[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-invincible-female-ghost-is-a-bit-of-a-hopele":3,"chapter-the-invincible-female-ghost-is-a-bit-of-a-hopele-the-invincible-female-ghost-is-a-bit-of-a-hopele-chapter-78":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","The Invincible Female Ghost Is A Bit Of A Hopeless Romantic",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1706457,2180,"Chapter 78: A Song That Breaks Souls, The Whole Hall’s Ghosts Shed Tears!","the-invincible-female-ghost-is-a-bit-of-a-hopele-chapter-78",78,"\u003Cp>Celestial Master He Xun now had a head full of question marks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No way!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What… why are both of them angry all of a sudden?!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because… of what I said just now??\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No… weren’t my words supposed to be a good thing?!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When he is crowned Celestial Master for the fifth time and his reputation reaches its peak, he can completely remodel Tianlong Temple’s image.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Invite his lineage’s founding ancestor and his master back in, enshrine them forever!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, the entire Tianlong Temple, top to bottom, is full of He Xun’s disciples and descendants.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The only obstacles left are a few elders inside the temple and those once scattered outside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What the heck is going on?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Is…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Is it that they think what I did was too petty?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That shouldn’t be the case!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Back in the day, all the rotten things Tianlong Temple did—I endured them for thirty years and now I’m changing the temple’s face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Isn’t that something to cheer about?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Besides, this isn’t a new issue; I’ve mentioned it countless times over these thirty years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet those two never got angry before…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Why the sudden mood now?!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Is… it because I was a bit too smug just now, disrespectful??\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Uh…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not really…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for the ancestral master, who can say, but my master definitely wasn’t the kind to care about this stuff…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Don’t forget my master died long ago, and I never saw him get angry like this.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When my master was still alive, I even peed on his wine gourd and he didn’t blow up like this.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No!!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What on earth happened!!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Meanwhile, in Fengtian’s old district.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The altar was reset. Lu Yuan lit three sticks of incense and respectfully stuck them into the censer, once more inviting the ancestral master.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The thin azure smoke now rose straight up, without interruption.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After finishing, Lu Yuan turned and looked at the two great beauties waiting quietly in the cold wind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Aunt Qin, Aunt Qiao’er, you both should go back first.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I need to dispel this nurturing malevolence site tonight.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Having finished the ritual, Lu Yuan glanced at the two great aunts waiting nearby.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Look at how you’re dressed, and you still don’t mind the cold!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan eyed their upper bodies wrapped in luxurious fox-fur cloaks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Below, their plump, long, beautiful legs were dazzlingly pale in the night, as if they weren’t wearing pants at all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At Lu Yuan’s remark, the two women shot him a coquettish glare, but said nothing more.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were flirtatious, provocative, yet only around Lu Yuan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If Xu Erxiao, Wang Cheng’an, and Song Zonghu weren’t nearby, the two might immediately say a few lascivious, enticing things.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But with people present, they were respectable ladies from proper wealthy families and couldn’t actually act out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The two grande aunts only said in soft voices:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s so late, let’s come back tomorrow?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Aren’t you afraid someone will take it?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aunt Qin even raised a cunning jade hand with showy purple nail polish and pointed toward Song Zonghu not far off.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Let my brother send someone to watch it, don’t let anyone in, that’s all.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Rest tonight, come back tomorrow.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Song Zonghu beside them: “…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Something about these words felt odd…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan shook his head and said:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Tomorrow has its own matters. Today’s matters should be handled today. It won’t take long, at most a little over an hour. No need to go back and forth.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he spoke, Lu Yuan looked in the direction Aunt Qin had pointed, toward Song Zonghu.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In all the time he’d known Aunt Qin, this was the first time seeing her brother; he’d only heard about him from his sister’s stories before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The middle-aged man now looked awkward, standing by the military truck and forcing a smile toward Lu Yuan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If Lu Yuan were honest, he felt awkward too.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His relationship with Aunt Qin could be considered set in stone!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There’s no escape!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan would absolutely not push this great aunt away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Surely Aunt Qin must have mentioned this to Song Zonghu a few times?