IBGSW Chapter 22
A Thing of Great Malevolence
"Fusheng, what should we do with this?"
Fan Bisi steeled himself to look at the door plank, and even he was shaken by the blood-red "ghost shadows" on it.
By any normal reckoning, a malignant ghost's revival was no easy matter. A ghost could only take shape under strict conditions and environment. He had been born into the Demon-Suppression Bureau and had never once heard of two ghosts arising together. It overturned everything Fan Bisi thought he knew.
As he spoke, he couldn't help glancing at Zhao Fusheng. This year really was an unlucky one for the bureau in Wan'an County. The earlier ghost calamity had only just been put down for the time being, and now they had nearly brewed another disaster. If Zhao Fusheng, who controlled a ghost entity, hadn't reacted so quickly and decisively, using the malignant ghost's power at that very instant to suppress the revived ghosts, the consequences would have been unthinkable.
He thought of the grudge between them, and then of the calm and decisiveness she'd shown facing the revived ghosts, and unease finally rose in his heart. Zhao Fusheng had exceeded his expectations. She was a newcomer who had only just gained control of a ghost entity, with no one to teach her, yet she had commanded the ghost's power and suppressed two freshly revived fierce ghosts in the blink of an eye.
Most ghost-controllers, in dealing with ghosts, suffered serious aftereffects. At best they turned short-tempered, and at worst they killed at the slightest disagreement and grew bloodthirsty and savage. A malignant ghost wasn't human and had no reason or restraint, and once it had shown itself it generally refused to be controlled again. A newcomer without guidance was extremely prone to losing control the first time they channeled a ghost's power, ultimately ending up as a puppet and a vessel for the entity.
Yet Zhao Fusheng looked calm and composed now. She didn't look like someone gone mad.
The more he thought, the more afraid he became. He regretted choosing the wrong person. Not only had he failed to divert the disaster eastward, he had very likely brought a powerful enemy down on himself and his brother. His face went livid, then deathly white, by turns.
The mistake was made. Time could not be turned back, and no chance remained to undo what was done. Fortunately, ever since Zhao Fusheng "awakened," he had read the room well enough to avoid speaking sharply to her. There had been friction between them before, but on the whole, things between them had stayed tolerable. He could only pray that, considering he had managed her parents' bodies and arranged their funerary rites, Zhao Fusheng would not hold a grudge or make life difficult for him and his brother. Otherwise...
Fan Bisi lowered his eyes to hide the complicated feelings in them.
Zhao Fusheng paid no mind to what he was thinking. Her gaze had fallen on the door plank, and she hesitated.
Since gaining control of the ghost, she had become more sensitive to the presence of ghost entities. Others saw only a sinister door plank, but she sensed a thick ghost energy radiating from it—no weaker than that of the two corpses that had almost revived.
"Generally speaking, has an object connected to a ghost ever turned into a malevolent object?"
"Um..." Fan Bisi hesitated for a long while and didn't dare answer carelessly.
"As far as I know, malignant ghosts can't be killed outright, but someone of extraordinary ability may be able to dismember one."
He spoke carefully.
"Usually, after dismemberment, the ghost's body can become a peerless malevolent object. But as for whether objects associated with ghosts—such as those that have been touched by a ghost, or, like this door plank, have had a ghost lie upon them, or even had a malignant ghost nearly revive on them—might become malevolent objects… I, I really don't know…"
Having said that, he looked uneasily at his younger brother. Of the two, he was always the one with more ideas, calmer and steadier, better informed and a more eloquent talker. He glanced over at Fan Wujiu, who looked just as lost, scratching his head in confusion.
"I don't know either." Meeting his brother's pleading look, he added, "But what my brother says is right. Usually only a dismembered ghost's corpse can become a malevolent object. For example, I heard years ago that the Grand General of the Capital's Demon-Suppression Bureau beheaded the corpse of a malignant ghost."
Fan Bisi felt relieved hearing this. He was feeling glum as well. Zhao Fusheng had mentioned earlier that she feared her parents' bodies would transform into ghosts, and he'd paid no mind. When your luck runs out, even cold water gets stuck between your teeth. The Zhao couple's bodies had truly gone strange.
