Painting the Face
"Do you guys think 【Little Junior Brother】 can succeed?"
In the audience seats, 【Mo Jue】 looked at the red-clothed figure sitting with his back to them on the 【Stage】 and couldn't help but ask.
"I don't know." 【Luan Mei】 shook her head. "I've only heard of this secret method from Master's mouth, but no one has truly practiced it."
"Master said this secret method can be practiced, so it definitely can be. Moreover, 【Little Junior Brother】 is extraordinarily talented. If even he can't practice it successfully, then it's estimated that no one in the world can." Ning Ruyu slowly spoke.
"That's true..."
After Master tapped Chen Ling's brow with the pen, the latter was as if he had fallen into a deep sleep, sitting motionless on the 【Stage】.
Seeing this, Master didn't continue to stay 【On Stage】, but directly walked among the audience seats and slowly sat down. The five of them sat neatly together, their gazes all staring at the red clothes on the 【Stage】.
"Next, it's all up to 【Old Six】 himself."
In a pure white world, Chen Ling slowly opened his eyes.
At this moment, he was suspended in midair like a floating speck. Everything around him was completely empty. Except for the endless white color, there was nothing else.
Chen Ling stayed in this pure white, empty world with his eyes open for a long time before a trace of spirit returned to his eyes... His memories surged into his mind like a tide, and his whole person was exactly as if he had just awakened from a long dream.
Chen Ling hadn't fully recovered from that bizarre state. Just now, it was as if he had forgotten everything and entered a state similar to "spacing out", not even perceiving the passage of time.
"Is this what Master called 'formless and selfless'?" Chen Ling murmured to himself.
According to what Master said, he was actually already in a state of dormancy right now, with only this sliver of sentience awakened. In other words, he, who was currently in this white space, was not complete.
Chen Ling looked around and tried to control his body to explore this white space, but no matter which direction he moved in, it was always a vast expanse of white. There was no physical matter here; rather, it was a part of his spiritual world.
"So this is a blank 【Opera Masks】..."
Chen Ling recalled Master's words, and in passing, recalled the mysterious lyrics he had just learned. Fortunately, there were no omissions, and he still remembered them very clearly.
He took a deep breath, his lips parted slightly, and the obscure and complex lyrics began to echo in the vast white world:
"Heaven and earth are illusory, original self and no self, using mortal spirit as a reliance, outline my holy form..."
As Chen Ling's lyrics echoed in the space, everything around him suddenly began to surge. It was exactly like a thick mist being stirred by some formless giant hand. Disordered lights and shadows began to outline themselves from within...
Chen Ling could feel that following the echoing of the lyrics, something was about to emerge from this empty world.
Buzz——!
A low buzzing sound rang out. The nothingness around Chen Ling twisted out of thin air, and the environment suddenly changed!
Pitch-black 【Killing Intent】 spread through the air. Above the sky in the distance, a massive black sword towering into the heavens stood majestically. At this moment, he was standing amidst a ground full of corpses, blood blurring the earth...
Seeing this scene, Chen Ling froze slightly.
This is... the 【Ancient Vault of the Military Path】?
"You three, come at me together." A familiar voice transmitted from a distance, and Chen Ling turned to look.
He only saw "Chen Ling" standing on the opposite hillside, looking down at 【Lu Xuanming】, 【Jian Changsheng】, and 【Pu Wen】, who were covered in injuries below. His eyes were full of sharpness and mockery.
The next moment, he engaged the three in battle. A pitch-black 【Handgun】 pressed against 【Pu Wen】's brow, and with a bang, he instantly killed one person, blood and brain matter splashing across the ground. Subsequently, he shifted his stance, wielding a 【Dagger】 to fight one against two, engaging in battle with 【Lu Xuanming】 and 【Jian Changsheng】!
His movements were like a ghost, his killing intent piercing to the bone. Relying on the 【Slaughter Dance】 and terrifying combat instincts, he sequentially killed the two of them, becoming the final winner of the 【Ancient Vault of the Military Path】.
Amidst the corpses covering the mountains and plains, "Chen Ling" held the dripping 【Dagger】, slowly turned his head, and locked eyes with the Chen Ling on the other side.
——【Male Lead】.
Under the gaze of the 【God of Slaughter】 "Chen Ling", the surrounding environment gradually dissipated. Blood-colored 【Markings】 extended outward from the scene and began to outline in the vast white world, as if something was slowly taking shape.
"This is... 【Painting the Vermillion Face】?" Chen Ling murmured, "So, my role type is 【Male Lead】?"
Before his voice fell, the scene before his eyes suddenly changed!
Heavy snow falling like goose feathers danced in the air. Within a fairly magnificently decorated estate, a figure draped in a 【Great Crimson Theatrical Robe】 was slowly walking out of a room...
It was a "【Dan Role】" with red makeup like an apricot and the tails of his eyebrows hooked upwards, looking like 【Chen Yan】. He slowly walked out from a room filled with corpses, like the only touch of vermilion in a pale world.
He stared fixedly at Qian Fan's trio, his lips parted slightly, followed closely by a melodious and extremely penetrating operatic singing echoing in the sky!
"The little nun is at the sweet age of sixteen, right in her youth, her head shaved by her master..."
"Chen Ling... Chen Ling! I know I was wrong!! Let me go... I'll give you all my money! I will never again..."
Pfft——!
The wide sleeves fluttered like butterfly wings, the cold glint of the 【Dagger】 drew an arc, and the next moment, two heads were tossed high up from the snowy ground...
——【Female Lead】.
As the scene before him gradually dissipated, a second face began to outline on Chen Ling's skin, gradually overlapping with the 【Male Lead】 and interweaving into another complex and mysterious pattern.
"'Red Dust, someone come welcome me'."
Behind Chen Ling, another low voice sounded.
He turned his head to look and only saw a figure wearing a golden mask and a black windbreaker, standing tall high above the Red Dust 【Main City】!
The Golden Society 【Special Envoy】, dragging a mountain of gold like the sun, looking down upon the city below like an emperor in the dark night... Countless figures hurriedly ran out from within, scrambling to prostrate themselves at his feet...
——【Painted Face Role】.
"Chen Ling, after graduation, what do you plan to do?"
Two figures emerged on Chen Ling's left. That was the roof of the teaching building at the Shangjing Drama Academy, an inconspicuous corner in his memory... At this moment, two youths filled with bewilderment towards the future were standing together, gazing into the distance.
"I sent my resume to the Shangjing City Grand Theater applying to be their intern 【Director-Screenwriter】. I should have a result in the next couple of days."
"The Shangjing City Grand Theater huh? That's not bad... But I heard it's very hard to survive there. Out of ten intern 【Director-Screenwriter】s, they supposedly only keep one at most."
"If I can get in, that'll be good. We'll talk about the rest later."
"Do you know that Chen Nan from the next class? His dad is the chairman of Longhua Entertainment. I heard he's already secured investment recently and started shooting his own movies! That Director Zhang Mou, who has won so many awards his hands are soft, is his executive producer. They say he specifically came to guide him... Barring any accidents, he'll become a famous director very soon."
"Tsk... Why is the gap between people so big..."
"Some people are just born to be the protagonists who enjoy this world. As for us, at best we're just NPCs."
"But what can we do? We still have to live our days... Let's work hard. Perhaps working hard can change everything." The youth raised his head, looking at the gradually sinking setting sun in the distance, and murmured to himself,
"I will work hard... Sooner or later, there will be a day when I rely on my own strength to become a great director."
"If you become rich and noble, do not forget each other!"
——【Secondary Male Role】