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Who wouldn’t be embarrassed—Lu Yuan was only a little younger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But now wasn’t the time for such thoughts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan’s face turned unusually serious as he cupped his hands to Song Zonghu.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“By rights, this burden shouldn’t be yours to carry, but I really have an urgent matter now.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If your superiors blame you, could you cover for me for a little over a month? After the Celestial Master Grand Ceremony finishes, I’ll remember this favor for life.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing Lu Yuan, Song Zonghu blinked, then scratched his head awkwardly and grinned in a naive way:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“In Fengtian City… I don’t have many people above me…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Across the border, there are a few people, but they’re very busy. They wouldn’t bother me over a small issue like this.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You flatter me, Daoist. Back in midsummer, you saved my sister’s life; this is nothing.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan was a bit surprised at Song Zonghu’s words.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whoa~\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So capable?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan had never pried into Aunt Qin’s family situation; he only saw hints in her idle talk and actions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But how influential Aunt Qin’s family really was, Lu Yuan didn’t know.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, he never intended to latch onto Aunt Qin’s influence, so why ask?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As soon as Song Zonghu finished, Aunt Qin glared and snapped:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What do you mean by ‘nothing’?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That’s exactly it!!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If not for my obedient nephew, do you think you’d have come back from Heilongjiang to see me?!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes, yes, yes!” Song Zonghu nodded repeatedly under his sister’s pressure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So Daoist, please don’t be polite. This small matter is nothing!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then he hurried off like he was fleeing contagion:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Well, my regiment has urgent business. I’ll go first!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This squad of soldiers will stay to watch for you. After you finish, let them return to their unit!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before his words finished, Song Zonghu had opened the truck door, leapt in, started the engine, and drove off without looking back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Too damn awkward!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Run like hell.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, what really bothered Song Zonghu wasn’t the embarrassment so much as his sister’s behavior.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By the gods!!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At thirty-three years old, he’d never seen that tigress act like this before!!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And what kind of noisy display was that she made just now?!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That affected, contrived tone—was that really his sister?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When she used the feather-duster to swing at him as a child, she never did it this way!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thinking about how his sister spoke to Lu Yuan just now made Song Zonghu shiver.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Goosebumps rose all over.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Damn!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So disgusting!!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Song Zonghu thought Lu Yuan was a great man, able to endure even his sister’s act without retching…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Anyway, Song Zonghu felt that staying another second would make him vomit from his sister’s antics.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Song Zonghu left, leaving only a squad of soldiers carrying outdated rifles and the two seductive grande aunts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan watched the truck disappear around the corner and blinked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That guy ran so fast; what about these two aunts?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But then he thought: this is Fengtian City, not an empty stretch—plenty of transport to get home.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He turned to the two grande aunts and urged:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Don’t just stand here, head back quickly—you look frozen.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their long, fair, plump legs had already started to tremble since alighting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the two answered stubbornly:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No way. Either you immediately come home with us, or we’ll start a fire nearby and wait for you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You said it would only take an hour, right? We’ll just wait!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If we go home, we won’t be able to sit still anyway—it’ll be worse!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing their insistence, Lu Yuan decided: fine!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He’d be quick.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had already scanned the site with the system Vanquish Demons and Exorcise Evil and found no powerful evil spirit. Speed it up!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan picked up his wooden sword again and looked at Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng’an, who were already prepared.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Let’s go!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Begin!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The blue cloth curtain into the opera troupe’s backstage hung heavy as if soaked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan lifted one corner.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The fabric made no ordinary rustling sound.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The noise was fine and viscous, sinking into the ear and turning into countless hushed whispers pressed against a face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beyond the curtain lay a corridor that seemed bottomless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The faint light at the entrance only lit three steps underfoot.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A musty odor hit them first.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>First, a heavy mildew smell from layers of accumulated dust and damp.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then a sour, stale cosmetic scent invaded the nose—not fresh osmanthus oil, but expired rouge mixed with sweat’s grease.