Chapter 1452: When the Human Stars Shine (Finale) (Four-in-One)

BANG—!!!!

A thunderous explosion rang in Chen Ling’s ears!

The black coffin above the ruins of the Ruoshui Domain was shattered by a spear from the east, and Chen Ling’s body fell out of the broken ink and brush, crashing狼狈 onto the ground.

The wailing, broken cold wind brushed against Chen Ling’s cheeks. He saw that he had been rescued from the black coffin, but there was no joy on his face—only extreme paleness!

Why?

Why didn't Su Zhiwei respond to the code???

Chen Ling’s mind went blank. He felt his worldview had been overturned once again, and countless contradictions jumped out in his heart, causing his brain to completely overload.

At the same time,

Chen Ling saw out of the corner of his eye that the ink and brush fragments scattered on the ground were trembling slightly!

"Oh no, is the Calamity of Thought still nearby?!" Chen Ling’s heart tightened. He scanned his surroundings but didn't see the Calamity of Thought, but since the black coffin that sealed him had been broken, the Calamity of Thought would surely sense it... It had gone to such lengths to seal him, it probably wouldn't let him go so easily.

Chen Ling immediately scrambled up from the ground and fled rapidly along the ruined streets!

Woooooo—

The broken city flashed before Chen Ling’s eyes,

The cold wind rolled across Chen Ling’s face, allowing his overloaded brain to gradually cool down.

Su Zhiwei didn't respond to the code—could it be because she forgot? Or was she like Ji Xuan, simply wanting to play a joke on him?

No... absolutely impossible.

Who was Su Zhiwei? The string theory she studied was so profound, her intelligence far exceeded that of ordinary people, and when Chen Ling and Su Zhiwei agreed on the code, she had said she would never forget it. As for joking, that was even more absurd... Su Zhiwei was not the type to joke about serious matters.

So, Su Zhiwei really didn't respond to the code; perhaps she didn't know about the code at all!

So...

Was everything that happened in the Era Archive fake?

"No... impossible! Absolutely impossible!!" Chen Ling muttered to himself, his tone somewhat agitated.

"Yang Xiao recognizes me; he called me 'Guide' when he was in the Aurora Domain! Lu Xun recognizes me; the stars he left in the Tian-Shu Domain paved the way for me! Ji Xuan recognizes me; he jokes with me! Su Zhiwei also recognizes me... she just called me 'Chen Ling'."

"Chu Changqing recognizes me, he..."

"He..."

"They..."

"Why?! Why do they clearly recognize me, yet seem not to recognize me at all?"

If he recalled carefully, Chen Ling could actually feel that the Nine Lords of this era had subtle differences in their attitudes toward him, especially Chu Changqing—it was no longer just "subtle," he was openly hostile!

Previously, Chen Ling thought Chu Changqing was hostile because he had forgotten his roots and betrayed his trust, but with Su Zhiwei failing to respond to the code, Chen Ling suddenly felt that things might not be that simple...

Does Chu Changqing... really recognize me?

Chen Ling’s thoughts were in complete disarray. The last time he felt this way was when he was struggling with the question, "Who am I?"

He pulled out the Era Archive from his pocket and spoke to this dead, silent domain, feeling both annoyed and pained:

"Damn it!!"

"Lord Ruoshui, what exactly did you create?!!"

In the ruined Ruoshui Domain, no one could answer him, leaving only Chen Ling’s bewildered voice echoing among the broken walls.

On the other side.

An ink-like black shadow rapidly outlined itself at the spot where Chen Ling had broken free from the seal!

"Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough, cough..."

A blood-covered, elderly figure stood unsteadily on the ink stains covering the ground. Seeing Chen Ling, who had become a black dot rapidly moving away in the distance, and sensing the lingering aura of Lady Hongchen, his face turned ugly.

"Running? Where else can you run to?"

The Calamity of Thought snorted coldly, its elderly body transforming into countless disassembled ink strokes, flying shakily into the sky to pursue Chen Ling.

