Chapter 1853: Chen Ling's Past

Light and shadow, as if substantial, flowed across the firmament.

The moment Chen Ling stepped onto the Divine Path, fragments of memories were displayed before tens of millions of people through the Imperial Seal.

It was a figure draped in a bright red theatrical robe, trudging miserably through a heavy rain.

"Who..."

"Am I?"

When this scene appeared before everyone, they were all slightly taken aback.

"Is this the memory of a World-Ending Calamity?"

"I seem to have heard that when ascending to the Ninth Rank, one needs something... a Divine Path Self-Verification? It seems heaven and earth will witness his past."

"What's there to witness about the past of a World-Ending Calamity? Most likely, he didn't do anything good."

"How strange... isn't he a World-Ending Calamity? Why does his memory... start in a human city?"

"Wait, the aurora above his head looks a bit familiar."

"Isn't this Aurora Prison?"

"No, I'm in Aurora Prison, and this place doesn't look like ours at all..."

"Where on earth is this?"

“……”

Chen Ling's past flowed rapidly through the light and shadow.

While everyone was either indifferent, curious, or sneering at Chen Ling's past, the blood-soaked figure in the theatrical robe was stumbling forward along the first step of the twisted Divine Path.

The bone nails constantly pressed against Chen Ling's skeleton. With every step he took, large amounts of blood flowed onto the ground. He looked like a dying man who had lost too much blood, as if he didn't know after which step he would collapse forever on this twisted Divine Path.

Chen Ling breathed heavily. He couldn't see the strange gazes of others, nor could he see the past flickering around him. He seemed not to care at all how the people of this world viewed him... In his eyes, there was only that twisted Divine Path leading straight to the sky.

He had waited far, far too long to walk this path to the heavens.

A long trail of blood dragged across the ground of the first step, like a cinnabar mark wiped by the heavens.

At the end of this mark, Chen Ling slowly lifted his foot and, slowly but firmly, stepped onto the second step...

……

"Since just now... who have you been talking to?"

*Fwip*—

In the memory, the candle flame in that cold wind suddenly extinguished.

Tens of millions of citizens had been arguing and talking about who Chen Ling was and where the Aurora City in the images was. But when the candle flame went out and Chen Yan's body vanished without a trace, everyone froze in place.

Bewilderment and confusion appeared in their eyes.

The light and shadow danced rapidly. Everyone saw with their own eyes Chen Ling's breakdown, his rush into the courtyard, and his slaughter of everyone present.

When they saw the truth of the event and learned of the tragedy caused by that organ trafficking, the gazes they cast toward the frantic figure in the wind and snow began to show a hint of pity.

"This Chen Ling... he's actually quite pitiful."

"His younger brother had his organs dug out, yet he survived, sigh..."

"The criminals behind this organ trafficking are too rampant. Is Aurora Prison really this chaotic now?"

"No, I told you, this isn't Aurora Prison... it's completely different."

"No matter how pitiful he is, he's still a World-Ending Calamity. Don't be fooled by his appearance. No matter how miserable he is, he's just acting out a role; he's just looking for fun."

"But... he really doesn't look like a calamity."

“……”

Chen Ling couldn't hear the chaotic conversations of the citizens.

He just stubbornly walked step by step along the second step. More and more blood flowed from his body, and his pace grew slower and slower.

Perhaps because he was shackled and pierced by bone nails, Chen Ling's recovery ability was forcibly locked. With such a terrifying amount of blood loss, his vision began to blur...

"Damn it..."

"Am I too heavily injured..."

Chen Ling's body felt heavier and heavier. He looked at the Divine Path Star at the end of the path, still so far away, and a sense of powerlessness welled up in his heart.

There were still seven steps left to finish this twisted Divine Path... but he was injured too severely. At this rate, he might not even make it to the last step.

Chen Ling admitted that he had gambled. After learning of the Imperial Seal's existence through intelligence years ago, he had formulated this crazy performance plan... He knew that Ying Fu's Imperial Seal was the safest way to satisfy the condition of "ten million spectators."

Therefore, he deliberately spread the news in major prisons and realms that he was the Calamity of Mockery, guiding the public to harbor malice toward him in advance. He also deliberately entered the Red Dust Prison in such a high-profile manner to ensure he was the center of everyone's attention...

He had finally met the performance conditions for his ascension; how could he just collapse here?

Chen Ling's eyes were filled with unwillingness, but he still dragged his body to the edge of the third step...

He used all his strength to lift his left foot, which had long since had its bones shattered, once more. But perhaps due to the piercing, heart-wrenching pain, the next second, his vision went black, and he stumbled forward and fell...

……

"Brother, you have to live on..."

"What exactly is at the end of the Theater Divine Path? Won't you go see it for me?"

……

At the same time, a sentence from the past fell softly into Chen Ling's ears.

His unfocused pupils converged once again!

Boom—!!!

Chen Ling adjusted his center of gravity in an instant and stepped firmly onto the third step... At this moment, he was covered in blood, his face ferocious.

He slowly lifted his blood-stained face and looked at the dark red Divine Path Star at the end of the twisted Divine Path...

The end was right there.

The pace of his broken body actually began to accelerate.

[Audience Expectation +4]

[Current Expectation: 65%]

……

"...After that, the world was no longer divided into countries. The survivors gathered together and established nine bases. Later, they mastered the method to resist the intersection of the Gray World, and the nine major bases gradually expanded, becoming the nine major realms of today."

“……”

"...You told me all this, and then what?"

"Then, that is the only purpose of our Twilight Society, and also the 'justice' we believe in."

“……”

"The Twilight Society gathers a group of poor wretches who are not tolerated by society. In the eyes of the world, we may be lunatics, failures, executioners... Our only commonality is that we are completely desperate about this era..."

"So, we gather together."

"Gather together, and then what?"

"Reverse the era, restart the world."

When these eight words fell into the ears of tens of millions of citizens, an extremely absurd thought emerged in their minds.

"Realms... how could it be realms?"

"Isn't the place where we are a prison?"

"I know, I heard the elders mention it in the early years... the major prisons, they seem to have been called realms before."

"Realms..."

"Reverse the era, restart the world? How could that be possible?"

"Wait, have you noticed that the Aurora Realm in Chen Ling's memory doesn't look like the current Aurora Prison... is it possible..."

"They have already restarted the world once?"