Chapter 865: The Actor Emperor

The three of them walked out of the corridor and were met with a vast, white, snowy plain.

Chen Ling and his companions were somewhat puzzled as to why a snowy plain would appear inside the Ancient Imperial Treasury, but they didn't discuss it, as all three were wary of the same figure...

A heavy, dangerous, and extremely patient existence.

Even after being dragged like a dead pig by Jian Changsheng the whole way, the mummy hadn't made a sound or offered the slightest resistance, its head lolling as if it were a true corpse.

If it had been any of the three of them, they probably would have exploded into action the moment they were dragged up, but he had done nothing, seemingly determined to play the role of a "corpse" to the end... This spirit of setting aside one's pride and being so resilient and ruthless was the key reason the three were extremely vigilant.

At first, Chen Ling had almost been fooled, thinking it was a corpse. After all, it had no breath and was covered in dust, as if it had been lying there for a long time before they arrived.

But after Sun Bumian's reminder, he had observed it carefully with his [Secret Pupil]... and discovered that it was indeed alive, and its method of playing dead was on par with Jin Fugui's!

But this wasn't the trial grounds of the Tongtian Star Position; it was the mysterious and unknown Ancient Imperial Treasury. Although Chen Ling had seen through the disguise, he didn't attack recklessly as he had in the underground palace. After all, the enemies in the underground palace were at most Fifth-Order, and Chen Ling couldn't judge what level of expert this mummy was...

Therefore, he could only use more indirect means to test this mysterious person bit by bit.

"...Lin Yan, we've been dragging him for a while now... should we keep going?" Jian Changsheng, dragging the heavy mummy, had been walking in the snow for a long time and finally couldn't help but speak.

Chen Ling and Sun Bumian exchanged a glance and nodded slightly.

"No more dragging. Right here is fine... Dig a hole and bury him!"

Since you're so good at enduring, I want to see how long you can hold out after being buried alive.

Under the combined efforts of the three, a deep pit in the snow gradually took shape. Throughout the process, they remained on high alert, watching the mummy on the side, as if they were prepared for him to suddenly lash out...

But in fact, he was quite quiet.

Chen Ling steeled his heart and had Jian Changsheng throw the person into the deep pit, then began to cover his body with snow and soil bit by bit... The latter remained motionless, maintaining the mummy pose with his hands folded over his chest, calmly allowing himself to be buried alive.

A few minutes later,

Chen Ling stomped hard on the two-meter-deep soil and snow, wearing a "what the hell" expression.

"What's going on? Did we misjudge him?" Sun Bumian whispered.

"That shouldn't be..." Chen Ling was baffled. "He should definitely be alive, so why didn't he resist?"

"So, should we still take action?"

"...Forget it. He doesn't seem to intend to attack us, so there's no need to create extra trouble."

After testing him, Chen Ling confirmed that the person had no malicious intent. Since that was the case, whether he was playing dead or not, there was no need to draw blades against him... If anything, the person was lying there peacefully, and Chen Ling had insisted on dragging him off to be buried alive, which was already quite rude.

But since things had reached this point, Chen Ling couldn't dig him up and apologize, so he just took one last look at the pit and let it be.

The three "living Yamas" sighed with some regret and turned to leave.

At the same time,

Jiang Xiaohua, buried deep underground, felt the darkness, dampness, and silence around him and let out a soft, comfortable moan.

"Lying here is much more comfortable than at the entrance... and no one comes to bother me."

"There are still good people in this world."

【Fifteen Emperors cast their gaze of disdain upon you】

……

"There are quite a few footprints here." Sun Bumian walked through the wind and snow, looking at the messy footprints stretching into the distance, seemingly surprised. "There are probably sixty or seventy people... and the footprints are fresh, not yet covered by the snow, which means they aren't far ahead."

"Where did so many people come from in the Ancient Imperial Treasury?" Jian Changsheng frowned.

"It's not that strange. The Ancient Imperial Treasury has been lost for so many years; this emergence must mean new [Emperors] are to be born... These people should be the candidates for the new [Emperors]."

"Then we've entered too. Does that mean we count as candidates?" Jian Changsheng asked cautiously.

"That's impossible. I said it before: we all have Divine Paths, so it's impossible for us to become [Emperors]..." Sun Bumian glanced at Jian Changsheng with a strange expression. "What, you, a follower of the Soldier Divine Path, want to be an Emperor? A Soldier Emperor?"

"No, I was just thinking about it." Jian Changsheng paused. "But don't say that—a Soldier Emperor... sounds pretty good too."

"...Childish."

"What about a Waking Lion Emperor?"

"That's good. I like that."

Jian Changsheng: ...

Jian Changsheng had a feeling and pointed casually at Chen Ling:

"What about him? If he were an Emperor, what would he be... an [Actor Emperor]?"

BOOM—!

The moment Jian Changsheng's words fell, something deep within the Ancient Imperial Treasury seemed to be triggered. A certain will between heaven and earth instantly resonated with the [Imperial Fate] inside Chen Ling!

Chen Ling's footsteps stopped abruptly.

A breeze swirled around Chen Ling. He looked down at his hands in a daze, not knowing what had happened...

But invisibly, his temperament seemed to have changed. If Chen Ling's temperament had originally been the yin and softness brought by the Twisted Divine Path, now, deep within his pupils, there was a hint of unique dominance... This temperament merged with Chen Ling's own, making him—already vivid and dangerous in his bright red opera robe—seem even more unapproachable.

Jian Changsheng was also stunned. He seemed to have felt the change in heaven and earth just now, and his expression was even more bewildered than Chen Ling's... He had just pointed at Chen Ling and said something casually; how did it actually cause a stir?

Seeing this, Sun Bumian's eyes flickered with a faint light. After pondering for a moment, he muttered to himself:

"Public opinion is like gold, the yellow robe is donned... So that's how it is..."

"What 'so that's how it is'?"

Sun Bumian looked at Chen Ling, whose temperament had subtly changed, and the bewildered Jian Changsheng... He paused for a moment before speaking again:

"I think I understand the rules of the Ancient Imperial Treasury."

……

On the other side.

The boy in hempen clothes reached out and helped the boy who had been beaten to a pulp by Zhu Zhong in the pool of blood, his voice as gentle as a spring breeze:

"How is it? Are you okay?"

"...I, I'm fine." The boy looked at the boy in hempen clothes, his face bruised and swollen, his eyes filled with gratitude. The pain all over his body made his features twist involuntarily; for a moment just now, he had truly thought he would be beaten to death...

But now, thanks to the boy in hempen clothes, he had survived.

"Thank you... really, thank you." The boy was moved to tears. "My name is Han Dong, what's yours?"

"My name is Li Fu," the boy in hempen clothes smiled slightly.

"The 'Fu' of subversion."