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"Zhen Mo Si!" (The Demon-Suppressing Division!)
Zhao Fusheng was struck hard, retreating several steps, finally stopping when her back hit the damp wooden pillar.
"Han Dynasty, Zhen Mo Si, Zhao Fusheng—"
Her expression soured, and she struck the pillar behind her.
The sound of her fist against the wood echoed, the force of the punch bouncing back, everything feeling disturbingly real.
The street was eerily quiet, as though the people living here subconsciously retracted their presence. The sound of Zhao Fusheng's fist against the pillar quickly caught the attention of someone from the coffin shop.
A head peeked around the doorframe, a man with a bald forehead, his disheveled hair hastily tied in a bun at the top of his head. His long, narrow eyes locked onto Zhao Fusheng, and instinctively, she turned her head.
The two made eye contact, and the man inhaled sharply, his face showing signs of fear before quickly retracting his head.
With a loud "bang," the entire street reverberated with the sound of the door slamming shut, so hard that the hanging sign outside the coffin shop swayed.
Zhao Fusheng's mind conjured the man's information: Old Zhang from the coffin shop.
As soon as this person's identity came to mind, more details about him flooded her memory.
She had not been in Zhen Mo Si for long. Most of her time was spent with the Fan brothers, who had bought her and didn't sell her to evil forces. Instead, they brought her to Zhen Mo Si, bound her with a blood contract, and made her the head of the division.
She was both surprised and uneasy.
The Fan brothers hadn't mistreated her. Aside from their occasional uncomfortable gaze, the two usually treated her with peace.
In the beginning, they were very strict with her, hardly allowing her to leave the premises, so she spent most of her time within the division.
Later, luck seemed to favor her as the brothers gradually relaxed their control. Occasionally, she could stand at the gate and look outside, slowly learning about the street around her.
As time went by, the brothers grew even more relaxed, almost never following her. She ventured out alone from time to time, noticing that people in the area gave her strange looks.
At first, she was puzzled and gathered the courage to try talking to them. However, whether it was the coffin shop or the paper money and incense store, the people there all looked at her with distaste, avoiding her as if she were a plague.
She was young, timid, and weak, and with everyone treating her like this, she didn't dare approach any further.
After that, strange occurrences became more frequent, and she realized she was likely haunted by ghosts. Eventually, the injuries became so severe that she could no longer leave, and she eventually died.
Because of this, she had a certain impression of this street but had no real interactions with the people around her.
She couldn't recall the name of the man from the coffin shop, only vaguely remembering the Fan brothers mentioning "Old Zhang from the coffin shop." As for his name, family situation, and more, she knew nothing.
"..." Zhao Fusheng's face turned pale.
She had realized something was wrong.
It seemed that what happened last night wasn't just a simple dream—it was very likely that the dream had become reality. She had met with an accident in her apartment, and after death, her soul had crossed over to the Han Dynasty, reincarnating into the body of a girl with the same name.
Resurrection, borrowing someone else's body—it should have been a great thing, but she remembered the scenes from her dream: a strange time and space, an orphan with dead parents, the eerie Zhen Mo Si, and the original owner who was tormented by ghostly beings and died because of it.
Zhao Fusheng stood there in a daze when she noticed the Fan brothers in the courtyard looking as if they had seen a ghost, fear written all over their faces. Their shoulders were touching as they stared at her, their faces pale with horror.
From where she stood, she could see the desolate courtyard, with dilapidated rooms on both sides.
The main hall, which should have been used for handling official matters, now housed two corpses.
After being struck by lightning last night, the main hall had been damaged and now looked even more broken.
It was broad daylight, but the sunlight shone through the large hole in the ceiling, casting shadows on the blackened tables and chairs below. Zhao Fusheng couldn't help but feel that something was off. The room seemed eerie and cold, perhaps because the bodies hadn't been moved yet.
She rubbed her arms uneasily and looked around.
Aside from the Fan brothers, there was no one else in sight, but she felt like there were eyes watching her from the shadows, devoid of emotion. It was a cruel and cold sensation, the same feeling she had experienced in her dream before the original Zhao Fusheng died.
She gritted her teeth, took a deep breath, and after a long hesitation, walked back into the courtyard.
"You... Are you alive or dead?"