After sealing Chen Ling earlier, the Calamity of Thought had wanted to find a place to properly repair this broken body, but before it could start, it sensed that its seal had been broken...

It had gone to great lengths to restrain the Calamity of Mockery, the biggest variable. It couldn't let Chen Ling escape just like that; otherwise, if the complete Calamity of Mockery were released later to settle scores, it would be almost impossible to hide.

It had to reseal Chen Ling. Fortunately, no matter how bad its current state was, catching and suppressing a Seventh-Tier Chen Ling shouldn't be a problem.

Sensing the terrifying aura sweeping in from behind, Chen Ling’s heart sank...

Su Zhiwei was right.

Even if she could help him break the seal, as long as the Calamity of Thought hadn't completely left, he would still be in danger.

And at this point in time, Su Zhiwei needed to hold down the Tian-Shu Domain, Qi Muyun the Cangyun Domain, and Wu Tongyuan the Lingxu Domain. The only Nine Lord who could possibly come to save him was Chu Changqing... but how could Chu Changqing possibly save him?

This time, there would be no reinforcements.

On his own, how could he carve out a glimmer of hope from the hands of the Calamity of Thought?

The Red Star had already left Earth; Chen Ling couldn't release the Calamity of Mockery with the intention of mutual destruction. If he did that, he would be personally releasing an uncontrollable madman to end the world.

"Is this the end of the road..." Chen Ling silently clenched his fists, his heart filled with unwillingness and anger.

Just then,

An illusory path extended from beneath his feet.

Eerie stars twinkled in the firmament. Chen Ling didn't know when he had ended up standing on that twisted divine path again... He was startled at first sight of this divine path, but soon calmed down.

Chen Ling had already completed the performance for the promotion from Sixth-Tier to Seventh-Tier, and the "lock" restricting his rank had been broken. At the same time, the Red Star wish power remaining in his body after destroying the two Jiangtian Sect branches could finally take effect, causing his spiritual power to skyrocket in a short period.

Driven by the Red Star wish power of the Jiangtian Sect, Chen Ling had jumped from just stepping into the Seventh-Tier to the mid-Seventh-Tier...

Which meant that the next performance was about to begin.

It was just that the timing of this performance was extremely unfortunate. Chen Ling was currently being hunted by the Calamity of Thought; he was in no mood to complete a performance, and whether he could even survive until then was an unknown.

But even though Chen Ling was agitated, he still looked down at his feet.

A line of small text caught his eyes:

【On a stage where no one cares, complete an impossible performance】.

Chen Ling froze slightly.

After a brief moment of distraction, he seemed to think of something, and a sharp light suddenly erupted in his eyes!

Chen Ling looked back at the Calamity of Thought, which was getting closer, then looked into the distance, a touch of determination climbing onto his face...

"Let's gamble!"

He pushed his speed to the limit and sped straight toward the north!

……

BOOM—!!!

A comet roared, tearing through the air and grazing past the fleeing afterimage. The next second, the world-destroying power completely shattered the scarred Gray World earth!

Rolling dust flew up, and an almost weightless afterimage flew out from it, approaching the Lingxu Domain at an astonishing speed!

The Calamity of Delusion had already opened sixty pupils, and with its focused attention on the northwest, it could complete detachment and evasion before Wu Tongyuan’s "stone skipping" bombardment hit it. It was like a nimble Gray World hound dodging various stones, constantly advancing amidst the aftermath of the comet impact.

Ten consecutive "stone skippings" had failed to hit, and the distance between the Calamity of Delusion and the Lingxu Domain was now less than three hundred kilometers.

In front of the Lingxu Ancient Temple,

Wu Tongyuan casually pocketed a handful of pebbles he had just picked up.

"This distance... is about right." Wu Tongyuan said faintly, taking a step, and his figure instantly vanished from Lingxu Mountain.

Three hundred kilometers...

Two hundred and fifty kilometers...

Two hundred kilometers!

