Chapter 40: The Twisted Path of the Playwright

Cinnabar glass beads fell into the snow, divine radiance swirling like brilliant stars scattered across the human world.

"This is..." Chen Ling was stunned.

"Brother, did you know... that red star represents 'Play'." Chen Yan looked up at the Divine Path in the firmament that was gradually retreating and spoke slowly. "From the day I started teaching myself drama, I would occasionally sense its existence... It wanted to take me away, but I didn't want to leave."

"Every time it drifted away, I would leave behind a fragment of it. I thought that when I had saved enough, maybe I could take you, and Mom and Dad, to the place it pointed to, to see what lies at the end of the 'Play'..."

"It’s just a pity that in the end, I only saved thirty-six pieces."

"Now... I can't go anymore."

Chen Yan smiled helplessly. He slowly gathered all the cinnabar glass beads and threw them with all his might toward the retreating Divine Path in the firmament!

The next moment, countless divine radiances bloomed from these fragments, rapidly intertwining in mid-air, re-converging into an ethereal, ribbon-like Divine Path that chased after the retreating one!

"Brother, you have to live... what exactly is at the end of the Path of the Playwright? Will you go see it for me?"

The two sections of the Divine Path collided in mid-air, brilliant divine light illuminating the firmament!

The "Path of the Playwright" was reconnected;

The cinnabar star in the sky never expected its Divine Path could be forcibly held back. The divine radiance trembled in mid-air, seemingly trying to pull it back...

At the other end of the Divine Path, the young Chen Yan stood quietly. Even though his body looked thin and frail, his talent for the "Path of the Playwright" was powerful, transcendent, and as steady as a mountain.

He forcibly nailed the starting point of the Path of the Playwright right in front of Chen Ling!

The Divine Path had abandoned Chen Ling,

but Chen Yan had not;

"What happened??"

Outside the courtyard, the shadowed man and Chu Muyun looked at the sky in simultaneous shock. Beneath the cinnabar star, a shattered road was being rapidly repaired to completion!

"Why was the Path of the Playwright fixed in place??"

"It chose Chen Ling? How is this possible?!"

Even the usually calm and wise Chu Muyun couldn't help but widen his eyes. The two of them scanned the area around Chen Ling in the center of the courtyard, but found nothing unusual... In their field of vision, they could see nothing.

"Wait... something’s not right!"

"What’s not right?"

"That Path of the Playwright is wrong. It’s been twisted... I’ve never seen a Divine Path like this."

"What happens if you walk on a twisted Divine Path?"

"If the signs on a road have been tampered with, who knows where the final destination is? Heaven? Or... Hell?"

"You mean..."

"Hurry and stop him!! He must not walk on that twisted Divine Path!!!"

The two figures rushed toward the courtyard!

Chen Ling stared blankly at Chen Yan standing on the Path of the Playwright. Whether it was an illusion or not, his figure seemed to be fading bit by bit...

"A-Yan... A-Yan!"

Chen Ling’s pupils contracted. He didn't know where he found the strength, but he forcibly pulled his shoulder out of the bone cage bit by bit. The sharp bone tips tore through his flesh, and scarlet blood dripped down his arm, quickly pooling into a puddle.

He gritted his teeth, unable to stop himself from howling, and after a dozen seconds, he finally broke free from the cage, stumbling toward Chen Yan!

"A-Yan!" He reached out a hand toward Chen Yan, but it only passed lightly through the void...

Before, he had been able to touch Chen Yan.

"Brother, I really have to go this time." A pure and gentle smile, unique to a boy, appeared on Chen Yan’s face. "This path is a bit different from other Paths of the Playwright... It will make your life twisted and bumpy, but it might be able to help you get rid of those things."

"Where are you going?" Chen Ling’s face was deathly pale from excessive blood loss.

"Back to where I belong... and at the same time, I will become the cornerstone of your Divine Path."

Chen Yan took a step back, fully revealing the Divine Path to Chen Ling.

His figure almost faded away, leaving only his voice lingering in Chen Ling’s ears.

"Walk this path, and the world will belong to you, Brother."

"Chen Ling!! Stop! You can't walk that path!!"

Chu Muyun’s voice came rapidly, but Chen Ling seemed not to hear.

He wore a bright red opera robe, stood at the starting point of the Divine Path, slowly raised his right foot, and then...

stepped onto it.

Boom—!!

The moment his foot touched the ground, the ethereal Divine Path instantly solidified, like a blood-red staircase leading to the firmament.

The next moment, this heavenly staircase rapidly shrank beneath Chen Ling’s feet, eventually vanishing into the void...

The twisted Divine Path seemed to have disappeared, or perhaps...

it was already beneath Chen Ling’s feet.

Chu Muyun and the other man arrived at the scene, leaving Chen Ling standing there alone, head bowed.

"Chen Ling, didn't you hear me calling you just now?" Chu Muyun walked up, frowning, and was about to say something else when he suddenly stopped.

"What’s wrong?" the shadowed man asked.

Chu Muyun’s voice sounded again.

The shadowed man was stunned. He turned to look at Chu Muyun, only to find that the latter hadn't spoken at all...

"What’s wrong?" Immediately after, his own voice sounded from the front.

The two of them looked forward simultaneously.

A biting cold wind blew across the snow. The boy in the bright red opera robe stood with his back to them, his neck twisting backward in a bizarre way...

"Chen Ling, didn't you hear me calling you just now?"

"What’s wrong?"

"Chen Ling, didn't you hear me calling you just now?"

"What’s wrong?"

"Chen Ling, didn't you hear me..."

The voices of Chu Muyun and the shadowed man came out of Chen Ling’s throat, interlaced. At the same time, his face kept switching between the two of them...

Yes, switching.

On Chen Ling’s face, it was as if there were a mask like a calendar that could be torn off at will. Every time he said a sentence, he would turn into the appearance of the corresponding person, and by the next sentence, he would automatically tear off a layer and turn into the other person.

Eyes, stubble, moles, voices—every detail was perfectly restored. The two men watched the faces belonging to each of them constantly switching on Chen Ling’s face, feeling a sense of horror!

"What... what happened to him?" the shadowed man asked blankly.

"Generally speaking, stepping onto a Divine Path means ascending to the 'First Stage', and every time you ascend a stage, you automatically master a corresponding path skill... His appearance must be caused by the first-stage skill of the Path of the Playwright."

"The first-stage skill of the Path of the Playwright is face-swapping?"

"Club 7 told me that most of the first-stage skills awakened by the Path of the Playwright are [Thousand Faces], an extension of the most basic disguise ability of an actor... Judging by the description, it’s very similar to Chen Ling’s current situation."

"Then why does he look so out of it?"

"His Divine Path is twisted, so the skill he awakened should also be twisted... If nothing goes wrong, he’s been backlashed by his own skill."

"I see... No wonder he kept mimicking our voices just now."

"But he’s stopped now..." Chu Muyun looked at Chen Ling, who had suddenly fallen silent, and frowned. "I suddenly have a bad feeling..."

The shadowed man was about to ask what kind of feeling, when Chen Ling looked up again...

A layer of skin was torn off his face.

Above Chen Ling’s neck, a large, pitch-black gun barrel locked onto the two of them.