Chapter 6
Chapter 6
“Evil gods gain believers by inflicting calamity and fear. Righteous gods gain faith and incense offerings by granting protection and blessings. The demons, monsters, and wicked spirits rampaging through the human world take power from humanity by more direct and brutal means. The ability humans use to maneuver among them is called Spirit.”
“Spirit is divided into Innate Spirit and Acquired Spirit. Innate Spirit contains more powerful energy and usually possesses a special function or gift. It most often appears in spirit artifacts and spirit objects. After thousands or tens of thousands of years, they acquire abilities bordering on the divine. At first, they might have been a stone, or perhaps a single blade of grass. Spirit Wielders – that is, humans – generally use acquired methods to gain the power to control Spirit. But there are also people like you…”
“Innate Spirits.”
Ling Fang looked at Xie Qingling. “Innate Spirits like you are born able to awaken a unique gift or trait, but you are extremely rare.” He did not, however, ask what Xie Qingling’s gift or trait was.
Xie Qingling lowered her head and took a sip of coffee.
Was that mystical, melodramatic voice her gift? It was certainly unusual.
“Innate Spirits are born knowing how to use Spirit. You and Spirit sustain one another and exist as a seamless whole. Compared with Acquired Spirits, you face no risk when using Spirit. Spirit is your natural weapon.”
“What risks do Acquired Spirits face when they use Spirit?” Xie Qingling asked.
“Spirit Wielders are the gods’ manifested agents in the human world, and They are very strict when choosing Their agents. We don’t know what Their standards are. When ordinary people force themselves to defy the natural order and overturn the workings of heaven and earth, they must naturally pay a price.”
“That price is… their lives.” Ling Fang’s tone grew heavier. “Ordinary people who attempt to become Acquired Spirits suffer a fifty percent attrition rate. Simply crossing the threshold into this world eliminates at least half of them. We generally select exceptional personnel to become Acquired Spirits – special forces soldiers, for example. They possess combat talent far beyond the ordinary, yet even among them, the attrition rate remains high. The mortality rate for ordinary people would only be higher.”
Xie Qingling parted her lips, but could not say a word.
“You don’t need to look like that. Innate Spirits are formidable. No matter how powerful an Acquired Spirit’s combat instincts may be, they still pale before an Innate Spirit.” At this point, he seemed slightly envious. “That’s because Innate Spirits possess an ability Acquired Spirits can never command – an ability everyone dreams of having.”
“What is it?”
“I’m sorry. You lack the clearance for what comes next. I can’t tell you.”
Xie Qingling was speechless.
He actually refused to tell her. What exquisite torture for her curiosity.
“What do I have to do to get that clearance?” Xie Qingling pressed.
“To obtain it, you’ll need to join us. This information is available to everyone inside the department.”
“How do I join? Take the civil service exam?”
Ling Fang shook his head.
“You need to pass our assessment and prove your resolve, ability, and allegiance. The standards are extremely strict.” Then he produced a silver bracelet.
The bracelet consisted of two snakes with their tails entwined. Ancient, intricate patterns had been engraved into its band, lending it an antique air of mystery.
“This is our internal communicator. It contains the latest miniature chip we’ve developed, while ancient spells protect its exterior. Use this to contact me from now on.”
“Do you want to join us? You don’t need to answer in a hurry. Once you nod, there will be certain situations you’ll need to face alone until you become one of us.” Ling Fang was asking for her final confirmation.
Xie Qingling nodded.
“Then goodbye. I won’t come to see you again until you pass the assessment. One last piece of advice: the next time you need help, don’t post online. There’s too much false information on the internet. In the public’s eyes today, the events you described are nothing but stories invented for clicks – and most pleas for help like yours really are stories invented for clicks.”
With that, Ling Fang rose and left.
Xie Qingling hurried to her feet and called after him.
“How am I supposed to prove my resolve, ability, and allegiance?”
“The contents of the assessment are classified.”
In an instant, the soft laughter and teasing of young couples flooded back into her ears. The café returned to its ordinary crush and clamor.
Ling Fang was gone, as though he had never appeared.
If not for the cool touch against Xie Qingling’s wrist reminding her that everything moments ago had been real, the scene was so calm it seemed nothing had happened at all – as though it had been only a dream spun from her imagination.
Xie Qingling sensed keenly that the man she met today held contradictory attitudes toward her. He seemed to admire her greatly, yet remained utterly on his guard.
He could be considered candid, but he had also kept silent about information that might prove crucial.
At the root of it, perhaps she simply had not passed the assessment or proved her abilities yet. Or perhaps there was some other reason.
[You have met someone capable of changing your destiny. His advice and warnings are useful and sincere. But humans never offer their trust without reservation. You need a license to prove yourself.]
[There is still time for you to flee. No one knows whether the abyss or the dawn waits behind the door that yearns to be opened.]
Flee?
That was underestimating her.
Truth existed only where one’s fists could reach, and running away had never been among Xie Qingling’s options. If she fled, retreated, and yielded now, would the monsters waiting to tear her apart and devour her take pity and let her go?
They would not.
She could never count on mercy from her enemies.
Better to keep her fate in her own hands.
She would find a way to pass this assessment.
Sunlight streamed through the café’s floor-to-ceiling windows, warm against her body.
