Chapter 192
Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW
You can buy coins here to unlock advanced chapters: https://gravitytales.com/coins-purchase-page/
Chapter 192: The Fully Erupted Strange Drama Stage
By resonating with the strange essence and channeling it into paper figures through painting, Mu Lin believed he could make them act as vessels for the strangeness, eventually gaining full control. Once tamed, these paper figures would become his true trump cards.
Excitement drove Mu Lin to act immediately. He did not target the Strange Drama Stage—Chu Hongxuan and others were watching closely, leaving no chance to seize it. Instead, he focused on a mass of black fog.
Mu Lin chose the black fog because his Ink Dragon bloodline granted natural control over mist. Using his blood as pigment for the paper figures infused them with a wisp of dragon’s might, easing their mastery over the gray fog.
Unlike his own empty mist, the strange black fog teemed with shadowy figures. A living person would’ve been terrified or hunted by the fog’s ghosts. But paper figures weren’t alive.
After observing the fog, Mu Lin crafted paper figures infused with its essence. These entered the gray mist without triggering the killing mechanism. Instead, the fog seeped into them.
“Buzz…”
The merging fog turned the paper figures translucent, like reflections. As the fog altered them, they gained its power.
“Core ability: fear absorption. Reflections morph into whatever frightens their targets. Useful… but only against the weak-willed. Those with a powerful mindset resist.”
As expected, the dragon blood boosted the paper figures’ resistance. Unlike the Strange Drama Stage’s martial paper figures, which couldn’t handle more power, these Ink Dragon ones endured over ten times the strain.
Yet Mu Lin still failed. Even tenfold capacity couldn’t contain half the fog’s power.
“Human potential is staggering. An ordinary person might luck into controlling strangeness, but my paper figures can’t.”
The corrupted paper figures became part of the fog. Worse, the fog’s pollution crept toward Mu Lin’s soul through their link. He didn’t sever it. Instead, he placed the Heart Lamp of Will at the connection’s threshold. The lamp burned and refined the invading fog, granting him gradual control.
“I’m doing the same with the City of Heaven’s Funeral. Could I one day dominate it entirely?”
Mid-thought, the drifting fog and its shadows froze. Countless eyes locked onto Mu Lin.
Through the soul link, their silent message pierced his mind:
“Found you.”
After a breath, the black fog that had frozen in place suddenly charged at Mu Lin.
"…"
This scene left Mu Lin speechless. He couldn’t help sighing.
"I knew controlling strange powers wouldn’t be easy."
"By the way, I’ve been stealing energy from the City of Heaven’s Funeral. Will it start chasing me someday too?"
While Mu Lin wrestled with the black fog and sought ways to control it, Chu Hongxuan and his group finally made their decision after long hesitation outside the Strange Drama Stage – to fight.
They had no choice.
Though Mu Lin’s main body struggled against the black fog, his Substitute Paper Figure continued to act.
As Chu Hongxuan’s team destroyed Mu Lin’s paper figures, the Substitute Paper Figure kept guiding the Cursed Paper Figure through rituals.
By the time Chu Hongxuan’s group finished clearing the paper figures, Mu Lin had successfully linked their paper counterparts to their real bodies.
Now things became simple.
Mu Lin summoned the coffin nail and immediately drove it into the Cursed Paper Figure.
—An unexpected development occurred.
Originally, Mu Lin planned to pin down Yan Zhanpeng’s Corpse Dog soul.
This soul governed mental focus and vigilance. Blocking it would make them easier to ambush.
But to his surprise:
"What? Your Corpse Dog souls are already pinned?"
"Who did this?"
"Are there Taoist Palace students here skilled in curse techniques?"
"If so, why chase me instead of them?"
Noticing Chu Hongxuan’s abnormal state, Mu Lin first suspected outside interference – he knew he hadn’t attacked them himself.
Even his wildest guesses didn’t include Chu Hongxuan’s team copying Huameng’s curse onto themselves through arrogance.
The bizarre situation naturally confused Mu Lin.
…
Though Yan Zhanpeng’s condition surprised him, Mu Lin saw this as advantageous. Without overthinking, he stabbed the coffin nail into Yuance’s Thief Swallower soul.
This soul purified bodily impurities, functioning like an immune system.
The moment it got pinned, terrifying changes overtook Yan Zhanpeng’s group.
The Strange Drama Stage’s corruption began affecting them.
Before, their mere presence repelled the martial artists’ influence.
Now, strange makeup and costumes slowly appeared on their bodies.
Though their strong internal energy let them resist longer, the strange powers would eventually consume them completely.
But this was an ominous sign, forcing Yan Zhanpeng and his companions to realize they had no retreat left.
"No more hesitation, comrades!"
"This city teems with pollution and evil spirits. If we don’t slay Mu Lin and break our curse, we’ll be trapped here completely!"
Some trembled at their bodily transformations while others feared Mu Lin’s next moves.
