Immortality begins in Goose City

Chapter 64 Surviving a Beheading

"ah--!"

A chorus of screams from women and gasps from men erupted from the audience!

Inside the private room, Xiu'er had already covered her ears tightly and buried her face completely in Zhao Ming's arms.

Zhao Ming was also pale and had her eyes tightly closed.

Murong Xue and Lu Yu also sat motionless, their faces expressionless.

Only Huang Shujian remained seated, expressionless, his eyes calm to the point of indifference, as if what was happening below the stage was merely a street farce that had nothing to do with him.

"puff!"

The dull thud of the blade slicing into flesh rang out!

But... the head did not fall off!

Sun Liang's head suddenly slumped forward and tilted to one side, and a huge, deep wound that exposed bone opened up on his neck, with blood gushing out like a fountain!

Sun Liang is still alive!

He tilted his head to the side, his throat gurgling as he tried to cover his bleeding neck with his hands in vain, his eyes filled with extreme pain and unbelievable fear.

He struggled, screaming in a distorted voice:

"I...I'm not dead! I'm not dead! Master...you said...you'd only cut me once!"

"I've already been stabbed! I'm not dead! I'm not meant to die! Help...help me! There's still hope!"

This horrific and bizarre scene threw the audience into complete chaos!

Screams, cries, and vomiting filled the air!

More people pulled out money and threw it onto the stage, crying and begging the troupe leader to stop cutting and save people!

The troupe leader remained unmoved. He looked at the blade, spat into his palm, rubbed it, and gripped the handle tightly again.

"The knife is dull," he muttered to himself. "I'll fix it now, so as not to frighten you gentlemen."

He raised the knife again.

Sun Liang's head was tilted to the side, still emitting mournful, inhuman pleas for mercy and screams, and blood stained half of the stage.

The pleas for mercy from the audience grew louder, and coins and silver coins rained down like raindrops.

The troupe leader looked up again, his gaze sweeping across the audience, and finally, seemingly intentionally or unintentionally, landed on the direction of the No. 1 and No. 2 private rooms on the second floor.

Huang Shujian remained expressionless, his eyes deep and penetrating, as if he could see through everything.

Ba Qing's voice rang out again, tinged with cruel excitement: "Chop! Chop quickly! Stop dawdling!"

Another silver ingot fell.

Having received the silver ingot, the troupe leader seemed to have finally made up his mind.

The ghost-headed broadsword gleamed with a cold light.

Under the gaze of countless eyes below the stage, some filled with fear, some with excitement, some with pity, and some with numbness, the broadsword whistled through the air and slashed down fiercely!

This time, it was clean and efficient!

A round head flew up and drew a blood-stained parabola in the air.

Fresh blood gushed out in a fan shape from the severed neck of the headless creature!

"ah--!"

The deafening screams nearly lifted the roof off!

Just as the head was flying off, a nimble figure suddenly darted out from backstage.

It was the same injured little monkey from before.

Clutching a piece of gray cloth that appeared out of nowhere, it leaped into the air and precisely caught the falling head with the cloth. Then, without looking back, it darted backstage and disappeared.

At the same time, the busty woman quickly stepped forward, grabbed a huge white cloth that had been prepared beforehand, and with a flick of her wrist, covered the headless corpse that was still spitting blood and convulsing, along with the bloodstains all over the ground, completely!

She and Ma Da and Ma Er swiftly lifted the body wrapped in a white sheet, bowed their heads, and quickly retreated backstage.

The whole process was so fast it was dazzling.

On the stage, only the troupe leader remained.

He carried the still-dripping, blood-stained demon-headed broadsword, its tip pointing towards the ground.

He had no expression on his face, but he bowed deeply to the audience.

"It is an unfortunate event that such a scoundrel has emerged from the Banmen sect, offending the eyes of you gentlemen."

"I, Xie, apologize."

The audience was deathly silent.

Then, an even more chaotic sound erupted.

Some cheered, some cursed the cruelty, some threw coins as tips, and some angrily threw melon rinds and fruit peels.

