Lord Bao Judges a Ghost

On the stage, the yin wind whirled backward, and the candle flames flickered bright and dim, illuminating face after face twisted in terror.

Yet her shadow alone could not be seen.

Accompanied by strings shrill as ripping silk, she finally opened her lips, but her singing had become utterly different.

"There are sun and moon, dawn and dusk—"

Her voice now possessed an indescribable ethereal emptiness, echoing above and below the stage for a long while.

"Yet they cannot shine upon—the eyes of a lonely wandering ghost!"

Her voice suddenly turned piercing, like an iron spike driven into one's throat. At the same time, bloody tears slowly flowed from her eyes.

Most horrifying was the line, "How can the vast blue heavens and the heavy yellow springs alike fail to see?" As she sang it, her neck made a creak like a noose tightening, and a deep bloody mark emerged, blood streaming from it without cease.

Yet even so, she continued singing. Her white robes gradually became stained into blood-red garments.

Her figure drifted unpredictably. No movement of her feet could be seen at all, as though a wisp of blue smoke were floating across the stage.

Opera had a signature technique called Ghost Steps. It imitated the gait of departed souls or demons, demanding a steady upper body and rootless feet, with a rhythm that shifted abruptly—now fast, now slow, now advancing, now retreating.

A master of Ghost Steps could usually create the illusion that their body floated half an inch above the ground, drifting through the air.

Yet at this moment, even the greatest opera star would have felt ashamed before such Ghost Steps.

Everyone onstage knew perfectly well that even Shen Jinhua, when she had still been alive, could not have performed Ghost Steps like these.

The Green-Robed Actress had clearly been possessed by Shen Jinhua's Vengeful Spirit!

They wanted to flee, but invisible, icy yin energy surged into their bodies like snow falling in the sixth month, leaving them stiff from head to toe and unable to move.

"Sister Jin... we, we truly don't know who killed you..."

"Sister Jin, you used to take such good care of me. How could I possibly harm you...?"

"Please, don't kill me! I have elders above me and children below me!"

All they could do now was beg bitterly.

The female ghost's pitch-black eyes stared fixedly at them, as if scrutinizing every face. Her water sleeves rose without wind as she recited in an operatic cadence.

"It was not you gentlemen—not you gentlemen—"

Her voice gradually became strange and sinister.

"Then who was it?"

"Was it that faithless man? That long-tongued woman? That cold-eyed official?"

With each question, droplets of blood seeped from the silk flower by her temple, while the crimson in her black eyes deepened further.

"A grievance has its source, ah, a grievance has its source. Pity me, who sang Dou E, yet lost my own head~~"

"If no one answers again—"

Her voice abruptly fell silent. Then her eyes turned scarlet, and her voice instantly became so shrill and mournful that it stabbed painfully at their eardrums.

"Do not blame this humble woman... for borrowing every living soul in this hall—"

"To ask, each, one, every, last, thing, clear!"

The final six words dripped blood with every syllable. Blood even seeped from the stage's beams and pillars, as if they had returned to that day when a mock play became real and an innocent woman was beheaded.

But at that moment, a figure suddenly emerged from the curtain of the "generals' entrance" at one side of the stage. Keeping time with the Urgent Wind rhythm, he strode with the gait of a dragon and tiger, imposing and majestic.

"Halt! What vengeful spirit dares disrupt this court of law!"

His voice boomed like thunder descending from heaven. In an instant, the yin wind ceased, ghostly energy scattered, and everyone felt their bodies lighten as they regained the ability to move.

Zhou Sheng, playing Lord Bao, had finally made his entrance.

He wore a black gauze official's hat and a black dragon robe, with a jade belt at his waist, official boots upon his feet, and a tablet in hand. His face was black, a silver moon shone upon it, and his bearing was stern and judicial.

Especially the silver moon at the center of his brow—it seemed to bloom with bright radiance in the night, as though it had cast him in a layer of divine light.

The bloodiness in the female ghost's eyes instantly faded considerably as she stared blankly at Lord Bao.

Zhou Sheng's entrance had instantly cowed the Fierce Ghost, and the scene fell into a brief stillness.

He continued forward with the gait of a dragon and tiger, stepping onto the stage and passing right by the female ghost without even sparing her a glance.

Only after sitting in his chair did he slightly raise his eyes, look at the female ghost, and calmly utter a single word.

"Kneel."

The weight of that one word was like Mount Tai. An invisible divine force seemed to press upon the female ghost, bending her knees little by little until she truly knelt.

Smack!

The Startling Hall Wood struck.

"Shen Jinhua, you claim there is nowhere for your grievance to be redressed. Have you not seen this prefecture's three execution blades? Have you not heard of Bianzhou Kai—feng—Prefecture!"

Zhou Sheng sang the final three words in a rising melody, each phrase climbing higher than the last. His voice was full-drawn and full-toned, surging like racing thunder, while a vast, righteous spirit burst forth through the aria.

The wavering candle flames all around instantly straightened, transforming into the blazing light of broad daylight!

At that moment, the female ghost finally seemed convinced that the man before her was the legendary Kaifeng Prefecture magistrate who could redress the grievances of ghosts—Lord Bao, Bao Qingtian!

