Mysterious Revival

Without a doubt, Feng Quan's last desperate counterattack had failed.

The mound of eerie grave soil that formed on his body was terrifying; it seemed even ghosts could be buried within. If Yang Jian had been swallowed by that grave soil just now, even if he perfectly harnessed the power of the Ghost Shadow, he likely would have died here.

But the more terrifying the attack, the greater the backlash on oneself.

Feng Quan was currently in the state of a ghost's resurgence.

Only his head, which remained outside the mound, was slowly sinking, soon to be completely buried in the dark brown soil. Yang Jian could not be certain what other changes might occur once Feng Quan's body was entirely engulfed—after all, he had never encountered such supernatural phenomena before.

However, looking at the strange tomb mound that was about to swallow Feng Quan whole, Yang Jian could not help but think of the crying tomb ghost he had seen on the mysterious bus and the mound in front of it.

Both mounds seemed somewhat similar... The only difference was that the mound swallowing Feng Quan was a bit smaller.

"You're really lucky, Yang Jian. I admit defeat this time, but don't get too happy too soon. If I can't kill you, someone else eventually will," Feng Quan growled like a wild beast, struggling to accept the reality of his failure.

This kind of gamble, going as far as risking the resurgence of a malevolent ghost for one strike, should not have ended in failure.

Unfortunately, he never imagined that Yang Jian would take the initiative to act against him.

If Yang Jian had chosen to carry him away from the hotel, Feng Quan's mid-journey assault would have had no chance of failure.

"It's too early for you to say these things now. Whether you die or not isn't up to the ghost inside you, it's up to me. Although you are in the state of a ghost's resurgence, I should still be able to suppress it for a while. Once I retrieve the other half of your body and restore the balance within you, it should get much better," Yang Jian calmly uncoupled the grass rope wrapped around his wrist.

This was the Ghost Rope.

He didn't approach the mound, to avoid another attack. Instead, he covered the Ghost Rope with Ghost Shadow, manipulated the rope, and tossed it forward, looping it directly over Feng Quan's head.

"This is... the Ghost Rope from Wang Yue," Feng Quan's madness diminished, his eyelids twitched, as he seemed to realize what Yang Jian was planning to do.

"Not bad, you've done your homework on the Ghost Rope, even remembering it after Wang Yue has been dead for so long. But looking at you now, even if half your body is cut off, you shouldn't die that easily. A few tugs on your neck with a rope shouldn't kill you so easily, right?" Yang Jian gripped the rope and pulled it fiercely.

The knot around Wang Yue's neck tightened sharply, and the intense sensation of choking turned his face bright red. He coughed violently several times, spitting out copious amounts of dark brown grave soil.

It seemed that his body was gradually turning to soil, from the inside out.

But Yang Jian's pull did not extract Wang Yue from the mound as he had imagined it would.

Wang Yue's body, buried in the mound, seemed to have fused with it or as if there was something incredibly heavy within that was holding back the other half of his body, making it impossible for him to simply leave.

"I refuse to believe I can't pull you out," Yang Jian said, pulling with all his strength and stepping back several paces, using all the power he could muster.

Now, Yang Jian's body was half-human, half-ghost, and his strength was surprisingly great. In Dachang City, he had done strength tests, and with this half-human, half-ghost body, his strength could reach the ton level. But that was just a simple test, and he had not tried his ultimate strength.

Because he was afraid of breaking his body.

But when Yang Jian exerted himself, he realized something was wrong.

Feng Quan's body didn't budge, still buried in the grave soil; his neck was stretched grotesquely long, his skin and flesh nearly torn apart, yet still unable to leave the soil.

Seeing this, Yang Jian's heart sank.

"Indeed very strange; my judgment wasn't wrong. This grave soil is very special. If I'd been buried, I definitely couldn't have crawled out. And it seems that pure strength alone can't pull Feng Quan out, at best, maybe I could only tear his head out."

"I don't need his head; what I want is Feng Quan, the ghost controller who commands two ghosts, not a dead man."

Yang Jian watched Feng Quan's painful and uncomfortable expression, knowing he was not dead, but he was close.

Without hesitation, he took out the last segment of the Ghost Candle from his pocket.

"Thankfully, that ghost's attack left me with a tiny bit of Ghost Candle. It'll be just enough to suppress this mound. I don't need much time, just one second, and I can pull Feng Quan right out."

Yang Jian's gaze shifted slightly, and he quickly placed the small remaining segment of the Ghost Candle in front of the mound and lit it.

