Chapter 1879: A Disciple, Not a Chess Piece

A Disciple, Not a Chess Piece

"I know the other me is your mortal enemy, I know I almost killed you!"

"But me, I clearly didn't do anything!"

"Why is it that for so many years, you can't look me in the eye even once?!"

"What did I do wrong???"

Li Leider's angry roars grew increasingly frantic. Under the agitation of his Path of the Thief Demigod power, bursts of sharp humming exploded from the surrounding air. Even that British Overcoat was torn to pieces by the aftermath of his own Aura.

The pure white silk shirt fluttered in the wind. Li Leider had no intention of stopping at all. With Chen Ling's approach, the distance between them was already no more than a hundred meters.

Chen Ling took a step out. Suddenly, he and Li Leider blurred at the same time.

His Great Crimson Theatrical Robe gradually turned into a white silk shirt, his pupils began to turn blue little by little, and his facial features became three-dimensional like a Western mixed-blood...

He, was Stealing [Existence].

At this moment,

Even Chen Ling could not hide the astonishment surfacing on his face.

Li Leider was actually able to directly steal and exchange the existence of the two people? It wasn't even a simple exchange of memories through shooting like Yesterday's Revolver... What Li Leider was doing was exchanging their bodies, thoughts, and even abilities with each other.

This was a Stealing Art that shouldn't exist in this world. Perhaps only the near dimension-ascended, complete form "Silver King" that Chen Ling saw in the Akashic Tower back then could achieve this step... The current Li Leider had actually already fumbled to the threshold of this perverted ability?

"To you, what exactly am I?"

"A Chess Piece? A tool? A sick toy used to take revenge on the me from the previous world? Or a dog casually raised outside, called to come and shooed away at your whim??"

Red and blue pulled, intertwined, and Fused within a short ten meters.

The existence of the two figures both began to blur.

Just as the power of the Path of the Thief was about to be unleashed to the extreme,

A touch of scarlet silently flickered from Chen Ling's body.

[Cut].

Buzz——!!

In an instant, the power of the Path of the Thief filling the entire space was forcibly negated. Pieces of Red Paper surged frantically from nothingness like broken snow, swirling around the two like a storm!

The World-Ending power that seemed able to burn through heaven and earth just like that broke through Li Leider's ultimate Stealing Art. A terrifying Aura sufficient to crush everything rushed straight for his face!

That was a fair palm.

The palm pierced through the Red Paper broken snow, rapidly enlarging in Li Leider's pupils... In this instant, he seemed to completely give up resisting, those deep blue eyes silently closing.

But the subsequent pain did not appear,

On the contrary,

That fair palm lightly patted his shoulder.

Li Leider was stunned... He opened his eyes, and saw Chen Ling standing in front of him, gazing at him with a complex look.

Li Leider couldn't describe exactly what kind of look that was. Pity? Guilt? Regret? Sorrow? He couldn't say...

But for some reason, he always felt that in the reflection of Chen Ling's eyes, there was not only him, but also his past self.

Chen Ling remained silent for a long time, his lips parting lightly:

"Whether you want to be called the King of the Fire-Stealers or the Silver King... Whatever you want to do, you can go do it."

"But I hope you know, from the moment you acknowledged me as Master..."

"To me,"

"You are a Disciple, not a Chess Piece."

After speaking, Chen Ling patted Li Leider's shoulder again... He didn't say anything more, only, his hand was very heavy, so heavy it seemed to shoulder a regret spanning two eras.

Then, he just passed by Li Leider like this, directly disappearing into the Ancient Vault of the Drama Path.

Woo woo woo——

The cold wind swirled in the desolate Gray World.

The sky full of Red Paper still danced in the air... Li Leider stood blankly in place, like a silent sculpture.

...

Ancient Vault of the Drama Path.

Chen Ling's figure was outlined from the curtain of nothingness.

The moment his feet stepped on the ground, his body swayed, almost pitching forward and falling to the ground...

Chen Ling took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the dizziness and exhaustion in his mind. Several strands of black hair had already been dyed pale at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Chen Ling had just cut off a portion of his vitality to give to the Four Monarchs, and was right at his weakest. Then he was entangled by Li Leider and went through a great battle, almost completely hollowing him out.

The ability Li Leider erupted with at the end was truly too astonishing. Even Chen Ling spent a great deal of effort to forcibly negate it in time... Putting emotions aside, the facts proved that Chen Ling's cultivation of Li Leider in this world was quite successful.

Spatial curtains were outlined around him. Chen Ling was stunned. From the corner of his eye, he saw his extremely haggard self in the Glass reflection, a touch of complexity flashing in his eyes.

His exhausted body took another step forward, his figure disappearing from the spot before Ning Ruyu and the others returned.

Half a second later.

Ning Ruyu and the others walked out from the nothingness.

"...Where's Little Junior Brother?" Mo Jue looked around and didn't see Chen Ling's shadow on the grassland, speaking in confusion.

"His Aura isn't here, he probably went to the Ancestral Shrine again, or some other Optical Disc world."

"He left too fast... not saying a single word to us?"

"The Red Star is coming soon, Little Junior Brother is probably also very anxious."

"Sigh, who knows if he can come eat together today."

"Little Junior Brother... should be fine, right?"

"Little Junior Brother is already the strongest in this world now, fighting martial nephew just now was also very relaxed... He'll be fine."

"That's good."

"..."

Chen Ling did not hear the conversation between Ning Ruyu and the others.

At this time, he had already arrived at the other side of the Ancient Vault of the Drama Path, staggering through the dark and silent Shennongjia forest. The lights of the distant camp gradually approached.

Chen Ling did not go look for the Seven Monarchs immediately, but gently sat down himself on a chair by the camp's bonfire.

Creak——

His exhausted body slowly pressed onto the chair.

In the distant tent, the Seven Monarchs' discussion hadn't ended yet. They were still saying some incomprehensible words... And their discussion had already gone on for three days and three nights.

The gentle breeze brushed through the dim forest, the rustling of leaves rubbing against each other endless. The bonfire reflected Chen Ling's pale face. He just sat quietly like this, a faint weariness on his brow.

No one knew what this Thespian standing at the very peak of the sixth-generation world was thinking at this moment, or perhaps he wasn't thinking anything. He was just curled up alone by the isolated bonfire, taking a brief respite.

Crackle crackle.

The quiet sound of the burning bonfire aided sleep.

Chen Ling's eyelids closed unconsciously, just sitting on the chair like this, falling soundly asleep... The figure of the Red-Clad Performer seemed to Fuse as one with this silence.

Who knows how long passed,

The sounds of discussion and argument in the tent gradually disappeared.

Figure after figure walked out of the tent. When they saw the exhausted Theatrical Robe figure sleeping in the center of the camp, they froze in place at the same time.