Due to the Red Star passing through, the Gray World was now shattered, with large swaths of land annihilated into nothingness or floating chaotically in the air. The beast afterimage covered in pupils darted like lightning across the floating earth. In the vision of those pupils, the outline of a vague city was already sketched out at the end of the horizon...

For the Calamity of Delusion, as long as it could see the enemy, victory could be declared.

And as the Calamity of Delusion approached, the outline of the city became clearer; it could even see the streets and the residents walking leisurely back and forth!

A cruel smile flickered in the beast pupils of the Calamity of Delusion.

Sixty beast pupils contracted simultaneously, and the terrifying power of exploitation directly annihilated the surrounding floating Gray World earth into dust. At the same time, the world-ending aura rolled directly toward the Lingxu Domain, which was close at hand!

However, the next second, the Calamity of Delusion froze in place.

It had already opened all sixty pupils, yet under that world-destroying power of exploitation, the streets and buildings of the Lingxu Domain showed no change at all. Even the pedestrians walking by didn't seem to notice the approach of the Calamity of Delusion, still chatting and laughing.

Had its power failed?

Before the dull brain of the Calamity of Delusion could react, three comets radiating terrifying auras flew in from the east simultaneously!!

BOOM BOOM BOOM—!!!

The Calamity of Delusion hadn't expected the comets to change their flight direction this time, and with three appearing at once, it couldn't weaken them enough, and was directly submerged by the light of the three comets!

Earth-shattering explosions roared in the Gray World. The already fragmented world completely annihilated under the overlapping impacts. As the dust dissipated, it seemed as if this place no longer belonged to Earth, but to some unknown, dead, silent planet in the deep universe.

A piece of blood-stained beast skin flew out from the ruins, its aura appearing severely damaged, several of its beast pupils blinded, looking extremely wretched...

The other pupils of the Calamity of Delusion scanned the surroundings, only to find that the "Lingxu Domain" it had originally seen had gradually vanished without a trace.

It was as if it were just a "mirage" refracted by light in the air.

Then, a new "Lingxu Domain" was sketched out in another direction...

No one knew if that Lingxu Domain was real, because a second, third, and fourth Lingxu Domain began to appear around the Calamity of Delusion.

At some point, the light refraction laws in this area had been modified. The Calamity of Delusion had long since deviated from the correct direction toward the Lingxu Domain, like a beast that had wandered into a trap, completely lost.

"If you had always stayed a thousand miles away, other than throwing stones, I really wouldn't have had any other way to deal with you..."

"But since you’ve come to my doorstep..."

"Then I won't be polite."

Wu Tongyuan’s voice came from above. The Calamity of Delusion looked up violently, only to see a figure with slightly curly hair standing on the peak of all the "Lingxu Domain" mountains, looking down at it indifferently.

The Calamity of Delusion tried to activate its ability, but it couldn't cause any damage to Wu Tongyuan... The Wu Tongyuan it saw was still an illusion after light refraction.

The Lingxu coefficient danced between Wu Tongyuan’s palms, like the law authority of this domain, tampering with the dimensions of light.

Not being able to see the enemy’s true form meant that the power of the Calamity of Delusion would be greatly weakened;

This was the home field of Lord Lingxu!

And what Wu Tongyuan could do... was far more than this.

His palm pressed slowly toward the direction of the Calamity of Delusion. The Lingxu coefficient danced silently, and the heat conduction formula was like beads played with by the fingertips of a god; with a gentle pinch, it fell to the ground with a chaotic clatter.

The air began to liquefy into nitrogen at a speed visible to the naked eye;

Solid crystals condensed out of the empty void;

The moisture inside the beast skin of the Calamity of Delusion was frozen into tiny ice blades that drilled out, cutting the skin, and those beast pupils began to tremble silently!

It seemed to realize something, and its beast-like vocal cords let out roars. This human hadn't intended to kill it with brute force from the beginning; he knew that would trigger its frantic counterattack, and even if he really killed it in the end, he probably wouldn't be able to recover in the short term... So, he adopted a method with a higher return.

He wanted to trap it to death before the Lingxu Domain!

