Wu Song

Within the government office, a shrill scream suddenly rang out, like ghosts weeping and gods howling. It cracked countless porcelain pieces, and some even exploded with a sharp crack.

Had any other living person been present, the cry would have made their eardrums bleed in an instant, leaving them deaf.

But Zhou Sheng, now in Unity of Person and Role, remained utterly fearless. Though his ears rang and roared, his eyes held only his prey.

Kill ghosts! Eat ghosts!

That was how one delivered ghosts.

He opened his blood-filled maw, his gleaming white teeth seeming to become blades for killing ghosts. Empowered by some divine force, he tore off another huge chunk of the Underworld Soldier's flesh with a sizzling sound.

With a chew, the flesh immediately turned into yin energy and entered his stomach, finally easing the thunderous rumbling in his belly.

The phosphorescent fire in the fiend soldier's eyes dimmed somewhat as well.

It swung its giant fan-like hand, trying to seize Zhou Sheng and fling him away, but the next moment, a Startling Hall Wood smacked it on the head.

Yes, who said a Startling Hall Wood could only be slapped on a table?

Zhou Sheng wielded the wood like a brick. Like Nezha holding a golden brick, he raised it toward the heavens and smashed it down upon its head, like a comet striking the sun, a falling meteor sinking among stars.

Boom!

The sound was not as loud as before, but it was close enough. Righteous energy descended like a mountain, smashing the fiend soldier until it was dizzy and disoriented.

With a crack, another fissure appeared in the Startling Hall Wood.

But Zhou Sheng had no time to feel heartache over it. Soaring Killing Intent already wreathed his eyes, his gaze as wrathful as Vajra's, his beard and hair dancing wildly.

One bite! Another bite! Yet another bite!

He chewed until the evil ghost's bones shattered and tendons snapped, its flesh mangled and bloody, yin energy pouring out like floodwaters released from a breached dam.

From time to time, he even breathed flames, burning it until its skin split and flesh burst—crisp outside, tender within.

At first, the fiend soldier still tried to struggle and flee, but as its yin energy rapidly drained away, its giant-like body shrank just as swiftly.

At last, even the fiend soldier, famed for its ferocity, felt fear.

"Celestial Master, spare my life!"

"Holy Lord, Holy Lord, don't eat me..."

At that moment, even it seemed unable to tell whether the one chewing ghosts and eating them was an opera performer singing Yin Opera, or Zhong Kui, the Celestial Master whose might shook the Nine Netherworlds.

No one knew how long passed before the begging gradually faded away, until it vanished completely.

Zhou Sheng threw a punch, but it struck nothing but air, cracking the blue-brick floor beneath his fist.

There was no trace of yin energy left around him.

The fierce and tyrannical fiend soldier had thus vanished like smoke and scattered clouds, its soul and spirit obliterated.

At that moment, the Turtle Shell Luoshu in his mind bloomed with dazzling light, more conspicuous than ever before.

The energy it had accumulated surged severalfold in an instant, coating the entire turtle shell in a radiant sheen, crystal-clear and flowing with blazing light.

Zhou Sheng should have been overjoyed, but something was very wrong with his current state.

The fiend soldier was dead, yet he stood there blankly, unable to leave the state of the character in the opera.

Unity of Person and Role was an exceedingly mysterious and profound realm in Yin Opera.

Many Ghost Opera Performers never experienced such a realm in their entire lives. It was a resonance and blending of souls, born when the emotions and experiences of a Ghost Opera Performer and their role reached perfect accord.

Like an opera addict unable to distinguish illusion from reality, it was said that those who entered this realm would hear the whispers of deities beside their ears, as though Immortals Guided the Way, greatly increasing their divine abilities.

Yet this realm carried an enormous side effect. If one sank too deeply into the role and could not leave it, one would eventually lose all sense of who one was, becoming mad and muddleheaded, suffering qi deviation.

In other words, becoming a Mad Opera Performer.

The reason Yu Zhensheng believed Zhou Sheng's talent was astonishingly high, that he was a once-in-an-age genius of the Yin Opera lineage, was because Zhou Sheng had already touched this realm several times despite his young age.

In other words, Zhou Sheng possessed extraordinary talent for playing roles.

It was a one-of-a-kind gift, but also a poison that could cause him to suffer qi deviation.

