Chapter 1174: Meeting Kongwang Again

"Wow!! What an amazing trick!!"

"I thought this big brother had no tricks... turns out he only shows his skills after the wedding is picked up!"

"Are you stupid? The two of them were together from the start, they must be in the same line of work!"

"But this doesn't look like a lion dance... it looks a bit familiar?"

"This is Nuo opera, you know? For dispelling illness and disaster!"

"First a lion dance, then Nuo opera... Brother Pao only gave a small piece of gold, can it really have this effect?"

“……”

Chen Ling’s change caused the onlookers to burst into exclamations and stunned the other boys who had come to pick up the bride. They had always thought Chen Ling was an outsider, but they didn't expect him to have such a hidden skill!

Sun Bumian stared blankly at Chen Ling’s distant red and black opera robe, only recovering after a long time.

He smiled with emotion, turned nimbly, and jumped to the front of the procession, shaking his head and continuing to clear the way amidst the cheers!

The Audi with its hazard lights flashing moved away amidst the sound of firecrackers. When the lion dance left, the crowd turned back to look for the actor, only to find that he had disappeared...

……

In the dark, deserted alley, Kongwang’s figure moved like a ghost.

A black shadow flew over his head. Kongwang frowned, his closed eyes seemingly sensing something, and slowly turned toward another direction...

Faint lightning flashed across the dull clouds.

Pale lightning flashed, illuminating a figure wearing a ferocious Nuo mask and draped in a red and black opera robe, staring at him from the end of the alley.

"Nuo?" Kongwang’s voice was extremely deep. "No wonder you can see me... In this era, there’s actually a second 'Nuo'."

Chen Ling looked him over carefully for a moment.

"Kongwang... why are you here? Shouldn't you be hiding in the Ghost Path Ancient Treasury?"

Hearing Chen Ling call his name in one sentence, Kongwang was startled, his brows furrowing tighter. "You actually know me... How is this possible? Except for that damn auspiciousness, no one can call my name. Who exactly are you?"

Kongwang looked him over carefully, a strange glimmer flashing from the cinnabar red on his forehead, his tone full of confusion.

"No... you shouldn't be here. You don't belong here."

"Oh?"

Chen Ling’s brows under the mask raised. "You can actually tell?"

Chen Ling indeed didn't belong to this era; he had entered through an era archive... But he didn't expect Kongwang to see through his background at a glance.

When he was in the Tian-Shu Domain, Chen Ling had fought Kongwang, but at the time he had only viewed him as a Ghost God Path possessor who captured souls. But now it seemed that the secrets on this guy, or rather the secrets in the Ghost Path Ancient Treasury, were far more than he had imagined...

Kongwang didn't intend to respond to Chen Ling, just spoke in a deep voice,

"Whoever you are, I don't know how you got here, but you'd better leave immediately..."

"Is that so?"

Chen Ling sneered, a boning knife sliding into his palm. As lightning flashed across the sky, the blade reflected a pale, bone-chilling cold light. "What if... I say no?"

Kongwang’s face was as cold as frost. He raised a hand, and several void chains flew out from the ground, wrapping around Chen Ling’s body like pythons!

"Then I’ll just have to search your soul myself to see what secrets you’re hiding..."

Chen Ling looked down at the chains wrapped around him and suddenly laughed. He grabbed one of them, a strange glimmer flashing from his palm, and the chains were shattered into pieces in an instant!

"[Soul-Recalling Technique]?!" Kongwang was shocked. "How could you know the Soul-Recalling Technique?!"

This was the first time Kongwang had been so composed. You have to know that the Soul-Recalling Technique was exclusive to the Ghost God Path, and only the six envoys of the Ghost Path Ancient Treasury knew how to use it... How could Chen Ling, an outsider, have Ghost God Path abilities?

"Is it that strange?"

Chen Ling spoke leisurely. Under the gloomy clouds, tentacles of red paper swarmed out from under the hem of his red and black opera robe,

"The things I know... are quite numerous."

The vast red paper instantly filled the entire alley, swarming toward Kongwang. Chen Ling was no longer the Chen Ling of the Tian-Shu Domain era; the enemy he had to struggle to defeat back then was nothing in his eyes now.

Facts proved that even Kongwang had never seen the power of disaster. He retreated constantly while fending off Chen Ling’s attacks, his face looking extremely ugly.

"Answer my question." Chen Ling spoke calmly again,

"Why would someone from the Ghost Path Ancient Treasury appear here... why did you want to take that girl’s life?"

"It wasn't me who wanted to take her life; she was already going to die. I just took her soul while I was at it." Kongwang leaped, dodging all of Chen Ling’s red paper attacks, and spoke in a deep voice,

"I know you are a Nuo, but even if you can save one person’s life, can you save everyone?"

Hearing the second half of the sentence, Chen Ling frowned,

"What do you mean?"

"Everyone here will die, even a Nuo cannot change that." Kongwang seemed to have sensed something, frowned, and looked in another direction, his face looking even worse...

"Since you all want to protect that girl so much, I’ll leave her life to you for now... However, no matter how hard you try, the final outcome cannot be changed. This is the 'fate' of everyone here, and it cannot be altered."

After saying this, Kongwang’s figure seemed to turn into a ghost and dived directly into the earth. A moment later, his aura disappeared completely.

Chen Ling frowned and looked at the earth beneath his feet, his palm pressing lightly against the ground, as if sensing something...

"He actually disappeared... how did he do that?"

Chen Ling muttered to himself.

The next moment, Chen Ling seemed to sense something and stood up to look in another direction.

It was the direction Kongwang had just looked in.

Clouds were thick, thunder and lightning flashed. Accompanied by the roaring thunder, one could vaguely hear the sound of drums coming from the void... As a bolt of lightning flashed, a figure in a black opera robe, holding a black flag, was slowly descending to the earth.

A ferocious Nuo mask, similar to the one on Chen Ling’s face, was shining with a strange luster under the lightning.

That was the other [Nuo].

Chen Ling realized then that Kongwang’s hurried escape just now wasn't just because of him, but because he had sensed that the only two [Nuo] in the world were both approaching this place.

That person held a flag in one hand and a bell in the other, walking slowly along the other side of the alley... Under the ferocious Nuo mask, Shen Nan’s gaze was full of confusion.

Two [Nuo] shadows stood facing each other under the clouds.

After a long while, Shen Nan opened his mouth uncertainly and tentatively called out a name...

"...Chen Ling???"