"Audience," begin interfering with the performance!
Boom—Boom—Boom—Boom—
In the theater, countless "audience" members watching the performance simultaneously began stomping on the floor, their dull roars like continuous thunder!
Countless gazes shot out from the theater towards the three stars in the sky. At this moment, power of the "World-Ending" level diffused with scarlet eyes, like an invisible, incorporeal super beast, silently roaring at the three stars!!
They were rejecting the Divine Path;
They were intimidating the Divine Path!
In the next instant, the three stars in the sky trembled violently!
The divine radiance enveloping Chén Líng shattered inch by inch, like a divine road reaching to the heavens, beginning to collapse from its very base...
The Divine Path was afraid.
They saw the monster behind Chén Líng. Originally favoring Chén Líng, they now feared his existence. They did not want that monster to tread their path... just as no one would willingly invite a tiger into their home.
Thus, they severed their Divine Paths and retreated.
As the three divine radiances enveloping Chén Líng shattered, the path to divinity rapidly receded. At this moment, both Chén Líng and Qián Fán, who was present, were stunned...
Chapter 39 Despair
"What... what is happening?" an Enforcer stammered, stunned. "Divine Favor... can be withdrawn?"
If the simultaneous descent of the three great Divine Paths bestowing Divine Favor was within their understanding, then the current situation completely surpassed their knowledge... They had lived for so many years and had never heard of anyone receiving Divine Favor only to have their Divine Path severed.
"As expected..."
Outside the courtyard, the man in shadows nodded slightly.
"After finally obtaining Divine Favor in a desperate situation, to just watch it recede... what a shame." Chǔ Mùyún had stayed at Chén Líng's house for so long that he naturally knew how much Chén Líng yearned for a Divine Path. He couldn't help but feel pity.
"A shame?" The man in shadows gave him a strange look.
"There are tens of thousands of people in the world who possess Divine Paths, but only one who has merged with a World-Ending Calamity and maintained his sanity... He is already a unique existence in this world, what is there to be ashamed of?"
Chǔ Mùyún shook his head and said nothing.
In the courtyard.
Chén Líng watched the three rapidly receding Divine Paths, stunned in place...
He had been abandoned by the Divine Path.
That might have been the only hope in this world for him to escape the control of the "audience." He didn't know what had happened, only feeling their dread from the Divine Path. He looked back behind him, vaguely seeing countless eyes disappearing into the void.
"...It's you again." Chén Líng gave a bitter laugh.
"Indeed, I should have expected this... If I were to step onto the Divine Path, it would mean I could escape your control. How could you possibly let that happen?"
"You wish for me to stay on stage forever, to be a puppet for your amusement..."
Chén Líng's smile turned sinister, deep despair filling his blood-streaked eyes... Even the Divine Path had retreated under the intimidation of the "audience." He, an ordinary person, could think of no way to escape them.
Rather than being a puppet for a lifetime, Chén Líng would rather choose death.
The Divine Favor receded like a tide;
Chén Líng, clad in red, was placed on the skeleton alone, laughing with desperate madness.
"Come on, Qián surname!!" Chén Líng shouted wildly. "You want to kill me, don't you? Do it!! Aim for my head! Remember, to kill me completely, you need to shoot twice!!"
Qián Fán was bewildered for a moment before finally coming to his senses. He looked at the seemingly deranged Chén Líng before him, a murderous glint in his eyes.
"Even though I don't know what's going on... since you no longer have Divine Favor, you'll just die!"
He raised his gun again, aimed at Chén Líng's head, and pulled the trigger!
Bang—!!
This time, no miracle happened.
The bullet pierced Chén Líng's skull, instantly taking his life, shattering half his head in the process. Blood and gore splattered onto the ground.
The courtyard fell into deathly silence.
Qián Fán and the others looked at Chén Líng, who only had half a head remaining, their clenched hearts finally relaxed... It wasn't that they were cowardly; it was just that everything about Chén Líng was too bizarre, so bizarre that they questioned if he was even human and if he could die.
But now, no matter what he was, he was dead.
"This kid... is too strange." Qián Fán put away his gun, spat on the ground, and turned to walk into the house.
As soon as he turned, he saw the other two Enforcers standing under the eaves, their eyes wide with terror...
"What are you doing?"
"Brother... Brother Fán..." one of the Enforcers stammered, raising his hand. "He-he-he-he-he-he..."
