Sleeve-Hand Pushing Heaven
Chen Ling froze on the spot.
Ning Ruyu's three sentences were each more explosive than the last... For a moment, Chen Ling couldn't react.
"Are you saying... this Lord of Wuji forcefully withstood over three hundred years of time?" Chen Ling's eyes were full of disbelief.
Chen Ling had personally watched the Lord of the Aurora go from awakening, step by step towards his demise. This process didn't even last half a day. He couldn't forget the other party's trembling hands in the cafe, and his aged, collapsing body in the Forbidden Sea... Even as powerful as the Nine Monarchs, they still couldn't resist the baptism of time.
"It seems so." Ning Ruyu said in a deep voice, "It's said that he is undergoing a 'transformation'."
"...Transformation?"
"Abandoning the aging human body, replacing biological cells with a brand new Material Science material, breaking free from the shackles of carbon-based lifeforms, and thereby achieving Immortality."
Material Science materials replacing biological cells... Materials??
One of the Exploration Team members, Doctor of Material Science—Lou Yu!
Chen Ling had personally seen Ying Fu utilize Lou Yu's authority, possessing the power to completely alter Material Science materials, even able to pull out a golden holy spear from soil and rocks... Matter was like anything in his hands; "turning stone into gold" was nothing more than a casual little trick. If Lou Yu used this authority to forcefully replace the human body with some brand new material, it wasn't impossible...
If this was the case, it also seemed understandable why the Lord of Wuji wanted to strangle the Lord of the Red Dust. After all, in the Timeline Save File, their faction also listed Su Zhiwei as a target of Kill Order. Did this mean that either Su Zhiwei had a grudge against him, or there existed some kind of extreme countering relationship between the two sides?
"So, the departures of Master and Fourth Brother are both related to this matter?"
"Pretty much. Master didn't have much of a reaction to the Lord of Wuji's early awakening, but he was very interested in that Mysterious Figure who revealed the news, so he went to investigate... As for Fourth Brother, I sent him to investigate the situation in the Wuji Domain." Ning Ruyu spoke slowly,
"After the Lord of Wuji awakened, the original order of the Wuji Domain was completely disrupted. A large group of alchemists, wizards, and mystic organizations related to the Path of the Witch God were entirely swept up and annexed, the regime was overthrown, and a large number of the masses died from mysterious phenomena... In short, that place has already become the most dangerous and unknown place among the Nine Great Realms. Even Bai Ye stumbled there. Right now, the only one capable of investigating news is Fourth Brother."
"I see..."
"The distance between the Red Dust Domain and the Wuji Domain is originally very close. If the Lord of Wuji wants to make a move against the Lord of the Red Dust, there is a high probability that he will destroy the entire Red Dust Domain. This is also why I'm unwilling to let you head to the Red Dust Domain now... Right now, there is nowhere more dangerous than these two Realms."
Chen Ling looked at that white-clothed figure blocking the entrance of the Ancient Vault of the Drama Path and fell silent.
He naturally understood Ning Ruyu's painstaking efforts. As the First Senior Brother of the Theater Dao, knowing full well that the Red Dust Domain was about to plunge into great chaos, he naturally wouldn't bear to let his own Little Junior Brother take risks... Learning the "Fighting" secret method was nothing more than an excuse to stall Chen Ling.
But, Chen Ling couldn't live under his wings forever. It wasn't that Chen Ling didn't want to, but that he couldn't...
[Audience Expectation Value +5]
With the Audience Expectation Value rising significantly, Chen Ling knew that he already had no other choice.
"The Audience" wouldn't accept a mediocre and boring hiding plot. They thirsted for him Taking a Desperate Risk, expecting him to weave through danger every day. If he chose to stay in the Ancient Vault of the Drama Path, the Expectation Value would probably drop by 20% in just a few days, and it would be very difficult to find anything in the Timeline Save File that could interest them in a short time...
But if he chose to enter the Red Dust Domain and dance on the edge of the blade and death, the Audience Expectation Value would grow rapidly, accumulating chances for him to undergo Resurrection, or helping him turn the tide in crucial moments, Advancing and gradually becoming stronger in one brilliant Performance after another!
Actually, from the very beginning, Chen Ling had no choice... From the moment he stepped onto the Stage focused on by "The Audience," his path ahead was destined to be fraught with danger.
"I'm sorry, First Senior Brother." Chen Ling slowly closed his eyes. "Precisely because of this... I must go."
Ning Ruyu just looked at him like this. After a long time, he smiled bitterly.
"Fourth Brother was right, you really do have a bit of wicked nature in you..."
Ning Ruyu patted his clothes and let out a long sigh. "If you insist on going, Senior Brother won't stop you anymore. However, it's still better for you to learn this 'Fighting' secret method first. With the four basic secret methods of the Theater Dao on you, even if you encounter danger, you will have the power to protect yourself."
"Is Senior Brother really going to teach me this time?"
"Senior Brother has never lied to you." Ning Ruyu took out an Optical Disc without an engraved name from his sleeve. "Cultivating the 'Fighting' secret method does indeed carry risks. However, these past few days, Senior Brother thought of ways to weaken the risks for you a bit. Even if you encounter an accident, there won't be any danger to your life.
However, whether you can comprehend it still depends on yourself."
Chen Ling's expression was somewhat complicated. Just now, he thought First Senior Brother was purely making excuses to delay him these past few days. He didn't expect that he was actually preparing for him to master the 'Fighting' secret method... His eyes were full of gratitude.
As the Optical Disc in Ning Ruyu's hand opened, the environment around Chen Ling abruptly changed.
The sky visibly darkened, and the fishy sea breeze danced wildly beneath the clouds. At this moment, he was standing on a pitch-black reef. Terrifying, tsunami-like waves were surging and crashing towards this place one after another!
"This is..." A hint of astonishment flashed in Chen Ling's eyes.
"Among the four basic secret methods of the Theater Dao, 'Fighting' has the strongest offensiveness and the highest upper limit." Ning Ruyu, dressed in white, stood in mid-air at the top of the reef and spoke calmly, "Activating this secret method requires no Spiritual Power and no Rank. As long as the timing is right, even a First-Tier Thespian could potentially cross levels to kill a Third Tier or even Fourth Order enemy."
"It doesn't require Spiritual Power and can kill crossing three levels?" Chen Ling was incredibly shocked, as if listening to a fantasy tale. "How is this possible?"
"It's true, and someone in history has actually done it."
Ning Ruyu tapped his toes lightly, his figure landing nimbly on the reef beside Chen Ling. The Jade Pendant at his waist fluttered in the howling wind. His gaze shifted, eventually settling on that towering giant wave that seemed to submerge the horizon.
Without deploying a Domain, without a single trace of Spiritual Power fluctuation, Ning Ruyu was like an Ordinary Person, slowly raising his sleeve towards that giant wave...
The broad white sleeves rustled in the wind. Ning Ruyu closed his eyes, and a few seconds later, slowly opened them.
His eyes were as dazzling as a blazing sun amidst the pitch-black reefs;
"Little Junior Brother, watch closely... This move is our Theater Dao's 'Fighting' secret method;"
"Its name is..."
"[Sleeve-Hand Pushing Heaven]."