Chapter 1365: The Palace Lamp Burns Out

[Divination of Good and Evil · Separation of Boundaries].

In an instant, the two auras of good and evil around Sun Bumian were stripped apart. All the golden aura of good fortune poured into the giant lion mask, while all the black aura of evil burrowed into his own body...

The Abyss of Ghostly Derision was originally a place of great evil. After Sun Bumian swallowed the evil aura here, his aura climbed step by step, also reaching the level of approaching the Seventh Order!

Exuding a terrifying aura, he raised his palm and grabbed straight toward the shadow giant's head!

One sword, one palm;

At this moment, Jian Changsheng and Sun Bumian both used their strongest killing moves at this time!

As the two streams of light approached, the shadow giant actually split into two, differentiating into two heads and four arms, facing the sword and palm respectively. The black world-ending aura, like rolling black clouds, submerged them both!

BOOM—!!!

A deafening roar came from the sky. Jiang Xiaohua, who was playing dead, looked up silently for a moment, then buried his face back into the dirt.

The loud noise in the sky lasted for several seconds. A painful muffled groan sounded first, followed by a miserable sword sound that streaked across the sky. A dim long sword flew out of the black clouds and embedded itself into the cliff cave with a clang, almost splitting a sleeping poisonous snake in half.

The rolling black clouds gradually dissipated, and the shadow giant's body had disappeared.

The pitch-black opera robe fluttered in the wind. Chen Ling hovered in the air, one hand grabbing the knocked-out Sun Bumian, the other grabbing the exhausted and fainted Jian Changsheng. He swept a glance at the two unconscious people in his hands, a casual smile rising at the corners of his mouth.

The violence and fighting spirit in his scarlet pupils gradually faded... The bright red opera robe returned to its color.

"Really... not tough enough."

Chen Ling waved his hands, and the two were thrown directly onto the backs of the two centipedes at the door, like two hard pieces of cured meat, motionless.

Chen Ling's figure descended slowly from the air, walked to Jiang Xiaohua who was still playing dead, and reached out to pat his shoulder:

"Stop pretending, it's over."

Jiang Xiaohua wriggled for a moment and finally pulled his head out of the dirt. Soil debris fell from his snow-white hair, and his eyes looked longingly at Chen Ling:

"Not fighting anymore?"

"...Not fighting anymore, they've already fainted."

"Then... I'm leaving too?"

"Yeah, go with them."

Jiang Xiaohua nodded and climbed up from the ground. Seeing the two people lying neatly on their respective centipedes, he walked quite consciously toward the back of the last centipede.

The moment he stepped onto the centipede's back, the centipede's body swayed significantly, as if it were almost crushed... Fortunately, Chen Ling had specifically chosen a relatively powerful centipede for Jiang Xiaohua, otherwise, it really wouldn't have been able to carry him out of the Abyss of Ghostly Derision.

"Plum Blossom." Chen Ling suddenly spoke.

"Hmm?" Jiang Xiaohua, who had just climbed onto the centipede's back, turned around in confusion.

"Who exactly are you?"

Jiang Xiaohua blinked. "I'm Jiang Xiaohua."

"I know, I mean..." Chen Ling opened his mouth, seemingly finding it difficult to explain his question to Jiang Xiaohua. He simply changed the way he asked, "You have the same curse as me... Can you tell me why the curse of [Nu] appeared on you?"

Jiang Xiaohua thought for a while. "Helping a friend."

"Helping a friend?" The simple three words left Chen Ling confused. "What friend? How did you help?"

"A friend is a friend... He is very similar to you, Heart." Jiang Xiaohua paused for a moment,

"But, you are different."

Chen Ling wanted to ask something else, but Jiang Xiaohua had already sat cross-legged on the centipede. He looked at Chen Ling and couldn't help but speak again:

"Heart... I want to drink."

Chen Ling hesitated for a moment before asking the question that was already on his lips, but he didn't ask it.

He nodded,

"Someone, bring a jar... no, three jars of Five-Poison Wine for the King."

