Chapter 132: The Imprint of the Gatekeeper

"Forget about him."

Zhao Fusheng shook her head. "If it were truly dangerous, he could simply give his life-buying money to the ghost."

Zheng He relied on ghost money to handle ghost cases. With ghost money in his hand, Zhang Chuanshi had a high chance of survival unless he was profoundly unlucky. The urgent priority was to repair the seal immediately.

The fierce ghost had already departed, but the throngs of ghost puppets were moving sluggishly. There were so many of them, surrounding the stone pillar in thick, suffocating layers, that the three of them could not easily squeeze through. Zhang Chuanshi’s legs were indeed quick, but he was human, not a ghost; no one could say how long he could hold out while being chased by a fierce ghost.

The presence of ghost coins attracted ghosts, and this was, after all, a ghost mausoleum. If Zhang Chuanshi kept charging around recklessly, something terrible might happen.

"Let’s repair the seal first."

This was the paramount task. Once the seal was restored, the fierce ghost would be suppressed again, and everything would return to peace.

At the mention of the "seal," Fan Bisi collected his thoughts. "How do you want me to proceed, My Lady?" He did not ask whether Zhao Fusheng could truly strengthen the ghost seal; he simply offered his help directly.

Zhao Fusheng replied, "Work with Magistrate Pang to push these ghost puppets aside!"

"Understood," Fan Bisi nodded.

"...Understood!" Although Magistrate Pang was terrified, he had already come this far and had mentally prepared himself to face the fierce ghost. His wife was still waiting for him to return home.

The two men exchanged a glance, as if to bolster each other’s courage, then let out a loud roar and charged into the crowd of ghost puppets!

These puppets were temporarily controlled by the fierce ghost. Beyond the horror of their "resurrection" from the dead, they showed no current desire to kill; at most, they were holding tools to chisel away at the seal. The two men quickly scattered the puppets, forcing open a gap wide enough for Zhao Fusheng to pass through.

Zhao Fusheng slipped into the throng and approached the seal. As she neared the stone pillar, she saw a strange black brand at its center. The mark looked as if it had been scorched by fire, shaped like an odd lightning bolt. It had originally emanated black mist, but the chaotic chisel marks had damaged it, nearly snapping the lightning bolt in two.

Zhao Fusheng tentatively extended her ghost arm, using its fingers to touch the seal. She could sense a faint, lingering ghost aura within the fractured mark. The ghost arm twitched, wanting to reach out further, but the aftereffects of forcibly taking the Ghost Manual were severe; the fractured joints made its movements weak and powerless, and the fingers drooped.

Zhao Fusheng confirmed the existence of the ghost seal and then retracted her arm. She took a deep breath and centered her mind, ignoring the distant, ghostly cries of Zhang Chuanshi and the panicked gasps of Fan Bisi and Magistrate Pang.

"Summon the Gate Guardians!"

With a thought, the Investiture of the Gods in her sea of consciousness was instantly activated. Blood-red light and baleful energy surged, and the two silhouettes of the Gate Guardians on the scroll slowly opened their eyes. In her palm, a phantom of a black token suddenly appeared.

"..."

At that moment, as Fan Bisi and Magistrate Pang were pushing away the puppets, they suddenly sensed an indescribable, freezing horror—as if some great, malevolent deity had descended in an instant. The ghost puppets blocking their path collapsed like stalks of wheat being cut down, losing all mobility and turning into mere corpses.

This situation was highly abnormal. Fan Bisi felt a surge of unease, and in his fear, he instinctively turned to look toward Zhao Fusheng. What he saw next shattered his composure completely.

Zhao Fusheng stood with her back to him and the Magistrate, facing the stone pillar. Behind her, the ghosts of the Zhao couple—whom she had driven away from Ding'an Tower the night before—had appeared! Each of the two ghosts carried a heavy door plank, standing to her left and right like two terrifying, supernatural sentinels. A blood-red light lingered on the door planks, casting the dark entrance of the ghost mausoleum into an eerie, blood-red mist.

"Ahhhhhhh!!!" Fan Bisi let out a shriek even more wretched than Zhang Chuanshi’s had been while fleeing the ghost. "Ghosts!!!"

The appearance of the Zhao couple broke Fan Bisi’s resolve. Magistrate Pang, who had been holding onto his courage by a thread, was now panicked like a headless fly by the distant screams of Zhang Chuanshi and the nearby shrieks of Fan Bisi, and he began to wail in terror.

