Chapter 1087: Consciousness Entanglement

Zhao Yi’s voice echoed on the stage through the curtain.

In the midst of the chaotic battlefield, Chen Ling, who was already nearing his limit, heard this voice. His blurred consciousness regained clarity. After knocking down a spectator in front of him with a punch, he stood swaying on the spot and looked toward the curtain.

"Zhao Yi..." Chen Ling muttered to himself.

"According to the latest theories of the Fusionist school, the biological DNA similarity between humans and Calamities is 47.83%, only 1% higher than that of yeast, so we are vastly different from Calamities in terms of our physical bodies... However, research has found that Calamities also emit brainwaves similar to human consciousness, and the overlap is as high as 95%."

"This means that under specific conditions, humans can engage in consciousness entanglement with Calamities, and it is even possible to completely replace the Calamity's consciousness!"

"And in Fusionist theory, this process is called 【Slaying the Calamity】!"

Zhao Yi's voice was incredibly resonant. Although Chen Ling didn't quite understand the first half, his eyes lit up with faint glimmers when he heard about "consciousness entanglement with Calamities" and the "possibility of completely replacing the Calamity's consciousness."

This was the first time Chen Ling had heard of "Slaying the Calamity," but as it stood, the Fusionist theory was extremely similar to the predicament he was in.

Chen Ling's focus was at its peak.

Just as he intended to listen carefully to Zhao Yi's explanation of Slaying the Calamity, the "Mocking Calamity" outside the curtain vanished instantly. A red afterimage crossed Jian Changsheng's sea of killing intent, moving to strike at the noisy "fly" that had appeared out of nowhere.

"Son of God, watch out!!"

Even though the Skeletal Gray Wolf was vigilant enough, he still couldn't keep up with the Mocking Calamity's speed. By the time he shouted this, it was already too late...

The red paper filling the sky suddenly twisted, rolling toward Zhao Yi's face from all directions. Each strip of red paper opened a hideous maw at its end, as if imbued with life, biting frantically!

Boom——!!

A flash of killing intent sword light grazed Zhao Yi's body!

The pitch-black killing intent flickered like flames under the night sky, acting like a curtain wall descending from the heavens, isolating Zhao Yi from all the red paper. At the same time, an afterimage swung a sword toward the void, and a dark shadow holding a large red paper umbrella was outlined...

"Mocking Calamity, you've got the wrong person." Jian Changsheng gritted his teeth and laughed, "I'm not dead yet!"

The "shadow's" gaze shifted back to Jian Changsheng, seemingly finding this guy extremely annoying. With a light wave of its hand, a scarlet pupil vanished from its eye socket. The next moment, a massive eye made of red paper hung high in the sky like a red sun.

As the red sun eyeball locked onto Jian Changsheng, another ominous premonition surged into his heart...

"Damn it, doesn't this mean I have to die twice more?"

Jian Changsheng muttered, then turned his head and shouted at Zhao Yi,

"Whatever you have to say, say it fast!! I can't hold out for much longer!!"

Zhao Yi: ...

Zhao Yi took a deep breath, trying his best to break free from the oppressive feeling of the life-and-death crisis. He condensed and compressed the Fusionist scholar's theory—which usually took over a dozen lectures to explain—and shouted again:

"The key to 【Slaying the Calamity】 is not a 'fight' between human and Calamity, but an 'annexation' of consciousness!"

"No matter how two people fight, it ends in mutual destruction. Moreover, human consciousness is relatively weak; in most cases, it is no match for a Calamity... To truly defeat a Calamity, you must first become the Calamity!!"

Hearing these two sentences from Zhao Yi, the Skeletal Gray Wolf couldn't help but speak up:

"Son of God, that's too simplified... Can Chen Ling even understand that??"

At this moment, Zhao Yi's throat was hoarse from shouting. He coughed twice and nodded without hesitation:

"He can. This kid is much smarter than me..."

The Skeletal Gray Wolf opened his mouth, wanting to retort, "Being smarter than you isn't exactly a rare feat," but considering the current situation, he swallowed the words back.

"Then he'd better understand it quickly." The Skeletal Gray Wolf glanced at the sea of killing intent shrinking beneath Jian Changsheng's feet, his tone low,

"After all, we don't have much time left..."

……

"Not 'fighting,' but 'annexation'..."

Chen Ling, while struggling to resist the spectators swarming around him, kept pondering the meaning of these words in his mind, his brows furrowed tightly.

His struggle with the spectators was essentially a struggle for the stage, and the only way to win the stage was to knock everyone else off the spectator seats... This could only rely on "fighting." If that was the case, what did "annexation" mean?

How was he supposed to annex this group of "spectators"?

Chen Ling had no clue. Or rather, his spirit had been tortured to the limit by the pain in his body, making it impossible for him to think rationally as he usually did...

Every punch he threw was delivered with the mindset of a final strike; his stamina was already at its limit. Furthermore, following the spectators' frenzied attacks, his body no longer looked human. His original skin had fallen away, revealing the pitch-black body beneath, identical to that of the spectators.

A black shadow fought against the dense mass of black shadows on the stage. At a glance, it was impossible to tell which one was Chen Ling; only the intricate theatrical robes and the hideous Nuo mask distinguished Chen Ling from the other Calamities.

Bang!

Finally, Chen Ling's swaying body was kicked heavily to the ground.

Pain and exhaustion radiated from every inch of his body, leaving Chen Ling's spirit dazed and sluggish. He struggled to crawl up from the ground, only to be kicked down again and again by the swarming spectators.

As Chen Ling fell, the interference against the Mocking Calamity became increasingly sparse. The red and black flames were visibly dissipating. Jian Changsheng, who was still fighting the Mocking Calamity outside, felt the pressure mounting. With a momentary lapse in concentration, he was pierced through by the large red paper umbrella...

"Trouble..."

Jian Changsheng was reborn in blood and killing intent, but this time he could clearly feel that the demigod killing intent he had stored was almost exhausted. In a few minutes at most, he would drop in rank and revert to a Fourth Stage.

By then, it would be easier for the Mocking Calamity to kill him than to crush an ant.

Thump—thump-thump...

The thundering sound of stomping echoed in Chen Ling's ears.

He vaguely felt several pairs of hands dragging his body, step by step toward the edge of the stage, as if they were about to toss him into the spectator seats like trash...

Chen Ling's consciousness gradually sank into the abyss.

Just then,

The image of Ning Ruyu, covered in blood, flashed through his mind.

"Senior Brother..." Chen Ling mumbled like a sleepwalker, his eyes slowly opening once more.

At the same time, the figures of the other senior brothers and sisters in the Ancient Treasury of the Opera Path, as well as Yao, Jian Changsheng, and others, surged into his mind one after another... Chen Ling was not afraid of death, but if he died here, everyone he cherished would be buried here too.

Resentment and anger filled Chen Ling's heart once again. He didn't know where the strength came from, but his pitch-black hands reached out again, grabbing tightly onto the arms of the spectators who were preparing to throw him off...