Chapter 191 – The Sinister Stage

The fact that Paper Figures could harness the power of a small-scale Anomaly Source was something even Mu Lin himself had not anticipated.

When creating the Paper Anomalies, his initial idea was simply to have the Paper Figures blend in among them to avoid being slaughtered.

Driven by a pursuit of perfection and a cautious nature, Mu Lin did not fold the Paper Anomalies carelessly or discard them haphazardly in random places.

Before folding or discarding them, he would first visit some eerie locations. With the eyes for observing “beauty” granted by his Grandmaster-level Painting skill, Mu Lin could, in an extremely short time, discern the style of these eerie places and resonate with their underlying essence.

Based on this, the Paper Figures he folded were able to blend seamlessly and safely among the Anomalies.

Normally, the matter would have ended there. However, the Paper Figures Mu Lin drew resembled the eerie locations too closely, and the resonance was too strong.

Of course, even so, Mu Lin’s Paper Figures would not have gained the power of the Anomalies.

But Anomaly Evil possesses a characteristic: compared to Demons and Monsters, they are more powerful and more bizarre. Some true Anomaly Sources are even indestructible.

Yet closely tied to their strength is their lack of intelligence. They possess only the instincts to corrode, slaughter, and corrupt everything.

Since Mu Lin’s Paper Figures were not living beings, they did not trigger the Anomalies’ slaughtering mechanisms. However, corrosion and corruption were unavoidable.

Such corruption posed a great danger to humans. Once contaminated, if not cleansed in time, humans would be invaded by the power of the Anomalies, their bodies undergoing various mutations. In the end, they would lose their consciousness and become Anomaly Servants.

This level of harm made humans pale at the mere mention of the corrosion and corruption by Anomalies.

Then, Mu Lin discovered that his Paper Figures were unafraid of corruption—they could still be corroded, but since Paper Figures were not living beings to begin with, even if completely corroded, Mu Lin would only lose some paper and Mana.

The former he could buy in endless quantities, and the latter would recover over time. Under such circumstances, the corruption of an Anomaly Source was no longer a problem for Mu Lin.

And when you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes back into you—this saying could also be reversed.

When the Anomaly Source corroded the Paper Figures, inevitably, their power would invade the Paper Figures’ bodies and could be utilized by them.

Although Mu Lin could not use this power to resist the Anomaly Source—mystery is utterly ineffective in the face of a higher-level mystery.

Nor could he utilize this Anomaly power for long—once the Paper Figures were completely taken over, they would become Anomaly Servants and no longer obey Mu Lin’s commands.

Yet for Mu Lin, this remained a formidable weapon.

Just like now, the power of the Anomaly was guided by Mu Lin to attack Chu Hongxuan and the others.

“Yī~ yā!”

This was the sound of opera singing. As this voice rang out, Chu Hongxuan and the others felt a peculiar, chilling power eroding into their beings.

This power made Chu Hongxuan and his companions notice subtle changes in their comrades’ clothing and accessories—their attire was transforming in the direction of opera costumes.

And this was the ability of the Eerie Stage: once the grand opera begins, everything enveloped by the Eerie Stage would be influenced by it, becoming part of the theatrical stage.

If an ordinary person fell into this place, lacking any supernatural abilities, they would easily be influenced by the Eerie Stage, becoming either an audience member beneath the stage or an unwilling performer upon it.

The former could only sit below the stage, watching the entire grand performance, and could only leave once the show concluded.

The latter faced an even more tragic fate. Corrupted by the power of anomalies, their clothing and adornments would change, and as these transformations occurred, their consciousness would also be affected. If they failed to hold on, they would descend into becoming Anomaly Servants, forever trapped on the stage.

Even with strong willpower, their situation would not be pleasant. The grand performances staged by the Eerie Stage were all tragedies where everything ended in death.

Once transformed into theatrical roles, those ordinary people would be killed—beheaded, succumbed to illness, die of old age, or perish by crashing into pillars… and dying on the stage meant true death.

Traditional theater offered too many ways for characters to die. Moreover, the performers on the Eerie Stage were anomalies themselves; their cries and laughter could also lead to death.

It could be said that once reduced to a theatrical role, ordinary people would find themselves as if plunged into an endless hell, with death lurking at every turn.

The roles on stage were dangerous, and the audience below was no better off.

Aside from the cries and laughter of the anomalous performers, if audience members spoke loudly or made noise, they would be judged as disrupting the performance and subsequently killed by the anomalies.

Remaining still was not an option either—characters on stage would die one after another, and with each death, the Eerie Stage would pull in an audience member to continue the performance.

With such a process of elimination, few could endure.

Of course, anomaly evils ultimately followed certain rules in their killings. If someone was lucky, they might watch an entire performance unscathed, though the odds were exceedingly slim.

“What a pity. This is a world of the supernatural, not a resurgence of horror. The power of anomalies can only inflict severe harm on ordinary people.”

This lament came from Mu Lin, who discovered that although his Anomaly Paper Figure had spread the power of the Eerie Stage, it could not easily affect Yan Zhanpeng and the others.

The ordinary disciples aside, the life force within Chu Hongxuan was as vast as a lake. Mu Lin found that transforming him into a theatrical role or audience member would take at least several hours.

Hua Meng, through a special method, condensed the anomalous power infecting her into a mask she could control.

The most terrifying was Yuan Ce. The anomalous power of Mu Lin’s Paper Figure couldn’t even approach him—the terrifying Pure Yang Flame would incinerate any anomalous power that drew near.

“As expected of the Prodigies of Jade Lake Dao Academy. While the Eerie Stage is an unstoppable calamity and hell for ordinary people, for them, it’s merely a nuisance.”

However, even though he couldn’t corrupt them, Mu Lin felt no fear.

The abilities of the Eerie Stage were still formidable. The reason it had minimal effect now was that Mu Lin could only control a single Paper Figure, and this figure could only steal and carry a very limited amount of the Eerie Stage’s power, making it ineffective against Chu Hongxuan and the others.

But if these individuals entered the Eerie Stage’s area of influence and triggered its killing rules, everything would be different.

“Enter, and you’ll trigger the killing rules of the Eerie Stage, colliding with it directly. Stay outside, and you’ll only be able to watch as the Paper Figures sow confusion and interference, never finding me. So now… what will you do?”

Staring at them, Mu Lin waited for Chu Hongxuan to make a decision. At the same time, he was pondering something.

“Since Paper Figures can steal the power of Anomalies, could I, by using multiple Paper Figures or some powerful ones, steal all the power of an Anomaly and become its master and controller?”

Thinking it over carefully, Mu Lin felt this delusion was feasible.

“Even ghosts that cannot be killed can be controlled by humans. In my world, there are also forces that can suppress Anomaly Evil. Controlling them isn’t entirely a delusion.”

At this thought, Mu Lin grew excited. He had already envisioned the terrifying scene of countless Paper Figures all transforming into Anomalies.

That would truly be a paper Hell.

While Mu Lin was wildly imagining how to control Anomalies, after a heated discussion, Yan Zhanpeng and the others had also reached a decision.

(End of Chapter)