"Die"
The earth trembled, and rustling dust fell from the floorboards overhead.
In the Basement of the Beidou Consortium, three Man in Black figures were standing at the center of a massive, glowing Alchemy Array. The flickering faint light dyed their faces with a mysterious veil.
If someone could see through the underground of the Red Dust Main City at this moment, they would be able to see intricate lines extending outwards from this Alchemy Array, covering a third of the Red Dust Main City in a highly regular and aesthetic pattern, basically overlapping with the area of the Gray Realm Convergence. Looking down from the sky, it looked like a blooming red flower.
And whenever someone died in an area, the corresponding array pattern underground would light up, like wriggling blood vessels transporting the illusory souls to this Basement covered in array patterns, causing the light of this Basement to be the brightest!
Some kind of silver-white alchemical powder filled the underground space. Through these powders, one could vaguely see illusory souls wailing in pain. Their facial features and torsos were slowly squeezed and deformed. Your head drilled into my throat, my arm reached out from your ear, and then they were concentrated smaller and smaller. Finally, they actually turned from illusion to reality, transforming into tiny drops of dark red liquid, floating in mid-air.
"This is... the Philosopher's Stone?" At the edge of the Basement, Mu Chunsheng saw this scene, his eyes full of shock.
"It's still far from it." One of the black-robed men said lightly. "Even the most ordinary Philosopher's Stone requires the souls of a million people as material, and there is also the risk of failure... Lord of Wuji's soul is too powerful. To carry his soul, one Philosopher's Stone is definitely not enough. A rough estimate is seven to ten stones."
"The souls of a million people to refine one Philosopher's Stone??" Mu Chunsheng was stunned. "So even if we slaughter the entire Red Dust Domain, we still won't be able to refine a few?"
"Then when will I be able to have a Philosopher's Stone and achieve Immortality?" Mu Chunsheng immediately spoke up. "In such a short time, opening up such a massive and complex network for you underground, our Beidou Consortium has truly invested heavily. And the materials you used to draw the Alchemy Array were also provided by my side... My contribution is not small."
"Feijia and the others just finished changing your body. Living for another ten or so years won't be a problem... What are you anxious about?" The black-robed man glanced at him. "Furthermore, the Red Dust Domain isn't the only Realm in this world. There will always be opportunities in the future."
Mu Chunsheng opened his mouth, but still helplessly fell silent... The Witchcraft Association using this method to refine the Philosopher's Stone was definitely for Lord of Wuji to use first. After all, Lord of Wuji was their greatest reliance. Being able to have a chance to take a sip of soup in the future was indeed already not bad.
"How many souls have been collected now?" A Man in Black asked.
"It's only just begun. In total, less than twenty thousand people have died, and a large portion of them are seriously injured and near death... However, this array itself can forcefully absorb near-death souls. After a while, the number of absorbed souls will skyrocket."
"As time goes by, there will only be more and more Calamities entering the Red Dust Main City, and the death toll will also increase faster and faster. A conservative estimate is that the first Philosopher's Stone can be refined within twenty-four hours."
"Don't forget that the Floating Life Painting has already entered the fray. Those Hall Masters are not Pushovers."
"So what? The people of the Scarlet Heaven Cult are also preparing for a second mass suicide ritual. As long as they can successfully summon the World-Ending tier of the 'Sighing Wilderness' to descend, even tying all nine Hall Masters together will be useless... If all goes well, just that one World-Ending tier can trample the Red Dust Domain flat, and we can also finish refining all the Philosopher's Stones in one breath."
"To summon such a big guy, how many people does the Scarlet Heaven Cult have to die?"
"Don't know. To make the Scarlet Heaven Cult work so hard, the Wuji Domain side probably also paid a huge price."
"The World-Ending tier of the 'Sighing Wilderness', huh... I wonder exactly what kind of existence it is?"
"You'll know the moment it descends."
...
Jinghong Theater.
"Mister, are you really alright?"
Kong Baosheng repeatedly confirmed that Chen Ling's fingertips had not left any wounds, and finally breathed a sigh of relief slightly... But he still didn't understand how the teacup that had been used for so long suddenly exploded for no reason.
Chen Ling blinked his eyes lightly, and the four words "Sighing Wilderness" on the ground vanished without a trace, replaced by just a puddle of unspecial water stains.
His brows unconsciously furrowed.
Ever since he gradually mastered the usage of The Theater, "The Audience" rarely intervened in his performances anymore. And after possessing the "Vermilion Countenance", Chen Ling thought he was already able to suppress a portion of "The Audience", but he didn't expect them to pop out again now.
He obviously still had "72%" Expectation Value now, why would they start affecting him again at this time?
Could it be that he had done something to displease them again?
Thinking of this, the four words "Sighing Wilderness" from just now resurfaced in Chen Ling's mind... A thought suddenly welled up.
"The Audience" within him was highly likely the "World-Ending" Calamity of the Ghost Mockery Abyss, [Mockery]. And their abnormal movement occurred after the Gray Realm Convergence, when he touched those ashes...
Could it be that there was some kind of grudge between [Mockery] and the Sighing Wilderness?
Or rather... does it have a grudge with the "World-Ending" tier of the Sighing Wilderness? Was it because it sensed the other party's Aura just now that the abnormal change was triggered?
The more Chen Ling thought about it, the more he felt this was possible.
He recovered his senses and saw Huang Suyue and the others all gathered around him, immediately waving his hand: "It's fine, maybe I accidentally used too much force when I took it over just now..."
Now was a time of chaos outside. Huang Suyue and the others had their nerves stretched very tight. After learning that Chen Ling was fine, although they still went back to their seats on their own, they still absent-mindedly looked outside the door, as if worrying about something.
Chen Ling also didn't know how to comfort them. He turned around and sat on the chair from just now, but as soon as he transferred his weight onto it, the chair beneath him also cracked in response. Caught off guard, his whole person directly sat down heavily on the ground!
Bang!
Under the astonished gazes of the crowd, Chen Ling stood up blankly from the ground. He turned his head and glanced at the ground. Those shattered chair fragments had also connected together, forming a large character "死" (Die).
[Audience Expectation Value -1]
[Current Expectation Value: 71%]
Chen Ling: ???
Chen Ling naturally knew who was playing tricks, and this word "Die" was mostly not aimed at him... Looking at the stance of The Audience, they didn't want him to just stay in the Theater House like this, urgently wanting him to go out and "kill" the Sighing Wilderness.
Just as Chen Ling was conflicted in his heart, a figure covered in blood supported himself by the wall, staggering to the front of the Theater House.
"Cough cough cough..." Wang Jincheng coughed violently in the sighing wind. He took a step wanting to cross the threshold, but his leg suddenly gave out, his whole person losing his center of gravity and plunging headfirst into the house.
"Boss Lin... come help me up a bit."