A master of comedy!

"In the majestic palace, the demons of hell appear, and all wicked beings suffer torment. If you ask when Avici Hell will appear, it will be a time of tribulations and the clash of swords and knives."

"I am King Pingdeng of the Eighth Court. Today, the Seventh Court has brought in a ghost prisoner, who awaits interrogation by the Eighth Court!"

On the stage, the fifth performance has already taken place.

This scene tells the story of Liu Qingti after his death. Because he had committed numerous evil deeds in the mortal world, such as beating monks and cursing Taoists, he was tortured and interrogated by Yama in each of the six courts. After the sixth court, he was transferred to the seventh court, and after the seventh court, he was transferred to the eighth court.

This scene depicts the interrogation by the Eighth King, King Pingdeng.

Perhaps because Zhou Sheng and the others performed so well, the other Yin Opera performers gradually got into the zone and sang better and better, without making any mistakes.

As time passed, hope gradually appeared in everyone's eyes.

According to past practice, after performing for about seven shows, one can continue until dawn in the mortal world, at which point one can be considered to have successfully completed the apprenticeship.

Judging from this trend, it seems they all have a chance to survive this time.

Only Zhou Sheng, who appeared the calmest, was increasingly on edge.

In order to retaliate against Lu Pan, he had almost exhausted the energy of Luo Shu before finally calculating the opponent's weaknesses and flaws.

The price he pays is that he can now only passively wait for danger to strike, and can no longer prevent it in advance through divination.

Just as he was painting the face mask and pondering, the recitation on the stage suddenly stopped, followed by a scream.

When he looked back, the actor who played King Pingdeng had turned into a pile of minced meat.

The soul seemed to have been cut into millions of pieces by a sharp blade, wriggling slightly on the ground before finally dissipating into yin energy.

Blood was immediately splattered all over the stage.

It wasn't the young sorcerer, but a woman with countless blades stuck in her body.

Blood flowed continuously at her feet, almost forming a pool of blood.

"This is a demon that escaped from the hell of knives. It still carries the aura of metal and evil, and it is not easy to deal with."

Tan Sheng, who had been silent all along, watched this scene and suddenly spoke, his expression solemn.

In an instant, everyone understood where the problem lay.

Legend has it that the Eighth King of Peace governs the Hell of Knives and the Hell of Iron Trees, hence the line in the opera, "If you ask when Avici Hell will appear, it will be when the Hell of Knives and Iron Trees comes together."

The young sorcerer lacked skill and was discovered by his opponent, who realized he wasn't the real King of Equality. Enraged, the opponent tore him to pieces.

Killing one wasn't enough; she turned her angry gaze to the other performers on stage.

"Seventh Palace...the ghost criminal..."

The actor playing the demon, Wang Sheng, was tense under the scrutiny of those two eyes, and could barely speak.

His face was deathly pale, and beads of sweat kept dripping down his face.

As he sang, he suddenly found his voice hoarse and he couldn't speak. Looking down, he realized that a sharp blade was slowly slicing open his throat.

"So you were a fake too."

As the cold voice rang in his ears, Wang Sheng finally broke down completely, struggling to run backstage while casting a talisman.

"It's over!"

The others on stage couldn't help but look despair. In fact, Wang Sheng's previous throat-slitting was a hallucination, and the purpose was to scare him into revealing his weakness.

He plays the role of a great ghost under the throne of King Pingdeng in the underworld. How can he use Taoist talismans?

The appearance of this talisman undoubtedly signaled the complete failure of this underhanded scheme.

The talisman fire landed on the female ghost, but only dissipated a trace of yin energy before being soaked by the blood and losing its power.

The next moment, the enraged ghosts below the stage swarmed forward and tore all the ghost performers on the stage to pieces in just a few breaths.

The blood, formed from yin energy, even flowed onto the stage.

In the fifth scene, all four young Yin Opera masters vanished into thin air, dying on the stage where they were about to graduate.

Those backstage, witnessing this incredibly cruel scene, couldn't help but shudder. So this was the tribulation of completing one's apprenticeship.

Their previous successes had made them somewhat dismissive of this so-called Ghost Festival play, but now they finally understood why their master had said it was a perilous ordeal with a slim chance of survival.

After venting their anger, many of the ghosts prepared to leave the theater.

Drawn by the occult play, they now awaken as if from a dream and are eager to return to the human world.

"We can't let them leave."

Tan Sheng's expression turned extremely solemn. He said, "Right now, there are underworld spirits observing and recording things in the private room on the second floor. If we release too many ghosts, even if we survive until dawn, the judge will still punish us!"

"After enduring tortures like being burned alive, having their tongues pulled out and fried in oil, it's unlikely anyone would ever return to the human world!"

A sorcerer asked in a trembling voice, "If there are spirits of the underworld, why... don't they intervene and spare those evil spirits?"

He escaped from your hell, shouldn't you have a responsibility to capture him?
Tan Sheng shook his head and said, "The underworld is no longer the underworld it used to be. Instead of complaining, you should hurry up and get on stage!"

"You go ahead and do it, I... I wouldn't dare..."

Tan Sheng looked at Zhou Sheng, only to find that the other man was also looking at him.

"I'll go first."

"I'll follow."

Zhou Sheng nodded, then stepped forward and uttered four words.

"Amitabha!"

The voice was as loud as a bell, which startled all the ghosts who were about to leave, causing them to stop in their tracks.

“This humble monk, Mulian, has come here seeking scriptures for his mother. It is already night. I see a thatched hut ahead and decide to stay there for the night. So I continue on my way.”

Fortunately, Zhou Sheng had opened his tongue, and his recitation had an indescribable magic. As soon as he opened his mouth, the ghosts who had been out of character showed their infatuation again and quickly became immersed in it once more.

Next up was Tan Sheng, who played Wei Tuo. Although he was skilled in playing old men, he was also very good at martial arts. He wielded the vajra very well, which drew cheers.

The moment the two appeared, they forcefully drew the audience back to reality.

On the stage, Mulian knocked on the door asking for lodging, but the one who opened the door was a beautiful woman, who was actually Manjushri Bodhisattva in disguise, who came to test Mulian.

Yu Ruyi plays the beautiful woman, her eyes and brows exuding charm, yet she still retains a touch of dignity and grace, striking a perfect balance.

She was initially a little nervous, but under the guidance of Zhou Sheng and Tan Sheng, she quickly got into the zone.

A seemingly doomed charade was thus averted.

Just then, Zhou Sheng's pupils narrowed as he saw the curtain of a certain private room slowly lifted, revealing a beautiful figure shrouded in a blood-red divine glow.

Their eyes met, and the other person even seemed to wink at him.

The Night Wanderer has arrived.

A sense of foreboding suddenly arose in Zhou Sheng's heart. He had carefully observed the private rooms on the second floor before and was certain that no one had been in that room before.

The Night Wanderer just arrived.

Baozi said that he loves listening to opera and has never missed the Ghost Festival operas every year, so why is he so late this time?

"This woman's acting is terrible. She's so reserved; how could she possibly seduce Mulian?"

"Such a handsome young man, before you die, let me enjoy him first..."

Inside the private room, Night Wanderer licked his red lips, his eyes shining.

The next moment, an invisible gust of wind blew by, and Yu Ruyi on the stage suddenly froze, her eyes showing a momentary struggle before turning into a seductive charm that could captivate the soul.

The last trace of dignity between her brows had completely vanished.

...(End of this chapter)