Approaching the twelfth lunar month, the already lively Jin Sect was even more bustling than usual.
Everywhere you went, you could find shops selling New Year pictures, firecrackers, and peach charms.
As the New Year's Eve approached, each annual gathering was naturally more grand than the last.
The people of Jin Sect enjoyed the festivities, and once it was this time of the year, everyone liked to go where the crowds were.
Today, in front of the City God Temple.
The Pear Garden Theater held a charity performance, attracting quite a crowd of locals eager to enjoy the opera.
Although there were always many people who came to watch the opera, it had never been as packed as today, as if the entire Linjiang City was drawn here!
A passerby unaware of the situation asked, "What's so interesting about this opera? Isn't it just the same few plays over and over?"
"What do you know! The plays may be few, but it matters who is singing them!"
A young dandy, with one hand playing with walnut handcrafts and the other holding a birdcage, explained, "In the last hundred years in Jin Sect, there have only been three star performers who could draw such a crowd. Do you know who they are?"
The young dandy eloquently continued, "One was the fleeting Immortal Sai Yuxian, who tragically left only one song, 'Tower Meeting,' before her heartless husband caused her death—truly a pity!"
"The second was Boss Liu of Pear Garden Theater, Liu Su'e, seventy years ago."
"When Boss Liu opened her mouth, it was truly a shattered Kunlun jade making a phoenix cry, lotus weeping with dew, orchid smiling with fragrance! Nowhere in the great Yan could you find a lead like her!"
"Famous works such as 'Guardian Baby Story,' 'The Matchmaker,' and 'Dragon King's Daughter' were all her signature performances."
"Sadly, Boss Liu retired twenty years ago, and then she passed away ten years later. Till the end, unmarried, Boss Liu only left behind an adopted daughter to inherit her legacy..."
Hearing the young dandy speak so knowledgeably, those around couldn't help but ask, "That's only two famous performers, who's the third one?"
Pausing with his walnuts-in-hand, the young dandy smiled and said, "The third is Xiu Niang from the funeral business in Jin Sect, known in the jianghu as Rouge Tiger, Ghost Bride, adept with any role from tragic female lead to daomadan—the ghost opera she sings is truly as if weeping and telling, akin to a real ghost manifesting."
"Unfortunately, these were figures from decades ago; now with people gone and tea cold, no one in Jin Sect can hold up this small stage alone."
Brightening with excitement, the young dandy added, "But talented individuals emerge in each generation. The adopted daughter of Boss Liu, Liu Qingyi, now sings with the same skill Boss Liu once had, indeed inheriting the true legacy!"
"Otherwise, there wouldn't be such fervor for the theater's charity performances these days."
Nearby, an elder from Linjiang City suspiciously asked, "You're quite young, how could you have heard those star performers sing back then?"
Laughing, the young dandy replied, "I'm not spinning tales. Though I haven't met those star performers, my grandfather often told stories about these three famous figures, so I've heard a lot and naturally know quite a bit."
The elder looked up and down at the young dandy who was strolling around with his birdcage and nuts, finding him somewhat familiar but couldn't recall who he was.
"I've lived over fifty years, there isn't anyone in Linjiang City I don't know. Tell me your grandfather's name; perhaps I know him."
The young dandy chuckled but didn't answer, instead turning to head straight toward the theater stage with his birdcage.
By this time, most of the opera performances had been sung, and next up was the highlight performance, Liu Qingyi's feature.
Seizing the lively moment when most people were gathered, the young dandy walked onto the stage.
Everyone watched the youth, who set down his birdcage and politely bowed in all directions, feeling he looked strangely familiar.
"Whose young man is this, so handsome!"
"Not just handsome, but also familiar."
Bone harmony circulating, having moved past Undying Bone and entered the Flying Corpse stage, Xu Qing was different from before. This difference was not only in the realm and cultivation, but also profoundly in appearance.
Once a corpse driver with a stiff expression and a ghostly aura, Xu Qing had passed through middle age and old age, returning to youth, and with the rejuvenation after transcendence by a thousand years of cultivation, he naturally differed from back then.
Yet no matter how different, the skeletal and facial structure wouldn't change dramatically.
Bearing a youthful appearance, Xu Qing revealed a smile reminiscent of a familiar spirit returning, clasped hands in greeting and said:
"I am Xu, with the single name Xuan, the new shopkeeper of the Funeral Shop on Underground Street; the old Shopkeeper Xu of Xu's Funeral Business is my grandfather."
"Today, as I inherit the family business, I have specially invited the theater for charity performances as an opening ceremony!"
"Anyone handling funeral services at my Underground Street before the New Year will receive a standard half-off discount. Additionally, there is a special promotion to thank the local elders, with free distribution of eggs and flour at funeral shop doors every morning at dawn—limited quantities, first come, first served!"
Now it all came rushing back! Suddenly everyone remembered the days dominated by the overwhelming funeral ads from Shopkeeper Xu.
Does life go on or not?
In other words, even during this festive season, does he allow people to live?
Everyone had thought that after Xu Qing, who showed no humanity, was collected by the heavens, Jin Sect could have some peaceful days. Yet who would have thought that the year hadn't been fully lived before Xu Qing's grandson Xu Xuan emerged!
And even worse, this wasn't an end to misfortune; what's more lethal is the apparent fact that the young Shopkeeper Xu had inherited the true legacy of old Xu, and is even less humane than him!
Old Xu, at least, wouldn't host theater charity performances during festivals and invite people to kill them.
Unlike Xu Xuan, who completely disregards law and etiquette.
So we say, is there really no one to deal with him?