Chapter 126: Setting Out for the Ghost Mausoleum

Zhao Fusheng glanced at Magistrate Pang. His eyelids were swollen from exhaustion, filled with tears, and his eye bags looked like those of a goldfish. His face was etched with anticipation.

She shook her head. "I can only deal with supernatural hauntings; I cannot guarantee I will be in time to save your wife."

This time, the ghost's killing was exceptionally brutal. Yu Weide, lying on the ground, was already gasping more than he was breathing.

*Clang. Clang.*

The chiseling sound continued to ring out. With every strike, his chest surged violently upward.

The seal of the Ghost Mausoleum had likely not been completely destroyed yet. The power of the malicious spirit was being suppressed by a higher-tier entity, which prevented it from exerting its full lethality. That was the only reason Yu Weide had managed to survive until now.

However, the power disparity between ghosts and humans was vast. If this dragged on any longer, the malicious spirit would undoubtedly pierce through Yu Weide’s chest. What mutations would occur within his body then—Zhao Fusheng could not say, but she was certain the old gentleman would not survive.

"Let’s go! To the Ghost Mausoleum immediately."

Saving a life is like fighting a fire; time was of the essence. Zhao Fusheng did not dare delay. She stood up immediately and signaled for Fan Busi to follow.

Fan Busi felt a tremor of fear, but having previously crossed paths with Zhao Fusheng, he dared not refuse. He hesitated for a moment before rising to his feet.

He turned his head and shouted, "Old Zhang, come along too."

"..."

Zhang Chuanshi wanted to hit someone. This kid had it out for him today. Usually, he was never called for the good things, yet when it came to dealing with ghosts, he had been dragged in twice in a row.

"I..." Zhang Chuanshi racked his brains for an excuse. Fan Busi looked at Zhao Fusheng. "We just returned to Wan'an County; we need to go to the Ghost Mausoleum to get to the bottom of many things."

Zhang Chuanshi had managed to avoid the trip to Baozhi County and had stayed in Wan'an, meaning he was the most familiar with the outbreak at the Ghost Mausoleum.

"Old Zhang, come along," Zhao Fusheng nodded. In truth, even if Fan Busi hadn't spoken, she would have asked Zhang Chuanshi to join—the Demon Suppression Bureau currently had too few usable hands; it was always the same few people.

"I—" Zhang Chuanshi was about to howl, but he met Zhao Fusheng’s cold gaze. She usually spoke with a gentle demeanor but possessed an iron will; once a decision was made, there was no room for negotiation. He had suffered at her hands before, and only because they had survived the Dog Head Village case together did he dare to test the limits of her patience. Once he saw her look, he knew that making a scene was useless, and at such a critical moment, further delay might only provoke her fury.

A wise man does not fight when the odds are against him. Realizing this, Zhang Chuanshi immediately rolled over, sat up, and kicked his legs to stand. "I will accompany you, my lady."

"I'll go too—" Seeing this, Magistrate Pang hurriedly shouted, "I can explain the details of what has happened over these past two nights."

Zhao Fusheng nodded. "Let's go."

She had just returned from Baozhi County, and the carriage was still harnessed, parked right outside the gates of the Demon Suppression Bureau. The sky had already turned pitch black.

Zhao Fusheng looked at the anxious officials and local gentry and instructed them gently, "Stay inside the Demon Suppression Bureau and wait for my news. There is no need for you to come with me."

They had been worried she would force them to follow, so upon hearing this, they breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly said, "Many thanks, my lady."

The secretary was worried about Magistrate Pang’s safety and wanted to accompany him, but the Magistrate waved him off. "Return to the Yamen immediately and keep a close watch on my wife—" Although an ordinary person could do little against a malicious spirit, this was all the secretary could do for now.

"Understood," the secretary replied.

Zhao Fusheng ordered the servants to bring tea and snacks and instructed Fan Wujiu to guard the Demon Suppression Bureau. She led Fan Busi, Zhang Chuanshi, and Magistrate Pang out the gates. Fan Wujiu looked at his brother, wanting to say something, but Fan Busi only said, "Follow the lady’s orders. Guard the Demon Suppression Bureau well, and don't let the lady’s gold go missing."

Fan Wujiu swallowed his panic, nodded, and looked at his brother. "You must come back."

"I will," Fan Busi nodded.

"Why so sentimental?" Zhao Fusheng sighed. "I have a fair bit of confidence in resolving this case."

