for Shen Nan’s intervention, Fu Kun would likely have been shredded to pieces. Even so, the two were trapped together in an endless web of roots, struggling to break free.

"Chen Ling!" Seeing Chen Ling fight his way over, Shen Nan’s eyes lit up.

At the same time, purple lightning danced, and Ying Fu’s figure also burst out from the other side, closing in.

"Your Majesty!" Fu Kun was moved to tears.

Ying Fu opened his mouth to say something, but a deep roar sounded from ahead, and three giant shadows crawled out from the expanding rift...

These were three nearly 100-meter-tall moving tree shadows. One was a flesh-blooming, eerie, and ferocious peach tree; one was a willow tree made of millions of bone joints, swaying in the wind; and one was a massive, straight pine tree covered in dense, grasping hands.

"What the hell... is this monster!!" Fu Kun’s mind shook violently as he saw the half-human, half-tree monstrosities.

As the three giant trees approached, Chen Ling’s brow furrowed, and red clouds began to surge wildly around him!

His scarlet pupils stared at that direction, and the aura of a world-ending calamity swept out!

"Get lost!!"

A visible shockwave swept across the Bitter-Flesh Turbid Forest, and the calamities of all sizes around them paused abruptly, as if stunned by this aura. Even the three giant trees froze in place, and the world fell into a dead silence...

The 749 Bureau’s White Hands who were fighting, the fleeing civilians, and even Fu Kun and Zheng Zhiqing all looked at Chen Ling in shock, their mouths hanging open involuntarily.

But the next moment, another world-ending aura erupted from the depths of the rift!

The entity within the Bitter-Flesh Turbid Forest seemed to have issued some kind of order. The calamities that hadn't dared to move suddenly resumed their offensive, and the vast sea of branches and roots continued to surge toward the crowd!

"It seems the Turbid Calamity doesn't fear you," Ying Fu said calmly.

“……”

Chen Ling turned to look at Shen Nan and the others. "What are you still looking at? Run while you can!"

Shen Nan snapped back to reality, turned, and sprinted away during the brief pause of the calamities. Ying Fu and the others followed closely behind Chen Ling.

Chen Ling had actually known for a long time that although he was the Mockery Calamity, in the face of a calamity territory that also possessed a world-ending entity, his aura couldn't change much. Moreover, strictly speaking, this was already the territory of the Bitter-Flesh Turbid Forest.

It was like charging into someone else’s home and shouting at them; if the opponent had any temper at all, they wouldn't take it lying down. Being able to delay them for even a moment was already quite an achievement.

"This won't work. More and more monsters are coming out of the rift. If this keeps up, we’ll be caught sooner or later."

Fu Kun looked back while running, his face looking terrible.

Just then,

an embroidered dragon flew over their heads!

Chen Ling and Ying Fu were startled. Looking back, they saw two elderly figures standing on the back of the embroidered dragon. Before the three towering giant trees and the saprophytic wave in the distance, their hunched figures looked incredibly small.

"Han Shuzhi, it’s not too late to turn back now."

Xiao Chunping’s silver hair danced in the wind. She glanced at Han Xiang beside her and snorted, "One must know when to yield to age. If we go any further, there will be no turning back."

"The one who should turn back is you, Teacher Xiao," Han Xiang said leisurely. "Your precious grandson is still waiting for you at the underground project. If you aren't there to guide him, in two years he’ll be left in the dust by my students."

"Even without guidance, a fledgling eagle is still an eagle. There will come a day when it spreads its wings and soars on its own."

Xiao Chunping paused for a moment, as if recalling something, a touch of tenderness flashing in her eyes. "My grandson is no soft pillow. Even without me, he will surely do very well."

"It seems neither of us will live to see the day they decide who is better," Han Xiang said, sighing with his hands behind his back.

"I said, you can turn back."

"You can't hold out for long on your own," Han Xiang said, looking back. "His Majesty is still behind me."

"Always 'His Majesty' this, 'His Majesty' that. You old man, I think you’ve gone senile! He’s just a lucky guy who obtained the Imperial Divine Path. How is he worth you throwing your life away like this??"

"You don't understand..."

Han Xiang shook his head. "You haven't seen His Majesty’s heart. He is no lucky guy... He is an emperor destined to rule humanity, the hope of this world.

I am not throwing my life away for him alone, but for the future of humanity that he represents."