Mysterious Revival

The danger and horror arrived all too suddenly.

Previously, Yang Jian had been puzzled why the knocking sounds were so prolonged, completely different from the previous times.

In this moment, he understood.

It turned out that the ghost was engraving his own name.

The reason the ghost engraved so slowly, Yang Jian believed, was likely related to Ghost Porcelain; when he arrived, he had placed a piece of Ghost Porcelain in a hotel room in Dahan City.

That Ghost Porcelain could protect a person from being harmed by ghosts.

But such protection was limited; if it exceeded its maximum limit, the Ghost Porcelain would shatter and then lose its effect.

It was a one-time supernatural item similar to a Ghost Candle, originating from Japan's Exorcism Club.

The moment the knocking sound stopped.

Yang Jian, who was originally standing on top of an old grave, immediately felt the grave soil beneath his feet collapse, as if a giant abyss had opened below to swallow him whole; his body sank down instantly, sinking exceedingly deep.

This feeling was like suddenly falling into a pre-dug trap.

Half of his body had already sunk into the grave soil, and he was still sinking further.

The sinking was incredibly fast.

Yang Jian felt as though his legs, enveloped by the grave soil, were being held by countless rigid, cold hands, rendering him immobile, and he quickly lost all sensation, unable to struggle any longer.

At the same time, there was a sensation within his body as if the ghost was being peeled away, seemingly extracting from his very flesh.

This sensation was terrifying.

What allowed a Ghost Controller to exist like a corpse was entirely dependent on supernatural power; should there be a problem with the ghost within his body, he himself would also perish instantly.

"Use Ghost Domain to transfer."

Without a second thought, Yang Jian attempted to use Ghost Domain to leave this place, hoping to preserve at least his upper body, relying on Ghost Shadow to survive.

But then.

The situation turned out to be worse than he had imagined.

The opened Ghost Eye now slowly closed, as if entering a deep slumber, unable to be controlled as per normal.

"Ghosts buried in grave soil fall into a deep sleep... kind of like suppression," Yang Jian's heart skipped a beat.

Now he realized why Luo Su Yi had been unable to resist and was killed by the ghost before.

These old graves were practically the bane of malevolent spirits.

Graves that could put ghosts to sleep.

This was not a burial ground for ordinary people; it was a garden for burying malevolent spirits.

The brief shock had allowed Yang Jian's body to sink once again, the soil now reaching his chest, leaving him with little time.

Ghost Shadow, Ghost Eye, all were buried by grave soil, entering a state of uncontrollable slumber.

The only thing left was Ghost Hand.

However, in these circumstances, Ghost Hand could not make contact with the ghost to form suppression.

Therefore, the effect Ghost Hand could have was also significantly limited.

...

A miscalculation had put Yang Jian in grave danger, his cold sweat flowing freely as he began to think of a strategy, not wishing to be defeated so easily here.

However, the sinking of his body continued.

The ghost did not halt its attack simply because Yang Jian was thinking.

If Yang Jian could not find a solution before, then like Luo Su Yi, he would die here, buried in this old grave that bore his name, completely disappearing from this world.

What use then was being Yang Jian, Dachang City's big boss, or even a captain?

Facing such an attack from a ghost, Yang Jian found himself utterly powerless to resist.

Perhaps it wasn't that he lacked the power to fight back, but that anyone buried in grave soil would be just as powerless to resist.

This place was far too wicked, far too bizarre.

In that moment, Yang Jian could feel a tremendous pulling force from his body; the grave soil had already buried up to his mouth, and he could clearly smell the sickening and faintly putrid stench emanating from the grave soil. Only his head was left outside, and once even his head was buried, he would likely cease to think and die outright.

Ghost Hand, tightly clutching the ground.

This hand astonishingly did not sink into the grave soil, which contradicted his previous observation that any limb touching the soil would sink down.

Was Ghost Hand special?

Or was it because of suppression at play, resisting the ghost's attack?

Clenching his teeth, Yang Jian tried to use Ghost Hand to wriggle his body out.

But it was futile.

His body was extremely heavy, and no matter how strong his Ghost Hand was, if he continued to push like this, he would only feel his body being torn apart, never leaving this old grave no matter what.

It seemed like his body had taken root in this cemetery.

He had fused with this eerie place, becoming a part of it, no longer able to escape.

"The ghost is suppressed, the body has lost sensation, and now I only have one hand that can move. Under these circumstances, there's only one way." With a determination in his heart, Yang Jian surprisingly gave up struggling and retracted the Ghost Hand that was propped outside.

Without this last support, his body sank faster than before.

Very quickly.

Yang Jian's head was covered by the grave soil.

His other hand reached out, like a person drowning stretching a hand above water, desperately signaling for help from someone on the shore.

But this arm projected out of the grave soil was sinking as well.

From the forearm to the wrist... finally, only a single palm remained above the grave soil.

Yang Jian seemed to have sunk completely, no longer able to emerge.

But at that moment.

Suddenly,

the sinking stopped.