At Chen Ling's order, the surrounding poisonous insects immediately went to get the wine for him. Chen Ling himself walked to the side of the poisonous snake that had been scared silly, pulled out the long sword that had been knocked away, and put it back on Jian Changsheng.

A moment later, three jars of Five-Poison Wine were tightly tied to the centipede, looking bloated and a bit funny.

"Is it enough?" Chen Ling asked.

"Enough, Heart, it's too much." Jiang Xiaohua nodded repeatedly.

"It'll probably take them a while to wake up, so you'll have to protect them on the way." Chen Ling paused for a moment. "After they wake up, there are a few words I want you to pass on to them..."

After Chen Ling finished speaking, Jiang Xiaohua said "Hmm." "I've got it."

"Good, you guys go."

Jiang Xiaohua sat on the centipede, waving at Chen Ling while suddenly asking:

"Heart... we'll see each other again... right?"

Chen Ling was slightly taken aback.

A moment later, a smile curled at the corners of his mouth. "We will."

"Oh... bye-bye."

The three centipedes carried the unconscious Jian Changsheng and Sun Bumian, and Jiang Xiaohua, who had already started secretly drinking the Five-Poison Wine, left the Abyss of Ghostly Derision just like that, their massive figures gradually disappearing on the cliff.

Chen Ling stood there quietly, watching them go until he couldn't see their shadows anymore, but he didn't leave...

He stood there like a statue, motionless.

I don't know how long it had been, when he spoke in a deep voice:

"Wu Yi."

Hearing Chen Ling's call, Wu Yi immediately crawled out of the ground and waited respectfully by his side.

"Take some subordinates and destroy the terrain around the Abyss of Ghostly Derision." Chen Ling looked in the direction the three had left and spoke calmly. "The more chaotic, the better. It's best if they can never find the route back... And specifically send people to guard the perimeter. If they approach next time, just drive them away."

Wu Yi tilted his head, his eyes full of confusion:

[Great King, aren't they your friends?]

"A great hero of the human realm getting too close to a World-Ending Calamity... is not a good thing." Chen Ling slowly closed his eyes and smiled bitterly. "The most lethal things in this world are rumors and the human heart..."

He brushed his vermilion sleeves and turned alone to walk toward the dim underground palace...

Without Sun Bumian's aura of good fortune, the underground palace returned to its dead, icy silence. Everything here was quiet, with only the sound of Chen Ling's footsteps... just like when he first arrived at the palace.

But throughout the palace, candles were still burning brightly.

Those were the candles Jian Changsheng had lit last night.

Every night he lived here, Jian Changsheng would light the lamps himself. The battle just now had extinguished the candles in the dining room, but it hadn't affected the outside.

But from today on, no one would light the candles for him here; no one would arrange the good fortune; and no one would sit beside him shouting that they wanted to drink with him... The companionship of these few days was like a dream bubble of a lonely king taking a nap. When he returned again, it was as if nothing had ever happened.

Thousands of red candles burned silently, like the last light spread in the dark palace. The bright red opera robe walked up the steps along the flickering candlelight, casually picked up a cup of Five-Poison Wine that hadn't been finished, and drank it down!

His Adam's apple rolled violently, and he poured all the wine into his throat in one gulp. A feeling that was hard to describe as spicy or painful surged into Chen Ling's heart, but immediately after, that illusory joy forcibly suppressed this bitterness...

BANG—!!

He smashed the empty wine cup to the ground.

The bright red opera robe opened its sleeves and stood before the empty, lonely throne. He took a deep breath, and the full chest of indescribable emotions surged into his heart with the strength of the wine. He opened his mouth slightly, and the beautiful, sorrowful singing echoed in the dark, deserted palace:

"Don't talk of gold needles and silver threads embroidering the python robe~"

"It is clearly thousands of threads trapping the body and soul!"

"The poisonous wine is poured full of red-clad tears..."

"The palace lamp burns out... the old opera monument..."

"Hahahahahahahaha..."

Red sleeves brushed lightly, and the thousands of candles in the underground palace were extinguished instantly!