***

Fan Busi had been waiting for those words. Once she spoke, not only did Fan Busi’s eyes brighten, but Zhang Chuanshi’s did as well. Shaking off his heavy gait, he hopped onto the carriage as nimbly as a monkey and beckoned to her, "My lady, come up quickly."

"..."

Zhao Fusheng looked at him speechlessly. Before boarding, she felt an inexplicable urge to look back at the Demon Suppression Bureau.

The night was pitch black, and two lanterns hung on either side of the gate. However, a dense layer of water droplets clung to the inside of the lanterns, suppressing the flames until they were pathetically small, barely casting a sliver of light before the entrance. The plaque above the gate was swallowed by the darkness, and the three characters for "Demon Suppression Bureau," which had been barely legible before, were now obscured by black mist, almost invisible.

Her eyes flickered before she stepped into the carriage.

Once Zhao Fusheng was inside, Fan Busi and Magistrate Pang followed. The carriage driver was terrified, but Zhao Fusheng said, "Do not be afraid. Just drop us off half a mile from the cemetery south of the city."

Fan Busi wanted to say something but held back, having learned Zhao Fusheng's temperament. Zhang Chuanshi, however, said, "My lady, why not let him drive straight to the Ghost Mausoleum?" He crossed his arms, puzzled. "There aren't many of us; we have to find the ghost, and we'll need someone to scout the path."

Magistrate Pang nodded. The driver was shaking with fear but dared not speak in the presence of the Magistrate and the trio from the Demon Suppression Bureau.

Zhao Fusheng wasn't angry; she just gave Zhang Chuanshi a deep look and reminded him, "We are the ones from the Demon Suppression Bureau."

"What do you mean?" Zhang Chuanshi was confused. "He is also a member of the Bureau."

Zhao Fusheng stated flatly, "We are the Commanders and Envoys; we are the ones who handle ghost cases. They are merely servants, responsible for driving and menial tasks."

"But before, Zhao Qiming and the others always did it this way. There was no distinction; whoever was available went," Zhang Chuanshi scratched his scarred skin. "After all, someone always has to die."

"..."

The carriage fell silent for a moment. Zhao Fusheng looked at Magistrate Pang and Fan Busi. Neither spoke. Whether it was the three from the Demon Suppression Bureau or the driver Zhang Chuanshi had mentioned, they seemed to accept this as the status quo and had no intention of arguing.

"But those rules are wrong," Zhao Fusheng shook her head. "Everyone has their own duties. Whether it is the imperial court or the county government, everyone should perform their respective roles."

Zhang Chuanshi still didn't quite understand, so Zhao Fusheng added, "Unless absolutely necessary, I do not want to break the rules." She gave Zhang Chuanshi a meaningful look. "Just like when handling ghost cases, I will not use you all as mere cannon fodder."

Her words instantly convinced Zhang Chuanshi. Fan Busi and Zhang Chuanshi exchanged glances, both filled with awe. In the Great Han Dynasty, where ghosts ran rampant and rituals and rules had collapsed, Zhao Fusheng seemed to be intentionally restraining herself with a code of conduct she had created. Without such a code, according to Zhang Chuanshi’s logic, she should have treated her Envoys as disposable items when a case became dangerous.

Yet, for over a month, she had taken the lead in every case, never delegating the danger to others. Furthermore, of the Envoys registered at the county office, besides Liu Yizhen, the other three had all worked cases with her, and not one had died! This was an unprecedented miracle in the Demon Suppression Bureau.

She was holding onto her bottom line, while Zhang Chuanshi had been trying to persuade her to break the rules. Once the rules were broken, other than the servants who would be the first to suffer, none of them would fare well in the future.

Thinking of this, Zhang Chuanshi broke into a cold sweat and hurriedly praised, "My lady is wise; I was foolish."

Zhao Fusheng smiled at him. He felt uneasy, losing his usual slick demeanor, and dared not meet her gaze. She smiled, dropped the subject, and told the driver, "Let’s go."

Supported by her attitude, the driver’s anxiety was greatly soothed. Filled with gratitude, he vowed to himself to serve her well. As soon as she finished speaking, the driver nodded, the carriage started, and they sped toward the south of the city.

As the carriage moved, Zhao Fusheng asked Zhang Chuanshi, "Old Zhang, where have you been staying these past two days?"

Zhang Chuanshi, still startled, collected his complicated thoughts and replied, "My lady, after you and the Fan brothers left, I realized something was wrong when the sky darkened so quickly that afternoon, so I moved into the Demon Suppression Bureau that very night."

