Chaos Heavenly Emperor Art

Quinn's figure slowly emerged from the distorted shadow cast by the giant tree.

He looked quite disheveled, his armor was badly damaged, covered with scorch marks and cracks, indicating that he had suffered a lot on his way here.

Strangely, a bizarre thread connected to his head. The thread stood vertically, faintly glowing with a bloody light, and was about three or four feet long, disappearing into the void at its end.

Quinn looked like a puppet on a string.

This immediately reminded Ling Feng of the corpses hanging on that demonic tree.

Could it be that the "threads" on Quinn's head are the same as the "vines" connecting the heads of those corpses?

"Quinn!"

At the same time, as the saying goes, enemies are especially hateful when they meet. Zi Ling's eyes instantly blazed with anger, and she forced herself to step forward despite her weak body, shouting, "I'll kill you!"

"Hmph, save your breath, you idiot."

Quinn, however, did not adopt a fighting stance. Instead, he crossed his arms and gave a mocking sneer. He gestured with his chin toward Ling Feng and Zi Ling, "Look at your own heads! The moment you stepped into this realm, you were already prisoners of 'He,' just like me!"

Him?
Ling Feng felt a chill run down his spine and subconsciously looked up.

Zi Ling followed Quinn's gaze and looked at Ling Feng with a puzzled expression, but Ling Feng didn't respond to her playful look.

This sight sent chills down their spines, sending a shiver down their spines!
At some point, just like Quinn, each of them had a nearly transparent, thread-like energy strand connected directly above their heads!

The thread seemed to be rooted deep within the soul, weightless and imperceptible, barely perceptible to the naked eye. Only under the surrounding dark red light could a faint, almost imperceptible reflection be seen.

One end of it connects to the top of their heads, while the other end meanders upwards, eventually disappearing into the void around the blood-red evil eye at the top of the giant tree!

"What...what is this?!"

Zi Ling looked terrified. A thin line had inexplicably grown on her head. Although there was nothing unusual about it at the moment, it was still a bit creepy.

"What are you waiting for?"

Quinn chuckled sinisterly, a hint of urging in his voice: "Try it, tear it off with all your might? See what interesting things happen?"

Zi Ling frowned slightly. "Do you think I wouldn't dare?"

As he spoke, he actually reached out to grab it.

"Don't act rashly!"

Ling Feng suddenly shouted and quickly stopped Zi Ling's actions.

His gaze was fixed on Quinn's head, where the hair strands were noticeably thicker and darker, almost a dark red, as if they were made of congealed blood, and one could even vaguely see the life force flowing within them.

Even so, Quinn did not try to break it, which speaks volumes.

This thread definitely cannot be torn directly.

"Damn it!"

Quinn watched as Ling Feng pressed Zi Ling's hand down, and he was so angry that he gritted his teeth.

The moment he finished speaking——

"Ho ho ho..."

A hoarse, dry laugh, like the grinding of withered bones mixed with the wails of countless dead souls, suddenly rang out from the direction of the giant tree and directly entered the minds of the three people!

Ling Feng and Zi Ling suddenly looked up at the giant evil eye at the top of the giant tree.

At that moment, the eye was slowly turning, its pupil contracting, focusing on them.

A cold yet insane will swept across the land in an instant.

"Welcome to my gambling prison, distinguished guests."

The voice rang out again, with a mocking madness, "I am Apollos, the spirit of gambling! Here, everything can be solved through gambling!"

Before the words were even finished, the enormous blood-red evil eye at the top of the giant tree shifted slightly, its pupil instantly locking onto Quinn.

“Quinn, I’m very sorry, we made a bet before that the newcomer would try to destroy the ‘Ghoul Line’ directly, but it seems that you lost again.”

Ling Feng and Zi Ling exchanged a glance, and before they could react, they heard Apollos continue to utter a suffocating whisper.

"The stakes... collect..."

A flash of blood-red light appeared in the Evil Eye!
"Ugh! No—"

Quinn suddenly let out a painful groan, his body trembled violently, and he collapsed to his knees.

Suddenly, the already thick, dark red thread on his head swelled up again, becoming as thick as a hemp rope.

