Chapter 33: Continue Singing

Chapter 33: Keep Singing

Sensing something amiss, Li Huowang's expression hardened backstage; he swiftly tucked away the celestial tome in his hands and pulled back the curtain to peer outside.

To his dismay, he found that both the actors on the stage and the musicians playing beside it were frozen in place, their faces twisted in terror as they trembled uncontrollably.

His gaze swept toward the front of the stage, his pupils contracting to pinpricks in an instant, for there, sitting on a stool below the stage with her legs crossed, was the two-faced woman with bound feet he had encountered in the woods that day, watching the play alongside those black memorial tablets.

"This thing actually followed us all the way here; could it be that she's latched onto us for good?"

"Don't stop, keep singing," Li Huowang dragged over a wooden stool, placed it directly beneath the stage, and sat down with imposing authority, his eyes locked on the woman with bound feet.

Li Huowang's steadfast back gave the Lü family troupe the courage they needed; they swallowed hard, exchanged a meaningful glance, and the wail of the suona and the singing resumed once more.

The bound-footed woman's gaze remained fixed on the stage, paying not the slightest heed to Li Huowang's hostility, as if her sole purpose in coming this time was truly to listen to the opera.

"If the enemy doesn't move, I won't move either; I simply refuse to believe that once daylight breaks, this creature will still be able to linger."

This was what Li Huowang thought, and this was what he did, conserving his three months of lifespan and refusing to expend it unless absolutely necessary.

A faint mist began to rise from the floor of the ancestral hall, and the atmosphere gradually grew heavy and oppressive.

Suddenly, the bound-footed woman began to move; she slowly extended her plump right hand, grabbed two red candles from a plate, and shoved them into her mouth, chewing with a loud cracking sound.

She ate ravenously, and before long, she had devoured all the sacred candles on the Eight Immortals table beside her.

Immediately after, the singing abruptly halted once again, and Lü Xiucai, playing the young scholar on stage, was so terrified that he burst into tears.

Without any warning, the paper effigies placed by the Hu family between the Eight Immortals tables began to move; wearing black melon-seed caps and sporting bright red rouge on their cheeks, they reached out to lift plates of red sacred candles from other tables and floated them over to the bound-footed woman.

"Hee hee hee," the bound-footed woman suddenly let out an exceedingly eerie, high-pitched, and piercing laugh, causing everyone in the Lü troupe to shake violently.

"Don't stop! Keep singing!" Li Huowang's roar exploded through the silent ancestral hall, dispelling the terror in everyone's hearts.

"Sing... ah!" With a booming call from Lü Zhuangyuan, dressed as an old man, the music swelled again, ringing out louder and brighter than before.

Everyone sang with all their might, as if trying to roar the fear right out of their souls, their veins bulging and sweat pouring down their faces.

At this, the bound-footed woman stopped laughing; instead, her face darkened as she glared fixedly at Li Huowang, and not just her, but all the paper effigies mimicked this very same menacing stare.

Li Huowang paid it no mind, continuing to glare right back.

The third watch passed in this bizarre atmosphere, giving way to the fourth watch; the Lü troupe, singing their hearts out on stage, were now nearly hoarse, yet they dared not stop for a single moment.

"Is it going to keep dragging this out with me? Just how long does this thing intend to stall?" Li Huowang muttered to himself.

Just as he hesitated over whether to simply spend three months of his lifespan to summon Lord You and thoroughly eliminate this woman once and for all, the situation shifted again, and all the memorial tablets below the stage inexplicably began to tremble.

"Clack clack clack," the tablets struck the surfaces of the Eight Immortals tables in unison, a relentless sound like raindrops pelting the earth.

This time, the Lü family completely lost their nerve; one was already too much to bear, and now they were all coming at once!

Seeing this, the bound-footed woman began to laugh, and she laughed with abnormal delight, her piercing cackle stinging Li Huowang's ears.

Yet, looking at the bound-footed woman before him, Li Huowang's lips curled into a faint smile as well. "I think I've figured out what's going on; every move you've made seems designed to make them fear you."

"If we assume you don't share a human's twisted sense of amusement, then I can only deduce one thing: your food isn't those candles, but the terror welling up in their hearts, isn't it?"

When Li Huowang saw the bound-footed woman abruptly stand up and glare at him with utter malice, he knew his guess was spot on.

"Master Lü, don't stop, keep singing! Didn't Master Hu say his ancestors want to hear something joyous? If you're afraid the wind might blow into your eyes, just close them and keep on singing."

"Hee hee hee, tell me, do I look more like a human or a god?" Realizing her plan had utterly failed, the bound-footed woman rose with a hideous grin, swaying her body as she advanced toward Li Huowang.

"I think you look like a demon spawned from a pair of withered stones!" With a sharp clang, Li Huowang drew his sword from behind his back with one hand and charged back at the woman.

Having figured out the creature's true motive, Li Huowang instantly cast aside his misgivings; this ghostly charlatan was far less formidable than he had imagined.

It had merely been a case of beating a wolf with a hemp stalk—both sides were equally afraid.

In just two or three strides, the two clashed; Li Huowang swung his sword, a flash of cold light slicing through the air, and the woman was cleaved in two, severed halves of red sacred candles spilling from her belly.

The upper half of the woman's body swiftly drifted through the air behind Li Huowang, reaching out to touch his back.

Yet, when those ghastly pale fingers were still some distance from his back, they recoiled as if scorched by fire.

"Oh?" As Li Huowang keenly perceived this, a surge of joy rose in his heart—this thing was repelled by the celestial tome!

Tossing aside his longsword, Li Huowang pulled out the celestial tome and swung it in a wide arc straight at the bound-footed woman's face; faced with the approaching tome, she looked terrified and turned to flee.

In an instant, the tide of the battle had completely turned, with Li Huowang wielding the celestial tome and striking fear into his foe.

Inside the Hu family ancestral hall, Li Huowang and the bound-footed woman chased each other around for quite some time.

Despite her bound feet, she was not slow in the slightest, and after chasing her for what felt like an eternity, he hadn't managed to lay a single finger on her.

Panting heavily, Li Huowang stared at the bound-footed woman across a table; this couldn't go on, he had to see if he could drive her away.

"Get out of here! Do you hear me? Don't ever let me see you again!"

The bound-footed woman shot him a venomous glare, then swayed her body and shrank away into the dark corner of the wall.

When Li Huowang raised his lantern and approached that corner, he found there was nothing left at all.

Lü Zhuangyuan picked up the sword Li Huowang had discarded, trotted over, and presented it to him with both hands.

Li Huowang grasped the hilt and sheathed it behind his back, only to see Lü Zhuangyuan beaming with a fawning smile, saying, "Hee hee hee, tell me, do I look more like a human or a god?"

Li Huowang's heart jolted; something was wrong! The singing hadn't stopped! This Lü Zhuangyuan was a fake!

The very instant he realized this, the Lü Zhuangyuan before him lunged forward, and those ghastly pale hands passed straight through Li Huowang's body.

In a flash, a bone-chilling cold engulfed him, his spirits plummeted endlessly, and everything around him sank into the abyss of darkness.

(End of Chapter)