Chapter 1293: Vow

At this rate, in less than ten minutes, the entire Fusion Faction would be wiped out.

The freezing seawater continued to rise, already submerging Teacher Ye’s knees, yet he seemed completely unaware, sitting quietly as his body swayed with the buoyancy. If not for Old Wolf constantly steadying him with his tail, he would have been swept away by the waves long ago.

Whoosh—!!

A bone-chilling wave crashed over them once more.

This time, a few more of the already dwindling children were gone…

“Xiao Huan!! A-Hai!! Nian Nian!!!” Old Wolf’s eyes were bloodshot, his hand reaching out to grab the children swept into the waves, but he could only touch empty air…

Beside him, Mi Bo and He Chengxuan were livid with rage. They had watched these children grow up with their own eyes, and now they could only watch them die before them. This sense of helplessness drove them nearly mad.

“Damn it!! I said we shouldn’t have come to the South Sea, we shouldn’t have come!!!”

“Now look, we’re all going to die here!!”

He Chengxuan’s chest heaved violently. He turned back and hugged the leg of Teacher Ye, who was sitting in the seawater, his voice trembling:

“Teacher Ye…”

“If you don’t hurry… the children are really going to die, Teacher Ye!!!”

……

Lake Pavilion.

“I want the Calamity of Mockery, Chen Ling, to never set foot in the human domain for all eternity.”

The moment these words rang out, Chen Ling froze in place.

Immediately after,

His gaze toward Chu Changqing flared with anger once more!

Teacher Ye was also stunned, then spoke without hesitation:

“Chen Ling is not an appendage of our Fusion Faction. I cannot agree to this request.”

“I know… that’s why I’m not asking you.” Chu Changqing’s gaze shifted to Chen Ling, who stood beside him.

Chu Changqing’s meaning could not have been clearer.

He could allow the Fusion Faction into the city, but he wouldn’t bear the risk alone… In exchange, he wanted to erase a threat to the human domain even greater than the Fusion Faction—the Calamity of Mockery.

As long as the Calamity of Mockery never entered the human domain again, it meant the six great apocalyptic calamities humanity faced would be reduced to five, significantly lowering their pressure. Whether it was Chu Changqing himself or the Alliance Council, he believed they would all agree to this trade.

Chen Ling stared at him intently. After a long silence, he spoke in a cold voice:

“If I promise not to enter the human domain, will you believe me?”

“Of course not.”

Chu Changqing raised his hand, and a thumb-sized cyan insect crawled out from his sleeve. The surface of the insect emitted a mysterious glow, and even Chen Ling could feel a sense of threat from it.

“This is the Vow Gu I cultivated with great effort.”

“Drop your defenses and swallow it whole. It will merge with your soul. Once you break your vow, it will destroy you along with your soul.”

“I was tortured by you for so long, and I even merged with a part of you; I know you too well. My original purpose in cultivating this was to wait for the day I could use it to take revenge on you… So don’t think about finding ways to block it, and don’t think you can escape its destruction…

It was born to kill you.”

A bone-chilling wind swept through the lake pavilion, freezing a thin layer of ice over the once-rippling lake.

The figure in the crimson opera robe stood silently, eyes fixed on the tiny cyan insect in Chu Changqing’s hand, as if only the sound of the wailing wind remained in his ears…

Chu Changqing had indeed come prepared.

Chen Ling had a premonition that if he swallowed this insect today, he wouldn’t be able to escape it even by suicide. He didn’t know what Chu Changqing had experienced at the hands of the Calamity of Mockery to be able to tailor something like this specifically for him.

“Swallow it, leave the South Sea, and I’ll let the Fusion Faction in… or we can keep this stalemate going.” Chu Changqing looked into Chen Ling’s eyes.

“You decide everyone’s fate.”

