Chapter 56: So Beautiful

“Lo Ge, what’s wrong?”

The assistant director, noticing the commotion, hurried forward and glared fiercely at the extras.

On set, during working hours.

Extras are strictly forbidden from speaking to main actors without cause.

You can zone out or yawn as background filler, but if you disturb the lead, no excuses—get out immediately, and even the extra crew leader will be held accountable.

Li Luo isn’t just the male lead.

He’s on excellent terms with the action director and the investors; the assistant director can’t afford to be careless.

“It’s nothing serious.”

Li Luo smiled, swinging his tarnished silver tiger-head hook and nodding toward Wang Baoqiang: “That extra works hard—I want him standing behind me; the shot will look better.”

Hearing this, the assistant director immediately relaxed.

A trivial matter.

Not just Li Luo—even if Guo Feili made this request, he wouldn’t refuse.

At the assistant director’s call.

Wang Baoqiang trotted over in small steps amid the envious glances of the other extras and was placed in the most camera-friendly position.

The assistant director gave him a few more instructions on what to do next.

The tall man watched this scene with bitterness, his grip on the prop sword tightening until veins bulged on the back of his hand.

He wanted to grind his molars to dust.

Why him?!

I worked just as hard!

Why did he get noticed instead of that country bumpkin?

The assistant director’s words drifted vaguely in his ears; Baoqiang’s heart pounded as if it might burst.

He nodded eagerly.

After the assistant director left, he looked gratefully at Li Luo.

The latter now had his hands behind his back, chin slightly raised, as if pondering how to portray the next scene; to Baoqiang, that upright figure seemed to glow.

Baoqiang couldn’t help clicking his tongue.

Why didn’t I notice before—this lead actor is really good-looking!

“Actors, ready.”

The scene had already been rehearsed inside the tent; when the assistant director signaled OK, Lai Shuiqing.

Immediately waved to begin filming.

“Senior.”

Li Luo leapt through the air, entering the frame from outside.

He’d planned to cross his tarnished silver tiger-head hook and iron judge’s pen to block, but remembered this was the invincible Dragon-Slaying Blade—he sighed and lowered his hands, coldly eyeing the Golden-Haired Lion King Xie Xun before him.

The Dragon-Slaying Blade swung forward, stopping just short of his neck.

“Aren’t you afraid of death?”

Xu Jinhai glared fiercely.

“Senior promised me.”

Li Luo took a deep breath and barked, word by word: “No more killing!!!”

“That was earlier.”

He sheathed the blade with a slash, then eagerly played with the precious sword, his eyes turning vicious as he glared at the extras: “Now the blade is in my hands—none of you here will live!”

Now that filming had begun, this man was utterly different from his usual mild demeanor.

Though the Master of a Thousand Faces said his acting was poor—only good at playing Ao Bai and great heroes.

Or just laughing like an idiot.

His performances never came from within.

These remarks carried some teasing from old friends—half-joking, half-serious—but Li Luo believed that for an actor, mastering even one or two types of roles was already success.

Compared to today’s idol stars, Xu Jinhai’s acting was incomparably better.

At least the Golden-Haired Lion King standing before him radiated overwhelming pressure.

Of course.

Part of it was also due to his own low cultivation level.

As the two exchanged lines, Wang Baoqiang, crouching behind Li Luo with his sword planted, was clearly captured by the camera—he swayed unsteadily, feigning a splitting headache.

He didn’t get carried away; instead, he acted with great effort.

A few years ago, this would’ve made a delightful Easter egg.

After a few brief lines, Lai Shuiqing nodded in satisfaction.

Filming continued.

Yin Susu fanned the flames beside them; Zhang Cuishan joined in, goading them—both together lured the Golden-Haired Lion King Xie Xun into the trap.

After agreeing on the stakes of the contest, Li Luo walked aside, holding his unusual weapon.

A faint smile curled his lips; then he executed a clean front flip.

He leapt cleanly out of frame.

With mastery of Long Fist, the move was effortless—he didn’t need a stunt double; the camera captured it perfectly.

It looked fast, but this scene had been shot intermittently for an hour.

There were no stone walls near the set; the crew would film the real footage elsewhere—Li Luo only needed to gesture here, suspended by wires, swinging his weapon repeatedly.

The two would be combined in post-production.

But this part would be filmed later.

After leaping out of frame, he immediately returned to rehearse lines.

Xu Jinhai was a veteran actor; Guo Feili was no slouch; Li Luo had memorized his lines inside out. After a few rounds, they finished filming the scene where Xie Xun accepted defeat.

“Sponge pads.”

Under the action director Yuan Bin’s direction, the prop team brought over a large cushion.

They placed it behind Li Luo and Guo Feili.

Then crouched, supporting it at an angle.

“Jinhai, extend your finger.”

Yuan Bin removed his cap and fanned away the drifting smoke, gesturing continuously: “Lightly tap twice just above the chest. Then, Li Luo and Feili, react—then fall backward.”

“Need to practice?”

“No.”

All three shook their heads.

What’s there to practice? It’s a simple routine.

“Good.”

Yuan Bin signaled the camera to move closer; once they were ready, he waved his arm: “Roll.”

Xu Jinhai sharply swung his arm, tapping the air twice with his finger.

“You~”

Li Luo and Guo Feili made a muffled groan, closed their eyes, and stiffly toppled backward under the lenses of two cameras—one above, one below.

Two hundred-plus pounds crashed down.

Due to differing weights, the thick sponge bounced, tilting the woman’s body sideways.

“Ah~”

With a soft cry.

Li Luo smelled perfume rushing toward him, then felt heavy weight land on him.

“Thud~”

Their heads collided with a dull thump.

He instinctively wrapped his arms around her before grimacing and opening his eyes.

Guo Feili also frowned, her head ringing painfully, muttering in pain.

“So painful~”

The Peony Immortal’s breath brushed against his face.

Soft, and incredibly bouncy.

Li Luo internally groaned, quickly waved his hand to signal crew to pull her away.

Simultaneously, his throat moved subtly downward.

The woman noticed every motion; Guo Feili forgot her head pain and unconsciously bit her lip.

“Help quickly!”

“Are you two okay?”

In an instant, nearby crew rushed forward to separate them.

Li Luo sat up, rubbing his forehead repeatedly.

Luckily, only his head was hit.

If his mouth had been struck, it wouldn’t have been as glamorous as in films—bleeding from the mouth would’ve been the least of it.

Go find some swelling-reducing medicine right away!

Unexpectedly, even such a simple action went wrong; Yuan Bin kicked the prop crew members hard in anger. Fortunately, these two had already finished their main scenes for the day, so no major delay occurred.