Dang, dang, dang!
Three rolls of gongs and drums signaled the start of the grand opera.
Troupe Master Luo Shihai truly lived up to his reputation as an opera fanatic. Even with a play engineered to mock and curse people in roundabout, sarcastic ways, he staged it with a proper beginning and end, executed to perfection.
The story told of a rotten, unscrupulous scoundrel in Xianyang who lorded over the town. As fate would have it, he fathered an idiot son. The idiot son secretly flirted with his father's concubine, throwing the scoundrel into such a fury that he choked the boy to death with his bare hands.
The idiot son's resentful spirit drifted until it possessed a monkey, which subsequently transformed into a demon monkey, stirring up trouble everywhere and terrorizing the land.
Hearing of this, a righteous hero got drunk and climbed the mountain, beating the pack of monkeys until they screeched in agony before slaying the demon monkey.
The plot was simple, crude even.
None of the performers were famous stars either; some were merely newly initiated apprentices.
Yet they pulled out plenty of specialty feats.
The youth playing the idiot son had white paint dabbed between his brows and down his nose, wore a red bellyband, and belted out bawdy ditties while executing the "lamp balancing" feat.
With an oil lamp perched atop his head, whether he rolled forward, flipped backward, or swayed side to side, the lamp remained as steady as Mount Tai, its flame never flickering out.
Driven to death by sheer fury, the idiot son's mother stepped onto a stool and hanged herself with a length of white silk; kicking the stool away, she hung suspended high above the stage front—a stunt known as the "Great Hanging"...
Then there was the actor playing the demon monkey, three pairs of fangs inside his mouth whipping up and down in a dizzying blur, shifting constantly into gruesome grimaces—the acrobatic feat of "fang play"...
"Good! Bravo!"
"Give us another one!"
The dazzling array of theatrical tricks drew constant cheers from the townsfolk.
This was how itinerant performers took revenge.
Even if they couldn't touch you directly, they could invent all sorts of skits to drag your name through the mud.
If they couldn't call you out openly, they would satirize you in secret.
Just like this play: not a single line mentioned the Zhou family by name, yet every moment revolved around them. They poured on every vile insinuation imaginable, cursing them to the high heavens.
The common folk didn't care about the subtext. The Zhou family already had a foul reputation, so between the juicy slander and the impressive acrobatics, the spectators watched with relish, ready to spread the tale everywhere once they got home.
No wonder the White Ape Gang had tried to blockade the gates.
This was far harder to stomach than being cursed straight to one's face!
While the crowd was captivated by the lead actors, Li Yan kept his eyes fixed throughout on a martial clown playing an old monkey, his brow furrowing from time to time.
This man was none other than Wu Laosi—ordinary in appearance and unremarkable on stage.
More crucially, not a trace of unusual scent could be smelled on him!
Hadn't Shopkeeper Wan said this man was proficient in underworld crossing?
Wang Daoxuan had once told him about the trade of "underworld crossing." Ordinary people could not do it; one had to possess a lineage transmission and have opened their "mental faculty" before their spirit soul could leave the physical shell and step into the nether realm.
Such people inevitably carried an unshakeable yin chill about them, making anyone who drew near feel an eerie shiver.
Why didn't this man look the part at all?
Just as Li Yan was wondering, the attendant from earlier brought over tea and melon seeds, placing them respectfully on their table before cupping his hands and murmuring, "Brother Li, after your business is finished, our Troupe Master would like to meet with you."
As he spoke, he raised his chin in a discreet gesture.
Li Yan looked in the direction he indicated.
On the second floor of the opera hall, an elderly man sat drinking tea—hale and hearty, plainly dressed, yet carrying an unmistakable air of wealth and distinction in his bearing.
It was none other than Luo Shihai, master of Xianyang's Baguamen.
Li Yan promptly cupped his hands in acknowledgment.
He could vaguely guess why Luo Shihai wanted to see him—nothing more than taking advantage of the Zhou family's downfall to rally everyone for a concerted attack and rid Xianyang of that scourge once and for all.
While Li Yan was willing enough to help, saving Wang Daoxuan took precedence right now.
He did not have much time to spare...
***
Dong!
With a final drumbeat, the grand opera at last drew to a close.
By now, the townsfolk in the theater were completely swept up in the drama. Seeing the demon monkey pinned to the ground by the hero, battered by a flurry of fists, and finally run through the chest with a spear, everyone felt a rush of catharsis and rose to their feet, clapping and roaring their approval.
"Bravo!"
"Slaughter that Zhou monkey!"
The Zhou family had committed countless evils, and with both the White Ape Gang and the Iron Knife Gang running rampant across Xianyang, there were clearly many victims among the audience, grinding their teeth with tears in their eyes.
Up on the second floor, Luo Shihai nodded with satisfaction.
Wild geese leave their cries; a man leaves his name behind.
Not only did the Zhou family need to be brought down, but their infamy had to endure for a hundred years before the hatred in his heart could truly be appeased.
Meanwhile, led by the attendant from earlier, Li Yan and Sha Lifei had already slipped out a side door past the backstage, arriving at a sprawling communal courtyard behind the theater grounds.
