Gate of Death

"Splash..."

The wind blew the sunshade paper.

The face that grew out of the paper had its mouth wrinkled by the wind; it faced the bride wearing a red veil and seemed to be smiling.

"The troupe leader just had the Ghost Da Le to help him hold off the Opera Ghost."

"The Ghost Da Le about to eat one of his parts..."

Ding Ling whispered to Zhou Yang.

As she spoke, the yellow paper that had been swirling in mid-air suddenly slipped into Chang Dafeng's half-lifted red veil!

Chang Dafeng offered no resistance—he even reached out and tried to cup the face on the yellow paper in his hands!

The red veil suddenly fell down!

It was as if another person had slipped under the veil and was passionately kissing the bride hidden behind it!

But a sound like chewing food kept coming from under the veil, which always gave people the creeps!

Chang Dafeng reached out and hugged forward, as if to embrace someone, but in the end he only embraced emptiness.

The veil, which had been bulging out intermittently, as if something inside was struggling and thrashing about, gradually calmed down as Chang Dafeng slumped down.

"Senior brother..."

Zhou Yang heard Chang Dafeng sigh with regret.

Chang Dafeng stood there motionless for a while.

His face was covered by a red veil, and Zhou Yang and Ding Ling couldn't tell what part "Ghost Da Le" had taken from his face.

"Brother, we still need to continue our journey." At this moment, Chang Dafeng suddenly turned around, his face beneath the red veil facing Ding Ling. He assumed a posture and recited, "If we miss the auspicious time..."

"If we miss the auspicious time, it will naturally be bad," Ding Ling, disguised as Zhong Kui, added.

The two then adopted a certain posture and continued on their way.

In the pitch black of night.

Zhou Yang, attached to Ding Ling, looked at Chang Dafeng ahead.

On a stretch of riverbank, only Ding Ling and Chang Dafeng could be seen.

But Zhou Yang felt at this moment that there seemed to be a third person in this world, someone he couldn't see but could vaguely sense.

That person was standing beside Chang Dafeng.

This faint feeling appeared suddenly in Zhou Yang's heart, and then disappeared in an instant, elusive and hard to grasp.

At the end of the riverbank, the river that separated Daliangzi Village from the outside world appeared, its waters glowing in the darkness.

A wooden bridge connects the two sides of the river.

The dim light emanating from the water also reflected the scene on the other side.

In the dead of night, at the end of the bridge on the opposite bank of the river, stood two scarlet figures.

The figure in front was a delicate and graceful woman dressed as a bride, wearing a red veil; this was Chang Dafeng in disguise as Zhong Mei.

The one behind him had broad shoulders and a robust build, and his face was painted with a crocheted ingot-shaped mask; he was Zhong Kui Ling dressed as Ding Ling Kui.

The opposite bank of the river is like a mirror to this side.

The ghosts had already sealed off Daliangzi Village, making it impossible to escape on foot alone.

Brother, look—

"Is the Du Residence located across the street?"

Zhong Mei, standing at the bridgehead, pulled her brother Zhong Kui closer, pointed to the other side of the bridge, and recited her lines.

Zhong Kui's beard twitched slightly, and he smiled broadly, "Oh? This is indeed the location of the Du Residence."

"This is indeed the location of the Du Residence!"

He then began to sing. "With my bright ghost light, and shimmering banners."

"Lines of Great Ghost, squads of small, ferocious demons."

Holding peace in one's hands, bearing good fortune upon one's head.

"The drums and horns sounded in unison, the drums and horns sounded in unison."

"Squeezed together, ghosts mingling."

"From this day forward, we shall exorcise demons and vanquish evil spirits, forever Rear Slaughter Gate!"

As Ding Ling, dressed as Zhong Kui, finished singing, Chang Dafeng, in his original voice, shouted loudly, "Bravo!"

Chang Dafeng then said, "Then you shall be in charge of Rear Slaughter Gate the Houzai Gate forever!"

"You'll be the one to hold this Gate of Death!"

"What?!" Zhou Yang and Ding Ling were both shocked when they heard Chang Dafeng's words!

Chang Dafeng's words were not part of the lyrics and arias he and Ding Ling had originally planned!

