Ahead Lies Pitch-Black Darkness

Falling upon the ear, this operatic aria held not the slightest trace of sinister chill. Instead, it was plaintive and lingeringly melancholic. Yet the moment Zhou Yang and Ding Ling heard this singing, the hair on both their bodies stood on end! At this critical juncture, the singing that suddenly rang out from the side room on the right was distinctly Li Yichun's voice! —Li Yichun had become a ghost! At this pivotal moment, while Chang Dafeng was locked in a standoff with the ghost possessing Gao Hongbo, Li Yichun in the side room across from them was also growing restless and was bound to come out to stir up trouble. Pushing down a gourd only to have a dipper float up—one crisis after another! Two ghosts battering at the doors! Ever since Chang Dafeng's first use of Opera Spirit-Communion had failed to suppress the ghost possessing Gao Hongbo, Zhou Yang had harbored doubts about this method. He worried even more that Chang Dafeng might not be able to hold down even the gourd on this side. Good omens never came true, while bad ones always did. No sooner had Zhou Yang's doubts arisen than the situation on Chang Dafeng's side took a sudden turn! Gao Hongbo, who had already deteriorated into a rotting corpse, continued to drip putrid fluids from his face, and the ruined painted face was completely wiped away by the welling corpse water. Yet beneath that fluid, amidst Gao Hongbo's decaying flesh and blood, a second painted face was gradually growing out. The sweeping lines and patterns on this painted face bore an undeniable resemblance to the "proper-featured, smooth-eyed black painted face" of Black Altar Zhao Gongming on Chang Dafeng's own countenance! Even with the boost from the ghost candle, Chang Dafeng's Opera Spirit-Communion seemed utterly ineffective against this ghost! Chang Dafeng stared fixedly at the second painted face sprouting from the rotting flesh of Gao Hongbo. His chest tightened and his posture trembled slightly, yet his operatic stance remained perfectly composed. With a single swipe of his right hand across his face, he switched to a second painted face! It was a green-faced, golden-eyed Thunder God Nuo mask with a bird's beak and flame-shaped brows! On the wall beside him, the ghost candle immediately cast the shadow of a winged Thunder God! Grasping a hammer and chisel, the Thunder God prepared to cleave down with heavenly thunder! Directly opposite this Thunder God shadow, on the half-wall that had previously been bare, wisps of zither strings suddenly drooped down. The silk threads interwoven in a flash, forming the shadow of Black Altar Zhao Gongming! The two shadows stood locked in confrontation, mirroring Chang Dafeng and the possessed corpse of Gao Hongbo standing face to face! "Three shakes of the Five Thunder Command Flag, let the Thunder God and Heavenly Duke hear and judge—" Chang Dafeng bellowed at the top of his lungs! Creak— Right at that moment, the door to the right side room swung slowly open. A bone-chilling cold poured out from the pitch-black doorway, sweeping over Chang Dafeng's back. His body stiffened, and a cold sweat broke out across his spine in an instant! That mournful, plaintive singing continued to drift outward from within the room. In the darkness came the light, rhythmic click-clack of footsteps. A face emerged from the ink-black doorway. Upon a deathly pale face, black kohl sketched delicate eyebrows and eyes, rouge tinted blushing cheeks, and face powder imparted a vivid complexion... This face was unexpectedly enchanting and alluring, brimming with feminine grace. This was not Li Yichun's face. As this face emerged from the darkness, the body beneath and the clothes it wore gradually came into view—the tall, gaunt physique was Li Yichun's, and the gaudy flower dan opera costume was Li Yichun's. Yet these exquisite features were unmistakably rooted on Li Yichun's countenance! "My beloved dwells within my yearning heart, while this concubine endures a breaking heart; the moon alone knows my bitter sorrow..." The crimson lips parted slightly, chanting in cadence. Simultaneously, the corpse of Gao Hongbo at the entrance sang out in a harsh, screeching voice: "Rumbling crashes the thunder with dazzling flashes! "Seated upon the clouds is the Black Tiger of the Dark Altar! "Parting the clouds with his sea-binding whip to look down upon the realm—" Gongs, drums, and an assortment of wind and string instruments erupted around them in an instant! Yet within and without the main hall, a heavy deathly silence still hung thick! Chang Dafeng's face was ashen, his eyes filled with despair! Just then, another strain of opera singing rang out! — Behind the door of the left side room. Zhou Yang and Ding Ling watched the developments in the main hall with bated breath. Seeing the opposite door open and "Li Yichun," bearing the seductive face of a woman, step gracefully forth, they understood all the more clearly that the situation was dire. "One ghost outside the door, another inside the room. Pincer-attacked by two ghosts, Chang Dafeng won't hold out much longer!" From behind the door, Zhou Yang raised his eyes slightly and saw Chang Dafeng's sagging shoulders. A chill gripped his heart. "When the lips are gone, the teeth are cold! "Right now Chang Dafeng is holding the line in front. Even if the two ghosts have singled him out first, once he falls, the two of us will be next! "Beneath an overturned nest, how can any egg remain whole? "We won't be able to run!" "Then what does sir intend to do?" Ding Ling asked. In the thought she sent back, there was not