The color is also deeper, as if it could drip blood!
At the same time, Quinn's face visibly paled, and his breathing became slightly disordered, as if his life force had been forcibly drained away.

Faced with all this, even the arrogant Quinn dared not offer the slightest resistance.

Ling Feng and Zi Ling's eyelids twitched wildly as they finally understood the terrifying nature of the silk thread.

As the "threads" above their heads grow thicker, their ultimate fate will likely be the same as the skeletons hanging on the demon tree.

"hateful!"

After a long while, Quinn finally managed to stand up, panting heavily, glaring angrily at Evil Eye through gritted teeth, but daring not to make any further moves.

After absorbing a portion of Quinn's life essence, the demonic tree let out a comfortable groan before turning its evil eye to look at Ling Feng and the other two.

"We haven't welcomed you yet, my distinguished guests! It's been a long time since we've had so many guests at once. Let me think, let me think, perhaps we can come up with some new ways to have fun!"

Apollos's voice suddenly rose in pitch, carrying an almost manic excitement.

"Hey! What the hell are you? And what do you mean by that?"

Zi Ling gritted her teeth and started cursing.

"Oh, lovely Zerg girl, let me introduce you properly."

Apollos, however, did not get angry. Instead, he patiently began to explain.

"This is my gambling prison. If you want to get out, you must participate in my game! If you can beat me, you will receive unexpected rewards; but if you lose, you will become my collection like those poor worms in the tree!"

The Evil Eye's pupils turned to Quinn: "This Zerg friend has lost two games in a row, which means that three more losses and he will be added to my collection."

Ling Feng's eyelids twitched slightly. Judging from Quinn's condition, every time he lost to that guy who called himself Apollos, the threads on the top of his head would become a few degrees thicker.

At the same time, their life essence is extracted.

After five failures, the silk thread will completely transform into "vines" that hang the skeletons.

As their life force was completely drained, they became just another corpse among those skeletons.

This is what Apollos referred to as his collection.

Why should we participate in your game? And what if we don't want to participate in your betting?

Ling Feng asked coldly, his mind racing as he searched for a way to escape.

"Because you have no other choice!"

Apollos's voice suddenly turned icy cold, "The game began the moment you stepped into my territory! Refuse to participate? That's tantamount to automatic surrender!"

Ling Feng felt the threads on his head tighten slightly, as if they were about to tear his soul out.

The evil eye's pupils contracted slightly, focusing on Ling Feng.

That hoarse, manic voice rang out again, with a mocking air of toying with all living beings: "So, my esteemed guest, would you like to participate in this delightful gamble?"

As its sound rang out, the countless skeletons hanging from the branches seemed to emit a silent shriek, just like "wind chimes".

For a moment, even Ling Feng couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine.

Ling Feng frowned, took a deep breath, and said with a bitter smile, "Heh, do I have a choice? Apollos, I'll join your bet!"

"Excellent! Hahaha, excellent!"

"How do you want to gamble?" Ling Feng asked in a deep voice.

"Let me think about it...let me think about it carefully!"

Apollos's voice carried an unsettling excitement, "Yes, this is it!" As soon as it finished speaking, three ancient, dark red stone platforms suddenly and silently rose from the scorched black ground in front of the three.

On each stone platform lay a pile of dark red chips of unknown material, shimmering with an eerie light; there were twenty of each.

At the same time, a fist-sized die slowly emerged in the center of the stone platform, constantly changing between black, white, and gray colors, with twisted runes engraved on each side of the die.

“These dice are called ‘heart dice,’ and they reflect the choices in your heart.”

"Each round, you will secretly choose a color and the number of chips you choose to keep is one to five."

"Then reveal them simultaneously to determine the dominant color."

Apollos began to explain his game rules in detail.

"If only one color is selected, the player with the highest score among all bettors of that color wins all the chips revealed..."

"If two colors are selected, the color with more selections is the dominant color, and the bettors of that color share the chips bet by the losing side."

"If three colors appear, it is considered a draw, and all the chips shown belong to me."

"The game consists of three rounds. After the three rounds, the person with the fewest chips is the final loser of that round. According to the rules, the loser's Soulline will continue to grow and enter the next stage."

"And the winner of this round will receive one wish as a reward."

"But if I have the most chips of all, then I'm sorry, you are all losers."

