Chapter 1496: Old Friends Appear

"Coal? Our Cause and Effect is coal?!" Jian Changsheng saw the wave of thousands upon thousands of pieces of coal piled together and felt like he hadn't woken up yet. He pinched himself hard, and after feeling the pain, he had a look of having seen a ghost,

"Walking down the street and getting hit by coal? Is this Ghost Path Ancient Treasury reasonable??"

"Run!"

Chen Ling vaguely guessed that the coal was aimed at him, Jian Changsheng, and Chu Muyun.

The only thing related to coal could be the destruction of Aurora City, and three of the five people present had participated in the "coal" incident to some extent, becoming tainted by the Cause and Effect, which was why so much coal was drawn toward them.

Regardless, it was better not to come into contact with this coal.

However, just as the five of them turned to avoid the coal wave, the street behind them suddenly began to crack from far away!

An inexplicable earthquake occurred in this Ghost City. Pitch-black cracks, like black snakes slithering on the surface, moved straight toward them—whether by coincidence or necessity!

"What is this now??"

"This is my 'Cause and Effect'!" Sun Bumian replied through gritted teeth.

The coal wave and the earth-cracking black snake blocked all their retreat paths.

Chen Ling frowned, locking his gaze on the surging coal wave. Compared to that mysterious earth crack, the coal seemed easier to deal with... At least on the surface, they didn't seem to have anything special about them.

But just as Chen Ling was about to act, a figure in a white robe flashed instantly above the five of them!!

The pale coat fluttered without wind,

bright cinnabar adorned the center of the forehead.

Those closed eyes looked down at the void "sandwiched" by the coal wave and the earth-cracking black snake. The red at the corners of the eyes looked like burning flames, scorching and dangerous.

"So... you were hiding here."

Ghost Path Ancient Treasury Envoy, [Red Mouth].

The moment Red Mouth’s aura appeared, Chen Ling and the others’ hearts skipped a beat. Before they could react, a pillar of fire that pierced the heavens and the earth swallowed the ten-mile radius of the Ghost City!

*BOOM—!!!*

With destructive power comparable to a nuclear explosion, rolling thick smoke surged into the clouds like a mushroom. The nearby Ghost City buildings had been completely razed to the ground by this strike, and the surging coal river had turned into a burning dragon of flames, streaking across the burning ruins...

Red Mouth had no intention of holding back. With one strike, he used his full Tier 8 strength!

Under this strike, Chen Ling relied on the physical constitution of the Mockery Calamity to withstand the most damage, his body covered in shocking scorch marks. While the others hadn't received the impact head-on, they were all in a miserable state... Jian Changsheng’s body was more than half carbonized, Sun Bumian had an arm blown off, and Chu Muyun was burned pitch-black, with only a final breath barely sustaining him!

Perhaps because the bandages were heat-resistant, Jiang Xiaohua was the only one who hadn't been seriously injured in the explosion.

Sun Bumian, still burning with residual flames, saw Red Mouth in mid-air and the ghostly phantoms "imprisoned" by the Ghost Path chains behind him, his pupils shrinking slightly!

"Chess Divine Path, [Fire Fusion Pill] path... Damn! It’s Sun Simiao! He’s controlling the ghost of Sun Simiao!"

In just one encounter, three of Chen Ling’s group were seriously injured, one of them dying. Seeing this, Chen Ling shouted without hesitation:

"—[CARD]!!"

As Chen Ling’s domain expanded, everything around them began to reverse.

The broken buildings began to reshape, the surging fire dragon turned back into coal, the thick smoke returned to Red Mouth’s palm along with the raging flames, and the scorch marks on Jian Changsheng, Sun Bumian, and Chu Muyun faded visibly...

"So... you were hiding here." Red Mouth’s voice came from above again.

This time,

Chen Ling was prepared in advance.

As the fire god pillar that pierced the heavens and earth crashed down, Chen Ling’s body turned into surging red clouds, soaring into the sky from beside the four of them, colliding head-on with the fire pillar!!

*DONG—!!!*

Chen Ling, in his Calamity form, possessed Tier 8 physical combat power. Those surging red clouds withstood Red Mouth’s fire god pillar, and the rolling waves of fire exploded in mid-air, sweeping across the sky of the Ghost Path Ancient Treasury!

"What did I say! With our current strength, entering the Ghost Path Ancient Treasury is too dangerous!!"

Hot air waves surged under the red clouds, and Sun Bumian couldn't help but say loudly.

Although Chen Ling had used [CARD] to reenact everything, the others still had residual memories of what had just happened, especially Chu Muyun. If Chen Ling hadn't activated his ability, he would likely have been the first to die in the Ghost Path Ancient Treasury.

Chu Muyun looked up at the figure in the red clouds that was single-handedly resisting the fire god, a complex look flashing in his eyes...

The newcomer he had personally recruited into the Twilight Society had grown into a towering tree capable of sheltering everyone.

With Chen Ling’s active attack, Jiang Xiaohua’s aura-masking ability failed completely. Their auras were exposed throughout the entire Ghost Path Ancient Treasury, and four figures scattered in various corners of the Treasury converged toward this direction!

"Mockery Calamity?" Sensing the world-ending aura in the red clouds, Red Mouth’s expression changed,

"You killed Empty Death, and you dare to come to the Ghost Path Ancient Treasury?!"

"I’m here," Chen Ling’s face appeared in the red clouds, "What can you do about it?"

Red Mouth’s gaze tightened. The chains locked onto Sun Simiao’s ghost shook again, flames rose crazily around him, and a miniature version of the sun gradually condensed from the void!

"Run! If we don't run, we’ll be surrounded!" Sun Bumian said immediately.

Taking advantage of Red Mouth being held back by Chen Ling, Jian Changsheng, Sun Bumian, Jiang Xiaohua, and Chu Muyun quickly changed direction and fled into the distance. Seeming to feel they were too slow, Sun Bumian flickered his wrist, and a burning Awakening Lion appeared, swallowing the group into its belly!

The next second,

a domain shrouded the battlefield!

The burning Awakening Lion suddenly seemed to lose its power and dissipated into thin air. The four figures stumbled to the ground. Jian Changsheng lost his balance and, being the unluckiest, almost slammed headfirst into a broken steel bar nearby. If he hadn't dodged it with quick reflexes, he would likely have gained another injury out of nowhere.

"Diamond! What are you doing!!" Jian Changsheng turned and cursed.

"It’s not me!!" Sun Bumian’s gaze was fixed on the front,

"It’s... him."

A figure also wearing a pale coat stepped through the air from beneath the River of the Underworld.

The pitch-black ghost-controlling chains swayed silently.

Behind him,

a ghost wearing a Law Enforcer trench coat floated silently.

The moment they saw that figure, Jian Changsheng and Chen Ling’s pupils shrank simultaneously!

"He... he is..."

Former Deputy Chief of the Aurora Realm Law Enforcers...

Soldier God Path, [Stop War] path,

Tan Xin.