Chapter 1309: Five-Poison Wine

Hearing this, the black snake fell silent.

【Have you forgotten how the Great King treated us?】 The centipede's emotions were a bit agitated. 【We were his subordinates, and even more so, his playthings! I've truly had enough of the fear of not knowing what kind of torture I'd face every time I woke up!! The time the Great King was away from the abyss was the most carefree time of my life... I don't want to be controlled by fear anymore, I've had enough!】

【You're crazy, you actually want to kill the King?!!】 The black snake was shocked. 【Do you know what you're doing?!】

【I know... The King is too strong; he is invincible. But this might be my only chance... I must try.】

The black snake seemed unable to understand the centipede's crazy idea. It hesitated for a long time before slowly moving its body and crawling out of the cave:

【I can pretend I heard nothing... But if you want to seek death, don't drag me into it.】

Seeing the black snake choose to give up so easily, the centipede was a bit annoyed. It let out a low hiss, as if cursing "a coward who has knelt for too long," and then looked back at the palace...

Rashly testing the King's strength was absolutely out of the question... It needed to find a better opportunity.

The centipede didn't notice that while it was deep in thought, a scorpion quietly burrowed into the earth from a corner and crawled silently toward the toad's territory...

……

Chen Ling was woken up by the noise outside.

Outside the palace, it seemed extremely lively. The hissing of various underground creatures rose and fell, as if they were holding a grand party... At the same time, it was accompanied by occasional rumbling and tremors.

The Ghost Mockery Abyss had no concept of day or night; it was an eternal carnival of darkness. Chen Ling calculated the time; he must have slept for seven or eight hours. After waking up, the fatigue on his body had faded quite a bit.

He casually threw on his bright red opera robe and walked out of the palace.

Seeing Chen Ling come out, Wu Yi immediately lowered its body consciously, as if it had been waiting outside ever since Chen Ling went in a few hours ago.

"What's going on outside?" Chen Ling asked.

Through Wu Yi's explanation, Chen Ling learned that the toad poison head had taken the lead in organizing a welcome banquet to celebrate his return. The entire Ghost Mockery Abyss was now in a frenzy. However, the toad poison head heard that he was still sleeping and didn't rush to wake him up. After all, the Ghost Mockery Abyss had no day or night, and according to the customs of underground creatures, such a carnival would last for at least a day and a night.

A welcome banquet, huh...

Chen Ling was a bit surprised. A group of calamities, they understand this too?

Chen Ling walked onto Wu Yi's back naturally and patted its head. The latter understood immediately and carried Chen Ling toward the "banquet" venue.

On the way, Chen Ling was still wondering how a group of calamities learned to hold a welcome banquet like humans. Did they expect the centipedes, scorpions, and poisonous snakes to all wear gorgeous clothes, stand up, and toast him?

When he arrived at the venue, he realized he had overthought it.

He saw that in the rugged gullies, large swaths of calamities were rolling on the ground. It seemed that quite a bit of liquid similar to wine had been spilled on the ground. Every time these calamities rolled around, they would get it on their bodies or drink it into their stomachs, and then they would become visibly excited, entangling with other calamities beside them. Some who were extremely excited would even start fighting directly with other calamities!

Centipedes, poisonous snakes, scorpions, geckos, toads... Countless poisonous insects were gathered together, rolling and fighting. Various hissing sounds rose and fell, and the scene was spectacular yet slightly creepy.

The higher the rank of the calamity, the more wine they occupied, so they didn't have to fight with other calamities. But some, after getting too drunk, would take the initiative to pick fights in the territories of neighboring calamities. The rumbling sounds that had woken Chen Ling just now came from two seventh-rank calamities fighting for their lives.

Unlike these ordinary calamities, there was a raised platform on the cliff where the five poison heads were high above. At this moment, each was soaking in a pool of wine. Both the concentration of the wine and the environment were much better than those of the other calamities...

The toad was happily rolling on its back in the wine pool, the scorpion was as calm as if it were taking a bath, occasionally taking a sip of the "bathwater," and the gecko was lying motionless at the bottom of the pool, as if it had already drowned... As for the centipede and the poisonous snake, they were each in their own wine pools, their postures somewhat restrained, as if they had something on their minds.

"What kind of wine is this?" Chen Ling asked, puzzled.

【Great King, this is the 'Five-Poison Wine' unique to our Ghost Mockery Abyss.】

Wu Yi smelled the rich wine aroma in the air, and its spirit was also extremely excited. 【Mixing the toxins of five poisonous creatures together and burying them underground to ferment for several months can produce one jar... If we poisonous creatures drink a sip, not only can our strength improve, but we can also experience intense pleasure.】

Five-Poison Wine was quite precious. Even in the Ghost Mockery Abyss, where the Five Poisons were everywhere, they couldn't enjoy it often. Usually, only the Mockery Calamity could have unlimited refills, while others could only get a taste of the wine during large banquets. But for them, this was already a favor.

Seeing Chen Ling arrive, the calamities that had been rolling all over the ground immediately regained their sobriety and respectfully cleared a path for him;

The toad that had been rolling in the wine pool also stood steady in a flash, constantly letting out dull "croak, croak" sounds, as if inviting Chen Ling up...

Chen Ling naturally wouldn't be polite. He leaped, landing lightly on the raised platform like a red butterfly. He saw that behind the wine pools of the five poison heads, a pitch-black throne had already been set up, with a string of small Five Poisons lying beside it, like servants specifically serving Chen Ling.

Chen Ling glanced at them and sat on the throne with an expressionless face.

At the same time, the toad's chin swelled again...

"Croak, croak, croak——"

A loud, thunder-like sound echoed in the Ghost Mockery Abyss. The numerous chaotic calamities below all regained their sobriety and prostrated respectfully, as if listening intently to the toad poison head's words.

What the toad said was also simple: roughly that after such a long time, the Great King had finally returned, and to welcome the Great King, they were holding this banquet...

As Chen Ling listened, he felt it was strange. The style of these Ghost Mockery Abyss calamities was too much like humans.

Could the former Mockery Calamity actually train a group of calamities so well?

As the toad's voice fell, the calamities of the Ghost Mockery Abyss let out chirps, as if responding to the poison head's words... At the same time, a small scorpion carrying a skull wine cup filled with mellow wine came to Chen Ling's side.

All the calamities turned to look at Chen Ling.

Chen Ling knew it was time for him, the King of the Ghost Mockery Abyss, to "propose a toast."

He hesitated for a moment, then picked up the full cup of Five-Poison Wine and stood up slowly...

The bright red opera robe fluttered in the sunless abyss. Chen Ling looked down at the countless prostrate calamities at his feet, and after a long silence, he said in a deep voice:

"A toast... to the Ghost Mockery Abyss!"