Right Thought

"Bang!" Zhou Yang swept the whip, and the bronze mirror on the opera trunk was knocked straight to the floor with a deafening crash! The sound made every hair on Zhou Yang's body stand on end, and his heart clenched tight! Immediately after, the room fell into a deathly silence. So quiet that Zhou Yang could hear his own breathing. The arm holding the horsewhip quietly lowered, his body froze in place, not daring to move an inch. Only a pair of eyes widened in their sockets, the eyeballs rolling hard, observing the surroundings, sensing the strangeness in the environment, which receded like a tide. "The ghost has gone..." Zhou Yang suddenly understood, and exhaled lightly. That ghost, for now, was merely influencing Ding Ling through the dressing mirror. With the mirror blocking it, its power could ultimately not act directly on Zhou Yang and Ding Ling. Therefore, as long as Zhou Yang could find a way to shake off its influence and smash the mirror serving as the medium, the ghost could no longer kill from afar! But... merely freeing himself from the indirect influence of this thing that could hardly be called a ghost had nearly exhausted all his strength; if he truly faced it head-on, could he really survive with his retribution body intact? No more operatic singing could be heard around. The room was still cold, but no longer had that bone-chilling, sinister quality. "Did you see clearly?" Sensing the heartbeat of this body gradually calming down, Zhou Yang asked Ding Ling in his heart: "Did you see clearly what was in the mirror?" "I saw it all." Ding Ling replied softly, "In the mirror appeared silk threads like qin strings, the threads were dense, woven into a net, and inside the net were many human figures, men and women. "Those threads should be gui silk, right?" "Mm." Zhou Yang replied, "You make it clear to Chang Dafeng—there are so many ghost shadows in the mirror, which means there is not just one 'gui' in the village now! "You must make this clear to him!" Ding Ling seriously promised: "I will definitely make it clear to him." She paused, then asked Zhou Yang: "You, you... are you going somewhere?" The retribution body's tone was cautious and hesitant, as if afraid her question would break something fragile. "I will go with you to the end." Zhou Yang smiled. With such words, the confidence he gave the retribution body was naturally abundant. However, he also overlooked how much such words spoken to a young woman sounded like words of love: "But I may indeed occasionally leave for a while; if I sometimes depart without proper words, please forgive me." "Rest assured, I will be back soon." Zhou Yang's true body was still sleeping in Guancun, so he naturally could not stay here long to plot for the retribution body. So speaking this in advance was to make sure that when Ding Ling encountered his sudden departure, she would not be too panicked and lose her composure. "Okay." Ding Ling only gave Zhou Yang one word, then fell silent. For a moment, Zhou Yang was still reflecting: had he not given the retribution body enough confidence? At this moment, Ding Ling spoke again: "Actually, this is also your first time seeing a ghost, right?" "I think you're also a little afraid..." "Mm..." Seeing her finally speak, Zhou Yang subconsciously wanted to reply, but Ding Ling had spoken only half when he suddenly reacted and became flustered: "Mm?" He naturally knew that right now, before the retribution body, he was merely barely maintaining a persona of being in control and unfathomable. This would give the retribution body enough confidence, making her completely convinced by him. That way, he could direct Ding Ling to do things for him. But right now, at some unknown time, Ding Ling had actually noticed the clues. She had seen through his outward strength and inward weakness... What was to be done? If Ding Ling doubted him because of this, how could he use this retribution body to achieve his own goals? If the other party was not convinced by him, how could the two cooperate sincerely? Each having their own mind, they would find it even harder to escape the current danger. Zhou Yang thought of many things in a moment. But Ding Ling's heart voice, carrying a faint smile, came over at this time: "You don't need to be afraid." "Although I'm not as capable as you, I do have enough courage." "Just now I don't know why, I was bewitched by the ghost; next time it definitely won't happen." "I will also... do my best to protect you." Hearing this, Zhou Yang felt a mixture of emotions. The mutual trust between him and Ding Ling seemed not to have been damaged by this instance of him showing weakness. But this result was completely different from what he had expected. ... "Tsk..." Inside the ear room, Chang Dafeng lay before the door crack, watching 'Ding Ling' raise the horsewhip and knock over the dressing mirror, then smacking his lips, his slightly curled shoulders relaxing with it. Based on this, he had already confirmed that Ding Ling had completely completed the 'mirror-combing' ritual. And had freed herself from the ghost's influence! The wounds on Ding Ling's face, cut by the qin strings, had now disappeared without a trace. This further showed that the ghost's aura was fading from that room. Those wounds were mostly illusions produced in people by the ghost's influence. But if one could not free oneself from the illusion, the illusion would eventually become real. This Ding Ling, usually in the opera troupe, already had considerable guts. She was born with a fresh and delicate appearance, attracting the lust of several men in the opera troupe, yet no one had ever taken liberties with her. This showed she could stand on her own and had some ability. But relying on these means of dealing with people, and a bit of guts, to deal with ghosts was far from enough. Most fierce bandits and bullies, when faced with ghosts, were scared into a puddle of mud. Boldness helps against ghosts, but not that much. What truly determined whether a person could escape from under a ghost's hands was not the hot-bloodedness on the surface—this hot-bloodedness was merely a heart full of foolish courage. When the hot-bloodedness was exhausted, only the fear that made one's whole body tremble remained. Whether a person could escape from under a ghost's hands more critically depended on whether they had 'Right Thought'! What is Right Thought? Knowing there is a tiger on the mountain, yet inclining toward the mountain anyway—that vigor is Right Thought! Knowing someone else's depth and being scared into stopping is merely foolish courage! "This Ding Ling, it seems she has cultivated Right Thought." "She was able to break free from the ghost's manipulation; perhaps she has three or four strands of Right Thought..." Chang Dafeng pondered. He leaned by the door, and patiently waited a while longer, seeing no more abnormality in Ding Ling's room, before turning around and saying to everyone with a serious face: "You stay here, let me go see what's going on first." Everyone nodded eagerly. In these people's eyes, the situation in the outer room was unknown; they naturally hoped Manager Chang would take the lead for them and go check first. Chang Dafeng then opened the door a small crack, and leaned out. He then turned back and closed the door. He turned his face to look at Ding Ling standing in the middle of the room holding a horsewhip, and asked coldly: "Ding Ling, what were you watching inside the mirror?" Zhou Yang was still controlling Ding Ling's body; hearing the voice, he turned his head and met Chang Dafeng's gaze. Looking at Chang Dafeng's old face with somewhat feminine features, Zhou Yang was about to speak when suddenly he felt the world spinning—