Republic of China: From Street Performer to War God in a Chaotic Era

"The fox spirit..."

Lu Guan sat imposingly in front of the old camphor wood opera box, his upper body bare.

On the table, the white fox pelt, which had undergone the "Seven Methods of Cleaning the Fur," lay quietly flat.

Thin as a cicada's wing, snow-white and flawless.

"This thing is more than ten times more dangerous than that gray rat."

His keen sense of smell could detect that even after being shaped with alum and smoked with mugwort, a "peach blossom miasma" still lurked deep within the texture of the fox fur.

Sealed within the white fox fur was a lingering, unfulfilled regret.

Once the carving begins, the resentment will inevitably turn against the sculptor.

Lu Guan stood up and walked to the dusty shrine in the corner backstage.

Inside the shrine was a small wooden tablet, about the size of a palm.

That's the patriarch of the shadow puppetry profession... Old Master Lang.

Lu Guan respectfully picked up three sticks of incense, lit them on the ever-burning lamp, and inserted them into the incense burner.

The wisps of smoke rose, but strangely they didn't disperse; instead, they hung above the memorial tablet like an umbrella.

Immediately afterwards, Lu Guan took out a small cloth bag from his pocket.

This was top-quality aged glutinous rice and Taoist cinnabar that he bought at a pharmacy on Guyi Street during the day for a full two silver dollars.

In this chaotic world where human life was as cheap as grass, two silver dollars were enough for an ordinary family to eat for more than half a month.

But when it comes to dealing with demons and evil spirits, Lu Guan never hesitates to spare a single bit.

He grabbed a handful of glutinous rice mixed with cinnabar and carefully scattered it around the four corners of the old camphor wood opera box, setting up a simple evil-suppressing array.

The words the old blind man used to mutter by the fire pit floated through my mind.

"Young Master, remember this. Carving inanimate objects relies on skill. Carving living beings with sentience is like pulling teeth from a tiger's mouth."

"When carving the likeness of a living creature, you must ask your ancestors to suppress it from above. Otherwise, if the vengeful spirit on the skin were to rush in, your soul would go astray, leading to anything from madness to a violent death on the spot."

After doing all this, Lu Guan took out another piece of yellow straw paper.

He bit his middle finger and used the blood from his fingertip to write the two characters "Lu Guan" on the paper with flowing strokes.

Then, the piece of paper with the birth date and real name written on it was placed under a cast iron paperweight.

The old rule for shadow puppetry is... "pressing the post".

In the unlikely event that the master goes mad with evil, this blood-written letter can at least protect him from disaster and keep his soul and spirit intact.

"call--"

Everything is ready.

Lu Guan sat back down at the table, slowly exhaled a breath of white air, and grabbed the leather pusher.

"Now that you've fallen into my hands, you'd better obediently become a puppet on a string."

A murderous glint flashed in Lu Guan's eyes, and the blade fell resolutely.

Guided by the aged ox sinew threads, the leather cutter moved across the snow-white fox fur, following the patterns in the "Hundred Images Record" in my mind.

"Hiss... hiss..."

Lu Guan carved very slowly, and beads of sweat gradually appeared on his forehead.

What he's carving now isn't the face of an ordinary shadow puppet at all, but rather the "seven orifices"!

The way of the fox spirit lies not in its appearance, but in its ability to bewitch the soul.

Fox spirits harm people entirely through the bewitching energy they exhale through their seven orifices: eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.

If these seven acupoints are carved even slightly off-center, what enters the image will not be "borrowed power," but rather "invited evil spirits."

At that time, this shadow puppet will become a bottomless pit that sucks blood.

The first key point is the left eye!

The moment the knife tip pierced the fox fur, Lu Guan felt a sudden weight on his wrist, as if the blade had been sucked into a lump of mud.

He snorted coldly, and his vital energy flowed from his upper arm into his fingertips, forcefully breaking through the resistance.

The second acupoint is the right eye!

The third acupoint, the ear...

With each new opening, the suppressed aura deep within the hide intensifies.

The temperature inside the room plummeted, and even the charcoal fire in the clay stove flickered.

Lu Guan's veins bulged all over his body as he used his "Great Completion of Ming Jin" qi and blood to suppress the yin energy that had entered his body.

