Infinite Professions from a Pearl Collector

Guan Sihai hesitated.

He pulled Chen Ye aside and asked in a low voice, "Kid, be straight with me. What are your chances? If you're not confident, we'll pack our bags and leave right now. We won't wade into these muddy waters."

Chen Ye looked at his tense face and suddenly smiled.

"Don't worry, Class Leader. After our last performance, Su Lan developed a bit of a liking for me, so she won't harm me easily."

Hearing this, Guan Sihai finally let out a long sigh of relief. He gritted his teeth and nodded in agreement.

Once everything was ready, Chen Ye began to formulate a detailed contingency plan. He asked Mr. Lu to provide a suitable "stage."

Mr. Lu didn't dare to delay. He quickly selected a small, long-abandoned courtyard in the mansion, one that was usually thick with a gloomy Yin Qi, and immediately ordered his men to set it up overnight according to Chen Ye's instructions.

With the exception of a few key individuals, no one in the Lu Mansion knew what was about to happen. But the tense atmosphere, like the calm before a storm, left everyone breathless.

「Night fell once more.」

Inside the desolate courtyard, candlelight flickered, stretching people's shadows long and thin, adding a touch of the bizarre.

In the center of the courtyard, a simple stage had been erected.

Chen Ye was already dressed as a Cyan Robe Huadan, wearing a plain white opera costume, sitting quietly on a chair in the center of the stage.

Lu Jinghong sat beside him, her small face taut, her hands gripping the hem of her clothes tightly.

But her eyes couldn't help but keep darting toward Chen Ye.

With every glance, her heart would pound wildly.

Because Chen Ye's appearance under the Moonlight was absolutely stunning.

His brows were like distant mountains, his eyes like autumn waters. Outlined by the stage makeup, his face was so androgynously beautiful it possessed a soul-stealing charm.

Lu Jinghong even felt that a Fairy from a painting couldn't possibly match a fraction of his current splendor.

Beyond her astonishment, a strange… excitement began to bubble up inside her.

She didn't understand why she was excited; she just was.

Chen Ye grew annoyed by her staring and couldn't help but turn his head to chide her in a low voice, "Sit still and stop looking around."

Lu Jinghong's cheeks flushed at his reprimand. She quickly retracted her gaze and sat up straight, but she still couldn't resist sneaking peeks out of the corner of her eye.

Not far outside the courtyard, Mr. Lu and Guan Sihai stood guard nervously, their faces etched with worry.

As the night deepened, the chill in the air grew stronger.

Although Lu Jinghong was afraid, seeing the calm and composed profile of Chen Ye beside her, much of her fear dissipated.

Finally, WHOOSH!

A ghostly wind whipped through the small courtyard, causing the candles to flicker wildly, nearly extinguishing them.

A bone-chilling Yin Qi instantly filled the air, which seemed to be tinged with the faint, almost imperceptible scent of cosmetics.

In the flickering candlelight, a blurry female figure in a Red Robe slowly took shape under the old locust tree in the courtyard.

She had arrived.

The eerie wind howled, stinging one's cheeks.

Under the old locust tree, the figure in the Red Robe fully materialized, revealing Su Lan's pale face.

She had no facial features, only two black, hollow eye sockets, which were fixed on Lu Jinghong on the stage.

"Give me back my life..."

The shriek was so sharp it didn't sound human, as if it could pierce one's eardrums and reach the very depths of their soul.

The next moment, Su Lan's figure transformed into a blood-red afterimage and lunged straight for Lu Jinghong, carrying with her a monstrous wave of resentment!

That ferocious aura made both Mr. Lu and Guan Sihai, who were outside the courtyard, turn pale. Their hearts nearly leaped out of their throats.

Lu Jinghong was even more terrified, frozen stiff. The horrifying figure, rapidly growing larger, was reflected in her pupils. She couldn't even scream; her mind was a complete blank.

'It's over!'

In that split second, Chen Ye, who had been sitting motionless, abruptly lifted his head.

He didn't draw a weapon or form a Spell. He simply opened his mouth.

"Back then, beneath the peach blossoms, you and I first met..."

A high-pitched, clear aria suddenly exploded in the silent courtyard!

This voice, unlike any sound from the Mortal World, seemed to pierce the boundary between yin and yang, carrying an indescribable Magic Power.

The Soul-Stealing Diva's Tongyou Talent, fully activated!

Su Lan, who had been lunging madly at Lu Jinghong, shuddered violently. Her ghostly form's forward momentum came to an abrupt halt mid-air.

Her hollow eye sockets turned mechanically toward the source of the voice: Chen Ye.

