Chapter 657: The Truth of the Painting

Red Dust Realm, on the other side.

"Speaking of which, do you guys know which direction Liu Town is in?" Diamond 10 asked suddenly.

The many Dusk Society members walking along the road stopped in their tracks simultaneously.

They looked at each other and fell into silence.

"? You guys don't know?!"

"I thought Heart 6 knew. Wasn't it him who suggested going to Liu Town?"

"I know how to get to Liu Town from the main city, but the problem is, I don't know where we are now..." Chen Ling looked at Heart 9, who was walking at the very front. "He was walking in front, so I thought he knew the way."

"I don't know it either!"

"Then why are you walking in front?"

"You didn't tell me to stop, so I thought I was going the right way!"

“……”

Just as everyone was talking, Club 8 on Chen Ling's back had his eyelashes tremble slightly, and a moment later, his eyes slowly opened...

Heart 9, who was still frantically shifting blame with Chen Ling, saw this scene and immediately threw the matter to the back of his mind, walking quickly to Club 8's side.

"Yo, little trash, finally awake?"

"...Damn it, why is the first thing I see when I open my eyes you?" Club 8 rubbed his eyes tiredly, not hiding the disgust in his eyes at all. "Looks like I haven't woken up from the nightmare... I'll sleep a bit more."

"..." The mockery Heart 9 had on the tip of his tongue was forced back, and his face immediately looked like he had swallowed a fly.

Club 8, who had been "hurt" by Heart 9 countless times, had long been forced to grow thorns; as soon as he saw Heart 9's face, he would instinctively launch an attack.

"I don't suggest you continue sleeping." Chen Ling said with a straight face. "You've been sleeping on my back for several hours."

"...Sorry, I was just saying that."

Club 8 got off Chen Ling's back, his head still dizzy. He frowned and looked around, asking as if he hadn't woken up yet:

"Where is this? Have we left 'Guernica'?"

"Yeah, we're out... but I don't know where this is either."

"Hiss... my head hurts, but those noisy sounds seem to have really stopped." Club 8 rubbed his temples while observing the surroundings, saying uncertainly, "This seems to be Fengxiang Town."

"Fengxiang Town?" Chen Ling hadn't heard of this name. "Then do you know which direction Liu Town is in?"

"I do."

Club 8 was, after all, a former hall member of the Floating Life Painting and knew the Red Dust Realm like the back of his hand. He immediately raised his hand and pointed in the opposite direction from where Chen Ling and the others were walking. "It's over there."

Dusk Society members: ...

Although everyone was helpless, there seemed to be no other way but to turn back honestly.

"What exactly is the situation now? Why are we going to Liu Town?" Club 8 followed behind the crowd and asked in confusion.

"The Realm War has already started, and we need to find a suitable place to wait for everything to settle."

"It's already started??" Club 8 was shocked. "Who has the advantage now?"

"Don't know."

"...Alright."

"Compared to that, I'm more curious about where the Red Dust Lord is." Jian Changsheng seemed to have thought of something and suddenly spoke. "By the way, I haven't asked you yet... what exactly is the meaning of this painting you drew?"

"My painting?" Club 8's eyes were full of bewilderment.

Jian Changsheng took a scroll out of his arms and unfolded it, revealing the scene of Su Zhiwei lying among blood-like petals to everyone.

"It's this."

"This? Who said I drew this painting." Club 8 shrugged. "The state of the Red Dust Lord has always been the highest secret of the Floating Life Painting. Let alone that I was only a Ninth Hall member back then, even the Second Hall wasn't qualified to see the Red Dust Lord's true form... If I couldn't even see her, how could I possibly draw it?"

"Then this is..."

"I stole this painting from the Red Dust base. At the time, I was thinking that maybe I could find some clues about the Red Dust Lord from it... But before I could hand it over to the Dusk Society, I was caught by the Second Hall and locked up."

"No wonder." Jian Changsheng shrugged. "I was just saying, since you wanted to pass us clues about the Red Dust Lord, why didn't you write it clearly on paper instead of hiding it so obscurely in a painting..."

"Wait, you said that even the Second Hall wasn't qualified to see the Red Dust Lord's true form?" Chen Ling asked in confusion.

"Then who drew this painting?"

"Naturally, it was drawn by our Chief back then." Club 8 paused for a moment. "No, strictly speaking, this wasn't drawn..."

"What do you mean?"

"You guys aren't from the Green God Path, so it's normal that you can't see the Chief's supernatural powers." Club 8 pointed to the scroll,

"Haven't you noticed? This painting doesn't actually feel very flat to the touch."

"Indeed... so what?"

"This person wasn't drawn with a brush." Club 8 explained seriously,

"...But embroidered bit by bit using extremely fine silk threads."

Chen Ling stopped in his tracks abruptly.

[Audience Expectation +3]

……

Border of the Red Dust Realm.

Yunxia Town.

Boom—!!

A dark green firelight like a mushroom cloud rose from the town, and a highly corrosive gale swept across the earth, spreading to the surroundings with a pungent, fishy stench.

A blood-covered figure stumbled out of the dark green sea of fire, moving slowly along the spiderweb-cracked earth.

"This is Architect 002... cough, cough, cough... I failed..."

"I couldn't stop the Tier 7 of the Infinite Realm, repeat, I couldn't stop him!"

"I request suppor..."

Bang—!

Before he could finish, a withered palm reached out from the dark green sea of fire, instantly piercing his chest, and his voice stopped abruptly.

A figure in a black robe casually pulled his palm out of the flesh, and dark green flames erupted from the wound the next moment, directly shrouding the body of the Floating Life Painting member, burning him to ashes in a breath's time.

"A Tier 6, daring to stop me... truly overestimating yourself."

The black robe snorted coldly, stepped over the charred embers on the ground, and walked straight toward the Red Dust main city.

The black robe, possessing Tier 7 strength, was already a top-tier existence in the Witchcraft Association. After entering the Red Dust Realm, he slaughtered a town without much effort, and then this fearless Tier 6 ran over...

The black robe admitted that this Green God Path had some standards, being able to tangle with him for so long with a Tier 6 body... But the final outcome still had no suspense.

Every step the black robe took left a dark green flame footprint on the earth, mysterious and cold, and his figure was elusive; occasionally, a single step could span hundreds of meters.

Not long after, he arrived at the next town.

But at this moment, the town was already empty. Whether on the streets or inside the houses, no one could be seen, and it was so quiet that only the sound of the wind wailing remained.

The black robe walked on the town's road, frowning and staring at the surroundings,

"Evacuated the people in advance, huh... the movements were quite fast."

The town was empty, so naturally, there was no point in the black robe staying. He continued to advance toward the Red Dust main city. He didn't believe that with millions of people, no matter how they fled, where could they go?

However, just as he was about to leave this empty town, a sudden change occurred!

The houses around the black robe suddenly twisted. Their original colors and complex structures faded simultaneously, leaving only the most basic and simple lines. The next moment, these lines seemed to come alive, turning into hideous giant mouths and tearing toward the black robe!