I changed the world.

Page 331

Eye to eye!

The old nobleman seemed to be taken aback for a moment, as if he hadn't expected to be discovered so suddenly. However, a strange smile quickly returned to his face. At the same time, all the portraits around him turned to look at Zhang Jing, each with a strange smile on its face.

Zhang Jing could sense that some kind of power was rapidly brewing in the shadows...

“Something interesting…” Suddenly, a slight smile appeared on Zhang Jing’s lips, revealing his interest.

The next moment, a clear sword cry rang out. In the void behind Zhang Jing, a long sword that had been floating slowly materialized.

As the longsword materialized, the shadow behind Zhang Jing slowly stretched in the dim night, gradually becoming enormous, majestic, and sublime, merging with the entire darkness...

At the same time, the smile on the old nobleman's face froze, followed by a look of fear that grew stronger and stronger until finally, he looked as if he was about to cry, and disappeared into the frame.

Zhang Jing looked back and saw that all the photo frames around him were empty; they had all hidden away.

Is this some kind of "living" characteristic? Zhang Jing pondered to himself. Logically speaking, these oil paintings should be completely inanimate objects, but in his eyes, they were clearly influenced by some force, thus giving rise to certain characteristics that only "living things" possess.

In his perception, these were somewhat similar to the ethereal creatures he had encountered before, yet not entirely alike. However, from another perspective, these "living" beings were extremely dangerous to ordinary people. Zhang Jing could sense their malice, their undisguised desire to drag ordinary people into their world…

Zhang Jing walked towards a huge floor-to-ceiling picture frame on the left, taller than a person. He remembered clearly that a huge full-length portrait used to hang here, depicting King Henry III of Grande at his coronation, seated high on horseback, gazing ahead. But now, the frame was also empty; the man and horse inside were nowhere to be seen.

Zhang Jing stepped forward and walked straight into the frame of the painting, as if passing through a ripple of water. Here was a sun-drenched square where some richly dressed nobles were holding a coronation ceremony for a king. The king, dressed in magnificent attire, sat high on his horse. However, at this moment, everyone's eyes were focused on Zhang Jing, and the entire square was eerily quiet.

Zhang Jing looked up at the sun in the sky, and then looked around at everything. He had only one feeling at that moment: it was all fake. Everything here seemed to exist, yet it was also so fake.

With a thought, the longsword hanging behind him emitted another sword cry, only to see the void beside him suddenly ripped open like a piece of torn cloth, creating a huge rift.

Upon seeing this, King Henry III immediately knelt down, along with his horse and everyone else around him; the entire square was soon filled with people kneeling.

These people knelt on the ground in fear, clearly afraid that Zhang Jing might lose control and tear everything apart.

Zhang Jing ignored these people, or rather, he didn't consider them "people" at all.

"Pro!"

Zhang Jing uttered a single word. Immediately, everyone in the square stopped moving, and then everything around them began to fade in color, returning to the most primitive black and white.

Looking into the distance, Zhang Jing discovered that the world had become bizarre and grotesque. Many concepts that ordinary people would remember had disappeared. Concepts such as direction were clearly chaotic here. Some buildings were growing upside down in the sky, and the roads were crooked and twisted. Everything was as disordered and upside down as a world in a nightmare.

Zhang Jing observed everything around him thoughtfully. In his view, this kind of existence with the characteristic of "living" was not a great threat in essence, at least not to him.

However, the very way this existence exists is worth studying. He even sensed a certain "rule" behind it, which made him somewhat wary.

Chapter 656 Colosseum

The flames in his eyes burned fiercely. In Zhang Jing's vision, this bizarre world actually had many "doors" that led to different exits.

This is the world within the "painting," a false world. However, even if it is a false world, it is still a world, which makes it quite complex.

Without venturing further into this world, Zhang Jing withdrew again. Looking back, the picture frame before him still held the same painting from before, devoid of any sign of "life."

Zhang Jing realized that his actions had erased the painting's "living" state.

Ignoring the terrified gazes in the surrounding picture frames, Zhang Jing continued walking forward. This time, he encountered no further obstacles.

Soon, he walked out of the painting gallery and arrived at the junction of the first and second floors. Zhang Jing passed through an exquisitely carved marble doorway. According to the museum's signage, there should be a staircase leading to the second floor.

However, what he saw before him was a wall just like anywhere else, with no stairs leading upwards.

Was there some force distorting this place? After scanning his surroundings with the firelight in his eyes, Zhang Jing quickly realized the truth.

But then he formed a hand seal with one hand: "Array!"

