"Bang!" His head slammed heavily onto the ground, sending a painful ringing through his skull.
Ignoring the throbbing in his head, Li Huowang gritted his teeth and fiercely shook the copper bell in his hand. That thing had almost gotten the better of him.
The edges of the eight-immortal table, the bamboo poles of the stage, and the ancestral tablets of the Hu family all began to distort, their outlines twisting and converging into grotesque forms.
With his head pounding from the cacophony, Li Huowang pointed at the false Lu Zhuangyuan, and the creature known as You Lao Ye surged toward the impostor.
The creature attempted to flee upon seeing You Lao Ye approach, but it was too late. You Lao Ye reached its target but didn't attack Lu Zhuangyuan's physical form. Instead, it lunged at the shadow cast on the ground by the flickering lantern.
Like a predator tearing apart its prey, the lines of You Lao Ye sliced the shadow into fragmented pieces. The creature, disguised as Lu Zhuangyuan, let out a feral scream and thrashed wildly.
"So its true form is in its shadow! No wonder cutting its body in half didn't work," Li Huowang realized.
As You Lao Ye continued its assault, the creature disguised as Lu Zhuangyuan deflated like a punctured balloon. Its shadow melted into a viscous, foul-smelling pool of black liquid on the ground.
Just as Li Huowang thought it was over,
"Whoosh!" You Lao Ye abruptly darted back to Li Huowang, spinning rapidly around him in a frenzied manner.
"What's happening? Could there be another one?" Alarmed, Li Huowang resumed shaking the bell with renewed intensity.
From the shadows emerged the small-footed woman, her face twisted with malice as she glared at him.
"That wasn't the only one? There's more of them?" Another figure of the small-footed woman split from the first, then another, and another. The figures kept dividing, growing smaller and smaller as they multiplied.
The stage was soon surrounded by these miniature versions of the small-footed woman. They swayed their grotesque bodies and opened their crimson mouths to sing in unnervingly high-pitched voices:
"The Joy God dances, the Joy God laughs, clothed in grace and gentle charm."
"The Joy God leaps, the Joy God pranks, ink on red scrolls marks good fortune."
"The Joy God rages, the Joy God mourns, lanterns blaze like an ocean's glow."
"The Joy God hungers, the Joy God starves, left hand holds heart, right hand the gut—welcoming the Joy God at the village gate!"
As the final verse ended, their bodies exploded in unison, spraying black matter everywhere. The black substance dyed the twisted surroundings in complete darkness.
Though Li Huowang didn't understand what they were doing, he instinctively felt something was wrong. He stopped shaking the bell and prepared to retreat.
But before he could move, his legs became rooted to the ground as if nailed in place. A vague, weak, yet irresistible force compelled him to look up into the sky.
There, in the pitch-black void, he saw nothing. Yet Li Huowang sensed something vast and incomprehensible stirring within the darkness.
"The Joy God?"
As the thought crossed his mind, massive, indistinct shapes began to emerge from the blackness. "No, it's aware of my thoughts! I need to leave now!"
Li Huowang's mind screamed at him to flee, but his body betrayed him. He felt exhilaration surging through his veins, his breathing quickened, and veins bulged across his face. He tore off his robe, raising his hands high as if to embrace the monstrous shadow above.
The outlines in the darkness became more defined, a chaotic mass of writhing, grotesque shapes that he could now see. His bloodshot eyes filled with even more broken veins, and red tears trickled down his face.
"Stop looking! Stop looking, or it'll be too late!" Li Huowang fought with every ounce of willpower to close his eyes, but his body refused to obey.
He could now see its head—or what could loosely be called a head—a swirling conglomeration of viscous, formless matter.
As the monstrous entity began to descend fully from the darkness, a peculiar clicking sound broke the air.
Suddenly, the creature froze, retreating sharply back into the void as if pulled by some invisible force.
Then came a deafening rooster's crow. The sound shattered the oppressive blackness like a hammer smashing glass.
Li Huowang's neck creaked audibly as his head snapped downward, his body finally under his control again. He collapsed to the ground, gasping for air, his hands trembling against the cold stone floor.
"What were those small-footed women summoning? What just happened?!" Countless questions with no answers flooded his mind.
Using an eight-immortal table for support, Li Huowang struggled to his feet. He glanced upward. The sky was empty. The horrific scene was gone, as though nothing had happened.
The sky was beginning to brighten. Dawn had arrived, and soon the Hu family would come to retrieve their ancestors.
The distant stage continued to resound with the voices of the Lu family troupe. Despite the strain from the bell's effects, they had sung through the entire night without pause, their voices hoarse but unwavering.
Looking at the rows of black ancestral tablets before him, Li Huowang suddenly recalled the peculiar clicking noise. It had sounded like those tablets striking the tables in unison.
Staring at the tablets, Li Huowang whispered, "Could it be that they saved me?"
The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. Straightening his posture, he respectfully bowed toward the rows of ancestral tablets in the Qingfeng Temple style. "Thank you for your assistance."
As he completed his bow, the tablets began to tremble lightly. The trembling grew louder and louder. "Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap!"
The eerie sight made Li Huowang grip his bell tightly and step back warily.
"What's going on now? Did my thanks cause a problem? It's almost dawn—shouldn't you be going back by now?"
Just as he thought this, a sharp "scrape" echoed, and all the tablets on the eight-immortal tables toppled backward in perfect unison.
A chilling, ethereal voice suddenly whispered in his ear, sending a shiver down his spine as though he had plunged into an icy abyss.
"Child..."
Cultural AnnotationsRooster Crow: In Chinese folklore, the crowing of a rooster is believed to ward off evil spirits and dispel darkness. This stems from the belief that roosters, symbolizing the sun, announce the arrival of daylight, a time when evil forces retreat.Ancestral Tablets: These are wooden or stone plaques inscribed with the names of deceased family members, often kept in homes or ancestral halls. They are venerated as symbolic representations of the spirits of ancestors.Qingfeng Temple Bow: This is a Daoist ritual bow showing respect and gratitude. Such gestures are common in Daoist practices to honor deities, spirits, or ancestors.Eight-Immortal Table: A traditional Chinese square or rectangular table, often used in ancestral worship or for dining during significant family gatherings. The term references the "Eight Immortals" of Chinese mythology.