Chapter 1044: Old Friends?

Seeing the familiar twisted God Path before him, Chen Ling’s eyes flashed with complexity.

The Chen Ling of the past only felt that his God Path was unique, but after knowing the whole story, his view of this path had changed… Every step he took on this path was mastering the power that originally belonged to “Mockery Calamity.”

But things had reached this point; he couldn’t stop his steps. If he wanted to live in this chaotic world, he had to become stronger!

He couldn’t be an “Emperor” who always needed people to come and protect him. Whether it was the power of the God Path or the power of Mockery… only by becoming his own power could he stand in this era.

Chen Ling took a deep breath and looked at the performance conditions for promoting to the Fifth Stage…

[Perform a thrilling comeback performance on the same stage with old friends]

Seeing this line of small text, doubt appeared in Chen Ling’s eyes.

Chen Ling had already realized that each performance condition was a certain direction chosen by the audience… which meant that none of the performance conditions were without purpose.

Chen Ling could roughly understand the latter part of the sentence, but “old friends”…

In the current Wu-Ji Realm, where would old friends come from?

Jian Changsheng and the others? Or the fellow disciples of the Theater Path Ancient Collection? In terms of time, it would be hard to call them “old friends.”

Carrying his doubts, Chen Ling’s consciousness gradually returned to his body.

Opening his eyes again, they had already shaken off almost all the Fire-Tamperers, and the edge of the Wu-Ji Realm was getting closer and closer, the surroundings becoming empty and desolate.

“Did we really charge out?” Jian Changsheng’s eyes lit up. “The Twilight Society seniors are indeed capable!”

“Don’t be happy too soon.”

Recalling the performance conditions just now, Chen Ling had an ominous premonition in his heart. “I feel like things shouldn’t be this simple…”

“Heart, you crow’s mouth, say less!”

“I’m serious, I just feel…”

Before Chen Ling could finish his sentence, Sun Bumian and Jiang Xiaohua exclaimed simultaneously, and several afterimages suddenly swept out from behind them, charging straight at Chen Ling!

What charged over wasn’t a hidden weapon or an enemy attack, but Chen Ling’s own limbs.

The Chen Ling who had been taken apart became whole again with the return of his limbs. Jian Changsheng only felt a weight on his back, and then a powerful foot kicked him to the ground from behind, causing Jian Changsheng to roll due to inertia.

“No! Heart, do you have a…”

Before the last word could be uttered, the three of them were stunned in place.

They saw the assembled Chen Ling actually turn his head and run back, his legs spinning into afterimages on the ground, his speed incredibly fast!

Of course, Chen Ling couldn’t have kicked Jian Changsheng over and run toward the Wu-Ji Realm himself, but at this moment, his limbs were out of control, as if they had ideas of their own.

Chen Ling reacted extremely quickly. He immediately turned his head and shouted:

“Quick! Kill me!!”

“Huh?” Jian Changsheng looked confused. “Didn’t you just say you wanted to live?”

“It doesn’t matter, you won’t kill me now… Only by killing me can I regain control of my body!”

Jian Changsheng and the others had seen Chen Ling’s weirdness. Since things had reached this point, they naturally didn’t hesitate. After exchanging glances, they took out their trump cards and charged at Chen Ling one by one, looking fierce!!

Jian Changsheng was the most excited; he even slashed himself several times, increasing his speed by a large margin, looking like he was determined to kill Chen Ling.

Bang—!

The next moment, the earth between the three and Chen Ling trembled violently, and a black shadow popped out suddenly!

Sun Bumian’s brows furrowed, and he immediately reached out to stop Jian Changsheng and Jiang Xiaohua. The three braked hard in front of the black shadow, and a cloud of dust flew up from beneath their feet.

Amidst the hazy dust, a two-meter-tall old coffin stood silently on the ground, pitch-black all over, emitting a nauseating stench of corpses… The moment it appeared, the surrounding temperature dropped rapidly.

“This is…”

Sun Bumian’s brows furrowed tightly.

A dark-skinned man wearing a straw hat walked slowly from behind the coffin. He glanced leisurely at Chen Ling, who was frozen not far away, and the three stunned people, a smile curling at the corners of his mouth.

“Where are you guys trying to take this kid?”

Seeing that person, Chen Ling’s gaze turned cold instantly.

“……Huang He.”

This Thief Saint, who had been missing since the start of the war, actually appeared here at this time… One had to know that this was already close to the edge of the Realm, and neither the Fire-Tamperers nor the Twilight Society members could rush over quickly.

“Today, you aren’t leaving.”

Huang He didn’t waste time tangling with Jian Changsheng and the others; his goal seemed extremely clear—he had come to kill Chen Ling.

He raised his hand casually, and the coffin behind him suddenly exploded. A female corpse was displayed inside, looking lifelike…

As the woman’s hands pressed against the earth, the aura of the Seventh Stage began to spread in the air, and the space where Huang He and Chen Ling were located was rapidly stripped away from the world!

“What’s the situation?!!”

Seeing this, Jian Changsheng’s face was shocked. He rushed toward the Thief Saint Huang He without hesitation, as if wanting to interrupt the process.

But in the process, the figures of Chen Ling and Huang He became increasingly blurred, as if moved by some force, until they vanished completely from before Jian Changsheng and the others.

Jian Changsheng grabbed with his hand, but only grasped at empty air.

“Where’s Heart????” Jian Changsheng looked around anxiously. “We’ve come this far, and he was snatched away by the Fire-Tamperers again??”

“Don’t panic.” Sun Bumian said in a deep voice. “That Thief Saint just now should be the [Corpse-Thief] path… capable of briefly reproducing the power of the deceased by collecting corpses. It’s similar to Kong Wang, whom we met at the Heaven-Reaching Star Positions, except one uses the soul as a medium, and the other uses the corpse as a medium.”

“Then where did he take Heart?”

“That woman just now was the Game God Path, and the path is quite ancient and rare… If I remember correctly, it should be the [Hide-and-Seek] path.”

“Huh? [Hide-and-Seek]? This can also be a path?”

“Aren’t those people from the Game God Path all like that? Their abilities are more abstract than the next… and they’re all quite tricky.” Sun Bumian rolled his eyes. “That Thief Saint must have used [Hide-and-Seek] to stuff himself and Chen Ling into some space fold. In a place like that, it’s impossible for an ordinary person to find them.”

Jian Changsheng was suddenly anxious. He looked at Sun Bumian, who seemed to know a little bit about everything, like a drowning man grabbing a straw,

“An ordinary person can’t find them, but you should be able to?”

Sun Bumian rolled his eyes. “I’m just a lion dancer; what do I know about hide-and-seek?”

“Aren’t lions supposed to have a very good sense of smell?!”

“Then why don’t you say you’re a [Military Dog]???”

“I think we need to speed up…” Seeing the two about to start fighting, Jiang Xiaohua suddenly spoke up dully, her expression unprecedentedly serious,

“I just felt… that Thief Saint really seems to want to kill Heart.”