Teacher Ye’s brows furrowed tightly, his pale face showing signs of struggle. He opened his mouth to say something, but couldn’t get the words out…

Ever since he decided to come to the South Sea, he had prepared himself mentally. No matter the cost—even if he had to kneel and kowtow—he had to leave a path of survival for the Fusion Faction… He understood his student; he knew that Chu Changqing was soft-hearted at his core. If he went this far, there was a high chance Chu Changqing would accept the Fusion Faction.

But he hadn’t expected that the price for Chu Changqing’s acceptance would be Chen Ling.

Although they were teacher and student, Chen Ling had helped the Fusion Faction too much, and he owed Chen Ling too much. Teacher Ye didn’t want to drag Chen Ling into this… But on the other hand, the lives of the Fusion Faction’s children were at stake. He couldn’t just refuse Chu Changqing and watch the children die.

After a long struggle, as if he had exhausted all his strength, he said hoarsely to Chen Ling:

“Chen Ling… although I’ve taught you some things over the past six months, I haven’t been able to give you any substantial help, and instead, you’ve helped us time and again. You owe the Fusion Faction nothing; it is we who owe you…

So, you don’t have to be dragged down by us.”

No one knew the pain and struggle Teacher Ye went through to say these words. Although he didn’t say it directly, at this moment, he was undoubtedly pushing Chen Ling away.

Chu Changqing said nothing more. He just watched Chen Ling quietly, waiting for his choice.

Chen Ling smiled.

Without even a hint of hesitation, he calmly picked up the cyan insect:

“Chu Changqing, you’d better pray this bug actually works… otherwise, one day, I will make you pay the price.”

The crimson opera robe danced wildly in the biting wind. Under their gaze, he gently opened his lips, and then… swallowed the twisted cyan insect in one gulp.

In truth, from the very beginning, Chen Ling didn’t care about the conditions Chu Changqing proposed. He had absolutely no interest in the human domain.

He was a wanted criminal in the human domain, the Calamity of Mockery that everyone wanted to beat up. He always had to be cautious in the human domain. Since that was the case, why did he have to stay there?

If the human domain didn’t welcome him, did that mean he had nowhere else to go?

Of course not.

Even if Chu Changqing hadn’t brought it up, Chen Ling couldn’t be bothered to go to those other domains. He had long been completely disappointed in them. From the moment he accepted the Calamity of Mockery, he had never considered himself “human”…

The only downside to not being able to step into the human domain for Chen Ling was that he might not be able to see certain people, certain old friends, as easily.

But to Chen Ling, that no longer mattered.

After several slashes of the calamity, Chen Ling and the Calamity of Mockery had merged too deeply… Just as Chu Changqing said, wherever he went now, he would bring disaster. Whoever got close to him would be affected—the Fusion Faction was like this, Han Meng was like this, Xiao Tao and Xiao Bai were like this.

Perhaps Chu Changqing was right.

Someone like him should stay away from everyone and find a place where no one else was…

Yes,

he deserved to be alone.

Chen Ling’s reason had already thought everything through. He had found countless reasons to persuade himself to leave. He knew his choice was absolutely correct because he didn’t want to hurt the people closest to him…

So, he swallowed the Gu insect without hesitation. He didn’t give himself a chance to regret it.

But…

Why…

When he had truly made the choice, why did his heart still ache so much?

Jian Changsheng, Sun Bumian, Jiang Xiaohua, Han Meng, Bai Ye, Chu Muyun, Senior Brother, Second Senior Sister… As those familiar figures flashed before Chen Ling’s eyes once more, an indescribable pain surged in his heart. In the Wuji Domain, these people had been the motivation for this “character” to keep living, the anchors that made him acknowledge that “even a fictional actor can have a life of their own.”

And now, his very existence had become the source of disaster for them.

Since that was the case…

From now on, there’s no need to meet again, right?

With the insect in his belly, a surge of the Nine Lords’ aura erupted within Chen Ling. The intense pain turned his face deathly pale, and he collapsed to the ground in agony…

He took a deep breath and spoke hoarsely, word by word:

“I, Chen Ling, swear…”

“From this day forward, I will never set foot in the human domain again. Otherwise…”

“May my soul be scattered.”