Invincible in the Current Era
The taut string in Chen Ling's heart finally loosened a bit.
"... Master is right, Master is right."
"What? Were your master's words too misleading?" Master raised an eyebrow. "Did you think your master didn't have much time left and was about to die? It's also normal, after all, characters who generally say such lines won't live for too long."
Chen Ling: ...
Chen Ling didn't know how to answer for a moment, and instead Master laughed even louder.
"Old Six, how do you think your master's strength is?"
"Master is a Rank 9 Demigod, the Pathway Chief of the Path of the Actor, and can even suppress the [Mockery] Calamity. Your strength is naturally at the pinnacle of the world." Chen Ling answered truthfully.
"Your master admits to the first two, but your master truly cannot suppress the [Mockery] Calamity... This time, your master being able to subdue it was also through trickery. But other than the [Mockery] Calamity..."
"In this era, no one is yet your master's opponent."
As this sentence came out, both Chen Ling and Jian Changsheng felt an indescribable Oppressive Aura sweep across the earth mixed in the natural wind... Although Master's tone was somewhat deliberate and frivolous, at this moment, neither of them had the slightest doubt.
Because heaven and earth seemed to acknowledge it as well.
Jian Changsheng froze for a while before returning to his senses from the faint Oppressive Aura of that sentence. His expression suddenly became somewhat subtle, thinking to himself that as expected of the Pathway Chief of the Path of the Actor, he really had quite a lot of "Acting"... Using the calmest tone to say the most pretentious words, this set of actions had really been thoroughly understood by him.
On the other hand, Chen Ling, whose heart was originally somewhat in suspense, completely relaxed this time... Replaced by unprecedented steadfastness.
Since Master said that no one in this era was his opponent, then how could he be in any danger... As for the [Mockery] Calamity, as long as he didn't act rashly, it was impossible for it to run out and threaten Master.
"Since that's the case, why don't you directly make a move to sweep across all the Human Domains, snatch the Nine Monarchs, and directly Reboot the World?" Jian Changsheng asked doubtfully.
"It's different." Master slowly spoke,
"To Reboot the World, simply collecting the corpses of the Nine Monarchs is not enough... Force cannot solve everything."
Jian Changsheng eagerly waited for Master to explain a few more sentences, but Master didn't seem to have any intention of continuing to speak... After silently muttering a few words in his heart, he stopped asking further.
He could finally tell, this Red King was just a riddler. Whatever you asked, he wouldn't say, only knowing how to keep people in suspense. He really had thoroughly digested the essence of the "Acting" path.
The three of them just traveled through the Gray World for a long time. Everything in sight was either oppressive lead-gray clouds or barren and desolate black earth.
The monotonous scenery made Jian Changsheng unable to resist yawning several times in a row.
Previously, when they came out of the Aurora Domain, they at least had a broken tractor to sit on. This time was great, they had to cross the Gray World purely on their own two feet... Just as Jian Changsheng wanted to find some topics to pass the time, Chen Ling beside him seemed to have discovered something, and his eyes slightly narrowed.
"That is..."
Jian Changsheng followed his gaze. "What's wrong? There's nothing there, right?"
"There is, there are train tracks over there."
Jian Changsheng furrowed his brows tightly. He walked forward for a long time before he could barely see at the end of the horizon, a slender and long black line was crawling on the earth.
"What kind of freakish eyesight do you have? You can see that far?" Jian Changsheng couldn't help but complain.
Chen Ling didn't answer, still carefully observing the train tracks in the distance, a touch of surprise flashing in his eyes. "But this track... seems to be disconnected."
As the three of them approached, that train track also became increasingly clear in Jian Changsheng's field of vision...
Just as Chen Ling said, this train track was disconnected.
The three stood still in the center. On their left was a black train track cast from steel, its surface covered in various mysterious runes, like a black long dragon crawling on the cracked earth, extending all the way to the end of the world;
And on the three's right, the original black train track had already broken off, turning into a "track" built from rotten wood. Only cracked wood grain remained on the surface, as if someone had forcefully transformed all the train tracks after it from hard steel into wood. And at their original junction, several carriages of a realm train had derailed, flipping onto the ground completely scorched black.
"... It's the Lord of Wuji?" Chen Ling murmured to himself.
In this world, the only one capable of achieving this level of material transformation was the Lord of Wuji... It seemed that before heading to the Red Dust Domain, the Lord of Wuji had transformed all the train tracks around the Wuji Domain into wood, causing realm trains to be completely unable to pass normally, cutting off all transportation.
Jian Changsheng walked beside the scorched realm train, lowered his head and carefully searched for a while, then shook his head and said:
"This train should have met with disaster a long time ago. Its exterior is all scorched black, and there are no living people inside..."
Seeing this, Master calmly spoke:
"Forget it... Your master will only escort you up to here."
Both Chen Ling and Jian Changsheng froze, simultaneously turning to look at Master.
"The direction the wooden tracks on the right extend to is the Wuji Domain; the direction the steel tracks on the left point to should be the Tianshu Domain." Master spoke again. "You guys, just head left."
"Go to the Tianshu Domain?" Chen Ling asked doubtfully, "Is the next of the Nine Monarchs whose time limit is approaching in the Tianshu Domain?"
"... Your master also doesn't know."
Master helplessly spread his hands. "Starting from the Red Dust Domain... No, perhaps starting from the Aurora Domain, the course of destiny had already changed. Next, your master can also no longer predict the awakening order of the Nine Monarchs."
"Destiny has changed..." Chen Ling was thoughtful.
"Then why the Tianshu Domain, and not Wuji?"
"Since the other domains have all dispatched a Judgment Delegation heading to Wuji, it should plunge into turmoil recently. You two just escaped from the Realm War, so it's better to rest well for a bit." Master paused for a moment.
"Of course, Tianshu and Wuji are not far. If the Lord of Wuji is successfully executed by the delegation, you will still need to head to the Wuji Domain to complete the realm burial."
Chen Ling and Jian Changsheng exchanged glances and nodded simultaneously.
"Understood."
"Alright, then this is it... Your master still has things to do, so I'll leave first." Master brushed his sleeve, about to leave, then suddenly as if remembering something, turned back to look at Chen Ling. "The item is still with you, right?"
"Oh! It's still here!"
Chen Ling took out the Small Flower containing the Path of the Arts fragment and handed it to Master. After the latter received it, he nodded slightly:
"By the way, write a letter to the Ancient Vault of the Drama Path when you have time. Your Senior Sister and the others are all waiting for you to report that you're safe... Just find any Dusk Society contact point, and someone will help you deliver the letter."
"Okay, I'll write it when I get back."
Master brushed his sleeve, a void curtain obscuring his figure, and the next moment he instantly vanished from the spot.
...
Thousands of miles away.
The void curtain pulled open again.
The youth draped in the Theatrical Robe stepped out from within. He turned back to look in the direction of Chen Ling and the others, and after confirming that they were already extremely far apart, he slightly breathed a sigh of relief...
The next moment, he began to cough lightly.
Fresh blood flowed down between the youth's fingers, his face incredibly pale... He calmly looked at this scene and spoke indifferently:
"Is this Divine Path Backlash..."