Chapter 61: Meeting in the Ancient City

At this moment of extreme peril, Xiaoyao and I grabbed a large stone from nearby almost simultaneously. Careless of everything else, we smashed them down fiercely toward the head of the cocoon-man lunging right at us.

From left and right, the two stones struck like heavy hammers directly against his temples!

Had the target been an ordinary human being, he would have collapsed on the spot, if not had his brains splattered across the ground.

Yet, with a sharp "crack," it sounded as though we had struck a block of solid iron. The stones in our hands shattered into pieces and scattered everywhere, while the cocoon-man remained completely unharmed. Only a multitude of thumb-sized cocoons were crushed, releasing numerous black, writhing silkworms from within that fell like a torrential downpour with a series of squishing sounds.

Silkworms covered us from head to toe.

It was repulsive to the absolute limit.

The two of us immediately scrambled to our feet, intending to flee. However, after being struck, the creature merely paused for a fraction of a second before becoming utterly infuriated. A strange gurgling sound emanated from its belly as it moved with the speed of lightning, its hands aggressively grabbing the back of our necks.

In that instant, my neck felt as though it had been clamped in a vice weighing thousands of pounds, and I estimated my cervical vertebrae would be snapped in under a second.

"Clack!"

The sound of a wooden gavel striking a table suddenly rang out!

"The Green Dragon Crescent Blade! Slung across the saddle bridge! In those past years, brothers, separated in Xuzhou, meeting again in distress at Tushan..."

As the singing voice rose.

The hands of the cocoon-man, which were about to crush our necks, abruptly loosened.

Xiaoyao and I collapsed to the ground together.

Turning my head to look, I saw Fatty Dong clutching a stone as a clapper, actually opening his mouth to sing an opera.

Lyrics from *The Meeting at the Ancient City*!

His vocal tone was archaic, his posture practiced, and his hand gestures forceful. Standing beside the black stone coffin, every movement and posture was the spitting image of an old male lead on a Peking Opera stage.

The bizarre part was that upon hearing the singing, the cocoon-man's body froze as if hit by an immobilization spell. He stood in place, dazed and eerie, and surprisingly made no further move to attack us.

A sudden realization dawned on me.

Although Fatty Dong was singing Peking Opera, the rhythm was exceedingly strange, with certain syllables deliberately twisted into grating, piercing inflections.

This was a ghost opera!

When the old generation of opera troupes traveled to the countryside to perform, since commoners had to toil during the day, most performances were held at night.

It was said that besides living humans, nearby malevolent entities would also come to listen to the opera. Therefore, even if there was no one left in the audience, the troupe members had to finish the performance, fearing they would displease those unseen and intangible spectators.

To prevent ghost fans who were unsatisfied with the performance from sneaking backstage after the show to ask opera actors for autographs and chats, members of the troupe would always have one or two practiced ghost operas up their sleeves. Once they sensed something amiss, they would sing it out loudly to drive away and deter the adversary.

In other words, although Fatty Dong no longer had his erhu, he used his voice to sing instead, saving us at a critical juncture.

However, this ghost opera was obviously not as tyrannical as the erhu; it merely had the effect of stunning the opponent, failing to make the cocoon-man fear and flee. Moreover, judging by the creature's demeanor, it would not take long for it to develop immunity to this trick.

While singing at the top of his lungs, Fatty Dong frantically waved his hands at us.

His meaning was clear: we should ignore him and run away quickly.

Xiaoyao and I could certainly run, but what about this fellow?

Though he sang fluently, his legs were trembling incessantly, and he had pissed his pants.

"...You guys run quickly, and remember to burn more paper money for the Daoist master during Qingming..."

Fatty Dong sang a message to us in the style of Peking Opera.

This must have been his final testament!

Yet, the moment he changed his lyrics, the cocoon-man instantly perceived the anomaly and violently jerked his head around.

Seeing this, Fatty Dong's chubby face trembled in stark terror, and with a sob in his voice, he immediately resumed singing the proper lyrics.

"Damn your mother! I now hear that my eldest brother has gone over to Yuan Shao..."

