Weeping for a Lost Love (Part 1)
Chang Dafeng felt that the eyes on that face, surrounded by fleshy buds, were staring at him intently!
His heart skipped a beat.
Undeterred, they created a second and then a third face!
Lord of Thunder, Black Tiger Mystic Altar, Bowl Child, Nie Long... one after another, the masks flashed across Chang Dafeng's face like a revolving lantern, and the Opera Ghost sang out corresponding opera segments, its Ghost Rhyme growing ever more intense!
That Ghost Rhyme had broken free from the clutches of the Ghost Da Le and permeated Chang Dafeng's body.
Chang Dafeng's costumes are gradually resembling paper clothes.
But as he watched the Ghost Da Le found it increasingly difficult to keep up with his own singing. The third face on the yellow paper looked exactly like his senior brother. This face, which had been staring at him, was pushed to the edge of the yellow paper by the other two faces!
I was about to be squeezed out of that sunshade!
The moment my senior brother's face was removed from the sunshade, it meant his soul had escaped and he was alive!
With this thought in mind, Chang Dafeng's eyes glistened with tears. He turned his head away, and the ferocious mask on his face suddenly changed into a fair and rosy-cheeked face resembling that of a female role in Peking Opera.
He gazed at his senior brother's face, which was gradually being squeezed out of the yellow paper, and recited. "Since I followed the King in his eastern and western campaigns, I have endured wind and frost and toil year after year..."
The sound had barely begun when tears fell.
In my memory, whenever this play was performed, my senior brother would always join in the singing.
Layer upon layer of opera sounds rang in Chang Dafeng's ears, echoing his voice:
"I've caused you so much trouble and distress..."
"Senior brother!" Chang Dafeng looked up in surprise. He tried to focus his gaze to see the situation ahead, but his eyes were blurred with tears.
The sounds of the opera flooded his heart like a tide, extinguishing his joy.
"My concubine!"
"My power is waning."
In my opinion, today is the day we part ways...
"Senior brother!" Chang Dafeng was filled with anxiety. He blinked hard, squeezed out the tears from his eyes, and looked at the person opposite him again.
On the yellow paper, two faces were still depicted side by side.
The Ghost Da Le the face of his senior brother, and the Opera Ghost had red lips and white teeth.
Both pairs of eyes stared coldly at Chang Dafeng.
"Senior brother!"
Chang Dafeng was eager to step forward, lift the yellow paper, and see if Ding Ling underneath had become his senior brother.
However, he was corrupted by the ghostly charm of the opera, and his clothes were as thin as paper, and his flesh inside had become as fragile as paper. In his haste, he tore his clothes to shreds, cracked his flesh, and tripped and fell to the ground.
Blood soaked the paper clothes, and the bridgehead reeked of blood!
Chang Dafeng lay in a pool of blood, craning his neck to look across at the other side.
Heaven have mercy—just then a gust of wind came and lifted the sunshade paper off Ding Ling's face.
The face he saw was still Ding Ling's face!
It has absolutely nothing to do with his senior!
Chang Dafeng was utterly despondent!
His brows furrowed heavily against the wooden bridge, and he remained silent for a long time, as if he were dead.
After a long while.
Zhou Yang and Ding Ling only then heard his murmurs.
He seemed to be singing or reciting poetry.
The first few lines of the poem were indistinct to Zhou Yang, who could only understand the latter half:
"With the king's spirit broken, what reason is there for this lowly concubine to live..."
After reciting the poem, Chang Dafeng slowly raised his head and met Ding Ling's eyes under the yellow paper.
A terrifying smile appeared on a rotten face:
"How hateful that you were born a girl, while I was born a boy..."
"You're striving to live, but I'm sending you to your death..."
"That's enough, that's enough."
"I'll do a good deed this time too..."
Chang Dafeng slowly lowered his head, collapsed onto the bridgehead, and fell silent.
From his last words, Zhou Yang sensed that he was determined to die and was preparing to help Ding Ling before he died.
But he hasn't made any move yet, which makes Zhou Yang suspicious again.
Time waits for no one.
Because the two ghosts were fighting each other and had no time to cause trouble, Ding Ling was able to keep his life temporarily in the gap, but this situation could not last long.
Chang Dafeng has just performed opera and composed songs, which has completely stirred up the Ghost Rhyme of the Opera Ghost. It won't be long before it can completely drive away the Ghost Da Le!
The moment the two demons determine a victor will be the moment Ding Ling's death occurs!
Zhou Yang racked his brains, trying to come up with a solution.
But at that moment, a strong stench of decay emanated from Chang Dafeng, making one want to vomit!
Chang Dafeng, lying face down on the ground, exuded an aura of death.
In that instant, he was dead!
As Zhou Yang smelled the stench of decay, a thought suddenly occurred to him:
"If you want Ghost Da Le to work for you, you must offer parts of your own body as a sacrifice."