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Finally, a faint iron-tinged fishy stench, thin but rude, stabbed up to the crown of the head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Both sides of the corridor were nailed with dense wooden racks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hanging on them were all kinds of stage costumes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the left, dan-role garments: plain pleated blue gowns, colorful hua-dan jackets and pants, the soft props of knife-and-horse dan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the right, sheng-role garments: martial sheng’s stiff chest piece and embroidered dragon robe, old sheng’s official robes, young sheng’s literary pleats.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Each costume was propped just so, water sleeves drooped, hems slightly flared, armor plates reflecting cold glints in the darkness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But their postures were too creepy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A crimson dragon robe’s left sleeve was slightly raised, frozen in a “hand-adjusting-sash” pose.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A water-sleeve’s fingertip curled as if holding an orchid-finger gesture.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A martial sheng’s four-rod banner was lifted back as if just finishing a turn, about to win thunderous applause.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Weapons on the floor added more menace.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A wooden “Green Dragon Crescent Blade” leaned against the wall, its blade piercing a dan-role face mask.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The mask was Yang Guifei’s heavy makeup; gold powder at the brow had flaked off. The blade entered through the right eye and exited the back of the head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two riding whips were tightly entangled in a sailor’s knot, the red tassels matted into a tangled mess.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the corridor’s end leaned a waist-high pearwood-framed bronze mirror.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The frame carved entwined peonies, but the mirror surface was split from top to bottom by a jagged serrated crack.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The gap’s widest place could fit a finger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The crack’s edges were dark red, like dried blood crusts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On closer look, viscous liquid slowly seeped from the fissure, trickling down the mirror face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Erxiao stepped forward and lightly touched a floral dan cape nearest him with the peach-wood Yin-probing Ruler.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the ruler’s twenty-four solar term scale, “Jingzhe,” “Bailu,” and “Shuangjiang” all glowed a ghostly green.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“There are three different ‘stage souls’ attached to this costume.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan’s pupils contracted. He didn’t touch the garments but scanned the costumes of varied postures.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Jingzhe is the nervousness of a debut,” he said. “Bailu is the loneliness of peak fame. Shuangjiang… is the sorrow of the final curtain.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His voice cooled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The Wang family’s thoughts are poisonous!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“They didn’t just raise a primary malevolence; they trapped the lingering grudges of performers who once played tragedies here, those who suffered humiliation, even those who died horribly, into these costumes with secret techniques.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Making those lonely ghosts and wandering spirits forever play supporting roles for that primary malevolence!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan stepped to the cracked bronze mirror and stood sideways, avoiding direct gaze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In their line, cracked mirrors hook souls.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He produced a small porcelain bottle, popped the cork, and tilted it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A scarlet viscous liquid trickled slowly. It was a dispelling-puncture potion made from three-year rooster comb blood mixed with cinnabar and mugwort juice from the Dragon Boat noon, a concoction to break malevolence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The blood-red fluid slid along the mirror frame’s peony carving, and at the fissure an abnormal phenomenon occurred.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Against expectation, the liquid didn’t run down the mirror. An invisible force drew it into the crack, vanishing without a trace.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the same time the mirror emitted a faint sigh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sound was half-cry, half-laugh, the tail dragged out long and then blurred into a snatch of theatre verse:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…living in this world… is like a spring dream…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan: “?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like what?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The mirror links yin and yang. Once this mirror cracked, it became a breach between the two realms.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He stepped back one pace. His sleeve had unknowingly absorbed the mirror’s leaking yin energy; a thin frost had condensed on its fabric.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The main entity should be in the stage’s interlayer.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan turned to the center of the stage and said in a low voice, “Wang Cheng’an, find the mechanism.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The three split up to investigate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The narrow backstage was full of rotting costume trunks, broken dressing tables, and shattered paint jars.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Erxiao checked the ground, Wang Cheng’an tapped walls, and Lu Yuan watched the beams and columns.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fifteen minutes later, Xu Erxiao squatted at the “Nine-Dragon Mouth” in the stage center.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the pear-garden argot, this was the protagonist’s entrance center point.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He tapped the floor with the Yin-probing Ruler; the echo was hollow and dull, different from anywhere else.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Below was hollow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Prying the floor took effort.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The boards were sealed with a sticky black substance. Wang Cheng’an used a bronze dagger to carefully scrape it away; the iron-rust stench instantly intensified severalfold.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The moment the board was lifted, a rush of yin wind exploded from below!