Qián Fán frowned, followed the Enforcer's pointing finger, and looked back. His pupils contracted sharply!
He saw the scarlet corpse, propped up on the skeleton, unnaturally straightening its body. The drooping half of its head slowly lifted, and the shattered skull and flesh began to writhe madly!
Only half of its eyelid suddenly lifted, its blood-red eyeball staring intently at Qián Fán!
"You, Qián surname!!"
"Didn't I tell you to shoot twice?!!"
"One shot can't kill me!! Can't kill me!!!!"
The broken vocal cords rubbed against each other frantically, emitting a grating sound. At this moment, even Qián Fán and the other two, who had seen much, were so frightened that their legs almost gave out and they collapsed to the ground!
"Monster... a monster!!" an Enforcer screamed in terror. "He's not human! He's a monster!!"
"Shoot!! Shoot quickly!" Chén Líng roared madly. "Aim at the other half of my head! Come on!!!"
This bizarre scene, witnessed by the three men, caused Qián Fán's hand to tremble...
"I know... it's you!" Qián Fán exclaimed as if he had just realized something. "You are the Calamity that descended that night!!"
Upon hearing this, the other two Enforcers also awoke from their stupor, their faces turning even paler.
They were truly terrified. After all, the two Calamities that had crawled out of the Gray Realm were a Rank 3 and a Rank 5. Neither was something they could deal with...
Qián Fán gritted his teeth, drew another gun from his waist, and tremblingly aimed it at the red-clothed monster imprisoned in the skeleton.
At this point, he had no choice but to shoot.
However, the moment he pulled the trigger, the handgun seemed to be grasped by something, and the barrel was forcefully twisted into a knot!
Qián Fán felt a tremendous force hit his chest. He was sent flying backward like a kite with a broken string, crashing through the courtyard door and landing heavily on the ground.
The other two Enforcers widened their eyes, staring intently at the void ahead, but saw no attacker's figure!
There was nothing there.
But in Chén Líng's eyes, it was different.
A familiar red-clothed youth stood amidst the swirling snow, slowly turning to look at him... his eyes filled with tears.
"Brother..." he said. "Brother, you can't just die like this, you can't just accept fate!"
Chén Líng's head was slowly repairing itself. The scarlet eyeball stared blankly at Chén Yàn, the madness receding slightly.
He spoke hoarsely,
"Not accept fate? Then what else can I do... continue to be their entertainment? What's the point?"
"But if you die now, you'll have nothing..."
"If I live, I'll have nothing either," Chén Líng murmured. "Even if I live, they will constantly interfere with my life. They can create one you, they can create a second, a third... one day, I will be driven mad by them."
"Brother! As long as you are alive, there will always be hope... won't there?"
"...Hope?"
Chén Líng looked at Chén Yàn's red eyes, silenced for a long time, then suddenly smiled.
"I understand." Chén Líng turned to look behind him, his bloodshot eyes seeming to stare at something.
"You're scared!!"
"You know that if I die again, I will be completely dead!!"
"You're afraid that if I die, no one will be able to perform for you anymore, so you've conjured his appearance to trick me into living, haven't you?!"
"Brother..."
"Give me vague, illusory hope, watch me desperately chase it, and when I'm about to reach it, you'll let the so-called hope vanish... This is what you want!"
"Brother!"
"You want to control my life, to toy with my mind, you delusion!!!"
"Brother!!!"
A roar interrupted Chén Líng's ferocious ranting.
He turned to look, only to see Chén Yàn standing there, tears streaming down his face, his gaze filled with pleading.
"Brother... I'm real, believe me... everything I say is true."
"I..." Chén Líng was stunned for a long time, struggle and pain appearing on his face. "Ā Yàn, I know, I just..."
Chén Yàn took a deep breath, wiped the tears from his eyes, and an unprecedented determination appeared in his gaze.
"Brother, you are not without hope..."
He reached into his embrace and took out a cloth bag. As the opening of the bag was untied, cinnabar-like glazed beads fell out one by one.
"The path they severed..."
"I will reconnect it for you."
Chapter 40 The Twisted Theater Divine Path
Cinnabar-like glazed beads fell onto the snowy ground, divine radiance flowing, like brilliant stars scattered across the human world.
"This is..." Chén Líng was stunned.
