Wandering Gods of Day and Night-Chapter 59 - 56 Paperman Boatman
59: Chapter 56: Paperman Boatman
59 -56: Paperman Boatman
“I…
are you asking me?
I don’t know!”
Yuan Buyu shook his head like a rattle drum, answering resolutely.
He sighed, “Xuan is too strange, incomprehensible, really incomprehensible!
I estimate that once this kid starts his ritual with the incense, strange things will happen one after another.
It’s going to be troublesome.”
*Having an apprentice who exceeds even a master’s understanding is truly difficult.*
Yuan Buyu looked up at the sky, dusk approaching, and felt that it was already late.
He said to Zhou Xuan, “Xuanzi, take that folded fan and gavel back to your room.
Nourish your incense flame well tonight, and don’t do anything improper.
After breakfast tomorrow, I’ll teach you the skills of a storyteller.”
“Lao Yuan, what are the skills of a storyteller?
Can it make storytelling more exciting?”
“Ha, storytelling is to accumulate incense flame and improve Dao level.
If you really want to talk about skills, just watch.”
Yuan Buyu slowly took a folded fan and a gavel from his clothes pocket, tapping them together to make a “click” sound.
Zhou Xuan heard the sound, and the surroundings changed accordingly.
He found himself standing on a solitary, precipitous cliff rock, surrounded by endless abysses with no place to set his foot, leaving him to stand there alone.
After half a minute, a thunderclap suddenly split the sky, brightening it like a flash, the lightning tail just grazing the tip of Zhou Xuan’s nose.
“Click,” the gavel sounded again.
Several bizarre hands sprouted from the cliff rock, tightly wrapping around Zhou Xuan’s body, with coral-like fingers reaching for his eyes and ear canals.
“Click,” the gavel sounded a third time.
The creepy hands and thunder disappeared, and Zhou Xuan only felt chest pain.
He looked down and saw a folded fan, having appeared at some point, hovering in front of his chest, with its bamboo handle pressing against him.
At this moment, with the fourth sound of the gavel, the folded fan in front of his chest vanished, the cliff rock underfoot disappeared, and he was standing again before the Ancestor Tree of the Zhou Family’s Troupe, making it seem like what just happened was all a dream.
And Yuan Buyu, as if he hadn’t moved at all, stood there holding a folded fan in his right hand and a gavel in his left, with a bright smile.
“How was it, Xuanzi?” Yuan Buyu said with a hint of pride.
“Lao Yuan, what remarkable Dao level.” Zhou Xuan sincerely praised, even somewhat fascinated.
Thunder, bizarre hands, folded fan—if Yuan Buyu hadn’t held back, he would have died three times…
“It’s not much of a Dao level, just a small skill of the storyteller’s first incense—’Dream Generation’ and ‘Sound Wood Catching Thieves!’ I’ll teach you tomorrow…”
Yuan Buyu walked toward the kitchen with a swagger, secretly relieved: *Finally managed to impress Xuanzi all afternoon!
Being a master is hard, being a master to a prodigy is even harder.
Without showing real skills, it’s tough to command respect.*
As soon as Yuan Buyu left, Zhou Lingyi also advised Zhou Xuan, “Brother, listen to Elder Yuan, nourish your incense flame well tonight, don’t go anywhere.”
“Mm, got it.
Right now, kidnappers are still watching me.
Stumbling out in the dark to play is quite dangerous.”
“Kidnappers?
I was just about to remind you.”
Zhou Lingyi solemnly said, “In the coming days, as long as you have time, feel free to wander wherever you want, don’t be afraid of kidnappers looking for you.
I’m just afraid they won’t seek you out…”
Zhou Xuan gave Zhou Lingyi a thumbs up, *Sister’s got guts!*
…
The courtyard of the Zhou Family’s Troupe was even livelier at night than during the day.
Zhou Xuan didn’t go to the courtyard to chat; he stayed in his room, unable to sleep.
He only felt his eyes beginning to hurt again, but not as severely as the past two days.
He asked Yuan Buyu, *Lao Yuan said it was the side effect of the Blood Well Spirit ascending.*
“It will still hurt for a while, but as your Dao level progresses, it will gradually disappear.
Everyone’s progress is different.
For some, it disappears halfway through a stick of incense; for others, it takes until it’s burnt out, and lighting the second incense in the Divine Revelation Secret Realm for it to vanish…”
To alleviate the pain, Zhou Xuan had the troupe’s apprentices bring half a tub of ice, wrapped in a quilt to prevent it from melting quickly. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
Unable to bear the pain, he wrapped some ice in gauze to make an ice pack, rubbing it on his eyes.
The pain eased considerably but made movement inconvenient.
Having nothing else to do, he took out the original owner’s diary to continue reading.
Last time, he gathered that the original owner was an idle young master, living a life of eating, drinking, merrymaking, fighting, visiting theaters, and watching performers.