a trace of fear. It seemed she already understood the unvoiced idea in Zhou Yang's mind and wished only to stand beside him. "I have a method worth trying..." Zhou Yang replied to Ding Ling. Lowering his gaze, he looked down at the Ghost's Mouths on her palms and continued: "The true and false natures of these two ghosts are unpredictable. The Opera Spirit-Communion method can't take full effect on them, but it can still affect them. "Let us sing an opera as well—a performance with death as our only path, and no thought of retreat! "If this works, we break out of the encirclement. If it fails, death is all that awaits!" "All right!" Ding Ling agreed without hesitation. She let out a soft, giggling laugh, then added after a moment, "I will lay down my life to accompany you, but if we fail, I hope you can survive." She had already come to understand that the soul Zhou Yang had placed in her body was not incapable of departing. Zhou Yang gave no answer to her words, only saying in a calm voice, "Let me explain the opera we are about to sing..." Their thoughts intertwined, exchanging all the details in a mere heartbeat. After explaining the passage, the singing style, and the full background of the opera, Ding Ling said, "Sir, I wish to take control of my own body." Zhou Yang hesitated for a moment before solemnly agreeing. He returned control of Ding Ling's body to her. Ding Ling rose slowly and took her stance before the door, asking Zhou Yang, "Shall we begin, sir?" Now that she held the reins of her mortal vessel once more, she could not avoid confronting the tainted presence of the eerie auras around them. Under the encroachment of these sensations, stray thoughts sprouted wildly in her mind, and terror followed her like a shadow. Yet amidst that surging, tide-like dread, a single conviction within her heart shone ever brighter, like a star hanging in the night sky. This star anchored her wavering emotions, allowing her to walk hand in hand with fear without being corrupted by it. "Let us begin." As Zhou Yang's words fell, Ding Ling reached out and pulled open the door! The groan of the door turning on its hinges seemed insignificant amid the din of the main hall. Yet the stride of the woman emerging from the left side room shifted the dynamic of the hall entirely! Through Ding Ling's eyes, Zhou Yang looked at the ghost approaching from the opposite side. Every physical trait confirmed beyond doubt that this was Li Yichun! Yet resting upon Li Yichun's face was this seductive, affectionate countenance! A coldness seeped straight into the marrow of his bones. Even though it was Ding Ling facing the ghost directly while Zhou Yang observed as a bystander, a faint shiver of dread still surfaced in his heart. Ding Ling drew a long, deep breath. Zhou Yang felt her breath as his thoughts linked with her mind, sensing a certain energy coursing beneath her skin before finally gathering in the palms of her hands, straight into each of the Ghost's Mouths. The Ghost's Mouths did not merely breathe. They could emit sound just the same. Only, the sounds they produced were usually ghastly wails, eerie and chilling, striking dread into the soul of anyone who heard them. Even the Ghost's Mouths on Afu had constantly emitted eerie weeping. Zhou Yang had never heard these mouths articulate words like a human, let alone sing opera. Yet now, he intended to guide the mouths on Ding Ling's palms so that they, along with Ding Ling and himself, could belt out that operatic aria! He sensed Ding Ling's spirit fully immerse itself in the story he had imparted to her. His own mind steadied along with hers, pouring every ounce of devotion into that opera— He remembered that this scene came from a picture book he had read as a boy, *The General History of Yue Fei*. It told the tale of Gao Chong, a renowned general under Yue Pengju, who had been blocked by the Jin army's iron battle wagons. Knowing he stood alone and outmatched, Gao Chong refused to retreat, fighting to the death. He overturned eleven of the enemy's iron battle wagons with his spear until his strength was entirely exhausted, whereupon he was crushed to death under the twelfth iron battle wagon, dying a martyr for his nation. Those twelve iron battle wagons echoed the twelve golden plaques that would later recall Yue Fei. A hero reaching the end of the road, his heart still blazing with fierce valor. Zhou Yang had first heard this aria in a television drama, and having occasionally searched for opera thereafter, he had etched several lines of the lyrics into his heart. By now, he could no longer recall what steps the role should tread, what hand gestures to make, or how to execute the opening martial stance... All of those nuances were forgotten. He remembered only those few lines of the aria. Alongside Ding Ling, he strode squarely out through the door, and with the sudden surge of her roused conviction, he united their spirits to pierce straight through the Ghost's Mouths on her palms! The whistling air rushing from the Ghost's Mouths abruptly subsided. The faint, ghostly weeping fell utterly silent. In the next instant, following Ding Ling's breath, they opened wide and unleashed their voices, their hearts blazing with fierce resolve! The combined Right Thought of the two of them, already verging on the limit of an ordinary human, forced the Ghost's Mouths to shift their pitch! Thus, a single line of operatic song cut through the hall, unstoppable and resolute: "Ahead lies pitch-black darkness, surely the den of those scoundrels— "I might as well charge right in, and wipe them all out clean!"