Chapter 1654: The Red Boat Crossing the World

As the rim of the large red paper umbrella was lifted, a pair of familiar and dangerous ruby eyes came into their view.

Everyone froze simultaneously…

“Chen Ling?” Pu Xiachan looked at Tu Tian in bewilderment. “I say, Tu Tian, have you lost your mind? Outsiders might not know what kind of person he is, but don’t we know? …Fighting him? Why bother??”

“Shut your mouth!” Tu Tian glared at her. “Do you have any idea what he’s done……”

“Nanhai Jun was assassinated, and Cangyun Jun also died at his hands!!”

“Now, he has slaughtered nearly ten thousand people all by himself!! Those were ordinary people of the Cangyun Domain!! He didn’t even spare the infants in their swaddles……”

As his words fell, the others were left in a daze…

They didn’t truly believe Chen Ling would do such a thing. Although he was rumored to be a world-ending calamity and the Red King of the Twilight Society, this kind of city-wide slaughter didn’t seem like something he would do. But Tu Tian was not the type to make things up.

“Could there be some misunderstanding?” the Young Sect Master asked cautiously.

Tu Tian gritted his teeth, holding the infant’s corpse in his arms, as thin trickles of blood flowed from the corners of his mouth…

“He’s right.” Chen Ling’s calm voice came from the front. “I killed them all……”

Raindrops hit the rim of the red paper umbrella, making a ticking sound. He walked slowly through the rain, not retreating but advancing, heading straight toward them.

His voice echoed eerily:

“Since you’re all here… then none of you are leaving.”

“Otherwise, I’d have to kill you one by one when I get to the Ling Xu Domain.”

This statement caused everyone’s brains to crash. It took a long time for Pu Xiachan to snap out of it.

“Wait… Chen Ling, what are you doing? Are you for real??”

The Young Sect Master’s brows were locked tight as he took a step forward.

“No……”

“I still feel like there might be a misunderstanding……”

*Pfft—!!*

Before the Young Sect Master could finish his sentence, a palm pierced through his chest like a ghost. Scarlet blood sprayed into the rain. His pupils dilated instantly, and he turned his head stiffly, his face filled with disbelief…

At some point, the red-robed figure with the paper umbrella had already arrived behind him.

“Sorry.” Chen Ling’s whisper sounded in his ear,

“……to have disappointed you.”

Chen Ling’s palm crushed the Young Sect Master’s heart, and the latter’s life force extinguished in an instant. This genius of the human Dao of Puppets, a child of destiny with a Tongtian Star Position, died at Chen Ling’s hands without a single struggle.

This scene shattered the minds of the others. Pu Xiachan’s eyes widened, and she let out a sharp, breathless cry:

“Xiao Mang?!!!”

To be honest, until now, they still didn’t believe Chen Ling would do those things, always feeling there was a misunderstanding… But after witnessing Chen Ling kill the Young Sect Master, their perception was completely destroyed.

Chen Ling pulled his blood-stained hand from the Young Sect Master’s body with an expressionless face. Blood dripped from his fingertips, dissolving into the rain. Chen Ling could see the Young Sect Master’s eyes, still open in death, filled with confusion and shock… He took a deep breath and calmly looked away.

Chen Ling actually quite liked this Young Sect Master.

Back in the Tian Shu Domain, he had a very good impression of this child. Despite being lonelier and in more pain than anyone else, he was still willing to show kindness to everyone… But Chen Ling still had to kill him.

Since the death knell for human destiny had sounded and the world’s restart was a foregone conclusion, no matter the situation in the Ling Xu Domain, Chen Ling was determined to reverse the era.

Every life in this world would vanish with the restart; only by becoming a soul and stepping onto Chen Ling’s solitary boat of salvation would there be a possibility of crossing into the next world.

Even though Chen Ling told himself this, killing someone he didn’t dislike with his own hands was still a form of psychological torture…

Especially when the other person trusted him so much.

Chen Ling clearly saw the ghost of the Young Sect Master, Huai Mang, drift out of his corpse and, along with other dead souls, gather toward the red paper umbrella in Chen Ling’s hand… There, they would pass through this catastrophe quietly and peacefully.

But this scene was invisible to everyone except Chen Ling.

“Chen Ling!!!”

Tu Tian roared with a twisted expression, “I will kill you… I will definitely kill you!!!”

*Whoosh—!!!*

The battle flag unfurled again. Tu Tian, no longer caring about anything else, channeled his power to double its output through a secret technique. An unnatural crimson flush appeared on his skin… At the same time, the surrounding raindrops seemed to be drawn by another force from the sky, reversing their flight toward the heavens!

The combat power Tu Tian erupted with at this moment was even more terrifying than before. In terms of pure strength, an ordinary Eighth-Order might not be able to withstand it.

Meanwhile, atop a distant clock tower.

“He actually killed a Tongtian Star Position holder?” The Farmer frowned, his expression extremely ugly.

“This is bad…” The Butcher knew what the Farmer was thinking and spoke in a deep voice, “The destruction of the Cangyun Domain is a foregone conclusion. Chen Ling killing the civilians was to end their suffering, which could be considered a good deed… but if he kills Tongtian Star Position holders, the nature of the situation changes completely.”

“Those with Tongtian Star Positions are the pillars of human civilization. Even if they aren’t in the Cangyun Domain, they can still create value for the Ling Xu or Tian Shu domains… They are humanity’s last strategic resources.”

“We can’t let this continue.” The Farmer replied immediately, “No matter what, the Tongtian Star Position holders cannot die!”

The Farmer and the Butcher were just about to move.

The next second,

Two palms rested on their shoulders respectively.

“You two… aren’t going anywhere.” A voice as gentle as jade sounded from behind them.

Wind and rain swept past the clock tower. At some point, four figures dressed as “Sheng,” “Dan,” “Jing,” and “Mo” had appeared like ghosts around them.

The four opera robes fluttered wildly, and the temperature of the air atop the clock tower plummeted!!

……

*Boom—!!!*

The battle flag tore through the air, and a visible shockwave swept across the street, crushing numerous abandoned houses into fragments.

This time, Chen Ling did not use his fingers to resist Tu Tian’s battle flag head-on. His figure moved like a butterfly fluttering in the rain, precisely navigating outside the attack range. He held the large red paper umbrella in one hand, his footsteps as steady as a mountain.

“Chen Ling!!” Pu Xiachan, holding a flickering lightning orb, landed lightly behind Chen Ling, her eyes red as she questioned him,

“Why? Why would you do this?! Xiao Mang was always your biggest supporter… how could you kill him with your own hands??!”

Chen Ling shifted his gaze behind him. After a moment of silence, he spoke expressionlessly:

“The era will eventually be reversed, the world will eventually be restarted… Sometimes, death is just a new beginning.”

“Forget it……”

“You wouldn’t understand.”