IBGSW Chapter 10
Restarting the Investiture
Fan Bisi's words left Zhao Fusheng rooted to the spot.
Could this death trap truly not be broken? Had she been reborn only to wait helplessly for death?
Could ghosts really not be killed?
Was the only way to be rid of the ghost clinging to her to wait passively until she died, letting it leave on its own?
Countless questions surged into her mind, one after another.
She might never find the answers. Perhaps the bureau's high ranks at court already possessed some clues. But Fan Bisi had made it painfully clear: once listed in the register, she was bound to the court and could not leave Wan'an County without an official summons.
With Wan'an County shrouded in ghost fog and the court having abandoned the region, she was utterly trapped. It was a hopeless dead end.
Could she only wait for death?
Zhao Fusheng's mind was in turmoil. Just as she was sinking into despair and unease, a thought suddenly appeared in her sea of consciousness.
Ghost entities cannot be killed, but they can be sent into reincarnation; or the Investiture of the Gods can be opened to enshrine them in a divine position.
The Hell's Investiture of the Gods activates.
Host is detected as entwined by a ghost entity, already of the Baleful-tier; no qualification for investiture at present.
Open Hell and temporarily contain the Malignant Ghost within it?
What was this?
Zhao Fusheng was horrified. As she stirred, the voice came again.
Host's will to live detected, opening Hell—
Failed to open Hell; the host lacks sufficient merit.
"..."
Zhao Fusheng clutched the jade book and looked around warily.
What Investiture of the Gods? What divine positions?
As she was gripped by terror at the intrusion into her mind, the voice came again.
As a commanding officer of the Demon-Suppression Bureau, the host is responsible for the safety of a county and must faithfully fulfill their duties to protect the peace of the common people.
Uphold justice, rebuild Hell.
Open the Investiture of the Gods, confer godhood upon great ghosts, send a hundred ghosts into reincarnation!
Zhao Fusheng was too stunned to speak for a long time.
She suddenly remembered that yesterday, in her blurry moment of reviving by taking over another's body, she had indeed seemed to hear a voice prompting.
Restart the Investiture of the Gods
And it had told her to open the eighteen levels of Hell.
But she had been at the critical moment of returning from death, and the dream, plus everything that followed upon waking, had washed that small memory away, leaving her to forget it.
If it hadn't been for the talk with Fan Bisi mentioning that a malignant ghost was entwined around her, who knew when she would have discovered that, besides the ghost hidden in her body, there was also this other special existence.
What was the Investiture of the Gods?
Just then, another scene flashed in her mind.
A scroll shrouded in dark qi slowly unspooled in her sea of consciousness.
Perhaps due to the rampant malignant ghosts of the Great Han Dynasty, this Investiture of the Gods didn't appear ethereal; instead, it carried a sinister and eerie feeling.
Blood seeped around its edges, staining the parchment a deep crimson. At its center lay rows of divine positions, all obscured and sealed by a mysterious power.
She reached out with her consciousness to touch an empty slot. Instantly, a mental prompt flared to life.
Requires merit to open the first divine position. Consume 100 points of merit to unlock a divine position?
Yes!
Zhao Fusheng didn't yet understand this so-called 'Investiture of the Gods.' She had no idea what 'merit' or 'divine positions' were, but she still wanted to try to figure out what it was.
The instant she chose 'yes,' her consciousness seemed guided by a will and placed an imprint on a divine position registry at the lower left of the Investiture of the Gods, but the imprint finally failed.
A message came back: Insufficient merit (less than 100 points); failed to unlock divine position.
Hint: Complete the first Demon-Suppression Bureau commission to obtain merit.
Note: The duty of the Demon-Suppression Bureau is to exorcise ghosts and handle cases, protecting the safety of the common people of Wan'an County so they are not killed by malignant ghosts.
Reminder: Uphold justice, rebuild Hell.
Open the Investiture of the Gods, confer godhood upon great ghosts, send a hundred ghosts into reincarnation!
Zhao Fusheng was too shocked to speak and couldn't come back to herself for a long time.
