Playing Zhong Kui

"Should the two of us stick to the plan you came up with and prepare to perform Zhong Kui Marries Off His Sister in three days?

"Or now that there are only two of us left, do we need to put on a different play?"

As flames surged from Qian Heng's corpse, Zhou Yang caught the scent of burning incense, candles and paper money spreading through the air. He glanced at the extinguished Ghost Candle in Chang Dafeng's hand, then spoke up and asked him.

"We'll perform Zhong Kui Marries Off His Sister!"

Troupe Leader Chang said firmly, "When the time comes, our two Averting Gods will work together from inside and out. Even that whole group of Puppets in Daliangzi Village won't be able to stop us!"

Even now, he insisted there was only "a group of Puppets" in Daliang Village.

He never breathed a word about how the one responsible for the deaths of all the villagers in Daliang Village was actually a "ghost" of a higher level.

Zhou Yang sighed inwardly.

He said to Ding Ling, "He knows perfectly well there's a ghost in Daliang Village, yet he still refuses to tell us the truth.

"He's determined to use our lives to pave his own way to survival."

"Do we have another path to take?"

Ding Ling, who was hidden in the shadows and had listened to Zhou Yang and Chang Dafeng's conversation for some time, spoke up.

Zhou Yang hesitated, then told Ding Ling, "If we stay with Chang Dafeng, all we can do is wait three days and die for him without even knowing why. I think we need to look for a chance to go back into the village and investigate.

"Even if we don't find anything, we can use the chance to get out from under Chang Dafeng's control.

"Daliangzi Village is especially dangerous now, of course. If we flee into the village, perhaps Chang Dafeng won't think of looking for us there for a while.

"Besides, the passage from the play I taught you to sing earlier actually scared off the Ghost Rhyme the ghost had attached to Li Yichun, and you'd never heard that passage before.

"Perhaps the ghost had never heard it before either and couldn't 'copy' it in a short time, which was why it was scared off.

"This ghost must have loved listening to opera when it was alive. Perhaps it was an opera performer itself, and it might even have been the one who invited your troupe to perform.

"Following that line of reasoning, its family should have held a fairly prominent position in this remote village.

"If we look for the best house and courtyard in the village, we might find the 'ghost's lair.' If we go inside and investigate, we might find your path to survival."

Everything Zhou Yang said was his own speculation.

Though the ghost's earlier behavior was enough to support his guesses, if he had made even a slight mistake, Ding Ling would have to pay with her life.

After all, they were planning to go straight into the ghost's lair.

If they saw the evil ghost's true form inside its lair, they would have little chance of survival.

Most of all, where did Ding Ling's path to survival lead?

Zhou Yang had no definite answer either.

But Ding Ling trusted him completely. After listening to him use so many words like "might" and "perhaps," she said at once, "Then once it's light and I've learned the Draft of Divine Makeup and Ghost Painting, we'll take the opportunity to leave here and look for the ghost's lair!"

"Mm," Zhou Yang said softly. "I hope everything goes smoothly then."

Inside the main room.

Ding Ling took the folding stool Chang Dafeng casually handed her, opened it and sat down.

With his back to her, Chang Dafeng walked back and forth between the main room and the side rooms on either side, rummaging through several opera trunks. Finally, he brought over a small trunk and set it in front of Ding Ling.

He opened it, revealing a bright red costume inside.

"This is Zhong Kui's costume.

"The official's hat, beard, red official's robe, three-pointed collar, curved belt, padded jacket... everything's there, all neatly packed inside." Chang Dafeng pointed at the costume in the little trunk and smiled. "Once you've opened the first gate, the 'Gate of Opening,' I'll make you up and put you in this costume."

"Aren't we performing in three days? Am I getting dressed up now?" Ding Ling asked.

"Once you've opened the Gate of Opening and created your first Averting God, there won't be any problem communicating with ghosts and gods through opera," Chang Dafeng said. "Once you're dressed as Zhong Kui, whether you walk, stand, sit or lie down, you'll be Zhong Kui in every way. You'll be able to sing and communicate with ghosts and gods at any time.

