Chapter 64: The Yin Hall Gathering (Part 9)

After so many years, “they” merely wanted to finish singing this opera. It was just that the plot had not yet reached the time node where they should appear, so they had been hiding backstage, waiting together for that one Yellow Springs Gathering.

When humans finish singing, ghosts take the stage.

Chen Jiu lightly tapped the table surface with her fingers, and said to Chen Ba: “Senior brother, don’t you dare slack off or play tricks later. My mind and spirit are damaged, and I might not be able to handle it alone.”

Chen Xingye showed a shocked expression, as if to say even you have times when you can’t handle things?

“You just went to catch that yin evil that entered Yu Xiao’s dream?” he asked in a low voice.

Chen Jiu nodded.

Chen Xingye exhaled and said: “No problem. Matters of life and death, critical moments, I won’t ignore her just because of some past personal grudge. Rest assured.”

With his words, Chen Jiu was relieved. She secretly circulated her energy to repair her meridians and breath. If nothing unexpected happened, there would be a hard battle to fight shortly.

When the time reached midnight at 12 o’clock, everyone clearly felt the lights at the filming set dim somewhat.

Ren Dong was somewhat nervous, turning back to look at Chen Jiu. Chen Jiu remained noncommittal, only saying: “Continue.”

Seeing her calm and composed, Ren Dong also gained some confidence. He didn’t have the staff adjust anything, only pretending to be unaware, continuing to film.

The old dan took the stage. For some reason, the temperature inside the venue dropped slightly again. Many who had brought coats draped them over themselves. Everyone found it inconceivable, after all today’s weather forecast hadn’t mentioned any temperature drop, and most people hadn’t prepared in advance.

After another ten minutes, Chen Jiu’s gaze was quickly drawn to a certain maid character on stage.

Ren Dong stared at the monitor, suddenly beginning to blink frantically. A chill slowly crept up his spine, because he discovered that beneath the female extra’s skirt there were actually no feet.

He thought he had seen wrong, blinking several times, before confirming he indeed had not seen wrong.

Chen Jiu had somehow arrived at his side, saying softly: “You know nothing. Continue filming.”

Ren Dong wiped away the cold sweat breaking out on his forehead, nodded, steadied his voice and continued giving instructions. The extra walked off with small steps. He lowered his head to continue watching the monitor. That girl somehow actually turned back at just the right moment, meeting his gaze directly, then gave a radiant smile.

This glance nearly scared Ren Dong’s soul flying and scattering, nearly making him spring up from the director’s chair and shout out loud.

Chen Jiu reached out and pressed on his shoulder, forcefully pressing him to sit back down obediently. She recited softly: “Most High platform star, adapting without pause. Soul secure and spirit firm, mind and heart unstartled… Director Ren, if you want to thoroughly resolve this, put in some effort now, endure it.”

And at this moment, in Chen Ba and Chen Jiu’s spiritual sight, the stage had completely changed to another opera. On the white wall was written a huge “memorial” character. All the characters had changed into mourning makeup, surrounding a coffin, weeping mournfully.

No feet, and similarly no shadows.

Below the stage, many indistinct spiritual bodies also silently poured in, sitting on their own. The realms of yin and yang strangely connected at this moment: all the living people felt the chill coming from the dead people invisible beside them, sitting shoulder to shoulder, leg against leg, squeezed together with them on the long benches, watching the final opera on stage together.

It was also the final opera they watched while alive.

The compass in Chen Jiu’s hand trembled and spun randomly for several circles, finally giving up. Spirits were everywhere, the spirits of those who died unjust deaths.

“Dark and gloomy, the Yellow Springs road stretches ahead, desolate and miserable, the cold wind pierces to the bone…”

Sounds poured in from all directions: the desolation of the old dan, the clarity of the young male lead, the humor of the clown, the melodiousness of the huadan, layer upon layer, chaotically intertwined, pulling together in disorder, possessing a strange absurdity.

So they were singing of injustice, Chen Jiu thought secretly.

Ren Dong was still trembling, his mouth mechanically shouting the usual several instructions. No one suspected anything, although everyone felt today’s atmosphere was unusually strange, but Chen Jiu was still standing here, what could happen?

Chen Jiu calmly appreciated that ghost opera on stage, until all the yin evil spirits turned their faces, looking at her with indifferent expressions. Only then did she curve her lips slightly: “So that’s how it was…”

At this moment, the stage had already been cleared, empty in the eyes of ordinary people.

Chen Jiu took out the porcelain bottle sealing the male lead, walked forward a few steps, and instructed: “Don’t rush to film the next scene, clear out the space.”

“Okay!” Ren Dong picked up the communicator, fully cooperating, not a single word of refusal.

The talisman paper was lifted. Chen Jiu pulled out the bottle stopper, and blew a leisurely breath toward the bottle opening. That mass of chaotic black mist drifted out onto the stage. By the time it reacted, it was already surrounded by a crowd of ghosts, a dark and heavy mass pressing down.

“No… what are you doing?! No!!! You lowly commoners!” The man shouted himself hoarse: “I’ll kill you! Kill you all!”

But being bitten and pulled by countless ghosts, he long ago hurt too much to emit complete roars. The feeling of one’s soul body being torn apart was millions of times more painful than the physical body. He suffered retribution from which there was no escape for all eternity. All the ghosts harbored resentment and hatred, tearing him to pieces, devouring him completely!