Seeing her enter, Fan Wujie fearfully shrank behind his brother, taking two steps back before mustering the courage to ask.
"I'm alive—" Fan Bishi, more composed and keen, noticed her shadow moving and quickly calmed himself, saying, "Ghosts usually first create a ghostly domain before attacking..."
He paused, noticing Zhao Fusheng's furrowed brow, realizing that she likely didn't know what a "ghostly domain" was, as she had grown up in a rural village.
Fan Bishi's eyes flickered, and he explained:
"A ghostly domain is what people call the 'ghost hitting the wall' in folk legends."
Before a ghost kills, it creates a certain range of a ghostly domain to trap its prey.
Less powerful ghosts create smaller domains with weaker killing power, meaning fewer victims. More vicious ghosts can create larger domains, making the area larger and the ghost more powerful within it.
Anyone who enters this domain becomes a target for the ghost, at its mercy.
"Since Fusheng has a shadow and is moving, and I saw Old Zhang from the coffin shop peek out, it means the area hasn't been affected by a ghostly domain. She should still be a living person."
"But—" Fan Wujie, hearing his brother's words, first relaxed, then seemed to remember something and was startled. "She's already—"
"Shut up!"
Fan Bishi shouted loudly, glaring at his younger brother to stop him from speaking further.
Fan Wujie shrank back, then exchanged a look with his brother. The twin brothers had a special bond and immediately understood each other's intentions. Wujie lowered his head, understanding without needing further explanation.
"Fusheng, when you had the accident yesterday, I personally checked your breath and confirmed you were dead. How could you—"
Fan Bishi, after silencing his brother, turned to Zhao Fusheng with a forced smile.
He was both curious and uneasy about the situation.
Zhao Fusheng had been haunted by ghosts, triggering the deadly curse for the ghosts to kill her, and by all rights, she should have been dead.
In fact, she had indeed died. Yesterday, she was killed by a ghost, and the Fan brothers had personally handled the bodies of the Zhao family.
Such severe injuries would have killed anyone, even if she had still been breathing.
But now, she was standing there, her wounds healed, and though her face was pale, her eyes were bright, as if the ghostly aura had been swept away, and she appeared far more spirited.
It was truly strange!
Fan Bishi, who had been in Zhen Mo Si for many years, had never encountered such a bizarre occurrence. He was intrigued and, seeing Zhao Fusheng calm and collected, no longer shrinking or timid, began to harbor suspicions.
His mind raced, searching through the records of strange events in the division. After a while, he thought of a possible explanation.
Zhao Fusheng didn't speak but looked at the two brothers, desperately trying to remember the dream from last night and search her mind for the limited information she had, attempting to figure out her current situation.
From the memories of the original Zhao Fusheng, she had pieced together a rough timeline.
She was 18 years old, born in Jiumen Village under the jurisdiction of Wan'an County. Her family was impoverished, and three months ago, two men claiming to be from Zhen Mo Si arrived at her village and bought her for five copper coins.
At first, she thought these men were not good people.
In those chaotic times, life was cheap, and many thugs kidnapped women and children, selling them into foul places, with no one to stop them.
She had been scared out of her wits when the men took her to Wan'an County, but to her surprise, they didn't sell her into a brothel. Instead, they brought her to Zhen Mo Si.
When Zhen Mo Si was mentioned, Zhao Fusheng understood what it was.
The Han Dynasty, troubled by rampant ghostly beings harming people, had established Zhen Mo Si in every county to eliminate dangerous spirits.
The men from the Fan family, who were officials of Zhen Mo Si in Wan'an County, were far above local officials in status, making them powerful figures in Zhao Fusheng's eyes.
When she learned they had brought her to Zhen Mo Si, Zhao Fusheng was filled with dread.
They explained that the position of the previous head of Zhen Mo Si had been vacant after the last one died while exterminating ghosts. The brothers, guided by the former head, brought her in, and she was made the head of the division.
Zhao Fusheng, terrified, dared not resist and simply followed their instructions.
Eventually, she sealed her soul with blood and became the head of Zhen Mo Si.
...
Zhao Fusheng now reflected on it all, realizing that the original Zhao Fusheng had become muddled with her responsibilities and died in a confusing and mysterious way.
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