Just above Yang Jian's head, the grave soil loosened suddenly, and something broke through the ground, emerging from the top of the old grave.

It was a dirty, old cloth doll, sewn together with black hair as thread.

The doll had a nose, eyes, and limbs, but it was poorly made, skewed and twisted, giving its body a distorted, malformed look.

Yet, this eerie cloth doll could walk on its own.

After squeezing out of the grave soil, the doll shook its little head and flung off the grubby dirt, then quickly rolled down from the top of the old grave, tumbling over a dozen times.

Upon reaching the ground, the doll flipped over to stand up, then quickly ran in a certain direction.

It seemed to sense some danger or was driven by some kind of instinct.

The doll, with one leg longer than the other, sprinted across the muddy ground.

One would think it could run a great distance.

However, before the doll had covered ten meters, it suddenly tripped and fell straight into the mud.

It struggled, flailing its arms, trying to crawl out of the mud.

But it was futile; something beneath the mud seemed to be dragging at the doll, preventing it from standing up.

With its hands exposed outside, it desperately clawed at the mud nearby, to no avail.

Ultimately, it was slowly and hopelessly pulled deeper into the mud.

As the doll was dragged into the mud, a hand that had stuck out from that old grave just moments before suddenly moved, then Yang Jian propped up his body and gradually climbed out from the old grave.

His head emerged first, followed by his body, and then his legs.

Covered in mud, with a grim expression, Yang Jian had broken free from the constraints of the grave soil, avoiding the attack and miraculously surviving.

"Indeed, only a substitute doll could save me at times like these. Luckily, I came prepared and brought one with me. Otherwise, even if I had my firewood knife in hand, I would have been buried in this ghostly place. It was truly perilous,"

His pale complexion looked slightly somber.

If not for the substitute doll, Yang Jian would truly have died just now, and it was no joke.

He had skirted the edge of life and death.

Yang Jian didn't even have time to reflect on his close call. He shook off the mud from his body and looked towards the spot where the ghost had appeared just before.

That old Liu... no, that ghost had vanished without a trace.

All that was left was an old grave with a freshly erected tombstone.

The tombstone was inscribed with Yang Jian's name, the letters seeming to bleed, running down the stone as if the name had been subjected to a terrible curse.

"So, this is a grave that the ghost set up for me?" Yang Jian walked over.

He did not suffer another attack this time.

Because there was already something buried in that old grave: the strange cloth doll.

The substitute doll had taken Yang Jian's place and been buried in the old grave.

But Yang Jian stared at the new tombstone, slightly dazed, because the name on it was slightly different from his own.

"I remember asking Liu Xiaoyu to alter my name for me before... could it be that against this kind of name curse, changing one's name is useless?" His brow furrowed deeply.

However, he didn't dwell on this problem.

If simply changing one's name could avoid such curses, then supernatural incidents would be too simplistic, so it seemed he had wasted his effort.

Forget it.

It doesn't matter.

After all, it was just a trivial matter anyway. If it worked, great; if not, no big deal.

"So, what does my situation amount to now? This graveyard already has a grave for me, so will I continue to be attacked by ghosts, or does this mean the ghosts will no longer attack me from now on?" Yang Jian pondered.

His circumstances were highly unusual.

The curse the ghost had targeted at him had already taken shape but had been transferred to a substitute doll.

This led to Yang Jian becoming a fish that escaped the net in this graveyard.

The most obvious indicator was that Yang Jian stepping on the mud didn't sink into it.

"If I won't suffer any more attacks from ghosts, then the danger this graveyard poses to me will be greatly reduced. Is this the advantage of having a narrow escape from death? However, when I first saw that old Liu, it seemed like she held something in her hand."

"A coffin nail."

Yang Jian's eyes flickered: "The ghost was using a coffin nail to inscribe the name on the tombstone, and that coffin nail seemed to be exactly like the one I used to seal the Hungry Ghost."

"Could it be the third coffin nail?"

He remembered discussing it with Zhang Lei, codenamed Ghost Eater, back at the headquarters. Zhang Lei had consumed a ghost and seen the memory of the coffin nail.

It was a graveyard, and the main gate of the graveyard was pinned with a rusty coffin nail.

"Wait, the graveyard's main gate... could it be this graveyard?" Yang Jian's expression shifted as he recalled this crucial information.

Therefore,

the coffin nail wasn't the third one; it was the second.

But soon,

what surged in Yang Jian's heart was not delight but horror.

The coffin nail that was originally pinned to the graveyard's gate had been removed?

What kind of consequences would that unleash, what kind of balance would that disrupt? Yang Jian didn't know, but it was definitely not going to be anything good.

Because when he removed the coffin nail before, it had released an unknown vicious ghost.

It was just that for some reason, no information file for that ghost had surfaced yet.

"I must find that old Liu and after successfully delivering the message, I must take the coffin nail from her. I cannot let such an item remain in the hands of a ghost," Yang Jian made up his mind immediately.

That thing was too important. If he could obtain it, he would have the means to confront any S-class spectral ghost.