Chapter 1601: Play of All Living Things

The toad looked at Chen Ling suspiciously, then turned its gaze toward the Bitter Flesh Turbid Forest, where the great battle was raging.

In the end, it carried Chen Ling on its back and rushed rapidly in that direction.

Which of these two Kings was real and which was fake would be clear once they met... If the one on its back was real, it would have followed the King’s orders. If the one in the Bitter Flesh Turbid Forest was real, it would have proactively delivered the enemy to the King.

Meanwhile, Bi Yi was carrying Wu Tongyuan and the others, galloping away in the opposite direction.

[Audience Expectation +3]

[Current Expectation: 76%]

Two lines of small text flashed before Chen Ling’s eyes, but he had no heart to look at them now. His gaze was fixed on the approaching Bitter Flesh Turbid Forest, his brain racing.

There were only about twenty minutes left until this era’s archive ended... How was he supposed to survive this time?

With his current strength, if he met the Calamity of Mockery head-on, he probably wouldn't last five seconds. Even with the audience expectation giving him one chance to respawn, that would only buy him another five seconds.

Was he going to have to die twice more and release the complete Calamity of Mockery?

Releasing the complete Calamity of Mockery was easy, but how would he regain control of his body afterward? If the one who returned to the real world wasn't him, but another brutal, complete-form Calamity of Mockery, then all of humanity would be doomed!

Chen Ling pondered for a long time, closed his eyes, and sank his consciousness into the theater within his mind.

……

Deng-deng-deng—

The familiar sound rang out from above once more. As the numerous spotlights turned on, Chen Ling opened his eyes under the gaze of the masses, his heart heavy with worry.

He walked straight to the screen on the stage and pressed the treasure chest icon in the corner.

As a stirring piece of music played, Chen Ling turned around to find a familiar long table already sitting on the empty stage.

Chen Ling still had one chance to draw an ability.

During the earth-shattering battle a short while ago, Chen Ling had completed two performances in a row. He had only drawn one reward afterward, gaining the Calamity of Thought’s "Thought Intrusion" ability. He had kept the other one in reserve, waiting to use it flexibly in a moment of crisis...

There could be no situation more critical than the current one.

But whose ability should he draw to give himself a chance to escape this certain-death situation? Who could help him stall the Calamity of Mockery for over twenty minutes? Or rather, who could allow him to reclaim his body after the complete-form Calamity of Mockery was released?

Chen Ling stood before the table, pen in hand, but hesitated to write...

Lord Aurora, Yang Xiao?

He already possessed his ability regarding soul magnetic fields... but while that ability was good for slaying evil, it couldn't be used to break the Fourth Wall.

The Calamity of Thought?

Theoretically, its ability could indeed help him break through the theater’s encirclement, but that was something only the world-ending level Calamity of Thought could barely manage. With his current strength, could he really achieve the same effect?

At this moment, countless names flashed through Chen Ling’s mind, only to be rejected one by one. The anxiety in his eyes grew more intense.

The pressure was immense. The name he was about to write would not only directly determine who the "person" returning to the real world would be, but it would also influence the fate of all humanity...

"Master..."

"What should I do?"

At his wit's end, the image of the Fifth Generation Red King appeared in Chen Ling’s mind, and he couldn't help but mutter to himself.

Chen Ling was startled.

"...Master?"

As if struck by a thought, he wrote a name on the table:

——【Chen Yan】.

At the end of his rope, Chen Ling chose to bet the fate of the world on the person who had influenced him the most.

As the last stroke fell, the paper on the table vanished instantly. At the same time, a row of neat cards appeared in the void before him... These were the talents that the Chen Yan of Frost Street, who had yet to grow up, should have possessed, and they were the treasure left behind for Chen Ling by the Fifth Generation Actor, Wuming.

Chen Ling took a deep breath and, following his intuition, chose one of the cards.

The card flipped over.

A piece of information entered Chen Ling’s mind:

"Skill: 【Play of All Living Things】"

"Affiliation: Theater God Path, 【Ancient and Modern Play Heart】 path, 8th Stage."

"Character: Chen Yan."

Chen Ling was stunned.

He sensed the description of this ability in his mind, a flash of brilliance crossing his eyes, followed by a sense of bitterness and complexity...

"Master... is this your answer?"

What Chen Ling had drawn was none other than the ability of the Fifth Generation Red King to write character biographies and shape "all living things"... the very same ability used when the Fifth Generation Red King created the character "Chen Ling."

The Chen Ling of the past was born from this ability; now, he had become the possessor of it.

Perhaps it was truly the guidance of fate, or perhaps this was one of the contingency plans left behind by the Fifth Generation Red King...

The moment Chen Ling gained this ability, he thought of a way to break the deadlock.

Since the Red King of the past could create him from among the many personalities of the Calamity of Mockery through a character biography... why couldn't he, now also possessing the 【Play of All Living Things】, use the same method to recreate a personality?

Since only releasing the complete Calamity of Mockery could counter the complete-form Calamity of Mockery of this era, he didn't need to worry about how to fight it. He just needed to find a way to make the Calamity of Mockery personality that occupied this body become the personality he wanted...

Recreate a "Chen Ling"?

No...

His 【Play of All Living Things】 couldn't depict a character in such detail. "Chen Ling’s" experiences were too convoluted, with good and evil separated by a single thought. Plus, the Calamity of Mockery personality was inherently evil. Even if he recreated himself, without enough tempering by the elements and a clear understanding of his own goals, his ideology would still be immature...

The worst-case scenario: the new "Chen Ling" would also choose to stand on the side of calamity. The best-case scenario: he would simply become the "him" who had just been expelled from the South Sea Realm and only wanted to return to the Abyss of Mockery to be alone.

This new personality had to have a sufficiently strong sense of justice and conviction, capable of maintaining his true self even while possessing the world-destroying power of the Calamity of Mockery...

Moreover, he had to trust Chen Ling enough, because Chen Ling had to return to the stage, which meant this personality would ultimately have to sacrifice everything to fulfill him.

Sheets of paper appeared out of thin air in Chen Ling’s hands. Just as he was about to write, he paused slightly.

Wait...

Did such a "character" need to be fabricated from scratch?

Chen Ling’s consciousness returned to his body. He reached into the void, grabbed the large red paper umbrella, and opened it gently... Under the surging aurora, countless souls floated—all the departed souls he had brought back from the site of the old Aurora Realm!

Chen Ling’s gaze swept across the aurora and finally landed on the phantom of one of the souls!