Chapter 534: Chapter 272: A Millennium of Operatic Melodies, Difficult to Express True Feelings
"Little Wenjun, your destiny is thin, without the blessing to ride a fragrant carriage... I return your fragrant silk sleeves, for such romance will not be spoken of in this life. This one meeting, thus becomes an eternal farewell! You must go, in the end, you must go, and I, how shall I bid farewell?"
Xu Qing felt his head pounding.
I mean, at this stage, let’s not make it any more theatrical for ourselves, there’s not a living soul in the entire theater, who’s there to listen?
Beside him, the Opera Troupe Leader heard Boss Liu, dressed as a general, start singing the female role, and he couldn’t sit still.
What’s the difference between this and putting osmanthus cake on fried intestines, or dipping candied hawthorn in spicy sauce? Isn’t that ruining good things!
"What a stubborn little one, today I must clean the house!"
On stage, Liu Su’e suddenly recited and sang, "I am a delicate woman, not a man!"
This day, this moment, in another year, in another month.
Below the stage, the senior brother playing the false Overlord suddenly shuddered, his entire body straightened, no longer showing any sign of deference or submission!
"Yu Ji, fear not!"
The Overlord invigorated himself, taking two steps in one leap up onto the stage, startling Xu Qing, who was about to take action, and stopped.
"Who dares to come forward! Who dares to harm her!"
The false Overlord shielded Boss Liu, surrounded by various opera ghosts of different roles, who were once his peers!
In the past, the senior brother of Lixiang Court was beaten to death by the Opera Troupe Leader to protect little Sier.
Today, the past comes alive again!
"Though I die today, yet still am I the Overlord of Western Chu!"
The senior brother’s words were thunderous, and his former peers were startled, not daring to approach.
At this moment, the Opera Troupe Leader below the stage suddenly shouted angrily, "Even the true Overlord couldn’t protect Yu Ji, can you, a false one, defy the heavens?"
"What are you all standing around for, hurry and take down this false Overlord for me!"
Upon hearing this, the ghosts gained courage, each like a hungry wolf spotting a lamb, pouncing on the senior brother.
The senior brother had some courage initially, but at his master’s words, it utterly dissipated!
Seeing the stage filled with ghostly shadows, with numerous little ghosts about to swallow his senior brother whole, suddenly a loud slap echoed across the stage.
The fighting ghosts turned their heads to see their Troupe Leader falling to the ground, flailing and crawling backward.
Xu Qing waved his hand, bent over and hauled the Opera Troupe Leader back to his seat.
Then Xu Qing placed one foot on the arm of the chair, gripping the old Troupe Leader’s collar, scanning the stage, and scolded:
"A bunch of bullies! You lack the skills to maintain your own theater, and instead make it hard for others."
Xu Qing turned his head, looked at the Troupe Leader, and backhanded a slap.
"You’re so capable, why don’t you cross-dress yourself and perform all the roles in this theater!"
Slap! Another slap followed.
"So capable, yet I don’t see you playing the delicate woman? Calling others false Overlord, I think you look like a turtle!"
"Old turtle!"
After a few slaps, the Troupe Leader whimpered, his ghostly form fading.
Turning back to the stage, the little ghosts paused for a moment before scattering like birds and animals.
After dealing with the theater’s Troupe Leader, Xu Qing turned and approached the stage.
"Alright, stop crying. Though you’re not the true Overlord, you have some courage, fit to play the Overlord."
Curling up on stage, the isolated senior brother finally regained his vitality, he looked back at Liu Su’e.
"You’re not little Sier, nor am I the Overlord..."
Leaving the influence of the Ghost Realm, the senior brother seemed a bit desolate but more relieved.
He turned to face Xu Qing, bowed three times, then walked off the stage like a true Overlord, his figure gradually fading away.
"Why aren’t you afraid of them?"
Liu Su’e asked.
"Why should I be afraid?"
Xu Qing laughed and said, "The dead become ghosts, ghosts are by humans transformed, what is there to fear?"
"But..."
"I know what you want to say, you’re a woman, with heavy yin energy, being controlled by ghosts is quite reasonable, but I’m different." Xu Qing feigned seriousness, saying, "I’m a man, full of yang energy. For someone like me, upon seeing ghosts, there’s nothing to fear, just battle them. Winning is great, losing, I’m just like them."
It kind of makes sense... Liu Su’e almost believed it for a moment.
"No wonder they targeted me, turns out it’s because my yin energy is heavy."
