Chapter 641: Painting Anomaly

Chen Ling was not a person who liked to slap people.

But the situation was special now. He knew far less about the painting "Guernica" than the Jack of Plum Blossoms. Now that such an anomaly had suddenly occurred, only the Jack of Plum Blossoms could explain it... Although doing this was a bit offensive to a senior, Chen Ling believed the Jack of Plum Blossoms would understand.

After two crisp slaps, the unconscious Jack of Plum Blossoms finally managed to open his eyes with difficulty. Feeling his burning cheeks, he was stunned for a moment.

"You..."

"Sorry, it's an emergency, I had to force a reboot."

Jack of Plum Blossoms: ...

The Jack of Plum Blossoms looked behind him and saw that the burning woman was rushing straight toward them. His face changed instantly. He didn't have time to argue with Chen Ling about the slaps and immediately looked down at his palms.

In his palms, several drawn "arrows" were spinning rapidly, as if completely malfunctioning.

"Damn it... how could this happen?"

"What's going on?"

"I don't know... When I first entered 'Guernica,' I endured the emotional influence and left positioning on all the characters in the painting, summarizing their usual movement trajectories, which is why I drew that house in the safest place." The Jack of Plum Blossoms said in a deep voice. "But now, their movement trajectories are all disrupted... No, it should be said that this painting itself has been disrupted."

"How could the painting be disrupted? Isn't it in the hands of the Second Hall?"

The Jack of Plum Blossoms didn't speak; he just looked up at the void above his head, his gaze as if trying to pierce through something.

"Outside... something big must have happened."

……

Hum——!!

A low roar sounded from the relief door.

In the center of the door, the frame that looked like a giant lock suddenly trembled violently. Countless regular geometric shapes drifted out from it, floating in mid-air like bubbles, and finally converged into an extremely abstract three-dimensional human face.

This human face was almost as large as the relief door, with a rolled-up scroll spinning in the center of its forehead. Two triangular pupils stared at the door, and an eighth-rank aura spilled out into the surroundings...

"After so many years... it is time for this door to be opened."

With a thought from the Second Hall, "Guernica" flew out from his forehead, circled in front of a geometric shape that looked like a key, and slammed into the center of the relief door!

Thud——!

A trace of the Green Divine Path's foundation aura spread out from "Guernica," slowly diffusing along the patterns and shapes on the relief, and the entire relief door began to tremble!

……

At this moment.

On the other side of the Red Dust Base.

The base, which was usually quite lively, was as if shrouded in a thick, dark cloud. The atmosphere was oppressive and dull, like the dead silence before a storm.

Members of the Floating Life Painting walked quickly through it; some were anxious and sweating profusely, some sat in corners in a daze, some silently wiped their weapons and brushes, and some gathered in twos and threes, drawing topographic maps of the Red Dust Domain on the walls of the base with their bare hands, arguing about something with red faces.

And outside of these people, those "quasi-Floating Life Painting" members wearing blue robes were the most worried and terrified.

"Do you think... is there really going to be a war this time?"

"What do you think? Didn't you see how heavy the killing intent was when Old Lu walked by just now?"

"It is said that Old Lu has already returned to the Red Dust Domain, summoned all the Architects, and is going to the front lines to meet the enemy... Other seniors in the base are also packing up. Whether they are willing or not, they are forced to go to the battlefield. It seems the situation is really quite serious."

"But didn't they say that several seniors directly refused to fight? And even said they wanted to leave the Floating Life Painting and fly far away?"

"Hmph, is it strange that there are people who are greedy for life and afraid of death? The Floating Life Painting was never a militarily managed organization; we've always been loose, how can they just be sent to the battlefield... However, even if they leave the Floating Life Painting, where can they go? Enter the Gray Realm to find death? Or be killed by the Wuji Domain that's coming over?"

"It's not as complicated as you think... Those Floating Life Painting seniors who wanted to leave didn't even make it out of the base gate before they were slaughtered by the Eighth Hall."

"Ah??? Isn't Old Yang usually the most approachable? He actually killed people in public?"

"Old Yang said that these are extraordinary times, and these people have nowhere to escape to if they go out, so they would most likely just collude with the enemy... If the secrets of the Red Dust Base fall into the hands of the enemy, that would be bad."

"That's true..."

While everyone was talking, a white dove with no aura fluctuations was perched on the semi-hollow dome, a pair of eyes glowing with a faint blue light staring at the corridor below.

Hum——!

A low hum came from the depths of the Red Dust Base, and the floor of the entire palace trembled with it.

All the Floating Life Painting members still in the Red Dust Base, as well as the apprentices in blue robes, looked toward the depths of the Red Dust Base in confusion, not knowing what had happened...

At the same time, the white dove standing on the semi-hollow dome also turned to look in that direction, strands of blue light flowing in its pupils.

"Jack of Plum Blossoms, what are you still waiting for? Go quickly!" The voice of the Nine of Hearts faintly came from within the dove.

"It's not that I don't want to go, but it's easy to be exposed if I move..." The Jack of Plum Blossoms said helplessly. "Using tricks to deceive the domain is fine, but my path isn't as good at disguising as the Six of Hearts. If I move even a little and get seen, it's over."

"Can't there be pigeons in the Red Dust Base?"

"...What do you think?"

“……”

"Then what should we do now? Jump down and start fighting? The Third Hall isn't here, the base now has two seventh-rank Halls, and one eighth-rank Hall sitting in the deepest part... The odds of winning aren't high."

"If only the Queen of Hearts were awake right now. With his ability, temporarily deceiving these Floating Life Painting people shouldn't be a problem..."

"Wait, don't be in a hurry." Chu Muyun's voice sounded calmly. "Give me a few seconds... I'll speed up his progress."

"Eh? Corpse-Fragment Chu, why are you pressing on Bai Ye's head?"

"Holy crap! Why are you starting to pull out a hammer!?"

“！！！”

Bang——!!

A muffled groan from Bai Ye came from within the dove.

The next moment, this dove hovering on the hollow dome flapped its wings and flew straight toward the depths of the Red Dust Base along the top of the corridor.

The blue-robed apprentices who were communicating below saw something white fly past at a glance and were just about to say something in confusion when a white light flashed across the air, and they stood there blankly like statues...

After a few seconds, they came back to their senses and looked at each other in confusion.

"Just now... where were we?"

"I don't know, no impression... I just feel like I forgot something."

"By the way, do you think... is there really going to be a war this time?"

"What do you think? Didn't you see how heavy the killing intent was when Old Lu walked by just now?"

“……”

As the white dove left, the Fourth Hall not far away suddenly seemed to notice something and frowned as he looked in this direction...

【Audience Expectation Value +2】