It was as if her pent-up resentment had finally found an outlet. She immediately knocked her head against the ground, bloody tears streaming down her face.

"Reporting to Bao Qingtian, this common woman Shen Jinhua bore no grudge against anyone, yet I was framed upon the stage and beheaded to death. This common woman died such a terrible injustice—it was even more unjust than Dou E!"

"I beg the great lord of the blue heavens to uphold justice for this common woman!!"

At that moment, beneath Lord Bao's Face Paint, Zhou Sheng finally relaxed slightly in the depths of his heart.

She believed it. Then this performance is half successful.

Yin Opera was an ancient and mysterious profession. When a Ghost Opera Performer sang, spoke, acted, and performed martial arts onstage, the role they portrayed granted them a state akin to inviting a god to possess their body.

Playing different roles allowed them to wield different abilities.

For instance, the Lord Bao he was currently portraying could intimidate ghosts. Those who had died unjustly, in particular, would often take the initiative to seek his redress.

But that did not mean he could act without restraint.

Performing Yin Opera came with terrible dangers as well.

The moment a flaw was exposed onstage and Ghosts and Gods saw through the act, death without even a burial place would come in an instant.

Of course, if one portrayed ruthless figures such as Guan Gong or Zhong Kui, then a Ghost Opera Performer with sufficiently deep Dao cultivation might well be able to forcibly slay evil ghosts and demons.

But although Zhou Sheng had studied Yin Opera under his Master for a full sixteen years, he had not yet fully completed his apprenticeship, and his Dao cultivation remained shallow.

That was why he had waited backstage for the female ghost to reveal herself, intending to assess her strength before deciding whether to take the stage.

Her baleful energy was considerable. She could already be called a Fierce Ghost.

Fortunately, for ghosts who had died unjustly, Lord Bao Play possessed an extraordinary allure. The female ghost had been somewhat suspicious at first, but in the end, she had still knelt.

Once she knelt, more than half the battle was won. What remained was how to wrap things up.

"Shen Jinhua, now tell of your grievance, your suffering, your hatred—"

"From, truth, speak, all!"

Zhou Sheng drew out the note at this point, his voice rushing like rivers and torrents. The final four words were like jade shattering upon Kunshan, their lingering resonance winding around the rafters and reverberating powerfully.

Everyone onstage was a seasoned opera veteran, yet even they could not help marveling inwardly at the singing.

What a voice fed by the Patriarch himself!

"Though this common woman does not know who harmed me, neither the executioner nor the stagehand was the true culprit. Furthermore..."

The female ghost seemed to recall something, and the bloodiness in her eyes began to deepen once more.

"After this common woman was buried, someone stole the head from my coffin!"

At those words, a flash of lightning seemed to strike through Zhou Sheng's mind.

No wonder Shen Jinhua's baleful energy was so intense. Being wrongfully beheaded was one thing, but after burial, even her head had been stolen...

Wait, her head was gone?

Zhou Sheng shuddered, and a terrifying suspicion surfaced in his mind.

The mastermind who had swapped the fake blade for a real one and killed Shen Jinhua might not have intended merely to murder her, but rather...

They had targeted Shen Jinhua's head from the very beginning!

Borrowing her head for a use.

And for someone to silently take her head after Shen Jinhua had died unjustly, leaving even a Fierce Ghost with nowhere to seek revenge, showed that they were certainly no ordinary person.

The waters in this case ran deep. Zhou Sheng's eyes flickered, and he had already formed a plan.

Though he also sympathized with the female ghost, the only thing he could do now was resolve the trouble before him and fulfill his Master's instructions.

He was no longer a Ghost Opera Performer fresh from the nest. He had seen the cunning and mercilessness of ghosts, and his Master had repeatedly told him that many outstanding Ghost Opera Performers, because of one moment of softheartedness and sympathy, had ultimately died miserable deaths.

For thousands of years, Ghost Opera Performers throughout every generation had followed two great principles.

First, do not step out of the play. Second, do not become unable to step out of the play.

"Murder demands a life, and stealing a head adds another degree to the crime. The guilty party shall be sentenced to the eighteen layers of hell, to suffer the cruel punishments of flaying, tongue-pulling, mountains of blades, and seas of fire!"

Zhou Sheng first pronounced the sentence with righteous severity, further earning the female ghost's trust. Then he took out a small black jar and pointed at it.

"This prefecture shall dispatch the Ghosts and Gods of the underworld to seize the true culprit. Shen Jinhua, enter this vessel first and suppress your resentment for the time being. Once the culprit is apprehended, this prefecture shall certainly allow you to avenge your blood-deep hatred with your own hands and clear your grievance!"

Shen Jinhua suddenly raised her head. Excitement appeared in her eyes, but so did a trace of hesitation.

She slowly rose, floated forward, and gradually approached the small black jar.

In her hesitation, she raised her head and glanced at the crescent moon upon Lord Bao's head.

Neither biased nor crooked, upright and bright.

"What? You do not trust this prefecture?"

His gaze blazed like lightning, making her unable to meet his eyes.

Her blood-red pupils lowered. A flicker of struggle passed through them, and at last, she nodded with difficulty as her soul slowly began to withdraw from the possessed body.

Inviting the gentleman into the jar!