The troupe leader accepted everything without question, silently wiping the blood off his knife.

Inside the private room.

After a long while, Xiu'er finally dared to cautiously lift her head from Zhao Ming's arms, her face pale and her voice trembling:

"Young...Young Master...Really...Really someone died? This acrobatics...is too...too terrifying..."

Zhao Ming was still shaken and held Xiu'er's hand tightly.

Murong Xue and Lu Yu exchanged a glance, both seeing shock and discomfort in each other's eyes.

Huang Shujian gently put down his teacup, a faint, almost imperceptible smile curving his lips.

"It's fake," he said calmly.

"Huh?" Xiuer was taken aback.

Not only Xiuer, but Murong Xue and Lu Yu also turned to look at him at the same time, their faces full of surprise.

"Fake?" Murong Xue couldn't help but ask, her tone full of doubt.

"How is that possible? So many eyes saw it! His head was chopped off! Blood was splattered everywhere! Everyone saw it with their own eyes!"

Huang Shujian smiled, his gaze sweeping over the audience members who were still excitedly discussing below the stage, and then looking at the troupe leader on stage who was wiping his knife.

"Sometimes, what you see with your eyes may not be the truth," he said slowly.

"Think back carefully. When the head flew up, wasn't it immediately caught by the little monkey with a cloth, so that no one could see what it looked like after it landed?"

"Was the headless corpse, spurting blood, immediately covered with a white sheet so no one could see the body's exact condition? And was the scene cleaned up unusually quickly?"

Murong Xue frowned, thinking carefully, and it seemed... that was indeed the case.

Throughout the entire process, crucial evidence was quickly moved or concealed.

"But...but Sun Liang, he clearly spoke!"

"He was slashed once but didn't die, begging for mercy for ages! Finally, his head was chopped off!"

"How... how can this be faked?" Murong Xue still couldn't believe it.

Huang Shujian did not answer directly, but simply said, "The tricks of the martial arts world are a mix of truth and falsehood."

"I don't believe it, shall we take a gamble?" Murong Xue suddenly said.

"Oh?" Huang Shujian asked, "What are we betting on?"

"Let's bet," Murong Xue laughed, "that beheading just now, from beginning to end, wasn't it all a charade, as you said?" "If you win, I'll grant you one wish."

Huang Shujian turned his head and his gaze fell on Murong Xue's thigh.

She sat on the chair with her legs together, her blue cloth skirt hanging down quietly, clinging to her thighs and outlining her rounded curves. Beneath the hem of the skirt were her lotus-root-like calves, wrapped in white stockings, and on her feet were a pair of delicate, small black round-toed leather shoes.

Murong Xue subconsciously crossed her legs and glared at him: "However... anything too outrageous is not allowed! If I win, you have to promise me one thing."

"Okay." Huang Shujian nodded.

Just then, the chaotic scene below the stage, which had been boiling over due to the beheading, began to show signs of getting out of control.

After all, someone died. No matter how exciting it was, some audience members began to feel uneasy and scared, and shouted that they wanted to leave the theater or report it to the authorities.

Seeing this, the troupe leader quickly went to the front of the stage again, cleared his throat, and loudly proclaimed:

"Gentlemen! Please quiet down! Please hear what I have to say!"

The noise from the audience subsided slightly.

Suddenly, a smile appeared on the troupe leader's face, a smile that was completely different from his previous gloomy and cold demeanor, and carried a hint of smugness and mystery.

"That incident just now, which occurred before an expert's door, was a clear example of execution according to established rules..."

He paused, building up everyone's anticipation, before speaking loudly:

"This is the final bloodbath of the night, thank you all for coming..."

"What?"

"Fake!"

"impossible!"

The audience erupted in uproar.

The troupe leader remained calm, clapped his hands, and called out to the backstage, "Aren't you going to come out and give our esteemed guests a bow?"

The backstage curtain was lifted.

A short, chubby, fair-skinned figure somersaulted and nimbly jumped onto the stage!