CHAPTER 555: CHAPTER 283: BEAST IN HUMAN GUISE, ZOMBIES WITH FEELINGS (PART 2)

Master Chen was taken aback upon hearing this, and said in shock: "The one who came with Master Feng to listen to opera yesterday was actually Landlord Bai..."

This is quite a situation; Landlord Bai arranged a ghost opera for his daughter, yet he himself felt moved and came to the theater to listen to the opera.

In the end, Miss Bai didn’t enjoy the opera but was instead quite frightened by the fierce aura of the generals portrayed by the performers with painted faces.

This incident became well-known within the opera troupe, and since then, Master Chen dared not easily break the rules again.

It was also from that time that Xu Qing began to think about starting his own ghost opera troupe.

Now, hearing Liu Su’e ask about this, Xu Qing revealed a wide smile and said: "The rules are for the good ghosts; as for the evil ones, who bothers talking about rules with them?"

"Evil ghosts? Isn’t that very dangerous? If Brother Xu is going, then you must take me along; I can also perform with painted face..."

Don’t be fooled by Liu Su’e’s gentle appearance; her nature is fiercer than anyone’s. When threatened by opera ghosts at Jin Sect’s West Theater, she didn’t compromise and perform with a painted face.

Yet, now this stubborn girl is going against her own will, wanting to sing the throat-damaging painted face role.

Xu Qing glanced sideways at Liu Su’e, her determined gaze resembling that of Consort Yu, willing to die for her King.

"..."

Xu Qing was silent for a moment, then raised his hand and tapped Liu Su’e’s head.

"With your limited skills right now, you can’t even defeat a student seamstress, how will you help me? It’s already good enough if you don’t hold me back!"

Seeing Liu Su’e endure the pain without tears, but instead reddening her eyes when hearing she was useless, Xu Qing added: "Focus on cultivating, don’t overthink it. You being able to sing ghost opera at funerals is already a great help to me."

Liu Su’e nodded in agreement, and a smile immediately appeared on her face.

After Liu Su’e left the Funeral Shop, the quiet Xuan Yu suddenly spoke up: "Xu Immortal Family, I want to learn to sing opera too!"

"What sort of opera are you going to sing? You’re the General Hall Master of Cat Immortal Hall and the Chief Steward of the ghost opera troupe. What kind of steward goes on stage to sing? If that happened, others would think our Cat Immortal Hall was so short of people that we need the Xu Immortal Family to appear and perform..."

"Besides, you can’t even meow properly, what are you learning opera for?"

Xuan Yu was just about to argue, but then realized.

"Only little cats call like that; I’m already a big cat. Xu Immortal Family’s thoughts aren’t right; he’s trying to deliberately embarrass me..."

Deep down, Xu Qing felt a bit regretful. While he might be misunderstood for impure thoughts, he never intended to embarrass Xuan Yu.

A cat’s tender cries are far from embarrassing, are they?

One downside to overly sensible cats is their unwillingness to show vulnerability.

...

The board clattered for the second watch; it was the chill of night, even ghosts trembled from the cold.

Xu Qing donned a war helmet, wore the costume of a general, and had Four-sided Lean Banners on his back; even the slightest movement made the golden tassels and bright red pom-poms on his helmet shake incessantly.

Additionally, Xu Qing didn’t need to stick or attach a beard to his chin; once he activated the corpse qi in him, the bluish-black corpse hair grew like a waterfall until it reached his waist and stopped.

Having completed all this, Xu Qing took the Treasure Sword gifted to him by Zuo Zixiong from the Mountain and River Map and hung it at his waist; his preparations were complete.

The Five Shadows Daoist and Zuo Zixiong were traveling together, so it wasn’t hard for Xu Qing to find them; he just needed to use Zuo Zixiong’s Treasure Sword as a medium to calculate their location using Purple Star Astrology.

However, when Zuo Zixiong gave him the sword, he was playing the role of an Eight Banner Marshal on stage, so others didn’t know his true identity. Now he was going to the Ancient Yin River Dao to clear the name of the zombies in Linjiang County, so he didn’t want to go in his original form.

After some thought, Xu Qing decided to stick to his previous approach—wear the costume, paint his face, so even if he encountered Zuo Zixiong, he could pretend to be possessed by the Eight Banner Marshal, avoiding any unnecessary complications.

...

The Ancient Yin River Dao remained an end-of-the-world scene with ashes all around.

Xu Qing wielded the mountain-opening axe, stacking the Tiangang axe stance up to seventeen layers, then opened the Twin Coffin and walked out from the stele grave.

Fortunately, with gravestones densely packed like a forest here, no one discovered where he had hidden the Twin Coffin.

After putting away the mountain-opening axe, Xu Qing stepped on the weathered bones, holding the Treasure Sword in one hand, stopping occasionally to perform calculations with Purple Star Astrology.

The Ancient Yin River Dao knows no sun or moon, relying on fate and astrological workings; the Purple Star Astrology clearly showed signs of chaos. Xu Qing raised an eyebrow and decided to switch divination methods directly.

Over the years, he has guided the bodies of Demi Immortals, Divination Masters, or Jing Sect disciples to rest; since the stars couldn’t sense anything, he opted for Tui Bei Tu, Fish Immortal Technique, Yarrow Stalk Divination, or Six Lines Method.

