[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-heavenly-official-bestows-evil":3,"chapter-heavenly-official-bestows-evil-heavenly-official-bestows-evil-chapter-544":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Heavenly Official Bestows Evil",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2317163,4530,"Chapter 544: Come, Since You","heavenly-official-bestows-evil-chapter-544",544,"\u003Cp>Just now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The rebels slaughtered the entire village like killing pigs and dogs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One by one, ghosts rose from the corpses, tormenting and killing every last rebel as the rebels had killed the villagers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The village was filled with the screams of men; more and more corpses piled up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The rebels tried to resist, gunfire erupting frequently, but bullets had no effect on the ghosts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Watching the rebels fall one by one in gruesome agony, Wu Xian nearly clapped in delight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But he dared not clap.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because the ghosts had already set their eyes on him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These ghosts, having killed people, were now truly malevolent spirits—and malevolent spirits never abide by the rule of “revenge only on the guilty.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So Wu Xian, a living man, would not be spared.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Xian’s face turned pale, drenched in cold sweat, trembling as he stared in disbelief at what unfolded before him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“W-what is going on?!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“D-did ghosts appear here?!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His face turned even more ghastly than if he were crying; he raised his hands to the heavens, pleading like a beggar begging his ancestors.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Oh, dear villagers, take your revenge, settle your grievances.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’ve done nothing to you—please don’t haunt me! I’ve got an eighty-year-old dog above me and an eight-year-old cat below me—please, I beg you!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tears even welled up in his beautiful eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But his pleas had no effect. As the rebels died off, more and more ghosts gathered around Wu Xian—each bearing bullet wounds or blade cuts, each face pale from blood loss.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The woman with a bullet in her nasal cavity crawled onto Wu Xian and licked away his tears with her tongue.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Xian did not flinch—he turned his head toward her, his body merging with hers, then passed through her, screaming wildly as he scrambled away from the village, his silhouette looking utterly ragged.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All of this, of course, was Wu Xian’s acting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before the ghosts appeared.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The blood pool had shown that the next test was etiquette.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In etiquette class, students were trained to ignore ghostly disturbances—as if the ghosts were air.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Therefore.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Xian deduced that during this test, if he ignored the ghosts, they could not attack him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But ignoring these ghosts was not easy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, Wu Xian was genuinely afraid.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After undergoing psychological counseling, his threshold for fear had lowered, and this was a True Gate examination—if he slipped up, he would die.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Surrounded by so many ghosts, even Wu Xian could not guarantee he wouldn’t betray himself with some tiny, involuntary movement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So Wu Xian changed his approach.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since he had no confidence in avoiding small mistakes, he might as well make one big mistake first.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His expression became exaggerated, as if he had been driven to madness by the gruesome deaths of the rebels.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That way, any small actions he made would be masked by his larger, more dramatic ones.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The ghosts followed Wu Xian.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They stopped at the village entrance, watching him grow farther and farther from the village.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But after walking a distance, Wu Xian suddenly turned back, muttering to himself as he ran.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“May the Demon God Chiyou protect me, may the Heavenly Official Great Emperor protect me, may the Many Treasures Buddha protect me… any deity in heaven, please, please protect me…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Men die for wealth, birds die for food—I have no choice. Please, sirs, don’t hold it against me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Xian passed through several ghosts, finally stopping beside a rebel corpse, removing the bayonet from his rifle, then the second, the third… On the sixth, he found an officer and took from him a box-pistol and twelve rounds of ammunition.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Had Wu Xian simply walked away, the etiquette test would have ended right there.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But as soon as Wu Xian stepped out of the village, he felt he’d left something behind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He’d come all this way—just to turn back?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since ignoring the ghosts meant the village posed no danger, why not use the opportunity to gather supplies? After securing the bayonets and pistol, Wu Xian searched for food and soon found two cans of meat and several rock-hard biscuits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he searched, the ghosts constantly tried to distract him—some pressed their faces against his, showing horrifying visages; others feigned attacks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One ghost’s behavior nearly broke Wu Xian’s disguise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This ghost had once been hanged and whipped—he slipped a bloodied hemp rope around Wu Xian’s neck while Wu Xian was looking down!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Xian mustered immense willpower to suppress any reaction.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Wu Xian stood up, his body passed through the rope—it was an illusion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Had Wu Xian misjudged and resisted, he would have been forced into a bloody clash with the villagers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Original text in view!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Also.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Xian made another discovery.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While collecting weapons, all the ghosts avoided the bayonets he picked up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A moment’s thought revealed the reason.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These bayonets had all been stained with blood—true weapons of murder—and it was natural the ghosts feared them. This discovery further increased the bayonets’ value.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the end, Wu Xian found a sturdy leather pack, loaded all his loot into it, slung it over his shoulder, ignored every ghost, and sprinted out of the village with swift, steady strides.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The ghosts could do nothing to stop him—they stood together at the village entrance, watching him go with eyes full of venomous hatred.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After leaving the village.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Xian felt light as air, shouldering his weapons as he began climbing the mountain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The path was not steep, only slightly sloped, and filled with the scent of peach blossoms—walking this mountain path at night was almost serene.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Xian climbed steadily to the mid-slope without incident, when suddenly a shadow shot from the darkness and slammed into a tree.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a rabbit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Its head was crushed; blood spilled out and formed a line of characters in midair.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Physical test officially begins!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Xian froze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Physical test? Physical training taught students how to flee from malevolent spirits and stay calm—but no spirits were visible on the mountain. What use was physical training here? Wu Xian turned back toward the village below, and his beard twitched.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Below, black mist churned in the village; at the entrance, a cluster of blurred shadows surged upward, racing up the mountain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just moments ago, those ghosts had been confined to the village.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, the ghosts were loose!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without hesitation, Wu Xian bolted up the mountain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The previous test was etiquette—the ghosts only refrained from killing if no connection was formed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But now it was the physical test, and the ghosts had left the village.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This meant their state had changed—if he pretended not to see them again, he’d be devoured whole!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the midnight forest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Xian ran for his life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Behind him, a horde of blood-stained ghostly figures moved silently, flatly, toward the summit!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1140,"2026-06-20T14:31:07.793Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","222d493a68191f957ef351e86fe6e41b6f4c83429316d6527de1645a5a327478","heavenly-official-bestows-evil-chapter-545","heavenly-official-bestows-evil-chapter-543",556,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fheavenly-official-bestows-evil-cover.jpg"]