"Now, has Chang Dafeng perhaps sacrificed his entire life to Ghost Da Le?"
"Is he going to help Ding Ling this way?"
Just as she was thinking this, the sunshade covering Ding Ling's face suddenly started to shake!
The sunshade paper was as straight as if it had been ironed!
The lingering, musty smell, which had already begun to fade, suddenly intensified!
Just as Zhou Yang had guessed, Chang Dafeng gave the rest of his life to Ghost Da Le, asking Ghost Da Le to do one last thing for him!
The last thing is--
"Whoosh!"
The sunshade paper, stuck to Ding Ling's forehead and impossible to tear off by external force, came off in an instant!
Along with "Ghost Da Le" detached from Ding Ling, the Ghost Rhyme of the two ghosts also came off!
The Ghost Rhyme emanating from the Opera Ghost was swept up by the howling wind and instantly covered the surface of the sunshade paper!
Just now it suppressed the Ghost Da Le, but now that the Ghost Da Le has received a human sacrifice, it has turned around and restrained it!
Forced to gather all the Ghost Rhyme, it came to fight against the Ghost Da Le!
"He resides in my heart..."
On the paper, white and red Opera Ghost opera performers sing mournfully.
The Ghost Da Le stiff, and he didn't utter a sound!
Under the quiet of the night, the scene on the other side of the wooden bridge is no longer the same as before.
On the other side of the bridge, Ding Ling and Chang Dafeng were nowhere to be seen.
Aside from the usual cold night, the scenery on the other side is completely different from that on this side.
--The road connecting Daliangzi Village to the outside world has been opened!
"Walk!"
Letting the two ghosts fight over a piece of paper, Zhou Yang shouted and immediately manipulated Ding Ling's body, activating Breathing of the Ghost and Supernatural Ripple, rushing towards the other side of the bridge without daring to relax for a moment!
He walked as fast as the wind!
But he still felt it was too slow!
Ghost Rhyme chased after him like a wolf, as if if he hesitated or stopped even for a moment, he would be chewed up and devoured by that gaping maw behind him!
Fortunately, the journey was uneventful.
He led Ding Ling across the bridge, and the stench of corpses in the air instantly became very faint.
A gust of wind blew by.
At the bridgehead, apart from the fishy smell of the river wind, there was no longer any of the terrifying stench of corpses.
The world was quiet, with only the occasional chirping of insects.
The nights here, however, are not as lifeless as those in Daliangzi Village.
They escaped!
Zhou Yang excitedly told Ding Ling.
Ding Ling smiled softly.
Zhou Yang had no suspicions.
He had just led Ding Ling off the bridge and was still unsure whether the ghost behind him would cross the bridge and chase him beyond Daliangzi Village. He took another breath, strode off, and ran wildly towards the riverbank.
At that moment, Zhou Yang had only one thought, "Get away from this Ghost Lands, the farther the better!"
Zhou Yang walked faster and faster, and farther and farther.
He was focused on running forward when suddenly a dark shadow appeared behind him, carrying a small stool and hurrying along, quickly overtaking him.
The man was hunched over, with a fish basket tied around his waist and a fishing rod on his back; he looked like a fisherman.
It's pitch black outside, aren't fishermen afraid of encountering ghosts while fishing?
Zhou Yang began to have doubts.
The Supernatural Ripple emanating from his body were not tainted with any Ghost Rhyme.
"Hey, are you going home, folks?"
After considering his options, Zhou Yang greeted the fisherman ahead.
"Let's go see the performance."
The fisherman, who had already walked five or seven steps, responded without turning his head and continued walking forward.
Watching a concert?
Where is the stage here?
Who would build a stage on the riverbank?
An ominous premonition rose in Zhou Yang's heart again. He took a deep breath, caught up with the fisherman, and asked, "I don't see a stage around here. Where are you going to watch a play?"
"Ahead, right ahead."
The fisherman pointed forward, his feet still moving.
Following the direction of his finger, Zhou Yang could only see a pitch-black void.
Zhou Yang sighed and slowly stopped walking.
He saw the fisherman carrying his fishing rod walk into the darkness, and then rush out of the night ahead.
The fisherman walked towards him with his head down, saying as he went, "Ahead, just ahead."
The direction the man was pointing was precisely where Zhou Yang and Ding Ling were located.
In the darkness, the voices of women asking for directions echoed:
"I don't see any stage around here, where are you going to watch a play?"
All the voices asking for directions came from the same source.
It was all the sound of Ding Ling.
But echoing this voice were the voices of many men, women, and children:
"Ahead, right ahead."
"Here it is! This is it!"
Come and watch the performance!
Sing, sing!
In a daze, Zhou Yang and Ding Ling were standing at the highest point of this riverbank.
The area was already bustling with people.
The audience members, each with a fair and rosy complexion, looked up at Ding Ling standing high above.
They clapped their hands in unison, urging the show to begin quickly.