Chapter 531: The Ancient Treasury Changes

“I feel like I’ve recovered well enough, so I came down to walk around.” Chen Ling replied.

Ning Ruyu: ...

Ning Ruyu looked at the wounds that seemed to be about to burst open at any moment, his mouth twitching wildly. Without a word, he drove Chen Ling back to bed and strictly forbade him from getting out of bed and walking around before the wounds healed, almost wanting to tie him up with a rope.

“Eldest Senior Brother, my body is still quite sturdy, I won’t die from walking two steps.” Chen Ling still tried to struggle a bit.

Ning Ruyu gritted his teeth and said, “You won’t die, but I don’t want to see your intestines fall all over the floor while you’re walking... I’d have to sew them back for you again.”

“……”

“Little Junior Brother, don’t risk your life. You’re taking steps that are too big and too fast, it’s easy for something to go wrong.”

Seeing Ning Ruyu admonish him so solemnly, Chen Ling gave up struggling. He lay on the hospital bed and nodded helplessly...

Seeing this, Ning Ruyu’s expression finally relaxed a little. He put on his shoes and prepared to push the door.

“Where are you going?”

“To find Master and the other junior brothers and sisters to talk about some things... You just rest well here.”

As Ning Ruyu left and closed the door behind him, the room fell into dead silence.

Chen Ling, covered in bandages, lay alone on the bed, his eyes staring boredly at the ceiling above his head. A line of characters floated before his eyes:

【Current Expectation Value: 59%】

It’s starting to drop again...

When Chen Ling was in the theater just now, the audience expectation value was still 60%. It seems the boring recuperation is making the audience a bit annoyed. At this rate, by the time he fully recovers, the expectation value will probably drop by a large margin.

“I’ve been in the Ancient Treasury of Drama for almost half a year... I wonder how things are over in the Red Dust Domain?”

The time Chen Ling had spent in the Ancient Treasury of Drama had even exceeded that in the Aurora Domain, yet he himself didn’t feel much... Perhaps it was because it was too comfortable here. Chen Ling almost couldn’t feel the passage of time. Every day he learned drama and practiced martial arts, and with a blink of an eye, the day was over.

They say there is no time in the mountains. Chen Ling was in this place, the Ancient Treasury of Drama, which was detached from the world, and it was no different from living in seclusion in the wilderness. He knew nothing about the situation outside or what had happened in the Nine Great Domains.

Chen Ling tossed and turned on the hospital bed, pondered for a long time, and muttered to himself:

“I’ve mastered most of the basic skills of the Way of Drama, and the most important ‘Zhu Yan’ has also been activated. It’s hard to have new improvements if I stay here... Perhaps, it’s time to leave.”

……

A week passed in a flash.

Chen Ling’s injuries had completely recovered. Whether it was because the healing power of the [Blood Robe] was too strong or Ning Ruyu’s miraculous hands, not even a single scar was left on Chen Ling’s body. His skin was as smooth as jade, and his spirit and energy had returned to their peak.

This week, it was basically Ning Ruyu who took care of him personally. Third Senior Brother Wenren You came to deliver food to him every day, and other senior brothers and sisters took turns visiting, seemingly afraid that Chen Ling would be bored... Of course, Chen Ling naturally wouldn’t be bored; the only ones bored were the “audience.”

It is worth mentioning that after Ning Ruyu went out that day, Master went down the mountain that night.

Chen Ling asked where Master had gone, and several senior brothers and sisters were evasive, unable to say anything specific, only saying that he went to find a mysterious person. That mysterious person seemed to know a lot of secrets and had even passed information to the Ancient Treasury of Drama... It’s just that his whereabouts were too mysterious, and only Master could possibly find him.

The other senior brothers and sisters, although they were relaxed and joking when visiting Chen Ling, for some reason, Chen Ling always felt that they had things on their minds... Especially Ning Ruyu. Chen Ling had seen him sitting under the moon, frowning and deep in thought, more than once.

After that, Mo Jiao also went down the mountain.

Before Mo Jiao left, he also came to visit Chen Ling, saying he was going to investigate some things as a member of the Twilight Society and would be back in three or five days. Chen Ling took the opportunity to suggest that he wanted to go down the mountain with him, but was rejected on the grounds that his “injuries hadn’t fully recovered.”

Master and Mo Jiao went down the mountain one after another, and Chou Jiao guarded Chou Peak all year round. The entire Ancient Treasury of Drama, except for Chen Ling, was left with only Ning Ruyu, Luan Mei, and Wenren You. Every time they ate, Chen Ling looked at the table where the four of them couldn’t even fill the seats, and always had a feeling of emptiness.

On the day Chen Ling fully recovered, he finished a whole bowl of rice, put down the bowl, took a deep breath, and said:

“Eldest Senior Brother, I want to leave the Ancient Treasury of Drama for a while.”

Luan Mei and Wenren You looked at each other complexly, their gazes simultaneously looking at Ning Ruyu. Now that Master was away, the Eldest Senior Brother was the pillar of the Ancient Treasury of Drama and the head of all of them.

“Why?” Ning Ruyu asked back.

“I just feel that I’ve been too comfortable here for too long.” Chen Ling said truthfully. “In any case, I’m also a member of the Twilight Society. Staying in the Ancient Treasury of Drama like this isn’t a solution... Whether it’s taking missions or infiltrating domains, I want to go out and do something.”

Ning Ruyu pondered for a moment.

“Little Junior Brother, I think you’re still too anxious... You’re only at the Third Rank now, and you haven’t even mastered a Domain. You can’t protect yourself well after leaving the Ancient Treasury of Drama. Besides, you haven’t learned one of the four basic skills of singing, reciting, acting, and fighting.

How about this: stay in the Ancient Treasury of Drama for a while longer, and leave after you master a Domain and learn the secret method of ‘Fighting.’ That would be the safest.”

Chen Ling was stunned for a moment and shook his head. “That would be too long.”

Chen Ling had completed the performance for the mid-stage of the Third Rank, and he was indeed not far from advancing to the Fourth Rank... But in any case, it would take a few months, not to mention that the performance conditions for the final promotion were unknown, and not all performances could be solved by era archives.

Staying in the Ancient Treasury of Drama to develop until the Fourth Rank before leaving was too slow and too conservative for Chen Ling... For the “audience,” it was even more unacceptable.

“Then at least wait until you have mastered all four basic secret methods?”

“Of the four basic secret methods, I only have the ‘Fighting’ secret method left to learn... Now my body has returned to its peak state, and I can start at any time.”

“Good.” Ning Ruyu nodded. “However, practicing the ‘Fighting’ secret method requires a specific environment... I probably need three or four days to prepare.”

“Three or four days...”

Chen Ling thought about it. Waiting in the Ancient Treasury of Drama until advancing to the Fourth Rank was too long, but a few days was worth waiting for. He nodded in agreement.

……

The next few days were spent in waiting.

During these days, Ning Ruyu was basically nowhere to be seen, and the daily close-quarters combat practice didn’t happen either. Only at dinner time every day could Chen Ling see him.

When eating on the fourth day, Chen Ling couldn’t help but ask again when he would learn the “Fighting” secret method, but Ning Ruyu said the matter was a bit troublesome and it would probably take another two or three days.

“It will take that long?”

Chen Ling vaguely felt that something was wrong, but after hesitating for a long time, he didn’t ask more.

He looked up at Luan Mei and Wenren You beside him. The two avoided Chen Ling’s gaze, silently continuing to lower their heads to eat, saying nothing.