Chaos Heavenly Emperor Art

"Should his ghoul bond be severed as well...?"

Apollos's voice carried a hint of probing and weakness, his broken evil eye cautiously observing Ling Feng's reaction.

Ling Feng's gaze was icy, the tip of the God-Slaying Spear still steadily pointing at the core of the Evil Eye. Facing this ancient and strange existence, Ling Feng dared not be careless in the slightest.

He quickly weighed the pros and cons.

Releasing Quinn from his debt chain means that Quinn can also regain some of his power.

This guy is an extremely dangerous and uncontrollable factor. Once he recovers, who knows what he might do? The strange abyssal power within him is always a huge hidden danger.

But if it is not resolved...

Although Apollos appears to be begging for mercy at this moment, who can guarantee that it doesn't have a backup plan?
If it were to forcibly devour Quinn's remaining life essence through the Soul Eater's Thread to restore itself, the situation could very well spiral out of control again.

Comparing the two, Ling Feng still believes that Apollos poses a greater threat.

"Dismissed."

Ling Feng made a quick decision, but at the same time looked at Zi Ling and said in a deep voice, "Zi Ling, keep a close eye on him! If he dares to make any unusual moves, kill him immediately!"

The reason why Ling Feng didn't deal with Quinn directly first was because he still had many doubts about Quinn.

For example, what exactly is that purple scale on his heart?
For example, why does he claim to be the son of the Hunting Mother? After all, as far as he knows, among the Zerg, the higher Zerg are all female and are called the Zerg Mother.

Quinn, however, is male. And he calls himself the Son of the Abyss; where does this power of the Abyss originate?

This also relates to Zi Ling's origins.

And how much is that Lady Night Mother hiding from me?
He had a vague premonition that at that so-called end moment, he was destined to be drawn into this vortex.

If you know nothing about all of this, you might not even know how you died!

"Yes! Master!"

Zi Ling immediately responded. Although she was also weak, she had recovered a lot of strength. She unfolded her crystal insect wings and locked her sharp gaze on Quinn, who was kneeling on the ground in the cage. Energy gathered at the tips of her wings, ready to be released.

Quinn raised his head, a complex emotion flashing in his bloodshot eyes—humiliation, anger, but also a hint of relief at surviving and a deep sense of apprehension.

He snorted coldly, said nothing, and just struggled to regulate his breathing.

Apollos dared not disobey, and a glimmer of light shot out from his evil eyes.

The thick, dark red ghoul thread above Quinn's head rapidly thinned and faded, eventually turning into a nearly transparent filament.

Instantly, Quinn felt a wave of relief wash over him, and his breathing became much more even.

However, he was still extremely weak and his strength was far from recovered. Under Zi Ling's close surveillance, he dared not make any rash moves for the time being.

Ling Feng breathed a slight sigh of relief and refocused his gaze on Apollos's broken evil eye. He moved the God-Slaying Spear forward slightly, its cold light flashing.

"Alright, now let's talk about the winner's 'reward'."

Ling Feng's voice carried a strong sense of threat.

“Of course…hehe…of course…” Apollos nodded repeatedly, “You’re the winner, you’re in charge!”

"First, return all the life essence that was extracted from me and Ziling."

Apollos's evil eye twitched, and he let out a hoarse, troubled voice: "Honorable guest... that insect queen is one thing, but you... you just detonated the life essence that I had taken from you, and that part of the essence is already... how... how am I supposed to return it?"

"Ok?"

Ling Feng's eyes flashed with a sharp light, and the tip of his God-Slaying Spear instantly unleashed a chilling killing intent. "That's your problem! If you can't do it, you'll pay with your life!"

"No! Wait! Hold on!"

Apollos cried out in terror, "I'll think of something! I'll think of something! Although the part of you that self-destructed cannot be recovered, the chaotic power within you can transform my essence. I will use my own essence to help you recover. Do you think that will work?"

Ling Feng hesitated for a moment, then nodded: "Okay. But there has to be double compensation!"

"Double?"

Apollos felt a pang of heartache; this guy was practically a bandit!
"three times!"

While Apollos hesitated, Ling Feng had already raised three fingers.

Apollos dared not refute any longer, and shot out two pure dark red energy streams from his evil eye, which were injected into Ling Feng and Zi Ling respectively.