The rules aren't complicated, but the stakes in this game are the precious "source of life."

This can easily cause people to feel nervous and anxious, thus affecting their judgment.

Ling Feng's mind raced, and he quickly calculated the option that would maximize his own interests.

He and Ziling are companions, giving them a natural advantage.

If he and Ziling consistently choose the same color and both choose the five largest chips, at least they won't lose their chips to Apollos.

However, Apollos seemed to have seen through Ling Feng's thoughts and immediately grinned maliciously.

"Oh, I forgot to remind everyone that all telepathic communication will be ineffective here. Any attempt to cheat in the game will result in immediate disqualification if discovered."

Ling Feng's heart sank.

It seems that the path he planned to take with Ziling is not going to work.

Is it all just a matter of luck?
He clenched his fists.

No, entrusting our lives and Ziling's lives entirely to luck, something so uncertain, is far too risky.

"Then, let's begin, please me to the fullest!"

Apollos's voice was filled with frenzied anticipation, "First round, place your bets!"

Ling Feng, Quinn, and Zi Ling looked at each other, and for a moment, everyone held their breath.

The air seemed to freeze, with only the slow, gurgling sound of the lava lake in the distance and the pounding of a heartbeat remaining.

This is a reckless gamble that cannot be avoided.

Every choice you make could lead you into an abyss.

Ling Feng took a deep breath, his gaze sweeping over the pile of cold chips in front of him, then at Zi Ling beside him, and at Quinn across from him, whose expression was sinister.

His brain began to work at lightning speed.

In the first round, the color information can only be obtained randomly.

However, the choice of the number of chips requires careful consideration.

Choosing a 5-point number may give you an advantage in chip count, but if you don't have an advantage in suit, you'll lose even more chips.

The worst-case scenario is that all three of them lose five chips in one go.

Apollos can then get 15 chips in one round.

This round alone is enough to put the remaining three in a losing position.

This bet, seemingly fair, is actually only relatively fair among the three players.

Apollos, on the other hand, has a much greater chance of winning.

Ling Feng clenched his fists. Without more information, he figured he should play it safe and be conservative in the first round.

"It's time to place your bets, gentlemen, make your decisions quickly."

Apollos's voice was like a death knell.

The Heart Dice directly reflects the inner choice in one's eyes, and is always hidden by a veil before being revealed.

As for the number of chips, they can only be drawn from inside the enclosure, and will be revealed at the very last moment.

Ling Feng clenched his fist, pondered for a moment, and reached into the enclosure to take out two chips.

Even if he loses this game, Quinn has already lost twice before.

His Soul Eater's Thread has also evolved twice.

Therefore, he and Ziling had a natural advantage of two rounds.

There's no need to be too reckless in this first bet.

Concentrating his mind, he silently chose black again.

Zi Ling looked at Ling Feng in a bit of a panic. Ling Feng gave her a reassuring look and shook his head slightly.

Zi Ling gritted her teeth and, imitating Ling Feng, carefully took a chip and chose white.

Her thinking was more stable than Ling Feng's.

Losing means losing only one chip, it's not a big deal.

Quinn grinned maliciously and grabbed five chips without hesitation!

His situation is different from Ling Feng's.

He had to take risks because he couldn't afford to lose.

"Alright, time's up, the results are in."

Apollos's voice rang out.

A flash of light appeared on the three stone platforms, each displaying its choice:

Lingfeng: Black, 2 pieces.

Zi Ling: White, 1 piece.

Quinn: Black, 5 pieces.

The results are in: Black, with a total of 7 chips, is the dominant color.

"Humph."

Quinn snorted softly, "Unfortunately, Zi Ling is so steady!"
But it doesn't matter, we won the first round at least.

According to the rules, if two colors are selected, the remaining chips will be divided among the players with the dominant color.

Fortunately, Ziling was conservative and only took one chip.

"In the first round, black takes all..."

Apollos announced.

As soon as she finished speaking, the chip that Zi Ling had chosen was split in two and placed on Ling Feng's and Quinn's stone platforms respectively.

The two players currently have 20.5 chips each.

Zi Ling, on the other hand, only had 19 left.

Two more rounds to go. (End of Chapter)