Another round of "four-strike cang-cai" gong and drum beats rang out.
Only then did Cui Jiuyang finally understand why the old male-role actor had been so flustered earlier.
Those "four-strike" gong and drum beats were usually used in opera to announce the entrance of an important character!
Cui Jiuyang was wondering who this "outer sect elder" about to make his entrance might be when, to his horror, his viewpoint in the dim backstage area began moving toward the entrance curtain of its own accord!
He had given no instructions whatsoever!
It was as though his body no longer belonged to him!
Then, in his divided vision, one half showed him taking measured, square steps slowly through the entrance and onto the stage; the other showed him lifting the entrance curtain with his own hand and climbing the steps to the stage!
His viewpoint below the stage clearly saw his onstage self with a long beard flowing beneath his chin, dressed in blue immortal robes, his expression imposing as he calmly cupped his hands in greeting to the sect master onstage.
Yet his viewpoint onstage could clearly see him standing among the crowd below, looking up at the stage like everyone else, astonishment in his eyes.
These intersecting viewpoints, moving toward each other and looking back at himself, left him intensely dizzy and struck by the absurdity of it all.
Before he could ponder how any of this worked, however, the old male-role actor playing the sect master fixed his piercing gaze on the newly arrived Cui Jiuyang and slowly began to speak.
"Our Haotian Sect is one of the greatest sects under heaven."
The sect master's voice was deep and resonant, carrying unquestionable authority. "Of all the Spirit Stone veins under heaven, our sect holds thirty percent.
"Throughout this sect,