Ignoring what Boss Liu thought, Xu Qing chanted the Sutra of Salvation to redeem the theater’s spirits while heading towards the theater’s backstage.
There stood several red lacquered, patchy theater boxes, sealed with official seals.
Xu Qing opened each wooden box one by one, inside were sobs and sighs, ghostly mist surging, as if characters of various roles were practicing opera inside.
As the ghostly mist dissipated, what came into view were blood-stained costumes, old masks, and some stage props.
"There was once a poisoning case connected to this theater in Jinmen Prefecture, the one who poisoned was called little Sier, and she was a... hmm, delicate woman."
Xu Qing recalled that Qing Luo who practiced the Yin Yang Reversal Technique was no longer considered a man, then he changed his words mid-sentence.
"That Overlord..."
Liu Su’e suddenly recalled the opera ghost that leapt onto the stage to protect her, the one who risked everything to protect little Sier, could it be that he was also victimized by little Sier...
"I’ve heard about this, that Overlord was the senior brother in the theater, and he died earlier, not from poisoning."
During the conversation, Xu Qing took the opportunity, while Liu Su’e wasn’t paying attention, to store the theater box into the Mountain and River Map.
"Eh? Wasn’t there a theater box here just now?"
Xu Qing glanced casually and said, "According to the citizen recruitment notice outside, this is the Ghost Realm, what you call the ghost theater, the stuff inside is real and fake, you must have seen an illusion."
"..."
Liu Su’e warily looked around, unconsciously moving closer to Xu Qing.
"Brother Xu, let’s leave this place quickly, it’s terribly spooky here..."
It seemed Xu Qing didn’t notice Liu Su’e’s change in address, he led her out of the theater and said, "Boss Liu, wait a moment, I’ve left something in the theater, I’ll be back soon."
"It’s so dangerous in there, maybe we should come back during the day..."
"It’s alright, Boss Liu, don’t worry."
"Take care then."
Xu Qing circled back, and before reaching the theater tower, he eagerly took out the Corpse-Seeking Compass from his hand.
The senior brother of the theater, that false Overlord was beaten to death by the Troupe Leader, this was not something the authorities could investigate, nor something to be spoken of by outsiders, so in Qing Luo’s spinning lamp, the false Overlord was said to have died from a practice injury relapsing, accidentally falling from the stage to his death.
After the false Overlord’s death, the Troupe Leader had his body buried in the bamboo grove behind the theater.
Decades have passed, the appearance of the theater has changed greatly, and it’s unclear whether the bamboo grove behind the theater still exists.
But this posed no problem for Xu Qing.
He took out the theater robe left by the Overlord on stage, used a spell to chant the corpse-seeking incantation, and soon found the chaotic bamboo grove’s location.
He dug a pit to retrieve the body, the Sutra of Salvation pages turning for redemption.
Xu Qing once more revisited the grievances and grudges of the theater’s senior brother and the theater itself, finally earning a top-tier human-grade reward: the Opera Ghost Map.
Unfolding the Opera Ghost Map, the scenes depicted within were incredibly similar to the Lixiang Court from decades ago, with the theater stages in the map’s corridors each occupied by different roles, their appearances astoundingly lifelike, leaving one in awe.
But the most remarkable was the central stage where the Overlord and Yu Ji appeared together.
Xu Qing channeled the yin energy, and the Overlord and Yu Ji immediately came to life. The unparalleled vocal prowess of the Overlord resonated like metal and stone, its imposing presence as if it could swallow rivers and mountains; while Yu Ji’s melodious voice turned and flowed, resembling the cry of a Night Crying Crow.
The two vocal styles, accompanied by the sounds of drums and huqin, echoed deep into the bamboo forest...
......
Xu Qing once more revisited the grievances and grudges of the theater’s senior brother and the theater itself, finally earning a top-tier human-grade reward: the Opera Ghost Map.
Unfolding the Opera Ghost Map, the scenes depicted within were incredibly similar to the Lixiang Court from decades ago, with the theater stages in the map’s corridors each occupied by different roles, their appearances astoundingly lifelike, leaving one in awe.
But the most remarkable was the central stage where the Overlord and Yu Ji appeared together.
Xu Qing channeled the yin energy, and the Overlord and Yu Ji immediately came to life. The unparalleled vocal prowess of the Overlord resonated like metal and stone, its imposing presence as if it could swallow rivers and mountains; while Yu Ji’s melodious voice turned and flowed, resembling the cry of a Night Crying Crow.
The two vocal styles, accompanied by the sounds of drums and huqin, echoed deep into the bamboo forest...