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The wind carried a sweet, cloying blood smell mixed with old silk and camphor’s rotten scent, making one almost vomit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The interlayer space was narrow, only enough for a person to lie flat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Inside lay a stage costume, still and quiet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Its scarlet base embroidered with gold thread forming a spreading phoenix—officially a Guifei robe, but far more extravagant than any ordinary robe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Three inches above the robe hung a palm-sized rhombus mirror.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The mirror faced down, aligned with the darkest spot of the bloodstain on the chest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Strangely, the mirror reflected not the robe but a blurred female side profile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She faced the mirror, combing, slowly smoothing waist-length hair with a wooden comb, stroke after stroke.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Blood robe locks the soul, mirror image nurtures malevolence.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan’s eyes sharpened. He declared:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This is Mirror-Cloth Twin Malevolence.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The robe carries the resentment lodged in the flesh; the mirror gathers the soul’s fixation.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Breaking one will cause the other to instantly go berserk. To thoroughly resolve it, both must be dealt with simultaneously.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He paused and scanned Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng’an.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Also, we need a ‘trigger.’”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We need someone to draw that thing out of the mirror and robe, to temporarily separate them.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the hour of the rat, everything.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The moon hid behind cloud.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chunhua Garden, inside and out, had no light, plunged into heavy blackness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the dead silence of the theater, not a single insect chirped.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan had changed into his outfit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A plain white arrowed robe, crisp and upright.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No makeup marked his face, only a dot of cinnabar at the brow, a blood-red point.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was a simplified rite to open the heavenly eye and also a beacon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the dark, it would tell that thing he was present.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan wasn’t a stage singer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As a kid he never lingered over the blathering channels on TV.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But after crossing over and traveling with the old man through wild places, whenever they encountered a small troupe, the old man watched with great interest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan accompanied him and gradually got into it too.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, there wasn’t much else to do these days.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He didn’t look back and stepped onto the stage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nine oil lamps on both sides of the stage had long since been lit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The oil was tung oil mixed with rosin and mugwort dust; the flames burned steady and clear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In this windless night, nine tongues of flame shot straight up, lighting the stage brightly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At center stage stood an old incense table.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On it was a palm-high wooden statue of the pear-garden ancestor Tang Minghuang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In front of the statue were three offerings:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A fresh peach, to ward off evil.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Three pieces of cake, offerings to the spirit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A bowl of water, to purify the stage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Strike the gong.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan nodded at Xu Erxiao by the side.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Erxiao flicked his wrist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Dong—!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The first gong stroke rang, a clear metallic tone exploding in the empty yard, the aftersound dragging and lingering.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Dong—!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The second stroke.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan walked slowly to the stage center, bowed to the empty audience seats and to that presence in the unseen, cupped his hands and made a deep bow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He recited the lines aloud, each word distinct.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Past makeup and paint, today’s cause and effect.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“When the song begins, grievances are told.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“All the lamps and candles in the hall shine for you,”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“When this segment ends, you shall cross the underworld river!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The moment the last syllable fell, the nine lamp flames on stage surged upward by half a foot!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The fire’s color shifted from warm yellow to a cold, ghostly cyan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From backstage, the corridor sealed by nets emitted a clear female sob.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That cry had been suppressed for decades, so bitter it had become thick as ink, finally finding a crack to vent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan began.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His voice was not smooth, slightly raw, but each word came steady as if bearing a weight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The island moon first turns and soars,”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“See the jade rabbit, the jade rabbit early rises…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was the classic intro to The Drunken Concubine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When he sang “the moon first turns and soars,” the backstage sobbing stopped.