Daole

"Sir, where is the Xiliang the opera speaks of?" "Sir, are you not right now in a place called 'Xiliang'?" "Sir, from what the opera says, Wang Baochuan did wait for her Master Xue in the end—so the ending must be a happy one, isn't it?" "Sir, sir..." "Wang Baochuan and Xue Pinggui were parted in two different places. In such a chaotic world, ghostly calamities and human disasters never cease, yet Wang Baochuan still waited eighteen years for Xue Pinggui, until the family was at last reunited... Such things are only ever stories, aren't they, sir? "The real Wang Baochuan might long ago have been done in by someone and turned into a ghost... "And if that were so, could she still have waited for her Master Xue?" "..." Ding Ling was utterly absorbed in the opera. About this opera, she had a great many questions. To those questions, Zhou Yang could not answer a single one. He had only heard this opera-vocal song; he knew little of the story of Xue Pinggui and Wang Baochuan within the opera. At this point, Chang Dafeng, who had been speaking again and again to Ding Ling yet never getting a response, finally sensed that something was wrong. At first, seeing Ding Ling's expression, he had thought his words had softened her attitude a little. Later, watching the shifts in her face, Chang Dafeng understood—the girl was wholly absorbed in her own thoughts, and had been completely deaf to his words! "What madness is this? Girl!" Chang Dafeng shouted at Ding Ling, and at the same time propped himself up on a nearby rock with his right hand, rising unsteadily to his feet. Ding Ling was startled awake by his shout, her eyes clearing at once. She raised her eyes to Chang Dafeng, who was walking toward her; though her face was still cold and her brows tightly furrowed, at least she no longer wore that earlier look of utter indifference—her soul seemed to have returned. In the past, had anyone in the troupe dared to treat Chang Dafeng with such an attitude, they would surely have suffered several beatings from his cudgel. But now, facing Ding Ling's cold glare and scowl, he acted as though nothing had happened, still wearing a smile: "What I said just now—did you hear it all? Girl." This troupe leader had now grown somewhat more affectionate in how he addressed Ding Ling. Ding Ling had been intent only on talking with Zhou Yang—how could she have paid attention to what Chang Dafeng was saying? She glared at Chang Dafeng: "I didn't hear it!" "You didn't hear it?!" Chang Dafeng pursed his lips, his cheeks bulging. He stared at Ding Ling for a moment, then suddenly let out a breath with a smile and said slowly, "What I say is, you and I still have to put on the opera. "Play that opera, Zhong Kui Marries Off His Sister, in full for that ghost in the village. "Only by this do the two of us have a way to live!" Zhou Yang, watching from the shadows, suddenly asked Ding Ling, "So he's admitted it now—the one that has taken over Daliangzi Village is a ghost, not a gui?" "That's right, he can't cover it up any longer," Ding Ling replied in her mind. "The situation was so desperate then that he summoned the warding spirit from his 'Rest Door' to escape from under the opera ghost's hands. "That warding spirit in his Rest Door even ate one of his arms. "Sir, look at that reeking arm of his he can't even lift now—I saw with my own eyes earlier as that warding spirit in his Rest Door swallowed his left arm, chewed it over in its belly, and spat it back out. "How could a gui make him suffer such a grievous loss? "He had no choice but to tell me the truth of it outright." Zhou Yang immediately seized on the key point in Ding Ling's words: "You're saying Chang Dafeng used the Rest Door warding spirit to bring you out from under the opera ghost's hands? "His Opening Door warding spirit could scarcely even beat a corpse clinging to the opera ghost's ghost rhythm. "Yet the Rest Door warding spirit was able, when face to face with the opera ghost, to carry a person and flee from before the ghost? "And that warding spirit, having done its work, went and ate one of Chang Dafeng's arms... "This Rest Door warding spirit, I fear, is no ordinary one." "Yes," Ding Ling answered at once. "The troupe leader told me—that warding spirit in his Rest Door is not merely something so simple as a 'ghost-and-deity shadow aura.' "His Rest Door warding spirit is bound to a real ghost! "And he said that ghost is called a 'Daole.'" "Daole?" Hearing this title, Zhou Yang's heart stirred. Could this "Daole" be the same "Daole" he had in mind? —Zhou Yang's hometown bordered both Hebei and Shandong; in some places of those two regions, there was a trade dedicated to seeing to the affairs of the dead. Those who practiced this trade were called "Daole." "Right," Ding Ling answered. "Troupe Leader Chang said that in life, the Daole was a skilled man who handled the affairs of the dead. "After he became a ghost, he could draw the life-force from the living. "So that 'Daole ghost' did one thing for the troupe leader, and in return drained the life-force from one of his arms." This truly was the Daole Zhou Yang had thought it to be. On this matter, there was little chance Chang Dafeng was lying. —By this point, in fact, the troupe leader had no need to lie at all. He had long since bound Ding Ling with the Bloated Aspect, and the two of them had reached the end of their road—they were grasshoppers tied to the same string; with death at hand, what point was there in lying? "Just agree to his demand about the opera," Zhou Yang instructed Ding Ling. "Play along with him for now?" Ding Ling asked Zhou Yang. "No," Zhou Yang said. "The ghost has ordered the opera; when the appointed day comes and the fine show fails to open—I'm afraid we'll all fare even worse. "This opera, in the end, must still be performed. "If you alone go to sing for the opera ghost, I fear the moment you meet the ghost face to face, you'll be killed by it. "But Chang Dafeng's 'Daole warding spirit' can face the opera ghost directly, so you can shelter behind him and shield yourself somewhat. "So, to grant his request and perform Zhong Kui Marries Off His Sister—what is wrong with that? "Only, when you perform this opera, you must be careful—within this opera, we are going to put on another opera." "We'll sing Wu Family Slope?" Ding Ling's heartbeat suddenly quickened. "Exactly," Zhou Yang agreed. "This opera is ingenious, unlike anything that came before. "Do you recall what the opera ghost murmured to itself earlier? "It too is searching for this one-of-a-kind opera!" "I remember! "I remember it all!" Ding Ling answered again and again. Both of them, regarding the opera that was about to be staged, felt a great deal of anticipation. "Have you thought it over, girl? "If you agree, we'll head straight back to the troupe. "There's a stage ready there, and some stored grain, enough for the two of us to eat until the day we open the show." Chang Dafeng urged Ding Ling again, "There's nowhere left for us to run—do you still have some other idea?" Ding Ling raised her eyelids to look at him: "In any case, I'm under your control now. "So naturally, it's whatever you want it to be." "Heh! I attached the Bloated Aspect to you not because I feared you'd run off and fall into that ghost's hands again, but to keep you safe—I'll release it for you, then!" As he spoke, Chang Dafeng waved a hand, and that chill clinging to Ding Ling's back suddenly dispersed. From the corner of her eye, Ding Ling glimpsed the Bloated Aspect warding spirit reappearing beside Chang Dafeng. "He hasn't left any other sorcery suppression on you—he shows some sincerity, at least." Zhou Yang quietly examined things, then said to Ding Ling. The warding spirit Chang Dafeng used to control Ding Ling—with Zhou Yang's current means, he too could remove it in an instant. But he did not act, so as to avoid putting Chang Dafeng on his guard. Hearing Mr. Zhou's words, Ding Ling looked at Chang Dafeng and sighed: "There's no escaping anyway. "Now all I can do is try to finish that opera and see whether there's a way to live..." "Good, good!" Chang Dafeng was overjoyed, nodding again and again. The two figures, still one ahead of the other, turned back toward the high mound at the edge of the village where the opera troupe had set up camp.