Chapter 533: Pulling the Heavens with a Wave of the Sleeve

Chen Ling froze in place.

Ning Ruyu’s three sentences were more explosive than the last... It made Chen Ling unable to react for a while.

“You mean... this Wuji Sovereign resisted more than three hundred years of time?” Chen Ling’s eyes were full of disbelief.

Chen Ling had watched the Aurora Sovereign with his own eyes, from awakening to step-by-step destruction, a process that lasted less than half a day. He couldn’t forget the trembling hands of the other party in the coffee shop, the aging and disintegrating body in the Forbidden Sea... Even as powerful as the Nine Sovereigns, they still couldn’t resist the baptism of time.

“It seems so.” Ning Ruyu said in a deep voice. “It is said that he is undergoing a ‘metamorphosis’.”

“...Metamorphosis?”

“Abandoning the aging human body, replacing biological cells with a brand-new material, getting rid of the shackles of carbon-based organisms, and thus achieving immortality.”

Replacing biological cells with material... material??

At this moment, Chen Ling seemed to realize something, and a figure suddenly surged in his heart!

One of the exploration team members, materials science doctor—Lou Yu!

Chen Ling had seen Ying Fu use Lou Yu’s authority with his own eyes, possessing the power to completely change material, even pulling a golden holy spear from the earth full of soil and stones... Matter was like everything in his hands, and “turning stone into gold” was just a small trick. If Lou Yu used this authority to forcibly replace the human body with some kind of brand-new material, it was not impossible...

If this was the case, it seemed understandable why the Wuji Sovereign wanted to strangle the Red Dust Sovereign. After all, in the era archive, their camp also listed Su Zhiwei as a must-kill target, which meant that either Su Zhiwei had a grudge against him, or there was some kind of extreme restraint between the two sides?

“So, Master and Fourth Senior Brother’s departure were all related to this matter?”

“More or less. Master didn’t have much reaction to the Wuji Sovereign’s early awakening, but he was very interested in the mysterious person who revealed the news, so he went to investigate... As for the Fourth, I sent him to investigate the situation in the Wuji Domain.” Ning Ruyu said slowly,

“After the Wuji Sovereign awakened, the original order of the Wuji Domain was completely disrupted. A large group of alchemy, sorcery, and mysterious scholar organizations related to the Witch God Path were all swept away and annexed, the regime was overthrown, and a large number of people died from mysterious phenomena... In short, it has become the most dangerous and unknown place among the Nine Great Domains, and even Bai Ye stumbled there. Now, the only one capable of investigating the news is the Fourth.”

“So that’s how it is...”

“The distance between the Red Dust Domain and the Wuji Domain is very close. If the Wuji Sovereign wants to take action against the Red Dust Sovereign, he will likely destroy the entire Red Dust Domain. This is why I don’t want you to go to the Red Dust Domain now... Now, there is no place more dangerous than these two domains.”

Chen Ling looked at the white-clad figure blocking the door of the Ancient Treasury of Drama and fell into silence.

He naturally understood Ning Ruyu’s painstaking efforts. As the Eldest Senior Brother of the Drama Path, knowing that the Red Dust Domain was about to be in chaos, he naturally wouldn’t have the heart to let his Little Junior Brother take risks... Learning the “Fighting” secret method was just an excuse to hold Chen Ling back.

But Chen Ling couldn’t live under his wings forever. This wasn’t that Chen Ling didn’t want to, but that he couldn’t...

【Audience Expectation Value +5】

With the audience expectation value rising significantly, Chen Ling knew that he had no other choice.

The “audience” would not accept a mediocre and boring hiding plot. They craved for him to take risks, expected him to travel through danger every day, and if he chose to stay in the Ancient Treasury of Drama, the expectation value would probably drop by 20% in a few days, and it would be difficult to have anything they were interested in within the era archive for a short time...

But if he chose to enter the Red Dust Domain and dance on the edge of blades and death, the audience expectation value would grow rapidly, accumulating opportunities for him to return from the dead, or turning the situation around at a critical moment, advancing in one wonderful performance after another, and gradually becoming stronger!

Actually, from the beginning, Chen Ling had no choice... From the moment he stepped onto the stage that was watched by the “audience,” his path ahead was destined to be full of dangers.

"I'm sorry, Senior Brother." Chen Ling slowly closed his eyes. "It is precisely because of this... that I must go."

Ning Ruyu just watched him, and after a long while, he gave a bitter smile.

"Fourth Brother was right; you really do have a bit of a wicked streak in you..."

Ning Ruyu brushed off his hem and let out a long sigh. "If you are determined to go, I won't stop you again. However, it would be better if you learned the 'Strike' secret technique first. With the four basic secret techniques of the Opera Path, even if you encounter danger, you will have the means to protect yourself."

"Are you really going to teach me this time, Senior Brother?"

"I have never lied to you." Ning Ruyu took an unlabeled disc from his sleeve. "Practicing the 'Strike' secret technique is indeed risky, but over these past few days, I have managed to mitigate some of the danger for you. Even if an accident occurs, your life will not be in danger."

"However, whether or not you can comprehend it depends on you."

Chen Ling’s expression was complex. He had thought that his Senior Brother was just making excuses to stall him these past few days, but he hadn't expected that he was actually preparing for him to master the 'Strike' secret technique... His eyes were filled with gratitude.

As the disc in Ning Ruyu’s hand unfolded, the environment around Chen Ling changed abruptly.

The sky grew visibly dark, and a fishy-smelling sea breeze danced wildly beneath the clouds. He was now standing atop a pitch-black reef, while terrifying waves, like a tsunami, surged toward him in layer after layer!

"This is..." A flash of astonishment crossed Chen Ling's eyes.

"Of the four basic secret techniques of the Opera Path, 'Strike' has the strongest offensive power and the highest potential," Ning Ruyu, dressed in white, stood in mid-air atop the reef and said calmly. "To activate this technique, you don't need any mental power, nor do you need a specific rank. As long as the timing is right, even a First-Rank Actor can potentially kill a Third-Rank or even Fourth-Rank enemy."

"No mental power needed, and I can kill someone three ranks higher?" Chen Ling was incredibly shocked, as if he were hearing a fantasy. "How is that possible?"

"It is true, and historically, someone has actually done it."

Ning Ruyu tapped his toes lightly and landed gracefully on the reef beside Chen Ling, the jade pendant at his waist swaying in the gale. His gaze shifted, finally resting on the towering waves that seemed to submerge the horizon.

There was no domain expansion, not a shred of mental power fluctuation; Ning Ruyu looked like an ordinary person as he slowly raised his sleeve toward the giant waves...

The wide white sleeves rustled in the wind. Ning Ruyu closed his eyes, and after a few seconds, opened them slowly.

His eyes shone as brilliantly as the scorching sun amidst the black reef cluster.

"Junior Brother, watch closely... This move is the 'Strike' secret technique of our Opera Path;"

"Its name is..."

"【Parting the Heavens with a Wave of the Sleeve】."