The Unruly Immortals

It seemed that to showcase the intensity of the battlefield, the red-faced general, surrounded by several soldiers, jumped directly onto a three-legged table and began to spin continuously along its edge.

"Clang, clang, clang, clang~" With the music accompanying him, the spin lasted for several minutes, all while standing on the three-legged table, a testament to his impressive skill.

The scene on the stage even amazed Li Huowang, who opened his eyes wide in surprise, "Are the expectations for opera performances in Da Liang Kingdom this high?"

"Clang~ Clang~ Bang~" The general on the stage, full of banners, executed a backflip and landed firmly.

Along with the coordinated collapse of the surrounding extras onto the ground, the general struck a pose and suddenly made a grand appearance, prompting continuous applause and shouts of approval from below the stage.

Li Huowang was among those clapping, realizing he had been mistaken; he hadn't expected such a vast difference between opera performances.

Even he, someone who wasn't well-versed in opera, could see the spectacle of it all.

Just as Li Huowang was entranced by the performance, the general on stage stood still, and the two long pheasant-tail feathers on his head began to vibrate at high frequency as he shook his head. "Hmm~? Who goes there~?"

No sooner had the general finished speaking than the lanterns on stage were extinguished, plunging everything into pitch darkness.

Just as a hint of confusion arose in Li Huowang's mind, the lanterns suddenly lit up again, but this time the light within them was not red, but a sinister green.

The stage, which had just featured the general alone, now abruptly had another person on it.

It was a woman, her back to everyone else, her long water sleeves shaking like waterfalls without cease.

The music had stopped at some unknown point, and the only sound from the stage was a growing, heavy breathing.

"Hee hee..." A chilling whisper suddenly resounded in Li Huowang's ear, causing his skin to crawl.

"What kind of nonsense is this! Can't this place give it a rest?" With a ferocious expression, Li Huowang gripped his sword with one hand and stepped on the roof tiles beneath his feet, ready to rush onto the stage.

At that moment, Bai Lingmiao held onto him tightly with both hands and shouted anxiously, "Brother Li, it's fake! It's all an act!"

"Fake??" Li Huowang looked on in hesitation as the general on stage, moving in a square pattern, cautiously circled the woman with her back turned.

Suddenly, the woman turned her head abruptly, while two copper mirrors were raised on both sides of the stage. The bright candlelight reflecting from the mirrors quickly illuminated the woman's face, which lacked any features.

This horrifying scene instantly startled everyone present, with many children crying out in fear.

But Li Huowang let out a sigh of relief. Indeed, it was fake; his keen vision allowed him to see that the head was merely a prop, and her real head was tucked inside her clothing at that moment.

Li Huowang slowly removed his hand from the sword and sat back down on the roof, "Do you always play this elaborate in Da Liang Kingdom's opera performances? Since when does opera have elements of horror?"

"Brother Li, what are horror elements? The play has always been performed this way for over a hundred years. It is said that General Yue once encountered such a thing on the battlefield."

Looking at the distant, sinister stage, Li Huowang felt that if this had been real, the actual encounter would have been much more gruesome and terrifying.

At that moment, Li Huowang saw the general on stage wield his mace and effortlessly cleave off the woman's head. She fell stiffly to the stage as if she were truly dead.

Little did they know, just as the woman fell, a man with a black face and paper coins on his cheeks came staggering onto the stage, his head thrown back.

"Wu hahaha~~~"

Sharp fangs spiraled in and out of his mouth, as the discordant sound of gongs accompanied the scattering of sparks that sprayed from his lips, standing out starkly in the pitch-black night.

"Hehe." Bai Lingmiao, upon hearing Li Huowang's laughter, turned her head in confusion towards him in the darkness, "Brother Li, what are you laughing at? Is the play not good?"

"It's good, I'm not laughing at the performance on stage, but at Band Leader Lv. He has miscalculated this time. With his meager skills, I'm afraid he won't earn a single Wen Money in Da Liang," Li Huowang said, glancing at Top Scholar Lv's increasingly foul expression in the distance.

"You see, Da Liang Kingdom is just different from other places. Whether it's material or spiritual pleasures, they are far better than anywhere else—truly deserving of their status as the most powerful place."

That evening, everyone, including Li Huowang, enjoyed themselves immensely.

The theater troupe earned a generous reward since they chose to perform at a time when the harvest was abundant and landlords were flush with cash, willing to spend generously.

Top Scholar Lv returned dejected, his previous vigor gone—his pride from singing opera for decades lay shattered.

Unlike the others who were engaged in heated discussions, as soon as he entered the room with his two sons, they all huddled in a corner in silence.

"Dad, they can even spit sparks from their mouths! What do we have to compare with that?" Scholar Lv broke the silence.

"How can we not compare? That old man at the end, his singing skills are not even as good as mine!" Top Scholar Lv argued obstinately, neck stiff.

But as soon as he finished speaking, he deflated like a punctured balloon. He could boast all he liked, but it did nothing to close the gap in skill between the troupes.

Stuffing the smoking pipe into his mouth, he hunched his back towards the corner, heading towards Bai Lingmiao, who was laying out a blanket.

"Hehehe~ Miss Bai, may this old man ask you something? You see, the plays performed today, can all of Da Liang's troupes perform them?"

"Yes, and that's not the only type they can do. They have several varieties, and today's wasn't even the most spectacular!"

Top Scholar Lv trudged toward his two useless sons, his back even more bowed.

That night, Top Scholar Lv hardly slept, tossing and turning with thoughts, "If Lv's Troupe can't get a stage up, won't I just become a freeloader again?"

But he wasn't the only one who barely slept that night. As the roosters crowed in the village, an early-rising Scholar Lv saw Dog-Wa with a smug grin, cuddling Hong'er as they emerged from a small forest.

The two were amorously entwined, teasing each other with laughter.

When Dog-Wa saw Scholar Lv fetching water by the well, his eyes lit up. Shooing away Hong'er, he approached with a self-satisfied look on his face.

"Hehehe~ lad, do you know what I did last night? Hehehe~"

Scholar Lv said nothing, carrying the bucket of water towards the house, but Dog-Wa was relentless, circling around him, continuing to speak.

"Ah~ that feeling, ah~ that feeling~ hehehe~"

His lecherous behavior, coupled with Dog-Wa's sleazy looks, was as repulsive as it could get.