Zhao Fusheng had just returned from Baozhi County; she was unaware of many things happening in Wan'an. Zhang Chuanshi, though usually a scoundrel, knew the gravity of the situation and added, "That night, I did indeed hear a faint, lingering tapping sound. It wasn't very clear, and though I found it annoying, I was still able to sleep."

In other words, he was different from Yu Weide and Magistrate Pang, who had been tormented all night.

Hearing this, Zhao Fusheng became certain that the Demon Suppression Bureau held some secret. Its presence could, to a certain extent, isolate the marks left by malicious spirits. This was no wild guess; she had suspected it during her conversation with Zheng He on the pleasure boat in Baozhi County.

Zheng He had known about the existence of the Ghost Carriage, yet he had never been marked by it. He had mentioned that those who died during their tenure at the Demon Suppression Bureau would not affect the staff of the Yamen. Zheng He had been certain of this, even debating it with her, until she revealed he had already been marked by the Ghost Carriage, at which point he had deflated like a punctured ball.

Zheng He relied on his experience—for decades, the imperial court had seemingly never faced such issues. This situation contradicted the laws of malicious spirits. The Ghost Carriage’s killing rule: once heard or spoken of, one would be marked, their name recorded in the ghost ledger, and the ghost would come to take them away.

Yet, the Demon Suppression Bureau could reverse this rule: even if those within the bureau knew of the carriage and spoke of it, they would not be taken.

Anything abnormal is a monster. Zhao Fusheng considered a possibility. According to Fan Busi, the killing rules of ghosts could not be forcibly reversed, but higher-tier spirits could suppress lower-tier ones.

Only when the tiers were unequal could one suppress or shield against the markings of a ghost’s law. But the Ghost Carriage was at least a Disaster-level entity; what could be higher, capable of suppressing it and protecting the personnel of the Demon Suppression Bureau?

The plaque hanging in front of the local Demon Suppression Bureau appeared in her mind.

Zhang Chuanshi was related to Paper-man Zhang. When trouble hit the Wan'an County Demon Suppression Bureau, everyone else had moved out, except for him. Fan Busi had mentioned that he stayed because of his coffin business and because the Bureau owed him a large sum of money. Backed by Paper-man Zhang, making money shouldn't be difficult for him; he must have had another motive for staying.

Zhang Chuanshi was afraid of Paper-man Zhang and refused to tell her more, but even without him saying it, Zhao Fusheng had guessed the answer.

She thought of the plaque. Every local Demon Suppression Bureau across the empire likely hung such a sign, and the one in Wan'an was sometimes clean and sometimes dusty. It wasn't real dust; it must have been related to the severity of the local ghost haunting. If the haunting vanished, the sign would be exceptionally clean; otherwise, it would be obscured by the malicious aura of the spirits.

She suspected the plaque itself was a cursed object, similar to a ghost coffin or a ghost door panel. The imperial court had likely obtained a supreme cursed object, broken it apart, and distributed the pieces to be hung above the Yamen of every Demon Suppression Bureau. This object possessed the power to resist malicious spirits, protecting those inside. This was why Zheng He had heard of the Ghost Carriage for years without being marked.

And the reason she had been marked upon hearing of the Ghost Carriage was likely because the plaque was tarnished, its power suppressed, rendering its protection ineffective.

Zhang Chuanshi had moved into the bureau after the haunting began, which was why he had been shielded by the plaque’s power during those first two nights, hearing only faint tapping. This also explained why the plaque looked gray and its inscriptions were nearly obscured by haze when she returned.

These were all conjectures, but once this case was solved, she would know for sure upon returning to the bureau.

Zhao Fusheng looked at Magistrate Pang. "You mentioned the Ghost Mausoleum earlier. How did you determine the location of the ghost?"

Magistrate Pang, looking haggard, pulled himself together. "We didn't know yesterday. It wasn't until this morning that someone mentioned the fog in the west of the city hadn't dispersed by mid-morning."

Wan'an County was surrounded by mountains, and while there were often morning mists, they usually vanished as soon as the sun rose. Recently, the days had been brightening slowly, but by mid-morning, even the fog should have cleared. The person who said this was a Yamen runner, and Magistrate Pang knew immediately that something was wrong.

He had been more attentive than anyone else because of the ghost case. He immediately thought of the Ghost Mausoleum to the west, which required a high-ranking official from the Demon Suppression Bureau to apply a seal every year. Last year, the imperial court had sent someone in mid-August; according to custom, they should have arrived by late July this year, but due to the special circumstances in Wan'an, that protection had been lost.

It was now August, and the seal applied last year was surely fading. Thinking of this, Magistrate Pang had felt his heart sink.