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When he sang “that moon leaves the island,” the air between the stage beams began to warp and congeal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A pale blue female phantasm slowly formed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She wore the full Guifei costume, hair ornaments, crimson dragon robe, cloud shoulders, jade belt, her figure voluptuous.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her face was blurred, except for a pair of eyes startlingly clear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those eyes brimmed with decades-steeped obsession and hatred.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She was the dan who died here years ago—Xiao Xiangyu.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She floated midair, staring dreamily at Lu Yuan on stage, her fingers subconsciously marking the rhythm with light taps.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan continued; his timbre shifted into the “drunken” segment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xiao Xiangyu’s phantasm shuddered violently.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two thick lines of blood tears slipped from her eye sockets.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was no illusion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Blood-tears hit the wooden stage with soft “tap, tap” sounds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Each drop burned a thumb-sized char mark into the board, thin curls of azure smoke rising.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sudden abnormality!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the audience seats below, spots that had once been dilapidated were now filled with dense phantoms.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The front row wore long robes and buttoned jackets with melon hats.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The middle row were short-uniformed petty vendors.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The rear even included a few old-style uniformed soldiers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All were “opera-fan lonely ghosts” attracted long-term by the site’s malevolent energy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now they lifted their heads in unison, eyes glowing an eerie green, swaying rhythmically to Lu Yuan’s lines in rapt fascination.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some clapped empty hands.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some opened black hollows for silent cheers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A few greedily stretched necks, sniffing at the azure smoke rising from the blood-tear burns.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Erxiao pounded the pacifying wood block.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Dong! Dong! Dong!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Three muffled thuds, like rolling thunder, made the phantoms’ forms warp as if reflection on water struck by stones.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But in just three breaths, the phantoms reformed, even more numerous.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They crawled from seat seams, clambered onto aisles, clung to windowsills.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan’s heart sank; he had to speed up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He sang the core “lying-fish” move.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This is the full-play climax of The Drunken Concubine: the concubine bends to smell the flower, posture at the height of seductiveness and sorrow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was Xiao Xiangyu’s signature move—the final action she rehearsed when murdered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the instant Lu Yuan bent, Xiao Xiangyu’s phantasm suddenly fell!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No sound, no flash.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She silently attached to Lu Yuan’s back like a feather, her translucent form overlapping his.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bone-deep cold shot through Lu Yuan!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every pore tightened, limbs froze and numbed instantly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Countless voices exploded in his ears—men and women, old and young, wailing and crying.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The clearest was a young woman’s whisper, full of endless venom and sorrow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yang Yuhuan… your life is so bitter…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Your Majesty… Third Lord… why do you not come…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That cup of poisoned wine… so hot… so hot! My throat… burns through…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The mirror… why am I still smiling in the mirror…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The robe is so heavy… the blood soaks through… the gold thread digs into my flesh…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The malevolent echoes resonated!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were using Lu Yuan’s voice, body, and senses to relive the old hatred of being tortured and slaughtered!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan gritted his teeth. His tongue tasted of rust.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>True Qi in his body surged; a scorching warm current rose from his dantian to fiercely protect the last sliver of clarity in his heart vein and spirit platform.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He held the lying-fish posture and sang the final lines.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His voice was hoarse now, which made the sorrow sound even deeper.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Life in this world is like a spring dream…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Let us open our hearts and drink a few cups…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the trembling final note fell, Xiao Xiangyu’s phantasm floated off him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She stood on the stage, blood-tears ceased, and the thick ink-like hatred in her eyes finally softened a bit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She looked around dazed, as if waking from a nightmare spanning decades, not knowing the day or place.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Cheng’an moved from the audience!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Lu Yuan sang the last line, he had slipped into the stage interlayer like a civet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wearing special gold-thread gloves layered with gold leaf, cinnabar, and realgar in the palms, he grabbed the blood-stained Guifei robe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The moment it left the floor, the robe writhed like a living thing!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Cheng’an’s veins burst, he clutched it tight, reciting cleansing incantations; the robe’s thrashing eased a little.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the same time, Xu Erxiao acted!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He tore off the thick velvet soaked in three-year rooster blood for seven days and nights and sun-dried forty-nine high-noon times.