Corpse Driving Talisman

"Yao Tai Feng..."

Zhou Sheng pondered the name. It was obviously a stage name for an opera performer. At the same time, he noticed that when the storyteller uttered it, every patron in the tavern stopped moving their chopsticks.

Anyone with a few years on them seemed to remember that name vividly, unable to forget it.

Even though a full eighteen years had passed.

"As for Master Feng, she was truly extraordinary. She debuted onstage at sixteen, and the moment she opened her throat, she stunned half of Xunyang City. By twenty, she had become Jiangzhou's foremost dan actress!"

"Not only was she peerless at green-robed roles, flower dan roles, martial dan roles, and saber-and-horse dan roles alike, her Martial Arts Skill was simply incredible. Every performance drew thunderous applause!"

"Back then, half the people in all of Jiangzhou had to be her opera fans..."

The moment Yao Tai Feng was mentioned, the storyteller became a torrent of words, speaking without end. His eyes gleamed with intoxication, as though he could once again see that dazzling figure shining upon the stage and hear that incomparable singing voice.

No one in the tavern interrupted him. Most wore expressions of recollection and longing, while outsiders unfamiliar with the tale looked on with great curiosity.

"Master Feng was not merely beautiful in her movements and fine in her singing. Every year on the God of the Pear Garden's birthday, she performed at Gathering Immortals Tower for seven straight days. Every coin she earned was donated—either to save orphans or provide porridge to beggars. She saved countless lives..."

At this point, the storyteller clasped his hands and sighed. "This old man was destitute back then, and I too received Master Feng's kindness."

Several diners chimed in.

"I was little that year and don't remember it, but my mother said there was a drought and not a single grain was harvested. If not for Master Feng's porridge shed, my mother and I would have died long ago!"

"Yes, yes, that's right... the Eighteenth Year of Zhaode. That drought was truly terrifying. I remember Master Feng sang for nine days straight to raise money from landlords and wealthy gentry. Her throat was nearly coughing blood..."

"Alas, though opera was considered a lowly trade, when Master Feng was mentioned, who in all Jiangzhou would not raise a thumb? Yet why did such a good person always meet with no good end?"

The storyteller lightly waved the folding fan in his hand and sighed. "Exactly. That great fire eighteen years ago burned the enormous Gathering Immortals Tower clean away. Not a single one of those performing or listening to opera escaped!"

"It was a true tragedy! Of those eight hundred or thousand people, they could not even find many intact corpses. That place was abandoned afterward. They said its resentment was too heavy, so the authorities invited eminent monks to conduct rites and even specially built a Buddhist pagoda to suppress evil. It was useless. Still no one dared buy it!"

"Not long ago, Zhou Laosan from the coffin shop—he had always been obsessed with opera—heardly wandered into Gathering Immortals Tower while drunk. They said he heard Master Feng singing again, and afterward he became mad and muddled, as if possessed..."

After hearing the storyteller and the surrounding diners' discussion, something stirred in Zhou Sheng's heart.

In that case, the Consort Yu piece Zhou Laosan had sung should have been an excerpt refined by Master Feng, who had died in that fire eighteen years ago.

And the reason Zhou Laosan's body carried such heavy yin energy was not because he had slept in a mass graveyard, but because he had gone to Gathering Immortals Tower.

An opera house where countless people had died in a fire eighteen years ago—if he had truly gone there to listen to opera, then above and below the stage, he was likely the only living person.

How could the yin energy not be heavy?

Zhou Sheng even felt that Zhou Laosan had only walked out alive because his eight characters were hard and his life was great.

Even Zhou Sheng himself would not be able to withstand hundreds or thousands of Fierce Ghosts. Just imagining that horde of ghosts surging toward him like a tide of bees made his scalp tingle.

Wait...

His heart suddenly skipped a beat. Then he stiffly turned to look at Master and asked in a low voice, "Master, the stage you want me to perform on... it wouldn't happen to be Gathering Immortals Tower, would it?"

Yu Zhensheng set down his chopsticks, unhurriedly took out a handkerchief to wipe his mouth, and smiled without saying a word.

"Master, this really isn't funny at all..."

Zhou Sheng forced out a stiff smile. You truly are my dear Master.

"To perform opera onstage, you need a stage name. Sometimes, a stage name is even more important than one's real name. Think it over yourself. Tell me your name before you take the stage tonight. Otherwise... I will choose one for you myself."

After a pause, Yu Zhensheng said with a half-smile, "I think something like Little Peach Blossom or Zhou Feng Jiao would be quite nice."

Zhou Sheng immediately sucked in a sharp breath.

All at once, taking the stage did not seem so terrifying anymore. He was a dignified seven-foot man—if he took a stage name like that, he would not need Fierce Ghosts to make a move. He would die of embarrassment himself.

Wait... had he missed something?

"Master, did you just say... I'm taking the stage tonight?"

Yu Zhensheng gave him an indifferent glance, then called over a waiter and bought some candied fruit, carefully wrapping it in oiled paper and tucking it into his robes.

He rose to leave, his voice drifting back faintly.

"Better to meet the day than choose a day. Better to die early than die late."

"Don't worry, it won't be that painful... after all, I'm not the one taking the stage."

Zhou Sheng: "..."

After the meal, the sky had grown dim. Master brought him to a residence in the southern part of the city and skillfully took out a key to open the door.

It seemed no one had lived here for a long time. Weeds grew everywhere, and dust covered the place.

The courtyard was spacious. Zhou Sheng saw plum blossom stakes and old weapon racks, but both were mottled with mildew and rotten beyond repair.

In an instant, an image surfaced in his mind.

It was of himself back then, stepping upon plum blossom stakes and using wooden sabers, spears, swords, and halberds to diligently practice Martial Arts Skill.

He had used every one of these training tools before.

It seemed Master had once taught his senior sister martial arts in this residence.

"Make do with it for now. We'll tidy it up another day. Go draw water and bathe now. Remember, you may only use cold water—the colder, the better."

Yu Zhensheng instructed him.

Zhou Sheng did not ask further. He immediately went out and returned with water from the well. The water from the deep underground well was icy cold; even he felt chilled to the bone while washing.

Then Master picked up the Cinnabar Brush, dipped it in cinnabar paste, and drew a talisman across the skin of his back.

The instant the talisman's final stroke was completed, Zhou Sheng shuddered violently. He felt as if an icy chill had sealed every pore in his body. The three flames of Yang Fire on his shoulders went out in an instant, and the yang energy in his body slowly dispersed.

If someone touched him now, they would find him ice-cold, carrying a bone-piercing chill, as though he had just emerged from an ice cellar.

"This is the Corpse Driving Talisman of the Corpse Driver lineage. Corpse Drivers generally hollow out a corpse's internal organs, fill it with preservatives, and then draw this talisman to suppress corpse transformation."

Zhou Sheng asked in confusion, "Master, since it is a talisman drawn on corpses, why did you draw it on my back?"

"To keep you alive."

Yu Zhensheng looked deeply at him. "When this Corpse Driving Talisman is drawn on a living person, it seals the acupoints and suppresses yang energy. That way, when you take the stage to sing opera, they will not discover that you are alive."

After a pause, he solemnly warned him again, "Remember, once you take the stage, do not let them discover... that you are alive."

"Otherwise, you will likely become... one of them."

Thanks to Asian Black Donkey for the 100 reward—heart!