We could not let him wait here to die here!

The two of us leaped forward, each grabbing an arm, and dragged Fatty Dong backward as we fled.

"Sing while you walk!"

I shouted at him at the top of my lungs.

The three of us had barely run a few paces forward.

Fatty Dong's voice suddenly cut off.

Glancing back, I saw the cocoon-man instantly regain clarity and shake his head.

Every hair on my body stood on end.

"Keep singing!"

"I fucking forgot the lyrics!"

"..."

Before our exchange could even finish.

The cocoon-man descended upon us from behind with the speed of a howling gale.

As I prepared to run, I had already snatched up a Luoyang spade, swept it backward horizontally, and lashed out fiercely at the adversary.

"Crack!"

Not only did I fail to strike him, but the shaft of the spade was actually broken by the cocoon-man!

Fortunately, this strike diverted a major portion of the creature's momentum onto the Luoyang spade.

Otherwise, our bodies would have been pierced right through by his blow a moment ago!

The three of us were swept by the spinning spade shaft, and amid a few miserable cries, we tumbled off the high platform, crashed hard against the low hill behind, and finally hit the ground.

Every bone and joint in our bodies felt shattered.

We were completely unable to move.

The cocoon-man leaped down.

"Sealing the seal and bestowing gold, bidding farewell at the Baling Bridge, passing five passes and beheading six generals, heading straight for the Yellow River road..."

Xiaoyao had started singing!

As a practitioner of the colorful arts, it was only natural that she knew the lyrics to *The Meeting at the Ancient City*.

It was a pity that although Xiaoyao had tried her utmost to imitate Fatty Dong's vocal style, it bore only a slight resemblance and could not exert any deterrent effect on the cocoon-man.

Fortunately, as soon as the words left Xiaoyao's mouth, Fatty Dong instantly remembered the lines. Disregarding the blood welling from his mouth, he stubbornly resumed roaring the song.

The adversary paused slightly once more.

Xiaoyao and I hoisted Fatty Dong, who was the most severely injured, and fled in panic along the base of the low hill, regardless of direction.

We had run only a dozen meters or so when I noticed that right in the corner of the low hill facing the high platform, there was actually a half-man-sized cave entrance, complete with a half-open bronze door.

Seeing that the creature was no longer constrained by the ghost opera at all and was pursuing us frantically, we no longer cared whether there were traps or mechanisms inside; the three of us dove straight in.

This was a cave that was half-artificial and half-natural.

"Little Meng, I can't go on, you guys go..." Fatty Dong vomited a large mouthful of blood, clutching his chest as he slumped limply onto the ground. "Daoist master... may have brought you a bit of bad luck, but when it comes to loyalty, I've never fallen short!"

He tried to struggle up from the ground, preparing to block the cave entrance for us.

Xiaoyao and I pulled desperately at Fatty Dong.

"Everyone dies sooner or later! What the hell are you rushing for?!"

"Brother Dong! Hold on!"

Yet we simply could not budge him.

The cocoon-man had already followed us inside!

At this moment of despair.

A sharp, youthful cry suddenly echoed from the top of the cave.

A figure leaped down from above, knees bent, and crashed down fiercely onto the shoulders of the cocoon-man, who was blindly charging forward.

"Thud!"

Caught off guard, the cocoon-man tumbled over a few times and crashed flat onto the ground like a dog eating mud.

It was not that the descending person possessed immense physical strength; rather, the cocoon-man was spinning wildly forward like a top, making it extremely easy for even a slight force to alter his trajectory. Moreover, the descending angle of the newcomer was so exceptionally clever that it dealt the cocoon-man a heavy, unmitigated blow.

Before the cocoon-man could scramble back up, the figure executed several graceful steps, trod upon his torso, and abruptly leaned down. A number of sharp spikes in her hand struck out with lightning speed, fiercely piercing several major acupoints on the cocoon-man's back. She then immediately leaped away, instantly blocking our path.

I clearly recognized the appearance of the newcomer.

Liao Xiaoqin!