Xie Qingling glanced at her unfinished coffee. With little money to spare and no desire to waste it, she sat down again and pondered the contents of the assessment.
Ling Fang had said that she needed to prove her resolve, ability, and allegiance.
Ability and allegiance were easy enough to understand.
The moment she stepped into that world, she would be standing against demons and monsters. She needed enough ability to fight them.
As far as ability went, Xie Qingling had now confirmed two of her own.
One was the mystical, melodramatic voice in her ear. The other was her blood, which could affect ghosts and monsters.
Ling Fang presumably acknowledged her abilities as well. After all, he had said himself that Innate Spirits were formidable.
As for allegiance, that was easy to understand too.
Ling Fang said they were preservers of order and would not act against her as long as she did not try to destroy the world. From that, she could infer the principles governing his department.
The allegiance they spoke of meant committing no crimes and doing no evil. It meant taking the role of someone who preserved order and making the world safer and more peaceful.
Then what about resolve?
What did resolve mean?
For now, Xie Qingling could not puzzle out an answer.
She had a feeling that the focus of this assessment might be precisely this so-called “resolve.”
Xie Qingling fiddled with the bracelet on her wrist, trying to uncover the slightest clue about the assessment inside it.
She discovered that the two snakes had red and blue gems for eyes. The red gem was a switch. At the lightest touch of her finger, a holographic screen sprang into the air before her. Its contact list showed only one person: “Codename Zero.”
There were other icons on the interface, but unfortunately, all of them were grayed out and unusable.
For now, the bracelet had only one function: contacting Ling Fang.
Ling Fang had only just left, and Xie Qingling had nothing to say to him, so she closed the interface.
As for the blue gem in the other snake’s eye, Xie Qingling could not yet work out what it did.
She picked at it for a long time, but nothing happened.
It appeared to be nothing more than a decorative sapphire.
Xie Qingling sighed softly and decided to end her investigation for the day.
The sun was setting, and the couples around her were growing ever more intimate. Xie Qingling could hardly bear to watch. She quickly finished her coffee and hurried out of the café.
[At twilight, gods and demons descend, and the boundary between yin and yang, dusk and dawn, is no longer distinct. Burdened with thoughts, you walk slowly down this street, oblivious to the curious, probing hand reaching toward you. Oh Spirit Wielder whose Spirit Sight has yet to open, you will never know that a Four-Way Crossroads Ghost has already taken hold of the hem of your clothes.]
Xie Qingling stopped walking.
People streamed past her, yet she felt a chill race from her spine straight to the crown of her head.
Something else had come to haunt her without end?
Xie Qingling was already prepared to tear open the wound on her hand and fight it.
After facing a Shanxiao once before, she was no longer a clueless novice with no experience in such situations.
She had even slipped a bag of salt into her pocket before leaving that day.
[The Four-Way Crossroads Ghost whispers beside your ear: Big sister, big sister, come with me. I’ll take you home. It attempts to bewitch you and pull you into an illusion, but alas, even after shouting itself hoarse, you remain unmoved.]
[Never has it encountered anyone so obstinate. Defeated again and again, it can only abandon its attempts to communicate with you. The Four-Way Crossroads Ghost releases your clothes and watches you walk away, deeply unwilling to let matters rest. Yet no one knows how much less petty it might be than the Shanxiao.]
Xie Qingling was speechless.
The Shanxiao had truly been petty beyond belief.
She could only hope this Four-Way Crossroads Ghost was more broad-minded and would leave her alone after failing once.
Now that she knew the Four-Way Crossroads Ghost’s ability did not work on her and that its illusions could not harm her, Xie Qingling had no intention of attacking it for the time being.
If she acted rashly without understanding the situation, she might draw out an even more powerful opponent.
Then the only thing awaiting Xie Qingling would be death.
Head lowered, Xie Qingling hurried across the noisy intersection and returned to the dorm.
It was Sunday.
When Xie Qingling returned, neither Jiang Lulu nor Dong Jia was in the dorm.
She knew Jiang Lulu had a get-together and was dining somewhere, though she had no idea where.
Dong Jia, meanwhile, had intensive dance training. She would be competing in a city-level contest before long and was probably practicing in a dance studio at the university student activity center.
Around eight o’clock, Jiang Lulu returned reeking of alcohol.
She doubled over in the washroom, vomiting as she shouted, “Wine today, drunk today! Tomorrow’s sorrows can wait till tomorrow!”
After the Shanxiao incident, Jiang Lulu had come to treasure every day of the present. She strove to live each one happily and fully, without regrets.
Drunk, Jiang Lulu babbled nonsense. She even dragged Xie Qingling into singing statutes to the tune of the school anthem and redefined what it meant to be tone-deaf.
Amused, Xie Qingling helped clean up after her, then carried her to bed and made her rest.
At nine that evening, Dong Jia still had not returned.
For some reason, a faint unease stirred in Xie Qingling’s heart.
Another half hour passed. Training had ended, but Dong Jia had yet to come back.
Xie Qingling picked up her phone and called her.
The call connected quickly. Dong Jia’s sobbing came through the phone, frightened and frantic.
“Qingling, I’m lost,” she said.
“I’m trapped inside the university student activity center. I can’t get out.”