The performer refused to come any closer, and the door to the Pocket Dwelling could not stay open indefinitely. Li Banfeng shut the door, lifted the pendulum, and continued fighting the opera performer.

The opera performer could sing very well. However, he was not very good at fighting. Even with only a pendulum in hand, Li Banfeng relied on his speed, keeping the fight evenly matched.

They fought for several minutes. The performer was slashed several times, while Li Banfeng remained completely unharmed.

When the performer realized that he could not gain the upper hand, he vanished in the blink of an eye.

Li Banfeng shouted angrily, "Are you coming out or not? If you don't, I will keep singing!"

With the ability Deep Court Domain, Li Banfeng could use his wifey's ability outside of the Pocket Dwelling. Through her singing, he could lure wandering souls toward him. Standing in the second courtyard, he continued singing "Wu Family Slope."

He sang several verses at the top of his lungs. Peking opera was no ordinary song; it demanded real skill. Li Banfeng sang until his throat felt like it was burning, yet the performer still did not appear.

My wifey's abilities aren't working? That means this performer's cultivation isn't low. But what kind of Daoist Path does he follow, to have such poor combat ability despite such a high level of cultivation?

He had planned to hide in the manor for the night and wait for dawn, but given the situation, he could no longer stay.

Li Banfeng said to Xiao Yeci, "Gather everyone. We leave immediately."

"Understood," Xiao Yeci replied, quickly gathering everyone at the entrance.

Li Banfeng pushed the gate. It didn't move. He kicked it. Still nothing. He called a few people over to ram it together, but the gate refused to budge.

It wasn't just closed, it had been sealed.

Still, that wasn't much of a problem. If the gate wouldn't open, they could always climb the wall and get out.

Xiao Yeci led the others to haul over water vats, wooden crates, and whatever odds and ends they could find, stacking them against the base of the wall. Niu Guangda went first, stepping onto the crates and climbing onto a huge water jar. Just as he reached for the top of the wall, a wisp of green smoke rose the moment his hands touched it.

"Ahh!" Niu Guangda cried as he tumbled off the water jar. The top of the wall was even hotter than a branding iron.

Since they couldn't climb over the wall, Li Banfeng said, "I will jump out first and figure something out from the outside."

The brick wall might have been tall, but to him, it was no more than a threshold. He sprang upward, his feet lifting a foot above the wall as he was about to go over.

The brick wall suddenly shot up another three meters, and Li Banfeng slammed straight into it, sliding down with wisps of green smoke rising from his body.

The burn was nothing much. He had long since grown used to being scorched by his wifey.

He got back to his feet and studied the wall for a moment, wondering if he should just tunnel through it.

With the Wanderlust Cultivator's level-four ability, Path of Unhindered Steps, getting through the wall wouldn't be difficult. But if it could grow taller, could it also grow thicker?

If I get stuck inside it... won't I end up flattened like a pan-fried dumpling?

After thinking it over for a long time, Li Banfeng suddenly burst into curses. "Got the guts to hide but not to fight? Come out and face me head-on! Using tricks like this to disgust me, what kind of hero are you?!"

"What do you mean by filthy tricks?" The performer's voice sounded in the night sky.

In a brisk, flowing opera rhythm[1], he sang smugly, "Within this place lies a heavenly net, a snare so tight that even with wings, none of you shall escape, ahahaha~"

Li Banfeng shouted, "You have trapped us here and won't let us leave. What exactly do you want?!"

The performer continued singing, "That shameless girl dared relieve herself in my courtyard. Even if her life is spared, she cannot escape a harsh beating!"

Xiao Yeci turned to Lu Chunying. "Daughter, this trouble was caused by you. You will bear it yourself. Kneel here and let the performer give you a good beating."

Lu Chunying froze.

"Mom, you want me to kneel here?"

Xiao Yeci's expression turned stern. "Daughter, don't feel wronged. Everyone's survival depends on you today. You can't avoid this."

Lu Chunying stared in shock. "Mom, what did I do wrong?"

Xiao Yeci gritted her teeth. "It doesn't matter whether you did anything wrong today. Just take the punishment. Daughter, don't blame me for being heartless..."

