Chapter 969: Dancing

The sky gradually darkened.

This was not a natural phenomenon. It was only about four o’clock in the afternoon, and the sun should have been bright and scorching… Heavy dark clouds covered the sky, as if some force in the void had begun to interfere with the weather here.

Chen Ling looked up at the clouds. He remembered that when Shen Nan came to save him, the weather had also turned like this bit by bit, followed by rolling thunder and strong winds.

Was this the power of Shen Nan’s Nuo mask?

Thud—thud—thud…

A faint sound echoed in Chen Ling’s ears. He was slightly stunned and turned to ask Yang Xiao and the others:

“Did you hear that?”

“What?”

“Drumbeats,” Chen Ling paused for a moment, “Drumbeats coming from afar.”

Yang Xiao and the others were stunned for a moment and listened carefully, but their hearing was not as good as Chen Ling’s. Finally, they shook their heads: “No, we didn't hear anything.”

Was it his imagination?

Just as Chen Ling was pondering, Shen Nan slowly raised his palm and put the grotesque Nuo mask on his face.

Crack—

A pale bolt of lightning instantly streaked across the sky.

Shen Nan’s black and red theater robe danced in the wind, and the grotesque mask, illuminated by the lightning, seemed to possess life, making one’s heart jump at a single glance.

Thud—thud—thud…

The moment Shen Nan put on the mask, the muffled drumbeats became clearer, as if someone were striking everyone’s chest with drumsticks, making their hearts tremble.

“I heard it!” Lu Xun immediately looked around, “Where are the drumbeats coming from?”

Within a radius of several miles, no one was drumming, but the drumbeats sounded from the void behind Shen Nan, as if coming from another world.

“Is this what Teacher Xiao called [Nuo]?” Su Zhiwei recalled Xiao Chunping’s previous description and muttered to herself.

Shen Nan was the only true [Nuo] in the world with heaven-reaching power. His success could not be replicated, and it was nearly impossible to pass on… He was like an epiphyllum growing in the torrent of the era, blooming briefly and destined to wither.

Faint thunder came from the clouds.

The grotesque Nuo mask slowly turned to look at Chen Ling. The next moment, it waved the black flag, and its figure rose into the air with the wind!

Chen Ling knew this was Shen Nan telling him to follow, so he immediately stepped on his Cloud Steps and followed the black shadow as it soared up toward the clouds… At the same time, Chen Ling had already activated [Secret Pupil], watching Shen Nan’s every move closely.

When he was being hunted by the 749 Bureau before, Chen Ling had no time to pay attention to Shen Nan’s movements, but now it appeared that Shen Nan’s figure was indeed dancing in a bizarre and unpredictable manner—sometimes hopping on tiptoe, sometimes flipping his hands, sometimes leaning and spinning…

Every one of his movements was precisely timed to the muffled drumbeats in the void, as if he were completing a mysterious and inexplicable dance to the accompaniment of the void.

In the Theater Path Ancient Archive, Chen Ling had learned “singing,” “reciting,” “acting,” and “fighting,” and had a strong ability to remember and imitate physical movements. Shen Nan’s dance steps might have been forgotten by others at a glance, but for Chen Ling, it wasn't a difficult task.

Just as Chen Ling was stepping on his Cloud Steps, concentrating on learning Shen Nan’s dance, the latter suddenly waved his flag and slowly fell downward.

Below was the small town Chen Ling had passed on his way here.

This town was not large, with only a few streets. Both sides of the road were mixed with small shops and residential houses. There were no lanes, only a road wide enough for two cars to pass side by side.

And at the edge of the road at this moment, a disheveled woman was dragging a tin cart, moving forward bit by bit.

On the tin cart, a figure curled up in dirty bedding was huddled. It was a child, thin as a rail, hiding in the quilt, revealing only a pair of dark eyes to look outside. His face was ugly and deformed, enough to make one’s scalp tingle at a single glance, and no one dared to get close.

The woman had a conspicuous poster hanging in front of her that read, “Show your love, save the child,” and she was going door-to-door begging. But as she approached, whether it was a shop or a house along the road, they immediately closed their doors.

“Please have mercy, save the child…”

“Go away, go somewhere else, we have no money for you.”

“Please have mercy…”

“These are all scammers; maybe the child was kidnapped. Get away from me, how unlucky!”

“……”

Door after door closed in front of the woman, and drizzling raindrops fell from the clouds, soaking the earth beneath their feet.

The woman seemed numb to this. She took out a sack from somewhere, covered the child’s bedding, and continued to move forward slowly, getting soaked in the rain herself.

Just then, a drumbeat came from the distance.

“Where is that sound coming from? Is someone getting married?”

“I don’t think so. This drumbeat doesn’t sound like a wedding drum… it feels like someone is parading and performing?”

“At this time, where would someone be performing?”

“Look there, isn't that it?”

“……”

Drizzling rain fell from the gray sky. A figure, looking both crazy and insane, carrying a flag in one hand and holding bells in the other, danced through the rain.

The rain streaked across the grotesque Nuo mask, making everyone who saw him tremble. Its face was too terrifying, looking like a demon under the lightning. The people who had originally intended to watch the show on the street were all scared by this person and returned to their respective houses in suspicion and fear.

In the blink of an eye, the street was cleared…

Only the woman dragging the cart stood blankly in place, watching the grotesque Nuo mask hopping toward her, without moving an inch.

She stared blankly at that terrifying face, misty vapor rising in her eyes. She fell to her knees in a puddle on the spot and kowtowed to Shen Nan.

Shen Nan’s mask scared away everyone who had fear in their hearts, but it couldn't scare away a mother praying devoutly;

After clearing the entire street, the only one left was a believer with nowhere else to turn.

“Please save my son… please…”

The woman kept kowtowing to Shen Nan. She might not have known what Nuo was, but along the way, she had bowed to every temple and kowtowed to every shrine. She had crawled under Guan Gong’s blade and prayed to the local gods in the countryside. No matter what god or ghost was in front of her, as long as it could save her child, she was willing to kneel.

Jingle—jingle—

The black and red theater robe danced in the rain, hopping on tiptoe in front of the woman. He bent down like a snake, his neck twisting, and the grotesque mask swayed eerily in front of the woman, accompanied by the sound of bells, as if performing some ritual.

Then, he stepped over the kneeling woman, waved the flag in his hand, and approached the curled-up child on the cart.

The waving flag was like a blade, cutting off all the misfortune around the mother and child. In the child’s terrified gaze, the grotesque mask raised its hand and reached toward the top of his head…