The two great rules of Yin Opera: first, do not leave the role; second, do not become unable to leave the role.

At this very moment, Zhou Sheng faced the predicament of being unable to leave the role.

This time, singing Zhong Kui was different from when he had played Marquis Huan. The pressure Shen Jinhua had given him then was far less than that of today's fiend soldier.

Under the stimulation of life and death, all his potential had been forced out. There was not the slightest room left to spare. It was also the most focused and immersed he had ever been since learning opera.

At this moment, he seemed to truly hear a murmur by his ear—majestic, deep, and vast—calling his name: Zhong Kui.

Zhongnan Jinshi, Blessing and House-Protecting Holy Lord, Demon-Expelling Emperor...

In his daze, he seemed to see a majestic figure slowly approaching atop a fierce tiger, dressed in official robes. Behind him, five Ghost Kings carried an enormous sword.

Suddenly, that figure seemed to sense something and abruptly opened his eyes.

What kind of eyes were those?

In an instant, Zhou Sheng felt as though he had fallen into an ice pit, cold seeping through his entire body, as though he were seeing two blood-red suns.

Unable to help himself, he wanted to move toward that figure. It seemed that if he merged with it, he would possess unparalleled divine power and a lifespan of immortality.

Yet a voice continued to echo from deep within his heart.

Wake up!

You are not Him!

Wake up, now!!

In reality, a flicker passed through his scarlet eyes. Then he raised the Startling Hall Wood in his hand and viciously smashed it against his own forehead!

The next moment, his entire body shook as if struck by lightning. He collapsed limply to the ground, gasping for breath as beads of sweat slid down the face paint on his face, staining the floor in a riot of colors.

He had finally left the role!

On a distant rooftop, Yu Zhensheng quietly lowered the pebble in his hand. His expression remained unchanged, but his entire body relaxed considerably.

A faint smile appeared on his face. After a long while, he uttered only one word.

"Bravo."

The Zhu residence.

After her husband left, the county magistrate's wife had felt slightly dizzy and gone to bed to rest. She suddenly jolted awake from a dream, her heart pounding, her mouth dry and parched.

Her neck even ached faintly.

Her right eyelid in particular kept twitching without pause.

"Cui Cui—"

She called that name on instinct, only then remembering that Cui Cui was already gone. So she called for another maid instead.

But no one answered outside.

"Hongyun, Biyue, Xiliu..."

She called out one personal maid after another, but none responded. Outside was silent as death; even the chirping of cicadas and birds seemed to have disappeared.

A sense of foreboding rose in the county magistrate's wife's heart.

Just then, an operatic aria suddenly sounded outside.

"Slaughtered until corpses lay strewn throughout the tower—"

"Slaughtered until even the crows outside the tower fell silent—"

She shuddered in terror and quietly peered through the window, only to witness a horrifying scene. Corpses of household guards littered the ground everywhere, blood splashing three feet high, mangled bodies strewn across the earth.

Every one of them had had their throat cut with a single stroke, the blade swift and ruthless.

Thud!

As the last man clutched his throat and fell, that figure, like the demon god Grand Duke of the Year, stood amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood, a precious saber dripping crimson in his hand.

"Matters of vengeance and grudges in the martial world, leave behind a name in the annals of history!"

"Ha ha ha!"

The man's laughter was bold and heroic, then gradually withdrew into silence. His blade-sharp gaze suddenly turned toward the county magistrate's wife peeking through the window.

The county magistrate's wife was terrified beyond measure. With a scream, she immediately ran for the door, trying to flee for her life.

Yet the instant she opened the door, an icy ghost-head saber pierced her heart.

"Ugh..."

She seemed to want to ask why, but the blood constantly gushing from her mouth left her wholly unable to speak. She could only make faint whimpering sounds.

Just then, that figure leaned close to her ear and sang the final line.

"Blood Splatters on Mandarin Duck Tower—"

"Wu Song!!"

Thud!

The county magistrate's wife's body fell to the floor. Until the moment of her death, she never understood why that man had killed her.

Yet from her eyes, a hot tear fell uncontrollably.

As though in gratitude, and as though she had finally let go of some obsession.

Zhou Sheng sheathed his saber and stood still, sighing softly.

"Do not say Marquis Huan cannot discern injustice; beneath the Pilgrim's blade, wickedness hangs exposed."

"Great Master Shen, may you have a safe journey."

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