Chapter 150 - 119: Ultimate, Peach Garden Celestial Official, Illusion as Truth!

Chapter 150: Chapter 119: Ultimate, Peach Garden Celestial Official, Illusion as Truth!

「Inside the Guangle Building.」

Guan Sihai, Deng Ming, and the remaining disciples of the Qingchun Troupe were trapped in a backstage dressing room, their backs against each other.

These disciples either had no family in the city or were homeless. Guan Sihai and Deng Ming had arranged a banquet at the Guangle Building for them to celebrate New Year’s Eve together, but they never expected to be caught in this disaster.

They had barricaded the door with every table, chair, and bench they could find. At the same time, Guan Sihai had placed opera costumes and props said to ward off evil around the room, which barely held back the encroaching mist.

But even so, the shrill sound of ghostly claws scratching and pounding on the door never ceased. The noise grew louder and the impacts heavier with each passing moment.

The door was already riddled with cracks and threatened to splinter apart at any moment.

Despair was written on everyone’s faces.

"Master, are we... are we going to die here?" a young apprentice asked, his voice trembling and on the verge of tears.

Guan Sihai’s face was deathly pale, his lips pressed into a thin line. He said nothing, instead gripping an Opera Saber so tightly that the veins bulged on the back of his hand.

Just then, a familiar voice called out clearly from outside the door. "Master, Manager Deng! I’m back!"

It was Chen Ye!

Guan Sihai froze, thinking he must be hearing things.

But his thought was immediately followed by the bloodcurdling screams of ghostly creatures, a deafening explosion, and then the frantic pounding on the door ceased.

"Chen Ye?" Guan Sihai called out tentatively.

"It’s me! Open the door!"

Upon hearing the confirmation, everyone in the dressing room erupted in cheers of relief and survival.

Several people scrambled to move the barricade and pull the door open.

There stood Chen Ye with a gun in hand, the reek of gunpowder clinging to him. Behind him were Qi Shihao and his men.

"I knew you’d be alright, my boy!" Guan Sihai said, walking forward excitedly and clapping Chen Ye hard on the shoulder.

After a brief reunion, Chen Ye quickly explained his purpose.

Guan Sihai, of course, offered his unconditional support. The group then gathered their gongs, drums, costumes, and other necessities, and followed Chen Ye out of the Guangle Building.

Relying on the intimidating power of Chen Ye’s Illusion Realm and Qi Shihao’s simple and crude "physical exorcisms," the rescue team actually managed to charge in and out of the Ghost City seven times.

They stormed several strongholds where other Opera Troupes were trapped, rescuing all the survivors from the Mingfeng Troupe, the Anqing Troupe, and others, escorting them safely back to the General Temple.

In no time, nearly half of the entire Peach Garden Lineage in Sea Guardian Guard had gathered within the General Temple.

Looking at the nearly one hundred surviving performers of the Peach Garden Lineage before him, Chen Ye knew it was time for the most critical step of his plan.

He announced his chosen opera to the crowd.

Conquest of the Underworld!

Upon hearing the name, the expressions of all the veterans of the Peach Garden Lineage changed.

It was an extremely ancient Nuo opera, one that told the story of the gods of the Underworld carving out Yin Mountain, establishing the Ghost Gate, and bringing salvation to countless wandering souls.

Its very libretto contained immense power to exorcise evil, suppress malevolent forces, and guide souls to salvation.

Therefore, it was the perfect opera to counter the ghostly creatures that had overrun the city.

"Everyone!" Chen Ye’s voice rang in their ears. "We’re running out of time! That thing in the City God Temple could descend at any moment. We have no path of retreat. This battle is do or die!"

"Everyone, get to work now! We’re building a temporary stage in the temple plaza!"

The will to survive ignited a fire in everyone.

The surviving townsfolk joined in of their own accord, hauling wooden planks and helping to build the platform.

Meanwhile, the Actors of the Peach Garden Lineage began readying their costumes and tuning their instruments, each person tending to their own duties.

Thanks to everyone’s combined efforts, a simple yet solemn stage was erected in the General Temple’s plaza at an astonishing speed.

「Behind the stage.」

Guan Sihai himself took up the brush. Dipping it in the thickest greasepaint, he began to paint the mask onto Chen Ye’s face.

He was painting the face of the impartial, iron-willed Judge of the Underworld, who holds the power of life and death.

Into every single brushstroke, Guan Sihai poured all of his Essence, Qi, and Spirit.

Neither he nor Chen Ye spoke. Master and disciple worked in silence, but everything that needed to be said passed between them without a word.

The fear had vanished from the faces of the other Actors preparing around them, replaced by a grim, do-or-die resolve.

Everyone knew this was no mere performance.

It was for their very lives.

As the final stroke was laid, completing the Judge’s mask, a chillingly majestic aura erupted from Chen Ye.

He slowly rose and walked toward the stage.

Inside the temple, nearly a thousand survivors held their breath. All eyes were fixed on Chen Ye, filled with hope.

Outside, endless ghostly wails echoed, and a vortex of Ghost Qi churned, reaching for the heavens.

Chen Ye stood center stage. Behind him were his brethren from the Peach Garden Lineage; before him, the expectant faces of the survivors.

He took a deep breath.

GONG!

The clear ring of a gong shattered the dead silence of the night, sounding the prelude to the war between humans and ghosts.

The great opera had begun!

Chen Ye threw his head back and opened his mouth. A desolate, majestic voice, filled with endless divine power, boomed throughout the General Temple and rapidly spread outward.

"By decree, open Yin Mountain! Judge both good and evil! Set the wheels of reincarnation—!"

The moment the words left his mouth, the Mirage Palace Actor Talent within him flared to its absolute peak.

The intense Wish Power for survival from the thousands of survivors in the General Temple; the burning Essence, Qi, and Spirit from over a hundred actors; and the righteous aura of loyalty and martyrdom accumulated by the General Temple itself over a century!

At that instant, his voice drew upon these three vast, peerless forces, harmonizing them and fusing them into one!