Li Yichun

Biodata

Background / History

Life in the Opera Troupe

Li Yichun came from a male brothel before becoming a female-role performer in the Lampstand Opera Troupe. He and Gao Hongbo were established stage performers, unlike Ding Ling, who had previously worked as a general helper 19.

When Ding Ling threatened suicide rather than undertake the midnight ghost-viewing ritual, Li Yichun reacted with anger and fear, appealing to Chang Dafeng to intervene. After she survived, he tried to coax her into explaining Opera Communion with Spirits. She refused, citing the troupe leader’s prohibition against sharing it 6 19.

Ding Ling later recalled that Li Yichun had handled the troupe’s female roles, while Chang Dafeng had exclusively performed major painted-face roles, including those Gao Hongbo could not play. She had never seen Chang Dafeng perform a female role before the events in Daliang Village 58.

Encounter at the Stone House

While gathering firewood with Ding Ling and Gao Hongbo near Daliang Village, Li Yichun joked about encountering a ghost, earning Gao Hongbo’s rebuke. The three subsequently found a derelict stone house that appeared again despite their attempt to flee in the opposite direction 21.

Li Yichun screamed that he had seen a long-haired woman in red and pulled Gao Hongbo in front of himself as a shield. He then suggested that his eyes had deceived him. When Gao Hongbo smelled a sweet, rotten odor and ran toward the house, Li Yichun fled without warning Ding Ling 21.

He returned to the troupe after dark with torn clothes and split embroidered shoes. Qian Heng initially refused to admit him, fearing a ghost in disguise, but Chang Dafeng ordered the gate opened. Li Yichun insisted that the red-clothed ghost had chased him through the forest. Chang Dafeng slapped him repeatedly until he agreed that he had imagined it 22 23.

Ding Ling detected no corpse stench on Li Yichun immediately after his return, and he said that he had not smelled the odor that drew Gao Hongbo toward the house. Nevertheless, Zhou Yang remained suspicious because Li Yichun repeatedly described a long-haired woman in red rather than the elaborately costumed huadan Ding Ling had seen. Zhou Yang considered both the possibility that Li Yichun had seen no ghost and the possibility that different witnesses perceived different forms 23.

Ghost Opera Selection

Li Yichun helped invite ghost guests to choose the troupe’s next opera. During the preparations, his trembling abruptly stopped, and he asked whether Gao Hongbo would return. His subsequent sweet, painted-looking smile frightened Qian Heng, although his expression and the warmth of his hand later seemed normal 24 25.

An unknown force pulled the participants’ linked fists toward Three Battles with the White Bone Demon. Chang Dafeng, aided by Ding Ling, forced the selection toward Zhong Kui Marries Off His Sister instead. The opposing forces crushed Li Yichun’s right thumb, along with Chang Dafeng’s and Qian Heng’s thumbs 25 26.

Li Yichun protested that, as the troupe’s only female-role performer, he would be expected to play Zhong Kui’s mortal sister and become an easy target for the ghost. Chang Dafeng instead took that role himself, assigned Li Yichun Umbrella Ghost, and gave Ding Ling the lead role of Zhong Kui 26.

Li Yichun and Qian Heng also objected to Ding Ling receiving the lead, questioning her lack of formal opera training and her suitability as a woman playing Zhong Kui. Chang Dafeng answered that she had learned genuine supernatural skills from him and would be able to make her performance reach the divine. Neither man was satisfied, but they could not overturn his decision 26.

Possession and Destruction

When the ghost arrived, Li Yichun hid with Qian Heng in the right side room. A corpse stench developed there, strengthening Zhou Yang’s suspicion that Li Yichun had already become a supernatural threat. He eventually emerged singing, retaining his tall, thin body and huadan costume but bearing an unfamiliar, beautiful woman’s face 27 29.

Before emerging, Li Yichun shrieked that Gao Hongbo had come for them when Gao’s possessed corpse appeared at the courtyard gate. The two possessed bodies subsequently sang while threatening Chang Dafeng from opposite sides 28 29.

Ding Ling confronted him while performing a great general through Opera Communion with Spirits. Her wooden spear struck his body as the general’s shadow thrust its weapon. The beautiful face bled black, rotted away, and left a motionless, faceless corpse. Chang Dafeng identified the attackers as Puppets and burned Li Yichun’s remains using fire from the Ghost Candle 30.

Zhou Yang later described the defeated presence as Ghost Rhyme attached to Li Yichun. He speculated that the unfamiliar opera passage he had taught Ding Ling frightened it off because the Opera Ghost had not heard the passage before and could not immediately copy it 34.

Posthumous Influence

Zhou Yang collected Li Yichun’s lingering shadow through Ding Ling, establishing that his Manifestation Body could gather the remnants of people who had recently died nearby. Li Yichun’s shadow retained his tall, thin outline and painted face 32.

