Chapter 299: Traces of the Night Watchman

The cultivators were all sending off the funeral on the mountain, and there were only eight guards standing on the mountain ridge at the foot of the mountain monitoring the people kneeling and worshipping.

But as a burst of energy suddenly rushed out in the night, those eight disciples went dark in front of their eyes and crawled on the ground.

At this time, Ji You landed in a dark corner in front of the stage and looked at the high stage.

The painted face on the stage had completed the opening appearance, then picked up the bundle on the table, and at the same time, there was a leisurely singing voice.

"The heart is like iron when dressing up in the dark room—"

"Tighten the clothes, tie the luggage, grind the long sword like frost!"

"This body has long promised the wish of the common people, cultivating to become an immortal—"

The martial painted face tightened the long sword and turned around: "Protect the four directions!"

At this time, an old student went on stage, walked a few steps, lifted his hem and raised it: "Junior brother, wait!"

"Senior brother, junior brother's heart is decided, don't miss me after this trip."

"Cats and dogs under the same eaves still have worries, not to mention the same sect for several years!"

The martial painted face pointed to the stage: "The ghost fire in the human world is brilliant at night, the immortals close their eyes and pretend to be deaf and blind! I would rather be a sword that suppresses evil in the wild grave than learn from the wooden carved beams of the golden palace!"

The old student's hands trembled: "This trip... thousands of mountains and monsters, junior brother."

Under the high stage, Ji You stood sideways, listening to the chanting of a singing segment, his eyes surging with faint gold...

The play of the Lang family is called "Lang Family Ancestor Saves the World," and it is said that it will be sung for nine big nights, starting from dusk every day until the rooster crows at the hour of the rabbit.

The daytime is left for the opera troupe to rest, and the common people can also return to farming, and come here to kneel before dusk.

The first night's play is called "Resigning from the Mountain," telling the story of Lang Kun who cultivated successfully in his early years, saw the suffering of the world, went down the mountain to protect the four directions, waved his sleeves to bring rain when seeing drought, and moved mountains with his arms when seeing floods.

At dawn, the singing of "Resigning from the Mountain and Wandering" reached the last scene, and the artists on the stage began to leave the stage one after another.

Under the temporarily built shed, the young troupe leader walked out, bowed his hands to the pillars of the troupe, and said hard work.

He stared at half of the scene the night before and confirmed that everything was going well before going to sleep for two hours. At this time, with the fatigue that had not completely dissipated, he sent the artists away and began to direct the miscellaneous lines under his hands to come to the front of the stage to change the scenery.

Yesterday, "Resigning from the Mountain" was sung, and the background was mountains, clouds, and mist. The next play was a town and lake.

Those scenes already had traces of being old, not like new ones, especially the "Lang" in "Lang Family Ancestor Saves the World" on the stage, which was also temporarily sewn with cloth with color differences.

Ji You could actually confirm it long ago, this was indeed an old play that had been sung countless times, not a play compiled for Lang Kun.

He went from north to south, changed his route to the west halfway, made a big circle, and listened to various forms of singing performances.

Shadow puppetry, big drums, Sanxian... The stories he heard were mostly similar to the Night Watchman's immortal slaying evil, receiving the kneeling and worship of the people, but this was the first time he heard someone singing about its origin.

Ji You knew that the repertoire of this opera troupe must know more things.

So he drifted away at dawn, found a quiet place to refine his body, and then returned to the stage at the foot of Wangyang Mountain at dusk.

The first night was "Resigning from the Mountain," the second night was "Wandering," and then it was "Saving the World," "Slaying Demons and Evils."

This play was originally used for the funeral of the Lang family ancestor and to be respected by the people, so the focus of the opera singing was still on praising merits.

Compared with the shadow puppetry, Sanxian, and big drum books he had heard before, there was not much difference, but Ji You still saw some different things.

For example, when the subsequent "Slaying Demons and Evils" began, many artists with blue faces and fangs were wearing black cloth.

Before the opening appearance, they all had to hold this piece of black cloth around the stage.

Ji You used to have insomnia every night, took a lot of sleeping pills, listened to the sleep-aid music of video websites, and also listened to crosstalk and storytelling.

He remembered a sentence in crosstalk and storytelling very clearly, called the storyteller's mouth, the opera singer's legs.

It means that the storyteller touches the upper and lower lips, which is 100,000 miles away, and the opera singer walks around the stage, which is traveling all over the world.

In Ji You's eyes, the black cloth represents the night, and the circle around the stage represents the night covering the world.

This has a high degree of similarity with the story told in the book "Night Watchman."

And his tsundere has a sentence, called if there are too many coincidences, then it must not be a coincidence.

"A bit unnecessary."

"This newly added character..."

On the night of the fifth day, Ji You saw another difference besides the night.

