Chapter 219 - 215: A Splendid Performance

Chapter 219: Chapter 215: A Splendid Performance

On the recently widened mountain county road, bus after bus, packed with tourists, headed toward Lin Xian Village.

In Lin Xian Village, a large number of staff were currently preparing the performance venue.

Hu Xia hadn’t expected so many tourists to show up, even after she had delayed sending out the announcement.

"Manager Hu, it’s completely packed with people down there. Will there be any problems?"

"It’s fine. Just tell everyone to be careful."

Thankfully, Lin Feng had hired many people from Mountain Ridge Town to help. Combined with the personnel sent by the government, the scene wasn’t too chaotic.

Besides, the area in Lin Xian Village from the Barracks to the square at the village entrance could now accommodate a good number of tourists.

When Hu Zhiming came up from the base of the mountain, he never imagined that an unrestricted Lin Xian Village would attract so many tourists.

A single glance revealed a dense sea of heads.

"Brother Lin, there are way too many tourists. It’s a good thing Lin Xian Village didn’t lift the visitor restrictions before."

"It is a bit much. It’s probably because of the New Year’s Day holiday, so everyone’s out and about."

"The internet is buzzing. Look, everyone was focused on the Forging Technique before, but now they’re all paying attention to the performance in Lin Xian Village."

Lin Feng took a look and saw it was indeed lively. After the restrictions were lifted, a large number of internet celebrity streamers had flooded into Lin Xian Village.

Now, at every scenic spot in Lin Xian Village, there were tons of people live-streaming.

"How are things going with the performance venue?"

"We’re working on it. After realizing there were too many people, we created a temporary viewing area on the adjacent mountain."

Tonight, besides the performance troupe Hu Xia had invited, Lin Xian Village’s own ensemble would also present a new program they had been preparing for a long time.

Over with the Colorful Silk Dance troupe, a group had gathered to inspect their various props.

Qin Youyou, dressed in a bright red, wide-sleeved robe, was practicing the performance’s movements over and over.

Today’s performance wasn’t the Colorful Silk Dance, but a newly developed "Flying Apsara Dance," which demanded a high degree of control over one’s physical strength.

For the performance to look good, the dancers had to appear completely natural while flying through the air.

In the dance studio next door, the girls of the dance troupe were practicing their new dance, "Winter’s Spark," again and again.

As for the Clay Figure Performance Ensemble, the colors on their clay figures were even more vibrant and mysterious. This time, they were performing "A God’s Blessing."

The acrobatics class had the most acts in training, and they were even split into different groups for interspersed performances.

The guest performance troupes invited from outside were also training hard, hoping to earn a chance to stay in Lin Xian Village through this performance.

After arriving in Lin Xian Village, the tourists followed the staff’s directions toward the performance area.

However, among these tourists, there was a very strange group.

They were dressed in ancient-style costumes and carried various weapon-like decorations on their backs. After entering Lin Xian Village, they engaged in some even stranger behaviors.

Those who didn’t know better might have thought they were performers hired by Lin Xian Village to liven up the atmosphere.

"Brother Ma, this method of mine isn’t working. I can’t feel the legendary Spiritual Qi."

"Mine isn’t working either. All these secret manuals online are scams."

"Fuck! I even got this cultivation method from our local Daoist Temple! I spent two thousand on it, and it’s completely useless."

Apparently, this group consisted of online believers in the "Lin Xian Village Spiritual Qi Revival," who thought one could cultivate to immortality in the village.

Taking advantage of Lin Xian Village’s opening, they had gathered a group of members who lived closest and came to try it out for themselves.

Not far from them, there was also a group of Big Hammer Forging Technique practitioners.

Each one held a specially made hammer, also attempting to practice the Forging Technique.

The performance art of these tourists made the other visitors feel that their trip was worthwhile.

Even without Lin Xian Village’s official show, these people gave the tourists a taste of the fun of travel.

After school, Lin Xi came over with her parents. Seeing the situation in Lin Xian Village, her mouth dropped open in an "O" shape.

"There are so many people!"

Although she rarely came to visit her brother because her senior year of high school was so demanding, she never expected there to be so many people.

