Chapter 535: Chapter 273: Creating Momentum
The haunting of the old garden in the Western Market has been circulating within the Jin Sect for twenty to thirty years. Every night, those who pass by the old garden can hear the sounds coming from inside.
Yet, there are always skeptics who enter the theater. Those with strong constitutions and abundant Yang Fire can barely make it out if they enter during the day. But the weaker ones, even during broad daylight, will fall severely ill, and some even go mad, muttering indistinct opera lines all day long.
Over time, the theater added more sounds: the strumming of instruments, the voice of Zhong Kui shouting to catch ghosts, and occasionally the weeping of young women or the sound of nuns knocking on wooden fish.
The theater seemed like a ’sound-devouring beast’; anything or anyone associated with sound appeared unable to escape its gaping maw.
In the largest teahouse of the Jin Sect, Guo Dongyang was storytelling.
"What I am going to tell you today is neither a made-up story from a novel nor a baseless fabrication. It is a real event that happened in our Jin Sect territory!"
The Jin Sect is bustling on its own, and with Guo Dongyang being the top storyteller, whenever he appears, the guests in the teahouse gather to the entrance.
Xu Qing was seated in a private booth on the second floor, while opposite him, Liu Su’e — Boss Liu — was nibbling on pastries.
It seemed that she had been famished earlier at the theater, but since she had been trained in opera since childhood, her manners and etiquette were deeply ingrained in her.
She spoke and laughed without showing her teeth, ate slowly and deliberately, and even when extremely hungry, she never behaved improperly.
Xu Qing watched Liu Su’e eat, noting that her refined manner resembled that of Xuan Yu.
Elegant and serene.
At this moment, in the teahouse hall, Guo Dongyang began recounting the past of the Haunted House as per Xu Qing’s direction.
"In the Western Market of Jin Sect, there’s an old theater that has been haunted for twenty years! Every night at midnight, the eerie opera singing arises from that theater, like wind blowing through willow fluff, yet resembling wailing ghosts, scaring the nearby residents into not daring to open their eyes!"
Guo Dongyang recounted Old Master Shan renting out the theater, buying a night with a young boy, and hosting guests to watch opera in the past.
"It turns out it was a group of wrongful death ghosts causing havoc! During a birthday banquet in those days, an entire opera troupe was poisoned, meeting their end in the Underworld. Their grievances were immense and unresolved, so they stayed in the theater. Over decades, numerous monks and Daoists were invited by local officials and gentry to perform rituals, but who knew the theater was too thick with yin energy and filled with ghostly presence that none could disperse them!"
At this point, Guo Dongyang’s narrative abruptly shifted:
"Yet, just the other day, a strange event took place! A Huashan arrived from Linjiang County."
"What is a Huashan? Someone proficient in singing, recitation, acting, and movement, able to perform Qingyi, Huadan, and Daomadan, that’s a Huashan. In the profession, the most challenging roles are considered to be the fierceness of Yu Ji and the poise of Xue Xiangling. These roles can only be truly portrayed by a Huashan!"
In the private booth, Liu Su’e paused her eating, finding the story told by the storyteller quite familiar.
Below, Guo Dongyang continued.
"The one who came to the Western Market Theater wasn’t just a Huashan? She was a master in the field, a legendary performer, a divine artist!"
Guo Dongyang took a sip of tea, scanned around, and used the time to moisten his throat to build up the atmosphere.
Once the teahouse was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, Guo Dongyang began again: "In the dead of night, when even ghosts shiver, she, alone, carrying her costume box, stepped into the ghostly old theater."
"She didn’t perform rituals or chant spells. First, she respectfully placed three sticks of incense before the deserted stage, the smoke curled upward as her words took form—
Esteemed seniors, dust returns to dust, soil returns to soil. No matter how well you sang while alive, people have passed, and this world’s gongs and drums, passionate audience, are no longer your concern! To those of you who must depart, please make your way."
"Barely had the Huashan finished her words when the sound of the Overlord returning to camp erupted from the stage!"
"As the black mist on stage cleared, a figure appeared, the Opera Troupe Leader who met a wrongful death in the theater twenty years ago—the legendary star of Jin Sect’s Lixiang Garden! In life, he was best known for portraying the Overlord of Western Chu!"
Guo Dongyang cleared his throat and continued the narration:
"The Overlord said: You think you can just tell us to leave and we will? Who do you think you are? Just because you’ve performed for a few years doesn’t mean you’re so great!"
"The Huashan wasn’t angered; she drew on the steadiness of a leading Qingyi, and said—
My senior, please calm down! I understand, you can’t let go of this stage, nor the people who love opera. So how about this, we do it the opera way, on stage, where the truth is revealed, and settle it with a performance!
If my singing skills surpass you seniors, then please peacefully reincarnate and return this theater to tranquility! But if my skills are lacking..."
Guo Dongyang tapped the table with a fan, saying, "This theater shall be my final resting place, do as you wish!"
In the teahouse’s private booth, Boss Liu finally no longer puzzled, realizing the storyteller wasn’t narrating her hunger plight at the theater, after all.
In the hall, Guo Dongyang followed the script and continued:
"Once the Huashan laid down this challenge, there was no retreat.
The Troupe Leader, portraying the Overlord, was about to mock the youth for his arrogance, but at the next moment, witnessed the Huashan focusing, breathing out, and starting to sing:
Ah—— ya——!"
"Oh my! Once the pro began his first note, the old Troupe Leader could no longer laugh."
"You’d see the Huashan standing firm, voice clear and steady, epitomizing the gravitas of a leading Qingyi, with eloquent passage delivery, richly resonant, soothing to hear! In no time, she switched to mimic a Huadan, her movements and gestures strikingly lifelike, eyes and brows full of drama, animated as if the spirit of a star possessed her!