"Brother, do you know... that red star represents 'Theater'?" Chén Yàn looked up at the slowly receding Divine Path in the sky and slowly said, "From the day I started teaching myself theater, I occasionally sensed its existence... It wanted to take me away, but I didn't want to go. Each time it left, I would leave behind a fragment of it, thinking that when I gathered enough, perhaps I could take you, take Mom and Dad to the place it guided to see what the end of 'Theater' was... Unfortunately, in the end, I only gathered thirty-six pieces."
"Now... I can't go."
Chén Yàn smiled helplessly. He slowly gathered all the cinnabar-like glazed beads and swung them forcefully towards the receding Divine Path in the sky!
In the next moment, countless divine radiances bloomed from these fragments of the Divine Path, rapidly intertwining in mid-air to form a wispy, ribbon-like Divine Path, chasing after the receding Divine Path!
"Brother, you must live on... What is at the end of the Theater Divine Path? Will you go see it for me?"
Two segments of the Divine Path collided in mid-air, brilliant divine light illuminating the sky!
The Theater Divine Path, reconnected;
The cinnabar stars in the sky had no idea their Divine Path could be forcibly retained. The divine radiance trembled in mid-air, seeming to try and pull it back...
At the other end of the Divine Path, the young Chén Yàn stood quietly. Even though his body appeared thin and frail, in terms of his talent for the Theater Divine Path, he was so powerful, transcendent, and as steadfast as a mountain.
He had forcefully pinned the Theater Divine Path in front of Chén Líng!
The Divine Path had abandoned Chén Líng,
But Chén Yàn had not;
"What happened??"
Outside the courtyard, the man in shadows and Chǔ Mùyún simultaneously looked at the sky in astonishment. Beneath the cinnabar stars, a broken road was being rapidly and completely repaired!
"Why is the Theater Divine Path fixed?"
"It chose Chén Líng? How is that possible?!"
Even the usually calm and wise Chǔ Mùyún couldn't help but widen his eyes. They carefully scanned around Chén Líng in the center of the courtyard but found nothing unusual... In their vision, they couldn't see anything.
"Wait... something's not right!"
"What's not right?"
"That Theater Divine Path is wrong, it's twisted... I've never seen a Divine Path like this."
"What happens if one walks on a twisted Divine Path?"
"If a road has its signs tampered with, who knows where its final destination is? Heaven? Or... hell?"
"You mean..."
"Hurry and stop him!! We absolutely cannot let him walk on that twisted Divine Path!!!"
Two figures rushed towards the courtyard!
Chén Líng stared blankly at Chén Yàn, who stood on the Theater Divine Path. He didn't know if it was an illusion, but his figure seemed to be fading little by little...
"Ā Yàn... Ā Yàn!"
Chén Líng's pupils contracted. With a burst of strength he didn't know he had, he slowly pulled his shoulder out of the skeleton cage. The sharp bone tip tore through his flesh, and scarlet blood dripped down his arm onto the ground, quickly forming a pool of blood.
He gritted his teeth tightly, unable to suppress a howl. After more than ten seconds, he completely broke free from the cage and stumbled towards Chén Yàn!
"Ā Yàn!" He reached out to Chén Yàn with one hand, but could only pass through the void as if it were nothing...
Before, he could always touch Chén Yàn.
"Brother, I really have to go this time." Chén Yàn's face showed the pure and gentle smile of a youth. "This path is a bit different from other Theater Divine Paths... It will make your life more winding and difficult, but it might allow you to escape those things."
"Where are you going?" Chén Líng's face was pale from significant blood loss.
"I'm going back to where I belong... and at the same time, I will become the cornerstone of your Divine Path."
Chén Yàn took a step back, fully revealing the Divine Path to Chén Líng. His figure had almost faded completely, leaving only a voice lingering in Chén Líng's ear.
"Walk this path, and the world will belong to Brother."
"Chén Líng!! Stop! You can't go down that path!!"
Chǔ Mùyún's voice rushed over, but Chén Líng seemed not to hear.
He, wearing a crimson theatrical robe, stood at the beginning of the Divine Path and slowly lifted his right foot, then...
Stepped onto it.
Thud—!!
The moment his foot landed, the ribbon-like ethereal Divine Path instantly solidified, like a blood-red staircase ascending to the heavens.
In the next moment, this staircase to heaven rapidly shrank beneath Chén Líng's feet, eventually vanishing into nothingness...
That twisted Divine Path seemed to have disappeared, or perhaps...
It was already beneath Chén Líng's feet.
