Fellow Daoist! That scoundrel has written a new book again.

Chapter 448 The Theater

The entire text of "The Bloodstained Seven Killings Stele" is written with great passion, and the choice of words and sentences at the end is even more exciting to read.

No wonder he's so famous.

Zhu Wuyao slowly raised her hand to cover her forehead and sighed deeply. However... this ending was one of the versions she had considered, but she chose to give it up because it was a bit "cliché".

Surprisingly, someone actually wrote it down.

Another interpretation of the cliché is that it is widely accepted and neither here nor there, so it is not wrong as the ending of the Seven Killings Stele.

It's just a bit boring.

Thinking this, Zhu Wuyao reached out and opened another book, "A Dream in the Garden".

It bears a striking resemblance to the Peony Pavilion from my previous life.

"A stubborn rock is enlightened, a feat that shakes the heavens and earth."

"A dream within a dream, the dead come back to life."

After reading a few pages, Zhu Wuyao silently closed the fanfiction, recalling a phrase that circulated online in his previous life: "I need an idiom that is more serious than the collapse of social order and morality."

That's a bit too wild.

However, if we remove the wild parts, it can be considered a refined work.

It is said that in the widely circulated rewritten versions of the story, the seven villains were expanded and rewritten, and were basically all whitewashed.

Even those who were unfilial were portrayed as having been abused by their parents in their youth, which is why they sought revenge when they grew up, in order to criticize blind filial piety.

Zhu Wuyao didn't seem to have any particular feeling about this.

The inscription on the Seven Killings Stele reads "It is difficult to distinguish right from wrong." As the scribe, she herself had no idea whether the seven villains were good or evil.

However, everyone seemed quite interested in Fu Ji's "stubborn" character setting.

This is reasonable.

The path of cultivation emphasizes a sudden awakening, like a wake-up call, so naturally everyone looks forward to a dreamlike experience to dispel the fog before their eyes.

Zhu Wuyao had long ago discovered that "sudden enlightenment" is very important in the cultivation world.

A single moment of enlightenment can be worth ten years of arduous study.

It is estimated that this is related to the ancient powerful beings who manipulated the Heavenly Dao during the primordial era, which is why so many great cultivators of the human race have emerged one after another.

There is also opera in the cultivation world, but the costumes and singing styles are slightly different from those in my previous life.

It is more similar to "waka ying wu" and relies more on scene setting and props, unlike in the previous life when opera movements could be used to perform things like lifting curtains and pushing doors.

This was the second unexpected thing for Zhu Wuyao—

In the Seven Killings Stele, the scene of "Seizing the Golden Buddha" was actually changed into a traditional opera.

Normally, Zhu Wuyao might not have had the time to come to the theater. But coincidentally, she followed the bookseller who was about to meet his doom to the disaster and arrived at the theater just in time for the performance of "The Golden Buddha".

A chanting sounded in my ears, and I saw the person dressed as a talisman offering holding a golden Buddha statue, saying:

"Look at this shiny, gilded Buddha. Throwing it outside attracted several people to snatch it."

"I weep because someone stole my treasure, but surely a righteous man will stand up for me and cause a great disturbance!"

After speaking, he placed the golden Buddha in his hand on the table. Sure enough, the other actors who were passing by stopped and stared, looking on with longing.

Fu Xian, hiding behind the curtain, secretly watched as the crowd became tempted and restless, then recited:

"Whether it's a golden Buddha statue, a gold-embroidered cloak, jade, a dragon-roaring sword, or even a stubborn rock, as long as I put my heart into it, I can use it to stir up trouble!"

Zhu Wuyao was observing the booksellers in the crowd out of the corner of his eye.

Hearing this, my eyes lit up.

While the fan fiction was poorly written, the adaptation of the opera was quite good.

The Seven Killings Stele and the Golden Buddha are cleverly integrated.

Furthermore, it pointed out the commonalities among them—

In the eyes of those with ulterior motives, both golden Buddha statues and stone tablets can be used to wreak havoc on the world, and there is little difference between the two.

When the blind swordsman appeared, Fu Xian, behind the curtain, immediately lit up and told the crowd below:

“This person is my younger sister. She is blind but can hear. I will go and cry out a couple of times to trick her into standing up for me.”

“Point out those you don’t like, and say that these people are trying to steal my precious golden Buddha. My sister Fu Ji is chivalrous and unparalleled, but unfortunately, she can’t see the real face and can’t distinguish between good and evil. I will teach her. Isn’t that a fine knife?”

"Once the obstacle is removed, I will rule this place, and who can do anything to me?"

Zhu Wuyao kept an eye on the bookseller out of the corner of his eye.

Upon hearing this line of dialogue, she nodded hurriedly—that's exactly what I meant!

The audience below the stage were also outraged, wishing they could rush up on stage and drag out Fu Xian, who was putting on a smug look!

The melon seeds sold well today.

With nowhere to vent their energy, the crowd turned to sunflower seeds. When they got really angry, they followed the etiquette of watching a play, gulping down several cups of tea as if to extinguish their anger.

The bookseller wouldn't sell pirated books in the theater; his job today was simply to serve tea.

They would rush over to whoever beckoned.

When the customer throws over a coin, he quickly tucks it into his pocket, keeping a low profile as he refills the customer's tea.

Zhu Wuyao was always watching him and was also wary of the variables around him. There must be signs before cultivators fight and there will inevitably be a process of stimulating spiritual power.

That's rather strange.

The people serving tea and selling snacks in this teahouse should all be from the theater. I don't know how this bookseller managed to sneak in.

And he pocketed the money directly, without giving the theater a share?

Could this be yet another coincidence orchestrated by fate, where the theater was short-staffed, allowing the bookseller to fill in and earn money, only to suffer such a calamity?

On stage, the performance has progressed to the battle between Fu Ji and the seven villains.

This is no longer spoken dialogue, but rather lyrics—

"Riding a horse and drawing a bow, a slender vine holds the bow with a withered hand. Did you cherish flowers in your youth? Situ Yue went to expand the territory, climbing the cloud ladder, below are heads."

"The bowstring twangs like thunder, the steed gallops wildly, and a whirlwind of blades comes from behind—how can I block it? How can I block it!"

"The skull of yesteryear once exuded the fragrance of wine; now, it stands as a general's tomb!"

As Zhu Wuyao listened to the lyrics, he couldn't help but exclaim in admiration; this was much more accurate than fan fiction.

The novel does not simply whitewash the Seven Evils; it shows both Situ Yue's achievements and the suffering of the people during her rise and fall; it highlights both her fierce courage and her cruelty.

It also carries the sorrow of a general growing old and the lament of cause and effect.

There was no praise for Fu Ji's actions, nor was there any indiscriminate abuse like in some fanfiction.

It was noisy and bustling, with a stage displaying a mixture of flavors, making it hard to distinguish between sour, salty, spicy, and pungent.

This is even more exciting than her article "The Golden Buddha".

Zhu Wuyao was rather curious.

Who was the talented person who rewrote this play, "The Golden Buddha"?

A few days later, he appeared in the theater in Dongji City. Excluding the time the opera troupe spent rehearsing, it's likely that the story was just published and they started writing this story of seizing the Golden Buddha again. Moreover, this person should be in Dongji City.

Is he a monk who has experienced the world and seen all its affairs, or a scholar who has read extensively but is confined to the mundane world?