As soon as he finished speaking, ripples appeared on the wall in front of him. Then, the entire wall twisted and turned, and the color blocks and lines that made up the wall seemed to be made of paint, rotating with each other. Finally, the whole thing shattered, and what reappeared in front of Zhang Jing was a staircase leading upwards.

After a brief observation, Zhang Jing stepped onto it...

..........................................

Antoine held a dagger no longer than a palm in his hand, and wore only a pitifully short pair of shorts and straw sandals. He stood almost naked on one side of the arena, staring intently at the pack of wolves that were approaching him.

Beside him were five companions dressed similarly to him, all dressed as gladiators from the classical period, and in front of them stood eight enormous gray wolves.

Not long ago, they were fully armed royal guards, responsible for protecting the National Museum of Baladil. But now, in a bizarre turn of events, as if from an absurd script, they are all naked, dressed like gladiators from classical times, fighting against wild beasts.

In comparison, Antoine, as the captain, was relatively lucky. His team members, except for one who carried a dagger similar to his own, only had wooden sticks. One particularly unfortunate fellow was completely empty-handed. Antoine knew that this man had previously shot at the self-proclaimed "Great Akbar," and this was likely his punishment.

However, Antoine still doesn't understand who this "Great Akbar" really is. Is he a hidden deity, or some unknown demon?

However, Antoine didn't have much time to think about those issues at the moment. He only knew that if he died here, he would most likely really die! His companion, whose arm had been bitten and who was already teetering on the brink of collapse, was proving this point.

"Fernand, hang in there! We'll definitely take down these beasts!" Antoine shouted to his companions as he glanced at the two wolves lying on the ground in the arena.

The team member named Fernand was clearly badly injured. His arm was torn open and bleeding profusely. However, they had no first aid available at the moment, so they could only let him take off his remaining underwear to bandage his arm. Therefore, he was the only one among them who was naked from the waist down.

"I...I'm alright..." The man swayed unsteadily, clearly just gritting his teeth and persevering.

The arena was circular, surrounded by platforms over three meters high, filled with people. However, to Antoine, their faces were all blurry and indistinct. He could only see their extremely excited expressions, shouting and creating wave after wave of noise.

Antoine also noticed that sitting in the main seat opposite them was the obese puppet, who was now watching the gladiatorial combat with the same excited expression. The surrounding audience thronged around it, as if it were the "king" of the place.

It seems... just as it says, everything is merely about pleasing it.

Before Antoine could think any further, the largest gray wolf in front of them roared, and several wolves split into two groups, flanking them from the left and right.

"Back to back, everyone back to back, form a circle, don't give these beasts a chance to flank us!" Antoine shouted. Although they were not familiar with how to fight against wild beasts with cold weapons, fortunately they had been in the same team before and had some familiarity with each other. They quickly formed a circular formation.

The injured team member was protected in the center of their formation, while the gray wolves circled around them, occasionally trying to charge forward and intimidate them, attempting to create a gap in their formation.

The guards held their weapons in front of them, one hand in front and the other behind, their bodies slightly crouched. Whenever the gray wolves charged close, they would wave wooden sticks or daggers to force them back.

The gray wolves clearly knew these people were not easy to deal with, after all, two of them had already fallen. So, under the command of the alpha wolf, they were extremely patient. Obviously, they were waiting for the wounded among these people to collapse from exhaustion.

For a time, the battle between the humans and the werewolves turned into a situation of mutual attrition.

..........................................

Arriving at a doorway, Zhang Jing didn't immediately enter the empty space, even though the sign indicated that this was the way to go. He turned around and walked straight towards the wall on the right side of the doorway, stopping at the wall without stopping and crashing into it...

Then, he passed through the wall like a shadow, and behind the wall was a new exhibition hall.

The second floor is filled with numerous traps, twisted and chaotic; if one cannot see through them, one is likely to get lost in this area.

Fortunately, with the help of the Heavenly Punishment Sword, Zhang Jing was able to gain a kind of "true vision" to some extent. In addition, his original True Fire Refining Eyes enabled him to overcome these obstacles smoothly.

Looking at the exhibits around him, Zhang Jing noticed that this place should be part of an indigenous cultural center. He had never been here before, but he could understand the Grundig language.

Chapter 657 The Faithful and Humble Akbar

This was thanks to his greatly enhanced memory after his cultivation, especially as his affinity with the Heavenly Punishment Sword increased, leading to a significant improvement in his mental state. Learning languages ​​had become relatively easy for him. Furthermore, Grande, as the dominant language of the Western Continent, had historically been more influential than Rune, and Zhang Jing naturally wouldn't overlook it for the sake of convenience.