Liu Chunyan said, "There are even more people here than last time when they came to buy medicine."

Following the stream of people all the way to Lin Feng’s residence, the little girl no longer felt any of the fun of visiting.

"Brother, there are way too many people here. I can’t even have any fun."

Lin Feng handed her a bag of fruit snacks from the Restaurant. "The restrictions were lifted today, so it’s a bit crowded."

"Delicious! Mom, bring some back for me when we go home."

"All you think about is food. Careful, or you’ll turn into a little piggy. Remember how your dad didn’t bring any back for you last time?"

"I won’t turn into a little piggy! Studying every day burns a lot of brain energy."

"Let’s go. We’ll head to the stands. The show is about to start."

Stepping out of the room, he looked at the dense crowd. It really was a bit much.

’I thought this would be enough to complete that thirty-thousand-person task, but it seems I was overthinking it. I wonder what the ’Natural Wonder’ reward will be?’

"Brother, look over there! It’s so pretty! Take a picture of me later."

"Brother, can you take me backstage later?"

"Brother, look over there. What are they doing sitting cross-legged on the ground?"

"..."

Lin Feng hadn’t expected this girl, who wasn’t that young anymore, to be such a curious chatterbox.

Once the performance began, his sister finally quieted down. Then, seeing the celebrity singer Hu Xia had invited onto the stage, she started shouting excitedly.

"Brother! Brother! It’s Chen Yi! It’s Chen Yi!"

Most of the celebrities this time had proactively contacted Lin Xian Village to perform, and this Chen Yi was one of them.

There was also Liu Qian, who had benefited from Lin Xian Village’s popularity, as well as some celebrity singers from Starlight Entertainment.

Since the program list hadn’t been made public, the tourists were also surprised to see these celebrities take the stage.

Their surprise then turned into delight, as they hadn’t expected any celebrities to appear at all.

Li Baihui, watching from the audience, also hadn’t expected Lin Xian Village to invite other celebrities besides the ones from her company.

"Sister Li, it seems our company isn’t the only one with its eye on Lin Xian Village," Yao Enlong said quietly.

"It’s not like they’re blind. These people had contact with Lin Xian Village even before we did; they just didn’t seize the opportunity."

’In Li Baihui’s eyes, Liu Qian’s situation was a special case, but it was surprising that someone like Chen Yi, who had a company backing him, hadn’t tried to collaborate with Lin Xian Village either.’

’If they had made a move first, her own company might not have had a chance.’

Chen Yi finished his song on stage, and the cheering from the audience continued for a long time.

Chen Yi exited the stage, and the host filled the time, waiting for the next act: the Lin Xian Village Dance Troupe’s "Winter’s Spark."

The stage lights dimmed, then slowly brightened again, revealing a palette of icy blue and snowy white. As the music began, the young women of the Lin Xian Village Dance Troupe took the stage.

They wore modified dance dresses adorned with sequins, their movements at times swift as the wind, at others frozen like ice.

In their hands, they held long, transparent silks through which a special dark red light seemed to flow. As they spun and waved the silks, trails of this dark red light were dragged through the air, creating streaks like flowing fire that contrasted sharply with the icy blue stage effects.

The audience was captivated by this dance, which combined visual beauty with innovative artistry. They forgot the earlier clamor, completely immersed in the tableau of ice and fire.

Lin Xi was even more excited, grabbing Lin Feng’s arm. "Brother! It’s so beautiful! It’s even better than the dance competitions on TV! These big sisters are amazing!"

The "A God’s Blessing" clay figure performance followed.

When the "clay figure gods"—colorful, archaic in design, yet radiating a mysterious majesty—took the stage with heavy, peculiar steps and performed their ritualistic act to the accompaniment of ancient, desolate chants and drumbeats, the atmosphere became solemn and dignified.

When the clay figures sprinkled colorful clay pellets symbolizing grains and blessings toward the front of the audience, tiny specks of light unexpectedly flickered on the pellets and vanished, drawing gasps of amazement from the crowd.

"Must be fluorescent material, right? The effect is fantastic!"

"It’s really good. The stage design is so clever!"