Just as the scalpel slid towards the fifth orifice, a sudden change occurred.

"Buzz—"

A drop of blood seeped from the white fox pelt that was nailed to the wooden board.

Immediately afterwards, a fragrance of peach blossoms rushed into Lu Guan's nostrils along the tip of the knife.

This fragrance was too domineering; it completely ignored Lu Guan's strong skin defense and directly affected his soul.

"not good."

A thunderous roar erupted in Lu Guan's mind, and he felt dizzy and disoriented.

The kerosene lamp, the old opera box, and even the drafty walls in front of me all melted away like ripples in water in an instant.

Illusion!

The cold backstage area has disappeared.

What followed was a magnificent, dark room filled with the burning of precious Tibetan incense.

The red silk curtains were warm, and the faint sound of seductive music drifted into my ears.

Behind the layers of gauze curtains, a tall, slender figure slowly emerged.

He was a young man wearing a moon-white silk shirt.

His face was so handsome it was almost otherworldly, with a touch of cinnabar between his brows. He was looking at Lu Guan with a half-smile, his thin lips slightly parted.

"Lu Guan..."

Why struggle so hard in that quagmire?

"Give me your vital energy, offer your primordial yang to the fairy... I will grant you longevity, and bestow upon you endless wealth and glory in Tianjin."

As the young man spoke, Lu Guan felt his internal energy and blood begin to soften uncontrollably.

A surge of evil fire shot straight up from his lower abdomen to the top of his head.

His right hand involuntarily loosened its grip on the leather knife, slowly rising as if to grasp the young man's outstretched hand.

"No, that's not right..."

Lu Guan clenched his teeth so tightly that his tongue was bleeding profusely.

The excruciating pain allowed him to retain a last shred of consciousness.

But he discovered that in the face of this eerie illusion, his brute strength, which he was so proud of, was completely useless.

"Come here, become nourishment for the fairy..."

The young man's smile grew increasingly seductive, and his hand was now less than three inches from Lu Guan's brow.

"boom!"

Deep within Lu Guan's consciousness, the [Creation Stage] seemed to be completely enraged by this foreign demonic aura, and suddenly burst forth with a golden light.

The white banners on both sides of the stage fluttered in the wind.

I frantically flipped through the yellowed pages of "The Record of One Hundred Physiognomies".

Immediately afterwards, a phantom figure materialized in the center of the stage.

It is the ancestral master that the shadow puppetry has worshipped for thousands of years... Lao Lang Shen!

The phantom of the old god was seen with wide, angry eyes, holding a ruler in his hand, and suddenly opening his mouth, his tongue spitting out thunder.

"Hey!"

"Click—"

The warm red silk curtains before them shattered with a deafening roar from the opera.

The eerie young man in the moon-white silk robe let out a scream, turned into a wisp of black smoke, and vanished into nothingness.

"Whoosh—hiss—"

in reality.

The kerosene lamp in the backstage flickered and then regained its dim, yellowish light.

Lu Guan's eyes instantly regained their clarity.

"You beast who pretends to be a god, how dare you disturb my martial arts heart."

He was both shocked and furious, and grabbed the leather pusher knife that was about to fall into his palm.

The Qi and blood that had reached the peak of Mingjin erupted like a volcano, evaporating all the remaining miasma from the peach blossoms around it.

"Bring him to justice!"

Lu Guan raised his knife and slashed through the sixth acupoint of the fox fur. Then, with a flick of his wrist, he slashed open the final seventh acupoint.

All seven orifices are clear!

"Squeak—"

A faint, mournful cry from a fox echoed through the air, followed by utter silence.

The fox fur, which was originally eerily white, lost all its sinister aura the moment its seven orifices were carved open, and ultimately turned into a shadow puppet.

At the same time, on the [Stage of Creation] in Lu Guan's mind, golden ancient seal characters cascaded down like a waterfall.

[Phase preparation complete!]

[Obtained a rare aura – [Fox Spirit] (Medium Grade)!]

[Synergistic Effect: Foxes are inherently wicked and adept at bewitching people's hearts. By possessing a fox, the host's vital energy will transform into the "appearance of a ghostly fox."]

[Bonus Little Superpower 1: Exquisite Mind!]