"Whoo~!"

As soon as the Ghost Candle was lit, the sinister green Ghost Flame expanded instantly, bursting like a ball of firelight.

This was due to the presence of a ghost nearby, accelerating the burning of the candle. Although the speed was not as fast as when Xiong Wenwen was attacked, it still exploded with a final burst of light.

The Ghost Candle burned out in an instant, and the light was extinguished.

But it still provided around two seconds of suppression.

Yang Jian, holding the taut Ghost Rope, immediately felt the pressure on Feng Quan's end ease, with some heavy burden vanishing in an instant.

"Bang~!"

Feng Quan flew out from the grave soil, grunted, and then crashed heavily onto the ground.

The mound that had already formed now collapsed instantly as if it lost some supporting force, turning into a puddle of mud tainted with the stench of decay, losing its former eeriness.

But within that heap of collapsing grave soil, Yang Jian saw an outline of a human figure formed from the mud.

This human figure had arms and legs, a head, and a face, resembling a complete corpse. Especially at the head, the mud-formed facial features were vividly detailed, with an open mouth and sunken eye sockets revealing three chilling holes, like a fierce ghost.

However, this ghost buried in the mound hadn't fully revived.

After Yang Jian pulled Feng Quan out, more grave soil continued to emerge from his body, attempting to form a new mound in a short time.

If not stopped, the situation from before would soon recur.

But, Yang Jian wouldn't stand by and watch this happen.

His Ghost Shadow had already been prepared and immediately invaded Feng Quan's body, helping him suppress the ghost's revival.

With the invasion of the Ghost Shadow, Feng Quan's reviving condition improved.

But this was temporary.

Once Yang Jian withdrew the Headless Ghost Shadow, Feng Quan would continue the ghost's revival.

"Alright, now onto the next step."

Yang Jian looked at Feng Quan, who lay motionless on the ground, confident that the Ghost Shadow had suppressed him, and now it was completely safe.

Only then did he take the bloodstained, old newspaper and crouch beside him.

Although Feng Quan was suppressed at this moment, he was still conscious. He looked at Yang Jian with eyes wide, unable to speak, his gaze filled with either anger or horror.

"Looking at me like that is useless. You're much more dangerous now than you might imagine. Who knows how much that ghost changed your memories, but no worries, I'll change them all back. After this, you'll definitely be a good person." Yang Jian unfolded the old newspaper in his hand and then slowly covered Feng Quan's face with it.

Once the newspaper touched the face, it eerily clung to the flesh as if fusing into one. It quickly contracted and adhered tightly, and soon Feng Quan's facial features emerged on the surface of the paper.

At this moment, Feng Quan felt as if his head was entangled in a plastic bag. A strong sense of suffocation surged, he opened his mouth to breathe, but it only made the bloodstained newspaper stick more tightly.

Gradually, he was about to lose consciousness and pass out.

"This feeling seems not to be the first time..." Feng Quan suddenly recalled having experienced this before, but he couldn't remember when or where.

"Is it successful?"

Yang Jian quietly watched this eerie scene, waiting for the result to manifest.

It was his first time trying to use the Ghost Newspaper to alter someone's memories, and there were still many things he didn't understand, so he felt that necessary experiments and trials were indeed required.

After waiting for less than a minute.

He soon saw the newspaper that clung to Feng Quan's face loosened, not as tight as before.

Yang Jian felt it should be enough, so he reached over and tore the newspaper from Feng Quan's face.

Along with it came Feng Quan's entire face.

"It's successful," Yang Jian said, his gaze intensifying as he looked at the face on the Ghost Newspaper, eyes closed, with a somewhat eerie expression.

Feng Quan, now without a face, also lost consciousness and lay motionless.

His body still maintained its previous state, not suffocating to death from the lack of a nose and mouth for breathing.

It was an incomprehensible spectral phenomenon, beyond normal judgement.

"Now, to alter the memories."

At this moment, Yang Jian saw several lines of crooked writing appear next to the face of Feng Quan stuck on the newspaper.

The handwriting was Zhao Lei's.

"Forget that you were attacked."

"When the opportunity arises, kill Yang Jian. He is your enemy."

"Obey..."

The last line of text wasn't finished, as if it had been abruptly cut off mid-sentence.

"Only a part of the memory was altered? It seems there was a problem when Feng Quan was attacked last time; the memory alteration wasn't thorough," Yang Jian thought to himself.