I'm not a drama god

"I know what you want to say, Senior Brother." Chen Ling paused for a moment.

"Given Lee's personality and talent, he is destined not to depend on anyone, much less to be a hothouse flower... Only by making good use of the indomitable lion within him can his true potential be unleashed."

Ning Ruyu pictured Li Leide's deep blue eyes in her mind, and after a long silence, she let out a long sigh.

"So... what do you plan to do?"

"With the return of the Crimson Star imminent, some things should begin sooner rather than later..." Chen Ling paused for a moment.

"Bring him to see me tomorrow."

……

Lee Laide didn't sleep a wink all night.

That night, he practiced singing opera over and over again; at the same time, he was waiting for that person to appear.

But as the night passed, Chen Ling did not come looking for him, nor did she return to the old man's house. He returned quietly and then disappeared again... as if he had forgotten him and this grassland.

However, Li Laide had gotten used to it; Chen Ling had always been like this over the years.

Li Laide washed his face and prepared to go out for some fresh air. A night of singing practice had left him physically and mentally exhausted. In the past, whenever he felt stressed, he would go to that grassland, sit, and look at the starry sky and the distant mountains, and his heart would naturally calm down.

But as soon as Li Laide pushed open the door, he saw a figure standing outside.

“…Master Uncle?” Li Laide was taken aback.

"Didn't you get enough rest last night?" Ning Ruyu looked him up and down for a while before asking.

"...It's alright." Li Lai De didn't want others to know he had been practicing opera all night, so he quickly changed the subject. "Is there something you need?"

"Let's go... your master wants to see you."

"See me?" Li Laid was a little confused. "If he wants to see me, I can just go to him... Why bother my master to come all the way here?"

Ning Ruyu smiled.

"Where he is... you can't go there yourself."

Before Li Lede could react, Ning Ruyu raised her hand and waved, and a curtain of nothingness slowly opened. The next second, the two of them disappeared without a trace.

Li Laid felt the space around him rapidly folding, just like when he entered the Ancient Treasure Trove of the Playful Path, his entire being traversing the void at breakneck speed in a strange manner. He could sense the Ancient Treasure Trove of the Playful Path constantly receding, leading to the deepest region of the ancient treasure trove he had never set foot in before…

When Li Laid's feet touched solid ground, he found himself in a boundless desert.

A sharp wind, carrying fine sand, swept across Lee Ryder's cheeks, causing his overcoat to flutter. He looked around, his eyes filled with growing doubt.

"here it is……"

“It’s a forbidden area of ​​the Xidao Ancient Collection.” Ning Ruyu pointed in a certain direction. “Go… he’s right there.”

Following the direction Ning Ruyu pointed, Li Laide saw a shrine standing tall on the desert horizon...

Li Laid was about to ask something more, but when he turned around, Ning Ruyu had already disappeared.

Li Laide had been in Xidao Ancient Village for so long, but he had never set foot here before, and he had never even heard of any forbidden areas... Now that he knew Chen Ling was waiting for him here, he suddenly felt a little nervous.

He pressed down the brim of his hat, hesitated for a moment, and then walked toward the ancestral hall.

As Li Laid approached, he finally saw the entire ancestral hall clearly.

The ancestral hall was not large, and its design was quite ancient, making it impossible to tell which era it came from... Behind the threshold, a figure wearing a red and black theatrical robe stood with his back to him in the center of the ancestral hall. Dim candlelight surrounded him, casting his shadow on the wall, which swayed silently.

He was like the shadow of that ancestral hall, or a ghost that did not belong to this world;

Li Laid did not enter the shrine without permission, but stood outside the threshold. At the same time, the figure in the theatrical robe slowly turned around...

As he turned around, Lee Ryder finally saw the scene that had been hidden behind him.

On the solemn and dignified table, five memorial tablets were enshrined.

Lee Ryder had good eyesight; for a fleeting moment, he seemed to make out the inscriptions on the memorial tablets, and the words on each tablet were exactly the same:

——【Anonymous Actor】.

what is this?

A question flashed through Lee Ryder's mind.

Chen Ling seemed to have no intention of wasting any words with him. He stood in the ancestral hall, his scarlet eyes fixed on Li Laide outside the door, and spoke calmly:

"Do you know where the power of the Nine Lords comes from?"

Li Laid hadn't expected Chen Ling to throw out this question right away. The solemn and cold atmosphere intensified his tension... but without hesitation, he gave the answer:

“You said that the power of the Nine Lords comes from the fragments of the Crimson Star that fell into Shennongjia before the Great Cataclysm.”

"Then do you know where the power to destroy the world comes from?"

Li Laide was taken aback and shook his head.

"Whether it's the destruction of the world or the Nine Sovereigns, their power does not come from the 'divine way' nurtured by Earth's civilization, but from the Crimson Star... This mysterious power from beyond the heavens is what we call the 'Crimson Star's Wish Power'."

"The Red Star is the nemesis of civilization. When the Red Star descends, all divine paths will be affected by it."

"Li Lai De, have you ever thought about... why I took you as my apprentice?"

Chen Ling's calm words echoed in the ancestral hall.

Li Laide was stunned. He was not only processing the massive amount of information in Chen Ling's words, but also constantly thinking about the last question... a question that had actually been troubling Li Laide for a long time.

Why would a world-destroying calamity with the power to overturn the world take a thief of the divine path as its disciple?

“I…don’t know,” Li Laid replied truthfully.

"The relationship between Shinto and Akasei isn't actually one of one-sided restraint. Currently, humanity's Shinto is affected by Akasei because Akasei's size is simply too enormous..."

"In fact, the reverse is also true. For example, an extremely powerful deity can minimize the impact on themselves when facing the Crimson Heaven Cult, because the Crimson Star's will power within the Crimson Heaven Cult is extremely weak. However, even if all the deities on Earth were combined, it would still be far from enough to suppress the Crimson Star."

"But the Path of Stealing Gods is special. The ultimate Path of Stealing Gods can, even when far away from the influence of the Crimson Star, 'steal' the Crimson Star's will power... even if it is only a trace."

"However, it won't be easy to do this."

The opera robe swayed silently as Chen Ling slowly walked forward. When he stopped, he was only separated from Li Laide by the threshold of an ancestral hall...

He looked into Li Laid's eyes and spoke solemnly:

“Tell me, Lilade…”

Do you want to become stronger?

……

……

There will be a lot going on during the Lunar New Year holiday. Although I won't be taking several consecutive days off like last year since the story is nearing its end, updates may still be a bit irregular. Happy New Year in advance!