Ghost Tone
Under the oil lamp.
Ding Ling spread out the god painting.
The god painting seemed to be made of some kind of animal hide, smooth and cold to the touch, and from time to time it gave one the sensation of one's skin crawling.
Its front depicted a God of Wealth sitting on a pile of gold ingots, looking unremarkable.
The reverse side held other content.
The "Draft on Making Up Gods and Painting Ghosts" was recorded on the back of the god painting.
"Making up gods, crafting curses; painting ghosts, walking the yin.
"The method of feigning a play: making people impersonate ghosts and gods, practicing the art of crafting curses, and the Eight Doors of life and death—borrowing the power of ghosts and gods to play ghosts and gods?
"Dangerous, dangerous..."
Zhou Yang read the writing on the back of the god painting through Ding Ling's eyes.
He could recognize all these characters.
The handwriting on the reverse of the god painting was rather careless, and the content was written in an uncertain tone, leaning toward the colloquial.
This, on the contrary, made it all the more clear that this content was indeed a draft.
It came from some conceptions of an unknown person.
Judging by Chang Dafeng's performance, some of the conceptions on the draft ought to be practicable, but the process of practice would surely be full of various uncertainties, hiding unknown dangers.
"'The first of the Eight Doors, Opening Door: feigning the disemboweling and flowing intestines from "Six States' Great Ennoblement."
"'Take a slip of paper with another's name written on it, moisten it with your own blood, affix to it that person's hair and intimate clothing, and at the Wei hour hide it in the northwest position of the Qian Six Palaces.'
"'The next day at the Wei hour, prepare pig's blood mixed with that person's hair, intimate clothing, skin oil, and skin flakes, burned to ash in the fire, and fill the intestines with it.'
"'The third day at the Wei hour, make a "false belly" from pigskin, stuff the previously made pig intestines into the false belly, and hide it beneath your clothing.'
"'Then, facing a mirror, imitate the makeup of "Gongsun Yan" from "Six States' Great Ennoblement," chant aloud, "A belly full of strategies fed to jackals and wolves—better to show it to the common people," and then cut open the false belly, letting the pig's blood inside flow out.'
"'At that time, ghosts or gods may come to sip the blood offerings. Do not avoid or yield to them; let them finish the blood offerings, then burn the withered pig intestines and the false belly together, take their ashes and swallow them. If you can endure the pain of knives hacking and swords stabbing at your abdomen, then the "Opening Door" will appear.'
"'Every movement, every smile and frown, secretly corresponds to gods and ghosts.
"'...'
"'The second of the Eight Doors, Rest Door: feigning the Three Transformations of the White Bone from "Thrice Beating the White Bone Demon."
"'...'"
The content on this draft contained not only words but also illustrative drawings.
Eight drawings, each depicting the most exciting scene of eight opera passages.
For example, corresponding to "Opening Door" in "Six States' Great Ennoblement," there was a figure cutting open his abdomen, making his intestines bloody and flowing out; that blood color was especially bright red, making Zhou Yang's heart shudder.
The draft wrote the methods for practicing the feigned plays of the Eight Doors with appropriate detail and brevity.
But what might happen during the practice process, it did not mention a single word.
However, just from the sinister quality that seeped through every line of this draft, one could tell that this technique of plays reaching the gods was not easy to practice, and was likely dangerous at every turn.
"What are your thoughts?"
Zhou Yang asked Ding Ling.
She was still a "self-taught folk opera performer," perhaps she could offer inspiration from another angle.
But Ding Ling shook her head: "I don't know how to read..."
Hearing this, Zhou Yang was first stunned, then felt relieved.
In these times when evil ghosts ran rampant, ordinary people probably found even daily livelihood difficult to maintain, let alone reading and writing?
Especially since Ding Ling was a woman.
From the attitude Chang Dafeng and the others used when speaking to Ding Ling, Zhou Yang always had the feeling of having returned to the Manchu Qing dynasty, that feudal, man-eating era of ritual propriety.
But this place where traces of ghosts and gods could be seen everywhere should not be the Qing dynasty that Zhou Yang knew.
"Still, you ought to know a few characters.
"A technique like this, plays reaching the gods, recorded on paper, and you don't know how to read—isn't that entering a treasure mountain and returning empty-handed?" Zhou Yang said. "But right now is indeed not a good time to learn to read.
"I'll roughly explain this "Draft on Making Up Gods and Painting Ghosts" to you once; you try to understand first.
"Whatever you don't understand, just remember it; afterward we'll discuss it together."
Then Zhou Yang explained the content of the draft to Ding Ling, point by point:
"'The first of the Eight Doors, Opening Door...
"'These so-called Eight Doors ought to be the concept of the "Eight Doors" in Dunjia.
"'These Eight Doors are "Opening, Rest, Life, Injury, Seclusion, View, Death, Alarm." The Eight Doors correspond to directions under heaven and earth, the twelve two-hour periods, and the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches. At the corresponding time and direction, doing certain things might open a corresponding "Door."
"'This Door is like a door yet not a door; you can understand these Eight Doors as the flow and change of the qi mechanism of heaven and earth, the shifting of opportunities, turning at every moment, fleeting.
"'...'"
Zhou Yang mixed some common knowledge of Dunjia into the content he understood and taught it all to Ding Ling.
He felt that what he said was actually not hard to understand, even quite shallow.
But Ding Ling still found it difficult to understand.
Fortunately, she had a foolish method—she simply imprinted Zhou Yang's words into her heart over and over, waiting until she had a chance later to ask Zhou Yang carefully.
Not long afterward, Zhou Yang finished explaining the draft once.