Finally, Zhang Jing stopped in an exhibition hall displaying artifacts unearthed from the Black Continent. He looked around and saw a large number of stone statues and handicrafts with abstract carvings on display.

According to the exhibition panels, the items on display are artifacts from what current historians call the Karagada period, excavated from a site in the northern part of the Black Continent.

Without paying much attention to the other items, Zhang Jing walked straight to the east side of the exhibition hall. One of the display cases was open, with some items scattered around it, but there was no one else there. Zhang Jing glanced at it, bent down, and picked up an object carved with an exquisite snake head, a red gemstone held in the snake's mouth.

In Zhang Jing's vision, the snake head emitted a green light, clearly indicating that it was an object possessing power. Zhang Jing closed his eyes slightly, sensed it for a moment, and then suddenly opened them. His gaze seemed to pierce through the barrier of space, looking towards the right. Immediately afterward, he disappeared completely, and when he reappeared, he was already in front of a huge oil painting in the northwest corner of the second floor.

This is a Renaissance oil painting depicting gladiators battling wild beasts in a classical arena. In the vast amphitheater, naked gladiators, armed with rudimentary weapons, are locked in a fierce struggle against several gray wolves. The painting is masterfully executed, capturing the scene with remarkable realism. It's even evident that two gladiators are wounded, one severely injured and being supported by his companion. The lead gladiator, his face contorted with rage, shouts and blocks the path of the wounded gladiator, fighting the wolves. Behind them, two gray wolves circle around, preparing to attack.

However, Zhang Jing's gaze did not linger on the gladiators for long. Instead, it was fixed on a huge, strange-looking figure sitting on a high platform next to the arena. This figure was obese and looked out of place with the surrounding audience, as if it had been forcibly inserted into the scene.

Got you……

Zhang Jing reached out his hand directly to the strange man...

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In the arena, Antoine stopped a gray wolf's attack, slashing a deep gash in its side with his dagger, while shouting to his team to watch out for any gaps in their defenses and prevent the wolves from taking advantage of the situation.

Just then, a cry of alarm came from behind him. He swung his dagger to dodge the gray wolf in front of him and glanced out of the corner of his eye. He saw that his teammate Rogers, who was behind him, was being attacked by two gray wolves and was in a dangerous situation.

Anxiety immediately gripped his heart. The two gray wolves were clearly attacking from behind, and they had their eyes on the short Rogers. However, because there were more gray wolves than gladiators, no one was able to spare any time to rescue Rogers.

Just as Antoine was trying to switch places with his companion to go to the rescue, the alpha wolf, which had been observing from the side, obviously noticed his actions and charged forward with a roar. As a result, Antoine was now surrounded by two wolves and had no strength left to rescue his companion.

Soon, another cry of alarm came from Rogers' direction. Rogers, unable to defend himself, had been pounced on by a gray wolf and was now using his hands to protect his vital organs, trying to stop the wolf from biting him...

Just as Antoine felt a chill in his heart, suddenly, the wolves seemed to see something that frightened them, stopped attacking, and retreated with howls.

The guards, who were on the verge of collapse from the attack, hurriedly reorganized their formation. Someone pulled Rogers up from the ground. Rogers' left forearm had been bitten and torn open with a bloody wound.

After barely managing to return to safety, the guards belatedly looked at the gray wolves that were still retreating and found them all looking up and whimpering, appearing extremely frightened.

Following that gaze, the guards were immediately stunned. Above their heads, in the sky, a gigantic hand, as if covering the entire heavens, reached down towards the arena below.

His target was the obese puppet sitting on the high stands to the side!

……………………………………………………………

"Who is it?! Who dares to disturb the great Akbar?!"

With a sharp scream, a large amount of smoke suddenly appeared in front of Zhang Jing. The smoke quickly gathered and then a huge, fat doll appeared.

The doll floated in mid-air, dressed in exaggeratedly colored clothes, with its face painted snow-white, dark eyeshadow, and wearing a strangely styled split-corner hat. It had short arms and legs, and its face was etched with extreme anger.

Their eyes met, and the golden flames burning in Zhang Jing's eyes met the furious face of the puppet. Behind Zhang Jing, the Heavenly Punishment Sword appeared, and a silent vortex seemed to rise in the entire space, as if a powerful force was about to erupt...

At this critical moment, the angry face of the puppet floating in mid-air suddenly froze, followed by a mournful wail that nearly provoked Zhang Jing to strike with his sword...

"Ah!!!! Your Highness, please forgive Akbar's humble offense. Your faithful servant pays you the utmost respect."

But then the doll's expression changed instantly. Its angry face began to spin, first becoming indifferent, then blank... After spinning dramatically, its entire face transformed into an extremely humble one.