Just then, the Fan brothers, having waited a long while and seeing her holding the jade book without saying anything, grew impatient.
"Fusheng, Fusheng!"
Fan Bisi finally lost patience and called out her name loudly twice.
"Ah..." Zhao Fusheng snapped back to reality and suddenly turned her gaze to Fan Bisi.
"You, what did you just say..."
Thoughts raced through her mind in a chaotic blur. First, the realization that her life soul was controlled by a malignant ghost, reducing her to a mere ghost servant. Then, the horrific truth that another malignant ghost was entwined with her, followed immediately by the awakening of the Investiture of the Gods. She stood dazed, a far cry from the sharp, calm girl who had been talking with Fan Bisi earlier.
Noticing her expression and the absentminded question that followed, Fan Bisi frowned.
"I said, the court has certain methods to control ghosts— never mind."
He wiped his face abruptly and said, "I've already told you everything I can. Fusheng, give us brothers a chance. Remove us from the Soul-Life Register. We're going to seek refuge with the Baozhi County bureau..."
"I..." He wanted to go on at length, but Zhao Fusheng's spirit had already retreated into her sea of consciousness, where the sinister, bloodstained Investiture of the Gods slowly unrolled, revealing rows of sealed divine positions.
Her muddled thoughts gradually cleared, and her formidable will began to accept the reality.
Seeing her silent, Fan Bisi instinctively reached for her wrist. It was thin and deathly pale. Raised in poverty, the girl was slight and frail, and from Fan Bisi's angle, the veins beneath her pale skin stood out with striking clarity.
The common folk of the Great Han were mostly reduced to skin and bones like this. He said tentatively, "Fusheng, remove our life souls. If you ever need help in the future, we brothers will certainly do our part."
She seemed to have lost her bearings, passively letting him pull her hand to touch the jade book.
The instant her fingers made contact with the jade book, a halo suddenly flared across it, and three tiny black silhouettes wrapped in crimson light gradually materialized.
The shadows finally vanished and turned into three names.
The names were arranged in the shape of the character 品, one on top and two below, with Zhao Fusheng's in the center on top and the two below reading: Fan Bisi, Fan Wujiu.
An eerie blood-red light coiled around the three names, looking ferocious in the extreme.
Catching sight of his and his brother's names, Fan Bisi showed a flash of excitement and dragged Zhao Fusheng’s hand straight toward them.
Just as her fingers were about to make contact, the brothers both grinned, thinking it was as good as done, and Fan Bisi, summoning a burst of strength, was about to force Zhao Fusheng's hand to "fish out" the names, when the hand in his palm suddenly resisted.
Zhao Fusheng clenched her fist and yanked her hand back.
"No."
The haze in her eyes was gone, replaced by resolve.
Fan Bisi and Fan Wujiu's faces turned from joy to shock, and Fan Bisi said in furious alarm:
"You, you—"
"Listen to me. We're people of the Wan'an County Demon-Suppression Bureau. We shouldn't think of running away at the first sign of trouble, should we?" As if she'd seen a ray of light in a hopeless place, she shook off her dejection, her eyes gradually turning shrewd and sharp, and a smile slowly spread across her face as she looked at the Fan brothers.
For some reason, Fan Bisi felt a chill at her smile, loosened his grip on her wrist, and was about to step back when Zhao Fusheng turned her hand and seized his.
"What's that saying?"
"Wh-what saying?"
A bad premonition rose in him.
The girl before him had shed her old timidity and ignorance and seemed like a different person, and her smile made his heart quake.
"Eat the sovereign's pay, serve the sovereign's cause1. We are the commanding officers and envoys of the Wan'an County bureau, so we should protect the people of this county," Zhao Fusheng said gravely.
"The bureau's duty is to suppress ghosts, handle ghost cases, protect the safety of Wan'an County's people, and uphold justice!"
"..."
"..."
What answered her was the pair of identical, speechless faces of the Fan brothers, looking at her as though looking at a madwoman.
