The *Great Nuo Expels the Twelve Ghosts* is a fictional opera within the novel, but it draws heavily from the real Chinese folk tradition of **Nuo opera**. Nuo culture is one of China's oldest ritual performance systems, dating back at least three thousand years. Its core function is exorcism: performers wear fierce wooden masks that are deliberately terrifying—uglier than ghosts—to frighten away evil entities and disease spirits. The novel weaponizes this logic perfectly: if a mask is meant to look scarier than a demon, then who is hiding behind it, and what are *they* doing here?
Share to
Definition
The *Great Nuo Expels the Twelve Ghosts* is a fictional opera within the novel, but it draws heavily from the real Chinese folk tradition of **Nuo opera**. Nuo culture is one of China's oldest ritual performance systems, dating back at least three thousand years. Its core function is exorcism: performers wear fierce wooden masks that are deliberately terrifying—uglier than ghosts—to frighten away evil entities and disease spirits. The novel weaponizes this logic perfectly: if a mask is meant to look scarier than a demon, then who is hiding behind it, and what are *they* doing here?
Story context
Li Huowang finally enjoys a moment of relative peace, listening to Lü Zhuangyuan's gleeful account of his theatrical triumph over local opera rivals. But this quiet interlude is immediately poisoned by suspicion. The Nuo opera performers—whose eerie dance Li Huowang witnessed upon entering town—become the focus of his paranoia. Could the masked man from the previous night be one of them? The monk's sudden reappearance to drag him to another "fun place" only deepens Li Huowang's uncertainty. As hallucinations of Danyangzi and Jiang Yingzi sneer at him from the corner, Li Huowang must decide whether to trust the monk or treat him as another enemy in disguise. The chapter's climax is a quiet, tension-soaked walk to watch the Nuo performers remove their masks—a boundary that could reveal a liar or confirm a trail of clues.
Why it matters
Here's the thing about Li Huowang at this stage: he's paranoid for a reason, but paranoia doesn't make him *right*. The chapter's tension comes from watching him oscillate between logical deduction and near-spiraling self-doubt. The Nuo performers are a perfect suspect—masked, ritualistic, and connected to the town's eeriness—but that's almost *too* neat. Is this a genuine lead, or is Li Huowang's suspicion being quietly fed by Danyangzi's influence? The fact that the novel doesn't hand you an answer is the whole point.
Quick facts
Source novel
Dao Gui Yi Xian
First appearance
Suspicion
Chapter references
1
Type hints
li huowang, nuo opera, great nuo expels twelve ghosts
Guide tags
Nuo Opera, Folk Horror, Suspicion Arc
Appears in chapters
Jump back into the novel from the exact chapter references used to build this glossary page.