The diary mainly recorded tales of revelry, akin to reading a risqué novel.
Reading further, there were even parts about dating a movie star.
Compared to previous tales of pure revelry, this romance was far more mild and gentle.
The actress loved reading, so the original owner, trying to woo her, wrote her love letters.
Lacking literary talent, the original owner copied some articles from newspapers and magazines.
He was particularly diligent in wooing the actress, cutting out articles from newspapers and sticking them into a notebook with glue.
Zhou Xuan found the notebook on the bookshelf, as described in the diary, and read through the clippings.
The original owner’s character may have been lacking, but his aesthetic sense was spot on.
The articles he chose were of high quality and were quite entertaining reading material.
The subjects of these clippings varied widely, including gossip, essays, poems, and even a few horror stories.
“Writing this kind of stuff in love letters, won’t it scare the girl?”
One horror story particularly impressed Zhou Xuan, very short, yet terrifying upon reflection.
“In the afternoon, the old dog we’ve kept for fifteen years suddenly bit me madly…
I was terrified, picked up the chopping axe, and swung it at the old dog a dozen times, then fainted,
The next day, I attended my mother’s funeral.
Her body had been chopped into many pieces, I don’t know by whom.”
“That’s a little creepy…” Zhou Xuan turned the page, read a few more clippings, adjusted his mood, and turned off the light to sleep.
He had just closed his eyes when he heard the sound of the wind blowing and the thud of water hitting the bow of a boat.
Zhou Xuan was once again sitting in the White Canopy Boat—his Divine Revelation Secret Realm.
The cabin’s layout was the same as before.
A low table, an incense burner, incense sticks, with a wooden knife added at the corner of the table.
This time, Zhou Xuan no longer focused on the incense flame, instead observing the cabin door.
A curtain of red beads hung from the cabin door, through which he could see a helmsman at the bow.
He held a ghastly white pole, steering the boat.
Upon closer inspection, the pole was made not of bamboo or wood, but jointed human leg bones.
The helmsman himself looked bizarre, with a sickly pale complexion, cheeks painted with rouge, and skin that seemed oiled, reflecting the cabin’s candlelight like white wax.
After scrutinizing for a moment, Zhou Xuan realized,
this helmsman,
was a paperman made of white wax paper,
The paperman seemed to sense someone watching from behind, suddenly turned his head, and grinned “hee hee” at Zhou Xuan.
The smile was quite unnerving, making Zhou Xuan’s heart race, as if he had a nightmare, waking with a start and sitting up straight.
“Didn’t Lao Yuan say the Divine Revelation Secret Realm should be filled with spring sunshine?
A paperman helmsman rowing with leg bones, that’s some sunshine!”
Zhou Xuan bolstered his confidence, closed his eyes again, and re-entered the Secret Realm.
The helmsman was still there, but this time didn’t turn around, concentrating on steering the boat.
The boat sailed across the pitch-black endless waterway, making Zhou Xuan want to walk over for a closer look at the strange helmsman.
After all, it was his own Divine Revelation Secret Realm, nothing to fear from someone eerie.
Yet perhaps because the Secret Realm had just opened today, he hadn’t mastered it enough to move, so he gave up and watched the helmsman steer from his spot.
Who knows how long passed before a sudden white light flashed across, and when Zhou Xuan awoke again, it was already daylight.
…
After dressing and washing up, Zhou Xuan went to the dining hall, where Yuan Buyu sat in a corner quietly reading the newspaper, with Lao Ma listening beside him.
“Lao Yuan.” Zhou Xuan whispered into Yuan Buyu’s ear, “My Secret Realm isn’t right.”
“What’s wrong?” Yuan Buyu led Zhou Xuan to a secluded corner.
Once there, Zhou Xuan recounted the incident with the paperman helmsman steering the boat.
Yuan Buyu frowned as he listened.
“Are you sure you didn’t missee?”
“I looked carefully.”
“What on earth have you experienced, kid?
It’s too strange.
How could there be such ghostly things in a Divine Revelation dream?”
Yuan Buyu thought for a long time but couldn’t figure anything out.
“Lao Yuan, is the paperman helmsman good or bad?”
Yuan Buyu stared at Zhou Xuan for a few seconds before grimacing, “You’ve once again touched the limits of my knowledge.”
“…” Zhou Xuan.
*Master, what about answering my questions as promised?*
“It’s not necessarily a bad thing anyway, why fear your own Secret Realm?
Besides, since your ship in the realm is already moving, it means your heart’s incense is beginning to seek the opportunity for the second incense stick in the Secret Realm.
Today, we’ll talk about how storytellers accumulate Dao level and develop skills, helping you set the second incense stick alight as soon as possible,
Once lit, perhaps the reason for the oddities in your Secret Realm will naturally emerge.”
Zhou Xuan picked up a bun, took a bite, and said, “What if it doesn’t come to light?”
“Then light the third incense stick.”
“…” Zhou Xuan.
