Chapter 40: Twisted God of Drama

Gleaming cinnabar glaze beads fell onto the snow, divine radiance flowing from them like brilliant stars scattered across the human world.

“What is this…?” Chen Ling was stunned.

“Brother, do you know…? That red star represents ‘Drama,’” Chen Yan said slowly, looking up at the gradually receding divine path in the sky. “Ever since I started teaching myself drama, I’ve occasionally sensed its presence… It wanted to take me away, but I didn’t want to go. Every time it moved away, I would keep a piece of it. I thought that once I collected enough, maybe I could take you, Dad, and Mom to the place it pointed to, to see what the end of ‘Drama’ looked like… Unfortunately, in the end, I only managed to gather thirty-six pieces.

“Now… I can’t go anymore.”

Chen Yan smiled helplessly. He slowly gathered all the cinnabar glaze beads and forcefully threw them towards the receding divine path in the sky! The next moment, countless divine lights burst forth from these fragments of the divine path, rapidly intertwining in mid-air, re-forming into an ethereal, ribbon-like divine path that chased after the retreating one!

“Brother, you must live on… Will you go and see what lies at the end of the Path of Drama for me?”

The two sections of the divine path collided in mid-air, and brilliant divine light illuminated the sky! The “Divine Path of Drama” reconnected.

The cinnabar star in the sky never expected its divine path could be forcibly held back. Its divine radiance trembled in mid-air, as if trying to pull it back… At the other end of the divine path, young Chen Yan stood quietly. Although his body appeared thin and frail, his talent for the “Path of Drama” was immensely powerful, transcendent, and as steady as a mountain. He had forcefully pinned the starting point of the Divine Path of Drama right in front of Chen Ling!

The divine path had abandoned Chen Ling, but Chen Yan had not.

“What just happened??”

Outside the courtyard, the shadowed man and Chu Muyun simultaneously looked up at the sky in astonishment. Under the cinnabar star, a broken path was rapidly being completely restored!

“Why is the Divine Path of Drama fixed in place??”

“It chose Chen Ling? How is that possible?!”

Even the usually calm and astute Chu Muyun couldn’t help but widen his eyes. Both of them meticulously scanned the area around Chen Ling in the center of the courtyard but found nothing unusual… In their perception, there was nothing to see.

“Wait… something’s not right!”

“What’s wrong?”

“That Divine Path of Drama is wrong; it’s distorted… I’ve never seen a divine path like this.”

“What happens if you walk on a distorted divine path?”

“If a path’s destination has been tampered with, who knows where its final end will be? Heaven? Or… hell?”

“Are you saying…?”

“Stop him quickly!! He must not step onto that twisted divine path!!!”

Two figures rushed swiftly towards the courtyard!

Chen Ling stared blankly at Chen Yan, who stood on the Divine Path of Drama. He wasn’t sure if it was an illusion, but Chen Yan’s figure seemed to be fading away little by little…

“Ah Yan… Ah Yan!”

Chen Ling’s pupils constricted. Mustering strength from who knew where, he painstakingly pulled his shoulder out of the bone cage, sharp bone tips tearing through flesh. Scarlet blood dripped from his arm onto the ground, quickly forming a pool. He gritted his teeth tightly but couldn’t help but cry out. After more than ten seconds, he finally broke free from the cage and stumbled towards Chen Yan!

“Ah Yan!” He reached out a hand to grasp Chen Yan, but his hand merely passed through empty space… Before, he had always been able to touch Chen Yan.

“Brother, this time I truly have to leave.” A pure, gentle smile, unique to a young boy, appeared on Chen Yan’s face. “This path is different from other Divine Paths of Drama… It will make your life winding and difficult, but it might also free you from those things.”

“Where are you going?” Chen Ling’s face was pale from significant blood loss.

“Back to where I belong… and at the same time, I will become the cornerstone of your divine path.”

Chen Yan took a step back, fully revealing the divine path before Chen Ling’s eyes. His figure almost faded away completely, leaving only a voice lingering in Chen Ling’s ears.

“Walk this path, and the world will belong to you, brother.”

“Chen Ling!! Stop now! You can’t take that path!!” Chu Muyun’s voice came urgently, but Chen Ling seemed not to hear it.

Wearing a large red opera robe, he stood at the start of the divine path, slowly raised his right foot, and then… stepped onto it.

Thump—!!

The moment his foot landed, the ethereal, ribbon-like divine path instantly solidified, becoming a blood-red staircase ascending towards the sky. The next moment, this sky-ascending staircase rapidly shrank beneath Chen Ling’s feet, eventually transforming into nothingness… The twisted divine path seemed to have vanished, or perhaps… it was now beneath Chen Ling’s feet.

Chu Muyun and the other man arrived at the scene, finding Chen Ling standing alone, head bowed.

“Chen Ling, did you not hear me calling you just now?” Chu Muyun walked forward with a frown, about to say something more, when he suddenly stopped.

The shadowed man asked.

Chu Muyun’s voice sounded again.

The shadowed man was startled. He turned to look at Chu Muyun but realized the latter hadn’t spoken at all… Then, his own voice also echoed from in front of them.

Both men looked forward simultaneously. A biting cold wind swept across the snow. The young man in the large red opera robe stood with his back to them, his neck eerily twisting backward…

“Chen Ling, did you not hear me calling you just now?”

“Chen Ling, did you not hear me calling you just now?”

“Chen Ling, I just called you…”

The voices of Chu Muyun and the shadowed man intertwined, emanating from Chen Ling’s throat. At the same time, his face constantly shifted between their appearances… Yes, shifting. Chen Ling’s face was like a mask that could be torn off like a calendar. With each sentence, he would transform into the appearance of the corresponding person, and with the next, he would automatically peel off a layer and change into someone else’s appearance. Eyes, stubble, moles, voice—every detail was perfectly reproduced. The two men watched their own faces constantly appear and disappear on Chen Ling’s, feeling a chill run down their spines!

“What… what happened to him?” the shadowed man asked, bewildered.

“Generally, stepping onto a divine path means reaching the ‘first stage,’ and with each stage climbed, one automatically masters a corresponding path skill… His current state is likely due to the first-stage skill of the Divine Path of Drama.”

“The first-stage skill of the Divine Path of Drama is face-swapping?”

“Block 7 told me that most first-stage skills awakened on the Divine Path of Drama are ‘Thousand Faces,’ an extension of an actor’s most basic disguise ability… From the description, it sounds very similar to Chen Ling’s current situation.”

“Then why doesn’t he seem entirely conscious?”

“His divine path was twisted, so the awakened skill should also be twisted… If there are no surprises, he’s suffering a backlash from his own skill.”

“I see… No wonder he kept mimicking us just now.”

“But he’s stopped mimicking now…” Chu Muyun said with a frown, looking at Chen Ling, who had suddenly fallen silent. “I suddenly have a bad feeling…”

The shadowed man was about to ask what kind of feeling it was when Chen Ling looked up again… A layer of skin peeled away from his face. A large, black handgun barrel appeared on Chen Ling’s neck, locked onto the two men.