59: Chapter 59 Three Ghosts Act Together

"I am the Troublemaker Ghost!" With a strike of the pointed mallet on the gong, a theatrical voice screeched out from a sharp throat.

"I am the Scavenger Ghost!" The burly man in the middle thrust his chipped, broken bowl forward, his rasping voice exploding out, making everyone's chests vibrate with the sound.

"I am the Shabby Ghost!" The last one dragged out a weeping tone that made the hair on everyone's skin stand on end.

On the stage, three cold, chilling gazes, like three ice picks, swept across the audience in unison, finally "nailing" onto Jiang Yuehong.

The Troublemaker Ghost struck the gong again, and his sharp, theatrical voice drifted over: "Little lady off-stage, seeing your slender figure and expressive eyes, you are surely good material for acting! Come, come up and join us three brothers in a good performance!"

At these words, the color drained completely from Jiang Yuehong's face; had Jiang Jiye not reached out to support her lower back, she would have collapsed to the ground on the spot.

Only faint whimpers could be squeezed from her throat, like a kitten being strangled, unable to utter a single word.

The Scavenger Ghost thrust his broken bowl forward, his roar making the wooden boards tremble: "Come up! If you don't come up, we'll come down to invite you ourselves!"

The Shabby Ghost dragged out his weeping tone and added eerily, the Yin Qi in his voice making it hard for people to breathe: "Once this play has begun with a gong, it cannot go without a response..."

Jiang Yuehong's eyes rolled back until only a sliver of her pupils remained, and she looked as if she were about to faint from fear.

"Hold on!"

The three ghosts turned their heads in unison, six cold, chilling gazes nailing onto Qiu Chuanxing.

The Troublemaker Ghost's eyeballs rolled wildly in their sockets: "Oh? There's still someone unafraid of death, daring to interrupt our performance?"

Qiu Chuanxing could not move his body, but his gaze, like two knives, remained fixed on the three ghosts.

"If you want to perform, I will perform with you."

The last three words were like three iron lumps hitting the ground, resounding with weight: "Don't touch her."

Jiang Yuehong opened her eyes wide, and her tears immediately broke the dam.

Ling Muxue held her arms, her fingertips tapping lightly against her elbows.

Wu Xi's gaze fell upon Qiu Chuanxing, his brows furrowing deeply.

The three ghosts on the stage exchanged a glance, then erupted into a burst of shrill, wild laughter.

The Troublemaker Ghost laughed until he swayed back and forth, the gong mallet banging loudly, causing the stage floorboards to shake: "You? You don't know a damn thing about acting! You dare to come up and perform with us?"

Qiu Chuanxing remained expressionless, replying stiffly: "I don't know it, but if you want to perform, I will perform with you."

"Good! You've got guts!" The Scavenger Ghost slammed the broken bowl onto the wooden board with a loud clang, his rasping voice roaring to the heavens: "We three brothers will play with you!"

The Shabby Ghost dragged out his weeping tone, his voice full of bone-chilling cold: "Once this play has begun, it cannot stop. Have you thought it through?"

"Enough talk."

Qiu Chuanxing gritted his teeth until they clicked: "If we're going to sing, let's sing."

The Troublemaker Ghost raised the gong mallet, his sharp voice piercing the eardrums: "Good! Start the gong!"

Clang!

The gong sounded once.

Qiu Chuanxing felt as if his crown had been pricked; his brain buzzed, and the stage before him instantly blurred into a phantom image.

The faces of the three ghosts twisted and turned before him, and the theatrical singing in his ears felt like countless tiny ants crawling through his ear canals into his brain.

"Nobles and princes generously bestow heavy gifts, gold upon mounting, silver upon dismounting; I ask the appreciative guests off-stage, who can forsake wealth and old friends~"

The Troublemaker Ghost sang in his sharp, theatrical voice, the melody drifting slowly.

Qiu Chuanxing felt his soul jerk violently upward, as if it were being forcibly dragged out through his crown; his vision went black, his blood and Qi surged wildly, and a metallic, sweet taste forced its way up his throat.

He gritted his molars hard, swallowing the mouthful of blood, his mind blank, with only one thought remaining: continue the play, it cannot stop.

He responded hoarsely: "Of course, it is General Guan." He had heard this story; it was about three brothers from the previous dynasty.

His voice trembled violently, devoid of any theatrical charm.

Yet, the moment this line was uttered, he felt his soul being forcibly pulled out a portion; his fingertips instantly became transparent, as if they were dissolving into the air.

The originally numb villagers off-stage instantly twisted their faces into eerie smiles, clapping their hands stiffly, making strange rattling sounds in their throats, like a group of Puppets led by strings, their eyeballs unmoving, staring fixedly at the stage.

"Good! Well sung!"

The Troublemaker Ghost laughed shrilly, struck the gong again, and continued to sing: "Five passes block the road, creating storms; six generals stand in the way, acting fierce and domineering; all you spectators, ponder this, in troubled times, who is the true hero~"

With another line of the play, the hook of the Soul-Snatching tightened a fraction more.

Qiu Chuanxing felt his soul being pulled upward another portion, and the scene before him changed completely.

The deafening shouts of rampaging armies filled his ears, and flashes of blades and swords rained down upon him; his brain grew increasingly dazed and heavy.

There remained only one obsession: continue the play, it cannot stop.

If it stopped, Jiang Yuehong would be dragged onto the stage; if it stopped, his brothers would be in trouble.

Half of his palm had become transparent, the veins on his arm clearly visible through his translucent skin, and a small part of his soul had already drifted out from his crown.

