Chapter 385: The Stage

"Opera singing? Where did the opera singing come from?"

The figure wearing the black headscarf asked, puzzled. "Elder He, did you hear it?"

Elder He leaned on his cane and shook his head slightly. "I didn't hear it."

"No, there really is!" The young man wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth while gesturing wildly. "The sound is so close, it feels like it’s right in my ear... I heard him singing something, 'Soldiers and flags'? 'Surrounded by swords and spears'?"

The headscarf figure frowned tightly. He pricked up his ears and listened carefully again, but apart from the wailing wind and the sound of falling raindrops, there was nothing else.

"There is no sound like you said... You must be having auditory hallucinations."

"But..."

"Something is wrong." Elder He stared at the blank drawing paper and suddenly spoke.

"What’s wrong?"

"It’s clearly within the range of the [Circle], yet [Image-Tracing] cannot confirm the location of [Heart 6], which means the place where he is located likely doesn't belong to this space... And in the process of backtracking, you said you heard opera singing..."

Elder He’s frown deepened. Just as he was about to say something else, a small dot suddenly appeared on the blank drawing paper.

"Huh? This is..."

The young man stumbled to his feet, a look of confusion flashing in his eyes.

The small dot in the center of the drawing paper began to enlarge at a speed visible to the naked eye, as if something was flying out from it. A spear shadow occupied most of the drawing paper in the blink of an eye, pierced through the paper, and was thrown out like lightning!

Just then, Elder He’s shout rang out suddenly:

"Look out!!!"

Whoosh—!!

The spear shadow pierced into the young man’s chest with a boom, the terrifying kinetic energy carrying his body into the heavy rain!

"Elder He, save—" the young man’s terrified cry for help rang out, and the next moment it stopped abruptly.

The spear shadow appeared too quickly, and the angle was extremely tricky and strange. Even Elder He and the headscarf figure, who were close at hand, couldn't react. By the time they saw what had happened, the spear shadow had already carried the young man and vanished into thin air again!

Rattle, rattle—

The rain continued to pour onto the ruins as usual. Both the spear shadow and the young man vanished like ghosts without a trace... The three who were thinking about tracking Chen Ling just seconds ago were now reduced to two, standing alone under the bridge.

If it weren't for the bloodstains of the young man remaining on the ground, the headscarf figure would have thought it was just an illusion... Even now, he hadn't recovered from the shadow of that spear.

"Elder, Elder He... what was that just now..." He stared blankly at the direction where the young man had disappeared, his voice trembling as he spoke.

Elder He turned his head abruptly, his aged gaze locked onto the drawing paper, his face looking incredibly ugly.

"Damn it..."

"In this town, there isn't just [Heart 6]??"

……

Whoosh—!!

Just as Chen Ling and Li Qingshan were wondering where Gao Chong’s spear had gone, a sound of breaking air rang out from the stage again!

The vanished gold-chiseled tiger-head spear swept out from the void and returned to Gao Chong’s hand. At the same time, a body on the tip of the spear flew out due to inertia, rolled several times on the stage floor, and plunged into Wushu’s queue at the edge of the stage.

Drops of scarlet blood dripped down the gold-chiseled tiger-head spear. Gao Chong’s expression didn't fluctuate in the slightest, his white clothes and silver armor fluttering in the wind, as if he had just casually killed a small soldier of the enemy army to boost his own army’s morale!

On the other hand, Wushu beside him was so angry that his eyebrows stood up and his face looked fierce.

Everything happened so earth-shatteringly, but on the stage, it felt completely natural, as if this opera was meant to be performed this way... If Chen Ling hadn't seen clearly that the one flying out was a living person, he would have really thought it was all just stage arrangements and props.

Whether it was Gao Chong or Wushu, their performance was too natural, not even looking at the body that flew out...

They were still in the opera!

"...For a man of great character,

Facing the battle, living without joy, why fear death; if you don't enter the tiger’s den, how can you get the tiger’s cub!

Gao Chong is determined to protect the country,

Killing the enemy and saving the master to make a contribution!"

As the performance on stage gradually progressed, a great battle unfolded. Although there weren't many actors on stage, with their highly infectious lyrics and well-timed scene sound effects, the infectiousness was extremely strong.

"Where did that spear go just now... and who was that person?" Chen Ling’s focus was still on the figure in the corner, frowning and thinking.

He was about to turn his head to say something to Li Qingshan, but found that Li Qingshan was staring fixedly at the stage, his pupils emitting a faint glimmer, as if in a trance. Even when Chen Ling tried to call him, there was no response.

Chen Ling saw Li Qingshan’s state and was slightly stunned. Then, as if sensing something, he suddenly looked up at the sky.

Above the sky shrouded in dark clouds, a touch of vermilion seemed to pierce through the clouds, dotting there like a gemstone, and a familiar aura lingered in Chen Ling’s heart.

"Opera Divine Path...?"

Chen Ling was all too familiar with that star. Back in the Aurora Realm, he had also stepped into it.

Just by watching a performance, Li Qingshan received the favor of the Opera Divine Path? If so, then this performance was too magical... Was this the opportunity from the Ancient Treasury of Opera Arts?

Chen Ling certainly knew that Li Qingshan’s own talent, accumulation, and temperament were the decisive factors for him to step onto this Divine Path. Otherwise, if someone else sat here and watched it ten or a hundred times, they probably wouldn't gain anything... like Chen Ling himself. So, rather than saying this performance created Li Qingshan, it was more like it gently poked through the window paper between Li Qingshan and the Opera Divine Path, allowing him to get what he should have gotten in advance.

Chen Ling looked at the entranced Li Qingshan with complex feelings and turned his gaze back to the stage. At this time, several strangely shaped cart-like props had appeared in front of Wushu, and the battle between the two sides had reached a white-hot stage.

……

Under the bridge arch.

"Not just [Heart 6]?!" The figure wearing the black headscarf was shocked. "Elder He, you mean..."

"We are being watched."

Elder He spoke gloomily, thousands of white cranes circling above him, and the pressure of the Seventh Order instantly enveloped the earth!

"I want to see who dares to be an enemy of my [Floating Life Painting]!!" Elder He grabbed the punctured drawing paper and threw it to the white crane beside him. One of the white cranes picked it up, circled half a turn in the air, and flew rapidly toward the east!

"In that direction!"

Flap, flap—

Thousands of white cranes seemed to have locked onto a certain direction, a touch of blood-red seeping into their eyes, and they swept toward the east at an astonishing speed. Elder He and the figure wearing the black headscarf stepped onto two white cranes respectively, flying away as the flock of cranes covered the sky.

Thousands of cranes swept past. This scene immediately attracted the attention of the residents of Willow Town. They walked out of their houses in shock, looking at the scene that looked like a miracle above their heads, and bowed down!

Murderous intent flickered in Elder He’s eyes. Just as he was riding the white crane, searching around, the headscarf figure behind him suddenly spoke:

"Elder... Elder He..."

"What?"

"I seem to... also hear opera singing?"

Elder He was stunned. He looked back and saw that the headscarf figure was just like the Image-Tracing person from before, looking around blankly...

At this moment, in the eyes of the headscarf figure, these thousands of flying white cranes, and Elder He and himself standing on the backs of the white cranes... all seemed to begin to twist and deform. Their bodies began to show edges and corners, their skin was stained with the luster of metal, and their voices gradually turned into harsh creaking sounds...

In his unbelievable gaze, everything around him seemed to have turned into heavy and crude iron sliding carts.