These two lines of opera lyrics came from Investiture of the Prime Ministers of the Six States, the aria Gongsun Yan sang when he sliced open his belly and spilled his intestines before the crowd to prove his sincerity.
At this moment, although Chang Dafeng was not made up as Gongsun Yan, his eyes blazed, his brow brimming with righteous vigor. Combined with the vehement, impassioned aria pouring from his mouth, anyone versed in opera watching from the side would have believed at first glance that Gongsun Yan himself had descended in the flesh!
Once one studied the Draft of Playing Gods and Painting Ghosts, using opera to channel the divine was no longer a matter of chance.
Rather, every time one drew breath and raised one's voice, it was as if the character in the play were arriving in person!
Previously, Ding Ling had only seen the opera troupe perform Investiture of the Prime Ministers of the Six States a few times; she had never truly learned this scene.
Yet Chang Dafeng had ordered her to sing along in a stern voice.
And so she threw herself into it wholeheartedly. Her expression turned solemn, dignified and inviolable, as she opened her mouth and sang along:
"Better to tear open a belly of learning fed to jackals and wolves, and lay it bare for the common folk to see—"
The same measured cadences, the same vehement and impassioned fervor!
Almost the moment Ding Ling opened her mouth, Zhou Yang's heart settled: It worked!
Even though Ding Ling had not yet studied the Draft of Playing Gods and Painting Ghosts, both times she had sung opera tonight had channeled the divine, summoning the stage characters to the scene in person!
Her presence and bearing were identical to Chang Dafeng's!
Her awe-inspiring righteousness suppressed the ghostly malice so completely that it dared not rear its head!
Even the false abdomen tucked against her chest withered and shriveled in an instant!
Chang Dafeng's eyes shone brightly!
He looked at Ding Ling with an expression akin to admiring a bright pearl suddenly blazing with light in the dark of night!
"If you do not slice open your belly and bare your true heart to the myriad commoners now, what are you waiting for?!" Chang Dafeng sang in a drawn-out accompaniment.
In a flash of inspiration, Ding Ling gripped the stabbing dagger and dragged the gleaming blade hard across the false abdomen against her chest—a pungent scent of incense, mingled with a faint, peculiar odor, spilled down from the slashed opening of the false abdomen!
Beneath Ding Ling's belly, that scent formed winding, twisting crimson ribbons!
It was as though she had truly sliced open her own belly, letting its contents spill out.
Looking closely, Zhou Yang immediately discovered that the crimson ribbons flowing from the false abdomen were actually the entangled shadows of the two dead men, Qian and Li, both drenched in Ding Ling's blood!
Hum!
Before Zhou Yang could react, a hair-raising chill seized him!
From the dark corners in every direction, it was as if faces dripping with malice were emerging one after another, fixing their venomous stares upon them!
The gaze of ghosts!
Ding Ling used the opera ghost's eerie rhythm, clinging to her own blood, to draw the gaze of other ghosts!
These ghosts' gazes and shadows are the true 'materials' Chang Dafeng arranged for her to create a warding spirit!
Zhou Yang understood completely right after!
Chang Dafeng spoke up at that moment, his tone slightly tense. "If you use the aura of Daliang Village's opera gui to create a curse, then when you encounter it three days from now and perform against it, you'll inevitably be at its mercy.
"Better to be bolder and use its aura soaked in your blood to draw out even nastier ghosts.
"If you use the gazes and shadows left behind by these ghosts to create a curse, you won't have to worry about falling under that opera gui's control!
"Next, these ghost shadows will come to devour the intestines spilling from your false abdomen. You'll feel pain as though your own guts are truly being eaten, but hold it in! You mustn't cry out, and you mustn't show even the slightest hint of pain!
"That way, these ghost shadows will think you're a force to be reckoned with and fear you. Once they've eaten the intestines, they'll scramble to flee this place.
"When that happens, stamp down with your foot—whichever one you pin is the one you get!
"Whichever one you stomp down on will be your Opening Door warding spirit!"
Even as Chang Dafeng spoke, those malicious 'gazes' all around had already solidified into physical form—
A figure crawled on all fours, hair disheveled and loose. Moving with uncanny, blinding speed, it rushed straight up to Ding Ling. Beneath its long hair, a gaping maw suddenly tore open and began ripping and gnawing at the things that had spilled from her!
A piercing agony surged straight to the crown of Ding Ling's head!
Her eyes went blank, her face turning pale as paper!
Before she could even let out a scream, another headless ghost emerged from a corner, gathered up the spilled viscera in its arms, and began tearing into them!
In the blink of an eye, seven or eight ghost shadows had gathered around the things flowing from the false abdomen, tearing and biting ravenously!