The Calamity of Delusion was still struggling frantically, one eye after another opening on the surface of the beast skin, but no matter how much it increased the intensity of its exploitation power, it couldn't find a target to attack, and could only frantically weaken everything around it.

The struggle of the Calamity of Delusion was not entirely without effect. At least when it opened to the eightieth pupil, even the surrounding air was exploited and erased, completely turning this area into a vacuum.

And as the air disappeared, light refraction began to return to normal. One "Lingxu Domain" after another gradually faded, and the real Lingxu Domain came into its view...

It was less than ten kilometers away from the Lingxu Domain. If it had chosen the correct direction just now, it probably could have rushed into the domain.

But, it was all too late.

As the temperature approached absolute zero, the movement of microscopic particles nearly stopped, as if even time and space were frozen. The speed at which new pupils opened became slower and slower, finally freezing as if time had stopped; and the eighty-plus beast pupils that had already opened on the surface still maintained the ability to exploit, but the eyeballs no longer turned.

In this heat-death cage, the Calamity of Delusion still maintained a runaway exploitation state, but from the outside, it was completely frozen and fixed...

Like a lifelike beast skin specimen placed in a glass display case.

……

On the other side of the Gray World.

Two figures, one after the other, sped straight toward the north.

Chen Ling’s red-bottomed, black-patterned theatrical robe was covered in dust. His figure darted frantically between the floating fragments of earth, and not far behind him, one ink stroke after another piercing the void was like a life-taking demon, biting hard and not letting go.

"Do you really think that by running so desperately, you can have a glimmer of hope?" Inside the elderly body, the weak Calamity of Thought sneered.

"If you are waiting for a miracle, waiting for someone to come and save you, then give it up... Within a radius of more than a thousand kilometers, there is no biological thought existence other than you and me.

Even if you run to the ends of the earth, it won't change anything."

Chen Ling gritted his teeth and didn't answer.

At this moment, as an Eighth-Tier physical body plus Cloud Step, his escape speed was not much slower than the severely damaged Ninth-Tier Calamity of Thought. They had been chasing and fleeing from the ruins of the Ruoshui Domain, covering a vast distance... If one counted the process of Chen Ling chasing the Calamity of Thought at the beginning, they were nearly reenacting the battle between the Silver King and the Gray King back then, fighting all the way from the southernmost part of the human domain to the northernmost.

The same chase, the same role reversal—who would have thought that the scenes of human history would be reenacted between world-ending calamities?

The Calamity of Thought wanted to intervene in Chen Ling’s thoughts to see what this guy was thinking, but for one thing, it was in a terrible state now, and every time it mobilized power that originally belonged to it, it was actively approaching death; for another, Chen Ling also had a thought storm and had resistance to the Calamity of Thought’s ability... So the Calamity of Thought could only watch Chen Ling flee in front, using this Book God Path ability to block him.

But as Chen Ling firmly approached the north, the Calamity of Thought also sensed something unusual in its heart.

Why?

Why was he so determined to go north?

Clearly, in that direction, no human thoughts could be sensed, not even calamity thoughts... That was simply a forbidden zone for life.

The more abnormal it was, the more the Calamity of Thought felt something was wrong, but it couldn't find any possible danger, so naturally, it couldn't give up hunting Chen Ling. After a brief thought, it made a decision.

No matter what Chen Ling wanted to do, it must stop him as soon as possible. In any case, as long as it ensured he didn't die on the spot, it would be fine.

The Calamity of Thought no longer cared about its broken body, forcibly mobilizing the power of the Book God Path demigod again, and pointed at Chen Ling’s back from the air!

The finger of the elderly body seemed to evolve directly into the character "一" (one), flying forward. At this moment, the dim firmament seemed to be torn open by an invisible sword, piercing straight from north to south. This "一" sword, cut out by sacrificing flesh and blood, caught up with Chen Ling in front in the blink of an eye!

PUFF—!!!

The speed of this sword was too fast. Before Chen Ling could react, half of his body was directly crushed into blood mist and exploded!

