Twisted Theater God Path

Cinnabar Glass pieces fell onto the snow, divine radiance flowing through them like brilliant stars scattered across the mortal world.

"This is..." Chen Ling froze.

"Brother, do you know... that red star represents 'theater.'" Chen Yan raised his head and looked at the God Path in the sky as it gradually receded. He spoke slowly. "Ever since I began teaching myself drama, I would occasionally sense its existence... It wanted to take me away, but I didn't want to leave.

Whenever it moved farther away, I would keep one of its fragments. I thought that if I gathered enough, perhaps I could take you and Mom and Dad to the place it guided us toward, to see what lay at the end of 'theater'...

Unfortunately, I only managed to collect thirty-six pieces in the end."

"Now... I can't go anymore."

Chen Yan smiled helplessly. He slowly gathered up all the Cinnabar Glass and hurled them with all his strength toward the receding God Path in the sky!

The next moment, countless streams of divine radiance bloomed from those God Path fragments, rapidly intertwining in midair and gathering once more into a ribbon-like, ethereal God Path that chased after the retreating one!

"Brother, you have to live... Will you go see what lies at the end of the Theater God Path for me?"

The two sections of God Path collided in midair, and dazzling divine light illuminated the heavens!

The "Theater God Path" reconnected.

The cinnabar star in the sky had never expected its God Path to be forcibly retained. Its divine radiance trembled in midair, as though trying to drag it back...

At the other end of the God Path, the young Chen Yan stood quietly. Though his body looked frail and slender, his talent in the "Theater God Path" was immensely powerful, transcendent, and as steady as a mountain.

He had forcibly nailed the starting point of the Theater God Path before Chen Ling!

The God Path had abandoned Chen Ling,

But Chen Yan had not.

"What happened??"

Outside the residence, the shadowy man and Chu Muyun both stared at the sky in astonishment. Beneath the cinnabar star, a shattered path was rapidly restoring itself!

"Why has the Theater God Path been fixed in place??"

"It chose Chen Ling? How is that possible?!"

Even Chu Muyun, who was always calm and wise, could not help widening his eyes. The two carefully scanned the area around Chen Ling in the center of the residence, yet found nothing unusual... From their perspective, they could see nothing.

"Wait... Something's not right!"

"What isn't right?"

"That Theater God Path is wrong. It's been twisted... I've never seen a God Path like this."

"What will happen if someone walks a twisted God Path?"

"If the markers on a road have been tampered with, who knows where it will ultimately lead? Heaven? Or... hell?"

"You mean..."

"Go stop him, now!! He absolutely cannot walk that twisted God Path!!!"

The two figures rushed toward the residence!

Chen Ling stared blankly at Chen Yan standing on the Theater God Path. Perhaps it was an illusion, but Chen Yan's figure seemed to be fading bit by bit...

"A-Yan... A-Yan!"

Chen Ling's pupils contracted. He did not know where he found the strength, but he forcibly pulled his shoulders free from the bone cage inch by inch. Sharp bone tips tore through flesh, and crimson blood dripped down his arms, quickly gathering into a pool on the ground.

He clenched his teeth tightly, yet still could not suppress a hoarse howl. More than ten seconds later, he finally broke free of the cage and staggered toward Chen Yan!

"A-Yan!" He reached for Chen Yan with one hand, but it only passed lightly through empty air...

Before this, he had always been able to touch Chen Yan.

"Brother, this time I really have to go." A pure, gentle smile unique to a young boy appeared on Chen Yan's face. "This path is somewhat different from other Theater God Paths... It will make your life winding and difficult, but perhaps it can help you escape those things."

"Where are you going?" Chen Ling's face had gone deathly pale from the heavy blood loss.

"Back to where I should be... And at the same time, I'll become the foundation of your God Path."

Chen Yan took a step back, fully revealing the God Path before Chen Ling.

His figure had nearly faded away entirely, leaving only a voice lingering by Chen Ling's ear.

"Walk this path, and the world will belong to Brother."

"Chen Ling!! Stop! You can't walk that path!!"

Chu Muyun's voice came urgently, but Chen Ling seemed not to hear it.

Wearing a bright red opera robe, he stood at the starting point of the God Path and slowly raised his right foot, then...

Stepped onto it.

Boom—!!

The instant his foot touched down, the ribbon-like, illusory God Path instantly solidified, becoming a blood-red staircase ascending into the heavens.

The next moment, that stairway to heaven rapidly shrank beneath Chen Ling's feet, ultimately dissolving into nothingness...

That twisted God Path seemed to have vanished, or perhaps...

It was already beneath Chen Ling's feet.

Chu Muyun and the shadowy man arrived at the scene, only to find Chen Ling standing there alone with his head lowered.

"Chen Ling, didn't you hear me calling you just now?" Chu Muyun frowned as he stepped forward. Just as he was about to say something else, he suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?" the shadowy man asked.

Chu Muyun's voice rang out again.

The shadowy man froze. He turned to look at Chu Muyun, only to discover that the latter had not spoken at all...

"What's wrong?" Immediately afterward, his own voice rang out from ahead as well.

The two looked forward at the same time.

A biting cold wind swept across the snow. The young man in the bright red opera robe stood with his back to them, his neck twisting backward in an unnatural arc...

"Chen Ling, didn't you hear me calling you just now?"

"What's wrong?"

"Chen Ling, didn't you hear me calling you just now?"

"What's wrong?"

"Chen Ling, didn't you hear me..."

Chu Muyun's and the shadowy man's voices emerged alternately from Chen Ling's throat. At the same time, his face kept switching between the two of them...

Yes, switching.

It was as if Chen Ling had gained a calendar-like mask on his face that could be torn away at will. With every sentence, he became the person whose voice he spoke; by the next sentence, a layer would automatically tear away, and he would become someone else.

His eyes, stubble, mole, voice—every detail was perfectly replicated. Watching their own faces constantly switch across Chen Ling's face, both men felt a chill run down their spines!

"He... What's happening to him?" the shadowy man asked blankly.

"Generally speaking, stepping onto a God Path means reaching the 'first step,' and every step automatically grants a corresponding path skill... What's happening to him should be caused by the first-step skill of the Theater God Path."

"The first-step skill of the Theater God Path is face-changing?"

"Seven of Diamonds told me that the skill awakened at the first step of most Theater God Paths is [Thousand Faces], an extension of the most basic disguise ability of actors... Based on the description, it closely resembles Chen Ling's current condition."

"Then why does he not look fully conscious?"

"His God Path was twisted, so the skill he awakened should be twisted as well... If nothing unexpected happened, he was suffering backlash from his own skill."

"So that's it... No wonder he kept imitating the way we spoke just now."

"But he's stopped imitating us now..." Chu Muyun frowned as he looked at Chen Ling, who had suddenly fallen silent. "I suddenly have a bad feeling..."

Just as the shadowy man was about to ask what kind of feeling it was, Chen Ling raised his head again...

A layer of skin tore away from his face.

Above Chen Ling's neck, the barrel of a massive black pistol locked onto the two of them.