Chapter 33: Singing On

Sensing that something was amiss, Li Huowang’s expression tightened from backstage. He quickly put away the Heavenly Book he was holding, pulled back the curtain, and peered out.

He saw that both the actors singing on stage and the musicians playing beside them were frozen in fear, trembling uncontrollably.

His gaze shifted towards the front of the stage, and his pupils instantly constricted. There, on a stool below the stage, sat the two-faced, small-footed woman he had encountered in the forest that day, watching the opera with her legs crossed, surrounded by black memorial tablets.

“This creature actually followed us here,” he thought. “Could it be attached to us?”

“Don’t stop, keep singing,” Li Huowang commanded. He pulled over a wooden bench, placed it directly below the stage, and sat down firmly, staring intently at the small-footed woman.

Li Huowang’s presence gave the Lu family courage. They swallowed with difficulty, exchanged glances, and the sound of the suona and the opera resumed.

The small-footed woman’s gaze remained fixed on the stage, paying no attention to Li Huowang’s hostility, as if her true purpose in coming was genuinely to listen to the opera.

“If the enemy doesn’t move, I won’t move,” he thought. “I refuse to believe this thing can stay until daylight.”

Li Huowang thought this and acted accordingly, hoping to avoid expending his three months of lifespan if at all possible.

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

Suddenly, the small-footed woman began to move. She slowly extended her plump right hand, picked up two red candles from a plate, and popped them into her mouth, chewing noisily.

She ate quickly, and soon, all the precious candles on the Eight Immortals table beside her were gone.

Immediately after, the opera music suddenly stopped again. Lu Xiucai, playing the young scholar on stage, was so frightened he burst into tears.

He saw the paper figures, placed between the Eight Immortals tables by the Hu family, begin to move without warning. Wearing black melon hats and with heavy red blush on their faces, they reached out, took plates containing red precious candles from other tables, and floated them over to the small-footed woman.

“Hee hee hee~” The small-footed woman suddenly let out an extremely eerie, high-pitched, thin laugh, causing everyone in the Lu family troupe to tremble violently.

“Don’t stop! Keep singing!” Li Huowang’s furious roar exploded in the silent ancestral hall, dispelling the fear in everyone’s hearts.

“Sing~ Ah~~!” Lu Zhuangyuan, dressed as the elderly scholar, bellowed, and the music resumed, even louder than before.

Everyone sang with all their might, as if trying to scream out the fear in their hearts. Their veins bulged, and they were drenched in sweat.

This time, the small-footed woman stopped laughing. Instead, she stared intently at Li Huowang with a sullen expression. Not only her, but all the paper figures mirrored this action.

Li Huowang remained unfazed and continued to stare back.

The third watch of the night passed in this eerie atmosphere, giving way to the fourth watch. The Lu family troupe, singing with all their might on stage, were nearly hoarse, but they dared not stop.

“Is it still trying to outlast me? How long does this thing intend to keep this up?” Li Huowang wondered inwardly.

Just as he hesitated, wondering whether he should simply spend three months of his lifespan to summon Grandfather You and completely deal with this woman, the situation changed again. All the memorial tablets beneath the stage began to tremble inexplicably.

“Thump-thump-thump-thump~” The sound of the memorial tablets uniformly striking the Eight Immortals tables was continuous, like raindrops hitting the ground.

This time, the Lu family completely broke down. They couldn't endure even one; now all of them were reacting!

Seeing this scene, the small-footed woman began to laugh with abnormal glee. Her high-pitched, thin laughter pricked Li Huowang’s ears painfully.

However, looking at the small-footed woman before him, Li Huowang’s lips curved upwards, and he too chuckled softly. “I think I understand what’s going on,” he said. “Your actions these past few times seem designed to make them fear you.”

“If you don’t have such a morbid sense of humor like a human, then I can only guess one thing: your food isn’t those candles, but the fear that arises in their hearts, isn’t it?”

When Li Huowang saw the small-footed woman suddenly stand up and glare at him with extreme malice, he knew he had guessed correctly.

“Master Lu, don’t stop, keep singing!” Li Huowang called out. “Didn’t Master Hu say that his ancestors prefer something cheerful? If you’re afraid the wind is too strong and might blind you, just close your eyes and keep singing!”

“Hee hee hee,” she cackled, “tell me, do I look like a human or a god?” Seeing her plan completely foiled, the small-footed woman stood up with a sinister grin and began to sway as she approached Li Huowang.

“I think you look like a monstrous freak!” Li Huowang retorted. With a clang, he drew his sword from behind his back with one hand and charged towards the woman.

Once he understood its purpose, Li Huowang’s concerns instantly vanished. This deceptive spirit was far less formidable than he had imagined.

It had just been a case of mutual fear.

In a few swift steps, they met. Li Huowang swung his sword and struck.

A cold glint flashed, and the woman was split in half. Red precious candles, also cut in two, spilled from her body.

The upper half of the woman’s body, still in mid-air, swiftly moved behind Li Huowang, about to touch his back.

But while her pale fingers were still some distance from Li Huowang’s back, they recoiled as if burned.

“Oh?” When Li Huowang sharply noticed this, his heart instantly filled with joy. This thing fears the Heavenly Book!

Li Huowang threw away the long sword in his hand, pulled out the Heavenly Book, and swung it around, aiming to slap the small-footed woman’s face.

Facing the approaching Heavenly Book, the small-footed woman’s face showed fear, and she turned and began to flee.

At this moment, the roles instantly reversed. It was Li Huowang, holding the Heavenly Book, who instilled fear in his opponent.

Inside the Hu family ancestral hall, Li Huowang and the small-footed woman circled each other for a long while.

Despite her small feet, the woman was surprisingly fast, and after chasing for a long time, Li Huowang couldn't touch her at all.

Li Huowang, panting heavily, looked at the small-footed woman across the table. This couldn’t go on. He wondered if he could simply drive her away.

“Get out!” he shouted. “Do you hear me? Don’t let me see you again!”

The small-footed woman glared at him with a sinister look, then swayed her body and retreated into the darkness of the corner.

When Li Huowang approached the corner with his lantern, he found nothing there.

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

Li Huowang gripped the hilt and re-sheathed it behind his back. He then saw Lu Zhuangyuan, with a flattering smile on his face, say to him, “Hee hee hee, tell me, do I look like a human or a god?”

Li Huowang’s heart jolted. No! The opera music hadn’t stopped! This Lu Zhuangyuan was fake!

The instant he realized this, the Lu Zhuangyuan in front of him lunged, his pale hands passing directly through Li Huowang’s body.

In that instant, he felt an icy coldness throughout his body, his emotions began to sink, and everything around him started to plunge into darkness.