One had to know that ordinary attacks were already difficult to hurt Chen Ling, who had an Eighth-Tier calamity body. For this sword, the Calamity of Thought had used true demigod power, and it was driven at the cost of sacrificing its own flesh and blood... It was almost impossible for Chen Ling to dodge.

The shattered Chen Ling instantly lost all support and plunged toward the earth...

But he didn't give up. Those bloodshot eyes suddenly widened, his spiritual power consumed crazily, and he shouted loudly:

"—【PAUSE】!!"

Chen Ling’s domain suddenly opened. He, who had already been pierced through the body by a sword, actually returned to an intact flying state as if rewinding. The "一" sword that had flown out returned, and the pierced sky recovered as before...

A look of astonishment appeared on the face of the Calamity of Thought.

SWISH—

The "一" sword was slashed out again, but this time Chen Ling seemed to have predicted the arrival of this blow long ago, violently turning his body and narrowly avoiding the sword!

Chen Ling, who had stepped into the Seventh-Tier, had reached a new level of spiritual power. This domain, which had once consumed a huge amount of energy for him, could finally exert some real power.

One blow missed, and the Calamity of Thought was somewhat annoyed. It threw out another "一" sword in a "break the pot" manner!

Chen Ling in the distance exploded into a blood mist again!

"—【PAUSE】!"

“……”

"—【PAUSE】!!"

“……”

"—【PAUSE】!!!"

The "一" sword, which even the Book God Path demigod was reluctant to use at the cost of sacrificing the body, was thrown out crazily in the hands of the Calamity of Thought as if it didn't want its life. Every blow that landed on the world-ending calamity could cause not-insignificant damage...

But it just happened to meet Chen Ling, a madman who could use his own life as a consumable after opening the domain!

Scarlet blood flowed out from Chen Ling’s seven orifices.

After resisting four or five demigod attacks in a row, even he couldn't hold on. If it weren't for the significant increase in spiritual power after stepping into the Seventh-Tier, plus this Eighth-Tier calamity body that was tenacious and durable, capable of bearing the side effects of the domain opening, he would probably have already exploded into a blood mist.

But at this moment, Chen Ling was also conscious-blurred, his figure swaying as he fell toward the earth...

And not far to the north,

A dead, silent domain already covered in ice and snow came into view.

That was the forbidden zone of extreme cold, the territory of the former Forbidden Sea, and the coldest and most prosperous city in the north of humanity...

Aurora City.

Chen Ling’s heavy body streaked across the sky and fell heavily into the frost-covered earth. Ice dregs mixed with dust flew up. He lay狼狈 on the ground, and in his hazy vision, there seemed to be ribbon-like brilliance flickering in the firmament...

Even if this domain had become ruins, even if there were no living creatures here anymore, even if it had long since become one of the domain maps forgotten by humanity.

But the dazzling aurora filling the sky still flowed silently, just as it had for more than three hundred years.

Chen Ling was back.

He lay on the ground covered in blood, his chest heaving violently. He looked at the eternal sea of aurora above his head, feeling a bit dazed for a moment...

He never thought he would return here, nor did he expect it to be in such a form.

【On a stage where no one cares, complete a curtain call with thunderous applause】.

This was the last performance Chen Ling completed before leaving the Aurora Domain, and it was also one of the performances that left the deepest impression on him... And now, a new performance had guided him back here.

That familiar, "no one cares" stage.

【On a stage where no one cares, complete an impossible performance】... An impossible performance, can it really be completed here?

Chen Ling didn't know.

But he had no other choice now.

The elderly figure slowly descended from the sky. The Calamity of Thought scanned Chen Ling, who was already at his limit, and looked at the dead, silent domain shrouded in aurora, its eyes narrowing slightly.

"Thought you would have some means of desperate counterattack..."

"Turns out you just changed to a new graveyard for yourself?"

Chen Ling, covered in blood, stood up unsteadily from the ground.

"You’re wrong... This won't be my graveyard... but yours."

