Mindfulness

Clang!

Zhou Yang swept his whip across the opera trunk, knocking the bronze mirror on it to the floor with a tremendous crash!

The sound made the hair stand up all over Zhou Yang's body and sent his heart into a tight knot!

Then, a deathly silence fell over the room.

It was so quiet that Zhou Yang could hear his own breathing.

He slowly lowered the arm holding the riding crop, his body frozen in place, not daring to move a muscle.

Only his eyes were wide open, darting about as he surveyed his surroundings and sensed the strangeness in the air ebb away like a tide.

"The ghost is gone..."

Understanding dawned on Zhou Yang, and he breathed out softly.

For now, the ghost had only been influencing Ding Ling through the dressing mirror.

With the mirror in between, its power could not act directly on Zhou Yang and Ding Ling.

Therefore, as long as Zhou Yang could find a way to break free of its influence and smash the mirror serving as its medium, the ghost would be unable to kill them from afar!

But... merely freeing himself from the indirect influence of this thing, which might not even qualify as a ghost, had taken nearly all his strength. If he truly faced it, could he and his Karmic Retribution Body really come out alive and unharmed?

The lilting sound of opera singing could no longer be heard anywhere.

The room was still cold, but that eerie, chilling quality was gone.

"Did you see it clearly?"

Feeling the heartbeat of this body gradually settle, Zhou Yang asked Ding Ling in his mind, "Did you get a clear look at what was in the mirror?"

"I saw it all clearly," Ding Ling replied softly. "There were threads in the mirror, like zither strings. They were packed tightly together, woven into a net, and there were quite a few figures inside it, both men and women.

"Those threads were probably Puppet Threads, weren't they?"

"Mm," Zhou Yang replied. "You have to make it clear to Chang Dafeng-there were many ghostly figures in the mirror, which means there's more than one 'puppet' in the village now!

"Make sure he understands that!"

Ding Ling promised earnestly, "I'll make sure he understands."

She paused, then asked Zhou Yang, "Are... are you going somewhere?"

The Manifestation Body's tone was careful and hesitant, as though she feared her question might shatter something fragile.

"I'll stay with you to the end," Zhou Yang said with a smile.

His words naturally gave the Karmic Retribution Body plenty of confidence.

However, he had also overlooked how much those words would sound like sweet nothings to a young woman. "But I may indeed have to leave for a while now and then. If I ever leave without saying goodbye, please forgive me.

"Don't worry, I'll be back soon."

Zhou Yang's true body was still asleep in Guan Village, so he naturally couldn't stay here for long, devising plans for the Manifestation Body.

He said this in advance so that if he suddenly left, Ding Ling wouldn't panic too badly and lose her composure.

"All right."

Ding Ling gave Zhou Yang that single reply, then fell silent.

For a moment, Zhou Yang wondered whether he still hadn't given the Karmic Retribution Body enough confidence.

Then Ding Ling spoke again. "Actually, this was your first time seeing a ghost too, wasn't it?

"I could tell you were a little scared too..."

"Mm..." Seeing that she had finally spoken, Zhou Yang instinctively started to reply, but halfway through Ding Ling's words, he suddenly realized what she was saying and grew somewhat flustered. "Hm?"

He knew perfectly well that, before his Karmic Retribution Body, he was only just managing to maintain the persona of someone who could plan everything out and whose abilities were beyond the fathoming of gods and ghosts.

That way, he could give the Karmic Retribution Body enough confidence to put her complete trust in him.

Only then could he direct Ding Ling to do things for him.

But now, at some point without his knowing, Ding Ling had spotted the signs.

She had seen through his tough exterior to the weakness beneath...

What was he to do?

If Ding Ling grew suspicious of him because of this, how could he use this Karmic Retribution Body to achieve his own goal?

If she didn't trust him, how could the two of them cooperate wholeheartedly?

If each harbored different intentions, it would only become harder to escape their present predicament.

A great many thoughts ran through Zhou Yang's mind in an instant.

But then Ding Ling's voice came through again, carrying a hint of a smile. Don't be afraid.

I may not be as capable as you, but at least I'm brave enough.

I don't know why the ghost bewitched me just now, but it definitely won't happen again.

I'll... do my best to protect you too.

Zhou Yang was filled with mixed emotions at her words.

The mutual trust between him and Ding Ling seemed not to have been damaged by his display of fear this time.

It was just that the outcome was completely different from what he had expected.

"Tsk..."

In the side room, Chang Dafeng lay against the crack in the door. He watched "Ding Ling" swing the riding crop and knock over the dressing mirror, then clicked his tongue, his slightly hunched shoulders relaxing.

That alone was enough to confirm that Ding Ling had fully completed the Grooming Before the Mirror ritual.

She had even broken free of the ghost's influence over her!

The wounds on Ding Ling's face, cut by the zither strings, had now vanished without a trace.

This was further proof that the ghost's eerie presence was fading from that room.

Most of those wounds were illusions produced when the ghost influenced a person.

But if the person couldn't break free of the illusion, it would eventually become real.

This Ding Ling had always been quite brave in the opera troupe.

She was pretty and delicate, and several men in the troupe had lusted after her, yet none had ever had his way with her.

Clearly, she could stand up for herself and had a few tricks of her own.

But those methods of dealing with people, along with a measure of courage, were nowhere near enough to deal with ghosts.

Plenty of vicious bandits and bullies were reduced to quivering heaps before ghosts.

Reckless courage was useful against ghosts.

But it wasn't that useful.

What truly determined whether a person could escape a ghost's clutches was not that outward show of hot-blooded courage-that was merely foolish bravery.

Once that hot blood ran dry, all that remained was fear that made the whole body tremble.

The more important question in determining whether a person could escape a ghost's clutches was whether they possessed "Mindfulness"!

What was Mindfulness?

The resolve to head for the mountain despite knowing a tiger was there-that was Mindfulness!

The sort who learned what another was capable of and was too frightened to take another step had nothing but hot-blooded, foolish bravery!

"This Ding Ling has clearly cultivated Mindfulness.

"She managed to break free of that ghost's control. She may have three or four strands of Mindfulness..."

Chang Dafeng pondered this.

Leaning by the door, he waited patiently for a while longer. Only when he saw nothing else amiss in Ding Ling's room did he turn around and say to the others with a grave face, "Stay here. I'll go see what's going on first."

Everyone nodded at once.

In their eyes, the situation in the room outside was unclear, so they were naturally more than happy to have Troupe Leader Chang step forward and investigate first.

Only then did Chang Dafeng open the door a crack and slip out.

He turned back and closed it behind him.

Turning to Ding Ling, who stood in the middle of the room holding the riding crop, he asked coldly, "Ding Ling, what did you see in the mirror?"

Zhou Yang was still controlling Ding Ling's body. Hearing him, he turned his head and met Chang Dafeng's gaze.

Looking at Chang Dafeng's somewhat feminine old face, Zhou Yang was just about to speak when he suddenly felt the world spin-