Thud!

Li Banfeng swung the pendulum and struck Xiao Yeci across the face. Everyone froze in shock. None of them had expected him to be this ruthless.

Xiao Yeci covered her face and staggered back a few steps. "Benefactor, what are you doing? I am her mother. Can't I discipline my own child?"

Li Banfeng raised the pendulum and struck her face again. "You shameless thing. You are a man! How could you possibly be her mother?"

Xiao Yeci cried out, "How am I a man? Benefactor, you must be mistaken!"

"Mistaken? Then what about that voice? Could I have heard that wrong too?"

Li Banfeng had long noticed that something was off about Xiao Yeci. However, he had seen no green glow on her. Since she looked and sounded exactly the same, he did not dare to act rashly.

Only when Xiao Yeci told Lu Chunying to kneel did Li Banfeng realize that this "Xiao Yeci" was a fake. He swung the pendulum several times, and the figure vanished.

Li Banfeng shouted, "I have exposed your trick. Give her back!"

The performer's voice echoed through the night sky again. "And why should I return her to you?"

Li Banfeng said, "If you can't fool me, then you have lost. If you lose and refuse to admit it, what kind of a man are you?"

There was no real logic to it. Even if the performer refused to admit defeat, there was nothing anyone could do. And even if he did admit defeat, he would not necessarily return Xiao Yeci.

Yet after hearing Li Banfeng's words, the performer hesitated.

I am not like these people. They relieve themselves wherever they please. How could I be the same as them? If I lose and refuse to admit it, and end up being mocked by people like them, I won't be able to get over it.

While the performer was still hesitating, Li Banfeng shouted, "Even if you won't return her, at least tell me where she is!"

The performer did not hesitate any longer. "She's lying in a side room in my main courtyard. I did not hurt her. If you have got the guts, come and take her back!"

"Mom!" Lu Chunying dashed toward the hanging flower gate, but Li Banfeng grabbed her and pulled her back.

"Don't cause trouble. Take everyone and hide in a room. Split into pairs and keep an eye on each other. If anything seems off, tie them up immediately. If you can't win, run. If you can't run, grab whatever you can and all of you piss inside the room."

Lu Chunying stared at him in shock. "What's the point of that?"

It would be very useful, but Li Banfeng couldn't be bothered to explain.

If only Little Gen were here!

Li Banfeng stepped into the second courtyard, which was a garden. Though it was overgrown with weeds, traces of flowerbeds could still be seen. There were also ponds and carved towers, with rows of rooms lining both sides.

Ahead stood another hanging flower gate, which should have led to the third courtyard. But Li Banfeng did not step through, as two strands of green fire flickered in front of it.

A ghostly illusion?

This gate might not be real. It was likely an illusion crafted by ghosts. If Li Banfeng pushed it open, there was no telling what he might run into.

Just how many ghosts are in this manor, and what level are they?

The only ghost that had truly fought him was that performer, and the performer's cultivation level was hard to gauge. If he was high-level, why couldn't he fight and why would he keep avoiding at every turn?

If he was low-level, how could he withstand his wifey's singing and evade Keen-Eyed Perception? And when he impersonated Xiao Yeci, Li Banfeng hadn't been able to tell at all.

Could it be that the performer has some ability that counters mine?

Those minor ghosts are probably not very strong, LI Banfeng thought and let out a loud shout toward the hanging flower gate, "WAHRARARA!"

The green light gave a sudden twist, as if startled. The little ghosts scattered at once, scrambling in all directions. The gate in front of him flickered and vanished, and a new gate appeared more than ten meters away.

This was the real hanging flower gate.

Li Banfeng had just stepped toward the gate when Lu Chunying came running after him.

"Benefactor, something's wrong. That performer has tied up Niu Guangda and the others. She says she's going to eat them as drinking snacks."

Li Banfeng looked at her. "Where's your mother?"

Lu Chunying blinked in confusion. "Isn't she in the main courtyard?"

"I mean your real mother."

"But that is my real mother."

"WAHRARARA!" Li Banfeng roared.

Lu Chunying trembled violently as a green light began to seep from her body.

