Chapter 197
Chapter 197
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 197
>Chapter Title: Kill
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Chapter 197: Kill
As the troupe leader, Lv Zhuangyuan could steady the situation even amid the chaos on stage.
He rushed up first, standing in front of Lv Juren with a apologetic smile, cupping his hands repeatedly toward the audience.
After bowing, he shot a glance at his youngest son and hurriedly dragged the dazed Lv Juren toward the backstage.
Lv Xiucai, who always dropped the ball at crucial moments, didn’t this time. He flipped several somersaults swiftly onto the stage.
He picked up the copper gong from the ground, flipped it to the concave side, and nodded and bowed while gathering the scattered items into it.
“The Lv family’s mess... this is tricky...” Li Huowang muttered as he walked toward the carriage.
Of course, he knew what Luo Jinhua had gone through in the bandit lair. But with something like that, there was nothing he could do to help.
Just as he reached the carriage, he saw Lv Zhuangyuan raising his pipe and whacking his eldest son’s head hard.
“She’s your wife! And you say that about your wife on stage! Whose face are you losing? Your own! The Lv family’s!”
Suddenly, Lv Juren reached out and snatched the pipe from his hand.
Lv Zhuangyuan stumbled from the pull, staring at his eldest son with unfamiliar eyes.
“Losing face? What face? We’re just low-class actors from the ninth-rate! Isn’t that humiliating enough?! Our family’s already the lowest of the low! We have to call the whores in the pleasure houses ‘auntie’! Is there anyone more humiliated than us?”
“Didn’t you see her in the bandit lair? That slutty face of hers, laughing and joking with those bandits!”
“She... she even did that with a bandit right in front of me! Dad, I’m humiliated! So fucking humiliated! It’s killing me!!”
The grief-stricken Lv Juren knelt on the ground, pounding it with his fists nonstop.
“Why do I grovel and smile at others? Don’t you know? It’s all for the Lv family! If I didn’t, Xiu’er would’ve been tossed to death by them already! You’re humiliated? What about me?!”
“You really think I have no shame? You really think Luo Jinhua’s some whore anyone can fuck? What choice do I have?!”
“I feel terrible too! But I know I’m not some young lady. I’m just the wife of a gutless actor! When I’m wronged, I have to swallow it! Pretend it doesn’t matter!!”
Luo Jinhua, her belly already showing, broke down sobbing beside them.
Watching the chaotic scene before him, Li Huowang slowly let out a breath.
The root of all this was those bandits. As long as they existed, there’d be countless more Luo Jinhua’s.
Exterminating bandits should be the soldiers’ job, but somehow they’d gotten tangled up in it.
Maybe Wang Deqiu had been right before—soldiers and bandits were really no different. “This shithole place really sucks.”
There wasn’t much Li Huowang could do. He leaned in and quietly instructed the other disciples.
Soon, Sun Baolu and Gouwa dragged Lv Juren to one side, while Bai Lingmiao and Chun Xiaoman helped Luo Jinhua to the other.
“Lv Troupe Leader, snap out of it. Pull yourself together—the show’s not over yet.” Li Huowang walked up to Lv Zhuangyuan and patted his shoulder.
Lv Zhuangyuan, who seemed to have aged several years in an instant, scratched at his empty hand and shuffled toward the front of the stage with a hunched back. “Juren’s kid has never been like this before...”
But as soon as he emerged from backstage, he found the audience had all scattered.
Everyone else on the road looked panicked too, all heading toward the edge of town.
He had no time for family drama now. He shouted loudly: “Little Daoist! Little Daoist, come quick! Trouble’s here!”
Li Huowang rushed over at the sound and, seeing the situation outside, immediately ordered everyone to prepare to retreat. Something was seriously off.
“Wait here! I’m going to see what’s happening.”
With that, Li Huowang dashed back to the carriage, grabbed his sword, tucked it into his opera robe, and bolted toward the town entrance.
Pushing through the dense crowd and the smelly camels, Li Huowang soon saw the scene outside.
Soldiers. Rows of fierce-looking convict troops had the entire town surrounded.
These soldiers weren’t in uniform—wearing all sorts of ragtag clothes, even their weapons were a mismatched mess.
The only thing marking their identity for Li Huowang was the blue “prisoner” character tattooed on every head.
Spotting Hou Laoer among them, hefting a heavy iron spear, Li Huowang instantly understood their purpose. They’d come for him!
Hou Laoer rode alongside other short soldiers also carrying black iron heavy spears, sticking close to a towering general.
The man was enormous, a head taller than those around him, his face hidden behind an iron mask, body clad in dark gold battle armor, gripping a twelve-foot heavy halberd that gleamed coldly.
Just standing there, waves of killing intent rolled off him stronger and stronger—Li Huowang could feel it from this distance.
He gave Li Huowang a very bad feeling. If he had to compare it to something, it was like a thunderbolt ready to explode at any moment.
As these men appeared, murmurs buzzed through the crowd. As locals from Hou Shu, they seemed even more uneasy than Li Huowang.
“Oh heavens! It’s the convict troops! Convict troops!”
“What now? Run!”
“Run where? They’ve blocked the rear too!”
Li Huowang shrank back into the crowd, his mind racing.
“They’re probably here for me, but they don’t know who we are yet—or they’d have charged straight in with their men.”
“Getting through their search won’t be easy, but their discipline looks lax. Maybe bribery could work...”
As Li Huowang schemed, a fat man in silk robes ran humbly toward the distant army.
Reaching the general’s big red warhorse, he removed his hat and began whispering something.
Judging by his demeanor, he was likely some local official—a town head or squire.
“This is a key transit point. There are plenty of outsiders passing through, fish and dragons mixed in. Even asking locals won’t help them.”
But what happened next made Li Huowang’s heart clench.
The massive halberd rose high and slammed down.
The fat man’s head and body were cleaved clean in two with one strike.
A sweet, sticky gust of wind blew across everyone’s faces.
Clop clop. The iron hooves advanced a few steps. The distant general slowly lifted his visor with his gauntleted hand.
Inside was a delicate, feminine face. No—it was a woman!
Her face bore the same tattoo as the other convict troops.
“National Repayment of Loyal Essence”—those four bold, soaring characters sprawled across her face, twisting her originally refined features into something grotesquely savage.
“Everyone! Four Qi spies have infiltrated us—please bear with it!”
The female general’s voice was pleasant, but her next words chilled every soul.
“Clang.” The heavy visor slammed shut over her face.
“Come on, lads! No sheathing blades today—slaughter them all, lest any Four Qi spies slip away!”
“Drink!” The frosty blade tips aimed at everyone in the town.
(End of chapter)