"Boss Zhang?"
Before Zhao Fusheng borrowed this body to return to life and woke up, she'd indeed heard the Fan brothers mention Boss Zhang's name. She'd kept this name in mind then. Now hearing the Fan brothers voluntarily bring him up, she seized the opportunity to ask about this person's background.
"Correct, Boss Zhang." Fan Bisi said:
"The Zhang family is a major household in the county. For generations they've possessed secret arts, mainly raising immortals. They possess unusual abilities and certain supernatural methods. As long as you can pay the price, his help to you will exceed your expectations." After speaking, he thought for a moment, and that slightly dark face squeezed out another trace of a smile:
"You'll know in the future."
"Right." Fan Wujiu on the side also chimed in with a nod:
"Boss Zhang is very powerful. This method of redirecting disaster was his idea..."
If he couldn't speak properly, he shouldn't open his mouth!
Fan Bisi glared hatefully at this impulsive brother, also worried that Fan Wujiu's thoughtlessness would arouse Zhao Fusheng's disgust, causing her to refuse to help the two brothers.
Being glared at by his brother, Fan Wujiu also realized he'd misspoken. He immediately showed a nervous expression and didn't dare speak carelessly again.
"In any case, as long as you get to know him, his usefulness will definitely be greater than you imagine."
Fan Bisi reluctantly added a sentence, then irritably glared at his brother again and urged him:
"Hurry up and take out the Life-Soul Register for Fusheng to examine..."
This brother truly caused more trouble than he was worth.
But though he was ruthless and cruel, he was only soft toward this twin brother. The two had depended on each other since childhood with deep feelings. He scolded him, but couldn't bear to abandon his brother.
Scolded by him, Fan Wujiu quickly opened the rosewood box.
Inside were books. But at this moment, he rummaged through these books carelessly, not caring about them. Several book volumes fell to the ground. Last night it had just rained heavily—the ground was muddy. The books fell into the mud and got soaked with muddy water, immediately becoming quite dirty and wet.
Zhao Fusheng bent down to pick them up. After Fan Wujiu flipped through the books, he found a red box at the very bottom.
The box was entirely red, made of unknown wood. That red color didn't look like painted lacquer, but rather like a light seeping from inside the box, making the box surface shimmer with flowing light and emit a faint bloody smell. It gave an evil feeling, very uncomfortable.
Zhao Fusheng glanced at it and frowned, instinctively growing wary of this box.
After Fan Wujiu got the box, he also seemed to find it somewhat hot to handle. His face showed awe, then he handed the box to his brother.
Fan Bisi held the box and took several deep breaths in succession before opening it, revealing the scene inside.
The box interior was densely covered with talismans drawn in blood-red cinnabar. That cinnabar seemed to have been written not long ago, gleaming with luster as if the water marks hadn't dried yet.
In the center sat a palm-sized jade book made of emerald. Fan Bisi glanced at it, bit his teeth, and handed the box to Zhao Fusheng:
"This Life-Soul Register should originally be managed by the chief magistrate. It just temporarily fell into our brothers' hands after Zhao Qiming died. Now it's returning to its rightful owner."
After speaking, he said in a low voice:
"Fusheng, please be merciful. Where we brothers wronged you, we're also willing to admit fault and make amends. Now you don't need us—keeping us here serves no purpose."
Zhao Fusheng didn't speak, just reached out to take the jade book.
The instant her fingers touched the emerald jade book, countless cinnabar runes seemed to come alive, transforming into wriggling worms that rapidly spread up her fingers.
This eerie and terrifying occurrence shocked Zhao Fusheng.
Born in modern society, she'd never encountered such things that defied common sense. Her almost instinctive reaction was to let go and shake off these 'worms.'
Those talismans instantly covered her entire fingers and back of hand, making her whole palm seem instantly tattooed with strange runes.
As the runes spread densely, her entire palm felt immersed in ice, with stabbing pain that made her hair stand on end.
"Poisonous?" She cried out in alarm.
As she spoke, Zhao Fusheng's fingers grew numb. Where the runes spread, her fingertips became pale and withered. She rapidly lost control of her fingers, as if her forearm and hand had suddenly become dead objects no longer belonging to her.
Zhao Fusheng frantically shook her hand, trying to shake off these talismans.
But those strange runes clung like maggots to bone, not only branded on her fingers but seemingly carved into her bones and blood.
Having transmigrated into this strange era, from the nightmare she already knew this era had ghosts, but truly witnessing this bizarre power still dealt an enormous shock to her psyche.
Just as she was utterly horrified, suddenly her back grew cold.
It seemed another cold presence approached her, as if trying to drive away the chill invading her palm.
For a moment, she couldn't distinguish whether these two types of cold were real sensations or illusions. Just as she was trembling with fear and somewhat at a loss, those runes, for some unknown reason, after sensing her aura, docilely retreated into the secret box.
The palm's temperature instantly vanished. The numb stabbing sensation disappeared at once.
Zhao Fusheng's heart pounded wildly. Subconsciously, she clenched her hand.
That feeling of losing control disappeared. Where blood vessels connected, her fingers' sensation returned, clenching into a fist according to her will.
Zhao Fusheng looked at her palm with lingering fear.
At this moment, her palm was thin, long, and pale, with some blood stains between her fingers.
Besides this, there were no rune curses. It was as if the scene of her fingers and hand back being covered with these talismans was just her hallucination.
Since her rebirth, Fan Bisi always felt she was confident when dealing with her, completely like a different person. This was the first time seeing her show unease.
He knew Zhao Fusheng was probably frightened by the talismans and explained with a smile:
"Don't worry. You're the chief magistrate—these talismans won't harm you. If others tried to tamper with this Life-Soul Register, the talismans could instantly take their lives."