He asked Ding Ling, "How much do you remember?"
Ding Ling was silent for a while, then hesitantly said, "I remember it all."
"Ho!" Zhou Yang exclaimed in his heart, then asked Ding Ling: "Which door in the draft is the Seclusion Door?
"What does "Seclusion Door" represent?
"What feigned play method combined with the "crafting curses" technique is used to cultivate the Seclusion Door ghosts and gods?"
"The Seclusion Door is the fifth of the Eight Doors.
"It is opposite to Opening Door, representing obstruction, imprisonment, closure, and sealing.
"Using the "Child Passes the Trial" passage from "The Goddess's Vow" to feign, one needs to steal some earth from atop the bone-ash jar of a child who died at a yin year, yin month, and yin hour, or burn fragments of bones, mix them with the blood of an old hen that hasn't laid eggs for three years, draw the eyebrows of a paper child, and use this method to "craft curses..."
Ding Ling replied.
"What about the Death Door?" Zhou Yang asked again.
"The Death Door is opposite the Life Door; it is the seventh of the Eight Doors.
"The qi mechanism flows and changes: spring brings life, autumn brings death, so it is called the Death Door.
"Using the "Shen Gongbao Loses His Head" passage from "Yellow River Array" to feign, one needs to dress as Shen Gongbao in the play..." Ding Ling answered fluently.
"Excellent!" Zhou Yang praised.
Ding Ling immediately beamed with joy.
But then Zhou Yang added: "This technique of plays reaching the gods—I'm not around, you must not practice it on your own.
"This method requires contact with ghosts and gods and may need some special protection.
"If you practice directly without any protection, you are very likely to be harmed by ghosts."
That ghost candle was probably a necessary item for practicing the "Draft on Making Up Gods and Painting Ghosts."
It should provide some protection for the practitioner.
And judging by the current situation, getting Chang Dafeng to hand over the draft was already like cutting flesh from his heart, but he would absolutely never share the ghost candle with Ding Ling.
Without the protection of the ghost candle, practicing this technique again would see the danger level rise sharply.
But Chang Dafeng had unconsciously used the "plays reaching the gods" technique when threatening him and Ding Ling—
he and Ding Ling added together reached "7" Right Thought, and facing Chang Dafeng suddenly turning into a ghostly appearance, he could still remain calm and composed.
As for the others, they were all scared pale, and not a few were scared into peeing themselves.
Thus "Right Thought" had a great effect.
Zhou Yang intuitively felt that with his and Ding Ling's combined Right Thought approaching the limit of normal people, they should also be able to try practicing the content on the draft.
That was why he specifically reminded Ding Ling.
Everything must be done when he was present.
After all, when he wasn't around, Ding Ling's Right Thought was only "2."
Once he brought Ding Ling to first master the "Opening Door" of the "Draft on Making Up Gods and Painting Ghosts," he would know where he stood.
He himself could likewise try practicing the content on the draft in Guancun.
"Mm!"
Zhou Yang spoke seriously, and Ding Ling responded with equal solemnity.
...
The night grew darker and darker.
One oil lamp could not illuminate such heavy darkness at all.
The opera troupe members gathered around that oil lamp.
Outside, there were occasionally sudden rushing footsteps, making the night seem deeper and causing everyone inside to feel their skin crawl.
It was nearing the Zi hour; whatever was still walking around outside—was it really a person?
"The people in the village are still in a state of soul-loss hysteria, so during the day they stand in their own houses, and at night they come out to move about." Chang Dafeng said with a hoarse voice, "Right now they're not very dangerous.
"Once that breath of life leaves their bodies, they will die.
"Death itself isn't frightening.
"Frightening is that some people die, while others who are clearly dead, their bodies stinking and rotting, nevertheless come "alive" again.
"This thing that comes back to life can no longer be called a person.
"It is a gui.
"So right now, while these people are still suffering from soul-loss, at least we are safe. But don't provoke them for no reason—ghosts are unpredictable—I'm just speaking from experience passed down by our elders; whether it's accurate or not isn't certain.
"If I'm wrong, it's just a word to me, but you might pay with your own lives. Understand?"
Everyone nodded.
Chang Dafeng looked at Ding Ling and lowered his voice: "Ding Ling!"
Ding Ling immediately raised her head to look at him.
She heard him speak slowly and clearly: "There's an old folk saying, "Gui Silk Ghost Tone"—meaning that a gui emits thread-like qi from its body, this qi suspends the gui, making it look like a puppet in a puppet show.
"But human eyes cannot see these qi, so I want you to comb your hair facing a mirror at midnight, using a spirit-communicating mirror, to see what's inside.
"If the ghost inside has threads like the ones I described connected behind it, then it's a gui.
"If the ghost has qi around it like tree rings or like water ripples—in short, always circling around it in rings—then it's a ghost!
"This is the most crucial point. Do you understand clearly? Remember it clearly? Tell me!
"Don't be frightened by the ghost's appearance and forget everything!"
Ding Ling went over Chang Dafeng's words in her mind once, immediately nodded, and said in a clear voice: "I remember them all!"
"Good that you remember. After all, this isn't just my life at stake here." Chang Dafeng snorted coldly.
At this moment, Zhou Yang, speaking through Ding Ling, asked him again: "Then if the ghost in the mirror has neither threads nor ghost-tone ripples, then—"
"That kind of ghost shouldn't appear in a place like this!"
Chang Dafeng's face became visibly terrified. He seemed to want to block Ding Ling's words, hastily opening his mouth to interrupt her, his voice turning sharp from fear: "That kind of ghost, if it really were here...
"We'd all be dead long ago."}
Chapter 9