Chapter 1038, A Small Story

Translator: Silavin

 

Yu Ying heard this and immediately flushed, her head bowing low as she found herself unable to look up.

 

Her fair hands were suddenly at a loss for what to do with themselves, her slender fingers tapping back and forth across the plans in small, restless movements.

 

“Though I will need your help with something.” Su Bai smiled gently, watching the young woman’s bashful expression and thinking to himself that this, truly, was the charm of youth.

 

“What is it that Shaman needs me to do?” Yu Ying’s soft voice rose gently.

 

“I need you to help me select suitable candidates to go on stage.” Su Bai said with ease.

 

He was thinking that it was time to begin preparations and training. After all, people of the primitive era had never done performance before, and getting them to rehearse was no small task.

 

In order for the performance to come off smoothly, training in advance was absolutely essential.

 

“Shaman, I am afraid I would not be of much help. I have no idea whatsoever what a stage is, and as for selecting who might be suitable for one, I am at a complete loss.”

 

Yu Ying immediately dropped her head in disappointment. She truly, deeply wanted to help.

 

Only, Yu Ying felt that she understood nothing, and was afraid of making a mess of things. The more she thought about it, the more she felt she ought to leave it alone.

 

“There is no need to feel too much pressure. It is not as difficult as it sounds. Just look around with sincerity and you will certainly find the right candidates.” Su Bai reassured her.

 

He understood perfectly well what lay beneath the note of dejection in Yu Ying’s voice.

 

“Please tell me about it, Shaman, and I will do my utmost to find them.” Yu Ying raised her head with sudden determination.

 

Su Bai smiled with satisfaction. He leaned over and gently pinched Yu Ying’s delicate cheek. She was endearingly earnest when she set her mind to something.

 

“There is no age restriction for the performers, nor any restriction on appearance. The only requirement is a love of performing.”

 

Su Bai gave it careful thought and organised his words before continuing. “Put simply, someone who enjoys performing for others, who takes the small moments of everyday life and brings them to life through performance. That is roughly the idea.”

 

He did not want to make his explanation overly complicated. Saying something like ‘find someone with good acting ability’ would have been rather demanding.

 

Yu Ying had no frame of reference for what constituted good or poor acting. Explaining the criteria for stage performers to her in those terms would have been genuinely unfair.

 

As Su Bai had just put it, simply finding people who enjoyed performing was enough. From there, they could gradually be narrowed down. It was far simpler that way.

 

“Now I understand what Shaman means. I will do everything in my power to help.” Yu Ying was immediately filled with a sense of purpose.

 

“There is no need for too much pressure. Just treat it as something enjoyable, all right?” Su Bai said quickly.

 

He had no wish for this matter to become a burden on Yu Ying. It was, after all, something being planned at a leisurely pace.

 

Besides, the grand theatre had not yet been built, and there was still quite some time before the performers would actually be ready to present themselves for a performance.

 

“Could Shaman tell me a little about this first? I am genuinely very curious.” Yu Ying blinked her large pink eyes with eager anticipation.

 

“Hmm… how to put it? A performance normally takes a small story and presents it through a combination of singing, dance and dialogue, in a way that feels vivid and compelling to those watching.”

 

Su Bai thought carefully about how best to explain it. “That is right, the music, the script, the stage lighting, the costumes and so forth are all tremendously important. All of those elements must come together for a truly perfect performance.”

 

“Taking a small story and presenting it through singing and dance? That sounds as though it would be extraordinarily entertaining to watch.” Yu Ying sketched out a rough mental image of it.

 

“Exactly. That is the magic of a performance. Let me tell you a story. If all goes as intended, this story will become the Flame Dragon Tribe’s very first performance.”

 

Something had come to Su Bai’s mind all of a sudden. In any case, there was nothing pressing at the moment, and he certainly had time to tell Yu Ying a story.

 

Yu Ying nodded without a moment’s hesitation, brimming with anticipation. “Yes, yes, please do, Shaman. I want to hear it.”

 

“The story I am going to tell you is called ‘Havoc in Heaven’ (This is before Journey to the West). A very, very long time ago, a monkey sprang forth from a stone. The stone itself was that monkey’s mother…”

 

Su Bai spoke in a particularly unhurried manner. “This monkey’s name was Sun Wukong. When he found himself with nothing to do, he encountered…”

 

“And then what, Shaman? After Sun Wukong had learned his abilities, where did he go?” Yu Ying was completely and utterly captivated by the story.

 

Su Bai smiled gently and raised a hand to signal that she should not be in such a rush. As he told the story, he had condensed a great many plot points, and had done so in a manner that the people of the primitive era could more readily follow.

 

For instance, when describing Sun Wukong’s period of learning, he had simply called it learning Shaman Techniques, something that the people of a Primitive Tribe could more instinctively relate to.

 

“With his powers newly formed, Sun Wukong first made havoc in the Dragon Palace and claimed the Ruyi Jingu Bang, then wreaked chaos in the Underworld and struck his name from the book of life and death, bringing absolute disorder everywhere he went.”

 

Su Bai found himself growing rather animated as he recounted the tale. “Because Sun Wukong was so difficult to manage, the people above thought to offer him an official position, hoping it might settle him down a little.”

 

“With such tremendous abilities, they would naturally want to bring him into the fold. Shaman, what happens next?” Yu Ying was listening with complete and undivided attention.

 

“Although the people above gave him a position, it was an extremely lowly one. Upon learning that his rank was so menial, Sun Wukong flew into a fury and returned to Flower Fruit Mountain.”

 

Su Bai took a sip of tea and paused. “Afterwards, the people above dispatched forces to subdue Sun Wukong but every last one of them was defeated and made to look foolish.”

 

“I knew it. Sun Wukong had trained so hard and learnt so many abilities. There is simply no one who could have beaten him.” Yu Ying began to feel genuinely invested in where the story was heading.

 

“Sun Wukong compelled the Jade Emperor to bestow upon him the title of Great Sage Equal to Heaven, and had a Great Sage’s Residence built in the Heavenly Court, being charged with the stewardship of the Peach Orchard.”

 

Su Bai worked carefully to maintain the coherence of the story. “In the end, Sun Wukong grew drunk and disrupted the Queen Mother’s Peach Banquet, then stole and consumed the Supreme Elder Lord’s golden elixirs, forging an indestructible body. Through a twist of fortune, he was cast into the Supreme Elder Lord’s Elixir Furnace, where his eyes were tempered into the Fire Eyes with Golden Pupils.”

 

“Shaman, what are the Fire Eyes with Golden Pupils?” Yu Ying asked.

 

“It is a kind of Shaman Technique. Afterwards, Sun Wukong made great havoc throughout Heaven, and the people above sent countless forces against him. The combined numbers of those forces amounted to something like seven or eight Large Tribes. Yet none of them could defeat him.”

 

Su Bai used the population of Large Tribes as a point of comparison. “But in the end, Sun Wukong encountered an extraordinarily powerful being. That being was called Rulai (Also known as Buddha). Sun Wukong was simply no match for him.”

 

“Shaman, did Sun Wukong die then? Is this a tragedy?” Yu Ying’s pink eyes went wide in an instant.

 

“Do not be in such a hurry. Let me finish the story.” Su Bai smiled calmly. “Rulai reached out his hand, which transformed into a great mountain, and pressed Sun Wukong beneath it. That mountain was called Five Finger Mountain…”

 

He added a few final embellishments to the story, rendering it accessible enough for the people of a Primitive Tribe to follow.

 

“Ah. So that is how it goes!” Yu Ying was left with a lingering sense of wanting more.