The Masked Nuo Master: I Never Wanted to Become a God

On a snowy night, the An family was wiped out! Seven-year-old An Nan clutched a bronze Nuo mask as he crawled out of the ruins, and was saved by an elder grandmaster of Nuo opera. The old Nuo opera master who rescued him said, “This mask is a death warrant. Once you wear it... you’ll no longer be human.” To evade the killers, An Nan kept his master’s warning close and tried to live as an ordinary person! For fifteen years, he kept his wooden sword hidden, until an unexpected downpour shattered the peace! This is a mysterious world, where the hundred crafts are works of astonishing skill, yet their masters shun the world; human civilization is controlled by unseen hands, while mysterious forces watch from across the river. “I help the world survive its tribulations, but they say I’m the greatest tribulation of all!” An Nan slowly carved a laughing tear at the corner of the mask’s eye with his engraving knife. “Be an ordinary person... But ordinary people can’t save themselves...” A soft laugh came from beneath the mask! “Then I’d rather become a Nuo who slays gods!” “Intangible cultural heritage shouldn’t be kept as a museum specimen. It should be sung into being through blood and fire.”