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like a starving tiger pouncing, he wrapped the cracked bronze mirror completely with the cloth!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Wuu—!!!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A shriek burst from the mirror, ear-piercing—the sound of a thousand glass shards shattering!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Black, bloody stench gushed from the mirror’s crack, instantly soaking the velvet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The yang energy on the rooster-blood cloth battled the mirror’s yin malevolence with fierce clashes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A barrage of “popping” explosions locked all filth inside the cloth without a drop leaking!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan stepped down fast, his stride unsteady; aftereffects of malevolence possession made him shiver.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He took the still-quivering blood robe from Wang Cheng’an and moved to the courtyard center.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There stood an incense firewood arranged in a proper eight-trigram “Li” formation, the fire position facing south.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He spread the robe flat on the wood pile; its scarlet was painfully vivid in the night.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From his chest he took a brand-new small round bronze mirror, its back engraved with the ancient seal script for “Break Illusions Return to Truth.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Holding the mirror in his left hand toward the robe, his right hand lit a fire tinder.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Old dusted clothes of the mortal world, be purified by karmic fire.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His voice was low but crystal clear in the silent night.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Mirror flowers and watery moons, all return to empty clarity.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He dropped the tinder.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Burn!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Boom—!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Flames surged skyward!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The blood robe writhed like a dying snake in the flames, spewing two clots of viscous black vapor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The black vapor stretched and twisted into two lamenting phoenix shapes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the golden tally runes rising in the fire wrapped them tightly, dragging them back into the flames and consuming them!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the blood burned it hissed oddly; smoke coalesced in the air into a fuzzy Peking opera face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yang Guifei’s drunk makeup, cheek rouge vivid as blood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By the fire, the new bronze mirror in Lu Yuan’s hand changed its scene.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>First shown were the dancing flames.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then the flames cleared to reveal, in the mirror, a young woman with an ancient coiffure and delicate features.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She wore a plain pale-blue robe rather than the ornate Guifei gown.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her face had no heavy makeup—only clean brows and eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She looked at Lu Yuan with a faint smile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In that smile were release, gratitude, and a touch of bashfulness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She smoothed her robe, bowed in a standard ten-thousand-reverence salute.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the bow she straightened and gradually faded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The mirror returned to normal, reflecting only the dancing fire and Lu Yuan’s somewhat pale face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On stage, Xiao Xiangyu’s phantasm had nearly become transparent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like dew in morning light, she was fragile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She took a last look at the theater that had trapped her for decades—the peeling pillars, the faded embroidered curtains, the empty seats.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then she turned toward the sunrise direction and slightly nodded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her form broke into countless blue light specks, as fine as dust, bright as stars.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They drifted on the night breeze, thinning until they dissolved into the black sky with no trace left.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The audience phantoms rose.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The melon-hatted elder bowed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The short-clothed handyman clasped his fists in salute.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The uniformed ruffian awkwardly gave a military salute.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One by one their forms faded into pale ink washes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The last to vanish was a little child with a top-knot braids in the front row.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He even turned back and waved hard at the now-empty stage before hopping and disappearing into the dark.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The seating returned to empty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only the broken chairs creaked softly in the night wind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Phew~\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Having finished it all, Lu Yuan couldn’t help but let out a long ragged breath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Finally done.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He rubbed his waist—singing that long drama had twisted it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He glanced at Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng’an, who were already tidying things up, and felt pleased.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These two were getting more competent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Soon they’d be able to lead a team on their own.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan then pulled an old brass pocket watch from his pocket and opened it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Holy crap!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was already two in the morning!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those two grande aunts—wouldn’t they have frozen into popsicles out there?!\u003C\u002Fp>",4312,"2026-06-06T14:45:54.833Z",1,"novelbin.me","b572b1f35389468c5528ed70c0bfd091cc5ff7ea5138b62dc78e5abfb1aa8d7e","the-invincible-female-ghost-is-a-bit-of-a-hopele-chapter-79","the-invincible-female-ghost-is-a-bit-of-a-hopele-chapter-77",241,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-invincible-female-ghost-is-a-bit-of-a-hopele-cover.jpg"]