Seven years later...
Customers flocked to the tavern like clouds, coming and going in a steady stream.
The storyteller, a Ghost Spirit, snapped his folding fan open with a swish and said, "All right, we'll continue that story next time. Now, let's talk about the goings-on at King Li's estate."
"Hey, old ghost, you've told those stories about King Li more times than anyone can count. Even if you aren't tired of them, we are. Give us something fresh," one listener called out.
The old ghost waved his fan and smiled. "Today's story is something fresh. As everyone knows, seven years ago, King Li's eighth wife gave birth to a prince who was half alive and half dead. The prince was born paralyzed from the waist down, with a living upper body and a dead lower body.
"To let his only precious son walk like a normal person, King Li spent these past few years running himself ragged, pouring out untold riches.
"Unfortunately, the prince's condition was congenital. Medicine was useless, and even miraculous arts could do nothing. After several years, King Li finally gave up. Three days ago, he personally subdued a ghost beast to serve as the prince's mount."
"Old ghost, everyone knows that. I even saw the ghost beast myself," a male zombie with a purplish-blue face rasped.
The old ghost smiled. "What you don't know is that the ghost beast was a Broad-backed Long-browed Tiger that had been dead for eight thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight years, with living yin and dead yang!"
An uproar erupted!
Shock spread across the listeners' faces.
With eight thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight years of cultivation, that Ghost Tiger surely rivaled King Li. And with living yin and dead yang, it was even more terrifying.
Living yin and dead yang