But he must have been preparing for this for a long time!

No sooner had he finished speaking than Zhou Yang reacted, and immediately the Supernatural Ripple expanded outwards— the Bloated Aspect Averting God suddenly appeared behind Chang Dafeng and strode toward Ding Ling, but was stopped by the expanding Handprint Ripple around her!

There's no progress for the time being!

Furthermore, beneath the Handprint Ripple, the Bloated Aspect Averting God became increasingly illusory, as if it would be erased by the handprint!

The Supernatural Ripple obtained through practicing Breathing of the Ghost - Right Mindfulness Lock cannot fight against real demons, but they can hold their own against Averting God!

In particular, Zhou Yang has not yet integrated Ding Ling's Mindfulness.

His own Mindfulness alone was enough to achieve this!

He immediately sought to expand his advantage, aligning himself with Ding Ling's Mindfulness to completely subdue and eradicate the Bloated Aspect Averting God.

At this moment, Chang Dafeng sighed and said in a low voice, "Why you of all people?"

Why did you have to be born a girl?

Chang Dafeng's voice held an inexplicable emotion.

As he spoke, that cold, rotten smell instantly filled Ding Ling's nostrils!

Zhou Yang suddenly came to his senses and saw a piece of yellow paper being carried by a cold wind, heading straight for his face!

He was shocked and immediately focused the Handprint Ripple into points of light, which emanated from Ding Ling's face—this concentrated use of the ripples could unleash power several times greater than ordinary ripple cycles!

But at this moment, the light spots, which possessed several times the power of the rippled circulation, were merely a drop in the ocean compared to the Ghost Rhyme emanating from the yellow paper.

The sunshade paper drifted over without any obstruction and landed on Ding Ling's face.

A chilling, decaying Ghost Rhyme flowed through Ding Ling's blood, permeating her entire body!

Ding Ling froze instantly, standing at the bridgehead like a rotten wooden stake.

If her heart hadn't still been beating, Zhou Yang would have thought that the moment "Ghost Da Le" touched her face, it had ended her life!

In that instant, Zhou Yang felt as if he were in a pitch-black room.

Inside the dark house, it seemed as if only his soul remained.

All the senses he relied on Ding Ling's body to develop had vanished at this moment.

"Ding Ling! Ding Ling!" he called out urgently.

Even in this predicament, he could still escape at any time by relying on the "Knife Credit Ledger".

But Ding Ling is different.

If anything goes wrong with her now, she will truly die!

Fortunately, after Zhou Yang called out repeatedly, Ding Ling's voice came from afar, sounding both real and unreal, filled with deep fear. "Sir, sir... I'm here..."

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, you're alive!"

"You're still alive!"

Zhou Yang offered words of comfort.

As their thoughts became connected, Zhou Yang was finally no longer in a state of loss of his five senses.

He regained awareness of the outside world—

On the wooden bridge, Chang Dafeng removed the red veil from his head.

It revealed a face whose skin was rotting in many places and emitted the stench of a corpse.

The Ghost Da Le ate his noodles.

Chang Dafeng's facial features, beneath his skin, are still usable.

His arms hung limply at his sides as he strained to stand on tiptoe, craning his neck to look into the distance behind Ding Ling, as if he were still waiting for something.

Originally, he only had one arm, which Ghost Da Le, but now both arms looked "dead." Zhou Yang guessed that perhaps the Ghost Da Le possessed Ding Ling's face earlier, which meant that the Ghost Da Le done something for him.

If you want to accomplish something, Ghost Da Le, you'll have to eat a part of its body.

"Gentlemen..."

Ding Ling's voice gradually became clearer, and the illusory feeling faded from her voice.

"Can you still make a sound, Ding Ling?" Zhou Yang asked.

"No, sir, I can't make a sound..." Ding Ling's heart sank with sorrow and fear. "Even if I could make a sound now, it's useless, sir, isn't it?"

"Our play works on the Opera Ghost, but it's useless against Ghost Da Le."

As Zhou Yang listened to Ding Ling's voice, his mind began to plummet into the abyss.

Despair, like a black flood, engulfed all his struggles.