[Detailed Explanation: The fox possesses seven exquisite orifices, capable of dispelling miasma and clarifying the mind. During the possession period, the host has absolute resistance to all bewitching, hallucinogenic, and poisonous miasma techniques below this level!]

[Bonus Second Superpower: Leaving No Trace in the Snow!]

[Detailed Explanation: The fox roams the wild, landing silently. During the possession, the host's leg meridians will be enhanced by the fox's power, allowing them to scale walls and rooftops as if walking on flat ground, leaving no more than half an inch of footprints in the snow.]

Seeing the system notification appear in his mind, Lu Guan's eyes flashed with joy.

"That was close... but it was worth it."

This fox-spirit shadow puppet is actually a "medium-grade" rare object.

Compared to the inferior [Rat Concealment], this fox-like appearance not only lacks the backlash of yin energy, but also grants him two heaven-defying divine skills.

His exquisite mind gave him the ability to fight against the illusions of evil cultivators.

If he encounters the Fox Clan's methods of ringing bells and releasing sleeping gas again, he won't need to hold his breath to defend himself; he can simply brave the poisonous miasma and twist the other person's neck.

With his ability to leave no trace in the snow, combined with his terrifying explosive power from mastering the Ming Jin technique, the high walls and courtyards of the Tianjin guards would completely become his own backyard.

Lu Guan held the completed "Fox Spirit" shadow puppet in his hands and played with it.

The shadow puppets are as light as a feather, yet they possess an eerie beauty.

He stood up, walked to the old camphor wood opera box, and opened the hidden compartment at the bottom of the box.

The black-covered tattered scroll, "The Record of a Hundred Images," sealed with evil-suppressing copper nails, lay quietly inside.

Lu Guan carefully placed the "Fox Enchantress" shadow puppet into the hidden compartment and placed it at the bottom of the theater box.

This malevolent entity must be suppressed by the patron saint of the opera troupe and the calming energy of a century-old camphor tree to ensure absolute safety.

By this time, the sky was already beginning to lighten.

The wind and snow outside the window had stopped sometime ago, and a ray of grayish-white morning light pierced through the broken window and shone on the remaining ashes in the brazier.

"Cough cough..."

A coughing sound came from the wooden bed behind me.

Lu Guan turned around.

The old blind man had woken up sometime earlier.

He sat cross-legged on the kang (a heated brick bed), his blind eyes "looking" in the direction of Lu Guan, and remained silent for a long time.

"Young Master, is this marriage... a success?"

"It's done, Blind Master."

Lu Guan answered calmly, then wiped the leather trimmer clean and put it away.

Listening to Lu Guan's steady heartbeat, the old blind man sighed deeply, his expression a mix of relief and worry.

"Young Master, you are a person with great potential and great will."

"I may be blind, but I'm not. This thing you carved is even more ferocious and sinister than those things that the old master used to keep at the bottom of his box."

The old blind man groped and placed the pistol under his pillow, his tone solemn.

"The old man only has one thing to say, and you'd better keep it to yourself."

"Such a strange phenomenon... cannot be experienced often."

"Shadow puppetry, in the end, is about using the false to cultivate the true."

"You borrow its power, and it also subtly corrupts your spirit. Use it occasionally, as a life-saving trump card. But if you become overly greedy for this strange, effortless power..."

The old blind man pointed to his chest.

"If you stay in a position for too long, people's hearts will change."

In the end, you can't tell whether you're wearing the shadow puppet or the shadow puppet is wearing your human skin.

These words were a wake-up call, like a bucket of cold water, extinguishing the trace of arrogance that had arisen in Lu Guan's heart.

Yes.

How many exceptionally talented warriors in Tianjin have become the furnaces and slaves of evil spirits simply because they coveted shortcuts?

He possesses the power of Dacheng Mingjin and the intent of the Fierce Tiger Fist; this is his true foundation.

No matter how powerful the shadow puppetry is, it is ultimately just a tool to assist in killing enemies; we must never put the cart before the horse.

Lu Guan straightened up and bowed to the old blind man, clasping his hands in greeting.

"Lu Guan will remember the teachings of the blind master."

"With the knife in my hand, I follow my heart; with my appearance on my body, I am not misled. I, Lu Guan, will never follow the old path of those heretical cultivators."

……

At dawn, the snowstorm in Jinmenwei finally stopped.

