Chapter 1450: Red Umbrella Soul Collection

Heaving breaths escaped his lips.

The aurora that had enveloped the land gradually dissipated. Amidst the wailing cold wind, Chen Ling, bleeding from all seven orifices, stumbled and half-knelt in the snow. Burning breaths escaped his lips, instantly freezing into fine mist. Chen Ling gasped greedily for the air of survival, as if eager to release the immense pressure that had accumulated in his heart during this time.

He had won the gamble.

From the southernmost to the northernmost, from the South Sea Territory to the Aurora Territory, from fighting a fully-formed Scorn Calamity to pushing it to its limits, he had finally accomplished an impossible feat on this desolate stage... annihilating the Thought Calamity as a Tier Seven being.

This was, to date, the first apocalyptic calamity truly killed by humanity.

It wasn't Chen Ling who killed it, but the Aurora Lord.

However, had the Thought Calamity not chosen to merge with the Old Ancestor of the Pu family, relying on its inherent power and deceit, even if the entire struggle were replayed, the residual consciousness of the Aurora Lord would not have been able to kill the Thought Calamity so easily. From this perspective, what killed the Thought Calamity was neither Chen Ling nor the Aurora Lord... but its own arrogance and greed.

Chen Ling looked up at the sky.

The vast aurora that had flowed across the sky was now incredibly dim. All the contingencies left by Yang Xiao had been exhausted, and the souls of millions of residents, once etched into the sky, also began to gradually dissipate... They had witnessed everything, but now, they would finally depart.

The aurora was about to vanish.

Chen Ling's chapped lips parted slightly, his heart filled with complex emotions... He was the one who brought the Thought Calamity here, and he was the one who summoned the Aurora Lord to act. Even if the decision to eradicate the Thought Calamity together was their own, Chen Ling still felt guilty. After all, they had existed here for so long, and yet it was he who ultimately led them to their dissipation...

No... Wait!

Chen Ling suddenly seemed to recall something, and a faint light flickered in his dim eyes. He raised his hand and reached into the void beside him, an unprecedented seriousness appearing on his pale face...

Moments later, scattered vermilion petals converged from the void!

These petals swirled in Chen Ling's hand, quickly outlining and reforming. Within mere seconds, a large crimson paper umbrella, formed from petals, was gently held in his grasp.

This was an ability Chen Ling had gained after reaching Tier Seven. This appeared to be the Scorn Calamity's exclusive weapon. On the two previous occasions when he had fully unleashed the Scorn Calamity, Chen Ling had seen this red paper umbrella in the images reflected on the curtain. It possessed the ability to infinitely contain souls, and in combat, it could unleash terrifying destructive power by consuming the souls stored within... Furthermore, the more souls it contained, the greater its destructive power, theoretically having no upper limit.

The Scorn Calamity, not long ago, had used this umbrella to contain a large number of calamity souls, deterring the Taboo Calamity with a single strike.

But setting aside its "soul-consuming" attack characteristic, wasn't this large crimson paper umbrella the world's sole unique soul sanctuary?

Chen Ling carefully sensed the abilities of this red paper umbrella. Just as he thought, its internal space was infinite, and Chen Ling could materialize anything within it if he wished. He had even found numerous "purgatory areas" for tormenting souls inside... The former Scorn Calamity had relied on this large crimson paper umbrella to become the nightmare of countless beings.

This also made Chen Ling understand why it was said that dying at the hands of the Scorn Calamity was far more terrifying than death itself.

"The Aurora Lord has guarded you for so many years; I cannot let you vanish because of me..."

"If you trust me, please reside temporarily within this umbrella."

"In the future, if there's an opportunity..."

"Perhaps, you might even reappear in the world."

Amidst the frost-churned ruins, the actor in his traditional opera robe slowly unfurled the red umbrella, like a vibrant crimson flower blooming in this desolate world.

The next moment, the vast aurora that had already dimmed and begun to dissipate, as if guided by something, swirled and converged towards the large crimson paper umbrella. Massive numbers of souls surged and poured into the space within the umbrella.

Chen Ling held the umbrella, looking up. He saw tiny specks of light already glowing beneath the inner surface of the umbrella, like a sky full of stars adorning its interior.

Once all the souls had entered the umbrella, Chen Ling slowly closed it, and it transformed into petals, vanishing into the void.

"Goodbye... Aurora City." Chen Ling cast one last look at the city in ruins, muttering to himself.

He turned and left.

Even though most of the Forbidden Sea's territory had been devastated by the passing crimson star, the biting cold still permeated the land. Chen Ling stumbled forward across the ravaged earth, every step a struggle. As far as the eye could see, chaotic, suspended fragments of the Gray World were everywhere.

At this point, Chen Ling's vision was blurred. The prolonged high-intensity pursuit and escape, coupled with severe mental exhaustion, and now the forceful activation of his Tier Seven ability to contain the souls of Aurora City... His small figure staggered through the Gray World, swaying precariously as if drunk. At this moment, any random calamity emerging could likely claim his life.

Chen Ling's legs moved mechanically, his consciousness gradually sinking. He didn't know how long he managed to walk before his vision suddenly went black...

"This is bad..." Chen Ling's last thought at that moment was to pray that no calamity or human would approach.

He didn't trust calamities, nor did he trust humans. If he were to collapse defenseless in this far northern wilderness now, it would be akin to completely surrendering his life to fate. But no matter how unwilling he was, there was nothing he could do; his body had reached its limit.

Thud—

Chen Ling toppled headfirst to the ground.

The wailing cold wind echoed, and the hem of his black-patterned, red opera robe silently fluttered in the breeze...

At the edge of the horizon, a calamity that had just fled from the Tianshu Territory was plodding dejectedly across the shattered land. Suddenly, as if catching the scent of blood, its head snapped towards a direction not far away. It was both bewildered and somewhat delighted, cautiously approaching the fallen, blood-stained figure.

Just then, a crimson thread instantly streaked across the sky.

The calamity remained in its forward-moving posture, but its head had already rolled to the ground with a gurgle, blood spattering. In the eyes of its severed head, confusion and terror still lingered! Everything before its eyes gradually became shrouded in black. Just as it was about to draw its last breath, it saw a girl in a long black dress, clutching a crimson thread, slowly walking towards it.

The crimson thread swayed gently in the void. The other end of the thread in the girl's hand was connected to Chen Ling, who lay unconscious in the distance.

She stopped in front of Chen Ling.

"Master... I found him," Liu Qingyan's voice rang out in the wind.

Behind her, a graceful figure draped in a long gray robe slowly emerged. A complex emotion flickered in her gaze as she looked at the fallen figure.