Still in the story of "Slaying Demons and Evils," a boy suddenly appeared beside the character similar to the Night Watchman.

The boy's appearance was very simple. He was saved by the Immortal of the Night Watch when he passed by a farm, and because he had no father or mother, he stayed by his side.

But the boy's singing lyrics were very few, basically eating, sleeping, etc., and didn't have much meaning, making Ji You feel that this character, who was specially arranged, seemed to be dispensable.

And in all the operas he had heard before, this little boy didn't exist, and even the night represented by the cloth was rare.

This may be because other operas also noticed that this character and setting were unnecessary when borrowing, so they removed them.

But Ji You knew that whether it was this boy or that piece of black cloth, there must be a reason for their existence in this opera.

Otherwise, these would not be left behind.

Among all performance forms of opera, it is the most troublesome, requiring makeup and practicing movements. Adding one more character will be much more troublesome, so there is naturally no need to leave it.

On the eighth day, the sky was clear.

The play sung last night was still a bridge similar to slaying evil ghosts in Old Man Zhao's shadow play. The Lang Kun in the story was simply like a savior, guarding the four directions with one sword.

Ji You listened to the end with patience, then went to find a place to refine his body, preparing to wait for this last scene.

For a big play that needs to be sung for several nights, the middle segment may be filled with impassioned bridges of slaying demons, but the last scene must explain something different.

However, when he returned from cultivation in the afternoon, he found that Wang Yue Mountain was a bit messy.

Looking from a distance, some small noble families who came to mourn were blocked outside the door, seemingly not allowed to enter.

Not waiting too long, countless cultivators flew out of Wang Yue Mountain in the distant sky, drifting in all directions with suspicion and confusion.

Looking up, they were densely packed across the sky, like ants moving house.

At the foot of the mountain, the common people had already come here to wait in fear. Seeing this scene, they immediately lay down, and the trembling boards conveyed fear and anxiety.

In fact, they had discovered it from the first night. The immortals who guarded them would fall asleep as soon as the play started.

So they were not really kneeling, but squatting, or sitting.

Because if they really knelt, they wouldn't need nine days, just one night, and they would kneel their legs off.

So when they saw the immortals flying from the mountain, they thought it was the behavior of "great disrespect" that had been discovered, and they were all waiting for death in anxiety.

But after waiting for a long time, they found that those immortals had left.

Ji You also looked at the huge immortal residence on Wang Yue Mountain at this time, and his eyebrows couldn't help but wrinkle slightly.

Because just now, he captured the breath of a technique blooming in the courtyard and disappearing quickly.

This is the big funeral of the Lang family ancestor. By reason, no one should move martial arts, and the mourning has not reached nine days, and these funeral senders left in a hurry, which also seems very strange.

Nine has always been a lucky number in the Qingyun world.

The human race is divided into nine states, and cultivation is divided into nine realms. Leaving on the eighth day seems to be a bit unreasonable.

However, Ji You was waiting to see the last scene, and seeing that the rested artists had gathered in front of the stage, he withdrew his gaze without paying too much attention.

"There are a few new characters..."

"Dressed seemingly very wealthy..."

Ji You looked at the side of the stage, his gaze fell on the characters he hadn't seen, and couldn't help but mutter to himself.

Because this play is to praise some merits that Lang Kun himself doesn't know for the common people, so except for Lang Kun who is wearing a hat, the characters who appear, except for demons, are the common people waiting to be saved.

The common people's dress is very simple, all gray clothes and gray pants.

But the dress of these characters today, at a glance, is not common people, which made Ji You feel that perhaps other character relationships would appear.

However, the play started, and a group of cultivators with solemn expressions suddenly came along the mountain from the mountain.

The young troupe leader of the opera troupe, the little flower dan who was just about to go on stage, and the old student who played many passerby roles were called over. After a few reprimands, the expressions of the three were full of panic, and they started calling people to pack up when they came back.

At the same time, the old student also took a few miscellaneous lines and hurried away. Half an hour later, he came back and pulled back four flatbed carts.

Immediately, the people in the opera troupe began to pack up in a hurry, one cart of costumes, one cart of props, two carts of people, packed until noon, intending to whip and leave.

Not singing anymore?

Ji You froze slightly, then walked toward the first carriage where the troupe leader was.

"Troupe leader."

"Ah, it's the young master. Mo has seen the young master?"

People in the opera troupe had actually noticed him long ago, knowing that he would listen to the play under the stage every day, and seeing his dress, they knew he was not an ordinary person, so their reply was humble.

Ji You looked at the residence on the mountain and said: "I have been listening to the play for these few days, and I see that you sing extremely well. Why is this last one not sung?"

The old troupe leader who heard the inquiry swallowed his saliva: "We don't know, it's just that they said we offended the heavenly power and let us pack up and leave quickly."

"Offended the heavenly power?" ===== CHAPTER 300 =====