Chapter 1346: The Chasm

The restaurant fell into silence.

Jian Changsheng, Sun Bumian, and Jiang Xiaohua stared at Chen Ling's face, taking a long time to recover.

"Red Heart, what happened to your face?" Jian Changsheng asked, frowning.

"Just some side effects after accepting the Mockery Calamity," Chen Ling smiled slightly. "But other than looking a bit scary, there's no other impact..."

"Aren't you able to change your face? Why not change to another one?" Sun Bumian asked immediately.

"It's useless... this face, it can't be changed back."

The three fell into silence again.

"If it can't be changed back, then it can't be changed back." Jian Changsheng patted Chen Ling on the shoulder and said nonchalantly, "So what if it's scary? The document didn't say you couldn't enter the Xuanyu Domain if you're scary! At worst, you can just wear a mask when you go out, like you just did... You don't think this face of yours can scare us, do you?"

"I don't think Red Heart is scary." Jiang Xiaohua responded immediately.

Sun Bumian nodded. "Indeed, we already saw this face when you lost control in the Wuji Domain before... Now it actually looks quite friendly, at least much kinder than that murderous Mockery Calamity."

"I know you won't be afraid. I wear a mask just because I'm worried it will affect your appetite."

“……”

"Then that's settled. Put on a mask and come back to the Xuanyu Domain with us!"

"I can't go back, and it's not because of my face."

"Then what is it for??"

"Is it that Vow Gu?" Sun Bumian thought thoughtfully. "I heard Teacher Ye mention it before, saying you were forced to eat some Vow Gu... Is it related to that?"

Jian Changsheng and the others had heard of Vow Gu, but they didn't know exactly what it was, nor how it would affect Chen Ling.

"Yes, it's partly related..." Chen Ling briefly explained the function of the Vow Gu.

The faint candlelight flickered in the dimness.

After listening, Jian Changsheng and Sun Bumian's breathing became heavy.

Jiang Xiaohua had no reaction, partly because he didn't need to breathe, and partly because... he didn't understand.

He just watched blankly as Jian Changsheng silently clenched his fists and then, without a word, turned and walked out of the palace. His black leather jacket was shrouded in a sinister light.

"Where are you going?" Chen Ling asked in a low voice.

"I'm going to find that bitch Chu Changqing and make him hand over the antidote!" Jian Changsheng said without looking back. "If he doesn't hand it over, I'll kill him!"

Before Jian Changsheng could walk out of the restaurant, a hand stopped him.

"Just you? Can you kill one of the Nine Monarchs?"

Sun Bumian said leisurely.

Jian Changsheng glared at him, opening his mouth as if to argue, but he couldn't say a word... The gap between him and the Nine Monarchs was still too large.

"Let me go instead," Sun Bumian said.

"?" I can't kill a Monarch, but you can?? Your rank isn't even as high as mine!" Jian Changsheng was unconvinced.

"……Hehe."

Sun Bumian pushed up the small round sunglasses on the bridge of his nose and smiled slightly.

For some reason, the moment this smile appeared, Jian Changsheng felt that Sun Bumian seemed different from before, but he couldn't say exactly how.

"If you're all going, then I'm going too." Jiang Xiaohua trotted to catch up.

"Enough."

Chen Ling's deep voice rang out from the other side of the long table. "Even without the Vow Gu, I wouldn't return to the human domain."

"Why???"

"Don't you understand yet? Whether the Vow Gu exists or not doesn't matter. What truly keeps me out of the human domain is people's prejudice... or rather, the barrier between 'human' and 'Calamity.'

As long as I am still the Mockery Calamity, no matter which domain I go to, it will always cause panic. Do you think that with that government document, I could really live in the Xuanyu Domain in peace?

No...

Even if the government accepts me, the public won't. Once they know that a world-ending Calamity is living in their domain, they will live in fear every day. The people living near me will move away in terror, more and more people will protest against the government, and they will pressure the Xuanyu Domain government along with other domains to force me to leave.

Even if I keep a low profile and act harmless, it's useless. My weakness will only breed their malice toward me, making them even more unscrupulous, and it will even implicate you...

Calamities have been invading humans for over three hundred years. How many people have died at the hands of Calamities? Their hatred, their fear, cannot be offset by a single document.

And I, as the Mockery Calamity, as long as I am in the human domain for one day, will always be a major threat to all of humanity. Without Chu Changqing's Vow Gu, there might be other black or white Gus to restrain me, to expel me!"

Chen Ling's voice echoed in the dim restaurant, and a hint of pain climbed onto that pitch-black, eerie face. Then, his pupils began to glow red, as if the second personality within him was stirring.

Chen Ling felt the change in his emotions and immediately forced himself to take a deep breath and calm down...

"I live very well in the Ghost-Mockery Abyss... Why go to the human domain to humiliate myself?"

"There is already an insurmountable chasm between me and the human domain."

The entire underground palace fell into deathly silence again.

Jian Changsheng, Sun Bumian, and Jiang Xiaohua looked at the figure in the bright red opera robes standing alone in the flickering candlelight at the end of the long table, speechless for a moment...

Chen Ling's answer was very realistic. Even if Jian Changsheng could use this document to get him a legal status in the Xuanyu Domain, "law" was ultimately just the "law" of the Xuanyu Domain government; it could not represent the attitude of all residents, let alone the will of all humanity.

Since that was the case, the existence of the Vow Gu made no difference... Chen Ling would not return to the human domain.

Jian Changsheng was silent for a long time. His fists were tightly clenched, then helplessly loosened. He took a deep breath and walked back toward the restaurant:

"What kind of bullshit human domain... if we're not going back, then we're not going back. I think this palace of yours is quite good. It's big, has many rooms, you don't need to turn on the air conditioning in the summer, and there's a bunch of venomous insects guarding outside... Here, no one can bully us."

Us.

Hearing these two words, Chen Ling's heart trembled slightly...

"Forget it, forget it, then let Chu Changqing off the hook," Sun Bumian also shrugged, turned back, and sat down at the dining table.

Jiang Xiaohua didn't say a word and obediently returned to his seat.

Chen Ling looked at the three people before him quietly.

Then,

He suddenly laughed.

The torches on the wall and the candles on the dining table burned violently, and the entire restaurant became brighter:

"Hahahaha! That's right!!"

"The 6-generation reunion after a long separation, don't let those messy things ruin the mood... This is my home turf, the Ghost-Mockery Abyss. You've come from afar, tonight we must have a good time!!"

The bright red opera robes stood at the head of the long table, and he waved his sleeves forcefully, shouting loudly:

"Someone!! Bring the King food and wine!!!"