Rich Benevolence Mall, Fourth Floor.
A deathly pall writhed through the air, and the Ghost Eyes on Yang Jian's body spun frantically beneath his flesh in agitation.
Just moments ago, he had sensed the signal of the Ghost Dream's return.
A savage, piercing bark suddenly exploded deep inside his mind.
Immediately afterward, the Ghost Eyes, which had been on the verge of awakening from overuse, fell silent as the Ghost Dream clamped its jaws firmly around them.
At that moment, a trace of living color actually returned to Yang Jian's face.
He slowly rose to his feet and took a step forward.
The sensation of dismemberment that had dogged his every move vanished completely, and his body returned to normal.
"It dealt with it that quickly?"
Yang Jian murmured, suddenly sensing a faint yet utterly distinctive paranormal fluctuation that had inexplicably appeared within his body.
The Fierce Dog, radiating a brutal aura, was now crouched in the shadows of his reflection.
It actually held a human-shaped skull in its jaws, gnawing on it like some delicious bone and producing crunching sounds that set his teeth on edge.
It was the Ten-Thousand-Year Wisdom Soul Bone that Chao Tianxiang had fused with while alive!
On the level of consciousness, the Soul Beast consciousness represented by this Soul Bone had already been completely torn apart and devoured by the Fierce Dog.
As Yang Jian puzzled over this, he raised his hand, and a paranormal fluctuation of Splicing rippled through the air.
"After devouring that consciousness, did the Ghost Dream happen to steal some of the Headless Paranormal Shadow's paranormal power?"
Yang Jian's brows knitted tightly.
The paranormal strength of this power was very low, even weaker than that of his two Ghost Eyes.
Yet its Splicing ability filled him with an inexplicable delight.
Just then, Meng Yiran came stumbling over.
She had clearly recovered from the injuries she had suffered in her fall.
She said nothing, but tears streamed down her pale cheeks like beads from a broken string.
After Yang Jian had thrown her away, she had finally come to her senses.
That was not her grandmother. Her grandmother might truly be dead already.
Yang Jian paid no attention to the distraught girl.
His scarlet ghost domain opened instantly, forcibly enveloping Meng Yiran and the dazed Yu Tianheng beside her.
With a flash of red light, all three vanished from the Fourth Floor.
Third Floor, women's clothing section.
When the red light appeared again, Yang Jian stood before the Headless Paranormal Shadow with the other two.
Hu Liena and Ning Rongrong were huddled against the wall, trembling.
The instant they saw Yang Jian appear, they scrambled over to him as though they had found their savior.
"Yang Jian!" Ning Rongrong's voice was hoarse as she clutched the hem of his clothes.
Yu Tianheng stared fixedly at the figure with Chao Tianxiang's head atop a body made of black shadow, his pupils contracting sharply.
"So this is a paranormal entity!"
He felt even his Soul Power begin to congeal.
Meng Yiran looked at the grandmother before her, her lips trembling. Finally, unable to bear it, she turned away, covered her mouth, and let out muffled sobs.
That turn triggered the Headless Paranormal Shadow's killing rule.
It moved, extremely slowly, advancing step by step toward Meng Yiran's back.
Yang Jian's gaze turned cold. Rather than enveloping it in his ghost domain, he abruptly thrust out his deathly pale Ghost Hand.
An eerie scene unfolded.
Without any warning, a deathly pale hand actually sprouted from the Headless Paranormal Shadow's chest!
Its five fingers hooked like claws, clamping tightly around Ghost Shadow's own neck!
After a brief, fierce clash of paranormal powers, the Headless Paranormal Shadow froze in place as though someone had pressed pause.
Chao Tianxiang's head, now covered in livor mortis, fell straight off Ghost Shadow's neck.
It rolled off to one side, giving off waves of nauseating corpse stench.
Yang Jian pulled a gold bag from behind his back, stuffed the pitch-black Ghost Shadow, now missing its head, straight inside, then tied the opening shut.
The suffocating chill around them instantly dissipated.
By then, the darkness inside the mall was rapidly receding.
Hu Liena, Yu Tianheng, and Meng Yiran exchanged glances, each seeing the shock in the others' eyes.
In this world, Soul Skills were a joke, and levels were meaningless.
Only by controlling paranormal power like Yang Jian could they survive!
Hu Liena was the first to grit her teeth and bow deeply to Yang Jian, her voice resolute.
"Yang Jian, tell us how we can join the Paranormal Forum. I'm willing to pay any price, as long as I can stay alive!"
Yu Tianheng also stepped forward, his gaze burning. "The same goes for me."
Meng Yiran stifled her sobs and looked at Yang Jian with reddened eyes. Though she said nothing, the determination in her gaze said it all.
Yang Jian turned his head, sweeping his Ghost Eyes over the three of them.
He watched their pulsing Soul Rings and that peculiar power, which seemed utterly fragile before paranormal forces, without any expression.
He had already guessed that this was not the power of malevolent ghosts, but rather some special energy from the Otherworld.
Unfortunately, this power could not contend with paranormal power. At best, it might prove useful under certain special circumstances.
"Come with me," Yang Jian said flatly, and red light flashed.
The Paranormal Forum headquarters building, central Dachang City.
As the red light faded outside the building's main entrance, Hu Liena, Meng Yiran, and Yu Tianheng raised their heads in a daze.
They gazed up at the modern skyscraper towering into the clouds.
The visual impact of steel and concrete stunned them far more than the magnificent palaces of Spirit Hall.
Ning Rongrong had regained some of her bearing as a privileged young lady. After all, she had arrived half a day earlier than they had.
She glanced at the golden doors leading to the Advanced Welfare Zone nearby, then asked Yang Jian apprehensively.
"Yang Jian, does this count as completing the mission?"
Yang Jian nodded and said solemnly, "Stay here. Don't wander off."
The three of them stiffened inwardly and nodded.
Then Yang Jian entered the elevator alone and pressed the button for the Twentieth Floor.
Twentieth Floor, President's Office.
By the floor-to-ceiling windows, Lin Cheng was toying with a Golden Lighter.
Yang Jian pushed the door open and entered, casually tossing the heavy gold bag onto the desk.
"I brought it back."
Yang Jian walked up to the desk and stared into Lin Cheng's eyes. "Also, I brought back a few humans with special powers, but their powers can't fight paranormal entities. They know a lot about the Paranormal Forum and say they want to join. What do you think?"
Lin Cheng smiled faintly without looking at the bag.
"I know about them," Lin Cheng said evenly.
"But the Paranormal Forum isn't something anyone can join just because they want to. I'm not running a daycare here."
"I'll post a mission tomorrow. If they survive, they can join, of course, and demonstrate their worth."
Yang Jian did not ask how Lin Cheng had known in advance. As far as he was concerned, Lin Cheng's methods were already beyond his comprehension.
"Understood." Yang Jian paused, his gaze shifting slightly. "There's one more thing. I seem to have stolen the Headless Paranormal Shadow's paranormal power just now, so..."
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