Chapter 761: 万象取景

Click—With another click of the shutter, a gust of wind seemed to brush past Chen Ling’s ear out of nowhere!

“Huh?” The moment Chen Ling uttered a soft exclamation, a massive shadow instantly appeared behind him as if teleporting. It was a giant bear, over twenty meters tall, yet it didn't look alive. Its eyes were hollow, and its fur resembled knotted ropes, like a plush toy magnified countless times.

Even so, the instant it appeared out of thin air, its two massive paws, large enough to crush a small building, slammed together like fly swatters, crushing Chen Ling between them!

Bang—!An invisible wave of air rippled outwards from the giant bear's palms.

A woman in a white hoodie stood quietly on the plush giant bear's shoulder. Seeing the paws clamped tightly shut, she let out a cold snort.

“He’s alone. Is all this really necessary?”

“He dared to come alone, which means he must have some skill. Being cautious won’t hurt,” the photographer said slowly, stepping into the photo, and then added viciously, “Besides… who told him to trick me? He’ll pay for it!”

“Oh? What price will he pay?” A calm voice came from behind the photographer, chilling as if from the netherworld. His pupils suddenly constricted!

The photographer reacted swiftly. Camera in hand, he spun around sharply. Just as he intended to press the shutter button towards his back, no click sounded… and the familiar tactile feel of the button was gone.

He paused, bewildered, and looked down. He found that his camera had, at some point, transformed into an old metal padlock.

A whistling kick slammed into the photographer’s chest!Bang—!!!

Chen Ling’s kick was incredibly powerful, seemingly passing right through the photographer’s body… But then he noticed something was off about the sensation. The photographer before him visibly dissolved into a photograph.

Chen Ling’s eyebrows slightly arched in surprise.

Dozens of meters away, the photographer’s figure reappeared. But as if still reeling from the kick, he violently spat out a mouthful of blood and flew backward, crashing into the desolate wilderness.

A substitute?Although the photographer reacted quickly, Chen Ling’s strike was even faster. Even with the photo substitute, a portion of the force still hit his real body, sending him flying over ten meters.

“Interesting,” Chen Ling said, intrigued. “One Azure Divinity Path, one Strength Divinity Path, one Puppet Divinity Path… but their manifestations are different from what I’ve encountered.”

After this brief exchange, Chen Ling had a rough understanding of their abilities. The photographer’s ability was somewhat similar to that of the Second Hall of the Floating Life Scroll, though the activation method differed. Moreover, the gap in combat experience and rank between them was immense.

The white man was clearly a Strength Divinity Path user, but also different from those Chen Ling had encountered before… As for the Puppet Divinity Path, Chen Ling had only seen those who manipulated paper figures, but he had never imagined one controlling plush toys.

Chen Ling realized that the Divinity Paths were influenced by their era.

The fourteen Divinity Paths always remained the fourteen Divinity Paths. From ancient times to the present, from modern days to the future, the general direction of the Divinity Paths remained constant. What changed were the “paths” under different societal backgrounds and eras.

In this era, he could encounter a photographer who fought with an SLR camera, but in the post-Calamity era, it would be almost impossible to see such a thing… This was because, in that era, cameras were used by very few people, and their methods of use were quite primitive. Before the invention of cameras, it would have been even more impossible.

And in this era, he would likely not see paths like Asura or Ceasefire, as those were exclusive to times of turmoil.

However…“Too weak,” Chen Ling sighed. “At the same rank, your combat strength is far too weak compared to those after the Calamity…”

Chen Ling was speaking the truth.

The paths themselves had no inherent strength or weakness; whether an Azure Divinity Path was driven by a camera or a paintbrush, it was essentially the same… The problem was that these people had not experienced the harsh survival environment of the Nine Realms. Living in such a peaceful and beautiful era, their crisis awareness, combat instincts, and development of their own paths were far inferior to those in the post-Calamity era.

Up until now, Chen Ling had only been passively dodging, not actively attacking. He wanted to see just how far these people could push themselves…

The results, however, left him greatly disappointed.

It seemed that individuals like Nie Yu were a rarity in this era.

Hearing this, the three “Black Hands” first froze, then their faces contorted with anger. They glared at Chen Ling, seemingly feeling insulted!

“What’s with the act?” the woman cursed, displeased. A surge of Divinity Path aura flashed.

The next moment, she and the giant bear beneath her vanished into thin air. They reappeared above Chen Ling!

The massive paw lifted high, its plush surface instantly erupting into raging flames. As it stomped down with terrifying force, it was like a mountain of fire crashing down!

Chen Ling stood silently in place, his face illuminated crimson by the flaming paw. He didn’t dodge, but instead held his boning knife in one hand and casually swept it upwards.

“What are mere barbarians and clowns? With one blade, I can fend off a million soldiers!”

Boom—!!!The moment the melodic opera singing echoed, a colossal blade-light, like a surging tide, instantly engulfed the massive flaming bear and the woman, even covering half the sky of this photo world!!

In the distance, the photographer and the white man, who had witnessed this scene firsthand, had their pupils sharply constrict!

A deafening roar erupted, and the entire world was fractured by that single slash. Cracks in the void appeared as if someone had sliced through a photograph. Through that fissure, which ripped through the sky and ground, they could even glimpse the real world outside…

At the same time, burning plush fragments fluttered down like scattered joss paper. The skyscraper-like figure had been sliced into countless pieces by one strike, vanishing without a trace.

A mangled body crashed heavily into the desolate wilderness, raising dust. She lay motionless.

“This…” The white man’s body began to tremble uncontrollably as he witnessed the scene.One slash, instant kill?

The white man, like the woman moments ago, was also a third-rank. If the opponent could instantly kill the woman with one slash, they could naturally do the same to him… Even as a Strength Divinity Path user, he had no confidence whatsoever in being able to withstand that strike.

What kind of monster was that???

The white man instinctively retreated, seemingly having lost all will to fight. But the photographer beside him grabbed him directly, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth as he gritted his teeth and spoke:

“What’s there to be afraid of…? I don’t believe it. How many slashes of that power can this guy produce?”

The photographer took a deep breath, raised his index and middle fingers of both hands, and formed the shape of a camera in front of him, framing Chen Ling in the distance.

The next moment, a domain suddenly unfolded!“Omni-Frame.”