"This clay figure performance is really unique. It’s a lot like Nuo opera."

...

The grand finale was the "Flying Apsara Dance," led by Qin Youyou.

When Qin Youyou, in her flowing red dress, was lifted by nearly invisible transparent wires, she truly resembled a flying apsara from the Dunhuang murals.

The entire audience erupted when she "flew" lightly and gracefully into the air, performing all sorts of difficult flips, hovering movements, and soaring dance steps!

"Oh my god! She’s really flying!"

"The wirework is incredible! You can’t see the wires at all!"

"So beautiful! It’s like a goddess descending to the mortal world!"

Against the backdrop of a specially designed galaxy of lights in the night sky, her red figure was as graceful as a startled swan, as elegant as a swimming dragon.

At the climax of her dance, countless petals scattered from her sleeves and skirt, like a celestial maiden scattering flowers, drifting down slowly along her path of movement—a beauty so dreamlike it seemed unreal.

As Qin Youyou slowly drifted down from the air, the audience’s applause thundered.

"The person is beautiful, but the dance is even more so. I’ve only seen moves like that in wuxia movies when I was a kid."

"This performance is actually really good. I thought Lin Xian Village was all about those magical scenic spots, but this show is worth watching too."

"I really made the right choice coming this time. I just posted on my Friends Circle, and all my friends who didn’t come are regretting it."

"..."

As the performance ended, the tourists, still wanting more, gradually dispersed, flowing into various parts of the village to begin their night tour of Lin Xian Village.

Of course, the performance was also broadcast online by some streamers.

This allowed many people who wanted to visit to discover that the performances in Lin Xian Village also seemed spectacular.

More netizens found it strange that Lin Xian Village had actually invited celebrities without any prior promotion.

The tourists in strange costumes and those demonstrating their Big Hammer cultivation in Lin Xian Village also caught the attention of netizens.

This was mainly because the matter of the Forging Technique was still trending on the hot lists of various apps.

Hu Xia, having just finished her work, looked at the messages she had received and was left speechless.

’These entertainment companies are really opportunistic. The moment they saw celebrities performing in Lin Xian Village, they started making contact.’

She shook her head. This was something she’d have to discuss with Lin Feng tomorrow; she couldn’t make the decision on her own.

She walked backstage and saw the performers changing out of their costumes.

"Great work, everyone. The Restaurant has prepared a banquet. As soon as you’re cleaned up, head straight over."

"Sister Hu, is there Medicinal Cuisine tonight?"

"Yes, there is."

"Ah! Then we need to hurry over."

Hearing there was Medicinal Cuisine, everyone moved even faster.

The guest performers hadn’t expected Lin Xian Village to prepare a banquet for them, and they were especially excited to hear there would be Medicinal Cuisine.

Lin Xian Village’s Medicinal Cuisine had long been famous, especially after its ability to treat cancer was exposed. Everyone knew it was something special.

Unfortunately, it was incredibly difficult to buy Medicinal Cuisine from Lin Xian Village.

The celebrities who came to perform this time hadn’t expected to be able to eat Lin Xian Village’s Medicinal Cuisine.

They had come this time mainly to build a good relationship with Lin Xian Village.

As the people of Lin Xian Village gathered toward the Restaurant, the tourists who hadn’t left yet of course noticed.

Learning that Lin Xian Village was having a banquet, these tourists were a bit envious.

Mainly, the aroma wafting from the Restaurant was truly enticing.

It also made some people who had never had the chance to visit before understand for the first time why Lin Xian Village’s Restaurant was so appealing.

Lin Feng brought his family over as soon as the show ended.

Before the banquet began, Hu Xia walked over.

"Boss, come say a few words to everyone." After speaking, she even winked.

Lin Feng looked at her. She hadn’t told him beforehand that he was supposed to give a speech.

He thought for a moment and said, "Lin Xian Village’s development is the result of everyone’s hard work, especially Manager Hu Xia. Now, let’s have Manager Hu Xia say a few words to everyone."

Staring at the microphone pushed back into her hand and at Lin Feng, who had already sat down, Hu Xia shot him a glare.