Li Banfeng swung the pendulum again. After taking two hits, the fake Lu Chunying vanished on the spot.

The performer's voice rang out from the night sky once more. "How did you figure it out?"

Li Banfeng snorted. "Come out and fight me first."

"Tell me where I slipped up."

"Your acting's terrible. You are full of flaws. I wouldn't even know where to begin."

"You bastard, don't be so arrogant. Let's settle this in the main courtyard."

The performer's voice carried a note of resentment.

In actuality, there had been nothing wrong with his impersonation of Lu Chunying. The performer had looked and behaved exactly like Lu Chunyung

The only flaw was that Li Banfeng knew that Xiao Yeci was not Lu Chunying's real mother.

After passing through the third gate, he entered the third courtyard. Corridors crisscrossed the grounds, with study rooms lining both sides.

At the center of the courtyard, beneath a pavilion, stood a man with gaunt cheeks, piercing eyes, and a thin mustache. Behind him, a group of attendants knelt on the ground, awaiting orders.

The Sage from Vilefolk Hillock?

The Sage looked at Li Banfeng. "Do you really think you can escape?"

Li Banfeng raised the pendulum and struck again.

The Sage snapped, "You dare strike even me?"

"And why shouldn't I?!"

The pendulum came crashing down onto the Sage's forehead. He cried out in pain and vanished, leaving the attendants to surge forward all at once.

"I have been itching to kill birdbrains like you!" Li Banfeng roared. He swung the pendulum as he sang Wild Boar Forest[ref]Wild Boar Forest is a famous piece from Chinese opera, adapted from Water Margin. It depicts the scene where Lin Chong is escorted into exile and nearly murdered by his guards in the forest, only for Lu Zhishen to appear at the last moment, beat them back, and save him in a burst of righteous fury.[/rec], pouring all of Lu Zhishen's fury into his voice as he fought with the ghosts.

In terms of martial skill, these ghosts were anything but weak. A few of them were even a touch stronger than the performer himself.

Their methods were even more ruthless. Every strike went straight for the throat, the heart, the places that ended things quickly.

However, they had no resistance to Li Banfeng's singing. Hearing that powerful, soul-shaking voice, they couldn't use any of their tricks if there were any to begin with.

After several minutes of fighting, most of the souls had already been scattered. Only a few of the stronger ones still clung on.

Li Banfeng seized the moment and opened the door to the Pocket Dwelling. At once, his wifey's voice rang out, clear and bright.

"Rose, oh rose, the fairest bloom, rose, oh rose, the brightest hue..."

One ghost let out a cold snort. "Such frivolous, decadent lyrics!"

Li Banfeng called out, "Wifey, sing opera!"

"Tell me, at dawn, who stained the frost-kissed woods crimson? It is ever the tears of those parted..."

His wifey sang a verse from Romance of the Western Chamber, and this piece carried a weight that struck far deeper than its gentle words suggested.

Unable to resist the singing, the ghosts were lured straight into the Pocket Dwelling. By the time Li Banfeng shut the door, it was already too late. None of them could escape.

One of the ghosts asked, "Is it the Cavalry General who sang those two lines just now...?"

The Gramophone did not answer. Instead, she asked, "Who are you?"

The ghost answered, "I am Peng Chunyang of Prince Chun's Manor. Don't you remember me?"

The Gramophone had no recollection of Peng Chunyang, but Hongying did.

"Steward Peng... is that you?"

Hearing her voice, Peng Chunyang cried out, "Elite Troop General, is that you? How did you..."

Before he could finish speaking, the Gramophone swallowed all the souls in a single gulp.

Hongying snapped angrily, "Those are people from Prince Chun's Manor. How could you just eat them?"

The Gramophone let out a cold laugh. "So what if I did? My man bought this food. I have every right to eat it. I like it, so I'll eat it to my heart's content!"

Author's Note:

P.S. A good man knows how to buy the food, and someone at home has to know how to enjoy it too!

1. The raw is 西皮流水 (Xi Pi Liu Shui). Xi Pi is one of the main tune styles in Peking Opera while Liu Shui is a fast, flowing rhythm pattern. ☜