Candied Haws and Hunger
"Then let's head directly to the Wuji Domain." Sun Bumian immediately followed Chen Ling's words and said,
"If we walk faster, we should be able to get there in two days... If you are really hungry on the road, you can eat Candied Haws."
Chen Ling was stunned,
"Candied Haws? Where are there Candied Haws?"
He saw Sun Bumian casually rub in the void, and two brightly colored sticks of Candied Haws appeared out of thin air. A rich aroma of hawthorn drifted out...
Chen Ling caught a stick in surprise, looking Sun Bumian up and down suspiciously. Even he couldn't see where these Candied Haws were conjured from.
"Just some unique little Stagecraft." Sun Bumian shrugged. "Don't you know how too? Weren't those numerous Playing Cards just now all casually conjured?"
"But those are just illusions, they are fake, yours..."
"Yours is actually real?!"
"It's real, the kind that can fill your stomach... But I only know how to conjure Candied Haws, I can't conjure other things like you." Sun Bumian helplessly spread his hands.
Chen Ling was incomparably surprised in his heart.
You know, although his Scarlet Trick could conjure myriad things, most were fake. Its other function was just to use a similar item to swap with the item in someone else's hands...
But Sun Bumian's Stagecraft was true creation from the void!
Although he could only create Candied Haws... this was already quite amazing.
Chen Ling finished eating the remaining Candied Haws in a few bites. Seeing him eat so appetizingly, Jian Changsheng at the side also became a bit greedy. He took the second stick of Candied Haws, and after taking a few bites, spoke somewhat reluctantly:
"Mm... It tastes the same as last time, not bad."
Chen Ling looked at Sun Bumian, "By the way, why did you only conjure two? Aren't you eating?"
"—Ugh!!!"
"???"
Looking at Sun Bumian whose face suddenly turned pale and started dry heaving, Chen Ling looked at the finished candied haws stick in his hand in shock, not knowing what to do.
These Candied Haws weren't unpalatable, was there a need for this?
"Bro, really! What exactly do you mean by this?" Jian Changsheng cursed.
"It's nothing..." Sun Bumian answered with a pale face. "In the past, whenever I didn't have food to eat, I would eat the Candied Haws I conjured myself. At the worst times, I ate them every day for half a year... Now whenever I think about it, I will... Ugh!!!"
Chen Ling: ...
After Sun Bumian recovered, he seemed to feel a little embarrassed.
He coughed lightly twice before finally remembering that Chen Ling and Jian Changsheng still didn't know his name. He took the initiative to extend his hand to Chen Ling:
"Um... let me formally introduce myself. I am Six of Diamonds, Sun Bumian."
"Six of Hearts, Chen Ling."
"Six of Spades, Jian Changsheng."
The three of them were not people who cared about formalities. They simply reported their names to each other and got it over with. If they weren't afraid of being asked for their companion's name and not knowing it the next time they acted together, they probably would have even skipped this step.
"Four 6-series members, and three have gathered all at once... Now we are just short of the Clubs."
"Mm." Chen Ling seemed to have thought of something, and turned to ask Sun Bumian, "Do you have any understanding of that Six of Clubs?"
"Six of Clubs..."
Sun Bumian pondered for a moment, "I haven't met him, but I've heard some rumors about him. He seems to be from the Path of the Witch God... Moreover, he seems very hard to get along with."
"Hard to get along with?"
"Yeah, a senior mentioned it before. The descriptions of him are all things like... 'autistic', 'withdrawn', 'crawling in the dark', 'getting close will make you unfortunate', and so on."
Jian Changsheng was very surprised, "Sounds like he can give Hearts a run for his money?"
Chen Ling silently clenched his fists tight.
"Anyway, there's a high probability he is in the Wuji Domain. We might run into him this time." Sun Bumian pushed his small Round Sunglasses.
"Alright, let's set off quickly."
Chen Ling had just finished a stick of Candied Haws and felt a bit hungry again. He simply walked directly in the direction of the Wuji Domain, with Jian Changsheng and Sun Bumian closely following behind.
...
The Theater.
As the spotlights turned on one by one, Chen Ling On the Stage slowly opened his eyes.
Traveling in the Gray World was destined to be boring and tedious, so Chen Ling could only take advantage of the time when the three of them were resting to enter The Theater.
Chen Ling's gaze first glanced Off Stage. The densely packed crimson pupils were still staring at Chen Ling, but among them, the shadow of District Three Chen Ling could not be seen, nor was he in any other corner of the Stage.
"Chen Ling, where are you?"
Chen Ling stood On Stage, calling out softly.
Calling his own name made Chen Ling feel a bit awkward in his heart, but a moment later, a voice responded from above.
"I'm here, deep within your mind... This Theater is too special, I can't enter it, and can only temporarily reside outside."
District Three Chen Ling paused for a moment, before speaking again,
"Also, if you feel weird calling my name, you can call me 'Yao', it's my childhood name."
"Yao..." Chen Ling committed this name to memory. "Will there be any effect on you being outside?"
"No. I am strong enough now, as long as I don't leave the physical body, I won't dissipate."
"That's good."
"But there is a problem..."
"What?"
"Before, when my soul was weak, it was fine. But now my soul is complete. Combined with your soul, and this Theater... for this physical body to carry so many things, it's almost at its limit.
Haven't you noticed that your physical strength is being consumed faster and faster?"
Once these words came out, Chen Ling instantly seemed to realize something, his complexion gradually turning solemn...
No wonder since killing Kongwang, he would easily get hungry frequently. At first, he thought it was because the burden of his Domain was too heavy. But thinking about it now, it might indeed be because his physical body couldn't carry souls of such weight.
But the problem was, even knowing the cause of everything, there was no way to solve it in a short period of time.
Unless he drove Yao's soul out of this body... But Chen Ling couldn't possibly do that. Without Yao, he would have long been replaced by the Calamity of Mockery. Moreover, there was already some kind of connection between him, Yao, and the Land of Divine Rituals, making it fundamentally impossible to easily break free.
There must be some other way...
"Let's hold on until we reach the Wuji Domain first." Chen Ling slowly spoke. "Aren't you of the Path of the Witch God? Perhaps in the Wuji Domain, there will be a way to solve everything."
"... Perhaps."
After answering, Yao fell silent again, as if he had fallen asleep.
Chen Ling didn't call out to him again, but walked straight to the screen at the edge of the Stage... At this moment, in the corner of the screen, a flashing and shaking Treasure Chest Icon was incomparably conspicuous.
The reward for the previous performance was already in hand.
Chen Ling raised his hand and tapped towards that Treasure Chest...