Chapter 101: Nuo Ceremony

After hearing this, Hou Qiankun turned around to look at Kaleidoscope and waved his hand dismissively. “Could Fourth Brother have come wearing wooden clogs? Ridiculous!”

But no sooner had he spoken than an unexpected incident occurred. From within the underground tomb passage came a strange roar, accompanied by the sound of wooden clogs striking the ground. Suddenly, a bizarre, diminutive figure leapt out like a cannonball, hurtling straight towards Hou Qiankun. The sudden attack caught him completely off guard.

“Second Brother, watch out!” Ghost-faced Zhang sprang forward with a swift step, positioning himself beside Hou Qiankun. Raising his long knife, he executed a move called the “Six Harmonies Upward Slash.” A sharp “psst” was heard, immediately followed by a heart-wrenching howl. The shadowy figure was cut in two at the waist, its corpse collapsing to the ground—but no trace of blood was spilled.

Hou Qiankun wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, narrowly avoiding the attack. Regardless of how lethal the shadow might have been, the suddenness of the assault was enough to unsettle anyone.

“Are you alright, Second Brother?” Ghost-faced Zhang lifted his boot sole and wiped the blade clean before sheathing the knife. From his pocket, he pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and handed it to the still-shaken Hou Qiankun. Although usually quite arrogant, Ghost-faced Zhang showed great respect toward elders like Hou Qiankun, observing proper etiquette.

Hou Qiankun took the cigarette, inhaled deeply, and sighed. “It seems that old age really isn’t reliable anymore.” He chuckled bitterly to himself.

After calming down with half a cigarette, the two began investigating the severed body that Ghost-faced Zhang had just cut apart in the tomb below. Our rear team followed, illuminating the scene with batons.

Before us lay a severed creature, broken at the waist. It was roughly the size of an adult monkey, with gray-green skin, wearing a strange outfit reminiscent of the costumes used in ancient exorcism rituals. Red and green cloth strips were interwoven unevenly with black cloth, dried and decaying twigs, and leaves. On its feet were wooden clogs similar to those worn for planting rice, though one had apparently been flung off during its leap and was nowhere to be found. Its face was covered by an eerie wooden mask featuring three eyes, bared teeth, and long horns shooting upward. The exaggerated blood-red paint was unevenly smeared, giving it a terrifying and mysterious aura.

The most chilling detail was that, despite being cut in half, the creature had spilled no blood and no internal organs were visible. This sent a shiver down my spine, stirring an ominous sense of foreboding.

Ghost-faced Zhang frowned deeply and knelt down, prodding the upper half of the creature’s body. He shook it gently—still no blood or entrails fell out.

“Yao Ren…” Both Ghost-faced Zhang and Hou Qiankun uttered the term simultaneously, exchanging a knowing glance and nodding. The concept of “Yao Ren” had been explained earlier, so I won’t elaborate here (see Chapter 85: Shadow).

“How is this Yao Ren dressed like this? Could it be that it’s an ancient exorcist’s costume, left here to guard the tomb?” Iron Crutch Liu began analyzing beside us.

His words sparked a sudden idea in my mind. Could it be that the mask worn by this Yao Ren, used in exorcism rituals, served the same purpose as the “Insect Gu” masks from the Liao-Jin period that we had encountered at the Tianchi Water Battle’s “He Mu Ji” tomb? I looked again at the mask. “Could this wooden mask have the same function as those Insect Gu masks? Or perhaps it’s a different type of Insect Gu mask altogether?”

At my suggestion, both Hou Qiankun and Ghost-faced Zhang furrowed their brows, uncertain which explanation was correct. After some thought, they nodded in agreement with my hypothesis.

“Ah, Crutch, dear nephew,” Kaleidoscope chuckled, waving his hands. “You two are both wrong. Listen to me.”

Everyone fell silent, knowing Kaleidoscope’s vast knowledge and trusting his insights. Hou Qiankun nodded. “Old Six, stop beating around the bush. What exactly is this thing?”

Kaleidoscope smiled. “Second Brother, you were only half right. It is indeed a Yao Ren, but this mask isn’t the usual Insect Gu or ritual mask we’re familiar with.” He pointed at the mask’s surface. “Even today, with modern information and science, traces of shamanic exorcists still exist in the Changbai Mountains of Northeast China. But the attire on this creature is clearly different from that of typical shamans—more ornate and solemn.”

I suppressed a smile. Ornate and solemn? This tattered mess could hardly be called that. Toss it on the street and even beggars might pass it by. It looked like scraps of silk stitched together, resembling a street vagabond who dabbled in both begging and fortune-telling.

Kaleidoscope then pointed at the mask again. “If you take this mask off, you’ll understand what I mean.”

Ghost-faced Zhang hesitated briefly, glanced at Hou Qiankun, who nodded. Without a word, Ghost-faced Zhang reached to pull the mask off the creature’s face. The first tug was ineffective. Frowning, he suddenly heard a crisp crack from his arm, then with a powerful grip using his thumb, index, and middle fingers—like an eagle’s claw—he latched onto the mask’s edge. A horrifying tearing sound rang out as the mask was forcibly ripped away, bringing part of the creature’s face with it. The sound sent chills down our spines, raising goosebumps all over.

With the mask removed by Ghost-faced Zhang’s “Eagle Claw Strength,” I fixed my gaze on the exposed face—and nearly had my soul shattered by what I saw.

The creature’s dull skin had been torn away, revealing a grotesque visage that none could forget. Even the fearless Ghost-faced Zhang shuddered. Its hollow eyes were set with strange iron nails, the nose reduced to two mere holes by some sharp metal instrument. The jaw was brutally broken, with two severed lower jawbones hanging limply beside the ears. The upper teeth had been artificially sharpened to dagger-like points, resembling shark teeth. The remaining bone was smeared with an unknown red pigment, as if bearing a brand. Altogether, the face was a chilling embodiment of horror and despair.

The entire scene fell into stunned silence. Even Kaleidoscope, poised to reveal the truth, was momentarily speechless. After nearly a quarter of an hour, Ghost-faced Zhang’s hoarse, stammering voice finally broke the stillness.

“What... what exactly is this?”

Kaleidoscope gathered himself, shook his head in disbelief. “My goodness, I never expected it to be this terrifying. If you weren’t in this line of work, seeing this at first glance would probably give you a heart attack.”

Ghost-faced Zhang wiped the sweat from his brow, pulled out two cigarettes, lit them, and handed one to Hou Qiankun. “Second Brother, are you alright?”

Hou Qiankun’s eyes seemed fixed on the two iron nails embedded in the creature’s eye sockets. Only when Ghost-faced Zhang offered the cigarette did he slowly come to his senses, nodding as he accepted it. Then, turning to Kaleidoscope, he inhaled deeply. “Old Six, this is a ‘Nuo,’ isn’t it?”

The character “Nuo” (pronounced “Nuo”) in ancient times meant “to ward off misfortune.” The Nuo was used to frighten away plague demons. Nuo culture represents an ancient Chinese sacrificial tradition. Early ancestors, in their conquest of nature for survival and reproduction, relied heavily on natural religion—primitive beliefs venerating nature and its forces. Through natural religious rites, they transcended themselves. The most straightforward example is how the Chinese people regard themselves as “descendants of the dragon,” an enduring legacy of the so-called shamanistic and Nuo cultures passed down by ancient sages.