"That way, if the ghost comes again, you'll be prepared at all times and have an easier time escaping."

Opera costumes were bulky and elaborate. Even wearing one onstage and striking the various poses required years of practice, let alone wearing one everywhere as if it were ordinary clothing.

Ding Ling understood, of course, that what the troupe leader had said was only part of it.

His main intention was to use the costume to encumber Ding Ling and keep her tied to his side, unable to get away.

And though Chang Dafeng sounded gentle, what he said left Ding Ling no room to resist.

Now that he had said it, the matter was settled.

Chang Dafeng then took out the divine painting bearing the "Draft of Divine Makeup and Ghost Painting," made from some unknown material. He exposed the Eight Gates of Divine Makeup and Ghost Painting on its back, spread it over another opera trunk and weighed down the corners with an oil lamp.

Then he took out the Ghost Candle again. It had grown a finger's length shorter.

"This Ghost Candle wasn't easy to come by.

"An ordinary person needs three or four strands of Mindfulness to light this candle with their gaze.

"This was your first time touching it, yet you could light it with the intent in your gaze. That's really quite good.

"Better than those who died."

Chang Dafeng looked at the Ghost Candle in his hand, clearly cherishing it.

Zhou Yang had already told Ding Ling what Mindfulness did.

But in truth, even Zhou Yang himself still didn't fully understand what "Mindfulness" actually was.

He now had a chance to ask, and Ding Ling was puzzled too, so she asked Chang Dafeng, "Troupe leader, what is Mindfulness?"

"Suppose you've suffered oppression and bullying, and you rise up to resist. But you're outnumbered, and when you're subdued and humiliated again, your chest is still full of rage, and you're determined to take your enemy down with you...

"That determination is Mindfulness.

"Or suppose the world is full of twisted reasoning, and though you're caught up in it, manipulated and pushed around, you still retain some uprightness in your heart and have your own principles for how you act. When faced with life or death, you come to a realization.

"That realization is Mindfulness."

Chang Dafeng continued, "The more you temper yourself at the brink of life and death, the more setbacks you face, and the more unyielding you remain, the more Mindfulness you can cultivate.

"In short, every time you face a crisis of life and death without losing your composure or betraying your heart, you can gain a strand of Mindfulness, or even two or three."

Chang Dafeng's explanation of Mindfulness was still not entirely clear.

But Zhou Yang understood.

He was reminded of a passage he had read before: true warriors dare to face a bleak life and look squarely at dripping blood.

That courage to face bleakness and look squarely at blood was Mindfulness.

The reason Zhou Yang had managed to cultivate these strands of Mindfulness was entirely because he had been dancing on a knife's edge in Guan Village, where crises of life and death always came without warning. That had caused his Mindfulness to grow far faster than Ding Ling's in her ordinary circumstances.

A strand of Mindfulness, as Chang Dafeng described it, corresponded to one point of Mindfulness in the Knife Credit Ledger.

What would happen when Mindfulness broke past "nine" to "ten," surpassing the limits of an ordinary person?

"How can I tell how many strands of Mindfulness I've accumulated?

"And what use is there in accumulating more of them?"

Ding Ling asked at just the right moment.

"You can only sense your own Mindfulness.

"I only used the Ghost Candle to estimate how many strands you have now.

"Alternatively, if two people fight and each uses their own methods, they'll naturally be able to see how much Mindfulness the other has," Chang Dafeng said. He was about to open the first of the Eight Gates of Divine Makeup and Ghost Painting, the "Gate of Opening," for Ding Ling, so he told her everything he knew in answer to her questions about the Draft.

He held out his left wrist and placed three fingers of his right hand on his pulse. "Put your hand on your pulse. Besides your heartbeat, there should be several other beats that feel like a pulse. Each one represents a strand of Mindfulness you've accumulated.

"Add them together, and that's how many strands of Mindfulness you have now."