Yet, the two ghosts stood silently behind Zhao Fusheng. Their cries did not provoke the ghosts to violence. A flash of realization struck Fan Bisi: he suddenly remembered what Zhao Fusheng had said at Ding'an Tower the previous night—that she had already subdued the Zhao couple. At the time, everyone thought she was boasting. She had even asked Zheng He if he wanted to see the fierce ghost incarnations of the Zhao couple. Everyone, including the Fan brothers, had thought she was joking.

Now, seeing the couple standing behind her with their door planks, Fan Bisi realized that her words were true. Zhao Fusheng had actually subdued the fierce ghosts of the Zhao couple! This was simply inconceivable. For a human to command a ghost was a life-risking endeavor; once one did, their own life no longer belonged to them, as was the case with Zheng He. Yet, after already commanding the ghost left behind by Zhao Qiming, Zhao Fusheng had somehow managed to subdue two more ghosts of at least Disaster-level.

"How is this even possible?" Fan Bisi’s mind went blank. He couldn't fathom how she had achieved it. Was it because they were her parents? But ghosts were merely lingering instincts with all human emotion erased upon death; that explanation didn't hold up. Fan Bisi was in a state of chaos, but he was certain of one thing: Zhao Fusheng hadn't been bragging. She really had subdued them!

With two Disaster-level ghosts under her command, it was no wonder she had been so confident before heading to the mausoleum, claiming she could resolve the case and reinforce the seal. It appeared she would do much more than just reinforce it.

The ghost general who had come to brand this place last year, Zhu Minghui, had been at the Silver-level, and the ghost he commanded had only reached the Calamity-level. The Zhao couple’s ghosts were already at the Disaster-level, far exceeding anything Zhu Minghui had controlled. Once Zhao Fusheng applied the seal, the mausoleum would immediately return to peace.

As these thoughts raced through Fan Bisi’s mind, his screaming subsided, and he shouted righteously, "My Lady, be careful! There are ghosts behind you!"

As his voice fell, Magistrate Pang finally regained his senses. He looked behind Zhao Fusheng and indeed saw the two ghost shadows carrying door planks. "Ahhh—My Lady, there really are ghosts behind you! Two of them! My Lady, be careful—"

Magistrate Pang was frantic and terrified, shouting repeatedly but daring not to step forward.

Zhao Fusheng ignored them. Fan Bisi’s concern was laced with calculated logic, and Magistrate Pang’s warning was filled with helpless fear. Neither mattered to her.

The Investiture of the Gods notified her: The Gate Guardian brand was activated. The Gate Guardians had appeared. They were waiting to be summoned. Would she consume 500 Merit points to appease them? Would she consume 1,000 Merit points to use their power?

Zhao Fusheng did not hesitate: "Yes!"

1,500 Merit points were deducted. With a thought, the black ghost token in her palm emerged. She stepped forward and gently pressed her palm against the stone pillar, right over the residual lightning mark. The residual power of the fierce ghost within the mark sensed her approach and seemed to resist, but the authority of the Investiture of the Gods was far greater than the remnant seal.

The power of the Gate Guardians silently permeated the stone pillar. The lightning mark, already half-destroyed by the fierce ghost, was instantly erased. As Zhao Fusheng pulled her hand away, a pair of dark red ghost silhouettes carrying door planks were branded onto the pillar. The images were vivid, glowing with blood-red baleful light. The four eyes of the ghosts glared with sky-high hatred, staring malevolently at their surroundings like replicas of the fierce ghosts themselves, suppressing the mausoleum.

As the seal was completed, Zhang Chuanshi’s distant wailing became even louder, though it now carried the relief of someone who had survived a brush with death.

Zhao Fusheng clenched her hand, and the black token vanished. The figures of the Zhao couple dissolved into gray mist, forcibly recalled by the Investiture of the Gods back into the spirit tablet.

At the same time, a notification sounded: "Seal reinforcement complete! Fortified by the Gate Guardian’s brand, it can suppress all ghosts of Disaster-level and below. 'Brand of the Gate Guardians'! Note: This is the mark of ghost deities. Wherever it is present, their aura will force all ghosts to retreat. First use of Gate Guardian power: rewarded 500 Merit points. Successfully sealing the ghost mausoleum, preventing its collapse and avoiding the crisis of the 'Night Walk of Fierce Ghosts': rewarded 2,000 Merit points. Successfully resolving the West City Ghost Mausoleum case and putting the resurrected ghosts back to sleep: rewarded 500 Merit points."

With the seal applied, the chiseling ghosts that had been resurrected in the mausoleum were instantly suppressed, and the "clinking" sounds vanished. The ghost domain that had shrouded Wan'an County began to dissipate.