Chen Ye paid her no mind, still immersed in his performance.

With a flick of his water sleeves and a graceful turn, his eyes full of emotion, he transformed into the young Su Lan, just beginning to experience love.

"You said that beauty, fair as peach blossoms, could not compare to the Cinnabar between my brows."

"I laughed at your slick words, but my heart blossomed with joy."

His singing was poignant and moving. Every word, every note, seemed to paint a picture.

The past of childhood sweethearts, the feelings of innocent love, unfolded like a faded scroll in the depths of Su Lan's consciousness through Chen Ye's performance.

His voice, movements, and spirit, enhanced by his Tongyou Talent, resonated perfectly with Su Lan's remaining memories.

The monstrous, ferocious aura surrounding Su Lan began to recede, visible to the naked eye.

She no longer shrieked but simply hovered in mid-air, quietly watching Chen Ye's performance as two streams of bloody tears flowed from her hollow sockets.

Outside the courtyard, Mr. Lu listened to the familiar lyrics. Recalling a figure long faded from his memory, he too was overcome, his old eyes streaming with tears as he wept uncontrollably.

On stage, Chen Ye's performance continued.

He saw that Su Lan's resentment had been successfully guided. A glint flashed in his eyes, and his singing style abruptly shifted, becoming mournful and indignant.

"Who would have thought, with newfound wealth, his heart would turn to iron!"

"Oaths of eternal love still ringing in my ears, yet a new bride already ascends the white jade steps!"

The opera had reached its turning point.

Su Lan's ghostly form began to tremble violently again. The resentment that had just subsided showed signs of boiling over once more.

'She hated him!'

'She hated that man's heartlessness!'

Yet, just as she was about to be consumed by hatred again, Chen Ye's lyrics changed once more.

"A three-foot white silk sash hangs from the beam, yet why are there no tears to be seen?"

"Was it love that drove one to death, or was there... a wolf in the shadows?"

With the last line, Chen Ye's voice rose, striking Su Lan's Soul like a heavy hammer.

VWOOM!

Su Lan's Ghost Shadow trembled violently and let out a shriek of ultimate agony!

This shriek was no longer one of pure malice, but was filled with confusion and struggle.

'That's right!'

'Did I... really want to die back then?'

'I gave him everything, but he was going to marry someone else. I was hateful, I was resentful, but... was I really willing to die just like that?'

'Yes, I think I hesitated. Back then, I didn't want to die!'

These thoughts sprouted like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, madly emerging from the depths of her memory, which had been sealed by resentment and lies.

Everything that had been altered finally began to crumble under Chen Ye's powerful guidance!

"AHHH—!"

Su Lan clutched her head, letting out a bloodcurdling scream.

Countless chaotic images flashed through her mind, finally freezing on the night she had supposedly hanged herself.

In the room, she stood on a stool and looped the white silk sash around her neck.

The cold touch sent a shiver through her. The fear of death instantly overwhelmed all her resentment and indignation.

'No!'

'It's not worth it!'

'To give up my life for a faithless man—it's just not worth it!'

She reached up to loosen the sash from her neck, but just then...

CREAK.

The door was gently pushed open.

A Daoist Nun in a gray Daoist Robe, her face benevolent, walked in quietly, carrying a lantern.

It was Daoist Jingxuan from the Celestial Empress Palace.

It was the kind person who had listened to her tearful complaints, stood up for her, and advised her to let go of everything.

"Daoist, I..."

Su Lan looked as if she had seen her savior and was about to cry for help.

But what she saw was Daoist Jingxuan's face, now cold and unfamiliar, and the sneer at the corner of her mouth.

"Foolish child, men are all unreliable. Therefore, death is your only true solace."

"Your resentment, your hatred... it's still far from enough..."

As she spoke, Daoist Jingxuan kicked the stool out from under her feet!

"NO—!"

An overwhelming feeling of suffocation washed over her instantly. Su Lan's body struggled frantically in mid-air, her hands clawing at the white sash around her neck, her legs kicking wildly as gurgling sounds escaped her throat.

'She didn't want to die!'

'She really didn't want to die!'

She used the last of her strength to look pleadingly at the Daoist Nun who had personally sent her to her doom.

However, Jingxuan just watched her coldly, watching her life slip away bit by bit, watching her resentment, catalyzed by death, grow and fester wildly.

Only when she had fallen completely silent did Jingxuan nod in satisfaction, turn, and depart without a sound, as if she had never been there at all.

BOOM!

All her memories came crashing back together!

'So I didn't kill myself!'

'So... I was murdered by her!'

"JING—XUAN—!"