Outside the dilapidated courtyard wall of Fujuban, the distant cries of vendors selling frozen pears and cut cakes could be heard.

Backstage, the charcoal in the clay stove was burning brightly.

Lu Guan sat cross-legged, his Da Cheng Ming Jin Qi and blood slowly circulating, driving away all the surrounding chill.

On the broken wooden bed opposite him, the old blind man, wearing a tattered cotton-padded coat, held a bowl of steaming strong tea and listened intently to Lu Guan's movements.

Clang.

Lu Guan gently placed the two items he had acquired from the ghost market the previous night on the table.

"Hey, blind old man, could you take a look? I snagged this bargain last night at the morning market for three silver dollars."

Lu Guan picked up the ancient mirror and handed it to the old blind man.

As soon as the old blind man took the mirror, his fingers flew across the intricate bronze patterns on the back of the mirror.

When his fingers touched the two large, recessed ancient seal characters in the center of the mirror's back, the old blind man gasped.

"This...this is 'Illumination of the Heart'?!"

"Young Master, you've struck it rich with these three silver dollars. I reckon this thing is genuine."

Lu Guan raised an eyebrow slightly and casually picked up the fire tongs to pok at the charcoal fire.

"Old man blind, is this mirror really that special?"

"They're more than just big shots!"

The old blind man held the bronze mirror protectively in his arms, as if afraid it would fly away, and lowered his voice.

"During the Qing Dynasty, the Yin-Yang Bureau kept a group of special agents to deal with demons and evil spirits. Those officials dealt with headless underworld officials, and dealt with fox spirits, weasels, white willows, water ghosts, and painted skins that had become spirits."

"This 'Heart-Reflecting' bronze mirror was a magical artifact specially made for the Imperial Guards by the Imperial Household Department's workshop, which mixed yang-fire refined copper and cinnabar."

"This mirror is very strange. No matter how close you get to a living person, you can't see a single reflection in it. It looks like a piece of scrap metal."

"But what if it's something possessed by evil spirits, had its soul swapped by demons, or is a monster in human skin..."

"In this mirror, their disgusting true nature can be clearly seen."

"In this Tianjin, where demons roam freely, having such a mirror by your side is like having a pair of heavenly eyes that can see through illusions."

"Don't even mention three silver dollars, even if you exchange ten small yellow croakers for it on the black market, those savvy gangsters would fight tooth and nail for it."

Upon hearing this, a glint of light flashed in Lu Guan's eyes.

The evil cultivators of the Fox Clan are most skilled in the arts of bewitching, illusion, possession, and skin-changing.

With this "heart-illuminating" bronze mirror, I can take the initiative when I encounter those strange creatures hiding in the dark. These three silver dollars were definitely well spent.

"Then listen to this one."

"The Thirteen Shadows, each move a mountain, moving like a ghost, leaving no trace..."

Lu Guan glanced at the thread-bound book, which was tattered and mangled by rats, and read aloud the first few lines.

"This is... 'Thirteen Shadow Movements'?"

The old blind man's eyes reddened slightly after hearing just a few words from Lu Guan, and he let out a long sigh.

"This is the culmination of the life's work of an old shadow puppeteer from beyond the Great Wall..."

"Young Master, we shadow puppeteers believe in 'telling a thousand-year story with one mouth and commanding a million soldiers with both hands.'"

"The puppeteers backstage hold three bamboo sticks in their hands and move nimbly and skillfully behind the curtain. Often, one person has to play three to five roles at the same time."

"The hand, eye, body, technique, and footwork must be perfectly coordinated. If there is the slightest stagnation, the performer on stage will become a lump of dead flesh."

"These 'Thirteen Shadow Movements' were originally a top-secret technique of 'shadow manipulation' used by the best puppeteers outside the Great Wall. Later, a martial arts prodigy forcibly integrated this puppet manipulation technique into the movement techniques of a martial artist!"

"Treat people as shadow puppets, and heaven and earth as the screen."

"Practice this technique until you can control your shadow and your person become your shadow."

"Moving like a ghost, leaving no trace."

"Young Master, with your mastered Ming Jin Qi and the fierce power of Bajiquan, if you were to combine that with such unpredictable footwork, you would certainly be able to conquer Tianjin!"