This was where the performers resided. Luo Shihai was wealthy and generous toward his troupe, so the compound was quite spacious.
In the courtyard, boys were practicing their flexibility and basic kung fu.
From several rooms drifted the lilting falsettos of performers tuning their voices.
The attendant guided the two toward a secluded room near the woodshed and smiled. "Master Wu likes quiet and is handy with his hands, often helping the troupe repair props, which is why he lives here alone."
With that, he stepped forward and knocked on the door. "Master Wu, your guests are here."
To be visited personally by Li Yan, and with a calling card signed by an elder of the Xianyang Artisan Guild to boot, the attendant was smart enough to know that this usually taciturn old fellow was definitely someone extraordinary, so his tone had become noticeably more deferential.
With a creak, the wooden door opened.
The person who opened the door was an emaciated old man with plain features, yet he possessed an extraordinary physiognomy: his forehead was broad and bore two prominent bulges.
From the hairline at the Tianzhong region down to the Huagai zone, a horizontal ridge stretched across his brow, curving past the Biancheng temples into an oval formation.
According to the physiognomy treatises, this was known as the Great Ao Crouching-Rhinoceros bone, an omen of great wealth and nobility. The bearer possessed great ambition, along with a resolute and unyielding character; even if he did not become a pillar minister of the state, he would at least be a prominent regional official.
For him to end up in such reduced circumstances, there had to be some deep underlying cause.
"Come in."
Seeing the two, the old man gave a faint sigh, then turned and walked back inside.
Li Yan and Sha Lifei exchanged a glance and followed close behind.
Though the attendant was curious, recalling Luo Shihai's instructions and the code of the jianghu, he respectfully closed the door to give them privacy.
Just as he turned around after shutting the door, a woman came walking toward him. Dressed in green robes, her features were pretty yet carried a spirited, heroic sharpness, her eyes brimming with lively wit.
The woman asked curiously, "Zhuzi, those two are bladesmen, aren't they? One of them even fought a life-and-death match a few days ago. What do they want with Uncle Wu?"
"Aiyoh, Miss Lv!"
The attendant gave a start, quickly pulling the woman away. "Don't poke your nose into jianghu business! Troupe Master Luo knows all about it, so please don't pry."
"Fine, fine, fine..."
The woman agreed readily enough, but the curiosity in her eyes only deepened...
***
Inside the room, the three men sat in silence, looking at one another.
"Senior Wu, is this matter difficult to handle?"
Unable to hold back any longer, Li Yan spoke up.
He had already explained everything that had transpired, but after hearing the tale, Senior Wu had done nothing but sigh repeatedly, his expression dark and uncertain, without uttering a word for the longest time.
"Difficult doesn't begin to cover it..."
Wu Laosi finally let out a long sigh. "Back when I fell on hard times in Xianyang, it was thanks to Shopkeeper Wan's rescue that I survived. Who would have thought that today, I'd have to repay it with my life."
Fretting over Wang Daoxuan's safety, Sha Lifei was already anxious. Seeing Wu Laosi act like this, he bristled with dissatisfaction. "Look here, Senior, if you have conditions, just state them plainly! We're in a rush to save a life, we don't have time to—"
Before he could finish, Li Yan clapped a hand down to restrain him. Turning to the old man, Li Yan said gravely, "If you have any difficulties, Senior, please feel free to speak your mind. If you fear exposing your whereabouts and drawing enemies down upon you, I am willing to draw my blade to settle matters for you."
"A blade?"
Wu Laosi offered a wry smile. "A blade is useless here."
With that, he slowly got to his feet, picked up a small hoe nearby, crawled under the bed, and began digging about. Moments later, he unearthed a wooden box and carried it out.
The wooden box was an antique—fine lacquerware from the Qin or Han dynasty. Though centuries had passed, it remained remarkably well preserved.
Wu Laosi's hands trembled as he wiped away the dust on its surface. He then slipped a key from his neck and slowly unlocked the box.
The moment it swung open, Li Yan's expression shifted slightly.
He smelled a piercing, icy yin chill, reminiscent of a ghost soul yet imbued with imposing majesty.
Inside, dense red cords were wound tightly around the contents, and yellow talismans folded into triangles rested at the four corners and the center, representing the Five Directions.
Resting in the center of the box was a small wooden command token, rectangular in shape, carved from sunken wood—pitch-black and lustrous, inscribed with intricate, blood-red talismanic sigils.
Just looking at it made the hair on the necks of both Li Yan and Sha Lifei stand on end.
"What... what kind of thing is that?" Sha Lifei swallowed hard and asked.
Wu Laosi sighed. "Since you are men of Xuanmen, I will hide it no longer. This object is a 'nether warrant.'"
"A nether warrant?!"
Sha Lifei was taken aback. "That thing really exists? You've got to be joking!"
Li Yan's brow furrowed as well, finding it hard to believe.
Old folk legends told that when a person's allotted lifespan was exhausted yet their spirit lingered in the mortal realm, nether bailiffs bearing arrest warrants would come to drag them into the underworld!
That arrest warrant was known as a nether warrant!
Chapter 66