Chang Dafeng later used Li Yichun’s and Qian Heng’s names and clothing to draw out the Opera Ghost’s lingering Ghost Rhyme during Ding Ling’s Averting God ritual. Their apparitions appeared behind her before being gathered into the ritual’s false belly 36.

During this ritual, Ding Ling tied garments the men had frequently worn around her waist and silently repeated their names in the courtyard’s northwest corner. Their apparitions appeared with sinister expressions, and she felt cold, stiff hands gripping her shoulders even after their figures vanished from the corner of her eye. Chang Dafeng warned that using their ghost-tainted names risked attracting the Daliang Village ghost itself 36.

The Knife Credit Ledger eventually absorbed both men’s lingering images while Zhou Yang forged iron in Guan Village. This revealed the title “A Woman Rides on a Golden Pagoda” and fragmentary references to the Linzang Kora Route, Nengsheng Liberation Temple, and a golden pagoda 46.

The ledger had collected both their last words and lingering images in Daliang Village, which Zhou Yang brought back to Guan Village. Their images were completely absorbed during that afternoon’s forging, but the revealed title and fragments were insufficient for him to understand the new story 46.

Appearance

• Build: Tall and thin, with a rather angular face 24 29 32.
• Makeup and clothing: Wears rouge and powder even with men’s clothing, paired with exceptionally small embroidered shoes 19.
• Mannerisms: Walks gracefully and deliberately pitches his voice high 19.
• Stage costume: Wears a colorful huadan outfit during the ghost-invitation ritual and his later possession 24 29.
• Possessed appearance: Develops an alluring woman’s face while retaining his own body; after defeat, his corpse has no facial features 29 30.

Personality

Li Yichun is irritable and condescending toward Ding Ling, threatening to slap her for glaring at him and invoking troupe rules when she talks back. His attitude becomes coaxing when he wants access to Chang Dafeng’s secret teachings 19.

His fear frequently endangers or unsettles others. He makes an ill-timed joke about ghosts, uses Gao Hongbo as a shield, and abandons Ding Ling when the stone-house encounter worsens. Zhou Yang consequently warns Ding Ling that Li Yichun is unreliable and likely to sacrifice nearby companions to save himself 21.

Despite his panic, he can argue clearly when his survival is at stake. His objection to playing Zhong Kui’s sister correctly distinguishes the vulnerability of a mortal role from the protection the troupe hopes to gain by portraying gods and ghosts 26.

Power Progression

Li Yichun demonstrates no confirmed cultivation advancement of his own; his later supernatural manifestations result from the ghost’s influence over his corpse 19 29 30.

Abilities & Skills

Female-Role Performance

Li Yichun specializes in portraying women onstage 19.

• Uses makeup, graceful movement, and a deliberately high-pitched voice 19.
• His established performance specialty does not demonstrate mastery of Opera Communion with Spirits; he unsuccessfully asks Ding Ling to explain that method 19.
• Ding Ling later identifies him as the troupe’s regular female-role performer, distinguishing his specialty from Chang Dafeng’s and Gao Hongbo’s painted-face roles 58.

Ghost-Invitation Ritual

Li Yichun performs the opening invitation for the Ghost Opera Selection 24.

• Secures the courtyard gate and positions an incense burner at its threshold.
• Circles the courtyard backward three times with three lit incense sticks while inviting guests and naming available operas.
• Joins the linked-thumb selection ritual with Chang Dafeng, Qian Heng, and Ding Ling 24 25.

Ghost-Controlled Puppet

The supernatural effects displayed through Li Yichun’s corpse belong to its possession rather than any demonstrated cultivation of his own 29 30.

• Sings opera while wearing a newly formed woman’s face 29.
• Threatens Chang Dafeng from inside the building while Gao Hongbo’s possessed corpse confronts him from outside 29.
• Becomes immobile when Ding Ling’s divine performance destroys the attached face 30.
• Zhou Yang attributes the defeated manifestation to the Opera Ghost’s attached Ghost Rhyme and theorizes that its inability to immediately copy an unfamiliar opera passage contributed to its defeat 34.

Relationships

• Chang Dafeng — Troupe leader whom Li Yichun turns to for protection. Chang suppresses his ghost reports through violence, assigns his final role, and later burns his corpse 6 23 26 30.
• Ding Ling — Fellow troupe member whom he belittles and questions about secret teachings. She ultimately defeats the Puppet occupying his corpse 19 30.
• Gao Hongbo — Fellow established performer whom Li Yichun flatters and asks to look after him; during the forest encounter, he physically uses Gao as a shield 19 21.
• Qian Heng — Fellow ritual participant and companion in hiding. Qian suspects that Li Yichun has become a ghost but survives sharing the side room with him 24 25 27 31.
• Zhou Yang — Distrusts Li Yichun, watches for signs of possession, and later collects his lingering shadow and images 21 23 27 32 46.

---