Could this have something to do with the omens in Wan'an County, the ghost fog rising and the blood moon appearing?
The thought crossed his mind, and his face changed slightly.
Zhao Fusheng listened to the brothers without a word. She reached out and touched the door plank. It was icy to the bone, and ghostly energy coiled within the blood-red glow. The longer she looked, the more it seemed that red mist rose from the blood-colored stain, with something malevolent hidden in it, watching her with ill intent through the haze. She shook her head and looked again, and saw only the door plank and the corpse imprints on it. Where was any hidden ghost?
Either way, this door plank was certainly sinister and must not be left in the bureau, lest it bring disaster. With a ghost clinging to her, that malignant ghost now awakened, and her plan to head for Beggars' Alley, this was in no way a good time to deal with it. After thinking, she decided:
"For now, take the door planks along too, and bury them with the coffins."
If the Beggars' Alley trip went well and she survived, then once she had stored up merit, opened a divine position in the Investiture of the Gods, and sent the ghost off her body, she would have the time to find a way to dig up the two planks and study what was wrong with them.
"..."
Fan Bisi had thought she had some other plan when she brought up the door plank, and hadn't expected this. Still, her decision was right. In a world like this, too much curiosity was not a good thing, and dealing with ghosts was a living made with your head in your hands. He nodded.
"Yes."
Together, everyone lifted the coffins and carried the two out of the bureau. The door planks were strange, but with Zhao Fusheng presiding over the place they steeled their nerves and lifted them too. The bodies of the Zhao couple had shown uncanny signs, and though the ghosts were suppressed for the moment, no one could guarantee when they would revive again. So without Zhao Fusheng having to urge them, everyone worked extremely hard, wanting only to finish the job quickly.
Having seen what happened with Old Zhang of the coffin shop, the owner of the joss stick and ghost money shop was extremely cooperative once he heard Zhao Fusheng's demands. To curry favor with the new commanding officer, he went all out. Besides the paper figurines he'd already pasted together, he prepared paper carts, horses and houses, and even a mule to haul the goods. By the time the two coffins were carried out of the magistrate office, baskets of funeral goods had already been prepared outside.
This was a matter for speed, not delay. Lest things drag on and invite more trouble, the funeral procession set out in force as soon as all was ready, heading out of the county town.
On the road, Zhao Fusheng walked next to the Fan brothers. She could tell her presence made them extremely uneasy. Fan Bisi's body was stiff and his eyes were full of wariness. When she suddenly turned her head, he trembled and almost instinctively stepped back. But his brother was beside him, and with great willpower he held himself in place. Zhao Fusheng looked at him with a smile.
"Where does this road lead?"
With a guilty conscience, Fan Bisi found her smile hard to read, which unsettled him. He steadied himself and answered:
"It leads to the West City..."
He added an explanation.
"The land in the West City is special. When the Demon-Suppression Bureau was first established in Wan'an County, the imperial court sent specialists to mark that area off, to bury those from the bureau who died in ghost calamities."
Fan Wujiu, seeing his brother's uneasy expression, helped out.
"The imperial court once sent a master of the rank of a Gold General to work his methods on the place. Any corpse buried there is suppressed by its aura."
Fan Bisi nodded silently in agreement.
"The Wan'an County bureau has existed for many years, hasn't it?" Zhao Fusheng asked. Fan Bisi nodded again.
"It has more than a hundred years of history."
"After such a long time, however formidable that Gold General was, and however special the imprint he laid down, the imprint still hasn't faded?"
At her question, Fan Bisi said:
"You wouldn't know this, but by custom, to keep the imprint from failing, the court is supposed to send someone every year to renew it and reinforce it..."
But since the ghost fog appeared in Wan'an County, Zhao Qiming had come to take up the post of commanding officer and died miserably in the bureau, and the court had abandoned the place entirely.
"In other words, from last year until now, no one has replenished the imprint that restrains ghostly entities in this cemetery—" At this, Zhao Fusheng's heart skipped a beat. She realized she had once again been handed a mess out of nowhere.
