Death Door

“Rustle... rustle...” The wind billowed the sun-shading paper. The human face grown on the paper had the corners of its mouth crumpled by the wind; facing the bride draped in the red bridal veil, it seemed to be smiling. “The troupe leader just had the ghost Daole help it hold off the opera ghost. The ghost Daole is going to eat one of the parts off his body now...” Ding Ling said in a low voice to Zhou Yang. Just as she spoke, the yellow paper billowing in midair suddenly darted into Chang Dafeng's half-lifted red bridal veil! Chang Dafeng offered no resistance at all—he even reached out a hand of his own accord, trying to cup the face on the yellow paper! The red bridal veil suddenly fell! It was as though another person had slipped inside the veil, kissing passionately the bride hidden beneath it! Only, from within the veil there kept coming a sound like the chewing of food, always hair-raising! Chang Dafeng reached forward to embrace, as if to hold someone, but in the end he only embraced empty air. That veil, which kept bulging out in places as though something inside were dashing to and fro, gradually grew still as Chang Dafeng listlessly let his hand drop. “Senior apprentice...” Zhou Yang heard Chang Dafeng's sigh, full of regret. Chang Dafeng stood blankly in place for a while. The red bridal veil covered his face, so neither Zhou Yang nor Ding Ling could tell what part the ‘ghost Daole’ had taken from it. “Elder brother, you and I still must hurry on our way.” Just then Chang Dafeng suddenly turned, the front of his face beneath the red bridal veil turned toward Ding Ling; striking a pose, he recited his spoken lines, “If we miss the auspicious hour...” “If we miss the auspicious hour, that of course would not do.” Ding Ling, playing Zhong Kui, followed with a line. The two of them then struck their poses and resumed the journey. In the pitch-black night. Zhou Yang, attached to Ding Ling's body, watched Chang Dafeng ahead. On the stretch of river flats there were only two figures, Ding Ling and Chang Dafeng. But Zhou Yang now felt that within this stretch of heaven and earth there also seemed to exist an invisible third person, whom he could faintly sense. That person walked right beside Chang Dafeng. This faint feeling suddenly arose in Zhou Yang's heart, then dispersed in a moment, impossible to grasp. At the end of the river flats appeared the river that cut Daliangzi Village off from the outside world, its waters glowing in the dark night. A wooden bridge connected the two banks of the river. The dim light given off by the water's surface lit up the scene on the opposite bank as well. In the dead-silent night, at the far end of the bridge on the opposite bank stood two crimson figures. The figure in front was a delicate, graceful woman dressed as a bride dan, draped in a red bridal veil—Zhong Mei, played by Chang Dafeng; the one behind had broad shoulders and a burly build, his face painted with hooked-flourish, ingot-shaped opera facial makeup—naturally it was Zhong Kui, played by Ding Ling. The opposite bank was like a mirror of this one. The opera ghost's ghost rhythm had long since sealed off Daliangzi Village; relying on foot speed alone, there was absolutely no possibility of escaping the village. “Elder brother, look— “Is that the Du Residence over there?” Zhong Mei at the bridgehead pulled her elder brother Zhong Kui over close, and with a pinching gesture of her fingers pointed across the bridge, reciting her spoken lines. Zhong Kui's false beard moved slightly, his face wreathed in smiles: “Oh? It really is the Du Residence. “It really is the Du Residence!” ‘He’ then began to sing: “My brilliant ghost-lanterns glow agleam, my shimmering banners cast their gleam. Row upon row, the great ghosts loom fierce and dread, rank upon rank, the small ghosts grin like the dead. In both hands they bear up peace, on their heads they carry auspicious joy. Dong-dong—the drums and horns all ring as one, dong-dong—the drums and horns all ring as one. Jostling and crowding, the ghost heads mingle and press, from this day forth, sweep the demons away and slay the wicked, forever to guard the Houzhai Gate!” Just as Ding Ling's Zhong Kui finished singing, they heard Chang Dafeng on the opposite side call out loudly in his own original voice: “Good!” Chang Dafeng then went on: “Then let it be you who forever guards the Houzhai Gate! “Let it be you who holds back this Death Door!” “What?!” Hearing Chang Dafeng's words, Zhou Yang and Ding Ling were both struck with horror at the same time. These words of Chang Dafeng were not within the opera lines and singing segments he and Ding Ling had originally agreed upon! But by now, he must have prepared