Instantly, a warm and powerful force surged into their limbs and bones, rapidly repairing their injuries and replenishing their depleted energy.

With three times the replenishment, Ling Feng even surpassed his previous limits, and his strength reached a new level.

Ling Feng felt the renewed power within his body and his mind calmed down.

But he did not put away the God-Slaying Spear.

"This is just the first account."

Ling Feng said coldly, "This little compensation can't buy your life back!"

Apollos's evil eye revealed fear and pleading: "You... what else do you want? I've already..."

"This is just what the winner should get, but you seem to be entitled to even more. You said that, didn't you?"

“Then…” Apollos took a deep breath, “what else do you want? Wealth? Power? Treasures?”

"I want your 'Gambling Prison'."

Ling Feng interrupted it abruptly, uttering a startling statement!
"what?!"

Apollos's voice was filled with shock and disbelief, "You...you want to control the Gambling Prison? Impossible! This...this is my original rule!"

Ling Feng's gaze was sharp as a knife. "So what? You can do this, right?"

What he valued was the almost rule-based forced combat and plundering capabilities of the Gambling Prison.

Once you drag your enemy into your own gambling trap, the one who controls the game can control everything.

Apollos suffered a crushing defeat because his rules contained a major flaw.

If it were him, he would have drained the opponent of all their life essence at the end of the first bet.

Apollos was too engrossed in the game itself and ignored the potential threats it posed.

I want your abilities!

Ling Feng stared intently at Apollos. "You have a choice now: grant me this power, or die immediately! I'll give you ten breaths to consider!"

Apollos fell silent, his Evil Eye flashing intensely, clearly engaged in a fierce internal struggle.

"ten!"

"Nine!"

Ling Feng started the countdown.

Finally, when Ling Feng read out "one", Apollos chose to compromise.

"Okay! Alright!"

Apollos's voice carried a hint of resentment as he said fiercely, "I can teach you how to construct the 'Gambling Prison.' But I must warn you that once the game begins and the rules are established, even you yourself cannot violate them! If you lose but refuse to pay the corresponding price, you will also suffer the backlash from the rules themselves." "Judging from your current disheveled state, I can roughly guess the consequences."

Ling Feng remained expressionless. "Let's begin."

Apollos sighed, and a complex, dark red orb of light, composed of countless tiny runes, flew out from his Evil Eye and slowly drifted toward Ling Feng.

Ling Feng cautiously probed with his divine sense to confirm that there were no traps before taking it into his palm.

"How do you use this?"

"Don't you have the aura of the Nightmare God on you?"

Apollos suddenly revealed a strange smile, "Then you should be quite familiar with the aura of this thing, right?"

Ling Feng was slightly taken aback, and after a moment, a look of astonishment flashed in his eyes, "The Crown of Inheritance?"

“Indeed, this is something similar to the Crown of Inheritance.”

A flash of red light appeared in Apollos's Evil Eye: "The first Destroyer of Hesitation Street, the one who once created the so-called Crimson Age, was the first person to leave my Gambling Prison alive."

"Oh?" Ling Feng stared at Apollos with some surprise.

Indeed, there are always some intricate connections between the "old relics" of this world?
"Take it. Once you've refined this inheritance orb, you'll master the method to open the Gambling Prison. Although its suppressive power doesn't meet my standards, it's more than enough to deal with any first-level clergyman!"

Ling Feng's eyes lit up, and he carefully put away the inheritance orb.

Regardless of whether Apollos is trustworthy, this ability is indeed quite extraordinary.

"Now...can you let me go?"

Apollos's evil eye fixed on Ling Feng. "I have kept my promise. If there is nothing else, I can send you back to the ground right now."

Ling Feng stared at the broken evil eye, his mind racing.

kill?

Or not to kill?

This Apollos is too unpredictable. If we don't kill him now while he's seriously injured, we might not have another chance.

If he were to retaliate, Ling Feng would likely find it difficult to defend against such a powerful enemy.

But... can I really kill it completely?
If it cannot be killed, it may instead provoke a final, frenzied counterattack, or trigger unpredictable changes...

After much deliberation, Ling Feng finally slowly withdrew the God-Slaying Spear.

He stared at Apollos, took a deep breath, and said, "Send us away."

"Keeping your promises is a very good quality. I'll see you all off now!"

