Nuo Noodles

In the quaint town of Zhongyuan, a young man named Chen Yan receives a letter and a brass key from his recently deceased grandfather, summoning him to return to the old street. As he unlocks the sealed backyard, he is met with a multitude of Nuo masks that have been quietly waiting for him. The Chen family has been masters of Nuo masks for six generations, using these masks to make pacts with restless spirits, seeking justice for the wronged and helping the living to repay their debts to the dead. Chen Yan's grandfather has given him the key, not to force him to inherit the family tradition, but to give him the freedom to choose. A century ago, the Nuo mask lineage split into three branches: the Chen family, who guided spirits to the afterlife; the Zheng family, who sealed away malevolent entities; and the Zhan family, who invoked spirits. The core of the Nuo mask was broken into three pieces, leading to a series of supernatural events, including the appearance of ancient trees with human faces, poisonous insects, and vengeful spirits that had been sealed away for centuries. Chen Yan does not hesitate to become a Nuo mask master, but instead questions the established rules: do spirits truly wish to be guided to the afterlife? By giving the spirits the freedom to choose, he breaks a century-old tradition. The people of the old street coexist with the spirit world, each with their own unique profession and craft. The Nuo masks were never meant to be weapons, but rather a means to calm the fears of the living. The cost of these pacts slowly erodes the vision of those who make them, a burden that the entire town bears together. As the living let go of their urgency, the spirits are finally able to rest in peace.