Keep Singing

Sensing that something was wrong, Li Huowang's expression tightened backstage. He immediately put away the Heavenly Book in his hand, pulled open the backstage curtain, and looked outside.

What he saw was that whether they were singing onstage or playing wind and string instruments beside it, all of them stood frozen in terror, trembling nonstop.

His gaze swept toward the front of the stage, and his pupils instantly shrank to pinpoints. The two-faced Small Feet Woman he had encountered in the woods that day was sitting on a stool below the stage, one leg crossed over the other, watching the opera alongside those black memorial tablets.

"This thing actually followed us here. Could it have latched onto us?"

"Don't stop. Keep singing." Li Huowang dragged over a wooden bench and placed it directly beneath the stage. He sat down with the bearing of a general astride his horse, glaring at Small Feet Woman.

Li Huowang's back gave the Lu family courage. They swallowed hard, exchanged glances, and the suona and opera began once more.

Small Feet Woman kept her gaze fixed on the stage, paying no heed whatsoever to Li Huowang's hostility, as though she had truly come only to hear the opera.

If the enemy doesn't move, I won't move. I refuse to believe that once daylight comes, this thing will still be able to stay.

That was what Li Huowang thought, and that was what he did. If he could avoid spending three months of his lifespan, he would.

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

Suddenly, Small Feet Woman moved. She slowly stretched out her plump right hand, grabbed the two red candles from a plate, stuffed them into her mouth, and began crunching on them.

She ate quickly. Before long, she had devoured all the Treasure Candles on the Eight Immortals Table beside her.

Then the opera abruptly stopped again. Lu Xiucai, playing the young scholar onstage, was so frightened that he began to cry.

The paper figures placed by the Hu family between the Eight Immortals Tables began moving without warning. Wearing black Watermelon Hats and painted with bright red cheeks, they reached out, carried over plates holding red Treasure Candles from the other tables, and floated them before Small Feet Woman.

"Hehehe~" Small Feet Woman suddenly let out an utterly horrifying laugh, shrill and thin as a needle, making everyone in the Lu Family Troupe shake violently.

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

"Sing~ ah~~!" Lu Zhuangyuan, dressed as an old scholar, gave a shout, and the music began again, louder and brighter than before.

Everyone sang with all the strength in their bodies, as though they wanted to roar every last trace of fear from their hearts. Veins bulged on their foreheads, and sweat poured down their faces.

This time, Small Feet Woman stopped laughing. Instead, she stared at Li Huowang with a dark expression. Not only her—all the paper figures did the same.

Li Huowang did not care in the slightest and continued glaring back at them.

Third watch passed amid this bizarre atmosphere, and fourth watch arrived. The Lu Family Troupe sang with all their might, their voices nearly hoarse, yet they did not dare stop.

It still wants to wear me down? Just how long does this thing intend to drag this out?

Just as he was hesitating over whether to spend three months of his lifespan and summon Lord You to deal with this woman once and for all, the situation changed again. Every memorial tablet beneath the stage began trembling for no apparent reason.

"Tap tap tap tap~" The memorial tablets rapped in unison against the Eight Immortals Tables, their ceaseless clatter like raindrops striking the ground.

This time, the Lu family truly could not hold on any longer. One was already too much to bear—now they had all come!

At the sight, Small Feet Woman began laughing, laughing with exceptional delight. That thin, piercing laughter stabbed pain into Li Huowang's ears.

Yet as he looked at Small Feet Woman before him, the corners of Li Huowang's mouth lifted, and he softly laughed as well. "I think I understand what's going on. Everything you've done these past few times seems to have been meant to make them fear you."

"If you don't have the same perverse tastes as a human, then I can only guess one thing: your food isn't those candles, but the fear that rises in their hearts, right?"

When Li Huowang saw Small Feet Woman abruptly rise to her feet and glare venomously at him, he knew he had guessed right.

"Master Lu Ban, don't stop. Keep singing. Didn't Lord Hu say so? His ancestors wanted to hear something cheerful. If you're afraid the wind is too strong and might make your eyes sway, then close them and keep singing."

"Hehehe, tell me—do I look like a human, or a god?" With her plan thoroughly ruined, Small Feet Woman rose with a savage grin and swayed toward Li Huowang.

"You look like a brainless bastard turned spirit!" With a clang, Li Huowang drew his sword from behind his back with one hand and charged straight at her.

Once he understood this thing's purpose, Li Huowang's misgivings vanished in an instant. This thing that played at gods and ghosts was nowhere near as formidable as he had imagined.

Just now, it had been like a hemp stalk beating a wolf—both sides were afraid.

In two or three steps, they collided. Li Huowang swung his sword and slashed.

A cold flash streaked through the air, splitting the woman in two. Halved red Treasure Candles fell from her stomach.

The upper half of the woman's body in the air swiftly shifted behind Li Huowang and reached toward his back.

Yet while those deathly pale fingers were still some distance from Li Huowang's back, they recoiled as though burned.

"Oh?" The instant Li Huowang sharply noticed this, joy surged through him. This thing feared the Heavenly Book!

Li Huowang tossed away the sword in his hand, directly pulled out the Heavenly Book, and swung it in a wide arc toward Small Feet Woman's face.

Faced with the approaching Heavenly Book, Small Feet Woman showed terror on her face, turned around, and began to flee.

In an instant, the situation between them reversed. Now it was Li Huowang holding the Heavenly Book, making the other side afraid.

Inside the Hu Family Ancestral Hall, Li Huowang chased Small Feet Woman around in circles for quite a while.

Though she had small feet, she was not slow at all when she ran. He chased her for ages without even touching her.

Li Huowang panted heavily as he watched Small Feet Woman across the table. This could not go on. He would see whether he could drive her away.

"Get the hell out! Did you hear me? Don't let me see you again!"

Small Feet Woman gave him one venomous glare, then swayed into the darkness in the corner.

When Li Huowang lifted his lantern and approached that corner, he found that there was nothing there anymore.

Lu Zhuangyuan picked up the sword Li Huowang had thrown aside and jogged over, offering it to Li Huowang with both hands.

Li Huowang grabbed the hilt and sheathed it back behind him. Then he saw Lu Zhuangyuan smiling ingratiatingly as he said, "Hehehe, tell me—do I look like a human, or a god?"

Li Huowang's heart jolted. Something was wrong! The opera had not stopped! This Lu Zhuangyuan was fake!

The moment he realized it, the Lu Zhuangyuan before him pounced. His deathly pale hands passed straight through Li Huowang's body.

In an instant, bone-piercing cold flooded his entire body. His emotions sank without end, and everything around him fell into darkness.