The Truth of the Scroll
Red Dust Domain, the other side.
"By the way, do you guys know which direction Willow Town is?" 10 of Diamonds suddenly asked.
The many Dusk Society members advancing along the road stopped simultaneously.
They looked at each other and fell into silence.
"? So you guys don't know?!"
"I thought Six of Hearts knew. Wasn't he the one who suggested going to Willow Town?"
"I know how to get to Willow Town from the main city, but the problem is, I don't know where we are right now..." Chen Ling looked at Nine of Hearts walking at the very front. "He was walking at the very front, I thought he knew the way."
"I don't know the way either!"
"You didn't call to stop either, so I thought I was walking in the right direction!"
"..."
Just as everyone was talking, the eyelashes of Eight of Clubs on Chen Ling's back trembled slightly. A moment later, his eyes slowly opened...
Nine of Hearts, who was still frantically shifting the blame back and forth with Chen Ling, saw this scene and immediately tossed this matter to the back of his mind. He quickly walked to Eight of Clubs' side,
"Yo, little garbage, finally awake?"
"...Damn it, why is it you that I see the moment I open my eyes?" Eight of Clubs rubbed the corners of his eyes wearily, not concealing the disgust in his eyes at all. "It seems I haven't woken up from the nightmare yet... I'll sleep a bit longer."
"..." The mocking words Nine of Hearts had on the tip of his tongue were forcefully choked back. His expression instantly looked as if he had eaten a fly.
Eight of Clubs, having been "hurt" by Nine of Hearts countless times already, had long been forced to grow spikes. As long as he saw Nine of Hearts' face, he would instinctively launch an attack.
"I don't recommend you continue sleeping," Chen Ling said with a straight face. "You've already slept on my back for several hours."
"...Sorry, I was just saying it casually."
Eight of Clubs got down from Chen Ling, his head still dizzy. He frowned and looked around, asking as if still half-asleep:
"Where is this? Have we left 'Guernica'?"
"Yeah, we're already out... but as for where this is, I don't know either."
"Hiss... my head hurts so much, but those noisy sounds seem to have indeed disappeared." Eight of Clubs rubbed his temples while observing the surroundings, and spoke somewhat uncertainly, "This place seems to be Fragrant Maple Town."
"Fragrant Maple Town?" Chen Ling hadn't heard this name before. "Then do you know which direction Willow Town is?"
"I know."
After all, Eight of Clubs used to be a Hall Master of the Floating Life Painting and knew the Red Dust Domain like the back of his hand. He immediately raised his hand and pointed in the opposite direction from where Chen Ling and the others were walking. "Over there."
Dusk Society members: ...
Although everyone felt helpless, right now there seemed to be no other way besides obediently turning back.
"What exactly is the situation now? Why are we going to Willow Town?" Eight of Clubs followed behind the others and asked in confusion.
"The Realm War has already begun. We need to find a suitable place to wait for all the dust to settle."
"They're already fighting??" Eight of Clubs was startled. "Who has the advantage now?"
"Don't know."
"...Alright."
"Compared to this, I'm more curious about where the Lord of the Red Dust is." Jian Changsheng seemed to have thought of something and suddenly spoke. "Right, haven't asked you yet... What exactly does this painting you drew mean?"
"My painting?" Eight of Clubs' eyes were full of bewilderment.
Jian Changsheng took out a scroll from his embrace and unrolled it. The scene of Su Zhiwei lying among blood-like petals was displayed before everyone.
"This one."
"This? Who said I drew this painting." Eight of Clubs shrugged. "The Lord of the Red Dust's status has always been the highest secret of the Floating Life Painting. Let alone me who was only the Ninth Hall back then, even the Second Hall had no right to see the Lord of the Red Dust's true body... I couldn't even see her, how could I paint it?"
"Then this is..."
"I stole this painting from the Red Dust Base. At the time, I thought I might be able to find some clues about the Lord of the Red Dust from it... But before I could hand it over to the Dusk Society, I was caught and locked up by the Second Hall."
"No wonder." Jian Changsheng shrugged. "I was just wondering, since you wanted to pass us clues about the Lord of the Red Dust, why didn't you just write it clearly on paper instead of hiding it so obscurely in a painting..."
"Wait, you said even the Second Hall had no right to see the Lord of the Red Dust's true body?" Chen Ling asked in confusion.
"Then who painted this picture?"
"Naturally, it was painted by our Chief back then." Eight of Clubs paused for a moment. "No, strictly speaking, this wasn't painted..."
"What do you mean?"
"You guys are not of the Path of the Arts, it's very normal that you can't tell the Chief's divine skill." Eight of Clubs pointed at the scroll.
"Didn't you notice? This painting actually doesn't feel very smooth to the touch."
"Indeed... so what?"
"This person wasn't drawn out with a brush." Eight of Clubs explained seriously.
"...But embroidered out bit by bit using extremely fine silk threads."
Chen Ling abruptly stopped in his tracks.
[Audience Expectation Value +3]
...
Red Dust Domain border.
Rosy Cloud Town.
Boom——!!
A spectral green firelight rolled up from the town like a mushroom cloud. Extremely corrosive violent winds swept across the earth, diffusing around with a pungent stench.
A figure covered in blood stumbled out of the spectral green sea of fire, moving slowly along the spiderweb-like shattered earth.
"This is Architect 002... cough cough cough... I failed..."
"I can't stop the Rank 7 from the Wuji Domain. Repeating, I can't stop him!"
"I request backu—"
Bang——!
Before his voice faded, a withered palm reached out from the spectral green sea of fire and instantly pierced his chest. His voice abruptly ceased.
A figure draped in a black robe casually pulled his palm out of the flesh and blood. The next moment, spectral green flames burst forth from the wound, directly enveloping the Floating Life Painting member's body. In the time it takes to breathe, he was burned to ashes.
"A Rank 6, also dares to come stop me... Truly overestimating your capabilities."
The black robe snorted coldly. Stepping over the scorched ashes on the ground, he walked straight in the direction of the Red Dust main city.
The black robe, possessing Rank 7 strength, was already considered a top-tier existence within the Witchcraft Association. After entering the Red Dust Domain, he didn't expend much effort to slaughter an entire town, and then this unafraid-of-death Rank 6 ran over...
The black robe admitted that this Path of the Arts had some level of skill, actually able to drag it out with him for so long with a Rank 6 body... But the final outcome still had no suspense at all.
With every step the black robe took, a spectral green flaming footprint was left on the earth, mysterious and gloomy. His figure was also erratic. Occasionally stepping out, he could actually cross hundreds of meters.
Before long, he arrived at the next town.
But at this time, this town was already empty. Whether on the streets or in the houses, not a single person could be seen. It was so quiet that only the whimpering sound of the wind remained.
The black robe walked on the town's road, frowning and gazing at his surroundings.
"Did they evacuate the people in advance... Their actions were quite fast."
Since the town was empty, there naturally was no meaning for the black robe to stay. He continued advancing in the direction of the Red Dust main city. He didn't believe that these millions of people could flee anywhere no matter how they tried.
However, just as he was about to leave this empty town, a sudden change occurred!
The houses surrounding the black robe suddenly twisted. Their original colors and complex structures faded simultaneously, leaving only the most basic and simple lines. The next moment, these lines seemed to come alive, turning into ferocious giant mouths that bit towards the black robe!