"Even now, if our Seven Spirits get fully sealed, any survival through special means would leave us as mere wrecks. To avoid elimination, we must kill him swiftly!"
"You’re right – Mu Lin must die!"
"Attack! All together!"
Having decided, Yan Zhanpeng’s group abandoned restraint and launched their assault.
From his hiding place within the Strange Drama Stage, Mu Lin witnessed Yuance’s formidable power through his martial general avatar.
Yet the first response to Chu Hongxuan’s invading force came not from any person, but from the Strange Drama Stage itself.
"Yiiii~yaaa!"
Rushing headlong into the Strange Drama Stage’s domain in their urgency, Yuance’s group triggered all its killing rules instantly, fully activating the ancient structure.
Bizarre transformations immediately unfolded within the stage.
First came mournful weeping that echoed through the air, sapping listeners’ will and driving them toward suicidal despair.
Then came forced role-playing.
Theater costumes attacked with dozens of times the power Mu Lin’s martial general possessed, attempting to dress the intruders as stage characters – generals, foot soldiers…
Finally came the drama’s recreation, amplified by the Strange Drama Stage itself.
The fully awakened stage began performing an epic war play. Having no interest in theater, Mu Lin didn’t recognize the specific story.
But through his martial general persona, he understood one crucial point – he and the other spectral performers had been cast as villains, granted martial general enhancements.
This contradicted normal logic where good conquers evil, but the Strange Drama Stage followed no human scripts. Here, slaughter ruled supreme.
Mu Lin’s side became bandits and brutal invaders. The intruders Yuance and Chu Hongxuan? They were cast as refugees.
Not just any refugees – feeble, elderly, sickly ones.
This role assignment brought multiple negative conditions: unquenchable thirst, crippling hunger, bodily weakness, and persistent sickness. Their very luck turned against them, misfortune clinging like cobwebs.
Against equally matched opponents, Chu Hongxuan’s group would have been slaughtered.
But they soon taught Mu Lin how absolute power shatters all tricks.
"Kill!"
The first to charge in was Yuance. As a body cultivator, he fought like a warrior, smashing through obstacles like a human battering ram.
But he surpassed ordinary warriors, protected by layers of defensive spells.
With Diamond, Godly Movement, and Giant Transformation active, Yuance rampaged through the Strange Drama Stage like an unstoppable siege engine.
Even enhanced generals fell before him in single strikes.
What truly terrified the Strange Drama Stage wasn’t his strength – it was the Pure Yang Flames cloaking his body.
All corrupting influences burned away upon touching those flames.
Curses of thirst, hunger, weakness, and sickness all turned to ash.
Actors who tried blocking him became living torches.
Even the Strange Drama Stage itself began burning under his fiery onslaught.
Fearless, unconquerable, evil-purging – this was Yuance of the Pure Yang Body.
Yan Zhanpeng and Chu Hongxuan proved equally formidable.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Yan Zhanpeng’s approach was brutally simple – overwhelming wealth.
He deployed thirteen magic artifacts simultaneously in battle.
Somehow he controlled each perfectly, wielding them like natural limbs at full power.
Occasionally the artifacts combined, multiplying their destructive force.
This limitless versatility kept Mu Lin on constant alert.
"Thirteen artifacts… Could he control spiritual treasures too?"
Mu Lin’s wary gaze shifted to the final combatant. Watching Chu Hongxuan in action explained why this man took third place despite Yuance’s might and Yan’s artifacts.
His advantage was sheer scale.
Everyone knew bigger meant stronger. Chu Hongxuan embodied this truth.
Clapping his hands beneath the Sarala Tree, he summoned a 58-meter treant.
Yes, fifty-eight meters.
Each earth-shaking step demonstrated crushing power.
The treant’s defenses matched its size. Compared to this colossus, Strange Drama Stage actors looked like scurrying ants. Their attacks barely registered as scratches.
More terrifying was its recovery speed.
Wood-element energy granted natural healing, and with massive magic reserves, the treant seemed practically unkillable. Minor injuries vanished instantly.
Pollution attempts failed too – the Sarala Tree’s mountain-like form provided exceptional corruption resistance.
Even with his Thief Swallower sealed and defenses weakened, Chu Hongxuan adapted ruthlessly.
Contaminated flesh? He tore it off like dead skin.
New tissue regrew within seconds thanks to monstrous vitality.
Facing this regenerating behemoth, even Mu Lin muttered "monster" through clenched teeth.
Now he understood why neither Yuance nor Yan Zhanpeng could defeat Chu Hongxuan.
In direct combat without tricks, Mu Lin doubted his own chances.
Dragon transformation barely matched the treant’s raw power. His strongest Thunder Breath attacks proved ineffective.
Outlasting him? Impossible – Sarala Tree fusion granted Chu Hongxuan bottomless magic reserves.
Speed tactics? Useless against hundreds of branch-hands.
True invincibility wore Chu Hongxuan’s face.