By the time the fourth ghost shadow closed in, Ding Ling was already barely holding on.
The extreme pain made goosebumps rise layer upon layer across her skin. Relying on her own Right Thought and willpower alone, she simply could not endure the agony of seven or eight ghost shadows tearing and devouring her intestines.
Just looking at Chang Dafeng's expression, one could tell that when he had practiced the draft and first opened the door to create a curse, it had certainly not been like Ding Ling's, using the ghost rhythm of a true ghost to directly summon several ghost shadows to tear into the guts!
His brow was tightly furrowed now as he called out repeatedly to spur Ding Ling on.
If Ding Ling's Opening Door curse-creation had been of ordinary difficulty, Chang Dafeng's temper would have led him to mock and jeer long ago, rather than displaying his present demeanor.
From within the false abdomen, the flowing intestines gradually dwindled.
Ding Ling's face was numb, her figure swaying as if on the verge of collapse.
Connected to Ding Ling in mind and thought, Zhou Yang could naturally sense that under the relentless onslaught of agony, her sanity was already precariously balanced like stacked eggs—the moment her mind collapsed and she failed to restrain her thoughts, she would immediately lose her outward composure and reveal her weakness before the gathered ghost shadows!
Therefore, Zhou Yang spoke up at once: "Let me take over.
"I'll endure this agony of being disemboweled and devoured for you."
His Right Thought was far stronger than Ding Ling's. Once he took over Ding Ling's physical body, he would certainly be able to hold out longer than she could.
The hurdle before Opening the Door could thus be passed smoothly.
"No!"
Yet Ding Ling rejected Zhou Yang's offer.
The thought she projected was slightly weak: "I don't want to rely on you for everything, sir...
"It's only enduring pain; this is something within my power.
"I can bear this pain—it's not like my guts are truly being eaten by ghosts. Why should you suffer through this torment instead? Let me try, Mister Zhou. When I truly can't hold out any longer, it won't be too late for you to step in..."
Since Ding Ling was adamant, Zhou Yang said no more.
He felt Ding Ling's mind wax and wane under the battering of fierce agony, like a solitary skiff in giant waves, seemingly at risk of capsizing at any moment, making his own heart pound in secret dread.
Yet just as Ding Ling said, this pain was not real after all.
Once the intestines flowing from the false abdomen were devoured clean by the ghost shadows, the pain inflicted upon Ding Ling's mind and spirit gradually subsided.
In an instant, two or three of the ghost shadows gathered at Ding Ling's feet dispersed.
They dissolved so quickly that even though Chang Dafeng had been watching tensely from the side and gave prompt warning, he still could not match the speed of some ghost shadows fleeing: "Quick, step on them!
"Any ghost shadow will do—no time to be picky!
"Just stomp on any one of them; every single one is stronger than that previous ghost's aura!"
Though the searing pain had receded from Ding Ling's mind, her reactions were still somewhat sluggish.
At Chang Dafeng's urging, she raised a foot, not even bothering to look at what the ghost shadow beneath her looked like, and stamped down—the sole of her shoe struck the ground squarely, yet at that split second, the ghost shadow prostrating at her feet slipped out from under her shoe!
Ding Ling drew a sharp breath and scrambled to stomp on another ghost shadow!
Her speed was considerably faster this time, yet she still stepped on empty air!
"If you don't step on one, you'll suffer through this hell a second time!
"Stupid wench, how can you be so clumsy?!
"Useless right when it matters most!"
Chang Dafeng watched in anxiety from the side, cursing and sputtering.
At this moment, Zhou Yang took over Ding Ling's body.
He saw that only two ghost shadows remained around Ding Ling.
One ghost shadow was right by his feet; another, noticeably slender and frail, lingered two or three paces away.
In such a critical moment, he naturally wouldn't forsake what was near for what was far.
He raised his foot on the spot to stomp on the ghost shadow beside him—
Smack!
His foot came down against the solid ground.
Another miss.
Zhou Yang froze for a fraction of a second.
Chang Dafeng was already cursing in frustration: "Worthless! Completely worthless!
"A total good-for-nothing!"
The last remaining ghost shadow was two or three paces away from Ding Ling.
If she couldn't even pin the ghost shadow right beside her feet, how could she catch one further away?
Chang Dafeng had already abandoned all hope.
Zhou Yang's heart sank as well.
Seeing that the slender, frail ghost shadow had still not fled, he decided to give it a shot. Taking several hurried strides forward, he reached the shadow and brought his foot down once more—
His shoe came down as if stepping into a patch of sunken mud!
The sensation was completely different from the hard ground!
Got it!
This unexpected delight made Zhou Yang's heart thump wildly!
Chapter 37