Apollo suddenly laughed, and the blood-red light in his evil eye barely coalesced, shining down on the ground below.

hum!
The next moment, the ground shook violently, and countless dark red tentacles covered in slime burst forth from the soil. They twisted and entangled wildly, carving out a twisted upward passage between the solid rock layer and the boiling lava lake!

At the end of the passage, one could vaguely see the dim sky and the pervasive dust outside.

Ling Feng glanced at Apollos with a solemn expression. How could he still control such power?
His intuition told him that this guy was not as simple as he seemed!
If I had actually tried to kill him just now, would I have been able to?
Or was it all part of Apollos's scheme from beginning to end?

Thinking of this, Ling Feng couldn't help but feel a chill of fear.

"Following this passage, we'll soon be back on the ground."

Apollos's voice became somewhat drowsy and weak, almost as he yawned, "I have used up too much energy and will soon fall into a deep sleep. This passage cannot be maintained for too long."

Ling Feng didn't hesitate any longer. He grabbed Quinn's shoulder, pulled him up, and then shouted at Zi Ling, "Let's go!"

"Ok!"

Ziling nodded and immediately followed.

The next moment, Ling Feng's figure flashed, and he instantly rushed into that strange passage, speeding towards the surface.

Just then, Ling Feng and his two companions completely disappeared at the end of the passage.

Rumble!
As those eerie tentacles turned into lava and spilled out, the passage disappeared, and everything was buried again.

The enormous demonic tree, which had been barely clinging to life and was in a dilapidated state, suddenly stopped trembling.

The flowing filthy blood and slime instantly flowed back into the Evil Eye's wound, and those terrifying cracks and pits healed rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye!
In just a few breaths, the enormous blood-red evil eye was restored to its original state, and the light in its pupils even became deeper and darker!
It slowly blinked its eyes, and there was no trace of its previous weakness left.
"Heh... Interesting humans..."

A hoarse, deep voice, full of amusement and coldness, came from the Evil Eye, completely different from its previous humility!

Immediately afterwards, the shadow behind the demon tree twisted and turned, and a figure slowly walked out.

It was a tall, thin, strange man wearing a tattered cloak.

His face was mostly hidden in the shadow of his hood, revealing only a single eye that shimmered with an eerie blue light and a chin covered with strange patterns.

He toyed with several wailing skulls in his hand, a cold smile playing on his lips.

"It's really interesting."

The one-eyed monster gazed in the direction Ling Feng had left, and chuckled in a hoarse voice, "Cunning, ruthless, decisive, and meticulous. Add to that the power of chaos and star spirits, fused together—truly a gift from heaven, don't you think?"

"Yes, Lord Apollos."

Immediately afterwards, a respectful voice came from the depths of the magma.

The next moment, a figure slowly emerged from beneath the lava.

It was an extremely tall and robust "woman".

Her upper body was indistinguishable from a human woman's, covered in dark purple armor, with a cold and beautiful face, carrying a hint of primal wildness. Her lower body, however, was a massive and ferocious spider's body, with eight sharp, spear-like limbs deeply embedded in the ground, radiating a suffocatingly malevolent aura!
This is clearly a queen insect.

Moreover, it seems to share the same origin as Quinn's aura, but is clearly on a higher level!
She strode across the lava to the base of the demon tree, then bowed slightly to the one-eyed monster, saying, "Greetings, Lord Apollos!"

Apollos tilted his head slightly, his single eye beneath his hood glancing lightly at the Spider Queen below, before saying with a hint of mockery, "Hunter Queen. It seems you've lost this round to the Night Queen."

It turns out that this spider-shaped insect mother was actually the Hunting Mother.

So, Quinn's "mother"?
The expression on the Huntress's face twisted slightly. After a long while, she gritted her teeth and said, "It's all those damned humans' fault. Quinn shouldn't have been born so soon!"

His tone clearly conveyed intense anger and resentment.

"Regardless, a loss is a loss. Therefore, in the following actions, you and the tribe you lead must unconditionally cooperate with the Night Mother, understand?"

"Yes……"

The mother hunter's voice was almost squeezed out from between her teeth.

She clenched her fists and said coldly, "Quinn is still in that human's hands. Can I..."

"of course."

Apollos gave a cold laugh, "But I warn you first, you must not harm him!"

"Yes, Your subordinate...understands!" (End of Chapter)