The painter's brow became increasingly furrowed as he looked, "Come over here, all of you, explain your talents and strengths."

After a while, the painter felt his mind was a tangled mess, taking several seconds to accept this unbelievable and laughable reality.

So... I hid in the shadows, laying traps at great expense, only to have painted this group of trash?

One must understand, not all energy of powerhouses comes from nowhere.

He needed a vast quantity of Heavenly and Earthly Treasures to craft ink, paper, brushes, to paint a lifelike Self-Transformation Realm, which would cost a great expenditure.

But now, what has he painted?

A group of waste with just the empty force of Self-Transformation Realm.

Energy consumption is of the highest Self-Transformation Realm level, but their minds have the lowest combat power at Five-Body Realm level...

Spent the most money to paint the most useless people.

He even doubts if they can exert 1% of their physical combat power.

The only consolation was that at least their intellect was decent, their original character, wisdom, logic... their foundation wasn't bad.

He could only comfort himself this way.

"I really suffered a huge loss."

Silence lingered in his heart.

Perhaps this was a conspiracy targeted at him from the start!

Knowing he was a painter, secretly painting, they specifically found a batch of fake powerhouses, trash to set the stage, displaying how strong and stunning they were.

Engaged in an extraordinary battle with Xin Xichen, engaged in an extraordinary battle in the Divine Statue Era... Time and again deepening their tags of being strong, intelligent, extraordinarily talented.

Even he, normally suspicious, fell for it directly.

Quite the calculation.

Truly quite the calculation.

His expression grew colder, murderous intent surging from his heart.

More than just the massive resource consumption, being played for a fool was what truly angered him.

"Knowing my identity, my Divine Techniques, setting all these traps... Could it really be you?" He took a deep breath, watching the small useless ones frantically moving bricks, cleaning the Divine Statue tomb from afar.

At the very least...

They were diligent and hardworking, loyal and honest.

At this point, raising them might be a nice support, helping to replace and manage this so-called "Ancestor Demon God" force.

Using them... Should be fine, right?

...

...

East Sea, Ten Thousand Feet Sea Abyss.

In the endless deep sea, countless Embers big fish eat small fish, the Extinction Stage of biological species has been completely initiated, like dense sardines impacting everywhere.

And these dense sardines were rushing towards a massive black rock, which was actually the Protective Shield of Sword Casting Manor in disguise.

Crack!

Ning Zheng suddenly came to his senses, consciousness returned to the room below the mountain waist, he stepped out of the room, looking at the fake Protective Shield above the manor, with countless Embers fish swarming everywhere, devouring and evolving.

"That guy?"

His expression was serious, mind filled with the terrifying silhouette, vast and majestic, carrying an unbelievable foundational pressure, holding a paintbrush, appearing as an eternal Divine Being suspended from ancient times.

Only after quite a while did he recover.

"If the Human God is the giant monkey Puppet Master perched in the sky, looking down on all living beings, nimble fingers weaving strings to craft the myths of Rongtian Era."

"Then that painter is the giant monkey painting master perched in the sky, looking down on all living beings, the nimble brush painting the figures of historical dignitaries, mythical heroes."

The styles of these two individuals are so similar, there must be a significant connection.

Ning Zheng recalled the first pseudo-human in the world—Human God, seemed to have a mysterious ancient master, could it be this painter? Touching the Human God, passing techniques to the monkey, placing a halo?

One must understand.

A powerhouse always unconsciously imitates the idol they adore, mimicking their every move.

Human God resembles the painter so much...

It's very probable that during the earliest era, he had met this perched painting master.

Thus, from a young age he grew, instinctively drawing close to that entity, thus transforming into the Puppet Master, working with needle and thread in the sky.

"All these fragments of evidence... do indeed confirm."

He didn't believe the similarity was a coincidence, pondering for a while, decisively instructing the tributors on the side of Xirong City to provide some news from Adventure Town area.

Adventure Town... Nothing happens at this time!

In that valley, sat an Ancient Bronze Statue Emperor, with pieces of Chronicles of Time on his body.

Moreover, occasionally Puffy Eyes and a few others were seen walking out of the valley, hanging up a sign: [Countdown to next Imperial Mausoleum opening, 14 days left]

This was the daily broadcast managed by the blacksmiths.

This shook Ning Zheng's heart further, all the worst conjectures came to fruition.

"Took the real us away, created a fake us? Open it brazenly?"

Ning Zheng felt horrified.

The switch at that moment was too fast, unbelievably no one noticed that the Demon God force there had been swapped.

This guy indeed had the ability to create Embers.

Even hiding in the shadows, observing the tides of time coldly, holding a paintbrush, capturing all living beings, leaving portraits where we rage through eras, among them our replicas.

"He lived through countless ages, fearing every era hero in the Chronicles of Time has secretly been painted as a backup."