Jiang Jiye saw it clearly; Qiu Chuanxing's soul was being pulled out bit by bit. If he sang two more lines, he would become just like these villagers below, his soul snatched away, turning into a mindless, walking corpse.

Jiang Yuehong watched Qiu Chuanxing's back, trembling uncontrollably as she cried, her lips quivering as she kept muttering, "I'm sorry," and "Stop singing." But her voice was as thin as a mosquito's buzz; even Jiang Jiye beside her couldn't hear it, only seeing her tears falling continuously, hitting the ground.

Ling Muxue was also agitated, wanting to unleash her cultivation to forcefully shatter this cold, chilling restraint and drag Qiu Chuanxing back from the gates of hell.

Wu Xi's fingers moved slightly.

The True Qi within his Dantian was circulating to the limit, like a fully drawn iron bow, the arrow on the string, ready to be fired at any moment.

He was waiting, calculating the rhythm of the three ghosts' play, calculating Qiu Chuanxing's limit, and calculating the best moment to break the situation.

He saw it clearly; the core of this ghost play performed by the three ghosts lay in the words "respond to the play."

As long as you respond to the play and follow their lyrics, your Three Ethereal Souls and Seven Corporeal Spirits will be hooked by them bit by bit, sinking deeper and deeper until they are completely detached and taken away by them.

Qiu Chuanxing was currently dancing on the tip of a blade; with every line he responded with, he drew one step closer to the gates of hell.

Yet he could not act now; Qiu Chuanxing's soul was being tightly hooked by the three ghosts' play. Forcibly interrupting it would only cause his soul to suffer severe damage instantly.

He could only wait.

Wait for the turn in the play, wait for the three ghosts' power to be fully concentrated on the Soul-Snatching, which was also the moment their defenses would be most lax, to deliver a fatal blow.

The three ghosts on the stage sang with increasing vigor.

The Troublemaker Ghost's gong mallet struck faster and faster, clang, clang, clang, like raindrops, each strike hitting the person's soul, making their Divine Soul tremble.

The Scavenger Ghost held his broken bowl high, the rim facing Qiu Chuanxing's crown, like a wide-open, bloody maw, ready to swallow his soul in one gulp.

The Shabby Ghost dragged out his weeping tone longer and longer, more and more mournful, like countless cold hands tightly gripping Qiu Chuanxing's soul, pulling it out bit by bit.

"On one side is grace, on the other is brotherly love; on one side is pleading to stay, on the other is setting out on a journey; looking again at the full hall of colleagues, how should one weigh loyalty and filial piety?"

The Troublemaker Ghost's theatrical voice carried a Soul-Snatching magic; every word was like a needle piercing into Qiu Chuanxing's soul.

Qiu Chuanxing's lips moved; they were so dry they had cracked, oozing beads of blood. He used his last shred of strength: "Riding a thousand miles alone."

The moment the words left his mouth, half of his body became transparent.

More than half of his soul had drifted out from his crown, and even his face began to blur. His whole body swayed violently, and he looked about to collapse to the ground.

If he responded with just one more line, his soul would completely leave his body and be taken by the three ghosts, leaving not even a shred behind.

The villagers off-stage clapped their hands, cackling weirdly, their eyes filled with madness, their mouths constantly muttering "Well sung" and "Keep singing," like a group of crazed Puppets.

The three ghosts on the stage revealed smug, sinister smiles.

The Troublemaker Ghost's gong mallet was raised to its highest point, the Yin Qi from his fingertips flowing down the mallet, preparing to strike the final gong and sing the last line of the play to completely take away Qiu Chuanxing's soul.

The Scavenger Ghost's broken bowl was aimed at Qiu Chuanxing's crown, the Yin Qi in the bowl churning; as soon as the soul detached, it would be instantly collected into the bowl.

The Shabby Ghost's weeping tone was at his lips, Yin Qi oozing out from the corners of his mouth, preparing to sing the final line and send Qiu Chuanxing on his way.

At the critical moment.

A roar so loud it made people's eardrums ache, like a thunderclap in a clear sky, carried with it brute force and vitality, forcefully shattering the cold, chilling theatrical singing that filled the entire venue!

"Stop! This dogshit you're singing! I've heard General Guan's play, and it's not sung like that at all!"

It was Niu Fei!

The gong mallet in the Troublemaker Ghost's hand fell onto the stage floorboards with a clang, and the three ghosts' theatrical singing stopped abruptly.

Qiu Chuanxing's soul, which had been drifting outside his crown, slammed back into his body, and his transparent body instantly regained its color.

He gasped for a deep breath, like a drowning person finally surfacing, and began to cough violently. He could no longer hold back the blood in his mouth and spat it out, splashing it onto the ground, a glaring, piercing red.

He had saved his own life.

The faces of the three ghosts on the stage instantly turned as blue as the bottom of a pot, and three cold, chilling gazes turned in unison, like three ice blades, nailing onto Niu Fei.

The Troublemaker Ghost's eyeballs froze in their sockets, no longer rolling around; they were filled with churning malice. He spoke in a sharp voice, word by word, as if squeezed out from between his teeth: "What is wrong?"

Niu Fei's face turned bright red, his neck stiff as a stubborn ox, and he roared back stiffly: "I said you're singing badly! The lyrics are wrong! The costume is wrong! There are no props! It's not professional at all! Who are you trying to fool!"

The Scavenger Ghost trembled with rage, slamming the broken bowl onto the wooden board with a clang, and the bowl cracked. His rasping voice roared loudly, filled with monstrous malice: "You simpleton! What the hell do you know about acting!"

Niu Fei's eyes widened like copper bells: "Even I could do better than you!"