"Hehe." The Calamity of Thought sneered. It closed its eyes and sensed it again, then replied slowly, "If you want to bluff, give it up as soon as possible... I have confirmed it many times, there is no one here."

"...Is there really no one?"

"No."

Chen Ling smiled slightly,

"Then why... did I once hear thunderous applause here?"

The Calamity of Thought was stunned. It looked at Chen Ling with furrowed brows, not knowing what kind of medicine he was selling in his gourd... But the more this was the case, the more uneasy it felt in its heart.

The Calamity of Thought had to admit that if Chen Ling was bluffing and singing an empty city strategy, he had indeed succeeded. Although the Calamity of Thought had confirmed it countless times, it was still a bit panicked now. It subconsciously took a step back, and finally locked its gaze on the surging aurora above...

Is it the aurora?

Is this Chen Ling’s final trump card?

The thoughts of the Calamity of Thought flew, and the sense of crisis in its heart became more intense. It didn't know if this aurora hid some secret, but now its vigilance and instinct were telling it to leave as soon as possible!

The Calamity of Thought gritted its teeth and finally gave up on finishing Chen Ling, turning its head to retreat into the distance!!

Chen Ling didn't expect the Calamity of Thought to react so quickly and have such a keen judgment of crisis, but now even if the Calamity of Thought reacted, it was too late...

Chen Ling silently clenched the Era Archive in his hand.

Whether what happened in the Era Archive existed, he didn't know...

What his relationship with the Nine Lords was in this era, he also didn't know...

But at least one thing he was certain of.

At that time, the Aurora Domain was on the verge of destruction, and Yang Xiao sat with him in a coffee shop. The look in his eyes when he looked at him was definitely not looking at a stranger; that look carried appreciation, carried expectation... Casting aside those messy inferences and doubts, now, only one certain result appeared in Chen Ling’s mind!

He could always trust Lord Aurora.

He took a deep breath, used all his strength, stimulated the thought storm, and rushed toward the surging aurora in the sky!

"Yang Xiao————！！！" Chen Ling called out to the sky full of aurora.

The next second,

The sky full of aurora erupted with dazzling white light!

The aurora above Aurora City was never a natural magnetic field phenomenon, but the power Yang Xiao used to protect this domain, and the souls of the people who had died in this domain over the past three hundred years... The domain was destroyed, the souls of millions of residents rose, all captured by Yang Xiao’s magnetic field, recorded as soul records carrying everything.

They witnessed the birth of this domain, witnessed the development of this domain, and also witnessed the destruction of this domain...

They had cheered and applauded for Chen Ling on the stage.

And now,

They heard Chen Ling’s call.

This soul record, personally recorded by Yang Xiao, erupted with unprecedented power at this moment. The aurora was as vast as the sea, swallowing the sky, and a pair of illusory aurora eyes slowly opened from the sky!!

That was Yang Xiao’s eyes.

The Aurora Domain had long been destroyed, but the aurora that protected the domain had never vanished.

At this moment, an aurora sword gathered from millions of souls pierced out from the frozen, dead, silent domain. The sky full of aurora poured down, rushing straight toward the fleeing Calamity of Thought!

That was not a material sword that could hurt people... Its killing dimension lay in the soul itself.

The hair on the elderly body stood up in horror. The Calamity of Thought never expected that in this ruin of a domain that had been abandoned for so long, there was still power left by Lord Aurora. If it were in its prime, it naturally wouldn't take this remnant thought to heart...

But the problem was that it was now at the end of its rope.

"NO！！！"

It roared, no longer having any fluke mentality, and turned all its remaining power into a thought storm, trying to resist the aurora sword diving down. But in the torrent of vast aurora, the roars of millions of soul thoughts forcibly tore a hideous crack in the thought storm!

Anger, fear, despair—millions of thoughts poured into the brain of the elderly body in an instant, crushing the already near-collapsing brain to pieces!

The soul of the Calamity of Thought was erased piece by piece. That last bit of vitality, like a candle in the wind, was like being gently blown by the frost from the far north...

And returned to peace.

At this moment,

The aurora surged, and all was silent.