Chǔ Mùyún and the man in shadows arrived at the scene, leaving only Chén Líng standing alone, head bowed.
"Chén Líng, did you not hear me calling you just now?" Chǔ Mùyún frowned and stepped forward, about to say something else, then suddenly stopped.
"What is it?" the man in shadows asked.
Chǔ Mùyún's voice sounded again.
The man in shadows paused, looked at Chǔ Mùyún, but found that he hadn't spoken at all...
"What is it?" Immediately after, his own voice also echoed from ahead.
Both of them looked forward simultaneously.
A bone-chilling wind swept across the snowy ground. The youth in the crimson theatrical robe, his back to them, his neck twisted unnaturally backward...
"Chén Líng, did you not hear me calling you just now?"
"What is it?"
"Chén Líng, did you not hear me calling you just now?"
"What is it?"
"Chén Líng, did you not hear me..."
Chǔ Mùyún's and the man in shadows' voices, interleaved, came from Chén Líng's throat. At the same time, his face flickered between the two of them...
Yes, flickered.
Chén Líng's face was like a calendar, a mask that could be torn at will. With each sentence he spoke, he would transform into the corresponding person's appearance. When the next sentence came, a layer would automatically be torn off, revealing another person's appearance. Eyes, stubble, moles, voice, every detail was perfectly replicated. The two watched Chén Líng's face constantly switching between their own appearances, chilling them to the bone!
"Wh-what happened to him?" the man in shadows asked blankly.
"Generally speaking, stepping onto a Divine Path means ascending to the 'First Tier,' and with each ascending tier, one automatically masters a corresponding path skill... His appearance should be caused by the Theater Divine Path's First Tier skill."
"The Theater Divine Path's First Tier skill is changing faces?"
"Square 7 told me that most Theater Divine Paths awaken the skill [Thousand Faces] at the First Tier, an extension of the most basic disguise ability of an actor... Judging by the description, it's very similar to Chén Líng's current situation."
"Then why does he not seem fully conscious?"
"His Divine Path was twisted, so the awakened skill should also be twisted... If nothing unexpected happens, he's being backlashed by his own skill."
"So that's it... no wonder he kept mimicking us earlier."
"But he's not doing that now..." Chǔ Mùyún looked at Chén Líng, who had suddenly fallen silent, and frowned. "I suddenly have a bad premonition..."
As the man in shadows was about to ask what premonition it was, Chén Líng looked up again...
One layer of skin peeled off his face. On Chén Líng's neck, the barrel of a large, black handgun aimed at the two of them.
Chapter 41 Beneath the Skin
Watching Chén Líng's head transform into a gun barrel with their own eyes, Chǔ Mùyún and the man in shadows were both stunned.
"Bang—!"
Chén Líng's vocal cords simulated the gunshot.
A dazzling burst of fire erupted from the muzzle. The two figures standing directly in front of him snapped back from their astonishment and quickly dodged!
They blurred across the snow for tens of meters at incredible speed before stopping.
They looked back, only to find that no bullet had actually fired from the barrel, only continuous sparks erupting from the muzzle, as if simulating the action of firing.
"This..." the man in shadows asked blankly. "Did Square 7 say that [Thousand Faces]... can turn into a gun barrel?"
"No." Chǔ Mùyún shook his head. "[Thousand Faces] is an ability for disguise, it can only change appearance. But he... he seems to be able to change even objects."
"That's too perverted. Is this the power of that twisted Divine Path...?"
"But immense power usually comes with an immense price."
Chǔ Mùyún calmly looked at the red-clothed figure in the snow, who was fantasizing about being a gun barrel, his expression somewhat complex.
"Bang—Bang—Bang!"
Chén Líng, who had transformed into a gun barrel, continuously fired at the void, like a soulless walking corpse.
Until his gun barrel "saw" Qián Fán and the other two, who were petrified at the bottom of the house, he suddenly stopped... He seemed to be thinking.
"He still has some sanity left?" the man in shadows asked in surprise.
"Should say, instinct." Chǔ Mùyún said calmly. "The instinct for revenge."
At the same time, Qián Fán and the other two, targeted by the gun barrel, turned pale again. They had just witnessed Chén Líng reconnecting his Divine Path, tearing his body apart, and then becoming a madman firing wildly... The successive cognitive shocks had almost brought their brains to a standstill.
"Damn it... why aren't you dead yet? Why aren't you dead?!