for this long ago! No sooner had his voice fallen on that side than Zhou Yang on this side reacted, at once expanding the psychic ripple outward—the Bloated Aspect warding spirit suddenly appeared behind Chang Dafeng and strode toward Ding Ling's side, but was held off outside by the handprint ripples expanding layer upon layer around her! For a time it could not advance an inch! What was more, beneath the spreading handprint ripples, the Bloated Aspect warding spirit grew ever more insubstantial, as if it were about to be wiped out by the handprints! The psychic ripple gained by cultivating Ghost Breath—Right Thought Lock could not contend with a true ghost, but against a warding spirit, it need not fall at a disadvantage! Especially since Zhou Yang had not yet merged with Ding Ling's Right Thought at that moment. With only his own Right Thought, he was already capable of this much! He was at once about to widen his advantage, to merge with Ding Ling's Right Thought and completely pin down that Bloated Aspect warding spirit, to erase it clean— but just then he heard Chang Dafeng sigh and say in a low, deep voice: “Why does it have to be you? “Of all things, why were you born into a girl's body?” Some indefinable emotion was hidden in Chang Dafeng's voice. As he spoke aloud, that cold, rotting stench all at once flooded Ding Ling's nostrils! Zhou Yang abruptly came back to his senses and saw a yellow paper, swept along by the yin wind, hurtling straight at his face! His mind shaken with shock, he at once gathered the handprint ripple into a point of light and burst it forth from Ding Ling's face—used in such a concentrated way, the ripple could unleash several times the power of an ordinary ripple cycle! But at this moment, this point of light of several times' power was, compared with the ghost rhythm given off by that yellow paper, nothing but a drop in the bucket. The sun-shading paper drifted over, wavering, without the slightest obstruction, and plastered itself onto Ding Ling's face. The cold, rotting ghost rhythm flowed along Ding Ling's blood, spreading through her whole body! In an instant Ding Ling's body went stiff; she stood at the bridgehead like a rotten wooden post. If her heart had not still been beating, Zhou Yang would even have thought that the moment the ‘ghost Daole’ stuck to her face, it had already taken her life! In that instant, Zhou Yang felt as though he were in a pitch-black room. Within the dark room, there seemed to be only his single mind-soul. All the various perceptions he had extended by relying on Ding Ling's body now vanished completely. “Ding Ling! Ding Ling!” he called urgently. Even in such a predicament, he could still rely on the Knife-Credit Ledger to escape from this place at any time. But Ding Ling was different. If something went wrong with her at this moment, then she would truly die! Fortunately, as Zhou Yang called out again and again, Ding Ling's voice came from afar, as if real yet illusory, carrying a deep fear: “Sir, sir... I'm here...” “Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, you're alive! “You're still alive!” Zhou Yang raised his voice to reassure her. As the two of them linked their thoughts, Zhou Yang was at last no longer in a state of lost senses. He once again had perception of the outside world— On the wooden bridge, Chang Dafeng took the red bridal veil off his head. It revealed a face whose skin had already rotted in several places and gave off a corpse stench. The ghost Daole had eaten his facial skin. The features beneath Chang Dafeng's facial skin were still serviceable. Both his arms now hung limply at his sides; straining onto his tiptoes, craning his neck, he gazed into the distance behind Ding Ling, as if still waiting for something. Originally only one of his arms had had its vitality devoured by the ghost Daole; now both arms seemed to have “died.” Zhou Yang guessed that perhaps his earlier act of making the ghost Daole attach itself to Ding Ling's face also meant that the ghost Daole had done a thing for him. For each thing done, the ghost Daole would eat one part of his body. “Sir...” Ding Ling's voice gradually grew clearer, and the illusory feeling faded from it. “Can you still make a sound? Ding Ling?” Zhou Yang then asked. “I can't anymore, sir, I can't make a sound...” Ding Ling's thoughts were low and sorrowful, hiding an immense fear. “Even if I could make a sound now, it would be useless, wouldn't it, sir? “That opera of ours works on the opera ghost, but it's useless against the ghost Daole.” As Zhou Yang listened to Ding Ling's words, his mind too was sinking toward the abyss. Despair was like a black flood, swallowing up and sweeping away all his struggles.