Apart from Chen Jiu, only Chen Ba saw this bizarre and absurd scene. He stood up full of astonishment, walked to his junior sister’s side, and murmured: “How could this be… how could it be like this? So we were all wrong from the very beginning…”

No wonder one side pushed forward while the other side restrained. It turned out there were fundamentally two opposing forces mutually restraining and counterbalancing each other.

“For the warlord to be so cruel and violent, how could the one he harmed be only the huadan girl?” Chen Jiu said in a low voice.

Actors, prostitutes, maids, peddlers and laborers, all were objects of the warlord’s oppression and exploitation. Chen Ba realized he had been thinking too narrowly. In just one opera troupe alone, it was absolutely impossible that only the huadan girl had been humiliated by the warlord. The wusheng drawing the warlord into a death trap for the huadan might not have been for any emotion or love at all, but rather to obtain justice for all those who, like him, had groveled on their knees begging for food.

On stage, the man’s soul body had already scattered and flown away, no longer existing between heaven and earth.

The Yellow Springs Gathering, inviting only him alone to the banquet.

The drumbeats thundered. The huadan sang in unison: “I originally intended to properly and righteously sing my opera, never expecting tigers and wolves to fill the hall. Today all blood debts of grievance are settled: I will not be the person on stage performing the person on stage, I will become the King of Hell!”

The old dan sang again: “The Yellow Springs road draws near, the Bridge of Helplessness lies flat. Granny Meng’s soup is hot, shadows of past lives. Having drunk one bowl, no love no hate. In the next life, don’t be human.”

Wind poured in through the cracks in the stage boards, wailing like the sound of many people weeping together.

Chen Jiu took out the soul-sending bell, wound red thread around two fingers, suspended it beneath her palm, and rang it the first time.

“Clang…”

The sound was not loud, but its penetrating power was extremely strong, like a stone falling into a deep pool, ripples spreading out in circles from the center of the stage toward the surroundings.

Chen Ba walked to directly below the stage, pressing the five emperor coins already strung with red thread onto the ground according to the eight trigrams positions: Qian, Kun, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Li, Gen, Dui. After arranging the eight strings of copper coins, he then inserted the black-background red-character command flag in the center of the eight trigrams formation, with the two characters “Imperial Command” written on it. It moved without wind, fluttering and snapping.

The formation was complete. The eight gates locked shut. The five elements returned to their positions.

Chen Jiu began to ring the bell a second time.

“Clang…”

The sound was heavier than the first time, vibrating the stage boards into a buzzing hum, the curtain hooks colliding with each other, clinking and clanking.

Chen Ba sat cross-legged in the center of the formation, both hands forming seals, lips moving slightly, softly reciting: “Looking inward at the heart, the heart has no heart. Looking outward at the form, the form has no form. Looking afar at things, things have no things.”

As the formation began to operate with his recitation, the red thread ends of the copper coins moved like snakes on the ground, following the nine palace grid trajectory, guiding the lingering souls in the world toward the center of the formation.

The wandering souls seemed to know this senior brother and junior sister pair harbored no malice, gathering in the formation without resistance, overlapping one another.

Chen Jiu raised the bell and rang it a third time.

“Clang…”

The instant the bell sound rang out, the formation emitted a humming sound, the five elements resonating together.

The soul bodies seemed to know where they were about to go, one after another raising their heads to look toward the horizon, gradually becoming transparent one by one. And the last to depart was an extremely faint wisp of mist. She turned to look at Chen Jiu, gave a shallow smile, her gaze flowing.

Chen Jiu was somewhat moved, drawing closer to look at her.

The huadan girl extended one finger, gently touching Chen Jiu’s forehead.

“Thank you.” She said with a smile, this one word spoken softly, then instantly dissipated like smoke and mist in the mortal world.

In the formation, Chen Ba did not open his eyes, his recitation changing to the Three Refuges: “I take refuge in the Buddha, wishing that all living beings may understand the great way and arouse the supreme mind…”

Chen Jiu stood blankly for a moment, put the soul-sending bell back into her bag, turned to look down. At some unknown time, everyone had all toppled over leaning against their seats, sleeping in a daze.

Ren Dong was the first to struggle awake, shouting that he had just had a nightmare. He dreamed he was filming, and then saw through the monitor people who did not exist in the real world.

But after he rattled off everything, he discovered he was indeed standing at the filming set, and there was indeed a monitor before him. He immediately screamed in terror.

This shout woke everyone up in shock. They were astonished to discover that daylight had already brightened.

…

At XX Hospital, the young actress who had originally taken the huadan role finally woke up.

She did not remember what she had experienced, only feeling that she had had a very very long dream.

Outside the hospital room, a middle-aged couple with red-rimmed eyes wanted to kneel down to Chen Jiu, but were timely supported by Chen Jiu. Her strength was extraordinarily great, forcibly pulling the couple so they couldn’t kneel to the ground.

“Uncle and auntie, if you kneel like this, I will lose years of my life.” Chen Jiu was rarely embarrassed.

This was actually just a convenient matter. A wisp of that young girl’s soul had been lost within that yin evil, taking a walk around the underworld. Her allotted lifespan had not yet ended, so the ghost messengers drove her back. Once her soul returned to its position, the person naturally woke up.

Only she couldn’t say this clearly. She had only come to confirm with a glance, but Ren Dong that clever person had spilled everything to the young girl’s family in one breath.

The kneeling was avoided, but the kindness must be repaid.

The couple thought hard and discussed, finally secretly stuffing a large red envelope into Chen Jiu’s hands when she was about to leave.

Chen Jiu returned to the hotel, staring blankly at the extra red envelope for a while.

When wealth comes, it truly cannot be blocked even if you try!