After speaking, he added:
"This Life-Soul Register was created by the court. The talismans on it were drawn by the current Great General Jia Yi. He's also a ghost controller. It's said the ghost he controls has reached Sha-class and possesses the power to 'communicate' with people. These 'talismans' are rumored to be ghost language. Even from thousands of miles away, Jia Yi can use ghost language to kill..."
Zhao Fusheng's body trembled.
Fan Bisi's words didn't comfort her. She knew nothing about anything related to 'ghosts,' but ghosts were so fierce, yet these ghost language curses couldn't harm her—there must be a reason.
Uneasy, she reached back to touch her back again. The chill on her back, along with the ghost rune curse on her hand fading, also disappeared without a trace.
"..." But Zhao Fusheng didn't relax her vigilance because of this. She always felt that feeling from the dream of being spied upon by an evil ghost had returned.
Invisibly, it seemed a pair of cold eyes were watching her, making her whole body uncomfortable.
She turned her head to look left and right. This movement caught the Fan brothers' attention. Fan Bisi asked tentatively:
"What's wrong?"
She furrowed her brow, suppressing her inner anxiety, and shook her head slightly:
"Nothing."
Zhao Fusheng's expression was rather ugly, clearly not as "fine" as she claimed. Though Fan Bisi was suspicious by nature, he only guessed she was probably frightened by seeing that talisman power, knowing what was good for her, and having heard him say this was so-called 'ghost language,' she became afraid.
After all, she was just a country girl not very old...
He needed something from her, so he 'kindly' comforted her again:
"Don't worry. Though 'ghost language' is terrifying, it absolutely won't harm one's own people."
"One's own people?" Hearing these three words 'one's own people,' Zhao Fusheng became even more uneasy. Fan Bisi said:
"To enter the Demon-Suppressing Bureau, one must first enter the Life-Soul Register."
Zhao Fusheng took a deep breath.
She had a premonition that what Fan Bisi was about to say next would definitely be something she didn't want to hear.
These two brothers weren't good people. But Fan Bisi claimed to be restricted by the Life-Soul Register, so he had no choice but to lower himself and plead with her. And if she hadn't remembered wrong—when the original Zhao Fusheng entered the Demon-Suppressing Bureau, she seemed to have dripped blood to sign a contract and lit up the Life-Soul Register.
"After lighting up the Life-Soul Register, you're controlled by it. It wants you to live, you live. It wants you to die, you die." Fan Bisi said calmly.
"Doesn't that mean handing over your life to others first?" For the first time, Zhao Fusheng lost her composure and asked somewhat shocked.
"Yes."
Compared to Zhao Fusheng's shock and anger, Fan Bisi was much calmer.
"Ah, this—" Zhao Fusheng was speechless. After a long while, she barely regained reason and said:
"The Demon-Suppressing Bureau is so large. You also said most people joining it are extraordinary individuals, even including ghost controllers. They're also willing to do this?"
"There's no choice."
Fan Bisi shook his head:
"The formidable people in the court exceed your imagination. How could ordinary ghost controllers fight against the court?"
The terror of ghosts far exceeded ordinary people's imagination. Individuals fighting ghosts alone had too low a survival rate. Only by banding together to expel ghosts was most useful.
"The court has many people and abundant resources. As long as you're in the Demon-Suppressing Bureau, if something happens you can ask the court for help."
Speaking of this, he grinned:
"Besides, ghost controllers have short lifespans to begin with. Plus, influenced by malevolent ghosts, without constraints, they might be a disaster to ordinary people."
"But..." Zhao Fusheng was about to speak again when Fan Bisi added:
"Moreover, isn't joining the court and enjoying life while you can good enough? At least after joining the Demon-Suppressing Bureau, power and beauties are all readily available. As for being restricted by the Life-Soul Register, so what? As long as you don't betray the court or try to leave your post without authorization, the ghost language curse won't activate, and naturally you'll be perfectly safe."
Zhao Fusheng didn't agree with his views, but she had no intention of persuading Fan Bisi. Moreover, the most important thing now was that she needed to find a way to break free from the Life-Soul Register's constraints and escape the Fan brothers' control.
She suppressed her alarm and suspicion, looking at Fan Bisi.
He'd talked for so long, aiming to ask Zhao Fusheng to help temporarily remove the two brothers' names.
"Help us two brothers remove our life-souls. If you do this, we'll have about a month to find another Life-Soul Register to entrust our life-souls to—" He urged.
Zhao Fusheng hesitated, then tried reaching out to touch the emerald jade book again.
This time, the ghost language curse seemed familiar with her aura and didn't attack her again. She smoothly removed the jade book and held it in her hand.
"Fusheng, we brothers will be grateful for your great kindness..."
Seeing her take the book, Fan Bisi thought the matter was settled. Even with his steady temperament, joy couldn't help showing in his eyes.
But he was happy too soon. After Zhao Fusheng took the book, she didn't do as he said. Instead, her expression was ugly.
Fan Bisi's words were true.
These talismans' power was terrifying, but she didn't sense any aggression from these ghost runes.
Zhao Fusheng realized she was trapped in Wan'an County, and this place was frequented by ghosts—it was an abandoned land by the court.
Her face turned slightly pale. Suppressing her unease, she shook her head:
"No rush. I still have some questions. Continue."
"..." Fan Bisi's smile froze instantly. Fan Wujiu's expression immediately turned gloomy. Just as he was about to speak, Fan Bisi took a deep breath, glared fiercely at his brother, then showed a smile and said:
"What else do you want to know? We brothers will certainly tell you everything we know."