"Thus, at this crucial moment, easily bringing out the Longevity Dynasty, Divine Statue Era... identically duplicated Great Emperor, Masked Emperor, Gale Emperor replacements, taking the place of originals within."

Let's phrase it differently.

Jiu Shui and Xin Xichen are likely archived in his art collection.

"Absurd."

The more Ning Zheng thought about it, the more terrifying it seemed.

Reflecting back, during the Bone King's coronation battle, this painter was openly painting, capturing the Bone King and all the powerhouses...

He even kindly gifted a painting to the Sword Fairy back then!

It seems that at every key moment, he was secretly painting.

It just wasn't noticed at the time, but now the realization has dawned.

After all, who would have thought that a roadside painter was actually the greatest behind-the-scenes manipulator in history?

"Now, he's openly presenting an imperial mausoleum, taking our place, he's truly wealthy!"

Ning Zheng couldn't help but sigh.

But thinking positively: if he created a fake, doesn't that mean I can explore the Imperial Mausoleum Dungeon twice?

He realized his thoughts were a bit off, so he calmed down to sort through them:

"To him, he has exiled the genuine Ancestral Demon Gods, catching them all... With no aftermath, he releases substitutes, and no one knows he's the fake."

"In reality, what he exiled was just my disguise, my true self has always been hiding in the shadows. His seemingly flawless swap plan was instantly uncovered by my side."

"Although the disguise of the Bronze Statue Emperor is precious, it doesn't threaten my true self... I've successfully survived this close call while hiding in the shadows!"

As Ning Zheng thought more, things seemed stranger.

A true and fake Leiyin Temple emerged just like that.

"Forget it, surviving the tribulation is already fortunate." Without hesitation, he headed straight to the manor and walked into the square.

There, he saw a group of blacksmiths scratching their heads on the square, extremely anxious.

Jiucai Rong and others were shouting:

"Ah, am I dead? I can't connect anymore."

"It's over, it's over, I've lost my character."

"I'm crying, I'm crying, I'm crying loudly."

"I wet myself, I actually got so scared I wet myself, my body is so disappointing."

They were already starting to act crazy, talking nonsense.

"Are we dead?"

"I don't know."

"It's all your fault for getting cocky, that's a Divine Artifact! Peeing everywhere, we had confiscated your tools of the crime long ago and you still committed mischief!"

"What do we do? What do we do?"

They realized that every time they made progress, just as they were about to get arrogant, they suffered a severe blow.

Once again, the Manor Master was lost!

Manor Master, how unfortunate you are.

Soon, Jiucai Rong saw Ning Zheng approaching and hurriedly asked:

"Old Officer, do you know what's happening over there? Our Manor Master, Bronze Statue Ancestral Emperor, and Ancestral Demon God Embers... where have they gone?"

Could they be dead?

No, please! How has our Manor Master once again been fatally played out by us?

Jiucai Rong looked distressed, why is the Manor Master so easily defeated?

The always lucky Ning Zheng looked at this troublemaker helplessly, "It's just the Manor Master's avatar, the Manor Master isn't over there, and probably due to some unique power of space, they've been banished to an unknown place."

They didn't actually die.

That's a massive imperial mausoleum, only half of the tomb has been explored, with many ancient relics, and Ning Zheng, these Ancestral Demon God giants, thirty-seven Self-Transformation Realm giants... Such formidable forces that it could instantly banish, terrifyingly powerful.

How could they be instantly killed?

Perhaps, that mysterious manipulator could indeed take on all of them alone.

But definitely couldn't kill them in one second.

So he dared not make a move.

Because being unable to instantly kill means that once a fight starts, Xin Xichen and others outside would know, and he'd expose his identity.

So banishing the entire

was the best choice, instantly banished, then pulling out a counterfeit... was his optimal solution at the time.

But now the issue is... 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

The connection was severed.

Ning Zheng found he couldn't contact the blacksmiths banished to that imperial mausoleum, most likely due to the distance or some interference...

This situation Ning Zheng was very familiar with, it would require Qi Fortune Value to expand the server's range.

But right now he felt uncomfortable without Qi Fortune Value.

Jiucai Rong, after hearing Ning Zheng's few simple words, calmed his tense mood slightly, and suddenly laughed: "So, it turns out to be a spanking new mode to open a new map?"

Ning Zheng was stunned, what does that mean?

How did Jiucai Rong, who was crying so hard, suddenly laugh?

"The disconnection also means... our versions over there are already knocked out, a 50% drop of Embers, the new Embers Jiucai Rong, the new Embers Night Mad Cultivator, fused with the Bronze Statue Ancestral Demon God, are now exploring the new map on autoplay."

Jiucai Rong said.

They might not have strong combat power, but there are thirty-seven big shots submitting there, just enough to assist the Embers Jiucai Rong in exploring!

He still had great confidence in his own autoplay Jiucai Rong's ability.

Previously on the manor, it was a closed map, sending the Embers Adventurer Team out repeatedly on autoplay adventure, now it's probably this mode as well.