Chapter 341: The Clown

"You'll know when we get there," Plum Blossom K replied nonchalantly.

Chen Ling was speechless.

Unsatisfied with the answer, Chen Ling pressed on, "What about Mò Jué? Is he your senior disciple?"

"No, he's my fourth junior disciple."

"Your fourth junior disciple... So, there are many people in your sect?"

Plum Blossom K thought carefully. "Not really. Including Master, there are only six of us in total... but if you count yourself, that makes seven."

So, apart from the mysterious Master, there are five disciples...

Chen Ling didn't consider himself a part of the Ancient Repository of Theatrical Arts. After all, he firmly believed he was Chen Ling, who had traveled from the past. Even if he suspected deep down that the person talking to the Master was himself, and that he might be Chen Yan, he still hadn't accepted any of it, and thus wouldn't identify with the "sect."

"Mò Jué... Is he alright? Is his body okay?" Chen Ling remembered Mò Jué dying at the Constellation Merchant Guild and couldn't help but ask.

"He's fine, you don't need to worry," Plum Blossom K seemed to guess Chen Ling's apprehension. "Mò Jué can create clones from extreme distances. The one you saw was just a clone he had left in Aurora City. After all, according to the original plan, he was supposed to carry out the Realm Funeral and retrieve the Aurora Monarch's body... However, to save you, that clone was used up in Aurora City, which is why I rushed there urgently."

Hearing this, Chen Ling finally pieced the two events together. No wonder Mò Jué had suddenly appeared; he had been hidden in Aurora City all along.

"However, if you want to see him, you probably won't be able to these next few days."

"Why?"

"Master took them out to play... No, they've gone on a performance tour," Plum Blossom K paused before continuing.

"Because the Ancient Repository of Theatrical Arts is in a unique location, very few people can cross the Gray Realm to enter it and receive recognition from the Way of Theatrical Gods. Coupled with the decline of traditional opera, there are almost no blessed ones chosen by the Godly Star... Therefore, very few people in the world can walk this divine path, and the Way of Theatrical Gods is almost becoming the fifth 'lost' divine path.

"So, to remedy this situation, Master occasionally takes his disciples out of the mountains to tour the nine human realms.

"Everywhere we go, we hold performances, looking for people with talent for the Way of Theatrical Gods among the audience. We secretly guide them to discover their potential and record their information. Once these 'seedlings' mature, we seek them out and formally guide them onto the Way of Theatrical Gods."

Chen Ling suddenly stopped, as if something had just occurred to him.

Seeing this, Plum Blossom K turned back, puzzled. "What's wrong?"

A detail, a memory belonging to the original owner of this body, suddenly surfaced in Chen Ling's mind: eight years ago, a humble opera troupe had visited District Three. They set up a stage outside the district and performed for free.

He remembered that he and Chen Yan had gone to watch. There were only five spectators in total, but he had fallen asleep before even two acts were finished. Chen Yan, however, had listened intently from beginning to end, and it was after that day that he developed an interest in opera and self-taught himself a considerable amount of knowledge.

Could it be... that he had actually met Master and the others eight years ago?

"Eight years ago, did you... or Master, meet me? My brother was there too," Chen Ling asked tentatively.

Plum Blossom K glanced at him, then turned and continued walking forward.

"There have been too many tours; I can't remember how many audience members there were. However, Master usually leaves a mark on talented individuals, so he should know if he's met them or not."

Chen Ling temporarily kept this doubt to himself. If the opera troupe he met that year truly belonged to the sect of the Ancient Repository of Theatrical Arts, then fate was indeed wonderfully strange.

The two continued walking in the Gray Realm for a long time. Perhaps because of Chen Ling's red robes, although they encountered many strange, high-level calamities along the way, none of them attacked.

Chen Ling was still injured, so he didn't walk fast. Plum Blossom K, though never looking back, always kept pace with him.

Two figures, one black and one red, walked through the Gray Realm. By sunset, Chen Ling finally saw something different in his sight...

It was a mountain.

A sharp, solitary mountain that rose abruptly from the flat ground. The surrounding landscape was incredibly flat, with barely any hills, making the appearance of this isolated mountain particularly striking. There was no trace of vegetation on it, only various bizarrely shaped rocks towering up, completely out of place with the environment.

Plum Blossom K stopped at the foot of the mountain.

"Is this... the Ancient Repository of Theatrical Arts?" Chen Ling looked at the bare peak before him, feeling it was quite different from what he had imagined the Ancient Repository would be like.

"No, this is Ugly Peak. You can think of it as the 'gate' to the Ancient Repository of Theatrical Arts," Plum Blossom K said calmly. "Anyone who wants to enter the Ancient Repository must cross this peak. The Fifth Junior is here."

"The Fifth Junior..."

There were five disciples in the Ancient Repository of Theatrical Arts. This Fifth Junior must be the youngest one. But such an important task as guarding the gate of the Ancient Repository was entrusted to the youngest junior disciple? Chen Ling felt a bit puzzled.

"You'll see him when we go up. Although his appearance is a bit... unusual, his nature is pure and kind."

"Didn't he go on tour with the others?"

"The Fifth Junior has a congenital defect; he cannot speak. Also, he has the important task of guarding the Ancient Repository of Theatrical Arts, so he has almost never left here."

Chen Ling nodded thoughtfully.

He followed Plum Blossom K, climbing the mountain path. Since it hadn't been developed by humans, it consisted mostly of extremely steep and treacherous routes. Fortunately, with Chen Ling's current skills, climbing a mountain was a piece of cake.

After about ten minutes, they reached the summit of Ugly Peak.

Just as they had seen from below, there was no vegetation on the mountaintop. Amidst the bare rocks stood only a dilapidated, simple stone hut.

At that moment, a small figure was sitting on the stone ground in front of the hut's entrance. A dozen marble-sized stones were laid out before him. With one hand propping up his large head, and the other tossing a stone in his hand, he seemed to be deep in thought.

Apparently hearing footsteps, his body trembled slightly, and he turned his head to look, puzzled...

"Fifth Junior."

A rare, faint smile appeared on Plum Blossom K's face as he approached.

Upon seeing Plum Blossom K, his dark eyes lit up like gemstones. Only then did Chen Ling get a clear look at him.

He was very short, about the height of a normal child, but his age was considerable. From a distance, he looked like a miniature old man, or a dwarf, with wrinkled features that seemed to shrink together, giving an inexplicable sense of eeriness...

There was a patch of white ash on his nose, almost covering half his face, adding a touch of comicality to his already ugly and bizarre appearance.

The moment Chen Ling saw that face, he guessed his identity:

The Clown.