As the black mist cleared, Zhao Fusheng turned around to see Magistrate Pang and Fan Bisi, who looked as if they had been scared out of their wits. Fan Bisi’s gaze drifted past Zhao Fusheng to the stone pillar, where he saw the pair of dark red ghost brands glowing with blood-red light. Even though he had guessed the truth, seeing the brand with his own eyes left him profoundly shocked.

"My Lady—" he murmured.

This call startled Magistrate Pang. When he looked at Zhao Fusheng again, he was surprised to find that the pair of fierce ghosts that had been standing behind her had vanished without a trace.

"My Lady—" Magistrate Pang looked left and right. Before he could say more, Zhao Fusheng said, "The ghost case is resolved."

"What? Resolved?" Magistrate Pang was stunned. Only then did he realize the ghost fog had lifted. The area was eerily quiet. With the chiseling sounds gone, the mausoleum fell into a deep silence, and the suffocating pressure in Magistrate Pang’s chest vanished.

"Whew—" He exhaled heavily, then suddenly looked up. "Just now, I saw a pair of ghosts standing behind you—"

"Oh, those are a pair of ghosts I recently subdued. I happened to use them to set the seal and suppress the mausoleum," Zhao Fusheng explained.

Afterward, she looked at the pale Magistrate Pang and the flickering eyes of Fan Bisi, asking with a smile, "I didn't scare you, did I?"

"N-no," they both stammered, shaking their heads instinctively.

Her words contained a wealth of information. Magistrate Pang wanted to ask more, but seeing Fan Bisi remain silent, he suppressed his curiosity, deciding to save it for later. But the fact that she had managed to subdue more fierce ghosts, and that these new ghosts were powerful enough to suppress the mausoleum’s resurrection with a single seal, meant their rank was not low. And that she could command so many ghosts without being influenced or showing signs of losing control...

The more Magistrate Pang thought about it, the more excited he became. He even felt that perhaps under this official, Wan'an County might gradually change and return to its former glory.

"My Lady—" He was about to speak when he heard the sound of "tappa-tappa" footsteps in the distance. Having experienced the terrifying walk through the darkness, Magistrate Pang’s body trembled slightly at the sound. Fortunately, the footsteps were accompanied by heavy, ragged breathing.

Zhang Chuanshi’s half-dead voice was mixed in with the gasps. "M-M-My Lady—"

Zhang Chuanshi, who had left with the ghost coins, was returning. In the gray mist, he stumbled toward the three of them, clutching his waist, gasping for air. As soon as he saw them, he seemed to run out of strength, collapsing to the ground and lying flat with his limbs sprawled out, breathing desperately.

After a long while, Zhang Chuanshi managed to sit up tremblingly. "My Lady, you almost got me killed." His face was full of resentment.

"Aren't you still alive?" Zhao Fusheng glanced at him, keenly sniffing a faint, foul odor coming from him. It was a smell she recognized; she had smelled it somewhere before.

"If I hadn't lit my ghost lantern, I’d be dead!" Zhang Chuanshi complained. "That ghost ran too fast! If I hadn't reacted quickly, it would have caught me—"

"Wouldn't it have been enough to just give it the money?" Zhao Fusheng replied.

"Give it the money?" Zhang Chuanshi shrieked. "In my hands, money only goes in! Has anyone ever seen money come out of my pockets?"

After returning, he didn't ask if Zhao Fusheng had successfully set the seal, as if he had great confidence in her strength. Now, mentioning the "money," the old man seemed to have shaken off the shadow of the fierce ghost’s pursuit. The undamaged half of his face showed a proud, smug expression. "Ever since I opened my shop, money has only entered my pockets. No one has ever managed to take even a single coin from me—"

Before he could finish, Zhao Fusheng reached out to him. "Hand it over."

Oh no! Zhang Chuanshi panicked, then feigned ignorance. "Wh-what, hand what over?"

"The life-buying ghost money. Hand it over." Zhao Fusheng curled her four fingers, signaling for him to surrender the coin.

"I—" Zhang Chuanshi was filled with regret, clearly lamenting his boastfulness. His eyes darted around, racking his brain for an excuse to keep the ghost coin.

Zhao Fusheng warned him, "If you keep that ghost coin on you, it will attract the resurrection of fierce ghosts. You saw what happened when the ghost chased you earlier—"

Before she could finish, the miserly Zhang Chuanshi, recalling the terror of being chased, shuddered. He hurriedly fished a copper coin from his clothes and placed it into Zhao Fusheng’s hand.