The Fish Immortal Technique involves covering the object of divination with fish scales, allowing it to transform into a fish and generate resonance.

Xu Qing chanted incantations with hand signs, channeling a strand of magical power into the Treasure Sword, which then hovered in his palm the next moment, pointing in a certain direction like a compass.

Following the trail, he unexpectedly found himself at the Ghost King Mausoleum.

"The Ghost King Mausoleum is a Red Robe sect shrine worshipping sacred gods. Zuo Zixiong belongs to the Eight Banner Marshals faction, and although they’re not enemies, they’re not amicable either. What are they doing at the Ghost King Mausoleum?"

Xu Qing was intrigued, cautiously exploring inward. Fortunately, he didn’t need to venture far, as he found Zuo Zixiong’s traces at the outskirts of the Ghost King Mausoleum.

Exiting the tomb, he saw Zuo Zixiong holding dual blades on guard in the distance, while the Five Shadows Daoist and someone resembling him negotiated with the Ghost Generals and Ghost Soldiers under De Er Ghost King at the path leading to the main tomb.

Xu Qing recognized the Ghost General and was briefly stunned—wasn’t this the Ghost General he once welcomed with iron-fire cannons through a paperman?

Are you still alive?

Facing this familiar ghost, Xu Qing felt a bit nostalgic; after so many years, he wondered if the Ghost General still harbored resentment.

Unfolding his spiritual hearing, conversations of ghostly whispers and divine sounds within a ten-mile radius vividly appeared in his mind.

Xu Qing eliminated distractions, focusing on both factions’ dialogue.

"Ghost Altar General, I know about the Red Robe sect’s incense offerings; they’re merely trying to use the Ghost King to wear down the mortal dynasty’s mandate. Now I bring some blood sacrifices as offerings for the Ghost King, hoping you’ll convey our goodwill to De Er Ghost King and refrain from interfering in the cosmic fate battle between Dayong and Nan Cuo."

Upon seeing those captured alive from the Ancient Yin River Dao for blood sacrifices, the Ghost Altar General’s hollow eyes immediately glowed with a greedy green light.

"It can be arranged, but this amount of blood offerings is insufficient."

The Ghost Altar General’s eyes flickered with ghostly fire as he sneered, "This little blood offering, I can only promise you, Daoist, not to interfere in your conflict for seven days, but after that..."

"Unless there’s new blood sacrifice, we can’t simply enjoy the incense offerings from the mortal realm."

The Five Shadows Daoist didn’t get angry at these words, smiling as he said, "Then in a few days, I will gather more blood offerings for the Ghost King."

Watching the Ghost General leave, Zuo Zixiong finally couldn’t hold back, suppressing his fury as he hoarsely said, "Those are Dayong citizens; how can you hand them over to demons for consumption!"

The Five Shadows Daoist didn’t even glance at him, bluntly stating, "General Zuo, do not forget the task His Majesty entrusted to you; all of this is for the sake of Dayong’s kingdom..."

Practice makes perfect; Xu Qing was now quite experienced in dealing with Celestial Master Mansion Daoists.

Without temperament, fate falters; without fate, temperament fades. The Xuan Sect advocates the dual cultivation of fate and temperament, interdependent and inseparable.

Cultivators like the Xuanji Seven Sons, who focus on fate but not temperament, have deviated far from the path and drift from the great Dao.

The Xuan Sect often says: ’Cultivating fate without cultivating temperament is the first illness of cultivation.’ If one only focuses on the physical fate palace through Guiding methods or external aids without enlightening the heart and seeing one’s true nature, they fall into endless tribulations, never comprehending the true secret.

Perhaps influenced by the Five Filthy Evil Worlds, the Celestial Master’s Mansion places great emphasis on fate while selecting disciples, even using the number of shadows cast by magical treasures to discern disciples’ talents.

To this day, nearly all disciples of the Celestial Master’s Mansion carry burdens of felony.

The Heaven-Reaching Road is severed, the underworld pathways sealed, and the shadows of Celestial Master’s Mansion disciples are often their closest kin. These shadows, unlike ordinary Yin Ghosts, are so entangled with loved ones that they can’t break free, with their own resentments unable to dissipate, prohibiting them from reincarnation and eventually forming Yin Spirits, fusing entirely with their killers, inseparable in form and shadow.

Ultimately, humans and ghosts walk different paths; prolonged proximity to ghostly beings inevitably affects human minds, even driving them to madness.

The same goes for Celestial Master’s Mansion Daoists. As observed from the few Daoists Xu Qing interacted with, these cultivators almost universally exhibit obsessive and deranged temperaments, distinct from ordinary people. Their cultivation methods, affected by these pervasive Yin Spirits, become charged with evil energy.

As a Zombie, Xu Qing naturally detests orthodox methods, yet Celestial Master’s Mansion Daoists, straying due to taking unorthodox paths, have caused righteous methods to decline, turning instead towards the pursuit of Evil Techniques.

And Xu Qing, ironically, fears not Evil Techniques.

In terms of unorthodox means, who could surpass him!

In other words, even he, an unorthodox method user without a fate palace, understands the importance of cultivating both fate and temperament, while the Celestial Master descendants, claiming to be Xuan Sect orthodox, indulged in crooked methods.

To the uninformed, it might seem as if Xu Qing and them were engaging in some form of performance art.