Chapter 328

These eight female corpses are merely the vanguard; there is still a large force behind them.

Chen Ping's fundamental purpose is to force me to actively break the pawnshop's pawn rules!

Why does he do this?

Could it be… could it be that Chen Ping also has something that was dead-pawned into the pawnshop?

While I was pondering, there was suddenly movement in the front courtyard.

A gust of Yīnfēng came from nowhere, rising from the front courtyard, its howling wind sounding like ghostly wails!

No, that is a ghostly wail!

Fu Wan and the others immediately rushed to the front courtyard; the ghostly wail was suppressed for an instant, then suddenly erupted—not just in the front courtyard, but throughout the underground of the pawnshop, as if hundreds of people were howling and wailing together.

I closed my eyes; it seems I guessed correctly.

They are forcing me, testing again and again, until I can no longer withstand it and break the pawnshop's pawn rules.

Once the rule is broken, the Pawn Ticket shackle suppressing them loses its effect, and they can see the light of day again!

How could I let them have their way?

I immediately made a decision, taking the Soul-guiding Lamp and intending to rush to the front courtyard.

The female corpses have grievances, and the resentful spirits suppressed in the front courtyard's Bagua well likewise have grievances.

Having grievances, having obsessions—then it's easy to handle.

What I need to do is to lure the female corpses into the pawnshop… provided they dare to enter.

I want to gather them together with the resentful spirits suppressed under the Bagua well, activate the third chapter of the ancient witchcraft Dream Weaving, and magnify the nightmares.

This is a grand gamble.

I bet that my recent Xiūwéi is sufficient to sustain such a grand Dream Weaving witchcraft, and I bet my body can withstand the collision of two inner elixirs.

As long as I can hold on until three o'clock in the morning…

But before I could take that step, in the silent night, a mournfully beautiful opera melody suddenly came.

That opera melody burst out abruptly; listening closely, it came from the direction of Wufu Town's assembly hall.

To be precise, it came from the loudspeakers in the assembly hall.

During the day I heard the townsfolk discussing that the assembly hall's opera stage had already been erected.

Even if the loudspeakers inside were all installed together, the sound would not be this loud or this penetrating.

Someone used special power to amplify the loudspeaker's sound, transmitting this opera melody outward.

"The cold day is desolate, the mournful wind returns; wearing shackles, I ascend the execution platform—fifty years have been like a dream… Upon reaching the Yellow Springs I can close my eyes in peace, but I wish my bones were buried here…"

This female-voice opera melody echoed throughout the sky above Wufu Town, at times sorrowful, at times resonant, at times sobbing…

I love listening to opera, but having heard only a limited repertoire, I don't know which piece she is singing.

But I know, this is Mei Lin Shuang's opera voice!

At the instant the opera voice sounded, the front courtyard fell silent.

The gigantic flesh-and-blood monster on the street trembled, then a pile of flesh clattered down, soon spreading into a heap.

I don't know if it's my imagination, but I even felt that pile of flesh trembling slightly when the opera voice reached the tragic passage.

It is afraid!

What is it afraid of? This is crucial!

If we know what it fears, we will no longer need to fear facing it in the future.

As the opera voice continued, an even more bizarre scene appeared.

Initially, several female corpses that had collapsed from exhaustion on the ground suddenly rose to their feet; the female corpses that had already entered the pawnshop also remained motionless.

Immediately afterward, I saw from behind them, sheet after sheet of human skin slowly swelling up.

The human skin gradually wrapped from the back of their heads, as if intending to devour them entirely.

I was so startled that I could not think at all.

Fu Wan somehow returned to my side at some point; she whispered, "This is Mei Lin Shuang's singing voice; I recall she was a performer in the opera troupe, and the piece she sings is titled 'Wei Kanfu'."

My throat tightened; I swallowed before asking, "Wei Kanfu? What does it sing about?"

Fu Wan said: "Wei Kanfu was the magistrate of Wuping County; during his term he was diligent and loved the people, just and incorruptible, leading villagers to survive multiple plagues and natural disasters, but ultimately, due to villains' slander and false accusations, he was sentenced to the flaying punishment. After his death, the people spontaneously petitioned for his vindication, eventually achieving redress; the court posthumously honored him as a Grand Master of Splendid Happiness and recommended him as the Earth God, and there should still be a Temple of Lord Wei in this area."

I understand.

Wei Kanfu died wrongfully, sentenced to flaying; this is the same manner of death as many people in Wufu Town back then, including that pool of flesh outside and the resentful spirits in the pawnshop's front courtyard Bagua well.

Mei Lin Shuang, at this moment, singing "Wei Kanfu," directly places their cause of death before them.

What do ghosts fear the most?

It is the instrument that killed them at their final moment, i. e., their cause of death!

Therefore, they fear Mei Lin Shuang's opera voice, fearing her singing of "Wei Kanfu."

And what are those eight sheets of human skin that attempted to devour the eight female corpses?

They are the eight sheets of human skin laid in the eight red coffins!

If I had not escaped that calamity back then, I would have been nailed to death inside the ninth red coffin!

And the human skin lining that ninth red coffin is Mei Lin Shuang herself!

Therefore, for those eight sheets of human skin, Mei Lin Shuang is of the same kind; she is seeking redress for them!

This is why, when the town magistrate intended to bury Mei Lin Shuang's coffin beneath the opera stage to set up a formation, Mei Lin Shuang did not resist nor come to me for help.

She knew this day would come; she had long been prepared.

The opera voice continued; the eight female corpses and that heap of flesh, as if summoned, swiftly retreated toward the Zhu Pan River.

We rushed out; upon reaching the gate, we saw Zhao Zixun riding a warhorse at Xijiekou.

It turns out Zhao Zixun had also come just now.

Zhao Zixun kept an eye on the pawn shop's developments; any slight disturbance here, he would not stand by idly.

I and Li Qingying subconsciously turned our heads to look at Fu Wan beside us, and discovered she didn't know why she had her head lowered, a strange shy blush on her cheek.

Fu Wan loves Zhao Zixun, the kind of deep love that risks one's life.

But her current state is obviously not the sign of heavy damage from deep love; on the contrary, it resembles... like a girl experiencing first love, having met a boy she likes... like a secret crush.

The sound of horse hooves gradually faded away.

Zhao Zixun did not step forward to chat, did not proactively reveal himself to Fu Wan, but after confirming we were unharmed, he decisively left.

We waited until Zhao Zixun and the war horse disappeared into the night, then we heard Fu Wan say somewhat coquettishly: 'This person is really weird, always staring at me.'

I and Li Qingying wore looks of utter disbelief.

This person?

Fu Wan doesn't know Zhao Zixun anymore?

What's going on?

Li Qingying tentatively asked: 'Wanwan, you... that man just now, you don't remember him?'

Fu Wan wondered: 'I don't know him; last time outside the tea house by the stage, he secretly watched me for a long time from afar; when I noticed him, he rode his horse away again, acting all mysterious.'

Er...

Fu Wan actually really doesn't remember Zhao Zixun.

Li Qingying scratched his head tactically.

I cautiously asked: 'Wanwan, then what do you think of General Zhao? Handsome or not?'

Fu Wan's face turned red again...